Core Glossary
Core Glossary: 1 John (French)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, covering all five chapters of 1 John. Risk tiers follow the Romans baseline’s four-tier framework (Critical / High / Medium / Low) and its review-routing convention: Critical and High require human theologian review; Medium requires native speaker review; Low requires automated review only.
Terms already present in the Romans baseline translation_memory.json are marked [BASELINE — reuse exactly]. New terms introduced by this curriculum are marked [NEW]. Terms that reuse a baseline word but apply it to a distinct sense not covered by the baseline’s notes are marked [EXTENSION — flag].
Section A — Terms Reused Exactly from the Romans Baseline
| # | English term | Greek | French rendering | Risk | Doctrine(s) in 1 John | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | God | θεός | Dieu | Critical | God is Light and God is Love; all doctrines | Reuse exactly. 1 John’s identity-statements (“God is light,” “God is love”) intensify but do not change the baseline term. |
| A2 | Jesus | Ἰησοῦς | Jésus | Critical | Incarnation and Antichrist; Assurance | Reuse exactly. |
| A3 | Holy Spirit | πνεῦμα ἅγιον / τὸ πνεῦμα | Esprit Saint | Critical | Testing the Spirits; Fellowship | Reuse exactly for the full title. 1 John also uses bare “πνεῦμα” (his Spirit, 4:13) and titled phrases (“Spirit of truth/error,” 4:6) — see new entries C17-C18 for capitalization discipline. |
| A4 | Father | πατήρ | Père | High | Fellowship with God; God is Love | Reuse exactly. |
| A5 | Sin | ἁμαρτία | péché | High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin; New Birth | Reuse exactly. 1 John additionally develops ἀνομία (“lawlessness,” C22) and ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον (“sin unto death,” C34) as related but distinct new categories — do not conflate with the baseline note on colloquial trivialization of “péché,” which remains equally applicable here. |
| A6 | Son of God | υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ | Fils de Dieu | Critical | Incarnation and Antichrist; Assurance | Reuse exactly. Central confession-test throughout 1 John (2:22-23; 4:2-3,15; 5:5). |
| A7 | Faith (noun) | πίστις | foi | High | Overcoming the World; Assurance | Reuse exactly. See C25 for the verb form πιστεύω (croire), not separately recorded in the baseline. |
| A8 | Righteousness | δικαιοσύνη | justice | Critical | New Birth (evidential sense) | Reuse exactly, but flag: 1 John’s usage (righteous conduct as evidence of new birth, 2:29; 3:7,10) differs in emphasis from Romans’ forensic-declaration usage of the same French word — note the distinction for reviewers, do not silently conflate. |
| A9 | Fellowship | κοινωνία | communion (fraternelle where horizontal) | Low (baseline) / High (1 John extension) | Fellowship with God and One Another | [EXTENSION — flag]. See Section B for the required usage-split. |
| A10 | Incarnation (doctrine name) | — | incarnation | Critical | The Incarnation and Antichrist | Reuse doctrine name exactly; underlying textual term is σάρξ (“flesh,” C24), not a single Greek noun. |
Section B — Required Baseline Extension
| # | English term | Greek | French rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Extension note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | Fellowship with God (vertical) | κοινωνία (1:3) | communion avec le Père et le Fils / communion avec Dieu | High | Fellowship with God and One Another | The baseline’s qualifier “fraternelle” was designed for horizontal, believer-to-believer κοινωνία (as used in Romans). Applied to 1:3’s vertical fellowship with God, “fraternelle” (brotherly) is a category mismatch. Reviewers must select the unqualified or God-directed form for vertical fellowship and reserve “communion fraternelle” strictly for horizontal, believer-to-believer occurrences (1:7). |
Section C — New Terms Introduced by 1 John
C1–C10: God is Light and God is Love
| # | English term | Greek | French rendering | Risk | Primary refs | Risk note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C1 | Love (noun/verb) | ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω | amour / aimer | Critical | 2:5,15; 3:1,11,16-18; 4:7-21 (throughout); 5:1-3 | French “amour” is dominated by romantic/erotic connotation; older “charité” is archaic/misleading (almsgiving). Must be anchored contextually as self-giving, God-originated love at every occurrence — the single highest-frequency Critical term in the curriculum. |
| C2 | God is love (identity statement) | ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν | Dieu est amour | Critical | 4:8, 4:16 | Core doctrinal statement; must be held in tension with “God is light” (C3) and judgment language (C31) to prevent a sentimental, judgment-denying misreading. |
| C3 | Light | φῶς | lumière | High | 1:5,7; 2:8-10 | Risk of drift toward Enlightenment-rationalist or New Age “inner light” readings in secular/esoteric French culture, losing the specific sense of God’s flawless moral purity and self-revealing truthfulness. |
| C4 | Darkness | σκότος / σκοτία | ténèbres | Medium | 1:5-6; 2:8-11 | Moral/relational sense must be reinforced; risk of a merely atmospheric reading. |
| C5 | Walk (habitual conduct) | περιπατέω | marcher | Medium | 1:6-7; 2:6 | Retain established French Bible idiom “marcher dans la lumière/les ténèbres” rather than paraphrasing. |
| C6 | Truth | ἀλήθεια | vérité | Medium-High | 1:6,8; 2:4,21; 3:18-19; 4:6; 5:6 | Postmodern relativistic French usage (“ma vérité”) risks subjectivizing God’s objective, self-consistent truthfulness. |
| C7 | Deceive (oneself) | πλανάω | se tromper / s’égarer | Low-Medium | 1:8; 2:26; 3:7 | Self-deception, not mere factual error. |
| C8 | Only/unique Son | μονογενής | Fils unique | Critical | 4:9 | Extends baseline’s “Fils de Dieu” (Critical); must not be read as mere biological “only child” ranking, but eternal, unique Sonship. |
| C9 | World (dualistic sense) | κόσμος | monde | High | 2:15-17; 3:1,13; 4:1-5,9,14,17; 5:4-5,19 | Single French word cannot itself distinguish John’s neutral (humanity) and dualistic (world-system-in-rebellion) senses; each occurrence requires contextual disambiguation. Central to “Overcoming the World.” |
| C10 | Manifested / made visible | φανερόω | manifester | Medium | 1:2; 3:5,8; 4:9 | Concrete historical disclosure, not mere symbolic demonstration; consistent with “incarnation” register. |
C11–C16: Fellowship, Confession, and Forgiveness
| # | English term | Greek | French rendering | Risk | Primary refs | Risk note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C11 | Confess | ὁμολογέω | confesser | Critical | 1:9; 2:23; 4:2-3,15 | Structurally identical to the baseline’s “grâce”/“justification” collision pattern: French “se confesser” defaults to the Catholic sacrament of Confession/Reconciliation. Referent here is direct, personal, verbal acknowledgment before God (of sin, 1:9) or of Christ’s identity (4:2-3,15), with no priestly mediation in view. All French Bible traditions use “confesser” regardless, so the risk must be resolved by context/teaching notes, not by word substitution. |
| C12 | Cleanse / purify (by Christ) | καθαρίζω | purifier | Medium | 1:7,9 | Risk of ritual-purification-only reading; retain the moral, relational, Christ-accomplished sense. |
| C13 | Forgive | ἀφίημι | pardonner | Medium | 1:9 | Comparatively safe on its own; paired with C11 requires a joint clarifying note (direct divine pardon, not sacramental absolution). |
| C14 | Faithful and just | πιστός καὶ δίκαιος | fidèle et juste | Low-Medium | 1:9 | δίκαιος shares root with baseline “justice”; maintain consistency. |
| C15 | Unrighteousness | ἀδικία | injustice / iniquité | Low-Medium | 1:9 | Negative counterpart to δικαιοσύνη. |
| C16 | Self-purify (in hope) | ἁγνίζω | se purifier | Medium | 3:3 | Distinct active/self-disciplining nuance from C12’s passive “cleansed by Christ.” |
C17–C20: Testing the Spirits
| # | English term | Greek | French rendering | Risk | Primary refs | Risk note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C17 | Test (the spirits) | δοκιμάζω | éprouver | High | 4:1 | Risk of assimilation into the established Catholic Ignatian category “discernement des esprits,” which carries a broader framework/criteria than John’s narrow, specific Christological test. |
| C18 | Spirit of truth / spirit of error | πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας / πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης | l’Esprit de vérité / l’esprit d’erreur | High | 4:6 | Capitalization discipline (Esprit vs. esprit) is essential to avoid implying two competing personal divine beings rather than John’s point about the content/confession of a teaching. |
| C19 | Anointing | χρῖσμα | onction | High | 2:20, 2:27 | Strong Catholic sacramental association (extrême-onction, chrismation) risks suggesting institutional/clergy mediation of a gift John presents as universal and direct to all believers — the letter’s anti-elitist point against Gnostic teachers. |
| C20 | False prophets | ψευδοπροφῆται | faux prophètes | Low | 4:1 | Straightforward compound of baseline “prophète.” |
C21–C26: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
| # | English term | Greek | French rendering | Risk | Primary refs | Risk note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C21 | Born of God / born again | γεννάω (γεγέννηται/γεγεννημένος) | né de Dieu | High | 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18 | Distinct organic-birth metaphor; must not be conflated with baseline’s “adoption filiale” (legal-adoption metaphor, Romans 8). |
| C22 | Lawlessness | ἀνομία | iniquité | Medium | 3:4 | Broader moral category than baseline’s narrowly-Mosaic “loi”; do not apply the Romans baseline’s Torah-specific framing here. |
| C23 | Children of God | τέκνα θεοῦ | enfants de Dieu | High | 3:1-2,10 | Organic-birth family metaphor, parallel to but distinct from “adoption filiale”; teach the two metaphors side by side, not merged. |
| C24 | Flesh (of the Incarnation) | σάρξ (ἐν σαρκί) | chair (venu en chair) | Critical | 4:2 | Affirms Christ’s real, physical human nature against docetic-style denial; core to “Incarnation and Antichrist.” Distinct from the negative-appetite sense of σάρξ elsewhere (see C29). |
| C25 | Believe / trust | πιστεύω | croire | Medium | 3:23; 4:1,16; 5:1,5,10,13 | Verb form of baseline noun “foi”; must retain personal-trust sense, resisting secular French “croire que” (mere opinion). |
| C26 | Brother | ἀδελφός | frère | Medium | 2:9-11; 3:10,14-17; 4:20-21 | Grammatically masculine, functionally inclusive of the whole believing community; clarify in teaching notes. |
| C27 | Seed of God (abiding divine nature) | σπέρμα (αὐτοῦ) | [avoid bare “semence”] — “ce qui est né de Dieu” (periphrasis) | High | 3:9 | Baseline already rejected bare “semence” as archaic/crude register for a different metaphor (seed of David); the same caution applies here to a different but equally sensitive image. |
| C28 | Murderer | ἀνθρωποκτόνος / φονεύς | meurtrier | Low | 3:12,15 | Cain paradigm, intensifies seriousness of hatred. |
| C29 | Lust of the flesh / eyes; pride of life | ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός / τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν; ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου | la convoitise de la chair, la convoitise des yeux, et l’orgueil de la vie | Medium | 2:16 | σάρξ here denotes fallen appetite, not literal body — must be distinguished from C24’s positive-referent Incarnational “chair.” |
| C30 | Laying down one’s life | τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν | donner sa vie | Low | 3:16 | Sacrificial-love pattern from Christ’s example. |
C31–C40: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
| # | English term | Greek | French rendering | Risk | Primary refs | Risk note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C31 | Day of judgment | ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως | jour du jugement | Low | 4:17 | Stable eschatological phrase. |
| C32 | Confidence / boldness | παρρησία | assurance / pleine assurance | Medium | 2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14 | Minor risk of confusion with secular “assurance” (insurance); context disambiguates. Cross-reference consistently with the doctrine name “Assurance of Salvation.” |
| C33 | Eternal life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος | vie éternelle | Medium | 1:2; 2:25; 3:15; 5:11-13,20 | Present, relational, qualitative possession (“we may know we have”), not only future hope nor mere unending biological existence. |
| C34 | Sin unto death | ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον | péché qui conduit à la mort | High | 5:16-17 | Risk of automatic assimilation into the fully developed Catholic mortal/venial sin (péché mortel/véniel) framework, which goes beyond John’s own undeveloped, more limited category. |
| C35 | Fear (servile dread) | φόβος | crainte | Medium | 4:18 | Must be distinguished from the positive “fear of the Lord” (reverential crainte) used elsewhere in Scripture; here strictly the dread cast out by perfected love. |
| C36 | Perfected / brought to completion | τελειόω / τέλειος | parvenu(e) à son accomplissement / parfait(e) | Medium-High | 2:5; 4:12,17,18 | Risk of a flawlessness/moral-perfectionism reading in French Catholic penitential culture; must convey full realization of love’s purpose, not sinless achievement. |
| C37 | Punishment / torment | κόλασις | châtiment | Low-Medium | 4:18 | Retributive suffering; do not soften to mere discomfort. |
| C38 | Have known certainly | εἴδω/οἶδα (ἵνα εἰδῆτε) | afin que vous sachiez | Low | 5:13 | Explicit purpose statement of the letter: settled certainty, not tentative hope. |
| C39 | Request / petition | αἴτημα | requête / demande | Low | 5:15 | Confident prayer per God’s will; connects to baseline “intercession” doctrine. |
| C40 | The true/genuine one | ἀληθινός | le Véritable / le vrai [Dieu] | Medium | 5:20 | Distinct nuance from ἀλήθεια/“vérité” (truth as quality); here “genuine” vs. “counterfeit” (idols, C41). |
C41–C48: Overcoming the World, the Incarnation and Antichrist, and Remaining Vocabulary
| # | English term | Greek | French rendering | Risk | Primary refs | Risk note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C41 | Idols | εἴδωλα | idoles | Low | 5:21 | Extend teaching sense beyond literal statuary to any rival object of ultimate devotion. |
| C42 | Antichrist | ἀντίχριστος | antichrist | High | 2:18,22; 4:3 | French popular culture (horror cinema, esoteric literature) popularizes a singular end-time supervillain reading; John’s own definition is a present, recurring category of Christological denial, not one future figure. |
| C43 | Advocate | παράκλητος | avocat (TOB alt.: défenseur) | High | 2:1 | Courtroom-lawyer connotation risks reducing Christ’s relational intercession to legal technicality; also shares a title with the Holy Spirit’s “Paraclete” role in John’s Gospel — clarify which Person is in view. |
| C44 | Propitiation / atoning sacrifice | ἱλασμός | victime expiatoire (Bible de Jérusalem alt.: victime propitiatoire) | Critical | 2:2; 4:10 | Same doctrinal weight as the unresolved Romans 3:25 propitiation question the baseline flags; must retain the sense of an effective, achieved satisfaction of divine justice, not mere passive suffering. |
| C45 | Overcome / victory | νικάω / νίκη | vaincre / victoire | Medium | 2:13-14; 4:4; 5:4-5 | Grounded in God’s indwelling presence, not self-achieved triumphalism. |
| C46 | Water and blood (as testimony) | ὕδωρ καὶ αἷμα | l’eau et le sang | High | 5:6-8 | Strong risk of an automatic sacramental (baptism/Eucharist) reading in French Catholic culture, displacing John’s own argument about Christ’s historical identity and the Spirit’s testimony. |
| C47 | The evil one | ὁ πονηρός | le Mauvais (avoid unqualified le Malin) | Medium-High | 3:12; 5:19 | Colloquial French “le malin” carries a “sly/cunning person” connotation risking a trivializing, admiring register rather than naming Satan’s serious malevolence. |
| C48 | Word of life / the Word | ὁ λόγος (τῆς ζωῆς) | la Parole (de vie) | Critical | 1:1 | Must retain capitalized, personal “Parole” (echoing John 1:1’s Logos), not lower-case generic “parole” (mere utterance), or the letter’s opening Christological/Incarnational claim is lost. |
| C49 | Coming / appearing (parousia) | παρουσία | avènement / venue | Medium | 2:28 | Distinct from φανερόω (first coming/Incarnation, C10); do not conflate the two “comings.” |
| C50 | Savior | σωτήρ | Sauveur | Low-Medium | 4:14 | Retain full theological weight (rescue from sin/judgment), not a generic “rescuer.” |
| C51 | Testify / testimony | μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία | témoigner / témoignage | Low-Medium | 1:2; 4:14; 5:6-10 | Eyewitness/legal-reliability sense preserved well by French “témoigner”; maintain consistency across occurrences. |
| C52 | Commandment | ἐντολή | commandement | Medium | 2:3-8; 3:22-24; 4:21; 5:2-3 | Christ’s own charge (especially the love command), not baseline’s capitalized “la Loi” (Mosaic Law) — keep the two categories distinct. |
| C53 | Liar | ψεύστης | menteur | Low | 1:10; 2:4,22; 4:20 | Stable; recurring diagnostic marker throughout the letter. |
| C54 | Owe / ought | ὀφείλω | devoir | Medium | 4:11 (also 3:16) | Risk of a merit-earning “debt” reading if unqualified; must be framed as grateful response, not repayment, consistent with the baseline’s grace-versus-merit sensitivity. |
| C55 | Know (relational) | γινώσκω | connaître | Medium | throughout (1:3; 2:3-4,13-14; 3:1,6; 4:6-8,16) | French “connaître” (vs. “savoir”) fortunately preserves the relational/experiential nuance; maintain the distinction consistently. |
| C56 | Abide / remain | μένω | demeurer | Medium | 2:6,10,14,17,24,27-28; 3:6,9,14-15,17,24; 4:12-13,15-16 | Risk of a merely spatial/residential reading; reinforce the relational, mutual-indwelling sense at every occurrence (12+ uses, high-frequency Johannine key term). |
| C57 | See / behold | ὁράω / θεάομαι | voir / contempler | Low | 1:1; 3:2; 4:12,14,20 | Eyewitness and beholding-in-hope senses; distinguish θεάομαι’s attentive-gazing nuance where relevant. |
| C58 | Joy | χαρά | joie | Low | 1:4 | Relational, communal joy of shared fellowship/testimony. |
| C59 | Stumbling block | σκάνδαλον | occasion de chute | Medium | 2:10 | Avoid bare “scandale” (modern French: public controversy), which loses the “cause another to sin” sense. |
| C60 | Last hour | ἐσχάτη ὥρα | la dernière heure | Low-Medium | 2:18 | Present-age eschatological marker. |
Section D — Doctrine-to-Term Cross-Reference
| Curriculum doctrine | Primary new terms (glossary #) | Reused baseline terms |
|---|---|---|
| God is Light and God is Love | C1, C2, C3, C4 | Dieu (A1) |
| Fellowship with God and One Another | B1, C56 | communion fraternelle (A9) |
| Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | C11, C12, C13, C14, C15, C16 | péché (A5) |
| Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | C21, C22, C23, C26, C27, C28, C29, C30 | justice (A8) |
| The Incarnation and Antichrist | C24, C42, C43, C44, C48, C49 | Fils de Dieu (A6), Jésus (A2), incarnation (A10) |
| Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | C31, C32, C33, C34, C35, C36, C38, C40 | foi (A7) |
| Overcoming the World | C9, C45, C55 | — |
| Testing the Spirits | C17, C18, C19, C20 | Esprit Saint (A3) |
Section E — Absent Baseline Vocabulary (Notes for Reviewers)
The following Romans baseline terms do not occur in 1 John and should not be forced into this curriculum’s teaching materials:
- Seigneur (κύριος, “Lord”) — 1 John never applies this title to Jesus; the letter prefers “the Son,” “Jesus Christ,” and “Son of God.” Teachers moving between Romans and 1 John materials should note this stylistic contrast rather than introduce “Seigneur” where the Greek does not warrant it.
- grâce (χάρις, “grace”) — absent from 1 John’s running text (no epistolary grace-greeting, unlike Paul’s letters).
- loi (νόμος, “Law”) — 1 John never uses νόμος; it uses the distinct term ἀνομία (“lawlessness,” C22), a broader moral category not to be read through the Romans baseline’s narrowly-Mosaic “loi” lens.
- saints (ἅγιοι, corporate title for believers) — 1 John does not use this corporate title; note instead the singular, Christological title “the Holy One” (ὁ ἅγιος, 2:20), which should not be confused with the baseline’s “saints” entry.
This glossary must be loaded alongside the Romans baseline translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json before any Phase 2 segment translation for the 1 John curriculum. All Section A terms are enforced exactly per baseline; all Section B–D terms require new translation_memory and bible_term_registry entries before Phase 2 begins.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Dieu
Transliteration: Dieu
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (translation and doctrine_risk reused exactly). 1 John intensifies this term through two identity-statements, ‘Dieu est lumière’ (1:5) and ‘Dieu est amour’ (4:8,16), which must be held together, never read as competing or interchangeable slogans.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jésus
Transliteration: Jésus
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Confession of the name ‘Jésus’ as the Christ come in the flesh is the letter’s central diagnostic test (2:22-23; 4:2-3,15); no alternative-name risk in French tradition.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Esprit Saint
Transliteration: Esprit Saint
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: Saint-Esprit (Segond-line spelling; inconsistent with this package’s capitalization convention)
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον / τὸ πνεῦμα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. 1 John also uses the bare possessive ‘son Esprit’ (4:13) and titled phrases like ‘Esprit de vérité’ (4:6); enforce strict capitalization discipline (Esprit vs. esprit) throughout to avoid implying two competing personal beings.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Fils de Dieu
Transliteration: Fils de Dieu
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: envoyé de Dieu, homme divin
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Recurring confession-test throughout 1 John (2:22-23; 4:2-3,15; 5:5,10-13); every occurrence functions as the dividing line between true and false spirits.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: justice
Transliteration: justice
Doctrine: New Birth (evidential righteousness)
Rejected alternatives: vertu, droiture
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: New Birth
Inherited from Romans package (translation reused exactly). Risk tier escalated to Critical for this curriculum: 1 John’s usage (2:29; 3:7,10 — righteous conduct as evidence of new birth) differs in emphasis from Romans’ forensic-declaration usage of the identical French word; flag for reviewers so the two senses are never silently conflated.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: incarnation
Transliteration: incarnation
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο (cf. 1 John 4:2, ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα)
Category: Incarnation
Inherited from Romans package as a doctrine name. Risk escalated from the baseline’s Medium to Critical: 1 John makes Christ’s real physical humanity an explicit, testable confession (4:2-3), not a background assumption; any softened or symbolic reading fails the letter’s own diagnostic test.
Love
Approved rendering: amour / aimer
Transliteration: amour / aimer
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: charité (archaic; now heard almost exclusively as almsgiving/charity-work)
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Love
Highest-frequency Critical term in the curriculum (40+ occurrences: 2:5,15; 3:1,11,16-18; 4:7-21; 5:1-3). French ‘amour’ is saturated with romantic/erotic connotation; must be contextually anchored as self-giving, God-originated love at every occurrence.
God Is Love
Approved rendering: Dieu est amour
Transliteration: Dieu est amour
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν
Category: Love
Core identity-statement (4:8,16). Must always be taught in explicit tension with 1:5’s ‘Dieu est lumière’ and 4:17’s judgment language; never isolated as a stand-alone slogan, to prevent secular-humanist inversion (‘l’amour est Dieu’) or judgment-denying cheap grace.
Only Son
Approved rendering: Fils unique
Transliteration: Fils unique
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: μονογενής
Category: Christology
Extends the Critical ‘Fils de Dieu’ entry (4:9). Must not read as a mundane ‘only child’ biological-ranking sense; conveys eternal, unique, co-equal Sonship. Pair consistently with ‘Fils de Dieu.‘
Confess
Approved rendering: confesser
Transliteration: confesser
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: Sin
No lexical substitute exists in any French Bible tradition. Referent is direct, personal, verbal acknowledgment before God (1:9) or of Christ’s identity (2:23; 4:2-3,15) — never sacramental, priestly-mediated confession. Resolve entirely through teaching notes, not word substitution.
Flesh Incarnate
Approved rendering: chair (venu en chair)
Transliteration: chair (venu en chair)
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: σάρξ (ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα)
Category: Incarnation
Christ’s real, physical human nature (4:2), confessed against Gnostic/docetic-style denial. Must be kept visually and pedagogically distinct from the negative-appetite sense of ‘chair’ in 2:16 (worldly_desires).
Sin Unto Death
Approved rendering: péché qui conduit à la mort / péché qui ne conduit pas à la mort
Transliteration: péché qui conduit à la mort
Doctrine: Sin Unto Death
Rejected alternatives: péché mortel / péché véniel (imports the fully developed Catholic mortal/venial casuistic framework, considerably more elaborated than John’s own undeveloped category)
Original: ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον
Category: Sin
Near-certain risk of assimilation into the Catholic mortal/venial sin framework (5:16-17); requires explicit disambiguating teaching notes wherever taught — the letter’s clearest doctrine-specific collision risk.
Propitiation
Approved rendering: victime expiatoire (Bible de Jérusalem alt.: victime propitiatoire)
Transliteration: victime expiatoire
Doctrine: Christ’s Advocacy and Propitiation
Original: ἱλασμός
Category: Salvation
Christ’s death as the effective, justice-satisfying atoning offering (2:2; 4:10). Both established French renderings foreground ‘victime,’ risking a passive-suffering reading; pair with a note on achieved satisfaction of divine justice — same doctrinal weight as the Romans baseline’s unresolved Romans 3:25 propitiation question.
Water And Blood
Approved rendering: l’eau et le sang
Transliteration: l’eau et le sang
Doctrine: Water, Blood, and Spirit as Testimony to Christ
Original: τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα
Category: Christology
Threefold testimony to Christ’s identity (5:6-8). Strong risk of an automatic sacramental (baptism/Eucharist) reading in French Catholic culture. This curriculum follows the modern critical text and omits the Comma Johanneum (the Segond 1910/Textus Receptus ‘three heavenly witnesses’ addition at 5:7-8).
Word Of Life
Approved rendering: la Parole (de vie)
Transliteration: la Parole de vie
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: parole (lowercase, generic utterance)
Original: ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
The eternal, personal, pre-existent divine Word (1:1), echoing John 1:1’s Logos. Must retain capitalized, personal ‘la Parole,’ not lowercase generic ‘parole,’ or the letter’s opening Christological claim is lost.
High Risk Terms
Father
Approved rendering: Père
Transliteration: Père
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Paired repeatedly with ‘Fils’ in 1 John’s fellowship and confession formulas (1:3; 2:22-24; 4:14).
Sin
Approved rendering: péché
Transliteration: péché
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package. Colloquial-trivialization risk (‘péché mignon’) remains applicable. 1 John develops two related but distinct categories, ‘iniquité’ (lawlessness) and ‘péché qui conduit à la mort’ (sin unto death) — do not conflate either with ordinary péché.
Faith
Approved rendering: foi
Transliteration: foi
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: croyance, religion
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package (translation reused exactly). Risk tier escalated from the baseline’s Medium to High for this curriculum: 1 John 5:4 identifies ‘notre foi’ as ‘the victory that has overcome the world,’ a load-bearing doctrinal link absent from Romans.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: communion fraternelle (horizontal sense only)
Transliteration: communion fraternelle
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: communion (bare, unqualified)
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Fellowship
Inherited from Romans package. The qualifier ‘fraternelle’ remains correct ONLY for horizontal, believer-to-believer fellowship (1:7; 4:12). Risk escalated from the baseline’s Low to High because 1 John also uses this Greek word for VERTICAL fellowship with God (1:3), where ‘fraternelle’ is a category mismatch — see ‘fellowship_vertical’ for the required split.
Fellowship Vertical
Approved rendering: communion avec le Père et le Fils / communion avec Dieu
Transliteration: communion avec le Père et le Fils
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: communion fraternelle (category mismatch — God is not a ‘frère’), communion (bare — defaults to the Eucharist)
Original: κοινωνία (1 John 1:3)
Category: Fellowship
NEW required baseline extension. 1 John 1:3’s vertical fellowship with God must never be rendered with the baseline’s ‘fraternelle’ qualifier nor left as bare ‘communion,’ which French readers hear first as receiving the Eucharist.
Light
Approved rendering: lumière
Transliteration: lumière
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: φῶς
Category: Light
God’s flawless moral purity and self-revealing truthfulness (1:5,7; 2:8-10). French secular/esoteric usage (‘les Lumières’ rationalism; New Age ‘lumière intérieure’) risks drift toward generic spiritual illumination, losing the anti-sin, moral-purity force.
World
Approved rendering: monde
Transliteration: monde
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: κόσμος
Category: Overcoming the World
Ranges between humanity-as-loved (4:9) and world-system-in-rebellion (2:15). Single French word ‘monde’ cannot itself disambiguate; every occurrence (2:15-17; 3:1,13; 4:1-5,9,14,17; 5:4-5,19) requires contextual evaluation.
Test Spirits
Approved rendering: éprouver
Transliteration: éprouver
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: discerner (risks importing the broader Ignatian ‘discernement des esprits’ framework)
Original: δοκιμάζω
Category: Testing the Spirits
John’s narrow, specific, public Christological confession test (4:1); must not be assimilated into the established, broader Catholic Ignatian discernment tradition.
Spirit Of Truth Error
Approved rendering: l’Esprit de vérité / l’esprit d’erreur
Transliteration: l’Esprit de vérité / l’esprit d’erreur
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας / πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης
Category: Testing the Spirits
Capitalization discipline (l’Esprit vs. l’esprit) is essential (4:6) to avoid implying two competing personal divine/demonic beings rather than John’s point about the content of a confession.
Anointing
Approved rendering: onction
Transliteration: onction
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: χρῖσμα
Category: Testing the Spirits
The Spirit’s universal, direct gift to every believer (2:20,27). French Catholic sacramental practice (extrême-onction, chrismation) risks an institutionally-mediated reading, undoing John’s anti-elitist point against the false teachers’ exclusive-knowledge claim.
Born Of God
Approved rendering: né de Dieu
Transliteration: né de Dieu
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Rejected alternatives: adoption filiale (category mismatch — legal metaphor, not organic-birth metaphor)
Original: γεννάω (γεγέννηται / γεγεννημένος)
Category: New Birth
Organic-birth regeneration metaphor (2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18), distinct from the baseline’s legal-adoption metaphor ‘adoption filiale’ (Romans 8); teach the two side by side, never merged.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: enfants de Dieu
Transliteration: enfants de Dieu
Doctrine: Sonship / Divine Filiation
Rejected alternatives: adoption filiale (parallel but distinct metaphor — do not merge)
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: New Birth
Believers’ identity as God’s own offspring by new birth (3:1-2,10), parallel to but distinct from ‘adoption filiale’; teach both family-metaphors side by side.
Seed Of God
Approved rendering: [avoid bare “semence”] — “ce qui est né de Dieu” (périphrase)
Transliteration: ce qui est né de Dieu
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Rejected alternatives: sa semence (archaic/crude register, already rejected by the Romans baseline for the unrelated ‘seed of David’ metaphor)
Original: σπέρμα αὐτοῦ
Category: New Birth
The abiding, generative divine principle implanted at new birth (3:9). Avoid a literal ‘sa semence demeure en lui’; use periphrasis consistent with TOB/NBS/BJ.
Perfected Love
Approved rendering: parvenu(e) à son accomplissement / parfait(e)
Transliteration: parvenu(e) à son plein accomplissement
Doctrine: Perfected Love Casting Out Fear
Rejected alternatives: parfait (bare) — risks a flawlessness/moral-perfectionism reading
Original: τελειόω / τέλειος
Category: Love
Love brought to its intended, mature goal (2:5; 4:12,17,18), not sinless achievement. Recommend periphrasis ‘parvenu(e) à son plein accomplissement’ over bare ‘parfaite’ in catechetical contexts, given live French Catholic penitential anxiety around ‘être parfait.‘
Antichrist
Approved rendering: antichrist
Transliteration: antichrist
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Antichrist
A present, recurring category of Christological denial (2:18,22; 4:3), per John’s own explicit definition — not a single future world-ruler. French pop culture (horror cinema, esoteric literature) popularizes the singular-supervillain reading; define explicitly at first occurrence.
Advocate
Approved rendering: avocat (TOB alt.: défenseur)
Transliteration: avocat
Doctrine: Christ’s Advocacy and Propitiation
Original: παράκλητος
Category: Christology
Christ’s ongoing heavenly intercession (2:1). ‘Avocat’ risks reducing this relational intercession to legal technicality; also risks confusion with the Holy Spirit’s own ‘Paraclete’ title in John’s Gospel. Gloss relationally at first use.
Medium Risk Terms
Darkness
Approved rendering: ténèbres
Transliteration: ténèbres
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: σκότος / σκοτία
Category: Light
Moral/relational opposite of light (1:5-6; 2:8-11); risk of an under-emphasized, merely atmospheric reading unless the moral sense is reinforced by context.
Walk
Approved rendering: marcher
Transliteration: marcher
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: vivre selon… (paraphrase that loses the established idiom)
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Sanctification
Retain the established French Bible idiom ‘marcher dans la lumière/les ténèbres’ (1:6-7; 2:6) rather than paraphrasing.
Truth
Approved rendering: vérité
Transliteration: vérité
Doctrine: Truth vs. Deception / Spirit of Error
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
God’s objective, self-consistent trustworthiness (1:6,8; 2:4,21; 3:18-19; 4:6; 5:6). Contemporary relativistic French usage (‘ma vérité’) risks subjectivizing this into personal opinion.
Manifested
Approved rendering: manifester
Transliteration: manifester
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: exprimer (too vague), démontrer (risks a purely symbolic reading)
Original: φανερόω
Category: Incarnation
Concrete historical disclosure (1:2; 3:5,8; 4:9), not vague symbolic demonstration; keep distinct from ‘avènement’ (the future coming).
Cleanse
Approved rendering: purifier
Transliteration: purifier
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: καθαρίζω
Category: Sin
Moral cleansing accomplished by Christ’s blood (1:7,9); risk of a ritual-purification-only reading.
Forgive
Approved rendering: pardonner
Transliteration: pardonner
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: ἀφίημι
Category: Sin
God’s judicial pardon of confessed sin (1:9); safe alone, but paired with ‘confesser’ requires a joint clarifying note (direct divine pardon, not sacramental absolution).
Faithful And Just
Approved rendering: fidèle et juste
Transliteration: fidèle et juste
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: πιστὸς καὶ δίκαιος
Category: Sin
God’s own character guarantees his forgiveness (1:9); δίκαιος shares its root with the ‘justice’ term family — maintain consistency.
Self Purify
Approved rendering: se purifier
Transliteration: se purifier
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: ἁγνίζω
Category: Sanctification
The believer’s active, hope-driven self-discipline (3:3), distinct from the passive ‘cleansed by Christ’s blood’ sense of ‘purifier’ (1:9).
Lawlessness
Approved rendering: iniquité
Transliteration: iniquité
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἀνομία
Category: Sin
Sin defined at its root as rebellion against God’s moral order generally (3:4), broader than the baseline’s narrowly-Mosaic capitalized ‘la Loi’; do not apply that narrow Torah-specific framing here.
Believe
Approved rendering: croire
Transliteration: croire
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: πιστεύω
Category: Faith
Verb form of the baseline noun ‘foi’ (3:23; 4:1,16; 5:1,5,10,13), not separately recorded in the Romans baseline; must resist drifting toward secular French ‘croire que’ (tentative opinion).
Brother
Approved rendering: frère
Transliteration: frère
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church
Fellow member of the believing community (2:9-11; 3:10,14-17; 4:20-21). Grammatically masculine but functionally inclusive of the whole believing community; clarify in teaching notes.
Worldly Desires
Approved rendering: la convoitise de la chair, la convoitise des yeux, et l’orgueil de la vie
Transliteration: la convoitise de la chair, la convoitise des yeux, et l’orgueil de la vie
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός, ἐπιθυμία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου
Category: Overcoming the World
The threefold anatomy of worldly desire (2:16); ‘chair’ here denotes fallen appetite, not the literal body — must be distinguished from the positive-referent ‘chair’ of the Incarnation (4:2).
Confidence
Approved rendering: assurance / pleine assurance
Transliteration: assurance / pleine assurance
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: παρρησία
Category: Assurance
Unashamed confidence before God (2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14). Minor risk of confusion with the secular ‘insurance’ sense; maintain consistency with the doctrine name ‘Assurance of Salvation’ across all occurrences.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: vie éternelle
Transliteration: vie éternelle
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Assurance
A present, relational, qualitative possession (1:2; 2:25; 3:15; 5:11-13,20), not merely a future hope or unending biological existence — anchor to 5:13’s ‘that you may know.‘
Fear Dread
Approved rendering: crainte
Transliteration: crainte
Doctrine: Perfected Love Casting Out Fear
Rejected alternatives: peur (viable but less standard in French Bible tradition for this verse)
Original: φόβος
Category: Love
The servile dread of condemnation cast out by perfected love (4:18); must be distinguished from the positive reverential ‘crainte de l’Éternel’ used elsewhere in Scripture.
The True One
Approved rendering: le Véritable / le vrai [Dieu]
Transliteration: le Véritable
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: ὁ ἀληθινός
Category: God
God’s genuineness contrasted with counterfeit idols (5:20); distinct nuance from ‘vérité’ (truth as a quality) — do not flatten into a repeat of that term family.
Overcome Victory
Approved rendering: vaincre / victoire
Transliteration: vaincre / victoire
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: νικάω / νίκη
Category: Overcoming the World
Believers’ decisive victory over false teaching/worldly opposition (2:13-14; 4:4; 5:4-5), grounded in ‘he who is in you’ (4:4) — not self-achieved triumphalism.
The Evil One
Approved rendering: le Mauvais (avoid unqualified le Malin)
Transliteration: le Mauvais
Doctrine: The Evil One and Spiritual Warfare
Rejected alternatives: le Malin (unqualified — colloquial ‘sly/cunning person’ connotation trivializes Satan’s malevolence)
Original: ὁ πονηρός
Category: Overcoming the World
Satan, the personal malevolent power under whose sway ‘the world’ (dualistic sense) lies (3:12; 5:19). ‘Le Mauvais’ is the safer default.
Parousia
Approved rendering: avènement / venue
Transliteration: avènement
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: parousie (too technical for this curriculum’s lycée-level reading target)
Original: παρουσία
Category: Eschatology
Christ’s future, visible return (2:28), the horizon against which present abiding-in-him is measured. Distinct from ‘manifester’ (the first coming/Incarnation) — do not conflate the two ‘comings.‘
Commandment
Approved rendering: commandement
Transliteration: commandement
Doctrine: Obedience to God’s Commandments
Rejected alternatives: la Loi (Mosaic Law — category mismatch)
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Love
Christ’s own authoritative charge, especially the love-command (2:3-8; 3:22-24; 4:21; 5:2-3); must be kept distinct from the Romans baseline’s capitalized ‘la Loi’ (narrowly Mosaic Torah).
Owe Ought
Approved rendering: devoir
Transliteration: devoir
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ὀφείλω
Category: Love
Believers’ grateful obligation to love one another (4:11; also 3:16). French ‘devoir’ risks sounding like merit-earning duty rather than a grateful, love-generated response if unqualified — echoes the Romans baseline’s grace-versus-merit caution.
Know Relational
Approved rendering: connaître
Transliteration: connaître
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: savoir (loses relational/experiential nuance)
Original: γινώσκω
Category: Faith
Relational, experiential knowledge of God’s character (throughout; especially 4:6-8,16), not merely propositional knowledge; French ‘connaître’ preserves this distinction from ‘savoir’ — maintain consistently.
Abide
Approved rendering: demeurer
Transliteration: demeurer
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Original: μένω
Category: Fellowship
High-frequency Johannine key term (12+ uses: 2:6,10,14,17,24,27-28; 3:6,9,14-15,17,24; 4:12-13,15-16). Risk of a merely spatial/residential reading; reinforce the relational, mutual-indwelling force at every occurrence.
Stumbling Block
Approved rendering: occasion de chute
Transliteration: occasion de chute
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: scandale (modern French: public controversy, loses the ‘cause of another’s stumbling’ sense)
Original: σκάνδαλον
Category: Sanctification
The one who loves his brother provides no cause for others to stumble into sin (2:10); avoid bare ‘scandale.‘
Devil
Approved rendering: diable
Transliteration: diable
Doctrine: The Evil One and Spiritual Warfare
Original: διάβολος
Category: Overcoming the World
The personal, hostile spiritual adversary (3:8,10); fairly stable, but risk of folkloric-superstition caricature diluting the serious personal-adversary sense.
Eyewitness Testimony
Approved rendering: entendu, vu, contemplé, touché
Transliteration: entendu, vu, contemplé, touché
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ἀκηκόαμεν, ἑωράκαμεν, ἐθεασάμεθα, ἐψηλάφησαν
Category: Incarnation
The fourfold, emphatic sensory testimony (1:1) establishing the real, physical, historical Incarnation against docetic denial; the cumulative redundant emphasis must be preserved, not compressed.
The Holy One
Approved rendering: le Saint
Transliteration: le Saint
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
1 John 2:20 names the source of the believer’s anointing ‘the Holy One’ (ὁ ἅγιος) — a singular, Christological/theological title. Must not be confused with the Romans baseline’s absent corporate title ‘saints’ (ἅγιοι), which does not occur in 1 John.
Low Risk Terms
Deceive Self
Approved rendering: se tromper / s’égarer
Transliteration: se tromper / s’égarer
Doctrine: Truth vs. Deception / Spirit of Error
Original: πλανάω
Category: Sin
Self-deception about one’s own sinfulness (1:8; 2:26; 3:7), not mere factual error.
Unrighteousness
Approved rendering: injustice / iniquité
Transliteration: injustice / iniquité
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: ἀδικία
Category: Sin
Negative counterpart to righteousness (1:9); stable rendering.
False Prophets
Approved rendering: faux prophètes
Transliteration: faux prophètes
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: ψευδοπροφῆται
Category: Testing the Spirits
Straightforward compound of the baseline term ‘prophète’ (4:1); minimal risk.
Murderer
Approved rendering: meurtrier
Transliteration: meurtrier
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἀνθρωποκτόνος / φονεύς
Category: Sin
Cain as the paradigm intensifying the seriousness of hating a brother (3:12,15); stable rendering.
Lay Down Life
Approved rendering: donner sa vie
Transliteration: donner sa vie
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: τὴν ψυχὴν τίθημι
Category: Love
Christ’s self-sacrificial death as the pattern for sacrificial love among believers (3:16); stable idiomatic rendering.
Day Of Judgment
Approved rendering: jour du jugement
Transliteration: jour du jugement
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως
Category: Eschatology
The future, eschatological day of divine judgment (4:17), the reference point for present assurance; stable phrase.
Punishment
Approved rendering: châtiment
Transliteration: châtiment
Doctrine: Perfected Love Casting Out Fear
Original: κόλασις
Category: Eschatology
Retributive suffering anticipated by servile dread (4:18); do not soften to mere discomfort.
Know With Certainty
Approved rendering: afin que vous sachiez
Transliteration: afin que vous sachiez
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: εἴδω / οἶδα (ἵνα εἰδῆτε)
Category: Assurance
The letter’s explicit stated purpose (5:13): settled certainty, not tentative hope.
Petition
Approved rendering: requête / demande
Transliteration: requête / demande
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: αἴτημα
Category: Faith
Confident prayer per God’s will (5:15); ties the Romans baseline’s ‘intercession’ doctrine to this letter’s assurance theme.
Idols
Approved rendering: idoles
Transliteration: idoles
Doctrine: Warning Against Idols
Original: εἴδωλα
Category: God
Stable rendering (5:21); teaching notes may extend the sense beyond literal statuary to any rival object of ultimate devotion.
Savior
Approved rendering: Sauveur
Transliteration: Sauveur
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: σωτήρ
Category: Christology
Christ’s identity as the unique agent of the world’s rescue (4:14); minor risk of a generic ‘rescuer’ reading if theological weight is not reinforced by context.
Testify
Approved rendering: témoigner / témoignage
Transliteration: témoigner
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Faith
Reliable, first-hand eyewitness testimony (1:2; 4:14; 5:6-10); French ‘témoigner’ retains the eyewitness/legal-reliability sense well.
Liar
Approved rendering: menteur
Transliteration: menteur
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ψεύστης
Category: Sin
John’s blunt diagnostic category for false profession (1:10; 2:4,22; 4:20); stable, recurring rhetorical marker.
See Behold
Approved rendering: voir / contempler
Transliteration: voir / contempler
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ὁράω / θεάομαι
Category: Christology
Eyewitness and beholding-in-hope senses (1:1; 3:2; 4:12,14,20); distinguish the attentive-gazing nuance of ‘contempler’ where relevant.
Joy
Approved rendering: joie
Transliteration: joie
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Original: χαρά
Category: Fellowship
The relational, communal joy of shared fellowship and testimony (1:4); stable rendering.
Last Hour
Approved rendering: la dernière heure
Transliteration: la dernière heure
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ἐσχάτη ὥρα
Category: Eschatology
The present-age eschatological marker signaled by the appearance of antichrists (2:18); stable phrase.
Compassion
Approved rendering: compassion
Transliteration: compassion
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: entrailles de compassion (archaic, literal)
Original: σπλάγχνα
Category: Love
Concrete compassion toward a brother in material need, the visible test of love (3:17); modern French favors ‘compassion’ over the archaic literal rendering.
Understanding
Approved rendering: intelligence / discernement
Transliteration: intelligence
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: διάνοια
Category: Faith
The Son’s gift of spiritual understanding (5:20), contrasted with false teachers’ claims to superior gnosis; stable rendering.
Passed From Death To Life
Approved rendering: nous sommes passés de la mort à la vie
Transliteration: nous sommes passés de la mort à la vie
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: μεταβεβήκαμεν ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου εἰς τὴν ζωήν
Category: New Birth
The definitive, already-accomplished transfer of state marking new birth (3:14), evidenced by love for the brethren; stable literal rendering.
Referenced passages