Doctrine Analysis
Doctrine Analysis — Colossians — Full Book Coverage
This document is the full doctrine matrix for Colossians 1–4, consistent with assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json (same doctrines, same risk tiers, same review routing). Colossians 1:15–20 (the Supremacy of Christ) is the theological anchor of the curriculum but not its scope boundary: every chapter is analyzed below, and sections that introduce no new load-bearing doctrine are explicitly marked as reviewed rather than silently omitted.
Part A — Doctrine Matrix (Full Book)
| # | Doctrine | Supporting Passages (Colossians) | Risk Level | Translation Risk Summary | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation | 1:15, 1:16, 1:17 | Critical | 首生嘅 (“firstborn”) risks a Jehovah’s Witness-documented first-created misreading, active in HK literature distribution; the fourfold rulers/authorities list risks confirming a folk-Daoist celestial-bureaucracy pantheon with Christ merely ranked highest instead of sole Creator standing outside that order entirely. | Human theologian |
| 2 | Deity of Christ | 1:15, 1:19, 2:9 | Critical | 形像 must never be 神像 (idol statue); 神性 must convey full essential deity, not a “very spiritually potent” (好靈) folk register applied to powerful spirits/ancestors. | Human theologian |
| 3 | Sonship of Christ | 1:13 | Critical | 神嘅兒子 must always appear in full; kingdom-of-the-Son language must not be softened into a political/dynastic reading given HK sovereignty sensitivities; must retain eternal, unique Sonship against 天子 collision. | Human theologian |
| 4 | Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily | 1:19, 2:9 | Critical | 豐盛 never 圓滿 (Buddhist attained-completion register); 住 and 實實在在噉/有形有體噉 never framed as 顯靈 (temple manifestation) or 問米/落童 (trance-possession). Sharpest single collision point in the book alongside the false-teaching cluster. | Human theologian |
| 5 | Resurrection of Christ | 1:18, 2:12-13, 3:1 | Critical | 復活 never 投胎轉世 or a 問米 framing, per baseline mandatory consistency; “firstborn from the dead” reuses the rank/heir sense, not chronological-first-raised. | Human theologian |
| 6 | Christ as Head of the Church | 1:18, 1:24, 2:19 | High | 頭 carries a strong colloquial “boss/gang leader” register (大頭, 話事人); must be paired with the organic life-source sense (2:19) so headship is not reduced to organizational chain-of-command alone. | Human theologian |
| 7 | Reconciliation through the Cross | 1:20, 1:21-22, 2:14 | Critical | 和好 is an ordinary word for two estranged equal parties settling a dispute; must be taught as God’s unilateral, sovereign act, never a mutual meeting-halfway or transactional vow-exchange (echoes baseline grace caution). | Human theologian |
| 8 | Redemption and Forgiveness of Sins | 1:14, 2:13-14 | Critical | 救贖 must never echo HK pawnshop (大押) self-funded buy-back logic; 罪得赦免 must be distinguished from gradual karmic-debt clearing (業障消除) — this is a decisive legal pardon. | Human theologian |
| 9 | Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism | 2:8, 2:16-19, 2:20-23 | Critical | Sharpest cultural collision in the curriculum: 世界嘅基本原理 must never use 五行 (Five Elements) vocabulary; 敬拜天使 parallels HK intermediary-deity practice (土地公, 門神); 故作謙卑 is ambiguity-flagged against the positive-valence 謙卑 at 3:12. | Human theologian |
| 10 | The Mystery of Christ Now Revealed | 1:26-27, 2:2-3, 4:3 | High | 奧秘 must be structurally opposite to esoteric secret teaching (密宗/秘法) reserved for initiates — once hidden, now openly proclaimed to all; 智慧 must not conflate with Buddhist prajñā attained through meditative cultivation. | Human theologian |
| 11 | Union with Christ (Died and Raised With Him) | 2:12-13, 2:20, 3:1-5 | Critical | Full consistency with baseline’s absolute prohibition on 投胎轉世/問米 for 復活, now extended to participatory “with him” (同佗一齊) language; must remain already-accomplished, never flattened to future-only hope. | Human theologian |
| 12 | Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New | 3:5, 3:9-10 | High | 舊人/新人 must be distinguished from secular self-help transformation and from karmic-rebirth notions (重生投胎); 治死 must be distinguished from the self-directed asceticism already condemned in ch.2. | Human theologian |
| 13 | Household Codes | 3:18, 3:19, 3:20-21, 3:22-4:1 | Critical | 順服 collides with Confucian 三從 (“Three Obediences”); must always pair with 3:19’s command to love without harshness. Every κύριος occurrence in 3:18-4:1 requires referent-check: human master = 主人, divine Master = 主 (never interchangeable). | Human theologian |
| 14 | Grace | 1:2, 1:6, 3:16, 4:18 | Critical | 恩典 reserved exclusively for unmerited saving favor, against Wong Tai Sin-style transactional vow-exchange; 4:6’s ordinary “gracious speech” sense must use 和悅, never 恩典. | Human theologian |
| 15 | Faith | 1:4, 1:23, 2:5, 2:7, 2:12 | High | 信心 conveys personal trust in Christ specifically, distinguished from confidence placed in fortune-telling/palm-reading; no new collision beyond baseline. | Human theologian |
| 16 | Sanctification and Christian Maturity | 1:22, 1:28, 3:12, 4:12 | High | 聖潔/成聖 distinguished from self-directed cultivation regimens (修煉) or habit-reform; 4:12’s 成熟 (τέλειος) expresses the same doctrine pastorally in Epaphras’s prayer. | Human theologian |
| 17 | Adoption into God’s Family and the Heavenly Inheritance | 1:12-14, 3:24 | High | 基業 preferred over 產業 (everyday HK real-estate term, especially loaded in a property-market-obsessed city); heavenly, non-material, grace-secured inheritance, not earned wealth. | Human theologian |
| 18 | Unity of Jews and Gentiles (Extended Categories) | 3:11 | High | Extended list (barbarian, Scythian, slave, free) must resist softening toward HK’s own insider/outsider or clan-based distinctions; retain unqualified “Christ is all, and in all.” | Human theologian |
| 19 | Peace with God | 1:20, 3:15 | Medium | 平安 distinguished from protective-charm/lucky-almanac sense (平安符, 老黃曆); at 3:15 the peace of Christ actively “rules” (作主宰/掌管) hearts, not a generalized calm. | Native speaker review |
| 20 | Kingdom Mission (Kingdom of the Beloved Son) | 1:13 | Medium | Kept clearly framed as God’s spiritual reign through Christ, not an earthly political program, given HK’s sovereignty sensitivities. | Native speaker review |
| 21 | Christian Fellowship and Mutual Edification | 1:24, 3:16, 4:15-16 | Low | Shared participation in Christ, not a clan/native-place association (同鄉會) or sworn-brotherhood pact (結拜); minor secular-community-reading risk only. | Automated review |
| 22 | Evangelism and Wise Speech toward Outsiders | 4:3-6 | Medium | Frame as proclamation/witness within community, attentive to HK’s political and social climate around public religious expression; 智慧 retains Spirit-given sense, not feng shui/esoteric register. | Native speaker review |
| 23 | Apostleship and Christian Ministry | 1:1, 1:7, 1:23-25, 4:7 | Low (with embedded High clause) | 使徒/執事/管家 vocabulary itself is low risk; 1:24’s “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” carries an embedded High-risk requirement for a mandatory clarifying gloss (Paul’s missionary suffering, never insufficiency of the cross). | Automated review; escalate 1:24 clause to human theologian |
Risk totals (matching registry): Critical 11 · High 7 · Medium 3 · Low 2 (one Low entry carries an embedded High-risk clause requiring escalation).
Part B — Chapter-by-Chapter and Section-by-Section Coverage Log
Every section of Colossians 1–4 is accounted for below. Sections that carry forward an already-documented doctrine without introducing new translation risk are marked [REVIEWED — no new load-bearing doctrine].
Chapter 1
- 1:1-2 (Greeting) — Doctrine 23 (Apostleship and Ministry). Standard opening formula; low risk.
- 1:3-8 (Thanksgiving for the Colossians’ faith) — Doctrines 15 (Faith), 21 (Fellowship), reuses baseline 福音 (gospel, Medium, no new collision). [REVIEWED for gospel/thanksgiving vocabulary — no new load-bearing doctrine beyond documented entries]
- 1:9-14 (Prayer for spiritual wisdom; redemption) — Doctrines 10 (Mystery/Wisdom, early appearance of 智慧/知識), 17 (Adoption and Inheritance), 8 (Redemption and Forgiveness), 20 (Kingdom of the Son).
- 1:15-20 (CORE PASSAGE — the Christ-hymn) — Doctrines 1 (Supremacy of Christ over Creation), 2 (Deity of Christ), 6 (Head of the Church), 7 (Reconciliation through the Cross), 5 (Resurrection, via “firstborn from the dead”). This is the theological anchor of the entire curriculum; every term here (形像, 首生嘅, 創造, 頭, 元首, 和好) requires theologian review without exception.
- 1:21-23 (Reconciliation applied to the Colossians; warning to continue in the faith) — Doctrines 7 (Reconciliation), 16 (Sanctification — “holy and blameless”), 15 (Faith — perseverance clause).
- 1:24-29 (Paul’s ministry, the mystery, maturity) — Doctrines 23 (Apostleship, with the embedded High-risk 1:24 clause), 10 (Mystery of Christ Revealed), 16 (Sanctification/Maturity — τέλειος anticipated).
Chapter 2
- 2:1-5 (Paul’s concern for the Colossians; hidden treasures of wisdom) — Doctrine 10 (Mystery/Wisdom), 15 (Faith).
- 2:6-15 (Fullness of deity, union in baptism, the cancelled debt, triumph over powers) — Doctrines 4 (Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily), 2 (Deity of Christ), 11 (Union with Christ), 8 (Redemption/Forgiveness — the record of debt), 9 (False Teaching — “philosophy and empty deceit,” “elemental spirits” first appears at 2:8, “circumcision not made with hands” at 2:11).
- 2:16-23 (Warnings: festivals/Sabbaths, worship of angels, ascetic self-made religion) — Doctrine 9 (Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism) in its fullest concentration; this is the single densest doctrinal-risk section in the book. No other doctrine is newly introduced here; all terms trace to Doctrine 9’s cluster (世界嘅基本原理, 敬拜天使, 故作謙卑, 自訂嘅宗教).
Chapter 3
- 3:1-4 (Seek the things above; hidden with Christ; appear in glory) — Doctrines 11 (Union with Christ), 5 (Resurrection), reuses baseline 榮耀 (glory, Medium). [REVIEWED for 榮耀 — no new collision beyond baseline]
- 3:5-11 (Put to death; old self/new self; unity of all peoples in Christ) — Doctrines 12 (Putting Off Old Self/Putting On New), 18 (Unity of Jews and Gentiles, extended categories).
- 3:12-17 (Virtues of the new self; peace of Christ; the word of Christ; singing; thanksgiving) — Doctrines 16 (Sanctification — positive-valence 謙卑 here, contrast to 2:18/2:23’s negative valence), 19 (Peace with God/Peace of Christ ruling hearts), 21 (Fellowship — teaching/admonishing one another), 14 (Grace — song content at 3:16), reuses baseline 感恩 (thanksgiving, Low). [REVIEWED for 感恩 — no new collision]
- 3:18-4:1 (Household codes: wives/husbands, children/parents, bondservants/masters) — Doctrine 13 (Household Codes) in its fullest concentration. Every κύριος occurrence requires referent-check per the registry; no other doctrine is newly introduced in this section.
Chapter 4
- 4:2-6 (Prayer requests; the mystery of Christ; wisdom and gracious speech toward outsiders) — Doctrines 22 (Evangelism and Wise Speech toward Outsiders), 10 (Mystery, recurrence at 4:3), 14 (Grace — the non-doctrinal “gracious speech” sense at 4:6, which must NOT be rendered 恩典).
- 4:7-9 (Tychicus and Onesimus commended) — Doctrine 23 (Ministry), 21 (Fellowship). [REVIEWED — no new load-bearing doctrine; extends already-documented ministry/fellowship vocabulary]
- 4:10-14 (Greetings from co-workers) — Doctrine 21 (Fellowship). [REVIEWED — no new load-bearing doctrine]
- 4:15-17 (Greetings to Laodicea; instruction re: the letter from Laodicea; charge to Archippus) — Doctrine 21 (Fellowship — church-to-church greetings, 4:15-16), Doctrine 23 (Ministry — the “fulfill the ministry” charge to Archippus echoes but does not extend the 1:24 clause). [REVIEWED — no new load-bearing doctrine beyond documented Fellowship/Ministry entries]
- 4:18 (Paul’s own hand; closing grace benediction) — Doctrine 14 (Grace — closing benediction, reuses baseline 恩典 exactly). [REVIEWED for closing formula — no new collision]
Full-book coverage confirmed: all 4 chapters, all major sections, reviewed. No section of Colossians is silently omitted; every section either introduces a doctrine listed in Part A or is explicitly marked reviewed with no new load-bearing doctrine.
Part C — Notes for Phase 2 Review Routing
- Human theologian review is mandatory for all Critical and High doctrines above (18 of 23 entries) — consistent with
doctrine_risk_registry.json. - Native speaker review governs the 3 Medium doctrines (Peace with God, Kingdom of the Son, Evangelism/Wise Speech).
- Automated review governs the 2 Low doctrines (Fellowship, Apostleship/Ministry) — with the standing exception that any segment containing the 1:24 “filling up what is lacking” clause must be escalated to human theologian review regardless of the surrounding Low-risk ministry vocabulary.
- Per the baseline’s escalation rules (see
12_ai_translation_requirements.md), any Colossians segment containing Incarnation/Fullness-of-Deity, Deity of Christ, Sonship, Resurrection, Lordship-adjacent household-code κύριος referents, Grace, or Messianic/Firstborn-of-Creation language must be automatically flagged for human theologian review, never auto-approved.
Critical Risk Doctrines
The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation
Cantonese name: 基督超越萬有嘅至高性同充足性
Key terms: image, firstborn, all creation, create, before all things, thrones and dominions
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: this is the core-passage doctrine. 首生嘅 (“firstborn”) is a documented real-world sectarian collision point — Jehovah’s Witnesses, with active literature distribution in Hong Kong, read “firstborn of all creation” as Christ being the first CREATED being. Additionally, the fourfold “thrones/dominions/rulers/authorities” list risks being heard as confirming a folk-Daoist celestial-bureaucracy pantheon (Jade Emperor’s court, city/earth gods) with Christ merely ranked highest, rather than as the sole Creator standing entirely outside that order. Every teaching occurrence must pair 首生嘅 with a clarifying rank/heir note and cross-reference v.16-17.
Deity of Christ
Cantonese name: 基督嘅神性
Key terms: image of God, fullness of deity, deity/Godhead, God
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: 形像 must never be rendered 神像 (idol-statue), which would reduce Christ to a temple representation of an absent deity rather than God’s own living self-disclosure. 神性 (θεότης, 2:9) must convey full, essential deity, not a folk-religious “very spiritually potent” (好靈) register applied to powerful spirits or venerated ancestors.
Sonship of Christ
Cantonese name: 基督嘅兒子名分
Key terms: Son of God, his beloved Son, kingdom of the Son
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL, extending the baseline: 神嘅兒子 must always be used in full, never abbreviated. Colossians 1:13 combines this with kingdom language (“kingdom of his beloved Son”) — must not be softened into a political/dynastic reading given Hong Kong’s sensitivities around sovereignty language, and must retain the eternal, unique Sonship the baseline establishes against 天子 (Son of Heaven, the imperial title).
Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily
Cantonese name: 基督裏面神性嘅豐盛（有形有體噉）
Key terms: fullness, dwell, deity/Godhead, bodily
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: 豐盛 must never be replaced with 圓滿 (Buddhist “perfect completion” attained through spiritual practice/enlightenment, heard at HK Buddhist funeral and dedication ceremonies) — Christ’s fullness is what he eternally IS, not a state he attained. 住 (dwell) and 實實在在噉/有形有體噉 (bodily) must never be framed like a deity’s temporary temple-manifestation (顯靈) or a spirit-medium’s temporary trance-possession (問米, 落童) — Christ’s indwelling fullness is permanent, essential, and unique to him alone.
Resurrection of Christ
Cantonese name: 基督嘅復活
Key terms: firstborn from the dead, resurrection, raised with him
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: 復活 must never be rendered with 投胎轉世 (rebirth into a new womb/cycle) or framed like a 問米 spirit-medium briefly summoning a deceased person’s spirit — this consistency with the baseline is mandatory. Additionally in Colossians, “firstborn from the dead” reuses the rank/founding-heir sense of πρωτότοκος (not chronological first-made), reinforcing the same caution as at 1:15.
Reconciliation through the Cross
Cantonese name: 藉十字架嘅和好
Key terms: reconcile, make peace, blood of his cross
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: 和好 is an ordinary, familiar Cantonese word for two estranged parties settling a dispute and returning to friendly terms — an asset with no direct folk-religious collision, but it risks being heard as a MUTUAL, negotiated meeting-halfway between roughly equal parties. Teaching must make explicit that God is the offended, sovereign party who acts unilaterally through Christ’s blood; humanity does not meet God halfway or offer anything in exchange, consistent with the baseline’s grace caution against transactional vow-and-exchange framing.
Redemption and Forgiveness of Sins
Cantonese name: 救贖同罪得赦免
Key terms: redemption, forgiveness of sins, record of debt
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: Hong Kong’s visible pawnshop culture (大押/押店) uses 贖 for a self-funded buy-back of a pawned item by repaying its loan value. Biblical redemption (救贖) must be taught as the OPPOSITE — Christ pays the price on the sinner’s behalf, the sinner contributes no repayment. Forgiveness (罪得赦免) must also be distinguished from the Buddhist concept of gradually clearing karmic debt/obstacles (業障消除) through merit or ritual practice; this is a decisive legal pardon, not a karmic-residue cleansing.
Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Cantonese name: 對假教導同宗教融合主義嘅警告
Key terms: philosophy and empty deceit, tradition of men, elemental spirits, worship of angels, false humility, self-made religion
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL cluster: the sharpest single collision is στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου (“elemental spirits/principles”) against Chinese cosmology’s Five Elements (五行 — metal/wood/water/fire/earth), which underlie feng shui, traditional Chinese medicine, and astrology still active in Hong Kong homes and businesses. NEVER use 五行 vocabulary directly for this term. “Worship of angels” (敬拜天使) parallels Hong Kong’s practice of approaching intermediary spiritual beings (土地公, 門神) directly rather than through one supreme God, and must be taught as a warning against devotion to ANY created intermediary in place of Christ.
Union with Christ (Died and Raised With Him)
Cantonese name: 同基督聯合：同死同復活
Key terms: buried with him, raised with him, put to death, hidden with Christ
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: must maintain full consistency with the baseline’s absolute prohibition on 投胎轉世 (rebirth cycle) or 問米 (spirit-medium) framing for 復活, now extended into participatory “with him” (同佗一齊) language. This participatory language is doctrinally load-bearing: believers are ALREADY united with Christ’s death and resurrection now, not merely promised a future parallel event — must not be flattened to a future-only hope.
Household Codes
Cantonese name: 家庭守則
Key terms: submit, love your wives without harshness, obey (children), bondservant, master (human vs. divine)
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: 順服 (submit, wives) collides with the historic Confucian “Three Obediences” (三從) framework still culturally present across the Pearl River Delta region; must always be taught inseparably with the husband’s command to love without harshness (3:19), never as unconditional or grounded in innate inferiority. Equally CRITICAL: the household code’s repeated Greek κύριος for both human masters and the divine Master must be resolved by referent in Cantonese — human master = 主人, never 主 (reserved exclusively for the divine Lord per baseline); every occurrence in 3:18-4:1 requires theologian review to confirm correct referent-based rendering.
Grace
Cantonese name: 恩典
Key terms: grace, gracious speech (non-doctrinal sense)
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL, reused from baseline: 恩典 must remain reserved exclusively for unmerited saving favor, contradicting the transactional vow-and-offering exchange modeled by Hong Kong’s most popular temple worship (e.g. Wong Tai Sin’s “whatever you ask, you shall receive”). Colossians 4:6 uses χάρις in its ordinary, non-doctrinal “pleasant speech” sense — this occurrence must NOT be rendered 恩典 (use 和悅/得體 instead), to avoid wrongly importing the full doctrinal weight into a description of conversational manner.
High Risk Doctrines
Christ as Head of the Church
Cantonese name: 基督係教會嘅頭
Key terms: head, body, church
Review routing: Human theologian
HIGH: 頭 (head) in colloquial Cantonese carries a strong “boss/gang leader” register (大頭, 話事人, used of triad or business bosses), risking a reduction of Christ’s headship to a merely organizational chain-of-command role. Must always be taught together with the organic “the body draws life from the head” sense (2:19) so that headship conveys life-source, not only authority-structure.
The Mystery of Christ Now Revealed
Cantonese name: 基督嘅奧秘已經顯明
Key terms: mystery, knowledge, wisdom
Review routing: Human theologian
HIGH: 奧秘 must be distinguished from esoteric secret teachings associated with Tantric/Esoteric Buddhism (密宗) or Daoist secret ritual technique (秘法) reserved for initiates. The biblical mystery is structurally OPPOSITE — once hidden, now openly proclaimed to all believers, not an ongoing secret reserved for an initiated elite. 智慧 (wisdom) also risks conflation with Buddhist prajñā (般若智慧) attained through meditative cultivation; biblical wisdom here is Spirit-given and revealed, not self-attained.
Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New
Cantonese name: 除去舊人，穿上新人
Key terms: old self, new self, renewed in knowledge, put to death
Review routing: Human theologian
HIGH: 舊人/新人 must be distinguished from (a) generic secular self-help “becoming a new person” through willpower, and (b) any Buddhist-flavored notion of karmic rebirth (重生投胎) through accumulated merit. The “new self” is a status already given through union with Christ, to be lived out — not a self-improvement achievement or karmic-cycle transformation. 治死 (put to death) must be distinguished from the self-directed ascetic mortification already condemned in ch.2; this is Spirit-empowered outworking of an accomplished union, not works-based asceticism.
Faith
Cantonese name: 信心
Key terms: faith, believe
Review routing: Human theologian
HIGH, reused from baseline: 信心 conveys personal trust in Christ specifically, not the confidence commonly placed in fortune-telling and palm-reading services. No new collision introduced by Colossians beyond the baseline’s existing caution.
Sanctification and Christian Maturity
Cantonese name: 成聖同基督徒嘅成熟
Key terms: holy, sanctification, mature (τέλειος)
Review routing: Human theologian
HIGH, reused and extended from baseline: 聖潔/成聖 must be distinguished from self-directed cultivation regimens (修煉, associated with qigong/martial-arts training) or simple habit-reform. Colossians 4:12’s 成熟 (τέλειος) expresses this doctrine pastorally in Epaphras’s prayer and carries the same Spirit-wrought, not self-attained, sense.
Adoption into God’s Family and the Heavenly Inheritance
Cantonese name: 兒子名分同天上嘅基業
Key terms: inheritance, kingdom of the Son, redemption
Review routing: Human theologian
HIGH: 基業 (inheritance) is preferred over 產業, the everyday Hong Kong word for real-estate/property assets — an especially loaded term in a city defined by intense property-market culture. Must be taught as a heavenly, non-material inheritance secured by grace through adoption, not earned wealth or a literal bequeathed estate.
Unity of Jews and Gentiles (Extended Categories)
Cantonese name: 猶太人同外邦人嘅合一（擴展嘅類別）
Key terms: Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, Christ is all, and in all
Review routing: Human theologian
HIGH, extending the baseline doctrine with an even wider list of categories. Must resist any softening toward Hong Kong’s own insider/outsider or clan-based distinctions (already flagged for 外邦人 in the baseline); retain the unqualified statement that Christ is all, and in all, without local hierarchical qualification.
Medium Risk Doctrines
Peace with God
Cantonese name: 同神和好嘅平安
Key terms: peace, make peace, peace of Christ
Review routing: Native speaker review
MEDIUM, reused from baseline: 平安 must be distinguished from the protective-charm/lucky-almanac sense (平安符, 老黃曆) common in Hong Kong folk practice; this is relational, covenantal peace secured once at the cross, and at 3:15 the peace of Christ actively “ruling” (作主宰/掌管) hearts, not a generalized calm or good-fortune blessing.
Kingdom Mission (Kingdom of the Beloved Son)
Cantonese name: 愛子之國
Key terms: kingdom of God, kingdom of his beloved Son, delivered from the domain of darkness
Review routing: Native speaker review
MEDIUM, reused and adapted from baseline kingdom_of_god entry: given Hong Kong’s distinct political history and present sensitivities around sovereignty and loyalty language, this must be kept clearly framed as God’s spiritual reign through Christ, not an earthly political program, in either direction.
Evangelism and Wise Speech toward Outsiders
Cantonese name: 傳福音同用智慧待教會以外嘅人
Key terms: wisdom toward outsiders, open door for the word, opportunity, gracious speech
Review routing: Native speaker review
MEDIUM, reused from baseline evangelism doctrine: frame in terms of proclamation and witness within community; be attentive to Hong Kong’s current political and social climate around public religious expression. 智慧 here must retain its Spirit-given sense per the wisdom entry above, not a feng shui/esoteric register.
Low Risk Doctrines
Christian Fellowship and Mutual Edification
Cantonese name: 基督徒團契同彼此造就
Key terms: church, body, teaching and admonishing one another, greetings among churches
Review routing: Automated review
LOW, reused from baseline: shared participation in Christ, not a clan/native-place association (同鄉會) or sworn-brotherhood pact (結拜). Minor risk only in generic secular-community readings.
Apostleship and Christian Ministry
Cantonese name: 使徒職份同事奉
Key terms: apostle, minister/servant, stewardship, filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions
Review routing: Automated review; escalate 1:24 clause to human theologian
LOW as a set for 使徒/執事/管家 vocabulary itself, but 1:24’s “filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions” carries an embedded HIGH risk requiring a mandatory clarifying gloss (Paul’s own missionary suffering, never a suggestion the cross’s atonement is insufficient) — flag that specific phrase for human theologian review even though the surrounding ministry-office vocabulary is low risk.
Referenced passages