Passage

Romans 15

• Doctrine

  Christ-Centered Ministry

  Ministry done in Christ's name and power, not humanitarian or social service divorced from the gospel — a meaningful distinction in a state with a strong tradition of religiously-motivated Jain philanthropy (education, animal welfare) performed as an act of merit.

  ROM.15.17-21

• Doctrine

  Christian Fellowship

  Shared participation in Christ, not merely a caste, business, or community association, all strong organizing categories in Gujarati social life.

  ROM.15.24

• Glossary Term

  Church

  Established Gujarati Christian term for the congregation.

  ROM.15.26

• Doctrine

  Church as God's People

  A new covenant community, not a caste-segregated assembly or a ritual institution centered on a building (mandir/derasar).

  ROM.15.26

• Glossary Term

  Covenant

  કરાર is an established Gujarati word for a binding relational agreement, used in both Bible translation and everyday legal speech; સમજૂતી (mutual understanding) is too weak for a divinely-initiated covenant.

  ROM.15.12

• Glossary Term

  David

  Established proper name form.

  ROM.15.12

• Doctrine

  Davidic Covenant

  Requires OT background explanation; no true structural parallel exists in either the Hindu or Jain traditions common in Gujarat.

  ROM.15.12

• Doctrine

  Evangelism

  Proclamation and witness, not confrontation; sensitive given both Hindu-nationalist and Jain-community concerns about conversion.

  ROM.15.20

• Glossary Term

  Exhort

  Context-sensitive: use વિનંતી for entreaty; પ્રોત્સાહન for encouragement/building up.

  ROM.15.2

• Glossary Term

  Fellowship

  Shared participation in Christ, not merely social friendship (મિત્રતા).

  ROM.15.24

• Doctrine

  Fulfillment of Prophecy

  Linear, one-time historical fulfillment, not the cyclical cosmic time shared by both Hindu yuga cycles and Jain cosmology's beginningless, endless wheel of rising and falling ages.

  ROM.15.8-12

• Glossary Term

  Gentiles

  Non-Jewish peoples; વિદેશીઓ (foreigners) is too narrowly national.

  ROM.15.7-12

• Doctrine

  Gospel

  સુવાર્તા must be distinguished from any general positive news.

  ROM.15.19-20

• Glossary Term

  Gospel

  Established Gujarati Christian term (su- 'good' + vārtā 'news').

  ROM.15.19-20

• Glossary Term

  Holy

  Set apart for God and morally pure; શુદ્ધ leans toward ritual or ascetic purity (relevant given Jain purity practices) rather than relational holiness.

  ROM.15.16

• Glossary Term

  Holy Spirit

  CRITICAL: never પરમાત્મા (Hindu Universal Self) or બ્રહ્મ (Brahman).

  ROM.15.16

• Doctrine

  Inspiration of Scripture

  Distinguish God-breathed Scripture from both the Hindu concept of shruti (eternal truth heard by ancient sages) and the Jain Agamas (scriptures preserving the teaching of the Tirthankaras); biblical inspiration is God moving human authors to write exactly what he intended about a specific unfolding history.

  ROM.15.4

• Glossary Term

  Intercession

  Prayer on behalf of others; standard term.

  ROM.15.30-32

• Glossary Term

  Israel

  Proper name; established form.

  ROM.15.7-12

• Doctrine

  Kingdom Mission

  God's reign advancing through the gospel, not a political or communal kingdom.

  ROM.15.12, ROM.15.18-21

• Glossary Term

  Kingdom Of God

  God's sovereign reign, not a territorial or political kingdom.

  ROM.15.12, ROM.15.18-21

• Glossary Term

  Law

  Torah/Mosaic law.

  ROM.15.8-12

• Glossary Term

  Messiah

  CRITICAL: transliterated term; the unique OT-promised deliverer, not one of many avatar-descents.

  ROM.15.8-12

• Doctrine

  Messianic Promise

  CRITICAL: the Messiah is the unique OT-promised deliverer, not one of Vaishnav Krishna's many avatars (especially salient given Dwarka's location in Gujarat) and not one of the Jain lineage of twenty-four Tirthankaras, each arising independently across cosmic time.

  ROM.15.8-12

• Glossary Term

  Mission

  સુવાર્તા પ્રચાર is the descriptive Gujarati phrase; મિશન is retained with awareness of its colonial-era connotation.

  ROM.15.15-24

• Doctrine

  Mission to the Nations

  'Mission' carries colonial-era connotation in India; સુવાર્તા પ્રચાર is preferred in most contexts.

  ROM.15.15-24

• Doctrine

  Mutual Edification

  Building one another up in faith; no significant doctrinal risk.

  ROM.15.2

• Doctrine

  Prayer and Intercession

  Direct access to God through Christ, not ritual worship (puja) directed at an idol or veneration offered before a Tirthankara image in a Jain derasar.

  ROM.15.30-32

• Glossary Term

  Prophecy

  God-inspired declaration, distinct from astrological forecasting (ભવિષ્યફળ).

  ROM.15.8-12

• Glossary Term

  Prophet

  God's spokesperson, not a fortune-teller/astrologer (જ્યોતિષી), a common professional role in Gujarati culture.

  ROM.15.4

• Doctrine

  Sanctification

  The Spirit's ongoing work of making believers holy, not tapa (self-imposed ascetic austerity), the primary Jain mechanism for purifying the soul.

  ROM.15.16

• Glossary Term

  Sanctification

  Spirit-worked holiness, not ritual purification or તપ (ascetic austerity) — the Jain path to purifying the soul is precisely self-imposed austerity, the opposite mechanism from sanctification by the Spirit.

  ROM.15.16

• Glossary Term

  Seed Of David

  Romans 1:3; conveys physical lineage and OT covenant fulfillment.

  ROM.15.12

• Doctrine

  Separation unto God's Service

  Must not be read through Jain sannyasa/diksha, the formal renunciation of worldly life through vows and monastic ordination.

  ROM.15.16

• Doctrine

  Unity of Jews and Gentiles

  Directly challenges caste and community-based spiritual hierarchy; must be translated with full clarity, not softened.

  ROM.15.7-12