Doctrine Analysis
Doctrine Analysis: Ephesians (English → Greek)
Status: Executes PRD Phase 1 Steps 4–5 for the Ephesians curriculum. This document is the human-readable doctrine matrix corresponding exactly, doctrine-for-doctrine and tier-for-tier, to assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json (version 1). It extends but never contradicts the baseline Romans/Galatians doctrine_risk_registry.json and translation_memory.json. Per the PRD full-book-coverage mandate, every chapter of Ephesians (1–6) is explicitly accounted for below, whether or not it introduces new doctrinal risk.
Governing dynamic (per baseline): Modern Greek is the living descendant of the New Testament’s own Koine Greek. Risk in this Language Package is therefore driven by two millennia of semantic drift in two directions — (1) patristic/liturgical accretion, where Greek Orthodox sacramental and mystical theology (τα Ιερά Μυστήρια, θέωσις, το Σώμα Χριστού as Eucharistic host, ἐνέργεια as uncreated divine energy) layers additional meaning directly accessible to a Modern Greek reader without translation; and (2) secular bleaching, where ordinary contemporary usage has worn a theologically loaded word down to something mundane (προορισμός as “travel destination,” ενέργεια as “electricity,” σφραγίδα as “official stamp,” υποτάσσομαι as “forced political subjugation”). Ephesians intensifies this dynamic relative to Romans/Galatians because its central vocabulary (μυστήριον, σῶμα, πλήρωμα, ἐνέργεια, οἰκονομία, προορίζω) sits exactly on the fault line between Orthodox sacramental/mystical theology and everyday secular Greek.
Part A — Chapter-by-Chapter Coverage Confirmation
Per the PRD mandate, every chapter is explicitly reviewed below. No chapter is silently omitted, even where it contributes no new doctrine beyond what an adjacent chapter already carries.
| Chapter | Span | Doctrines active in this chapter | Coverage note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:1–23 | Apostolic Ministry and Authority (1:1); Doxological Praise and Blessing (1:3–14); Election and Predestination in Christ (1:4–5, 11–12); Adoption and Sonship (1:5); Mystery of Christ Revealed (1:9–10); Inheritance in Christ (1:11, 14, 18); Sealing and Guarantee of the Holy Spirit (1:13–14); Divine Calling (1:18); Cosmic Spiritual Powers (1:21); The Church as the Body of Christ (1:22–23); The Fullness of Christ and the Church (1:23) | Reviewed. Doctrinally dense opening doxology; establishes nearly half the book’s Critical-tier vocabulary before the narrative argument even begins. |
| 2 | 2:1–22 | Total Spiritual Depravity (2:1–3); Cosmic Spiritual Powers (2:2); Salvation by Grace through Faith (2:1–10 — core passage); New Creation and God’s Workmanship (2:10); Walking in Newness of Life (2:10); Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity (2:11–22); Reconciliation through the Cross (2:14–18) | Reviewed. Contains the curriculum’s theological anchor (2:1–10) and the letter’s central ecclesial argument (2:11–22). |
| 3 | 3:1–21 | Apostolic Ministry and Authority (3:1–13); Mystery of Christ Revealed (3:2–9); Divine Economy and Stewardship of Grace (3:2, 9); Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity (3:6); The Fullness of Christ and the Church (3:19); Doxological Praise and Blessing (3:20–21) | Reviewed. Paul’s own commentary on the mystery doctrine just introduced in ch.1–2; no doctrine here is wholly new but each recurs with intensified vocabulary risk (οικονομία, πλήρωμα). |
| 4 | 4:1–32 | Divine Calling (4:1, 4); Walking in Newness of Life (4:1, 17–24); Gifts for Building Up the Church (4:7–16); The Church as the Body of Christ (4:12, 15–16); The Fullness of Christ and the Church (4:13); Apostolic Ministry and Authority (4:11); Sanctification and Holy Living — old self/new self (4:22–24); Sealing and Guarantee of the Holy Spirit (4:30) | Reviewed. Ethical/ecclesial hinge chapter; introduces the ministry-gifts doctrine not previously present. |
| 5 | 5:1–33 | Walking in Newness of Life (5:1–2, 5:8, 5:15); Sanctification and Holy Living (5:3–14, 5:26–27); Thanksgiving and Spirit-Filled Worship (5:18–20); Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships (5:21–33); Household Codes: Marriage and Mutual Submission (5:21–24); The Mystery of Marriage — Christ and the Church (5:25–33); The Church as the Body of Christ (5:23, 29–30) | Reviewed. Highest concentration of Critical-tier doctrine in the book (three Critical entries converge in 5:21–33 alone). |
| 6 | 6:1–24 | Household Codes: Parents and Children (6:1–4); Household Codes: Masters and Bondservants (6:5–9); Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God (6:10–18); Cosmic Spiritual Powers (6:12); Prayer and Spiritual Vigilance (6:18–20); Mystery of Christ Revealed (6:19) | Reviewed. Closing household and warfare material; final recurrence of the μυστήριον doctrine (6:19) closes the doctrinal ring opened in 1:9. |
Coverage conclusion: All 6 chapters of Ephesians are represented in the matrix below. All 28 doctrines in doctrine_risk_registry.json are accounted for with at least one supporting passage from this book. No chapter contributes zero doctrinal content; the shortest doctrinal footprint (ch. 3) still carries three doctrines at High/Critical tier.
Part B — Master Doctrine Matrix
Tiers, names, and greek_doctrine_name fields below are copied verbatim from assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json and must not be altered independently of that file.
| # | Doctrine | Category | Risk | Primary Passages (Ephesians) | Translation Risk (summary) | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Salvation by Grace through Faith | Salvation | Critical | 2:1–10, 2:4–5, 2:8–9 | Compounds baseline χάρη (charm/pardon) and σωτηρία (theosis-accretion) drift at the letter’s theological center; ἔργα here is unqualified (all human works), not Galatians’ Mosaic-specific έργα του νόμου — must not narrow scope to Torah-observance. | Human theologian |
| 2 | Total Spiritual Depravity | Sin/Anthropology | High | 2:1–3 | νεκρός risks softening to “spiritually unwell”; ὀργή risks reading as volatile human emotion rather than settled divine judicial verdict. | Human theologian |
| 3 | Election and Predestination in Christ | Salvation | Critical | 1:4–5, 1:11–12 | προορισμός dominated by the tourism/travel sense (“travel destination”) — a secular-bleaching risk more severe than baseline’s κλήση case, with no alternative Greek word available. | Human theologian |
| 4 | Divine Calling | Salvation | Critical | 1:18, 4:1, 4:4 | κλήση worn down to phone call/legal summons per baseline; recurs as the opening exhortation of the entire ethical section (ch. 4). | Human theologian |
| 5 | Adoption and Sonship | Salvation | Medium | 1:5 | υιοθεσία stable per baseline; low incremental risk. | Native speaker review |
| 6 | The Church as the Body of Christ | Church | Critical | 1:22–23, 4:12, 4:15–16, 5:23, 5:29–30 | ”Σώμα Χριστού” is the standing liturgical name for the consecrated Eucharistic host; ecclesial sense must be distinguished from, without suppressing, this sacramental resonance; κεφαλή risks flattening from organic/life-giving to administrative/CEO. | Human theologian |
| 7 | The Fullness of Christ in the Church | Church | High | 1:23, 3:19, 4:13 | πλήρωμα’s dominant secondary sense is “crew” (ship/aircraft); historic Gnostic technical use of “Pleroma” is a background consideration for theologian review. | Human theologian |
| 8 | Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity | Church | High | 2:11–22, 3:6 | Corporate καινός άνθρωπος must be distinguished from ch.4’s individual νέος άνθρωπος; πολιτεία risks a modern nation-state political reading, compounding baseline’s Ισραήλ caution. | Human theologian |
| 9 | Reconciliation through the Cross | Salvation/Church | Medium | 2:14–18 | καταλλαγή must retain its double reference (God-to-humanity AND Jew-to-Gentile) or one dimension of Paul’s argument is silently dropped. | Native speaker review |
| 10 | The Mystery of Christ Revealed | Christology/Revelation | Critical | 1:9–10, 3:2–9, 6:19 | μυστήριον collides directly with “τα Ιερά Μυστήρια,” the Orthodox technical name for the Seven Sacraments; Paul’s hidden-then-revealed sense runs nearly opposite to an ongoing sacramental Mystery. | Human theologian |
| 11 | The Mystery of Marriage (Christ and the Church) | Christology/Household | Critical | 5:25–33 | Sits at the exact intersection of Paul’s revealed-secret μυστήριον and marriage (γάμος) as itself one of the Seven Sacraments of Orthodoxy — the single most theologian-sensitive convergence in the book. | Human theologian |
| 12 | The Divine Economy and Stewardship of Grace | Revelation/Ministry | High | 3:2, 3:9 | οικονομία’s dominant sense is “the [national/financial] economy”; the Orthodox technical phrase “η θεία οικονομία” rarely supports Paul’s own sense but the note must still guard the dominant financial-news reading. | Human theologian |
| 13 | Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God | Sanctification/Cosmology | Critical | 6:10–18 | μεθοδεία shares a root with the neutral “μέθοδος” (method), risking a bland “techniques” reading instead of cunning deceit; composite armor pieces carry forward multiple baseline Critical/High terms requiring strict consistency. | Human theologian |
| 14 | Cosmic Spiritual Powers | Cosmology | Critical | 1:21, 2:2, 3:10, 6:12 | κοσμοκράτωρ carries live secular usage for political strongmen/business magnates, risking a socio-political reading that displaces real personal spiritual enemies; ἐνέργεια is simultaneously “electricity” and the Palamite technical term for uncreated divine energies. | Human theologian |
| 15 | Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships | Ethics/Household | Critical | 5:21–6:9 | Combines υποτάσσομαι’s occupation-era subjugation connotation with the identical-word collision between lowercase κύριοι (“masters”) and the Critical term Κύριος (“the Lord”). | Human theologian |
| 16 | Household Codes: Marriage and Mutual Submission | Ethics/Household | Critical | 5:21–24 | Paul’s mutual-submission framing (5:21) must precede and govern the wife-specific instruction (5:22–24); υποτάσσομαι’s dominant modern connotation of coerced political/military subjugation risks erasing this mutuality. | Human theologian |
| 17 | Household Codes: Parents and Children | Ethics/Household | Medium | 6:1–4 | παιδεία shares a root with the baseline’s Critical forbidden-inversion term παιδαγωγός; must not import that entry’s restrictive-custodial connotation nor flatten into mere academic schooling. | Native speaker review |
| 18 | Household Codes: Masters and Bondservants | Ethics/Household | High | 6:5–9 | δούλος carries a strongly loaded modern chattel-slavery connotation; κύριοι (lowercase, “masters”) is identical to the letter’s own Critical term for “the Lord” — requires strict typographic discipline throughout ch.6. | Human theologian |
| 19 | Gifts for Building Up the Church | Church/Ministry | Medium | 4:7–16 | καταρτισμός defaults to vocational/professional job-skills training; οικοδομή defaults to physical construction; both risk institutional/administrative flattening of Spirit-given functional gifting. | Native speaker review |
| 20 | Sealing and Guarantee of the Holy Spirit | Salvation/Assurance | High | 1:13–14, 4:30 | σφραγίδα defaults to an ordinary bureaucratic official stamp; αρραβώνας defaults exclusively to marital “engagement/betrothal” in all contemporary usage; both require deliberate anchoring away from dominant secular senses. | Human theologian |
| 21 | Sanctification and Holy Living | Sanctification | High | 1:4, 4:22–24, 5:3–14, 5:26–27 | άγιοι collides with the Modern Greek word for canonized, name-day saints per baseline; individual παλαιός/νέος άνθρωπος must be kept distinct from 2:15’s corporate καινός άνθρωπος. | Human theologian |
| 22 | Inheritance in Christ | Eschatology | Medium | 1:11, 1:14, 1:18, 3:6, 5:5 | κληρονομία is fully stable in Modern Greek inheritance law; the only residual risk is under-realizing its eschatological, not merely legal-financial, force. | Native speaker review |
| 23 | Thanksgiving and Spirit-Filled Worship | Worship | Medium | 5:18–20 | ”Filled with the Spirit” language is more associated in contemporary Greek religious culture with Protestant/Pentecostal revivalism than Orthodox sacramental spirituality; ευχαριστία collides with the standing liturgical name for the Eucharist itself. | Native speaker review |
| 24 | Prayer and Spiritual Vigilance | Prayer | Medium | 6:18–20 | Lexical risk is low (παρρησία, πρεσβεύω both stable); doctrine should not default to only individual private piety given the explicit “for all the saints” corporate framing. | Native speaker review |
| 25 | Walking in Newness of Life | Sanctification | High | 2:10, 4:1, 4:17–24, 5:1–2, 5:8, 5:15 | περιπατέω’s metaphorical “conduct of life” sense is not the Modern Greek reader’s first association with the ordinary walking-verb; recurs as the book’s central structural motif across five chapters. | Human theologian |
| 26 | New Creation and God’s Workmanship | Salvation | High | 2:10 | ποίημα’s dominant Modern Greek meaning is “poem” (literary composition), risking a softened aesthetic “we are God’s poem” reading that obscures “skilled handiwork built for a purpose” and the following purpose clause. | Human theologian |
| 27 | Apostolic Ministry and Authority | Church | Low | 1:1, 2:20, 3:1–13, 4:11 | απόστολος and προφήτης identical to the NT’s own words and fully stable in Modern Greek. | Automated review |
| 28 | Doxological Praise and Blessing | Worship | Low | 1:3–14, 3:20–21 | ευλογητός/ευλογία and δόξα stable and reinforced by ongoing Orthodox doxological usage; residual δόξα secular “fame” risk insufficient at this general level to raise beyond automated review. | Automated review |
Risk summary (must match doctrine_risk_registry.json exactly):
| Tier | Count | Review routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 10 | Human theologian (every occurrence) |
| High | 9 | Human theologian |
| Medium | 7 | Native speaker review |
| Low | 2 | Automated review |
| Total | 28 | 19 theologian / 7 native speaker / 2 automated |
Part C — Doctrine-by-Doctrine Notes (Critical and High Tier Detail)
1. Salvation by Grace through Faith — Critical
Passages: 2:1–10 (core), 2:4–5, 2:8–9. This is the theological anchor of the whole curriculum. The chain χάρη (Critical, baseline) → πίστη (High, baseline) → σωτηρία (Critical, baseline) converges in a single ten-verse unit with the added new-to-Ephesians terms δῶρο (“gift,” 2:8), έργα unqualified (2:9, High — distinguish from Galatians’ έργα του νόμου), and ποίημα (“workmanship,” 2:10, High). The perfect-tense force of “you have been saved” (σεσωσμένοι) must be preserved against a theosis-only reading that treats salvation as perpetually in-process without any settled, receivable status.
2. Total Spiritual Depravity — High
Passages: 2:1–3. νεκρός (“dead”) must not be softened to “spiritually weak/sick”; Paul’s claim is of total prior inability, not partial impairment. ὀργή (“wrath,” in “children of wrath by nature”) must be anchored to God’s settled judicial verdict, not read through Modern Greek’s dominant sense of a volatile human emotional outburst.
3. Election and Predestination in Christ — Critical
Passages: 1:4–5, 1:11–12. προορισμός is the single most severe new secular-bleaching risk introduced by this book: its overwhelming Modern Greek association is “travel destination” (τουριστικός προορισμός). Unlike κλήση (baseline), which at least retains a legal/bureaucratic register, προορισμός’s dominant sense is purely commercial-touristic, with no theological residue at all in ordinary usage. There is no alternative Greek word available for this doctrine, making explanatory glossing structurally mandatory rather than optional.
4. Divine Calling — Critical
Passages: 1:18, 4:1, 4:4. Extends the baseline κλήση risk (Romans/Galatians) into Ephesians 4’s programmatic “walk worthy of the calling” — the opening imperative governing the letter’s entire second half. Every occurrence requires reactivation of theological weight against the everyday “phone call/traffic summons” sense.
6. The Church as the Body of Christ — Critical
Passages: 1:22–23, 4:12, 4:15–16, 5:23, 5:29–30. Unique to Ephesians (relative to Romans/Galatians) is the intensity and frequency of σῶμα Χριστού language applied organically to the whole church, colliding directly with “Σῶμα Χριστού” as the standing liturgical name for the consecrated Eucharistic host at the Divine Liturgy. This is not a case where the Orthodox association should be suppressed — the Orthodox reader legitimately holds both senses together (the Church becomes Christ’s body partly through receiving His body) — but Ephesians’ own ecclesial-organic argument (the church growing, being built up, Christ nourishing it as a husband nourishes his own body, 5:29–30) must be clearly recoverable on its own terms. κεφαλή (“head”) must retain the organic, life-giving, nourishing image Paul builds toward in 4:15–16, not collapse into a merely administrative chain-of-command sense.
7. The Fullness of Christ in the Church — High
Passages: 1:23, 3:19, 4:13. πλήρωμα’s dominant Modern Greek secondary sense (“crew,” of a ship or aircraft) risks a genuinely bizarre misreading if unglossed. The historic Gnostic technical use of “Pleroma” (the fullness of divine emanations) is a background consideration that theologian review should be aware of, even though it is not a live risk for the average Modern Greek reader today.
8. Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity — High
Passages: 2:11–22, 3:6. The corporate καινός άνθρωπος (2:15, “one new man” composed of Jew and Gentile together) must be kept lexically and conceptually distinct from chapter 4’s individually-focused νέος άνθρωπος (4:24, “new self,” an individual believer’s renewal). Collapsing these into one term erases Paul’s specific ecclesiological argument. πολιτεία (“commonwealth,” 2:12) compounds the baseline’s own caution about Ισραήλ’s contemporary nation-state resonance.
10. The Mystery of Christ Revealed — Critical
Passages: 1:9–10, 3:2–9, 6:19. μυστήριον is the highest-stakes new term in this entire curriculum. It collides directly and unavoidably with “τα Ιερά Μυστήρια,” the standing Orthodox technical designation for the Seven Sacraments — a term a Modern Greek reader accesses immediately and without translation. Paul’s sense (a divine plan formerly hidden, now publicly and fully disclosed in the gospel) runs in nearly the opposite direction from an ongoing sacramental Mystery that remains mysterious even while continually administered. A mandatory explanatory note is required at every occurrence (1:9, 3:3–9, 5:32, 6:19), without polemicizing against the legitimate Orthodox sacramental association elsewhere in the tradition.
11. The Mystery of Marriage (Christ and the Church) — Critical
Passages: 5:25–33. The single most theologian-sensitive convergence point in the book: Paul’s revealed-secret μυστήριον doctrine intersects directly with the fact that marriage (γάμος) is itself one of the Seven Sacraments/Mysteries of Orthodoxy, celebrated in a rite (the crowning, στεφάνωμα) that explicitly quotes and enacts this very passage. This is a genuine liturgical asset for teaching, provided the curriculum does not flatten Paul’s argument (Christ’s self-giving love as the pattern for the husband) into either a purely sociological household instruction or a purely sacramental-ritual reference divorced from the ethical pattern Paul is describing.
12. The Divine Economy and Stewardship of Grace — High
Passages: 3:2, 3:9. οικονομία’s dominant contemporary sense (national/financial economic news) must not crowd out Paul’s sense of a stewardship/administration entrusted to him. Unusually among this book’s risk terms, the Orthodox technical phrase “η θεία οικονομία” (God’s economy of salvation) genuinely supports rather than distorts Paul’s own sense — a rare case of patristic accretion functioning as an asset — but the note must still actively guard against the dominant financial-news reading a Modern Greek reader will default to first.
13. Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God — Critical
Passages: 6:10–18. μεθοδεία (“schemes,” 6:11) shares a root with the neutral, everyday “μέθοδος” (method), risking a bland “the devil’s techniques” reading that loses the sense of cunning, deceitful strategy. The composite armor pieces (6:14–17) redeploy multiple baseline Critical/High terms (δικαιοσύνη, ευαγγέλιο, πίστη, σωτηρία) simultaneously, requiring strict cross-document consistency with their established Romans/Galatians renderings.
14. Cosmic Spiritual Powers — Critical
Passages: 1:21, 2:2, 3:10, 6:12. κοσμοκράτωρ (a rare, NT-distinctive word) carries a live modern secular usage describing political strongmen or business magnates (“οι κοσμοκράτορες της αγοράς,” “the masters of the market”), risking a merely socio-political reading that displaces Paul’s claim about real, personal, spiritual enemies. ἐνέργεια compounds this: it is simultaneously the everyday word for electricity/utility power and the technical Palamite term for the uncreated divine energies, a dual-direction risk (secular bleaching AND patristic accretion at once) unique among this curriculum’s terms.
15–16. Household Codes: Christ-Centered Relationships / Marriage and Mutual Submission — Critical
Passages: 5:21–6:9; 5:21–24. υποτάσσομαι carries a dominant modern connotation of coerced political or military subjugation (readily recalling occupation-era national trauma), risking an erasure of Paul’s mutual-submission frame (5:21, “submitting to one another”) that is meant to govern and qualify the wife-specific instruction that follows (5:22–24). Both human theologian and native speaker review are required together, per the glossary’s explicit flag.
18. Household Codes: Masters and Bondservants — High
Passages: 6:5–9. δούλος carries a strongly loaded modern connotation of chattel slavery and a live metaphorical use for degrading subjugation, requiring careful pastoral-application framing (historical distance, the passage’s own relativizing move in 6:9 — “both have the same Master in heaven”) rather than lexical evasion. κύριοι (lowercase, “masters,” 6:5, 6:9) is textually and visually identical to the letter’s own Critical capitalized term Κύριος (“the Lord,” reserved for Christ); strict typographic and capitalization discipline is required throughout chapter 6 to prevent the two senses blurring into one another.
20. Sealing and Guarantee of the Holy Spirit — High
Passages: 1:13–14, 4:30. σφραγίδα defaults to an ordinary bureaucratic official stamp (a passport stamp, a notary seal); αρραβώνας defaults, in all contemporary usage, exclusively to marital “engagement/betrothal.” Both require deliberate anchoring toward Paul’s intended senses (an owner’s authenticating mark; a financial down-payment/first installment guaranteeing the rest) — though αρραβώνας’s betrothal sense is potentially exploitable as a positive bridal-theology asset given chapter 5’s marriage imagery, it must never be left unglossed.
21. Sanctification and Holy Living — High
Passages: 1:4, 4:22–24, 5:3–14, 5:26–27. άγιοι collides with the Modern Greek word for canonized, name-day saints exactly as documented in the baseline for Romans 1:7; this recurs at 1:4. Separately, the individually-focused παλαιός/νέος άνθρωπος pairing (4:22–24) must be kept lexically distinct from 2:15’s corporate καινός άνθρωπος, or two structurally different doctrines (individual moral renewal vs. corporate Jew-Gentile unity) will be silently collapsed into one.
25. Walking in Newness of Life — High
Passages: 2:10, 4:1, 4:17–24, 5:1–2, 5:8, 5:15. περιπατέω’s metaphorical “conduct of life” sense is not the Modern Greek reader’s automatic first association with the plain verb “to walk/stroll.” Because this verb functions as Ephesians’ central structural motif recurring across five of its six chapters, sustained reactivation — not a single explanatory note — is required throughout the whole curriculum.
26. New Creation and God’s Workmanship — High
Passages: 2:10. ποίημα’s dominant Modern Greek meaning is “poem” (a literary composition). An unglossed rendering risks a softened, merely aesthetic “we are God’s poem” reading that loses Paul’s “skilled handiwork, built for a purpose” sense and detaches it from the purpose clause that immediately follows (“…for good works, which God prepared beforehand”).
Part D — Doctrines Carried Forward Unchanged from Baseline
The following baseline (Romans/Galatians) Critical/High terms recur within Ephesians without new risk beyond what the baseline already documents, and their baseline renderings/tiers are reused exactly: grace (χάρη), faith (πίστη), salvation (σωτηρία), election (εκλογή), calling (κλήση), saints/holy (άγιοι/άγιος), adoption (υιοθεσία), church (εκκλησία), gentiles (έθνη), covenant/covenants of promise (διαθήκη), revelation (αποκάλυψη), thanksgiving (ευχαριστία), spiritual gifts (πνευματικά χαρίσματα), Lord (Κύριος), boast (καυχώμαι). No independent re-analysis of these is required; Phase 2 must enforce the baseline entries exactly.
This document is the doctrine risk reference for 12_ai_translation_requirements.md (Ephesians addendum) and must be kept in exact tier agreement with assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json. See 08_core_glossary.md for full term-level entries and 04_comparative_theology.md for cross-tradition interpretive context.
Critical Risk Doctrines
Salvation by Grace through Faith
Greek name: η σωτηρία διά χάριτος μέσω πίστεως
Key terms: grace, faith, salvation, gift, works_unqualified
Review routing: Human theologian
Combines the baseline’s two most severe secular-drift risks (χάρη as charm/legal pardon; σωτηρία’s theosis-framework accretion) at the letter’s theological center. Additionally, ἔργα here is unqualified (all human works of any kind), not the baseline’s Mosaic-specific έργα του νόμου false friend from Galatians; mis-narrowing the scope to Torah-observance would blunt Paul’s universal claim.
Election and Predestination in Christ
Greek name: η εκλογή και ο προορισμός εν Χριστώ
Key terms: election, predestined, gods_purpose_and_pleasure
Review routing: Human theologian
προορισμός is dominated in everyday Modern Greek by the tourism/travel sense (‘travel destination’), a secular-bleaching risk structurally identical to, and arguably more severe than, the baseline’s κλήση case, since there is no alternative Greek word available for this doctrine.
Divine Calling
Greek name: η κλήση του Θεού
Key terms: calling
Review routing: Human theologian
Per baseline, κλήση is worn down by everyday usage into a phone call or legal/traffic summons. It recurs as the opening exhortation of Ephesians 4’s entire ethical section (‘walk worthy of the calling’), requiring reactivation of its theological weight on every occurrence.
The Church as the Body of Christ
Greek name: η εκκλησία ως σώμα Χριστού
Key terms: body_of_christ, head, unite_under_one_head
Review routing: Human theologian
‘Σώμα Χριστού’ is the standing liturgical name for the consecrated Eucharistic host; Ephesians’ ecclesial sense (the corporate church) must be distinguished from, without suppressing, this sacramental resonance. κεφαλή risks flattening from an organic, life-giving image into a merely administrative hierarchy/CEO sense.
The Mystery of Christ Revealed
Greek name: το μυστήριο του Χριστού
Key terms: mystery, divine_economy_stewardship, fellow_heirs_members_partakers, manifold_wisdom_of_god
Review routing: Human theologian
μυστήριον collides directly with ‘τα Ιερά Μυστήρια,’ the Orthodox technical name for the Seven Sacraments; Paul’s hidden-then-revealed sense runs in nearly the opposite direction from an ongoing sacramental Mystery that remains mysterious even as it is administered.
The Mystery of Marriage (Christ and the Church)
Greek name: το μέγα μυστήριο του γάμου
Key terms: great_mystery_of_marriage, agape_love_pattern, christ_the_savior_of_the_body, one_flesh
Review routing: Human theologian
Sits at the exact intersection of Paul’s revealed-secret μυστήριον and the fact that marriage (γάμος) is itself one of the Seven Sacraments of Orthodoxy — the single most theologian-sensitive convergence in the whole book.
Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
Greek name: ο πνευματικός πόλεμος και η πανοπλία του Θεού
Key terms: armor_of_god, schemes_of_the_devil, the_devil, armor_pieces_composite
Review routing: Human theologian
μεθοδεία shares a root with the neutral ‘μέθοδος’ (method), risking a bland ‘the devil’s techniques’ reading instead of cunning deceit; the composite armor pieces carry forward multiple baseline Critical/High terms (δικαιοσύνη, ευαγγέλιο, πίστη, σωτηρία) requiring strict consistency.
Cosmic Spiritual Powers
Greek name: οι κοσμικές πνευματικές δυνάμεις
Key terms: cosmic_spiritual_powers, prince_of_the_power_of_the_air, energeia_power_at_work, heavenly_places
Review routing: Human theologian
κοσμοκράτωρ carries a live secular usage for political strongmen/business magnates, risking a merely socio-political reading that displaces the claim that real personal spiritual enemies, not human systems, are in view. ἐνέργεια is simultaneously the ordinary word for electricity and the Palamite technical term for the uncreated divine energies.
Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Greek name: οι οικογενειακοί κανόνες και οι εν Χριστώ σχέσεις
Key terms: submit_to_one_another, head, agape_love_pattern, christ_the_savior_of_the_body, bondservants_slaves, masters, discipline_and_instruction_of_the_lord, children_obey_honor_parents
Review routing: Human theologian
Combines multiple severe risks: υποτάσσομαι’s occupation-era subjugation connotation in Modern Greek, and the identical-word collision between lowercase κύριοι (‘masters’) and the capitalized Critical term Κύριος (‘the Lord’) elsewhere reserved for Christ throughout the letter.
Household Codes: Marriage and Mutual Submission
Greek name: η υποταγή στον γάμο
Key terms: submit_to_one_another, head
Review routing: Human theologian
Paul’s mutual-submission framing (5:21) must precede and govern the wife-specific instruction (5:22-24); υποτάσσομαι’s dominant modern connotation of coerced political/military subjugation risks erasing this mutuality and reading the passage as one-directional subjugation.
High Risk Doctrines
Total Spiritual Depravity
Greek name: η ολική πνευματική νέκρωση
Key terms: dead_in_sin, trespasses_and_sins, children_of_wrath, prince_of_the_power_of_the_air
Review routing: Human theologian
νεκρός risks softening into ‘spiritually unwell’ rather than Paul’s absolute claim of total inability; ὀργή risks reading as volatile human emotion (the ordinary Modern Greek sense) rather than a settled divine judicial verdict.
The Fullness of Christ in the Church
Greek name: το πλήρωμα του Χριστού
Key terms: fullness
Review routing: Human theologian
πλήρωμα’s dominant Modern Greek secondary sense is ‘crew’ (of a ship/aircraft), risking a bizarre ‘crew of Christ’ misassociation if unglossed; the historic Gnostic technical use of ‘Pleroma’ is a background consideration worth flagging for theologian review.
Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity
Greek name: η ενότητα Ιουδαίων και εθνικών σε έναν καινό άνθρωπο
Key terms: one_new_man, reconciliation, dividing_wall_of_hostility, gentiles, circumcision, covenants_of_promise, commonwealth_of_israel
Review routing: Human theologian
καινός άνθρωπος (corporate) must be distinguished from ch.4’s νέος άνθρωπος (individual); πολιτεία risks a modern nation-state political reading of ‘Israel,’ compounding the baseline’s own caution about Ισραήλ.
The Divine Economy and Stewardship of Grace
Greek name: η θεία οικονομία της χάριτος
Key terms: divine_economy_stewardship
Review routing: Human theologian
οικονομία’s dominant Modern Greek sense is ‘the economy’ (national/financial news); the Orthodox technical phrase ‘η θεία οικονομία’ is a rare case of patristic accretion actually supporting Paul’s own sense, but the note must still guard against the dominant financial-news reading.
Household Codes: Masters and Bondservants
Greek name: οι οικογενειακοί κανόνες: κύριοι και δούλοι
Key terms: bondservants_slaves, masters
Review routing: Human theologian
δούλος carries a strongly loaded modern connotation of chattel slavery and degrading subjugation, and κύριοι (lowercase, ‘masters’) is the identical word to the letter’s own Critical term for ‘the Lord’ (Christ), requiring strict typographic/capitalization discipline throughout ch.6.
Sealing and Guarantee of the Holy Spirit
Greek name: η σφράγιση και ο αρραβώνας του Αγίου Πνεύματος
Key terms: sealed_with_the_spirit, guarantee_of_the_spirit
Review routing: Human theologian
σφραγίδα defaults to an ordinary bureaucratic official stamp, and αρραβώνας defaults exclusively to marital ‘engagement/betrothal’ in all contemporary usage; both require deliberate anchoring away from their dominant secular senses toward the ownership-mark and financial-guarantee senses Paul intends.
Sanctification and Holy Living
Greek name: ο αγιασμός και η άγια ζωή
Key terms: holy_saints, sanctification_and_holy_living, old_self_new_self, children_of_light, fruit_of_the_light
Review routing: Human theologian
άγιοι collides with the Modern Greek word for canonized, name-day saints per baseline; παλαιός/νέος άνθρωπος (individual) must be kept distinct from 2:15’s corporate καινός άνθρωπος, or two separate doctrines will be collapsed into one.
Walking in Newness of Life
Greek name: το περπάτημα σε καινότητα ζωής
Key terms: walk_conduct, old_self_new_self, workmanship, good_works
Review routing: Human theologian
περιπατέω’s metaphorical ‘conduct of life’ sense is not the Modern Greek reader’s first association with the ordinary walking-verb, and it recurs as the book’s central structural motif across five chapters, requiring sustained reactivation rather than a single note.
New Creation and God’s Workmanship
Greek name: η καινή δημιουργία και το ποίημα του Θεού
Key terms: workmanship, good_works, works_unqualified
Review routing: Human theologian
ποίημα’s dominant Modern Greek meaning is ‘poem’ (a literary composition), risking a softened aesthetic-literary ‘we are God’s poem’ reading that obscures Paul’s ‘skilled handiwork built for a purpose’ sense and the following purpose clause.
Medium Risk Doctrines
Adoption and Sonship
Greek name: η υιοθεσία
Key terms: adoption
Review routing: Native speaker review
υιοθεσία is a stable legal-theological term per baseline; low incremental risk beyond the baseline’s own note.
Reconciliation through the Cross
Greek name: η καταλλαγή διά του σταυρού
Key terms: reconciliation, access_to_the_father
Review routing: Native speaker review
καταλλαγή is stable but must retain its double reference — both God-to-humanity and Jew-to-Gentile reconciliation together — or one dimension of Paul’s argument will be silently dropped.
Household Codes: Parents and Children
Greek name: οι οικογενειακοί κανόνες: γονείς και τέκνα
Key terms: children_obey_honor_parents, discipline_and_instruction_of_the_lord
Review routing: Native speaker review
παιδεία shares a root with the baseline’s Critical forbidden-inversion term παιδαγωγός; must not import that entry’s restrictive-custodial connotation, nor flatten into mere academic schooling.
Gifts for Building Up the Church
Greek name: τα χαρίσματα για την οικοδομή της εκκλησίας
Key terms: spiritual_gifts, ministry_gifts, building_up_edification, equipping, mature_manhood, unity_of_the_spirit
Review routing: Native speaker review
καταρτισμός defaults to vocational/professional job-skills training in Modern Greek rather than whole-body strengthening, and οικοδομή defaults to physical construction; both risk institutional/administrative flattening of Spirit-given functional gifting.
Inheritance in Christ
Greek name: η κληρονομία εν Χριστώ
Key terms: inheritance, fellow_heirs_members_partakers, kingdom_of_god
Review routing: Native speaker review
κληρονομία is fully stable in Modern Greek inheritance law; the only residual risk is under-realizing its eschatological, not merely legal-financial, force.
Thanksgiving and Spirit-Filled Worship
Greek name: η ευχαριστία και η εν Πνεύματι λατρεία
Key terms: filled_with_the_spirit, thanksgiving, psalms_hymns_spiritual_songs
Review routing: Native speaker review
‘Filled with the Spirit’ language is more associated in contemporary Greek religious culture with Protestant/Pentecostal revivalism than Orthodox sacramental spirituality; ευχαριστία collides with the standing liturgical name for the Eucharist itself, per baseline.
Prayer and Spiritual Vigilance
Greek name: η προσευχή και η πνευματική εγρήγορση
Key terms: parresia_boldness, ambassador_in_chains
Review routing: Native speaker review
Lexical risk is low (παρρησία and πρεσβεύω are both stable, positively-loaded terms), but the doctrine should not be allowed to default to only individual private piety, given Ephesians 6’s explicit ‘for all the saints’ corporate framing.
Low Risk Doctrines
Apostolic Ministry and Authority
Greek name: η αποστολική διακονία και εξουσία
Key terms: apostle, prophet
Review routing: Automated review
απόστολος and προφήτης are identical to the NT’s own words and fully stable in Modern Greek; per baseline, low ambiguity risk.
Doxological Praise and Blessing
Greek name: η δοξολογική ευλογία
Key terms: glory, mercy
Review routing: Automated review
ευλογητός/ευλογία and δόξα are stable and richly reinforced by ongoing Orthodox doxological/liturgical usage; the residual risk from δόξα’s secular ‘fame’ sense (per baseline) is insufficient at this general doxological level to raise beyond automated review.
Referenced passages