Doctrine Analysis
Doctrine Analysis — 1 Peter (English → Cantonese)
Purpose and Method
This document is the full doctrine matrix for 1 Peter, chapters 1–5, produced in lockstep with assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json (same 29 doctrines, identical risk tiers, identical review routing — this file adds narrative and chapter-coverage detail that the JSON registry does not carry). The core passage, 1 Peter 1:3–9, anchors the curriculum’s theological center of gravity (Living Hope of the Resurrection) but is never treated as the boundary of analysis. Every chapter of 1 Peter has been reviewed for load-bearing doctrinal content; chapters or sub-sections that contribute no new doctrine or term beyond what is already logged are explicitly noted as reviewed, no new flags rather than silently skipped.
Risk tiers follow the Romans baseline definitions exactly:
- Critical — mistranslation destroys essential doctrine; human theologian review, every occurrence.
- High — significant theological confusion/syncretism risk; human theologian review.
- Medium — reduces clarity but preserves core meaning; native speaker review.
- Low — minor imprecision; automated review sufficient.
1. Master Doctrine Matrix
1.1 Critical Risk (8 doctrines — human theologian review, every occurrence)
| Doctrine | Cantonese Name | Primary Passages (1 Peter) | Translation Risk Summary | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Living Hope of the Resurrection | 復活所生嘅活潑盼望 | 1:3-5, 1:21, 3:21 | Curriculum core doctrine. 活潑嘅盼望 must never soften toward 睇相算命-style optimism; 重生 must never render as 投胎轉世 (reincarnation into a new womb). Resurrection-anchor required at every occurrence. | Human theologian |
| Suffering for Righteousness’ Sake | 為義受苦 | 2:19-20, 3:13-17, 4:12-19 | Curriculum core doctrine. Compounds two independently Critical terms (受苦 + 義); risks being heard as suffering for a sworn-brotherhood loyalty code (義氣) rather than for right standing before God. | Human theologian |
| Christ’s Substitutionary Suffering | 基督代替受苦 | 1:18-19, 2:21-25, 3:18 | Curriculum core doctrine. 擔當…喺木頭上 must never be assimilated to the 替身 folk misfortune-transfer ritual. ὑπέρ (“on behalf of”) force in 3:18 must never soften into mere shared-suffering solidarity. | Human theologian |
| Redemption by Christ’s Blood | 藉基督嘅血得救贖 | 1:18-19, 1:2 | New Critical term, no Romans-baseline precedent. Must not collapse into 還神還願 (temple vow-fulfillment exchange) or an ordinary commercial buy-back transaction. | Human theologian |
| The Church as a Holy and Royal Priesthood | 教會作為聖潔同君尊嘅祭司 | 2:4-10 | Curriculum core doctrine. 祭司 risks being heard as a mediating ritual specialist class (道士, or Catholic 神父); must be taught as priesthood of ALL believers. 屬靈嘅殿 must avoid 宮 (standard HK temple-naming element). | Human theologian |
| Submission to Authority and Christlike Endurance | 順服掌權者同效法基督嘅忍耐 | 2:13-20, 3:1-7, 3:22, 5:5 | Curriculum core doctrine; highest-frequency risk term in the book. Political sensitivity around submission-to-rulers language; household submission risks collapsing into the Confucian 三從 patriarchal duty-code rather than Christ-modeled, voluntary, gospel-motivated submission. | Human theologian |
| Christ’s Proclamation to the Spirits | 基督向監獄裡嘅靈宣講 | 3:18-22 | Curriculum core doctrine; single greatest syncretism risk in the book, no Romans-baseline precedent. Must exclude both 問米 (spirit-mediumship) and 超度 (posthumous rescue-rite) framings; referents are disobedient angelic spirits under judgment, not ancestral/deceased-human spirits. | Human theologian |
| Resisting the Devil | 抵擋魔鬼 | 5:8-9 | 魔鬼 must always be the full compound, never bare 鬼 (generic ghost/spirit embedded in 盂蘭節 Hungry Ghost Festival culture). Real, personal, cosmic enemy — not a folk-ghost to be placated. | Human theologian |
1.2 High Risk (11 doctrines — human theologian review)
| Doctrine | Cantonese Name | Primary Passages (1 Peter) | Translation Risk Summary | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Birth / Regeneration | 重生 | 1:3, 1:23-25 | 重生 must be sharply distinguished from 投胎轉世 (rebirth into a new womb within samsara), a live folk-Buddhist belief in Hong Kong. | Human theologian |
| Inheritance of Believers | 基業 | 1:4, 3:7 | Must not be assimilated to clan property division (分家產) or adoption-for-succession arrangements; heavenly, incorruptible, God-guarded. | Human theologian |
| Testing and Refining of Faith Through Trials | 信心經過試煉嘅提煉 | 1:6-7, 4:12 | Must be distinguished from the karmic-retribution reading of suffering (報應); God-permitted refinement, not cosmic payback. | Human theologian |
| Unjust Suffering and Christlike Endurance | 無辜受苦同效法基督嘅忍耐 | 2:18-25, 3:9 | Must be taught against 報應; not evidence of hidden guilt but Christ-patterned endurance God notices and commends. | Human theologian |
| Holiness in Conduct | 行為上嘅聖潔 | 1:14-16, 1:18, 2:11-12, 3:1-6 | Curriculum core doctrine. 聖潔 distinguished from ritual dietary abstinence (戒口修行); “futile way of life from the fathers” (1:18) requires pastoral care given ancestor-veneration culture; 貞潔嘅品行 (3:2) risks echoing the Confucian widow-chastity honor code (牌坊). | Human theologian |
| Household Code and Marriage Relationships | 家庭倫理同婚姻關係 | 3:1-7 | 貞潔嘅品行 chastity-cult echo; 較弱嘅器皿 requires care to avoid an inferior-worth reading, balanced against “joint heirs of the grace of life.” | Human theologian |
| Baptism and a Good Conscience Toward God | 洗禮同向神無愧嘅良心 | 3:21 | Must not be assimilated to 還神還願 (vow-for-favor exchange); response grounded in Christ’s resurrection, not a bargaining vow. 良心 alone must be anchored to standing before God, not mere social decency (面子). | Human theologian |
| Christ’s Supremacy Over Spiritual Powers | 基督統管一切靈界權能 | 3:22 | Must be distinguished from the ranked, bureaucratic pantheon of Chinese folk/Daoist cosmology (天庭 imagery); Christ uniquely enthroned, not merely most powerful within a hierarchy. | Human theologian |
| Elders and Humility | 長老同謙卑 | 5:1-6 | Curriculum core doctrine. 長老 distinguished from secular clan-elder role (鄉紳/族老); domineering leadership shares a root with 主 (Lord) and must never model exclusive divine Lordship; 謙卑 taught as positive Christlike virtue, not enforced “loss of face” (唔衰得). | Human theologian |
| Divine Calling and Election | 神嘅呼召同揀選 | 1:1-2, 1:15, 1:20, 2:9, 2:21, 3:9, 5:10 | Must never use fate/destiny language from birth-chart astrology (八字) or fortune-telling (算命); God’s foreknowledge/election is personal and purposive. | Human theologian |
| God’s Impartial Judgment | 神公正嘅審判 | 1:17, 4:5, 4:17-19 | 審判 distinguished from karmic retribution (報應) and the folk underworld-judge figure 閻羅王; personal, righteous judgment of the one true God, exercised redemptively within his own household first. | Human theologian |
1.3 Medium Risk (8 doctrines — native speaker review)
| Doctrine | Cantonese Name | Primary Passages (1 Peter) | Translation Risk Summary | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Divine Guarding of Believers | 神嘅保守 | 1:5 | 保守 must not reduce to protective-charm sense (平安符); active, personal preservation through faith. | Native speaker |
| The Mercy of God | 神嘅憐憫 | 1:3, 2:10 | Must be anchored to the Father’s action through Christ, or risks being filled with Guanyin’s epithet (大慈大悲救苦救難). | Native speaker |
| Christ as the Living Stone | 基督係活石 | 2:4-8 | Christological title; must not be read through local stone-spirit/object-veneration shrine associations. | Native speaker |
| Elect Exiles / Sojourner Identity | 蒙揀選、寄居嘅身份 | 1:1, 2:11 | Theological, spiritual-citizenship claim, not literal immigration/ethnic-displacement language. | Native speaker |
| Rejection of the Futile, Ancestrally-Inherited Way of Life | 棄絕從祖先所傳嘅虛妄行為 | 1:18 | Requires pastoral care in a culture with deep ancestor-veneration weight; critique of specific empty practices, not of ancestors as persons. | Native speaker |
| Fulfillment of Prophecy and Gospel Continuity | 預言嘅應驗同福音嘅延續 | 1:10-12, 1:25 | Linear OT-to-NT historical fulfillment, not the cyclical fortune-forecast framework (運程) of almanac culture; 先知 ≠ 算命佬/風水師. | Native speaker |
| Spiritual Gifts and Stewardship | 屬靈恩賜同管家嘅責任 | 4:10-11 | Always the compound 屬靈恩賜; never 神通/法力. Entrusted stewardship, not earned/purchased ability. | Native speaker |
| Grace and Peace Benediction | 恩典同平安嘅祝福 | 1:2, 5:10, 5:12, 5:14 | 恩典/平安 reuse baseline renderings exactly; 可稱頌 (1:3) must not carry New-Year prosperity-wish register (恭喜發財-adjacent). | Native speaker |
1.4 Low Risk (2 doctrines — automated review)
| Doctrine | Cantonese Name | Primary Passages (1 Peter) | Translation Risk Summary | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joy Amid Suffering | 苦難中嘅喜樂 | 1:6, 1:8 | Standard CUV-aligned vocabulary; minor risk of misreading joy as circumstantial happiness rather than a settled response coexisting with grief. | Automated |
| Mutual Love and Fellowship | 彼此相愛同團契 | 1:22, 3:8, 4:8-9 | Standard vocabulary; ensure “love covers sins” is read as relational forbearance, not atonement. | Automated |
2. Chapter-by-Chapter Coverage Confirmation
1 Peter 1 (vv.1–25)
Active doctrines: Divine Calling and Election (1:1-2), Living Hope of the Resurrection (1:3-5), Divine Guarding of Believers (1:5), Testing and Refining of Faith (1:6-7), Joy Amid Suffering (1:6, 8), Fulfillment of Prophecy and Gospel Continuity (1:10-12), Holiness in Conduct (1:14-16), Redemption by Christ’s Blood (1:18-19), Rejection of the Futile Ancestral Way of Life (1:18), Mercy of God (1:3, extended in ch.2), New Birth/Regeneration (1:3, 1:23-25), Inheritance of Believers (1:4), Grace and Peace Benediction (1:2). Core passage (1:3-9) fully covered above. No gaps.
1 Peter 2 (vv.1–25)
Active doctrines: The Church as a Holy and Royal Priesthood (2:4-10), Christ as the Living Stone (2:4-8), Elect Exiles / Sojourner Identity (2:11), Holiness in Conduct (2:11-12), Submission to Authority and Christlike Endurance (2:13-20), Unjust Suffering and Christlike Endurance (2:18-25), Christ’s Substitutionary Suffering (2:21-25), Divine Calling and Election (2:9, 2:21), Mercy of God (2:10). No gaps.
1 Peter 3 (vv.1–22)
Active doctrines: Household Code and Marriage Relationships / Holiness in Conduct (3:1-7), Inheritance of Believers (joint-heirship, 3:7), Suffering for Righteousness’ Sake (3:13-17), Unjust Suffering and Christlike Endurance (3:9), Christ’s Substitutionary Suffering (3:18), Christ’s Proclamation to the Spirits (3:18-22), Living Hope of the Resurrection (3:21, baptism’s resurrection anchor), Baptism and a Good Conscience Toward God (3:21), Christ’s Supremacy Over Spiritual Powers (3:22), Mutual Love and Fellowship (3:8). No gaps.
1 Peter 4 (vv.1–19)
Active doctrines: Suffering for Righteousness’ Sake (4:12-19), Testing and Refining of Faith (4:12), God’s Impartial Judgment (4:5, 4:17-19), Spiritual Gifts and Stewardship (4:10-11), Mutual Love and Fellowship (4:8-9). Sub-note: 4:1-6 (living for God’s will rather than former Gentile passions; the dead being judged) reviewed — extends Holiness in Conduct and God’s Impartial Judgment doctrines already logged; no new doctrine or term required beyond those two entries. No gaps.
1 Peter 5 (vv.1–14)
Active doctrines: Elders and Humility (5:1-6), Submission to Authority and Christlike Endurance (5:5), Resisting the Devil (5:8-9), Grace and Peace Benediction (5:10, 5:12, 5:14), Divine Calling and Election (5:10). Sub-note: 5:12-14 (Silvanus, greetings, Babylon, Mark, the kiss of love) reviewed — proper-noun and closing-material content only (see 08_core_glossary.md §8); no doctrinal risk beyond Low-tier consistency already logged under Grace and Peace Benediction. No gaps.
Full-book coverage confirmed: all 29 doctrines in doctrine_risk_registry.json are attested across chapters 1–5, and every verse-range of the book maps to at least one logged doctrine or is explicitly noted as reviewed with no new flag.
3. Interaction with the Romans Baseline
1 Peter shares a substantial core of Trinitarian and salvation vocabulary with the Romans Language Package baseline (God 神, Jesus 耶穌, Christ 基督, Lord 主, Holy Spirit 聖靈, grace 恩典, faith 信心, salvation 救恩, holiness 聖潔, sanctification 成聖, resurrection 復活, glory 榮耀, called/calling 蒙召/呼召, election 揀選, sin 罪, gospel 福音, righteousness 義, power of God 神嘅大能, apostle 使徒, peace 平安, covenant 約, prophet 先知, fellowship 團契, spiritual gifts 屬靈恩賜). All of these are reused exactly per the baseline’s Critical/High convention; this document does not restate their Romans-level doctrine notes but flags where 1 Peter intensifies or newly compounds the risk (e.g., 義 combined with 受苦 in “suffer for righteousness’ sake”; 恩典 extended into the 2:19-20 “this is a gracious thing” suffering context; 呼召/揀選 extended into 1 Peter’s exile/priesthood identity language).
4. Summary Statistics
| Risk Tier | Count | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 8 | Human theologian, every occurrence |
| High | 11 | Human theologian |
| Medium | 8 | Native speaker review |
| Low | 2 | Automated review |
| Total | 29 | 19 require theologian review; 8 require native speaker review; 2 automated only |
Figures match assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json risk_summary exactly, as required for cross-artifact consistency.
Critical Risk Doctrines
The Living Hope of the Resurrection
Cantonese name: 復活所生嘅活潑盼望
Key terms: living_hope, new_birth, resurrection, inheritance
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: 活潑嘅盼望 must never collapse into the fortune-telling-adjacent optimism of 睇相算命, and 重生 must never be rendered as 投胎轉世 (reincarnation into a new womb) — both are live cultural analogues in Hong Kong’s active folk-divination and folk-Buddhist culture. This is the curriculum’s core-passage doctrine and thesis term; every occurrence must retain an explicit resurrection anchor.
Suffering for Righteousness’ Sake
Cantonese name: 為義受苦
Key terms: suffer_for_righteousness_sake, righteousness, suffering, blessed_makarios
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: this compound phrase combines two independently Critical terms. 義 already collides with the Confucian loyalty-and-honor virtue reinforced by Cantonese triad/gangster-film culture (義氣); combined with 受苦, ‘suffering for 義’ risks being heard as suffering for a sworn-brotherhood loyalty code rather than suffering because one stands rightly before God. This is the curriculum’s own designated core doctrine and requires an explicit distinguishing note at every occurrence.
Christ’s Substitutionary Suffering
Cantonese name: 基督代替受苦
Key terms: bore_sins_on_the_tree, christ_suffered_once_for_sins, lamb_without_blemish, healed_by_his_wounds
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: this is the curriculum’s own core substitution doctrine. 擔當…喺木頭上 must never be assimilated to the Cantonese folk 替身 ritual (a paper/object effigy absorbing misfortune, then discarded or burned) — Christ’s bearing of sin is real, personal, moral substitution before God, never a magical misfortune-transfer onto a ritual object. The vicarious ‘on behalf of’ (ὑπέρ) force of 3:18 must never be softened into mere shared-suffering solidarity.
Redemption by Christ’s Blood
Cantonese name: 藉基督嘅血得救贖
Key terms: redemption, lamb_without_blemish, covenant_blood_sprinkling
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: 救贖 is a new Critical term with no Romans-baseline precedent. Must never be rendered through the temple vow-fulfillment exchange model (還神還願) nor flattened into an ordinary commercial buy-back transaction, a live register in Hong Kong’s contract- and property-driven business culture. Redemption is a real, costly, personal transaction accomplished once by Christ’s blood, paid to deliver — not paid to a deity in exchange for a future favor.
The Church as a Holy and Royal Priesthood
Cantonese name: 教會作為聖潔同君尊嘅祭司
Key terms: holy_priesthood, royal_priesthood, spiritual_house, spiritual_sacrifices, chosen_race, holy_nation, peoples_for_possession, living_stone
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: the curriculum’s own core ecclesiology doctrine. 祭司 (priest) risks being heard as a professional ritual-mediator class — Daoist priests (道士) performing rites for petitioners, or Catholic clergy called 神父; must be taught explicitly as the priesthood of ALL believers with direct access to God, no mediating caste. 屬靈嘅殿 must avoid the character 宮 entirely, the standard naming element for Hong Kong folk/Daoist temples (e.g. 天后宮), to prevent readers hearing a temple-of-the-gods name for what is a metaphor for the Church.
Submission to Authority and Christlike Endurance
Cantonese name: 順服掌權者同效法基督嘅忍耐
Key terms: submission, king_emperor, servants_of_god, master, domineering_leadership
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: curriculum core doctrine, and the single densest, highest-frequency risk term in the book (順服 appears across civic authority, slave/master, and wife/husband contexts). Two compounding risks: (1) political sensitivity around submission-to-rulers language, given Hong Kong’s political climate around sovereignty and loyalty language; (2) household submission risks collapsing into the Confucian ‘three obediences’ (三從) patriarchal duty-code, a fixed social hierarchy distinct from 1 Peter’s Christ-modeled, voluntary, gospel-motivated submission grounded explicitly in Christ’s own suffering (2:21-25).
Christ’s Proclamation to the Spirits
Cantonese name: 基督向監獄裡嘅靈宣講
Key terms: spirits_in_prison, proclaimed_to_spirits, baptism, angels_authorities_powers
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL — the single greatest syncretism risk in the entire book, with no direct Romans-baseline precedent. Two live cultural analogues must be explicitly excluded: 問米 (spirit-mediumship consulting/summoning a deceased person’s spirit) — κηρύσσω is one-way proclamation of a settled fact, not two-way consultation; and 超度 (a monk’s posthumous rescue-rite releasing souls from suffering, already forbidden under the baseline’s Critical ‘salvation’ doctrine) — the text describes proclamation of Christ’s victory/judgment over disobedient angelic spirits from Noah’s era, not a rescue of deceased human souls. Every occurrence requires heavy contextual scaffolding identifying the referents as non-human, non-ancestral spirit-beings under judgment.
Resisting the Devil
Cantonese name: 抵擋魔鬼
Key terms: adversary_devil, faith
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: διάβολος must always be rendered with the full compound 魔鬼, never the bare character 鬼, which in everyday Cantonese denotes a generic ghost/spirit deeply embedded in Hong Kong’s Yu Lan/Hungry Ghost Festival (盂蘭節) culture and ghost-story folklore. This is a real, personal, cosmic enemy, not a folk-ghost figure to be placated or avoided through ritual means.
High Risk Doctrines
New Birth / Regeneration
Cantonese name: 重生
Key terms: new_birth, word_of_god
Review routing: Human theologian
重生 (a decisive, Spirit-wrought new beginning of the same person’s life) must be sharply distinguished from 投胎轉世 (rebirth into a new womb within an ongoing samsara cycle), a live and commonly held folk-Buddhist belief in Hong Kong.
Inheritance of Believers
Cantonese name: 基業
Key terms: inheritance, imperishable_undefiled_unfading
Review routing: Human theologian
Cantonese/Pearl River Delta culture has strong lived associations with clan inheritance and property division (分家產) and adoption-for-succession arrangements to preserve an inheritance line; the heavenly, incorruptible, God-guarded inheritance of 1 Peter must not be assimilated to a family estate subject to division, dispute, or loss.
Testing and Refining of Faith Through Trials
Cantonese name: 信心經過試煉嘅提煉
Key terms: various_trials, testing_of_faith
Review routing: Human theologian
Must be sharply distinguished from the folk-Buddhist/karmic-retribution reading of suffering (報應) — trials are God-permitted refinement of a genuine faith already secured by grace, not cosmic payback for hidden wrongdoing.
Unjust Suffering and Christlike Endurance
Cantonese name: 無辜受苦同效法基督嘅忍耐
Key terms: suffering_unjustly, christ_suffered_once_for_sins
Review routing: Human theologian
Unjust suffering must be taught against the karmic-retribution reading of misfortune (報應) — it is not evidence of hidden guilt but a Christ-patterned opportunity for endurance that God notices and commends.
Holiness in Conduct
Cantonese name: 行為上嘅聖潔
Key terms: holy, way_of_life, futile_way_of_life, fleshly_desires, respectful_pure_conduct
Review routing: Human theologian
Curriculum core doctrine. 聖潔 must be distinguished from ritual dietary abstinence (戒口修行); the ‘futile way of life handed down from your fathers’ (1:18) is especially sensitive, naming ancestral tradition as empty in a culture where ancestor veneration (Ching Ming, Chung Yeung, 祠堂) carries deep social weight, and must be taught as critique of specific practices, not of ancestors as persons. 貞潔嘅品行 (3:2) risks echoing the historical Confucian widow-chastity honor code (牌坊).
Household Code and Marriage Relationships
Cantonese name: 家庭倫理同婚姻關係
Key terms: respectful_pure_conduct, weaker_vessel, inheritance
Review routing: Human theologian
貞潔嘅品行 (3:2) risks echoing the historical Confucian chastity-cult (widow chastity monuments/牌坊); 較弱嘅器皿 (3:7, ‘weaker vessel’) requires pastoral care to avoid a reading of inferior worth, and must be balanced against the same verse’s ‘joint heirs of the grace of life,’ affirming full spiritual equality.
Baptism and a Good Conscience Toward God
Cantonese name: 洗禮同向神無愧嘅良心
Key terms: baptism, good_conscience
Review routing: Human theologian
Baptism’s appeal/pledge of a good conscience must not be assimilated to the temple vow-and-fulfillment exchange model (還神還願, already forbidden in the baseline for justification/covenant); it is a response grounded in what Christ has already accomplished through his resurrection, not a vow made in hope of a future favor. 良心 alone is common secular vocabulary and must be anchored explicitly to standing before God.
Christ’s Supremacy Over Spiritual Powers
Cantonese name: 基督統管一切靈界權能
Key terms: angels_authorities_powers, spirits_in_prison
Review routing: Human theologian
Must be clearly distinguished from the ranked, bureaucratic pantheon of Chinese folk/Daoist cosmology (heavenly officials and ranked deities, 天庭 imagery); Christ is uniquely enthroned at God’s right hand, not merely the most powerful figure within such a hierarchy.
Elders and Humility
Cantonese name: 長老同謙卑
Key terms: elder, shepherd_oversight, domineering_leadership, humility, chief_shepherd
Review routing: Human theologian
Curriculum core doctrine. 長老 must be distinguished from the secular clan-elder role (鄉紳/族老), a kinship-based rather than spiritual-office-based authority. 操縱/轄制 (domineering) shares a root with 主 (Lord); elders must never model their authority on Christ’s exclusive Lordship or an authoritarian clan-patriarch/大師 pattern. 謙卑 must be taught as a positive, voluntary, Christlike virtue, not the socially enforced ‘loss of face’ (唔衰得) already flagged in the baseline’s ‘sin’ doctrine note.
Divine Calling and Election
Cantonese name: 神嘅呼召同揀選
Key terms: called, election, foreknowledge, chosen_race
Review routing: Human theologian
Must never be rendered with fate/destiny language drawn from birth-chart astrology (八字) or 算命 fortune-telling, both still commonly consulted in Hong Kong; God’s foreknowledge and election are personal and purposive, not a passive reading of a predetermined chart.
God’s Impartial Judgment
Cantonese name: 神公正嘅審判
Key terms: judgment, faithful_creator
Review routing: Human theologian
審判 must be distinguished from the karmic-retribution reading (報應) and from the folk figure of 閻羅王 (the underworld judge of the dead in Chinese folk religion); this is the personal, righteous judgment of the one true God, exercised first, redemptively, within his own household.
Medium Risk Doctrines
Divine Guarding of Believers
Cantonese name: 神嘅保守
Key terms: guarded_by_gods_power, power_of_god
Review routing: Native speaker review
保守 must not be reduced to the generic protective-charm sense reinforced by 平安符 amulet culture; God’s guarding is personal, active preservation through faith.
The Mercy of God
Cantonese name: 神嘅憐憫
Key terms: mercy
Review routing: Native speaker review
憐憫 must always be anchored explicitly to the Father’s action through Christ; left unanchored, it risks being filled with the popular Guanyin epithet 大慈大悲救苦救難, given how present Guanyin devotion is in Hong Kong households.
Christ as the Living Stone
Cantonese name: 基督係活石
Key terms: living_stone
Review routing: Native speaker review
活石 must be clearly identified as a Christological title (Ps 118:22; Isa 28:16, 8:14), never read through any local stone-spirit or object-veneration association found in folk shrine practice.
Elect Exiles / Sojourner Identity
Cantonese name: 蒙揀選、寄居嘅身份
Key terms: elect_exiles, election
Review routing: Native speaker review
This is a theological, spiritual-citizenship claim, not a claim about literal immigration or ethnic displacement; must be distinguished from ordinary diaspora/immigrant identity language in a city with significant emigration/immigration discourse.
Rejection of the Futile, Ancestrally-Inherited Way of Life
Cantonese name: 棄絕從祖先所傳嘅虛妄行為
Key terms: futile_way_of_life
Review routing: Native speaker review
Naming ancestral tradition as ‘futile’ requires pastoral care in a culture where ancestor veneration and inherited custom carry deep social weight; must be taught as a critique of specific empty practices/values, never a wholesale dismissal of family heritage or a command to dishonor ancestors as persons.
Fulfillment of Prophecy and Gospel Continuity
Cantonese name: 預言嘅應驗同福音嘅延續
Key terms: prophet, spirit_of_christ, gospel
Review routing: Native speaker review
Reinforce OT-to-NT linear, historical fulfillment, not the cyclical fortune-forecast framework (運程) of Hong Kong almanac culture; 先知 must be distinguished from a fortune-teller (算命佬) or feng shui consultant (風水師).
Spiritual Gifts and Stewardship
Cantonese name: 屬靈恩賜同管家嘅責任
Key terms: spiritual_gifts, stewards_of_grace
Review routing: Native speaker review
Always the compound 屬靈恩賜, never bare 恩賜; never 神通 (supernatural cultivation powers) or 法力 (a medium’s ritual power). Gifts are entrusted stewardship of God’s grace, not earned or purchased ability.
Grace and Peace Benediction
Cantonese name: 恩典同平安嘅祝福
Key terms: grace, peace, blessed_doxology
Review routing: Native speaker review
恩典 and 平安 must reuse the baseline renderings exactly, with no merit-transaction or amulet/almanac-protection framing; 可稱頌 (1:3) must not be rendered with New-Year prosperity-wish register (恭喜發財-adjacent phrasing).
Low Risk Doctrines
Joy Amid Suffering
Cantonese name: 苦難中嘅喜樂
Key terms: blessed_doxology, love
Review routing: Automated review
Low collision risk; 大有喜樂 and 講唔出嘅、滿有榮耀嘅喜樂 are standard CUV-aligned vocabulary. Minor risk of misreading joy as circumstantial happiness rather than a settled response coexisting with present grief.
Mutual Love and Fellowship
Cantonese name: 彼此相愛同團契
Key terms: love, love_covers_sins, hospitality, fellowship
Review routing: Automated review
Low risk; standard vocabulary. Minor care needed so ‘love covers sins’ is not read as removing accountability before God — it describes relational forbearance among believers, not atonement.
Referenced passages