Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Philippians
This glossary catalogs every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, spanning Philippians 1–4. Terms already recorded in the Romans baseline translation_memory.json reuse that exact English rendering and risk tier; new terms specific to Philippians are marked NEW and proposed for addition to the term/doctrine registries in Step 2. Risk tiers follow the baseline’s three-category framework: False-Friend Drift, Denominational Contest, Obsolescence/Obscurity (a term may exhibit more than one).
| Term (English rendering) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Doctrine | Risk Tier | Baseline Status | Risk Category | Passage(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gospel | εὐαγγέλιον | euangelion | Partnership in the Gospel | Medium | Reused exactly (baseline) | — | 1:5,7,12,16,27; 2:22; 4:3,15 | Reuse baseline gospel rendering and notes verbatim. |
| grace | χάρις | charis | Righteousness by Faith / Grace | Critical | Reused exactly (baseline) | False-Friend, Denominational | 1:2,7; 4:23 | Reuse baseline grace clarification verbatim. |
| faith | πίστις | pistis | Righteousness by Faith vs. Law | High | Reused exactly (baseline) | False-Friend | 1:25,27; 2:17; 3:9 | Reuse baseline faith clarification verbatim. |
| righteousness | δικαιοσύνη | dikaiosynē | Righteousness by Faith vs. Law | Critical | Reused exactly (baseline) | False-Friend | 3:6,9 | Chapter 3 is Philippians’ dedicated righteousness-by-faith text; reuse baseline note on “self-righteous” false-friend risk. |
| imputed righteousness | (conceptual parallel; no exact recurring phrase) | — | Righteousness by Faith vs. Law | High | Reused conceptually (baseline) | Obsolescence | 3:9 | Cross-reference Romans 4/baseline imputed_righteousness; same doctrine, no new Greek term. |
| law | νόμος | nomos | Righteousness by Faith vs. Law | Medium | Reused exactly (baseline) | — | 3:5,6,9 | Reuse baseline law notes verbatim. |
| salvation | σωτηρία | sōtēria | Salvation / Righteousness by Faith | Critical | Reused exactly (baseline) | Denominational | 1:19,28; 2:12 | 2:12’s “work out your salvation” is a live flashpoint in the grace-vs-works denominational debate baseline already flags; requires explicit transparency statement. |
| Lord | κύριος | kyrios | Incarnation and Kenosis / Christology | Critical | Reused exactly (baseline) | False-Friend, Obsolescence | 1:2,14; 2:11,19,24,29; 3:8,20; 4:1,2,4,5,10,23 | Must match baseline lord clarification verbatim; 2:11 confession should echo Romans 10:9 restoration-of-weight language. |
| Jesus | Ἰησοῦς | Iēsous | Christology | Critical | Reused exactly (baseline) | — | throughout | Reuse baseline jesus verbatim. |
| Christ / Messiah | Χριστός | Christos | Christology / Messianic Promise | Medium | Reused exactly (baseline) | — | throughout | Reuse baseline messiah verbatim. |
| God | θεός | theos | Deity of Christ | Critical | Reused exactly (baseline) | — | throughout | Reuse baseline god verbatim. |
| Father | πατήρ | patēr | Trinitarian relations | Medium | Reused exactly (baseline) | — | 1:2; 2:11; 4:20 | Reuse baseline father verbatim. |
| Holy Spirit | πνεῦμα (ἅγιον implied) | pneuma | Fellowship of the Spirit / Unity | Critical | Reused exactly (baseline) | False-Friend | 1:19; 2:1 | Compounds with fellowship risk at 2:1; see NEW entry “fellowship of the Spirit” below. |
| saints | ἅγιοι | hagioi | Sainthood | High | Reused exactly (baseline) | Denominational | 1:1; 4:21,22 | Reuse baseline saints verbatim. |
| servant/slave | δοῦλος | doulos | Incarnation and Kenosis / Unity and Humility | High | NEW | Obsolescence + sensitive cultural association | 1:1; 2:7,22 | ”Servant” softer than ancient total-subjection sense; “slave” carries painful modern historical associations requiring sensitive handling. Recommend “servant” as primary rendering with explicit note on the underlying rightless-subjection sense. |
| overseers and deacons | ἐπίσκοπος, διάκονος | episkopos, diakonos | Unity and Humility in the Church | High | NEW | Denominational Contest | 1:1 | ”Bishop” risks anachronistic import of later episcopal polity; recommend “overseers.” Flag for non-partisan denominational-transparency handling. |
| partnership in the gospel | κοινωνία εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον | koinōnia eis to euangelion | Partnership in the Gospel | High | NEW (escalates baseline fellowship) | False-Friend (academic-grant sense) + under-concretization risk | 1:5; 4:15 | Anchors this curriculum’s dedicated “Partnership in the Gospel” doctrine; must retain the concrete financial/missional sense confirmed at 4:15-16, not only warm relational feeling. |
| fellowship of the Spirit | κοινωνία πνεύματος | koinōnia pneumatos | Unity and Humility in the Church | High | NEW (compounds baseline fellowship + holy_spirit) | False-Friend (academic-grant sense; wellness “energy” sense) | 2:1 | Compound risk of two baseline Critical/Medium terms; requires joint clarification per 07_semantic_analysis.md notes on 2:1. |
| joy / rejoice | χαρά / χαίρω | chara / chairō | Joy in Suffering and Imprisonment | High | NEW | False-Friend (positive-psychology “happiness” sense) | 1:4,18,25; 2:2,17,18,28,29; 3:1; 4:1,4,10 | Philippians’ keynote word; must be explicitly distinguished from circumstance-dependent secular happiness/positivity-culture. Highest-priority new term in this glossary. |
| suffering for Christ (granted as a gift) | πάσχω / ἐχαρίσθη | paschō / echaristhē | Joy in Suffering and Imprisonment | High | NEW | Cultural drift (suffering-avoidance culture) | 1:29-30 | Note the ἐχαρίσθη (“graciously given”) wordplay directly ties suffering to baseline Critical-risk grace term family. |
| chains / imprisonment | δεσμός | desmos | Joy in Suffering and Imprisonment | Medium | NEW | Obsolescence | 1:7,13,14,17 | Literal historical imprisonment; low false-friend risk, mainly requires historical-situation context. |
| mindset / same mind | φρονέω / φρόνημα | phroneō | Unity and Humility in the Church | Medium | NEW | Obsolescence (thinned to “opinion”) | 2:2,5; also 1:7, 3:15, 4:2,10 | Gloss as settled disposition/orientation, not mere intellectual opinion. |
| selfish ambition | ἐριθεία | eritheia | Unity and Humility in the Church | Medium | NEW | Cultural drift (positive “ambition” culture) | 2:3 | Must be qualified as specifically selfish/factional ambition, not ambition generally. |
| empty conceit / vainglory | κενοδοξία | kenodoxia | Unity and Humility in the Church | Medium | NEW (shares root with baseline glory) | — | 2:3 | Deliberate wordplay with κενόω at 2:7; cross-reference explicitly. |
| humility | ταπεινοφροσύνη | tapeinophrosynē | Unity and Humility in the Church | High | NEW | Cultural drift (self-esteem culture; ancient honor-culture) | 2:3,8 | State explicitly: voluntary self-lowering from strength, per Christ’s example, not enforced servility from weakness. |
| form of God | μορφὴ θεοῦ | morphē theou | Incarnation and Kenosis / Deity of Christ | Critical | NEW (ties to baseline son_of_god, god) | False-Friend (reductive “historical Jesus” readings) | 2:6 | Must state this is essential pre-existent deity, not a role or godlike manner of acting. |
| equality with God | ἴσα θεῷ | isa theō | Incarnation and Kenosis / Deity of Christ | Critical | NEW (ties to baseline son_of_god, god) | False-Friend | 2:6 | Same handling as form of God. |
| a thing to be grasped / exploited | ἁρπαγμός | harpagmon | Incarnation and Kenosis | High | NEW | Genuine translation ambiguity + KJV false-friend (“robbery”) | 2:6 | Present both major scholarly readings (not grasped-at vs. not exploited) per baseline’s ambiguity-handling rule; flag KJV “robbery” as a modern false-friend if ever quoted. |
| emptied himself (kenosis) | ἐκένωσεν | ekenōsen | Incarnation and Kenosis | Critical | NEW | False-Friend (KJV “of no reputation”) + historical doctrinal-error risk (attribute-surrender kenoticism) | 2:7 | Single highest-priority new Christological term; must state explicitly that Christ emptied himself of privilege/glory, not of divine nature/attributes. |
| form of a servant | μορφὴν δούλου | morphēn doulou | Incarnation and Kenosis | High | NEW | Obsolescence + sensitive cultural association | 2:7 | See servant/slave entry above. |
| likeness of men | ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων | homoiōmati anthrōpōn | Humanity of Christ | Medium | NEW (ties to baseline incarnation) | — | 2:7 | Guard against docetist “mere appearance” misreading; pair with σχῆμα for full genuine-humanity sense. |
| cross | σταυρός | stauros | Incarnation and Kenosis | Medium | NEW | Cultural drift (decorative/metaphor sanitization) | 2:8 | Restore historical shame/horror dimension; contemporary decorative-jewelry familiarity undersells the original scandal. |
| exalted (highly/super-) | ὑπερύψωσεν | hyperypsōsen | Incarnation and Kenosis / Lordship of Christ | Medium | NEW | Obsolescence (mild) | 2:9 | Rare intensive compound; explain the “super-exalted” emphatic force. |
| name above every name | ὄνομα ὑπὲρ πᶰν ὄνομα | onoma hyper pan onoma | Lordship of Christ | Medium | NEW | Obsolescence (thinned sense of “name”) | 2:9 | Bridge modern “name = label” sense to ancient “name = authority/rank” sense. |
| confess | ἐξομολογήσηται | exomologēsētai | Lordship of Christ | Critical | NEW (parallels Romans 10:9 confession) | — | 2:11 | Must echo baseline’s mandated verbatim-consistent Romans 10:9-10 confession-language rule. |
| peace | εἰρήνη | eirēnē | Peace with God / Contentment | Medium | Reused exactly (baseline) | Cultural drift | 4:7,9 | 4:7 adds a guarding/military-metaphor nuance to baseline’s existing note; not a contradiction. |
| thanksgiving | εὐχαριστία | eucharistia | Thanksgiving | Low | Reused exactly (baseline) | — | 1:3; 4:6 | Reuse baseline thanksgiving verbatim. |
| work out salvation | κατεργάζεσθε (σωτηρίαν) | katergazesthe | Salvation / Contentment / Grace-Works | Critical | Reused exactly (baseline salvation) + escalated nuance | Denominational Contest | 2:12 | Live grace-vs-works flashpoint; requires explicit transparency statement per baseline rule. |
| fear and trembling | φόβος καὶ τρόμος | phobos kai tromos | Unity and Humility | Medium | NEW | Cultural drift (anxiety-psychology sense) | 2:12 | Gloss as reverent seriousness/awe, not anxious dread. |
| blameless | ἄμεμπτος | amemptos | Unity and Humility | Low | NEW | Minor (legal vs. moral sense) | 2:15 | Low-stakes; context easily disambiguates. |
| service / sacrificial offering | λειτουργία | leitourgia | Partnership in the Gospel | Medium | NEW | False-Friend (narrowed “liturgy” sense) | 2:17,25,30 | Avoid transliterated “liturgy” (too denominationally narrow in modern usage); use “service/sacrificial offering.” |
| circumcision | περιτομή | peritomē | Righteousness by Faith vs. Law | Medium | NEW (ties to baseline covenant, law) | Obsolescence/background gap | 3:3,5 | Needs covenant-sign background supplied, not assumed known. |
| rubbish / garbage | σκύβαλα | skybala | Righteousness by Faith vs. Law | Medium | NEW | Under-translation risk | 3:8 | Note the term’s genuine coarseness so Paul’s rhetorical force is not lost in polite renderings. |
| resurrection | ἀνάστασις | anastasis | Resurrection / Pressing on toward the Goal | High | Reused exactly (baseline) | — | 3:10,11,21 | Reuse baseline resurrection verbatim. |
| power of God | δύναμις (τῆς ἀναστάσεως) | dynamis | Pressing on toward the Goal | Medium | Reused exactly (baseline power_of_god) | Cultural drift | 3:10 | Direct overlap with Romans 1:16 δύναμις θεοῦ language. |
| press on / pursue | διώκω | diōkō | Pressing on toward the Goal in Christ | Medium | NEW | Cultural drift (secular self-improvement flattening) | 3:12,14 | State explicitly that the “prize” is resurrection/full knowledge of Christ, not a generic personal-best goal. |
| prize / goal | βραβεῖον / σκοπός | brabeion / skopos | Pressing on toward the Goal in Christ | Medium | NEW | Cultural drift | 3:14 | Same handling as press on. |
| citizenship | πολίτευμα / πολιτεύεσθε | politeuma / politeuesthe | Citizenship in Heaven | High | NEW | False-Friend (KJV “conversation”); contemporary political-controversy risk | 1:27; 3:20 | Flag KJV “our conversation is in heaven” as a genuine modern false-friend if quoted; keep emphasis on primary allegiance/hope, not contemporary immigration politics. |
| Savior | σωτῆρα | sōtēra | Citizenship in Heaven / Salvation | High | NEW (ties to baseline salvation, lord) | — | 3:20 | Deliberately evokes Roman emperor-cult titulature; reinforces the citizenship contrast. |
| contentment | αὐτάρκης | autarkēs | Contentment in All Circumstances | High | NEW | Cultural drift (Stoic/self-help parallel) | 4:11 | Name the genuine parallel with (and correction of) both ancient Stoicism and modern self-help “mindset” contentment; source is Christ’s strengthening (4:13), not self-mastery. |
| strengthens me | ἐνδυναμοῦντί με | endynamounti me | Contentment in All Circumstances | Medium | NEW (ties to baseline power_of_god) | — | 4:13 | Cross-reference with resurrection-power language at 3:10. |
| credited to your account | λογίζεται | logizetai | Partnership in the Gospel | Medium | NEW (echoes baseline imputed_righteousness) | — | 4:17 | Same accounting-verb family as Romans 4’s imputation language; distinct theological referent (reward for giving, not forensic righteousness) — do not conflate. |
| glory | δόξα | doxa | Deity of Christ / Kenosis | Medium | Reused exactly (baseline) | Cultural drift | 1:11; 2:11; 4:19,20 | Reuse baseline glory verbatim. |
| exhort | παρακαλέω-family (implied register) | parakaleō | Unity and Humility | Low | Reused exactly (baseline) | Obsolescence | 4:2 (implied appeal to Euodia/Syntyche) | Reuse baseline exhort verbatim. |
Risk Tier Summary (Philippians-specific additions only; excludes reused baseline terms)
| Risk Tier | Count of NEW terms | Representative terms |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 4 | emptied himself (kenosis), form of God, equality with God, confess (Lordship parallel) |
| High | 9 | servant/slave, overseers and deacons, partnership in the gospel, fellowship of the Spirit, joy/rejoice, suffering for Christ, humility, a thing to be grasped, form of a servant, citizenship, Savior, contentment (note: some terms appear in multiple summary rows above; see full table for exact tier per term) |
| Medium | 16 | chains/imprisonment, mindset, selfish ambition, empty conceit, likeness of men, cross, exalted, name above every name, fear and trembling, service/sacrificial offering, circumcision, rubbish/garbage, power of God (reused), press on, prize/goal, strengthens me, credited to account |
| Low | 2 | chains (situational only where fully disambiguated), blameless |
Note: several terms above are High in their specific doctrinal load-bearing function even where the base vocabulary is common English; see the full glossary table for the authoritative per-term tier, which governs Phase 2 review routing.
Cross-Reference to Baseline Reuse
Every term marked “Reused exactly (baseline)” in the table above MUST use the identical English rendering, alternatives-rejected list, and doctrinal notes recorded in the Romans baseline translation_memory.json. No Philippians-specific document may introduce a divergent rendering or a weaker clarification for these terms: gospel, grace, faith, righteousness, law, salvation, Lord, Jesus, Messiah/Christ, God, Father, Holy Spirit, saints, peace, thanksgiving, resurrection, power of God, glory, exhort, imputed righteousness (conceptual).
Critical Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: grace
Transliteration: grace
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: elegance/poise (dominant secular sense), a grace period (dominant legal/financial sense)
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] CRITICAL FALSE-FRIEND DRIFT and DENOMINATIONAL CONTEST as documented in the Romans baseline. Philippians-specific: 1:29’s ἐχαρίσθη (‘it has been graciously given…to suffer’) applies grace-vocabulary directly to suffering itself, a startling extension that must be pointed out explicitly, not left for readers to notice unaided; also occurs at the letter’s opening and closing (1:2, 4:23).
Righteousness
Approved rendering: righteousness
Transliteration: righteousness
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: self-righteous / holier-than-thou (dominant negative connotation in casual usage)
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Biblical righteousness is a status given, not moral smugness. Philippians-specific: chapter 3 (3:6, 3:9) is this curriculum’s dedicated text for this doctrine — Paul renounces his own impeccable religious credentials as a ground of righteousness, not merely as false modesty.
Salvation
Approved rendering: salvation
Transliteration: salvation
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: being saved (contested denominational shorthand), rescue (too generic a gloss on its own)
Original: σωτηρία
Category: Salvation
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] CRITICAL DENOMINATIONAL CONTEST over event-vs-process ‘being saved.’ Philippians-specific: 2:12’s ‘work out your own salvation’ is this curriculum’s sharpest live flashpoint in this exact debate — see the dedicated ‘work_out_salvation’ entry below; also occurs at 1:19, 1:28, and (Savior title) 3:20.
Lord
Approved rendering: Lord
Transliteration: Lord
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: boss / master (loses exclusivity and worship-worthiness), a British Lord (aristocratic title sense)
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] ‘Lord’ has nearly disappeared from ordinary spoken English outside this specific religious usage. Philippians-specific: 2:11’s climactic confession ‘Jesus Christ is Lord’ MUST carry the identical restored weight mandated for Romans 10:9-10 — total, exclusive, personal allegiance publicly declared, not passive repetition of a faded word. Recurs at 1:2,14; 2:19,24,29; 3:8,20; 4:1,2,4,5,10,23.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jesus
Transliteration: Jesus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Jesus (as a casual interjection/expletive)
Original: Ἰησοῦς / יֵשׁוּעַ
Category: Christology
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Stable proper name; avoid casual-interjection register. Recurs throughout Philippians.
Messiah
Approved rendering: Messiah
Transliteration: Messiah
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: a messiah complex (pop-psychology pejorative)
Original: Χριστός / מָשִׁיחַ
Category: Christology
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Where Philippians uses ‘Christ’ (Χριστός) as a name/title rather than a generic term, reuse this baseline entry’s clarification. Recurs throughout Philippians, e.g. 1:1, 2:5, 3:7-8.
God
Approved rendering: God
Transliteration: God
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: a higher power (deliberately vague contemporary substitute), the universe (New-Age-influenced impersonal substitute)
Original: θεός / אֱלֹהִים / יהוה
Category: God
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Not a placeholder concept but the specific, personal, self-revealing God. Philippians-specific: foundational to 2:6’s ‘form of God’ and ‘equality with God,’ the doctrinal anchor of the core passage.
Form Of God
Approved rendering: form of God
Transliteration: morphē theou
Doctrine: Incarnation and Self-Emptying of Christ (Kenosis)
Rejected alternatives: in his very nature God (acceptable alternate gloss, NIV)
Original: μορφὴ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
NEW TERM, ties to baseline god/son_of_god Critical risk. Essential, pre-existent possession of the very nature of God — not a role, title, or manner of appearing godlike. Popular ‘historical Jesus’ narratives quietly reduce this to the latter; must be corrected explicitly. Occurs only at 2:6, the doctrinal anchor of the core passage.
Equality With God
Approved rendering: equality with God
Transliteration: isa theō
Doctrine: Incarnation and Self-Emptying of Christ (Kenosis)
Original: ἴσα θεῷ
Category: Christology
NEW TERM, same collision category as form_of_god. Full equality of status, nature, and honor with God — an unambiguous full-deity claim requiring the same active reinforcement as baseline deity-of-Christ language against reductive ‘great moral teacher’ framings. Occurs only at 2:6.
Emptied Himself
Approved rendering: emptied himself
Transliteration: ekenōsen
Doctrine: Incarnation and Self-Emptying of Christ (Kenosis)
Rejected alternatives: made himself of no reputation (KJV; modern false-friend — ‘reputation’ now means social image/PR, trivializing the incarnation)
Original: ἐκένωσεν
Category: Christology
NEW TERM, the single highest-priority term in this entire curriculum, requiring registry weight equal to baseline grace/justification/election. Two converging risks: (1) genuine historical doctrinal error (attribute-surrender kenoticism, rejected by most orthodox traditions) may be read into this verse; (2) the KJV false-friend above. MUST state explicitly on first use: Christ emptied himself of outward privilege, glory, and prerogative, NOT of his divine nature, which he retained fully throughout the incarnation. Occurs only at 2:7.
Confess
Approved rendering: confess
Transliteration: exomologēsētai
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: acknowledge (NIV/NLT; acceptable but should not replace the public, verbal ‘confess’ sense entirely)
Original: ἐξομολογήσηται
Category: Christology
NEW TERM, MUST match the baseline’s mandated verbatim-consistent Romans 10:9-10 confession handling exactly. Open, public, verbal declaration — not private, silent belief. Philippians 2:11 is this curriculum’s Christological counterpart to Romans 10:9 and must receive identical restored weight.
Work Out Salvation
Approved rendering: work out your own salvation
Transliteration: sōtērian katergazesthe
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: earn your salvation (explicitly rejected works-based misreading)
Original: σωτηρίαν κατεργάζεσθε
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM, DENOMINATIONAL CONTEST compounding baseline salvation. Immediately follows the kenosis hymn; a live flashpoint in the English-speaking-Christian grace-vs-works debate. Must state explicitly, per baseline transparency rule, that ‘working out’ presupposes and follows a salvation already given by grace (echoing 2:6-8’s portrait of Christ’s completed work), while preserving the genuine call to active effort in κατεργάζομαι. Occurs only at 2:12, paired with 2:13’s ‘for it is God who works in you.‘
High Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: faith
Transliteration: faith
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: faith in humanity / a leap of faith (secularized idioms for generic optimism or an unsupported gamble)
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Contemporary English has detached ‘faith’ from any specific object. Philippians-specific: 3:9’s righteousness ‘through faith in Christ’ restates the Romans 4 doctrine and must retain the personal, Christ-directed object of trust explicitly; also occurs at 1:25, 1:27, 2:17.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: imputed righteousness
Transliteration: imputed righteousness
Doctrine: Righteousness by Faith versus the Law
Rejected alternatives: earned righteousness / good-person status (explicitly rejected opposite)
Original: ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην
Category: Salvation
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Credited righteousness, not a moral achievement. Philippians-specific: 3:9’s ‘righteousness…through faith in Christ’ restates this exact doctrine without the Romans 4 accounting verb (λογίζομαι); cross-reference explicitly so readers do not read it as a separate or lesser claim.
Law
Approved rendering: law
Transliteration: law
Doctrine: Righteousness by Faith versus the Law
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Must not be rendered as general cosmic duty or dharma-like moral order; contemporary litigious culture partially supports the legal-metaphor sense but risks over-secularizing it. Philippians-specific: 3:5,6,9, paired with ‘circumcision’ as a covenant-identity marker Paul renounces as a ground of standing before God.
Father
Approved rendering: Father
Transliteration: Father
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Minor denominational note on Catholic priestly address; pastoral sensitivity for readers with painful father figures. Philippians-specific: 1:2, 2:11 (the Son’s exaltation terminates in the Father’s glory, a Trinitarian coordination point, not rivalry), 4:20.
Saints
Approved rendering: saints
Transliteration: saints
Doctrine: Sainthood
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Corporate designation for every believer, not a canonized elite, despite Catholic/Orthodox usage reserving ‘saint’ for a formally recognized figure. Philippians-specific: addresses the entire, ordinary Philippian congregation at 1:1 and 4:21-22.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: resurrection
Transliteration: resurrection
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Easter (commercialized cultural holiday sense)
Original: ἀνάστασις
Category: Eschatology
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Bodily, historical fact, not metaphor or myth. Philippians-specific: 3:10-11’s pursuit of ‘the power of his resurrection’ and 3:21’s promised bodily transformation both depend on this being real and historical; state plainly, not hedged.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: power of God
Transliteration: power of God
Doctrine: Pressing on toward the Goal in Christ
Original: δύναμις θεοῦ
Category: God
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Distinguish from the largely negative secular power discourse. Philippians-specific: 3:10 specifies this as ‘the power of his resurrection’; cross-reference explicitly with 4:13’s ‘him who strengthens me’ as the same divine-power concept, not mere willpower.
Glory
Approved rendering: glory
Transliteration: glory
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: glory days (nostalgic secular usage), a glory hound (pejorative self-seeking usage)
Original: δόξα
Category: God
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Philippians-specific: deliberate wordplay at 2:3 (κενοδοξία, ‘empty glory/vain conceit,’ sharing the κενός root with 2:7’s ‘emptied himself’) must be pointed out explicitly; the ‘glory hound’ secular association is actually a useful analogy for κενοδοξία’s self-seeking sense. Also occurs 1:11; 2:11; 4:19,20.
Servant Slave
Approved rendering: servant
Transliteration: doulos
Doctrine: Church Governance and Offices
Rejected alternatives: slave (more literal but carries severe modern chattel-slavery associations requiring pastoral sensitivity)
Original: δοῦλος
Category: Christology
NEW TERM. δοῦλος denotes total, rightless ownership by a master, stronger than contemporary English ‘servant’ (domestic staff, customer service) conveys. Paul self-applies this at 1:1 as an honorific of total devotion, foreshadowing Christ’s own ‘form of a servant’ at 2:7. Recommend ‘servant’ as primary rendering with a one-time explicit note on the underlying total-subjection sense.
Overseers And Deacons
Approved rendering: overseers and deacons
Transliteration: episkopos kai diakonos
Doctrine: Church Governance and Offices
Rejected alternatives: bishops and deacons (KJV; imports later, contested episcopal polity anachronistically)
Original: ἐπίσκοπος καὶ διάκονος
Category: Church
NEW TERM, DENOMINATIONAL CONTEST. ‘Bishop’ is heavily freighted with specific denominational church-government structures the first-century Philippian house-church did not yet resemble. Use ‘overseers’; state the range of English-speaking Christian polity views (episcopal, presbyterian, congregational) transparently and non-partisanly, per baseline convention. Occurs only at 1:1.
Partnership In The Gospel
Approved rendering: partnership in the gospel
Transliteration: koinōnia eis to euangelion
Doctrine: Partnership in the Gospel
Rejected alternatives: fellowship in the gospel (KJV; risks the academic-grant false-friend of ‘a fellowship’)
Original: κοινωνία εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Church
NEW TERM, escalates baseline fellowship. Denotes concrete, confirmed financial and missional investment (4:15-16), not merely warm relational feeling. Guard against both over-institutionalizing (‘a fellowship’ = academic grant) and over-sentimentalizing (dropping the concrete financial dimension). Anchors this curriculum’s dedicated doctrine. Occurs at 1:5; 4:15.
Fellowship Of The Spirit
Approved rendering: fellowship of the Spirit
Transliteration: koinōnia pneumatos
Doctrine: Unity and Humility in the Church
Rejected alternatives: sharing in the Spirit (acceptable alternate gloss)
Original: κοινωνία πνεύματος
Category: Church
NEW TERM compounding two baseline risks: ‘fellowship’ as academic/professional grant, and ‘Holy Spirit’ as diffuse wellness ‘energy.’ Requires joint, explicit clarification: shared participation in the personal Holy Spirit. Occurs only at 2:1, grounding the appeal to unity in 2:1-5.
Joy
Approved rendering: joy
Transliteration: chara / chairō
Doctrine: Joy in Suffering and Imprisonment
Rejected alternatives: happiness (dominant circumstance-dependent secular sense, explicitly rejected as a synonym)
Original: χαρά / χαίρω
Category: Suffering
NEW TERM, this book’s single highest-priority term. FALSE-FRIEND DRIFT: contemporary positive-psychology usage (‘choose joy,’ ‘joy is a mindset’) reduces Paul’s joy — sustained through literal chains and possible execution — to a technique of emotional self-management. Must be explicitly anchored to Christ and gospel advance every occurrence, especially in suffering contexts (1:4,18,25; 2:2,17-18,28-29; 3:1; 4:1,4,10).
Suffering For Christ
Approved rendering: suffering for Christ
Transliteration: paschō / echaristhē
Doctrine: Joy in Suffering and Imprisonment
Original: πάσχω / ἐχαρίσθη
Category: Suffering
NEW TERM. 1:29’s ἐχαρίσθη (‘it has been GRACIOUSLY GIVEN to you…to suffer’) ties suffering directly to the grace word-family, a startling claim contemporary suffering-avoidance culture has no ready framework for. Must not be trivialized into ‘silver lining’ positivity language.
Humility
Approved rendering: humility
Transliteration: tapeinophrosynē
Doctrine: Unity and Humility in the Church
Original: ταπεινοφροσύνη
Category: Unity
NEW TERM. DOUBLE CULTURAL COLLISION: negative in Paul’s own Greco-Roman honor culture (servility, shame) AND in contemporary Western self-esteem culture (weakness, poor self-advocacy). Must state explicitly: voluntary self-lowering from strength, modeled on Christ (2:6-8), not enforced servility from weakness. Occurs at 2:3,8.
Thing To Be Grasped
Approved rendering: a thing to be grasped
Transliteration: harpagmon
Doctrine: Incarnation and Self-Emptying of Christ (Kenosis)
Rejected alternatives: robbery (KJV; a modern false-friend — contemporary readers hear criminal theft)
Original: ἁρπαγμός
Category: Christology
NEW TERM, GENUINE TRANSLATION AMBIGUITY requiring disclosure per the Ambiguity Handling rule: ‘not something to grasp at’ (already possessed) vs. ‘not something to exploit for advantage’ (voluntarily declined) — both readings are defensible across major published translations and both preserve full deity. Present both; do not silently choose one. Occurs only at 2:6.
Form Of A Servant
Approved rendering: form of a servant
Transliteration: morphēn doulou
Doctrine: Incarnation and Self-Emptying of Christ (Kenosis)
Rejected alternatives: form of a slave (more literal; requires pastoral sensitivity given modern chattel-slavery associations)
Original: μορφὴν δούλου
Category: Christology
NEW TERM. Same μορφή used for the highest possible status (God, v.6) and the lowest possible status (slave, v.7) — the magnitude of the descent is the point. See servant_slave entry for the full servant/slave rendering discussion. Occurs only at 2:7.
Citizenship
Approved rendering: citizenship
Transliteration: politeuma / politeuesthe
Doctrine: Citizenship in Heaven
Rejected alternatives: conversation (KJV; genuine modern false-friend — ‘conversation’ now means verbal talk, not the KJV’s intended ‘manner of life’; do not use unglossed if quoted)
Original: πολίτευμα / πολιτεύεσθε
Category: Citizenship
NEW TERM. Contemporary political usage is dominated by live, often polarized nation-state immigration/legal-status debate; supply the Roman-colony historical background explicitly (Philippi’s residents prized Roman citizenship) and keep emphasis on primary allegiance and future hope, not contemporary immigration politics. Occurs at 1:27; 3:20.
Savior
Approved rendering: Savior
Transliteration: sōtēra
Doctrine: Citizenship in Heaven
Original: σωτῆρα
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM, ties to baseline salvation/lord. Deliberately evokes Roman emperor-cult titulature applied to Caesar in a Roman colony like Philippi; must not be flattened into a generic low-content rescue title, since the polemical Christ-vs-Caesar contrast is Paul’s own rhetorical point. Guard against prosperity-gospel decontextualization at nearby 4:13/4:19. Occurs only at 3:20.
Contentment
Approved rendering: content
Transliteration: autarkēs
Doctrine: Contentment in All Circumstances
Original: αὐτάρκης
Category: Contentment
NEW TERM. CULTURAL-DRIFT COLLISION: this exact Greek word was also a prized Stoic virtue term for self-sufficient independence from circumstance through rational self-mastery, closely paralleled by contemporary self-help/mindfulness ‘gratitude practice’ contentment. Name both parallels explicitly and correct both: Paul’s contentment is learned (4:11) but sourced OUTSIDE himself, in Christ’s strengthening (4:13), not self-mastery or mindset technique. Occurs at 4:11.
Medium Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: gospel
Transliteration: gospel
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: good news (acceptable as an explanatory gloss, but should not fully replace ‘gospel’ since it loses the term’s proclamatory weight)
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly; do not draft divergent Philippians-specific renderings] Comparatively stable: the idiom ‘gospel truth’ reinforces rather than undermines the word’s authoritative connotation. Main risk is confusing ‘the Gospels’ (the four books) with ‘the gospel’ (the message). Philippians-specific: unusually dense concentration at 1:5,7,12,16,27 and 4:15, anchoring this curriculum’s ‘Partnership in the Gospel’ doctrine.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Holy Spirit
Transliteration: Holy Spirit
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: good vibes / positive energy (vague contemporary spiritual substitutes)
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] A specific, personal divine Person, not a diffuse spiritual energy. Philippians-specific: 2:1’s ‘fellowship of the Spirit’ compounds this risk with the baseline ‘fellowship’ academic-grant false-friend; see the dedicated ‘fellowship_of_the_spirit’ entry below for the required joint clarification. Also occurs at 1:19.
Peace
Approved rendering: peace
Transliteration: peace
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: world peace / inner peace (dominant secular senses)
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Relational, judicial peace through justification, distinct from psychological calm. Philippians-specific ADDITION (not contradiction): 4:7’s ‘peace of God, which surpasses all understanding’ adds an explicit guarding-the-heart-and-mind, military-metaphor dimension (φρουρήσει, ‘will guard’) to the baseline sense. Also 4:9.
Chains And Imprisonment
Approved rendering: chains
Transliteration: desmos
Doctrine: Joy in Suffering and Imprisonment
Original: δεσμός
Category: Suffering
NEW TERM. Obsolescence-adjacent: low false-friend risk, but readers may default to reading ‘chains’ as purely metaphorical (e.g. ‘chains of addiction’) rather than Paul’s literal Roman custody. Supply historical-situation context (likely house arrest awaiting trial). Occurs at 1:7,13,14,17.
Mindset
Approved rendering: mindset
Transliteration: phroneō / phronēma
Doctrine: Unity and Humility in the Church
Rejected alternatives: opinion / stance (too intellectually thin a gloss)
Original: φρονέω / φρόνημα
Category: Unity
NEW TERM. Modern ‘mind’ language has thinned toward intellectual opinion rather than a settled disposition governing conduct and affection together. Governs 2:1-5’s appeal to unity, climaxing at 2:5’s identification with Christ’s own mindset. Occurs at 2:2,5; also 1:7; 3:15; 4:2,10.
Selfish Ambition
Approved rendering: selfish ambition
Transliteration: eritheia
Doctrine: Unity and Humility in the Church
Rejected alternatives: ambition (unqualified; contemporary career-virtue usage would soften Paul’s specifically negative, factional sense)
Original: ἐριθεία
Category: Unity
NEW TERM. Never use ‘ambition’ unqualified as a gloss; always retain ‘selfish/factional’ to resist hustle-culture’s celebration of ambition generally. Occurs only at 2:3.
Empty Conceit
Approved rendering: empty conceit
Transliteration: kenodoxia
Doctrine: Unity and Humility in the Church
Rejected alternatives: vainglory (KJV; archaic), vanity (NLT-adjacent, loose)
Original: κενοδοξία
Category: Unity
NEW TERM sharing the κενός root with 2:7’s ‘emptied himself’ — a deliberate structural contrast (self-emptying for others vs. empty self-glorification) invisible in plain English without editorial comment. Cross-reference explicitly. Occurs only at 2:3.
Likeness Of Men
Approved rendering: likeness of men
Transliteration: homoiōmati anthrōpōn
Doctrine: Humanity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: human form (NLT-adjacent, acceptable plain gloss)
Original: ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων
Category: Christology
NEW TERM, ties to baseline incarnation. Affirms Christ’s genuine, full humanity; must not be read as mere resemblance/appearance (a docetist misreading). Read together with the following σχῆμα phrase (‘found in appearance as a man’) as a single clarifying unit. Occurs only at 2:7.
Cross
Approved rendering: cross
Transliteration: stauros
Doctrine: Incarnation and Self-Emptying of Christ (Kenosis)
Original: σταυρός
Category: Christology
NEW TERM. Contemporary decorative/jewelry familiarity and the burden-metaphor idiom (‘we all have our cross to bear’) sanitize away the original shock value: the most degrading Roman execution, reserved for slaves and rebels, never Roman citizens. Restore the historical shame/horror dimension explicitly. Occurs only at 2:8.
Exalted
Approved rendering: highly exalted
Transliteration: hyperypsōsen
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: ὑπερύψωσεν
Category: Christology
NEW TERM. A rare intensive compound (found only here in the NT) meaning super-exaltation to the highest possible degree; ordinary ‘exalted’ alone undersells the emphatic force. Occurs only at 2:9.
Name Above Every Name
Approved rendering: the name above every name
Transliteration: onoma to hyper pan onoma
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᶰν ὄνομα
Category: Christology
NEW TERM. Contemporary ‘name’ as mere personal label is thinner than the ancient sense of name-as-bearing-authority-and-rank; bridge this gap explicitly. Occurs only at 2:9.
Fear And Trembling
Approved rendering: fear and trembling
Transliteration: phobou kai tromou
Doctrine: Unity and Humility in the Church
Original: φόβου καὶ τρόμου
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM. Contemporary anxiety-psychology usage of ‘fear’ risks importing threatened terror rather than Paul’s intended reverent seriousness/awe before a good God. Occurs only at 2:12.
Service Sacrificial Offering
Approved rendering: service
Transliteration: leitourgia
Doctrine: Partnership in the Gospel
Rejected alternatives: liturgy (the direct English derivative; narrowed in modern usage to formal, often specifically Catholic/Anglican/Orthodox worship order)
Original: λειτουργία
Category: Church
NEW TERM. Avoid the transliterated ‘liturgy,’ which imports an unwanted, denominationally narrow modern connotation Paul’s broader sacrificial-service sense does not intend. Describes Paul’s and Epaphroditus’s costly, risk-taking ministry. Occurs at 2:17,25,30.
Circumcision
Approved rendering: circumcision
Transliteration: peritomē
Doctrine: Righteousness by Faith versus the Law
Original: περιτομή
Category: Covenant
NEW TERM, ties to baseline covenant/law. Obsolescence/background-gap risk rather than false-friend: supply covenant-sign background explicitly rather than assuming only the medical/hygienic sense is known. Handle with sensitivity to historic Jewish-Christian relations given Paul’s polemical use at 3:2-9. Occurs at 3:3,5.
Rubbish Garbage
Approved rendering: rubbish
Transliteration: skybala
Doctrine: Righteousness by Faith versus the Law
Rejected alternatives: dung (KJV; accurate but softened by modern unfamiliarity), garbage (NIV/NLT; acceptable but still under-translates the coarseness)
Original: σκύβαλα
Category: Faith
NEW TERM. UNDER-TRANSLATION RISK: polite renderings undersell how crude/visceral Paul’s word actually is (closer to excrement/dung). Note this coarseness explicitly so Paul’s rhetorical force is not lost, while making an appropriate register judgment for published material. Occurs only at 3:8.
Press On
Approved rendering: press on
Transliteration: diōkō
Doctrine: Pressing on toward the Goal in Christ
Rejected alternatives: follow after (KJV; acceptable archaic alternate)
Original: διώκω
Category: Eschatology
NEW TERM. Contemporary athletic-race/self-improvement metaphors are well understood (an asset) but risk flattening into generic secular goal-achievement language. State explicitly every occurrence that the goal is specifically resurrection and full knowledge of Christ (3:10-11), not a generic personal best. Occurs at 3:12,14.
Prize And Goal
Approved rendering: the prize / the goal
Transliteration: brabeion / skopos
Doctrine: Pressing on toward the Goal in Christ
Original: βραβεῖον / σκοπός
Category: Eschatology
NEW TERM. Same cultural-drift risk as press_on; the referent must always be stated as resurrection and full knowledge of Christ, never left as free-floating motivational language. Occurs only at 3:14.
Strengthens Me
Approved rendering: him who strengthens me
Transliteration: endynamounti me
Doctrine: Contentment in All Circumstances
Original: ἐνδυναμοῦντί με
Category: Contentment
NEW TERM, ties to power_of_god. Risk of being read as generic willpower/positive-thinking language, especially given prosperity-gospel decontextualization of this verse in popular media. Cross-reference explicitly with the resurrection-power language of 3:10. Occurs only at 4:13.
Credited To Account
Approved rendering: credited to your account
Transliteration: logizetai
Doctrine: Partnership in the Gospel
Original: λογίζεται
Category: Church
NEW TERM. Shares the accounting-verb family (λογίζομαι) with Romans 4’s imputed righteousness in the baseline registry, but the theological referent here is distinct — reward for generosity, not forensic righteousness. Point out the shared commercial metaphor explicitly while keeping the two doctrines separate. Occurs only at 4:17.
Low Risk Terms
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: thanksgiving
Transliteration: thanksgiving
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία
Category: Faith
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Minor risk from the capitalized national holiday. Philippians-specific: 1:3, 4:6.
Exhort
Approved rendering: exhort
Transliteration: exhort
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Original: παρακαλέω
Category: Faith
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE — reuse exactly] Rare, formal, mildly archaic; low active-misreading risk. Philippians-specific: governs the register of Paul’s appeal to Euodia and Syntyche (4:2).
Blameless
Approved rendering: blameless
Transliteration: amemptos
Doctrine: Unity and Humility in the Church
Original: ἄμεμπτος
Category: Church
NEW TERM. Minor risk of confusion between the legal sense (not guilty of a specific chargeable offense) and the fuller moral sense intended; low-stakes, context easily disambiguates. Occurs only at 2:15.
Referenced passages