Core Glossary
08 — Core Glossary: Gospel of John (English → Bengali)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, drawn from all 21 chapters of John. Terms already established in the Romans baseline translation_memory.json are marked [Reused — Romans TM] and MUST use the exact recorded Bengali rendering with no deviation. New terms introduced by the John curriculum are marked [New] and must be added to translation memory before Phase 2 begins, per the Romans baseline’s own term-memory update procedure.
Risk tiers, review routing, and definitions follow the Romans baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json exactly (Critical/High/Medium/Low; theologian / native speaker / automated review).
A. Reused Terms (Romans Baseline — No Change)
| Term (EN) | Bengali | Risk | Doctrine(s) in John | Primary John Passages | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | ঈশ্বর | Critical | Deity of Christ, Unity of Father & Son | 1:1,18; 3:16-18; 5:18; 10:30-33; 20:28 | [Reused] |
| Jesus | যীশু | Critical | throughout | throughout | [Reused] |
| Lord | প্রভু | Critical | Lordship of Christ | 20:28; 21:7,12 | [Reused] |
| Son of God | ঈশ্বরের পুত্র | Critical | Deity/Sonship of Christ | 1:34,49; 3:18; 5:25; 9:35; 10:36; 11:27; 19:7; 20:31 | [Reused] |
| Holy Spirit | পবিত্র আত্মা | Critical | Holy Spirit as Counselor, New Birth | 1:32-33; 3:5-8,34; 14:16-26; 15:26; 16:7-15; 20:22 | [Reused] |
| Father | পিতা | Critical | Unity of Father & Son, Adoption/New Birth | 1:14,18; 3:35; 5:17-23; 10:30,38; 14:6-11; 17 passim | [Reused] |
| Incarnation | দেহধারণ | Critical | Deity/Pre-existence of Christ | 1:14 | [Reused] |
| Resurrection | পুনরুত্থান | Critical | Christ’s Substitutionary Death & Resurrection | 2:19-22; 11:25; 20 passim | [Reused] |
| Salvation | পরিত্রাণ | Critical | Eternal Life, Judgment | 3:17; 4:22; 12:47 | [Reused] |
| Righteousness | ধার্মিকতা | Critical | Judgment/Holy Spirit’s convicting work | 16:8,10 | [Reused] |
| Sin | পাপ | High | Judgment, New Birth, Substitutionary Death | 1:29; 8:34-36; 9:2-3,41; 16:8-9; 20:23 | [Reused] |
| Messiah/Christ | খ্রীষ্ট | Critical | Deity/Pre-existence, Messianic fulfillment | 1:20,41; 4:25-26; 7:26-31,41-42; 11:27; 20:31 | [Reused] |
| Israel | ইস্রায়েল | Medium | Messianic fulfillment | 1:31,47,49; 3:10; 12:13 | [Reused] |
| David | দায়ূদ | Medium (background) | Messianic fulfillment | (implicit — Bethlehem/lineage debate, 7:42) | [Reused] |
| Glory | মহিমা | High | Deity of Christ | 1:14; 2:11; 11:4,40; 12:41; 17:5,22,24 | [Reused] |
| Faith / believe | বিশ্বাস / বিশ্বাস করা | High | Eternal Life through Faith | throughout (esp. 3:15-18,36; 20:31) | [Reused] |
| Peace | শান্তি | Medium | Peace via resurrection | 14:27; 16:33; 20:19,21,26 | [Reused] |
| Holy | পবিত্র | High | Sanctification, Spirit of truth | 6:69; 17:11,17,19 | [Reused] |
| Sanctification | পবিত্রীকরণ | High | Sanctification | 17:17,19 | [Reused] |
| Law | ব্যবস্থা | High | Sabbath/legal controversies | 1:17,45; 5:…; 7:19-23,49-51 | [Reused] |
| Apostle (root) | প্রেরিত | Medium | Mission | (root of “sent,” 17:18; 20:21) | [Reused] |
| Gentiles (concept) | পরজাতি | Medium | Mission (Greeks seeking Jesus) | 12:20-21 (conceptual) | [Reused] |
B. New Terms Introduced by the John Curriculum
| ID | Term (EN) | Greek | Transliteration | Bengali Rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Primary Passages | Alternatives Rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| word_logos | The Word (Logos) | λόγος | logos | বচন | Critical | Deity & Pre-existence of Christ | 1:1-3,14 | (no Bengali substitute considered viable; established BSS/BSI term) | Collision with Qur’anic “Kalimatullah” (Word of God as created prophet-title, denying deity/pre-existence); note mandatory for Muslim-background readers. |
| eternal_life | Eternal life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος | zōē aiōnios | অনন্ত জীবন | Critical | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ | 3:15-16,36; 5:24; 6:47,54; 10:28; 17:3; 20:31 | মোক্ষ, নির্বাণ, মুক্তি | NEVER মোক্ষ (Hindu liberation from rebirth) or নির্বাণ (Buddhist cessation). John 17:3 defines it as relational knowledge of God, not escape/cessation. New Critical forbidden-substitution pair for the John instruction set. |
| born_again_new_birth | Born again / born from above | γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν | gennēthē anōthen | নতুন জন্ম | Critical | New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit | 3:3,5,7; cf. 1:12-13 | পুনর্জন্ম | NEVER পুনর্জন্ম (already forbidden in Romans TM as Hindu/Buddhist reincarnation). Deliberate Greek ἄνωθεν ambiguity (“again”/“from above”) — pair with ঊর্ধ্ব থেকে where source-sense is primary (3:31). |
| world_kosmos | World | κόσμος | kosmos | জগৎ | High | God’s Love for the World; Judgment | 1:9-10,29; 3:16-19; 12:31; 15:18-19; 16:33; 17:…; 21:25 | বিশ্ব, দুনিয়া | Same Bengali word must serve two opposite senses (God’s love-object vs. God-opposed system) — context-dependent note required each time. জগৎ carries Hindu māyā/cosmological overtones; keep as established term but flag. |
| love_agape | Love (agapē) | ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω | agapē / agapaō | প্রেম | High | God’s Love for the World | 3:16; 13:34-35; 15:9-13; 21:15-16 | ভালোবাসা (secondary gloss only) | প্রেম is the central technical term of Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava bhakti devotionalism (Radha-Krishna prema); mandatory note distinguishing self-giving, sacrificial divine love from bhakti-style romantic/devotional-ecstasy categories. |
| only_begotten_son | Only Son / one-and-only Son | μονογενής | monogenēs | একমাত্র পুত্র | Critical | Deity & Pre-existence; Sonship of Christ | 1:14,18; 3:16,18 | একজাত পুত্র | Means “unique, one-of-a-kind,” not biological “begetting.” Reject একজাত পুত্র (literalist calque risking biological-sonship misreading already flagged as a live pastoral issue for Muslim-background readers per Romans baseline sonship_of_christ notes). |
| children_of_god | Children of God | τέκνα θεοῦ | tekna theou | ঈশ্বরের সন্তান | High | New Birth / Adoption | 1:12-13; 11:52 | — | Keep distinct from ঈশ্বরের পুত্র (Christ’s unique Sonship, একমাত্র পুত্র); সন্তান (children, plural, by new birth) vs. পুত্র (the one Son, by nature). |
| flesh_sarx | Flesh | σάρξ | sarx | মাংস / শারীরিক স্বভাব | Medium | New Birth; Incarnation | 1:14; 3:6; 6:51-56 | — | মাংস usually means “meat” in everyday Bengali; note required against literalistic/dietary misreading, especially at 6:51-56. |
| wind_spirit_wordplay | Wind / Spirit (wordplay) | πνεῦμα | pneuma | বায়ু/বাতাস (wind) / পবিত্র আত্মা (Spirit) | High | New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit | 3:8 | — | Greek pun (one word = wind & Spirit) unreproducible in Bengali; must state the sovereign-freedom point explicitly rather than relying on wordplay. |
| son_of_man | Son of Man | υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου | huios tou anthrōpou | মনুষ্যপুত্র | High | Deity/Humanity of Christ; Judgment | 1:51; 3:13-14; 5:27; 6:27,53,62; 9:35; 12:23,34; 13:31 | — | Daniel-7 authority title emphasizing genuine humanity + heavenly origin; keep distinct from, not interchangeable with, ঈশ্বরের পুত্র. |
| lifted_up | Lifted up (crucified/exalted) | ὑψωθῆναι | hypsōthēnai | উঁচুতে তুলে ধরা / উন্নত করা | High | Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | 3:14; 8:28; 12:32-34 | — | Double meaning (crucifixion + exaltation); render consistently across all three occurrences. |
| serpent_typology | Bronze serpent (typology) | ὄφις | ophis | সর্প | Low (background note High) | Substitutionary Death (typology) | 3:14 | — | Requires Numbers 21 OT-background note; low word-risk, high typological-comprehension risk without teaching support. |
| witness_testimony | Witness / testimony | μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω | martyria / martyreō | সাক্ষ্য / সাক্ষী | Medium | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief; Deity of Christ | 1:7-8,19-34; 3:11,32-33; 5:31-39; 8:13-18; 15:26-27; 19:35; 21:24 | — | Legal/courtroom register in Bengali (helpful — juridical certainty); note that Christ’s testimony is authoritative, not one opinion among equals. |
| judgment_condemn | Judgment / condemn | κρίσις / κρίνω | krisis / krinō | বিচার / দণ্ডিত হওয়া | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 3:17-19; 5:22-30; 8:15-16; 9:39; 12:31,47-48; 16:8,11 | — | Distinguish from Hindu impersonal karma-accounting and from Islamic future-only Day-of-Judgment framework; John’s “already judged” (present-tense verdict) is a distinct, counter-intuitive claim requiring note. |
| perish_apollymi | Perish | ἀπόλλυμι | apollymi | বিনষ্ট হওয়া / ধ্বংস হওয়া | Medium | Eternal Life; Judgment | 3:16; 10:28; 17:12 | — | Not neutral cessation; names real, final ruin — the alternative to eternal life. |
| light_darkness | Light / darkness | φῶς / σκότος (σκοτία) | phōs / skotos (skotia) | আলো / অন্ধকার | Medium | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief; Deity of Christ | 1:4-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36,46 | — | Moral/volitional contrast (“loved darkness”), not merely cognitive ignorance-vs-enlightenment (risk of Hindu jñāna/avidyā overreading). |
| truth_aletheia | Truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | সত্য | Medium | Judgment; Holy Spirit as Counselor | 1:14,17; 3:21; 4:23-24; 8:32,44; 14:6,17; 16:13; 18:37-38 | — | Ultimate divine reality embodied in Christ (14:6), not merely factual correctness; “doing the truth” (3:21) = lived fidelity. |
| freedom_slavery | Freedom / slavery (to sin) | ἐλευθερία / δοῦλος | eleutheria / doulos | মুক্ত করা (verb) / দাসত্ব (slavery) | High | New Birth; Judgment | 8:32-36 | মুক্তি (bare noun form) | Narrow, qualified use of মুক্ত-root permitted ONLY for this sin-slavery/freedom discourse, always with qualifying phrase (পাপের দাসত্ব থেকে মুক্তি); never bare মুক্তি (which the Romans baseline reserves as forbidden for “salvation” due to Hindu mokṣa association). Mandatory note distinguishing from mokṣa/rebirth-liberation at every occurrence. |
| i_am_ego_eimi | ”I am” (absolute/predicate) | ἐγώ εἰμι | egō eimi | আমিই | Critical | The Seven “I Am” Statements; Deity of Christ | 6:35,48,51; 8:12,24,28,58; 9:5; 10:7,9,11,14; 11:25; 13:19; 14:6; 15:1,5; 18:5-6,8 | আমি আছি (as merely existential, avoided) | Echoes Exodus 3:14 LXX ἐγώ εἰμι (divine self-name). Render consistently at every occurrence; absolute form (8:58 etc.) never diluted to mere description. Cross-reference OT Exodus 3:14. |
| bread_of_life | Bread of life | ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς | artos tēs zōēs | জীবনের রুটি | High | Eternal Life; I Am Statements | 6:35,48,51 | — | Manna/Exodus 16 typology background note required. |
| eat_flesh_drink_blood | Eat [my] flesh / drink [my] blood | σάρξ / αἷμα | sarx / haima | মাংস ভোজন করা / রক্ত পান করা | High | Substitutionary Death | 6:53-56 | — | Risk of literal-cannibalism misreading; collides with Hindu vegetarian/ahimsa and Islamic blood-prohibition sensibilities. Figurative-appropriation note mandatory. |
| draw_effectual_call | Draw (the Father draws) | ἑλκύω | helkyō | আকর্ষণ করা / আকৃষ্ট করা | High | Effectual Calling (cf. Romans baseline election) | 6:44; 12:32 (different sense) | ভাগ্য, নিয়তি | Effectual, personal, initiating grace — not impersonal fate. |
| holy_one_of_god | The Holy One of God | ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ | ho hagios tou theou | ঈশ্বরের সেই পবিত্র ব্যক্তি | High | Deity of Christ (confession) | 6:69 | — | Parallel confession-text to 11:27, 20:28; consistency across confession sequence important. |
| light_of_world | Light of the world | φῶς τοῦ κόσμου | phōs tou kosmou | জগতের আলো | High | I Am Statements; Judgment | 8:12; 9:5 | — | See light_darkness entry; also full “I am” deity-claim weight. |
| door_gate | The door/gate | θύρα | thyra | দ্বার | Medium | I Am Statements | 10:7,9 | — | Access/exclusivity imagery (“I am the door”); low collision risk in itself, full weight from I Am pattern. |
| good_shepherd | The good shepherd | ποιμὴν καλός | poimēn kalos | উত্তম মেষপালক | High | I Am Statements; Substitutionary Death | 10:11,14-15,17-18; cf. 21:15-17 | — | “Lays down his life for the sheep” — direct substitutionary-death statement. |
| father_son_unity | ”I and the Father are one” | ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν | egō kai ho patēr hen esmen | আমি ও পিতা এক | Critical | Unity of the Father and the Son | 10:30; 17:11,21-23 | — | Grammatical ἕν (unity of essence, not εἷς identity-collapse). CRITICAL Advaita/monism collision (Bengal-specific): must be distinguished from Hindu non-dual (Brahman=ātman) identity-merger. Mandatory theologian review at every occurrence. |
| resurrection_and_life | The resurrection and the life | ἀνάστασις καὶ ζωή | anastasis kai zōē | পুনরুত্থান ও জীবন | Critical | I Am Statements; Resurrection; Eternal Life | 11:25 | — | Combines two already-Critical baseline/John terms; Lazarus’s temporary resuscitation vs. Christ’s own permanent resurrection distinction worth noting. |
| way_truth_life | The way, the truth, and the life | ὁδὸς, ἀλήθεια, ζωή | hodos, alētheia, zōē | পথ, সত্য ও জীবন | Critical | I Am Statements; Eternal Life | 14:6 | — | Exclusivity clause (“no one comes to the Father except through me”) collides maximally with both Hindu religious pluralism/inclusivism and Islamic exclusivism; must render with full, unsoftened exclusivity. |
| paraclete_counselor | Paraclete / Counselor / Advocate / Helper | παράκλητος | paraklētos | সাহায্যকারী | High | The Holy Spirit as Counselor | 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7 | উকিল | উকিল rejected as too narrowly forensic/transactional. No single Bengali word covers full semantic range (advocate/comforter/teacher); unpack via translator note at first occurrence. Always personal — never impersonal force. |
| spirit_of_truth | Spirit of truth | πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας | pneuma tēs alētheias | সত্যের আত্মা | Medium | Holy Spirit as Counselor | 14:17; 15:26; 16:13 | — | Reinforces Spirit’s personal, truth-revealing character. |
| true_vine | The true vine | ἄμπελος ἀληθινή | ampelos alēthinē | সত্য দ্রাক্ষালতা | High | I Am Statements | 15:1,5 | — | OT vine-as-Israel background (Psalm 80; Isaiah 5) now transferred to Christ. |
| abide_meno | Abide / remain | μένω | menō | লেগে থাকা / স্থির থাকা | Medium | Christian Identity in Christ (Johannine idiom) | 15:4-10 | — | Relational, covenantal, fruit-bearing union preserving distinct believer-identity (branch can be cut off) — not bhakti-style essential merger/absorption. |
| new_commandment | New commandment (love one another) | ἐντολὴ καινή | entolē kainē | নতুন আদেশ | High | God’s Love for the World (applied) | 13:34-35; 15:12-13,17 | — | Cruciform, other-directed love modeled on foot-washing/cross; carries forward love_agape/প্রেম risk notes. |
| hour_hora | [Jesus’s] hour | ὥρα | hōra | সময় / নির্ধারিত সময় | Medium | Substitutionary Death (narrative motif) | 2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23,27; 13:1; 17:1 | — | Recurring literary-theological motif tracking approach to the cross/glorification; not a literal clock-hour — consistency across occurrences required. |
| lamb_of_god | Lamb of God | ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ | amnos tou theou | ঈশ্বরের মেষশিশু | High | Substitutionary Death | 1:29,36 | — | Passover/Isaiah 53 sacrificial background note required; substitutionary-atonement content not intuitive without it. |
| passover | Passover | πάσχα | pascha | নিস্তারপর্ব | Medium (background) | Substitutionary Death (typology) | 2:13,23; 6:4; 11:55; 12:1; 13:1; 18:28,39; 19:14 | — | Established Bengali OT/NT term; ties crucifixion timing to Exodus deliverance typology. |
| it_is_finished | It is finished | τετέλεσται | tetelestai | সম্পূর্ণ হলো / সমাপ্ত হলো | High | Substitutionary Death | 19:30 | যা ঘটার তা ঘটে গেল (avoid) | Active, purposive task-completion, not passive/defeatist “it’s over.” |
| blood_and_water | Blood and water | αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ | haima kai hydōr | রক্ত ও জল | High | Substitutionary Death (typology) | 19:34-36 | — | Ties to Passover-lamb “no bone broken” fulfillment (Exodus 12:46); theologian review recommended for typological cross-reference teaching. |
| worship_proskyneo | Worship | προσκυνέω | proskyneō | আরাধনা / প্রণিপাত করা | High | Deity of Christ | 4:20-24; 9:38; 20:28 (implicit) | — | Strong Hindu puja associations; note distinguishing worship due to God/Christ alone from social-respect gestures (নমস্কার/প্রণাম) and from location-bound ritual worship. |
| wrath_of_god | Wrath of God | ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ | orgē tou theou | ঈশ্বরের ক্রোধ | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 3:36 | — | Settled, holy, judicial opposition to unbelief — not capricious/emotionally volatile rage (risk of conflation with fierce-deity iconography, e.g. Kali/Durga’s wrathful aspect). |
| prince_of_this_world | Ruler/prince of this world | ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου | archōn tou kosmou toutou | এই জগতের অধিপতি | Medium | Substitutionary Death (cosmic conflict) | 12:31; 14:30; 16:11 | — | Real but already-defeated usurper, not a co-equal dualist rival power to God. |
| overcome_world | Overcome the world | νικάω | nikaō | জয় করা | Medium | Assurance (Johannine idiom) | 16:33 | — | Victory over sin/Satan/death, not this-worldly/communal-triumphalist victory. |
| king_of_the_jews | King of the Jews / King of Israel | βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων / Ἰσραήλ | basileus tōn Ioudaiōn / Israēl | যিহুদীদের রাজা / ইস্রায়েলের রাজা | High | Messianic Promise; Kingdom (non-political) | 1:49; 12:13; 18:33-19:22 | — | Consistency of রাজা vocabulary across ch.1,12,18-19; ironic-yet-true royal claim; reinforce baseline kingdom_of_god’s non-territorial caution. |
| my_lord_and_my_god | ”My Lord and my God” | ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου | ho kyrios mou kai ho theos mou | আমার প্রভু ও আমার ঈশ্বর | Critical | Deity of Christ; Lordship of Christ | 20:28 | — | Climactic, unambiguous, uncorrected deity-confession spoken directly to Jesus. Lock rendering for cross-document consistency (see also purpose-statement entry below). |
| purpose_statement_20_31 | ”That you may believe… and have life in his name” | ἵνα πιστεύσητε … ζωὴν ἔχητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ | hina pisteusēte … zōēn echēte en tō onomati autou | যেন তোমরা বিশ্বাস করো… এবং তাঁর নামে জীবন পাও | Critical | Eternal Life through Faith (thesis statement) | 20:30-31 | — | John’s structural equivalent of Romans 1:16-17. MUST be rendered identically across every Phase 2 document in this curriculum (cross-document consistency rule). |
| agape_vs_phileo | Love (agapē vs. phileō, Peter’s restoration) | ἀγαπάω / φιλέω | agapaō / phileō | প্রেম করা / স্নেহ করা | Medium | God’s Love (applied); Christian discipleship | 21:15-17 | — | Do not over-press a hard semantic distinction the Greek may not fully support; preserve two distinct Bengali words without overshadowing the restoration narrative’s pastoral point. |
| feed_my_sheep | Feed my lambs / shepherd my sheep | βόσκε / ποίμαινε | boske / poimaine | আমার মেষশিশুদের খাওয়াও / আমার মেষদের চরাও | Low-Medium | Christ-Centered Ministry (Johannine idiom) | 21:15-17 | — | Delegated, not independent, shepherding — under Christ’s ultimate ownership (cf. Good Shepherd, ch.10). |
| sign_semeion | Sign | σημεῖον | sēmeion | চিহ্ন | Medium | Deity of Christ (revelatory pattern) | 2:11,23; 4:54; 6:2,14,26; 9:16; 11:47; 12:18,37; 20:30 | লক্ষণ | Distinguish from folk-astrological omen-reading; every sign in John points to Christ’s identity, per 20:30-31. |
| samaritan | Samaritan | Σαμαρίτης | Samaritēs | শমরীয় | Medium (background) | Mission; Universal Scope (Johannine parallel) | 4:4-42 | — | Ethnic/religious estrangement background note required; cautious, non-literal social-distance analogy may aid comprehension. |
| living_water | Living water | ὕδωρ ζῶν | hydōr zōn | জীবন্ত জল | Medium | Eternal Life; Holy Spirit | 4:10-14; 7:37-39 | — | Tie explicitly to ζωὴ αἰώνιον/πνεῦμα vocabulary already established in ch.3. |
| equal_with_god | ”Making himself equal with God” | ἴσον ἑαυτὸν τῷ θεῷ | ison heauton tō theō | নিজেকে ঈশ্বরের সমান করা | Critical | Deity of Christ | 5:18 | — | Render with full force, unsoftened; direct deity claim, correctly perceived as such by the original audience. |
| bridegroom | Bridegroom | νυμφίος | nymphios | বর | Low | (minor — self-effacing testimony image) | 3:29 | — | Low doctrinal weight standalone; flag only for consistency if bridal/marriage imagery recurs elsewhere in curriculum materials. |
| grain_of_wheat | Grain of wheat (dies, bears fruit) | κόκκος τοῦ σίτου | kokkos tou sitou | গমের দানা | Medium | Substitutionary Death; Mission | 12:24 | — | Agricultural death-and-fruitfulness metaphor; culturally accessible, low collision risk. |
| cross_crucify | Cross / crucify | σταυρός / σταυρόω | stauros / stauroō | ক্রুশ / ক্রুশে দেওয়া | Low (word) / Critical (event) | Substitutionary Death | 19 passim | — | Established loanword; ensure surrounding teaching material (not the bare word) carries substitutionary theological weight. |
| labor_pains_joy | Sorrow into joy (labor imagery) | λύπη / ὠδίνω / χαρά | lypē / ōdinō / chara | প্রসববেদনা → আনন্দ | Low-Medium | (Johannine pastoral idiom) | 16:20-22 | — | Culturally universal, accessible metaphor; low collision risk. |
| convict_elegcho | Convict/expose (the world) | ἐλέγχω | elegchō | প্রকাশিত/উদ্ঘাটিত করা | High | Holy Spirit as Counselor | 3:20; 16:8 | — | Links Spirit’s convicting ministry (16:8) to the light-exposes-darkness motif (3:20); compounds with পাপ/ধার্মিকতা/বিচার in 16:8 — Critical-tier clause overall. |
| receive_spirit_forgive_sins | ”Receive the Holy Spirit… forgive sins” | λάβετε πνεῦμα ἅγιον / ἀφῆτε τὰς ἁμαρτίας | labete pneuma hagion / aphēte tas hamartias | পবিত্র আত্মা গ্রহণ করো / পাপ ক্ষমা করা | High | Holy Spirit as Counselor; Substitutionary Death (applied) | 20:22-23 | — | Declarative/ministerial forgiveness in Christ’s name and finished work — not independent or shrine/pir-style intercessory power. |
C. Cross-Document Consistency Requirements (per Requirements Doc precedent)
The following renderings, once fixed, MUST be used identically across every Phase 2 document in the John curriculum, mirroring the Romans baseline’s treatment of Romans 1:16-17 and 10:9-10:
- John 3:16 — full verse rendering, including একমাত্র পুত্র for μονογενής and প্রেম (with mandatory teaching note) for ἠγάπησεν.
- John 1:1 — আদিতে বচন ছিল, বচন ঈশ্বরের সঙ্গে ছিলেন, বচন ঈশ্বর ছিলেন (or house-styled equivalent) — locked once fixed.
- John 14:6 — পথ, সত্য ও জীবন, with the exclusivity clause rendered in full.
- John 20:28 — আমার প্রভু ও আমার ঈশ্বর — locked, unqualified.
- John 20:30-31 — the Gospel’s purpose statement — locked, identical across all documents (parallel to the baseline’s Romans 1:16-17/10:9-10 rule).
- The seven “I Am” predicate statements and the absolute ἐγώ εἰμι form — locked to আমিই at every occurrence across all documents.
- John 10:30 / 17:11,21-23 (“one” unity language) — locked rendering plus mandatory Advaita-distinguishing translator note at every occurrence.
D. New Forbidden-Substitution Additions for the John Instruction Set
Building on the Romans baseline’s forbidden list, the following must be added for John curriculum Phase 2 processing:
- Eternal life: NEVER মোক্ষ or নির্বাণ — always অনন্ত জীবন.
- New birth / born again: NEVER পুনর্জন্ম — always নতুন জন্ম.
- Freedom from sin (John 8:32-36 only): NEVER bare মুক্তি — always a qualified phrase (পাপের দাসত্ব থেকে মুক্তি) or verb মুক্ত করা, with mandatory distinguishing note from mokṣa.
- Worship (of Christ): NEVER treat আরাধনা/প্রণিপাত as equivalent to mere social respect (নমস্কার/প্রণাম) — the object is decisive: worship directed at Jesus asserts his deity.
- “I and the Father are one” / unity language: NEVER render or teach in a way compatible with Advaitic non-dual identity-merger; unity-in-distinction must be preserved.
This glossary must be loaded alongside analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md and the Romans baseline enforcement files before any Phase 2 translation of John curriculum materials begins. New terms recorded here are pending addition to an updated translation_memory.json (version increment required per baseline update procedure) prior to Phase 2 Step 16 processing.
Critical Risk Terms
Born Again New Birth
Approved rendering: নতুন জন্ম
Transliteration: notun jonmo
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: পুনর্জন্ম
Original: γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: NEVER পুনর্জন্ম, already forbidden in the Romans baseline as the standing term for Hindu/Buddhist reincarnation through the karmic cycle. Pair with ঊর্ধ্ব থেকে (‘from above’) where the source-sense of ἄνωθεν must be foregrounded (3:7,31). Mandatory distinguishing note at every occurrence (3:3,5,7; cf. 1:12-13).
Equal With God
Approved rendering: নিজেকে ঈশ্বরের সমান করা
Transliteration: nijeke Ishshorer shoman kora
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: ἴσον ἑαυτὸν ποιῶν τῷ θεῷ
Category: Christology
‘Making himself equal with God’ (5:18) — the Jewish leaders’ correct perception of Jesus’s deity claim. Must be rendered with full force, unsoftened; mandatory theologian review.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: অনন্ত জীবন
Transliteration: ononto jibon
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Rejected alternatives: মোক্ষ, নির্বাণ, মুক্তি
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL, new forbidden-substitution pair for this curriculum: NEVER মোক্ষ (Hindu liberation from rebirth) or নির্বাণ (Buddhist cessation) — both are escape-from-existence categories. John 17:3 defines this as relational knowledge of a personal God, not absorption or cessation. This is John’s central soteriological category, functioning the way ‘salvation’ functions in Romans.
Father Son Unity
Approved rendering: আমি ও পিতা এক
Transliteration: ami o pita ek
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Original: ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν
Category: God
‘I and the Father are one’ (10:30), grammatically ἕν (unity of essence), not εἷς (identity-collapse) — extended to disciples’ unity in 17:11,21-23. CRITICAL Bengal-specific collision: readers from a Hindu Vedantic/Advaita background (culturally influential in West Bengal) risk absorbing this into অদ্বৈত non-dualism, where personal distinction is finally illusory. Mandatory distinguishing translator note and human theologian review at every occurrence. Never let oral/teaching material borrow Vedantic explanatory vocabulary (e.g. ব্রহ্ম, আত্মা-ব্রহ্ম identity language) near this text.
Father
Approved rendering: পিতা
Transliteration: Pita
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: ব্রহ্মা, সৃষ্টিকর্তা
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Never substitute Hindu creator-deity names such as ব্রহ্মা. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John. In John’s unity texts (10:30; 17:11,21-23) পিতা must remain a distinct person from the Son even while sharing one essence.
God
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বর
Transliteration: Ishshor
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ভগবান, আল্লাহ
Original: θεός
Category: God
ঈশ্বর is the settled Bengali Christian standard. ভগবান is heavily used in Bengali Hindu devotional address; আল্লাহ is the Islamic-idiom option. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John. In John, the anarthrous θεός of 1:1c (‘the Word was God’) must render as full deity — ‘বচন ঈশ্বর ছিলেন’ — never ‘একজন ঈশ্বর’ (a god).
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: পবিত্র আত্মা
Transliteration: Pobitro Attha
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: ব্রহ্ম, পরমাত্মা
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
CRITICAL: Never ব্রহ্ম or পরমাত্মা. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John. In John also the referent of the Paraclete (14:16-26; 15:26; 16:7-15) and the agent of the new birth (1:32-33; 3:5-8,34; 20:22); must remain strictly personal, reinforced against the Vedantic paramatma/brahma collision specific to John’s Bengal audience.
I Am Ego Eimi
Approved rendering: আমিই
Transliteration: amii
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Rejected alternatives: আমি আছি, আমি ছিলাম
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι
Category: Christology
Echoes Exodus 3:14 LXX ἐγώ εἰμι (God’s self-disclosed name). Lock আমিই at every occurrence, predicate and absolute forms alike (6:35,48,51; 8:12,24,28,58; 9:5; 10:7,9,11,14; 11:25; 13:19; 14:6; 15:1,5; 18:5-6,8). Never dilute the absolute form (8:58 above all) to a merely descriptive existential statement (আমি আছি) or, worse, a past-tense claim (আমি ছিলাম), which would destroy the eternal-present self-existence claim. Mandatory theologian review and Exodus 3:14 cross-reference note at every occurrence.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: দেহধারণ
Transliteration: dehodharon
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: অবতার, দেহ প্রকাশ
Original: ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: NEVER অবতার. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John. John 1:14 (ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο) is the primary New Testament textual anchor for this term across the whole curriculum.
Jesus
Approved rendering: যীশু
Transliteration: Jishu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ঈসা
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: Use the established Bengali Christian form যীশু. ঈসা is the Qur’anic/Muslim-idiom name carrying a non-divine, non-crucified, non-risen Christology incompatible with John’s presentation. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John, the Gospel’s subject throughout.
Lord
Approved rendering: প্রভু
Transliteration: provu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: মালিক, ঈশ্বর
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Must convey exclusive, supreme Lordship, not one honorific among several. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John. Climactic use at John 20:28 (Thomas’s confession) and 21:7,12.
Messiah
Approved rendering: খ্রীষ্ট
Transliteration: Khrishto
Doctrine: Messianic Promise and Fulfillment
Rejected alternatives: মশীহ, অবতার পুরুষ
Original: Χριστός / Μεσσίας
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: Use খ্রীষ্ট, never মশীহ. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John. John 1:41 itself models the needed gloss (‘we have found the Messiah, which means Christ’) without adopting Muslim-idiom vocabulary.
My Lord And My God
Approved rendering: আমার প্রভু ও আমার ঈশ্বর
Transliteration: amar provu o amar Ishshor
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου
Category: Christology
Thomas’s climactic confession (20:28), spoken directly to Jesus and left uncorrected — the Gospel’s most unambiguous statement of Christ’s full deity. LOCKED for cross-document consistency; render with full, unqualified force in every occurrence.
Only Begotten Son
Approved rendering: একমাত্র পুত্র
Transliteration: ekmatro putro
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: একজাত পুত্র
Original: μονογενής
Category: Christology
μονογενής means ‘unique, one-of-a-kind,’ not biological begetting. Reject একজাত পুত্র (a literalist calque implying procreation), which risks the exact literal-biological misreading Muslim-background readers already tend toward. Mandatory relational/eternal (not biological) sonship note at every occurrence (1:14,18; 3:16,18).
Purpose Statement 20 31
Approved rendering: যেন তোমরা বিশ্বাস করো ও তাঁর নামে জীবন পাও
Transliteration: jeno tomra bishwas koro o tar name jibon pao
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: ἵνα πιστεύσητε … ζωὴν ἔχητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ
Category: Faith
The Gospel’s own purpose/thesis statement (20:30-31) — John’s structural equivalent of Romans 1:16-17. MUST be rendered identically across every Phase 2 document in this curriculum, per the cross-document consistency rule.
Resurrection And Life
Approved rendering: পুনরুত্থান ও জীবন
Transliteration: punorutthan o jibon
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή
Category: Christology
Fifth ‘I am’ statement (11:25), compounding two already-Critical terms. Lazarus’s temporary resuscitation must stay distinguished from Christ’s own permanent, glorified resurrection.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: পুনরুত্থান
Transliteration: punorutthan
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: পুনর্জন্ম, পুনর্জীবন
Original: ἀνάστασις
Category: Eschatology
CRITICAL: NEVER পুনর্জন্ম (reincarnation). Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John. Lazarus’s raising (11:1-44) is a real but temporary resuscitation, distinguished by mandatory translator note from Christ’s own permanent, bodily, glorified resurrection (ch.20).
Righteousness
Approved rendering: ধার্মিকতা
Transliteration: dharmikota
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: ধর্ম, পুণ্য, ন্যায়
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: NEVER ধর্ম. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John. Appears compounded with পাপ and বিচার in the Spirit’s convicting clause at John 16:8,10 — all three terms carry Critical risk simultaneously in that single verse.
Salvation
Approved rendering: পরিত্রাণ
Transliteration: poritran
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: মুক্তি, মোক্ষ, নাজাত
Original: σωτηρία / σῴζω
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: NEVER মুক্তি, মোক্ষ, or নাজাত. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John. John 3:17 (‘that the world might be saved’) and 12:47 must not be softened into this-worldly rescue or karmic liberation.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বরের পুত্র
Transliteration: Ishshorer Putro
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: দেবপুত্র, ঈশ্বরের অংশ
Original: υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Full phrase required; দেবপুত্র wrongly places Christ within a pantheon of lesser divine beings. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John. Recurs as the Gospel’s structural confession-formula (1:34,49; 3:18; 5:25; 9:35; 10:36; 11:27; 19:7; 20:31); must stay distinct from ঈশ্বরের সন্তান (believers’ new-birth sonship, see children_of_god below).
Way Truth Life
Approved rendering: পথ, সত্য ও জীবন
Transliteration: poth, shotyo o jibon
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή
Category: Christology
Sixth (compound) ‘I am’ statement (14:6), with the explicit exclusivity clause ‘no one comes to the Father except through me.’ Confronts mainstream Hindu religious pluralism/inclusivism and Islamic exclusivism alike. Must render with full, unsoftened exclusivity; mandatory theologian review.
Word Logos
Approved rendering: বচন
Transliteration: bochon
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: লোগোস (bare transliteration)
Original: λόγος
Category: Christology
Established Bangladesh Bible Society / Bible Society of India rendering for λόγος; no viable Bengali substitute exists. CRITICAL collision: Bengali Muslim tradition calls Isa ‘Kalimatullah’ (Word of God, Qur’an 3:45) — a title for a created prophet, explicitly denying deity and pre-existence, the opposite of John’s claim. Mandatory translator note distinguishing the two ‘Word’ concepts wherever Muslim-background readers are in view. Locked at John 1:1 for cross-document consistency.
Worship Proskyneo
Approved rendering: আরাধনা / প্রণিপাত করা
Transliteration: aradhona / pronipat kora
Doctrine: Worship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: নমস্কার/প্রণাম (mere social respect, insufficient)
Original: προσκυνέω
Category: God
Both terms carry strong Hindu puja associations in everyday Bengali usage. Mandatory notes: (a) at 4:20-24, distinguish worship ‘in spirit and truth’ from ritual/location-bound worship; (b) at 9:38 and 20:28, worship directed at Jesus is a direct, load-bearing deity claim that must NEVER be diluted into mere respect (নমস্কার/প্রণাম).
High Risk Terms
Adoption
Approved rendering: দত্তকপুত্রতা
Transliteration: dattaka-putrota
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: দত্তক নেওয়া
Full son-status, complete inheritance rights. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John, but kept terminologically DISTINCT from John’s own τέκνα θεοῦ (‘children of God,’ new-birth vocabulary — see children_of_god below). The two concepts (Pauline adoption/υἱοθεσία and Johannine new-birth/τέκνα) are related but not verbally identical in the source languages; do not collapse the two Bengali term-families into one.
Blood And Water
Approved rendering: রক্ত ও জল
Transliteration: rokto o jol
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ
Category: Christology
Flowing from Jesus’s pierced side (19:34), tied to the fulfilled ‘not one bone broken’ Passover-lamb typology (Exodus 12:46; John 19:36). Theologian review recommended for the typological cross-references.
Bread Of Life
Approved rendering: জীবনের রুটি
Transliteration: jiboner ruti
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
First ‘I am’ statement (6:35,48,51). Requires an Exodus 16 manna-typology background note for the typology to be intelligible to OT-unfamiliar readers.
Called
Approved rendering: আহুত
Transliteration: ahuto
Doctrine: Effectual Calling and the Father’s Drawing
Rejected alternatives: আমন্ত্রিত, নিমন্ত্রিত
Effectual, not merely-invitational. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John, reinforcing the personal, initiating force required for ἑλκύω/‘draw’ at 6:44,65 and 10:27-29.
Calling
Approved rendering: আহ্বান
Transliteration: ahban
Doctrine: Effectual Calling and the Father’s Drawing
Noun form for the act/state of being called by God. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John alongside the Father’s ‘drawing’ language (ἑλκύω, 6:44) — see draw_effectual_call below for the specific John term.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বরের সন্তান
Transliteration: Ishshorer shontan
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
τέκνα θεοῦ, believers born of God (1:12-13; cf. 11:52) — plural children by new birth. Must be kept verbally distinct from ঈশ্বরের একমাত্র পুত্র (Christ’s unique Sonship, by nature not new birth). Also distinct from the Romans-baseline adoption/দত্তকপুত্রতা term-family; do not merge the two vocabularies.
Convict Elegcho
Approved rendering: প্রকাশিত/উদ্ঘাটিত করা
Transliteration: prokashito/udghatito kora
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: ἐλέγχω
Category: Judgment
The Spirit’s active ministry of exposing/convicting the world ‘concerning sin and righteousness and judgment’ (16:8), linked to the light-exposes-darkness motif of 3:20. This single clause compounds পাপ, ধার্মিকতা, and বিচার — three already Critical/High terms — making 16:8 a Critical-tier text overall requiring mandatory theologian review.
Cross Crucify
Approved rendering: ক্রুশ / ক্রুশে দেওয়া
Transliteration: krush / krushe deoa
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: স্তম্ভ (rejected, associated with Jehovah’s Witness NWT ‘stake’ rendering)
Original: ὁ σταυρός / σταυρόω
Category: Christology
Established loanword terms in Bengali Christian usage. Low word-risk standalone but the event itself is Critical; ensure surrounding teaching material carries the substitutionary weight, not the bare vocabulary alone. NEVER স্তম্ভ (stake), the Jehovah’s Witness New World Translation rendering that denies traditional crucifixion iconography.
Draw Effectual Call
Approved rendering: আকর্ষণ করা / আকৃষ্ট করা
Transliteration: akorshon kora / akrishto kora
Doctrine: Effectual Calling and the Father’s Drawing
Rejected alternatives: ভাগ্য, নিয়তি
Original: ἑλκύω
Category: Salvation
‘No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him’ (6:44; cf. 12:32 different sense). Must not be rendered as impersonal fate but as the Father’s personal, effectual, initiating grace.
Eat Flesh Drink Blood
Approved rendering: মাংস ভোজন করা / রক্ত পান করা
Transliteration: mangsho bhojon kora / rokto pan kora
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: φαγεῖν τὴν σάρκα / πιεῖν τὸ αἷμα
Category: Christology
Shockingly literal-sounding language (6:53-56) for total, personal appropriation of Christ’s substitutionary death and life. Culturally combustible for Bengali readers: risks a literal-cannibalism misreading and collides with strong Hindu vegetarian/ahimsa sensibility and the Islamic prohibition (ḥarām) on consuming blood. Mandatory figurative-appropriation note tying this to the Lamb of God (ch.1) and substitutionary death every occurrence.
Election
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বরের মনোনয়ন
Transliteration: Ishshorer monownoyon
Doctrine: Effectual Calling and the Father’s Drawing
Rejected alternatives: ভাগ্য, নিয়তি, কর্মফল
God’s sovereign, personal choice; never karma-determined fate. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John as the conceptual background to ‘all that the Father gives me will come’ (6:37,39; 10:27-29; 17:2,6-9).
Faith
Approved rendering: বিশ্বাস
Transliteration: bishwas
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Rejected alternatives: ঈমান, শ্রদ্ধা
Original: πίστις / πιστεύω
Category: Faith
Personal trust in Christ specifically; never ঈমান or শ্রদ্ধা. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John, extended to the verb form বিশ্বাস করা (πιστεύω, occurring roughly 98 times in John), always with the object retained (‘in him,’ ‘in his name’). Underlies the Gospel’s own purpose statement (20:31).
Freedom Slavery
Approved rendering: মুক্ত করা (verb) / পাপের দাসত্ব থেকে মুক্তি (qualified noun phrase)
Transliteration: mukto kora / paper dashotto theke mukti
Doctrine: Freedom from Slavery to Sin
Rejected alternatives: মুক্তি (bare noun form)
Original: ἐλευθερία / δοῦλος
Category: Salvation
The natural term মুক্তি is exactly the word the Romans baseline forbids for ‘salvation’ (Hindu/Buddhist mokṣa association). This doctrine cannot avoid freedom/slavery language (8:31-36), so it is narrowed rather than banned: use verb মুক্ত করা or the qualified phrase পাপের দাসত্ব থেকে মুক্তি, NEVER bare মুক্তি. Mandatory distinguishing note from mokṣa at every occurrence.
Glory
Approved rendering: মহিমা
Transliteration: mohima
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: জ্যোতি, তেজ
Original: δόξα
Category: God
NEVER তেজ (Hindu divine-light/deity-aura association). Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John. John’s paradox that the cross itself is Christ’s glorification (12:23-33; 17:1,5,24) must be preserved consistently alongside the lifted_up entry.
Good Shepherd
Approved rendering: উত্তম মেষপালক
Transliteration: uttom meshopalok
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός
Category: Christology
Fourth ‘I am’ statement (10:11,14): Christ who lays down his life for the sheep — directly a substitutionary-death statement (10:11,15,17-18).
Grace
Approved rendering: অনুগ্রহ
Transliteration: anugroho
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: কৃপা, পুণ্য, ভাগ্য
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Unmerited favor from God. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John, paired with truth as Christ’s covenantal character (‘grace upon grace,’ 1:14,16-17), echoing the LXX’s ḥesed weʾemet now embodied in Christ.
Holy One Of God
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বরের সেই পবিত্র ব্যক্তি
Transliteration: Ishshorer shei pobitro bekti
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Peter’s confession (6:69), parallel to Martha’s (11:27) and Thomas’s (20:28) — a rising sequence of deity/uniqueness confessions. Consistency across this confession-sequence is important.
Holy
Approved rendering: পবিত্র
Transliteration: pobitro
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: শুচি, নির্মল
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Set apart for God and morally pure. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John, used of Christ himself in Peter’s confession (6:69, ‘the Holy One of God’ — see holy_one_of_god below).
It Is Finished
Approved rendering: সম্পূর্ণ হলো
Transliteration: sompurno holo
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: যা ঘটার তা ঘটে গেল
Original: τετέλεσται
Category: Christology
Christ’s dying declaration (19:30) that his redemptive mission is fully, purposively accomplished — active completion, not passive cessation. Reject a fatalistic/passive gloss (‘what was going to happen has happened’), which undercuts the substitutionary-death theology of purposive accomplishment; ties to 17:4.
Judgment Condemn
Approved rendering: বিচার / দণ্ডিত হওয়া
Transliteration: bichar / dondito howa
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: κρίσις / κρίνω
Category: Judgment
Two collision points require translator notes: (1) Hindu karma theology treats fate as an impersonal cosmic ledger, whereas John’s judgment is a personal verdict tied to a present decision about Christ; (2) Islamic eschatology locates judgment exclusively at a future Day of Reckoning, whereas John’s ‘already condemned’ (ἤδη, 3:18) is a genuinely distinct present-tense claim that must not be softened.
King Of The Jews
Approved rendering: যিহুদীদের রাজা
Transliteration: Jihudider raja
Doctrine: Messianic Promise and Fulfillment
Original: ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων / τοῦ Ἰσραήλ
Category: Christology
Royal-messianic title used mockingly-yet-truly at the trial and crucifixion (18:33-19:22), echoing 1:49 and 12:13 (‘King of Israel’). Consistency of রাজা vocabulary required across ch.1,12,18-19; reinforce the non-territorial kingdom_of_god caution.
Lamb Of God
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বরের মেষশিশু
Transliteration: Ishshorer meshoshishu
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
John the Baptist’s identification of Jesus (1:29,36) as the sacrificial Lamb who ‘takes away the sin of the world.’ Requires an OT Passover/Isaiah 53 sacrificial-system background note; substitutionary sacrifice is not intuitive within mainstream Bengali Hindu bhakti devotionalism or Islamic Eid practice.
Law
Approved rendering: ব্যবস্থা
Transliteration: bebostha
Doctrine: Sabbath and Legal Controversies
Rejected alternatives: ধর্ম, শরিয়ত, নিয়ম
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
The Mosaic law; never ধর্ম or শরিয়ত. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John, background to the Sabbath controversies (5:9-18; 7:19-23,49-51; 9:14-16).
Lifted Up
Approved rendering: উঁচুতে তুলে ধরা / উন্নত করা
Transliteration: uNchute tule dhora / unnoto kora
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὑψωθῆναι
Category: Christology
Double meaning of ὑψωθῆναι (crucifixion + exaltation), exploited identically at 3:14, 8:28, and 12:32-34. Render with one consistent Bengali term across all three occurrences, or the theological connection linking them is lost.
Light Of World
Approved rendering: জগতের আলো
Transliteration: jagoter alo
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Christology
Second ‘I am’ statement (8:12; cf. 9:5). Carries both the light_darkness risk profile and the full ‘I am’ deity-claim weight.
Love Agape
Approved rendering: প্রেম
Transliteration: prem
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Rejected alternatives: ভালোবাসা (secondary gloss only)
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: God
Established Bible term but also the central technical term of Bengali Gaudiya Vaishnava bhakti devotionalism (Chaitanya tradition, Radha-Krishna prema) — passionate, often erotically-coded, mutual devotional longing. Mandatory translator/teaching note at every agapē text (3:16; 13:34-35; 15:9-13; 21:15-16) clarifying that biblical প্রেম here is self-giving, sacrificial, and initiated by God toward the unworthy, not mutual romantic/ecstatic devotion.
New Commandment
Approved rendering: নতুন আদেশ
Transliteration: notun adesh
Doctrine: The Love Command and Christian Fellowship
Original: ἐντολὴ καινή
Category: God
‘Love one another as I have loved you’ (13:34-35; 15:12-13,17) — explicitly cruciform, other-directed love modeled on the foot-washing and the cross. Carries forward the love_agape/প্রেম-bhakti collision risk.
Paraclete Counselor
Approved rendering: সাহায্যকারী
Transliteration: shahajjokari
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Rejected alternatives: উকিল
Original: ὁ παράκλητος
Category: God
No single Bengali word covers παράκλητος’s full range (advocate/comforter/teacher/convictor). উকিল rejected as too narrowly forensic/transactional. Unpack the fuller range via mandatory translator note at first occurrence (14:16), reinforced at 16:7-11. Must always be personal — পবিত্র আত্মা as referent, never an impersonal force.
Receive Spirit Forgive Sins
Approved rendering: পবিত্র আত্মা গ্রহণ করো / পাপ ক্ষমা করা
Transliteration: Pobitro Attha grohon karo / pap kshoma kora
Doctrine: Sin and Human Guilt
Original: λάβετε πνεῦμα ἅγιον / ἀφῆτε τὰς ἁμαρτίας
Category: God
‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins…’ (20:22-23). Requires care not to be read, in a culture where shrine/pir-based intercessory forgiveness is a live folk-religious category, as investing the church with an independent power to forgive sins; this is declarative/ministerial forgiveness in Christ’s name, on the basis of his finished work (19:30).
Sanctification
Approved rendering: পবিত্রীকরণ
Transliteration: pobitrikoron
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: শুদ্ধিকরণ
Original: ἁγιάζω / ἁγιασμός
Category: Sanctification
Distinct from Hindu ritual purification (shuddhi) or Islamic ritual cleanliness (taharah). Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John (17:17,19), where Christ’s self-sanctification (17:19) ties directly to his substitutionary death for the disciples’ sake.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: দায়ূদের বংশ
Transliteration: Dayuder bongsho
Doctrine: Davidic Lineage Background
Conveys physical lineage and covenant fulfillment. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John as background vocabulary for the crowd’s Davidic-origin debate (7:40-43), even though John’s narrative itself never states the phrase directly.
Sin
Approved rendering: পাপ
Transliteration: pap
Doctrine: Sin and Human Guilt
Rejected alternatives: অধর্ম, অশুচিতা
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Moral transgression before a personal God, distinct from ritual impurity. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John. John 9:2-3,41 explicitly rejects a simple suffering-equals-sin/karma equation — a note is required alongside this term wherever illness/suffering is discussed.
Son Of Man
Approved rendering: মনুষ্যপুত্র
Transliteration: manushyoputro
Doctrine: Son of Man and the Genuine Humanity of Christ
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου
Category: Christology
Daniel-7 authority title emphasizing genuine humanity AND heavenly, pre-existent origin. Two opposite mis-readings possible: reducing Christ to merely human, or conflating with ঈশ্বরের পুত্র so the title’s human self-designation loses force. Mandatory distinguishing note at every occurrence (1:51; 3:13-14; 5:27; 6:27,53,62; 9:35; 12:23,34; 13:31).
True Vine
Approved rendering: সত্য দ্রাক্ষালতা
Transliteration: shotyo drakkhalota
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή
Category: Christology
Seventh ‘I am’ statement (15:1,5), drawing on OT vine-as-Israel imagery (Psalm 80; Isaiah 5), now transferred to Christ. Requires that OT background note for full force.
Wind Spirit Wordplay
Approved rendering: বায়ু/বাতাস (wind) / পবিত্র আত্মা (Spirit)
Transliteration: bayu/batash (wind) / Pobitro Attha (Spirit)
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Original: πνεῦμα
Category: God
Greek πνεῦμα wordplay at 3:8 (one word = wind and Spirit) is unreproducible in Bengali; the sovereign-freedom point must be stated explicitly in surrounding teaching material rather than relying on the pun.
World Kosmos
Approved rendering: জগৎ
Transliteration: jagat
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Rejected alternatives: বিশ্ব, দুনিয়া
Original: κόσμος
Category: Salvation
Same Bengali word must serve two opposite Johannine senses: (a) humanity as God’s love-object (3:16); (b) the organized system in rebellion against God (15:18-19; 16:33). জগৎ carries Hindu māyā/cosmological overtones (the impermanent phenomenal world to be transcended) that map onto neither sense cleanly. Mandatory context-flagging note at every occurrence distinguishing which sense is active.
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বরের ক্রোধ
Transliteration: Ishshorer krodh
Doctrine: The Wrath of God
Original: ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: God
ক্রোধ risks reading through fierce, emotionally volatile deity-iconography (Kali/Durga’s wrathful aspect, Shiva’s destructive rage), historically centered in Bengal. Must be presented as God’s settled, judicial opposition to unbelief (3:36), not capricious rage.
Medium Risk Terms
Abide Meno
Approved rendering: লেগে থাকা / স্থির থাকা
Transliteration: lege thaka / sthir thaka
Doctrine: Church Unity of Believers
Original: μένω
Category: Faith
Relational, covenantal, fruit-bearing union with Christ (15:4-10), retaining distinct believer identity (a branch can be ‘cut off’). Partial cultural analogue in Hindu bhakti’s abiding-closeness risks a monistic-merger overreading; note required that this is not absorption of selfhood.
Agape Vs Phileo
Approved rendering: প্রেম করা / স্নেহ করা
Transliteration: prem kora / sneho kora
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Original: ἀγαπάω / φιλέω
Category: God
Jesus’s threefold question to Peter (21:15-17), alternating ἀγαπάω and φιλέω. Recommend against over-pressing a hard theological distinction the Greek may not fully support stylistically, while preserving two distinct Bengali words.
Apostle
Approved rendering: প্রেরিত
Transliteration: prerito
Doctrine: Mission and Sending
Rejected alternatives: দূত, বার্তাবাহক
Authorized, sent-out messenger. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John as the lexical root of the ‘sending’ vocabulary Christ applies to the Father’s sending of himself and his sending of the disciples (17:18; 20:21) — ἀποστέλλω root.
Church
Approved rendering: মণ্ডলী
Transliteration: mondoli
Doctrine: Church Unity of Believers
Rejected alternatives: মন্দির, গির্জা
The assembly of believers; never মন্দির (Hindu temple). Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John as the ecclesial category underlying ‘one flock, one shepherd’ (10:16) and the disciples’ unity (17:20-23). NOTE: মন্দির IS acceptable in John for the literal Jerusalem temple building (2:19-21) — a distinct, non-ecclesial usage that must not be confused with this entry.
David
Approved rendering: দায়ূদ
Transliteration: Dayud
Doctrine: Davidic Lineage Background
Original: Δαυίδ
Category: Covenant
Established Bengali Bible proper-name form. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John. Background to the Bethlehem-vs-Galilee origin debate (7:40-43), never named directly there but presupposed; requires an explicit OT covenant background note.
Door Gate
Approved rendering: দ্বার
Transliteration: dwar
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἡ θύρα
Category: Christology
Third ‘I am’ statement (10:7,9): Christ as the sole, exclusive means of access to the sheepfold/salvation. Low collision risk standalone; carries the full weight of the ‘I am’ pattern.
Flesh Sarx
Approved rendering: মাংস / শারীরিক স্বভাব
Transliteration: mangsho / sharirik sbhabo
Doctrine: Incarnation
Original: σάρξ
Category: Christology
মাংস usually means ‘meat’ in everyday Bengali, risking a literalistic/dietary misreading, especially compounded at 6:51-56 (see eat_flesh_drink_blood). শারীরিক স্বভাব (‘bodily nature’) is an acceptable alternative in flowing prose (1:14; 3:6).
Gentiles
Approved rendering: পরজাতি
Transliteration: porojati
Doctrine: Universal Scope of the Gospel
Rejected alternatives: বিদেশী
Original: ἔθνη / Ἕλληνες
Category: Church
Non-Jewish peoples generally. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John as the conceptual category behind the Greeks seeking Jesus (12:20-21) and Caiaphas’s remark about gathering ‘the scattered children of God’ (11:51-52).
Grain Of Wheat
Approved rendering: গমের একটি দানা
Transliteration: gomer ekti dana
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σίτου
Category: Christology
‘Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies…’ (12:24) — an agricultural death-and-fruitfulness metaphor for substitutionary death. Culturally accessible in agrarian Bengal; low collision risk but load-bearing imagery requiring non-literal handling.
Hour Hora
Approved rendering: আমার সময় / আমার নির্ধারিত সময়
Transliteration: amar shomoy / amar nirdharito shomoy
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὥρα
Category: Christology
Recurring ‘my hour’ motif (2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23,27; 13:1; 17:1) — the divinely appointed time of Jesus’s death and glorification. Not a literal clock-hour; inconsistent rendering across chapters would obscure this literary-theological thread.
Intercession
Approved rendering: মধ্যস্থতা
Transliteration: moddhosthota
Doctrine: Prayer in Jesus’s Name
Rejected alternatives: সুপারিশ
Prayer on behalf of others before God. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John as the background category for Christ’s own intercessory High Priestly Prayer (ch.17) and for teaching the difference from shrine/pir-based folk intercession (14:13-14; 16:23-26).
Israel
Approved rendering: ইস্রায়েল
Transliteration: Israel
Doctrine: Messianic Promise and Fulfillment
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Established proper-name form. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John (1:31,47,49; 3:10; 12:13).
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: ঈশ্বরের রাজ্য
Transliteration: Ishshorer Rajyo
Doctrine: The Non-Political Nature of Christ’s Kingdom
Rejected alternatives: ঈশ্বরের দেশ
God’s sovereign reign, not a territorial or political kingdom. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John (3:3,5; 18:36), where 18:36’s ‘my kingdom is not of this world’ is the Gospel’s clearest statement of this caution, spoken by Jesus on trial before Pilate.
Light Darkness
Approved rendering: আলো / অন্ধকার
Transliteration: alo / ondhokar
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: φῶς / σκότος (σκοτία)
Category: Judgment
Moral/volitional contrast (‘loved darkness,’ 3:19, the same verb as 3:16), not merely cognitive ignorance-vs-enlightenment (risk of Hindu jñāna/avidyā overreading). Applies at 1:4-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36,46.
Living Water
Approved rendering: জীবন্ত জল
Transliteration: jibonto jol
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: ὕδωρ ζῶν
Category: Salvation
The Spirit-given life Christ gives that permanently satisfies (4:10-14), explicitly identified with the Spirit at 7:37-39. Tie explicitly by translator note to the ζωὴ αἰώνιος/πνεῦμα vocabulary already established in ch.3.
Overcome World
Approved rendering: জয় করা
Transliteration: joy kora
Doctrine: Comfort in Tribulation
Original: νικάω
Category: Faith
‘I have overcome the world’ (16:33) — victory over sin, Satan’s dominion, and death, not this-worldly or communal-triumphalist victory, a real risk given Bengal’s religiously plural, sometimes communally tense, social context.
Passover
Approved rendering: নিস্তারপর্ব
Transliteration: nistarporbo
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: πάσχα
Category: Covenant
Established Bengali OT/NT term (Πάσχα), semantically transparent (‘festival of deliverance’). Ties crucifixion timing to Exodus deliverance typology (2:13,23; 6:4; 11:55; 12:1; 13:1; 18:28,39; 19:14).
Peace
Approved rendering: শান্তি
Transliteration: shanti
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: সুখ, স্বস্তি
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Relational, covenantal peace, not psychological calm. Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for John (14:27; 16:33; 20:19,21,26), where it is Christ’s gift before departure and his post-resurrection greeting.
Perish Apollymi
Approved rendering: বিনষ্ট হওয়া / ধ্বংস হওয়া
Transliteration: binosto howa / dhongsho howa
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: ἀπόλλυμι
Category: Judgment
The negative counterpart to eternal life (3:16; 10:28; 17:12). Must not be softened into a merely unpleasant this-worldly outcome, and must not be conflated with a neutral, Buddhist-style cessation; it names real, final ruin.
Prince Of This World
Approved rendering: এই জগতের অধিপতি
Transliteration: ei jagoter odhipoti
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου
Category: Judgment
Satan, the world’s usurper-ruler, to be ‘cast out’ through the cross (12:31; 14:30; 16:11). Must convey a real but already-defeated usurper, avoiding both a dualist rival-to-God reading and a folk-animist negotiable-spirit-power reading.
Samaritan
Approved rendering: শমরীয়
Transliteration: Shomoriyo
Doctrine: Universal Scope of the Gospel
Original: Σαμαρίτης / Σαμαρῖτις
Category: Church
A mixed-ancestry, rival-worshiping community, religiously and ethnically estranged from Jews (ch.4). Requires cultural-background note; a cautious, non-literal analogy to Bengal’s own religious-communal boundary lines may aid comprehension but must not be pressed literally.
Serpent Typology
Approved rendering: সর্প
Transliteration: shorpo
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ὄφις
Category: Covenant
The bronze serpent of Numbers 21:4-9, typologically fulfilled in Christ’s being ‘lifted up’ (3:14). Low word-risk standalone, but requires an OT-background note for the typology to land, given low OT narrative literacy among both Hindu- and Muslim-background readers.
Sign Semeion
Approved rendering: চিহ্ন
Transliteration: chinho
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: লক্ষণ
Original: σημεῖον
Category: Christology
A miraculous act functioning as a revelatory pointer to Christ’s identity (~17 occurrences, e.g. 2:11,23; 4:54; 6:2,14,26; 9:16; 11:47; 12:18,37; 20:30). Risk of being misread through a folk-astrological or omen-reading lens (লক্ষণ); translator note required: these are God-given, Christ-revealing acts, not fortune-signs.
Spirit Of Truth
Approved rendering: সত্যের আত্মা
Transliteration: shotyer attha
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας
Category: God
Reinforces the Spirit’s personal, truth-revealing character (14:17; 15:26; 16:13).
Truth Aletheia
Approved rendering: সত্য
Transliteration: shotyo
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
Ultimate divine reality embodied in Christ (14:6), not merely factual correctness. ‘Doing the truth’ (3:21) means lived, practiced fidelity — must not be flattened to correct doctrinal belief alone.
Witness Testimony
Approved rendering: সাক্ষ্য / সাক্ষী
Transliteration: sakkhyo / sakkhi
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω
Category: Faith
Solemn, authoritative attestation (~47 occurrences in John). Bengali legal/courtroom register helps convey juridical certainty but risks being read as one opinion among competing testimonies in an interfaith setting; note required that Christ’s testimony is authoritative, not one voice among equals (3:11,32-33; 5:31-39).
Low Risk Terms
Bridegroom
Approved rendering: বর
Transliteration: bor
Doctrine: Messianic Promise and Fulfillment
Original: ὁ νυμφίος
Category: Christology
John the Baptist’s self-effacing image (3:29) pointing to Christ as the true bridegroom. Low doctrinal weight standalone; flag only for consistency if bridal/marriage imagery recurs elsewhere.
Feed My Sheep
Approved rendering: আমার মেষশিশুদের খাওয়াও
Transliteration: amar meshoshishuder khaoao
Doctrine: Christ-Centered Shepherding Ministry
Original: βόσκε τὰ ἀρνία μου / ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου
Category: Church
Peter’s recommissioning (21:15-17), delegated not independent shepherding under Christ’s ultimate ownership (cf. 10:11, ‘his own sheep’).
Labor Pains Joy
Approved rendering: প্রসববেদনা / আনন্দ
Transliteration: prosob-bedona / anondo
Doctrine: Comfort in Tribulation
Original: λύπη / ὠδίνω / χαρά
Category: Faith
A woman’s labor pains turning to joy (16:20-22), illustrating the disciples’ grief turning to joy. Culturally universal, accessible metaphor; low collision risk.
Referenced passages