Core Glossary
08 Core Glossary — 1 John | German Destination Language
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing theological term identified in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, drawn from all five chapters of 1 John. Terms already present in the baseline Romans Language Package (translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json) are marked REUSED and carry forward their exact established German rendering and risk tier without alteration, per the hard rule governing this project. Terms new to this curriculum are marked NEW and are proposed here for addition to translation memory at Phase 2, with a proposed risk tier consistent with the existing risk-tier methodology (doctrine_risk_registry.json definitions: Critical / High / Medium / Low).
Legend
- Status: REUSED (baseline term, rendering fixed) | NEW (proposed for this curriculum)
- Risk: Critical / High / Medium / Low, per baseline
doctrine_risk_registry.jsondefinitions - Ref.: primary 1 John passage(s)
Table 1 — Terms Reused Exactly from the Baseline Romans Language Package
| Term (EN) | Greek | German rendering | Risk | Ref. | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | θεός | Gott | Critical | throughout | REUSED baseline god entry unchanged. |
| Father | πατήρ | Vater | High | 1:2-3; 2:1, 15-16, 22-24; 3:1; 4:14 | REUSED baseline father entry unchanged. |
| Jesus | Ἰησοῦς | Jesus | Low | throughout | REUSED baseline jesus entry unchanged. |
| Son of God | υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ | Sohn Gottes | Critical | 3:8; 4:15; 5:5, 10-13, 20 | REUSED baseline son_of_god entry unchanged; full phrase required. |
| Lord | κύριος | Herr | Critical | (indirect; χριστός-titles dominate) | REUSED baseline lord entry; low frequency in 1 John itself but the Herr/Mr. flattening risk applies wherever it occurs. |
| Holy Spirit | (τὸ) πνεῦμα (τὸ ἅγιον) | Heiliger Geist / Geist | Critical/Medium | 3:24; 4:1-6, 13; 5:6-8 | REUSED baseline holy_spirit entry; capitalization discipline must clearly distinguish the Holy Spirit from the “spirits” to be tested at 4:1. |
| gospel | εὐαγγέλιον | Evangelium | Low | (implicit; not the letter’s own vocabulary) | REUSED baseline gospel entry, relevant to teaching material framing rather than the letter’s own text. |
| grace | χάρις | Gnade | High | (implicit background doctrine) | REUSED baseline grace entry; underlies 4:10, 19’s grace-precedes-response logic though the word itself is not used in 1 John. |
| faith | πίστις | Glaube | Medium | 5:1, 4-5 | REUSED baseline faith entry unchanged. |
| sin | ἁμαρτία | Sünde | Medium | 1:7-10; 2:1-2, 12; 3:4-9; 5:16-18 | REUSED baseline sin entry unchanged; colloquial-trivialization caution especially relevant at 1:8-10. |
| righteousness | δικαιοσύνη / δίκαιος | Gerechtigkeit / gerecht | Critical | 1:9; 2:1, 29; 3:7, 10 | REUSED baseline righteousness entry; here applied to both God’s character and believers’ righteous conduct as evidence of new birth — flag distinction from forensic-justification sense per note in 07. |
| church / fellowship community | ἐκκλησία (implicit) | Gemeinde | High | (implicit; the letter addresses a community, ἐκκλησία not used directly) | REUSED baseline church entry for teaching-material framing. |
| fellowship | κοινωνία | Gemeinschaft | Medium | 1:3, 6-7 | REUSED baseline fellowship entry unchanged — one of this letter’s two opening doctrines. |
| flesh | σάρξ | Fleisch | Critical | 2:16; 4:2 | REUSED baseline flesh entry; MUST disambiguate the two opposite senses within this letter (ethical/sinful-nature at 2:16 vs. genuine-incarnational at 4:2) on first occurrence of each. |
| incarnation | ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο (background) | Menschwerdung | Critical | 1:1-3; 4:2-3 | REUSED baseline incarnation entry; 1 John’s anti-docetic emphasis on Christ’s real, tactile humanity directly extends this doctrine. |
| born of God | γεννάω (ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ) | von Gott geboren | High | 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18 | REUSED baseline born_of_god entry (John 1:13) unchanged; the letter’s dominant family-of-God vocabulary — do not conflate with Kindschaft. |
| adoption (contrast term) | υἱοθεσία (not used in 1 John) | Kindschaft | Medium | — | REUSED baseline entry cited for contrast only; 1 John uses γεννάω/τέκνα vocabulary, not υἱοθεσία — keep the two metaphors distinct in teaching material. |
| world | κόσμος | Welt | High | 2:15-17; 3:1, 13; 4:1, 3-5, 9, 14, 17; 5:4-5, 19 | REUSED baseline mission/general κόσμος-adjacent framing; note 1 John’s own dual usage (positive object-of-love sense at 4:9,14 vs. negative world-system sense at 2:15-17) requires explicit disambiguation not needed to this degree in the Romans package. |
| salvation | σωτηρία / σωτήρ | Rettung | High | 4:14 | REUSED baseline salvation entry; the Heil-avoidance caution applies identically to “Retter der Welt” at 4:14. |
| eternal life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος | ewiges Leben | Critical | 1:2; 2:25; 3:14-15; 5:11-13, 16, 20 | Connects to the established John-Gospel Johannine life-vocabulary (god_so_loved_the_world); 1 John 5:13 is this doctrine’s clearest single statement in the whole curriculum to date. |
| only Son / only-begotten | μονογενής | eingeboren- (as in “eingeborenen Sohn”) | Critical | 4:9 | REUSED baseline exact phrase from John 3:16 (god_so_loved_the_world) — do not vary the rendering. |
| law | νόμος (background; ἀνομία used directly) | Gesetz | High | 3:4 (via ἀνομία) | REUSED baseline law entry as the root of the NEW compound Gesetzlosigkeit (see Table 2). |
| law of Christ (structural parallel) | ἐντολή (functional parallel) | das Gesetz Christi (structural parallel, not identical) | High | 4:21 (via ἐντολή) | Cited for structural parallel; 1 John’s own term is ἐντολή/Gebot (see Table 2), not a direct reuse. |
| Paraclete (Holy Spirit sense) | παράκλητος | der Tröster | High | (John Gospel usage; contrast term) | REUSED baseline entry cited for contrast; 1 John 2:1 uses the SAME Greek word for Christ’s advocacy before the Father and requires the DIFFERENT established rendering “Fürsprecher” — see Table 2. This is a mandatory disambiguation, not a free choice. |
| blasphemy against the Spirit (structural parallel) | — | — | Critical | (structural parallel to 5:16’s sin unto death) | Cited for pastoral-caution structural parallel only; not a direct term reuse. |
Table 2 — New Terms Proposed for This Curriculum
| Term (EN) | Greek | Transliteration | German rendering | Proposed Risk | Ref. | Rationale / Translation Risk Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| word of life | ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς | ho logos tēs zōēs | das Wort des Lebens | Critical | 1:1 | Compound of REUSED Wort (John 1:1,14) and NEW Leben; opening identification of the letter’s subject with the incarnate Logos. |
| touched / handled | ψηλαφάω | psēlaphaō | betastet / angefasst | High | 1:1 | Deliberately concrete, anti-docetic tactile claim; must not be softened to a vaguer “erfahren.” |
| manifested / made known | φανερόω | phaneroō | offenbart / erschienen | Medium | 1:2; 4:9 | Historical, visible disclosure; distinguish from Geheimnis (mystery) vocabulary — a different revelatory category. |
| God is Light | ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν | ho theos phōs estin | Gott ist Licht | Critical | 1:5 | Parallel identity-formula to “God is Love”; guard against collision with German esoteric/New Age “Licht”-spirituality vocabulary. Mandatory theologian review. |
| darkness | σκοτία / σκότος | skotia / skotos | Finsternis | Medium | 1:5-6; 2:8-11 | Moral-relational opposite of light, not competing dualistic cosmic principle; avoid the lighter “Dunkelheit” as insufficiently weighty. |
| confess | ὁμολογέω | homologeō | bekennen | High | 1:9; 2:23; 4:2-3, 15 | Two distinct objects across the letter (confessing sin at 1:9; confessing Christ’s identity at 4:2-3, 15) — same verb, must be taught as two applications. Never soften to “zugeben.” |
| cleanse | καθαρίζω | katharizō | reinigen | Medium | 1:7, 9 | Standard; anchor explicitly to Christ’s blood (1:7) to avoid a vague wellness-culture “Reinigung/Detox” association. |
| blood (of Jesus) | αἷμα | haima | Blut | Medium | 1:7 | Established devotional-liturgical register (Passion music tradition); keep the specifically sacrificial-atoning frame explicit. |
| liar | ψεύστης | pseustēs | Lügner | Medium | 1:10; 2:4, 22; 4:20 | Retain the letter’s characteristic rhetorical bluntness; do not soften to “irrt sich.” |
| advocate (Christ’s intercession) | παράκλητος | paraklētos | Fürsprecher | Critical | 2:1 | MUST diverge from the baseline’s “der Tröster” (John’s Gospel, Holy Spirit sense) — same Greek word, different referent, different established German rendering. Mandatory theologian review and explicit disambiguation note in all teaching material. |
| propitiation / atoning sacrifice | ἱλασμός | hilasmos | Sühnopfer | Critical | 2:2; 4:10 | Never soften to bare “Versöhnung” (reconciliation), which loses the costly sacrificial-judicial force. Doctrinal center of the letter’s atonement teaching. Mandatory theologian review. |
| commandment | ἐντολή | entolē | Gebot | High | 2:3-8; 3:22-24; 4:21; 5:2-3 | Connects to the Decalogue tradition (asset) but requires the same anti-Werkgerechtigkeit caution as law_of_christ. |
| desire / lust (of the flesh) | ἐπιθυμία | epithymia | Begierde | Medium | 2:16 | Paired with REUSED Fleisch in its ethical sense; disambiguate from 4:2’s incarnational Fleisch. |
| pride of life | ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου | alazoneia tou biou | Hoffart des Lebens (or modernized paraphrase) | Medium | 2:16 | Register decision needed: traditional “Hoffart” vs. a lightly modernized rendering; flag for reviewer choice. |
| antichrist | ἀντίχριστος | antichristos | Antichrist | Critical | 2:18, 22; 4:3 | Significant German-specific historical freight: Luther’s own polemical use against the Papacy; Nietzsche’s “Der Antichrist”; contemporary conspiracy-culture usage. Must be anchored strictly to 1 John’s own definition. Mandatory theologian review for every occurrence. |
| anointing | χρῖσμα | chrisma | Salbung | Medium | 2:20, 27 | Universal to all believers in this letter’s sense; distinguish from narrower contemporary charismatic “Salbung empfangen” usage. |
| abide / remain | μένω | menō | bleiben | Critical | throughout (2:6, 10, 14, 17, 19, 24, 27-28; 3:6, 9, 14-15, 17, 24; 4:12-13, 15-16) | Structurally central relational verb (~24 occurrences); German “bleiben” risks losing the covenantal, mutual-indwelling force in favor of a merely spatial/durational reading. Mandatory theologian review for consistency across all occurrences. |
| confidence / boldness | παρρησία | parrēsia | Zuversicht | High | 2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14 | Prefer “Zuversicht” over “Freimütigkeit” in this judgment/assurance context; keep consistent across all four occurrences. Connects to assurance_of_salvation (Critical, Romans baseline). |
| lawlessness | ἀνομία | anomia | Gesetzlosigkeit | High | 3:4 | Direct compound-derivative of REUSED Gesetz; preserves conceptual link to the Mosaic-law doctrine already established. |
| the devil | διάβολος | diabolos | der Teufel | Medium | 3:8, 10 | Standard; guard against flattening into German folk-devil caricature given this letter’s serious, non-caricatured usage. |
| compassion / heart (shut up) | σπλάγχνα | splanchna | das Herz (verschließen) | Medium | 3:17 | Standard German idiom (not literal anatomical translation); low risk. |
| test / discern (spirits) | δοκιμάζω | dokimazō | prüfen | Critical | 4:1 | Doctrine-defining term for Testing the Spirits; surface the metallurgical/authenticating background sense in teaching material. Mandatory theologian review. |
| false prophets | ψευδοπροφήτης | pseudoprophētēs | falsche Propheten | Medium | 4:1 | REUSED baseline Prophet + negating prefix. |
| overcome / conquer | νικάω | nikaō | überwinden | Critical | 4:4; 5:4-5 | Doctrine-defining term for Overcoming the World; guard against triumphalist misapplication (spiritual-moral victory, not promise of circumstantial ease). Mandatory theologian review. |
| perfected / brought to completion | τελειόω | teleioō | vollenden(t) | High | 2:5; 4:12, 17-18 | Prefer “vollendet” over “vervollkommnet/perfekt,” which import a false-friend “flawless” sense foreign to the Greek’s goal-oriented meaning. |
| testimony / witness | μαρτυρία | martyria | Zeugnis | High | 5:6-11 | Legal-forensic register; doctrine-defining for Assurance of Salvation. Minor note: contemporary German usage skews toward school report cards for younger audiences — brief clarifying gloss recommended. |
| Comma Johanneum (textual note) | (v.l. at 5:7-8) | — | (kein Übersetzungsterm — Anmerkung zur Textkritik) | High | 5:7-8 | Mandatory transparent textual-critical framing, of unusually direct German-specific significance (Luther’s own editions; later printed Bible disputes). Follow the same discipline as the baseline’s Mark 16:9-20 and John 7:53-8:11 notes. |
| sin unto/leading to death | ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον | hamartia pros thanaton | Sünde zum Tode | High | 5:16-17 | Pastorally sensitive, structurally parallel to blasphemy_against_the_spirit; must not induce scrupulous fear. Do not equate with the later systematic-theological category “Todsünde.” Mandatory theologian review. |
| idols | εἴδωλον | eidōlon | Götzen | Medium | 5:21 | Standard, low collision risk; note the extended non-literal sense (any rival ultimate allegiance) alongside the literal historical sense. |
| brother (fellow believer) | ἀδελφός | adelphos | Bruder | High | 2:9-11; 3:10, 14-17; 4:20-21 | Established rendering per baseline gender-language conventions; flag ongoing German inclusive-language (Geschwister) discussion for reviewer awareness given this curriculum’s explicit “Love for the Brethren” doctrine encompassing all believers. |
| God is Love | ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν | ho theos agapē estin | Gott ist die Liebe | Critical | 4:8, 16 | The single highest-density German-cultural-collision term in this curriculum. Retain the definite article (“die Liebe,” matching Lutherbibel) rather than the bare attributive “Gott ist Liebe.” Must be explicitly distinguished from secular-sentimental/decorative German usage of the identical phrase. Mandatory theologian review for every occurrence. |
| love (agapē) | ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω | agapē / agapaō | Liebe / lieben | Critical | throughout ch. 2-5, especially 4:7-21 | The letter’s central term. German “Liebe” lacks Greek’s tripartite ἀγάπη/ἔρως/φιλία distinction; every load-bearing occurrence needs contextual glossing on first use to secure the willed, self-giving, God-originated sense against romantic/sentimental drift. Highest-priority term for this entire curriculum. |
| fear (contrasted with love) | φόβος | phobos | Furcht | Medium | 4:18 | Prefer “Furcht” over “Angst,” the latter being heavily loaded in German philosophical/clinical-psychological usage (Kierkegaard/Heidegger reception; “Angststörung”). |
| punishment | κόλασις | kolasis | Strafe | Low | 4:18 | Standard; low risk. |
Table 3 — Doctrine-to-Term Cross-Reference (per curriculum’s stated Bible Doctrines)
| Curriculum Doctrine | Primary Greek terms | Primary German renderings | Overall Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| God is Light and God is Love | φῶς, ἀγάπη | Licht, Liebe (die Liebe) | Critical |
| Fellowship with God and One Another | κοινωνία, μένω | Gemeinschaft, bleiben | Critical (μένω) / Medium (κοινωνία) |
| Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | ὁμολογέω, ἁμαρτία, καθαρίζω, ἀφίημι, ἱλασμός | bekennen, Sünde, reinigen, vergeben, Sühnopfer | Critical |
| Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | ἀγάπη, ἀδελφός, γεννάω | Liebe, Bruder, von Gott geboren | Critical |
| The Incarnation and Antichrist | σάρξ, φανερόω, ἀντίχριστος, ὁμολογέω | Fleisch, offenbart, Antichrist, bekennen | Critical |
| Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | παρρησία, ζωὴ αἰώνιος, μαρτυρία | Zuversicht, ewiges Leben, Zeugnis | Critical |
| Overcoming the World | κόσμος, νικάω | Welt, überwinden | Critical |
| Testing the Spirits | δοκιμάζω, πνεῦμα, ψευδοπροφήτης, χρῖσμα | prüfen, Geist, falsche Propheten, Salbung | Critical (δοκιμάζω) / Medium-High (others) |
Escalation Summary for Phase 2 Review Routing
Mandatory human theologian review (Critical/High terms with German-specific doctrinal or cultural sensitivity): ἀγάπη/“Gott ist die Liebe,” φῶς/“Gott ist Licht,” ἱλασμός/“Sühnopfer,” παράκλητος(2:1)/“Fürsprecher” (disambiguation), ἀντίχριστος/“Antichrist,” μένω/“bleiben,” νικάω/“überwinden,” δοκιμάζω/“prüfen,” σάρξ (4:2, disambiguation from 2:16), the Comma Johanneum textual note (5:7-8), ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον/“Sünde zum Tode,” παρρησία/“Zuversicht,” ζωὴ αἰώνιος/“ewiges Leben,” μαρτυρία/“Zeugnis,” ὁμολογέω/“bekennen” (both senses).
Native speaker review recommended: κοινωνία/“Gemeinschaft” (reuse), καθαρίζω/“reinigen,” χρῖσμα/“Salbung,” διάβολος/“der Teufel,” σπλάγχνα/“Herz,” ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου register decision, ἀδελφός/“Bruder” inclusive-language awareness, φόβος/“Furcht” vs. “Angst.”
Automated review sufficient: κόλασις/“Strafe,” εἴδωλον/“Götzen,” ψεύστης/“Lügner,” ψηλαφάω/“betastet.”
This glossary extends, and in every case of overlap defers to, the baseline translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json. No baseline rendering has been altered. All NEW entries in Table 2 are proposed for formal addition to translation_memory.json at the start of Phase 2 processing for this curriculum.
Critical Risk Terms
Abide
Approved rendering: bleiben
Transliteration: menō
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: verweilen (too poetic/passive), wohnen (imports too narrow a spatial-dwelling sense)
Original: μένω
Category: Church
NEW — structurally central term (~24 occurrences: 2:6, 10, 14, 17, 19, 24, 27-28; 3:6, 9, 14-15, 17, 24; 4:12-13, 15-16). German ‘bleiben’ risks losing the covenantal, mutual-indwelling force in favor of a merely spatial/durational reading. Mandatory theologian sign-off; mandatory cross-occurrence consistency check.
Advocate Of Christ
Approved rendering: Fürsprecher
Transliteration: paraklētos
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: der Tröster (the baseline John-Gospel rendering for the Holy Spirit’s paraclete role — wrong referent at 1 John 2:1)
Original: παράκλητος
Category: Christology
NEW — mandatory disambiguation against the inherited baseline term ‘paraclete.’ At 1 John 2:1, the referent is Christ himself interceding before the Father; established German Bible tradition renders this occurrence ‘Fürsprecher.’ Mandatory theologian review noting the deliberate divergence from the John-Gospel rendering of the identical Greek word.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: Antichrist
Transliteration: antichristos
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: Gegner Christi (paraphrase sacrifices recognizability without reducing the real, definitional risk)
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: False Teaching
NEW — significant German-specific historical freight. Requires deliberate historical-sensitivity framing: (1) Luther’s own later polemical application of the term to the Papacy; (2) Nietzsche’s ‘Der Antichrist’; (3) contemporary conspiracy-culture usage. Teaching material MUST anchor the term strictly to 1 John’s own definition (2:18, 22; 4:3). Mandatory theologian review for every occurrence.
Born From Above
Approved rendering: von neuem geboren
Transliteration: gennēthē anōthen
Doctrine: New Birth / Born from Above
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package (John 3:3, 7); unchanged. 1 John extension: cited for cross-reference only — 1 John itself uses γεννάω ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ (‘von Gott geboren’) rather than John 3’s ἄνωθεν (‘von oben/von neuem’) construction, but both describe the same underlying new-birth doctrine and should be taught as continuous with it.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: ewiges Leben
Transliteration: zōē aiōnios
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
NEW, connects explicitly to the inherited ‘god_so_loved_the_world’ Johannine life-vocabulary. Must be glossed as qualitative, relational, already-possessed life (5:11-13, 20), not merely unending temporal duration. 5:13 is this doctrine’s clearest single statement in the whole curriculum to date. Mandatory theologian review.
Flesh
Approved rendering: Fleisch
Transliteration: Fleisch
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: σάρξ
Category: Christology
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. Ethical, sinful-nature sense; disambiguate from neutral Körper/Leib sense on first occurrence. 1 John extension: 1 John uses the IDENTICAL German word for two theologically OPPOSITE senses within a few chapters of itself — the genuine, historical, anti-docetic incarnational sense (4:2, matching John 1:14) and the ethical, sinful-nature sense (2:16, ‘die Begierde des Fleisches’). Mandatory explicit disambiguation at every occurrence, heightened beyond the baseline’s general first-occurrence rule given this letter’s compressed argument.
God Is Light
Approved rendering: Gott ist Licht
Transliteration: ho theos phōs estin
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: Gott ist das Licht (adds an article not present in the Greek’s anarthrous predicate, nor in the established German rendering convention)
Original: ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν
Category: God
NEW. The letter’s opening identity-statement about God’s essential nature as unmixed moral purity, truth, and self-revealing holiness (1:5), structurally parallel to 4:8’s ‘God is love.’ Must be explicitly distinguished in teaching material from contemporary German esoteric/New Age ‘Licht’-spirituality vocabulary (Lichtarbeit, spirituelle Erleuchtung, Engel-des-Lichts literature). Mandatory theologian review for every occurrence.
God Is Love
Approved rendering: Gott ist die Liebe
Transliteration: ho theos agapē estin
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: Gott ist Liebe (bare attributive, indefinite — reads as merely adjectival in colloquial German, loses the identity-predication force)
Original: ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν
Category: God
NEW — the single highest-density German-cultural-collision term in this entire curriculum. Retain the definite article (‘die Liebe,’ matching Lutherbibel) always. Must be explicitly distinguished from the phrase’s migration into secular German decorative, sentimental, wedding/greeting-card, and tattoo culture. Mandatory theologian review and explicit contextual glossing on every occurrence (4:8, 16), always taught in immediate proximity to 4:9-10’s costly, sacrificial definition.
God So Loved The World
Approved rendering: Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt, dass er seinen eingeborenen Sohn gab
Transliteration: Houtōs gar ēgapēsen ho theos ton kosmon, hōste ton huion ton monogenē edōken
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package (John 3:16); unchanged. 1 John extension: 1 John 4:9’s ‘seinen eingeborenen Sohn’ MUST match this established phrase’s ‘eingeborenen Sohn’ rendering exactly — do not introduce ‘einzigen Sohn’ or ‘einzigartigen Sohn’ as alternatives, and never shift to Watchtower/NWT-adjacent ‘einziggezeugt.‘
In The Beginning Was The Word
Approved rendering: Im Anfang war das Wort, und das Wort war bei Gott, und Gott war das Wort
Transliteration: En archē ēn ho logos, kai ho logos ēn pros ton theon, kai theos ēn ho logos
Doctrine: The Prologue: The Word Made Flesh
Rejected alternatives: Am Anfang war die Tat (Goethe’s Faust — a literary, not translation, choice)
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package (John 1:1); unchanged. 1 John extension: 1 John 1:1’s ‘das Wort des Lebens’ is the letter’s own retrospective echo of this established prologue; must be recognizably the same theological claim in German, not independently re-translated.
Lord
Approved rendering: Herr
Transliteration: Herr
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Meister, Chef
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. CRITICAL: Romans 10:9 ‘Jesus ist Herr.’ No separate everyday honorific exists in German to protect the exalted sense from the ordinary ‘Mr.’ title. 1 John extension: low-frequency in 1 John’s own vocabulary (the letter prefers ‘Jesus Christus’/‘der Sohn’), but the flattening risk applies identically wherever the title occurs in associated liturgical or teaching material.
Love Agape
Approved rendering: Liebe / lieben
Transliteration: agapē / agapaō
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love; Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Love
NEW — this curriculum’s single highest-priority term. German ‘Liebe/lieben’ is the only viable rendering (German lacks Greek’s tripartite ἀγάπη/ἔρως/φιλία distinction), but ‘Liebe’ alone carries enormous secular-sentimental and romantic freight. Every load-bearing occurrence, especially throughout 4:7-21, requires contextual glossing on first occurrence to secure the willed, self-giving, God-originated, cross-shaped sense against romantic or merely-affectionate drift.
New Commandment
Approved rendering: Ein neues Gebot gebe ich euch, dass ihr euch untereinander liebt
Transliteration: entolēn kainēn didōmi hymin, hina agapate allēlous
Doctrine: The New Commandment and Foot Washing
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package (John 13:34); unchanged. 1 John extension: 1 John 2:7-8 directly reuses this ‘old yet new commandment’ paradox (‘kein neues Gebot… und doch ein neues Gebot’); the underlying ‘Gebot’/love-command vocabulary must connect visibly to this established John 13:34 phrase in teaching material.
Overcome The World
Approved rendering: überwinden
Transliteration: nikaō
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: νικάω
Category: Ethics
NEW — doctrine-defining term (4:4; 5:4-5). Guard against a triumphalist misapplication (spiritual-moral victory, not circumstantial ease or worldly success). Mandatory theologian review.
Propitiation
Approved rendering: Sühnopfer
Transliteration: hilasmos
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: Versöhnung (loses the costly sacrificial-judicial force), Sühne (abstract, without the concrete ‘-opfer’/sacrifice component)
Original: ἱλασμός
Category: Salvation
NEW — the doctrinal center of the letter’s atonement teaching (2:2; 4:10). Established German Bible tradition (Lutherbibel, Einheitsübersetzung) renders this ‘Sühnopfer.’ MUST use ‘Sühnopfer,’ never a bare ‘Versöhnung’ alone. Mandatory theologian review.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: Gerechtigkeit
Transliteration: Gerechtigkeit
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: Tugend
Original: δικαιοσύνη / δίκαιος
Category: Salvation
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. CRITICAL: ‘Gerechtigkeit Gottes’ in Romans 1:17 is the exact phrase behind Luther’s own reported breakthrough. 1 John extension: 1 John applies the identical German word to two related but distinguishable senses — God’s own consistent, trustworthy character (1:9) and the righteous conduct that evidences new birth (2:29; 3:7, 10) — neither of which reprises Romans’ forensic-imputation argument verbatim. Must not be silently collapsed into a Werkgerechtigkeit reading of the evidentiary sense.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Sohn Gottes
Transliteration: Sohn Gottes
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. CRITICAL: full phrase required, conveying eternal, unique Sonship. 1 John extension: the letter’s central doctrinal test (4:15; 5:5, 10-13, 20) — confessing this identity distinguishes true faith from antichrist teaching.
Test The Spirits
Approved rendering: prüfen
Transliteration: dokimazō
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: δοκιμάζω
Category: False Teaching
NEW — doctrine-defining term (4:1). Surface the metallurgical/authenticating background sense (testing genuineness, as of coins or metal) in teaching material. Mandatory theologian review.
Word Became Flesh
Approved rendering: das Wort ward Fleisch und wohnte unter uns
Transliteration: ho logos sarx egeneto kai eskēnōsen en hēmin
Doctrine: The Prologue: The Word Made Flesh
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package (John 1:14); unchanged. 1 John extension: grounds both 1 John’s opening ‘das Wort des Lebens’ (1:1) and the letter’s anti-docetic insistence on Christ’s genuine, incarnational ‘Fleisch’ (4:2) — the SAME positive sense as this established phrase, opposite to 2:16’s ethical sense of the same German word.
Word Of Life
Approved rendering: das Wort des Lebens
Transliteration: ho logos tēs zōēs
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
NEW compound of the inherited ‘Wort’ vocabulary (John 1:1, 14) and ‘Leben.’ The letter’s opening identification of its subject with the eternal, incarnate Logos — an apostolic claim of eyewitness, tactile encounter with the incarnate Christ (1:1). Must not be independently re-translated.
High Risk Terms
Born Of God
Approved rendering: von Gott geboren
Transliteration: gennaō
Doctrine: New Birth / Born from Above
Original: γεννάω (ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package (established at John 1:13); unchanged. 1 John extension: this letter’s DOMINANT family-of-God vocabulary (2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18) — the ground of the love, righteousness, and victory-over-the-world marking a life truly born of God. Must be kept distinct from the Pauline ‘Kindschaft’ (adoption) metaphor.
Brother
Approved rendering: Bruder
Transliteration: adelphos
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: Geschwister (live contemporary German inclusive-language alternative; not adopted per baseline’s convention-preservation rule, but flagged for reviewer awareness)
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church
NEW. The concrete, visible fellow-believer as the necessary proving-ground for the claim to love the invisible God (4:20-21; 2:9-11; 3:10-17). Established rendering per baseline gender-language conventions; teaching material should make the doctrine’s inclusive scope explicit.
Church
Approved rendering: Gemeinde
Transliteration: Gemeinde
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: Kirche (institution-default)
Original: (implicit; ἐκκλησία not used directly in 1 John’s own text)
Category: Church
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. Free church/Pietist tradition prefers ‘Gemeinde’ for the gathered local body. 1 John extension: ἐκκλησία is not directly used in 1 John’s own text, but ‘Gemeinde’ is retained for teaching-material framing of the community the letter addresses as a body evidenced by mutual love and shared confession.
Comma Johanneum
Approved rendering: (kein Übersetzungsterm — Anmerkung zur Textkritik)
Transliteration: n/a
Doctrine: The Comma Johanneum and Textual Transmission
Original: (variant reading at 1 John 5:7-8)
Category: Textual Criticism
NEW — mandatory textual-critical transparency note of unusually direct German-specific significance. Luther’s own translation did not originally include the Comma Johanneum (5:7-8); it was added to later printed Lutherbibel editions under Vulgate/Textus-Receptus pressure and remained a live confessional and scholarly dispute for centuries within German Bible-publishing history. Follow the same discipline as the baseline’s Mark 16:9-20 and John 7:53-8:11 notes.
Commandment
Approved rendering: Gebot
Transliteration: entolē
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Church
NEW. A specific, authoritative directive received from Christ, used generally (2:3-4, 7-8; 3:22-24; 5:2-3) and specifically for the love-command (4:21). Connects productively to the German Decalogue tradition (Zehn Gebote) but requires the same anti-Werkgerechtigkeit care as the baseline’s ‘das Gesetz Christi’: never a precondition earning new birth, always its fitting, Spirit-enabled fruit.
Confess
Approved rendering: bekennen
Transliteration: homologeō
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin; The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: zugeben (admission-of-guilt connotation, inappropriate for the Christological confession sense)
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: Church
NEW. Used with TWO distinct objects in this letter — confession of sin (1:9) and confession of Jesus’s identity as the Son of God/Christ come in the flesh (2:23; 4:2-3, 15). Same German verb, two theologically distinct objects; must be taught as such at every occurrence. Note collision risk with German ‘Konfession’ (denominational identity).
Confidence
Approved rendering: Zuversicht
Transliteration: parrēsia
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: Freimütigkeit (stresses candor/frankness more than confident standing)
Original: παρρησία
Category: Faith
NEW. Confident, unashamed standing before God (2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14). Keep rendering fixed across all four occurrences. Directly connects to the baseline’s Critical ‘assurance_of_salvation’ doctrine.
Gospels Stated Purpose
Approved rendering: damit ihr glaubet, dass Jesus der Christus ist, der Sohn Gottes, und damit ihr durch den Glauben das Leben habt in seinem Namen
Transliteration: tauta gegraptai hina pisteusēte hoti Iēsous estin ho Christos ho huios tou theou
Doctrine: The Gospel’s Stated Purpose
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package (John 20:30-31); unchanged. 1 John extension: 1 John 5:13 (‘damit ihr wisst, dass ihr das ewige Leben habt’) is this curriculum’s structural and thematic parallel to John’s own purpose statement; both should be taught as companion ‘purpose statement’ verses.
Grace
Approved rendering: Gnade
Transliteration: Gnade
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: Barmherzigkeit, Wohlwollen
Original: χάρις (implicit background; the word itself is not used in 1 John’s extant text)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. Luther’s ‘sola gratia’ (Gnade allein) is a Reformation cornerstone. Catholic Einheitsübersetzung uses the same word but ties it more to sacramental means of grace (Gnadenmittel); must render as unmerited and apart from any human or ecclesial cooperation. 1 John extension: underlies the grace-precedes-response logic of 4:10, 19 (‘wir lieben, weil er uns zuerst geliebt hat’), though χάρις itself is not used in 1 John’s extant text.
Law
Approved rendering: Gesetz
Transliteration: Gesetz
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. ‘Gesetz und Evangelium’ is a cornerstone Lutheran hermeneutical dialectic. 1 John extension: νόμος itself is not used directly in 1 John, but is the root of the NEW compound ‘Gesetzlosigkeit’ (ἀνομία, 3:4), which preserves the direct conceptual link to this established doctrine.
Lawlessness
Approved rendering: Gesetzlosigkeit
Transliteration: anomia
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: ἀνομία
Category: Sin
NEW. 3:4’s definitional equation of sin with lawlessness. Standard compound-derivative of the inherited ‘Gesetz,’ preserving the direct conceptual link to the Mosaic-law doctrine already established.
Paraclete
Approved rendering: der Tröster
Transliteration: ho paraklētos
Doctrine: The Paraclete/Holy Spirit
Rejected alternatives: der Beistand (more contemporary legal-advocate sense)
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. Luther’s traditional rendering for the Holy Spirit’s role, John 14:16-16:15. 1 John extension: cited for MANDATORY CONTRAST — 1 John 2:1 uses the SAME Greek word (παράκλητος) for a DIFFERENT referent (Christ’s advocacy before the Father), and established German Bible tradition renders that occurrence ‘Fürsprecher,’ NOT ‘der Tröster.’ See the NEW entry ‘advocate_of_christ’ below. Using ‘der Tröster’ at 1 John 2:1 is a forbidden substitution.
Perfected In Love
Approved rendering: vollendet
Transliteration: teleioō
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love; Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: vervollkommnet, perfektioniert (both import a false-friend modern ‘flawless/optimized’ connotation foreign to the Greek’s goal-oriented sense)
Original: τελειόω
Category: Love
NEW. Love reaching its intended, mature expression (2:5; 4:12, 17-18), a goal-oriented word, not a flawlessness-word.
Salvation
Approved rendering: Rettung
Transliteration: Rettung
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: Heil (Nazi-era contamination risk), Erlösung (more existential/liberation-flavored)
Original: σωτηρία / σωτήρ
Category: Salvation
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. HIGH RISK, distinctly German: three partially overlapping words exist (Heil, Erlösung, Rettung); ‘Heil’ avoided due to its Nazi-era co-optation. 1 John extension: named explicitly at 4:14 (‘Retter der Welt’); the same case-by-case reviewer sign-off rule for ‘Heil’ applies identically here.
Sin Unto Death
Approved rendering: Sünde zum Tode
Transliteration: hamartia pros thanaton
Doctrine: Sin Unto Death and Pastoral Care
Rejected alternatives: Todsünde (later, distinct Catholic systematic-theological category — must not be equated)
Original: ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον
Category: Sin
NEW — pastorally sensitive, structurally similar to the baseline’s ‘blasphemy_against_the_spirit’ caution (5:16-17). Must include explicit pastoral framing to prevent scrupulous, anxious self-diagnosis. Mandatory theologian review.
Testimony
Approved rendering: Zeugnis
Transliteration: martyria
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: μαρτυρία
Category: Faith
NEW — doctrine-defining term connecting to Assurance of Salvation (5:6-11). Legal-forensic register; note contemporary German usage skews toward school report cards (‘Schulzeugnis’) for younger audiences — brief clarifying gloss recommended.
Touched And Handled
Approved rendering: betastet
Transliteration: psēlaphaō
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: erfahren (too soft, loses the anti-docetic tactile force entirely)
Original: ψηλαφάω
Category: Christology
NEW. Deliberately concrete, tactile verb describing the apostolic witnesses’ physical handling of the incarnate Word (1:1), a direct anti-docetic polemical claim. Must not be softened.
World
Approved rendering: Welt
Transliteration: kosmos
Doctrine: Overcoming the World; Universal Scope of the Gospel
Original: κόσμος
Category: Ethics
NEW dedicated entry (no standalone ‘world’ key existed in the baseline TM, though the concept underlies the baseline’s mission and kingdom_of_god framing). Used in TWO OPPOSITE senses within 1 John alone: humanity as the object of God’s saving love (4:9, 14, matching John 3:16) and the morally opposed world-system believers must not love (2:15-17; 5:19). Both senses render identically as ‘Welt’ — mandatory explicit disambiguation of which sense is active at every occurrence.
Medium Risk Terms
Abba
Approved rendering: Abba
Transliteration: Abba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. Aramaic term of intimacy preserved by Luther. 1 John extension: not used in 1 John’s own text (Ἀββά does not occur); retained here only for cross-reference and to instruct translators NOT to import it artificially into this letter’s Father-vocabulary (2:1; 3:1).
Adoption
Approved rendering: Kindschaft
Transliteration: Kindschaft
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: Adoption (bare, legal-procedural)
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. Luther’s own term for huiothesia. 1 John extension: cited for CONTRAST ONLY — 1 John uses γεννάω/τέκνα (‘von Gott geboren’/‘Kinder Gottes’) vocabulary, not υἱοθεσία. The two New Testament family-of-God metaphors run in parallel and must NOT be silently merged in teaching material.
Anointing
Approved rendering: Salbung
Transliteration: chrisma
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: χρῖσμα
Category: Holy Spirit
NEW. Every believer’s Spirit-given teaching presence and capacity to discern truth (2:20, 27), deliberately universal rather than reserved for a special class. Distinguish from narrower contemporary charismatic ‘Salbung empfangen’ usage.
Blood Of Jesus
Approved rendering: Blut Jesu
Transliteration: haima Iēsou
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: αἷμα Ἰησοῦ
Category: Salvation
NEW. The atoning, cleansing power of Christ’s sacrificial death (1:7), connecting to the letter’s ‘Sühnopfer’ doctrine at 2:2 and 4:10.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: Kinder Gottes
Transliteration: tekna theou
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: Church
NEW. Believers’ present, already-possessed family identity (3:1-2). Connected to the inherited ‘von Gott geboren’ vocabulary; keep distinct from ‘Kindschaft.‘
Cleanse
Approved rendering: reinigen
Transliteration: katharizō
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: καθαρίζω
Category: Salvation
NEW. Moral/relational cleansing from sin’s guilt, grounded in Christ’s atoning work (1:7, 9). Anchor explicitly to Christ’s blood to avoid a vague wellness-culture ‘Detox/Reinigung’ reading.
Compassion Of Heart
Approved rendering: das Herz verschließen
Transliteration: splanchna
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: σπλάγχνα
Category: Ethics
NEW. Literally the inward parts/bowels, the ancient seat of emotion; metaphorically, deep compassion ‘shut up’ against a brother in need (3:17). Standard German idiom, not a literal anatomical translation.
Darkness
Approved rendering: Finsternis
Transliteration: skotia / skotos
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: Dunkelheit (insufficiently weighty for this theological register)
Original: σκοτία / σκότος
Category: God
NEW. The moral-relational opposite of God’s light — falsehood, sin, and alienation from God, not a competing cosmic dualistic principle (1:5-6; 2:8-11). Retain the weighty devotional-register ‘Finsternis’ (established via German Passion-music and hymnody).
Desire Of The Flesh
Approved rendering: Begierde des Fleisches
Transliteration: epithymia tēs sarkos
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός
Category: Ethics
NEW. One element of the triad of worldly temptation (2:16); σάρξ here in its ethical, sinful-nature sense, distinct from 4:2’s incarnational sense of the same word — flag the same disambiguation the ‘flesh’ entry requires.
Devil
Approved rendering: der Teufel
Transliteration: ho diabolos
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ὁ διάβολος
Category: Sin
NEW. The personal spiritual adversary; moral parentage framing (3:8, 10). Guard against flattening into German folk-devil caricature given this letter’s serious, non-caricatured usage.
Faith
Approved rendering: Glaube
Transliteration: Glaube
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: Weltanschauung
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. Secularized usage now often treats ‘Glaube’ as generic worldview or spirituality. Must specify personal trust in Christ, not generic religiosity. 1 John extension: the specific instrument by which believers overcome the world (5:4-5) and the necessary correlate of new birth (5:1).
False Prophets
Approved rendering: falsche Propheten
Transliteration: pseudoprophētai
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: ψευδοπροφῆται
Category: False Teaching
NEW. The inherited ‘Prophet’ entry with the negating ‘falsch-’ prefix (4:1).
Father
Approved rendering: Vater
Transliteration: Vater
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. God as personal Father. 1 John extension: the source of the new-birth family relationship into which believers are begotten (2:1; 3:1; 4:14).
Fear
Approved rendering: Furcht
Transliteration: phobos
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: Angst (heavily loaded in German philosophical/clinical-psychological usage via Kierkegaard/Heidegger reception and ‘Angststörung’; avoid)
Original: φόβος
Category: Love
NEW. Servile dread of punishment/rejection, incompatible with mature love (4:18). Prefer the more textually neutral ‘Furcht.‘
Fellowship
Approved rendering: Gemeinschaft
Transliteration: Gemeinschaft
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. The ordinary Luther Bible word for koinonia; existing caution against echoing the collectivist ‘Volksgemeinschaft’ register. 1 John extension: one of the letter’s two opening doctrines (1:3, 6-7), structurally central to chapter 1’s purpose statement; the collectivist-register caution is sharpened here given the letter’s own strong communal-boundary language against false teachers.
God
Approved rendering: Gott
Transliteration: Gott
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. Sharp religious-literacy divide between former West and East Germany. 1 John extension: defined climactically in this letter by two essential-nature statements, ‘Gott ist Licht’ (1:5) and ‘Gott ist die Liebe’ (4:8, 16) — see dedicated entries below.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Heiliger Geist
Transliteration: Heiliger Geist
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον / τὸ πνεῦμα
Category: God
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. No competing deity-concept risk in German culture. 1 John extension: given to every believer as evidence of abiding fellowship with God (3:24; 4:13) and source of true doctrinal confession (4:2, 6). German capitalization (‘der Heilige Geist’/‘sein Geist’) must clearly distinguish this from lowercase ‘Geister’ (spirits to be tested, 4:1) — a distinctly German orthographic disambiguation risk.
Idols
Approved rendering: Götzen
Transliteration: eidōlon
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: εἴδωλον
Category: Ethics
NEW. The letter’s abrupt closing exhortation (5:21). Note the extended, non-literal sense (any rival ultimate allegiance) alongside the literal historical sense.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: Menschwerdung
Transliteration: Menschwerdung
Doctrine: Incarnation
Original: ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο (background); ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα (1 John 4:2)
Category: Christology
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. Native compound preferred in Lutheran catechetical register. 1 John extension: the letter’s anti-docetic emphasis on Christ’s real, tactile humanity (1:1-3’s ψηλαφάω; 4:2-3’s confession test) directly extends and intensifies this doctrine beyond its Romans/John-Gospel baseline treatment.
Intercession
Approved rendering: Fürbitte
Transliteration: hyperentynchanei / enteuxis
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. Standard term used in both Catholic and Protestant German liturgy. 1 John extension: underlies 1 John 5:14-16’s teaching on confident prayer and praying for a brother seen sinning, distinct from the letter’s separate ‘sin unto death’ caution (5:16-17).
Liar
Approved rendering: Lügner
Transliteration: pseustēs
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth; Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: irrt sich (is mistaken) — softens the letter’s characteristic rhetorical bluntness
Original: ψεύστης
Category: Sin
NEW. A strong, repeated term for false claimants to Christian identity (1:10; 2:4, 22; 4:20). Retain full rhetorical bluntness, matching the directness discipline already established for Galatians’ ‘verflucht’ and Philippians’ ‘Dreck.‘
Manifested
Approved rendering: offenbart
Transliteration: phaneroō
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: φανερόω
Category: Christology
NEW. To make visible or disclose what was previously hidden (1:2; 4:9). Must be distinguished from the ‘Geheimnis’ (mystery) vocabulary already established in the Ephesians/Colossians baseline package — a different, though related, revelatory category (visible disclosure of an act, not revelation of a previously hidden plan).
Pride Of Life
Approved rendering: Hoffart des Lebens
Transliteration: alazoneia tou biou
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: Prahlerei mit dem Leben/Besitz (modernized paraphrase alternative, flagged for reviewer register choice)
Original: ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου
Category: Ethics
NEW. The third element of worldly temptation (2:16), boastful arrogance oriented toward status/possessions. Register decision point: traditional ‘Hoffart’ is theologically precise but borders on the curriculum’s general caution against unrevised, archaic Luther-era phrasing.
Sin
Approved rendering: Sünde
Transliteration: Sünde
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. Secularization risk: colloquial German uses ‘Sünde’ loosely for minor indulgence. 1 John extension: this trivialization risk is acutely relevant at 1:8-10, which directly confronts self-deceptive denial of sin (‘wenn wir sagen, wir haben keine Sünde, so betrügen wir uns selbst’), and recurs at 2:1-2, 12; 3:4-9; 5:16-18.
Low Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: Evangelium
Transliteration: Evangelium
Doctrine: Gospel
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. Shared, stable term across Catholic (Einheitsübersetzung) and Protestant (Lutherbibel) German Bibles since Luther himself coined this usage. 1 John extension: relevant to teaching-material framing of the letter’s overall purpose; the Greek word itself does not occur within 1 John’s own text but the doctrine underlies the whole letter.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jesus
Transliteration: Jesus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from baseline Romans/Gospel Language Package; unchanged. Stable across all German traditions. 1 John extension: whose real historical humanity is the letter’s central polemical concern against docetic denial.
Punishment
Approved rendering: Strafe
Transliteration: kolasis
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: κόλασις
Category: Love
NEW. Standard, low collision risk (4:18).
Referenced passages