Doctrine Analysis
Doctrine Analysis — Matthew 1–28 (English → French)
Purpose
This document executes PRD Phase 1 Step 4: a full doctrine matrix spanning every chapter of Matthew, consistent with — and never contradicting — assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json (Matthew edition, version 1). The same 48 doctrines, the same risk tiers (Critical/High/Medium/Low), and the same review routing appear here. This document adds two things the registry does not: (1) a single consolidated matrix suitable for translator/reviewer reference, and (2) explicit chapter-by-chapter coverage across the full book, per the PRD’s full-book coverage mandate. The core passage, Matthew 5:1–12 (the Beatitudes), is the theological anchor of this curriculum but is not the boundary of this analysis.
All Scripture references use the standard French citation format established in the baseline (Romains 3:23 convention), applied here as Matthieu 5:3.
Full Doctrine Matrix
| # | Doctrine | Risk | Key Matthew Passages | Translation Risk (summary) | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Kingdom of Heaven | High | 3:2; 4:17; 5:3,10; 13:1-52; 19:14; 24:14 | ”Le ciel” heard as afterlife destination, not God’s present-and-future reign | Human theologian |
| 2 | Jesus as the Promised Messiah, Son of David | High | 1:1; 1:2-17; 9:27; 12:23; 21:9; 22:41-45 | ”Fils de David” flattened to genealogical trivia, missing 2 Samuel 7 covenant fulfillment | Human theologian |
| 3 | Deity of Christ | Critical | 1:23; 3:17; 14:33; 16:16; 28:9,17-18 | Flattened to divinely-inspired-teacher reading; co-equal eternal deity must never be softened | Human theologian |
| 4 | Sonship of Christ | Critical | 3:17; 16:16; 17:5; 26:63-64; 27:54 | Capitalization slip (Fils de Dieu/fils de Dieu) blurs unique vs. adoptive sonship | Human theologian |
| 5 | Incarnation | Critical | 1:18-25; 1:23 | Secular flattening via “incarner” (acting a role) dilutes a once-for-all metaphysical claim | Human theologian |
| 6 | Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy | Medium | 1:22-23; 2:15,17,23; 4:14; 8:17; 12:17; 13:35; 21:4-5; 26:56; 27:9-10 | Low OT literacy obscures the cited text, not translation ambiguity | Native speaker review |
| 7 | Davidic Covenant | Medium | 1:1,6,17; 9:27; 21:9; 22:41-45 | ”Fils de David” reads as mere ancestry without explicit 2 Samuel 7 background | Native speaker review |
| 8 | The Authority of Jesus’ Teaching | High | 5:21-48; 7:28-29; 9:6-8; 12:8; 21:23-27; 28:18 | ”Autorité” heard as institutional/clerical power, not intrinsic divine authority | Human theologian |
| 9 | Son of Man as Authority-and-Judgment Title | Critical | 8:20; 9:6; 12:8; 16:13; 24:30; 26:64 | Misread as humility/humanity title only; Daniel 7 authority claim lost; must not merge with Fils de Dieu | Human theologian |
| 10 | Righteousness Exceeding the Pharisees | High | 5:6,10,20; 6:1-18; 15:1-20; 23:1-36 | Matthew’s ethical-conduct “justice” conflated with Romans’ forensic “justice”; risk of legalism or ethical flattening | Human theologian |
| 11 | Repentance and the Kingdom’s Arrival | High | 3:2,8,11; 4:17; 11:20; 12:41 | Catholic sacramental “repentir” (confession rite) imported over Matthew’s prior inward reorientation | Human theologian |
| 12 | Baptism | High | 3:6,11,13-17; 28:19 | Live, unresolved Catholic/Protestant divide on mode, timing, and efficacy across mixed audience | Human theologian |
| 13 | The Church and Church Discipline | Critical | 16:18-19; 18:15-20 | ”Clés du Royaume” / “lier-délier” collide with papal-primacy and sacramental-absolution imagery | Human theologian |
| 14 | The Great Commission | High | 28:16-20 | Colonial-mission history; “toutes les nations” must not be rendered “païens” | Human theologian |
| 15 | The Trinitarian Baptismal Formula | Critical | 28:19 | Singular “nom” for three Persons and fixed Père-Fils-Esprit order must be exact | Human theologian |
| 16 | Judgment and the End of the Age | High | 7:21-23; 13:36-43,47-50; 24-25 | Umbrella doctrine; contains several Critical sub-doctrines requiring consistent non-speculative framing | Human theologian |
| 17 | The Parousia (Christ’s Second Coming) | Critical | 24:3,27,30,37,39; 25:31 | ”Avènement” risks generic “dawning of an era”; Greek’s own ambiguity toward “presence” has live exegetical stakes | Human theologian |
| 18 | Eternal Punishment and Eternal Life | Critical | 25:31-46 | Symmetrical “éternel” for both outcomes must not soften toward purgatorial or annihilationist readings | Human theologian |
| 19 | Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit | Critical | 12:31-32 | Pastorally sensitive “unforgivable sin”; must not be broadened to ordinary sin or doubt | Human theologian |
| 20 | Discipleship and the Cost of Following Jesus | High | 4:18-22; 8:18-22; 10:37-39; 16:24-26; 19:16-30 | Stable loanwords (“disciple,” “suivre”) under-signal total-life-allegiance cost | Human theologian |
| 21 | Taking Up the Cross | High | 16:24-26; 10:38 | French idiom “porter sa croix” domesticated to mean any life burden | Human theologian |
| 22 | The Beatitudes as Kingdom Ethics | Medium | 5:3-12 | ”Heureux” heard as subjective happiness, not an objective eschatological pronouncement | Native speaker review |
| 23 | Adoption: Believers as Sons of God | High | 5:9; 5:45 | Capitalization slip blurs Christ’s unique Sonship with believers’ derivative sonship | Human theologian |
| 24 | Mercy and Compassion | Medium | 5:7; 9:13; 9:36; 18:21-35 | Catholic Divine Mercy devotional culture orients “miséricorde” inward; 5:7’s outward-facing sense may be lost | Native speaker review |
| 25 | Purity of Heart | Medium | 5:8; 15:11,18-20; 23:25-26 | ”Cœur” leans toward emotion in modern French, losing the Hebraic will/moral-choice sense | Native speaker review |
| 26 | Persecution for Righteousness’ Sake | Medium | 5:10-12; 10:16-23; 24:9 | Qualifying phrase (“for righteousness’/my sake”) must not be dropped, generalizing to any hardship | Native speaker review |
| 27 | Reward and the Grace-versus-Merit Distinction | High | 5:12; 6:1-18; 10:41-42; 20:1-16; 25:14-30 | Unglossed “récompense” risks smuggling in merit-based soteriology | Human theologian |
| 28 | The Law Fulfilled, Not Abolished | High | 5:17-20; 22:34-40 | Holds fulfillment and intensified authority together; risk of Thomistic natural-law import or antinomian misreading | Human theologian |
| 29 | Human Tradition versus the Word of God | High | 15:1-9 | Shared vocabulary with capitalized Catholic “la Tradition” as co-authoritative revelation | Human theologian |
| 30 | Hypocrisy and True Piety | Medium | 6:1-18; 23:1-36 | French idiom “faire le pharisien” flattens Pharisees into cartoon villains | Native speaker review |
| 31 | Love of God and Neighbor (Great Commandment) | Medium | 22:34-40 | ”Amour” dominated by romantic connotation in modern French | Native speaker review |
| 32 | Christ’s Lordship over the Sabbath | Medium | 12:1-14 | Low French familiarity with Jewish Sabbath practice obscures the Christological claim | Native speaker review |
| 33 | The Transfiguration and Christ’s Glory | Medium | 17:1-8 | Popular “transformation” usage risks obscuring revelation-of-pre-existing-glory sense | Native speaker review |
| 34 | Christ’s Death as Ransom | Critical | 20:28 | ”Rançon” must anchor to substitutionary payment satisfying God’s justice, not a sentimental reading | Human theologian |
| 35 | The Lord’s Supper (Words of Institution) | Critical | 26:26-29 | Most doctrinally contested words in the Gospel across this audience (transubstantiation/Real Presence vs. memorial) | Human theologian |
| 36 | Servanthood and the Slave Metaphor | High | 20:26-28; 23:11 | France’s transatlantic/colonial slavery memory gives “esclave” unusually heavy national-memory resonance | Human theologian |
| 37 | The Resurrection of Christ | Medium | 22:23-33; 28:1-10; 28:16-20 | Secular naturalism reads “résurrection” as metaphorical renewal, not historical event | Native speaker review |
| 38 | Universal Scope of the Gospel | High | 2:1-12; 8:5-13; 15:21-28; 28:19 | Gentile-faith-precedes-Israel’s-recognition motif at risk of cultural/national exceptionalism drift | Human theologian |
| 39 | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | High | 8:10-12; 15:21-28; 21:43 | 21:43 requires care against supersessionist misreading, given France’s history and Jewish community | Human theologian |
| 40 | Mission to the Nations | Medium | 10:5-42; 28:16-20 | Colonial missionary history requires proclamation/disciple-formation framing, not conquest framing | Native speaker review |
| 41 | Providence and God’s Sovereignty | Medium | 6:25-34; 10:29-31; 19:26; 24:36 | Enlightenment deist “la Providence” risks impersonal-order reading | Native speaker review |
| 42 | Stewardship (Parable of the Talents) | High | 25:14-30 | Modern French idiom “avoir du talent” (natural ability) derives from this parable, inviting a category error | Human theologian |
| 43 | Warning Against False Discipleship | Medium | 7:15-23; 13:24-30,36-43 | ”Seigneur, Seigneur” confession-without-fruit must not be softened to generic insincerity | Native speaker review |
| 44 | Worship of Christ | Medium | 2:2,11; 14:33; 28:9,17 | προσκυνέω’s homage/worship ambiguity risks over- or under-stating theological content at different points | Native speaker review |
| 45 | Salt and Light Metaphors | Low | 5:13-16 | Stable, low-ambiguity metaphors | Automated review |
| 46 | The Crucifixion as Historical Event | Low | 27:32-56 | ”Crucifier” stable and unambiguous | Automated review |
| 47 | The Genealogy of Jesus | Low | 1:1-17 | Proper names follow established French forms; comprehension risk is pedagogical, not lexical | Automated review |
| 48 | The Hosanna Acclamation | Low | 21:9,15 | Retained as untranslated transliteration per established convention | Automated review |
Risk summary (matches doctrine_risk_registry.json): Critical 11 · High 18 · Medium 15 · Low 4 · Total requiring theologian review: 29 · Total requiring native speaker review: 15 · Total automated only: 4.
Chapter-by-Chapter Coverage, Matthew 1–28
Every chapter is reviewed explicitly below. Chapters contributing no new Critical/High doctrinal content are noted as such rather than omitted.
Matthew 1 — Genealogy of Jesus (Low); Jesus as the Promised Messiah, Son of David (High); Davidic Covenant (Medium); Incarnation (Critical, 1:18-25); Deity of Christ via Emmanuel (Critical, 1:23). Foundational chapter; heaviest Critical-tier density alongside chs. 16, 26, 28.
Matthew 2 — Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy (Medium, repeated formula); Universal Scope of the Gospel (High, Magi); Worship of Christ (Medium, 2:2,11); Jesus as the Promised Messiah (High, Herod’s threat as counter-testimony to messianic kingship).
Matthew 3 — The Kingdom of Heaven (High, 3:2); Repentance (High); Baptism (High); Sonship of Christ and Deity of Christ (Critical, 3:17, voice from heaven).
Matthew 4 — The Kingdom of Heaven (High, “gospel of the kingdom,” 4:23); Repentance (implicit continuation); Discipleship and the Cost of Following Jesus (High, calling of the first disciples, 4:18-22). Temptation narrative reviewed; no new doctrine beyond authority/sonship already flagged in ch. 3.
Matthew 5 — Core passage (5:1-12) plus the wider Sermon on the Mount opening. Beatitudes as Kingdom Ethics (Medium); Persecution for Righteousness’ Sake (Medium); Salt and Light (Low); The Law Fulfilled, Not Abolished (High, 5:17-20); Righteousness Exceeding the Pharisees (High); Adoption: Believers as Sons of God (High, 5:9); Reward and the Grace-versus-Merit Distinction (High, 5:12). Highest doctrine density per verse-count in the book; anchor chapter for this curriculum.
Matthew 6 — Hypocrisy and True Piety (Medium); Reward and the Grace-versus-Merit Distinction (High, continued); Providence and God’s Sovereignty (Medium, 6:25-34); Lord’s Prayer content underlies Repentance and Mercy doctrines without introducing new Critical/High terms beyond those already tracked.
Matthew 7 — Warning Against False Discipleship (Medium, 7:15-23); The Authority of Jesus’ Teaching (High, 7:28-29); Judgment and the End of the Age (High, “judge not,” narrow gate as discipleship-cost imagery).
Matthew 8 — Universal Scope of the Gospel (High, centurion, 8:5-13); The Authority of Jesus’ Teaching (High); Discipleship and the Cost of Following Jesus (High, 8:18-22, “let the dead bury their dead”).
Matthew 9 — The Authority of Jesus’ Teaching (High, forgiveness of sins, 9:6-8); Mercy and Compassion (Medium, 9:13, 9:36); Righteousness Exceeding the Pharisees (High, fasting controversy).
Matthew 10 — Discipleship and the Cost of Following Jesus (High); Mission to the Nations (Medium); Taking Up the Cross (High, 10:38); Persecution for Righteousness’ Sake (Medium, 10:16-23).
Matthew 11 — Repentance (High, 11:20); Jesus as the Promised Messiah (High, John the Baptist’s question); Reward doctrine touched (11:28-30, yoke imagery) without new tier escalation.
Matthew 12 — Christ’s Lordship over the Sabbath (Medium); Son of Man as Authority-and-Judgment Title (Critical, 12:8); Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit (Critical, 12:31-32); The Authority of Jesus’ Teaching (High).
Matthew 13 — The Kingdom of Heaven (High, parables discourse); Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy (Medium, 13:35); Judgment and the End of the Age (High, wheat and tares, 13:36-43); Warning Against False Discipleship (Medium).
Matthew 14 — Worship of Christ (Medium, 14:33); Deity of Christ (Critical, disciples’ confession after walking on water). Feeding of the 5,000 reviewed; no new doctrine tier beyond providence/compassion already tracked.
Matthew 15 — Human Tradition versus the Word of God (High, 15:1-9); Righteousness Exceeding the Pharisees (High); Purity of Heart (Medium, 15:11,18-20); Universal Scope of the Gospel (High, Canaanite woman); Unity of Jews and Gentiles (High, 15:21-28).
Matthew 16 — The Church and Church Discipline (Critical, 16:18-19, keys of the kingdom); Son of Man as Authority-and-Judgment Title (Critical, 16:13); Sonship of Christ and Deity of Christ (Critical, 16:16, Peter’s confession); Discipleship and the Cost of Following Jesus / Taking Up the Cross (High, 16:24-26). Second-heaviest Critical-tier chapter after 1 and 26/28.
Matthew 17 — The Transfiguration and Christ’s Glory (Medium); Sonship of Christ (Critical, 17:5, voice from heaven repeated).
Matthew 18 — The Church and Church Discipline (Critical, 18:15-20); Mercy and Compassion (Medium, parable of the unforgiving servant, 18:21-35). “Little ones” (Sec. B glossary term) reviewed under church-discipline doctrine; no independent doctrine tier.
Matthew 19 — Discipleship and the Cost of Following Jesus (High, rich young man); Providence and God’s Sovereignty (Medium, 19:26, “with God all things are possible”). Divorce/marriage teaching reviewed as ethical content under Righteousness Exceeding the Pharisees framework; no new doctrine entry required.
Matthew 20 — Christ’s Death as Ransom (Critical, 20:28); Servanthood and the Slave Metaphor (High); Reward and the Grace-versus-Merit Distinction (High, laborers in the vineyard, 20:1-16).
Matthew 21 — Jesus as the Promised Messiah, Son of David (High, 21:9); The Hosanna Acclamation (Low); Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy (Medium, 21:4-5); Unity of Jews and Gentiles (High, 21:43, requires supersessionism caution).
Matthew 22 — Love of God and Neighbor (Medium, Great Commandment, 22:34-40); The Resurrection of Christ (Medium, Sadducee debate, 22:23-33); Jesus as the Promised Messiah (High, Psalm 110 riddle, 22:41-45); Reward doctrine touched (wedding feast parable) without new tier.
Matthew 23 — Human Tradition versus the Word of God (High); Hypocrisy and True Piety (Medium); Righteousness Exceeding the Pharisees (High); Servanthood and the Slave Metaphor (High, 23:11).
Matthew 24 — Judgment and the End of the Age (High); The Parousia (Critical, 24:3,27,30,37,39); Providence and God’s Sovereignty (Medium, 24:36, caution against date-setting).
Matthew 25 — Eternal Punishment and Eternal Life (Critical, 25:31-46); Stewardship, Parable of the Talents (High); Judgment and the End of the Age (High); Reward and the Grace-versus-Merit Distinction (High).
Matthew 26 — The Lord’s Supper, Words of Institution (Critical, 26:26-29); Sonship of Christ (Critical, 26:63-64); Christ’s Death as Ransom (Critical, theological backdrop to the Passion narrative’s opening). Highest Critical-tier concentration in the book alongside ch. 28.
Matthew 27 — The Crucifixion as Historical Event (Low); Deity of Christ (Critical, 27:54, centurion’s confession); Sonship of Christ (Critical, continued). Passion narrative reviewed in full; no doctrine beyond those already tracked in chs. 20 and 26.
Matthew 28 — The Great Commission (High); The Trinitarian Baptismal Formula (Critical, 28:19); The Resurrection of Christ (Medium); Worship of Christ (Medium, 28:9,17); Universal Scope of the Gospel (High, 28:19). Climactic chapter; second-highest Critical-tier density alongside chs. 1 and 26.
Consistency Statement
This matrix reproduces, without alteration, the doctrine set, risk tiers, and review routing recorded in assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json (Matthew edition). No doctrine has been added, removed, or re-tiered here. Any future revision to risk tier or routing must update doctrine_risk_registry.json first and this document second, per the version-control discipline established in the baseline Romans package.
See 08_core_glossary.md for the term-level glossary underlying this doctrine matrix.
See 04_comparative_theology.md for cross-tradition interpretive analysis of these doctrines.
See assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json for the machine-readable authority this document extends.
Critical Risk Doctrines
Deity of Christ
French name: la divinité du Christ
Key terms: Fils de Dieu, Emmanuel, adorer
Review routing: Human theologian
Matthew supplies some of the most direct incarnational claims in any Gospel (Emmanuel, 1:23); French secular academic culture and a biblically unchurched readership risk flattening these into a divinely-inspired-teacher reading unless the co-equal, eternal deity claim is preserved without qualification at every occurrence.
Sonship of Christ
French name: la filiation du Christ
Key terms: Fils de Dieu
Review routing: Human theologian
Must remain typographically and lexically distinct from the lower-case ‘fils de Dieu’ used of believers at 5:9; a capitalization slip in French would blur Christ’s unique, eternal Sonship with common adoptive sonship, collapsing a Critical Christological distinction.
Incarnation
French name: l’incarnation
Key terms: vierge, Emmanuel, incarnation
Review routing: Human theologian
The virgin-birth narrative (parthenos) and Matthew’s own ‘Dieu avec nous’ gloss are foundational incarnational claims; secular flattening via ‘incarner’ (an actor embodying a role) risks diluting a once-for-all metaphysical claim into a temporary or performative one.
Son of Man as Authority-and-Judgment Title
French name: le Fils de l’homme, titre d’autorité et de jugement
Key terms: Fils de l’homme
Review routing: Human theologian
French readers and even teachers commonly and plausibly gloss ‘Fils de l’homme’ as emphasizing only Jesus’ humanness/humility, missing the Daniel 7 authority-and-judgment claim entirely; must never be conflated with ‘Fils de Dieu,’ a distinct though complementary title.
The Church and Church Discipline
French name: l’Église et la discipline ecclésiale
Key terms: Église, clés du Royaume, lier / délier
Review routing: Human theologian
The crossed keys of St. Peter on the Vatican coat of arms make ‘les clés du Royaume/de saint Pierre’ an extraordinarily loaded popular symbol of papal primacy in French Catholic culture; ‘lier/délier’ further collides with the historic Catholic theological phrase for sacramental priestly absolution. The curriculum must present Matthew 18’s congregational, communal-accountability sense without adjudicating the Petrine-office debate through translation choice.
The Trinitarian Baptismal Formula
French name: la formule baptismale trinitaire
Key terms: au nom du Père, et du Fils, et du Saint-Esprit
Review routing: Human theologian
The clearest single-verse Trinitarian text in the Gospel: the singular French ‘nom’ encompassing three distinct Persons, and the fixed Père-Fils-Esprit order, must be preserved exactly without simplification or reordering.
The Parousia (Christ’s Second Coming)
French name: l’avènement du Christ
Key terms: avènement, venue
Review routing: Human theologian
Secular French ‘avènement’ can drift toward a generic ‘dawning of a new era’ (l’avènement d’une nouvelle ère); the Greek word’s own secondary sense of mere ‘presence’ additionally creates live eschatological-interpretation stakes, since a ‘presence’ reading has been marshaled elsewhere toward non-literal or already-fulfilled readings of Christ’s return.
Eternal Punishment and Eternal Life
French name: le châtiment éternel et la vie éternelle
Key terms: châtiment éternel, vie éternelle
Review routing: Human theologian
The identical French adjective ‘éternel’ must modify both outcomes, since the text’s rhetorical structure depends on this symmetry; must not soften toward temporary purgative suffering (importing a purgatory-adjacent category) nor toward an annihilationist reading unsupported by the parallel construction.
Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit
French name: le blasphème contre le Saint-Esprit
Key terms: blasphème contre l’Esprit
Review routing: Human theologian
A uniquely sensitive pastoral text given how commonly anxious French believers and seekers fear they have committed this specific, named ‘unforgivable sin’; must not be broadened in French teaching to ordinary sin, doubt, or spiritual struggle.
Christ’s Death as Ransom
French name: la mort du Christ comme rançon
Key terms: rançon
Review routing: Human theologian
French ‘rançon’ retains an apt commercial/kidnapping connotation, but must be anchored to a substitutionary payment satisfying God’s own justice on behalf of guilty sinners, not to a payment appeasing a hostile third party nor to a merely sentimental ‘price of love’ reading that loses the judicial weight of the atonement.
The Lord’s Supper (Words of Institution)
French name: la Cène, les paroles d’institution
Key terms: Ceci est mon corps, mon sang de l’alliance, alliance
Review routing: Human theologian
The single most doctrinally contested words in the Gospel for this curriculum’s mixed audience — the direct textual basis for Catholic transubstantiation/Real Presence theology versus Lutheran, Reformed, and memorial readings; render with maximal literalness and resolve nothing through translation choice, per the same principle applied to ‘justification’ in the Romans baseline.
High Risk Doctrines
The Kingdom of Heaven
French name: le Royaume des cieux
Key terms: kingdom of heaven, Royaume des cieux
Review routing: Human theologian
French secular culture hears ‘le ciel’ primarily as an afterlife destination; risks reducing Matthew’s dominant kingdom phrase to ‘going to heaven when you die’ rather than God’s reign breaking into present history through Jesus’ ministry. Must be taught alongside ‘Royaume de Dieu’ (baseline reuse) as the identical reality.
Jesus as the Promised Messiah and Son of David
French name: le Messie promis, Fils de David
Key terms: Fils de David, Messie, descendance de David
Review routing: Human theologian
French readers with low OT literacy risk hearing ‘Fils de David’ as a mere genealogical footnote rather than the fulfillment of the specific royal covenant promise of 2 Samuel 7; the Psalm 110 riddle (22:41-45) additionally risks being missed as an implicit claim to messianic transcendence over the merely dynastic category.
The Authority of Jesus’ Teaching
French name: l’autorité de l’enseignement de Jésus
Key terms: autorité, enseigner, Seigneur du sabbat
Review routing: Human theologian
In a strongly laïque French public culture with post-Vatican II sensitivity to clerical-authority abuse, ‘autorité’ risks being heard as institutional/organizational power rather than the intrinsic, self-authenticating divine authority Matthew claims for Jesus, distinct from and greater than that of the scribes.
Righteousness Exceeding the Pharisees
French name: la justice qui surpasse celle des pharisiens
Key terms: justice, hypocrite, pharisien, tradition
Review routing: Human theologian
Reuses the baseline’s Critical-tier ‘justice,’ but Matthew’s ethical-conduct sense (righteousness exceeding external Pharisaic rule-keeping) is distinct from Romans’ forensic-declared-status sense; conflating the two either turns Matthew’s exhortation into legalism or drains it of ethical seriousness. Compounded by the French idiom ‘faire le pharisien,’ which pre-loads readers with a caricatured villain rather than an invitation to self-examination.
Repentance and the Kingdom’s Arrival
French name: la repentance et la venue du Royaume
Key terms: repentir, se repentir, Royaume des cieux
Review routing: Human theologian
French Catholic sacramental theology strongly associates ‘repentir’ with the formal rite of confession (le sacrement de la Pénitence et de la Réconciliation); Matthew’s usage is the prior, inward reorientation of mind and life such a rite is meant to express, not the rite itself.
Baptism
French name: le baptême
Key terms: baptême, baptiser
Review routing: Human theologian
The Catholic-Protestant divide over baptismal mode, timing (infant vs. believer), and sacramental efficacy (regeneration vs. symbol) is a live, unresolved denominational difference across this curriculum’s mixed French readership; render literally and let teaching notes, not the glossary, carry denominational nuance.
The Great Commission
French name: la grande mission
Key terms: faites… des disciples, toutes les nations, mission
Review routing: Human theologian
France’s colonial-era missionary history (missions catholiques coloniales) carries live postcolonial critique in contemporary French public and theological discourse; the Commission must be framed as respectful gospel proclamation and disciple-formation, never cultural conquest, and ‘toutes les nations’ must not be rendered ‘païens’ (which would wrongly narrow and pejoratively color its universal scope).
Judgment and the End of the Age
French name: le jugement et la fin des temps
Key terms: juger, jugement, avènement
Review routing: Human theologian
Encompasses several Critical sub-doctrines (parousia, eternal punishment/life, blasphemy against the Spirit) whose French renderings each carry distinct collision risks with secular, deist, and purgatorial categories; taught together, the whole doctrine requires consistent, non-speculative framing.
Discipleship and the Cost of Following Jesus
French name: le disciple et le coût de la vie de disciple
Key terms: disciple, suivre, prendre sa croix, vie
Review routing: Human theologian
‘Disciple’ and ‘suivre’ are stable, comfortable loanwords/verbs in French that risk under-signaling the total-life-allegiance cost Matthew intends; the idiom ‘porter sa croix’ has drifted into a secular idiom for any life burden, stripped of its original violent, public, potentially fatal referent.
Taking Up the Cross
French name: porter sa croix
Key terms: prendre sa croix, porter sa croix
Review routing: Human theologian
The French idiom ‘porter sa croix’ is in wide secular use for any burdensome circumstance (illness, a difficult marriage); teaching material must recover the concrete first-century referent (a condemned man carrying his own execution-beam) that the domesticated idiom has lost.
Adoption: Believers as Sons of God
French name: l’adoption filiale : les croyants, fils de Dieu
Key terms: fils de Dieu (croyants), adoption filiale
Review routing: Human theologian
Must be rendered lower-case ‘fils de Dieu’ for believers, reserving the capitalized ‘Fils de Dieu’ exclusively for Christ; a capitalization slip in French would blur the Critical distinction between Christ’s unique Sonship and believers’ derivative, adoptive sonship.
Reward and the Grace-versus-Merit Distinction
French name: la récompense et la distinction grâce-mérite
Key terms: récompense, grâce
Review routing: Human theologian
A direct grace-versus-merit collision point already flagged at the doctrine level in the Romans baseline; a careless or unglossed ‘récompense’ throughout Matthew’s many reward sayings risks smuggling in a merit-based soteriology (wages earned, creating a legal claim on God) that contradicts this curriculum’s grace theology.
The Law Fulfilled, Not Abolished
French name: la Loi accomplie, non abolie
Key terms: loi, accomplir, justice
Review routing: Human theologian
Holds fulfillment and intensified authority together in a single claim (5:17); French Catholic natural-law theological categories (loi naturelle, Thomistic) and antinomian misreadings are both live risks in French theological discourse, per the baseline’s own caution, now sharpened by Jesus’ explicit claim to authority over the Law’s interpretation (5:21-48).
Human Tradition versus the Word of God
French name: la tradition humaine et la Parole de Dieu
Key terms: tradition, parole de Dieu
Review routing: Human theologian
Capitalized ‘la Tradition’ functions in Catholic theology as a co-authoritative source of revelation alongside Scripture; Matthew 15’s critique targets a specific first-century body of Pharisaic legal interpretation, not the Catholic theological category as such, but the shared French vocabulary makes this distinction easy to blur in either direction and requires theologian-level framing.
Servanthood and the Slave Metaphor
French name: le service et la métaphore de l’esclave
Key terms: esclave, serviteur
Review routing: Human theologian
France’s own historical reckoning with the transatlantic and colonial slave trade (recognized as a crime against humanity by the 2001 Taubira law) gives ‘esclave’ unusually heavy, historically specific national-memory resonance; requires a culturally sensitive teaching note distinguishing Jesus’ voluntary, dignity-affirming self-giving from the coercive chattel institution France’s history addresses.
Universal Scope of the Gospel
French name: la portée universelle de l’Évangile
Key terms: mages, toutes les nations, foi
Review routing: Human theologian
Matthew repeatedly places Gentile faith (the Magi, the centurion, the Canaanite woman) ahead of Israel’s own recognition of Jesus; retaining this unqualified universality against any drift toward cultural or national exceptionalism is essential, and 28:19’s ‘toutes les nations’ must not be rendered ‘païens.‘
Unity of Jews and Gentiles
French name: l’unité des Juifs et des païens
Key terms: Israël, païens, toutes les nations
Review routing: Human theologian
Given France’s history and its significant Jewish community, Matthew 21:43 (‘the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits’) requires careful, historically aware handling to avoid supersessionist misreadings; cross-reference the baseline’s own caution under ‘israel.‘
Stewardship (the Parable of the Talents)
French name: la gérance fidèle (parabole des talents)
Key terms: talents
Review routing: Human theologian
The modern French idiom ‘avoir du talent’ (natural ability) derives historically from this very parable, making it strikingly easy for French readers to reflexively read the parable as being about innate gifts rather than its actual subject — faithful stewardship of an entrusted resource; must not be conflated with the baseline’s Romans-12 ‘dons spirituels’ vocabulary.
Medium Risk Doctrines
Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy
French name: l’accomplissement de la prophétie
Key terms: afin que s’accomplisse, prophète, prophétie
Review routing: Native speaker review
The recurring fulfillment formula is lexically stable across French traditions; the live risk is comprehension, not translation choice — documented low OT narrative literacy across this curriculum’s audience segments means the cited OT texts require explicit cross-referencing to be intelligible at all.
Davidic Covenant
French name: l’alliance davidique
Key terms: Fils de David, alliance, David
Review routing: Native speaker review
Requires explicit OT background (2 Samuel 7) for a French readership with low biblical literacy; without it, ‘Fils de David’ reads as mere ancestry rather than a specific royal covenant fulfillment.
The Beatitudes as Kingdom Ethics
French name: les Béatitudes, éthique du Royaume
Key terms: heureux, pauvres en esprit, doux, purs de cœur
Review routing: Native speaker review
Secular French ‘heureux’ primarily denotes subjective happiness/contentment, risking a self-help-style misreading of Jesus’ paradoxical, eschatological declarations of conferred status over the poor, mourning, and persecuted, rather than an objective divine pronouncement.
Mercy and Compassion
French name: la miséricorde et la compassion
Key terms: miséricordieux, avoir compassion
Review routing: Native speaker review
Contemporary French Catholic devotional culture (the Divine Mercy devotion, ‘Dimanche de la Miséricorde Divine’) orients ‘miséricorde’ toward receiving Christ’s mercy; Matthew 5:7’s outward-facing sense — believers extending mercy to others — must not be lost to this inward-facing devotional association.
Purity of Heart
French name: la pureté de cœur
Key terms: purs de cœur, cœur, souiller
Review routing: Native speaker review
Modern French ‘cœur’ leans toward emotion/sentiment, risking loss of the Hebraic sense of the heart as the seat of will and moral choice; readers with low OT literacy may also miss that Jesus deliberately relocates purity from external ritual codes to internal disposition.
Persecution for Righteousness’ Sake
French name: la persécution à cause de la justice
Key terms: persécutés, à cause de moi
Review routing: Native speaker review
The qualifying phrase ‘for righteousness’ sake’ / ‘because of me’ must be retained; without it, the beatitude and its parallel Matthean texts risk being applied to any and all hardship rather than suffering specifically for faithful allegiance to Christ.
Hypocrisy and True Piety
French name: l’hypocrisie et la piété authentique
Key terms: hypocrite, pharisien
Review routing: Native speaker review
The French idiom ‘faire le pharisien’ risks flattening the Pharisees into cartoon villains, letting readers feel comfortably superior rather than examining their own hearts against the same temptations of public piety and subtle self-exaltation.
Love of God and Neighbor (the Great Commandment)
French name: l’amour de Dieu et du prochain
Key terms: amour, aimer, prochain
Review routing: Native speaker review
Modern French ‘amour’ is dominated by romantic-relational connotation; the Great Commandment must be clarified as covenantal, willed, self-giving love encompassing both God and neighbor, not primarily an emotion.
Christ’s Lordship over the Sabbath
French name: la seigneurie du Christ sur le sabbat
Key terms: sabbat, Seigneur du sabbat
Review routing: Native speaker review
Most French readers across this curriculum’s audience segments have low familiarity with Jewish Sabbath practice; the Christological force (Jesus placing himself above an institution God himself instituted) needs contextual framing, not a different French word.
The Transfiguration and Christ’s Glory
French name: la Transfiguration et la gloire du Christ
Key terms: fut transfiguré, gloire, la Transfiguration
Review routing: Native speaker review
The established French liturgical term is lexically stable, but popular French makeover/self-improvement usage of ‘transformation’ risks obscuring that this is a revelation of Christ’s pre-existing divine glory, not an external change into something he was not already.
The Resurrection of Christ
French name: la résurrection du Christ
Key terms: résurrection, il est ressuscité
Review routing: Native speaker review
Must be rendered as a historical, bodily, once-for-all event; the chief risk, per the baseline, is secular naturalism reading ‘résurrection’ as metaphorical renewal rather than a historical claim, particularly acute given Matthew’s climactic narrative placement in ch. 28.
Mission to the Nations
French name: la mission auprès des nations
Key terms: mission, faites… des disciples
Review routing: Native speaker review
France’s colonial missionary history (missions catholiques coloniales) carries live postcolonial critique in contemporary French theological discourse; frame mission as gospel proclamation and disciple-formation, not cultural conquest, per the baseline’s own caution.
Providence and God’s Sovereignty
French name: la providence et la souveraineté de Dieu
Key terms: providence, puissance de Dieu
Review routing: Native speaker review
18th-century Enlightenment deist usage of ‘la Providence’ risks an impersonal-benevolent-order reading; Matthew’s texts (19:26, 24:36) must be rendered as the personal, purposive care of a covenant God, with an explicit caution against speculative date-setting.
Warning Against False Discipleship
French name: l’avertissement contre le faux disciple
Key terms: faux prophète, Seigneur, Seigneur
Review routing: Native speaker review
The confession ‘Seigneur, Seigneur’ without obedience (7:21-23) must not be softened into a general warning about insincerity; it is a specific warning that verbal confession of Christ’s lordship without fruit is insufficient, requiring the same care given the baseline’s Lordship-of-Christ doctrine.
Worship of Christ
French name: l’adoration du Christ
Key terms: adorer, se prosterner devant
Review routing: Native speaker review
προσκυνέω is genuinely ambiguous between royal homage and full divine worship; a flattened single French verb throughout risks either overstating the Magi’s theological understanding or understating the disciples’ unambiguous post-resurrection confession of Christ’s deity.
Low Risk Doctrines
Salt and Light Metaphors
French name: le sel et la lumière
Key terms: sel, lumière
Review routing: Automated review
Stable, low-ambiguity cultural metaphors for a distinct, visible, preserving/illuminating presence in the world; no significant French rendering risk.
The Crucifixion as Historical Event
French name: la crucifixion, événement historique
Key terms: crucifier
Review routing: Automated review
‘Crucifier’ is stable and unambiguous across all French Bible traditions; the doctrinal weight is carried by teaching context (the atonement), not by lexical risk in this specific term.
The Genealogy of Jesus
French name: la généalogie de Jésus
Key terms: Fils de David, descendance de David
Review routing: Automated review
Proper names follow established French Bible-translation forms with minimal ambiguity; the genealogy’s low OT-literacy comprehension risk is pedagogical, addressed by cross-reference notes rather than translation choice.
The Hosanna Acclamation
French name: l’acclamation Hosanna
Key terms: Hosanna
Review routing: Automated review
Retained as an untranslated transliteration per the established Amen/Alléluia/Abba convention; minimal rendering risk.
Referenced passages