Doctrine Analysis
Doctrine Analysis — Luke 1–24
Methodology
Every doctrine below is drawn from either (a) the eight curriculum doctrines specified for this
book — Jesus as Savior for All Nations and All People, The Holy Spirit’s Work in Salvation
History, Good News to the Poor and Marginalized, Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins, Prayer and
Dependence on God, The Kingdom of God Present and Future, The Cost and Joy of Discipleship, and
Jesus’ Compassion and Table Fellowship with Sinners — or (b) doctrines that necessarily surface in
full-book coverage of those eight themes (e.g. the Christological titles that ground “Savior for
All Nations,” the eschatological material that grounds “Kingdom… Present and Future,” and the
Last Supper material that grounds “Repentance and Forgiveness”). Risk tiers and review routing are
copied verbatim from doctrine_risk_registry.json and must not be altered independently in Phase 2.
The core passage, Luke 4:16-21, is the curriculum’s theological anchor, not its scope boundary. The matrix below and the chapter coverage log that follows it span Luke 1–24 in full, per the PRD’s full-book-coverage mandate.
Part 1: Doctrine Matrix
| # | Doctrine | Risk | Key Supporting Passages (Luke) | Translation Risk Summary | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jesus as Savior for All Nations and All People | Critical | 2:30-32; 3:6; 4:25-27; 7:1-10; 10:25-37; 13:29; 17:11-19; 19:1-10; 24:47 | σωτήρ echoes the imperial Roman title (Caesar as σωτήρ), which Luke subverts; έθνη risks the modern nationalist sense of έθνος; Σαμαρείτης’s first-century schismatic/unclean status is invisible in the bare modern proper noun and must be actively supplied. | Human theologian |
| 2 | The Holy Spirit’s Work in Salvation History | Critical | 1:15, 35, 41, 67; 3:16, 22; 4:1, 14, 18; 10:21; 11:13; 24:49 | Άγιο Πνεύμα is lexically stable, but surrounding trinitarian phrasing must not presume the Filioque as settled (per baseline); Πνεύμα Κυρίου at 4:18 reinforces the Spirit’s identity with YHWH via the Κύριος link. | Human theologian |
| 3 | Good News to the Poor and Marginalized | Critical | 4:18-19; 6:20-26; 7:22; 14:12-24; 16:19-31; 18:18-30; 19:1-10; 21:1-4 | πτωχοί is unqualified, literal economic poverty in Modern Greek with no built-in spiritual sense; the “poor in spirit” spiritualizing narrowing common in evangelical tradition has no textual basis in Luke and must be actively resisted. μακάριος/ουαί must retain full prophetic weight. | Human theologian |
| 4 | Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins | Critical | 1:77; 3:3, 8; 5:20-24, 32; 7:47-49; 13:3, 5; 15:1-32; 18:9-14; 22:34, 61; 23:34, 43; 24:47 | ἄφεσις carries both Jubilee-style social release (4:18-19) and forgiveness of sins (1:77; 24:47) in one Greek word — a deliberate Lukan polysemy that must be preserved, not resolved. μετάνοια risks narrowing to the specific Orthodox sacramental rite of confession rather than the broader, universally available reorientation Luke intends. | Human theologian |
| 5 | Prayer and Dependence on God | High | 3:21; 5:16; 6:12; 9:18, 28-29; 10:38-42; 11:1-13; 12:22-31; 18:1-8, 38-39; 22:32, 39-46; 23:34, 46 | Coverage risk, not lexis: Luke’s structural pattern of Jesus praying at every major turning point must be flagged for deliberate teaching, not treated as incidental narrative detail. “Κύριε, ελέησόν με” (18:38) risks registering only as the familiar liturgical refrain rather than this beggar’s personal, faith-filled cry. | Human theologian |
| 6 | The Kingdom of God Present and Future | Critical | 4:43; 6:20; 7:28; 8:1, 10; 9:2, 60, 62; 10:9, 11; 11:20; 12:31-32; 13:18-21, 24; 14:15; 17:20-21; 18:16-17, 24-25, 29; 19:11; 21:31; 22:16, 18; 23:42 | βασιλεία του Θεού is Luke’s single most frequent doctrinal phrase; 17:21’s ἐντός (“within” vs. “among”) is a live translation decision materially affecting an inward-individual vs. corporate-social reading. σήμερον is Critical by inversion: its very ordinariness causes translators to overlook its function as Luke’s deliberate fulfillment-marker. | Human theologian |
| 7 | The Cost and Joy of Discipleship | High | 5:1-11, 27-28; 9:23-25, 57-62; 14:25-33; 15:5-7, 9-10, 32; 18:28-30; 19:10 | μαθητής is the ordinary Modern Greek word for “school pupil,” risking a flattened academic reading; σταυρός’s everyday decorative/jewelry ubiquity risks blunting the shocking force of “take up his cross.” χαρά must be taught as heaven’s own reaction to repentance, not merely human sentiment. | Human theologian |
| 8 | Jesus’ Compassion and Table Fellowship with Sinners | Critical | 5:27-32; 7:11-17, 36-50; 10:25-37; 15:1-2; 19:1-10 | σπλαγχνίζομαι is confined to biblical/liturgical register — an asset, but risks sounding archaic if flattened; αμαρτωλός and τελώνης carry no built-in cue to their first-century social-exclusion weight (Modern Greek τελώνης is a neutral “customs official”). | Human theologian |
| 9 | Messianic Promise Fulfilled in Jesus | Critical | 2:11, 26; 3:15; 4:18-21; 9:20; 20:41; 22:67; 23:2, 35, 39; 24:26-27, 44-46 | ἔχρισεν (4:18) is the verbal root of Χριστός itself, applied by Jesus to himself publicly — an asset once made explicit, since the verb form is absent from ordinary speech. πεπλήρωται’s perfect tense (completed action, continuing effect) must not be flattened to simple past. | Human theologian |
| 10 | Deity of Christ | Critical | 1:32, 35; 2:11; 3:22; 9:35; 20:41-44; 22:70 | The triple-title convergence at 2:11 (Σωτήρ, Χριστός, Κύριος) is Luke’s densest Christological statement; 20:41-44’s “David calls him Lord” parallels Romans 10:9 and requires the same active reconnection of Κύριος to its Septuagint YHWH-background. | Human theologian |
| 11 | Sonship of Christ | Critical | 1:32, 35; 3:22, 38; 4:3, 9, 41; 9:35; 10:22 | Must be kept distinct from believers’ adoptive sonship and from “Son of Man,” a superficially similar but doctrinally unrelated title. | Human theologian |
| 12 | The Son of Man Title | Critical | 5:24; 6:5, 22; 7:34; 9:22, 26, 44, 56, 58; 11:30; 12:8, 10, 40; 17:22-30; 18:8, 31; 19:10; 21:27, 36; 22:22, 48, 69; 24:7 | The literal Greek words are entirely ordinary Modern Greek (“son of the human being”). Without an explicit Daniel 7:13 apocalyptic-messianic note supplied at every occurrence, the title’s majestic weight is invisible — the words’ plainness is itself the entire risk. | Human theologian |
| 13 | Resurrection of Christ | Critical | 9:22; 14:14; 20:27-38; 24:1-53 | Shares its root with ἀνέστη (4:16, “he stood up”) — a homonym worth a teaching footnote, not a translation risk. A genuine cultural asset (Πάσχα/Ανάσταση); the task is doctrinal precision, not persuasion. | Human theologian |
| 14 | Lordship of Christ | Critical | 1:43, 76; 2:11; 6:46; 20:41-44 | Κύριος has been worn down by everyday usage into the polite title “Mister/Sir.” 20:41-44’s direct scriptural argument must be actively reconnected to the Septuagint’s YHWH-background. | Human theologian |
| 15 | Ascension and Christ’s Present Heavenly Reign | Critical | 24:49-53 | Not present as a distinct doctrine in the Romans/Galatians baseline. Completes the Christological arc and directly sets up the promised outpouring of the Spirit; ανελήφθη is a new Critical term requiring formal addition to translation memory. | Human theologian |
| 16 | Grace | Critical | 1:28, 30; 2:40; 4:22 | 1:28’s κεχαριτωμένη is the highest-stakes Marian occurrence in the curriculum; must clearly show Mary as recipient, not source/dispenser, of χάρις, given constant Orthodox liturgical honor accorded the Παναγία. | Human theologian |
| 17 | Salvation | Critical | 1:47, 69, 71, 77; 2:11, 30; 3:6; 7:50; 8:12, 36, 48, 50; 9:24; 13:23; 17:19; 18:26, 42; 19:9-10; 23:35; 24:21 | σῴζω’s deliberate holistic ambiguity spanning physical healing and spiritual salvation must be preserved. Guard against the Orthodox theosis-only reading eclipsing Luke’s emphasis on decisive, personally received deliverance. | Human theologian |
| 18 | Faith | High | 5:20; 7:9, 50; 8:25, 48; 17:5-6, 19; 18:8, 42 | Personal trust in Christ, frequently the explicit ground of both healing and salvation in Luke’s recurring formula (“your faith has saved you”); guard against πίστη read as generic self-belief. | Human theologian |
| 19 | Justification by Faith (Jesus’ Own Teaching) | Critical | 18:9-14 | Major cross-reference asset: δεδικαιωμένος is the identical verb Paul later develops in Romans, showing the doctrine originates in Jesus’s own teaching. Guard against the colloquial drift toward mere personal vindication. | Human theologian |
| 20 | The New Covenant and the Lord’s Supper | Critical | 22:14-20 | This text founds the Bible’s own two-part Greek title (Παλαιά/Καινή Διαθήκη), making the baseline’s διαθήκη-as-”last will” caution maximally consequential here. ἀνάμνησις risks the secular “memory/souvenir” sense displacing the technical liturgical sense. | Human theologian |
| 21 | The Rich/Poor Reversal Motif | High | 1:48-53; 6:20-26; 12:13-21; 16:19-31; 18:18-30 | Lexically stable vocabulary; the risk is doctrinal flattening into generic “generosity” teaching that loses Luke’s deliberately uncomfortable, consistent social reversal. | Human theologian |
| 22 | Love of Neighbor and Enemies | High | 6:27-36; 10:25-37 | αγάπη is not in the Romans/Galatians baseline; Modern Greek αγάπη covers every register of love without the classical ἀγάπη/ἔρως/φιλία distinction being actively felt, risking generic sentimentality rather than Luke’s costly, specific command. | Human theologian |
| 23 | Mammon and the Right Use of Possessions | High | 12:13-34; 16:1-15, 19-31 | μαμωνάς is a stable transliterated loanword (low lexical risk) but High doctrinal weight: must retain Jesus’s personification of wealth as a rival master, not flatten into generic financial-stewardship advice. | Human theologian |
| 24 | Eschatology: Hades, Abraham’s Bosom, and Paradise | Critical | 16:19-31; 23:43 | Uniquely severe: Άδης is simultaneously the NT’s word for the realm of the dead and the identical name of the Olympian underworld-god studied by every Greek schoolchild as literature. παράδεισος risks the dominant tourism-marketing sense (“τροπικός παράδεισος”) displacing Jesus’s specific, personal “with me” promise. | Human theologian |
| 25 | Tribulation and Future Judgment | Medium | 17:22-37; 21:5-36 | θλίψη is stable and also used for ordinary grief/bereavement; requires a note distinguishing the eschatological register from ordinary personal sorrow. | Native speaker review |
| 26 | Sabbath Observance and the Law | Medium | 6:1-11; 13:10-17; 14:1-6 | σάββατο is entirely stable as “Saturday”; needs a note scoping Jesus’s critique to legalistic misuse, not an attack on the commandment or on the audience’s own calendar-structured devotional life. | Native speaker review |
| 27 | Providence and God’s Care for His People | Medium | 12:6-7, 22-31 | πρόνοια is also the standard word for state social welfare (“Υπουργείο Πρόνοιας”); the secular institutional sense should not crowd out the theological one. | Native speaker review |
| 28 | Universal Human Accountability and Sin | Medium | 5:8, 30, 32; 7:37-47 | αμαρτία is lexically transparent and stable; the risk is αμαρτωλός’s first-century social-exclusion dimension being flattened into a purely private, individualized notion. | Native speaker review |
| 29 | The Word of God and Human Response | Medium | 8:4-15, 21; 11:28 | λόγος is stable and rich in both Koine and Modern Greek; low risk, but the Sower’s response-categories should stay distinct from a generic “hearing a message” reading. | Native speaker review |
| 30 | Spiritual Conflict and the Demonic | Medium | 4:1-13; 8:26-39; 11:14-26 | δαιμόνιο/δαιμόνιος has a significant secular-bleaching pathway via the idiom “έχει δαιμόνιο” (“he’s brilliant/talented”), which must be actively distinguished from the theological sense of a genuinely evil personal spirit. | Native speaker review |
| 31 | Mission to the Nations | Medium | 9:1-6; 10:1-16; 24:47-48 | αποστολή is stable but Orthodox-majority proselytism sensitivity should be navigated carefully; the sending of the Twelve and the Seventy-two directly grounds the universal-scope doctrine. | Native speaker review |
| 32 | Baptism as the Sign of Repentance | Medium | 3:3, 7-14, 21-22 | βάπτισμα is stable and central to Orthodox sacramental life; John’s preparatory, repentance-focused rite must not be conflated without comment with fuller sacramental Christian baptism. | Native speaker review |
| 33 | Joy as the Fruit of Salvation | High | 1:14, 44, 47; 2:10; 15:5-32; 19:6, 37; 24:41, 52 | Modern χαρά is ordinary, universally used vocabulary with low lexical drift risk, but the doctrinal point — joy as heaven’s own characteristic response to repentance — must be actively taught, not assumed, given the word’s total ordinariness. | Human theologian |
| 34 | Witness and Proclamation of the Resurrection | High | 24:44-49 | μάρτυρας carries both the ordinary legal “courtroom witness” sense and the specifically Christian “martyr” sense in Modern Greek; teaching must clarify the primary sense here is eyewitness testimony. | Human theologian |
| 35 | Apostleship and Sending | Low | 6:13; 9:10; 11:49; 17:5; 22:14; 24:10 | απόστολος is identical to the NT word and unambiguous. | Automated review |
| 36 | The Prophetic Fulfillment Pattern | Low | 1:67-79; 4:21; 24:25-27, 44 | προφήτης/προφητεία are stable, unambiguous words; a Greek reader can read Septuagint citations directly alongside Luke’s own fulfillment claims. | Automated review |
Tier totals (verified against this matrix): Critical = 18; High = 8; Medium = 8; Low = 2. Total requiring human theologian review = 26. Total requiring native speaker review = 8. Total automated-only = 2.
Part 2: Full Chapter Coverage Log (Luke 1–24)
Per the PRD’s full-book-coverage mandate, every chapter is logged below with its load-bearing doctrines. No chapter is silently omitted; chapters whose material is primarily narrative connective tissue are explicitly marked as reviewed with the doctrines they still touch.
| Chapter | Primary Doctrines Present | Coverage Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sonship of Christ; Deity of Christ; Grace (κεχαριτωμένη, 1:28); Holy Spirit’s Work; Salvation; Messianic Promise Fulfilled; Prophetic Fulfillment Pattern; Rich/Poor Reversal (Magnificat, 1:52-53); Repentance and Forgiveness (1:77) | Reviewed. Infancy narrative; Spirit-saturated and doctrinally dense throughout. |
| 2 | Jesus as Savior for All Nations (2:30-32); Deity of Christ (triple title, 2:11); Messianic Promise Fulfilled; Salvation | Reviewed. Birth narrative and boy Jesus in the temple. |
| 3 | Repentance and Forgiveness; Baptism as Sign of Repentance; Holy Spirit’s Work (3:16, 22); Sonship of Christ (3:22, 38); Prophetic Fulfillment Pattern | Reviewed. John the Baptist’s ministry, genealogy, baptism of Jesus. |
| 4 | Messianic Promise Fulfilled (core passage, 4:18-21); Kingdom of God; Good News to the Poor; Jesus as Savior for All Nations (4:25-27); Holy Spirit’s Work; Spiritual Conflict and the Demonic (temptation, 4:1-13) | Reviewed. Contains the curriculum’s theological anchor; treated with maximal depth in Phase 2, but note this is the anchor, not the analytic scope boundary. |
| 5 | Faith; The Cost and Joy of Discipleship; Compassion and Table Fellowship (5:27-32); Universal Human Accountability; Repentance and Forgiveness (5:20-24) | Reviewed. Calling of the first disciples; healing of the leper and paralytic; call of Levi. |
| 6 | Sabbath Observance and the Law; Good News to the Poor (Blessed/Woe, 6:20-26); Love of Neighbor and Enemies; The Rich/Poor Reversal Motif; Apostleship and Sending (6:13) | Reviewed. Sermon on the Plain. |
| 7 | Jesus as Savior for All Nations (centurion’s Gentile faith); Compassion and Table Fellowship; Faith; Messianic Promise Fulfilled (7:18-23); Repentance and Forgiveness (sinful woman, 7:36-50) | Reviewed. |
| 8 | The Word of God and Human Response (Sower); Faith; Salvation (σῴζω); Spiritual Conflict and the Demonic (Legion) | Reviewed. |
| 9 | Sonship of Christ (9:35); The Son of Man Title; Deity of Christ (Transfiguration); The Cost and Joy of Discipleship; Mission to the Nations (sending of the Twelve, 9:1-6) | Reviewed. Turning-point chapter: confession, Transfiguration, first Passion prediction. |
| 10 | Mission to the Nations (sending of the Seventy-two); Love of Neighbor and Enemies (Good Samaritan); Jesus as Savior for All Nations (Samaritan foreshadowing); Prayer and Dependence on God (Mary and Martha) | Reviewed. |
| 11 | Prayer and Dependence on God (Lord’s Prayer); Holy Spirit’s Work; Good News to the Poor (Woes against the Pharisees); Spiritual Conflict and the Demonic | Reviewed. |
| 12 | Providence and God’s Care; Mammon and the Right Use of Possessions (rich fool); The Kingdom of God Present and Future; The Cost and Joy of Discipleship (watchfulness) | Reviewed. |
| 13 | Repentance and Forgiveness (“repent or perish”); The Kingdom of God Present and Future (mustard seed, leaven); Sabbath Observance and the Law (bent woman healed); Jesus as Savior for All Nations (lament over Jerusalem) | Reviewed. |
| 14 | Sabbath Observance and the Law; Good News to the Poor (banquet parable); The Cost and Joy of Discipleship (cost-counting sayings); The Rich/Poor Reversal Motif | Reviewed. |
| 15 | Repentance and Forgiveness; Joy as the Fruit of Salvation; Compassion and Table Fellowship; The Cost and Joy of Discipleship (bookend to 19:10) | Reviewed. Lost sheep, lost coin, prodigal son. |
| 16 | Mammon and the Right Use of Possessions; Eschatology: Hades, Abraham’s Bosom, and Paradise; The Rich/Poor Reversal Motif | Reviewed. |
| 17 | Jesus as Savior for All Nations (Samaritan leper, 17:11-19); The Son of Man Title; Faith; Tribulation and Future Judgment | Reviewed. |
| 18 | Prayer and Dependence on God; Justification by Faith (Jesus’ own teaching, 18:9-14); Faith; The Rich/Poor Reversal Motif (rich ruler) | Reviewed. |
| 19 | Salvation (“today,” 19:9); Jesus as Savior for All Nations; The Kingdom of God Present and Future; The Cost and Joy of Discipleship (19:10 mission-summary) | Reviewed. Zacchaeus; triumphal entry; lament and temple action. |
| 20 | Lordship of Christ (20:41-44); Resurrection of Christ (Sadducees’ debate); Deity of Christ | Reviewed. |
| 21 | Tribulation and Future Judgment; The Kingdom of God Present and Future | Reviewed. Olivet-parallel eschatological discourse. |
| 22 | The New Covenant and the Lord’s Supper; Prayer and Dependence on God (Gethsemane); The Cost and Joy of Discipleship; Repentance and Forgiveness (anticipated in Peter’s denial) | Reviewed. |
| 23 | Eschatology: Paradise (23:43); Repentance and Forgiveness (the penitent thief); Deity of Christ (ironic mockery-titles); Jesus’ Compassion (23:34) | Reviewed. |
| 24 | Resurrection of Christ; Witness and Proclamation of the Resurrection; The Prophetic Fulfillment Pattern; Ascension and Christ’s Present Heavenly Reign; Holy Spirit’s Work (24:49 promise) | Reviewed. Emmaus road, appearances, Great Commission, Ascension. |
Coverage confirmation: all 24 chapters of Luke are represented above; none are silently omitted. No chapter in Luke lacks doctrinally load-bearing content — the book’s narrative density means every chapter contributes to at least one of the 36 tracked doctrines.
Cross-References
- Term-level detail for every doctrine above:
assets/translation_memory.json(as extended by08_core_glossary.mdSections A and B) andassets/bible_term_registry.json. - Risk-tier source of record:
assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json(Luke). - AI enforcement rules for these doctrines in Phase 2:
12_ai_translation_requirements.md(to be extended for Luke).
End of 11_doctrine_analysis.md.
Critical Risk Doctrines
Jesus as Savior for All Nations and All People (Jew and Gentile, Rich and Poor)
Greek name: ο Ιησούς ως Σωτήρας όλων των εθνών και όλων των ανθρώπων
Key terms: σωτήρ, έθνη, πλούσιος, πτωχοί, Σαμαρείτης, ζητήσαι και σώσαι το απολωλός
Review routing: Human theologian
σωτήρ shares its root with the baseline’s Critical σωτηρία and also carries a first-century imperial-title echo (Caesar Augustus as σωτήρ) that Luke deliberately subverts; έθνη risks the modern nationalist connotation of έθνος; Σαμαρείτης’s first-century schismatic/unclean social charge is entirely invisible in the bare modern proper noun. All three collision points must be actively taught, not merely translated.
The Holy Spirit’s Work in Salvation History
Greek name: το έργο του Αγίου Πνεύματος στην ιστορία της σωτηρίας
Key terms: Άγιο Πνεύμα, Πνεύμα Κυρίου, δύναμη εξ ύψους
Review routing: Human theologian
Luke is the most Spirit-saturated Gospel; Άγιο Πνεύμα is identical to the NT’s own word and doctrinally stable, but surrounding trinitarian phrasing must avoid presuming the Filioque as settled per the baseline caution. Πνεύμα Κυρίου at 4:18 directly ties the Spirit to the YHWH-background of Κύριος, reinforcing rather than diluting the Spirit’s full deity.
Good News to the Poor and Marginalized
Greek name: καλά νέα για τους πτωχούς και τους περιθωριοποιημένους
Key terms: πτωχοί, τεθραυσμένοι, μακάριος, ουαί, πλούσιος, μαμωνάς, τελώνης
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: the classic evangelical-spiritualizing risk of narrowing πτωχοί to ‘poor in spirit’ has no textual basis in Luke and must be explicitly resisted, since Modern Greek πτωχός/φτωχός is an entirely ordinary, economically-literal word with no built-in spiritual sense to lean on for cover. μακάριος/ουαί must retain their full prophetic weight rather than being softened into generic encouragement/warning.
Repentance and Forgiveness of Sins
Greek name: η μετάνοια και η άφεση αμαρτιών
Key terms: μετάνοια, άφεση, δεδικαιωμένος, Πάτερ, άφες αυτοίς
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL, and a distinctively Lukan polysemy: ἄφεσις denotes both Jubilee-style social release (4:18-19) and forgiveness of sins (1:77; 24:47) in the very same Greek word, a deliberate theological move that must be preserved rather than resolved toward only one sense. μετάνοια, though lexically stable in Modern Greek, risks being read as the specific Orthodox sacramental rite of confession rather than the more foundational, universally available reorientation Luke describes.
The Kingdom of God Present and Future
Greek name: η βασιλεία του Θεού, παρούσα και μελλοντική
Key terms: βασιλεία του Θεού, σήμερον, στενή θύρα, θλίψη
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL for two distinct reasons: βασιλεία του Θεού is the single most frequent doctrinal phrase in Luke and 17:21’s ἐντός (‘within’ vs ‘among’) is a genuine translation decision materially affecting whether the kingdom’s present reality is taught as inward-individual or corporate-social. σήμερον is Critical by inversion — its very ordinariness in Modern Greek is what causes translators to overlook its deliberate function as Luke’s fulfillment-marker (2:11; 4:21; 19:9; 23:43).
Jesus’ Compassion and Table Fellowship with Sinners
Greek name: η ευσπλαχνία του Ιησού και η κοινωνία στο τραπέζι με τους αμαρτωλούς
Key terms: σπλαγχνίζομαι, αμαρτωλός, τελώνης, πλησίον
Review routing: Human theologian
σπλαγχνίζομαι is largely confined to biblical/liturgical register in contemporary Modern Greek, a genuine theological asset but one that risks sounding archaic if rendered too plainly; αμαρτωλός and τελώνης are lexically transparent but carry no built-in cue to their first-century social-exclusion weight, since Modern Greek τελώνης is simply the neutral word for a customs official.
Messianic Promise Fulfilled in Jesus
Greek name: η εκπλήρωση της μεσσιανικής επαγγελίας στον Ιησού
Key terms: Χριστός, έχρισεν, πεπλήρωται, σήμερον
Review routing: Human theologian
The verb ἔχρισεν (4:18) is the root of Χριστός itself, applied by Jesus to himself in public — a major asset since Modern Greek readers will recognize the root, but the connection must be made explicit since the verb form is absent from ordinary speech. πεπλήρωται’s perfect tense (completed action, continuing effect) must be preserved, not flattened to a simple past.
Deity of Christ
Greek name: η θεότητα του Χριστού
Key terms: Κύριος, Υιός του Θεού, Σωτήρ, Χριστός, Κύριος
Review routing: Human theologian
The triple-title convergence at 2:11 (Σωτήρ, Χριστός, Κύριος) is the single densest Christological statement in Luke’s birth narrative; 20:41-44’s direct scriptural deity-argument (‘David calls him Lord’) parallels Romans 10:9 and requires the same active reconnection to the Septuagint’s YHWH-background against the flattening risk of Κύριος as a mere polite title.
Sonship of Christ
Greek name: η υιότητα του Χριστού
Key terms: Υιός του Θεού, Ύψιστος
Review routing: Human theologian
Must be kept distinct from the believer’s adoptive sonship (a distinction reused from the baseline) and from the separate title ‘Son of Man,’ which shares no doctrinal content with this eternal, unique Sonship despite superficial verbal similarity in English (both containing ‘Son of’).
The Son of Man (Christ’s Suffering, Humanity, and Authority)
Greek name: ο Υιός του ανθρώπου
Key terms: Υιός του ανθρώπου
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: the literal Greek words are entirely ordinary Modern Greek vocabulary (‘son of the human being’). Without the Daniel 7:13 apocalyptic-messianic background supplied explicitly at every occurrence, the title’s majestic weight is invisible and the phrase reads as a modest self-reference — the plainness of the words is itself the entire risk, requiring the opposite intervention from most Critical terms in this pipeline (addition of background, not correction of a wrong word).
Resurrection of Christ
Greek name: η ανάσταση του Χριστού
Key terms: ανάσταση, ανελήφθη
Review routing: Human theologian
Shares its root with ἀνέστη (4:16, ‘he stood up to read’) — a non-theological homonym worth a teaching footnote but not a translation risk. The doctrine remains, as in the baseline, a genuine cultural asset (Πάσχα/Ανάσταση is Greece’s paramount religious holiday); the task is precision (bodily, historical, once-for-all) rather than persuasion.
Lordship of Christ
Greek name: η κυριότητα του Χριστού
Key terms: Κύριος, Δαβίδ…Κύριον αυτόν καλεί
Review routing: Human theologian
As in the baseline Romans registry: Κύριος has been worn down by everyday Modern Greek usage into the ordinary polite title ‘Mister/Sir.’ 20:41-44’s direct scriptural argument must be actively reconnected to the Septuagint’s use of Κύριος for YHWH so the claim to Jesus’s identity with God is not lost beneath the flatness of the honorific.
Ascension and Christ’s Present Heavenly Reign
Greek name: η ανάληψη και η παρούσα βασιλεία του Χριστού
Key terms: ανελήφθη, δύναμη εξ ύψους
Review routing: Human theologian
Not present as a distinct doctrine in the Romans/Galatians baseline (Paul’s letters do not narrate this event directly). Completes the Christological arc from incarnation through resurrection to heavenly exaltation and directly sets up the promised outpouring of the Spirit; ανελήφθη requires addition to translation memory as a new Critical term given this foundational weight.
Grace
Greek name: η χάρη
Key terms: χάρη, κεχαριτωμένη
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: 1:28’s κεχαριτωμένη is the highest-stakes Marian occurrence in this curriculum. Given the constant Orthodox liturgical honor accorded the Παναγία, the rendering must clearly show Mary as the recipient, not the source or dispenser, of χάρις, consistent with the baseline’s caution against Marian mediation defaulting as the primary model of grace and intercession.
Salvation
Greek name: η σωτηρία
Key terms: σωτηρία, σῴζω, σήμερον σωτηρία
Review routing: Human theologian
The most frequent Critical term in Luke; σῴζω’s deliberate holistic ambiguity spanning physical healing and spiritual salvation must be preserved, not resolved into only one English gloss. As in the baseline, guard against the Orthodox theosis-only reading eclipsing Luke’s emphasis on a decisive, personally received deliverance.
Justification by Faith (Jesus’ Own Teaching)
Greek name: η δικαίωση διά της πίστεως (η διδασκαλία του ίδιου του Ιησού)
Key terms: δεδικαιωμένος, ιλάσθητί μοι
Review routing: Human theologian
A major cross-reference asset: the tax collector’s forensic ‘justification’ (δεδικαιωμένος) uses the identical verb Paul later develops in Romans, showing the doctrine originates in Jesus’s own teaching, not only in Pauline theology. Must guard against the Modern Greek colloquial drift toward mere personal vindication (‘I was proven right’) that the baseline already flags for Paul’s usage.
The New Covenant and the Lord’s Supper
Greek name: η καινή διαθήκη και το Μυστικό Δείπνο
Key terms: καινή διαθήκη, ανάμνηση, ευχαριστήσας
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: because this text is a founding text for the Bible’s own two-part name in Greek (Παλαιά/Καινή Διαθήκη), the baseline’s caution about διαθήκη defaulting to ‘last will and testament’ is here maximally consequential. ἀνάμνησις additionally risks the ordinary secular ‘memory/souvenir’ sense displacing the technical liturgical sense of Christ’s sacrifice made present, not merely recalled.
Eschatology: Hades, Abraham’s Bosom, and Paradise
Greek name: η εσχατολογία: ο Άδης, ο κόλπος του Αβραάμ και ο παράδεισος
Key terms: Άδης, κόλπος Αβραάμ, παράδεισος
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL and uniquely severe among the terms in this pipeline: Άδης is simultaneously the NT’s word for the realm of the dead and the identical name of the Olympian god of the underworld and his mythological domain, studied by every Greek schoolchild as literature. παράδεισος separately risks the dominant contemporary tourism-marketing sense (‘τροπικός παράδεισος’) displacing Jesus’s specific, personal ‘with me’ promise. Both terms require explicit theologian-reviewed notes distinguishing the Christian referent from, respectively, pre-Christian Greek mythology and modern commercial usage.
High Risk Doctrines
Prayer and Dependence on God
Greek name: η προσευχή και η εξάρτηση από τον Θεό
Key terms: προσευχή, μεριμνάω, Πάτερ…αγιασθήτω, Κύριε, ελέησόν με
Review routing: Human theologian
The doctrinal risk is coverage, not lexis: προσευχή/προσεύχομαι is stable Modern Greek vocabulary, but Luke’s structural pattern of Jesus praying at every major turning point must be flagged for deliberate recognition rather than treated as incidental narrative detail. ‘Κύριε, ελέησόν με’ (18:38) risks being heard only as the familiar liturgical refrain rather than this specific beggar’s personal, faith-filled cry.
The Cost and Joy of Discipleship
Greek name: το κόστος και η χαρά της μαθητείας
Key terms: μαθητής, ακολουθέω, σταυρός, χαρά, απολωλός
Review routing: Human theologian
μαθητής is the completely ordinary Modern Greek word for ‘school pupil,’ risking a flattened, merely-academic reading that loses Luke’s total-life-reorientation and cost; σταυρός’s everyday decorative/jewelry ubiquity in contemporary Greek life risks blunting the shocking force of ‘take up his cross.’ χαρά must be taught as heaven’s own reaction to repentance, not merely human sentiment.
Faith
Greek name: η πίστη
Key terms: πίστη, πίστις σου σέσωκέν σε
Review routing: Human theologian
Personal trust in Christ, frequently the explicit ground of both healing and salvation in Luke’s recurring formula; guard against πίστη being read as generic self-belief or positive thinking, per the baseline caution.
The Rich/Poor Reversal Motif
Greek name: η ανατροπή πλουσίων και πτωχών
Key terms: πλούσιος, πτωχός, ταπεινός, μαμωνάς
Review routing: Human theologian
Lexically stable, ordinary Modern Greek vocabulary throughout; the risk is doctrinal flattening — teaching material must resist moralizing Luke’s deliberately uncomfortable, consistent reversal theme into generic ‘generosity’ teaching that loses its sharp social edge.
Love of Neighbor and Enemies
Greek name: η αγάπη για τον πλησίον και τους εχθρούς
Key terms: αγάπη, πλησίον
Review routing: Human theologian
αγάπη is not recorded in the Romans/Galatians baseline despite NT centrality; Modern Greek αγάπη is the ordinary word for love in every register (familial, romantic, divine) without the classical ἀγάπη/ἔρως/φιλία distinction being actively felt by most speakers, risking a generic ‘love is nice’ sentimentality rather than Luke’s costly, specific command to enact goodwill toward those who harm you.
Mammon and the Right Use of Possessions
Greek name: ο μαμωνάς και η ορθή χρήση των υλικών αγαθών
Key terms: μαμωνάς, πλεονεξία, θησαυρός
Review routing: Human theologian
μαμωνάς survives as a stable transliterated loanword in Modern Greek, low lexical risk, but High doctrinal weight: teaching material must retain Jesus’s personification of wealth as a rival master to be served, not flatten it into generic financial-stewardship advice.
Joy as the Fruit of Salvation
Greek name: η χαρά ως καρπός της σωτηρίας
Key terms: χαρά, χαίρω
Review routing: Human theologian
Modern Greek χαρά is the ordinary, universally used word for joy/happiness with low lexical drift risk, but the doctrinal point — joy as heaven’s own characteristic response to repentance, not merely human emotion — must be actively taught rather than assumed given the word’s total ordinariness.
Witness and Proclamation of the Resurrection
Greek name: η μαρτυρία και το κήρυγμα της ανάστασης
Key terms: μάρτυρες, κηρύξαι, διήνοιξεν τον νουν
Review routing: Human theologian
μάρτυρας carries both the ordinary legal ‘courtroom witness’ sense and the specifically Christian ‘martyr’ sense in Modern Greek; teaching material must clarify the primary sense here is eyewitness testimony grounding the church’s proclamation, not yet the later martyrdom-sense development, though Acts will confirm both are apt.
Medium Risk Doctrines
Tribulation and Future Judgment
Greek name: η θλίψη και η μελλοντική κρίση
Key terms: θλίψη, σημεία
Review routing: Native speaker review
θλίψη is a living, stable Modern Greek word also used for ordinary grief/bereavement, which is an asset for emotional resonance but requires a note distinguishing the specifically eschatological/apocalyptic register from ordinary personal sorrow.
Sabbath Observance and the Law
Greek name: η τήρηση του σαββάτου και ο νόμος
Key terms: σάββατο, νόμος
Review routing: Native speaker review
σάββατο is entirely stable as the ordinary Modern Greek word for ‘Saturday’; the theological weight of Sabbath-as-commandment needs a note so Jesus’s critique is scoped to legalistic misuse rather than read as an attack on the commandment or, by extension, on the audience’s own calendar- and rite-structured devotional life.
Providence and God’s Care for His People
Greek name: η πρόνοια και η φροντίδα του Θεού
Key terms: πρόνοια, μεριμνάω
Review routing: Native speaker review
πρόνοια is also the standard Modern Greek word for state social welfare (‘Υπουργείο Πρόνοιας’), a secular institutional sense that should not crowd out the theological one, per the baseline caution.
Universal Human Accountability and Sin
Greek name: η καθολική ευθύνη του ανθρώπου και η αμαρτία
Key terms: αμαρτία, αμαρτωλός
Review routing: Native speaker review
αμαρτία is lexically transparent and stable; the risk is the first-century social-exclusion dimension of αμαρτωλός being flattened by modern readers into a purely private, individualized notion, missing the social-marginalization stakes central to Luke’s table-fellowship theme.
The Word of God and Human Response
Greek name: ο λόγος του Θεού και η ανθρώπινη ανταπόκριση
Key terms: λόγος του Θεού
Review routing: Native speaker review
λόγος is stable and theologically rich in both Koine and Modern Greek; low risk, but the Parable of the Sower’s response-categories should be kept distinct from a generic ‘hearing a message’ reading.
Spiritual Conflict and the Demonic
Greek name: ο πνευματικός αγώνας και το δαιμονικό
Key terms: διάβολος, δαιμόνιο, πνεύμα ακάθαρτο, πειρασμός
Review routing: Native speaker review
Modern Greek δαιμόνιο/δαιμόνιος has a significant secular-bleaching pathway via the idiom ‘έχει δαιμόνιο’ (‘he’s brilliant/talented’), which must be actively distinguished from the theological sense of a genuinely evil personal spirit.
Mission to the Nations
Greek name: η αποστολή στα έθνη
Key terms: αποστολή, έθνη, μάρτυρες
Review routing: Native speaker review
αποστολή is stable but Orthodox-majority proselytism sensitivity should be navigated carefully per the baseline caution; the sending of the Twelve and Seventy-two directly grounds the universal-scope doctrine.
Baptism as the Sign of Repentance
Greek name: το βάπτισμα ως σημείο μετανοίας
Key terms: βάπτισμα, μετάνοια
Review routing: Native speaker review
βάπτισμα is a stable Modern Greek term central to Orthodox sacramental life; ensure John’s preparatory, repentance-focused rite is not conflated without comment with fuller sacramental Christian baptism.
Low Risk Doctrines
Apostleship and Sending
Greek name: το αποστολικό αξίωμα και η αποστολή
Key terms: απόστολος
Review routing: Automated review
απόστολος is identical to the NT word and unambiguous, per the baseline.
The Prophetic Fulfillment Pattern
Greek name: το πρότυπο εκπλήρωσης της προφητείας
Key terms: προφήτης, προφητεία, πεπλήρωται
Review routing: Automated review
προφήτης/προφητεία are stable, unambiguous NT words; a Greek reader has the advantage of reading Septuagint citations directly alongside Luke’s own fulfillment claims.
Referenced passages