Semantic Analysis
Semantic Analysis — 1 Thessalonians (Koine Greek)
Scope and Method
This analysis covers all 5 chapters of 1 Thessalonians. Per the PRD Phase 1 mandate, coverage spans the entire book; the core passage (4:13-18) receives verse-by-verse treatment as the theological anchor for the curriculum’s five doctrines (The Return of Christ, Resurrection of Believers, Sanctification, Hope in Grief, The Day of the Lord), while every other chapter is analyzed for its own load-bearing theological vocabulary. Where a term is already recorded in the baseline Romans Language Package (translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json), the established English rendering is reused exactly, and this document only adds notes specific to its new context in 1 Thessalonians. New terms not present in the Romans baseline are analyzed in full (original word, transliteration, literal meaning, semantic range, English variants, contextual theological meaning, destination-language rendering risk).
PART A — CORE PASSAGE: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 (verse-by-verse)
4:13
Greek (NA28, sense-line): Οὐ θέλομεν δὲ ὑμᾶς ἀγνοεῖν, ἀδελφοί, περὶ τῶν κοιμωμένων, ἵνα μὴ λυπῆσθε καθὼς καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ οἱ μὴ ἔχοντες ἐλπίδα.
| Terms | Variants | Contextual theological meaning | Rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| ἀγνοεῖν agnoein agnoeō ”to not know,” “to be ignorant of” | lack of information; can imply willful ignorance in other contexts, but here simply “uninformed" "be uninformed,” “be ignorant,” “not know” | Paul is correcting a pastoral information gap, not rebuking sin — the Thessalonians lack teaching, not virtue | Low. No competing modern sense; only risk is that “ignorant” now sounds like an insult in English (“don’t be ignorant of this”) rather than Paul’s neutral “uninformed.” Render as “we do not want you to be uninformed,” not “ignorant.” |
| κοιμωμένων koimōmenōn koimaō (pres. mid/pass. participle) “those who are sleeping/have fallen asleep” | Standard Koine euphemism for death, used widely outside the NT as well (not a Christian coinage); NT usage retains the euphemism precisely because it implies a temporary, wakeable state ”those who have fallen asleep,” “those who have died,” “the dead” | Death of believers described as “sleep” because resurrection is coming — the metaphor carries doctrinal freight, not mere politeness | High. DOCTRINAL COLLISION RISK: contemporary readers may (a) take “sleep” as Paul teaching “soul sleep” — an unconscious intermediate state — a live denominational contest between mainstream Christian traditions (which hold the believer’s soul/spirit is consciously with Christ after death, cf. Phil 1:23) and traditions such as Seventh-day Adventism and Jehovah’s Witnesses (which teach a literal unconscious intermediate sleep). This curriculum must state explicitly that “sleep” describes the body, not the conscious state of the person with the Lord, to avoid importing a settled position on the intermediate-state debate that the text itself does not adjudicate here. (b) Secular readers may flatten “sleep” into a generic soft euphemism (like “passed away”) and miss that it specifically anticipates a waking up — i.e., bodily resurrection. |
| λυπῆσθε lypēsthe lypeō (pres. subj. pass.) “to grieve, be sorrowful, be distressed” | Ordinary Greek word for grief/sorrow, not exclusively religious ”grieve,” “be sad,” “sorrow” | Paul does not forbid grief itself (contrast with Stoic apatheia); he forbids grieving as those who have no hope — the qualifier is everything | High. This is the anchor term for the “Hope in Grief” doctrine. Contemporary readers, primed by both stoic self-help culture (“stay strong,” “don’t cry”) and by a therapeutic culture that treats all forms of grief validation as equally legitimate without reference to hope’s object, risk misreading this verse as “Christians shouldn’t grieve” (false, and pastorally harmful) rather than Paul’s actual claim: Christian grief is real grief, transformed by a specific hope, not suppressed grief. Explicit clarification required every time this verse is used. |
| ἐλπίδα elpida elpis ”hope,” “expectation” | In secular Koine usage, could denote either a confident expectation or a mere wish; in Paul, always the former — a certainty grounded in God’s action, not a feeling ”hope,” “expectation” | The “hope” the “rest” (unbelievers) lack is not a feeling of optimism but a confident expectation of bodily resurrection grounded in Christ’s own resurrection (v.14) | High. Contemporary English “hope” has been detached from grounded certainty (“I hope it doesn’t rain,” “fingers crossed”) and reduced to a vague, unfounded wish — nearly the opposite of Paul’s sense here. This must be actively distinguished: biblical hope in this passage is a confident future certainty with an evidentiary basis (the resurrection of Jesus), not wishful thinking. |
4:14
Greek (sense-line): εἰ γὰρ πιστεύομεν ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἀπέθανεν καὶ ἀνέστη, οὕτως καὶ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς κοιμηθέντας διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἄξει σὺν αὐτῷ.
| Terms | Variants | Contextual theological meaning | Rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| πιστεύομεν pisteuomen pisteuō ”we believe/trust” | Same root as pistis (“faith”) — see baseline faith entry”believe,” “trust” | The entire argument of 4:13-18 is conditioned on this shared confessional belief — the resurrection is the premise, not the conclusion | High (reuse baseline faith term, High risk). See baseline notes: contemporary “faith” language has been detached from a specific object; here the object is explicit and non-negotiable — Jesus’ own death and resurrection. |
| ἀπέθανεν καὶ ἀνέστη apethanen kai anestē apothnēskō, anistēmi ”died and rose” | Ordinary verbs for death and rising, used here of a specific, singular, historical event ”died and rose,” “died and rose again” | The historical death-and-resurrection of Jesus is the premise from which the future resurrection of believers is deduced by analogy (“so also…”) | Critical (reuse baseline resurrection term). Contemporary post-Christian culture broadly frames resurrection as myth or metaphor; this verse’s argument structurally depends on it being a real past event, since a merely symbolic resurrection of Jesus could not ground a real future resurrection of believers. Must be rendered and taught as historical fact. |
| διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ dia tou Iēsou dia (preposition) + Iēsous ”through Jesus” | Instrumental/agency preposition ”through Jesus,” “in Jesus” | Modifies “those who have fallen asleep” — i.e., those who died as believers united to Jesus, not merely “died near Jesus’ time.” Some translations attach it to “bring,” yielding “God will bring with him, through Jesus, those who have fallen asleep” — a live translation-choice ambiguity worth noting | Medium. Genuine syntactic ambiguity in the Greek (does “through Jesus” modify “fallen asleep” or “bring”?); either reading preserves the doctrine, but the curriculum should note the ambiguity rather than silently resolve it, per this Language Package’s ambiguity-handling convention. |
| ἄξει σὺν αὐτῷ axei syn autō agō (“to bring/lead”) + syn (“with”) + autos ”will bring with him” | Agō is a common verb (lead, bring, bring along); syn signals close accompaniment ”will bring with him,” “will bring along with him” | God will bring the dead-in-Christ along with Jesus at his return — they are not left behind or absent from the event, contrary to a common misreading (see v.17 note on “left behind”) | Medium. No major false-friend, but this phrase directly refutes the popular “Left Behind” cultural narrative (in which departure/removal, not being brought back with Christ, is the central image) that has shaped much contemporary English-speaking evangelical imagination about this passage. Worth flagging given the doctrinal stakes for “Return of Christ.” |
4:15
Greek (sense-line): τοῦτο γὰρ ὑμῖν λέγομεν ἐν λόγῳ κυρίου, ὅτι ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι εἰς τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ κυρίου οὐ μὴ φθάσωμεν τοὺς κοιμηθέντας.
| Terms | Variants | Contextual theological meaning | Rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| λόγῳ κυρίου logō kyriou logos + kyrios ”word of the Lord” | Either a specific saying of the Lord Jesus (otherwise unrecorded, similar to sayings preserved outside the Gospels, cf. Acts 20:35) or a prophetic word given to Paul; not merely Paul’s own opinion ”word of the Lord,” “the Lord’s own word,” “a word from the Lord” | Paul grounds the following revelation in direct divine authority, not personal speculation about the timing or shape of the end | Medium. Contemporary readers may not register the weight-claim being made — that what follows is presented as revealed teaching with apostolic authority, not Paul’s private guess about the future. |
| παρουσίαν parousian parousia Literally “presence, arrival”; in Hellenistic usage, a technical term for the ceremonial arrival/visit of a king, emperor, or dignitary to a city, occasioning festive public reception | Ranges from ordinary “presence” (2 Cor 10:10) to the specific technical sense of an official royal/imperial visit (the dominant sense in 1-2 Thessalonians) “coming,” “arrival,” “advent,” “the Second Coming” | The technical royal-visit sense is essential background: Christ’s parousia is pictured as a king’s triumphal arrival, which the redeemed go out to meet (v.17) and then escort back — not a whisking-away to a separate, permanent locale | Critical. DENOMINATIONAL CONTEST + POP-CULTURE COLLISION: “the Second Coming” and especially the derived term “the Rapture” (from Latin rapio, translating v.17’s harpazō, not parousia itself) sit at the center of intense, decades-long English-speaking evangelical debate over pretribulational, midtribulational, and posttribulational timing schemes, heavily shaped by popular fiction (the Left Behind novel/film franchise) and prophecy-conference subculture. This curriculum must state plainly which reading it presents (see Doctrine Risk Registry entry for “Return of Christ”) and note, briefly and respectfully, that other English-speaking Christian traditions read the timing and referents differently, without pretending the debate does not exist. |
| ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι zōntes hoi perileipomenoi zaō + perileipō ”the living, those left remaining” | perileipomai = “to be left over/remaining” after a subtraction, ordinary Greek usage ”we who are alive, who are left” | Describes living believers at the time of Christ’s return, in contrast to those who have already died | Medium. Minor irony worth flagging: this phrase, describing the living believers who remain, is etymologically unrelated to but easily confused with the popular English phrase “left behind,” which in the Left Behind franchise describes the unbelieving who are NOT taken — an almost inverted usage of “left” that risks cross-contaminating readers’ intuitions about this verse. |
| οὐ μὴ φθάσωμεν ou mē phthasōmen phthanō ”will by no means precede/get ahead of” | phthanō = “to arrive first, to precede, to get there ahead of” (a common verb of priority/sequence, not primarily temporal arrival in the “showing up” sense) “will not precede,” “will not go ahead of,” “will not have any advantage over” | The point is sequence, not exclusion: the living do not get a head start on, or bypass, the dead — a corrective apparently answering a Thessalonian worry that dead believers might miss out on or arrive late to Christ’s return | Low. No significant competing modern sense; mainly requires simple glossing since “precede” is a slightly formal word for contemporary readers. |
4:16
Greek (sense-line): ὅτι αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος ἐν κελεύσματι, ἐν φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου καὶ ἐν σάλπιγγι θεοῦ καταβήσεται ἀπ᾿ οὐρανοῦ, καὶ οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ ἀναστήσονται πρῶτον.
| Terms | Variants | Contextual theological meaning | Rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος autos ho kyrios autos + kyrios ”the Lord himself” | Emphatic personal pronoun stressing that Christ himself, not an intermediary, descends ”the Lord himself” | Christ personally, not merely his representative or a sign of his will, returns — reuse baseline lord term (Critical) | Critical (reuse baseline lord entry). The emphatic “himself” is significant and easily lost — this is a personal, bodily return of the specific exclusive Lord, not a symbolic or impersonal cosmic event. |
| κελεύσματι keleusmati keleusma ”a shout of command,” used in Greek of a military commander’s battle-cry or a rowing-master’s cadence-call to oarsmen | A word of authoritative summons/command, evoking either military or nautical command contexts ”a shout of command,” “a commanding shout,” “a cry of command” | Christ’s return is announced by an authoritative summons, evoking royal/military arrival imagery consistent with parousia’s technical sense above | Medium. Obsolescence risk: “cry of command” is not ordinary contemporary English phrasing and needs light explanatory framing (a commanding shout, like a general’s order), but has no strong false-friend competitor. |
| φωνῇ ἀρχαγγέλου phōnē archangelou phōnē + archangelos ”the voice of an/the archangel” | archangelos (“chief angel”) occurs only here and Jude 9 (of Michael) in the NT ”the voice of the archangel,” “an archangel’s call” | Signals the full weight of heavenly authority attending Christ’s return | High. CULTURAL COLLISION RISK: contemporary “spiritual but not religious” and New Age culture has a large popular angelology (guardian angels, angel-card readings, “your angel number”) largely detached from the specific, limited, biblical category of archangel; this curriculum should distinguish the biblical archangel (a specific created being executing God’s summons) from generic contemporary angel spirituality. |
| σάλπιγγι θεοῦ salpingi theou salpigx + theos ”a/the trumpet of God” | salpigx = a war-trumpet or ceremonial trumpet, used throughout the OT (esp. at Sinai, Exod 19:16) and Jewish apocalyptic literature to announce theophany, war, or the eschaton ”the trumpet of God,” “God’s trumpet call” | Deliberately echoes OT theophany and covenant-inauguration imagery (Sinai) as well as eschatological-war imagery; not primarily a musical detail | High. POP-CULTURE COLLISION: contemporary readers most readily associate apocalyptic trumpets with dispensational prophecy-chart culture and popular apocalyptic fiction/film, which can either overdramatize the image into spectacle or, conversely, cause skeptical readers to dismiss it as genre trope; the OT theophanic background (which grounds its seriousness) should be actively supplied. |
| καταβήσεται ἀπ᾿ οὐρανοῦ katabēsetai ap’ ouranou katabainō + ouranos ”will descend from heaven” | Ordinary verb of descent; the point is directional and personal, not metaphorical ”will come down from heaven,” “will descend from heaven” | Christ’s return is spatially and personally located — a real, visible event, not an inward or merely spiritual “coming” | Medium. Some contemporary “spiritualizing” readings (treating “coming” purely as an inward experience of Christ’s presence, or a this-worldly social transformation) should be distinguished from the text’s plain claim of a real, future, visible, personal advent. |
| νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ nekroi en Christō nekros + en Christō ”the dead in Christ” | nekros = ordinary word for “dead”; “in Christ” is Paul’s characteristic union-with-Christ phrase ”the dead in Christ,” “those who died believing in Christ” | Specifies that it is believers who have died, not humanity generally, who rise first here; this passage is not addressing the resurrection/judgment of unbelievers, which Paul treats elsewhere | Medium. Risk of over-generalizing this specific promise (for believers) into a universal claim about all human resurrection, collapsing a distinction Paul maintains. |
| ἀναστήσονται πρῶτον anastēsontai prōton anistēmi + prōtos ”will rise first” | anistēmi = ordinary resurrection verb (see baseline resurrection); prōton = “first,” establishing sequence”will rise first” | Establishes the order of events: resurrection of the dead precedes the “catching up” of the living in v.17 — a key structural fact for the “Resurrection of Believers” doctrine | Critical (reuse baseline resurrection, Critical). Contemporary horror/fiction genre associations (“zombie,” “the undead,” “rising from the grave” as a horror trope) risk trivializing or making macabre what Paul presents as a triumphant, bodily, Spirit-empowered event; this collision should be named and set aside explicitly. |
4:17
Greek (sense-line): ἔπειτα ἡμεῖς οἱ ζῶντες οἱ περιλειπόμενοι ἅμα σὺν αὐτοῖς ἁρπαγησόμεθα ἐν νεφέλαις εἰς ἀπάντησιν τοῦ κυρίου εἰς ἀέρα· καὶ οὕτως πάντοτε σὺν κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα.
| Terms | Variants | Contextual theological meaning | Rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| ἁρπαγησόμεθα harpagēsometha harpazō (fut. pass.) “we will be caught up / seized / snatched” | harpazō is a vivid, forceful verb, elsewhere used of a violent seizing (robbery, a wolf snatching sheep, Philip “caught up” in Acts 8:39) — always implies sudden, decisive, external action upon the subject, not the subject’s own initiative ”caught up,” “taken up,” “snatched up,” “raptured” | The event is entirely God’s initiative and action upon believers, sudden and unrefusable — believers do not ascend by their own effort or will | Critical. THE central false-friend/pop-culture term of the entire passage. “Rapture” (the standard theological label, from Latin rapio translating this verb) is NOT itself a word in the Greek text — it is a later technical label, much like “Trinity” — and: (a) is the object of intense, live English-speaking evangelical denominational contest over its timing relative to a future tribulation period (pretribulational/dispensational readings vs. historic premillennial, amillennial, and postmillennial readings that locate this event simply as the resurrection/final gathering at Christ’s one return); (b) has been absorbed into broader secular pop culture (the Left Behind franchise, apocalyptic film and television, internet meme culture using “raptured” jokingly for anyone who vanishes or disappears, and even loose association with UFO-abduction narratives) in ways that can either sensationalize or trivialize the text’s actual pastoral aim, which is comfort, not spectacle or schedule-making. This curriculum must state its own reading transparently (see Doctrine Risk Registry) and explicitly distinguish the term “rapture” (a later label) from the verb itself. |
| νεφέλαις nephelais nephelē ”clouds” | Ordinary word for clouds, but in biblical usage frequently the vehicle of theophany (Exod 13:21; Dan 7:13, “one like a son of man… with the clouds of heaven”; Acts 1:9, Christ’s ascension “in a cloud”) “clouds,” “the clouds” | Deliberate echo of Daniel 7:13 and Christ’s own ascension (Acts 1:9) — clouds are not incidental weather but the marker of divine glory and royal arrival | Medium. Readers unfamiliar with the OT theophany background may read “clouds” as a merely literal meteorological detail rather than recognizing the deliberate scriptural echo; this background should be supplied. |
| ἀπάντησιν apantēsin apantēsis ”a meeting” | A quasi-technical term in Hellenistic civic usage for a delegation of citizens going OUT from a city to formally receive and escort an arriving dignitary (king, general, or governor) back into the city in a procession — not simply “bumping into” someone ”to meet,” “to meet the Lord” | Believers go out to meet the arriving King and then, per the royal-visit pattern the word evokes, escort him — the imagery again favors a return/escort to earth rather than a one-way departure to heaven | High. OBSCURITY + MISREADING RISK: this civic “welcoming committee” background is almost entirely lost on contemporary English readers, who default to “meet” in the sense of an ordinary, private, incidental encounter. Without this background, the verse can be misread as describing a one-way removal of believers away from earth permanently, rather than Paul’s civic-welcome image of going out to escort the returning King — a point directly relevant to how this curriculum frames the “Return of Christ” doctrine. |
| εἰς ἀέρα eis aera aēr ”into the air” | Ordinary word for the lower atmosphere (the air we breathe), not “outer space” or a separate heavenly realm ”in the air,” “into the air” | Locates the meeting in the space between heaven and earth, consistent with the royal-welcome pattern (going out partway to meet an arriving dignitary, then returning together) | Low. Minor risk that contemporary readers import science-fiction associations (“into space”) rather than the mundane, this-worldly “air” of ordinary Koine usage. |
| πάντοτε σὺν κυρίῳ pantote syn kyriō pantote + syn + kyrios ”always with the Lord” | Straightforward temporal/relational phrase ”always with the Lord,” “forever with the Lord” | The climactic promise and the passage’s pastoral point: permanent, unbroken presence with Christ — this, not the mechanics of the event, is what Paul actually wants the Thessalonians comforted by (v.18) | Medium. Risk that curriculum material dwells so heavily on end-times mechanics (order of events, timing debates) that it misses Paul’s own stated pastoral point, which is relational permanence, not a prophecy chart. |
4:18
Greek (sense-line): ὥστε παρακαλεῖτε ἀλλήλους ἐν τοῖς λόγοις τούτοις.
| Terms | Variants | Contextual theological meaning | Rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| παρακαλεῖτε parakaleite parakaleō (reuse baseline exhort)“encourage, comfort, exhort, urge” | Broad Koine range from consolation to exhortation to summons; context here leans toward comfort/consolation given the grief context of v.13 ”comfort,” “encourage,” “exhort” | The entire eschatological teaching of vv.13-17 is given for a pastoral purpose: mutual comfort in grief, not speculative timeline-building | Medium (reuse baseline exhort, Low, but elevated here). Contemporary English “comfort” skews toward passive emotional soothing; Paul’s parakaleō is active — believers are to actively use this teaching to strengthen one another, not merely to feel better. This distinction should be made explicit given how central it is to the passage’s stated purpose. |
| ἀλλήλους allēlous allēlōn ”one another” | Reciprocal pronoun ”one another,” “each other” | Mutual, communal responsibility — comfort is not primarily something individuals generate privately but something the church community actively gives each other | Low. Stable; minor note that contemporary individualist reading habits may quietly privatize a text meant for corporate, mutual practice. |
| ἐν τοῖς λόγοις τούτοις en tois logois toutois logos ”with/in these words” | Refers back to the entire preceding teaching (vv.13-17) as the content of the comfort ”with these words,” “with this teaching” | The doctrinal content itself — not merely warm feelings — is the instrument of comfort | Low. Stable. |
PART B — WHOLE-BOOK CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER ANALYSIS
Chapter 1 (1:1-10)
| Terms | Variants | Contextual theological meaning | Rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| ἐκκλησίᾳ ekklēsia ekklēsia (reuse baseline church)“assembly” | Ordinary Greek word for a civic assembly of citizens; adopted by the NT for the gathered people of God ”church” | The Thessalonian believers as a local, gathered congregation | Critical (reuse baseline church, Critical). Same drift risk as documented in baseline: post-Christian institutional/scandal associations threaten to obscure the living, relational sense intended here. |
| πίστις, ἀγάπη, ἐλπίς pistis, agapē, elpis pistis, agapē, elpis (reuse baseline faith; note elpis/hope per above)“faith, love, hope” | The Pauline triad (cf. 1 Cor 13:13), here in its earliest attested NT occurrence ”faith, love, and hope” | The three defining marks of genuine Christian life, evidenced concretely in “work,” “labor,” and “endurance” (v.3) | High (reuse baseline faith; extend elpis/hope entry from core passage above). Establishes the hope-vocabulary that becomes doctrinally load-bearing in ch.4. |
| ἐκλογήν eklogēn eklogē (reuse baseline election, Critical)“choosing, selection” | God’s sovereign, prior choice of the Thessalonians ”election,” “God’s choice of you” | Paul’s confident knowledge of God’s initiative in their salvation, evidenced by the gospel’s powerful reception among them | Critical (reuse baseline election). Same near-total political-vote capture of this word in contemporary English applies here as in Romans 9. |
| δύναμις…πνεύματι ἁγίῳ dynamei…pneumati hagiō dynamis + pneuma hagion (reuse baseline power_of_god, holy_spirit)“power…Holy Spirit” | The gospel’s arrival “not in word only” but with power, the Holy Spirit, and full conviction ”power,” “the Holy Spirit” | The gospel’s effectiveness is attributed to divine power and the Spirit’s work, not persuasive rhetoric alone | Medium (reuse baseline power_of_god, Medium; holy_spirit, Critical). |
| πληροφορίᾳ plērophoria plērophoria ”full assurance, full conviction” | A relatively rare NT word (cf. Col 2:2; Heb 6:11, 10:22) denoting complete certainty, not partial confidence ”full conviction,” “full assurance” | Describes the quality of the Thessalonians’ reception of the gospel — total, not tentative | Low. Obsolescence risk (rare, formal word) rather than false-friend risk; needs simple glossing (“complete certainty”) but has no competing secular sense to correct. |
| μιμηταί mimētai mimētēs ”imitators” | Ordinary word for imitation/copying ”imitators,” “you became imitators of us” | Discipleship modeled through imitation of visible Christian example, not abstract instruction alone | Low. Minor note that contemporary individualist culture may find “imitation” language uncomfortable (preferring “authenticity” language), but the word itself carries no strong competing meaning. |
| θλῖψις thlipsis thlipsis ”affliction, tribulation, pressure” | Ordinary Greek word for pressure/distress, used broadly of hardship of any kind, not exclusively eschatological suffering ”affliction,” “suffering,” “persecution,” “tribulation” | Describes the real, present suffering the Thessalonians experienced in receiving the gospel — distinct from the technical eschatological “Great Tribulation” of dispensational schemes | Medium. POP-CULTURE COLLISION: contemporary readers steeped in dispensational prophecy-chart culture may hear “tribulation” here as a technical reference to a future capital-T “Tribulation” period, when Paul is simply describing ordinary present persecution; this distinction should be made explicit to avoid importing later theological systems into every occurrence of the word. |
| εἰδώλων eidōlōn eidōlon ”idols” | Images/representations of false gods, the object of pagan worship ”idols” | The Thessalonians “turned to God from idols” — a real conversion from actual pagan cultic practice, not a metaphor | Medium. Contemporary secularized usage (“American Idol,” “teen idol,” “celebrity worship”) has drained “idol” of religious seriousness into pop-culture fandom language; the real, spiritually consequential turning described here should be actively distinguished from this trivialized usage. |
| θεῷ ζῶντι καὶ ἀληθινῷ theō zōnti kai alēthinō theos + zaō + alēthinos (reuse baseline god)“the living and true God” | Contrasts explicitly with lifeless idols ”the living and true God” | Direct polemical contrast: God’s aliveness and genuineness versus the deadness/falseness of idols | Medium (reuse baseline god, Critical). Contemporary “spiritual but not religious” vague-deity language (see baseline notes on “a higher power,” “the universe”) is a modern analog to ancient idolatry’s impersonal substitutes and should be named as such. |
| ὀργῆς τῆς ἐρχομένης orgēs tēs erchomenēs orgē ”the coming wrath” | Ordinary word for anger, used throughout the NT of God’s settled, righteous judicial response to sin, not an impulsive emotional outburst ”the wrath to come,” “the coming judgment” | Jesus “delivers us from the wrath to come” — introduces the “Day of the Lord” judgment theme developed fully in ch.5 | High. NEW TERM, not in Romans baseline TM directly (though related to baseline sin’s cultural-resistance risk). Contemporary therapeutic and non-judgmental cultural norms are broadly resistant to divine-wrath language of any kind, often reframing it as an outdated, un-loving concept incompatible with a God of love; this curriculum must state the wrath-and-rescue logic of this verse plainly, as Romans’ baseline does for “sin,” without softening it to accommodate this resistance. |
| ῥυόμενον rhyomenon rhyomai ”who rescues/delivers” | Verb of rescue from danger ”who rescues us,” “who delivers us” | Jesus as the active agent of rescue from the coming wrath — directly ties Christology to the Day-of-the-Lord doctrine | Medium. Reuse baseline salvation-adjacent framing; ensure “rescue” language here is not read as generic secular rescue (a baseline salvation risk) but as rescue specifically from divine judgment. |
Chapter 2 (2:1-20)
| Terms | Variants | Contextual theological meaning | Rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| παρρησιασάμεθα parrēsiasametha parrēsiazomai ”we spoke boldly/with confidence” | Bold, unashamed public speech ”we dared to speak boldly” | Paul’s apostolic proclamation despite opposition | Low. Stable; minor obsolescence of the specific word but concept easily grasped. |
| εὐαγγέλιον…πεπιστεύμεθα euangelion…pepisteumetha euangelion (reuse baseline gospel)“the gospel…we have been entrusted with” | Being entrusted (pisteuō, passive) with a message to steward faithfully ”the gospel,” “entrusted with the gospel” | Frames gospel ministry as a stewardship under God’s approval, not human-pleasing performance | Medium (reuse baseline gospel, High). |
| ὡς τροφὸς…νήπια hōs trophos…nēpia trophos + nēpios ”as a nursing mother…infants” | Maternal nursing-care imagery ”like a nursing mother,” “gentle among you” | Paul’s pastoral tenderness pictured in explicitly maternal terms | Low. Minor risk that contemporary gender-role assumptions could distract from the plain pastoral point (tender, self-giving care), but no doctrinal false-friend risk. |
| κόπον καὶ μόχθον kopon kai mochthon kopos + mochthos ”labor and toil” | Doubled term for hard, wearying physical work ”labor and toil,” “hard work” | Paul’s self-supporting manual labor as evidence of non-exploitative ministry motives | Low. Stable. |
| ὁσίως καὶ δικαίως καὶ ἀμέμπτως hosiōs kai dikaiōs kai amemptōs hosios + dikaios + amemptos ”devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly” | Triad describing conduct toward God (hosiōs), toward people (dikaiōs), and objectively (amemptōs) “holy, righteous, and blameless” | Paul’s self-defense of his ministry’s integrity, later echoed of the whole church at Christ’s parousia (3:13; 5:23) | Medium. Reuse baseline righteousness (High) cautiously — note this is ethical uprightness in conduct, not the forensic “declared righteous” sense of Romans; same English word, different specific sense, requiring clarification to avoid conflation. |
| βασιλείαν καὶ δόξαν basileian kai doxan basileia (reuse baseline kingdom_of_god) + doxa (reuse baseline glory)“kingdom and glory” | God’s own future kingdom and glory, into which believers are called ”his kingdom and glory” | The believer’s calling has an eschatological, kingdom-shaped destination | Medium (reuse both baseline terms). |
| ἐνεργεῖται ἐν ὑμῖν energeitai en hymin energeō ”is at work in you” | Active, ongoing operative power ”is at work in you,” “is actively working in you” | The word of God is not inert information but an active divine agent within believers | Low. Stable. |
| Ἰουδαίων τῶν καὶ τὸν κύριον ἀποκτεινάντων Ἰησοῦν Ioudaiōn…apokteinantōn Ioudaios + apokteinō ”the Jews, who killed…the Lord Jesus” | Historically specific reference to those responsible for Jesus’ death and ongoing local persecution of Paul, not a blanket ethnic condemnation ”the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus” | A historically situated polemic against specific opponents in Judea and Thessalonica | High. SENSITIVITY / MISUSE RISK, consistent with the baseline’s unity_of_jews_and_gentiles doctrine note: this verse has a documented history of misuse to justify antisemitism in the church’s past. This curriculum must state explicitly, as the baseline requires for Romans 9-11 material, that Paul (himself Jewish) is naming specific historical persecutors and continuing local hostility, not condemning the Jewish people as a whole, consistent with Paul’s own theology elsewhere (cf. Romans 9:1-5, 11:1-2, 28-29). |
| ὀργὴ orgē orgē ”wrath” | Same word as 1:10 ”wrath,” “God’s judgment” | Reasserts the wrath-and-judgment theme against persistent opposition to the gospel | High. Same collision risk as 1:10 above; reuse the same clarifying framing for consistency across the document, per this Language Package’s cross-document consistency rule. |
| ὁ σατανᾶς ho satanas Satanas ”Satan” | Proper name for the personal, malevolent spiritual adversary ”Satan,” “the tempter” | Satan actively hinders Paul’s travel plans — a real, personal spiritual opponent, not a symbol of generic evil | Medium. Contemporary secular culture has largely reduced “Satan”/“the devil” to a cartoonish, non-serious figure (horror-movie villain, Halloween costume, casual exclamation); the text’s assumption of a real personal spiritual adversary should be restored explicitly, distinguished from this trivialized cultural image. |
| στέφανος καυχήσεως stephanos kauchēseōs stephanos + kauchēsis ”crown of boasting” | Athletic/festival victory-wreath imagery, applied to the Thessalonians themselves as Paul’s future “crown" "crown of boasting,” “our pride and joy” | The Thessalonians themselves, not an object, are Paul’s reward at Christ’s parousia | Low. Minor note: contemporary “boasting” has a mostly negative connotation (arrogance) while Paul’s kauchēsis here is warranted, relational joy/pride — worth a brief clarifying gloss. |
| παρουσίᾳ parousia parousia ”coming” | Same technical term as 4:15 (see core passage entry above) “coming,” “second coming” | First occurrence of the term in the letter (2:19), anchoring the whole letter’s eschatological framework | Critical (see full entry under 4:15 above; reuse identical clarifying language per this Language Package’s cross-document consistency rule). |
Chapter 3 (3:1-13)
| Terms | Variants | Contextual theological meaning | Rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| στηρίξαι…παρακαλέσαι stērixai…parakalesai stērizō + parakaleō ”to strengthen…to encourage/exhort” | stērizō = to make firm/stable; parakaleō, see baseline exhort”to strengthen and encourage” | Timothy’s mission purpose regarding the Thessalonians’ faith under pressure | Low (reuse baseline exhort). |
| θλίψεσιν…κεῖμεθα thlipsesin…keimetha thlipsis (see ch.1) “afflictions…we are appointed/destined for” | Reiterates ch.1’s thlipsis; adds “destined for,” implying affliction is an expected, not accidental, feature of Christian life ”afflictions…we are destined for this” | Suffering is normalized as part of the church’s expected experience, not a sign of divine abandonment | Medium (reuse ch.1 entry; same pop-culture “Tribulation” collision risk applies). |
| ὁ πειράζων ho peirazōn peirazō ”the tempter” | Present participle used as a title for Satan ”the tempter,” “Satan” | Reasserts the personal, active spiritual-adversary theme from ch.2 | Medium (reuse ch.2 satan entry). |
| εἰς κενὸν eis kenon kenos ”in vain,” “to no purpose” | Ordinary idiom for wasted effort ”in vain,” “for nothing” | Paul’s concern that persecution might have emptied his labor of its fruit | Low. Stable. |
| στηρίξαι τὰς καρδίας ἀμέμπτους ἐν ἁγιωσύνῃ stērixai tas kardias amemptous en hagiōsynē stērizō + kardia + amemptos + hagiōsynē ”establish your hearts blameless in holiness” | hagiōsynē = abstract noun, “holiness” (state/quality), distinct from hagiasmos (see ch.4, the process) “establish your hearts blameless in holiness” | A prayer for present moral/spiritual firmness that anticipates final blamelessness at the parousia — links Sanctification doctrine directly to Return-of-Christ doctrine | Medium. Reuse baseline holy/sanctification framing; note the fine distinction between the state (hagiōsynē) and the ongoing process (hagiasmos, ch.4) is easily flattened in English, where both are typically rendered “holiness”/“sanctification” — worth a brief clarifying note. |
| ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ θεοῦ…ἐν τῇ παρουσίᾳ emprosthen tou theou…en tē parousia parousia ”before God…at the coming” | Same technical term as above ”at the coming of our Lord Jesus” | Sanctification’s goal-line is explicitly the parousia — present holiness is future-oriented, not merely present moral improvement | Critical (reuse parousia entry consistently). |
| μετὰ πάντων τῶν ἁγίων αὐτοῦ meta pantōn tōn hagiōn autou hagios (reuse baseline saints)“with all his saints/holy ones” | Ambiguous in Greek scholarship between glorified believers and/or holy angels accompanying Christ’s return ”with all his saints,” “with all his holy ones” | Anticipates the “dead in Christ” and “we who are alive” of 4:13-17 | High (reuse baseline saints, High). Genuine scholarly ambiguity (angels vs. departed believers vs. both) should be noted rather than silently resolved, per this Language Package’s ambiguity-handling convention; also carries the same Catholic/Orthodox-vs-Protestant “saints” denominational-contest risk documented in the baseline. |
Chapter 4 (4:1-12 — remainder of chapter outside the core passage)
(4:13-18 receives full verse-by-verse treatment in Part A above.)
| Terms | Variants | Contextual theological meaning | Rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| περιπατεῖν καὶ ἀρέσκειν θεῷ peripatein kai areskein theō peripateō + areskō ”to walk and to please God” | peripateō, a common Pauline metaphor for the whole conduct of life (“walk” = “live/conduct oneself”) “to walk,” “to live,” “to please God” | Frames the Christian life as an ongoing, active walk of pleasing God, not a static status | Low. Minor obsolescence of the “walk” metaphor in casual modern speech, but easily and widely understood from established English Bible tradition. |
| ἁγιασμὸς hagiasmos hagiasmos (reuse baseline sanctification)“sanctification, the process of being made holy” | Reuse baseline term exactly ”sanctification” | This chapter’s central, concentrated occurrence (4:3, 4, 7) of the letter’s Sanctification doctrine, applied specifically to sexual conduct and the “vessel” of the body | Medium (reuse baseline sanctification, Medium). Baseline notes obsolescence risk (not false-friend); this chapter is where the curriculum’s “Sanctification” doctrine is most concretely, practically applied (v.3, “this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality”). |
| πορνείας porneias porneia ”sexual immorality” | Broad NT term covering sexual activity outside the bounds God has set, not limited to any single act ”sexual immorality,” “sexual sin” | Concrete, practical content given to what sanctification requires, in direct contrast to the surrounding pagan culture’s norms | Medium. Contemporary Western sexual ethics diverge sharply, and increasingly, from the text’s assumed framework; this curriculum should state the term’s content plainly rather than assume a shared contemporary consensus, consistent with the baseline’s approach to universal moral claims (cf. baseline sin handling). |
| τὸ ἑαυτοῦ σκεῦος κτᾶσθαι to heautou skeuos ktasthai skeuos ”to possess/control his own vessel” | skeuos, literally “vessel/implement” — debated in scholarship between (a) one’s own body, or (b) one’s wife ”control his own body,” “take a wife for himself” | A genuinely disputed exegetical question among English-Bible translations themselves (compare NLT/NIV vs. more literal renderings) | Medium. Genuine, well-documented translation ambiguity across established English Bible versions; this curriculum should note the range of renderings and their implications rather than silently picking one, per the ambiguity-handling convention. |
| καθὼς καὶ τὰ ἔθνη τὰ μὴ εἰδότα τὸν θεόν kathōs kai ta ethnē ta mē eidota ton theon ethnē (reuse baseline gentiles)“like the Gentiles who do not know God” | Reuse baseline gentiles term”the Gentiles who do not know God” | Sets up an explicit insider/outsider ethical contrast; per baseline notes, “Gentiles” here should not be glossed as “non-believers” generically but retains its specific ethnic/covenantal sense contrasted with Israel’s knowledge of God | Medium (reuse baseline gentiles, Medium). |
| φιλαδελφίας…θεοδίδακτοι philadelphias…theodidaktoi philadelphia + theodidaktos ”brotherly love…taught by God” | philadelphia, ordinary compound (“love of brothers/siblings”); theodidaktos is a rare NT coinage found only here in the NT ”brotherly love…taught by God” | Love for fellow believers is itself divinely instilled, not merely a natural human sentiment or an external command | Low. Minor obsolescence of “theodidaktos” as a technical rarity, but the concept (God himself teaches believers to love each other) is clear and carries no false-friend risk. |
| φιλοτιμεῖσθαι ἡσυχάζειν philotimeisthai hēsychazein philotimeomai + hēsychazō ”to aspire/make it your ambition to live quietly” | Somewhat paradoxical pairing: philotimeomai normally implies eager ambition, paired here with hēsychazō, “to be still/quiet" "make it your ambition to lead a quiet life” | Christian ambition is redirected toward ordinary faithfulness (quiet living, working with one’s hands, v.11), not public status-seeking | Low. Contemporary “ambition” culture (career achievement, public visibility, personal branding) makes an interesting, mildly counter-cultural contrast worth naming, but poses no doctrinal false-friend risk. |
Chapter 5 (5:1-28)
| Terms | Variants | Contextual theological meaning | Rendering risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| ἡμέρα κυρίου hēmera kyriou hēmera + kyrios ”the day of the Lord” | An OT prophetic technical term (Joel, Amos, Zephaniah, Isaiah) denoting a decisive future day of divine judgment and vindication, adopted directly by Paul ”the day of the Lord” | This letter’s central term for the doctrine “The Day of the Lord” — direct continuation of the “coming wrath” theme from 1:10 | Critical. NEW TERM, direct doctrine anchor. POP-CULTURE COLLISION: contemporary secular culture has its own well-worn “Judgment Day” and generic “doomsday” apocalyptic tropes (disaster films, “doomsday clock” news coverage, secular AI/nuclear-annihilation “judgment day” narratives, e.g. the Terminator franchise’s own explicit use of “Judgment Day”) which can either desensitize readers to the term’s seriousness through genre-familiarity or cause them to dismiss it as generic disaster-fiction rather than a specific, OT-rooted claim about a personal God’s future decisive action. Must be actively distinguished from both. |
| ὡς κλέπτης ἐν νυκτί hōs kleptēs en nykti kleptēs + nyx ”like a thief in the night” | Vivid image of sudden, unannounced, unwelcome arrival ”like a thief in the night” | Stresses unpredictability of timing, not stealth or wrongdoing on Christ’s part | Low. The idiom itself has become widely known and stable in general English usage (partly because of this very verse’s influence on the language); main risk is merely that its familiarity as a stock phrase can dull attentiveness to the specific point being made (unpredictable timing demanding readiness, not fear). |
| ὠδὶν…τῇ ἐν γαστρὶ ἐχούσῃ ōdin…tē en gastri echousē ōdin ”labor pains…to a pregnant woman” | Standard image for sudden, unavoidable, intensifying onset ”labor pains,” “birth pains” | Combines suddenness (thief) with inescapability and intensity (labor pains) to describe the Day of the Lord’s onset for the unprepared | Low. Stable; “labor pains” is a somewhat formal register phrase but not obscure. |
| υἱοὶ φωτός…υἱοὶ ἡμέρας huioi phōtos…huioi hēmeras huios + phōs / hēmera ”sons of light…sons of day” | Semitic idiom (also at Qumran) meaning “characterized by/belonging to” light and day ”children of light,” “children of the day” | Identity language: believers already belong to the coming day, not the surrounding darkness, and so should live accordingly now | Medium. Minor collision with contemporary New Age/self-help “light worker,” “lightbringer” spirituality vocabulary, which uses similar-sounding language for a generic, impersonal cosmic-energy self-identity rather than Paul’s specific, Christ-anchored eschatological identity; worth a brief distinguishing note. |
| γρηγορῶμεν καὶ νήφωμεν grēgorōmen kai nēphōmen grēgoreō + nēphō ”let us watch/stay awake and be sober” | grēgoreō = stay alert/awake (not literal sleep here, contrast with 4:13’s koimaō); nēphō = be sober, self-controlled, clear-headed (contrast with drunkenness, v.7) “let us be alert and sober,” “let us watch and be self-controlled” | Ethical readiness for the Day of the Lord expressed through vigilance and sobriety, not passive waiting | Medium. Risk of confusion with 4:13’s “sleep” (koimaō, a euphemism for physical death) since English uses “sleep/wake” idiom for both; this passage’s “staying awake” is about spiritual alertness in ongoing life, an entirely distinct metaphor from 4:13’s death-euphemism — the two should not be conflated despite the shared English vocabulary. |
| θώρακα πίστεως καὶ ἀγάπης…περικεφαλαίαν ἐλπίδα σωτηρίας thōraka pisteōs kai agapēs…perikephalaian elpida sōtērias thōrax + pistis + agapē / perikephalaia + elpis + sōtēria (reuse baseline salvation)“breastplate of faith and love…helmet, the hope of salvation” | Military armor imagery (cf. Eph 6:10-17, in fuller form) “the breastplate of faith and love…the helmet of the hope of salvation” | Faith, love, and hope (the ch.1 triad) are now pictured as protective armor for present spiritual vigilance | Medium (reuse baseline faith, salvation). Contemporary readers less familiar with ancient armor may need the pieces briefly explained (breastplate = chest protection; helmet = head protection) for the metaphor’s force (protecting core convictions and clear thinking) to land. |
| σβέννυτε sbennyte sbennymi ”quench, extinguish” (negative command: “do not quench”) | Literal fire-extinguishing verb, used metaphorically of the Spirit ”do not quench the Spirit” | Warns against suppressing or resisting the Spirit’s active work, especially (in context) through prophetic utterance | High. DENOMINATIONAL CONTEST: this verse sits at the center of the live continuationist (spiritual gifts, including prophecy, continue today) vs. cessationist (such gifts ceased with the apostolic age) debate among English-speaking Christian traditions; this curriculum should state its own reading transparently and note that other traditions read the ongoing validity of “prophecies” (next entry) differently, consistent with this Language Package’s denominational-transparency rule. |
| προφητείας μὴ ἐξουθενεῖτε prophēteias mē exoutheneite prophēteia (reuse baseline prophecy) + exoutheneō”do not despise/treat with contempt prophecies” | exoutheneō = to regard as worthless, treat with contempt ”do not treat prophecies with contempt,” “do not despise prophecies” | Companion command to “do not quench the Spirit” — practical instruction bound up in the same continuationist/cessationist debate | High (reuse baseline prophecy, Low, but elevated here due to the denominational-contest overlay just noted). |
| δοκιμάζετε dokimazete dokimazō ”test, examine, prove” | Standard word for testing metal/coins for genuineness, applied metaphorically to discernment ”test everything,” “examine everything carefully” | Positive complement to not despising prophecy: discernment, not uncritical acceptance, is the called-for posture | Low. Stable. |
| ἁγιάσαι ὑμᾶς ὁλοτελεῖς…ὁλόκληρον…πνεῦμα καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ καὶ τὸ σῶμα hagiasai hymas holoteleis…holoklēron…pneuma kai psychē kai sōma hagiazō (reuse baseline sanctification/holy) + holotelēs + holoklēros + pneuma + psychē + sōma”sanctify you completely…entire/whole…spirit and soul and body” | holotelēs (rare, “complete/whole through and through”) and holoklēros (“entire, undivided”) both stress totality; pneuma/psychē/sōma is a threefold anthropological description ”sanctify you through and through,” “may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless” | The letter’s climactic sanctification prayer, explicitly tied again to the parousia (“at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”) — closing the loop between chs. 3, 4, and 5’s sanctification and Return-of-Christ themes | High. DENOMINATIONAL CONTEST: the threefold “spirit and soul and body” phrasing has long been used (rightly or wrongly) as a proof text in the historic trichotomist (three distinct human components) vs. dichotomist (two components, material and immaterial, with “spirit” and “soul” as overlapping terms for the same immaterial reality) debate among English-speaking Christian anthropology traditions; this curriculum should note the debate exists rather than silently assume Paul is offering a formal metaphysical anthropology in a single pastoral benediction. |
| ἀσπάσασθε…ἐν φιλήματι ἁγίῳ aspasasthe…en philēmati hagiō aspazomai + philēma + hagios ”greet…with a holy kiss” | Standard ancient Mediterranean greeting custom among family/close community, not romantic or sexual ”greet one another with a holy kiss” | A concrete, physical expression of the church’s family-like intimacy and unity | Medium. CULTURAL COLLISION: contemporary Western readers, for whom kissing is overwhelmingly a romantic/sexual or, at most, a narrow cultural-greeting gesture (and increasingly avoided even in casual greeting post-pandemic), often find this instruction confusing or uncomfortable; the ancient Mediterranean family-greeting background should be actively supplied rather than left for readers to project modern categories onto. |
| ἀτάκτους ataktous ataktos ”idle, disorderly, undisciplined” | Originally a military term for soldiers out of formation/rank; extended to general disorderly, undisciplined conduct — NOT primarily an economic “unemployed” category ”the idle,” “the disorderly,” “those who are unruly” | Names one of several categories of church members needing specific pastoral address (alongside the fainthearted and the weak) | Medium. FALSE-FRIEND RISK: contemporary English “idle” primarily suggests simple unemployment or laziness (an economic/productivity framing), while the Greek’s military-derived sense of being “out of rank/order” is broader — describing disruptive, undisciplined conduct in the community, not merely joblessness; this distinction should be made explicit. |
| χάρις charis charis (reuse baseline grace, Critical)“grace” | The letter’s closing benediction ”grace” | Standard Pauline epistolary closing, invoking the same unmerited divine favor documented at length in the baseline | Critical (reuse baseline grace exactly, including its required “apart from works” and secular false-friend clarifications on first substantive use). |
Summary of New (non-baseline) Terms Introduced by This Curriculum
The following terms are new relative to the Romans baseline and require new entries in the extended glossary (see 08_core_glossary.md): koimaō (sleep/death euphemism), elpis (hope, extended treatment), parousia, harpazō (“rapture”), apantēsis, keleusma, archangelos, salpigx theou, nephelē (theophanic clouds), hēmera kyriou (Day of the Lord), orgē (wrath), hagiōsynē (distinct from baseline sanctification/hagiasmos), ataktos, philēma hagion, sbennymi (quench the Spirit), thlipsis (extended treatment beyond baseline), ōdin, huioi phōtos, grēgoreō/nēphō, hosiōs/dikaiōs/amemptōs, theodidaktos, plērophoria, skeuos (disputed rendering).
All other terms (gospel, grace, faith, salvation, church, kingdom of God, Gentiles, glory, election, apostle, Holy Spirit, God, Father, Son of God, saints, holy, sanctification, resurrection, Lord, exhort, power of God, prophecy) reuse the baseline Romans Language Package renderings and risk tiers exactly, with contextual notes added above as they occur in new co-text within 1 Thessalonians.