Core Glossary
Core Glossary
This curriculum’s glossary covers 47 terms drawn from Romans 1-16, each recorded in full in translation_memory.json with its approved Filipino rendering, transliteration, doctrine link, risk tier, and rejected alternatives.
Highest-priority terms for translator onboarding
Before translating any Romans segment, translators should be drilled on the Critical-risk terms first, distinguishing this Language Package’s two failure modes:
| Term | Approved | Handling required |
|---|---|---|
| Salvation | kaligtasan | Contextual note: faith-received, not sacramentally guaranteed |
| Saints | mga banal | Contextual note: every believer, not a canonized elite |
| Intercession | pamamagitan | Contextual note: Christ’s mediatorship is unique and sufficient |
| Imputed Righteousness | katuwirang ibinilang | Contextual note: credited, not ritually achieved |
| Grace | biyaya | Forbidden framing: never utang na loob (reciprocal debt) |
| Power of God | kapangyarihan ng Diyos | Forbidden substitution: never anting-anting (amulets) |
Note that four of these six entries are correctly-chosen established terms needing a clarifying note, the same distinctive pattern found in the Indonesian Language Package, though driven by folk-Catholic devotional practice here rather than competing Islamic doctrine.
Glossary structure
The full glossary is bucketed by risk tier in the published bundle (glossary/risk-groups/), Critical first, so reviewers can prioritize their attention. Each entry records the doctrine it supports, so a reviewer flagged on a doctrine (e.g. Sainthood) can immediately see every term tied to that doctrine.
Maintenance note
Any new term encountered during Phase 2 translation that is not yet in this glossary must be added to translation_memory.json before the segment is finalized, following the same fields and risk-assessment process documented in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md.
Critical Risk Terms
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: katuwirang ibinilang
Transliteration: katuwirang ibinilang
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: katuwirang nakamit sa mga sakramento
Righteousness credited by God, not earned. Katuwirang nakamit sa mga sakramento (righteousness attained through the sacraments) is explicitly rejected as the opposite doctrinal direction; this is a credited status, not a ritually achieved one.
Intercession
Approved rendering: pamamagitan
Transliteration: pamamagitan
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
CRITICAL: Pamamagitan ng mga santo (intercession of the saints), praying through Mary or a particular saint as a go-between for specific needs, is a central and extremely common devotional practice in Filipino folk Catholicism. Every Critical-risk occurrence needs a teaching note making clear Christ’s and the Spirit’s intercession is unique and sufficient, not one intercessory relationship to add alongside others.
Saints
Approved rendering: mga banal
Transliteration: mga banal
Doctrine: Sainthood
CRITICAL: Mga banal is the same term used for canonized Catholic saints venerated with feast days, images, novenas, and requests for intercession. Every Critical-risk occurrence needs a teaching note clarifying that Romans uses this word for every believer set apart in Christ, not an elite, canonized class distinct from ordinary Christians.
Salvation
Approved rendering: kaligtasan
Transliteration: kaligtasan
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: seguradong pumunta sa langit dahil sa sakramento
CRITICAL: Kaligtasan is the established term, but folk-Catholic practice can treat salvation as mechanically secured through receiving the sacraments (baptism, confession, last rites) apart from genuine faith. Every Critical-risk occurrence needs a teaching note clarifying that salvation is received by faith in Christ’s finished work, not guaranteed by ritual performance alone.
High Risk Terms
Father
Approved rendering: Ama
Transliteration: Ama
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
God as personal, relational Father. Keep distinct from the reverence-title Padre used for Catholic priests, and from petitions directed toward deceased relatives in folk ancestor veneration.
God
Approved rendering: Diyos
Transliteration: Diyos
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Bathala
Diyos (from Spanish Dios) is shared across Catholic and Protestant Filipino usage with well-established, non-ambiguous doctrinal content. Avoid Bathala, the pre-colonial Tagalog supreme-being concept, which carries a different cosmological framework than the biblical Creator.
Grace
Approved rendering: biyaya
Transliteration: biyaya
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: utang na loob
Never frame grace as utang na loob, the deeply held Filipino social value of a debt of gratitude that obligates repayment through loyalty and reciprocal favor. Biyaya must be taught as a gift creating no debt to repay, the opposite of the utang na loob framework it would otherwise be absorbed into.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Espiritu Santo
Transliteration: Espiritu Santo
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: anito, kaluluwa
Never use anito (a pre-colonial ancestral or nature spirit still referenced in Filipino folk belief) or bare kaluluwa (a wandering soul/ghost). Espiritu Santo in full marks the divine, personal third Person of the Trinity.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: pagkakatawang-tao
Transliteration: pagkakatawang-tao
Doctrine: Incarnation
The eternal Son taking on human nature, once, in history. Filipino devotional culture’s intense attachment to specific miraculous images of the Christ child (the Santo Niño, especially in Cebu) risks localizing this doctrine into devotion toward a particular statue’s perceived power rather than the historical event itself; teaching should keep the term anchored to the historical incarnation, not image-veneration.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jesus
Transliteration: Jesus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Jesus is the standard Filipino Protestant Bible spelling (Hesus is the common Catholic-tradition spelling); this Language Package follows the Protestant register used across this pipeline. Both forms name the same fully affirmed identity in Filipino Christian tradition.
Justification
Approved rendering: pagpapawalang-sala
Transliteration: pagpapawalang-sala
Doctrine: Salvation
Literally ‘being declared without guilt.’ Compound phrase required; conveys the forensic, legal-declaration sense the doctrine needs.
Lord
Approved rendering: Panginoon
Transliteration: Panginoon
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
In Romans 10:9 the confession ‘Jesus is Lord’ = Si Jesus ay Panginoon. Established term; must convey exclusive, supreme Lordship, not diluted by devotional attention shared broadly with Mary and the saints.
Messiah
Approved rendering: Mesiyas
Transliteration: Mesiyas
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Transliterated term; the unique, exclusively fulfilled OT promise. Filipino Catholic tradition does not have a competing messianic figure, so the primary teaching task is connecting this term back to its OT roots rather than guarding against a rival concept.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: pagsunod na mula sa pananampalataya
Transliteration: pagsunod na mula sa pananampalataya
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Romans 1:5 and 16:26. Obedience that flows from faith, not sacramental or ritual compliance performed to secure standing.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: kapangyarihan ng Diyos
Transliteration: kapangyarihan ng Diyos
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: anting-anting
God’s own personal power to save; never anting-anting, the folk-Catholic amulet tradition (often inscribed with Latin prayers or saints’ images) believed to grant supernatural power or protection to its bearer.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: katuwiran
Transliteration: katuwiran
Doctrine: Salvation
Right standing before God received by faith. Katuwiran is also the ordinary word for ‘reasonableness/rightness,’ so context must make clear a relational/legal standing is meant.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Anak ng Diyos
Transliteration: Anak ng Diyos
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Full phrase required. Already affirmed clearly in Filipino Catholic catechesis; the risk here is devotional dilution (excessive focus on Mary or a particular saint) rather than doctrinal denial, so teaching should keep Christ’s unique Sonship central.
Medium Risk Terms
Abba
Approved rendering: Abba
Transliteration: Abba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Aramaic term of intimacy preserved in Romans 8:15. Retain the transliteration alongside Ama to convey filial closeness the formal title alone may not carry.
Adoption
Approved rendering: pag-ampon
Transliteration: pag-ampon
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Full legal son-status with inheritance rights. Filipino adoption custom is culturally well understood, so the key teaching point is that this sonship is complete and permanent.
Apostle
Approved rendering: apostol
Transliteration: apostol
Doctrine: Apostleship
Established loanword; conveys a directly commissioned, authoritative sent-one.
Called
Approved rendering: tinawag
Transliteration: tinawag
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Context-sensitive: in 1:1 = called to apostleship; in 1:7 = called to be saints; in 8:28-30 = effectual calling to salvation.
Calling
Approved rendering: pagkatawag
Transliteration: pagkatawag
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Noun form for the act/state of being called; standard term.
Church
Approved rendering: iglesia
Transliteration: iglesia
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: simbahan
Iglesia (the gathered body of believers) is preferred over simbahan, which in everyday usage names the physical church building and its parish institution rather than the people themselves.
Covenant
Approved rendering: tipan
Transliteration: tipan
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
A relational, binding bond initiated by God; established term (as in Bagong Tipan, New Testament).
David
Approved rendering: David
Transliteration: David
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Established Filipino Bible proper-name form.
Election
Approved rendering: pagkahirang
Transliteration: pagkahirang
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: swerte, kapalaran
God’s sovereign personal choice, not swerte/kapalaran (luck/fate), common folk-fatalistic framing for how life outcomes are determined.
Faith
Approved rendering: pananampalataya
Transliteration: pananampalataya
Doctrine: Faith
Object of faith must always be specified as Christ; standard, well-established term.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: mga Hentil
Transliteration: mga Hentil
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Non-Jews; established, transliterated Bible term.
Glory
Approved rendering: kaluwalhatian
Transliteration: kaluwalhatian
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
God’s radiant honor and majesty; standard, well-established term.
Gospel
Approved rendering: Mabuting Balita
Transliteration: mabuting balita
Doctrine: Gospel
Established Filipino Bible term (‘good news’). Standard, well-understood across Catholic and Protestant usage.
Holy
Approved rendering: banal
Transliteration: banal
Doctrine: Sanctification
Set apart for God and morally pure; standard, well-established term.
Israel
Approved rendering: Israel
Transliteration: Israel
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Proper name; established form.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: Kaharian ng Diyos
Transliteration: Kaharian ng Diyos
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
God’s sovereign reign; standard, well-established term.
Law
Approved rendering: kautusan
Transliteration: kautusan
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Mosaic Law; standard, well-established term with no significant unwanted folk-religious connotation.
Mission
Approved rendering: misyon
Transliteration: misyon
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Established loanword; carries some historical association with Spanish colonial-era friar orders, so teaching should keep the focus on proclamation of the gospel by ordinary believers, not an institutional missionary enterprise.
Peace
Approved rendering: kapayapaan
Transliteration: kapayapaan
Doctrine: Peace with God
In Romans 5:1, relational peace with God through justification, not merely the absence of conflict.
Providence
Approved rendering: kalinga ng Diyos
Transliteration: kalinga ng Diyos
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: bahala na
God’s personal, purposive, loving care; never reduced to bahala na, the Filipino fatalistic-resignation posture of simply letting outcomes happen without expecting a personal, purposive Governor behind them.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: pagkabuhay na mag-uli
Transliteration: pagkabuhay na mag-uli
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Bodily, historical, once-for-all resurrection; already clearly affirmed in Filipino Catholic catechesis, giving this term comparatively lower syncretism risk than in this Language Package’s other languages.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: pagpapabanal
Transliteration: pagpapabanal
Doctrine: Sanctification
The Spirit’s ongoing work of making believers holy; standard, well-established term.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: lahi ni David
Transliteration: lahi ni David
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Romans 1:3; conveys physical lineage and fulfillment of the Davidic covenant promise.
Sin
Approved rendering: kasalanan
Transliteration: kasalanan
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Moral transgression against a personal God; well-established term, though should be anchored to relational offense rather than left as a purely sacramental category (something confessed and absolved) apart from genuine repentance and faith.
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: kaloob na espirituwal
Transliteration: kaloob na espirituwal
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Rejected alternatives: anting-anting
Spirit-given enablements for service; never anting-anting (folk-Catholic amulets believed to grant supernatural power or invulnerability).
Low Risk Terms
Exhort
Approved rendering: pasiglahin
Transliteration: pasiglahin
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Context-sensitive: use makiusap for entreaty and pasiglahin for building up in encouragement.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: pagsasamahan
Transliteration: pagsasamahan
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Shared participation in Christ, deeper than ordinary social camaraderie.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: propesiya
Transliteration: propesiya
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
God-inspired declaration; standard, well-established term.
Prophet
Approved rendering: propeta
Transliteration: propeta
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: manghuhula
God’s spokesperson; do not confuse with manghuhula (a fortune-teller), a figure still consulted in some Filipino folk practice.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: pasasalamat
Transliteration: pasasalamat
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Standard term; no significant doctrinal risk.
Referenced passages