Semantic Analysis — Galatians (Koine Greek → French)

Methodology

This document analyzes the entire book of Galatians in the original Koine Greek, chapter by chapter, first to last. The core passage (Galatians 2:15-21) receives full verse-by-verse treatment of every load-bearing term. Every other chapter receives a chapter section covering its load-bearing theological terms with the same analytical fields:

• Original — the Koine Greek word/phrase
• Transliteration
• Literal meaning
• Semantic range — the span of meaning the word can carry in Koine Greek usage
• English variants — how major English versions (KJV, ESV, NIV, NASB) render it
• Contextual theological meaning — what the term is doing in this specific verse/passage
• French rendering & risk — the required French term (reusing the baseline Romans Language Package where the term already exists there) and the destination-language rendering risk, with a grounded reason where risk is Medium or above

Where a term already appears in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json, that exact French rendering is reused without alteration, per the hard rule that established renderings are the language authority. New terms specific to Galatians are assigned a risk tier using the same Critical/High/Medium/Low framework as the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json.

Chapters that introduce no new load-bearing vocabulary beyond what has already been analyzed state this explicitly rather than being silently omitted.

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PART A — Core Passage: Galatians 2:15-21 (Verse-by-Verse)

This is the theological hinge of the letter: Paul’s face-to-face rebuke of Peter at Antioch pivots into the letter’s doctrinal thesis statement on justification by faith apart from works of the law.

Galatians 2:15

“We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.”

Greek: ἡμεῖς φύσει Ἰουδαῖοι καὶ οὐκ ἐξ ἐθνῶν ἁμαρτωλοί

Field	Detail
Ἰουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi)	Literal: “Jews.” Semantic range: ethnic-religious identity marker, covenant-people self-designation. English variants: “Jews” (all major versions). Contextual meaning: Paul speaks as a Jewish believer distinguishing the two-category Jew/Gentile framework the argument will dismantle. French: “Juifs” — new term, Low-Medium risk: France’s significant Jewish community and post-war historical sensitivity require the term to remain strictly historical/theological (covenant people), never read as a contemporary ethnic-political statement (cf. baseline israel note).
ἐθνῶν (ethnōn)	Literal: “nations.” Semantic range: non-Jewish peoples collectively. English variants: “Gentiles,” “the nations.” Contextual meaning: the outsider category against which Jewish identity is defined. French: “païens” — reuse baseline exactly (Medium risk, per baseline notes on pejorative modern connotation; prefer “les nations” in mission-emphasis contexts, but “païens” is retained here as the established TM rendering).
ἁμαρτωλοί (hamartōloi)	Literal: “sinners.” From ἁμαρτία. Semantic range: morally culpable transgressors, a Jewish social-religious category for those outside the covenant/law. English variants: “sinners.” Contextual meaning: the derogatory label some Jews applied to Gentiles as a category, not individual moral assessment. French: derived from “péché” — reuse baseline root exactly (“pécheurs”). Medium risk inherited from baseline sin entry (colloquial trivialization risk).

Galatians 2:16

“…yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ…because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Greek: εἰδότες [δὲ] ὅτι οὐ δικαιοῦται ἄνθρωπος ἐξ ἔργων νόμου ἐὰν μὴ διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ…ὅτι ἐξ ἔργων νόμου οὐ δικαιωθήσεται πᾶσα σάρξ

Field	Detail
δικαιοῦται / δικαιωθήσεται (dikaioutai / dikaiōthēsetai)	Literal: “is justified / will be justified.” From δικαιόω. Semantic range: a forensic-legal declaration of right standing, not a process of moral improvement. English variants: “justified” (all major versions). Contextual meaning: the letter’s central verb — God’s declarative verdict of righteous status. French: “justifié / sera justifié” — reuse baseline justification/righteousness family exactly. Critical risk (inherited directly from baseline): this is the same Trent-vs-Reformation flashpoint as in Romans, and Galatians 2:16 is in fact the proof text most cited on both sides of that debate. Must render as a declared, not gradually infused, status.
ἔργων νόμου (ergōn nomou)	Literal: “works of law.” Semantic range: deeds performed in obedience to the Mosaic Torah, including but not limited to boundary-marking rites (circumcision, food laws, Sabbath) and moral commandments generally. English variants: “works of the law,” “observing the law,” “the works of the Law.” Contextual meaning: the entire law-keeping enterprise as a basis for right standing before God — explicitly excluded. French: “œuvres de la loi” — new term, Critical risk. This exact phrase is the fulcrum of the Reformation-Catholic justification controversy (Trent’s canons on justification directly engage “works of the law” language) and, more recently, of the New Perspective on Paul debate over whether “works of the law” denotes ethnic boundary markers or law-keeping in general. Both scholarly debates must be flagged for the human theologian reviewer; the French rendering itself is transparent, but the doctrinal payload is maximal.
νόμος (nomos)	Literal: “law.” French: “loi” — reuse baseline exactly (High risk; capitalize as “la Loi” for the Mosaic referent per baseline convention).
πίστεως Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ (pisteōs Christou Iēsou)	Literal: “faith of/in Jesus Christ.” Semantic range: this is a genitive construction with two grammatically possible readings — (a) objective genitive: “faith directed toward Christ” (belief/trust in him), or (b) subjective genitive: “the faithfulness Christ himself exercised.” English variants: nearly all major versions render “faith in Jesus Christ” (objective genitive), though ESV and NET footnote the subjective-genitive alternative. Contextual meaning: in context (contrasted with “we…have believed in Christ Jesus” later in the same verse, using an unambiguous verb construction), the objective sense — human trust reposed in Christ — is the operative one for the letter’s argument, though Christ’s own faithful obedience is presupposed as its ground. French: “la foi en Jésus-Christ” — reuse baseline faith term exactly, rendered with the objective-genitive construction consistent with Segond/TOB/Bible de Jérusalem tradition. High risk: flag for theologian review whenever this genitive occurs (2:16 [×2], 2:20, 3:22) so the reviewer is aware of the subjective-genitive scholarly alternative, even though this curriculum retains the traditional objective rendering.
σάρξ (sarx, here “πᾶσα σάρξ” = “all flesh”)	Literal: “flesh.” Here used idiomatically for “no human being,” a Hebraic idiom (כׇּל־בָּשָׂר). Semantic range in this specific idiom: humanity in its frailty/mortality, not the moral-battleground sense σάρξ carries in Galatians 5. English variants: “no one,” “no human being,” “no flesh.” Contextual meaning: total universal exclusion — no human being whatsoever is justified by law-works. French: “personne” / “aucune chair” — Low risk in this idiomatic occurrence, but flag distinctly from the theologically loaded σάρξ of Galatians 5 (see Chapter 5 below and the dedicated flesh glossary entry) to avoid conflating the two senses in translator notes.

Galatians 2:17

“But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!”

Greek: εἰ δὲ ζητοῦντες δικαιωθῆναι ἐν Χριστῷ εὑρέθημεν καὶ αὐτοὶ ἁμαρτωλοί, ἆρα Χριστὸς ἁμαρτίας διάκονος; μὴ γένοιτο.

Field	Detail
ἐν Χριστῷ (en Christō)	Literal: “in Christ.” Semantic range: Paul’s characteristic union/incorporation formula — location, instrumentality, and identity all at once. English variants: “in Christ.” Contextual meaning: to be justified in Christ, i.e., by virtue of union with him, not by law-performance. French: “en Christ” — established rendering across all French Bible traditions, Medium risk — cross-reference baseline doctrine christian_identity_in_christ (identity in union with Christ, not heritage/institutional identity).
διάκονος ἁμαρτίας (diakonos hamartias)	Literal: “servant/minister of sin.” Semantic range: διάκονος = one who serves/administers on another’s behalf (root of French “diacre”). Contextual meaning: a rhetorical absurdity Paul rejects — does abandoning the law to be justified in Christ make Christ an agent who promotes sin? French: “serviteur du péché” — Low risk, transparent. Avoid “diacre du péché,” which would wrongly import the later ecclesial-office sense of διάκονος into this verse.
μὴ γένοιτο (mē genoito)	Idiom: “may it never be,” “certainly not,” “God forbid.” French: “Certainement pas!” / “Loin de là!” — Low risk; standard idiomatic rendering across French Bible traditions (Segond: “Loin de là!”).

Galatians 2:18

“For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.”

Greek: εἰ γὰρ ἃ κατέλυσα ταῦτα πάλιν οἰκοδομῶ, παραβάτην ἐμαυτὸν συνιστάνω.

Field

Detail

παραβάτης (parabatēs)

Literal: “transgressor,” “one who steps across (a boundary).” Semantic range: a lawbreaker, one who violates a fixed standard. English variants: “transgressor,” “law-breaker.” Contextual meaning: Paul’s illustration that returning to the law after abandoning it for Christ would prove him a covenant-breaker, not a covenant-keeper. French: “transgresseur” — Low risk, transparent cognate; standard across French Bible tradition.

Galatians 2:19

“For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ.”

Greek: ἐγὼ γὰρ διὰ νόμου νόμῳ ἀπέθανον, ἵνα θεῷ ζήσω. Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι·

Field	Detail
νόμῳ ἀπέθανον (nomō apethanon)	Literal: “I died to law.” Semantic range: a decisive, once-for-all severance of relationship, using the dative of reference/respect. Contextual meaning: the law itself, rightly understood, drove Paul to the very death-and-new-life that ends its jurisdiction over him (cf. Romans 7:1-6’s teaching on death ending legal obligation). French: “je suis mort à la loi” — Medium risk: French “mourir à” is a recognized construction (parallel to “mort au péché” in Romans 6, already established in the baseline curriculum), so the idiom transfers well, but the reviewer should confirm it is not read as Paul dying because of breaking the law (a guilt reading) rather than a legal-relationship termination.
Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι (Christō synestaurōmai)	Literal: “I have been crucified together with Christ.” From σύν (with) + σταυρόω (crucify), perfect tense denoting a past event with continuing effect. Semantic range: co-crucifixion — real participatory union in Christ’s death, not mere imitation or emotional identification. English variants: “I have been crucified with Christ” (nearly universal). Contextual meaning: this is the doctrinal foundation-stone of the curriculum’s “Crucified with Christ” unit — Paul’s old identity under the law and under sin’s dominion has ended through union with Christ’s death. French: “j’ai été crucifié avec Christ” — new term, High risk. The French construction is transparent grammatically, but the doctrinal risk is that readers (Catholic or secular) hear this as devotional imitation of Christ’s suffering (a long Catholic spiritual tradition of “union to the Passion,” e.g., stigmata piety, imitatio Christi) rather than Paul’s specific forensic-and-participatory claim: a real, decisive, once-for-all death to the law’s claim and to the old self. Flag for human theologian review every occurrence.

Galatians 2:20

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Greek: ζῶ δὲ οὐκέτι ἐγώ, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός· ὃ δὲ νῦν ζῶ ἐν σαρκί, ἐν πίστει ζῶ τῇ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀγαπήσαντός με καὶ παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ.

Field	Detail
ζῇ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός (zē en emoi Christos)	Literal: “Christ lives in me.” Semantic range: indwelling presence, not merely influence or example. Contextual meaning: the positive counterpart to co-crucifixion — the old self displaced, Christ’s life now animating the believer. French: “Christ vit en moi” — Low-Medium risk, transparent; cross-reference baseline christian_identity_in_christ.
ἐν σαρκί (en sarki)	Literal: “in flesh.” Semantic range here: the ordinary, neutral sense — bodily, mortal, physical existence in the present age (contrast with the morally loaded σάρξ of Galatians 5). English variants: “in the flesh,” “in the body,” “in this earthly life.” Contextual meaning: Paul’s continuing ordinary bodily existence, now lived by faith rather than under law. French: “dans la chair” — new term, Medium risk: French “la chair” carries strong secular-modern connotations (sensuality, carnal desire, “les plaisirs de la chair”) that risk importing Galatians 5’s moral sense of σάρξ into this neutral bodily-existence sense, or vice versa. Translator notes must distinguish the two senses at every occurrence across the letter.
τῇ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ (tē tou huiou tou theou) — “faith of/in the Son of God”	Same subjective/objective genitive issue as 2:16. French: “la foi au Fils de Dieu” — reuse baseline son_of_god = “Fils de Dieu” exactly, Critical risk (inherited from baseline: eternal, unique, co-equal Sonship, never adoptive or metaphorical — see baseline sonship_of_christ doctrine).
ἀγαπήσαντός με (agapēsantos me)	Literal: “having loved me.” From ἀγαπάω. Semantic range: self-giving, covenantal love, not mere affection. English variants: “who loved me.” Contextual meaning: Christ’s love is the personal ground of the atonement that follows. French: “qui m’a aimé” — Low risk, transparent; foundational instance of the ἀγάπη word-group treated fully in Chapter 5 below.
παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ (paradontos heauton hyper emou)	Literal: “having given himself over on behalf of me.” παραδίδωμι = hand over, deliver up; ὑπέρ = on behalf of, for the sake of/in place of. Semantic range: substitutionary, self-sacrificial surrender. English variants: “gave himself for me,” “delivered himself up for me.” Contextual meaning: the atonement stated in its most personal, first-person form in the letter. French: “s’est livré lui-même pour moi” — new term, High risk: must preserve the substitutionary force of ὑπέρ (French “pour” can be read as merely benefiting someone rather than substituting for them); ensure the surrounding teaching material makes the substitutionary/self-sacrificial sense explicit rather than relying on “pour” alone to carry it.

Galatians 2:21

“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

Greek: οὐκ ἀθετῶ τὴν χάριν τοῦ θεοῦ· εἰ γὰρ διὰ νόμου δικαιοσύνη, ἄρα Χριστὸς δωρεὰν ἀπέθανεν.

Field	Detail
ἀθετῶ (athetō)	Literal: “I set aside, nullify, reject, treat as invalid.” Semantic range: to declare something null and void, to render it of no effect. English variants: “nullify,” “set aside,” “reject,” “frustrate.” Contextual meaning: Paul denies that his gospel of grace apart from law-works cancels out or devalues grace — the opposite is true of the Judaizing position. French: “annuler” / “réduire à néant” — new term, Medium risk; ensure the French verb is strong enough to carry legal-nullification force, not a soft “diminish.”
χάριν τοῦ θεοῦ (charin tou theou)	French: “grâce de Dieu” — reuse baseline grace exactly. High risk (inherited): must always reinforce “apart from merit,” per baseline notes on Catholic sacramental-mediation vs. Reformed sola gratia framing — directly on display in this verse’s argument.
δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosynē)	French: “justice” — reuse baseline exactly. Critical risk (per baseline bible_term_registry.json, elevated from High to Critical for this term specifically).
δωρεὰν ἀπέθανεν (dōrean apethanen)	Literal: “died freely/for nothing/without purpose.” δωρεάν = as a free gift, without cause, gratuitously, in vain (context determines the nuance — here it means “pointlessly,” “to no purpose,” ironically the negative sense of the same root that gives the positive “as a free gift” elsewhere). English variants: “died for nothing,” “died in vain,” “died needlessly.” Contextual meaning: the devastating logical consequence Paul draws if righteousness could be attained through law — the cross becomes pointless. French: “est mort pour rien” / “en vain” — new term, Low-Medium risk; ensure the register conveys the force of a rhetorical reductio ad absurdum, not a casual aside.

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PART B — Chapter-by-Chapter Study of the Whole Book

Chapter 1

Galatians 1 introduces Paul’s apostleship, the letter’s crisis (a rival “gospel”), and grounds both in divine rather than human origin.

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	French rendering & risk
gospel εὐαγγέλιον euangelion good news	authoritative proclamation of God’s saving act ”gospel,” “good news”	The singular, non-negotiable message Paul received and preaches (1:6-9, 1:11)	“Évangile” — reuse baseline exactly. Low risk in isolation, but see next entry — Galatians elevates the stakes by contrasting it with a rival claimant.
another/different gospel ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον / ἄλλο εὐαγγέλιον heteron euangelion / allo euangelion ”a different gospel” / “another gospel”	ἕτερος implies a gospel of a different kind (not simply a second instance); Paul immediately denies it is a gospel at all (“which is not another,” 1:7 — using ἄλλο, “of the same kind”) “a different gospel,” “another gospel”	The Judaizing message requiring law-observance (esp. circumcision) alongside faith in Christ — Paul calls it no gospel at all	new term, High risk. French: “un autre évangile” / “un évangile différent”. In a religiously plural, laïque French context, “un autre évangile” risks being heard as one legitimate option among many equally valid spiritual paths, rather than Paul’s point that it is not a gospel at all. Teaching material must make Paul’s exclusivity claim explicit rather than let “autre” read as neutral alternative.
accursed ἀνάθεμα anathema ”given over/devoted to destruction,” “cursed”	a formal, solemn curse of exclusion/damnation, from ἀνατίθημι (to set up/dedicate — here, dedicated to divine judgment) “let him be accursed,” “eternally condemned,” “cursed”	Paul’s double pronouncement (1:8-9) on anyone preaching a different gospel — the highest possible severity of judgment	new term, Critical risk. French: “anathème”. This is a direct loanword into French from ecclesiastical Latin, and it carries an extremely specific and loaded French Catholic historical resonance: the Council of Trent’s canons repeatedly conclude condemned propositions with “anathema sit” (“let him be anathema”) — including canons on justification directly opposed to the Reformation position this very letter is used to teach. A French Catholic reader encountering “anathème” in Galatians 1 may recall conciliar anathemas historically aimed at Protestant teaching on justification by faith — the opposite direction of Paul’s own use. Requires an explanatory note distinguishing Paul’s apostolic pronouncement on a specific false gospel from the later ecclesial-conciliar usage, and must be flagged for human theologian review at every occurrence (1:8, 1:9).
apostle ἀπόστολος apostolos one sent with delegated authority	see baseline ”apostle”	Paul’s authority is “not from man nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father” (1:1)	“apôtre” — reuse baseline exactly. Baseline Low risk; elevate contextual emphasis to Medium in Galatians because the doctrine “Paul’s Apostleship” specifically concerns the source of his authority (divine, not ecclesial-derivative), which must come through clearly in surrounding exposition even though the term itself is stable.
grace χάρις charis unmerited favor	see baseline ”grace”	Paired with “peace” in the greeting (1:3) and central to the letter’s argument throughout	”grâce” — reuse baseline exactly. High risk (baseline).
called καλέω (aor. pass. ptc. ὁ καλέσας) kaleō to summon	see baseline ”called,” “who called”	God “who called you by the grace of Christ” (1:6) — the effectual, gracious summons now being abandoned for a rival message	”appelé” — reuse baseline exactly. Medium-High risk (baseline).
revelation ἀποκάλυψις apokalypsis an unveiling, disclosure	direct divine disclosure of truth, as opposed to human transmission ”revelation”	Paul received the gospel “through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:12), not from human teachers	new term, Medium risk. French: “révélation”. The Greek word is also the source of French “apocalypse,” which in ordinary modern French usage denotes a cataclysmic, world-ending disaster (not “unveiling”). Use “révélation,” never “apocalypse,” to avoid triggering the disaster-genre association; a brief gloss distinguishing this from the biblical book of the same Greek root name may help low-biblical-literacy readers.
set apart ἀφορίζω (aor. ptc. ἀφορίσας) aphorizō to mark off by a boundary, separate	divine election/designation from birth for a specific purpose ”set apart,” “separated”	God “set me apart before I was born” (1:15) for apostolic ministry	new term, Medium risk. French: “mis à part”. Cross-reference baseline doctrine separation_unto_gods_service — must not collapse into monastic withdrawal; here it specifically denotes God’s sovereign pre-natal designation of Paul for apostleship, parallel to but distinct from Jeremiah 1:5.
Christ Χριστός Christos Anointed One	title become proper name in NT usage ”Christ”	Used as Jesus’ name/title throughout; distinct from the title-emphasis captured in baseline’s messiah entry (“Messie”)	“Christ” — established proper-name form per requirements-document convention. Low risk. Retain “Messie” (baseline) only where the text explicitly foregrounds the fulfilled-promise title sense; Galatians uses Χριστός predominantly as Jesus’ proper name.

Chapter 2 (verses 1-14; verses 15-21 are the core passage, treated in Part A above)

Galatians 2:1-14 narrates the Jerusalem council meeting and the Antioch confrontation, introducing the circumcision controversy that the core passage then resolves doctrinally.

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	French rendering & risk
circumcision περιτομή peritomē the cutting-around (of the foreskin)	(1) the literal Jewish rite; (2) metonym for “the circumcision party,” Jewish believers/Judaizers insisting Gentiles be circumcised; (3) later in the letter, a byword for the whole law-observance requirement ”circumcision”	Titus was not compelled to be circumcised (2:3); circumcision is the flashpoint boundary marker of the whole controversy	new term, High risk. French: “circoncision”. Doctrine: “Circumcision and the New Creation.” No Catholic-Protestant collision as with justification, but two live risks: (1) modern French readers may reduce this to a discussion of a medical/ritual/cultural practice observed today among French Jewish and Muslim communities, missing Paul’s soteriological point that no rite can be added to faith as a condition of righteousness; (2) historical sensitivity is required in framing so the passage is not read as anti-Jewish polemic against the practice itself, but as Paul’s argument (as a Jew) against imposing it as salvation-necessary on Gentile believers.
false brothers ψευδάδελφοι pseudadelphoi false brothers	professing but illegitimate members of the Christian community ”false brothers,” “false believers”	Those who infiltrated to spy out Christian liberty (2:4)	new term, Low-Medium risk. French: “faux frères”. Transparent compound; ensure it is not read as a generic insult but as Paul’s specific category of professing-but-compromising believers.
the truth of the gospel ἡ ἀλήθεια τοῦ εὐαγγελίου hē alētheia tou euangeliou the truth of the good news	the gospel’s unadulterated, non-negotiable content ”the truth of the gospel”	What Paul refused to compromise even briefly (2:5)	Reuse “Évangile” (baseline) + “vérité” — Low risk compound; the phrase’s weight lies in its doctrinal insistence on a single true gospel, reinforcing the Chapter 1 “another gospel” entry above.
hypocrisy ὑπόκρισις hypokrisis play-acting, pretense	a mismatch between profession and practice ”hypocrisy,” “insincerity”	Peter’s withdrawal from table fellowship with Gentiles under pressure from the circumcision party (2:13)	new term, Low risk. French: “hypocrisie”. Transparent cognate; no significant destination-culture collision.
to judaize Ἰουδαΐζω ioudaizō to live according to Jewish customs	adopting Jewish practice/identity markers, here under social pressure rather than conviction ”to live like Jews,” “to judaize”	Paul’s rhetorical question to Peter: why compel Gentiles to ioudaize (2:14)?	new term, Medium risk. French: “vivre à la manière des Juifs” / “judaïser”. Frame carefully and historically (as in Chapter 1’s jew entry) so the term describes a specific first-century social-practice controversy, not a generic or pejorative statement about Jewish people or practice today.

(The remaining terms of Galatians 2 — justification, works of the law, faith, righteousness, law, sin, crucified with Christ, flesh, Son of God, grace — are treated in full in Part A above, verses 15-21.)

Chapter 3

Galatians 3 is the letter’s Old Testament argument: the Abrahamic covenant and promise, the law’s limited and temporary purpose, and the identity of the true heirs.

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	French rendering & risk
promise ἐπαγγελία epangelia a promise, pledge	God’s unilateral covenantal pledge, contrasted with law as a bilateral-performance system ”promise”	God’s promise to Abraham, received by faith centuries before the law existed (3:16-18) — the doctrinal anchor of “Abrahamic Covenant and Promise”	new term, High risk. French: “promesse”. Straightforward lexically, but the doctrinal freight is high: Paul’s entire argument depends on readers grasping that promise (unconditional, faith-received) logically and chronologically precedes and is not overridden by law (conditional, performance-based) — a distinction low-biblical-literacy French readers will not supply on their own.
covenant διαθήκη diathēkē covenant, will/testament	see baseline ”covenant”	The Abrahamic covenant, ratified and unalterable, which the law (arriving 430 years later) cannot annul (3:15-17)	“alliance” — reuse baseline exactly. High risk (baseline); the wedding-ring resonance of French “alliance” is a genuine asset here, reinforcing the relational, promissory (not merely legal-contractual) character Paul insists on.
curse κατάρα katara a curse, imprecation	the covenant penalty for law-breaking; in 3:13, the curse Christ bears on believers’ behalf ”curse"	"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (3:13) — central to “The Law’s Purpose” and to the atonement	new term, High risk. French: “malédiction”. Doctrinally loaded: must preserve the legal covenant-curse sense (Deuteronomy 27-28 background, largely unknown to French readers) rather than reading as a vague superstitious “curse” (folk-magical connotation “malédiction” can carry in casual French usage, e.g., “la malédiction du pharaon”). Requires OT covenant background material.
redeemed ἐξαγοράζω exagorazō to buy out of, ransom, redeem	a commercial-manumission metaphor: purchasing someone (originally a slave) out of bondage ”redeemed"	"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law” (3:13); reused in 4:5 for redemption “from under the law”	new term, Medium-High risk. French: “racheter” (a racheté). The metaphor (slave-market purchase) is not native to contemporary French experience the way it was to Paul’s audience; ensure teaching material supplies the background image (a price paid to free a slave) so “racheter” is not flattened to a generic “help” or “save.”
seed/offspring (of Abraham) σπέρμα sperma seed	singular-and-collective descendant language; Paul’s argument in 3:16 pivots on the singular form pointing to one descendant, Christ ”seed,” “offspring,” “descendant"	"the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his offspring…that is, to one person, who is Christ” (3:16)	new term, following the pattern of baseline seed_of_david (which rejected “semence” as archaic/clinical in modern French). French: “descendance d’Abraham” — Medium risk; retain the baseline’s established preference for “descendance” over archaic/clinical “semence.”
blessing εὐλογία eulogia a speaking well of, blessing	the positive covenant benefit promised to Abraham and, through him, to the nations ”blessing"	"the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles” (3:14)	new term, Low-Medium risk. French: “bénédiction”. Standard, stable term across French Bible tradition; low collision risk.
guardian/tutor παιδαγωγός paidagōgos a household slave charged with supervising and disciplining a freeborn child until adulthood	strict, temporary, custodial supervisory role — NOT a teacher/educator in the modern sense ”guardian,” “tutor,” “schoolmaster” (KJV)	“the law was our guardian/παιδαγωγός until Christ came” (3:24-25) — the letter’s key image for “The Law’s Purpose”	new term, High risk. This is a genuine false-friend collision: the historic Segond 1910 rendering is literally “pédagogue,” but modern French “pédagogue” has drifted to mean a skilled, positive, professional educator — the opposite connotation of the ancient παιδαγωγός, who was a stern custodial slave-minder restraining an immature child, not instructing/nurturing one. Retaining “pédagogue” risks readers hearing “the law was our wise teacher,” precisely inverting Paul’s point that the law’s role was temporary confinement/custody, not positive instruction toward maturity. Recommend “gardien” or “surveillant” (cf. NBS “surveillant”) over the archaic-drifted “pédagogue” (rejected alternative, semantic-drift risk, parallel to the baseline’s rejection of archaic “semence”). Flag for human theologian review.
heir κληρονόμος klēronomos heir, inheritor	one who receives an inheritance by right of position, not achievement ”heir"	"if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (3:29)	new term, Medium risk. French: “héritier”. Transparent; ensure the promise-based, not merit-based, ground of the inheritance is retained in surrounding exposition (parallel to baseline’s imputed_righteousness “credited, not earned” logic).
faith / law (recurring) πίστις / νόμος pistis / nomos —	see core passage and baseline ”faith” / “law”	Chapter 3’s sustained faith-vs-law contrast (3:2, 3:5, 3:11-12, 3:23-25)	reuse baseline exactly (“foi” / “loi”). Medium-High risk (baseline); this chapter is the fullest development of the “Law and Grace” doctrine’s OT argument.

Chapter 4

Galatians 4 develops sonship, adoption, and the Hagar-Sarah allegory, contrasting slavery with freedom.

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	French rendering & risk
adoption / sonship υἱοθεσία huiothesia placement as a son	full legal son-status with complete inheritance rights ”adoption,” “sonship"	"God sent his Son…so that we might receive adoption as sons” (4:4-5)	“adoption filiale” — reuse baseline exactly. Medium risk (baseline); central to “Adoption and Sonship” doctrine unit.
Abba, Father Ἀββά ὁ πατήρ Abba ho patēr Aramaic term of filial intimacy + Greek “Father”	intimate, trusting address to God as Father, granted only to adopted sons ”Abba, Father"	"God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying ‘Abba! Father!’” (4:6)	“Abba” / “Père” — reuse baseline exactly. Medium risk (baseline); verbatim parallel to Romans 8:15.
elements/elemental forces of the world στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου stoicheia tou kosmou basic components, elementary principles	ambiguous in Koine usage: (1) rudimentary/elementary teachings; (2) cosmic elemental spirits/powers held to govern the created order; Paul applies the term to both the Mosaic law-system (for Jews) and pagan religious systems (for Gentiles) as equally enslaving prior to Christ ”elemental spirits,” “elemental spiritual forces,” “basic principles of the world"	"we were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world” (4:3, cf. 4:9)	new term, High risk. French: “les éléments du monde” / “les principes élémentaires du monde”. Genuinely ambiguous even in the source text, which compounds destination-language risk: French readers may hear “éléments” as the physical elements (earth, air, fire, water — an archaic scientific frame) or, in a more esoteric/New Age-adjacent reading increasingly present in secular French spirituality, as literal cosmic/astrological forces. Requires an explanatory gloss clarifying Paul’s point: both Jewish law-keeping and pagan religious systems, considered as systems for achieving standing with the divine apart from Christ, are equally an infantile “enslavement” now surpassed. Flag for human theologian review.
slave / slavery δοῦλος / δουλεία doulos / douleia slave / slavery, bondage	legal, involuntary servitude — the base metaphor against which “freedom” (Ch.5) is defined throughout the letter ”slave,” “bondage,” “slavery”	The Hagar-Ishmael (slave woman, slave son) vs. Sarah-Isaac (free woman, free son) allegory (4:21-31); also 4:1-9’s slavery under the law/elements	new term, Medium-High risk. French: “esclave” / “esclavage”. France’s own historical reckoning with the transatlantic slave trade and colonial slavery gives “esclavage” strong, specific, painful cultural resonance distinct from the metaphor’s biblical background; teaching material should acknowledge this without either minimizing France’s history or allowing it to eclipse Paul’s specific covenant-theological point (bondage to a law-system versus freeborn heir status through promise).
allegory ἀλληγορούμενα allēgoroumena (pass. ptc. of ἀλληγορέω) to speak allegorically	Paul’s own explicit signal that he is reading the Hagar/Sarah narrative typologically, not merely historically ”this may be interpreted allegorically,” “these things are figurative”	Introduces the Hagar/Sarah reading (4:24)	new term, Low-Medium risk. French: “ces choses sont dites allégoriquement” / “ceci est une allégorie”. Low risk; standard literary term in French, but ensure the surrounding material clarifies this is Paul’s own inspired interpretive move, not license for unconstrained allegorical reading of Scripture generally.
free woman / freeborn ἐλευθέρα eleuthera free (woman)	legal freeborn status, contrasted with the slave woman ”the free woman”	Sarah, representing the Jerusalem above and the promise (4:22-31)	Root of freedom — see Chapter 5 for full treatment; French: “la femme libre”. Low risk in this narrower application.

Chapter 5

Galatians 5 is the letter’s positive ethical vision: freedom in Christ, the flesh-Spirit conflict, and the fruit of the Spirit expressed through love.

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	French rendering & risk
freedom / liberty ἐλευθερία eleutheria freedom, liberty	freedom from the law’s condemning power and from sin’s dominion, given by Christ — emphatically NOT freedom to sin (“do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh,” 5:13) “freedom,” “liberty"	"For freedom Christ has set us free” (5:1) — the letter’s most famous line and the doctrine “Freedom in Christ”	new term, High risk, a genuinely French-specific collision. “Liberté” is the first word of France’s national motto (“Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité”) and a foundational secular-Republican and Enlightenment concept (individual autonomy, freedom from religious and state constraint, a cornerstone of laïcité). Paul’s “freedom” is the opposite structurally: freedom from sin and law in order to serve God and neighbor in love (5:13), not autonomous self-determination. Teaching material must explicitly distinguish biblical ἐλευθερία from Republican/Enlightenment “liberté” to prevent readers importing a secular-individualist meaning into the text. Flag for human theologian review. French: “liberté.”
flesh σάρξ sarx flesh (moral sense)	in this chapter, the corrupted human nature in active opposition to the Spirit — a moral-spiritual power, not mere physical body or sexual desire narrowly ”flesh,” “sinful nature,” “sinful desires"	"walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (5:16); the works of the flesh catalog (5:19-21)	French: “chair” — same lexical item as the core-passage flesh entry, but here the risk peaks: High risk. Modern French “la chair” (outside a theological register) primarily denotes bodily/sensual/sexual appetite (“les plaisirs de la chair,” “faible de la chair” = weak-willed sexually) — narrower than Paul’s sense, which includes pride, rivalry, idolatry, and religious self-effort (cf. Galatians 3’s law-works) as much as sensual sin. Must be glossed as the whole fallen human nature in rebellion against God, not merely bodily/sexual temptation, to avoid readers reducing “the flesh” to a purity-culture-style sexual-ethics topic.
Spirit / spirit πνεῦμα pneuma Spirit / spirit	the Holy Spirit (divine Person, capital-S) as the agent empowering the Christian life, contrasted with flesh ”Spirit,” “the Spirit"	"walk by the Spirit” (5:16), “led by the Spirit” (5:18), fruit “of the Spirit” (5:22)	French: “Esprit” in this “Spirit vs. flesh” contrast; when the referent is unambiguously the Holy Spirit as elsewhere in the letter, reuse baseline holy_spirit = “Esprit Saint”. Medium risk (baseline); ensure capitalization and the full title are used where doctrinal weight requires the divine-Person sense to be unmistakable, while the shorter “l’Esprit” is acceptable within a sustained passage once the referent is established.
fruit of the Spirit καρπὸς τοῦ πνεύματος karpos tou pneumatos fruit of the Spirit	organic, Spirit-produced character qualities (singular “fruit,” not “fruits” — one unified outgrowth), contrasted with the “works” (plural, self-generated) of the flesh ”fruit of the Spirit”	The catalog: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (5:22-23)	new term, Medium risk. French: “le fruit de l’Esprit.” Ensure singular “fruit” (not “les fruits”) is retained to preserve the organic-unity image against the atomized “works” list — a nuance easily lost if pluralized in casual paraphrase. Central to the “Fruit of the Spirit” doctrine unit.
love ἀγάπη agapē love	self-giving, covenantal, willed love — distinct from ἔρος (romantic/sexual) and φιλία (friendship-affection), though French has only one common word for all three ”love”	Head of the fruit list (5:22); “the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (5:14)	new term, Medium risk. French: “amour.” French, like English, lacks the Greek’s three-way lexical distinction, so “amour” alone must carry ἀγάπη’s specific self-giving, non-erotic, covenantal sense — a risk compounded by “amour” ‘s overwhelming default association in ordinary French usage with romantic love. Teaching material should make the distinctively willed, others-directed, covenantal character of ἀγάπη explicit rather than relying on the word alone.
faith working through love πίστις διʼ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη pistis di’ agapēs energoumenē faith operating/working through love	faith is the root, love-in-action is the fruit/evidence — NOT faith supplemented by loving deeds as an additional requirement for justification ”faith working through love,” “faith expressing itself through love"	"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love” (5:6)	new term, Critical risk. French: “la foi agissant par l’amour.” This precise phrase is the Latin Vulgate/Tridentine source-text for the technical Catholic theological formula fides caritate formata (“faith formed by love”) — the doctrine, rooted partly in this verse, that justifying faith must be perfected/completed by acts of love (Trent, Session 6). This is the identical doctrinal fault-line already flagged in the baseline’s obedience_of_faith entry, now surfacing at its literal biblical source text. The French rendering must make unmistakable, through surrounding exposition, that Paul is describing what genuine faith produces (its necessary fruit and evidence), not a second ingredient added to faith as a condition of justification — justification itself (per 2:16 and 3:2-5 earlier in the same letter) is by faith apart from works. Mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence.
works of the flesh τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκός ta erga tēs sarkos the works of the flesh	the self-generated, plural, disordered output of fallen human nature, deliberately contrasted grammatically with the singular Spirit-produced “fruit" "works of the flesh,” “acts of the sinful nature”	The vice catalog (5:19-21)	new term, Medium risk. French: “les œuvres de la chair.” Note the deliberate lexical echo with “œuvres de la loi” (2:16) — both are human-generated and both stand opposed to Spirit/grace-given realities; this parallel is worth surfacing in teaching material as a structural feature of Paul’s argument.
to crucify (the flesh) σταυρόω stauroō to crucify	decisive, once-for-all putting to death — echoing the co-crucifixion language of 2:19-20 but now applied to ongoing practical mortification ”have crucified,” “crucified the flesh"	"those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (5:24)	Reuse the crucified_with_christ treatment from the core passage — French: “ont crucifié la chair.” High risk (inherited); ensure this is read as flowing from, not separate from, the once-for-all co-crucifixion of 2:20, not a repeated ritual or work of self-mortification earning merit.

Chapter 6

Galatians 6 closes the letter with practical community ethics and a final doctrinal summary on the cross and new creation.

Terms	Variants	Contextual theological meaning	French rendering & risk
bear (burdens) βαστάζω / βάρος bastazō / baros to carry / a weight, burden	mutual practical and spiritual support within the church community ”bear one another’s burdens"	"Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (6:2) — the doctrine “Bearing One Another’s Burdens”	new term, Low risk. French: “portez les fardeaux les uns des autres.” Transparent, standard rendering across French Bible tradition; note the deliberate paradox that “fulfilling the law of Christ” through burden-bearing is contrasted throughout the letter with “works of the law” — worth surfacing as a structural echo, not a contradiction, in teaching material.
gentleness/meekness πραΰτης prautēs gentleness, mildness	strength held under control, used in restoring a sinning brother (6:1) and listed among the fruit of the Spirit (5:23) “gentleness,” “meekness"	"restore him in a spirit of gentleness” (6:1)	new term, Low risk. French: “esprit de douceur.” Low risk; standard rendering.
to sow / to reap σπείρω / θερίζω speirō / therizō to sow / to reap	an agricultural metaphor for moral-spiritual cause and consequence ”sow,” “reap"	"whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (6:7-8) — sowing to the flesh vs. sowing to the Spirit	new term, Low risk. French: “semer / récolter.” Transparent agricultural metaphor, well understood in French; low collision risk.
new creation καινὴ κτίσις kainē ktisis new creation	a fundamentally new order of existence inaugurated by the cross, in which the old circumcision/uncircumcision distinction is rendered irrelevant ”new creation"	"neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but a new creation” (6:15) — the letter’s climactic summary statement, joining “Circumcision and the New Creation” as one doctrine unit	new term, Medium risk. French: “nouvelle création.” Straightforward lexically; the risk is chiefly one of under-emphasis — ensure teaching material connects this climactic statement back to the crucified-with-Christ / dead-to-the-law argument of Chapter 2, so it reads as the letter’s theological capstone rather than a stray closing remark.
to boast καυχάομαι kauchaomai to boast, glory in	here directed exclusively toward the cross, in explicit contrast to boasting in circumcision-based religious status (cf. 6:13) “boast,” “glory in"	"far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (6:14)	new term, Low-Medium risk. French: “me glorifier.” Low-Medium risk; note the deliberate contrast with the false-teachers’ boasting “in the flesh” (6:13, echoing the flesh/Spirit contrast of Chapter 5).
marks (of Jesus) στίγματα stigmata brand-marks, tattoo-marks	the marks a slave bore identifying his owner, or scars of ownership/service — here Paul’s physical scars from persecution, evidence of his costly service to Christ ”marks,” “scars,” “brand-marks"	"I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (6:17)	new term, Low risk. French: “les marques de Jésus.” Low risk; note the false-friend caution that French “stigmates” (a direct loan, used of the mystical wound-marks some Catholic saints are venerated for bearing) would import a specific devotional-mystical connotation absent from Paul’s plain reference to scars from beatings and persecution — prefer plain “marques,” not the loanword “stigmates.”
household of faith οἰκεῖοι τῆς πίστεως oikeioi tēs pisteōs members of the household of faith	the church as a family-household unit bound by shared faith, the immediate circle of “do good” priority alongside “all people" "household of faith,” “family of believers"	"let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (6:10)	new term, Low risk. French: “la famille de la foi” / “ceux qui appartiennent à la famille de la foi.” Low risk; reinforces baseline christian_fellowship doctrine (koinonia, not civic community) without the Eucharistic-overtone risk baseline flags for bare “communion,” since “famille” avoids that collision entirely.
rule/standard κανών kanōn a measuring rod, rule, standard	a fixed criterion for right conduct/teaching (later becomes the technical term for the “canon” of Scripture, not yet in view here) “rule,” “standard"	"as for all who walk by this rule…” (6:16)	new term, Low risk. French: “cette règle.” Low risk; note for reviewer awareness only that κανών later develops into the technical term for the biblical canon — not the sense operative in this verse, where it simply means the rule/standard just stated (new-creation, not circumcision, as the measure of standing).

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Full-Book Coverage Confirmation

All six chapters of Galatians have been analyzed:

• Galatians 1 — Paul’s apostleship, the gospel/false-gospel contrast, anathema, calling, revelation, being set apart. ✅ Covered above.
• Galatians 2:1-14 — circumcision, false brothers, the truth of the gospel, hypocrisy, judaizing. ✅ Covered above.
• Galatians 2:15-21 (core passage) — justification, works of the law, faith (and the faith-of-Christ genitive question), righteousness, law, sin, crucified with Christ, flesh (neutral sense), Son of God, substitutionary self-giving, grace, dying-in-vain rhetoric. ✅ Full verse-by-verse treatment in Part A.
• Galatians 3 — promise, covenant, curse of the law, redemption, seed/descendants of Abraham, blessing, the law as guardian/paidagōgos, heirs. ✅ Covered above.
• Galatians 4 — adoption/sonship, Abba Father, elements of the world, slavery, the Hagar-Sarah allegory, free woman. ✅ Covered above.
• Galatians 5 — freedom/liberty, flesh (moral sense), Spirit, fruit of the Spirit, love, faith working through love, works of the flesh, crucifying the flesh. ✅ Covered above.
• Galatians 6 — bearing burdens, gentleness, sowing and reaping, new creation, boasting in the cross, marks of Jesus, household of faith, the rule/standard. ✅ Covered above.

No chapter of Galatians was found to introduce zero new theological vocabulary; every chapter contributes distinct load-bearing terms to the curriculum’s doctrine list. All fourteen curriculum doctrines (Justification by Faith; The True Gospel versus False Gospels; Paul’s Apostleship; Law and Grace; Crucified with Christ; The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise; The Law’s Purpose; Adoption and Sonship; Freedom in Christ; Circumcision and the New Creation; Flesh versus Spirit; Fruit of the Spirit; Faith Working through Love; Bearing One Another’s Burdens) are anchored in specific terms identified above.

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See 08_core_glossary.md for the consolidated per-term glossary table with risk tiers, citing terms from every chapter of Galatians.