Linguistic Gap Analysis

Where Burmese has no equivalent

• Justification (forensic declaration): Burmese has no single word for a legal declaration of right standing granted by a judge. The compound ဖြောင့်မတ်ရာသို့ရောက်ခြင်း (“arriving at being reckoned righteous”) is a constructed phrase, not an existing idiom, and needs teaching support the first several times it appears.
• Imputed righteousness: similarly constructed (ဖြောင့်မတ်ခြင်းအဖြစ်မှတ်တော်မူခြင်း). There is no everyday Burmese concept of a status being credited to someone apart from their own action — the entire cultural intuition runs the opposite direction, that standing is built up personally over time.
• Covenant: ပဋိညာဉ် exists but functions more like a formal pact between parties than the relational, one-sided-initiative bond Scripture describes between God and his people. Every occurrence needs surrounding context to carry the relational weight.

Where Burmese has a false friend

• ဘုန်း (glory/power): doubles as the accumulated merit-power that elevates a monk’s or king’s spiritual standing. Used carelessly for divine glory, it can imply God’s glory was earned rather than inherent.
• ကံ (providence/fate): the ordinary word for karma-driven cause and effect. Any unqualified use for God’s providential care risks being heard as an impersonal law rather than a personal Governor’s active care.
• ဝိညာဉ် (spirit): covers ghosts, nats, and consciousness generally. Standing alone it does not specify a personal, eternal, divine Spirit, and must always appear in its full compound form for the Holy Spirit.

Where Burmese already has strong equivalents

• ယုံကြည်ခြင်း (faith/belief) functions well for trust in a person, once the object of trust is specified.
• အပြစ် (sin) functions well as moral transgression, provided it is anchored to offense against a personal God rather than left as free-floating wrongdoing.
• ပညတ်တရား (law) is an established, unambiguous rendering for the Mosaic Law with no unwanted Buddhist connotation.