Core Glossary
Core Glossary: 1 Thessalonians (French)
Purpose
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md across the whole of 1 Thessalonians, chapters 1–5, plus the verse-by-verse core passage (4:13–18). Terms already fixed in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked Reused and MUST be rendered exactly as recorded there — no alternative renderings are permitted. Terms new to this curriculum are marked New and are proposed additions to an extended translation memory for Phase 2, pending theologian sign-off on Critical/High entries.
Risk tiers follow the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json definitions exactly:
- Critical — mistranslation destroys essential doctrine; human theologian review required for every occurrence.
- High — mistranslation creates significant theological confusion or denominational-conflation risk; human theologian review required.
- Medium — mistranslation reduces clarity but preserves essential meaning; native speaker review recommended.
- Low — minor imprecision risk; automated review sufficient.
Table A — Terms Reused Exactly from the Romans Baseline Translation Memory
| Term (English) | French Rendering | Risk | Doctrine Tie-In (this curriculum) | Chapters | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gospel | Évangile | Low | The Return of Christ (proclamation basis) | 1, 2 | Reused verbatim; no deviation. |
| grace | grâce | High | Sanctification (grace-empowered, not merit-based) | 1, 5 | Reused verbatim. |
| faith | foi | Medium | Resurrection of Believers (4:14 evidential faith) | 1, 3, 5 | Reused verbatim. |
| church | Église | High | Church as recipient of the letter | 1 | Local gathered body sense; not institutional. |
| lord | Seigneur | High | The Return of Christ; The Day of the Lord | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | Highest-frequency Critical/High term in the letter; consistency essential. |
| jesus | Jésus | Low | Christology throughout | 1, 4, 5 | Reused verbatim. |
| god | Dieu | Medium | Throughout | 1–5 | Reused verbatim. |
| holy_spirit | Esprit Saint | Medium | Sanctification | 1, 4, 5 | Reused verbatim. |
| father | Père | Medium | Adoption/relational address | 1, 3 | Reused verbatim. |
| resurrection | résurrection | Medium | Resurrection of Believers (core doctrine) | 4 | Reused verbatim; doctrinal center of the core passage. |
| holy | saint | Medium | Sanctification | 3, 4, 5 | Reused verbatim. |
| saints | saints | High | Return of Christ (accompanying “his saints,” 3:13) | 3 | Corporate-believer clarifying gloss required; genuine ambiguity (angels/believers) noted. |
| sanctification | sanctification | Medium | Sanctification (core doctrine) | 4, 5 | Reused verbatim; the letter’s most explicit “will of God” statement (4:3). |
| called / calling | appelé / appel | Medium/High | Assurance grounded in God’s faithful calling | 5 | ”Faithful is he who calls” (5:24) ties to Romans “effectual_calling”/“providence.” |
| election | élection | High | God’s sovereign choice of the Thessalonians | 1 | Same political-election collision risk as Romans. |
| apostle | apôtre | Low | Authorial authority | 1, 2 | Reused verbatim. |
| thanksgiving | action de grâce | Low | Recurring epistolary thanksgiving | 1, 5 | Reused verbatim. |
| gentiles | païens | Medium | Moral contrast-class (4:5), distinct from Romans’ mission-inclusion use | 4 | Same French term, different rhetorical framing — flag for teaching notes. |
| peace | paix | Low | Closing benediction | 1, 5 | Reused verbatim. |
| exhort | exhorter / encourager (context-sensitive) | Low/Medium | Mutual comfort in grief (4:18); community exhortation (5:12-14) | 4, 5 | 4:18 requires “consolez/encouragez,” NOT “exhortez” — documented deviation, context-driven, per baseline’s own context-sensitivity note. |
| glory | gloire | Medium | Doxological framing | 2 | Reused verbatim. |
| salvation | salut | Medium | The Day of the Lord (helmet of the hope of salvation) | 5 | Reused verbatim. |
| son_of_god | Fils de Dieu | Critical | The Return of Christ (waiting for God’s Son from heaven) | 1 | Reused verbatim; full phrase mandatory. |
| prophecy | prophétie | Low (Medium in context) | Spiritual gifts / church order | 5 | Elevated to Medium risk in combination with “quench the Spirit” charismatic-gifts sensitivity. |
Table B — New Terms Introduced by 1 Thessalonians
| Term (English) | French Rendering | Risk | Doctrine Tie-In | Chapters | Rejected Alternatives | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| hope | espérance | Critical | Hope in Grief; The Return of Christ | 1, 4, 5 | ”espoir” (rejected: reduces confident biblical expectation to an uncertain everyday wish) | Single highest-leverage term for “Hope in Grief” doctrine; must be used consistently at every occurrence in the letter. |
| coming / parousia | avènement (always qualified, e.g. “le retour visible du Seigneur,” “son second avènement”) | Critical | The Return of Christ | 2, 3, 4, 5 | unqualified “avènement” alone (rejected: default association with liturgical Advent/first coming); “venue” (rejected: too weak, loses royal-arrival technical sense) | Requires qualifying language at every occurrence to prevent Advent-season conflation. |
| caught up / rapture | enlevés | Critical | The Return of Christ; Resurrection of Believers | 4 | ”ravis” (rejected: false-friend emotional connotation, “delighted,” in contemporary French); invented neologisms based on “rapt-” (rejected: artificial, unattested in established French Bible tradition) | Must not presuppose dispensational pre-tribulation “Rapture” theology vs. single-event readings; flag every occurrence for theologian review. |
| day of the Lord | jour du Seigneur | Critical | The Day of the Lord (core doctrine) | 5 | none (term is lexically stable) | Conceptual risk: must be distinguished in teaching notes from “le dimanche” (colloquial Catholic “jour du Seigneur” = Sunday). |
| wrath (of God) | colère (de Dieu à venir) | High | The Day of the Lord | 1, 5 | bare “colère” unqualified (rejected: reduces to ordinary human emotion, loses judicial/eschatological force) | Always qualify with “de Dieu” and temporal/judicial framing. |
| sleep (euphemism for death) | s’endormir / ceux qui se sont endormis | High | Resurrection of Believers; Hope in Grief | 4 | literal “dormir” unqualified in isolated citation (rejected: risks flattening into literal sleep without death-referent for low-literacy readers) | Must not be read as endorsing literal “soul sleep” doctrine; euphemism concerns the body only. |
| meeting [the Lord] (apantēsis) | aller à la rencontre du Seigneur | High | The Return of Christ | 4 | bare “rencontrer” (rejected: loses Hellenistic civic welcoming-escort background) | Teaching note required on the ceremonial-welcome background to prevent a “removal from earth” misreading. |
| the Jews (persecution reference, 2:14-16) | les Juifs [de Judée] (historically anchored) | Critical (flagged for review) | Unity of Jews and Gentiles (cross-reference to Romans baseline doctrine) | 2 | unqualified “les Juifs” without historical anchoring (rejected: documented history of anti-Judaic misuse) | Must be routed to human theologian review; requires historical-contextual framing in all teaching material. |
| vessel (skeuos, 4:4) | son corps / sa propre compagne (context-dependent; ambiguity preserved) | High | Sanctification | 4 | resolving unilaterally to only one reading (rejected: suppresses genuine, unresolved scholarly ambiguity) | Record both readings as alternatives_considered; do not silently resolve. |
| sexual immorality (porneia) | immoralité sexuelle | High | Sanctification | 4 | ”impudicité” (retained as a secondary/traditional-register variant, not primary) | Scope (all sexual activity outside biblical marriage) must be made explicit in teaching notes given contemporary secular French norms. |
| quench the Spirit | n’éteignez pas l’Esprit | High | Sanctification; Spiritual Gifts (cross-reference to Romans baseline) | 5 | none rejected; literal rendering preferred | Do not resolve the charismatic/cessationist contemporary-application debate in the base text. |
| holiness (hagiōsynē, state) | sainteté | Medium | Sanctification; The Return of Christ | 3, 5 | conflating with “sanctification” (rejected: collapses a distinct process/state noun pair) | Keep distinct from “sanctification” (hagiasmos, the process). |
| blameless (amemptos) | irréprochable | Medium | Sanctification; The Return of Christ | 2, 3, 5 | ”sans péché” (rejected: overclaims sinlessness rather than the relational “beyond reproach” sense) | Render identically at all three occurrences. |
| affliction / tribulation (thlipsis) | afflictions | Medium | Hope in Grief | 1, 3 | ”difficultés” (rejected: too mild, loses persecution-specific referent) | Persecution-specific, not generic hardship. |
| brotherly love (philadelphia) | amour fraternel | Medium | Sanctification (community ethics) | 4 | conflating with baseline “communion fraternelle” (koinōnia) (rejected: different Greek term/concept) | Keep distinct from “communion fraternelle.” |
| grief (lypeō) | tristesse / s’affliger | Medium | Hope in Grief (core doctrine) | 4 | omitting the comparative qualifier “as others who have no hope” (rejected: produces a pastorally damaging “do not grieve at all” reading) | Comparative clause must always be retained syntactically. |
| labor pains (ōdin) | douleurs de l’accouchement | Medium | The Day of the Lord | 5 | none | Emphasize suddenness/inescapability over pain per se. |
| sons of light / darkness | fils de la lumière / fils des ténèbres | Medium | The Day of the Lord | 5 | none | Ethical-relational category, not Gnostic ontological dualism. |
| sober / watch (nēphō / grēgoreō) | être sobres / veiller | Medium | The Day of the Lord | 5 | literal-only “ne pas boire d’alcool” for nēphō (rejected: loses the metaphorical eschatological-alertness sense) | Read metaphorically; double-layered image (literal sobriety + spiritual alertness) preserved by “sobres.” |
| spirit, soul, and body | esprit, âme et corps | Medium | Sanctification | 5 | using this verse to assert settled trichotomist anthropology (rejected: overclaims a technical doctrine the verse’s rhetoric does not require) | Rhetorical point is totality, not a fixed three-substance psychology. |
| sanctify wholly (holoteleis) | sanctifie… entièrement | Medium | Sanctification (climactic statement) | 5 | dropping the intensifier and rendering as bare “sanctification” (rejected: loses the letter’s rhetorical climax) | Intensifier (“entièrement,” “tout entiers”) must be retained. |
| cry of command (keleusma) | cri de commandement | Medium | The Return of Christ | 4 | ”un grand bruit” (rejected: loses military-authority nuance) | Preserve authoritative-summons register. |
| trumpet of God | trompette de Dieu | Medium | The Return of Christ | 4 | none | OT covenant-assembly background (Sinai, Joel) needs a teaching cross-reference. |
| clouds (nephelē) | nuées | Medium | The Return of Christ | 4 | flatter “nuages” (rejected: loses theophanic register) | Theophany background (Exodus, Daniel 7) needs a teaching cross-reference. |
| idle / disorderly (ataktoi) | désordonnés | Medium | Church community order | 5 | ”paresseux” (rejected: narrows to laziness alone, losing the broader unruly-conduct sense) | Cross-reference forward to 2 Thessalonians 3 in teaching material. |
| word of God (logos theou) | parole de Dieu | Medium | Inspiration of Scripture (cross-reference to Romans baseline doctrine) | 2 | none | Guard against purely literary/historical-critical reading. |
| crown of boasting | couronne de joie | Low/Medium | The Return of Christ | 2 | ”couronne méritée” (rejected: implies works-merit reward, contradicting grace-alone soteriology) | Frame as relational joy, not merit. |
| imitators (mimētai) | imitateurs | Low/Medium | Sanctification | 1 | none | Behavioral mimicry must remain connected to the Spirit’s inward work named in the same verse. |
| idols (eidōla) | idoles | Low | Conversion background | 1 | none | Literal rendering; contemporary-idols application belongs in teaching notes only. |
| like a nursing mother (trophos) | comme une mère qui nourrit ses enfants | Low/Medium | Apostolic ministry model | 2 | overly clinical literal rendering (rejected: loses warmth register) | Preserve tenderness register. |
| holy kiss (philēma hagion) | baiser saint / fraternel | Low/Medium | Church community practice | 5 | none | Requires cultural-practice teaching note (distinct from secular “la bise”). |
| thief in the night | comme un voleur dans la nuit | Low/Medium | The Day of the Lord | 5 | none | Image concerns suddenness only, not moral character of the event. |
| descend (katabainō) | descendra | Low | The Return of Christ | 4 | none | Preserve emphatic “the Lord himself.” |
| establish/strengthen (stērizō) | affermir | Low | Christian community care | 3 | none | — |
| the tempter (ho peirazōn) | le tentateur | Low | Spiritual conflict | 3 | none | — |
| test everything / hold fast the good | examinez toutes choses; retenez ce qui est bon | Low | Discernment principle | 5 | none | — |
| God of peace | Dieu de paix | Low | Closing benediction | 5 | none | — |
| live quietly (hēsychazein) | vivre paisiblement | Low | Sanctification (practical ethics) | 4 | none | — |
| lust/desire (epithymia, negative sense) | convoitise | Medium | Sanctification | 4 | fixed one-to-one gloss for all NT occurrences (rejected: epithymia is not always negative elsewhere) | Context-dependent gloss, not universal. |
| died for us (apethanontos hyper hēmōn) | mort pour nous | High (review-flagged) | Assurance / atonement | 5 | none | Flag for theologian review per baseline atonement-language escalation rule. |
| precede (phthanō) | précéder | Low | Resurrection of Believers | 4 | none | — |
| bring (agō) | ramener / faire venir | Low | Resurrection of Believers | 4 | none | — |
| word from the Lord (logos kyriou) | une parole du Seigneur | Medium | The Return of Christ (revelatory authority) | 4 | ”selon mes propres mots” (rejected: loses divine-authority claim) | Must retain authoritative-revelation sense. |
| archangel | archange | Low | The Return of Christ | 4 | none | Note: no specific archangel is named in the text, despite Catholic devotional association with Michel/Gabriel/Raphaël. |
Summary Statistics
| Risk Tier | Count (New Terms) | Count (Reused Terms) | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Critical | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| High | 8 | 6 | 14 |
| Medium | 16 | 7 | 23 |
| Low | 13 | 5 | 18 |
| Total | 41 | 19 | 60 |
Terms requiring mandatory human theologian review (Critical/High): hope (espérance); coming/parousia (avènement); caught up/rapture (enlevés); day of the Lord (jour du Seigneur); wrath (colère de Dieu); sleep-euphemism (s’endormir); meeting the Lord (rencontre); “the Jews” persecution reference (2:14-16); vessel (skeuos, 4:4); sexual immorality (porneia); quench the Spirit; died for us (atonement flag); plus all Table A Critical/High reused terms (grace, church, lord, election, saints, son_of_god, called/calling).
Recommendation for Phase 2: Table B entries marked Critical or High should be submitted to human theologian review and formally added to an extended translation_memory.json (versioned as an addendum to the Romans baseline, not a replacement) before any Phase 2 segment translation of 1 Thessalonians begins.
Critical Risk Terms
Resurrection
Approved rendering: résurrection
Transliteration: résurrection
Doctrine: Resurrection of Believers
Rejected alternatives: renaissance, rebond
Original: ἀνάστασις / ἀνίστημι
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package with translation unchanged, but RISK ELEVATED from the baseline’s Medium to Critical for this curriculum: 4:13-18 makes Christ’s literal, bodily resurrection the entire evidential chain underlying believers’ resurrection hope, so a metaphorical or naturalistic drift here collapses the core passage’s argument rather than merely reducing its clarity. Elevation documented in 07_semantic_analysis.md and doctrine_risk_registry.json for this curriculum.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Fils de Dieu
Transliteration: Fils de Dieu
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ / The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: envoyé de Dieu, homme divin
Original: υἱὸς (τοῦ θεοῦ)
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly; full phrase mandatory. In 1:10 ties the doctrine directly to the Return of Christ (‘to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead’).
Hope
Approved rendering: espérance
Transliteration: espérance
Doctrine: Hope in Grief
Rejected alternatives: espoir
Original: ἐλπίς
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Single highest-leverage term for this curriculum’s ‘Hope in Grief’ doctrine. Everyday French ‘espoir’ denotes an uncertain wish; theological ‘espérance’ (TOB, Bible de Jérusalem, Catholic and Protestant catechesis register) denotes settled, evidence-grounded confidence. Must render ‘espérance’ at every occurrence (1:3; 4:13; 5:8) without exception.
Parousia
Approved rendering: avènement (qualified: ‘le retour visible du Seigneur’, ‘son second avènement’, ‘l’avènement futur du Seigneur’)
Transliteration: avènement
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: venue (too weak, loses royal-arrival technical sense), parousie (too obscure for lycée-level register without a gloss)
Original: παρουσία
Category: Eschatology
NEW. The standard theological rendering also names ‘l’Avent,’ the liturgical season commemorating Christ’s FIRST coming; unqualified use risks readers defaulting to that familiar association. Occurs at 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23. Every occurrence must carry a qualifying phrase.
Rapture Catching Up
Approved rendering: enlevés
Transliteration: enlevés
Doctrine: The Catching Up (Rapture) of Living Believers
Rejected alternatives: ravis (false-friend: ‘delighted’ in contemporary French), invented rapt- neologisms (unattested in French Bible tradition)
Original: ἁρπαγησόμεθα (ἁρπάζω)
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Must remain neutral between dispensational pre-tribulational ‘Rapture’ readings (present in francophone charismatic/evangelical circles, with historical roots in J.N. Darby’s French Brethren translation tradition) and the historic single-event reading dominant among francophone Catholic, mainline Protestant, and Reformed scholarship. Occurs at 4:17. Flag every occurrence for theologian review.
Day Of The Lord
Approved rendering: jour du Seigneur
Transliteration: jour du Seigneur
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Original: ἡμέρα κυρίου
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Lexically stable across French Bible traditions, but French Catholic devotional/liturgical usage applies the identical phrase colloquially to ‘le dimanche’ (Sunday). Occurs at 5:2, 5:4. Every teaching-facing occurrence requires an explicit disambiguating gloss distinguishing it from weekly Lord’s Day observance.
Historical Persecution Reference
Approved rendering: les Juifs [de Judée] (historically anchored)
Transliteration: Ioudaioi
Doctrine: Historical Persecution Reference (2:14-16)
Rejected alternatives: les Juifs (unqualified, blanket ethnic indictment)
Original: Ἰουδαῖοι (2:14-15)
Category: Covenant
NEW. France-specific highest-stakes rendering decision in the letter, given France’s significant Jewish community and documented history of anti-Judaic misuse of this exact text. Must be rendered with explicit historical anchoring to first-century Judean persecutors, continuous with the OT prophet-persecution pattern, never as an unqualified blanket ethnic statement. Occurs at 2:14-16. Mandatory theologian review at every occurrence.
Died For Us
Approved rendering: mort pour nous
Transliteration: apothanontos hyper hēmōn
Doctrine: The Atoning Death of Christ
Original: ἀποθανόντος ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν
Category: Salvation
NEW. Lexically simple French phrase encoding a doctrinally Critical substitutionary claim; per the baseline’s existing mandatory escalation rule for atonement/propitiation language, must not drift toward a merely exemplary or sentimental reading. Occurs at 5:10.
High Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: grâce
Transliteration: grâce
Doctrine: Grace (epistolary greeting formula)
Rejected alternatives: faveur, mérite
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Functions in the epistolary greeting/blessing formula (1:1; 5:28); baseline Catholic-sacramental vs. Reformed-sola-gratia tension applies unchanged.
Church
Approved rendering: Église
Transliteration: Église
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: temple (building only)
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. In 1:1 it names the specific local Thessalonian congregation; must not default to the institutional Catholic ‘l’Église’ reading.
Lord
Approved rendering: Seigneur
Transliteration: Seigneur
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ / The Return of Christ / The Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: maître, patron
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Highest-frequency Critical/High term in this letter, occurring in every chapter; eschatological weight (the coming of the Lord, the Day of the Lord) compounds the feudal-historical resonance risk already documented in the baseline.
Saints
Approved rendering: saints
Transliteration: les saints
Doctrine: Sainthood / The Return of Christ (3:13, accompanying saints)
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly; corporate-believer clarifying gloss (‘tous les croyants’) required. In 3:13 the referent (angels, glorified believers, or both) is a genuine, unresolved exegetical ambiguity — record as alternatives_considered, do not resolve unilaterally.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: sanctification
Transliteration: sanctification
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: purification
Original: ἁγιασμός
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package with translation unchanged, but RISK ELEVATED from the baseline’s Medium to High for this curriculum: 4:3’s explicit ‘this is the will of God, your sanctification’ is immediately specified through two further High-risk component terms (porneia, skeuos), such that mistranslating either component distorts the concrete content of the doctrine, not merely its clarity. Keep distinct from hagiōsynē (‘sainteté’, resulting state) — see holiness_state entry below.
Election
Approved rendering: élection
Transliteration: élection
Doctrine: Divine Election and Calling
Rejected alternatives: chance, destin
Original: ἐκλογή
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Same French political/democratic-election collision risk documented in the baseline applies to 1:4’s ‘knowing your election.‘
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: colère (de Dieu à venir)
Transliteration: colère de Dieu
Doctrine: The Wrath of God
Rejected alternatives: colère (bare, unqualified)
Original: ὀργή (τοῦ θεοῦ) / ὀργὴ ἐρχομένη
Category: God
NEW. Bare ‘colère’ is the ordinary French word for human emotional anger; must always be qualified (‘la colère de Dieu à venir,’ ‘le jugement de Dieu à venir’) to retain the judicial, eschatological force. Occurs at 1:10; 2:16; 5:3; 5:9.
Sleep Death Euphemism
Approved rendering: s’endormir / ceux qui se sont endormis
Transliteration: koimaomai
Doctrine: Resurrection of Believers / Hope in Grief
Rejected alternatives: dormir (literal, unqualified, in isolated citation)
Original: κοιμάομαι
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Koine death-euphemism for the believer’s body. Must not be flattened to literal sleep losing the death-referent, nor read as endorsing ‘soul sleep’ doctrine (circulated in francophone Jehovah’s Witness literature) — the euphemism concerns the body only. Occurs at 4:13-15.
Meeting The Lord
Approved rendering: aller à la rencontre du Seigneur
Transliteration: apantēsis
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: rencontrer (bare, generic)
Original: ἀπάντησις
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Hellenistic civic-welcome term for a delegation going out to formally welcome and escort an arriving dignitary back into the city; bare ‘rencontrer’ loses this background, risking a one-way-removal-from-earth misreading. Occurs at 4:17; requires a teaching note on the civic-welcome background.
Vessel
Approved rendering: son corps / sa propre compagne (context-dependent; ambiguity preserved)
Transliteration: skeuos
Doctrine: Sanctification / Sexual Ethics and Holiness
Rejected alternatives: resolving unilaterally to a single reading
Original: σκεῦος
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Genuine, unresolved scholarly ambiguity between ‘one’s own body’ and ‘one’s own wife.’ Do not silently resolve; record both readings as alternatives_considered, select per immediate teaching context, and flag for theologian review. Occurs at 4:4.
Sexual Immorality
Approved rendering: immoralité sexuelle
Transliteration: porneia
Doctrine: Sexual Ethics and Holiness
Rejected alternatives: impudicité (dated, moralistic Segond-register; retained only as a secondary variant)
Original: πορνεία
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Broad category covering all sexual activity outside biblical marriage. Contemporary secular French sexual ethics default to a narrower, more permissive standard; full scope must be made explicit in teaching notes. Occurs at 4:3.
Quench The Spirit
Approved rendering: n’éteignez pas l’Esprit
Transliteration: to pneuma mē sbennute
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts and Prophecy
Original: τὸ πνεῦμα μὴ σβέννυτε
Category: Church
NEW. Must remain literal and must not resolve the contemporary continuationist (francophone Renouveau charismatique)/cessationist (Reformed) application debate within the base translation. Occurs at 5:19, paired with ‘do not despise prophecies’ (5:20).
Medium Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: foi
Transliteration: foi
Doctrine: Faith / Resurrection of Believers (evidential faith)
Rejected alternatives: croyance, religion
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. In 4:14, faith in Christ’s death and resurrection is the evidential ground of resurrection hope; keep the object of faith explicit and concrete, not generic piety.
God
Approved rendering: Dieu
Transliteration: Dieu
Doctrine: Conversion from Idolatry
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. In 1:9 the Thessalonians ‘turned to God from idols’ — preserve the personal, living-God contrast against secular-deist flattening.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Esprit Saint
Transliteration: Esprit Saint
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. In 5:19 (‘do not quench the Spirit’) the personal, active-agent sense must be retained; avoid any rendering suggesting an impersonal force.
Father
Approved rendering: Père
Transliteration: Père
Doctrine: Adoption / relational address
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Occurs in the epistolary opening and prayer passages (1:1, 1:3, 3:11, 3:13).
Holy
Approved rendering: saint
Transliteration: saint
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: pur
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Underlies both ‘saints’ (ch.3) and the sanctification word-family (ch.4-5).
Called
Approved rendering: appelé
Transliteration: appelé
Doctrine: Divine Election and Calling
Rejected alternatives: invité
Original: κλητός / καλέω
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly.
Calling
Approved rendering: appel
Transliteration: appel
Doctrine: Divine Election and Calling / Assurance Grounded in God’s Faithfulness
Rejected alternatives: vocation (clergy-narrowing risk)
Original: κλῆσις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. In 5:24, ‘faithful is he who calls,’ grounds assurance in God’s own character, not human effort.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: païens
Transliteration: païens
Doctrine: Church / moral contrast-class
Rejected alternatives: étrangers
Original: ἔθνη
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Note the rhetorical shift at 4:5: here a negative moral contrast-class (‘like the Gentiles who do not know God’), not the Romans mission-inclusion emphasis; same French term, different framing required in teaching material.
Exhort
Approved rendering: exhorter / consoler / encourager (context-sensitive)
Transliteration: exhorter
Doctrine: Mutual Comfort in Grief
Original: παρακαλέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package with translation unchanged (baseline Low), but RISK ELEVATED to Medium for this curriculum: at 4:18 and 5:11 the operative sense is pastoral comfort in grief, not moral exhortation. Render as ‘consolez-vous / encouragez-vous les uns les autres,’ never ‘exhortez-vous.’ A documented, context-driven deviation from the default gloss.
Glory
Approved rendering: gloire
Transliteration: gloire
Doctrine: Glory of God
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Occurs in 2:12, 2:20 (Paul’s converts as his ‘glory and joy’).
Salvation
Approved rendering: salut
Transliteration: salut
Doctrine: Salvation / The Day of the Lord (helmet, the hope of salvation)
Rejected alternatives: délivrance
Original: σωτηρία
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. In 5:8-9, paired with ‘the helmet, the hope of salvation,’ directly linking to the Critical term ‘espérance.‘
Prophecy
Approved rendering: prophétie
Transliteration: prophétie
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts and Prophecy
Original: προφητεία
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package with translation unchanged (baseline Low), but RISK ELEVATED to Medium for this curriculum: 5:19-20’s pairing with ‘do not quench the Spirit’ raises live contemporary charismatic/cessationist application questions among francophone readers that the base translation must not silently resolve.
Holiness State
Approved rendering: sainteté
Transliteration: hagiōsynē
Doctrine: Sanctification / The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: conflating with ‘sanctification’ (process)
Original: ἁγιωσύνη
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Distinct Greek noun from hagiasmos (sanctification, the ongoing process); denotes the resulting state/character of holiness. Occurs at 3:13. Keep lexically distinct from ‘sanctification’ throughout ch.3-5.
Blameless
Approved rendering: irréprochable
Transliteration: amemptos / amemptōs
Doctrine: Blamelessness at Christ’s Coming
Rejected alternatives: sans péché (overclaims sinlessness)
Original: ἄμεμπτος / ἀμέμπτως
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Recurs at 2:10, 3:13, 5:23; render identically at all three occurrences to preserve the letter’s recurring linkage of holiness and the parousia.
Affliction
Approved rendering: afflictions
Transliteration: thlipsis
Doctrine: Hope in Grief (supporting)
Rejected alternatives: difficultés (too mild, loses persecution-specific referent)
Original: θλῖψις
Category: Faith
NEW. Persecution-related suffering, not generic hardship. Occurs at 1:6; 3:3, 3:7.
Brotherly Love
Approved rendering: amour fraternel
Transliteration: philadelphia
Doctrine: Brotherly Love
Original: φιλαδελφία
Category: Church
NEW. Must be kept lexically distinct from the baseline’s ‘communion fraternelle’ (koinōnia, a different Greek concept not used in 1 Thessalonians). Occurs at 4:9-10; cf. 3:12.
Grief
Approved rendering: tristesse / s’affliger
Transliteration: lypeō
Doctrine: Hope in Grief
Rejected alternatives: omitting the comparative qualifier ‘as others who have no hope’
Original: λυπέω
Category: Faith
NEW. Paul forbids hopeless grief, not grief itself; the comparative clause (‘comme les autres qui n’ont pas d’espérance’) must always be retained syntactically. Occurs at 4:13.
Labor Pains
Approved rendering: douleurs de l’accouchement
Transliteration: ōdin
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Original: ὠδίν
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Emphasize suddenness and inescapability, the operative sense, over pain as a secondary connotation. Occurs at 5:3.
Sons Of Light Darkness
Approved rendering: fils de la lumière / fils des ténèbres
Transliteration: huioi phōtos / huioi skotous
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Original: υἱοὶ φωτός / υἱοὶ σκότους (νυκτός)
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Ethical-relational category of belonging, not Gnostic ontological dualism (competing eternal substances). Occurs at 5:5.
Sober
Approved rendering: être sobres
Transliteration: nēphō
Doctrine: Watchfulness and Sobriety
Rejected alternatives: ne pas boire d’alcool (literal-only)
Original: νήφω
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Double-layered image: literal sobriety (contrasted with drunkenness, 5:7) plus metaphorical eschatological alertness; do not flatten to only one layer. Occurs at 5:6-8.
Watch
Approved rendering: veiller
Transliteration: grēgoreō
Doctrine: Watchfulness and Sobriety
Original: γρηγορέω
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Eschatological readiness for Christ’s any-moment return, not literal insomnia avoidance. Occurs at 5:6, 5:10.
Spirit Soul Body
Approved rendering: esprit, âme et corps
Transliteration: pneuma kai psychē kai sōma
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα καὶ ψυχὴ καὶ σῶμα
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Rhetorical point is totality of the whole person kept blameless, not a technical trichotomist anthropology; must not be used in teaching material to assert a fixed three-substance psychology. Occurs at 5:23.
Sanctify Wholly
Approved rendering: sanctifie… entièrement
Transliteration: hagiasai…holoteleis
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: dropping the intensifier, rendering as bare ‘sanctification’
Original: ἁγιάσαι…ὁλοτελεῖς
Category: Sanctification
NEW. The letter’s climactic sanctification statement; the intensifier (‘entièrement,’ ‘tout entiers’) must be retained. Occurs at 5:23.
Cry Of Command
Approved rendering: cri de commandement
Transliteration: keleusma
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: un grand bruit (loses authority nuance)
Original: κέλευσμα
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Secular Koine term for a ship captain’s or military commander’s signal-shout; preserves sovereign, military-style authority. Occurs at 4:16.
Trumpet Of God
Approved rendering: trompette de Dieu
Transliteration: salpigx theou
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Original: σάλπιγξ θεοῦ
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Echoes OT covenant-assembly imagery (Exodus 19; Joel 2); requires a teaching cross-reference for readers with low OT literacy. Occurs at 4:16.
Clouds
Approved rendering: nuées
Transliteration: nephelai
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: nuages (flatter, loses theophanic register)
Original: νεφέλαι
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Recurring OT theophany motif (Exodus 13, 40; Daniel 7:13); elevated biblical-register plural preferred. Occurs at 4:17.
Idle Disorderly
Approved rendering: désordonnés
Transliteration: ataktoi
Doctrine: Living Quietly and the Work Ethic
Rejected alternatives: paresseux (narrows to laziness alone)
Original: ἄτακτοι
Category: Church
NEW. Unruly, undisciplined, work-avoidant conduct, broader than mere laziness. Occurs at 5:14; cross-reference forward to 2 Thessalonians 3 recommended in teaching material.
Word Of God
Approved rendering: parole de Dieu
Transliteration: logos theou
Doctrine: Inspiration of the Word of God
Original: λόγος θεοῦ
Category: Covenant
NEW. Must retain divine authorship against a purely literary/historical-critical reading common in secular French academic culture. Occurs at 2:13.
Word From The Lord
Approved rendering: une parole du Seigneur
Transliteration: logos kyriou
Doctrine: Inspiration of the Word of God / The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: selon mes propres mots (loses the divine-authority claim)
Original: λόγος κυρίου
Category: Covenant
NEW. Grounds the resurrection-and-return teaching (4:15) in direct authoritative revelation, not personal speculation.
Lust Desire
Approved rendering: convoitise
Transliteration: epithymia (pathos epithymias)
Doctrine: Sexual Ethics and Holiness
Rejected alternatives: fixed universal gloss for all NT occurrences of epithymia
Original: ἐπιθυμία (πάθος ἐπιθυμίας)
Category: Sin
NEW. Context-dependent gloss; epithymia is not always negative elsewhere in the NT. Occurs at 4:5, contrasted with holy self-control.
Uninformed
Approved rendering: être dans l’ignorance (de)
Transliteration: agnoeō
Doctrine: Hope in Grief (supporting)
Rejected alternatives: ignorer read with the English false-friend sense of deliberate disregard
Original: ἀγνοέω
Category: Faith
NEW. Occurs at 4:13; French ‘ignorer’ correctly denotes ‘to not know,’ matching the Greek, but translators must not let the English ‘ignore’ (deliberate disregard) sense leak into the French rendering.
Low Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: Évangile
Transliteration: Évangile
Doctrine: Gospel Proclamation and Reception
Rejected alternatives: bonne nouvelle (informal only)
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. In 1 Thessalonians 1:5, 2:2, 2:8-9 additionally carries Paul’s insistence that the gospel came ‘not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit’ — preserve this active, powerful-proclamation sense, not a static message.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jésus
Transliteration: Jésus
Doctrine: Christology
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly.
Apostle
Approved rendering: apôtre
Transliteration: apôtre
Doctrine: Apostolic Ministry Integrity
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Underlies Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy’s shared authority claim (2:6-7).
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: action de grâce
Transliteration: action de grâce
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία / εὐχαριστέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Frames the letter’s opening (1:2) and recurs at 5:18.
Peace
Approved rendering: paix
Transliteration: paix
Doctrine: Peace with God
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Opens (1:1) and closes (5:23) the letter’s major sections.
Love
Approved rendering: amour
Transliteration: agapē
Doctrine: Sanctification (faith-love-hope triad)
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Part of the recurring faith-love-hope triad (1:3; 3:6, 3:12; 5:8, 5:13). Standard, stable rendering; keep distinct from ‘amour fraternel’ (philadelphia), the family-specific expression of this broader love.
Crown Of Boasting
Approved rendering: couronne de joie
Transliteration: stephanos kauchēseōs
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: couronne méritée (implies works-merit reward)
Original: στέφανος καυχήσεως
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Paul’s converts figured as his relational joy at Christ’s parousia; frame as relational joy, not earned merit. Occurs at 2:19.
Imitators
Approved rendering: imitateurs
Transliteration: mimētai
Doctrine: Sanctification (supporting)
Original: μιμηταί
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Must remain connected to the Spirit’s inward work named in the same verse (1:6), not read as mere external behavioral mimicry.
Idols
Approved rendering: idoles
Transliteration: eidōla
Doctrine: Conversion from Idolatry
Original: εἴδωλα
Category: Sin
NEW. Occurs at 1:9; literal rendering, contemporary-idols application (money, celebrity, consumption) belongs in teaching notes, not the base translation.
Nursing Mother
Approved rendering: comme une mère qui nourrit ses enfants
Transliteration: trophos
Doctrine: Apostolic Ministry Integrity
Original: τροφός
Category: Church
NEW. Occurs at 2:7; must preserve the warmth/tenderness register, not an overly clinical literal rendering.
Holy Kiss
Approved rendering: baiser saint / fraternel
Transliteration: philēma hagion
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship (supporting)
Original: φίλημα ἅγιον
Category: Church
NEW. Occurs at 5:26; requires a cultural-practice teaching note distinguishing it from the entirely secular French ‘la bise.‘
Thief In The Night
Approved rendering: comme un voleur dans la nuit
Transliteration: kleptēs en nykti
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Original: κλέπτης ἐν νυκτί
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Occurs at 5:2; image of surprise/suddenness only, not a claim about God’s moral character.
Descend
Approved rendering: descendra
Transliteration: katabainō
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Original: καταβαίνω
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Must preserve the emphatic ‘himself’ (αὐτὸς ὁ κύριος) to keep the personal, direct nature of the event. Occurs at 4:16.
Establish Strengthen
Approved rendering: affermir
Transliteration: stērizō
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship (supporting)
Original: στηρίζω
Category: Church
NEW. Occurs at 3:2, 3:13; Timothy’s mission to establish the church amid persecution.
Tempter
Approved rendering: le tentateur
Transliteration: ho peirazōn
Doctrine: Sin (supporting)
Original: ὁ πειράζων
Category: Sin
NEW. Occurs at 3:5; Satan characterized as the one who tests/tempts.
Test Everything
Approved rendering: examinez toutes choses; retenez ce qui est bon
Transliteration: panta dokimazete, to kalon katechete
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts and Prophecy
Original: πάντα δοκιμάζετε, τὸ καλὸν κατέχετε
Category: Church
NEW. Occurs at 5:21; discernment principle governing the safe application of prophecy.
God Of Peace
Approved rendering: Dieu de paix
Transliteration: ho theos tēs eirēnēs
Doctrine: Peace with God (supporting)
Original: ὁ θεὸς τῆς εἰρήνης
Category: God
NEW. Occurs at 5:23; opens the closing benediction.
Live Quietly
Approved rendering: vivre paisiblement
Transliteration: hēsychazō
Doctrine: Living Quietly and the Work Ethic
Original: ἡσυχάζω
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Occurs at 4:11; practical outworking of sanctification in daily life.
Precede
Approved rendering: précéder
Transliteration: phthanō
Doctrine: Resurrection of Believers
Original: φθάνω
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Living believers will not precede the dead in resurrection order. Occurs at 4:15.
Bring
Approved rendering: ramener / faire venir
Transliteration: agō
Doctrine: Resurrection of Believers
Original: ἄγω
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Implies conscious, personal continuity, not annihilation and re-creation. Occurs at 4:14.
Archangel
Approved rendering: archange
Transliteration: archangelos
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Original: ἀρχάγγελος
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Occurs at 4:16; note that French Catholic devotional culture associates the term with named figures (Michel, Gabriel, Raphaël) — the text names no specific archangel.
Referenced passages