Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Gospel of John — English → French
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, spanning John chapters 1–21. Terms marked [Baseline] are already fixed in the Romans translation_memory.json and are reused here exactly, with no substitution permitted. Terms marked [New] are introduced by this John curriculum and require entry into translation memory before Phase 2 processing begins, per the pre-flight checklist in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md.
Risk tiers follow the baseline’s doctrine_risk_registry.json definitions exactly: Critical (human theologian review, every occurrence), High (human theologian review), Medium (native speaker review recommended), Low (automated review sufficient).
Reused Baseline Terms Cited in John
| Term | Status | French Rendering | Risk | Key John Citations | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | [Baseline] | Dieu | Critical | throughout | Exact reuse |
| Jesus | [Baseline] | Jésus | Low | throughout | Exact reuse |
| Father | [Baseline] | Père | High | 5, 8, 10, 14–17 | Exact reuse |
| Holy Spirit | [Baseline] | Esprit Saint | Critical | 1:32-33; 14:26; 20:22 | Exact reuse; John also uses “Paraclete”/“Spirit of truth” as synonyms — see new entries |
| Lord | [Baseline] | Seigneur | Critical | 20:28; post-resurrection address | Exact reuse |
| Son of God | [Baseline] | Fils de Dieu | Critical | 1:34; 1:49; 3:18; 5:25; 10:36; 11:27; 19:7; 20:31 | Exact reuse |
| Glory / Glorify | [Baseline] | gloire / glorifier | High | 1:14; 2:11; 7:39; 11:4; 12:23; 17 | Exact reuse of noun; verb form new but derived |
| Grace | [Baseline] | grâce | High | 1:14,16,17 | Exact reuse |
| Faith (noun) | [Baseline] | foi | Medium | absent as noun in John — see “Believe” [New] | Note: John never uses πίστις; only πιστεύω |
| Salvation | [Baseline] | salut | Critical | 3:17; 4:22; 5:34; 12:47 | Exact reuse |
| Sin | [Baseline] | péché | High | 1:29; 8:34; 9:41; 16:8-9 | Exact reuse |
| Law | [Baseline] | loi (la Loi) | High | 1:17,45; 7:19,23 | Exact reuse |
| Kingdom of God | [Baseline] | Royaume de Dieu | Medium | 3:3,5; 18:36 | Exact reuse |
| Resurrection | [Baseline] | résurrection | Medium | 5:29; 11:24-25; ch. 20 | Exact reuse; John’s Christological framing (11:25 “I am the resurrection”) raises practical weight to High — see new I Am entry |
| Peace | [Baseline] | paix | Low | 14:27; 16:33; 20:19,21,26 | Exact reuse |
| Holy | [Baseline] | saint | Medium | 6:69; 10:36; 17:11; 20:22 | Exact reuse |
| Sanctification / Sanctify | [Baseline] | sanctification / sanctifier | Medium | 10:36; 17:17,19 | Exact reuse |
| Israel | [Baseline] | Israël | Medium | 1:31,49; 3:10; 12:13 | Exact reuse |
| David | [Baseline] | David | Low | 7:42 | Exact reuse |
| Seed of David | [Baseline] | descendance de David | Medium | 7:42 | Exact reuse |
| Messiah | [Baseline] | Messie | Medium | 1:41; 4:25 | Exact reuse |
| Prophet | [Baseline] | prophète | Low | 1:21; 4:19; 6:14; 7:40; 9:17 | Exact reuse |
| Election / Choose | [Baseline] | élection / choisir | High | 6:70; 13:18; 15:16,19 | Exact reuse |
| Mission / Send | [Baseline] | mission / envoyer | Medium | 17; 20:21 | Exact reuse |
| Apostle | [Baseline] | apôtre | Low | 13:16 (generic sense only — see ch.13 note) | Exact reuse of term; note John’s only occurrence is generic “one sent,” not the titular Twelve |
| Thanksgiving | [Baseline] | action de grâce | Low | 6:11,23; 11:41 | Exact reuse |
| Church | [Baseline] | Église | High | absent (ἐκκλησία not used in John’s Gospel) | Doctrine present typologically (sheepfold, vine, body) without the word itself; note for curriculum awareness |
| Fellowship | [Baseline] | communion fraternelle | Medium | absent (κοινωνία not used in John’s Gospel) | Note for curriculum awareness |
| Covenant | [Baseline] | alliance | High | absent as word; present typologically (New Commandment, Vine=Israel) | Note for curriculum awareness |
| Adoption | [Baseline] | adoption filiale | Medium | absent; John uses birth/τέκνα language instead | See new entry “Children of God” — complementary, not identical, image |
| Righteousness | [Baseline] | justice | Critical | 16:8,10 only | Exact reuse; very low frequency in John relative to Romans |
| Gentiles | [Baseline] | païens | Medium | John uses “Ἕλληνες” (Greeks) 7:35; 12:20, not ἔθνη | Note the lexical difference for translator awareness |
New Terms Introduced by the John Curriculum
| Term (English) | Original / Transliteration | French Rendering | Alternatives Considered/Rejected | Risk | Doctrine | Key Citations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Word (Logos) | λόγος / logos | la Parole | ”le Verbe” (traditional Catholic liturgical alternative — flagged, not rejected outright) | Critical | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 1:1-14 | Genuine Protestant/ecumenical vs. Catholic-liturgical fork; requires theologian decision and total consistency thereafter. |
| Only begotten / One and only | μονογενής / monogenēs | Fils unique | ”envoyé unique de Dieu” (rejected — reduces eternal generation to mere sending) | Critical | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 1:14,18; 3:16,18 | Same doctrinal territory as baseline son_of_god; must not be read as merely “favored” son. |
| Born again / from above | γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν / gennēthē anōthen | naître de nouveau (primary); “naître d’en haut” noted as alternative | ”renaître” (rejected — too close to reincarnation-adjacent “rebirth” register) | Critical | The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit | 3:3,7 | ἄνωθεν’s double sense (“again”/“from above”) cannot be fully captured by one French phrase; requires translator note. |
| Water and Spirit | ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος | eau et Esprit | — | High | The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit | 3:5 | Direct Catholic sacramental-baptismal-regeneration vs. Reformed Spirit-alone reading tension; render literally, do not resolve. |
| Flesh | σάρξ / sarx | chair | — | High | Deity/Incarnation; New Birth | 1:14; 3:6 | French “chair” over-connotes carnality/sensuality; John’s sense is often neutrally “human/natural.” |
| Wind/Spirit wordplay | πνεῦμα / pneuma | vent / Esprit (two words required) | — | High | New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit | 3:8 | Single Greek word for both senses; wordplay is lost in French and must be flagged via translator note. |
| Life / Eternal life | ζωή, ζωὴ αἰώνιος / zōē, zōē aiōnios | vie / vie éternelle | — | Medium-High | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ | 3:15-16,36; 5:24; 6:35; 10:10; 11:25; 17:3; 20:31 | Risk of secular/Platonic-dualist “afterlife survival” reading rather than qualitative, relational, present-and-future life. |
| Light / Darkness | φῶς / σκότος (σκοτία) | lumière / ténèbres | — | Medium | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 1:4-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-46 | Watch for dualistic-cosmology misreading (French historical parallel: Cathar/Albigensian dualism); also risk of Enlightenment-rationalist (“les Lumières”) flattening. |
| World | κόσμος / kosmos | monde | — | Medium | God’s Love for the World; Judgment | 1:10; 3:16-19; 15:18-19; 17 | Same word carries both God’s love-object and hostile-opposition-system senses; context must disambiguate. |
| Truth | ἀλήθεια / alētheia | vérité | — | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief; Holy Spirit as Counselor | 1:14,17; 3:21; 8:32; 14:6,17; 18:38 | French Cartesian/rationalist “vérité” risks flattening John’s relational, covenant-faithfulness sense (Hebraic ‘emet) into mere propositional/scientific truth. |
| Believe | πιστεύω / pisteuō | croire | — | High | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ | ~98 occurrences throughout | Secular French “croire” is highly exposed to casual, non-committal usage (“je crois que…”); reinforce trust/allegiance sense, especially “croire au nom de.” |
| Witness / Testify | μαρτυρία, μαρτυρέω / martyria, martyreō | témoignage / témoigner | ”martyre” (rejected — confusable cognate meaning “martyrdom”) | Medium | Inspiration/testimony motif | 1:7-8,15,32,34; 3:11,26,32-33; 5:31-39; 8:13-18 | French legal-courtroom resonance of “témoignage” is an asset here. |
| Lamb of God | ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ / amnos tou Theou | Agneau de Dieu | — | Medium | Christ’s Substitutionary Death | 1:29,36; typological fulfillment 19:33,36 | Established French liturgical phrase (Agnus Dei); must retain sin-bearing, sacrificial force. |
| Sign | σημεῖον / sēmeion | signe | ”miracle” (rejected — flattens revelatory/pointing function into mere spectacle) | Medium | Deity of Christ (revealed through signs) | 2:11,23; 3:2; 4:54; 6:2,14,26; 9:16; 11:47; 12:37; 20:30 | Never render as “miracle” in doctrinal contexts. |
| I Am (absolute and predicate) | ἐγώ εἰμι / egō eimi | Je suis | — | Critical | The Seven “I Am” Statements; Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 6:35; 8:12,58; 9:5; 10:9,11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1; 18:5-6 | Absolute uses (8:58; 18:5-6) echo the divine name of Exodus 3:14 LXX; invisible to French readers without a footnote. All seven predicate statements require Critical handling and full consistency. |
| Judgment / Condemn | κρίσις, κρίνω, κατακρίνω / krisis, krinō, katakrinō | jugement / juger / condamner | — | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 3:17-19; 5:22-30; 8:15-16; 9:39; 12:47-48; 16:8,11 | French civil-judicial connotation of “jugement” risks an impersonal-court reading rather than a personal verdict tied to belief/unbelief. |
| Counselor / Paraclete | παράκλητος / paraklētos | Défenseur (recommended primary); Consolateur and Paraclet as flagged alternatives | ”Conseiller” (considered but rejected — too weak, lacks legal-advocate and comfort senses both) | Critical | The Holy Spirit as Counselor | 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7 | Genuine, unresolved three-way fork in the French Bible-translation tradition; requires theologian decision and total consistency thereafter. |
| Spirit of truth | τὸ Πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας | l’Esprit de vérité | — | High | The Holy Spirit as Counselor | 14:17; 15:26; 16:13 | Compounds two already-flagged High-risk terms. |
| Lifted up | ὑψόω / hypsoō | élever | ”hisser,” “suspendre” (rejected — lose the exaltation/glorification double sense) | High | Christ’s Substitutionary Death; Deity of Christ | 3:14; 8:28; 12:32,34 | Deliberate double sense (crucifixion = exaltation) must be preserved consistently. |
| Son of Man | υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου / huios tou anthrōpou | Fils de l’homme | — | Medium | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 1:51; 3:13-14; 5:27; 6:27,53,62; 9:35; 12:23,34; 13:31 | Daniel 7 apocalyptic-authority background invisible without a footnote; risk of flattening to “a human being.” |
| Abide / Remain | μένω / menō | demeurer | — | Medium | Unity of the Father and the Son; Christian identity | 14:10; 15:4-10 | Established devotional term; reinforce as dependent, ongoing union, not passive residency. |
| Grace and truth | χάρις καὶ ἀλήθεια | grâce et vérité | — | High | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (Incarnation) | 1:14,17 | Compounds baseline High-risk grace with new High-risk truth; OT covenant-loyalty (hesed we’emet) background needs a footnote. |
| Tabernacled / Dwelt | ἐσκήνωσεν / eskēnōsen | a établi sa demeure parmi nous | ”a habité parmi nous” (Segond-style — acceptable but loses tent imagery further) | Medium-High | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (Incarnation) | 1:14 | OT tabernacle/Shekinah-glory background invisible without a footnote. |
| Children of God | τέκνα Θεοῦ / tekna Theou | enfants de Dieu | — | Medium-High | The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit | 1:12; 11:52 | Distinct birth-metaphor from baseline’s legal adoption/adoption filiale; teach as complementary, not identical, image. |
| Living water | ὕδωρ ζῶν / hydōr zōn | eau vive | — | Medium | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ; Holy Spirit | 4:10-14; 7:37-39 | Established French phrase; ensure symbolic Spirit-sense is not lost to a merely literal-hydrological reading. |
| Savior of the world | σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου / sōtēr tou kosmou | Sauveur du monde | — | Medium | God’s Love for the World | 4:42 | New agent-noun built on baseline salvation=salut; retain unqualified universal scope. |
| Bread of life | ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς / artos tēs zōēs | pain de vie | — | Critical | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ; Christ’s Substitutionary Death (typologically) | 6:35,48-58 | Direct textual basis for Catholic Eucharistic/Real Presence doctrine; translate literally without resolving sacramental-vs-symbolic debate; flag every occurrence for theologian review. |
| Draw | ἑλκύω / helkyō | attirer | — | Medium-High | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ (sovereign grace) | 6:44 | Ties to baseline’s High-risk election/effectual calling escalation rules. |
| Equal with God | ἴσον ἑαυτὸν ποιῶν τῷ Θεῷ | se faisait égal à Dieu | ”se disait proche de Dieu” (rejected — attenuates full ontological equality claim) | Critical | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 5:18 | Must not be softened; explicit ontological-equality claim. |
| Freedom / Slave to sin | ἐλευθερόω, δοῦλος τῆς ἁμαρτίας | libérer / esclave du péché | — | High / Medium | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ (freedom from sin) | 8:32-36 | ”Liberté” risks conflation with French Republican/laïque political liberty; “esclave” carries the weight of France’s own slave-trade history and must be handled with sensitivity. |
| One (Unity of Father and Son) | ἕν ἐσμεν / hen esmen; ἵνα ὦσιν ἕν / hina hen | nous sommes un / qu’ils soient un | — | Critical | Unity of the Father and the Son | 10:30; 17:11,21-23 | Neuter “one” = unity of essence/purpose, not personal identity (guard against both Arian subordinationism and Sabellian modalism); French unity-text carries live ecumenical charge given France’s Wars-of-Religion history. |
| Good Shepherd | ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός | le bon berger | ”le bon pasteur” (flagged as a coexisting Catholic devotional usage, not a rejected error, but avoid in the base biblical text to prevent Protestant clergy-title collision) | Medium | Christ’s Substitutionary Death (laying down his life) | 10:1-18 | Use berger, not pasteur, consistently in the translated biblical text. |
| For the people (substitution) | ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ / hyper | pour le peuple | ”à cause du peuple” (rejected — loses vicarious/substitutionary sense) | High | Christ’s Substitutionary Death | 11:50-52 | ὑπέρ’s substitutionary force must be preserved with pour. |
| New commandment | ἐντολὴ καινή / entolē kainē | un commandement nouveau | — | Medium | Christian ethic flowing from union with Christ | 13:34 | Must not be conflated with Mosaic-Law categories (baseline law, High risk). |
| Way, Truth, Life | ὁδός, ἀλήθεια, ζωή | le chemin, la vérité et la vie | ”un chemin, une vérité” (rejected — destroys the exclusivity claim) | Critical | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ | 14:6 | Exclusivist claim in tension with French pluralist/laïque cultural values; must not be softened. |
| It is finished | τετέλεσται / tetelestai | Tout est accompli | ”c’en est fini” (rejected register — reads as exhausted resignation, not triumphant completion) | High | Christ’s Substitutionary Death | 19:30 | Established Segond rendering; retain commercial/legal “debt fully paid” resonance. |
| Blood and water | αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ | sang et eau | — | Medium-High | Christ’s Substitutionary Death; Humanity of Christ | 19:34 | Live Catholic sacramental-typological reading tradition (baptism/Eucharist prefigured); do not import unbidden into base text. |
| Forgive sins | ἀφῆτε τὰς ἁμαρτίας / aphesis hamartiōn | le pardon des péchés | — | Critical | (Cross-doctrine: authority and forgiveness) | 20:23 | Direct Catholic sacramental-confession vs. Protestant proclamation-authority flashpoint; translate literally, do not resolve; mandatory theologian review. |
| My Lord and my God | ὁ Κύριος μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου | Mon Seigneur et mon Dieu! | — | Critical | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (climactic confession) | 20:28 | Combines baseline Seigneur and Dieu exactly; must not be softened toward the casual interjection register of “Mon Dieu!” |
| That you may believe and have life | ἵνα πιστεύσητε … ζωὴν ἔχητε | afin que vous croyiez … et que vous ayez la vie | — | Critical | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ (Gospel purpose statement) | 20:31 | Thesis-statement status parallel to Romans 1:16-17 in the baseline; render identically everywhere cited. |
| Love (ἀγαπάω vs. φιλέω) | ἀγαπάω / ἀγαπᾷς με; φιλέω / φιλεῖς με | aimer (both collapse to one French verb) | — | High | God’s Love for the World; discipleship restoration | 3:16 (ἀγαπάω); 21:15-17 (both alternating) | French cannot preserve the Greek lexical distinction; mandatory translator note wherever the alternation is exegetically significant (esp. 21:15-17). |
| Feed / Tend my sheep | βόσκε, ποίμαινε | pais mes agneaux / sois le berger de mes brebis | — | Medium | Pastoral commissioning (shepherd imagery reuse) | 21:15-17 | Reuse berger-family vocabulary; avoid pasteur as verb-object per ch.10 note. |
| Hour | ὥρα / hōra | heure | — | Medium-High | Christ’s Substitutionary Death (appointed timing) | 2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 13:1; 17:1 | Recurring thematic marker; must be tracked consistently across all seven occurrences. |
| Temple (of his body) | ναός / naos | le temple (de son corps) | — | Medium-High | Deity of Christ; Resurrection | 2:19-21 | Distinct from baseline church note; a third, body-as-temple sense requiring its own clarification. |
| Convict | ἐλέγχω / elenchō | convaincre | — | Medium | The Holy Spirit as Counselor | 16:8-11 | Retain judicial “expose/convict” force, not mere persuasion. |
| Overcome | νικάω / nikaō | vaincre | — | Medium | Assurance of Salvation | 16:33 | Ties to baseline’s High-risk assurance_of_salvation doctrine. |
| What is truth? | τί ἐστιν ἀλήθεια; | qu’est-ce que la vérité? | — | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief (dramatic irony) | 18:38 | Resonates with French Cartesian/postmodern philosophical tradition; risk of relativistic misreading rather than dramatic irony. |
| Kingdom not of this world | ἡ βασιλεία ἡ ἐμὴ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου | mon royaume n’est pas de ce monde | — | Medium | Kingdom Mission (apolitical reign) | 18:36 | Positive opportunity for France’s laïcité context; reuse baseline kingdom_of_god. |
| Sabbath | σάββατον / sabbaton | sabbat | — | Low-Medium | (Contextual: Christ’s authority over the Law) | 5:9-18; 9:14-16 | Cross-reference baseline law. |
| Feast of Tabernacles | σκηνοπηγία / skēnopēgia | fête des Tentes (des Tabernacles) | — | Low-Medium | (Cultural-historical setting) | 7:2 | Explanatory note needed for low-OT-literacy readers; not a doctrinal risk. |
Summary Statistics
| Risk Tier | Count (New Terms) | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 13 | Human theologian, every occurrence |
| High | 14 | Human theologian |
| Medium-High | 7 | Native speaker + theologian awareness flag |
| Medium | 16 | Native speaker review |
| Low-Medium | 3 | Native speaker review (light) |
| Low | 0 (all Low-risk John terms fold into reused baseline Low entries) | Automated review |
All 21 chapters of John are represented in this glossary either directly (new terms) or via the reused-baseline table above (citing exact chapter locations). Chapter 9 is confirmed as contributing no new terms beyond chapters 1–8’s vocabulary, per 07_semantic_analysis.md.
Critical Risk Terms
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Fils de Dieu
Transliteration: Fils de Dieu
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ / The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: envoyé de Dieu, homme divin
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] Central to John’s own purpose statement (20:31) and confessional climaxes. Must never be softened toward a merely honorary or adoptive sonship. Key John citations: 1:34,49; 3:18; 5:25; 10:36; 11:27; 19:7; 20:31.
Word Logos
Approved rendering: la Parole
Transliteration: logos
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: le Verbe (documented, coexisting Catholic-liturgical alternative — not rejected as erroneous, but a forced translation-tradition fork requiring theologian sign-off; la Parole recommended as primary for broader Protestant/ecumenical reach)
Genuine, unresolved fork in French Bible-translation history between ‘la Parole’ (Segond, TOB) and ‘le Verbe’ (Bible de Jérusalem, the Angelus prayer, Nicene Creed’s French wording). This is the curriculum’s foundational Critical term; whichever is chosen must be applied with total consistency across 1:1,14 and every subsequent document. Mandatory theologian sign-off required before Phase 2.
Only Begotten
Approved rendering: Fils unique
Transliteration: monogenēs
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: envoyé unique de Dieu (rejected — reduces eternal generation to mere sending)
Same doctrinal territory as baseline son_of_god: ‘Fils unique’ risks being heard merely as ‘favored/special son’ without catechetical reinforcement of eternal generation, co-equal and co-eternal with the Father. Key John citations: 1:14,18; 3:16,18.
Born Again
Approved rendering: naître de nouveau
Transliteration: gennēthē anōthen
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: renaître (rejected — too close to reincarnation-adjacent register), naître d’en haut (logged alternative — preserves ‘from above’ but loses the temporal ambiguity driving Nicodemus’s confusion)
No single French phrase carries both senses of ἄνωθεν (‘again’ and ‘from above’). ‘naître de nouveau’ favors the temporal sense, matching Segond/ecumenical usage and reader familiarity; a mandatory translator’s footnote must supply the ‘from above’ dimension so Spirit-originated (not self-originated) birth is not lost. Core passage: 3:3,7.
I Am
Approved rendering: Je suis
Transliteration: egō eimi
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements; The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
The absolute uses (8:58; 18:5-6) echo the divine name of Exodus 3:14 LXX, invisible to French readers without a footnote, since standard French renders Exodus 3:14 as ‘Je suis celui qui suis,’ not a matching short ‘Je suis’. All seven predicate statements (6:35; 8:12; 10:9,11; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1) and both absolute uses require total consistency of ‘Je suis’ and mandatory human theologian review.
Counselor Paraclete
Approved rendering: Défenseur
Transliteration: paraklētos
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Rejected alternatives: Conseiller (rejected — too weak, lacks both the legal-advocate and comfort senses), Consolateur (documented alternative — Segond 1910, comfort-emphasis), Paraclet (documented alternative — Bible de Jérusalem, transliteration)
Genuine, unresolved three-way fork in the French Bible-translation tradition. ‘Défenseur’ recommended as the closest functional match to this curriculum’s own doctrine title (‘Counselor’, legal-advocate emphasis). Whichever term is chosen requires theologian sign-off and must then be applied with total consistency at 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7.
Bread Of Life
Approved rendering: pain de vie
Transliteration: artos tēs zōēs
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ; The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
The discourse’s ‘eat my flesh, drink my blood’ language (6:53-58) is the single strongest NT text underlying the Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence/Eucharist (transubstantiation). Given the curriculum’s mixed Catholic-Protestant-secular French audience, translate literally without resolving toward either a sacramental or a purely symbolic reading; flag EVERY occurrence in 6:26-58 for mandatory human theologian review.
Equal With God
Approved rendering: se faisait égal à Dieu
Transliteration: ison heauton poiōn theō
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: se disait proche de Dieu (rejected — attenuates full ontological equality claim)
One of the most explicit deity-of-Christ statements in the Gospel; the Jewish leaders’ hostile but theologically correct perception. Must never be softened. Mandatory human theologian review. Key John citation: 5:18.
One Unity
Approved rendering: nous sommes un / qu’ils soient un
Transliteration: hen esmen / hina hen
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Neuter ‘one [thing/reality]’, not ‘one person’ — unity of essence/will, not personal identity. Must be guarded against BOTH Arian/subordinationist softening (mere agreement of purpose) AND Sabellian/modalist over-reading (denial of the real distinction of Persons). Given France’s own history of Catholic-Protestant conflict (Wars of Religion, St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, Edict of Nantes and its Revocation), 17:11,21-23’s believer-unity language carries unusually live ecumenical/historical charge and must never be read as a call for institutional church-merger. Key John citations: 10:30; 17:11,21-23.
Way Truth Life
Approved rendering: le chemin, la vérité et la vie
Transliteration: hodos, alētheia, zōē
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements; Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Rejected alternatives: un chemin, une vérité (rejected — destroys the exclusivity claim)
‘No one comes to the Father except through me’ — the exclusivity clause is in significant tension with contemporary French pluralistic, laïque cultural values. Must not be softened despite this cultural pressure. Mandatory human theologian review. Key John citation: 14:6.
Forgive Sins
Approved rendering: le pardon des péchés
Transliteration: aphēte tas hamartias
Doctrine: Authority to Forgive Sins (cross-doctrine)
Direct historic proof-text for the Catholic sacrament of Reconciliation/Confession (priestly absolution); Protestant tradition generally reads this as authority given to the whole believing community. Same Trent-vs-Reformation flashpoint class as the baseline’s justification/grace entries. Translate literally without resolving the interpretive question; mandatory human theologian review. Key John citation: 20:23.
My Lord And My God
Approved rendering: Mon Seigneur et mon Dieu!
Transliteration: ho Kyrios mou kai ho Theos mou
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Thomas’s climactic confession, combining exclusive Lordship and full deity. Must be rendered with full exclamatory, worshipful force, exactly reusing baseline ‘Seigneur’ and ‘Dieu’; must never be softened toward the casual French interjection register of ‘Mon Dieu!’. Key John citation: 20:28.
Thesis Believe And Have Life
Approved rendering: afin que vous croyiez … et que vous ayez la vie
Transliteration: hina pisteusēte … kai … zōēn echēte
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
The Gospel’s own explicit purpose statement (20:31), structurally parallel to Romans 1:16-17’s status in the baseline. Must be rendered identically everywhere it is cited across the whole John curriculum.
High Risk Terms
Lord
Approved rendering: Seigneur
Transliteration: Seigneur
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: maître, patron
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] French feudal-historical resonance risk identical to Romans 10:9; in John 20:28 it must retain full worshipful force, not archaic-title distance. Key John citations: 13:13-14; 20:28.
Grace
Approved rendering: grâce
Transliteration: grâce
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: faveur, mérite
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] Same Catholic sacramental-mediation vs. Reformed sola-gratia tension as in Romans; in John this is compounded at 1:14,16-17 by pairing with the new High-risk term ‘vérité’ (see grace_and_truth entry). Key John citations: 1:14,16,17.
Law
Approved rendering: loi
Transliteration: loi (la Loi)
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] John 1:17 contrasts Moses’ Law with ‘grace and truth’ through Christ — must not be read as law-vs-grace opposition of persons, but law-as-preparatory vs. Christ-as-fulfillment. Also underlies the Sabbath-authority controversies (see ‘sabbath’ new entry). Key John citations: 1:17,45; 7:19,23.
Election
Approved rendering: élection
Transliteration: élection
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: chance, destin
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged; verb form ‘choisir’ also used.] Same political-election collision risk as Romans; John 15:16 (‘you did not choose me, but I chose you’) is a strong sovereign-grace text requiring the same escalation as Romans 9:11-13, and compounds with the new ‘draw’ entry (6:44). Key John citations: 6:70; 13:18; 15:16,19.
Church
Approved rendering: Église
Transliteration: Église
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: temple (building only)
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] IMPORTANT FOR THIS CURRICULUM: the underlying Greek word ‘ekklesia’ does not occur anywhere in John’s Gospel. The doctrine is present typologically (sheepfold/flock ch.10, vine ch.15, the unity prayer’s ‘one body’ implication ch.17) without the term itself. Do not force ‘Église’ onto John’s text where it is not present.
Covenant
Approved rendering: alliance
Transliteration: alliance
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: contrat
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] The underlying Greek word ‘diathēkē’ does not occur in John’s Gospel; present typologically via the New Commandment (13:34) and the Vine-as-Israel motif (ch.15, echoing Isaiah 5/Psalm 80). Flag for curriculum awareness only.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: justice
Transliteration: justice
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: vertu, droiture
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] EXTREMELY LOW FREQUENCY in John relative to Romans: the underlying Greek word ‘dikaiosynē’ occurs ONLY at 16:8,10, within the Spirit’s threefold conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Nonetheless reuse the exact baseline rendering for full-curriculum consistency.
Water And Spirit
Approved rendering: eau et Esprit
Transliteration: hydatos kai pneumatos
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Direct Catholic sacramental-baptismal-regeneration reading vs. Reformed Spirit-alone reading, the John-curriculum equivalent of the baseline’s justification/grace flashpoint. Render literally; do not resolve the debate in the base translation. Core passage: 3:5.
Flesh
Approved rendering: chair
Transliteration: sarx
Doctrine: Incarnation of the Word / New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
French ‘chair’ over-connotes carnality/sensuality (‘péché de la chair’); readers risk importing a moralized reading into John’s more neutral ‘merely human/natural’ sense at 3:6, or, conversely, finding ‘chair’ too visceral for the Word’s self-humbling at 1:14, when that shocking concreteness is precisely the point against docetic softening. Key John citations: 1:14; 3:6.
Wind Spirit Wordplay
Approved rendering: vent / Esprit
Transliteration: pneuma
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Single Greek word for both ‘wind’ and ‘Spirit’; French, like English, requires two separate words, losing the pun entirely. The doctrinal point — sovereign, humanly uncontrollable new birth — must be preserved via a mandatory translator’s note. Core passage: 3:8.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: vie éternelle
Transliteration: zōē aiōnios
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
French secular readers and French philosophical tradition (Platonic-Cartesian immortality-of-the-soul dualism) risk hearing ‘vie éternelle’ as mere unending post-mortem existence rather than a present, relational, Christ-given quality of life. Must be anchored to relational ‘connaître’ (17:3), never ‘savoir’. Key John citations: 3:15-16,36; 5:24; 6:35; 10:10; 11:25; 17:3; 20:31.
Truth
Approved rendering: vérité
Transliteration: alētheia
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief; The Holy Spirit as Counselor
French ‘vérité’ carries a strong Cartesian/Enlightenment rationalist connotation (objective, propositional, scientifically verifiable), risking a flattening of John’s relational, Hebraic covenant-faithfulness sense (‘emet) into abstract epistemology. High-frequency, doctrinally weighty across the whole book. Key John citations: 1:14,17; 3:21; 8:32; 14:6,17; 18:38.
Believe
Approved rendering: croire
Transliteration: pisteuō
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
French ‘croire’ is highly exposed to secular, casual, non-committal usage (‘je crois que…’ as a conversational hedge with no commitment implied). Must be reinforced, especially in ‘croire au/en son nom’ (the Hebraic idiom for trusting the whole revealed person), as trust-commitment, not intellectual assent or superstitious formula-invocation. Used ~98 times throughout; John’s noun ‘pistis’ never occurs.
Judgment Condemn
Approved rendering: jugement / juger / condamner
Transliteration: krisis, krinō, katakrinō
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
France’s prominent civil-judicial culture predisposes readers to hear ‘jugement’ as an impersonal, bureaucratic court process rather than a personal verdict tied to relationship with Christ; 3:18’s PRESENT-tense verdict (‘déjà jugé’) is especially easy to lose to a future-only reading. Key John citations: 3:17-19; 5:22-30; 8:15-16; 9:39; 12:47-48; 16:8,11.
Spirit Of Truth
Approved rendering: l’Esprit de vérité
Transliteration: to Pneuma tēs alētheias
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Compounds two already-flagged High-risk terms (Esprit, vérité); the Cartesian-rationalist truth-flattening risk applies here with the added Pneumatology dimension. Key John citations: 14:17; 15:26; 16:13.
Lifted Up
Approved rendering: élever
Transliteration: hypsoō
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: hisser (rejected — loses the exaltation/glorification double sense), suspendre (rejected — same reason)
French ‘élever’ conveniently carries both the physical-crucifixion and honorific-exaltation senses — a genuine lexical asset. Risk is translator drift toward either pole alone, losing the deliberate cross-as-exaltation paradox. Must retain ‘élever’ with total consistency across 3:14; 8:28; 12:32,34.
Grace And Truth
Approved rendering: grâce et vérité
Transliteration: charis kai alētheia
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word) / Incarnation
Echoes OT covenant language (Hebrew ‘hesed we’emet’, steadfast covenant love and faithfulness, e.g. Exodus 34:6). The OT covenant-loyalty background is invisible without a note; ‘grâce’ already carries the baseline’s High-risk Catholic-sacramental/Reformed sola-gratia tension, compounding the risk when paired with ‘vérité’s’ own Cartesian-rationalist risk. Key John citations: 1:14,17.
Tabernacled Dwelt
Approved rendering: a établi sa demeure parmi nous
Transliteration: eskēnōsen
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word) / Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: a habité parmi nous (Segond-style — acceptable but less vivid fallback, loses the tent imagery further)
‘Pitched his tent, encamped’ — evokes the OT tabernacle/Shekinah-glory dwelling among Israel (Exodus 25:8-9; 40:34-35). Generic French ‘habiter/vivre’ loses this OT background entirely; a mandatory explanatory footnote is required for low-OT-literacy readers. Key John citation: 1:14.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: enfants de Dieu
Transliteration: tekna Theou
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Believers become God’s children by spiritual BIRTH (γεννάω, ‘to be born of God’), not legal adoption. Must be taught as complementary but distinct from the baseline’s legal-adoption metaphor (‘adoption filiale’, Romans 8); conflating the two erodes the force of John’s specifically birth-based New Birth doctrine. Key John citations: 1:12; 11:52.
Draw
Approved rendering: attirer
Transliteration: helkyō
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ (sovereign grace)
‘No one can come to me unless the Father draws him’ (6:44) is a key sovereign-grace text; must be flagged alongside the baseline’s escalation rules for election/predestination language (Romans 8:28-30; 9:11-13).
Freedom
Approved rendering: libérer
Transliteration: eleutheroō
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ (freedom from sin)
France’s foundational Republican value of ‘liberté’ and its strong laïque culture of personal/political liberation make it easy to co-opt this text as an Enlightenment liberty slogan detached from its actual referent — freedom from sin’s bondage through Christ specifically (v.34-36). Key John citation: 8:32,36.
Substitution Hyper
Approved rendering: pour le peuple
Transliteration: hyper tou laou
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: à cause du peuple (rejected — loses vicarious/substitutionary sense)
Caiaphas’s unwitting prophecy (11:50-52). The substitutionary preposition ὑπέρ must be rendered with ‘pour’ to retain vicarious force.
It Is Finished
Approved rendering: Tout est accompli
Transliteration: tetelestai
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: c’en est fini (rejected register — reads as exhausted resignation, not triumphant completion)
Perfect tense — a completed act with ongoing results, a debt fully paid. Established Segond rendering must be retained; teaching notes should draw out the ‘paid in full’ commercial/legal resonance. Key John citation: 19:30.
Blood And Water
Approved rendering: sang et eau
Transliteration: haima kai hydōr
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection / Humanity of Christ
Physiological detail confirming genuine death, with a rich sacramental-typological reading history (baptism/Eucharist prefigured) especially in Catholic tradition. Must be flagged without importing the typological reading unbidden into the base translation. Key John citation: 19:34.
Love Agapao Phileo
Approved rendering: aimer
Transliteration: agapaō / phileō
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World / discipleship restoration
French, like English, has no lexical means to preserve the Greek distinction between agapaō (self-giving) and phileō (affectionate) love — both collapse to ‘aimer’. Mandatory translator’s note wherever the alternation is exegetically significant (esp. 21:15-17); 3:16’s agapaō itself is unambiguous and needs no note.
What Is Truth
Approved rendering: qu’est-ce que la vérité?
Transliteration: ti estin alētheia?
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Pilate’s skeptical question, dramatically ironic since Truth incarnate stands before him. Resonates strongly with French philosophical tradition (Cartesian doubt, Enlightenment skepticism, postmodern relativism); risk of endorsing relativism rather than exposing Pilate’s blindness. Key John citation: 18:38.
Worship In Spirit And Truth
Approved rendering: adorer en esprit et en vérité
Transliteration: proskyneō en pneumati kai alētheia
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor / Truth and Revelation
Worship no longer tied to a geographic sanctuary (Jerusalem/Gerizim) but to Spirit-enabled, truth-grounded devotion. French Catholic readers may hear an implicit critique of liturgical/place-based worship if not framed carefully and non-polemically. Key John citation: 4:21-24.
Medium Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Dieu
Transliteration: Dieu
Doctrine: Deity of Christ / The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] Secularization risk: ‘Dieu’ is used as a casual interjection (‘Mon Dieu!’) and, in academic/philosophical French, can be treated as an abstract deist concept rather than the personal, triune God of Scripture. In John this risk peaks at 20:28 (‘Mon Seigneur et mon Dieu!’), where the confessional force must not collapse into the casual interjection register. Key John citations: 1:1,18; 20:28.
Father
Approved rendering: Père
Transliteration: Père
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family / Unity of the Father and the Son
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] John intensifies Father-Son relational language (chs. 5, 8, 10, 14-17) well beyond the Romans context; no additional French-specific risk beyond the baseline note. Key John citations: throughout, esp. chs. 5, 8, 10, 14-17.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Esprit Saint
Transliteration: Esprit Saint
Doctrine: Sanctification / The Holy Spirit as Counselor
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] John 14-16 introduces the Paraclete/Spirit-of-truth titles (see counselor_paraclete, spirit_of_truth new entries below) and 20:22’s ‘receive the Holy Spirit’ raises the timing-of-reception question relative to Acts 2; do not resolve this in the base translation. Key John citations: 1:32-33; 14:26; 20:22.
Glory
Approved rendering: gloire
Transliteration: gloire
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged; verb form ‘glorifier’ derived for John’s usage.] John’s paradox that the cross itself is ‘the hour of glorification’ (12:23; 13:31; 17:1) is a distinctively Johannine emphasis absent from Romans and should be flagged in teaching notes. Key John citations: 1:14; 2:11; 7:39; 11:4; 12:23; 17.
Faith
Approved rendering: foi
Transliteration: foi
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: croyance, religion
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] IMPORTANT NOTE FOR THIS CURRICULUM: John’s Gospel never uses the noun ‘pistis’ (faith); it uses only the verb ‘pisteuo’ (~98 times) — see the new ‘believe’ entry below, which carries the practical weight this noun carries in Romans. Retain ‘foi’ for any nominal reference in teaching material, but do not force it onto the biblical text itself where John consistently uses the verb.
Salvation
Approved rendering: salut
Transliteration: salut
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: délivrance
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] In John, universalized as ‘Savior of the world’ (4:42) — see new ‘savior_of_the_world’ entry for the derived agent-noun ‘Sauveur’. Must retain unqualified universal scope. Key John citations: 3:17; 4:22; 5:34; 12:47.
Sin
Approved rendering: péché
Transliteration: péché
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] Same colloquial-trivialization risk as Romans (‘péché mignon’); John 1:29’s ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ and 8:34’s ‘slave of sin’ both require the full weight of culpable bondage, not casual indulgence. Key John citations: 1:29; 8:34; 9:41; 16:8-9.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: Royaume de Dieu
Transliteration: Royaume de Dieu
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] In John, entry is tied explicitly to the new birth (3:3,5) and explicitly denied any this-worldly political form (18:36 — see new ‘kingdom_not_of_this_world’ entry, a positive resource for France’s laïcité context). Key John citations: 3:3,5; 18:36.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: résurrection
Transliteration: résurrection
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: renaissance
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] John’s Christological framing (‘I am the resurrection’, 11:25) elevates the doctrine beyond a historical-apologetic fact to Christ’s own life-giving identity, though the base rendering is unchanged. Chief risk remains secular-naturalist metaphorical flattening (‘renaissance’, ‘rebond’). Key John citations: 5:29; 11:24-25; ch. 20.
Holy
Approved rendering: saint
Transliteration: saint
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: pur
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] In John applied both to the Father (17:11) and to Christ himself (6:69, ‘the Holy One of God’). Key John citations: 6:69; 10:36; 17:11; 20:22.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: sanctification
Transliteration: sanctification
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: purification
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged; verb form ‘sanctifier’ also used.] IMPORTANT: John applies the verb TO CHRIST HIMSELF (10:36, consecrated/set apart by the Father for his mission) before applying it derivatively to the disciples (17:17,19) — flag so this is not confused with believers’ own sanctification. Key John citations: 10:36; 17:17,19.
Israel
Approved rendering: Israël
Transliteration: Israël
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] Keep the referent historical/theological, not the contemporary nation-state. Object of Nathanael’s confession (1:49) and Nicodemus’s title ‘teacher/docteur d’Israël’ (3:10). Key John citations: 1:31,49; 3:10; 12:13.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: descendance de David
Transliteration: descendance de David
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: semence de David (archaic)
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] Disputed by the crowd at 7:42 regarding Jesus’s Galilean origin; requires OT background explanation for low-literacy readers.
Messiah
Approved rendering: Messie
Transliteration: Messie
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] John is unique among the Gospels in transliterating the Hebrew/Aramaic term directly (1:41; 4:25) alongside ‘Christ’ — keep both forms distinct per John’s own text: ‘Messie’ and ‘Christ’. Key John citations: 1:41; 4:25.
Mission
Approved rendering: mission
Transliteration: mission
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged; verb form ‘envoyer’ also used.] John’s sending-Christology (Father sends Son, Son sends disciples, 17:18; 20:21) is more structurally central than in Romans; France’s colonial-missionary sensitivity note applies equally here — frame as gospel proclamation, not conquest.
Apostle
Approved rendering: apôtre
Transliteration: apôtre
Doctrine: Apostleship
[Inherited from Romans package; risk raised from Romans’ Low to Medium for this curriculum.] John’s ONLY use of the underlying Greek word (13:16) is generic (‘a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him’), NOT the titular office of the Twelve. Render 13:16 as ‘envoyé/messager’, never the titular ‘apôtre’, to avoid importing an office-sense absent from John’s own usage.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: communion fraternelle
Transliteration: communion fraternelle
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: communion (bare)
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] The underlying Greek word ‘koinonia’ does not occur in John’s Gospel; John expresses the underlying reality through ‘abide’ (menō) and vine/branches imagery (ch.15) instead. Flag for curriculum awareness only; do not force this term onto John’s text.
Adoption
Approved rendering: adoption filiale
Transliteration: adoption filiale
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: adoption (bare, legal-procedural)
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] The underlying Greek word ‘huiothesia’ does not occur in John’s Gospel. John’s parallel doctrine uses a BIRTH metaphor instead (see new ‘children_of_god’ entry, 1:12). Teach the two images (legal adoption vs. spiritual birth) as complementary, not identical.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: païens
Transliteration: païens
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: étrangers
[Inherited from Romans package; NOT USED as John’s own vocabulary.] John uses ‘Hellēnes’ (Greeks) at 7:35 and 12:20 for the same missiological point, not ‘ethnē’. Do NOT substitute this baseline term where John’s own text says ‘Grecs’ — see new ‘greeks’ entry below.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: incarnation
Transliteration: incarnation
Doctrine: Incarnation
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] Directly grounds John 1:14’s ‘the Word became flesh’ — see new ‘tabernacled_dwelt’, ‘flesh’, and ‘grace_and_truth’ entries for the specific John-vocabulary supporting this doctrine. Risk is secular flattening via ‘incarner’ (to embody a role, as an actor).
Light Darkness
Approved rendering: lumière / ténèbres
Transliteration: phōs / skotos, skotia
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
French historical parallel (the Cathar/Albigensian heresy, centered in southern France) risks a Manichean dualistic misreading of equal opposing cosmic forces rather than John’s moral-relational categories; secondary risk of Enlightenment-era ‘les Lumières’ flattening light into abstract rationalism detached from Christ himself (8:12). Key John citations: 1:4-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-46.
World
Approved rendering: monde
Transliteration: kosmos
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
The SAME French word carries both God’s love-object sense (3:16) and the fallen, hostile opposition-system sense (15:18-19); context must disambiguate, and teaching material must make explicit that these are the same word rather than silently resolving the tension. Key John citations: 1:10; 3:16-19; 15:18-19; 17.
Witness Testify
Approved rendering: témoignage / témoigner
Transliteration: martyria / martyreō
Doctrine: Testimony and Witness to Christ
Rejected alternatives: martyre (rejected — confusable cognate meaning martyrdom)
French ‘témoignage’ carries a helpful legal-courtroom resonance that aids rather than undermines the forensic sense John intends. Key John citations: 1:7-8,15,32,34; 3:11,26,32-33; 5:31-39; 8:13-18.
Lamb Of God
Approved rendering: Agneau de Dieu
Transliteration: amnos tou Theou
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Well-established French liturgical phrase (Catholic Mass ‘Agneau de Dieu, qui enlèves le péché du monde’), a genuine asset already deeply embedded and doctrinally accurate. Ensure it is not diluted into a merely gentle/pastoral image divorced from its sacrificial, sin-bearing function. Key John citations: 1:29,36; typologically confirmed 19:33,36.
Sign
Approved rendering: signe
Transliteration: sēmeion
Doctrine: Deity of Christ (revealed through signs)
Rejected alternatives: miracle (rejected in doctrinal register — flattens revelatory/pointing function into mere spectacle)
Never render as ‘miracle’ in doctrinal contexts — always ‘signe’. Key John citations: 2:11,23; 3:2; 4:54; 6:2,14,26; 9:16; 11:47; 12:37; 20:30.
Son Of Man
Approved rendering: Fils de l’homme
Transliteration: huios tou anthrōpou
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Draws on Daniel 7:13-14’s exalted, authoritative apocalyptic figure, not a mere synonym for ‘a human being’. French readers, lacking Daniel 7 background (low OT literacy), risk reading this as simply ‘a human being’, inverting the title’s actual force. Requires a mandatory Daniel 7 cross-reference footnote. Key John citations: 1:51; 3:13-14; 5:27; 6:27,53,62; 9:35; 12:23,34; 13:31.
Abide Remain
Approved rendering: demeurer
Transliteration: menō
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son / Christian Life
Continuing, dependent union with Christ, the condition of spiritual fruitfulness. Already a well-established devotional French term (‘demeurer en Christ’); low collision risk, but must be reinforced as dependent, ongoing relationship, not passive residency. Key John citations: 14:10; 15:4-10.
Living Water
Approved rendering: eau vive
Transliteration: hydōr zōn
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ / The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Established French phrase; risk that hearers stop at the literal-hydrological sense (as the Samaritan woman initially does) and miss the Spirit-symbolism John makes explicit only later at 7:37-39. Key John citations: 4:10-14; 7:37-39.
Savior Of The World
Approved rendering: Sauveur du monde
Transliteration: sōtēr tou kosmou
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
New agent-noun built on baseline ‘salut’; must retain unqualified universal scope, consistent with baseline’s Romans 10:12-13 handling. Key John citation: 4:42.
Slave To Sin
Approved rendering: esclave du péché
Transliteration: doulos tēs hamartias
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
France’s own historical reckoning with the transatlantic slave trade (‘esclavage’) makes ‘esclave’ a weighty, sensitive word; must not trivialize that history while also not avoiding John’s own chosen image. Key John citation: 8:34.
Good Shepherd
Approved rendering: le bon berger
Transliteration: ho poimēn ho kalos
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements; Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: le bon pasteur (flagged as a coexisting Catholic devotional usage, not an error, but avoided in the base biblical text to prevent Protestant clergy-title collision)
Use ‘berger’, never ‘pasteur’ (the ordinary French word for a Protestant minister/clergy title), consistently in the base biblical text. Key John citation: ch. 10.
New Commandment
Approved rendering: un commandement nouveau
Transliteration: entolē kainē
Doctrine: Christian ethic flowing from union with Christ
A new, Christ-modeled standard of self-giving love (13:34), distinguished from the Mosaic Law’s commandments; must not be conflated with baseline’s High-risk ‘loi’ categories.
Feed Tend Sheep
Approved rendering: pais mes agneaux / sois le berger de mes brebis
Transliteration: boske ta arnia mou / poimaine ta probata mou
Doctrine: Pastoral commissioning (Good Shepherd extension)
Peter’s pastoral commissioning, reusing ch.10’s Good Shepherd imagery. Reuse ‘berger’-family vocabulary; never ‘pasteur’ as verb-object. Key John citation: 21:15-17.
Hour
Approved rendering: heure
Transliteration: hōra
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection (appointed timing)
John’s recurring motif of the divinely appointed hour of the cross/glorification. As a recurring thematic marker, translators must track and flag every occurrence so the motif’s build-up (from ‘not yet’ to ‘has come’) is preserved. Key John citations: 2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23; 13:1; 17:1.
Temple Of His Body
Approved rendering: le temple (de son corps)
Transliteration: naos
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word) / Resurrection of Christ
Christ’s own body identified as the true temple. Connects to the baseline’s High-risk ‘church’/‘Église-temple’ distinction; John introduces a THIRD sense (Christ’s own body as temple) that must not be confused with either of the other two. Key John citation: 2:19-21.
Convict
Approved rendering: convaincre
Transliteration: elenchō
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
French ‘convaincre’ leans toward mere intellectual persuasion in ordinary usage; must retain the stronger judicial expose/convict force. Key John citation: 16:8-11.
Overcome
Approved rendering: vaincre
Transliteration: nikaō
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ (Assurance)
Decisive, completed victory language — ties to the baseline’s High-risk assurance_of_salvation doctrine; grounded in Christ’s already-accomplished victory, not aspirational. Key John citation: 16:33.
Kingdom Not Of This World
Approved rendering: mon royaume n’est pas de ce monde
Transliteration: hē basileia hē emē ouk estin ek tou kosmou toutou
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission (apolitical reign)
A genuinely positive resource for France’s strict laïcité (church-state separation) context: Jesus himself disclaims political kingship. Key John citation: 18:36.
Sabbath
Approved rendering: sabbat
Transliteration: sabbaton
Doctrine: Christ’s Authority over the Law and Sabbath
Cross-reference baseline’s High-risk ‘loi’ entry; the Sabbath-authority controversies presuppose Christ’s claim to divine prerogative over the Law itself. Key John citations: 5:9-18; 9:14-16.
Ruler Of The Jews
Approved rendering: un notable des Juifs / membre du Sanhédrin
Transliteration: archōn tōn Ioudaiōn
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles (background)
Member of the Sanhedrin/ruling council, describing Nicodemus. Must not be rendered in a way that essentializes ‘the Jews’ as monolithically hostile; cross-reference baseline’s Israël sensitivity note. Key John citation: 3:1.
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: colère de Dieu
Transliteration: orgē tou Theou
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
French secular readers may domesticate divine wrath into mere disapproval; must retain judicial seriousness consistent with the surrounding judgment vocabulary (3:18-19). Key John citation: 3:36.
Hardened Hearts
Approved rendering: il a endurci leur cœur
Transliteration: pepōrōken tēn kardian
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Judicial hardening in unbelief, citing Isaiah 6:10/53:1. Ties to the baseline’s escalation-rule category for election/predestination language; routed as native-speaker review given its citation-framing. Key John citation: 12:39-40.
Grain Of Wheat
Approved rendering: le grain de blé
Transliteration: ho kokkos tou sitou
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection (illustrative metaphor)
Death-to-life paradox metaphor (‘unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies’); illustrates Christ’s death as necessary and fruitful, and the paradigm for disciples. Key John citation: 12:24.
Low Risk Terms
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jésus
Transliteration: Jésus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] Stable across all French traditions; no live alternative-name controversy. Used throughout John.
Peace
Approved rendering: paix
Transliteration: paix
Doctrine: Peace with God
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] In John, Christ’s own parting gift (14:27) distinct from worldly peace, and his resurrection greeting (20:19,21,26). Key John citations: 14:27; 16:33; 20:19,21,26.
David
Approved rendering: David
Transliteration: David
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] Key John citation: 7:42.
Prophet
Approved rendering: prophète
Transliteration: prophète
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: voyant
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged.] Recurring category of speculation about Jesus’s identity. Key John citations: 1:21; 4:19; 6:14; 7:40; 9:17.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: action de grâce
Transliteration: action de grâce
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
[Inherited from Romans package, unchanged; verb form ‘rendre grâce’ also used.] Jesus’s own act before multiplying bread (6:11,23) and before raising Lazarus (11:41). Key John citations: 6:11,23; 11:41.
Feast Of Tabernacles
Approved rendering: fête des Tentes (des Tabernacles)
Transliteration: skēnopēgia
Doctrine: Cultural-historical setting (Sukkot)
OT pilgrimage feast commemorating the wilderness wandering; setting for the ‘living water’/‘light of the world’ discourses. Low doctrinal risk; requires a cultural/historical explanatory footnote for low-OT-literacy readers. Key John citation: 7:2.
Greeks
Approved rendering: Grecs
Transliteration: Hellēnes
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations / God’s Love for the World
Non-Jewish inquirers/pilgrims, John’s own vocabulary for the mission-to-the-nations theme, distinct from baseline’s ethnē/‘païens’. Must not be replaced with baseline’s ‘païens’. Key John citations: 7:35; 12:20.
Pharisee
Approved rendering: pharisien
Transliteration: Pharisaios
Doctrine: Background cultural/religious identity
Stable, well-established term across all French Bible traditions. May need a footnote explaining the group for biblically-illiterate readers (a literacy gap, not a doctrinal risk). Key John citation: 3:1.
Rabbi
Approved rendering: Rabbi
Transliteration: rhabbi
Doctrine: Background honorific address
Established transliteration convention, retained across the French Bible tradition; John himself glosses the term in-text (‘which means Teacher’/‘docteur’), so preserve both the transliteration and John’s own gloss. Key John citations: 1:38; 20:16 (Rabbouni).
Harvest
Approved rendering: moisson
Transliteration: therismos
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Missional metaphor for gospel ingathering. Key John citation: 4:35-38.
Bridegroom
Approved rendering: époux
Transliteration: nymphios
Doctrine: Background cultural/marriage imagery
John the Baptist’s self-description relative to Christ (3:29). Low-risk cultural-marriage imagery term.
Referenced passages