AI Translation Requirements

12 AI Translation Requirements and Instruction Set — Colossians (German)

English → German | Colossians 1–4 | Language Package

Source language: English Destination language: German Curriculum: Colossians 1–4 Generated: 2026-07-11

Purpose

Extends (never contradicts) the promoted Romans baseline and the Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians packages generated 2026-07-11.

Pre-flight Checklist

Load this package’s, the Galatians/Ephesians/Philippians packages’, and the promoted Romans translation memory, term registry, and doctrine registry, plus this document, applied in addition to the Romans baseline’s system prompt.

System Prompt Additions for Colossians

CRITICAL FORBIDDEN SUBSTITUTIONS NEW TO THIS COLOSSIANS PACKAGE:
- Erstgeborener aller Schöpfung (1:15): NEVER imply Christ was created or came into being at a
  point in time -- rank/supremacy sense only.
- Philosophie und leerem Trug (2:8): NEVER present as a blanket condemnation of philosophy or
  intellectual inquiry -- always keep the qualifying "empty deceit" and following clause explicit,
  narrowing the target to a specific false teaching.
- Die ganze Fülle der Gottheit leibhaftig (2:9): NEVER soften "leibhaftig" (bodily) into a
  metaphorical or merely spiritual indwelling -- this is the incarnation itself.
- Christus ist alles und in allen (3:11): NEVER omit any item from the unqualified list of
  dissolved distinctions.

DOCTRINAL PRESERVATION RULES NEW TO THIS COLOSSIANS PACKAGE:
1. The Christ Hymn (1:15-20): preserve Christ's supremacy over creation (1:15-17), headship over
   the church (1:18), and cosmic reconciliation (1:19-20) as one continuous argument.
2. Distinguish the two "firstborn" senses: 1:15 (rank-supremacy over creation) and 1:18
   (resurrection-priority) are theologically distinct claims using the same German word.
3. Household code (3:18-4:1): identical requirement to the Ephesians package -- mutual framing
   and equal teaching weight to 3:19's instruction to husbands, mandatory theologian AND
   native-speaker review.
4. Gottheit vs. Gott (2:9): the abstract-noun form (divine nature/essence) must not collapse into
   the simple word for God the person without qualification.

TONE REQUIREMENTS: identical register to prior baselines.

READING LEVEL TARGET: identical to prior baselines.

TRANSLITERATION STANDARDS: prior baseline entries apply unchanged.

FOOTNOTE REQUIREMENTS: unchanged mechanism. Additionally: any occurrence of Philosophie in
teaching material should carry a note narrowing the target to the specific Colossian heresy, not
philosophical inquiry generally.

AMBIGUITY HANDLING: unchanged protocol.

ESCALATION RULES NEW TO THIS COLOSSIANS PACKAGE:
Automatically flag for human theologian review, in addition to prior baseline lists:
- The entire Christ Hymn (1:15-20)
- The philosophy warning (2:8)
- The fullness-of-deity passage (2:9-15)
- The freedom-from-regulations passage (2:16-23)
- Unity in Christ (3:11)
- The entire household code (3:18-4:1), for BOTH theological accuracy AND pastoral/cultural
  framing review

FLAG but allow native speaker review (not theologian required):
- Reconciliation material outside the core passage (1:21-23)
- The mystery/Christ-in-you material (1:24-29)
- Put off/put on material (3:5-11)
- Prayer and conduct toward outsiders (4:2-6)

Validation Rules

In addition to every check in the prior baselines’ validation tables:

Validation Rule	Check
Firstborn senses distinguished	Verify 1:15 and 1:18 are not conflated in teaching material
Philosophy qualification present	Verify 2:8 carries its narrowing context in any teaching use
Leibhaftig retained	Verify 2:9’s “bodily” sense is not softened to metaphorical
Unity list complete	Verify 3:11’s full list is present, unqualified
Household code sensitivity	Verify 3:18-4:1 carries the same mandatory review as Ephesians 5:22-6:9

Cross-Reference Preservation Rules

Colossians = Kolosser; abbreviation Kol.; citation format “Kolosser 1,15” (comma, not colon).
Deity-of-Christ vocabulary (Haupt, Herr, Gottheit) must render consistently with the Ephesians and Philippians Christ Hymn passages.

Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions

Identical mechanism to prior baselines.

Glossary Enforcement Priority Order

Identical to the Romans baseline.

Theological Consistency Rules Across Documents

Rule	Rationale
Same German term for the same Greek/English theological term across all documents	Learner consistency
Same rendering of Colossians 1:15-20 across all documents	Core passage of this curriculum
Haupt, Geheimnis consistent with Ephesians	Cross-curriculum ecclesiology consistency
Household code vocabulary identical to Ephesians 5:22-6:9	Cross-curriculum household-ethics consistency

Performance Notes for Batch Processing

Identical to prior baselines.

Load this document as part of the pre-flight checklist before every Phase 2 translation session. See translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json for the enforcement databases. See 11_doctrine_analysis.md for full doctrine risk level reference.