Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 2 Thessalonians (English → Cantonese)
This glossary covers every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, spanning all three chapters of 2 Thessalonians. Terms marked [REUSE — TM] are established in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and MUST be rendered identically here — no alternative renderings are permitted. New terms (not present in the baseline) are marked [NEW] and require registry entry before Phase 2 processing.
Legend
- Risk: Critical / High / Medium / Low (per baseline risk_definitions)
- Ch.: chapter(s) in 2 Thessalonians where the term is load-bearing
- Cantonese given in Traditional Chinese script with Jyutping
| # | Term (English) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Cantonese | Jyutping | Risk | Ch. | Doctrine | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | grace | χάρις | charis | 恩典 | jan1 din2 | Critical | 1, 3 | Grace | [REUSE — TM] | Baseline forbidden substitutions apply unchanged (never 福氣/功德) |
| 2 | peace | εἰρήνη | eirēnē | 平安 | ping4 on1 | Medium | 1, 3 | Peace with God | [REUSE — TM] | “Lord of peace” 3:16 is a compositional title, not a new sense |
| 3 | church | ἐκκλησία | ekklēsia | 教會 | gaau3 wui2 | Medium | 1 | Church as God’s People | [REUSE — TM] | — |
| 4 | faith | πίστις | pistis | 信心 | seon3 sam1 | High | 1, 2, 3 | Faith | [REUSE — TM] | Also underlies 信實 (God’s faithfulness, new derived sense, see #29) and 信真理 (2:13) |
| 5 | gospel | εὐαγγέλιον | euangelion | 福音 | fuk1 jam1 | Medium | 1 | Gospel | [REUSE — TM] | “obey the gospel” 1:8 |
| 6 | glory | δόξα | doxa | 榮耀 | wing4 jiu6 | Medium | 1, 2 | Deity of Christ | [REUSE — TM] | Never 面子/威水 per baseline |
| 7 | saints | ἅγιοι | hagioi | 聖徒 | sing3 tou4 | High | 1 | Sainthood | [REUSE — TM] | — |
| 8 | sanctification | ἁγιασμός | hagiasmos | 成聖 | sing4 sing3 | High | 2 | Sanctification | [REUSE — TM] | 2:13, “sanctification of the Spirit” |
| 9 | called / calling | κλῆσις / κλητός | klēsis / klētos | 呼召 / 蒙召嘅 | fu1 siu6 / mung4 siu6 ge3 | High | 1 | Divine Calling | [REUSE — TM] | “count you worthy of this calling” 1:11 |
| 10 | election / chosen | αἱρέομαι (cf. ἐκλογή) | heileto | 揀選 | gaan2 syun2 | Critical | 2 | Effectual Calling / Election | [REUSE — TM] | 2:13 “God hath…chosen you”; never 命運/八字注定 |
| 11 | lord | κύριος | kyrios | 主 | zyu2 | Critical | 1, 2, 3 | Lordship of Christ | [REUSE — TM] | “Lord Jesus Christ” throughout |
| 12 | jesus | Ἰησοῦς | Iēsous | 耶穌 | je4 sou1 | Critical | 1, 2, 3 | Lordship of Christ | [REUSE — TM] | — |
| 13 | god | θεός | theos | 神 | san4 | Critical | 1, 2, 3 | Deity of Christ | [REUSE — TM] | Never 天主/上帝 per baseline |
| 14 | holy spirit | πνεῦμα ἅγιον | pneuma hagion | 聖靈 | sing3 ling4 | Critical | 2 | Sanctification | [REUSE — TM] | Reserve compound exclusively for the true Spirit; see #37 for false “spirit” claim in 2:2 |
| 15 | power of God | δύναμις θεοῦ | dynamis theou | 神嘅大能 | san4 ge3 daai6 nang4 | High | 1 | Power of God for Salvation | [REUSE — TM] | 1:11, God’s enabling power — see #16 for contrast |
| 16 | power (general/Satan’s) | δύναμις | dynamis | 能力 | nang4 lik6 | Critical (new distinction) | 2 | The Man of Lawlessness | [NEW] | 2:9, Satan’s “power” — MUST use 能力, never 大能, to preserve baseline’s exclusive reservation of 大能 for God |
| 17 | Day of the Lord | ἡμέρα τοῦ Κυρίου / ἡμέρα Χριστοῦ | hēmera tou Kyriou | 主的日子 | zyu2 dik1 jat6 zi2 | Critical | 2 | The Day of the Lord | [NEW] | Flagship doctrine term. Never render as bare 末日 (pop-doomsday) alone |
| 18 | coming / parousia | παρουσία | parousia | 降臨 | gong3 lam4 | Critical | 2 | The Day of the Lord | [NEW] | Also used of Satan’s counterfeit “coming” 2:9 — keep Christ’s parousia and Satan’s parousia terminologically parallel but contextually contrasted |
| 19 | appearing / brightness | ἐπιφάνεια | epiphaneia | 顯現 | hin2 jin6 | High | 2 | The Day of the Lord | [NEW] | Collides with temple 顯靈/顯現 “manifestation” language; always bind to 降臨 and to Christ by name |
| 20 | gathering together | ἐπισυναγωγή | episynagōgē | 聚集 | jeoi6 zaap6 | Low | 2 | The Day of the Lord | [NEW] | 2:1 |
| 21 | apostasy / falling away | ἀποστασία | apostasia | 離道反教 / 背道 | lei4 dou6 faan2 gaau3 / bui3 dou6 | High | 2 | The Day of the Lord | [NEW] | Keep strictly religious-doctrinal; avoid political-rebellion resonance |
| 22 | man of lawlessness | ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας / ὁ ἄνομος | anthrōpos tēs anomias | 那不法的人 | naa5 bat1 faat3 dik1 jan4 | Critical | 2 | The Man of Lawlessness | [NEW] | Flagship doctrine term; never apply to a specific living political figure in teaching materials; avoid 魔王/大魔頭 villain-trope framing |
| 23 | lawlessness | ἀνομία | anomia | 不法 | bat1 faat3 | High | 2 | The Man of Lawlessness | [NEW] | Distinguish from mere civil illegality (犯法); this is rebellion against God’s moral order |
| 24 | son of perdition | υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας | huios tēs apōleias | 滅亡之子 | mit6 mong4 zi1 zi2 | Critical | 2 | The Man of Lawlessness | [NEW] | Paired with #22 |
| 25 | destruction / perdition | ὄλεθρος / ἀπώλεια | olethros / apōleia | 滅亡 | mit6 mong4 | High | 1, 2 | God’s Righteous Judgment | [NEW] | Keep the relational sense (“from the presence of the Lord,” 1:9); do not flatten to mere extinction |
| 26 | the restrainer / what restrains | τὸ κατέχον / ὁ κατέχων | to katechon / ho katechōn | 阻擋（嗰件事／嗰位） | zo2 dong2 | Critical | 2 | The Man of Lawlessness | [NEW] | Preserve grammatical neuter/masculine ambiguity; do NOT supply an interpretive identity in translation |
| 27 | mystery | μυστήριον | mystērion | 奧祕 | ou3 bei3 | Medium | 2 | The Man of Lawlessness | [NEW] | Distinguish from folk-occult 秘術 “esoteric technique” |
| 28 | Satan | Σατανᾶς | Satanas | 撒但 | saat3 daan6 | Critical | 2 | The Man of Lawlessness | [NEW] | Unique singular adversary; never one of many folk ghosts/spirits (鬼/邪靈) |
| 29 | signs and (lying) wonders | σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα (ψεύδους) | sēmeia kai terata | 神蹟、假嘅奇事 | san4 zik1, gaa2 ge3 kei4 si6 | Critical | 2 | The Man of Lawlessness | [NEW] | Qualifier “假嘅/說謊嘅” must never be dropped; collides with Wong Tai Sin-style 靈驗 “efficacy” claims |
| 30 | deceit / deception | ἀπάτη | apatē | 詭詐 | gwai2 za3 | Medium | 2 | The Man of Lawlessness | [NEW] | — |
| 31 | delusion / error (strong delusion) | πλάνη / ἐνέργεια πλάνης | planē | 錯謬（嘅力量） | co3 mau6 (ge3 lik6 loeng6) | High | 2 | God’s Righteous Judgment | [NEW] | Judicial hardening by God, not fortune-telling illusion or occult curse (邪術) |
| 32 | truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | 真理 | zan1 lei5 | Medium | 2 | The Man of Lawlessness / Righteous Judgment | [NEW] | Specific gospel truth about Christ, not abstract philosophical truth |
| 33 | unrighteousness | ἀδικία | adikia | 不義 | bat1 ji6 | High | 2 | God’s Righteous Judgment | [NEW] | Direct negation of baseline righteousness (義); same Confucian-collision caution applies in reverse |
| 34 | be saved | σῴζω (σωθῆναι) | sōthēnai | 得救 | dak1 gau3 | Critical | 2 | Salvation | [REUSE — TM root] | Verbal companion to baseline noun 救恩; same forbidden substitutions (never 解脫/超度) |
| 35 | judged / condemned | κρίνω | krinō | 被定罪 | dik1 ding6 zeoi6 | Critical | 2 | God’s Righteous Judgment | [NEW] | Personal forensic verdict, not folk underworld-tribunal judgment (閻羅王/城隍) or impersonal karma |
| 36 | righteous (of judgment) | δίκαιος | dikaios | 公義 | gung1 ji6 | High | 1 | God’s Righteous Judgment | [NEW] | Adjectival companion to baseline righteousness/義; distinguish from 義氣 loyalty-honor collision and from generic 公道 fairness |
| 37 | vengeance / retribution | ἐκδίκησις | ekdikēsis | 報應 | bou3 jing3 | Critical | 1 | God’s Righteous Judgment | [NEW] | CUV precedent uses 報應; DIRECT tension with baseline’s warning against 報應 as karmic retribution (under sin) — mandatory translator note on every occurrence distinguishing God’s personal judicial vengeance from impersonal karma |
| 38 | love | ἀγάπη | agapē | 愛 | oi3 | Medium | 1, 2 | Perseverance under Persecution | [NEW] | Guard against collapse into romantic/family-affection default sense of 愛 in everyday Cantonese |
| 39 | endurance / perseverance | ὑπομονή | hypomonē | 忍耐 | jan2 noi6 | High | 1, 3 | Perseverance under Persecution | [NEW] | Collides with Buddhist/Daoist self-cultivated stoic patience-virtue (忍辱); biblical endurance is hope-fueled, grounded in Christ’s certain return, not self-generated merit |
| 40 | affliction / tribulation | θλῖψις | thlipsis | 患難 | waan6 naan6 | Medium | 1 | Perseverance under Persecution | [NEW] | — |
| 41 | persecution | διωγμός | diōgmos | 迫害 | bik1 hoi6 | Medium-High | 1 | Perseverance under Persecution | [NEW] | Keep historically/doctrinally framed (1st-century Thessalonica); avoid unintended present-day political-commentary reading |
| 42 | traditions | παράδοσις | paradosis | 教訓 / 使徒的教導 | gaau3 fan3 / si2 tou4 dik1 gaau3 dou6 | Critical | 2, 3 | Standing Firm in the Traditions | [NEW] | Flagship risk of this curriculum. NEVER bare 傳統 alone (ancestor-veneration/Confucian-custom collision); NEVER implies a Catholic-style parallel-to-Scripture “Sacred Tradition” (聖傳); must read as Paul’s own apostolic instruction, oral and written, distinct from the Gospels’ negative “tradition of men” (Mark 7) sense |
| 43 | establish / strengthen | στηρίζω | stērizō | 堅立 | gin1 laap6 | Low-Medium | 2 | Standing Firm in the Traditions | [NEW] | — |
| 44 | comfort | παρακαλέω (comfort sense) | parakaleō | 安慰 | on1 wai3 | Low | 2 | Standing Firm in the Traditions | [NEW] | Distinct from baseline exhort (勸勉) sense; use 安慰 specifically for the console/comfort sense |
| 45 | command (apostolic) | παραγγέλλω | parangellō | 吩咐 | fan1 fu6 | Medium-High | 3 | Standing Firm in the Traditions | [NEW] | Apostolic authority in Christ’s name; keep object of command explicit; sensitive given HK climate re: authority/obedience language |
| 46 | faithful (of God) | πιστός | pistos | 信實 | seon3 sat6 | Medium | 3 | Perseverance under Persecution | [NEW] | God’s reliability, distinct from believers’ 信心 |
| 47 | guard / keep | φυλάσσω | phylassō | 保守 | bou2 sau2 | Low | 3 | Perseverance under Persecution | [NEW] | — |
| 48 | walk disorderly / idle | ἀτάκτως περιπατέω | ataktōs peripateō | 游手好閒噉行 | jau4 sau2 hou2 haan4 gam2 hang4 | Low | 3 | Standing Firm in the Traditions | [NEW] | — |
| 49 | imitate | μιμέομαι | mimeomai | 效法 | haau6 faat3 | Low-Medium | 3 | Standing Firm in the Traditions | [NEW] | — |
| 50 | pattern / example | τύπος | typos | 榜樣 | bong2 joeng2 | Low | 3 | Standing Firm in the Traditions | [NEW] | — |
| 51 | work | ἐργάζομαι | ergazomai | 做工 | zou6 gung1 | Low | 3 | Standing Firm in the Traditions | [NEW] | — |
| 52 | busybody | περιεργάζομαι | periergazomai | 多管閒事 | do1 gun2 haan4 si6 | Low | 3 | Standing Firm in the Traditions | [NEW] | — |
| 53 | weary in doing good | ἐκκακέω | ekkakeō | 疲倦 | pei4 gyun6 | Low | 3 | Perseverance under Persecution | [NEW] | — |
| 54 | obey (apostolic word) | ὑπακούω | hypakouō | 聽從 | ting1 cung4 | Medium | 3 | Standing Firm in the Traditions | [NEW] | Object must stay explicit (Paul’s apostolic word); avoid generalized civil/political-obedience reading |
| 55 | ashamed (corrective) | ἐντρέπω | entrepō | 慚愧 | caam4 kwai5 | Medium | 3 | Standing Firm in the Traditions | [NEW] | Redemptive repentance-shame within the church family; distinct from social face-loss (面子) |
| 56 | admonish | νουθετέω | noutheteō | 勸戒 | hyun3 gaai3 | Low-Medium | 3 | Standing Firm in the Traditions | [NEW] | Related to baseline exhort (勸勉) |
Risk Tier Summary (This Curriculum’s New Terms)
| Risk | Count (new terms) | Requires |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 12 | Human theologian review, every occurrence |
| High | 11 | Human theologian review |
| Medium-High | 3 | Human theologian review (flagged for extra sensitivity) |
| Medium | 9 | Native speaker review |
| Low-Medium | 4 | Native speaker review |
| Low | 13 | Automated review |
Chapter Coverage Confirmation
- Chapter 1: reviewed — introduces Perseverance under Persecution and God’s Righteous Judgment vocabulary; reuses grace/peace/church/faith/gospel/glory/saints/calling from baseline.
- Chapter 2 (2:1-12, core passage): reviewed in full verse-by-verse detail — introduces Day of the Lord and Man of Lawlessness vocabulary.
- Chapter 2 (2:13-17): reviewed — reuses election/sanctification/glory from baseline; introduces the flagship “traditions” term.
- Chapter 3: reviewed — introduces Standing Firm in the Traditions’ practical/disciplinary vocabulary (command, obey, admonish, ashamed) and reuses peace/grace/prayer from baseline; no Critical-risk terms beyond the recurrence of 教訓/使徒的教導 (traditions) at 3:6.
No chapter of 2 Thessalonians was found to introduce zero new load-bearing vocabulary; all three chapters contribute directly to the five named doctrines of this curriculum.
Critical Risk Terms
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 grace as 福氣 (fuk1 hei3, good fortune) obtained the way Hong Kong temple-goers seek it, most visibly at Wong Tai Sin Temple’s ‘whatever you ask, you shall receive.’ NEVER use 功德 (Buddhist earned merit). Frames every greeting (1:2), the mid-letter benediction (2:16), and the closing (3:18) of 2 Thessalonians.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: 義
Transliteration: ji6
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 道德, 善行
[Inherited from Romans package] 義 is a Confucian Five Constant Virtue, culturally reinforced by triad/gangster-film 義氣 (‘yi hei’) loyalty-and-brotherhood themes. In this book the root underlies two derived new terms requiring the SAME collision caution in both directions: 公義 (God’s own righteous character as Judge, 1:6) and 不義 (unrighteousness, the direct negation, 2:10, 2:12). Never soften either toward 義氣’s loyalty-code sense or toward generic 公道/fairness.
Salvation
Approved rendering: 救恩
Transliteration: gau3 jan1
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 解脫, 超度, 大慈大悲救苦救難
Original: σωτηρία / σῴζω
Category: Salvation
[Inherited from Romans package] CRITICAL: NEVER use 解脫 (Buddhist liberation from samsara) or 超度 (a monk’s posthumous release rite). Avoid Guanyin’s popular epithet. In 2 Thessalonians the verbal companion 得救 (dak1 gau3) is required at 2:10 (‘that they might be saved’), sharply contrasted with destruction/滅亡 in the same breath; the noun 救恩 grounds 2:13’s ‘chosen you to salvation.‘
Election
Approved rendering: 揀選
Transliteration: gaan2 syun2
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: 命運, 八字注定
Original: αἱρέομαι / ἐκλογή
Category: Salvation
[Inherited from Romans package] NEVER use 命運 (impersonal fate) or 八字注定 (birth-chart-determined destiny, a live Hong Kong divination practice). 2 Thessalonians 2:13, ‘God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation’ — functions pastorally as the assurance-answer to chapter 2’s eschatological alarm; base text must not embed a Reformed/Arminian systematic-theology gloss.
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] NEVER conflate with 彌勒 (Maitreya) or a wish-granting folk deity. ‘Christ’ occurs constantly throughout 2 Thessalonians in the compound title ‘our Lord Jesus Christ.‘
Lord
Approved rendering: 主
Transliteration: zyu2
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 事頭, 老爺
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
[Inherited from Romans package] Avoid 事頭 (boss/proprietor) and 老爺 (feudal honorific). Title saturates this letter (1:1,1:7-8,1:12; 2:1,2:8,2:13-14,2:16; 3:1,3:3-5,3:16,3:18). 2:8’s contrast between Christ’s true parousia and the lawless one’s counterfeit sharpens the exclusivity claim — keep strictly doctrinal, never a political-loyalty statement, given Hong Kong’s political climate.
Jesus
Approved rendering: 耶穌
Transliteration: je4 sou1
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
[Inherited from Romans package] Standard transliteration, unchanged for this curriculum.
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 package standardizes on 神 for Protestant curriculum consistency; NEVER substitute 天主 (the Catholic term, relevant given Hong Kong/Macau’s Catholic population) or 上帝, and never 老天爺.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: 聖靈
Transliteration: sing3 ling4
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 問米嘅靈, 祖先靈
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
[Inherited from Romans package] Always use the compound 聖靈; NEVER 靈 alone. 2 Thessalonians is the FIRST curriculum where this exact caution is textually activated within a single letter: 2:2 uses bare πνεῦμα for a FALSE prophetic claim (see new term ‘false_spirit_claim’ below), while 2:13 uses ‘sanctification of the Spirit’ for the true Holy Spirit. The two occurrences must never be rendered with the same Cantonese wording.
The Day Of The Lord
Approved rendering: 主的日子
Transliteration: zyu2 dik1 jat6 zi2
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: 末日 (bare, unqualified), 世界末日
Original: ἡμέρα τοῦ Κυρίου / ἡμέρα Χριστοῦ
Category: Eschatology
NEW — flagship doctrine term of this curriculum. Central to 2:1-2. Must NEVER be rendered as bare 末日 or 世界末日 (‘doomsday’/‘world’s doomsday’), which in Hong Kong media carries disaster-film and 2012-panic-culture associations that trivialize a specific, personal, judicial divine event into generic apocalyptic entertainment. Always retain the possessive ‘主的’ or ‘基督的’ attached. Manuscript variants divide between ‘day of the Lord’ (Κυρίου) and ‘day of Christ’ (Χριστοῦ, 2:2); hold this single Cantonese rendering consistently regardless of underlying textual tradition.
Parousia
Approved rendering: 降臨
Transliteration: gong3 lam4
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: 顯靈, 化身
Original: παρουσία
Category: Eschatology
NEW. The visible, personal, future, once-for-all return of Christ (2:1, 2:8). The same Greek word describes Satan’s counterfeit ‘coming’ (2:9) — Paul’s own deliberate ironic parallel must be preserved by using the SAME Cantonese word (降臨) for both, distinguished only by explicit subject-naming in context; do not ‘fix’ this by using two different Cantonese words, which would erase the counterfeit-vs-genuine contrast. Must always be anchored to 耶穌基督 by name and framed as a single, future, bodily event, never a repeatable spiritual manifestation — a collision risk given Hong Kong temple culture’s language of a deity ‘descending’ at a shrine such as Wong Tai Sin.
Man Of Lawlessness
Approved rendering: 那不法的人
Transliteration: naa5 bat1 faat3 dik1 jan4
Doctrine: The Man of Lawlessness
Rejected alternatives: 大魔頭, 魔王, 魔羅, 那大罪人 (older CUV variant, acceptable footnote reference only)
Original: ἄνθρωπος τῆς ἀνομίας / ὁ ἄνομος
Category: Eschatology
NEW — flagship doctrine term of this curriculum (2:3-4, 2:8-10; also called ‘the lawless one,’ ὁ ἄνομος). Must not be assimilated to Chinese popular-fiction arch-villain tropes (大魔頭, 魔王) or Buddhist Mara (魔羅), reducing a real eschatological figure to folklore. NEVER apply this title to a specific living political figure in teaching materials, and never adopt a specific historical/denominational identification (e.g. the Papacy, per older Reformation-era Chinese Reformed marginalia) as settled doctrine in the base text or footnotes — present descriptively and exegetically only.
Son Of Perdition
Approved rendering: 滅亡之子
Transliteration: mit6 mong4 zi1 zi2
Doctrine: The Man of Lawlessness
Original: υἱὸς τῆς ἀπωλείας
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Semitic idiom meaning ‘destined for certain ruin’ (2:3). Keep the idiom’s force, not merely ‘a very bad man.’ Pair directly with the 滅亡 (destruction) word-family used of persecutors in chapter 1.
The Restrainer
Approved rendering: 阻擋（嗰件事／嗰位）
Transliteration: zo2 dong2 (go2 gin6 si6 / go2 wai2)
Doctrine: The Man of Lawlessness
Rejected alternatives: 政府 (any interpretive identity insertion), 教會 (any interpretive identity insertion), 聖靈 (any interpretive identity insertion), 羅馬帝國 (any interpretive identity insertion)
Original: τὸ κατέχον / ὁ κατέχων
Category: Eschatology
NEW. One of the most exegetically disputed phrases in the NT (2:6-7). Precision is paramount: preserve the grammatical shift between the neuter ‘restraining thing’ (τὸ κατέχον, 2:6) and masculine ‘restrainer’ (ὁ κατέχων, 2:7) where Cantonese syntax allows. Do NOT resolve the ambiguity by supplying an interpretive label — this includes never adopting Jehovah’s Witnesses’ League of Nations/UN identification, nor any government, church, or Holy-Spirit identification, even in supplementary teaching notes. Leave it as open as the Greek.
Satan
Approved rendering: 撒但
Transliteration: saat3 daan6
Doctrine: The Man of Lawlessness
Rejected alternatives: 鬼, 邪靈, 魔羅
Original: Σατανᾶς
Category: Spiritual Warfare
NEW. ‘Whose coming is after the working of Satan’ (2:9). Must be kept as the unique, singular personal adversary — never diluted into one among the many folk ‘evil spirits/ghosts’ (鬼, 邪靈) ritually appeased or warded off in Hong Kong folk religion (e.g. Yu Lan/Hungry Ghost Festival 盂蘭節). A defeated but real personal being under God’s sovereign permission, not part of an appeasable spirit-pantheon.
Satanic Power
Approved rendering: 能力
Transliteration: nang4 lik6
Doctrine: The Man of Lawlessness
Rejected alternatives: 大能 (reserved exclusively for God), 法力
Original: δύναμις (of Satan)
Category: Spiritual Warfare
NEW — deliberately distinguished from ‘power_of_god’ by design. ‘After the working of Satan with all power’ (2:9). MUST use the generic, non-exclusive 能力, NEVER 大能, to preserve this Language Package’s reservation of 大能 exclusively for God’s own saving/enabling power (see 1:11).
Signs And Lying Wonders
Approved rendering: 神蹟、假嘅奇事
Transliteration: san4 zik1, gaa2 ge3 kei4 si6
Doctrine: The Man of Lawlessness
Rejected alternatives: 神蹟奇事 (falsity qualifier silently dropped), 靈驗
Original: σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα ψεύδους
Category: Spiritual Warfare
NEW. 2:9. 神蹟 is exactly the vocabulary used for temple/deity ‘efficacy’ (靈驗) claims at sites like Wong Tai Sin, and is also common in Hong Kong charismatic/testimonial advertising language. The qualifier 假嘅/說謊嘅 (false/counterfeit) must NEVER be dropped for brevity, or the verse could be misread as endorsing rather than exposing false religious phenomena.
Judged Condemned
Approved rendering: 被定罪
Transliteration: bei6 ding6 zeoi6
Doctrine: God’s Righteous Judgment
Rejected alternatives: 閻羅王式嘅審判, 城隍式嘅審判
Original: κρίνω
Category: Judgment
NEW. ‘That they all might be damned’ (2:12). Must read as a personal God’s forensic legal verdict, not impersonal karmic consequence (報應/因果) and not a folk-underworld tribunal verdict of the kind popularly attributed to 閻羅王 (King Yama) or 城隍 (the City God) in Cantonese folk-religious storytelling.
Vengeance
Approved rendering: 報應
Transliteration: bou3 jing3
Doctrine: God’s Righteous Judgment
Rejected alternatives: 刑罰 (softens judicial force)
Original: ἐκδίκησις
Category: Judgment
NEW. ‘Taking vengeance on them that know not God’ (1:8). CUV precedent uses 報應 here, but this is a DIRECT TENSION with the baseline Romans package’s own explicit warning (under ‘sin’) against 報應 as impersonal karmic retribution. MANDATORY translator note required on every single occurrence, distinguishing God’s personal, righteous, judicial vengeance — the deliberate act of a personal moral Judge — from folk karma, which operates as an automatic impersonal cosmic mechanism. This is the single highest-friction term in this entire curriculum against the established baseline package and the term most likely to be ‘corrected’ back toward a karmic reading by a well-meaning but unbriefed reviewer.
Traditions
Approved rendering: 教訓 / 使徒的教導
Transliteration: gaau3 fan3 / si2 tou4 dik1 gaau3 dou6
Doctrine: Standing Firm in the Traditions
Rejected alternatives: 傳統 (bare), 聖傳
Original: παράδοσις
Category: Church
NEW — flagship doctrine term of this curriculum, and the single collision risk NOT carried over from the baseline Romans package. ‘Hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle’ (2:15); ‘the tradition which he received of us’ (3:6). THREE collision risks: (1) bare 傳統 carries heavy Cantonese ancestor-veneration/Confucian-custom weight (拜祖先, 清明, 重陽 grave-sweeping observance) and risks assimilating apostolic teaching to inherited clan custom; (2) Catholic theology’s technical 聖傳 (‘Sacred Tradition’) implies a second authority parallel to Scripture, which this Protestant-oriented curriculum must avoid, consistent with the baseline’s God/天主 Term Question caution; (3) the Gospels’ own negative sense of the same root (Mark 7, ‘tradition of men’) could wrongly color this letter’s clearly positive sense for readers moving between curricula. Render as 教訓 or 使徒的教導 with an explicit teaching note: Paul’s own apostolic instruction, oral and written, authoritative because apostolic, not inherited custom, not a second authority beside Scripture.
High Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: 信心
Transliteration: seon3 sam1
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: 虔誠, 睇相算命式嘅相信
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
[Inherited from Romans package] Personal trust placed in Christ specifically. In 2 Thessalonians occurs as the congregation’s growing trust under active persecution (1:3-4, 1:10-11), as ‘belief of the truth’ contrasted with willful unbelief (2:13), and as a prayer request that ‘the faith’ spread despite opposition (3:2). Distinguish from generic piety and from confidence placed in fortune-telling/palm-reading.
Called
Approved rendering: 蒙召嘅
Transliteration: mung4 siu6 ge3
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 天生註定, 命中注定
[Inherited from Romans package] NEVER use 命中注定 (birth-chart/astrology-derived fatalism). Underlies 1:11’s ‘count you worthy of this calling.‘
Calling
Approved rendering: 呼召
Transliteration: fu1 siu6
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 命運, 緣分
[Inherited from Romans package] NEVER use 命運 (impersonal fate) or 緣分 (fortuitous cosmic coincidence). 2 Thessalonians 1:11 and 2:14 (‘whereunto he called you by our gospel’).
Saints
Approved rendering: 聖徒
Transliteration: sing3 tou4
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: 神仙, 得道高人
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
[Inherited from Romans package] NEVER use 神仙 (Daoist immortal) or 得道高人 (accomplished spiritual master). 2 Thessalonians 1:10, ‘glorified in his saints’ — corporate designation for all believers.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: 成聖
Transliteration: sing4 sing3
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 修煉, 戒除惡習
Original: ἁγιασμός
Category: Sanctification
[Inherited from Romans package] Distinguish from self-cultivation regimens (修煉) or habit-reform (戒除惡習). 2 Thessalonians 2:13, ‘sanctification of the Spirit’ — part of the assurance answer to the eschatological alarm of 2:1-12.
Father
Approved rendering: 父
Transliteration: fu6
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 祖先, 老竇式嘅父
[Inherited from Romans package] Distinguish from ancestor veneration (拜祖先, reinforced by Ching Ming 清明 and Chung Yeung 重陽 observance). 2 Thessalonians 1:1-2, ‘God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.‘
Power Of God
Approved rendering: 神嘅大能
Transliteration: san4 ge3 daai6 nang4
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 法力, 風水嘅力量
Original: δύναμις θεοῦ
Category: God
[Inherited from Romans package] NEVER use 法力 (a medium’s ritual power) or attribute effect to feng shui. 2 Thessalonians 1:11, ‘the work of faith with power.’ 大能 must remain EXCLUSIVE to God in this letter — see the new term ‘satanic_power’ below, deliberately rendered with the non-exclusive 能力 at 2:9 to preserve this exclusivity.
Epiphaneia
Approved rendering: 顯現
Transliteration: hin2 jin6
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: 顯靈
Original: ἐπιφάνεια
Category: Eschatology
NEW. ‘The brightness of his coming’ (2:8). 顯現/顯靈 is stock Hong Kong temple-efficacy vocabulary (a deity ‘manifesting’ at a shrine). Keep tightly bound to 降臨 and to Christ by explicit name in the same clause; never let it stand alone as an isolated ‘manifestation’ report. Also compare 1:7’s ‘revealed from heaven’ — keep visually and doctrinally parallel across both passages within this letter, never assimilated to temple 顯靈 idiom.
Apostasy
Approved rendering: 離道反教
Transliteration: lei4 dou6 faan2 gaau3
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: 叛教 (political-defection overtone)
Original: ἀποστασία
Category: Eschatology
NEW. ‘Except there come a falling away first’ (2:3). Two collision risks: (1) must stay strictly religious-doctrinal, avoiding Hong Kong’s charged contemporary political vocabulary around 叛變/造反/叛教; (2) must not soften into generic ‘moral decline,’ losing the specific, climactic, foretold-event sense. 背道 is an acceptable secondary variant if consistency with a specific prior lesson requires it, but 離道反教 is primary.
Anomia
Approved rendering: 不法
Transliteration: bat1 faat3
Doctrine: The Man of Lawlessness
Rejected alternatives: 犯法
Original: ἀνομία
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Root of ‘man of lawlessness’ and ‘mystery of lawlessness’ (2:7). Distinguish from ordinary civil illegality (犯法, more common in everyday Cantonese); this is rebellion against God’s own moral order. Flag for reviewers not to ‘correct’ the rarer, doctrinally precise 不法 toward the more familiar but theologically flattening 犯法.
Destruction
Approved rendering: 滅亡
Transliteration: mit6 mong4
Doctrine: God’s Righteous Judgment
Rejected alternatives: 消滅, 永遠消失 (annihilationist flattening)
Original: ὄλεθρος / ἀπώλεια
Category: Judgment
NEW. ‘Everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord’ (1:9). Must retain the eternal, personal, RELATIONAL sense (‘from the presence of the Lord’) and not flatten to mere annihilation/extinction imagery — a flattening favored by some sect translations (see Jehovah’s Witnesses’ New World Translation per analysis/05_translation_landscape.md §3.2); this curriculum must not echo that flattening.
Temple Of God
Approved rendering: 神的殿
Transliteration: san4 dik1 din6
Doctrine: The Man of Lawlessness
Rejected alternatives: 廟
Original: ναός θεοῦ
Category: Eschatology
NEW. ‘So that he as God sitteth in the temple of God’ (2:4). Must not be softened to generic 廟 (folk/Daoist/Buddhist shrine); 殿 keeps the term tied specifically to the biblical sanctuary concept.
Delusion
Approved rendering: 錯謬嘅力量
Transliteration: co3 mau6 ge3 lik6 loeng6
Doctrine: God’s Righteous Judgment
Rejected alternatives: 咒詛, 障眼法, 邪術
Original: πλάνη / ἐνέργεια πλάνης
Category: Judgment
NEW. ‘God shall send them strong delusion’ (2:11). Must not be rendered with vocabulary suggesting a curse (咒詛, importing Cantonese folk curse-magic/exorcism vocabulary such as 收妖降魔 or 下降頭-style curse culture), fortune-telling illusion (障眼法), or occult spell-casting (邪術). This is God’s own judicial hardening of those who already rejected the truth, not sorcery performed upon the innocent.
Unrighteousness
Approved rendering: 不義
Transliteration: bat1 ji6
Doctrine: God’s Righteous Judgment
Original: ἀδικία
Category: Judgment
NEW — direct negation of the baseline ‘righteousness’ (義). ‘Deceivableness of unrighteousness’ (2:10); ‘had pleasure in unrighteousness’ (2:12). Carries the same Confucian loyalty-and-honor collision flagged for 義/義氣 in reverse; must not be softened to a generic ethical-failure reading that loses the forensic weight of standing before God.
Righteous Judgment Of God
Approved rendering: 公義
Transliteration: gung1 ji6
Doctrine: God’s Righteous Judgment
Rejected alternatives: 公道, 義氣
Original: δίκαιος
Category: Judgment
NEW — adjectival companion to the baseline ‘righteousness’ (義). ‘A righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation’ (1:6). Distinguish from the Confucian loyalty-and-honor collision already flagged for 義/義氣, and from generic 公道 (‘fairness’), which loses the forensic weight.
Perseverance Endurance
Approved rendering: 忍耐
Transliteration: jan2 noi6
Doctrine: Perseverance under Persecution
Rejected alternatives: 忍辱
Original: ὑπομονή
Category: Perseverance
NEW — flagship doctrine term. ‘Your patience and faith in all your persecutions’ (1:4). Collides with Buddhist/Daoist 忍辱 (self-cultivated stoic patience-under-insult treated as a spiritual accomplishment earning merit toward better fortune or rebirth). Biblical ὑπομονή is hope-fueled, grounded in Christ’s certain future return and vindication (1:5-7), NOT self-generated merit-accumulation. Always anchor to that hope in surrounding teaching material; never leave 忍耐 to stand as a bare virtue-word.
Persecution
Approved rendering: 迫害
Transliteration: bik1 hoi6
Doctrine: Perseverance under Persecution
Original: διωγμός
Category: Perseverance
NEW. ‘Your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure’ (1:4). Keep historically and doctrinally framed to first-century Thessalonica; avoid language that reads as commentary on present-day Hong Kong political circumstances, consistent with the baseline’s political-neutrality principle for authority-related vocabulary. Tier recorded as High (treated as Medium-High sensitivity in supporting analysis) to ensure human theologian routing given the political-sensitivity dimension.
Apostolic Command
Approved rendering: 吩咐
Transliteration: fan1 fu6
Doctrine: Standing Firm in the Traditions
Rejected alternatives: 命令
Original: παραγγέλλω
Category: Church
NEW. ‘We command you…in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (3:6, 3:12). Must be distinguished from impersonal secular/political command (命令). Given Hong Kong’s climate around obedience-to-authority language, keep the emphasis on Christ’s delegated apostolic authority, not generalized submission-to-power teaching.
Medium Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: 福音
Transliteration: fuk1 jam1
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: 好消息, 喜訊
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
[Inherited from Romans package] Shared written form with Mandarin 福音, but heard through Hong Kong/Guangdong commercial-luck culture, where 福 (fuk1, fortune) is the anchor of the New Year greeting 恭喜發財. In 2 Thessalonians occurs at 1:8 (‘obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,’ paired with judgment on rejecters) and 2:14 (‘called…by our gospel’); teaching must keep the gospel as an authoritative announcement of salvation and accountability, not forecasted prosperity.
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 Hong Kong protective-charm (平安符) and lucky-almanac culture. 2 Thessalonians 1:2 (greeting) and 3:16 (‘the Lord of peace himself’ — a title of Christ, not a generic calm-wish).
Church
Approved rendering: 教會
Transliteration: gaau3 wui2
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: 廟, 祠堂
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
[Inherited from Romans package] NEVER use 廟 (folk/Daoist/Buddhist temple) or 祠堂 (clan ancestral hall). 2 Thessalonians 1:1, ‘the church of the Thessalonians…in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.‘
Glory
Approved rendering: 榮耀
Transliteration: wing4 jiu6
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 面子, 威水
Original: δόξα
Category: God
[Inherited from Romans package] Avoid 面子 (‘face’) and 威水 (‘flashy success’). Occurs at 1:9-10, 1:12, 2:14 in this letter. NOTE: 2 Thessalonians contains its own internal literary contrast between the man of lawlessness’s usurped, false self-exaltation (2:4) and Christ’s genuine glory (2:14) — apply the 面子/威水 fencing consistently to BOTH passages, not only the positive one, per analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md §4 item 10.
Mystery
Approved rendering: 奧祕
Transliteration: ou3 bei3
Doctrine: The Man of Lawlessness
Rejected alternatives: 秘術
Original: μυστήριον
Category: Eschatology
NEW. ‘The mystery of iniquity doth already work’ (2:7). 奧祕 is the standard Chinese Christian term for Pauline ‘mystery’ (a disclosed divine reality) and must be kept distinct from folk-occult 秘術 (esoteric technique/secret art associated with fortune-telling and ritual-magic practitioners).
Deceit
Approved rendering: 詭詐
Transliteration: gwai2 za3
Doctrine: God’s Righteous Judgment
Original: ἀπάτη
Category: Judgment
NEW. ‘With all deceivableness of unrighteousness’ (2:10). Standard vocabulary; keep paired with 不義.
Truth
Approved rendering: 真理
Transliteration: zan1 lei5
Doctrine: God’s Righteous Judgment
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Judgment
NEW. ‘The love of the truth’ (2:10); ‘believed not the truth’ (2:12); ‘belief of the truth’ (2:13). Must denote the specific saving gospel truth about Christ, not abstract philosophical Truth or generic sincerity.
Love
Approved rendering: 愛
Transliteration: oi3
Doctrine: Perseverance under Persecution
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Perseverance
NEW. ‘The charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth’ (1:3); ‘the love of the truth’ (2:10). Guard against collapse into the default romantic/family-affection sense of 愛 in everyday Cantonese; must read as costly, willed, gospel-grounded love sustained under persecution.
Affliction
Approved rendering: 患難
Transliteration: waan6 naan6
Doctrine: Perseverance under Persecution
Original: θλῖψις
Category: Perseverance
NEW. ‘Tribulations that ye endure’ (1:4); ‘recompense tribulation to them that trouble you’ (1:6). Keep concrete and historical, not abstracted into general life-difficulty.
Faithfulness Of God
Approved rendering: 信實
Transliteration: seon3 sat6
Doctrine: God’s Faithfulness
Original: πιστός
Category: God
NEW, derived from the same root as the baseline ‘faith.’ ‘The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you’ (3:3). Describes God’s own reliable character, distinct from believers’ 信心 (trust); keep the two senses clearly distinguishable in teaching.
Obey Apostolic Word
Approved rendering: 聽從
Transliteration: ting1 cung4
Doctrine: Standing Firm in the Traditions
Rejected alternatives: 順服 (generalized to civil/political obedience)
Original: ὑπακούω
Category: Church
NEW, related to but contextually distinct from the baseline ‘obedience_of_faith’ concept. ‘If any man obey not our word by this epistle’ (3:14). Keep the object of obedience explicit — Paul’s apostolic word, in Christ’s authority — never generalized to civil/political obedience given Hong Kong’s political sensitivities around obedience-to-authority language.
Corrective Shame
Approved rendering: 慚愧
Transliteration: caam4 kwai5
Doctrine: Standing Firm in the Traditions
Rejected alternatives: 面子 (social loss-of-face framing)
Original: ἐντρέπω
Category: Church
NEW. ‘That he may be ashamed’ (3:14). Must be distinguished from Cantonese social ‘loss of face’ (面子, already flagged under the baseline ‘glory’ entry); this is redemptive, repentance-oriented shame within the church family, not status humiliation.
False Spirit Claim
Approved rendering: （假稱受）靈（感動嘅話）
Transliteration: gaa2 cing1 sau6 ling4 gam2 dung6 ge3 waa6
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: 聖靈 (must never be used for this occurrence)
Original: πνεῦμα (false prophetic claim)
Category: Eschatology
NEW. ‘Be not soon shaken…neither by spirit’ (2:2). This occurrence of πνεῦμα denotes a purported prophetic claim about the Day of the Lord’s timing, NOT the Holy Spirit. Must NEVER be rendered with the compound 聖靈. Render with a clarifying periphrasis (e.g. 話係受靈感動嘅預言) so the false claim is never confused with the Holy Spirit’s true testimony at 2:13. Also directly, concretely relevant to real currently-active movements (e.g. Church of Almighty God/‘Eastern Lightning,’ 全能神教會/東方閃電, active across the Cantonese-speaking diaspora) that claim a secret, already-occurred return of Christ; treat this verse as applicable warning, without naming such movements in a way that could read as a news report rather than doctrinal caution.
Low Risk Terms
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: 感恩
Transliteration: gam2 jan1
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
[Inherited from Romans package] Standard term. 2 Thessalonians 1:3 (‘we are bound to thank God always’) and 2:13. Minor risk of generic secular gratitude detached from God as the one thanked.
Exhort
Approved rendering: 勸勉
Transliteration: hyun3 min5
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
[Inherited from Romans package] Standard term for encouraging fellow believers. In 2 Thessalonians, keep this sense (urge/exhort) distinct from the letter’s separate console/comfort sense of the same Greek verb parakaleō, rendered 安慰 at 2:16-17 (see new term ‘comfort’ below).
Episynagoge
Approved rendering: 聚集
Transliteration: jeoi6 zaap6
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Original: ἐπισυναγωγή
Category: Eschatology
NEW. ‘Our gathering together unto him’ (2:1). Standard word; ensure the phrase reads as believers being gathered TO Christ, not a generic meeting.
Establish Strengthen
Approved rendering: 堅立
Transliteration: gin1 laap6
Doctrine: Standing Firm in the Traditions
Original: στηρίζω
Category: Church
NEW. ‘Stablish you in every good word and work’ (2:17). No significant collision.
Comfort
Approved rendering: 安慰
Transliteration: on1 wai3
Doctrine: Standing Firm in the Traditions
Original: παρακαλέω
Category: Church
NEW. ‘Comfort your hearts’ (2:16-17). Distinct from the baseline ‘exhort’ (勸勉, urge/entreat sense); use 安慰 specifically for the console/comfort sense as it functions in this letter.
Guard Keep
Approved rendering: 保守
Transliteration: bou2 sau2
Doctrine: Perseverance under Persecution
Original: φυλάσσω
Category: God
NEW. ‘Keep you from evil’ (3:3). No significant collision.
Admonish
Approved rendering: 勸戒
Transliteration: hyun3 gaai3
Doctrine: Standing Firm in the Traditions
Original: νουθετέω
Category: Church
NEW. ‘Admonish him as a brother’ (3:15). Related to the baseline ‘exhort’ (勸勉); keep the fraternal, restorative tone — never shunning. Always pair with 3:14’s explicit qualifier ‘not as an enemy, but…as a brother’ in the same teaching unit.
Breath Of His Mouth
Approved rendering: 主口中所出嘅氣息
Transliteration: zyu2 hau2 zung1 so2 ceot1 ge3 hei3 sik1
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: 氣 (bare, unqualified), 內功/氣功 framing
Original: πνεῦμα τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ
Category: Eschatology
NEW. ‘Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth’ (2:8) — an idiom for effortless divine power, not a reference to the Holy Spirit. Bare 氣 (hei3) alone risks activating Cantonese popular associations with 氣功 (qigong) and wuxia/kung-fu ‘internal energy,’ extremely prominent in Hong Kong film and popular culture; bind the phrase as 主口中所出嘅氣息 rather than leaving 氣 unqualified.
Walk Disorderly
Approved rendering: 游手好閒噉行
Transliteration: jau4 sau2 hou2 haan4 gam2 hang4
Doctrine: Standing Firm in the Traditions
NEW. ‘Which walketh disorderly’ (3:6, 3:11) — idle, undisciplined conduct within the church. No significant collision.
Imitate
Approved rendering: 效法
Transliteration: haau6 faat3
Doctrine: Standing Firm in the Traditions
NEW. ‘To make ourselves an ensample…that ye should follow us’ (3:7, 3:9). Standard vocabulary.
Pattern Example
Approved rendering: 榜樣
Transliteration: bong2 joeng2
Doctrine: Standing Firm in the Traditions
NEW. ‘An ensample unto you to follow us’ (3:9). Standard vocabulary.
Work Labor
Approved rendering: 做工
Transliteration: zou6 gung1
Doctrine: Standing Firm in the Traditions
NEW. ‘If any would not work, neither should he eat’ (3:10). CAUTION: this verse’s cadence closely echoes 20th-century Chinese socialist/Maoist-era labor-ideology sloganeering recognizable to many Cantonese-speaking readers with mainland family ties. Frame this in teaching materials as Paul’s pastoral instruction to a specific idle faction within the Thessalonian church, never as an echo of secular labor-political ideology; flag for native speaker review whenever quoted standalone (e.g. a pull-quote or lesson title).
Busybody
Approved rendering: 多管閒事
Transliteration: do1 gun2 haan4 si6
Doctrine: Standing Firm in the Traditions
NEW. ‘Busybodies’ (3:11). Standard vocabulary.
Weary In Well Doing
Approved rendering: 疲倦
Transliteration: pei4 gyun6
Doctrine: Perseverance under Persecution
NEW. ‘Be not weary in well doing’ (3:13). Standard vocabulary; connects back to the endurance doctrine of chapter 1.
Thessalonica
Approved rendering: 帖撒羅尼迦
Transliteration: tit3 saat3 lo4 nei4 gaa1
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
NEW proper noun — this curriculum’s first new proper-noun transliteration decision beyond the baseline Romans list. Established form shared with the Traditional-character CUV, per analysis/06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md §3, to keep cross-reference consistency with readers’ existing Bibles. The book’s Cantonese short title is 帖後 (帖撒羅尼迦後書); see analysis/05_translation_landscape.md §5.2 for full citation convention.
Referenced passages