Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 1 John (English → Dutch)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md across the entire book of 1 John (chapters 1-5). Terms already fixed in the Romans baseline (translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json) are marked Baseline Reuse = Yes and MUST use the exact recorded Dutch rendering. Terms new to this curriculum are marked Baseline Reuse = No and carry a proposed Dutch rendering for formal adoption into translation memory in the subsequent Phase 1 steps.
Legend
- Risk: Critical / High / Medium / Low (per the same framework as
doctrine_risk_registry.json) - Baseline Reuse: Yes = term and rendering are fixed by the Romans baseline and reused verbatim; No = new term proposed by this analysis
| # | English term | Proposed/Reused Dutch rendering | Category | Risk | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Chapters | Baseline Reuse | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God | God | God | Critical | θεός | theos | 1-5 | Yes | Reuse baseline exactly; 1 John’s “God is light” (1:5) and “God is love” (4:8,16) predications are new Critical-risk load-bearing statements built on this term. |
| 2 | Jesus | Jezus | Christology | Low | Ἰησοῦς | Iēsous | 1-5 | Yes | Reuse baseline exactly. |
| 3 | Christ (title) | Christus | Christology | Critical | Χριστός | Christos | 2,4,5 | Yes (name form); cross-references baseline messiah | Use established Dutch name-title “Christus” per transliteration standards; confessional content (“Jesus is the Christ,” 2:22; 5:1) should be understood as the Messianic confession documented under baseline messiah (Messias) even though the name-title itself is rendered “Christus.” |
| 4 | Son of God | Zoon van God | Christology | Critical | υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ | huios tou theou | 1,3,4,5 | Yes | Reuse baseline exactly. Central confession test in 4:15, 5:5,10,12,13,20. |
| 5 | only begotten / unique (Son) | eniggeboren | Christology | Critical | μονογενής | monogenēs | 4 | No | New term. Must combine with #4: “Zijn eniggeboren Zoon.” Preserves exclusivity of Christ’s Sonship against believers’ distinct “children of God” status (#8). |
| 6 | Father | Vader | God | Medium | πατήρ | patēr | 1-4 | Yes | Reuse baseline exactly. |
| 7 | Holy Spirit / Spirit | Heilige Geest / Geest | God | Critical/Medium | πνεῦμα (ἅγιον) | pneuma (hagion) | 3,4,5 | Yes | Reuse baseline “Heilige Geest” for the divine Person; note 1 John often uses bare “τὸ πνεῦμα” (“the Spirit”) without the adjective “holy” — context, not lexical form, identifies the referent. |
| 8 | children of God | kinderen van God | Salvation | Medium | τέκνα θεοῦ | tekna theou | 3 | No | New term. Must be kept distinct from baseline adoption (aanneming tot kinderen, from υἱοθεσία) and from #4/#5 (Christ’s unique Sonship). Three related but lexically distinct family-status terms across the curriculum. |
| 9 | born of God / begotten | geboren uit God | Salvation | Critical | γεννάω (ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ) | gennaō | 2,3,4,5 | No | New term. Core to “Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth.” Perfect-tense/passive-voice force (a completed, God-caused event) must be preserved. Requires careful exposition alongside 1:8-10 to avoid a sinless-perfectionism misreading of 3:9. |
| 10 | seed (of God/his nature) | zaad / “wat Hij in hem gelegd heeft” | Salvation | High | σπέρμα (αὐτοῦ) | sperma | 3 | No | New term. Parallels the exact clinical/literal-drift risk baseline already flags for seed_of_david; prefer periphrasis in exposition over bare “zaad.” |
| 11 | love (noun/verb) | liefde / liefhebben | God / Love for the Brethren | High | ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω | agapē / agapaō | 2,3,4,5 | No | New term — the book’s central word. Dutch “liefde” flattens agapē/eros/philia distinctions and carries strong romantic-affection default sense; doctrinal contrast with self-originating human affection must be reinforced by context throughout. |
| 12 | light | licht | God | High | φῶς | phōs | 1,2 | No | New term. “God is light” (1:5) must preserve both self-revealing truth AND moral purity senses, not only an illumination metaphor. |
| 13 | darkness | duisternis | Sin | Medium | σκοτία / σκότος | skotia / skotos | 1,2 | No | New term. Moral-relational separation from God; low collision risk in Dutch. |
| 14 | fellowship | gemeenschap | Church | Medium (elevated from baseline Low) | κοινωνία | koinōnia | 1 | Yes (term); risk elevated | Reuse baseline Dutch rendering exactly, but this curriculum elevates practical risk to Medium given κοινωνία’s structural, programmatic role in 1 John’s stated purpose (1:3-4), versus its more incidental Romans usage. |
| 15 | confess (sin / Christ) | belijden | Confession / Christology | High | ὁμολογέω | homologeō | 1,2,4 | No | New term. One consistent Dutch verb should render both objects (confessing sin, 1:9; confessing Christ, 2:23, 4:15) to preserve 1 John’s own lexical unity. Must not weaken to “toegeven” (mere admission). |
| 16 | forgive | vergeven | Confession/Forgiveness | Medium | ἀφίημι | aphiēmi | 1 | No | New term. Standard, low-collision rendering; paired with #17 (cleanse) in 1:9. |
| 17 | cleanse | reinigen | Confession/Forgiveness | Medium | καθαρίζω | katharizō | 1 | No | New term. Forensic/relational purification, not ritual rite. |
| 18 | faithful and righteous | trouw en rechtvaardig | Salvation | Critical | πιστός καὶ δίκαιος | pistos kai dikaios | 1 | Partial (righteousness=Yes) | Reuse baseline righteousness → “gerechtigheid” family exactly for δίκαιος; “trouw” for πιστός is a new but low-risk pairing. |
| 19 | sin | zonde | Sin | High | ἁμαρτία | hamartia | 1,2,3,5 | Yes | Reuse baseline exactly. 1 John’s dense sin-vocabulary (esp. ch.1, 3) is a key anchor for the baseline’s flagged colloquial “a pity/waste” drift risk. |
| 20 | lawlessness | wetteloosheid | Sin | Medium | ἀνομία | anomia | 3 | No | New term. Defines sin (3:4) as rebellion against God’s order; cross-reference baseline sin drift risk. |
| 21 | Advocate | Voorspraak / Pleitbezorger | Christology / Assurance | Critical | παράκλητος | paraklētos | 2 | No | New term. Must be distinguished from baseline intercession (voorbede) — this is Christ’s own heavenly legal-advocate role before the Father, a distinct and higher category than general intercessory prayer. |
| 22 | propitiation / atoning sacrifice | zoenoffer | Salvation | Critical | ἱλασμός | hilasmos | 2,4 | No | New term. Direct Johannine parallel to the Romans 3:25 atonement/propitiation escalation trigger already in the baseline instruction set. Must trigger mandatory human theologian review on every occurrence. Never soften to generic “verzoening” (mutual reconciliation) alone. |
| 23 | commandment | gebod | Faith/Obedience | Medium | ἐντολή | entolē | 2,3,4 | No | New term. Distinguish in exposition from baseline capitalized “de Wet” (Torah); this is specific apostolic/dominical instruction, not the Mosaic law-code. |
| 24 | world (as loved object) | wereld | Mission/Salvation | Medium | κόσμος | kosmos | 4,5 | No | New term (positive sense). Same Dutch word as #25 negative sense; polarity carried by context, not lexeme. |
| 25 | world (as opposing system) | wereld | Overcoming the World | Medium | κόσμος | kosmos | 2,4,5 | No | New term (negative sense). See #24 — deliberate Greek wordplay across senses should be preserved via consistent single Dutch word plus contextual exposition, not via two different Dutch words. |
| 26 | antichrist | antichrist | Incarnation and Antichrist | Critical | ἀντίχριστος | antichristos | 2,4 | No | New term. Stable transliterated loanword, but carries a distinct Dutch-specific risk: historic Reformed polemical identification with the papacy, and a trivializing pop-culture association (a well-known art-house film of this title). Curriculum must present 1 John’s own criterion (denial of the incarnation/true identity of Christ) precisely. |
| 27 | anointing | zalving | Testing the Spirits | High | χρῖσμα | chrisma | 2 | No | New term. Must be distinguished from the Catholic sacrament of anointing and from Pentecostal/charismatic “zalving” healing-ministry language; refers to the Spirit’s universal teaching gift to all believers. |
| 28 | abide / remain | blijven | Fellowship with God | High | μένω | menō | 1 John: 1,2,3,4 (esp. 2 and 4) | No | New term — highest-frequency (~24x) structural word in the book. “Blijven” is flat/common in Dutch; the mutual-indwelling sense must be reinforced by exposition throughout, not left to the verb alone. |
| 29 | confidence / boldness | vrijmoedigheid | Assurance of Salvation | High | παρρησία | parrēsia | 2,3,4 | No | New term. Established Dutch Reformed devotional term (bold prayer access); must avoid both presumption and the Dutch “bevindelijk” introspective-anxiety tendency already flagged in the baseline’s Assurance doctrine note. |
| 30 | know (relational) | kennen | Fellowship / Testing the Spirits | High | γινώσκω | ginōskō | 1-5 (esp. 2,3,4) | No | New term — second structural backbone of the book (~25x). Must consistently use “kennen” (relational) rather than “weten” (factual) to preserve the anti-Gnostic, relational-knowledge argument throughout. |
| 31 | believe / faith | geloven / geloof | Faith | Medium | πιστεύω / πίστις | pisteuō / pistis | 3,4,5 | Yes | Reuse baseline exactly. |
| 32 | brother | broeder | Love for the Brethren | Medium | ἀδελφός | adelphos | 2,3,4 | No | New term. Prefer “broeder” (confessional register) over “broer” (ordinary sibling word) for doctrinal weight in verse text; gender-inclusive “broeders en zusters” reserved for exposition per baseline gender-language conventions. |
| 33 | devil | duivel | Sin | Low | διάβολος | diabolos | 3 | No | New term. Stable, low-collision across all Dutch Christian traditions. |
| 34 | heart | hart | Assurance of Salvation | Low | καρδία | kardia | 3 | No | New term. Standard, low-risk. |
| 35 | test/examine (spirits) | beproeven | Testing the Spirits | High | δοκιμάζω | dokimazō | 4 | No | New term. Classical Dutch Bible-translation term (cf. 1 Thess 5:21). Distinct Dutch-specific risk: collision with the Netherlands’ active New Age/paranormal media culture (“geesten testen” read as paranormal investigation rather than doctrinal discernment of teaching about Christ). |
| 36 | spirit of error | geest van de dwaling | Testing the Spirits | Medium | πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης | pneuma tēs planēs | 4 | No | New term. Must read as a personal deceiving influence, not a vague impersonal “wrong energy.” |
| 37 | false prophet | valse profeet | Testing the Spirits | Medium | ψευδοπροφήτης | pseudoprophētēs | 4 | No | New term. Stable, low collision; cross-reference baseline prophet (profeet). |
| 38 | incarnation (“come in the flesh”) | vleeswording / “in het vlees gekomen” | Incarnation and Antichrist | Critical | ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα | en sarki elēluthota | 4 | Yes (doctrine term); new specific phrase | Reuse baseline incarnation = “vleeswording” as the doctrine name; render the specific confessional phrase with full-bodied “in het vlees,” never softened to “als mens,” to exclude a docetic reading. |
| 39 | Savior | Heiland / Redder | Salvation | High | σωτήρ | sōtēr | 4 | No (cross-references baseline salvation) | New term with the same three-way Dutch register split the baseline documents for “behoud” (Heiland/Zaligmaker/Redder); requires reviewer sign-off on register choice per occurrence. |
| 40 | day of judgment | de dag van het oordeel | Assurance of Salvation | Medium | ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως | hēmera tēs kriseōs | 4 | No | New term. Standard, low-collision. |
| 41 | fear (servile/condemning) | vrees | Assurance of Salvation | Medium | φόβος | phobos | 4 | No | New term. Prefer “vrees” (formal/reverential register) over “angst” (modern clinical/psychological register) to avoid a therapeutic misreading of a forensic-relational reality. |
| 42 | punishment | straf | Assurance of Salvation | Low | κόλασις | kolasis | 4 | No | New term. Standard, low-risk. |
| 43 | perfect / complete (love) | volkomen / tot volle uiting gekomen | God is Love | Medium | τελειόω | teleioō | 4 | No | New term. Avoid “volmaakt,” which carries strong self-effort/flawlessness connotations risking a legalistic misreading. |
| 44 | liar | leugenaar | Love for the Brethren | Medium | ψεύστης | pseustēs | 1,2,4,5 | No | New term. Must not be softened to “onoprecht” (merely insincere); the term is a strong moral-diagnostic category. |
| 45 | grace-priority (“he loved us first”) | genade (cross-ref.) | Grace | High | (ἠγάπησεν) πρῶτος | prōtos ēgapēsen | 4 | Cross-references baseline grace | Not a standalone lexical term but a doctrinal claim requiring the same “prior, unmerited, apart from human initiative” framing as baseline grace = “genade.” |
| 46 | overcome / victory | overwinnen / overwinning | Overcoming the World | High | νικάω / νίκη | nikaō / nikē | 5 (also 4:4 implied) | No | New term. Guard against a moralistic self-effort misreading; victory is grounded in faith/new birth (grace), not willpower. |
| 47 | testimony / witness | getuigenis / getuigen | Assurance of Salvation | Medium | μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω | martyria / martyreō | 4,5 | No | New term. Retain eyewitness/authoritative register, not casual personal opinion. |
| 48 | water and blood | water en bloed | Incarnation and Antichrist | Medium-High | ὕδωρ καὶ αἷμα | hydōr kai haima | 5 | No | New term. Lexically straightforward; theological interpretation (sacramental vs. testimonial) differs by tradition and must be handled in exposition, not silently resolved by translation choice. |
| 49 | eternal life | eeuwig leven | Assurance of Salvation | High | ζωὴ αἰώνιος | zōē aiōnios | 1,2,3,5 | No | New term. Risk of reduction to mere endless duration/immortality; present-tense possession (“has eternal life,” 5:12-13) must be preserved against a future-only reading. |
| 50 | sin unto death | zonde tot de dood | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | High | ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον | hamartia pros thanaton | 5 | No | New term. Genuinely exegetically ambiguous; must not be equated with the Catholic technical category “dodelijke zonde” (mortal sin), a different doctrinal framework. Flag for mandatory human theologian review. |
| 51 | idols | afgoden | Overcoming the World | High | εἴδωλα | eidōla | 5 | No | New term. Sharp Dutch-specific collision: “idool” defaults to celebrity/talent-show usage (cf. the Dutch television franchise “Idols”) in contemporary Dutch; “afgoden” preserves unambiguous religious-worship content. Never use “idolen” as the primary rendering. |
| 52 | Word of life | het Woord des levens / het levende Woord | Assurance of Salvation | Medium | ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς | ho logos tēs zōēs | 1 | No | New term. Must retain the personal-Christological reading (echoing John 1:1), not reduce to “a life-giving message.” |
Terms Notably Absent from 1 John (Do Not Force Baseline Terms Where Unattested)
| Baseline term | Baseline Dutch rendering | Status in 1 John |
|---|---|---|
| grace | genade | χάρις is never used; the concept of prior, unmerited divine love is present (4:10,19) and should be cross-referenced, but the lexeme itself should not be inserted into verse-level translation. |
| lord | Heer | κύριος is not used as a title for Christ anywhere in 1 John; do not introduce “Heer” where the source text says “the Son,” “Jesus Christ,” etc. |
| law | wet | νόμος (the technical Torah term) does not occur; ἀνομία (“lawlessness,” #20 above) is the only related term, and is distinct. |
| church | gemeente | ἐκκλησία does not occur; 1 John addresses believers relationally, not the gathered-assembly term. |
| adoption | aanneming tot kinderen | υἱοθεσία does not occur; 1 John uses τέκνα θεοῦ / γεννάω instead (#8-9 above), a related but lexically and theologically distinct family-status image. |
| election | verkiezing | ἐκλογή does not occur in 1 John. |
| glory | heerlijkheid | δόξα does not occur in any doctrinally load-bearing way in 1 John. |
This glossary is provisional pending Phase 1 Steps 2-8 consolidation. All new-term entries (Baseline Reuse = No) require formal adoption into an updated translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json before Phase 2 translation begins, per the escalation and version-increment rules already established in the Romans baseline package.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: God
Transliteration: God
Doctrine: God is Light / God is Love
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. In 1 John this term anchors two new absolute metaphysical predications not present in Romans: ‘God is licht’ (1:5) and ‘God is liefde’ (4:8,16). Dutch word order must always keep God as subject, never inverted.
Christ
Approved rendering: Christus
Transliteration: Christus
Doctrine: Deity and Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Messias (reserve for exposition, not the name-title in verse text)
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
New term (name-title form). Used at the confessional dividing line throughout the letter (2:22; 4:2-3; 5:1). Must always render the underlying Christological confession content per the baseline messiah entry conceptually, while using ‘Christus’ as the fixed proper-name/title in verse text.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Zoon van God
Transliteration: Zoon van God
Doctrine: Deity and Sonship of Christ
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Central confession test in 1 John 4:15; 5:5,10,12,13,20. Must not be confused with believers’ distinct ‘kinderen van God’ status (see children_of_god).
Only Begotten
Approved rendering: eniggeboren
Transliteration: eniggeboren
Doctrine: Deity and Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: zijn Zoon (bare, loses exclusivity)
Original: μονογενής
Category: Christology
New term (1 John 4:9). Must always combine with son_of_god as ‘Zijn eniggeboren Zoon’ (Apostles’ Creed/Statenvertaling/HSV convention). Preserves Christ’s exclusive, unrepeatable Sonship against flattening into believers’ ‘kinderen van God’ status. Recognition is declining among secular/younger Dutch readers; gloss at first occurrence per lesson document.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Heilige Geest
Transliteration: Heilige Geest
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Original: πνεῦμα (ἅγιον)
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. 1 John frequently uses bare ‘het Spirit’/‘τὸ πνεῦμα’ without the adjective ‘holy’ (3:24; 4:13); context, not lexical form, identifies the divine Person. Never render as an impersonal spiritual force.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: vleeswording
Transliteration: vleeswording
Doctrine: The Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: incarnatie (Latinate, Catholic/ecumenical register)
Original: ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package as the doctrine name, reused exactly. 1 John 4:2-3 is the book’s most explicit incarnation text; the specific confessional test phrase must be rendered with full-bodied ‘in het vlees gekomen,’ never softened to ‘als mens gekomen,’ which could accommodate a docetic (merely-appeared-human) reading. Mandatory human theologian review on every occurrence.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: antichrist
Transliteration: antichrist
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Christology
New term, transliterated loanword (2:18,22; 4:3). Stable lexically but carries a distinct double Dutch-specific risk: (1) historic Reformed polemical identification with the papacy (Statenvertaling kanttekeningen), foreign to 1 John’s own criterion; (2) a well-known Dutch-distributed art-house film of this title creating a trivializing, sensationalist association. Must always be anchored explicitly to 1 John’s own criterion: denial that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh (2:22-23; 4:2-3).
Advocate
Approved rendering: Voorspraak
Transliteration: Voorspraak
Doctrine: Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice and Heavenly Advocacy
Rejected alternatives: Pleitbezorger, Trooster (John’s Gospel Paraclete register, avoid confusion)
Original: παράκλητος
Category: Christology
New term (2:1, παράκλητος). Must be sharply distinguished from voorbede (ordinary believer-to-God intercessory prayer) and from the Catholic devotional category of saints’/Mary’s intercessory advocacy (‘voorspraak der heiligen’) — this is Christ’s own unique legal-advocate role before the Father. Mandatory human theologian review on every occurrence.
Propitiation
Approved rendering: zoenoffer
Transliteration: zoenoffer
Doctrine: Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice and Heavenly Advocacy
Rejected alternatives: verzoening (generic, two-way mutual reconciliation, dilutes the God-initiated wrath-satisfying sense)
Original: ἱλασμός
Category: Salvation
New term (2:2, 4:10, ἱλασμός). Direct Johannine parallel to the Romans 3:25 atonement/propitiation escalation trigger already mandated for theologian review in the baseline instruction set. Never soften to generic ‘verzoening.’ Extended explicitly ‘for the whole world’ at 2:2, reinforcing Universal Scope of the Gospel without teaching universalism. Mandatory human theologian review on every occurrence.
Born Of God
Approved rendering: geboren uit God
Transliteration: geboren uit God
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: γεννάω (ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ)
Category: Salvation
New term (γεννάω ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ; 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18). Dutch ‘geboren worden’ is otherwise a purely biological/civil term (geboorteakte); requires deliberate contextual framing as a decisive, completed, God-caused spiritual event (perfect tense/passive voice force), never gradual self-improvement. Must be expounded alongside 1:8-10 to avoid a sinless-perfectionism misreading of 3:9. Mandatory human theologian review on every occurrence.
Faithful And Righteous
Approved rendering: trouw en rechtvaardig
Transliteration: trouw en rechtvaardig
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: πιστός καὶ δίκαιος
Category: Salvation
New pairing (πιστός καὶ δίκαιος, 1:9), inherits the baseline righteousness/gerechtigheid family exactly for δίκαιος; ‘trouw’ for πιστός is a new but low-risk pairing. God’s forgiveness rests on His own character and Christ’s atoning work, not the adequacy of the confession itself.
High Risk Terms
Sin
Approved rendering: zonde
Transliteration: zonde
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. 1 John’s dense sin-vocabulary (chs. 1, 3, 5) is the single highest-risk term in this curriculum given the Dutch colloquial drift to ‘a pity/waste,’ especially dangerous in 1:8-10’s insistence that professing believers have real, culpable sin. Never let ‘zonde’ stand unglossed in 1:8-10, 3:4-9, or 5:16-17.
Grace
Approved rendering: genade
Transliteration: genade
Doctrine: God is Love / Grace Priority
Rejected alternatives: gunst
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. The lexeme χάρις never occurs in 1 John, so this term must NOT be inserted into verse-level translation; it is retained here strictly as a cross-reference for expounding 4:10,19’s grace-priority claim (‘he loved us first’) with the same ‘prior, unmerited, apart from human cooperation’ framing documented in the baseline.
Anointing
Approved rendering: zalving
Transliteration: zalving
Doctrine: The Spirit’s Anointing and Teaching
Original: χρῖσμα
Category: God
New term (2:20, 2:27). Collides with the Catholic sacrament of anointing of the sick (‘de ziekenzalving’) and with Pentecostal/charismatic ‘zalving’ healing-ministry language in Dutch Pinkstergemeenten circles. Must be expounded as the Spirit’s universal, non-elite, non-ritual teaching gift given to every believer (‘u allen,’ v.20).
Savior
Approved rendering: Heiland
Transliteration: Heiland
Doctrine: Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice and Heavenly Advocacy
Rejected alternatives: Zaligmaker (archaic/Statenvertaling register), Redder (modern, but can sound generically heroic/secular, e.g. a lifeguard ‘redder’)
Original: σωτήρ
Category: Salvation
New term (4:14, σωτήρ). Cross-references the baseline salvation entry’s documented three-way Dutch register split (Heiland/Zaligmaker/Redder analogous to Heiland/behoud/verlossing/zaligheid). Requires reviewer sign-off matching the salvation register chosen elsewhere in the destination-language curriculum.
Water And Blood
Approved rendering: water en bloed
Transliteration: water en bloed
Doctrine: Apostolic Eyewitness Testimony
Original: ὕδωρ καὶ αἷμα
Category: Christology
New term (5:6-8). Lexically transparent; theological interpretation (sacramental Catholic reading vs. testimonial Reformed reading) must be carried in exposition, not the translation itself. Closely tied to the Comma Johanneum textual-critical note at 5:7-8 — mandatory human theologian review on every occurrence covering this passage.
Seed
Approved rendering: zaad
Transliteration: zaad
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: kiem (softer horticultural metaphor, WV95 style, loses register)
Original: σπέρμα (αὐτοῦ)
Category: Salvation
New term (σπέρμα αὐτοῦ, 3:9). Parallels the exact clinical/literal-drift risk the baseline flags for seed_of_david: modern Dutch ‘zaad’ is now dominated by literal biological/agricultural senses. Prefer periphrasis (‘wat God in hem gelegd heeft’) in exposition; reserve bare ‘zaad’ only for direct verse-quotation register, always immediately glossed.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: eeuwig leven
Transliteration: eeuwig leven
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Assurance
New term (ζωὴ αἰώνιος; 1:2; 2:25; 3:15; 5:11-13,20). Risks reduction to mere endless duration/immortality (a philosophical or science-fiction association) rather than qualitative, relational life with God received now. Present-tense possession (5:12-13, ‘heeft’) must be preserved against a future-only reading.
Overcome Victory
Approved rendering: overwinning
Transliteration: overwinning
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: νικάω / νίκη
Category: Overcoming the World
New term (νικάω/νίκη; 5:4-5, also 4:4 implied). Dutch ‘overwinnen’/‘overwinning’ carries a strong achievement-and-effort connotation (sport, competition) risking a moralistic ‘try harder’ misreading; must be consistently framed as flowing from being ‘geboren uit God’ (grace/new birth), not willpower, consistent with the baseline’s Grace doctrine emphasis.
Confess
Approved rendering: belijden
Transliteration: belijden
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: toegeven (mere psychological admission, too weak)
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: Confession
New term (ὁμολογέω; applied to both confessing sin, 1:9, and confessing Christ, 2:23, 4:15). One consistent Dutch verb should render both objects to preserve 1 John’s own lexical unity. Must not weaken to ‘toegeven,’ which loses the necessary weight of acknowledgment before God with covenantal consequence. Note also carries a stronger denominational/creedal register (belijdenisgeschriften) that must not make 1:9 sound like formal church ritual rather than personal, direct acknowledgment before God.
Sin Unto Death
Approved rendering: zonde tot de dood
Transliteration: zonde tot de dood
Doctrine: Sin unto Death
Original: ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον
Category: Sin
New term (ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον, 5:16-17). Genuinely exegetically ambiguous; must NOT be equated with the Catholic technical category ‘dodelijke zonde’/‘hoofdzonde’ (mortal sin), a different doctrinal framework with its own taxonomy of grave versus venial sins not present in 1 John’s own argument. Rendering must avoid inducing anxious uncertainty about unforgivable sins. Mandatory human theologian review on every occurrence.
Idols
Approved rendering: afgoden
Transliteration: afgoden
Doctrine: Guarding Against Idolatry
Rejected alternatives: idolen (FORBIDDEN — collides with the Dutch television franchise ‘Idols,’ trivializing the closing exhortation into a celebrity-fandom warning)
Original: εἴδωλα
Category: Overcoming the World
New term (εἴδωλα, 5:21). Sharp Dutch-specific collision with contemporary ‘idool’ as celebrity/talent-show contestant. ‘Afgoden’ must be the sole rendering; ‘idolen’ is a forbidden substitution for this doctrine.
Love
Approved rendering: liefde / liefhebben
Transliteration: liefde / liefhebben
Doctrine: God is Love
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: God is Love
New term (ἀγάπη/ἀγαπάω), the book’s central word, occurring throughout chs. 2-5. Dutch ‘liefde’ flattens agapē/eros/philia distinctions and defaults to romantic-affection register (‘ik hou van je’); the doctrinal claim that love originates in God, not humans (4:7,19), must be reinforced by context and never inverted (‘liefde is God’). Cross-reference grace_priority and God is Love doctrine.
Light
Approved rendering: licht
Transliteration: licht
Doctrine: God is Light
Rejected alternatives: een licht (indefinite article wrongly implies one light among others; HSV/NBV21/WV95 all correctly use bare ‘licht’)
Original: φῶς
Category: God is Light
New term (φῶς, 1:5; 1:7; 2:8-11). Must preserve both self-revealing truth AND moral-purity senses; Dutch secular, science-literate reading culture risks flattening to a physics/Enlightenment-rationalism metaphor. Fixed word order: God as subject, light as predicate.
Abide
Approved rendering: blijven
Transliteration: blijven
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Original: μένω
Category: Fellowship with God and One Another
New term (μένω), the letter’s other structural backbone (~24 occurrences across chs. 1-4, especially chs. 2 and 4). Dutch ‘blijven’ (to stay/remain) is flat and common; mutual-indwelling sense (God abiding in the believer AND the believer in God) must be reinforced contextually throughout, since no better single Dutch verb exists.
Grace Priority
Approved rendering: genade (kruisverwijzing)
Transliteration: genade
Doctrine: God is Love
Original: αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἠγάπησεν
Category: God is Love
Not a standalone lexical term but a doctrinal claim (αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἠγάπησεν, 4:19) cross-referencing the baseline grace entry (‘genade’). ‘Eerst’ (first) must be unmistakably about causal priority, not mere chronological sequence, preserving the Dordt-consistent emphasis on grace as the sole origin of the relationship.
Confidence Boldness
Approved rendering: vrijmoedigheid
Transliteration: vrijmoedigheid
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: παρρησία
Category: Assurance
New term (παρρησία, 2:28; 3:21; 4:17). Established Dutch Reformed devotional term (bold prayer access); must be distinguished from mere self-confidence or presumption, and must not be softened into anxious hoping given the Dutch ‘bevindelijk gereformeerd’ tendency toward introspective assurance-seeking already flagged in the baseline registry. Always co-locate with ‘de dag van het oordeel’ to retain the eschatological-forensic frame.
Know
Approved rendering: kennen
Transliteration: kennen
Doctrine: Relational Knowledge of God vs. False Gnosis
Rejected alternatives: weten (FORBIDDEN for γινώσκω — factual/propositional register, would reintroduce the intellectualist, love-detached knowledge claim 1 John opposes)
Original: γινώσκω
Category: Fellowship with God and One Another
New term (γινώσκω, ~25 occurrences across all five chapters), the letter’s structural backbone. Must consistently use relational ‘kennen,’ never factual ‘weten,’ to preserve the anti-Gnostic argument that true knowledge of God is inseparable from love and obedience. Book-wide lexical policy, not a per-verse decision.
Test Spirits
Approved rendering: beproeven
Transliteration: beproeven
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: testen / onderzoeken (secular-scientific flattening, less doctrinally precise)
Original: δοκιμάζω
Category: Testing the Spirits
New term (δοκιμάζω, 4:1). Classical Dutch Bible-translation term (cf. 1 Thess 5:21 ‘beproef alle dingen’). Distinct Dutch-specific risk: the Netherlands’ active New Age/spiritist/‘paranormale’ broadcast media culture (mediums, ‘geesten oproepen’ programming) risks the phrase being heard as psychic investigation rather than doctrinal discernment. Always anchor to the confessional test of 4:2-3 in the same unit of text.
Medium Risk Terms
Messiah
Approved rendering: Messias
Transliteration: Messias
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Cross-reference only: 1 John’s confessional tests (‘Jesus is the Christ,’ 2:22; 5:1) use the name-title ‘Christus’ in verse text (see new term christ); ‘Messias’ is reserved for exposition unpacking the Jewish covenantal background low-OT-literacy readers lack.
Father
Approved rendering: Vader
Transliteration: Vader
Doctrine: God
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly.
Faith
Approved rendering: geloof / geloven
Transliteration: geloof / geloven
Doctrine: Faith
Original: πιστεύω / πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly (dutch_term ‘geloof’ baseline; verb form ‘geloven’ added for 1 John’s verbal usage, e.g. 5:1). Ties directly to new birth (5:1) and grounds assurance (5:13).
Fellowship
Approved rendering: gemeenschap
Transliteration: gemeenschap
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Fellowship with God and One Another
Inherited from Romans package (dutch_term reused exactly), but practical risk DEVIATES upward from the baseline’s Low rating to Medium/High in this curriculum, because koinonia is 1 John’s stated programmatic purpose (1:3-4), not an incidental usage as in Romans. Always co-locate with ‘met de Vader en met Zijn Zoon Jezus Christus’ (1:3) to anchor the vertical, participatory sense against the secular-community default.
Intercession
Approved rendering: voorbede
Transliteration: voorbede
Doctrine: Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice and Heavenly Advocacy
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Retained strictly as a contrast term: 1 John 2:1’s Advocate (paraklētos, see advocate) is Christ’s own unique heavenly legal-advocate role before the Father, a distinct and higher category than the ordinary believer-to-God intercessory prayer this baseline term denotes. Never allow ‘voorbede’ to substitute for ‘Voorspraak.‘
Testimony
Approved rendering: getuigenis
Transliteration: getuigenis
Doctrine: Apostolic Eyewitness Testimony
Original: μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω
Category: Assurance
New term (μαρτυρία/μαρτυρέω, 4:14; 5:6-11). Must retain eyewitness/authoritative weight, not casual personal opinion.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: kinderen van God
Transliteration: kinderen van God
Doctrine: Children of God versus Children of the Devil
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
New term (τέκνα θεοῦ; 3:1-2,10). Must be kept terminologically distinct from the baseline’s adoption entry (‘aanneming tot kinderen,’ from the different Greek word υἱοθεσία used by Paul) and from son_of_god/only_begotten (used exclusively of Christ). Three related but distinct family-status terms across the combined Romans-and-1 John curriculum vocabulary.
Lawlessness
Approved rendering: wetteloosheid
Transliteration: wetteloosheid
Doctrine: New Birth and the Believer’s Struggle with Sin
Original: ἀνομία
Category: Sin
New term (ἀνομία, 3:4). Defines sin as rebellion against God’s moral order; cross-reference and reinforce against the baseline’s HIGH-risk sin colloquial-drift note (‘a pity/waste’).
Forgive
Approved rendering: vergeven
Transliteration: vergeven
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: ἀφίημι
Category: Confession
New term (ἀφίημι, 1:9). Standard, low-collision rendering; paired with cleanse.
Cleanse
Approved rendering: reinigen
Transliteration: reinigen
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: zuiveren (occasional NBV21 variant, acceptable but not preferred)
Original: καθαρίζω
Category: Confession
New term (καθαρίζω, 1:9; 1:7). Forensic/relational purification, not a ritual the believer performs; God’s own act.
Liar
Approved rendering: leugenaar
Transliteration: leugenaar
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: onoprecht (too weak, merely ‘insincere’)
Original: ψεύστης
Category: Love for the Brethren
New term (ψεύστης, 1:10; 2:4,22; 4:20; 5:10). Must not be softened; a strong, unqualified moral-diagnostic category.
Darkness
Approved rendering: duisternis
Transliteration: duisternis
Doctrine: God is Light
Original: σκοτία / σκότος
Category: Sin
New term (σκοτία/σκότος, 1:5-7; 2:8-11). Moral-relational separation from God; standard, low-collision term in Dutch.
Brother
Approved rendering: broeder
Transliteration: broeder
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: broer (ordinary sibling word, insufficient doctrinal register)
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Love for the Brethren
New term (ἀδελφός, 2:9-11; 3:10-17; 4:20-21). Prefer confessional register ‘broeder’ for doctrinal weight in verse text; gender-inclusive ‘broeders en zusters’ reserved for exposition per baseline gender-language conventions.
Perfect Love
Approved rendering: volkomen
Transliteration: volkomen
Doctrine: Perfect Love Casts Out Fear
Rejected alternatives: volmaakt (FORBIDDEN in this context — strong self-effort/flawlessness connotation risking legalistic misreading)
Original: τελειόω / τελεία
Category: God is Love
New term (τελειόω/τελεία, 4:12,17-18). Love reaching its full, intended expression in believers loving one another, not moral flawlessness in a perfectionistic sense.
Fear
Approved rendering: vrees
Transliteration: vrees
Doctrine: Perfect Love Casts Out Fear
Rejected alternatives: angst (FORBIDDEN in 4:18 — modern clinical/psychological register, e.g. ‘angststoornis,’ risks reframing a forensic-relational reality as a therapeutic mental-health category)
Original: φόβος
Category: Assurance
New term (φόβος, 4:18). Servile, condemnation-anticipating dread displaced by mature, assured love — not all forms of reverence toward God.
Day Of Judgment
Approved rendering: de dag van het oordeel
Transliteration: de dag van het oordeel
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως
Category: Assurance
New term (ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως, 4:17). Standard, low-collision in Dutch.
Word Of Life
Approved rendering: het Woord van het leven
Transliteration: het Woord van het leven
Doctrine: Apostolic Eyewitness Testimony
Rejected alternatives: het levenswoord (WV95-style compression, risks a message-only reading rather than personal-Christological)
Original: ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Assurance
New term (ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς, 1:1). Must retain the personal-Christological reading (echoing John 1:1), not reduce to ‘a life-giving message.‘
Spirit Of Error
Approved rendering: geest van de dwaling
Transliteration: geest van de dwaling
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης
Category: Testing the Spirits
New term (πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης, 4:6). Must read as a personal deceiving influence opposed to the Holy Spirit, not a vague impersonal ‘wrong energy.‘
False Prophet
Approved rendering: valse profeet
Transliteration: valse profeet
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: ψευδοπροφήτης
Category: Testing the Spirits
New term (ψευδοπροφήτης, 4:1). Stable, low collision; cross-references baseline prophet entry (profeet).
Commandment
Approved rendering: gebod
Transliteration: gebod
Doctrine: Obedience to God’s Commandments
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Obedience
New term (ἐντολή, 2:3-7; 3:22-24; 4:21; 5:2-3). Must be distinguished in exposition from the baseline’s capitalized ‘de Wet’ (Torah/Mosaic law-code, from the unrelated term νόμος, which does not occur in 1 John) — this is grace-grounded, Spirit-enabled apostolic instruction flowing from new birth, not a new law-code earning standing.
World
Approved rendering: wereld
Transliteration: wereld
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: κόσμος
Category: Overcoming the World
New term (κόσμος). Two distinct senses in 1 John carried by the SAME Dutch word: (1) humanity as the positive object of God’s saving love (4:9,14); (2) the God-opposing value-system to be overcome, not loved (2:15-17; 5:4-5). Do NOT resolve into two different Dutch words — this preserves the letter’s own deliberate wordplay; polarity is carried entirely by context and exposition.
Low Risk Terms
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jezus
Transliteration: Jezus
Doctrine: The Incarnation
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, reused exactly. Stable across all Dutch traditions.
Devil
Approved rendering: duivel
Transliteration: duivel
Doctrine: Children of God versus Children of the Devil
Original: διάβολος
Category: Sin
New term (διάβολος, 3:8,10). Stable and well-established across all Dutch Christian traditions; no live competing folk-deity concept.
Heart
Approved rendering: hart
Transliteration: hart
Doctrine: Heart and Conscience Before God
Original: καρδία
Category: Assurance
New term (καρδία, 3:19-21). Standard, low-risk seat of moral/spiritual conviction in Dutch.
Punishment
Approved rendering: straf
Transliteration: straf
Doctrine: Perfect Love Casts Out Fear
Original: κόλασις
Category: Assurance
New term (κόλασις, 4:18). Standard, low-risk.
Referenced passages