Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 2 John (English–Cantonese)
This glossary covers every load-bearing theological term identified in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, spanning the entire book (2 John 1:1–13). Terms marked [BASELINE] are already recorded in the Romans translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json and MUST be reused exactly, unchanged, with no new alternatives. New terms introduced for this curriculum are marked [NEW] and are proposed here for entry into translation memory before Phase 2 begins.
Doctrine tags: WTL = Walking in Truth and Love · WAD = Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation · HDD = Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment · PTC = Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Baseline Terms Reused Exactly (no changes)
| English Term | Cantonese | Jyutping | Risk | Doctrine Tag(s) | Passages | Baseline Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | 神 | san4 | Critical | WAD, PTC | 1:3, 1:9 | Reuse exactly; never 天主/上帝/老天爺. |
| Jesus | 耶穌 | je4 sou1 | Critical | WAD | 1:3, 1:7 | Standard transliteration. |
| Christ / Messiah | 基督 | gei1 duk1 | Critical | WAD, PTC | 1:3, 1:7, 1:9 | Never conflate with 彌勒 or wish-granting deity framing. |
| Son of God | 神嘅兒子 | san4 ge3 ji4 zi2 | Critical | WAD, PTC | 1:3 (as “Son of the Father”), 1:9 | Full phrase required; never abbreviate. See note below on “Son of the Father” variant. |
| Father | 父 | fu6 | High | WTL, PTC | 1:3, 1:4, 1:9 | God as personal Father; distinguish from ancestor veneration. |
| Grace | 恩典 | jan1 din2 | Critical | WTL (greeting) | 1:3 | Never framed as temple-vow reciprocal favor. |
| Peace | 平安 | ping4 on1 | Medium | WTL (greeting) | 1:3 | Distinguish from protective-charm/almanac “peace.” |
| Election (adj. “elect”) | 蒙揀選嘅 | mung4 gaan2 syun2 ge3 | High | WTL, HDD | 1:1, 1:13 | Adjectival use of baseline’s 揀選 root; never fate/destiny language. |
| Incarnation | 道成肉身 | dou6 sing4 juk6 san1 | Critical | WAD | 1:7 | Doctrine name for “Jesus Christ coming in the flesh”; never 化身/顯靈. |
| Fellowship (noun, positive sense) | 團契 | tyun4 kai3 | Low | (background contrast to κοινωνέω in 1:11) | — | Reused only as a contrast reference; NOT the rendering for 1:11’s κοινωνεῖ (see new term below). |
| Lord (κύριος root — collision-avoidance reference only) | 主 | zyu2 | Critical | (avoidance reference) | 1:5 (κυρία) | κυρία in 1:5/1:13 must NEVER be rendered with any 主-based term; see 夫人 below. |
New Terms Proposed for This Curriculum
| English Term | Cantonese | Jyutping | Risk | Doctrine Tag(s) | Original Greek | Transliteration | Passages | Alternatives Rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Truth | 真理 | zan1 lei5 | High | WTL, WAD, PTC | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 | — | Anchor explicitly to the apostolic testimony about Christ, not generic philosophical/Buddhist “ultimate reality” (真如). |
| Love | 愛 (彼此相愛) | oi3 (bei2 ci5 soeng1 oi3) | High | WTL | ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω | agapē / agapaō | 1:1, 1:3, 1:5, 1:6 | 愛情 (romantic love — rejected, too narrow), 兄弟情/義氣式嘅愛 (triad brotherhood loyalty-love — rejected, conditional on in-group membership) | Willed, commanded, unconditional love; not sentiment or clan/gang loyalty. |
| Commandment | 命令 | ming6 ling6 | Medium | WTL, PTC | ἐντολή | entolē | 1:4, 1:5, 1:6 | 誡命 (reserved for Mosaic/Decalogue contexts — rejected for Johannine usage) | Not legalistic order; flows from and returns to love. |
| Walk (conduct) | 行 (行在真理中/行在愛裡) | haang4 | High | WTL | περιπατέω | peripateō | 1:4, 1:6 | 行道 (rejected — Daoist “walking the Way” resonance) | Must always appear in fixed phrase, never bare 行. |
| Deceiver | 迷惑人嘅 | mai4 waak6 jan4 ge3 | High | WAD | πλάνος | planos | 1:7 | 騙徒/科款集團 (rejected — reads as financial-scam vocabulary, not doctrinal deception) | Specifically deceives concerning the truth about Christ. |
| Antichrist | 敵基督 | dik6 gei1 duk1 | Critical | WAD | ἀντίχριστος | antichristos | 1:7 | 魔王 (rejected — generic mythic-demon framing, loses specific christological content) | Denial of the Incarnation is definitionally antichrist. |
| Confess | 承認 | sing4 jing6 | Critical | WAD | ὁμολογέω | homologeō | 1:7 | 信 alone (rejected — too weak, loses public/formal confession sense) | Parallel to baseline’s 耶穌是主 confession pattern (Rom 10:9). |
| Teaching of Christ | 教導 (基督嘅教導) | gaau3 dou6 | High | PTC | διδαχή | didachē | 1:9, 1:10 | 教訓 (rejected — colloquial Cantonese “scolding/reprimand” connotation) | Fixed apostolic body of teaching, not a punitive lecture. |
| Abide / Remain | 常在 | soeng4 zoi6 | High | PTC | μένω | menō | 1:2, 1:9 | 留低 (rejected — too casual/physical, loses relational-fidelity sense) | Persevering relational fidelity, not mere passive staying or Buddhist metaphysical permanence. |
| Goes beyond / oversteps | 越過基督嘅教導 | jyut6 gwo3 gei1 duk1 ge3 gaau3 dou6 | High | WAD, PTC | προάγω | proagō | 1:9 | 進步 alone (rejected — reads as positive “progress” in modern Cantonese) | Negative doctrinal departure, not commendable advancement. |
| Reward | 賞賜 | soeng2 ci3 | High | PTC, HDD | μισθός | misthos | 1:8 | 功德 (rejected — Buddhist earned-merit framework), 報酬 (rejected — too commercial/transactional in register) | Gracious commendation of persevering ministry, not merit purchased. |
| Receive into house (hospitality) | 接待入屋 | jip3 doi6 jap6 uk1 | Medium | HDD | λαμβάνειν εἰς οἰκίαν | lambanein eis oikian | 1:10 | — | Formal ministry-endorsement, not a rule against ordinary domestic hospitality. |
| Greeting (formal endorsement formula) | 問安 | man6 on1 | Medium | HDD | χαίρειν | chairein | 1:10, 1:11 | 問候 (reserved instead for the ordinary epistolary closing greeting of 1:13, to keep the two senses distinct) | Withholding = withholding doctrinal endorsement, not general rudeness. |
| Shares in / partakes of (negative) | 有份於 | jau5 fan6 jyu1 | High | HDD, WAD | κοινωνέω | koinōneō | 1:11 | 團契 (rejected — reserved for baseline’s positive Fellowship doctrine, would create doctrinal confusion), 同流合污 (rejected — natural but too colloquial/derogatory for formal register) | Culpable complicity in evil, the negative opposite of 團契. |
| Watch yourselves | 提防自己 | tai4 fong4 zi6 gei2 | Medium | HDD, WAD | βλέπετε ἑαυτούς | blepete heautous | 1:8 | — | Vigilant self-examination against doctrinal threat, not generic self-care. |
| Lady (address) | 夫人 | fu1 jan4 | Medium | HDD | κυρία | kyria | 1:5 | 主母/女主 (rejected — visually/aurally too close to 主, Christ’s Lordship title) | See collision-avoidance note above regarding 主. |
| Elder (author’s self-designation) | 長老 | zoeng2 lou5 | Medium | (structural; authority for PTC/HDD instructions) | πρεσβύτερος | presbyteros | 1:1 | 族老 (rejected — clan-elder social-seniority connotation) | Church-office/apostolic authority, not clan seniority. |
| Know (relational) | 認識 | jing6 sik1 | Medium | WTL | γινώσκω | ginōskō | 1:1 | 知道 (rejected — too thin, purely propositional) | Relational, experiential recognition of the truth community. |
| Forever / eternity | 永遠 | wing5 jyun5 | Medium | WTL, PTC | αἰών | aiōn | 1:2 | — | Unending linear continuance; distinguish from cyclical rebirth concepts. |
| Mercy | 憐憫 | lin4 man5 | High | WTL (greeting) | ἔλεος | eleos | 1:3 | 慈悲 (rejected — root of Guanyin’s popular epithet 大慈大悲救苦救難, syncretism risk per baseline’s Salvation entry) | Never 慈悲; always 憐憫 for ἔλεος across this curriculum. |
| Joy | 喜樂 | hei2 lok6 | Low-Medium | HDD (background) | χαρά | chara | 1:12 | 開心 (rejected — too casual/circumstantial), 福氣 (rejected — luck-based happiness, per baseline Grace entry) | Relational joy rooted in Christian fellowship. |
| Mouth to mouth (face to face) | 面對面 | min6 deoi3 min6 | Low | HDD (background) | στόμα πρὸς στόμα | stoma pros stoma | 1:12 | — | Natural Cantonese idiomatic equivalent; no doctrinal risk. |
| Greet (epistolary closing) | 問候 | man6 hau6 | Low | (structural) | ἀσπάζομαι | aspazomai | 1:13 | — | Keep distinct in register from 問安 (1:10–11’s doctrinally-loaded greeting formula). |
| Sister (fellow believer/church) | 姊妹 | zi2 mui6 | Low | WTL, HDD (background) | ἀδελφή | adelphē | 1:13 | — | Standard Hong Kong church usage for “sisters in Christ.” |
| Children | 兒女 | ji4 neoi5 | Low | WTL, HDD (background) | τέκνον | teknon | 1:1, 1:4, 1:13 | — | Literal or figurative (church members); flag ambiguity for translator note, not doctrinal risk. |
| Flesh (in incarnation phrase) | 肉身 | juk6 san1 | Critical | WAD | σάρξ | sarx | 1:7 | — | Component of 道成肉身; never 化身. |
| World | 世界 | sai3 gaai3 | Low | WAD (background) | κόσμος | kosmos | 1:7 | — | Standard term, no significant collision. |
| Evil works | 邪惡嘅行為 | ce4 ok3 ge3 hang4 wai4 | Low | HDD, WAD (background) | ἔργα πονηρά | erga ponēra | 1:11 | — | Concrete outworking of false teaching; avoid reducing to generic social/legal wrongdoing. |
Cross-Reference Notes for Phase 2
- κυρία vs. κύριος: 1:5 and 1:13’s κυρία (“lady”) must never be rendered with a 主-based term. This is the single most important collision-avoidance rule specific to 2 John, since the baseline’s 主 (Lordship of Christ) is Critical risk and shares the same Greek root.
- κοινωνέω vs. κοινωνία: 1:11’s negative “shares in evil works” must use 有份於, never 團契 (reserved for the baseline’s positive Fellowship doctrine).
- διδαχή rendering discipline: always 教導, never 教訓, throughout every occurrence (1:9, 1:10) to avoid the colloquial “scolding” reading.
- χαίρειν (1:10–11) vs. ἀσπάζομαι (1:13): use two distinct Cantonese terms (問安 vs. 問候) to preserve the doctrinal weight of the withheld greeting in vv. 10–11 against the ordinary closing greeting in v. 13.
- ἔλεος: always 憐憫, never 慈悲, per the Guanyin-epithet collision already documented in the Romans baseline’s Salvation entry.
- “Son of the Father” (1:3) vs. baseline “Son of God”: theologically identical Critical doctrine (Sonship/Deity of Christ); render consistently with baseline’s 神嘅兒子 phrasing or an equivalent full phrase (父嘅兒子) — never abbreviate or soften toward adoptive/honorary sonship.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: 神
Transliteration: san4
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 天主, 上帝, 老天爺
Original: θεός
Category: God
[Inherited from Romans package.] This Language Package standardizes on 神 for Protestant curriculum consistency. NEVER substitute 天主 (Catholic term) or 上帝; NEVER use 老天爺. In 2 John 1:9, fidelity to Christ’s teaching is the stated condition for ‘having’ God — this forensic exclusivity must not be softened.
Jesus
Approved rendering: 耶穌
Transliteration: je4 sou1
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
[Inherited from Romans package.] Standard transliteration shared with Mandarin written form, pronounced in Cantonese. In 2 John 1:7, the whole letter turns on confessing that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.
Messiah
Approved rendering: 基督
Transliteration: gei1 duk1
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: 彌勒, 黃大仙式嘅救世主
[Inherited from Romans package.] Established transliteration of ‘Christos’. NEVER conflate with 彌勒 (Maitreya) or a wish-granting temple deity such as Wong Tai Sin.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: 神嘅兒子
Transliteration: san4 ge3 ji4 zi2
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 天子, 神人
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ πατρός / ὁ υἱός
Category: Christology
[Inherited from Romans package.] Full phrase required; never abbreviate. EXTENSION FOR 2 JOHN: 1:3’s variant Johannine wording ‘Son of the Father’ (τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ πατρός) must be rendered consistently with this same Critical sense — eternal, unique, co-equal sonship — either folded into 神嘅兒子 or rendered 父嘅兒子; never softened toward adoptive/honorary sonship, and never abbreviated toward a merely deified-human reading. Screen against Oneness/modalist and Watchtower-adjacent renderings per analysis/05_translation_landscape.md §4.
Grace
Approved rendering: 恩典
Transliteration: jan1 din2
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: 福氣, 有求必應式嘅恩典, 功德
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
[Inherited from Romans package.] CRITICAL: NEVER frame as reciprocal temple-vow favor (Wong Tai Sin’s ‘whatever you ask, you shall receive’); NEVER use 功德. Opens 2 John’s greeting-triad in 1:3, alongside 憐憫 and 平安.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: 道成肉身
Transliteration: dou6 sing4 juk6 san1
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: 化身, 顯靈
Original: Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί
Category: Christology
[Inherited from Romans package.] CRITICAL: NEVER use 化身 or 顯靈. This is the single highest-stakes rendering decision in 2 John, which is written specifically to defend this doctrine against denial (1:7). Must always carry temporal/uniqueness markers (e.g. 嗰一次, 獨一嘅, 已經完成嘅) in surrounding teaching prose so no sentence can be lifted to suggest a repeatable or ongoing incarnation (guard against Eastern Lightning/Church of Almighty God literature per analysis/05_translation_landscape.md §4).
Lord
Approved rendering: 主
Transliteration: zyu2
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 事頭, 老爺
[Inherited from Romans package.] Established term for Christ’s exclusive Lordship. EXTENSION FOR 2 JOHN — COLLISION-AVOIDANCE REFERENCE ONLY: retained in this file solely so translators recognize that κυρία (‘lady’, 1:5 and 1:13) shares this root and must NEVER be rendered with any 主-based term. See ‘lady’ entry below for the required rendering (夫人).
Flesh
Approved rendering: 肉身
Transliteration: juk6 san1
Doctrine: Incarnation of Jesus Christ
Rejected alternatives: 化身
Original: σάρξ
Category: Christology
NEW TERM for this curriculum, as a component of 道成肉身. Used in 1:7’s confession that Christ came ἐν σαρκί. NEVER render with 化身 (a deity’s repeatable manifestation-form, popularly attributed to Guanyin) or any term implying a temporary, exchangeable appearance-form. Phonetically/conceptually adjacent to 化身 — lock this rendering with zero deviation.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: 敵基督
Transliteration: dik6 gei1 duk1
Doctrine: Denial of the Incarnation Is Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: 魔王
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: False Teaching
NEW TERM for this curriculum; established loanword-calque across Chinese Bible tradition. Rejected: 魔王 (generic mythic-demon framing loses the specific christological content). Must name a specific, historically active christological error, not evil in general.
Confess
Approved rendering: 承認
Transliteration: sing4 jing6
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: 信(單獨使用)
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: Christology
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Formal, public doctrinal confession — here specifically that Jesus Christ has come ἐν σαρκί (1:7); parallel to the baseline’s 耶穌是主 confession pattern (Romans 10:9). Rejected: bare 信 (too weak, reduces to private belief/opinion, losing the public/formal declaration sense).
High Risk Terms
Father
Approved rendering: 父
Transliteration: fu6
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 祖先, 老竇式嘅父
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
[Inherited from Romans package.] God as personal, caring Father. Distinguish from ancestor veneration (拜祖先) practiced through clan ancestral halls (祠堂) and Ching Ming/Chung Yeung grave-sweeping. In 2 John 1:3/1:9, retains relational distinctness from ‘the Son’ — never collapse into a single undifferentiated person (guard against Oneness/modalist readings).
Election
Approved rendering: 揀選
Transliteration: gaan2 syun2
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: 命運, 八字注定
Original: ἐκλεκτή
Category: Salvation
[Inherited from Romans package.] God’s sovereign, personal choice; NEVER impersonal fate/destiny language. Root term underlying 2 John’s adjectival ‘elect’ usage — see ‘elect’ entry below for the specific adjectival rendering used in 1:1 and 1:13.
Elect
Approved rendering: 蒙揀選嘅
Transliteration: mung4 gaan2 syun2 ge3
Doctrine: Divine Election of the Recipients
Rejected alternatives: 命運, 八字注定
NEW TERM for this curriculum: adjectival extension of the baseline’s 揀選 root, describing the addressee (‘elect lady,’ 1:1) and her ‘sister’ (1:13). Retains the baseline’s Election doctrine sense exactly: God’s personal, gracious choice, never fate/destiny language such as 八字注定 (birth-chart fate) or impersonal 命運, both live Hong Kong folk-consultation practices.
Truth
Approved rendering: 真理
Transliteration: zan1 lei5
Doctrine: Truth as Apostolic Testimony / Walking in Truth and Love
Rejected alternatives: 真如式嘅抽象真理
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Truth and Love
NEW TERM for this curriculum. 真理 is unavoidable but shared with Chinese philosophical/Buddhist ‘ultimate reality’ (真如) and generic secular usage (‘scientific truth’). Every doctrinally significant occurrence (1:1-4) must be explicitly anchored to the apostolic testimony about Jesus Christ, never left as an abstract or self-discovered reality.
Love
Approved rendering: 愛（彼此相愛）
Transliteration: oi3 (bei2 ci5 soeng1 oi3)
Doctrine: Love as Christ’s Command, Not Sentiment or Loyalty
Rejected alternatives: 愛情, 兄弟情/義氣式嘅愛
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Truth and Love
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Never bare 愛 in doctrinal content; always the fixed compound 彼此相愛. Rejected: 愛情 (romantic-love reading, too narrow); 兄弟情/義氣式嘅愛 (triad/gangster brotherhood loyalty-love, conditional on in-group membership, echoing the Romans baseline’s 義/義氣 collision). ἀγάπη is unconditional, command-obeying love flowing from God’s own character.
Walk
Approved rendering: 行（行在真理中／行在愛裡）
Transliteration: haang4
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Rejected alternatives: 行道
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Truth and Love
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Must always appear in the fixed compound with its object (真理/愛), never bare 行. Rejected: 行道 (Daoist ‘walking the Way’ self-cultivation resonance, which risks self-directed moral practice rather than Spirit-enabled fidelity to revealed truth).
Deceiver
Approved rendering: 迷惑人嘅
Transliteration: mai4 waak6 jan4 ge3
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: 騙徒, 科款集團, 詐騙集團
Original: πλάνος
Category: False Teaching
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Rejected: 騙徒/科款集團/詐騙集團 (Hong Kong’s saturated financial/phone-scam warning vocabulary), which would strip the doctrinal content and recast this as a consumer-fraud warning. Always pair with the doctrinal object (denial that Christ came in the flesh, 1:7).
Teaching Of Christ
Approved rendering: 教導
Transliteration: gaau3 dou6
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 教訓
Original: διδαχὴ τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Perseverance
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Use 教導 consistently (1:9, 1:10). NEVER use 教訓, whose dominant colloquial Cantonese sense is ‘to scold/reprimand’ (教訓佢一下), which would make Christ’s teaching sound punitive.
Abide
Approved rendering: 常在
Transliteration: soeng4 zoi6
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 留低
Original: μένω
Category: Perseverance
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Persevering, relational fidelity to Christ’s teaching (1:9), and of truth ‘abiding’ in believers (1:2). Rejected: 留低 (too casual/physical). Guard against collision with the Buddhist philosophical sense of 常 as metaphysical permanence contrasted with impermanence — must convey relational fidelity, not an abstract ontological claim.
Goes Beyond
Approved rendering: 越過基督嘅教導
Transliteration: jyut6 gwo3 gei1 duk1 ge3 gaau3 dou6
Doctrine: Doctrinal Departure Disguised as Spiritual Progress
Rejected alternatives: 進步
Original: προάγω
Category: Perseverance
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Fixed negative-departure compound phrase for προάγω (1:9). Rejected: bare 進步 (reads as unambiguously positive ‘progress/advancement’ in contemporary Cantonese, risking commendation of the very doctrinal departure the verse condemns). Always name the object (Christ’s teaching).
Reward
Approved rendering: 賞賜
Transliteration: soeng2 ci3
Doctrine: Forfeiture or Fullness of Ministry Reward
Rejected alternatives: 功德, 報酬
Original: μισθός
Category: Perseverance
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Rejected: 功德 (Buddhist earned-merit framework, already Critical-forbidden in the Romans baseline under Grace); 報酬 (too commercial/wage-labor register). 賞賜 names the Father’s gracious commendation of persevering gospel labor already invested (1:8), not payment purchased by religious performance.
Shares In Evil
Approved rendering: 有份於
Transliteration: jau5 fan6 jyu1
Doctrine: Complicity in False Teaching through Endorsement
Rejected alternatives: 團契, 同流合污
Original: κοινωνέω
Category: Hospitality and Discernment
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Culpable moral complicity in another’s wrongdoing (κοινωνέω, 1:11) — the negative opposite of the same root’s positive noun κοινωνία. NEVER use 團契 (reserved exclusively for the baseline’s positive Fellowship doctrine). Rejected: 同流合污 (natural but too colloquial/derogatory for the letter’s formal pastoral register; retained only as a teaching-note meaning-gloss, never as the fixed rendering).
Mercy
Approved rendering: 憐憫
Transliteration: lin4 man5
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace from the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: 慈悲
Original: ἔλεος
Category: God
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Middle term of the grace-mercy-peace greeting-triad (1:3). NEVER use 慈悲 — the standard Chinese Buddhist compassion term and root of Guanyin’s popular epithet 大慈大悲救苦救難, already forbidden in salvation-adjacent contexts by the Romans baseline’s Salvation entry due to Hong Kong’s widespread household Guanyin devotion.
Medium Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: 平安
Transliteration: ping4 on1
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: 平安符式嘅平安, 老黃曆話嘅好日子
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
[Inherited from Romans package.] Distinguish from protective-charm (平安符) or lucky-almanac (老黃曆) ‘peace’. Third term of 2 John 1:3’s greeting-triad.
Commandment
Approved rendering: 命令
Transliteration: ming6 ling6
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Rejected alternatives: 誡命
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Truth and Love
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Use 命令 for Johannine ἐντολή; reserve 誡命 exclusively for Mosaic/Decalogue contexts. Must not read as bureaucratic order divorced from relationship — flows from and returns to love (1:5-6).
Receive Into House
Approved rendering: 接待入屋
Transliteration: jip3 doi6 jap6 uk1
Doctrine: Withholding Hospitality from False Teachers
Original: λαμβάνειν εἰς οἰκίαν
Category: Hospitality and Discernment
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Formal ministry-endorsement/sponsorship of an itinerant teacher (1:10), not a general rule about domestic hospitality. Must be scoped explicitly given Hong Kong’s dense-housing, stranger-caution urban culture, which could otherwise absorb this into ordinary household-security prudence.
Greeting
Approved rendering: 問安
Transliteration: man6 on1
Doctrine: Withholding Hospitality from False Teachers
Rejected alternatives: 問候(保留予結尾一般問候, 1:13)
Original: χαίρειν
Category: Hospitality and Discernment
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Withholding this fixed formal greeting (χαίρειν, 1:10-11) = withholding public doctrinal endorsement, not general rudeness. Kept lexically distinct from 問候, the ordinary epistolary closing greeting (ἀσπάζομαι) of 1:13.
Watch Yourselves
Approved rendering: 提防自己
Transliteration: tai4 fong4 zi6 gei2
Doctrine: Warning against Itinerant Deceivers
Original: βλέπετε ἑαυτούς
Category: Hospitality and Discernment
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Vigilant self-examination against the deceivers described in 1:7, guarding what has been worked for (1:8). Must not be flattened into generic self-care/mental-health advice; always pair with its specific doctrinal object.
Lady
Approved rendering: 夫人
Transliteration: fu1 jan4
Doctrine: Corporate/Individual Identity of the Elect Lady
Rejected alternatives: 主母, 女主
Original: κυρία
Category: Epistolary Convention
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Respectful social honorific for κυρία (1:5, 1:13). CRITICAL COLLISION AVOIDANCE: κυρία shares its root with κύριος (主, the baseline’s Critical Lordship title); NEVER render with any 主-based term. Rejected: 主母/女主 (visually/aurally too close to 主).
Elder
Approved rendering: 長老
Transliteration: zoeng2 lou5
Doctrine: Apostolic Authority of ‘the Elder’
Rejected alternatives: 族老
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Epistolary Convention
NEW TERM for this curriculum. The author’s self-designation (1:1), asserting pastoral/apostolic authority to command the letter’s instructions. Rejected: 族老 (Pearl River Delta clan/village elder role, whose authority derives from lineage seniority, not apostolic commission). Do not let teaching material import a specific modern organization’s internal-office-title claim onto this term.
Know
Approved rendering: 認識
Transliteration: jing6 sik1
Doctrine: Truth as Apostolic Testimony
Rejected alternatives: 知道
Original: γινώσκω
Category: Truth and Love
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Relational, experiential recognition of the truth (γινώσκω, 1:1), describing the whole community bound together by shared knowledge of the gospel. Rejected: 知道 (too thin, purely propositional/factual).
Forever
Approved rendering: 永遠
Transliteration: wing5 jyun5
Doctrine: Truth as Apostolic Testimony
Original: αἰών (εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα)
Category: Truth and Love
NEW TERM for this curriculum. The permanence of truth’s abiding presence with believers (αἰών, 1:2). Distinguish from cyclical/rebirth notions of time in popular Buddhist eschatology (cf. the baseline’s Resurrection entry on 投胎轉世); denotes unending linear continuance, not a cycle.
Joy
Approved rendering: 喜樂
Transliteration: hei2 lok6
Doctrine: Embodied Fellowship and Completed Joy
Rejected alternatives: 開心, 福氣
Original: χαρά
Category: Church
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Deep, relational joy through embodied Christian fellowship (χαρά, 1:12), hoped to be made complete by the Elder’s visit. Rejected: 開心 (too casual/circumstantial); 福氣 (luck-based happiness, already flagged under the Romans baseline’s Grace entry).
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: 團契
Transliteration: tyun4 kai3
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: 同鄉會, 結拜
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
[Inherited from Romans package.] EXTENSION FOR 2 JOHN — CONTRAST REFERENCE ONLY: retained here so translators recognize that 1:11’s κοινωνέω (negative ‘shares in evil works’) shares the same Greek root but MUST NEVER be rendered with 團契. See ‘shares_in_evil’ entry below for the required rendering (有份於).
Mouth To Mouth
Approved rendering: 面對面
Transliteration: min6 deoi3 min6
Doctrine: Embodied Fellowship and Completed Joy
Original: στόμα πρὸς στόμα
Category: Epistolary Convention
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Idiomatic Greek for direct, face-to-face oral communication (1:12), preferred by the Elder over written correspondence alone. Natural Cantonese idiomatic equivalent; no significant doctrinal risk.
Greet Closing
Approved rendering: 問候
Transliteration: man6 hau6
Doctrine: Ordinary Epistolary Greeting and Closing Conventions
Original: ἀσπάζομαι
Category: Epistolary Convention
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Ordinary epistolary closing greeting (ἀσπάζομαι, 1:13), carrying no doctrinal-endorsement weight. Must be kept lexically distinct from 問安 (the doctrinally-loaded formula of 1:10-11).
Sister
Approved rendering: 姊妹
Transliteration: zi2 mui6
Doctrine: Corporate/Individual Identity of the Elect Lady
Original: ἀδελφή
Category: Church
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Fellow believer or sister congregation (ἀδελφή, 1:13), paralleling the κυρία/τέκνα structure. Standard, well-established Hong Kong church usage for ‘sisters in Christ’.
Children
Approved rendering: 兒女
Transliteration: ji4 neoi5
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love (background)
Original: τέκνον
Category: Church
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Either the lady’s literal children or, if κυρία is a symbolic church-designation, the members of that congregation (1:1, 1:4, 1:13). Literal-vs-figurative ambiguity flagged for translator note, not doctrinally loaded.
World
Approved rendering: 世界
Transliteration: sai3 gaai3
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation (background)
Original: κόσμος
Category: False Teaching
NEW TERM for this curriculum. The sphere of human society outside/opposed to the believing community, into which the deceivers have gone out (κόσμος, 1:7). Standard term, no significant collision.
Evil Works
Approved rendering: 邪惡嘅行為
Transliteration: ce4 ok3 ge3 hang4 wai4
Doctrine: Complicity in False Teaching through Endorsement (background)
Original: ἔργα πονηρά
Category: False Teaching
NEW TERM for this curriculum. The concrete outworking of the false teacher’s doctrinal error (ἔργα πονηρά, 1:11), shared in by anyone who extends the endorsing greeting. Avoid reducing to generic social/legal wrongdoing rather than doctrinally-rooted sin.
Referenced passages