Semantic Analysis | tri-bible.ai Library

Semantic Analysis

1 Corinthians 1–16 | Koine Greek Source Analysis for French Destination-Language Translation

Core passage: 1 Corinthians 15:1–11 (verse-by-verse treatment below) Full-book coverage: Every chapter, 1–16, reviewed for load-bearing theological vocabulary. Governing authority: translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json (baseline Romans Language Package, French). All terms already recorded there are reused exactly and are marked (reused) below. New terms proposed for this curriculum are marked (new) and are candidates for addition to translation memory in Step 2 onward.

PART A — CORE PASSAGE: 1 Corinthians 15:1–11 (Verse-by-Verse)

15:1

Greek: Γνωρίζω δὲ ὑμῖν, ἀδελφοί, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὃ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν, ὃ καὶ παρελάβετε, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἑστήκατε

γνωρίζω (gnōrizō) — Literal: “I make known.” Semantic range: to reveal, remind, declare officially. English variants: “I want to remind you,” “I make known to you,” “I declare.” Contextual meaning: Paul is not introducing new content but reactivating settled apostolic teaching — a formal reminder, not a novel disclosure. French rendering: “je vous rappelle” / “je vous fais connaître.” Risk: Low. Straightforward; no doctrinal collision.
ἀδελφοί (adelphoi) — Literal: “brothers.” Semantic range: biological brothers; by extension, the whole community of believers regardless of sex. English variants: “brothers,” “brothers and sisters,” “brethren.” Contextual meaning: Paul’s standard address to the whole congregation. French rendering: “frères” (formal register, per baseline vous-register convention), with “frères et sœurs” acceptable as an inclusive-language gloss in teaching contexts. Risk: Low-Medium. Contemporary French inclusive-language debate (frères vs. frères et sœurs) is a live style question, not a doctrinal one; flag for native-speaker consistency across the curriculum.
εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion) (reused) — TM: “Évangile.” Risk: Low (per baseline).
εὐαγγελίζομαι (euangelizomai) — Literal: “I brought/announced good news.” Verb form of gospel. French rendering: “que je vous ai annoncé” (from “annoncer l’Évangile”). Risk: Low.
παραλαμβάνω (paralambanō) — Literal: “to receive, take over (a tradition).” Semantic range: to receive as a disciple receives fixed teaching from a teacher; technical term for receiving transmitted apostolic content (paired with παραδίδωμι, v.3). English variants: “received,” “accepted.” Contextual meaning: the Corinthians did not invent the gospel; they received a fixed, already-formed apostolic deposit. French rendering: “reçu.” Risk: Medium. Sets up the tradition-transmission pair with v.3; see note on παράδοσις below (ch. 11) regarding the French Catholic “Tradition” collision — flag for consistency.
ἵστημι / ἑστήκατε (histēmi / hestēkate) — Literal: “you stand / you have taken your stand.” Perfect tense: a settled, continuing position. English variants: “stand,” “have taken your stand,” “are standing firm.” French rendering: “vous demeurez fermes” / “vous tenez ferme.” Risk: Low.

15:2

Greek: δι’ οὗ καὶ σῴζεσθε, τίνι λόγῳ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν εἰ κατέχετε, ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ εἰκῇ ἐπιστεύσατε.

σῴζεσθε (sōzesthe) — Literal: “you are being saved.” Present passive: ongoing, not a one-time-only completed state, though rooted in a past decisive act. Semantic range: rescue, deliverance, wholeness. English variants: “are being saved,” “are saved.” (reused) TM: “salut” (noun); verb family “sauver/être sauvé.” Contextual meaning: salvation as a persevering, Spirit-sustained state grounded in continued adherence to the gospel just described — not salvation as a single past transaction disconnected from present standing. Risk: Medium (per baseline salvation entry) — flag: present-tense force must not be flattened into a purely past “vous avez été sauvés,” which would lose Paul’s emphasis on persevering in the received gospel.
κατέχω (katechō) — Literal: “hold fast, retain firmly.” English variants: “hold firmly,” “hold fast.” French rendering: “si vous y demeurez attachés” / “si vous le retenez fermement.” Risk: Low.
εἰκῇ (eikē) — Literal: “in vain, without cause, to no purpose.” French rendering: “en vain.” Risk: Low.
πιστεύω / ἐπιστεύσατε (pisteuō) (reused) — TM family: “foi” (noun), “croire” (verb). Risk: Medium (per baseline faith entry).

15:3

Greek: παρέδωκα γὰρ ὑμῖν ἐν πρώτοις, ὃ καὶ παρέλαβον, ὅτι Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν κατὰ τὰς γραφάς

παραδίδωμι / παρέδωκα (paradidōmi) — Literal: “I handed over, delivered, transmitted.” Semantic range: formal transmission of fixed teaching from one generation/teacher to the next (rabbinic and apostolic technical usage); the noun form is παράδοσις (“tradition,” see ch. 11 below). English variants: “delivered,” “passed on,” “handed down.” Contextual meaning: Paul is quoting a fixed, pre-Pauline creedal formula (vv. 3–5) already circulating in the earliest church — this is apostolic tradition-transmission language, paired with παρέλαβον (“which I also received”). French rendering: “je vous ai transmis.” Risk: High. This is the verb-form counterpart to the noun παράδοσις, rendered “tradition” in French at 11:2 and 11:23. In French Catholic theological usage, “la Tradition” (capital T) names one of the two co-authoritative sources of doctrine alongside Scripture — a direct Reformation-era flashpoint. Here Paul is in fact describing a genuine fixed apostolic deposit, so the concept is not wrong, but reviewers must ensure French readers do not import the developed post-apostolic doctrine of ecclesial Tradition (magisterial interpretive authority) into this simple, single, closed gospel-content deposit. Flag for human theologian review wherever παραδίδωμι/παράδοσις recurs (11:2, 11:23, 15:3).
ἐν πρώτοις (en prōtois) — Literal: “among the first things, as of first importance.” French rendering: “en premier lieu” / “comme d’une importance capitale.” Risk: Low.
Χριστός (Christos) (reused) — TM: “Christ” (standard proper-name/title form per baseline transliteration standards). Risk: Low.
ἀποθνήσκω ὑπὲρ (apothnēskō hyper) — Literal: “died on behalf of / for the sake of.” Semantic range: substitutionary, representative death. English variants: “died for,” “died on behalf of.” Contextual theological meaning: substitutionary atonement — Christ’s death is not merely exemplary but vicarious, in place of and for the benefit of sinners. French rendering: “est mort pour.” Risk: High. Atonement/substitution language is flagged for human theologian review under the baseline’s escalation rules (parallel to Romans 3:25 propitiation flag); ensure French does not drift toward a merely sympathetic or exemplary reading (“est mort avec nous” / “à cause de nous” in a merely causal, non-substitutionary sense).
ἁμαρτία (hamartia) (reused) — TM: “péché.” Risk: Medium (per baseline).
κατὰ τὰς γραφάς (kata tas graphas) — Literal: “according to the Scriptures.” Contextual meaning: this death and (v.4) resurrection fulfill the Old Testament pattern and promise, not isolated novel events. French rendering: “selon les Écritures.” Risk: Medium. Ties to baseline “fulfillment_of_prophecy” and “inspiration_of_scripture” doctrines; low OT literacy among all three target reader groups (lapsed Catholic, evangelical minority, secular unchurched) requires explicit cross-referencing (e.g., Isaiah 53, Psalm 16) in teaching material, not the translation itself.

15:4

Greek: καὶ ὅτι ἐτάφη, καὶ ὅτι ἐγήγερται τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ κατὰ τὰς γραφάς

θάπτω / ἐτάφη (thaptō) — Literal: “was buried.” Confirms the physical reality and finality of Christ’s death (no docetic escape). French rendering: “a été enseveli.” Risk: Low.
ἐγείρω / ἐγήγερται (egeirō) — Literal: “has been raised.” Perfect passive tense: a completed past action with continuing present effect and result — Christ remains in a raised state now. The passive voice is a “divine passive”: God the Father is the implied agent who raised him (cf. Romans 6:4, 8:11 in baseline). Semantic range: to raise up, rouse, restore to life. English variants: “was raised,” “has risen,” “rose.” (reused, extends baseline “resurrection” entry, TM: “résurrection”) — here the verb form, not the noun, is needed. French rendering: “il est ressuscité” (standard French Bible convention; note the French verbal construction reads grammatically active/reflexive, which loses the explicit Greek passive-by-the-Father nuance). Risk: Critical. This is the doctrinal center of the entire core passage and of the Resurrection doctrine for this curriculum. Must be rendered as a bodily, historical, once-for-all event, never a metaphor for renewal, legacy, or “his message living on” — the exact risk the baseline documents for secular naturalist flattening. Translator note recommended: [the Father’s agency in raising Christ, implicit in the Greek passive, may be lost in French “il est ressuscité”; teaching material should make the Father’s action explicit where doctrinally load-bearing, e.g., Romans 8:11 cross-reference].
τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ (tē tritē hēmera) — Literal: “on the third day.” French rendering: “le troisième jour.” Risk: Low.

15:5

Greek: καὶ ὅτι ὤφθη Κηφᷤ, εἶτα τοῖς δώδεκα

ὁράω / ὤφθη (horaō / ōphthē) — Literal: “he was seen, he appeared.” Aorist passive, used repeatedly in vv. 5–8 as the technical verb for a resurrection appearance (not a vision or subjective impression). English variants: “appeared,” “was seen by,” “showed himself to.” Contextual meaning: bodily, objectively visible appearances to named, checkable eyewitnesses — the evidentiary backbone of Paul’s resurrection argument. French rendering: “il est apparu” / “il se montra.” Risk: High. Must preserve an objective, historical, eyewitness sense; avoid any French phrasing suggesting a private vision, dream, or purely spiritual/subjective experience, which would undercut Paul’s evidentiary argument in the very next verses (15:12–19).
Κηφᷤς (Kēphas) — proper name, Peter’s Aramaic name. French rendering: “Céphas” (standard French Bible form; gloss as “Pierre” in teaching material). Risk: Low.
οἱ δώδεκα (hoi dōdeka) — “the twelve,” a fixed technical designation for the apostolic circle. French rendering: “les douze.” Risk: Low.

15:6

Greek: ἔπειτα ὤφθη ἐπάνω πεντακοσίοις ἀδελφοῖς ἐφάπαξ, ἐξ ὧν οἱ πλείονες μένουσιν ἕως ἄρτι, τινὲς δὲ ἐκοιμήθησαν

πεντακόσιοι ἀδελφοί (pentakosioi adelphoi) — “five hundred brothers [and sisters].” A specific, falsifiable historical claim (most still living at time of writing). French rendering: “plus de cinq cents frères.” Risk: Low.
κοιμάομαι / ἐκοιμήθησαν (koimaomai) — Literal: “have fallen asleep.” A common NT euphemism for the death of believers, implying a temporary state pending resurrection, not annihilation or cyclical rebirth. English variants: “fallen asleep,” “died.” French rendering: “sont morts” / “se sont endormis” (the euphemism “endormis” is preferable in resurrection-context passages to reinforce the hope of waking). Risk: Medium. Preserve the sleep-metaphor’s hope-bearing force in Romans 15 teaching material rather than flattening to bare “sont morts.”

15:7

Greek: ἔπειτα ὤφθη Ἰακώβῳ, εἶτα τοῖς ἀποστόλοις πᾶσιν

Ἰάκωβος (Iakōbos) — James, the Lord’s brother. French rendering: “Jacques.” Risk: Low.
ἀπόστολος (apostolos) (reused) — TM: “apôtre.” Risk: Medium (per bible_term_registry; baseline doctrine risk registry marks “apostleship” itself Low, but the term registry marks it Medium generally).

15:8

Greek: ἔσχατον δὲ πάντων ὥσπερ τῷ ἐκτρώματι ὤφθη κἀμοί

ἔκτρωμα (ektrōma) — Literal: “a miscarried/stillborn/untimely-born infant.” Semantic range: something violently or abnormally brought forth outside the normal process. English variants: “one born last, as though prematurely,” “one abnormally born,” “the least of all.” Contextual theological meaning: Paul’s self-deprecating description of the abrupt, violent, undeserved manner of his own apostolic calling (via the Damascus road encounter) compared to the other apostles’ more ordinary formation under Jesus’ earthly ministry — humility language, not a comment on the appearance’s validity. French rendering: “comme à l’avorton” (with explanatory gloss recommended in teaching material: “né hors du temps normal, de façon inattendue”). Risk: Medium. The word is strong and physically graphic in French (“avorton” can sound harsh/insulting in ordinary usage); a softer periphrasis (“comme à celui qui est né après terme, de manière anormale”) may be preferred pastorally, but doctrinal force (undeserved, abrupt grace) must be retained. Flag for native speaker review on register.

15:9

Greek: Ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ὁ ἐλάχιστος τῶν ἀποστόλων, ὃς οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς καλεῖσθαι ἀπόστολος, διότι ἐδίωξα τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ

ἐλάχιστος (elachistos) — “least, smallest.” French rendering: “le moindre” / “le plus petit.” Risk: Low.
ἱκανός (hikanos) — “sufficient, worthy, fit.” French rendering: “digne.” Risk: Low.
καλέω / καλεῖσθαι (kaleō) (reused) — TM: “appelé.” Here: “worthy to be called an apostle.” Risk: Medium (per baseline — context-sensitive calling language; here it is a title-designation use, distinct from, but related to, the effectual-calling sense elsewhere).
διώκω / ἐδίωξα (diōkō) — “I persecuted.” French rendering: “j’ai persécuté.” Risk: Low.
ἐκκλησία τοῦ θεοῦ (ekklēsia tou theou) (reused) — TM: “Église [de Dieu].” Risk: High (per baseline — must be read as the New Testament gathered people of God whom Paul once persecuted, not the institution as a building or hierarchy). Notably here, “Église” is the direct object of persecution — an unusually vivid, concrete use worth flagging so the corporate-body sense is not lost.

15:10

Greek: χάριτι δὲ θεοῦ εἰμι ὅ εἰμι, καὶ ἡ χάρις αὐτοῦ ἡ εἰς ἐμὲ οὐ κενὴ ἐγενήθη, ἀλλὰ περισσότερον αὐτῶν πάντων ἐκοπίασα, οὐκ ἐγὼ δὲ ἀλλὰ ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ [ἡ] σὺν ἐμοί

χάρις (charis) (reused, three occurrences) — TM: “grâce.” Risk: High (per baseline). This verse is a prime candidate for human theologian review under the baseline’s grace-versus-works escalation rule: Paul attributes his entire transformation and subsequent labor to grace (“not I, but the grace of God with me”), a statement that bears directly on the Catholic sacramental-grace vs. Reformed sola gratia tension the baseline documents. French rendering must preserve grace as the ultimate causal agent of Paul’s labor, not merely its enabling context alongside his own effort read as a co-equal cause.
κενός (kenos) — “empty, without effect, in vain.” French rendering: “vaine” (“sa grâce envers moi n’a pas été vaine”). Risk: Low.
κοπιάω / ἐκοπίασα (kopiaō) — Literal: “I labored, toiled to the point of weariness.” English variants: “worked hard,” “labored,” “toiled.” French rendering: “j’ai travaillé” / “je me suis donné de la peine.” Risk: Low.

15:11

Greek: εἴτε οὖν ἐγὼ εἴτε ἐκεῖνοι, οὕτως κηρύσσομεν καὶ οὕτως ἐπιστεύσατε

κηρύσσω (kēryssō) — Literal: “I proclaim, herald, announce publicly with authority.” Semantic range: not private teaching but a herald’s authoritative public announcement. English variants: “preach,” “proclaim,” “announce.” Contextual meaning: the resurrection gospel just recited (vv. 3–8) is the fixed, unified content of all apostolic proclamation, regardless of which apostle speaks it — unity of apostolic testimony, directly serving the Christian Unity vs. Factionalism doctrine of this curriculum. French rendering: “nous prêchons” / “nous proclamons.” Risk: Medium. Distinguish from “enseigner” (teach, more didactic/private); “prêcher/proclamer” preserves the herald-announcement force. Flag for consistency: the same verb underlies 1:23 (Christ crucified) and 9:27, 15:12 — ensure identical French rendering across the whole book per baseline consistency rules.
πιστεύω / ἐπιστεύσατε (pisteuō) (reused) — TM family: “croire.” Risk: Medium (per baseline faith entry).

PART B — CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER ANALYSIS OF THE WHOLE BOOK

Chapter 1 — Christian Unity vs. Factionalism; The Cross as Wisdom and Power

κλητός/κλῆσις (called/calling) (reused) TM: “appelé”/“appel.” Occurs 1:1 (Paul’s apostolic call), 1:2 (believers “called to be saints/appelés à être saints”), 1:9, 1:26. Risk: Medium (per baseline).
ἐκκλησία (church) (reused) TM: “Église.” 1:2 “the church of God that is in Corinth.” Risk: High (per baseline).
ἁγιάζω / ἡγιασμένοις (sanctified) — Literal: “made holy, set apart.” (reused) TM family: “sanctification” (noun)/“sanctifié” (participle, new inflected form for this curriculum, same root). Contextual meaning at 1:2: believers’ identity as already sanctified in Christ Jesus, prior to and grounding their ongoing sanctification. French rendering: “sanctifiés.” Risk: Medium (per baseline sanctification entry).
ἅγιοι (saints) (reused) TM: “saints.” 1:2 “κλητοῖς ἁγίοις” — “called to be saints.” Risk: High (per baseline sainthood doctrine) — this is a direct occurrence of the exact collision the baseline flags: French “les saints” evokes canonized intercessors. Mandatory clarifying gloss “tous les croyants” applies here exactly as in Romans 1:7.
χάρις / εἰρήνη (grace/peace) (reused) TM: “grâce”/“paix.” 1:3, standard epistolary greeting. Risk: High/Low respectively (per baseline).
κοινωνία (fellowship) (reused) TM: “communion fraternelle.” 1:9 “fellowship of his Son.” Risk: Medium (per baseline).
σχίσμα (schisma) (new) — Literal: “a tear, split, division” (from the verb “to split/tear,” as in torn cloth). Semantic range: a rupture within a single body, not necessarily a formal, permanent institutional break. English variants: “divisions,” “quarrels,” “schisms.” Contextual meaning: 1:10 “that there be no divisions among you” — party-spirit factionalism within one congregation, the precise problem the letter addresses. French rendering: “divisions.” Risk: Medium. Established French Bible tradition (Segond, TOB) uniformly uses “divisions,” not the cognate “schisme.” Reject “schisme” as a translation choice: in French, “schisme” denotes a formal, often permanent institutional rupture (e.g., the Great Schism, the Orthodox-Catholic schism), which would wrongly imply Corinth had formally split into separate churches rather than experiencing internal party quarrels. Alternatives rejected: “schisme” (too institutionally formal).
σοφία (sophia) (new) — Literal: “wisdom.” Semantic range: here specifically contrasted as “wisdom of this world/of the Greeks” (rhetorical sophistication, philosophical prestige) versus the seemingly foolish wisdom of the cross. English variants: “wisdom,” “eloquence,” “cleverness.” French rendering: “sagesse.” Risk: Medium. Must preserve Paul’s ironic double use: human “sagesse” as a cultural status marker, versus God’s redefined “sagesse” revealed in the cross; French “sagesse” alone carries no such irony and needs contextual framing in teaching material, not the translation itself.
μωρία (mōria) (new) — Literal: “foolishness, folly.” French rendering: “folie.” Risk: Low. Paired ironically with σοφία; low ambiguity risk in French.
σταυρός (stauros) (new) — Literal: “cross,” specifically the Roman instrument of execution. Semantic range: the physical execution device; by metonymy, the entire event and message of Christ’s crucifixion. English variants: “cross,” “crucifixion.” Contextual theological meaning: 1:17-18 “the message of the cross” (ὁ λόγος τοῦ σταυροῦ) as the content and power of the gospel, central to this curriculum’s “Cross as Wisdom and Power” doctrine. French rendering: “croix.” Risk: Medium. “Croix” is theologically stable and shared across Catholic and Protestant French tradition, but in contemporary secular French culture the cross is heavily assimilated as decorative jewelry or a generic cultural/historical symbol (une croix au cou, une croix sur une carte). Teaching material must reinforce the scandal/power tension Paul intends, which the bare word no longer automatically carries for a secularized reader.
σκάνδαλον (skandalon) (new) — Literal: “a trap-trigger, stumbling block” (originally the bait-stick of a trap). Semantic range: an obstacle causing offense or moral/spiritual fall. English variants: “stumbling block,” “offense,” “scandal.” Contextual meaning: 1:23 “Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews” — the cross is offensive/repulsive to Jewish messianic expectation. French rendering: “scandale” (established French Bible tradition, Segond: “scandale pour les Juifs”). Risk: High. Same erosion pattern the baseline documents for “péché” and “élection”: modern French “scandale” overwhelmingly denotes a media/moral/political scandal (scandale financier, scandale sexuel), risking a reading of the cross as merely embarrassing or disreputable rather than a fundamental theological “stumbling block” to unbelief. Teaching material must explicitly reframe this sense; flag for native speaker review.
δύναμις (power) (reused) TM: “puissance de Dieu” (power_of_god). 1:18, 1:24 “the power of God” as applied specifically to the cross. Risk: Medium (per baseline).

Chapter 2 — The Cross as Wisdom and Power; Spiritual Discernment

μυστήριον (mystērion) (new) — Literal: “a secret, hidden thing now disclosed.” Semantic range: not an unsolvable riddle, but previously hidden divine counsel now revealed through the gospel to those with the Spirit. English variants: “mystery,” “secret,” “hidden wisdom.” Contextual meaning: 2:1, 2:7 “God’s wisdom, hidden in a mystery” — the crucified Christ as God’s formerly hidden redemptive plan, now proclaimed. French rendering: “mystère.” Risk: Medium. French Catholic devotional usage employs “mystère” heavily as a fixed liturgical category (les mystères du Rosaire, les mystères de la foi), which risks narrowing Paul’s dynamic “hidden-then-revealed” sense into a closed set of devotional formulas rather than the once-for-all, gospel-content disclosure Paul intends. Flag for native speaker review.
πνευματικός (pneumatikos) (new) — Literal: “spiritual, pertaining to the [Holy] Spirit.” Semantic range: a person or truth Spirit-indwelt/Spirit-discerned, contrasted with ψυχικός (natural, see below). English variants: “spiritual,” “spiritually discerned.” French rendering: “spirituel.” Risk: Medium. Ties directly to the “dons spirituels” (spiritual_gifts) baseline term family; ensure consistent use across chs. 2, 3, 12, 14.
ψυχικὸς ἄνθρωπος (psychikos anthrōpos) (new) — Literal: “soul-ish/natural man,” a person governed by unaided human perception (ψυχή, soul/natural life) without the Spirit. English variants: “the natural person,” “the unspiritual man,” “the man without the Spirit.” Contextual meaning: 2:14 — such a person cannot receive or evaluate Spirit-revealed truth. French rendering: “l’homme naturel” (established rendering, matching Segond/TOB tradition). Risk: Medium. “Naturel” in ordinary French risks losing the technical Spirit/no-Spirit contrast, sounding merely like “an ordinary, unremarkable person” rather than Paul’s precise anthropological category; requires contextual glossing in teaching material.
νοῦς Χριστοῦ (nous Christou) — “the mind of Christ” (2:16). French rendering: “la pensée du Christ.” Risk: Low.

Chapter 3 — Church Unity, Foundations, and Judgment of Ministry (Purgatory Collision Risk)

σαρκικός (sarkikos) (new) — Literal: “fleshly, of the flesh.” Semantic range: dominated by unredeemed human nature and its rivalries, distinct from mere physical embodiment. English variants: “carnal,” “fleshly,” “worldly.” Contextual meaning: 3:1, 3:3 — the Corinthians’ factionalism is evidence of immature, flesh-governed behavior despite being believers. French rendering: “charnel.” Risk: Medium. Must not be read as condemning the body/physicality itself (which would wrongly import a body-negative dualism); the referent is a moral-spiritual immaturity, not embodiment as such.
ναὸς θεοῦ (naos theou) (new) — Literal: “temple/sanctuary of God” (the inner shrine, not the broader temple precincts). Semantic range: the corporate church collectively as God’s dwelling place, replacing the Jerusalem temple. Contextual meaning: 3:16-17 “you [plural] are God’s temple… God’s Spirit dwells in you [plural]” — a corporate, not individual, statement (distinguish from 6:19 below, the individual body as temple). French rendering: “le temple de Dieu.” Risk: Medium. Curious point of resonance worth noting for French readers: French Protestants historically call their own physical worship building “un temple” (reserving “église” for the institution/body), so the word itself is already familiar in French Protestant usage — but Paul’s referent here (the gathered church as God’s dwelling) must not be collapsed into a physical building, Catholic or Protestant. Flag for clarity in teaching material, not as a translation substitution risk.
θεμέλιος (foundation) (new) — 3:11 “no other foundation than Jesus Christ.” French rendering: “fondement.” Risk: Low.
πῦρ / δοκιμάζω (fire / to test, refine) (new) — Literal: “fire” and “to test/prove by fire, as metal is assayed.” Semantic range: eschatological testing of the quality of a believer’s works/ministry at Christ’s judgment, not personal purification from sin. English variants: “fire will test,” “trial by fire.” Contextual meaning: 3:13-15 “the fire will test what sort of work each has done… he will suffer loss but he himself will be saved.” French rendering: “le feu” / “éprouvera.” Risk: Critical. This passage is a well-known and historically significant French Catholic-Protestant flashpoint: Catholic tradition has long cited 3:13-15 as scriptural support for the doctrine of purgatory (le purgatoire) — a post-mortem purifying fire cleansing the individual believer’s remaining sin — while Reformed/evangelical exposition reads this as a metaphor for the testing of ministry-works (not personal sin) at the judgment seat of Christ, with the believer’s salvation itself never in question (“he himself will be saved,” v.15). Must flag for mandatory human theologian review every time this passage is taught; French rendering itself (“le feu éprouvera la qualité de l’oeuvre de chacun”) should avoid any wording implying purification of the person rather than testing of the work.
οἰκοδομή (edification/building) (reused, extended sense) TM/doctrine family: “édification” (mutual_edification). Here (3:9-14) also used in its literal building-construction sense as a sustained metaphor (Paul the builder, “gold, silver, precious stones… wood, hay, straw”). French rendering: “construction”/“édifice” (literal sense) alongside “édification” (figurative sense) — context determines which. Risk: Medium. Flag translator to distinguish the literal architectural metaphor from the doctrinal “edification” term family so French readers do not conflate them into a single flattened sense.

Chapter 4 — Apostolic Ministry and Stewardship

οἰκονόμος (oikonomos) (new) — Literal: “household manager, steward” (a trusted slave/freedman managing an estate on behalf of its owner). English variants: “steward,” “manager,” “servant entrusted with.” Contextual meaning: 4:1-2 — apostles as stewards of God’s mysteries, accountable to their master, not autonomous authorities. French rendering: “intendant.” Risk: Medium. Distinguish from a general “serviteur” (servant); “intendant” preserves the specific sense of delegated managerial trust and accountability.
μυστήρια θεοῦ (mysteries of God) (reused sense) — same term family as ch. 2. Risk: Medium (as above).
κρίνω (judge) — 4:3-5, human vs. divine judgment of ministers. French rendering: “juger.” Risk: Low.

Chapter 5 — Church Discipline and Holiness

πορνεία (porneia) (new) — Literal: “sexual immorality” generally (broader than adultery specifically). Semantic range: any sexual union outside the bounds God has established, here specifically incestuous union (5:1). English variants: “sexual immorality,” “fornication,” “sexual sin.” Contextual meaning: grounds for church discipline; the congregation’s toleration of open, unrepentant sin is itself the scandal Paul confronts. French rendering: “immoralité sexuelle” (preferred over the archaic Segond “impudicité,” which is now a low-frequency, dated register in contemporary French). Risk: Medium. Must retain moral seriousness against any softening drift; recurs in chs. 5, 6, 7, 10 — ensure identical rendering throughout for curriculum consistency.
παραδοῦναι τῷ Σατανᷠ (deliver to Satan) — 5:5, a severe church-discipline formula, handing the unrepentant person over to the sphere of Satan’s influence (loss of the church’s protective fellowship) for corrective, not punitive-final, purposes (“that his spirit may be saved”). French rendering: “le livrer à Satan.” Risk: High. Flag for human theologian review: risk that French readers import the later, formally developed Catholic canon-law procedure of excommunication (with its juridical apparatus) onto what is here a simple, congregational, restorative act of removing fellowship — related to, but conceptually simpler than, the developed institutional practice; see also ἀνάθεμα (ch. 16) for the related but distinct severity term.
ζύμη / ἄζυμος (leaven / unleavened) (new) — Literal: “leaven/yeast” and “without leaven.” Semantic range (Passover typology): leaven as a pervasive corrupting influence; “unleavened” as ritual purity for the feast. English variants: “leaven,” “yeast,” “unleavened bread.” Contextual meaning: 5:6-8 — a call to remove the corrupting influence (the tolerated sin) from the whole congregation, applying Passover imagery to the church’s present holiness. French rendering: “levain” / “sans levain.” Risk: Medium. Requires OT/Passover background explanation for readers across all three target groups (biblically low-literacy secular, lapsed Catholic, evangelical minority).
πάσχα (pascha) (new) — Literal/proper noun: “Passover” (the Jewish feast; also applied to Christ as “our Passover,” 5:7). French rendering: “la Pâque” (singular, feminine, referring to the Jewish/typological Passover) — must be carefully distinguished from “Pâques” (with the “s,” masculine or used adverbially), the standard French term for the Christian celebration of Easter. Risk: High. A subtle but consequential orthographic/grammatical distinction unique to French: confusing “la Pâque” (Passover, as here) with “Pâques” (Easter) would blur Paul’s specific typological argument (Christ fulfills the Passover lamb) with the separate, later Christian resurrection feast. Flag for mandatory native speaker proofreading on this specific orthographic point.

Chapter 6 — Church Discipline and Holiness; The Body as Temple

πορνεία (reused, see ch. 5).
σῶμα (sōma) (new, general term; foundational for chs. 6, 11, 12, 15) — Literal: “body.” Semantic range: the physical human body; by extension, a corporate/organic unity (body of Christ, ch. 12) or the resurrection body (ch. 15). English variants: “body.” French rendering: “corps.” Risk: Medium-High, context-dependent — flag each occurrence for which specific sense (individual physical body, ch. 6; corporate ecclesial body, ch. 12; sacramental body, ch. 11; resurrection body, ch. 15) is active, following the same context-sensitivity discipline the baseline applies to “called.”
ναὸς τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος (temple of the Holy Spirit) (new, individual sense — distinguish from ch. 3’s corporate temple) — 6:19 “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you.” French rendering: “le temple du Saint-Esprit” (using baseline “Esprit Saint”/“Saint-Esprit” convention — see baseline note that both forms are acceptable; maintain curriculum-wide consistency, recommend “Esprit Saint” per this package’s baseline preference). Risk: High. Grounds the “Church Discipline and Holiness” doctrine in individual bodily holiness, distinct from ch. 3’s corporate temple statement; conflating the two would blur Paul’s argument (here: sexual immorality specifically defiles one’s own body-as-Spirit’s-dwelling).
ἀγοράζω (agorazō) (new) — Literal: “to buy, purchase [in the marketplace].” Semantic range: redemption imagery drawn from the slave market — a price paid to transfer ownership. English variants: “bought,” “purchased,” “redeemed.” Contextual meaning: 6:20 “you were bought with a price” — believers belong to God, not themselves, grounding ethical exhortation in redemption accomplished, not in self-improvement. French rendering: “achetés” (“vous avez été achetés à un prix”). Risk: Medium. Should be understood against the slave-market background (a live, weighty ancient image), not flattened into a routine modern commercial-transaction sense; teaching material should supply this background given low ancient-economy literacy.

Chapter 7 — Marriage and Singleness

γαμέω / γάμος (marry/marriage) (new) — Standard terms throughout the chapter. French rendering: “se marier”/“le mariage.” Risk: Low.
παρθένος (virgin) (new) — Literal: “virgin,” referring to an unmarried person (context indicates whether male or female; predominantly the unmarried woman/betrothed daughter in 7:25-38). French rendering: “vierge.” Risk: Medium. Context (especially 7:36-38, the disputed “his virgin”/betrothed daughter or fiancée passage) determines the precise referent; flag for native speaker review given the interpretive range among commentators.
ἄγαμος (unmarried) (new) — 7:8, 7:11, 7:32, 7:34. French rendering: “non marié(e)” / “célibataire.” Risk: Low.
χωρίζω (chōrizō, separate/divorce) (new) — 7:10-11, 7:15. French rendering: “se séparer” (for the general marital-separation instruction) / distinguish from formal legal “divorcer” depending on context. Risk: Medium. Contemporary French civil divorce law and procedure differ substantially from the first-century context; ensure the pastoral-theological instruction is not read as commentary on modern civil-law divorce procedure specifically.
χάρισμα (singular; gift) (reused, singular application of the spiritual_gifts term family) — 7:7 “each has his own gift from God,” referring here to the gift of celibacy or of marriage as a Spirit-given calling/capacity, not a “supernatural power” in the ch. 12 sense. French rendering: “don.” Risk: Medium. Flag: same Greek word as “dons spirituels” (TM) but applied here to a state-of-life gift; ensure teaching material distinguishes this application from the ch. 12 empowerment-for-ministry sense.
κλῆσις (calling) (reused) — 7:20 “remain in the calling/condition in which you were called.” Risk: Medium (per baseline; note the additional nuance here of social/vocational state rather than salvation-calling specifically — an unusual convergence with the baseline’s caution about “vocation” narrowing to occupational sense; here the occupational/state-of-life sense is precisely what is intended, an exception to the general rule).

Chapter 8 — Christian Liberty and Idol Meat

εἰδωλόθυτον (eidōlothyton) (new) — Literal: “that which has been sacrificed to an idol.” English variants: “food sacrificed to idols,” “meat offered to idols.” French rendering: “viande sacrifiée aux idoles” / “aliments offerts aux idoles.” Risk: Medium. Requires cultural-background explanation (pagan temple markets and meals) for a French readership with generally low literacy in Greco-Roman religious practice.
εἴδωλον (idol) (new) — French rendering: “idole.” Risk: Low.
γνῶσις (gnōsis) (new) — Literal: “knowledge.” Semantic range: here, a claimed theological/doctrinal knowledge that, without love, becomes a source of pride and harm to weaker believers (8:1 “knowledge puffs up”). English variants: “knowledge.” French rendering: “connaissance.” Risk: Medium. Explicitly reject “gnose” as a rendering: although etymologically related, French “gnose” carries strong technical associations with the ancient Gnostic heresy and its esoteric-elitist theology, which would import an unrelated and anachronistic heresy-collision into Paul’s straightforward vocabulary for doctrinal understanding. Alternatives rejected: “gnose.”
συνείδησις (syneidēsis) (new) — Literal: “conscience,” the inner faculty of moral self-awareness. English variants: “conscience.” French rendering: “conscience.” Risk: Medium. The French word aligns well with the theological sense (unlike some target languages with no equivalent concept), but must retain the specifically moral-theological weight Paul gives it (a conscience that can be “weak,” “defiled,” or “wounded” by another’s liberty) rather than a merely psychological/subjective-opinion sense.
ἐξουσία (exousia) (new, context-sensitive — see also ch. 9, ch. 11) — Literal: “authority, right, power to act.” Semantic range spans from governing authority to a personal right/liberty one is free to exercise or forgo. English variants: “right,” “authority,” “liberty,” “power.” Contextual meaning here (8:9): the “right” the strong believer has to eat idol-meat, which must be voluntarily limited out of love for the weak. French rendering: “droit” / “liberté” (context: personal right/liberty sense). Risk: High. Context-sensitive across the book in the same way the baseline flags “called”: here (chs. 8-9) it means personal liberty/right; in 11:10 it is disputed whether it means the woman’s own authority/right or a symbol of another’s authority over her (see ch. 11 note below). Flag every occurrence for confirmation of which sense is active before translating.
σκανδαλίζω (skandalizō) (new) — Verb form of σκάνδαλον (ch. 1). “To cause to stumble.” French rendering: “faire tomber” / “faire trébucher.” Risk: Medium. See ch. 1 note on the noun form’s modern erosion risk; the verb is less exposed to the “media scandal” drift but should still be checked for clarity.

Chapter 9 — Christian Liberty; Apostolic Rights Forgone

ἐξουσία (reused from ch. 8) — Paul’s own apostolic “right” to material support, which he forgoes. Risk: High (as above).
εὐαγγέλιον (reused) TM: “Évangile.” Risk: Low.
ἀγωνίζομαι / βραβεῖον / στέφανος (athletic imagery: “compete,” “prize,” “wreath/crown”) (new) — 9:24-27. English variants: “run the race,” “prize,” “crown,” “wreath.” Contextual meaning: disciplined self-mastery in gospel ministry, illustrated by the Isthmian Games athletic culture familiar to Corinthian readers. French rendering: “concourir” / “prix” / “couronne.” Risk: Low-Medium. “Couronne” may evoke royal or martyr’s-crown Catholic devotional imagery (couronne du martyr); low risk but worth a brief clarifying note that this is athletic imagery (a wreath of leaves), not royal or sacrificial imagery.
ἀδόκιμος (adokimos) (new) — Literal: “unapproved [after testing], disqualified, failing the test.” English variants: “disqualified,” “rejected,” “castaway.” French rendering: “disqualifié.” Risk: Medium. Explicitly reject “réprouvé”: although a historically used French rendering, “réprouvé” carries heavy technical freight from Reformed double-predestination debates (the “reprobate,” permanently and eternally rejected by God’s decree), which would import a determinism question foreign to Paul’s athletic-disqualification metaphor about disciplined ministry, not final salvation status. Alternatives rejected: “réprouvé.”

Chapter 10 — Christian Liberty and Idol Meat; Warning from Israel’s History

εἰδωλολατρία (idolatry) (new) — 10:7, 10:14. French rendering: “idolâtrie.” Risk: Low.
πειρασμός / πειράζω (temptation/to test) (new) — 10:9, 10:13. French rendering: “tentation”/“tenter.” Risk: Medium. Standard term; ensure 10:13’s assurance (“God will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear”) is not softened into a guarantee against difficulty generally rather than a promise of a way of escape specifically from sin’s temptation.
κοινωνία (fellowship/participation) (reused, intensified sense) TM: “communion fraternelle” — but 10:16-18’s “κοινωνία τοῦ αἵματος/σώματος τοῦ Χριστοῦ” (“participation in the blood/body of Christ”) is a technical Lord’s Supper usage requiring the fuller sacramental term-family treatment given at ch. 11 below. French rendering here: “communion [au sang/corps du Christ].” Risk: High. Flag as a bridge term into the ch. 11 Eucharistic controversy; do not translate this occurrence in isolation from the ch. 11 treatment.
δαιμόνιον (demon) (new) — 10:20-21, idol sacrifices as sacrifices to demons. French rendering: “démon.” Risk: Medium. Standard, but flag that this personifies idolatry as demonically real, not merely primitive superstition — relevant given a secularizing French readership’s likely skepticism toward the demonic register.
τύπος (typos) (new) — 10:6, 10:11 “these things happened as examples/types for us.” French rendering: “exemple” (plain sense) / “figure” or “type” (technical typological sense in more advanced teaching material). Risk: Medium. Requires OT narrative literacy (the wilderness generation) that cannot be assumed; a teaching-note cross-reference, not a translation substitution, addresses this.
τράπεζα κυρίου (table of the Lord) (new) — 10:21. French rendering: “la table du Seigneur.” Risk: Medium. Bridges into ch. 11’s Lord’s Supper vocabulary; see below.

Chapter 11 — Order in Worship; The Lord’s Supper (Critical Sacramental Terms)

κεφαλή (kephalē) (new) — Literal: “head” (anatomical); figuratively, “source,” “origin,” or “one in a position of authority/precedence over,” depending on context and interpreter. Semantic range disputed among scholars: some argue for a primarily relational “source” sense (as a river’s “head” is its source), others for a hierarchical “authority over” sense. English variants: “head,” “authority over,” “source of.” Contextual meaning: 11:3 “the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God” — foundational to the chapter’s argument about head-coverings and worship order. French rendering: “tête” (recommended primary rendering, preserving the organic body-source metaphor and its continuity with the body-of-Christ imagery of ch. 12, and reflecting the direction of more recent ecumenical French translations) — “chef” is flagged as the historic Segond 1910 alternative (“Christ est le chef de tout homme…”), still preferred by some theologically complementarian reviewers for its clearer authority connotation. Risk: Critical. This term sits at the center of a live, cross-denominational (not only Catholic-vs-Protestant, but also complementarian-vs-egalitarian within both Catholic and Protestant/evangelical French Christianity) debate about gender roles and church authority. French “chef” carries strong contemporary connotations of institutional/corporate command (chef d’entreprise, chef d’État) that may overstate a hierarchical-authority reading beyond what “source/origin” implies; “tête” better preserves ambiguity but may underspecify authority for readers expecting a clear complementarian reading. This term requires mandatory human theologian review and an explicit editorial decision by curriculum theological advisors before Phase 2 translation; do not resolve silently in either direction.
παράδοσις (paradosis) (new — noun form; see also παραδίδωμι, 15:3) — Literal: “that which is handed down/transmitted; a tradition.” English variants: “tradition,” “teaching,” “instruction.” Contextual meaning: 11:2 “you…maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you” and 11:23 “I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you” (introducing the Lord’s Supper words). French rendering: “tradition[s]” — mandatory clarifying gloss recommended: “l’enseignement transmis par les apôtres,” to specify a closed, apostolic-era content, not an ongoing, developing magisterial category. Risk: High. As at 15:3, this is a direct French Catholic doctrinal-vocabulary collision: “la Tradition” (capital T) is a formal, co-authoritative source of doctrine in Catholic theology (alongside Scripture), a central Reformation-era point of division. Paul’s usage here is historically closer to a fixed, closed apostolic deposit; flag for human theologian review at every occurrence (11:2, 11:23, 15:3).
δεῖπνον κυριακόν (Lord’s Supper) (new) — 11:20. French rendering: “le repas du Seigneur” / “la Cène” (the latter is the long-established French ecumenical liturgical name for this ordinance, used by both Catholic and Protestant French traditions in some form, though the Catholic Mass’s central rite is more commonly called “l’Eucharistie”). Risk: High. Recommend “la Cène” as the term-of-art (widely recognized, Protestant-associated but not exclusively so) while flagging that “l’Eucharistie” would import specifically Catholic sacramental-theology framing (see next entries) and should be avoided as the primary rendering in this curriculum.
σῶμα καὶ αἷμα (body and blood, of Christ, in the institution words) (new — critical extension of σῶμα) — 11:24-27 “This is my body… this cup is the new covenant in my blood.” French rendering: “corps et sang.” Risk: Critical. This is the single most theologically contested term-pair in the chapter, directly parallel to the baseline’s treatment of “justification”: Catholic doctrine (Trent) holds the Real Presence via transubstantiation — the bread and wine become, in substance, the actual body and blood of Christ while retaining bread-and-wine appearance. Lutheran tradition holds a real sacramental presence without transubstantiation’s philosophical mechanism. Reformed tradition (Calvin) holds a real spiritual presence received by faith. Evangelical/Zwinglian-influenced French Protestant streams often hold a memorial/symbolic view. All four positions use the identical French words “corps et sang.” Mandatory human theologian review for every occurrence; the translation itself must remain neutral/literal (“corps et sang”) and must not silently encode any one eucharistic theology through added qualifiers (e.g., avoid inserting “symbole de” or “réellement” in either direction).
ἀνάμνησις (anamnēsis) (new) — Literal: “remembrance, memorial, calling to mind.” Semantic range: in ordinary Greek, simple recollection; in some technical liturgical usage (including later Jewish Passover Haggadah tradition and subsequent Christian liturgical theology, both Catholic and Orthodox), a “making-present” remembrance that actively re-presents a past saving act, not mere mental recall. English variants: “in remembrance of me,” “in memory of me.” Contextual meaning: 11:24-25, the command accompanying the bread and cup. French rendering: “en mémoire de moi” (the standard, deliberately simple French Bible rendering, chosen precisely to avoid pre-loading either interpretive tradition). Risk: Critical. Directly tied to the σῶμα/αἷμα controversy above: whether “remembrance” denotes a bare mental recollection (typical evangelical/Zwinglian emphasis) or an active liturgical re-presentation (closer to some Catholic and Orthodox anamnesis theology, and arguably closer to the term’s ancient Passover-liturgical background) is itself a live theological question. Flag for human theologian review; the translation should remain the plain “en mémoire de moi” and let teaching material, not the base translation, carry any theological elaboration.
ποτήριον (cup) (new) — 11:25, 11:26, 11:27, 11:28. French rendering: “coupe.” Risk: Medium. Explicitly reject “calice” as the primary rendering: “calice” is the specific, technical liturgical vessel-name used in the Catholic Mass, and its use here would pre-load specifically Catholic Mass imagery onto Paul’s plain narrative noun. Alternatives rejected: “calice.”
διακρίνω τὸ σῶμα (discern the body) (new) — 11:29 “eats and drinks without discerning the body.” French rendering: “sans discerner le corps.” Risk: High. Connects Church Discipline/Holiness doctrine to the Lord’s Supper: failure to recognize the solemnity/reality of what is being partaken of (and, in context, likely also failure to recognize fellow believers as members of Christ’s body, cf. ch. 12) brings judgment (11:30). Flag for theologian review alongside the σῶμα/αἷμα entries above, as interpretation of “the body” here (Christ’s sacramental body vs. the church community) affects doctrinal framing.
κρίμα (judgment) (new) — 11:29, 11:34. French rendering: “jugement” / “condamnation” (context: temporal disciplinary judgment on the church, not final eternal condemnation — 11:32 clarifies this explicitly). Risk: Medium.
τάξις (order) (new) — implicit theme of the chapter (explicit term used later, 14:40). French rendering: “ordre.” Risk: Low-Medium. Minor collision note: French “ordre” can also denote a monastic/religious order (l’Ordre des Dominicains); context in worship-practice passages fully disambiguates, so risk remains low.

Chapter 12 — Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ

χάρισμα / χαρίσματα (spiritual gifts) (reused) TM: “dons spirituels.” 12:4, 12:9, 12:28, 12:30-31. Risk: Medium (per baseline).
σῶμα Χριστοῦ (body of Christ) (new — extends σῶμα term family; connects to baseline church_as_gods_people doctrine) — 12:12-27, the sustained body metaphor for the church’s unity-in-diversity. French rendering: “le corps du Christ.” Risk: High. Must be clearly distinguished from the Eucharistic “corps du Christ” of ch. 11 (see above) — the same French phrase now denotes the corporate church community, not the sacramental elements. Flag for theologian review to ensure teaching material explicitly distinguishes the two referents when both chapters are taught in sequence, to prevent a confused conflation of ecclesiology and sacramentology.
μέλος / μέλη (member/members, of a body) (new) — 12:12, 12:14-27. French rendering: “membre(s).” Risk: Medium. French “membre” also denotes ordinary voluntary-association membership (membre d’un club, membre d’une association), risking a flattened, merely administrative sense that loses Paul’s vivid organic-body imagery (an ear cannot resign from being a body part the way a person can resign a club membership). Teaching material should reinforce the organic metaphor explicitly.
βαπτίζω (baptize) (new — Spirit-baptism sense, distinct from water-baptism) — 12:13 “we were all baptized into one body…by one Spirit.” French rendering: “baptisés.” Risk: High. Ties into the baseline’s Holy Spirit doctrine and connects to a genuine, live denominational range across French Christianity regarding baptism’s mode and subject (Catholic infant baptism; Reformed covenant infant baptism; Baptist/evangelical believer’s baptism; charismatic renewal streams’ emphasis on Spirit-baptism as a distinct post-conversion experience). Here Paul’s referent is a metaphorical/spiritual incorporation into Christ’s body by the Spirit, not the water rite itself — flag for native speaker and, where the passage intersects explicit baptismal-mode debates, theologian review, to keep the translation from silently favoring one baptismal theology.
γένη γλωσσῶν (kinds of tongues) (new) — 12:10, 12:28, 12:30. French rendering: “diverses langues” / “don des langues.” Risk: High. See fuller treatment at ch. 14; flag now because 12:29-30’s rhetorical questions (“do all speak in tongues?”) are frequently cited on both sides of the continuationist/cessationist and charismatic/non-charismatic divide within French Catholicism (Renouveau charismatique) and French Protestantism/evangelicalism alike.
ἴαμα / ἰάματα (healings) (new) — 12:9, 12:28, 12:30. French rendering: “dons de guérison.” Risk: Medium. Same charismatic/cessationist sensitivity as tongues, though generally less contested than tongues specifically.
ἐνέργημα / φανέρωσις (working/operation; manifestation) (new) — 12:6-7. French rendering: “opération(s)” / “manifestation.” Risk: Low.

Chapter 13 — Love as the Greater Way

ἀγάπη (agapē) (new — the central term of the chapter and this curriculum’s “Love as the Greater Way” doctrine) — Literal: “love,” specifically the self-giving, others-oriented love that seeks the good of another without dependence on the object’s worthiness or reciprocation, as opposed to erotic love (ἔρως, not used here), affectionate/family love (φιλία/στοργή), or mere emotional warmth. English variants: “love,” “charity” (archaic English/KJV). Contextual theological meaning: the defining, superior mark of Christian maturity, greater than the spiritual gifts of chs. 12 and 14, without which even the most impressive gifts are worthless (13:1-3); patient, kind, not self-seeking, enduring (13:4-7); permanent, unlike prophecy, tongues, or knowledge, which will pass away (13:8-13). French rendering: “amour.” Risk: Critical. This is a direct historical parallel to the baseline’s “justification” flashpoint: older French Catholic Bible tradition (e.g., the Crampon translation, following the Latin Vulgate’s “caritas”) rendered ἀγάπη in this chapter as “charité” — “La charité est patiente, la charité est serviable…” — while the Protestant Segond tradition, and now the majority of contemporary ecumenical translations (TOB, Bible de Jérusalem, NBS), render it “amour.” “Charité” must be explicitly rejected as the primary rendering for this curriculum: in contemporary French, “charité” has narrowed almost entirely to mean organized almsgiving or charitable donation (une association caritative, faire la charité à un mendiant), which would badly trivialize and moralistically narrow Paul’s rich, comprehensive term for self-giving love into a single act of financial generosity. Alternatives rejected: “charité” (now a false-friend narrowing to almsgiving in contemporary French, despite its historic Vulgate/Catholic pedigree — reviewers with a Catholic background may expect or request “charité”; this must be flagged explicitly to theologians before Phase 2 processing, so the choice of “amour” is a documented decision, not an oversight).
μακροθυμέω / χρηστεύομαι (patient/kind) (new) — 13:4. French rendering: “patient(e)” / “plein(e) de bonté.” Risk: Low.
ζηλόω / φυσιόω (envies/is puffed up) (new) — 13:4. French rendering: “envieux” / “gonflé d’orgueil.” Risk: Low.
τέλειος (teleios) (new) — Literal: “complete, mature, perfect, whole” (context-dependent: full-grown vs. morally flawless vs. complete/whole). Contextual meaning: 13:10 “when the perfect/complete comes” (the eschatological consummation) — not moral perfection but the arrival of the complete, final state, contrasted with the “partial” (τὸ ἐκ μέρους) present experience of gifts. French rendering: “parfait” (established) or “ce qui est achevé/complet” for this specific eschatological usage. Risk: Medium. Flag translator to select the “completeness” sense here, not the “moral perfection” sense that “parfait” more readily suggests in ordinary French religious usage, to avoid implying present believers must attain sinless perfection before the gifts cease.
νήπιος (child/infant) (new) — 13:11, contrasted with adult maturity. French rendering: “enfant.” Risk: Low.

Chapter 14 — Order in Worship; Spiritual Gifts, Tongues and Prophecy

προφητεία / προφητεύω (prophecy/to prophesy) (reused) TM: “prophétie” / verb “prophétiser.” Risk: Low (per baseline).
γλῶσσα / γλῶσσαι (tongue/tongues) (new — extends 12:10’s “kinds of tongues”) — Literal: “tongue” (the organ) or “language.” Semantic range: here, a Spirit-given utterance in an unknown/heavenly language requiring interpretation for corporate intelligibility. English variants: “tongues,” “other languages.” French rendering: “langues” (“le don des langues,” “parler en langues”). Risk: High. As noted at ch. 12, tongues is a live continuationist/cessationist and charismatic/non-charismatic dividing line across French Catholicism (Renouveau charismatique catholique) and French Protestantism/evangelicalism alike; the translation itself is not the primary risk (the word is stable), but the doctrine surrounding its interpretation is, so flag for native speaker (and, where curriculum commentary makes an interpretive claim about cessation or continuation, theologian) review.
ἑρμηνεία / διερμηνεύω (interpretation/to interpret) (new) — 14:5, 14:13, 14:26-28. French rendering: “interprétation” / “interpréter.” Risk: Medium.
οἰκοδομή (edification) (reused) — the chapter’s central criterion for public worship practice: everything must “build up” the church. Risk: Low (established sense, per ch. 3 note above and baseline mutual_edification doctrine).
τάξις (order) (reused from ch. 11) — 14:40 “let all things be done decently and in order.” French rendering: “avec ordre” / “dans l’ordre.” Risk: Low-Medium (as noted at ch. 11).
σιγάω (be silent) (new) — 14:28, 14:30, and the disputed 14:34-35 (regarding women). French rendering: “se taire” / “garder le silence.” Risk: High. The specific application of this instruction to women in worship (14:34-35) is one of the most actively debated passages in contemporary French Christianity across denominational and theological lines (complementarian/egalitarian, and further complicated by text-critical questions about the verses’ location in some manuscripts). Flag for mandatory human theologian review; the base translation should remain literal and let the curriculum’s doctrinal commentary, not the translation itself, carry any interpretive resolution.

Chapter 15 — Resurrection of Christ and Believers (Remainder, vv. 12–58; vv. 1–11 treated above)

ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν (resurrection of the dead) (reused and extended) — TM stem: “résurrection.” Here extended from Christ’s own resurrection (vv. 1-11) to the general resurrection of believers, the chapter’s main argument (vv. 12-58: “if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised… but Christ has been raised, the firstfruits…”). French rendering: “la résurrection des morts.” Risk: Critical. This is the doctrinal center of the “Resurrection of Christ and Believers” curriculum theme; per the baseline’s existing resurrection entry, the chief risk in French is secular naturalism flattening “résurrection” into a metaphor for renewal, legacy, or continuity, rather than a future, bodily, historical event affecting all believers. Flag for mandatory theologian review throughout the chapter.
ἀπαρχή (firstfruits) (new) — 15:20, 15:23 “Christ the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Literal: the first portion of a harvest, guaranteeing and representative of the whole harvest to come. French rendering: “prémices.” Risk: Medium. Requires agricultural/OT-offering background explanation (low literacy risk, not doctrinal collision risk) for the typological argument (Christ’s resurrection guarantees and previews believers’ own future resurrection) to land.
σῶμα πνευματικόν / σῶμα ψυχικόν (spiritual body / natural body) (new) — 15:44 “it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” French rendering: “corps naturel” / “corps spirituel.” Risk: High. Must not be read as denying bodily physicality (a Gnostic-flavored dualist misreading in which “spiritual body” means “non-physical” or “ghostly”) — Paul insists on real, transformed embodiment, continuous with though qualitatively different from the present body. Given a secularizing French readership, there is a second, opposite risk: dismissing any bodily resurrection at all as merely metaphorical. Flag for theologian review to ensure both errors are guarded against in surrounding teaching material.
φθαρτός / ἄφθαρτος (perishable/imperishable) (new) — 15:42, 15:53-54. French rendering: “périssable” / “impérissable.” Risk: Medium.
ἔσχατος Ἀδάμ (last Adam) (new) — 15:45 “the last Adam,” contrasted with the first Adam, a key Christological-typological title. French rendering: “le dernier Adam.” Risk: Medium. Requires Genesis literacy (the first Adam’s fall) to carry its full typological force; a cross-referencing note, not a translation change, addresses this.
νίκη / κέντρον (victory/sting) (new) — 15:54-57, the chapter’s triumphant conclusion (“death, where is your sting?”). French rendering: “victoire” / “aiguillon.” Risk: Low.
κοπιάω (labored) (reused) — 15:58, closing exhortation. Risk: Low (as at 15:10).

Chapter 16 — Closing Instructions, Collection, Greetings

λογία (collection) (new) — 16:1-2, the collection for the Jerusalem church. French rendering: “la collecte.” Risk: Low.
Μαράνα θά (Maranatha) (new) — 16:22, an Aramaic liturgical formula meaning “Our Lord, come!” retained untranslated in the Greek text itself, exactly as “Abba” is retained at Romans 8:15 in the baseline. French rendering: “Maranatha” (retain the transliteration, per baseline precedent for Aramaic terms of devotion). Risk: Medium. Requires an explanatory gloss for readers unfamiliar with the term (“Notre Seigneur, viens!”), given very low likelihood of prior exposure among secular and even most lapsed-Catholic French readers.
ἀνάθεμα (anathema) (new) — 16:22 “if anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed [anathema].” Literal: “a thing devoted/set apart for destruction; something accursed.” English variants: “accursed,” “anathema,” “cursed.” French rendering: “anathème” (established French Bible tradition rendering). Risk: High. Direct historical collision, structurally identical to the baseline’s treatment of “justification”: the Council of Trent’s canons repeatedly conclude condemnations of Reformation doctrines with the formula “si quis dixerit…anathema sit” (“if anyone should say…let him be anathema”), making “anathème” in French carry heavy historical freight as the technical formula of formal ecclesiastical condemnation/excommunication. Paul’s usage here is a solemn but simpler apostolic curse-formula for those without love for Christ, not a developed canon-law procedure. Flag for human theologian review; teaching material should clarify the distinction from the later conciliar usage without softening the solemnity of Paul’s own statement.
ἀσπάζομαι / φίλημα ἅγιον (greet / holy kiss) (new) — 16:20 “greet one another with a holy kiss.” French rendering: “saluez-vous les uns les autres par un saint baiser.” Risk: Low-Medium. Cultural-practice note only, not a doctrinal risk: contemporary French greeting customs (la bise, a cheek-kiss greeting) differ in social meaning from the ancient “holy kiss” convention; teaching material may note that the modern equivalent is typically a warm greeting/embrace (“une accolade fraternelle”) rather than recommending replication of the literal ancient practice.
χάρις (grace) (reused) — 16:23, closing benediction. Risk: High (per baseline).

Summary of New Critical/High-Risk Terms Requiring Theologian Review Before Phase 2

Term	Chapter(s)	Risk
κεφαλή (head)	11	Critical
σῶμα καὶ αἷμα (body and blood)	11	Critical
ἀνάμνησις (remembrance)	11	Critical
ἀγάπη (love)	13	Critical
ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν (resurrection of the dead, extended sense)	15	Critical
πῦρ/δοκιμάζω (fire testing works — purgatory collision)	3	Critical
παράδοσις/παραδίδωμι (tradition)	11, 15	High
σκάνδαλον (stumbling block)	1, 8	High
ἐξουσία (right/authority, context-sensitive)	8, 9, 11	High
πάσχα (Passover, orthographic collision with Pâques)	5	High
παραδοῦναι τῷ Σατανᷠ (deliver to Satan)	5	High
ναὸς τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος (temple of the Holy Spirit, individual)	6	High
σῶμα Χριστοῦ (body of Christ, ecclesial vs. sacramental)	12	High
βαπτίζω (Spirit-baptism sense)	12	High
γλῶσσα/γλῶσσαι (tongues)	12, 14	High
σιγάω (women’s silence passage)	14	High
σῶμα πνευματικόν/ψυχικόν (spiritual/natural body)	15	High
ἀνάθεμα (anathema)	16	High
ἅγιοι (saints, reused from baseline)	1	High
ἐκκλησία (church, reused from baseline)	1, 15	High
χάρις (grace, reused from baseline)	15, 16	High

This table is a navigational aid; full doctrine risk routing is formalized in the companion doctrine risk registry (Phase 1 Step 2 deliverable).

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