Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 2 John
Per-term glossary covering every load-bearing term identified across the entire book of 2 John (1:1-13), citing terms from the core passage (1:4-11) and the remainder of the single-chapter book (1:1-3, 1:12-13).
Reused Baseline Terms (must match translation_memory.json exactly)
| English Term | Greek | Bodo Rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Verse Refs | Baseline Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | θεός | ईश्वर | Isor | Critical | Deity of Christ / God | 1:3, 1:9 | translation_memory.json |
| Father | πατήρ | आफा | afa | Critical | Adoption / Father | 1:3, 1:4, 1:9 | translation_memory.json |
| Son (of God) | υἱός | ईश्वरनि गोरा | Isornni gwra | Critical | Sonship of Christ | 1:3, 1:9 | translation_memory.json |
| Jesus | Ἰησοῦς | जिसु | Jisu | Critical | Lordship of Christ | 1:3, 1:7 | translation_memory.json |
| Christ | Χριστός | मसीह | Mosih | Critical | Messianic Promise | 1:3, 1:7, 1:9 | translation_memory.json |
| grace | χάρις | मोफादांनाय दान | mwphwdangnai daan | Critical | Grace | 1:3 | translation_memory.json |
| peace | εἰρήνη | सान्ति | santi | Medium (Critical when contrasted w/ works) | Peace with God | 1:3, 1:10-11 (greeting withheld) | translation_memory.json |
| election / elect | ἐκλεκτός/ἐκλογή root | सायख (root) | saikho | High | Election | 1:1, 1:13 | translation_memory.json |
| fellowship / share (root) | κοινωνία root | गोसो जोंथानाय (root) | gwsw jwnthanai | Low (positive) / Medium (negative complicity sense in 1:11) | Christian Fellowship | 1:11 | translation_memory.json |
| obedience/acknowledgment (root) | related to ὁμολογέω via मानोन root | मानोन (root) | manwn | High | Obedience of Faith | 1:7 (confession) | translation_memory.json |
| incarnation (body/flesh root) | σάρξ / incarnation compound | गुदि (root, from मानसि गुदि सोलायनाय) | gudi | Critical | Incarnation | 1:7 | translation_memory.json |
New Terms Introduced by 2 John (not present in baseline translation memory)
| English Term | Greek (Translit) | Literal Meaning | Bodo Rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Verse Refs | Collision Reasoning (Critical/High) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| truth | ἀλήθεια (alētheia) | that which is real/veracious | सत्य | shotyo | High | Walking in Truth and Love | 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 | सत्य is a Sanskrit/Assamese loan carrying live currency in Brahma Dharma’s own reform ethic (satya as cosmic/moral truth); must be explicitly anchored to the apostolic gospel content about Christ, not generic moral honesty or dharma-truth. |
| love | ἀγάπη/ἀγαπάω (agapē/agapaō) | self-giving covenantal love | प्रेम | prem | High | Walking in Truth and Love | 1:1, 1:3, 1:5, 1:6 | Must be taught as commandment-shaped, sacrificial love flowing from truth, distinguished from generic bhakti-style devotional affection language current in reform-movement hymnody and from clan-based relational obligation. |
| commandment | ἐντολή (entolē) | authoritative instruction | हुकुम | hukum | High | Walking in Truth and Love | 1:4, 1:5, 1:6 | Risks being reheard as a codified rule (paralleling Brahma Dharma’s own नियम reform rules, or Bathou ritual-taboo prescriptions) rather than relational obedience flowing from love and truth; requires explicit contrast, per the baseline’s identical warning for “law.” |
| walk / conduct oneself | περιπατέω (peripateō) | to walk (idiom: to live/conduct oneself) | हांनाय | hannai | Medium | Walking in Truth and Love | 1:4, 1:6 | Must convey ongoing lifestyle, not a ritual procession (distinguish from Kherai puja processions). |
| children | τέκνον/τέκνα (teknon/tekna) | offspring; community members | फिसा | phisa | Low | Walking in Truth and Love | 1:1, 1:4, 1:13 | Minor risk of over-literalizing a possibly figurative “children” (house-church members). |
| deceiver | πλάνος (planos) | one who leads astray | फटायग्रा | phataygra | High | Warning against Deceivers | 1:7 | Must denote an active, itinerant false teacher, not a folk-category trickster-spirit; keep distinct from generic “liar.” |
| world | κόσμος (kosmos) | the ordered world; world-system in rebellion | दुनिया | duniya | Medium | Warning against Deceivers | 1:7 | Distinguish theological “world in rebellion” sense from the Bathou five-element cosmology (ha/dwi/bar/or/okhrang) framing of the physical world. |
| confess | ὁμολογέω (homologeō) | to publicly acknowledge/affirm | स्वीकार होनाय | sikar honai | High | Warning against Deceivers | 1:7 | Parallel in doctrinal weight to the Romans 10:9 Lordship confession; must convey definite, public affirmation of Christ’s incarnation, not private opinion or generic politeness. |
| in flesh / flesh | σάρξ / ἐν σαρκί (sarx / en sarki) | physical human body/nature | गुदिजों (phrase using गुदि) | gudijong | Critical | Warning against Deceivers / Incarnation | 1:7 | Directly names the incarnation; must use the same body/flesh root already established in the baseline’s incarnation compound (मानसि गुदि सोलायनाय) to preserve conceptual continuity, and must never be confused with the doudini’s temporary Kherai-trance embodiment. |
| antichrist | ἀντίχριστος (antichristos) | one against/in place of Christ | मसीह-बिरोधी | Mosih-birodhi | Critical | Warning against Deceivers | 1:7 | Must be taught as a specific theological category (denial of the incarnation), not a generic “enemy,” and must not be assimilated into the Bathou/Kherai pantheon’s own categories of opposing or malevolent spirits requiring ritual appeasement. |
| reward | μισθός (misthos) | wage/payment due | फल | phal | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:8 | Strong collision with कर्मफल (karma-phal, “fruit of works”) absorbed into Bodo religious discourse through Brahma Dharma; must be taught as an eschatological gift tied to grace-enabled perseverance, never a self-earned merit payout. |
| goes ahead / goes beyond | προάγω/προάγων (proagō/proagōn) | to advance past a point | आगु सोलायनाय | agu solainai | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:9 | Parallels Brahma Dharma’s own 1912 self-description as “progressive reform” beyond traditional Bodo religion; must be explicitly taught that going beyond Christ’s teaching is departure, not legitimate advancement. |
| abide / remain | μένω (menō) | to continue dwelling/remaining | थानाय | thanai | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:2, 1:9 (x2) | Central perseverance verb for the whole letter; must be rendered consistently across all occurrences to preserve the doctrinal thread from “truth abiding in us” (1:2) to “abiding in the teaching” (1:9). |
| teaching / doctrine (of Christ) | διδαχή (didachē) | body of authoritative instruction | उपदेश | updesh | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:9, 1:10 | Bodo has no settled devotional-register word for “doctrine” independent of Brahma Dharma’s own reform literature, which uses comparable उपदेश-type vocabulary for its own codified teaching; must always be anchored explicitly to Christ as sole source. |
| have / possess (God) | ἔχω (echō), re: θεὸν ἔχει | to have/hold in relationship | मोनानाय | monanai | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:9 (x2) | “Having God” risks being reheard through the Bathou household framework in which Bathoubwrai’s presence is physically sited via the sijou plant in the courtyard; must be taught as relational/doctrinal possession through right confession, not ritual object-possession. |
| receive into house / hospitality | λαμβάνω εἰς οἰκίαν (lambanō eis oikian) | to take/welcome into the home | नोआव लानाय | noao lanai | High | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | 1:10 | Bodo village culture places very high value on hospitality; this narrow, doctrine-specific exception (withholding house-church platform from a specific denier of the incarnation) must not be taught as general license for inhospitality. |
| greeting (withheld) | χαίρειν (chairein) | “Hail!”/“Greetings!” (fixed greeting formula) | सान्ति होनाय | santi honai | High | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | 1:10, 1:11 | Reuses the baseline “peace” term (सान्ति) as the content of the withheld greeting-blessing; withholding this specific formal blessing signals refusal of doctrinal endorsement, not rudeness in general. |
| share in / participate in | κοινωνέω (koinōneō) | to become a joint participant | बाहागो लानाय | bahago lanai | Medium | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | 1:11 | Negative-sense complicity in another’s evil deeds; distinct from the baseline’s positive “fellowship” (κοινωνία) sense — same conceptual root, opposite moral valence, must be clearly distinguished in teaching notes. |
| evil works | ἔργα πονηρά (erga ponēra) | wicked deeds | बेया गुन | beya gun | Medium | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | 1:11 | Frames doctrinal denial of the incarnation as an active moral evil, not a neutral alternative opinion. |
| mercy | ἔλεος (eleos) | compassionate favor toward the needy | दाया | daya | Medium | (Salutation blessing triad) | 1:3 | Collision risk parallel to “grace”: could be absorbed into a bhakti-style devotional-compassion framework; must be taught within the same apart-from-merit framework as grace. |
| elder (church office / author title) | πρεσβύτερος (presbyteros) | older man; church leadership title | मण्डलीनि आगोमोन | mwndolini agomon | High | (Author’s self-designation) | 1:1 | Must NOT use बुरहा/बर’ऐ (Bathoubwrai/Kherai-pantheon elder-deity honorifics, forbidden in the baseline for “Lord”); using such a title for a human church leader risks importing animist elder-deity register onto a human author. |
| lady (address) | κυρία (kyria) | honorific for a woman | आदरनि बिमा | adworni bima | High | (Addressee) | 1:1, 1:5 | Shares root with κύριος/Lord (प्रभु, reserved exclusively for Christ in the baseline); must never be rendered with प्रभु or any cognate that could imply the addressee shares Christ’s exclusive Lordship title. |
| forever / eternity | αἰών (aiōn) | unending duration | हमेशा | hamesha | Low | (Truth’s permanence) | 1:2 | Minor risk of reading as long duration rather than eternal permanence. |
| beginning | ἀρχή (archē) | the start (of apostolic proclamation) | गिबिनाव | gibinao | Low | (Doctrinal continuity) | 1:5, 1:6 | Minor risk of reading as merely “recently” rather than the fixed apostolic starting point. |
| rejoice / joy | χαίρω / χαρά (chairō / chara) | to be glad / gladness | खुशी | khushi | Low | (Pastoral tone) | 1:4, 1:12 | No significant doctrinal risk; note the deliberate contrast with the withheld greeting-formula χαίρειν of vv.10-11, which uses the same root with doctrinal weight. |
| sister | ἀδελφή (adelphē) | sister (biological or spiritual) | भोनी | bhoni | Low | (Closing greeting) | 1:13 | No significant doctrinal risk; provisional common-noun rendering, confirm regional naturalness with native speakers. |
| lose / forfeit | ἀπόλλυμι (apollymi) | to lose, forfeit | हारनाय | haranai | Low | (Warning) | 1:8 | No significant doctrinal risk. |
| epistolary greeting (closing) | ἀσπάζομαι (aspazomai) | ordinary closing greeting | सालाम होनाय | salaam honai | Low | (Closing convention) | 1:13 | No significant doctrinal risk; distinct from the theologically loaded χαίρειν of vv.10-11. |
Risk Summary for 2 John
| Risk Tier | Count (new terms) | Count (reused baseline terms) |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 2 (flesh/incarnation-in-context, antichrist) | 9 (God, Father, Son, Jesus, Christ, grace, incarnation-root, and the paired Father/Son occurrences) |
| High | 12 | 2 (election root, obedience/confession root) |
| Medium | 5 | 2 (peace, fellowship root — negative-sense usage) |
| Low | 7 | 0 |
Review routing implication (per baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json conventions): All Critical and High-risk terms above require human theologian review before Phase 2 deployment; Medium-risk terms require native speaker review; Low-risk terms require automated review only. Terms marked “New (2 John)” additionally require the same confirm-with-Bodo-speaking-theologian workflow the baseline applied to its own provisional compounds (e.g., “adoption,” “covenant,” “fellowship”) before wide deployment.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: ईश्वर
Transliteration: Isor
Doctrine: Deity of Christ / Grace, Mercy, and Peace from the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: बाथौबुरै (never use as the primary term for the biblical God; reserve strictly for describing traditional Bathou belief)
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for 2 John 1:3, 1:9. In 1:9, ‘having God’ (ईश्वरखौ मोनानाय) must be taught as relational/doctrinal possession through right confession of Christ’s teaching, not physical/ritual possession of a Bathou-style courtyard sijou-plant object.
Father
Approved rendering: आफा
Transliteration: afa
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family / Grace, Mercy, and Peace from the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: बाथौबुरै (reserve strictly for describing traditional belief, never for the biblical Father)
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for 2 John 1:3-4, 1:9. Paired with ‘Son’ in 1:9 as the diagnostic test of true belief: whoever abides in Christ’s teaching has both the Father and the Son.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: ईश्वरनि गोरा
Transliteration: Isornni gwra
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: देवता गोरा (a lesser divine being’s son, an explicit downgrade)
Original: υἱός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for 2 John 1:3, 1:9. 2 John 1:3’s pairing of Father and Son as joint source of grace, mercy, and peace is an early implicit affirmation of Christ’s deity, directly relevant to the incarnation-denial warning of 1:7.
Jesus
Approved rendering: जिसु
Transliteration: Jisu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ / Incarnation of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, following the established Bodo Bible form, for 2 John 1:3, 1:7.
Messiah
Approved rendering: मसीह
Transliteration: mosih
Doctrine: Messianic Promise / Incarnation of Christ
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for 2 John 1:3, 1:7, 1:9. Never presented as one figure among Bathou pantheon deities or spirit-mediators; 2 John makes confession of this specific identity (‘Jesus Christ come in flesh’) the dividing line between true and false teachers.
Grace
Approved rendering: मोफादांनाय दान
Transliteration: mwphwdangnai daan
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace from the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: दान गोरोबनाय (a reciprocal gift expecting return offering, rejected), पुण्य (Brahma Dharma merit-language, never use)
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for 2 John 1:3. Now paired in the salutation with दाया (mercy, new term below) and सान्ति (peace); all three must be taught within the same apart-from-merit, apart-from-ritual-exchange framework established in Romans.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: मानसि गुदि सोलायनाय
Transliteration: manwsi gudi solainai
Doctrine: Incarnation of Christ
Rejected alternatives: देउनि आगोर (a deity temporarily ‘descending into’ or speaking through a doudini during Kherai trance, never use)
Original: ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί (cf. ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο)
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; the root गुदि (body/flesh) is reused in 2 John 1:7’s specific confessional phrase गुदिजों फैनाय (‘having come in the body/flesh’). This is the letter’s central doctrinal test (1:7) and must be sharply distinguished from the doudini’s temporary Kherai-trance possession; the incarnation is the eternal Son’s permanent, personal assumption of human nature, confessed once, not a repeatable ritual embodiment.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: मसीह-बिरोधी
Transliteration: Mosih-birodhi
Doctrine: Identification of the Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: bare transliteration of ‘antichrist’ as an opaque loanword (rejected; would read as an exotic proper name rather than a theological category), generic ‘evil spirit’ term (rejected; risks assimilation into Bathou/Kherai malevolent-spirit categories requiring ritual appeasement)
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: False Teaching
New term for 2 John, built transparently on the established transliteration मसीह. Must be taught as a specific theological category defined exclusively by denial of the incarnation, already active among the churches John writes to — not a generic label for ‘enemy,’ and must not be assimilated into Bathou/Kherai pantheon categories of malevolent spirits requiring ritual appeasement. John’s prescribed remedy is doctrinal discernment and withheld hospitality (1:10-11), never ritual protection.
High Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: सान्ति
Transliteration: santi
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace from the Father and the Son / Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (Medium risk there); RISK ELEVATED to High in 2 John because the identical term underlies the withheld greeting-blessing (सान्ति होनाय) of 1:10-11: extending सान्ति as a formal greeting to a denier of the incarnation is treated as complicity in evil works (1:11). Teach both the salutation sense (1:3) and the withheld-greeting sense (1:10-11) explicitly as distinct applications of the same term.
Election
Approved rendering: सायख
Transliteration: saikho
Doctrine: Divine Election of Believers
Rejected alternatives: भागी (fate/fortune, too impersonal)
Original: ἐκλεκτός / ἐκλογή
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (root ईश्वरनि सायख); reused as सायख for 2 John 1:1, 1:13, applied to an individual addressee (‘elect lady’) and her ‘elect sister’ rather than corporately to Israel/the church. Must not be reheard as भागी. Term-level enforcement risk remains High, consistent with the baseline, though the doctrine-level application in this letter is rated Medium (personal rather than corporate election).
Truth
Approved rendering: सत्य
Transliteration: shotyo
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Truth and Love
New term for 2 John. सत्य is a live Sanskrit/Assamese loan carrying currency in Brahma Dharma’s own reform ethic (satya as cosmic/moral truth). Must be explicitly anchored to the specific apostolic content about Christ’s person, culminating in the confession of 1:7 — never left as bare abstract ‘truth’ or generic moral honesty. Appears four times in 1:1-4 alone; content must be specified at first occurrence in every lesson.
Love
Approved rendering: प्रेम
Transliteration: prem
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Truth and Love
New term for 2 John. Must be taught as commandment-shaped, obedient love flowing from truth (1:4-6), defined operationally in 1:6 as walking according to Christ’s commandments — not generic bhakti-style devotional affection current in reform-movement hymnody, nor mere clan-based (afad) relational obligation. Always pair with हुकुम (commandment) in teaching material.
Commandment
Approved rendering: हुकुम
Transliteration: hukum
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Truth and Love
New term for 2 John. Risks being reheard as a codified rule paralleling Brahma Dharma’s own reform नियम or Bathou ritual-taboo prescriptions. Per the baseline’s identical warning for ‘law’ (बिथान), must be taught explicitly as relational obedience flowing from love and truth, received ‘from the beginning’ (1:5), not a novel rule-keeping code.
Deceiver
Approved rendering: फटायग्रा
Transliteration: phataygra
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: ओझा (a traditional folk ritual specialist/diviner, avoid as substitute), generic ‘liar’ (too weak; loses the sense of an active, itinerant false teacher)
Original: πλάνος
Category: False Teaching
New term for 2 John. Must denote a deliberate, itinerant false teacher circulating among churches (1:7), not a folk-category trickster-spirit or a generic liar; paired with ‘antichrist’ in 1:7, raising the stakes above ordinary dishonesty.
Confess
Approved rendering: स्वीकार होनाय
Transliteration: sikar honai
Doctrine: Incarnation of Christ / Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: False Teaching
New term for 2 John. Public, definite affirmation that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (1:7); the dividing line between true and false teachers. Parallel in doctrinal weight to the Romans 10:9 Lordship confession; must convey definite, public affirmation, not private opinion or generic politeness.
Reward
Approved rendering: फल (पूरा फल, ‘full reward’)
Transliteration: phal (pura phal)
Doctrine: Eschatological Reward for Perseverance
Rejected alternatives: bare merit-payout framing (rejected)
Original: μισθός
Category: Perseverance
New term for 2 John. Strong collision risk with कर्मफल (karma-phal, ‘fruit of one’s deeds’), a merit-payout concept absorbed into Bodo religious discourse through Brahma Dharma’s reform ethic. Must be taught as an eschatological gift tied to grace-enabled perseverance in truth already received (1:8), never a self-earned merit payout for accumulated deeds or ritual offerings.
Goes Beyond
Approved rendering: आगु सोलायनाय
Transliteration: agu solainai
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Original: προάγω (προάγων)
Category: Perseverance
New term for 2 John. Parallels Brahma Dharma’s own 1912 self-description as progressive reform beyond traditional Bodo religion. Must be explicitly taught that ‘going beyond Christ’s teaching’ (1:9) is doctrinal departure and loss, never legitimate spiritual advancement — an inversion of this verb’s usual positive connotation in the contemporary Bodo religious landscape. This is the single most counter-intuitive term in the letter; requires explicit valence-reversal teaching notes at every occurrence.
Abide
Approved rendering: थानाय
Transliteration: thanai
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Original: μένω
Category: Perseverance
New term for 2 John. Central perseverance verb for the whole letter; must be rendered with this single consistent Bodo verb across all three occurrences (1:2, 1:9 x2) to preserve the doctrinal thread from ‘truth abiding in us’ to ‘abiding in the teaching of Christ.’ Distinguish from mere temporary residence; this is settled, continuing doctrinal fidelity.
Teaching Of Christ
Approved rendering: मसीहनि उपदेश
Transliteration: Mosihni updesh
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: bare उपदेश without the मसीहनि qualifier (rejected; loses the ‘closed body of teaching sourced in Christ alone’ sense)
Original: διδαχή (τοῦ Χριστοῦ)
Category: Perseverance
New term for 2 John. Bodo has no settled devotional-register word for ‘doctrine’ independent of Brahma Dharma’s own reform literature, which uses comparable उपदेश-type vocabulary for its own codified teaching. Must always be anchored explicitly to Christ as sole source (never rendered bare) and distinguished from any other community’s updesh.
Have God
Approved rendering: ईश्वरखौ मोनानाय
Transliteration: Isorkhou monanai
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Original: ἔχω (θεὸν ἔχει)
Category: Perseverance
New term for 2 John. Ongoing relational possession of God through right doctrinal confession (1:9): the one who does not abide in Christ’s teaching ‘does not have God,’ while the one who abides has both Father and Son. Risks being reheard through the Bathou household framework in which Bathoubwrai’s presence is physically sited via the sijou plant in the courtyard; must be taught as relational/doctrinal fellowship secured through right confession, never object-possession.
Receive Into House
Approved rendering: नोआव लानाय
Transliteration: noao lanai
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Original: λαμβάνω εἰς οἰκίαν
Category: Hospitality
New term for 2 John. To welcome a visiting teacher into the home/house-church, withheld specifically from one who does not bring the teaching of Christ (1:10). Hospitality is an exceptionally strong social value in Bodo village culture; must be taught as a narrow, doctrinally-specific exception, never a general license for inhospitality or a rejection of ordinary guest-welcome.
Greeting Withheld
Approved rendering: सान्ति होनाय
Transliteration: santi honai
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Original: χαίρειν
Category: Hospitality
New term for 2 John, reusing the baseline peace term सान्ति as the content of the withheld greeting-blessing (χαίρειν), withheld in 1:10-11 from a teacher who denies Christ’s incarnation, as a sign of refused doctrinal endorsement. Must never be confused with the ordinary closing greeting (सालाम होनाय, 1:13), which carries no doctrinal test.
Elder
Approved rendering: मण्डलीनि आगोमोन
Transliteration: mwndolini agomon
Doctrine: Church Eldership and Apostolic Authority
Rejected alternatives: बुरहा/बर’ऐ (Bathoubwrai/Kherai-pantheon elder-deity honorifics, forbidden — never use for a human church leader)
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church
New term for 2 John. The author’s self-designation as a recognized apostolic-era church leader (1:1). Must NOT use बुरहा/बर’ऐ, the honorific elder-titles the baseline reserves exclusively for Bathoubwrai and Kherai-pantheon elder-deities and explicitly forbids for Christ’s Lordship; using any बुर-root elder-deity title for this human church-leadership office risks importing animist elder-deity register onto a human author, implying quasi-divine status rather than a functional ministry office.
Lady
Approved rendering: आदरनि बिमा
Transliteration: adworni bima
Doctrine: Address and Titles for the Letter’s Recipient
Rejected alternatives: प्रभु or any cognate (forbidden — reserved exclusively for Christ’s Lordship in the baseline)
Original: κυρία
Category: Church
New term for 2 John. Honorific address for the letter’s recipient (1:1, 1:5), sharing a Greek root with κύριος (lord/master) but functioning as a term of respect, not a divine title. Must never be rendered with प्रभु or any cognate, to avoid implying the human addressee shares Christ’s exclusive Lordship title.
Medium Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: गोसो जोंथानाय
Transliteration: gwsw jwnthanai
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship / Complicity in False Teaching’s Evil Works (contrast case)
Original: κοινωνία / κοινωνέω
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package (positive communion-in-Christ sense). In 2 John 1:11 the same koinōnia root is used in a REVERSED, negative sense (complicity in a false teacher’s evil works) and is rendered with a distinct verb, बाहागो लानाय (see ‘share_in_evil’ below), never this positive term. Teaching notes must make the shared-root, opposite-valence relationship explicit so learners do not conclude ordinary fellowship is condemned.
Walk
Approved rendering: हांनाय
Transliteration: hannai
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Truth and Love
New term for 2 John. Idiom for ongoing, observable Christian conduct/manner of life (1:4, 1:6). Must convey a settled, habitual lifestyle, not a single act or ritual procession; keep distinct from Kherai puja ceremonial processions, which are occasional rather than descriptive of ongoing character.
World
Approved rendering: दुनिया
Transliteration: duniya
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Original: κόσμος
Category: False Teaching
New term for 2 John. The wider social/church world through which deceivers actively circulate (1:7); in Johannine usage, the world-system in rebellion against God. Distinguish this moral-spiritual sense from the Bathou five-element cosmology (ha/dwi/bar/or/okhrang) framing of the physical created world.
Share In Evil
Approved rendering: बाहागो लानाय
Transliteration: bahago lanai
Doctrine: Complicity in False Teaching’s Evil Works
Original: κοινωνέω
Category: Hospitality
New term for 2 John. Becoming a joint participant in another’s evil works by extending the greeting-blessing to a teacher who denies the incarnation (1:11). Same root as the baseline’s positive ‘fellowship’ (गोसो जोंथानाय) term but with reversed moral valence — complicity in evil, not communion in Christ. Teaching notes must make this shared-root/opposite-valence relationship explicit.
Evil Works
Approved rendering: बेया गुन
Transliteration: beya gun
Doctrine: Complicity in False Teaching’s Evil Works
Original: ἔργα πονηρά
Category: Hospitality
New term for 2 John. The wicked deeds of a teacher who denies Christ’s incarnation, with which a host becomes complicit by extending the greeting-blessing (1:11). Frames doctrinal denial of the incarnation as an active moral evil, not a neutral alternative opinion.
Mercy
Approved rendering: दाया
Transliteration: daya
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace from the Father and the Son
Original: ἔλεος
Category: Salvation
New term for 2 John. God’s compassionate favor toward those in need, named alongside grace and peace in the letter’s opening blessing (1:3). Collision risk parallel to grace: could be absorbed into a bhakti-style devotional-compassion framework in which a deity’s compassion is won through devotional practice. Must be taught within the same apart-from-merit framework the baseline established for grace.
Low Risk Terms
Children
Approved rendering: फिसा
Transliteration: phisa
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: τέκνον / τέκνα
Category: Church
New term for 2 John. The addressee’s literal children and/or members of a house-church under her care (1:1, 1:4, 1:13). Minor risk of over-literalizing what may be a figurative reference to house-church members; note both possibilities in teaching material.
Forever
Approved rendering: हमेशा
Transliteration: hamesha
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: αἰών (εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα)
Category: Truth and Love
New term for 2 John. Unending duration; describes the permanence of truth’s indwelling presence among believers (1:2). Minor risk of being read as merely long duration rather than eternal permanence.
Beginning
Approved rendering: गिबिनाव
Transliteration: gibinao
Doctrine: Doctrinal Continuity (“From the Beginning”)
Original: ἀρχή (ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς)
Category: Truth and Love
New term for 2 John. The start of the apostolic proclamation, marking doctrinal continuity between what was originally taught and what is taught now (1:5-6). Minor risk of being read as merely ‘recently’ rather than the fixed apostolic starting point; this continuity directly guards against the deceivers’ claim to ‘go beyond’ (1:9) established teaching.
Joy
Approved rendering: खुशी
Transliteration: khushi
Doctrine: Fellowship and Shared Joy in Truth
Original: χαίρω / χαρά
Category: Truth and Love
New term for 2 John. Pastoral gladness at hearing of faithful conduct (1:4) and at the anticipated joy of face-to-face fellowship (1:12). Note the deliberate contrast with the withheld greeting-formula (1:10-11), which shares the same Greek root (χαίρω) but carries doctrinal weight there.
Sister
Approved rendering: भोनी
Transliteration: bhoni
Doctrine: Fellowship and Shared Joy in Truth
Original: ἀδελφή
Category: Church
New term for 2 John. A biological or spiritual sister; the addressee’s ‘elect sister’ whose children send greetings (1:13). No significant doctrinal risk; confirm regional naturalness with native speakers.
Lose
Approved rendering: हारनाय
Transliteration: haranai
Doctrine: Eschatological Reward for Perseverance
Original: ἀπόλλυμι
Category: Perseverance
New term for 2 John. To lose or forfeit what has already been accomplished through faithful reception of the truth, the risk warned against in 1:8.
Epistolary Greeting
Approved rendering: सालाम होनाय
Transliteration: salaam honai
Doctrine: Fellowship and Shared Joy in Truth
Original: ἀσπάζομαι
Category: Church
New term for 2 John. The ordinary closing greeting extended between genuine believers/house-churches (1:13). Distinct from the theologically loaded withheld greeting (सान्ति होनाय) of 1:10-11; carries no doctrinal test.
Referenced passages