Linguistic Gap Analysis
Linguistic Gap Analysis: Acts (Greek)
0. Framing Note (carried forward from the baseline Language Package)
Every other Language Package in this pipeline analyzes a genuine cross-linguistic gap: source-language theological concept vs. a structurally different destination language. Greek is categorically different. Acts, like Romans and Galatians, was composed in the same Koine Greek that Modern Greek directly and continuously descends from. There is almost no vocabulary Acts needs that Modern Greek lacks. The task of this Step 8 analysis is therefore not “what word do we borrow or coin” but:
- Which of Acts’ own words have drifted semantically in the two intervening millennia (secular bleaching, patristic/liturgical accretion, or both at once), such that a Modern Greek reader’s first, unreflective reading diverges from Luke’s own?
- Where do two or more of Acts’ own words now sit inside the same crowded semantic neighborhood in Modern Greek, requiring active fencing to keep distinct?
- Where does Acts introduce a genuinely new referent (a place, a rite, a mythological collision) that the baseline Romans/Galatians package never had occasion to address?
This document extends — and in no place contradicts — the baseline translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and the Acts-specific 08_core_glossary.md candidate list. It covers Acts 1–28 in full; chapters that introduce no new load-bearing vocabulary are explicitly noted as reviewed in Section 5.
1. Doctrine Vocabulary Matrix
For each of the nine curriculum doctrines: the available Modern Greek terms, their specific weaknesses for this doctrine, and the recommended translation strategy.
1.1 The Holy Spirit and Pentecost
| Available terms | Weakness for this doctrine | Recommended strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Άγιο Πνεύμα (holy_spirit, baseline CRITICAL) | None new; already the correct term. | Reuse exactly. |
| Πεντηκοστή (Pentecost) | Zero lexical gap — but risk of devotional over-familiarity: a Modern Greek reader knows Κυριακή της Πεντηκοστής as a fixed liturgical date and may not spontaneously draw the Joel 2 fulfillment line Peter draws explicitly in his sermon. | Retain Πεντηκοστή; make the Joel-fulfillment argument explicit in every lesson rather than assuming it is supplied by liturgical familiarity. |
| γλώσσες / ἑτέρες γλώσσες (tongues) | CRITICAL crowded-neighborhood risk: modern global charismatic usage (γλωσσολαλιά) denotes unintelligible ecstatic speech, the opposite of what Acts 2:6,8,11 explicitly describes (known human languages, understood by native hearers). | Never gloss with γλωσσολαλιά. Render “ἑτέρες γλώσσες” or “άλλες γλώσσες” and add a mandatory explanatory note anchored to vv.6,8,11 every occurrence. |
| πλήσθηκαν με Άγιο Πνεύμα (filled with the Spirit) | Risk of doctrinal confusion, not lexical drift: a reader trained on Romans 8’s settled indwelling may read repeated “fillings” (2:4; 4:8,31; 9:17; 13:9) as contradicting a once-for-all reception. | Teach explicitly as complementary categories: indwelling (settled, Romans 8) vs. filling (repeatable empowerment-event, Acts). |
| αποφθέγγομαι (gave utterance) | No drift; rare/elevated register risks being under-translated as ordinary “μίλησαν” (spoke), losing the sense that the Spirit is the active source. | Preserve the elevated register; gloss “μίλησαν με έμπνευση από το Πνεύμα” where the single verb alone would flatten the emphasis. |
1.2 The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles
| Available terms | Weakness for this doctrine | Recommended strategy |
|---|---|---|
| έθνη (gentiles, baseline Medium) | Modern έθνος carries strong nationalist/nation-state connotation. | Reuse baseline caution; contextual note at every major Gentile-inclusion passage (10, 11, 13-15). |
| κοινός (common/unclean) | CRITICAL crowded-neighborhood collision: the identical word is used positively for shared possessions (2:44; 4:32) and negatively for ritual impurity (10:14-15,28; 11:8) within the same book. | See Section 3.1 (fencing plan) below — mandatory cross-reference note at every occurrence of either sense. |
| ο Θεός δεν κάνει διακρίσεις (no partiality) | None; transparent. | Reuse exactly. |
| οι μακρινοί / όσοι είναι μακριά (far off) | Risk of under-translation — reading only the spatial sense and missing the ethnic-inclusion trajectory Peter is opening in his very first sermon (2:39). | Gloss explicitly as pointing forward to Gentile inclusion; cross-reference chs. 10-15. |
| Δίας / Ερμής (Zeus/Hermes); Άρτεμις (Artemis); Πύθωνας (Python spirit); Άδης (Hades) | Genuinely new referent class for this Language Package: these are native Greek mythological names, not neutral translation choices. A Modern Greek reader accesses the mythological freight directly, unlike any other language in the pipeline. | See Section 4 (transliteration decisions) and Section 3.5 below. Every occurrence requires a framing note that the text stages the God of Israel’s superiority over/rejection of/appropriation of these names — never endorsement. |
| δούλος / παίδα (servant of God) | Παῖς/παίδα in Modern Greek defaults to “child,” carrying no automatic royal-Servant theological weight. | Retain παίδα with mandatory Isaianic-Servant gloss at 3:13,26; 4:27,30. |
1.3 Repentance and Baptism
| Available terms | Weakness for this doctrine | Recommended strategy |
|---|---|---|
| μετανοέω / μετάνοια (repent) | CRITICAL double accretion: (1) monastic “μετάνοιες” narrows to physical prostrations; (2) Μετάνοια is the formal sacramental name for Confession, narrowing to a priest-mediated rite. Acts 2:38 depicts an immediate, hearer-initiated response to preaching, prior to and without either later development. | Render μετανοήστε/μετάνοια (no substitute exists or is needed — it is the NT’s own word); mandatory note distinguishing the immediate gospel-response sense from both later legitimate developments. Human theologian review every occurrence. |
| βάπτισμα / βαπτίζω (baptism) | Not a lexical drift but a paradigm-supply risk: the reader’s default mental model is likely the later infant-sacramental Orthodox norm, whereas Acts narrates adult, professing, same-day, post-repentance baptism throughout. | Present Acts’ own pattern accurately (2:38,41; 8:36-38; 16:33; etc.) without arguing against the later norm; let the text’s own sequence speak. |
| το βάπτισμα του Ιωάννη (John’s baptism) | Risk of flattening into an undifferentiated single “baptism” concept. | Retain the qualifier “του Ιωάννη” every occurrence at 19:1-5; make the two-stage distinction (repentance-baptism vs. Spirit-baptism in Jesus’s name) explicit. |
| δωρεά (gift of God/Spirit) | High-risk inverse of the Galatians δωρεάν trap: δωρεά today functions mainly in charitable/civic register (δωρεά οργάνων, “organ donation”), risking a merely benevolent-donation reading rather than a decisively divine, Spirit-constituting gift, dramatized against Simon Magus’s attempted purchase (8:18-20). | Anchor explicitly to χάρη (grace, baseline CRITICAL) in every occurrence; never allow it to register as ordinary philanthropy. |
| αγνισμός (purification) | Distinct root (ἁγνός) from αγιασμός (sanctification, ἅγιος-root); visually and phonetically similar enough in Modern Greek to invite silent merging. | Flag the lexical distinction explicitly at 21:23-26; never substitute αγιασμός. |
| αμαρτία (sin) | No new risk. | Reuse exactly. |
1.4 The Church as Community
| Available terms | Weakness for this doctrine | Recommended strategy |
|---|---|---|
| εκκλησία (church) | No new risk beyond baseline (institutional/building senses competing with the local-congregation sense). | Reuse exactly; reinforce local-congregation sense per baseline. |
| κοινωνία (fellowship) | Must be actively fenced from κοινός in its negative sense (see 1.2 above) despite the shared root — the two occupy opposite ends of the same word-family’s risk profile within Acts itself. | Mandatory cross-reference note wherever either term appears. |
| είχαν όλα κοινά (all things in common) | Positive sense of κοινός; risk of a modern reader hearing an anachronistic communist/collectivist-ideology echo given κοινός’s modern political associations (κοινοτικός, κοινοβούλιο). | Frame explicitly as voluntary, Spirit-motivated sharing, not a mandated economic system; distinguish from modern political economy debates entirely. |
| η κλάση του άρτου (breaking of bread) | Genuinely and irreducibly ambiguous in Luke’s own text between an ordinary shared meal with devotional significance and a proto-Eucharistic rite; a Modern Greek Orthodox reader will strongly default toward reading this as the Divine Liturgy. | Preserve the text’s own ambiguity; do not resolve toward either pole. Note explicitly that 2:46 locates it “in their homes,” not in a formal liturgical setting. |
| πρεσβύτεροι (elders); επίσκοποι (overseers) | High risk of anachronistic hierarchy import: 20:28 uses these two terms interchangeably for the same local leaders, but their modern descendants (πρεσβύτερος/priest, επίσκοπος/bishop) now denote a developed, distinct three-tier hierarchy. | Present Acts’ own functional equivalence honestly; flag for human theologian review; do not silently read the later hierarchy back into the text. |
| διακονία (the ministry/service) | Modern διάκονος is almost exclusively the ordained deacon; Acts 6’s own claim is more modest (Spirit-qualified practical table-service distinguished from word-ministry, not yet a fixed office). | Retain διακονία, but gloss the distinction between the text’s descriptive claim and the office’s later historical development. |
| κλήρος (lot cast) | Direct root of Modern Greek “ο κλῆρος” (the clergy) — an institutional sense wholly absent from 1:17,25-26’s actual meaning (random sortition; a personal share/portion in ministry). | Mandatory explanatory note distinguishing ordinary sortition/portion from the later ecclesiastical-office sense. |
| Χριστιανοί (Christians) | None; zero-gap asset — this is literally the source word. | Reuse exactly. |
1.5 Apostolic Authority and Miracles
| Available terms | Weakness for this doctrine | Recommended strategy |
|---|---|---|
| απόστολος (apostle) | No new risk. | Reuse exactly. |
| δύναμη Θεού (power of God) | No new risk. | Reuse exactly. |
| σημεία και τέρατα (signs and wonders) | FORBIDDEN-if-unglossed risk: Modern τέρας overwhelmingly means “monster” in ordinary usage. | Never leave τέρατα standing alone; always pair with σημεία/θαύματα and gloss as “wonders/portents,” never “monsters.” |
| θαύματα / δυνάμεις (miracles/mighty works) | Risk of conflation with the later hagiographic (saints’/icon) miracle tradition, which is culturally massive in Greek Orthodox devotional life. | Note explicitly: apostolic miracles in Acts authenticate a specific, bounded gospel proclamation — a distinct category worth naming alongside, not set against, the wider later tradition. |
| επίθεση των χειρών (laying on of hands) | Connects to Modern Greek χειροτονία (ordination), a major sacrament; Acts itself uses the gesture for at least three distinct functions (commissioning, sending, Spirit-impartation). | Track each occurrence’s specific function individually; do not assume uniform sacramental weight throughout. |
| κλήρος τῆς διακονίας (lot / share of ministry) | See 1.4 above. | As above. |
| πνεύμα μαντείας / Πύθωνας (spirit of divination) | Names the Delphic Apollo-oracle tradition directly, a famous and still-recognized feature of ancient Greek religion. | Frame as expelled by, and subordinate to, the greater authority of Jesus’s name; theologian-reviewed note required. |
1.6 Persecution and Bold Witness
| Available terms | Weakness for this doctrine | Recommended strategy |
|---|---|---|
| παρρησία (boldness) | Live positive Modern Greek word, also used for civic “freedom of speech” — largely an asset, but risks being read as personal temperament rather than Spirit-given. | Make the Spirit’s agency explicit at every occurrence (4:13,29,31; 28:31). |
| μάρτυρας / μάρτυρες (witness/martyr) | CRITICAL: the word’s own later “martyr” sense develops directly out of Acts’ narrative (Stephen). Modern Greek carries both senses live and simultaneously. At 2:32 the forensic-testimony sense is primary; at 22:20 the two senses visibly converge in Paul’s own words. | Track sense-development chapter by chapter; do not read “martyr” prematurely into early occurrences (1:8; 2:32); human theologian review at every occurrence. |
| η Οδός (the Way) | FORBIDDEN unglossed: ordinary Modern Greek ὁδός means “street,” used in every postal address. | Capitalize consistently (“η Οδός”) and gloss at first occurrence per lesson (“η Οδός [του Κυρίου],” Acts’ own internal pre-”Christian” name for the movement). |
| ο Υιός του Ανθρώπου (Son of Man) | Must not be merged with Υιός του Θεού — two distinct Christological titles with different backgrounds (Daniel 7 vs. eternal co-equal deity). | Keep visually and doctrinally distinct at 7:56; explanatory note required. |
| Συνέδριο (Sanhedrin) | Modern συνέδριο overwhelmingly means “conference/congress” in secular usage. | Capitalize as a proper historical institution (“το Συνέδριο,” or gloss “το Ιουδαϊκό Συνέδριο, Σανχεντρίν”) every occurrence. |
1.7 Conversion of Paul
| Available terms | Weakness for this doctrine | Recommended strategy |
|---|---|---|
| εκλογή (election) | Modern political “elections/voting” sense dominates everyday usage. | Reuse baseline caution; cross-reference explicitly with Romans 9-11. |
| σκεύος εκλογής (chosen instrument) | Directly dependent on εκλογή above; risk of being read as a merely functional description (“useful tool”) rather than a sovereign-choice statement. | Anchor to εκλογή and Romans 9-11 material explicitly. |
| επικαλούμαι (call upon) | Deliberate Lucan literary echo between 2:21 (calling on the Lord for salvation) and 25:11 (Paul’s appeal to Caesar) — a stylistic device, not a doctrinal equivalence. | Flag the echo as a teaching point; do not imply the two invocations are the same kind of act. |
| όραμα / οπτασία (vision) | Risk of conflation with the Hesychast mystical θεωρία tradition (contemplative vision of God, a distinct later technical category). | Note the distinction; Acts’ visions (9:3-9; 22:6-11; 26:12-18) are narrative-historical events, not contemplative states. |
1.8 Justification apart from the Law
| Available terms | Weakness for this doctrine | Recommended strategy |
|---|---|---|
| δικαίωση / δικαιοῦται (justification) | CRITICAL: Modern colloquial “personal vindication” sense; must match the Romans/Galatians baseline rendering exactly since 13:38-39 is Paul’s own direct parallel statement. | No divergence permitted from baseline δικαίωση/δικαιοσύνη conventions. |
| νόμος (law) | Modern default is civil legislation. | Keep the Mosaic referent precise, especially in chs. 13, 15, 21-25. |
| ζυγός (yoke) | Directly parallel to Galatians 5:1’s “yoke of slavery.” | Scope strictly to law-as-justification-ground per baseline Galatians guidance; do not extend to the moral law’s abiding ethical content. |
| περιτομή (circumcision) | No new risk; central to ch. 15. | Reuse exactly. |
| έδοξε στο Άγιο Πνεύμα και σε εμάς (it seemed good to the Spirit and to us) | Risk of two opposite errors: treating the council’s decision as independent revelation apart from Scripture, or as merely human deliberation dressed in religious language. | Hold Spirit-guidance and Scripture-grounded argument (15:15-18) together explicitly. |
1.9 The Great Commission Fulfilled
| Available terms | Weakness for this doctrine | Recommended strategy |
|---|---|---|
| βασιλεία του Θεού (kingdom of God) | Frames the book’s opening (1:6, disciples’ nationalist misreading) and closing (28:31) — must not be read as a political/territorial restoration project. | Make Jesus’s redirection at 1:6-8 explicit; carry the correction through to 28:31. |
| αποστολή (mission) | Sensitivity to colonial/political overtones per baseline. | Prefer proclamation/sending language where possible. |
| Άρειος Πάγος (the Areopagus) | Minimal risk; unique asset — a real, visitable site in Modern Greece. | Reuse exactly; leverage as a teaching asset. |
| άγνωστος Θεός (unknown god) | Minimal risk; famous verse. | Reuse exactly. |
| ακωλύτως (unhindered) | Rare, deliberately chosen closing word; risk of being flattened into an ordinary adverb (“without problem”) and losing its function as the book’s climactic theological statement. | Preserve as a marked, weighty closing term; teaching note tying it to the whole “Great Commission Fulfilled” doctrine. |
2. Missing Vocabulary vs. Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods
2.1 Missing Vocabulary (genuine gaps)
Consistent with the baseline package’s core finding, Acts introduces no true missing-vocabulary gap — no concept for which Modern Greek lacks any usable word at all. The nearest candidates, and why each resolves without borrowing or coining:
| Candidate gap | Resolution |
|---|---|
| ”Speaking in tongues” as a fixed technical phrase | Resolved by retaining Luke’s own phrase ἑτέρες γλώσσες rather than reaching for the modern coinage γλωσσολαλιά, which would import a different, unwanted concept rather than fill a gap. |
| ”The Great Commission” as a title (not itself in Acts’ text, but organizing this curriculum’s ninth doctrine) | No single Acts lexeme; resolved by descriptive phrase (η αποστολή στα έθνη / η εντολή του Κυρίου) rather than a coined technical term, consistent with the baseline’s mission entry. |
| ”Church polity” as an abstract category (elders/overseers/deacons terminology) | Resolved because the words themselves (πρεσβύτεροι, επίσκοποι, διακονία) already exist and are Luke’s own; the gap is not lexical but risks anachronistic rereading (see 2.2 below). |
Conclusion: this Language Package’s Step 8 work is not vocabulary invention but semantic fencing. Every genuine risk below is a crowded-neighborhood problem, not a missing-word problem.
2.2 Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods Requiring Fencing
These are the pairs/clusters of Acts vocabulary where two or more senses now compete for the same word or word-family in Modern Greek, requiring an explicit fencing strategy carried through every lesson.
2.2.1 κοινός / κοινωνία (the sharpest collision in the book)
- Positive: κοινωνία = fellowship (2:42); ἦν αὐτοῖς ἅπαντα κοινά = “they had everything in common” (2:44; 4:32) — shared, generous, praiseworthy.
- Negative: κοινός = ritually common/unclean/profane (10:14-15,28; 11:8) — exactly the same word, opposite valence, within eight chapters of the same book.
- Fencing strategy: never let one sense’s lesson material appear without a footnote cross-referencing the other. Recommend a fixed cross-reference formula: “Note: this is the same Greek word Luke uses positively at 2:44/4:32 for shared possessions, here used in its opposite ritual-purity sense — the two meanings must not be confused.”
2.2.2 μάρτυρας (witness → martyr, developing within the book itself)
- 1:8, 2:32: forensic/testimonial sense (primary, historically prior).
- 22:20: Paul’s own retrospective naming of Stephen — the two senses visibly converge.
- Later Christian usage (including Modern Greek) has settled toward “martyr” as the dominant association.
- Fencing strategy: chapter-sequenced glossing — render the earlier occurrences with an explicit “witness (legal/testimonial sense)” note, and only introduce the “martyr” association once the text itself earns it (ch. 7, Stephen’s death), tracked forward to 22:20.
2.2.3 κλήρος (lot cast) vs. ο κλῆρος (the clergy)
- 1:17,25-26: ordinary sortition, a personal share/portion in ministry.
- Modern Greek: “ο κλῆρος” = the ordained clergy as an institutional class.
- Fencing strategy: mandatory explanatory note at first occurrence distinguishing ancient sortition/portion from the later institutional sense; never allow “κλῆρος” to stand alone in Acts 1 without it.
2.2.4 πρεσβύτεροι / επίσκοποι vs. later three-tier hierarchy
- 20:28: functionally interchangeable, same local office.
- Modern Greek: πρεσβύτερος (priest) and επίσκοπος (bishop) denote two distinct, hierarchically ranked offices.
- Fencing strategy: present the functional equivalence honestly at 20:28 with a note flagging the later historical development, without either denying legitimate development or importing it into the text.
2.2.5 διακονία vs. διάκονος (deacon)
- 6:1-4: descriptive, Spirit-qualified practical service, not yet a fixed office.
- Modern Greek: διάκονος = the ordained deacon almost exclusively.
- Fencing strategy: as in Galatians baseline, retain διακονία but consistently gloss the distinction between description and later office.
2.2.6 μετάνοια (repentance) vs. μετάνοιες (prostrations) vs. Μετάνοια (Confession)
- Acts 2:38, etc.: immediate, hearer-initiated inward reorientation.
- Modern Greek: μετάνοιες = physical monastic prostrations; Μετάνοια = the sacrament of Confession.
- Fencing strategy: mandatory note at every occurrence anchoring to the immediate-response sense; explicitly acknowledge both later developments as legitimate without collapsing Acts’ own sense into either.
2.2.7 βάπτισμα (Christian baptism) vs. το βάπτισμα του Ιωάννη (John’s baptism)
- 19:1-5 stages the distinction within the text itself.
- Fencing strategy: never drop the “του Ιωάννη” qualifier; treat as a two-stage sequence, not synonyms.
2.2.8 δωρεά (gift) vs. δωρεάν (free of charge) — inverse of the Galatians trap
- Galatians’ risk: δωρεάν wrongly imported into 2:21, making Christ’s death sound “free of charge.”
- Acts’ risk runs the other direction: δωρεά (2:38; 8:20; 10:45; 11:17) risks under-weighting into ordinary modern charitable-donation register (δωρεά οργάνων), losing the specifically divine, unmerited force that δωρεάν’s forbidden-substitution note protects at the sister term.
- Fencing strategy: anchor δωρεά explicitly to χάρη (grace) in every occurrence; treat the two Acts/Galatians δωρεά(ν) risks as mirror-image case studies in the same training material.
2.2.9 σημεία και τέρατα (signs and wonders) vs. τέρας (monster)
- Fencing strategy: never render τέρατα unglossed or unpaired; always with σημεία/θαύματα and an explicit “wonders/portents” gloss.
2.2.10 η Οδός (the Way) vs. ὁδός (street)
- Fencing strategy: consistent capitalization convention plus gloss at first occurrence per lesson.
2.2.11 Συνέδριο (Sanhedrin) vs. συνέδριο (conference/congress)
- Fencing strategy: proper-noun capitalization and/or explicit historical gloss (“το Ιουδαϊκό Συνέδριο, Σανχεντρίν”) every occurrence.
2.2.12 αγιασμός (sanctification) vs. αγνισμός (ceremonial purification)
- Different roots (ἅγιος vs. ἁγνός) but visually/phonetically adjacent in Modern Greek.
- Fencing strategy: explicit lexical-distinction note wherever either occurs (20:32; 26:18 vs. 21:23-26).
2.2.13 ζηλωτής-adjacent: not present in Acts as a doctrinal risk, but κλήση-family (καλέω compounds) vs. κλήση itself
- προσκαλέσηται (2:39) and επικαλούμαι (2:21; 25:11) are lexically distinct from the noun κλήσις but carry the identical secular-bleaching risk profile (phone call / legal summons register).
- Fencing strategy: apply the baseline’s CRITICAL κλήση caution to the whole καλέω word-family used theologically, without merging the words themselves.
2.2.14 Native Greek mythological names (Ζεύς/Ἑρμῆς, Ἄρτεμις, Πύθων, Ἅδης) vs. their ordinary cultural/touristic/educational presence in Modern Greek
- Uniquely, this Language Package’s readers encounter these names constantly outside any biblical context (school curricula, tourism, popular culture) — a collision profile no other Language Package in this pipeline faces.
- Fencing strategy: see Section 4 below; treat as an “asset requiring firm doctrinal framing” rather than a term to avoid — the names cannot and should not be replaced, but every occurrence needs an explicit note that the text stages rejection or subordination, never affirmation, of the mythological referent.
3. Transliteration vs. Paraphrase Decisions
| Term | Decision | Rationale |
|---|---|---|
| Πεντηκοστή | Retain (NT’s own word / living feast name) | Zero gap, established liturgical asset. |
| γλώσσες / ἑτέρες γλώσσες | Retain Luke’s own phrase; reject the modern coinage γλωσσολαλιά as a gloss | Coinage imports a different, unwanted modern charismatic-movement concept. |
| Χριστιανοί | Retain | Zero gap; etymological source word. |
| η Οδός | Retain, with capitalization convention + gloss | Cannot paraphrase without losing Acts’ own internal self-designation for the movement. |
| μάρτυρας / μάρτυρες | Retain | No substitute exists; sense-tracking (not substitution) is the required strategy. |
| κοινός (both senses) | Retain both, with mandatory cross-referencing | A paraphrase resolving the ambiguity in either direction would falsify the text. |
| παρρησία | Retain | Living positive word; no better alternative. |
| διακονία | Retain, with gloss | παραφράζειν risks losing the term’s later historical resonance entirely. |
| κλῆρος | Retain, with gloss | Same reasoning; the word’s later derivation (clergy) is itself pedagogically useful once flagged. |
| πρεσβύτεροι / επίσκοποι | Retain both, side by side at 20:28, with a note on their functional equivalence | Substituting a single harmonized modern office-title would erase the very datum the lesson needs to teach. |
| Δίας / Ερμής / Άρτεμις / Πύθωνας / Άδης | Retain the actual mythological proper names — do not substitute a generic paraphrase (“pagan gods,” “an oracle spirit,” “the realm of the dead” alone) | Luke names these figures deliberately, staging a real confrontation; paraphrasing away the proper names would erase the very cultural collision the text stages, and — uniquely in this Language Package — the Modern Greek reader already knows these names outside any biblical frame, so avoidance is neither possible nor desirable. Each requires a firm theologian-reviewed framing note (rejection/subordination, never endorsement). |
| Συνέδριο (Sanhedrin) | Transliterate/capitalize as a proper historical institution, with gloss | Direct translation (“council”) would be too weak; the modern cognate (“conference”) is actively misleading unglossed. |
| σκεύος εκλογής | Retain literal rendering (σκεύος = vessel/instrument) | Direct correspondence to Romans 9’s potter-vessel imagery; paraphrasing to a generic “useful person” would sever this cross-reference. |
| ακωλύτως | Retain the rare, marked word | A common-register paraphrase (“without any problem”) would flatten Luke’s deliberately weighty closing note. |
| ζυγός | Retain | Direct parallel to Galatians 5:1’s established rendering; paraphrase would break cross-curriculum consistency. |
| δωρεά | Retain, anchored to χάρη | No substitute needed; anchoring note (not translation change) solves the risk. |
General principle: across every case in this book, the correct strategy is retention of Luke’s own Koine vocabulary plus an explanatory/anchoring note — never paraphrase-substitution and never silent transliteration without a note. This is the same twin-axis discipline the baseline package established for Romans and Galatians, applied consistently to Acts’ additional vocabulary.
4. Ranked List of Highest-Risk Ambiguities (This Curriculum)
Ranked by combined severity (doctrinal centrality × likelihood of default misreading × absence of self-disambiguating context):
- κοινός (common/unclean) — the positive/negative collision (2:44/4:32 vs. 10:14-15,28; 11:8). The single sharpest lexical-collision risk in the book: identical word, opposite valence, both senses load-bearing for two different doctrines (Church as Community; Gospel to Jews and Gentiles).
- γλώσσες (tongues) vs. γλωσσολαλιά. Getting this wrong inverts the phenomenon itself (comprehensible known language vs. unintelligible ecstatic speech) — a Critical risk affecting the core passage directly (Acts 2:1-41).
- μετάνοια (repentance) — the double sacramental/monastic accretion. Directly affects the core passage’s central imperative (2:38) and the whole “Repentance and Baptism” doctrine.
- Κύριος at 2:36 (“Lord and Christ”) — carried over from baseline but intensified here because 2:36 is the core passage’s doctrinal climax; the everyday “Mister/Sir” flattening risk is at its highest-stakes point in this curriculum.
- μάρτυρας (witness/martyr) sense-development across the whole book. High risk of anachronistic over-reading in early chapters and under-reading by ch. 22; affects “Persecution and Bold Witness” pervasively.
- δωρεά (gift) vs. its ordinary charitable-donation register — the inverse Galatians trap. Directly threatens the doctrinal force of 2:38’s climactic promise within the core passage itself.
- η Οδός unglossed as “street.” A single missed capitalization/gloss anywhere in five occurrences fully derails comprehension of that sentence.
- επίσκοποι/πρεσβύτεροι functional equivalence at 20:28 vs. the later three-tier hierarchy — high risk of silent, well-intentioned “correction” toward the reader’s own church-polity assumptions.
- δικαίωση/δικαίωσις at 13:38-39 — must match Romans/Galatians baseline exactly; any drift here breaks cross-curriculum theological consistency on the pipeline’s single most Critical doctrine.
- Δίας/Ερμής (Zeus/Hermes) at 14:12-15 — uniquely dangerous in this Language Package because the names are culturally live outside any biblical frame; a poorly framed lesson could read as trivializing or (worse) syncretistically validating native mythology.
- σημεία και τέρατα, τέρατα unglossed as “monsters.” A comic/horror misreading risk directly undermining the doctrine “Apostolic Authority and Miracles.”
- κλῆρος (lot cast) at 1:17,25-26 read forward into “the clergy” — a subtle but real risk of importing institutional weight the text does not yet carry.
- Συνέδριο (Sanhedrin) unglossed as “conference.” Lower doctrinal centrality than #1-9 but a real comprehension failure risk given the word’s overwhelming secular modern usage.
- Άδης (Hades) at 2:27,31 — within the core passage itself; risk of a reader hearing the Greek underworld deity/realm invoked mythologically rather than recognizing the LXX’s own co-opted, generic “realm of the dead” usage.
- ζυγός (yoke) at 15:10 read as referring to the moral law generally rather than law-as-justification-ground specifically — lower-frequency but doctrinally sharp risk for “Justification apart from the Law.”
5. Full-Book Coverage Confirmation
Every chapter of Acts has been reviewed for load-bearing vocabulary contribution to this Step 8 analysis. Chapters not separately itemized above contribute no additional lexical-gap risk beyond what is already captured in the matrix and fencing sections; each is confirmed reviewed below.
| Chapters | Reviewed status |
|---|---|
| 1 | Contributes: κλῆρος, βασιλεία του Θεού (1:6 nationalist misreading), δύναμη Θεού, μάρτυρας. Covered above. |
| 2 (core passage, vv.1-41) | Contributes the highest concentration of Critical terms in the book: Πεντηκοστή, γλώσσες, πλήσθηκαν με Άγιο Πνεύμα, Κύριος/Χριστός convergence (2:36), σωτηρία/σωθήσεσθε, μετάνοια, βάπτισμα, δωρεά, προσκαλέσηται/επικαλούμαι, οι μακρινοί, όσιος, Άδης. Fully covered above. |
| 3 | Contributes: δικαιοσύνη, δούλος/παίδα (Servant-Christology), προφήτης/προφητεία, μετάνοια (3:19), διαθήκη (3:25). Covered above. |
| 4 | Contributes: χάρη (4:33, communal-blessing sense), παρρησία, δύναμη Θεού, Συνέδριο, all things in common (4:32). Covered above. |
| 5 | Contributes: Συνέδριο continuation, απόστολος; no new lexical-gap category beyond §2.2.11. Reviewed — no new terms. |
| 6 | Contributes: διακονία, επίθεση των χειρών (6:6), law/νόμος (6:13). Covered above. |
| 7 | Contributes: ο Υιός του Ανθρώπου (7:56), δόξα (7:2,55), διαθήκη (7:8), covenant/law material in Stephen’s speech. Covered above. |
| 8 | Contributes: μαγεία (Simon Magus), δωρεά (8:20), επίθεση των χειρών (8:17-19), gospel to Samaritans (transitional Jew/Gentile material). Covered above. |
| 9 | Contributes: εκλογή/σκεύος εκλογής (9:15), Κύριος (Damascus road), όραμα, η Οδός (9:2), βάπτισμα (9:18), άγιοι (9:13,32,41 range begins). Covered above. |
| 10 | Contributes: κοινός (negative sense, 10:14-15,28), έθνη, no partiality (10:34), δωρεά (10:45), δύναμη Θεού (10:38). Covered above — central chapter for doctrine “Gospel to Jews and Gentiles.” |
| 11 | Contributes: κοινός (11:8, continuation), έθνη, Χριστιανοί (11:26), δωρεά (11:17), πρεσβύτεροι (11:30, first occurrence). Covered above. |
| 12 | Contributes: δόξα (12:23, Herod’s judgment); no new lexical-gap category beyond what is already covered under δόξα (§1.2/baseline). Reviewed — no new terms. |
| 13 | Contributes: δικαίωση/δικαιοῦται (13:38-39, core justification statement), προφήτης, αφορίζω (13:2, set apart for mission), νηστεία (13:2-3), μαγεία (Elymas, 13:6,8), Χριστός preference. Covered above. |
| 14 | Contributes: Δίας/Ερμής (14:12-15), θαύματα/δυνάμεις (14:3), σημεία και τέρατα (14:3), πρεσβύτεροι (14:23), νηστεία (14:23). Covered above. |
| 15 | Contributes: περιτομή, νόμος, ζυγός (15:10), έδοξε στο Άγιο Πνεύμα και σε εμάς (15:28), πρεσβύτεροι. Covered above — central chapter for doctrine “Justification apart from the Law.” |
| 16 | Contributes: πνεύμα μαντείας/Πύθωνας (16:16-18), βάπτισμα (16:15,33), η Οδός (16:17 vicinity), επικαλούμαι (parallel structure to 25:11 begins here narratively). Covered above. |
| 17 | Contributes: Άρειος Πάγος, άγνωστος Θεός, ανάσταση (17:18,32, Athenian mockery). Covered above — central chapter for doctrine “Great Commission Fulfilled.” |
| 18 | Contributes: βάπτισμα (18:8), νόμος (18:13,15); no new lexical-gap category beyond items already covered. Reviewed — no new terms. |
| 19 | Contributes: το βάπτισμα του Ιωάννη (19:1-5), γλώσσες (19:6), μαγεία (19:19, magic books), Άρτεμις (19:23-41), δύναμη/θαύματα (19:11), η Οδός (19:9,23). Covered above. |
| 20 | Contributes: πρεσβύτεροι/επίσκοποι functional equivalence (20:28), κλάση του άρτου (20:7,11), χάρη (20:24,32), αγιασμός (20:32), παρρησία-adjacent farewell material. Covered above — central chapter for doctrine “Church as Community” polity questions. |
| 21 | Contributes: αγνισμός (21:23-26), περιτομή (21:21), νόμος; distinguished from αγιασμός per §2.2.12. Covered above. |
| 22 | Contributes: μάρτυρας convergence (22:20), η Οδός (22:4), νόμος (22:3,12), αγιασμός/sin (22:16). Covered above. |
| 23 | Contributes: Συνέδριο continuation, ανάσταση (23:6,8, Pharisee/Sadducee dispute), νόμος. Covered above. |
| 24 | Contributes: η Οδός (24:14,22), δικαιοσύνη (24:25, ethical-virtue sense before Felix), ανάσταση (24:15,21), νόμος. Covered above. |
| 25 | Contributes: επικαλούμαι (25:11, Paul’s appeal to Caesar — literary echo of 2:21). Covered above. |
| 26 | Contributes: μάρτυρας (26:16), μετάνοια (26:20), αγιασμός/ἡγιασμένοις (26:18), εκλογή-adjacent testimony, όραμα (26:19), δόξα (26:11). Covered above. |
| 27 | Contributes: πρόνοια (providence, conceptually present at 27:23-24,34, angelic assurance during the storm); narrative rather than didactic register. Reviewed — covered under “providence,” §1 baseline reuse; no additional new terms. |
| 28 | Contributes: βασιλεία του Θεού (28:23,31), ακωλύτως (28:31, book’s climactic closing word), παρρησία (28:31). Covered above — central chapter for doctrine “Great Commission Fulfilled.” |
Coverage confirmation: all 28 chapters of Acts have been reviewed. No chapter contributes a load-bearing term silently omitted from this analysis; chapters 5, 12, 18, and 27 are explicitly noted above as reviewed with their content already subsumed under vocabulary items, doctrines, or the baseline categories treated elsewhere in this document.
This document extends, and does not contradict, the baseline Romans/Galatians translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and this curriculum’s 08_core_glossary.md. Formal registry integration (updated translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json entries reflecting the fencing and transliteration decisions above) proceeds in subsequent Phase 1 steps.