Core Glossary
Core Glossary: 2 John (French)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, covering the entire book of 2 John (its single chapter, vv.1–13). Terms already fixed in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked Reused and MUST be rendered exactly as recorded there — no alternative is permitted. New terms are marked New and are proposed here for addition to this curriculum’s translation memory, with the same risk-tier discipline as the baseline (Critical / High / Medium / Low).
Glossary Table
| # | English Term | Greek | Transliteration | French Rendering | Risk Tier | Verses | TM Status | Notes / Rejected Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elder | πρεσβύτερος | presbyteros | l’ancien | Medium | 1:1 | New | Distinct office-term from “apôtre”; converges helpfully with French Reformed “les anciens” church-office vocabulary. |
| 2 | Elect / Chosen (person) | ἐκλεκτή / ἐκλεκτός | eklektē / eklektos | élue / élu | High | 1:1, 1:13 | New — inherits baseline “election” cautions | Root shares baseline’s High-risk “élection” (political-election collision in French). Must be read as sovereign, gracious divine choice, not competitive process. |
| 3 | Lady / Kyria | κυρία | kyria | la Dame (alt.: Kyria) | High | 1:1, 1:5 | New | Never render as or near “Seigneur” (reserved for κύριος/Christ per baseline). Ambiguous between literal woman and figurative church-address; flag for teaching consistency. |
| 4 | Children | τέκνα | tekna | enfants | Low | 1:1, 1:4, 1:13 | New | Literal or figurative (congregation); keep consistent with v.1 interpretive choice. |
| 5 | Truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | vérité | Medium-High | 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 | New | Risk is secular relativizing (“chacun sa vérité”), not mistranslation. Must anchor to Christ’s person/teaching, not abstract philosophical truth. Recommend adding to curriculum TM immediately given 4x density in vv.1–4. |
| 6 | Love | ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω | agapē / agapaō | amour / aimer | Medium | 1:1, 1:3, 1:5, 1:6 | New | Must be specified as covenantal, self-giving, Christ-modeled love, distinct from French “amour“‘s broad romantic/secular range. |
| 7 | Grace | χάρις | charis | grâce | High | 1:3 | Reused exactly | Per baseline: unmerited, apart from ecclesial mediation. |
| 8 | Mercy | ἔλεος | eleos | miséricorde | Medium | 1:3 | New | Stable, shared Catholic/Protestant liturgical term (cf. “Kyrie eleison” tradition); low drift risk, moderately formal register. |
| 9 | Peace | εἰρήνη | eirēnē | paix | Low | 1:3 | Reused exactly | Per baseline: relational/covenantal, not mere psychological calm. |
| 10 | Father | πατήρ | patēr | Père | Medium | 1:3, 1:4, 1:9 | Reused exactly | Per baseline. |
| 11 | Son (of the Father / of God) | υἱός | huios | Fils (de Dieu / du Père) | Critical | 1:3, 1:9 | Reused exactly | Per baseline “son_of_god”: eternal, unique, co-equal Sonship — never metaphorical/adoptive. |
| 12 | Jesus Christ | Ἰησοῦς Χριστός | Iēsous Christos | Jésus-Christ | Critical | 1:3, 1:7 | Reused exactly | Per baseline “jesus” and “messiah” entries. |
| 13 | Commandment | ἐντολή | entolē | commandement | High | 1:4, 1:5, 1:6 | New | Must not be conflated with baseline “loi” (Mosaic Law); this is Christ’s relational love-command, transmitted from the Father. |
| 14 | Walk (conduct, live) | περιπατέω | peripateō | marcher | Medium | 1:4, 1:6 | New | Metaphorical durative conduct; render identically each occurrence for consistency (3x in vv.4–6). |
| 15 | New (commandment) | καινός/καινή | kainos/kainē | nouveau/nouvelle | Low-Medium | 1:5 | New | Verse’s rhetorical point is denial of novelty — preserve the negation clearly in French syntax. |
| 16 | From the beginning | ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς | ap’ archēs | depuis le commencement | Low | 1:5, 1:6 | New | Stable, unambiguous; grounds continuity/perseverance doctrine. |
| 17 | World | κόσμος | kosmos | monde | Medium | 1:7 | New | Standard NT usage; the domain into which deceivers have gone out. |
| 18 | Deceiver / Impostor | πλάνος | planos | imposteurs | High | 1:7 | New | Rejected: “séducteurs” (Segond tradition) — carries misleading romantic/seductive connotation in modern French. Recommend “imposteurs” (TOB/BJ). |
| 19 | Confess | ὁμολογέω | homologeō | confesser | Critical | 1:7 | New — must align with Romans 10:9 confession pattern already fixed in Language Package | Denial of confession = defining mark of antichrist teaching in this letter; do not weaken to “reconnaître/admettre.” |
| 20 | Coming in the flesh | ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί | erchomenon en sarki | venu en chair | Critical | 1:7 | New (Scripture-text phrase); doctrine name Reused (“incarnation”) | Anti-docetic assertion of genuine, permanent human nature. Distinct wording from Romans 1:3’s “according to the flesh” (Davidic descent) — here the point is metaphysical reality of Christ’s humanity. |
| 21 | Antichrist | ἀντίχριστος | antichristos | antéchrist | Critical | 1:7 | New | Stable across all French Bible traditions; risk is popular-culture horror-genre dilution, not lexical ambiguity. Ground exegetically in denial of the incarnation, not extrabiblical apocalyptic speculation. |
| 22 | Reward | μισθός | misthos | récompense | Medium | 1:8 | New | Apply same grace-not-merit discipline as baseline Romans 4 / 11:5–6 guidance: reward for perseverance within grace, not payment for merit. |
| 23 | Go beyond / overreach | προάγω | proagō | va au-delà (de) / s’écarte de | High | 1:9 | New — escalate to human theologian review | Do not render as “va de l’avant” — in contemporary French this idiom carries a strongly positive “progressive” connotation that would invert John’s warning into apparent praise. |
| 24 | Abide / remain | μένω | menō | demeurer | Medium-High | 1:9 | New | Never flatten to “rester” (passive staying); preserve Johannine relational depth (cf. John 15 vine imagery). |
| 25 | Teaching / Doctrine (of Christ) | διδαχή | didachē | enseignement (du Christ) | High | 1:9 | New | Rejected as primary choice: “la doctrine du Christ” (Segond) — retained as documented alternative, but “doctrine” risks a cold, ideological register in secular French; “enseignement” is warmer and matches this curriculum’s own doctrine title. |
| 26 | Receive into the house | λαμβάνειν εἰς οἰκίαν | lambanein eis oikian | accueillir/recevoir [qqn] dans sa maison | High | 1:10 | New — flag for cultural/native-speaker review | Contemporary French civic discourse around “devoir d’hospitalité” (immigration context) risks misreading this doctrinally conditioned restriction as harsh; clarify scope (itinerant false-teaching role with implied endorsement), not general kindness. |
| 27 | Greeting formula (“Hail”/welcome) | χαίρειν (λέγειν) | chairein (legein) | souhaiter la bienvenue / adresser une salutation | Medium | 1:10 | New | Avoid a bare “dire bonjour,” which reads as petty rudeness rather than a considered withholding of public doctrinal endorsement. |
| 28 | Share / participate (in evil) | κοινωνέω | koinōneō | participer à / avoir part à | High | 1:11 | New — direct collision flag with baseline term | Must never use any form of “communion” here (baseline reserves “communion fraternelle” for positive koinonia doctrine); doing so would produce a jarring, near-blasphemous register collision with “shares in his evil works.” |
| 29 | Evil works | ἔργα πονηρά | erga ponēra | œuvres mauvaises | Low-Medium | 1:11 | New | πονηρός denotes active moral corruption, stronger than casual French “mauvais”; emphasize moral seriousness in teaching material. |
| 30 | Joy | χαρά | chara | joie | Low | 1:12 | New | Stable; relational/community dimension per Johannine usage (cf. John 15:11). |
| 31 | Fulfilled / made complete | πεπληρωμένη | peplērōmenē | accomplie / pleine | Low-Medium | 1:12 | New | Either rendering acceptable; use consistently. |
| 32 | Mouth to mouth (idiom: face to face) | στόμα πρὸς στόμα | stoma pros stoma | de vive voix / face à face | Low | 1:12 | New | Literal “bouche à bouche” is forbidden — carries unrelated resuscitation/intimacy connotations in French; idiomatic equivalence required per baseline idiom-handling rule. |
| 33 | Greet (social closing) | ἀσπάζομαι | aspazomai | saluer | Low | 1:13 | New | Standard epistolary closing; no significant risk. |
| 34 | Sister | ἀδελφή | adelphē | sœur | Low-Medium | 1:13 | New | Literal or figurative (sister congregation); keep consistent with v.1’s “elect lady” interpretive choice. |
Risk Summary for 2 John
| Risk Tier | Count | Review Routing (per baseline framework) |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 5 | Human theologian review (terms 11, 12, 19, 20, 21) |
| High | 9 | Human theologian review (terms 2, 3, 13, 18, 23, 25, 26, 28) — plus reused term 7 (grâce) already Critical/High-routed in baseline |
| Medium-High / Medium | 12 | Native speaker review (terms 5, 6, 8, 10, 15–17, 22, 24, 27, 29, 31, 34 as applicable) |
| Low / Low-Medium | 8 | Automated or native-speaker spot review (terms 1, 4, 9, 14, 16, 30, 32, 33) |
Escalation flags requiring human theologian review beyond standard risk-tier routing:
- Term 23 (προάγω) — specific French idiom-inversion risk (“va de l’avant” reads as praise, not warning); requires theologian sign-off on final phrasing.
- Term 28 (κοινωνέω, negative sense) — direct collision with the baseline’s positive “communion fraternelle” doctrine term; requires explicit confirmation that no “communion” cognate appears in this verse’s French rendering.
- Term 26 (hospitality restriction) — flagged for combined theological and cultural review given contemporary French civic discourse on hospitality/immigration.
- Term 3 (κυρία) — requires confirmation that French rendering never overlaps with “Seigneur” (κύριος).
New terms recommended for formal addition to this curriculum’s translation_memory.json: all 30 terms marked “New” above, pending Phase 1 Step 2 doctrine-analysis sign-off.
Critical Risk Terms
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Fils de Dieu
Transliteration: Fils de Dieu
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: envoyé de Dieu, homme divin
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ πατρός / υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. In 2 John rendered ‘Fils de Dieu’ or, where the immediate Greek reads υἱὸς τοῦ πατρός, ‘Fils du Père’ (1:3, 1:9). CRITICAL: v.9’s assertion that possessing the Father requires possessing the Son is this letter’s clearest statement of the Son’s co-equal, indispensable deity. Must never blur into the believer’s own ‘adoption filiale’ vocabulary used elsewhere in this Language Package for adoptive sonship.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jésus
Transliteration: Jésus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς / יֵשׁוּעַ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Occurs in 2 John 1:3, 1:7 as part of the fixed proper name ‘Jésus-Christ’.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: incarnation
Transliteration: incarnation
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Original: ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο (doctrine name; cf. 2 John 1:7’s ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί)
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package as the doctrine-name term, copied exactly; risk tier ELEVATED from the baseline’s ‘Medium’ to ‘Critical’ for this curriculum, because 2 John 1:7 makes denial of this doctrine the letter’s defining test of true versus false teaching (already reflected in this curriculum’s bible_term_registry.json). Reserve the abstract noun ‘incarnation’ for doctrine headings and exposition only; the verse text itself uses the concrete phrase ‘venu en chair’ (see coming_in_the_flesh below), never the abstract noun, to preserve its blunt anti-docetic force.
Confess
Approved rendering: confesser
Transliteration: confesser
Doctrine: Confession of Christ
Rejected alternatives: reconnaître (weaker, cognitive-only), admettre (weaker, cognitive-only)
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: Christology
New term, 2 John 1:7 (ὁμολογέω/ὁμολογοῦντες). CRITICAL: must match the verb already fixed for the Romans 10:9 confession (‘Jésus est Seigneur’) in the baseline Language Package. The deceivers’ refusal to ‘confesser’ Jésus-Christ venu en chair is the deliberate negative mirror of that positive confession. A weaker verb would sever this NT link and understate that denial of this confession is the defining mark of antichrist teaching, not mere mistaken opinion. Note the secondary risk: French ‘confesser’ also denotes auricular confession of sin (‘se confesser’); teaching material should clarify the sense intended is public doctrinal affirmation, not sacramental confession of sin.
Coming In The Flesh
Approved rendering: venu en chair
Transliteration: venu en chair
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: en chair et en os (colloquial idiom for ‘in person’ — flattens the metaphysical claim), incarné (shifts register toward abstract doctrine-statement, loses blunt physicality)
Original: ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί
Category: Christology
New term, 2 John 1:7 (ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί). Concrete anti-docetic assertion of Christ’s genuine, permanent human nature. FORBIDDEN: the everyday idiom ‘en chair et en os’ (‘in person’), which sits dangerously adjacent and would reduce a metaphysical claim to a mundane statement of physical presence. Distinct from Romans 1:3’s ‘according to the flesh’ (descent from David); here the point is the reality of the incarnation itself. Keep this Scripture-text phrase concrete; reserve the abstract noun ‘incarnation’ for doctrine headings only.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: antéchrist
Transliteration: antéchrist
Doctrine: The Spirit of Antichrist
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Christology
New term, 2 John 1:7 (ἀντίχριστος). Lexically stable, identical across all French Bible traditions — no rendering ambiguity. The live risk is cultural: French horror-cinema and apocalyptic pop-fiction have loaded ‘antéchrist’ with sensationalist, occult-horror connotations absent from the Johannine sense (a present, plural spirit of doctrinal denial, not primarily a single future horror figure). Must always be exegetically anchored to this verse’s own definition (denial of the incarnation), never left to float on cultural connotation. Also distinguish from Islamic ‘Dajjal’ if any comparative teaching material draws the parallel — structurally similar but not equivalent.
Christ
Approved rendering: Christ
Transliteration: Christ
Doctrine: Sonship and Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Messie (reserved for explicit Messianic-promise exposition, not running text)
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
New term, 2 John 1:3 (as part of ‘Jésus-Christ’), 1:7 (object of confession), 1:9 (‘l’enseignement du Christ’). Render ‘Christ’, attached to the proper name as ‘Jésus-Christ’ per standard French Bible convention. Distinguish from the baseline’s separate ‘Messie’ entry, reserved for explicit Messianic-promise doctrinal exposition (e.g. Romans 9:5, 15:8-12); running text in 2 John uses ‘Christ’.
High Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: grâce
Transliteration: grâce
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: faveur, mérite
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Occurs in 2 John 1:3’s threefold greeting (grâce, miséricorde, paix). Must retain the sense of favor given wholly apart from merit and apart from ecclesial mediation, per baseline caution.
Election
Approved rendering: élection
Transliteration: élection
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: chance, destin
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly (root cross-reference only; 2 John itself uses the adjective ‘élue’, see elect_person below). HIGH RISK, distinctly French: ‘élection’ is the everyday word for political/democratic elections. This caution is inherited by every ‘élue/élu’ occurrence in 2 John (1:1, 1:13).
Law
Approved rendering: loi
Transliteration: loi (la Loi)
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Not textually present in 2 John, but retained here as a required cross-reference: ‘commandement’ (ἐντολή, vv.4-6) must NEVER be conflated with, or allowed to absorb the connotations of, this Mosaic-Law term. The two must stay visibly distinct across all teaching material in both curricula.
Lord
Approved rendering: Seigneur
Transliteration: Seigneur
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: maître, patron
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Not textually present in 2 John (κύριος as a Christological title does not occur in this letter), but retained here as a required cross-reference and hard exclusion zone: κυρία (‘lady’, 1:1, 1:5) is grammatically and theologically unrelated and must NEVER be rendered as, or heard to echo, ‘Seigneur’. See lady_kyria below.
Elect Person
Approved rendering: élue / élu
Transliteration: élue / élu
Doctrine: Divine Election of the Recipient
Original: ἐκλεκτή / ἐκλεκτός
Category: Salvation
New term, 2 John 1:1 (‘τῇ ἐκλεκτῇ κυρίᾳ’), 1:13 (‘τῆς ἀδελφῆς σου τῆς ἐκλεκτῆς’). Inherits and personalizes the baseline’s High-risk ‘élection’ caution: applied directly to a named person/community rather than discussed abstractly (as in Romans 9-11), the political-election misreading becomes concrete rather than theoretical. Must always carry a teaching gloss: sovereign, gracious divine choice, not a competitive or merit-based process. Render consistently at both occurrences.
Lady Kyria
Approved rendering: la Dame
Transliteration: la Dame (alt.: Kyria)
Doctrine: Divine Election of the Recipient
Rejected alternatives: Seigneur, Dame Seigneur
Original: κυρία
Category: Church
New term, 2 John 1:1, 1:5 (κυρία). Primary rendering ‘la Dame’ (deliberately preserves the literal-woman/figurative-church ambiguity); ‘Kyria’ recorded as the Segond-tradition proper-name alternative, usable only where a specific lesson commits explicitly to the proper-name reading. ABSOLUTE PROHIBITION: must never be rendered as, or produce any surface echo of, ‘Seigneur’ (reserved exclusively for κύριος/Christ per the inherited ‘lord’ entry). Keep the interpretive choice (literal vs. figurative) consistent across every lesson referencing 1:1, 1:4 (‘children’), and 1:13 (‘sister’).
Truth
Approved rendering: vérité
Transliteration: vérité
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
New term, 2 John 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 (ἀλήθεια), occurring five times in vv.1-4 as the letter’s dominant keyword. Only viable French lexical option, stable across all traditions; the live risk is not mistranslation but underweighting via secular relativizing (‘chacun sa vérité’, ‘la vérité scientifique’). Must be repeatedly and explicitly anchored to the person and teaching of Christ (cf. v.7, v.9), never left as a free-standing abstract or negotiable philosophical category.
Commandment
Approved rendering: commandement
Transliteration: commandement
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Rejected alternatives: précepte (colder, less resonant), ordre (too bare/military)
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Ethics
New term, 2 John 1:4, 1:5, 1:6 (ἐντολή). Correct and stable but register-risky: French ‘commandement’ echoes the Decalogue (‘les dix commandements’), risking a legalistic, Mosaic-Law-flavored hearing. Must be explicitly distinguished from the inherited ‘law’ (loi) entry in every doctrinal explanation — this is Christ’s own relational love-charge received ‘depuis le commencement’, not Torah legislation.
Deceiver
Approved rendering: imposteurs
Transliteration: imposteurs
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: séducteurs (Segond tradition — romantic/seductive connotation trivializes the warning), trompeurs (too flat/generic)
Original: πλάνος
Category: Discernment
New term, 2 John 1:7 (πλάνος). REQUIRED: ‘imposteurs’ (TOB/BJ register). FORBIDDEN: ‘séducteurs’ — in contemporary French carries a strong romantic/charm connotation (‘un séducteur’ = a womanizer) that trivializes or eroticizes a doctrinal warning about denying the incarnation. Deliberate departure from the Segond tradition; flag with a translator note.
Go Beyond
Approved rendering: va au-delà de
Transliteration: va au-delà de
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: va de l’avant (FORBIDDEN — strongly positive ‘progressive’ connotation in contemporary French inverts John’s warning into apparent praise), progresse (same risk), dépasse (acceptable secondary alternative)
Original: προάγω
Category: Discernment
New term, 2 John 1:9 (προάγω). REQUIRED family: ‘va au-delà de [l’enseignement du Christ]’ or ‘s’écarte de’ (TOB/S21 tradition). ABSOLUTE PROHIBITION, escalated to mandatory human theologian sign-off on final phrasing: ‘va de l’avant’ or ‘progresse’ — in contemporary French these carry a strong positive halo (initiative, progress, ‘progressiste’), which would invert the warning into an apparent commendation of doctrinal innovation. Note: Bible de Jérusalem itself uses ‘va de l’avant’ — this curriculum deliberately departs from BJ’s wording on this specific verse.
Abide
Approved rendering: demeurer
Transliteration: demeurer
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: rester (FORBIDDEN — flattens to passive stasis, loses Johannine relational depth), persister (acceptable but less idiomatic to the Johannine corpus)
Original: μένω
Category: Sanctification
New term, 2 John 1:9 (μένω). Must match established French Johannine translation tradition (John 15’s ‘Demeurez en moi’). FORBIDDEN: ‘rester’, the default everyday French verb, which denotes mere passive non-movement rather than active, relational, abiding fidelity. Use ‘demeurer’ uniformly across all Johannine-corpus teaching material in this curriculum.
Teaching Of Christ
Approved rendering: l’enseignement du Christ
Transliteration: l’enseignement du Christ
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: la doctrine du Christ (Segond tradition — retained only as a documented alternative for reviewer awareness, not as the delivered default)
Original: διδαχὴ τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Discernment
New term, 2 John 1:9 (διδαχὴ τοῦ Χριστοῦ). PRIMARY: ‘l’enseignement du Christ’ (TOB register) — warmer, more relational, matches this curriculum’s own doctrine title (‘Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ’). ‘La doctrine du Christ’ (Segond) risks a cold, ideological register in contemporary secular French (‘un doctrinaire’, ‘une doctrine politique’) that could alienate the biblically unchurched readers this curriculum targets. Record ‘la doctrine du Christ’ only as a footnoted historical alternative.
Receive Into House
Approved rendering: recevoir dans sa maison
Transliteration: recevoir/accueillir [quelqu’un] dans sa maison
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Original: λαμβάνειν εἰς οἰκίαν
Category: Church
New term, 2 John 1:10 (λαμβάνειν εἰς οἰκίαν). Lexically straightforward; the live risk is cultural-political, not lexical. Contemporary French civic discourse treats ‘le devoir d’hospitalité’ (esp. in immigration/refugee debate) as a near-unconditional moral good. Teaching material must explicitly narrow this restriction’s scope to an itinerant teaching role carrying implied public doctrinal endorsement and material support — never a general principle overriding ordinary compassion toward strangers or the marginalized. Flag every occurrence for combined theologian + native-speaker cultural review.
Share In Evil
Approved rendering: participer à
Transliteration: participer à / avoir part à
Doctrine: Complicity in False Teaching
Rejected alternatives: communion / être en communion avec (ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN — collides with the baseline’s positive ‘communion fraternelle’ entry, producing a near-blasphemous register clash), s’associer à (acceptable secondary alternative)
Original: κοινωνέω
Category: Sin
New term, 2 John 1:11 (κοινωνέω, negative sense). REQUIRED: ‘participer à’ or ‘avoir part à [ses œuvres mauvaises]’. ZERO-TOLERANCE PROHIBITION on any French cognate of ‘communion’ in this clause, since the baseline reserves ‘communion fraternelle’ exclusively for positive Christian koinōnia — using it here would yield an almost blasphemous-sounding clause. Confirm absence of any ‘communion’ cognate at every review pass; escalate to human theologian sign-off.
Medium Risk Terms
Father
Approved rendering: Père
Transliteration: Père
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Occurs in 2 John 1:3, 1:4, 1:9. V.9’s claim that one cannot ‘avoir le Père’ without also ‘avoir le Fils’ places this term in direct doctrinal partnership with ‘son_of_god’ below.
God
Approved rendering: Dieu
Transliteration: Dieu
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Occurs in 2 John 1:9 (‘n’a pas Dieu’ / ‘a le Père et le Fils’). Same secularization risk as baseline (casual interjection, deist abstraction) applies; here the acute risk is theological, not lexical: ‘avoir Dieu’ is defined by the verse itself as inseparable from abiding in the Son’s teaching.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: communion fraternelle
Transliteration: communion fraternelle
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: communion (bare)
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Reserved EXCLUSIVELY for the positive doctrine of koinōnia. CRITICAL CROSS-REFERENCE: 2 John 1:11 uses κοινωνέω in a NEGATIVE sense (complicity in evil deeds) and must NEVER be rendered with this term or any ‘communion’ cognate — see share_in_evil below. This entry exists in this curriculum’s TM specifically to anchor that prohibition.
Messiah
Approved rendering: Messie
Transliteration: Messie
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Reserved for explicit Messianic-promise doctrinal exposition. Running text in 2 John uses ‘Christ’ (see christ below), not ‘Messie’, per this curriculum’s own registry decision.
Elder
Approved rendering: l’ancien
Transliteration: l’ancien
Doctrine: Apostolic/Pastoral Authority
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church
New term, 2 John 1:1. Self-designation of the author (πρεσβύτερος), a recognized pastoral office, not a mere age descriptor. Converges usefully with French Reformed church polity’s own ‘les anciens’ eldership vocabulary — a genuine asset for that audience segment — but Catholic and secular readers need a brief gloss (‘office, not just age’) to avoid a purely descriptive reading. Distinct office-term from baseline’s ‘apôtre’; do not conflate authority claims.
Love
Approved rendering: amour
Transliteration: amour
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Rejected alternatives: charité (archaic/almsgiving-narrowing)
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Love
New term, 2 John 1:1, 1:3, 1:5, 1:6 (ἀγάπη/ἀγαπάω). ‘Amour’ is the only viable modern French choice but carries the widest semantic field in the letter (romantic, familial, aesthetic, sentimental), unlike Greek’s distinct agapē/phileō/erōs/storgē. Must be fenced every occurrence with relational/covenantal qualifiers (‘l’amour selon le commandement du Christ’), never presented bare in a doctrinal heading. The circular definition of v.6 (love = walking in his commandments; the commandment = walking in love) must survive French word order intact.
Mercy
Approved rendering: miséricorde
Transliteration: miséricorde
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace from the Father and the Son
Original: ἔλεος
Category: Salvation
New term, 2 John 1:3 (ἔλεος), the second element of the letter’s distinctive threefold greeting (grace, mercy, peace — versus most Pauline letters’ twofold form). Well-established, stable, shared Catholic/Protestant liturgical term (cf. ‘Kyrie, prends pitié’); low drift risk, moderately formal register, acceptable for this curriculum’s formal register target.
Walk
Approved rendering: marcher
Transliteration: marcher
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Rejected alternatives: vivre (loses rhetorical repetition), se conduire (loses rhetorical repetition)
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Sanctification
New term, 2 John 1:4, 1:6 (×2) (περιπατέω). Stable across Segond/TOB/BJ, Johannine-idiomatic. Risk of flattening into a single physical act rather than a durative lifestyle; gloss once in teaching notes (‘marcher = vivre de façon habituelle selon…’) rather than varying the verb, to preserve the letter’s deliberate threefold repetition. Render identically at all three occurrences.
World
Approved rendering: monde
Transliteration: monde
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Original: κόσμος
Category: Kingdom
New term, 2 John 1:7 (κόσμος). Standard NT usage; minor risk of a purely geographic/planetary reading in secular French. Teaching material should clarify this is the arena of spiritual and doctrinal conflict, not merely the physical planet.
Reward
Approved rendering: récompense
Transliteration: récompense
Doctrine: Reward for Perseverance in Truth
Rejected alternatives: salaire (sharpens commercial-wage sense unhelpfully), rétribution (same risk)
Original: μισθός
Category: Salvation
New term, 2 John 1:8 (μισθός). Standard and safe, but — like the underlying Greek commercial-wage metaphor — risks a merit-earns-standing reading if presented without qualification. Apply the identical grace-not-merit discipline the baseline requires for Romans 4 and 11:5-6: reward for perseverance within grace-secured salvation, never payment for merit or doctrinal loyalty treated as a meritorious work.
Greeting Formula
Approved rendering: souhaiter la bienvenue
Transliteration: souhaiter la bienvenue / adresser une salutation
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Rejected alternatives: dire bonjour (trivializes into petty social rudeness rather than considered doctrinal refusal of endorsement)
Original: χαίρειν (λέγειν)
Category: Church
New term, 2 John 1:10 (χαίρειν λέγειν). The standard Hellenistic epistolary greeting formula, carrying real social weight as public endorsement. Teaching material must make explicit that withholding it is a deliberate refusal of public legitimation, not modeled incivility.
Evil Works
Approved rendering: œuvres mauvaises
Transliteration: œuvres mauvaises
Doctrine: Complicity in False Teaching
Original: ἔργα πονηρά
Category: Sin
New term, 2 John 1:11 (ἔργα πονηρά). Standard and safe. πονηρός denotes active moral corruption, stronger than casual French ‘mauvais’; emphasize this moral seriousness in teaching material.
Low Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: paix
Transliteration: paix
Doctrine: Peace with God
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, copied exactly. Occurs in 2 John 1:3’s threefold greeting. Relational, covenantal peace, not psychological calm.
Children
Approved rendering: enfants
Transliteration: enfants
Doctrine: Divine Election of the Recipient
Original: τέκνα
Category: Church
New term, 2 John 1:1, 1:4, 1:13 (τέκνα). Stable, unambiguous French rendering. Keep the literal/figurative referent consistent with whichever interpretive choice is made for ‘la Dame’ at 1:1.
New Commandment
Approved rendering: nouveau / nouvelle
Transliteration: nouveau / nouvelle
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Original: καινή (ἐντολὴ καινή)
Category: Ethics
New term, 2 John 1:5 (καινή). Standard and unproblematic. Ensure the negation (‘non que je t’écrive un commandement nouveau’) is preserved clearly in French syntax, since the verse’s rhetorical point is the deliberate denial of novelty in favor of apostolic continuity.
From The Beginning
Approved rendering: depuis le commencement
Transliteration: depuis le commencement
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Original: ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς
Category: Covenant
New term, 2 John 1:5, 1:6 (ἀπ᾿ ἀρχῆς). Stable, unambiguous across French Bible traditions. Grounds the love-command and doctrinal perseverance in unbroken apostolic tradition.
Joy
Approved rendering: joie
Transliteration: joie
Doctrine: Joy in Christian Fellowship
Original: χαρά
Category: Faith
New term, 2 John 1:12 (χαρά). Stable, low-risk; carries a relational/community resonance consistent with wider Johannine usage (cf. John 15:11, 1 John 1:4).
Fulfilled
Approved rendering: accomplie
Transliteration: accomplie / pleine
Doctrine: Joy in Christian Fellowship
Original: πεπληρωμένη
Category: Faith
New term, 2 John 1:12 (πεπληρωμένη). ‘Accomplie’ (Segond-tradition, slightly stronger ‘complete/lacking nothing’) or ‘pleine’ (more natural TOB-register modern French) both acceptable; use consistently within this curriculum.
Mouth To Mouth
Approved rendering: de vive voix
Transliteration: de vive voix / face à face
Doctrine: Joy in Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: bouche à bouche (FORBIDDEN — carries unrelated resuscitation-technique or physical-intimacy connotations in French)
Original: στόμα πρὸς στόμα
Category: Church
New term, 2 John 1:12 (στόμα πρὸς στόμα). Hebraic idiom for direct, unmediated personal communication. A clear case requiring natural French idiomatic equivalence rather than literal transliteration, per the baseline’s idiom-handling instruction.
Greet
Approved rendering: saluer
Transliteration: saluer
Doctrine: Joy in Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀσπάζομαι
Category: Church
New term, 2 John 1:13 (ἀσπάζομαι). Standard epistolary closing greeting; no significant risk.
Sister
Approved rendering: sœur
Transliteration: sœur
Doctrine: Divine Election of the Recipient
Original: ἀδελφή
Category: Church
New term, 2 John 1:13 (ἀδελφή). Standard and safe, but inherits the same literal/figurative ambiguity as ‘la Dame’ (1:1); keep consistent with whatever interpretive choice is made there.
Referenced passages