Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Galatians (English → Cantonese)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, spanning Galatians chapters 1–6. Terms are grouped by category. Each entry records:
- Status:
REUSED(already fixed in the baseline Romanstranslation_memory.json; rendering carried over exactly, no deviation permitted) orNEW(introduced for the first time by Galatians; proposed rendering pending Phase 2 confirmation and formal addition to translation memory). - Risk: Critical / High / Medium / Low, per the shared risk definitions in
doctrine_risk_registry.json. - Chapters: every chapter in Galatians where the term is load-bearing.
Per the AI Translation Requirements’ glossary-enforcement priority order, Critical and High risk terms below require absolute/near-absolute enforcement in Phase 2; any new term marked Critical or High must be flagged for theologian review before being written into translation memory.
1. Salvation / Justification Terms
| # | Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Cantonese | Jyutping | Status | Risk | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gospel | εὐαγγέλιον | euangelion | 福音 | fuk1 jam1 | REUSED | Medium | 1, 2 | Reuse TM exactly; ch.1’s “another/different gospel” (ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον) elevates local risk to High — see Core Glossary #2. |
| 2 | Another gospel (false) | ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον | heteron euangelion | 另一個福音 | daai6 lok6 go3 fuk1 jam1 → 另一個福音 (ling6 jat1 go3 fuk1 jam1) | NEW | High | 1 | Must be taught explicitly as a false substitute, not a legitimate alternative gospel. |
| 3 | Grace | χάρις | charis | 恩典 | jan1 din2 | REUSED | Critical | 1, 2, 5, 6 | Reuse TM exactly; never framed as reciprocal temple-vow favor. |
| 4 | Faith | πίστις | pistis | 信心 | seon3 sam1 | REUSED | High | 2, 3, 5 | Object of faith (Christ) must remain explicit; flag πίστις Χριστοῦ genitive ambiguity per Core Passage v.16. |
| 5 | Righteousness | δικαιοσύνη | dikaiosynē | 義 | ji6 | REUSED | Critical | 2, 3, 5 | Distinguish from Confucian loyalty-virtue 義氣 per baseline note; every justification-context occurrence flagged. |
| 6 | Justification (verb forms) | δικαιόω (δικαιοῦται, δικαιωθῶμεν, δικαιωθήσεται) | dikaioutai, etc. | 稱義 | cing1 ji6 | REUSED | Critical | 2, 3, 5 | Forensic declaration, never a process (修成正果 forbidden). Core thesis verb of the whole letter. |
| 7 | Works of the law | ἔργα νόμου | erga nomou | 律法嘅行為 | leot6 faat3 ge3 hang4 wai4 | NEW | Critical | 2, 3 | Central negated concept of the letter; must not collapse into merit-earning (功德, already forbidden under TM grace). |
| 8 | Imputed/reckoned righteousness (Abraham) | ἐλογίσθη … εἰς δικαιοσύνην (cf. Gal 3:6) | elogisthē eis dikaiosynēn | 算為義 | syun3 wai4 ji6 | REUSED | Critical | 3 | Same Genesis 15:6 citation as Romans 4; reuse TM exactly. |
| 9 | Sinners | ἁμαρτωλοί | hamartōloi | 罪人 | zeoi6 jan4 | NEW (derived from TM “sin”) | High | 2 | Built on TM 罪; distinguish from face/shame idiom 唔衰得. |
| 10 | Nullify (grace) | ἀθετέω | athetō | 廢棄 / 令…落空 | fai3 hei3 | NEW | High | 2 | Active, culpable voiding of grace; must not be softened to mere disregard. |
| 11 | Died for nothing / in vain | δωρεὰν ἀπέθανεν | dōrean apethanen | 白白噉死 / 死得毫無意義 | baak6 baak6 gam2 sei2 | NEW | Critical | 2 | Must preserve the negated logical force (“accomplished nothing”), not a positive “died freely” reading. |
| 12 | Redemption / redeem | ἐξαγοράζω | exagorazō | 救贖 | gau3 suk6 | NEW | High | 3, 4 | Distinguish from pawnshop redemption (贖當) and from 超度 (already forbidden under TM salvation). |
| 13 | Curse (of the law) | κατάρα | katara | 咒詛 | zau3 zou2 | NEW | Critical | 1 (anathema form), 3 | Direct collision with 打小人 villain-hitting ritual and 降頭 curse-fear culture; God’s judicial curse, not a removable folk hex. |
| 14 | Accursed / anathema | ἀνάθεμα | anathema | 該受咒詛 | goi1 sau6 zau3 zou2 | NEW | Critical | 1 | Same collision risk as #13; covenant-lawsuit judgment language. |
| 15 | Salvation (implicit background doctrine) | σωτηρία (concept, not a frequent lexeme in Galatians) | sōtēria | 救恩 | gau3 jan1 | REUSED | Critical | (conceptual throughout) | Reuse TM exactly wherever the concept surfaces (e.g., 1:4 “who gave himself for our sins to deliver us”). |
2. Christology Terms
| # | Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Cantonese | Jyutping | Status | Risk | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | Jesus | Ἰησοῦς | Iēsous | 耶穌 | je4 sou1 | REUSED | Critical | 1–6 | Reuse TM exactly. |
| 17 | Christ / Messiah | Χριστός | Christos | 基督 | gei1 duk1 | REUSED | Critical | 1–6 | Never conflated with 彌勒 or a wish-granting deity. |
| 18 | Lord | κύριος | kyrios | 主 | zyu2 | REUSED | Critical | 1, 6 | Exclusive Lordship; never 事頭/老爺. |
| 19 | Son of God | υἱὸς θεοῦ | huios theou | 神嘅兒子 | san4 ge3 ji4 zi2 | REUSED | Critical | 2, 4 | Full phrase required; never abbreviated; never 天子. |
| 20 | Crucified with Christ | Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι | Christō synestaurōmai | 同基督同釘十字架 | tung4 gei1 duk1 tung4 deng1 sap6 zi6 gaa3 | NEW | Critical | 2 | Core passage doctrine term; once-for-all union event, not a technique, ritual, or reincarnation-adjacent cycle. |
| 21 | Gave himself for me | παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ | paradontos heauton hyper emou | 為我捨己 / 將自己交出嚟為咗我 | wai4 ngo5 se2 gei2 | NEW | High | 2 | Personal substitutionary self-giving; retain “me,” not only generic “us.” |
| 22 | Mediator | μεσίτης | mesitēs | 中保 | zung1 bou2 | NEW | Medium-High | 3 | Distinguish from 靈媒/問米 (spirit-medium) and from commercial 中介 (broker/agent). |
| 23 | Servant/minister (of sin, rhetorical) | διάκονος | diakonos | 執事 | zap1 si6 | NEW | Medium | 2 | Abstract argumentative use in 2:17; distinguish from later ecclesial-office sense and from TM 使徒. |
3. Divine Calling / Apostleship Terms
| # | Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Cantonese | Jyutping | Status | Risk | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | Apostle | ἀπόστολος | apostolos | 使徒 | si2 tou4 | REUSED | Low | 1 | Reuse TM; flag Galatians’ unique emphasis on direct (not human-mediated) commissioning. |
| 25 | Called / calling | κλητός / κλῆσις | klētos / klēsis | 蒙召嘅 / 呼召 | mung4 siu6 ge3 / fu1 siu6 | REUSED | High | 1 | Reuse TM exactly for “set apart from the womb” (1:15). |
| 26 | Election | ἐκλογή (concept, cf. “set apart from birth”) | eklogē | 揀選 | gaan2 syun2 | REUSED | High | 1 | Never 命中注定/八字注定. |
| 27 | Revelation | ἀποκάλυψις | apokalypsis | 啟示 | kai2 si6 | NEW | Medium | 1 | Distinguish from divination/fortune-revealing practice (求籤, 睇相算命). |
| 28 | Zealous | ζηλωτής | zēlōtēs | 熱心 | jit6 sam1 | NEW | Low | 1 | Common word, low risk. |
| 29 | Judaism | Ἰουδαϊσμός | Ioudaismos | 猶太教 | jau4 taai3 gaau3 | NEW | Low | 1 | Standard loan term. |
4. Law and Covenant Terms
| # | Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Cantonese | Jyutping | Status | Risk | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 | Law | νόμος | nomos | 律法 | leot6 faat3 | REUSED | High | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | Never 禮/規矩/法律. |
| 31 | Covenant | διαθήκη | diathēkē | 約 | joek3 | REUSED | High | 3, 4 | Never 合約 (commercial contract) or vow-fulfillment framing. |
| 32 | Promise | ἐπαγγελία | epangelia | 應許 | jing3 heoi2 | NEW | Medium | 3, 4 | Distinguish from a fortune-teller’s forecast; tightly linked to 約. |
| 33 | Seed / offspring (Abrahamic) | σπέρμα | sperma | 後裔 | hau6 jeoi6 | NEW | Medium-High | 3 | Paul’s singular/collective grammatical argument; distinguish from clan-lineage-continuity concerns (already flagged under TM adoption). |
| 34 | Guardian / tutor (paidagōgos) | παιδαγωγός | paidagōgos | 訓蒙嘅師傅 | fan3 mung4 ge3 si1 fu2 | NEW | High | 3 | Collision with HK’s private-tutoring industry (補習); custodial slave-role, not a paid academic tutor. |
| 35 | Heir | κληρονόμος | klēronomos | 承受產業嘅人 | sing4 sau6 caan2 jip6 ge3 jan4 | NEW | Medium-High | 3, 4 | Collision with HK family-estate inheritance-dispute culture; spiritual, not merely material, inheritance. |
| 36 | Elements of the world | στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου | stoicheia tou kosmou | 世界嘅基本原理/勢力 | sai3 gaai3 ge3 gei1 bun2 jyun4 lei5 | NEW | Critical | 4 | Direct structural collision with Chinese Five Elements (五行) cosmology, active in HK feng shui/astrology culture; also risk of trivializing confusion with the classical CUV phrase 世上的小學 (“elementary teaching,” easily misheard as “primary school”). Mandatory theologian review every occurrence. |
| 37 | Fullness of time | τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου | to plērōma tou chronou | 日期滿咗嗰陣 | jat6 kei4 mun5 zo2 go2 zan6 | NEW | Medium | 4 | Distinguish from feng shui almanac auspicious-day selection (擇日). |
| 38 | Circumcision | περιτομή | peritomē | 割禮 | got3 lai5 | NEW | Medium | 5, 6 | Requires OT covenant-sign background explanation; low cultural-collision but high doctrinal stakes. |
| 39 | Compel to be circumcised | περιτέμνεσθαι ἠναγκάσθη | peritemnesthai ēnagkasthē | 被強迫受割禮 | bei6 koeng4 baak1 sau6 got3 lai5 | NEW | High | 2 | Preserve the coercive force; concrete test case for the letter’s argument. |
| 40 | Truth of the gospel | ἀλήθεια τοῦ εὐαγγελίου | alētheia tou euangeliou | 福音嘅真理 | fuk1 jam1 ge3 zan1 lei5 | NEW | High | 2 | Doctrinal fidelity to the gospel’s content, not mere sincerity. |
| 41 | False brothers | ψευδάδελφοι | pseudadelphoi | 假兄弟 | gaa2 hing1 dai6 | NEW | Medium | 2 | Pastorally sensitive; low lexical ambiguity. |
| 42 | Israel of God | ὁ Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ θεοῦ | ho Israēl tou theou | 以色列 (compound: 神嘅以色列) | ji5 sik1 lit6 | REUSED (base noun) | Medium | 6 | Reuse TM 以色列; flag referent ambiguity (ethnic vs. all-believers) for theologian review. |
5. Adoption, Sonship, and Family Terms
| # | Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Cantonese | Jyutping | Status | Risk | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43 | Adoption / sonship | υἱοθεσία | huiothesia | 兒子嘅名分 | ji4 zi2 ge3 ming4 fan6 | REUSED | High | 4 | Never 過繼 or 認契仔. |
| 44 | Father | πατήρ | patēr | 父 | fu6 | REUSED | High | 1, 4 | Personal, relational Father; distinguish from ancestor veneration. |
| 45 | Abba | Ἀββά | Abba | 阿爸 | aa3 baa1 | REUSED | High | 4 | Retain transliteration alongside 父 for filial intimacy. |
| 46 | Slavery / bondage | δουλεία | douleia | 奴役 | nou4 jik6 | NEW | Medium | 4, 5 | Doctrinal antonym of freedom; pair consistently. |
| 47 | Hagar-Sarah allegory | ἀλληγορούμενα | allēgoroumena | 寓意 / 象徵性解釋 | jyu6 ji3 | NEW | Medium | 4 | Primarily a background-knowledge/teaching risk (low OT literacy assumed). |
| 48 | Jerusalem above | ἡ ἄνω Ἰερουσαλήμ | hē anō Ierousalēm | 天上嘅耶路撒冷 | tin1 soeng6 ge3 je4 lou6 saat3 laang3 | NEW | Medium | 4 | Keep eschatological/spiritual, avoid earthly-political framing per baseline kingdom_of_god caution. |
6. Freedom, Flesh, and Spirit Terms
| # | Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Cantonese | Jyutping | Status | Risk | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49 | Freedom / liberty | ἐλευθερία | eleutheria | 自由 | zi6 jau4 | NEW | Medium | 5 | HK political-climate sensitivity around “自由”; keep doctrinal/spiritual, not political framing. |
| 50 | Yoke of slavery | ζυγὸς δουλείας | zygos douleias | 奴役嘅軛 | nou4 jik6 ge3 aat3 | NEW | Medium | 5 | Retain servitude-yoke imagery, not generic “burden.” |
| 51 | Flesh (ethical sense) | σάρξ | sarx | 肉體 | juk6 tai2 | NEW | High | 3, 4, 5, 6 | Distinct from 肉身 (physical body, ch.2) and 道成肉身 (incarnation, TM); avoid Daoist internal-alchemy self-cultivation framing (脫胎換骨). |
| 52 | Flesh (idiomatic “all flesh”/“humanity”) | σάρξ (πᾶσα σάρξ) | pasa sarx | 冇人 / 世人 | mou5 jan4 / sai3 jan4 | NEW | Medium | 2 | Do not render literally as 肉體; Hebraic idiom for “no human being.” |
| 53 | Flesh (neutral, “in the flesh”/body) | σάρξ (ἐν σαρκί) | en sarki | 肉身 | juk6 san1 | NEW | Medium | 2 | Neutral physical-existence sense; keep distinct from #51 and #52. |
| 54 | Holy Spirit | πνεῦμα ἅγιον | pneuma hagion | 聖靈 | sing3 ling4 | REUSED | Critical | 3, 4, 5, 6 | Never 靈 alone; never 問米-medium framing. |
| 55 | Works of the flesh | τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκός | ta erga tēs sarkos | 肉體嘅行為 | juk6 tai2 ge3 hang4 wai4 | NEW | Medium | 5 | Includes φαρμακεία (“sorcery”) → 邪術; explicitly distinguish from folk-medicine/feng shui broadly. |
| 56 | Fruit of the Spirit | ὁ καρπὸς τοῦ Πνεύματος | ho karpos tou Pneumatos | 聖靈嘅果子 | sing3 ling4 ge3 gwo2 zi2 | NEW | Low-Medium | 5 | Reuse TM 聖靈; preserve singular “fruit” vs. plural “works” contrast. |
| 57 | Walk by / led by the Spirit | περιπατεῖτε / ἄγεσθε πνεύματι | peripateite / agesthe pneumati | 順住聖靈行 | seon6 zyu6 sing3 ling4 hang4 | NEW | Low | 5 | Low risk given correct base-term use. |
| 58 | Faith working through love | πίστις διʼ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη | pistis di’ agapēs energoumenē | 藉住愛心運作嘅信心 | zik3 zyu6 oi3 sam1 wan6 zok3 ge3 seon3 sam1 | NEW | High | 5 | Must not reintroduce works-righteousness; note secondary Confucian 仁 (ren) collision risk. |
| 59 | Love | ἀγάπη | agapē | 愛心 | oi3 sam1 | NEW | Medium | 5 | Distinguish Spirit-produced fruit from self-cultivated Confucian benevolence (仁). |
7. Community Ethics Terms
| # | Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Cantonese | Jyutping | Status | Risk | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | Bear one another’s burdens | ἀλλήλων τὰ βάρη βαστάζετε | allēlōn ta barē bastazete | 彼此擔當重擔 | bei2 ci5 daam1 dong3 cung5 daam3 | NEW | Low | 6 | Consistent with baseline’s 彼此造就 (mutual edification). |
| 61 | Restore gently | καταρτίζετε ἐν πνεύματι πραΰτητος | katartizete en pneumati prautētos | 溫柔咁挽回 | wan1 jau4 gam2 waan2 wui4 | NEW | Low-Medium | 6 | Pastoral emphasis; low lexical risk. |
| 62 | Sow and reap | ὃ γὰρ ἐὰν σπείρῃ ἄνθρωπος, τοῦτο καὶ θερίσει | ho gar ean speirē anthrōpos, touto kai therisei | 種嘅係乜,收嘅就係乜 | zung3 ge3 hai6 mat1, sau1 ge3 zau6 hai6 mat1 | NEW | High | 6 | Collision with the common Buddhist-derived karma proverb 種善因,得善果; must be taught as consequence within a grace/Spirit framework, not impersonal karmic retribution. |
| 63 | New creation | καινὴ κτίσις | kainē ktisis | 新造嘅人 | san1 zou6 ge3 jan4 | NEW | Medium-High | 6 | Avoid the Daoist-alchemy-flavored idiom 脫胎換骨; avoid reincarnation framing (投胎轉世, already forbidden under TM resurrection). |
| 64 | Boast | καυχάομαι / καύχημα | kauchaomai / kauchēma | 誇口 | kwaa1 hau2 | NEW | Medium | 6 | Connects to baseline’s 面子/威水 caution under “glory.” |
| 65 | Marks of Jesus | στίγματα | stigmata | 耶穌嘅印記 | je4 sou1 ge3 jan3 gei3 | NEW | Medium | 6 | Distinguish from protective talisman marks/tattoos (符) in folk practice. |
| 66 | Transgressor | παραβάτης | parabatēs | 越軌嘅人 / 犯法嘅人 | jyut6 gwai2 ge3 jan4 | NEW | High | 2 | Distinguish from generic rule-breaking (規矩, already forbidden as a stand-in for 律法). |
8. Reused Baseline Terms Cited Without New Analysis (for completeness)
The following baseline Romans TM terms also appear in Galatians and must be reused exactly with no new rendering derived; full detail in the baseline translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json. Listed here to satisfy full-book citation coverage:
| Term (EN) | Cantonese | Risk (per baseline) | Chapters cited in Galatians |
|---|---|---|---|
| God | 神 | Critical | 1–6 |
| Peace | 平安 | Medium | 1, 6 |
| Glory | 榮耀 | Medium | 1 |
| Church | 教會 | Medium | 1 |
| Fellowship | 團契 | Low | 2 |
| David (not present as a term in Galatians — no citation; noted as absent) | — | — | — |
| Israel | 以色列 | Medium | 6 |
| Mission (implicit: gospel preaching among Gentiles) | 宣教 | Medium | 1, 2 |
Glossary Summary Counts
| Risk Tier | Reused (Romans TM) | New (Galatians) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical | 9 | 5 | 14 |
| High | 6 | 12 | 18 |
| Medium | 5 | 20 | 25 |
| Low | 2 | 7 | 9 |
| Total | 22 | 44 | 66 |
Escalation note: All 5 new Critical-risk terms (Works of the Law; Died-for-Nothing; Curse; Accursed/Anathema; Crucified with Christ; — note: Elements of the World is also Critical, making 6 new Critical terms; table corrected below) and all 12 new High-risk terms require mandatory human theologian review before being written into an updated translation memory for Phase 2, per the AI Translation Requirements’ escalation rules. Two terms — Curse/Anathema (咒詛/該受咒詛) and Elements of the World (世界嘅基本原理/勢力) — carry the highest cultural-collision specificity identified in this analysis (villain-hitting ritual; Five Elements cosmology) and should be treated with the same review weight as the baseline’s existing Critical terms (Grace, Salvation, Resurrection, Incarnation).
Corrected Critical-tier new-term count: 6 (Works of the Law; Died-for-Nothing; Curse; Accursed/Anathema; Crucified with Christ; Elements of the World).
Critical Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: 恩典
Transliteration: jan1 din2
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: 福氣, 有求必應式嘅恩典, 功德
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Galatians 2:21 and 5:4 make grace-versus-law-works the letter’s central antithesis; every occurrence must preserve the contrast against the transactional vow-and-offering exchange model of Hong Kong temple worship (e.g. Wong Tai Sin’s ‘whatever you ask, you shall receive’).
Righteousness
Approved rendering: 義
Transliteration: ji6
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 道德, 善行
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Every justification-context occurrence in Galatians (2:16-21; 3:6-11; 5:5) must carry the baseline flag distinguishing 義 from the Confucian loyalty-and-honor idiom 義氣, reinforced by Cantonese triad/brotherhood film culture.
Justification
Approved rendering: 稱義
Transliteration: cing1 ji6
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 修成正果, 還神還願
Original: δικαιόω / δικαίωσις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Galatians 2:16-17 uses three verb forms (δικαιοῦται, δικαιωθῶμεν, δικαιωθήσεται) that form the letter’s thesis statement; all must use the verbal form of 稱義 (‘被稱為義’ / ‘得稱為義’) in verse-level text, never a process verb suggesting gradual moral improvement. Reserve the bare noun 稱義 for doctrine-title/heading use only.
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 (concept; cf. Galatians 1:4 ‘gave himself for our sins to deliver us’)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. The lexeme itself is infrequent in Galatians but the concept underlies 1:4 (‘gave himself for our sins to deliver us’) and the whole letter’s argument. Never 解脫 or 超度; never quote Guanyin’s popular epithet as a synonym.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: 復活
Transliteration: fuk6 wut6
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 投胎轉世, 問米式嘅還魂
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Galatians 1:1 (‘God the Father, who raised him from the dead’) invokes this term directly. Its forbidden-substitution note (never 投胎轉世, rebirth cycle) is also load-bearing for two new Galatians terms — crucified_with_christ and new_creation — both of which must avoid the same reincarnation-adjacent imagery.
Lord
Approved rendering: 主
Transliteration: zyu2
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 事頭, 老爺
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Appears in Galatians 1:3 and in the benedictions 6:14, 6:18. Never 事頭 (colloquial ‘boss’) or 老爺 (feudal honorific).
Son Of God
Approved rendering: 神嘅兒子
Transliteration: san4 ge3 ji4 zi2
Doctrine: Sonship and Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 天子, 神人
Original: υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Galatians 2:20 and 4:4-6 both invoke this Sonship, the second as the ground of believers’ adoption. Full phrase required; never abbreviated to 神人; never 天子 (‘Son of Heaven,’ the historic Chinese imperial title).
Jesus
Approved rendering: 耶穌
Transliteration: je4 sou1
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Standard transliteration throughout Galatians 1-6.
Messiah
Approved rendering: 基督
Transliteration: gei1 duk1
Doctrine: Sonship and Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 彌勒, 黃大仙式嘅救世主
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly (this key covers all ‘Christ’ references in Galatians). Never conflated with 彌勒 (Maitreya) or a wish-granting temple deity such as Wong Tai Sin.
God
Approved rendering: 神
Transliteration: san4
Doctrine: Sonship and Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 天主, 上帝, 老天爺
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. This package standardizes on 神 for Protestant curriculum consistency; never 天主 (standard Catholic term, per baseline’s Term Question note) or 上帝; never 老天爺.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: 聖靈
Transliteration: sing3 ling4
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Rejected alternatives: 問米嘅靈, 祖先靈
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Central to Galatians 3:2-5,14; 4:6,29; 5:16-25; 6:8. Always the full compound 聖靈; never 靈 alone, which in Hong Kong folk usage covers ancestral spirits, temple spirits, and 問米-summoned spirits.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: 算為義
Transliteration: syun3 wai4 ji6
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 修成正果嘅義, 自義
Original: ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Galatians 3:6 reuses the same Genesis 15:6 citation as Romans 4; must retain the forensic-crediting sense, never a moral achievement (修成正果) or self-righteousness (自義).
Works Of The Law
Approved rendering: 律法嘅行為
Transliteration: leot6 faat3 ge3 hang4 wai4
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 功德, 善行
Original: ἔργα νόμου
Category: Salvation
NEW term. Reliance on Torah-observance — especially covenant boundary-markers such as circumcision — as the basis of right standing with God (Galatians 2:16; 3:2,5,10). Never 功德 (Buddhist earned merit) — Hong Kong’s active merit-economy vocabulary makes it easy to hear this phrase as generic ‘good deeds that earn merit’ rather than specifically Torah-observance as a covenant-membership badge.
Died For Nothing
Approved rendering: 白白噉死 / 死得毫無意義
Transliteration: baak6 baak6 gam2 sei2
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: 死得好慷慨 (praises the death rather than negating its purpose)
Original: Χριστὸς δωρεὰν ἀπέθανεν
Category: Salvation
NEW term. Galatians 2:21’s climactic δωρεὰν ἀπέθανεν. Must convey ‘accomplished nothing/was pointless,’ not ‘died sadly’ or ‘died freely’ — the latter would invert Paul’s logic into praising Christ’s death as a free gift. A translator note on the untranslatable δωρεάν/χάρις wordplay is advised. Ranked #5 highest-risk ambiguity per 06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md.
Curse Of The Law
Approved rendering: 咒詛
Transliteration: zau3 zou2
Doctrine: The Curse of the Law and Redemption
Rejected alternatives: 降頭式嘅詛咒, 打小人可解除嘅咒
Original: κατάρα
Category: Salvation
NEW term, single highest cultural-collision-specificity term in the book alongside elements_of_the_world. Galatians 3:10,13: Christ redeems believers from the law’s judicial curse by becoming a curse in their place. Direct collision with Hong Kong’s actively practiced ‘villain-hitting’ ritual (打小人, performed under the Canal Road flyover) and curse-fear vocabulary (降頭, 中邪). Must be taught as God’s own righteous covenant-lawsuit judgment, substitutionarily and once-for-all borne by Christ — never a hex removable by counter-ritual, offering, or temple visit. Mandatory theologian review every occurrence.
Anathema
Approved rendering: 該受咒詛
Transliteration: goi1 sau6 zau3 zou2
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Rejected alternatives: 中邪, 被詛咒 (too generic/folk-hex-adjacent)
Original: ἀνάθεμα
Category: Salvation
NEW term. Galatians 1:8-9’s ἀνάθεμα — Paul’s covenant-lawsuit pronouncement on anyone preaching a false gospel. Same collision risk as curse_of_the_law. Historically weaponized by some sectarian tracts against ‘apostate Christendom’ broadly (per 05_translation_landscape.md); this curriculum must keep the pronouncement strictly tied to Paul’s original Judaizing-false-gospel target, never as a template for inter-group condemnation.
Crucified With Christ
Approved rendering: 同基督同釘十字架
Transliteration: tung4 gei1 duk1 tung4 deng1 sap6 zi6 gaa3
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Rejected alternatives: 脫胎換骨, 投胎轉世式嘅重生
Original: Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι
Category: Christology
NEW term naming the core curriculum doctrine. Galatians 2:19-20; 6:14. A definite, historical, once-for-all union event with Christ’s actual death, appropriated by faith — not a repeatable ritual self-mortification technique, not the Daoist-alchemy-flavored idiom 脫胎換骨 (self-achieved transformation), and not reincarnation-adjacent ‘dying into a new life’ imagery (投胎轉世, already forbidden under baseline TM resurrection). Never use 十字架 alternatives (never a ‘torture stake’ rendering, per the Jehovah’s Witnesses New World Translation, which this curriculum must not echo). Mandatory theologian review, core-passage term.
Elements Of The World
Approved rendering: 世界嘅基本原理/勢力
Transliteration: sai3 gaai3 ge3 gei1 bun2 jyun4 lei5
Doctrine: Elemental Spiritual Bondage
Rejected alternatives: 五行, 世上的小學 (unmodified CUV phrase, risks ‘primary school’ mishearing)
Original: τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Covenant
NEW term, single highest-difficulty term in the curriculum. Galatians 4:3,9’s τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου — no safe direct Cantonese rendering exists. The closest structural cultural analogue, 五行 (the Five Elements — metal, wood, water, fire, earth), is foundational to Chinese astrology, feng shui, and traditional medicine and is extremely active in present-day Hong Kong almanac and fortune-telling culture; using it would validate that cosmology as real. The classical CUV phrase 世上的小學 risks being misheard in modern Cantonese as ‘primary school.’ Mandatory theologian review AND a mandatory explanatory footnote on every occurrence — treat with the same review weight as the baseline’s highest Critical terms. Ranked #1 highest-risk ambiguity in the book per 06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md.
High Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: 信心
Transliteration: seon3 sam1
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 虔誠, 睇相算命式嘅相信
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Galatians 2:16’s πίστις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ / πίστεως Χριστοῦ genitive requires the object of faith (基督) to remain explicit; this package follows the objective-genitive (‘faith in Christ’) reading consistently with Romans, per 05_translation_landscape.md.
Called
Approved rendering: 蒙召嘅
Transliteration: mung4 siu6 ge3
Doctrine: Divine Calling and Election
Rejected alternatives: 天生註定, 命中注定
Original: κλητός (concept, cf. ἀφορίσας με ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου, Galatians 1:15)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Galatians 1:15’s ‘set apart from my mother’s womb’ must never be rendered with 命中注定 or 八字注定 (birth-chart astrology, a widely consulted Cantonese practice) — God’s call is a personal choice, not a fate fixed at birth.
Calling
Approved rendering: 呼召
Transliteration: fu1 siu6
Doctrine: Divine Calling and Election
Rejected alternatives: 命運, 緣分
Original: κλῆσις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Underlies Galatians 1:15’s calling narrative alongside 蒙召嘅; never 命運 or 緣分.
Law
Approved rendering: 律法
Transliteration: leot6 faat3
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Rejected alternatives: 禮, 規矩, 法律
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Central to Galatians 2-5’s law-and-grace argument. Never equated with 禮 (Confucian ritual propriety), 規矩 (‘rules/customs’, a common Cantonese word for social/family convention), or 法律 (secular/civil law).
Covenant
Approved rendering: 約
Transliteration: joek3
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: 合約, 還神還願嘅承諾
Original: διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Underlies the Abrahamic covenant argument of Galatians 3-4; never 合約 (commercial contract, heavily used in HK’s contract-driven business culture) or vow-fulfillment framing (還神還願).
Election
Approved rendering: 揀選
Transliteration: gaan2 syun2
Doctrine: Divine Calling and Election
Rejected alternatives: 命運, 八字注定
Original: ἐκλογή (concept, cf. Galatians 1:15)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Underlies Galatians 1:15; never 命運 (impersonal fate) or 八字注定 (birth-chart astrology).
Adoption
Approved rendering: 兒子嘅名分
Transliteration: ji4 zi2 ge3 ming4 fan6
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship
Rejected alternatives: 過繼, 認契仔
Original: υἱοθεσία
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Central to Galatians 4:1-7. Never 過繼 (clan-succession adoption, historically practiced to continue ancestor-worship obligations) or 認契仔 (dedicating a child as a temple deity’s ‘godson’).
Sin
Approved rendering: 罪
Transliteration: zeoi6
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: 報應, 唔衰得
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Root of Galatians’ ‘sinners’ (see 罪人, new term) and 1:4’s ‘gave himself for our sins’. Distinguish from 報應 (karmic retribution) and 唔衰得 (face/shame idiom).
Father
Approved rendering: 父
Transliteration: fu6
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship
Rejected alternatives: 祖先, 老竇式嘅父
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Appears in Galatians 1:1, 1:3-4, 4:6. Distinguish from ancestor veneration practiced through 祠堂 and the Ching Ming/Chung Yeung grave-sweeping festivals.
Abba
Approved rendering: 阿爸
Transliteration: aa3 baa1
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship
Original: Ἀββά
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Galatians 4:6 pairs ‘Abba, Father’ identically to Romans 8:15; retain the transliteration alongside 父 to preserve filial intimacy.
False Gospel
Approved rendering: 另一個福音
Transliteration: ling6 jat1 go3 fuk1 jam1
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Rejected alternatives: 另類福音 (heard as a valid alternative option)
Original: ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
NEW term. ‘A gospel of a different kind’ (ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον, Galatians 1:6-9), which Paul immediately calls a perversion, not a legitimate alternative. Never let this phrase stand alone — always pair it in the same sentence with a clause naming it a distortion, since Hong Kong’s religiously plural marketplace trains readers to hear ‘a different gospel’ as one valid option among several. Ranked #2 highest-risk ambiguity in the book per 06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md.
Sinners
Approved rendering: 罪人
Transliteration: zeoi6 jan4
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 唔衰得式嘅論述
Original: ἁμαρτωλοί
Category: Sin
NEW term, built on 罪 (sin). Galatians 2:15,17’s ironic Second-Temple ‘Gentile sinners’ label, turned back on Jewish believers. Must not collapse into the Cantonese face/shame idiom 唔衰得 — this is moral standing before God, not social embarrassment.
Nullify Grace
Approved rendering: 廢棄 / 令…落空
Transliteration: fai3 hei3
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: 唔理會, 唔重視
Original: ἀθετέω
Category: Salvation
NEW term. Galatians 2:21’s ἀθετέω — an active, culpable voiding of grace, not a merely emotional ‘disregard’. Always connect explicitly to 恩典 so the sentence reads ‘I do not treat God’s unearned favor as void.‘
Redemption
Approved rendering: 救贖
Transliteration: gau3 suk6
Doctrine: The Curse of the Law and Redemption
Rejected alternatives: 贖當, 超度
Original: ἐξαγοράζω
Category: Salvation
NEW term. ἐξαγοράζω — Christ’s atoning death purchasing believers out from under the law’s curse (3:13) and out of slavery into sonship (4:5). Never a bare 贖, which in everyday Cantonese refers to redeeming a pawned item (贖當) at a Hong Kong pawnshop (大押); never 超度 (Buddhist merit-transfer/ancestor-release rite, already forbidden under baseline TM ‘salvation’).
Gave Himself For Me
Approved rendering: 為我捨己
Transliteration: wai4 ngo5 se2 gei2
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Rejected alternatives: 幫咗我 (too weak, loses substitution)
Original: παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ
Category: Christology
NEW term. Galatians 2:20’s παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ. Must retain both the personal address (‘me,’ not only ‘us’/generic humanity) and the substitutionary sense of ‘gave himself up,’ not softened to a vague ‘helped me’ or ‘was there for me.‘
Seed Offspring
Approved rendering: 後裔
Transliteration: hau6 jeoi6
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: 血脈, 過繼
Original: σπέρμα
Category: Covenant
NEW term. Galatians 3:16,29 — Abraham’s singular collective ‘seed’/descendant, which Paul identifies as Christ, with believers included by faith. Cantonese/Pearl River Delta clan culture has a strong existing lineage-continuity concept (血脈, 後代) tied to ancestor-worship obligations; must be taught as a singular, Christ-centered fulfillment of promise, not a biological clan-lineage-preservation concern. No Chinese translation’s 後裔 carries Greek σπέρμα’s grammatical singular/collective ambiguity, so the argument must be carried by explicit teaching prose.
Guardian Tutor
Approved rendering: 訓蒙嘅師傅
Transliteration: fan3 mung4 ge3 si1 fu2
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Rejected alternatives: 補習老師, 監護人 (acceptable supplementary gloss only)
Original: παιδαγωγός
Category: Covenant
NEW term. Galatians 3:24-25’s παιδαγωγός — a household slave charged with custodial, restraining supervision of a child until adulthood, NOT a teacher. Hong Kong’s intensely commercial private-tutoring culture (補習, celebrity ‘tutor king/queen’ 補習天王/后 advertising) makes it very easy to hear this as a paid academic tutor optimizing exam performance — nearly the opposite of Paul’s point. Requires mandatory Greco-Roman household-background teaching; RCUV’s 監護人 (‘guardian/custodian’) may be cited as a supplementary gloss if field testing shows 師傅 is being misheard as an academic tutor.
Heir
Approved rendering: 承受產業嘅人
Transliteration: sing4 sau6 caan2 jip6 ge3 jan4
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship
Rejected alternatives: 遺產繼承人 (too narrowly material/legal)
Original: κληρονόμος
Category: Covenant
NEW term. Galatians 3:29; 4:1,7 — legal recipient of an inheritance; full inheritance-rights status in God’s family, received by faith. Hong Kong’s prominent, often litigious family-estate/inheritance-dispute culture risks flattening this into a purely material-property expectation; must be taught as full relational son-and-heir status (consistent with 兒子嘅名分), not a legal claim on transferable material assets.
Compel Circumcision
Approved rendering: 被強迫受割禮
Transliteration: bei6 koeng4 baak1 sau6 got3 lai5
Doctrine: Truth of the Gospel / Doctrinal Fidelity
Rejected alternatives: 被鼓勵受割禮 (softens the coercive force)
Original: περιτέμνεσθαι ἠναγκάσθη
Category: Covenant
NEW term. Galatians 2:3 — Titus was NOT compelled, in contrast to the pressure Paul resisted; the concrete test case for the whole letter’s argument. Must preserve the coercive force (ἠναγκάσθη, ‘was forced’), not softened to ‘was encouraged.‘
Truth Of The Gospel
Approved rendering: 福音嘅真理
Transliteration: fuk1 jam1 ge3 zan1 lei5
Doctrine: Truth of the Gospel / Doctrinal Fidelity
Rejected alternatives: 對福音嘅誠實 (too weak, reads as personal sincerity)
Original: ἀλήθεια τοῦ εὐαγγελίου
Category: Salvation
NEW term. Galatians 2:5,14 — the gospel’s doctrinal integrity and saving content, at stake in the Antioch confrontation. Must not be softened into ‘being honest about the gospel’ — this is about fidelity to the gospel’s actual saving content against a real, church-dividing distortion.
Freedom
Approved rendering: 自由
Transliteration: zi6 jau4
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ
Original: ἐλευθερία
Category: Salvation
NEW term naming the curriculum doctrine ‘Freedom in Christ’. Galatians 5:1,13 (cf. 2:4). No viable substitute exists for 自由 — this is the correct theological term, but it carries an unavoidable, live political resonance in Hong Kong’s contemporary climate. Every occurrence in 5:1,13 must be explicitly bracketed with doctrinal framing (freedom from the law’s condemnation and sin’s dominion), never taught or heard as a political-liberty statement, consistent with the baseline’s existing caution on kingdom_of_god and Romans 13-14. Ranked #9 highest-risk ambiguity per 06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md; escalated for pastoral-sensitivity review.
Flesh Ethical
Approved rendering: 肉體
Transliteration: juk6 tai2
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Rejected alternatives: 脫胎換骨式嘅肉體觀, 內丹修煉嘅對象
Original: σάρξ (ethical sense)
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. σάρξ’s ethical/theological sense (Galatians 3:3; 4:23,29; 5:13,16-24; 6:8,12-13) — the sinful, self-oriented disposition of unredeemed human nature, in conflict with the Spirit. Kept distinct from 肉身 (neutral ‘physical body’ sense) and from the baseline TM’s 道成肉身 (incarnation) compound. Must resist assimilation to Daoist internal-cultivation traditions (內丹) and the idiom 脫胎換骨: victory over the flesh is Spirit-empowered, not achieved through disciplined technique.
Faith Working Through Love
Approved rendering: 藉住愛心運作嘅信心
Transliteration: zik3 zyu6 oi3 sam1 wan6 zok3 ge3 seon3 sam1
Doctrine: Faith Working through Love
Rejected alternatives: 信心加愛心 (implies two co-equal meritorious inputs)
Original: πίστις διʼ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη
Category: Faith
NEW term naming the curriculum doctrine. Galatians 5:6 — faith as the root, love as its active, energizing expression, not a supplementary meritorious work. Must not be taught so as to reintroduce works-righteousness by the back door. Secondary risk: 愛 resonates with the Confucian cardinal virtue 仁 (ren, benevolence), a self-cultivated-virtue connotation parallel to the baseline’s existing caution on 義/義氣.
Sow And Reap
Approved rendering: 種嘅係乜,收嘅就係乜
Transliteration: zung3 ge3 hai6 mat1, sau1 ge3 zau6 hai6 mat1
Doctrine: Sowing and Reaping
Rejected alternatives: 種善因,得善果 (the folk-Buddhist karma proverb — never quote as equivalent)
Original: ὃ γὰρ ἐὰν σπείρῃ ἄνθρωπος, τοῦτο καὶ θερίσει
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. Galatians 6:7-9 — the moral cause-effect principle that sowing to the flesh yields corruption/death, sowing to the Spirit yields eternal life. Maps very closely onto the extremely common Cantonese/Chinese folk-Buddhist proverb 種善因,得善果, used even by entirely secular speakers as a karma idiom. Must be taught as a principle of moral consequence flowing from one’s present, grace-secured relationship to the Spirit or the flesh, NOT as an impersonal karmic law of retribution operating independently of grace. Ranked #8 highest-risk ambiguity per 06_linguistic_gap_analysis.md.
New Creation
Approved rendering: 新造嘅人
Transliteration: san1 zou6 ge3 jan4
Doctrine: Circumcision and the New Creation
Rejected alternatives: 脫胎換骨, 投胎轉世
Original: καινὴ κτίσις
Category: Sanctification
NEW term naming the curriculum doctrine ‘Circumcision and the New Creation’. Galatians 6:15 — a divine, re-creative act producing a genuinely new order of existence. Avoid the common Cantonese idiom 脫胎換骨 (‘shed the mortal frame and change the bones’), whose Daoist internal-alchemy roots imply self-achieved transformation, relocating the agency of new creation from God to the individual. Also distinguish from reincarnation framing (投胎轉世, already forbidden under baseline TM resurrection) — this is a once-for-all divine re-creation, not entry into a new life-cycle. Do not consult the Recovery Version’s ‘mingling of natures’ footnote tradition for this term (per 05_translation_landscape.md).
Transgressor
Approved rendering: 越軌嘅人 / 犯法嘅人
Transliteration: jyut6 gwai2 ge3 jan4
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: 唔守規矩嘅人 (imports the forbidden 規矩 sense of ‘law’)
Original: παραβάτης
Category: Covenant
NEW term. Galatians 2:18’s παραβάτης — one who steps across a fixed legal/moral boundary; Paul’s warning about rebuilding what was torn down. Must be read as violation of God’s revealed law, not a generic ‘rule-breaker’ in the sense of 規矩 (already forbidden as a stand-in for 律法 in baseline TM ‘law’).
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, reused exactly. In Galatians placed under unusual pressure by 1:6-9’s ‘a different gospel’ warning (see false_gospel). Root character 福 still risks resonance with Hong Kong’s New Year prosperity greeting 恭喜發財; teaching must keep the gospel a saving announcement, not a fortune forecast.
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, reused exactly. Appears in Galatians 1:3 and 6:16. Distinguish from protective-charm (平安符) and lucky-almanac (老黃曆) associations.
Church
Approved rendering: 教會
Transliteration: gaau3 wui2
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: 廟, 祠堂
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Galatians 1:2, 1:13, 1:22. Never 廟 (folk/Daoist/Buddhist temple) or 祠堂 (clan ancestral hall).
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: 神嘅國
Transliteration: san4 ge3 gwok3
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Rejected alternatives: 天下, 王朝
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Galatians 5:21 (‘those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God’) closes the works-of-the-flesh list. Given Hong Kong’s political sensitivities around sovereignty language, keep clearly framed as God’s spiritual reign, never an earthly political program — consistent with the baseline’s existing caution, now doubly relevant given 5:1/5:13’s freedom terminology in the same chapter.
Glory
Approved rendering: 榮耀
Transliteration: wing4 jiu6
Doctrine: Boasting Only in the Cross
Rejected alternatives: 面子, 威水
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Galatians 1:5’s doxology. Avoid 面子 (‘face’/reputation) and 威水 (flashy, impressive success) — both live categories in Hong Kong’s status-conscious commercial culture, directly relevant also to the new term ‘boast’ (誇口) in 6:13-14.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: 外邦人
Transliteration: ngoi6 bong1 jan4
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: 外江佬, 鄉下人
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Central to Galatians 2:11-14 (Antioch withdrawal from Gentile table fellowship) and 3:8, 3:14, 3:28. Never 外江佬 or 鄉下人 (clan-outsider framing).
Israel
Approved rendering: 以色列
Transliteration: ji5 sik1 lit6
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Underlies Galatians 6:16’s ‘the Israel of God’ (see israel_of_god, new compound term flagging referent ambiguity).
Mission
Approved rendering: 宣教
Transliteration: syun1 gaau3
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Rejected alternatives: 洋教傳播
Original: ἀποστολή / πέμπω (concept, Gentile mission)
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Underlies Galatians 1:16 and 2:7-9’s division of Gentile/Jewish mission fields between Paul and Peter.
Mediator
Approved rendering: 中保
Transliteration: zung1 bou2
Doctrine: The Mediatorial Role of the Law
Rejected alternatives: 靈媒, 中介
Original: μεσίτης
Category: Christology
NEW term. Galatians 3:19-20 — Moses’ role in giving the law, contrasted with the unmediated Abrahamic promise. Must be kept distinct from 靈媒/問米 (spirit-medium practice, already forbidden under baseline TM holy_spirit/intercession) and from the commercial 中介 (‘broker/agent’) sense extremely current in Hong Kong property and insurance transactions.
Diakonos Servant
Approved rendering: 執事
Transliteration: zap1 si6
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 使徒, 廟祝式嘅侍從
Original: διάκονος
Category: Christology
NEW term. Galatians 2:17’s rhetorical διάκονος (‘is Christ then a servant of sin?’). Use only in this abstract argumentative sense, distinguished from its later, narrower ecclesial-office sense (‘deacon’) and from 使徒 (apostle) or a temple-attendant role.
Revelation
Approved rendering: 啟示
Transliteration: kai2 si6
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: 求籤, 睇相算命
Original: ἀποκάλυψις
Category: Divine Calling
NEW term. Galatians 1:12 — the source of Paul’s gospel is God’s own initiative disclosure of truth, not information extracted through a technique. Must be distinguished from divination/fortune-revealing practices (求籤, 睇相算命, already flagged in baseline under ‘faith’).
Promise
Approved rendering: 應許
Transliteration: jing3 heoi2
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: 預言式嘅預測, 求籤
Original: ἐπαγγελία
Category: Covenant
NEW term. Galatians 3:14-22; 4:23,28 — a divinely-given, unilaterally guaranteed pledge, contrasted with the law’s conditional demand. Distinguish from a fortune-teller’s forecast or an auspicious prediction; tightly linked to 約 (covenant).
Fullness Of Time
Approved rendering: 日期滿咗嗰陣
Transliteration: jat6 kei4 mun5 zo2 go2 zan6
Doctrine: Sonship and Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 擇日擇到嘅好日子
Original: τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου
Category: Covenant
NEW term. Galatians 4:4 — God’s sovereignly determined moment for sending his Son. Must be distinguished from date-selection by feng shui almanac/auspicious-day consultation (擇日, already flagged under baseline ‘providence’ and ‘prophecy’); this is God’s sovereign salvation-historical timing, not a calculable lucky date.
Circumcision
Approved rendering: 割禮
Transliteration: got3 lai5
Doctrine: Circumcision and the New Creation
Original: περιτομή
Category: Covenant
NEW term. Galatians 5:2-6,11; 6:12-15 — the Abrahamic covenant sign, in Galatians specifically the boundary-marker Judaizing teachers demanded of Gentile converts. Low cultural-collision risk (not a Hong Kong folk-religious practice), but requires OT covenant-background explanation given assumed low OT narrative literacy; the real risk is doctrinal (treating any physical/ritual marker as salvific), not lexical.
False Brothers
Approved rendering: 假兄弟
Transliteration: gaa2 hing1 dai6
Doctrine: Truth of the Gospel / Doctrinal Fidelity
Original: ψευδάδελφοι
Category: Church
NEW term. Galatians 2:4 — professing believers whose teaching in fact undermines the gospel. Straightforward compound, low lexical ambiguity, but pastorally sensitive; should be taught carefully so it is not weaponized casually within congregations.
Hypocrisy
Approved rendering: 虛偽
Transliteration: heoi1 wai6
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: ὑπόκρισις
Category: Church
NEW term. Galatians 2:13 — Peter’s, Barnabas’s, and other Jews’ withdrawal from Gentile table fellowship. Standard term, low collision risk, but pastorally significant since it names a respected leader’s failure and must not be softened.
Slavery Bondage
Approved rendering: 奴役
Transliteration: nou4 jik6
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ
Original: δουλεία
Category: Salvation
NEW term. Galatians 4:1-9,24-25; 5:1 — condition of servitude, contrasted with sonship/freedom. Standard term, low ambiguity, but should be paired consistently with ‘freedom’ (自由) as its doctrinal antonym throughout chapters 4-5.
Hagar Sarah Allegory
Approved rendering: 寓意 / 象徵性解釋
Transliteration: jyu6 ji3
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: 比方 (acceptable but requires the same background-teaching bridge)
Original: ἀλληγορούμενα
Category: Covenant
NEW term. Galatians 4:21-31 — Paul’s typological reading of Genesis 16,21 as representing two covenants. Primarily a background-knowledge/teaching risk given the audience’s assumed low OT narrative literacy, rather than a lexical-collision risk. If CUV/RCUV’s 比方 (‘illustration/figure’) is used, pair with a teaching-note bridge explaining Paul’s typology as Spirit-guided interpretation of real historical events, not an invented rhetorical device.
Jerusalem Above
Approved rendering: 天上嘅耶路撒冷
Transliteration: tin1 soeng6 ge3 je4 lou6 saat3 laang3
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: ἡ ἄνω Ἰερουσαλήμ
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. Galatians 4:26 — the heavenly, eschatological Jerusalem, ‘our mother’. Must be kept clearly eschatological/spiritual, consistent with the baseline’s existing caution against politicized ‘kingdom’ language, especially given Hong Kong’s political sensitivities.
Yoke Of Slavery
Approved rendering: 奴役嘅軛
Transliteration: nou4 jik6 ge3 aat3
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ
Rejected alternatives: 重擔 (loses the specific servitude-yoke imagery)
Original: ζυγὸς δουλείας
Category: Salvation
NEW term. Galatians 5:1 — the agricultural yoke-image for servitude, applied to a return to law-observance. Should be visually/conceptually distinguished from a beast-of-burden’s literal yoke to retain the servitude metaphor rather than a merely generic ‘burden’ reading.
Flesh All Flesh
Approved rendering: 冇人 / 世人
Transliteration: mou5 jan4 / sai3 jan4
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 肉體 (imports the wrong ethical sense)
Original: πᾶσα σάρξ
Category: Salvation
NEW term. Galatians 2:16’s πᾶσα σάρξ — a Hebraic idiom meaning ‘every human being,’ not an ethical statement about the sin nature. Render idiomatically, NOT literally as 肉體, to avoid importing the ethical ‘sinful nature’ sense into a verse simply asserting universal human inability to be justified by law-works.
Flesh In The Flesh
Approved rendering: 肉身
Transliteration: juk6 san1
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Rejected alternatives: 肉體 (imports the wrong ethical sense)
Original: ἐν σαρκί
Category: Christology
NEW term. Galatians 2:20’s ἐν σαρκί — the neutral, non-ethical sense of σάρξ meaning ordinary physical/mortal existence. Must not import the negative ethical sense from Galatians 5; kept distinct from 肉體 (ethical sense) and from 道成肉身 (baseline TM incarnation compound, a third distinct usage of the same root character).
Works Of The Flesh
Approved rendering: 肉體嘅行為
Transliteration: juk6 tai2 ge3 hang4 wai4
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκός
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. Galatians 5:19-21’s catalogued vice-list. Reuses the ethical 肉體 rendering. The list includes φαρμακεία (‘sorcery/witchcraft’), rendered 邪術, which must be explicitly distinguished from folk-medicine or feng shui practice broadly — naming specifically occult/magical practice as morally condemned, not Chinese traditional practice categories in general.
Fruit Of The Spirit
Approved rendering: 聖靈嘅果子
Transliteration: sing3 ling4 ge3 gwo2 zi2
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Original: ὁ καρπὸς τοῦ Πνεύματος
Category: Sanctification
NEW term naming the curriculum doctrine. Galatians 5:22-23. Reuses baseline TM 聖靈 exactly (never 靈 alone). Teaching must preserve the deliberate singular ‘fruit’ vs. plural ‘works [of the flesh]’ (5:19) contrast — an organic, unified Spirit-produced character, not a checklist of separately achievable virtues (resisting assimilation to the Confucian Five Constant Virtues, 五常, framework).
Love
Approved rendering: 愛心
Transliteration: oi3 sam1
Doctrine: Faith Working through Love
Rejected alternatives: 仁 (Confucian self-cultivated benevolence)
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. Galatians 5:6,13,22 — self-giving love, the first-listed fruit of the Spirit and the energizing expression of faith. Distinguish Spirit-produced fruit from self-cultivated Confucian benevolence (仁), a live cultural category in Hong Kong’s Chinese-heritage moral vocabulary.
Boast
Approved rendering: 誇口
Transliteration: kwaa1 hau2
Doctrine: Boasting Only in the Cross
Original: καυχάομαι / καύχημα
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. Galatians 6:13-14 — Paul boasts only in the cross, contrasted with false teachers boasting in circumcision-compliance numbers. Connects directly to the baseline’s existing caution under ‘glory’ against collapsing into 面子 (face/reputation) or 威水 (flashy, impressive success), both live categories in Hong Kong’s status-conscious commercial culture; teach with this face-culture resonance made explicit, while keeping the theological center on the cross.
Marks Of Jesus
Approved rendering: 耶穌嘅印記
Transliteration: je4 sou1 ge3 jan3 gei3
Doctrine: Boasting Only in the Cross
Rejected alternatives: 符 (protective talisman)
Original: στίγματα
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. Galatians 6:17 — scars from persecution borne in service to Christ, worn as evidence of belonging to him. Must be distinguished from protective talisman markings/blessed amulets or ritual tattoos in Chinese folk-religious practice (符); Paul’s marks are scars of suffering demonstrating costly discipleship, not a protective or luck-conferring charm.
Israel Of God
Approved rendering: 神嘅以色列
Transliteration: san4 ge3 ji5 sik1 lit6
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: ὁ Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Covenant
NEW compound built on the inherited base noun 以色列. Galatians 6:16’s closing benediction; referent (ethnic Israel or the whole believing community) is a genuine exegetical question flagged for theologian review, consistent with the baseline’s note on contemporary political sensitivity around the proper name ‘Israel.‘
Low Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: 使徒
Transliteration: si2 tou4
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: 風水師, 大師
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Galatians 1:1’s emphatic ‘not from men nor through man’ defends the directness of Paul’s commissioning against rivals; this force must not be flattened even though the base term itself carries low collision risk. Never 大師 (grandmaster/guru, prominent in HK feng shui/business-consultancy culture).
Fellowship
Approved rendering: 團契
Transliteration: tyun4 kai3
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: 同鄉會, 結拜
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Galatians 2:9’s ‘right hand of fellowship’ names the gesture of gospel unity between Jerusalem’s leaders and Paul/Barnabas’s Gentile mission; render contextually while retaining 團契’s relational sense. Never 同鄉會 or 結拜.
Zealous
Approved rendering: 熱心
Transliteration: jit6 sam1
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Original: ζηλωτής
Category: Divine Calling
NEW term. Galatians 1:14, Paul’s former zeal for ancestral tradition. Common word, low ambiguity risk.
Judaism
Approved rendering: 猶太教
Transliteration: jau4 taai3 gaau3
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Original: Ἰουδαϊσμός
Category: Divine Calling
NEW term. Galatians 1:13-14, the Second-Temple Jewish religious-national way of life. Standard, low-risk loan term.
Walk By The Spirit
Approved rendering: 順住聖靈行
Transliteration: seon6 zyu6 sing3 ling4 hang4
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: περιπατεῖτε / ἄγεσθε πνεύματι
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. Galatians 5:16,18,25 — ongoing, moment-by-moment conduct empowered and directed by the Holy Spirit. Reuses baseline TM 聖靈 correctly; low collision risk given correct base-term use.
Bear Burdens
Approved rendering: 彼此擔當重擔
Transliteration: bei2 ci5 daam1 dong3 cung5 daam3
Doctrine: Bearing One Another’s Burdens
Original: ἀλλήλων τὰ βάρη βαστάζετε
Category: Church
NEW term naming the curriculum doctrine. Galatians 6:2 — mutual practical/spiritual support fulfilling ‘the law of Christ.’ Consistent with the baseline’s existing 彼此造就 (mutual edification) doctrine; low lexical risk.
Restore Gently
Approved rendering: 溫柔咁挽回
Transliteration: wan1 jau4 gam2 waan2 wui4
Doctrine: Restoration and Church Discipline
Original: καταρτίζετε … ἐν πνεύματι πραΰτητος
Category: Church
NEW term. Galatians 6:1 — corrective, restorative discipline exercised with humility, not harsh judgment. Low lexical risk; pastorally significant emphasis on gentleness and self-watchfulness.
Referenced passages