Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Ephesians 1–6 (English → Hebrew)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md. Terms already present in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked [REUSED] and their rendering is locked exactly as recorded there — they are listed here only for cross-reference and completeness of book coverage, not for re-derivation. Terms new to the Ephesians curriculum are marked [NEW] and require entry into translation_memory.json (with version increment) before Phase 2 translation of any segment containing them.
Risk tier legend: Critical = human theologian review every occurrence · High = human theologian review · Medium = native speaker review · Low = automated review sufficient (per baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json conventions).
Table 1 — Reused Baseline Terms Appearing in Ephesians
| English Term | Hebrew | Transliteration | Risk (baseline) | First Appears | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| grace | חֶסֶד | chesed | High | 1:2, 1:6-7, 2:5, 2:7-8 | Locked TM rendering. Eph 2:8 is a new anchor verse requiring cross-document verbatim consistency, alongside Rom 1:16-17 and 10:9-10. |
| faith | אֱמוּנָה | emunah | High | 1:15, 2:8, 3:12, 4:5, 6:16 | Locked TM rendering; also underlies “shield of faith” (6:16). |
| salvation / saved | יְשׁוּעָה / נוֹשַׁעְתֶּם | yeshu’ah / noshatem | Critical | 1:13, 2:5, 2:8, 6:17 | Locked TM rendering; also underlies “helmet of salvation” (6:17). |
| gospel | הַבְּשׂוֹרָה | ha-besorah | Medium | 1:13, 3:6, 6:15 | Locked TM rendering; also underlies “shoes of the gospel of peace” (6:15) and root-shares with new term “evangelist.” |
| church | קְהִלָּה | kehilah | Critical | 1:22, 3:10, 3:21, 5:23-32 | Locked TM rendering. Ephesians’ body/head/fullness/temple metaphors all attach to this term — reinforce grafting-in framing throughout. |
| gentiles | גּוֹיִם | goyim | High | 2:11, 3:1, 3:6, 3:8 | Locked TM rendering. |
| holy | קָדוֹשׁ | kadosh | Medium | 1:4, 5:27 | Locked TM rendering. |
| saints | קְדוֹשִׁים | kedoshim | Medium | 1:1, 1:15, 1:18, 3:8, 3:18, 6:18 | Locked TM rendering. |
| sanctification / sanctify | הִתְקַדְּשׁוּת / לְקַדֵּש | hitkadshut / le-kadesh | High | 5:26 | Locked TM rendering; ch.5 applies it to the church’s cleansing “by the washing of water with the word.” |
| glory | כָּבוֹד | kavod | Medium | 1:6, 1:12, 1:14, 1:17-18, 3:13, 3:16, 3:21 | Locked TM rendering; unusually dense concentration in ch.1 doxology and ch.3 benediction. |
| peace | שָׁלוֹם | shalom | Medium | 1:2, 2:14-17, 4:3, 6:15, 6:23 | Locked TM rendering; central to 2:14-17’s Jew-Gentile reconciliation and ch.6’s armor. |
| called / calling | קָרוּא / קְרִיאָה | karu / keri’ah | High | 1:18, 4:1, 4:4 | Locked TM rendering. |
| election | בְּחִירָה | bechirah | High | 1:4, 1:11 | Locked TM rendering; sharpened here by explicit “before the foundation of the world” timing — cross-reference new term “predestined.” |
| adoption | אִמּוּץ | imutz | High | 1:5 | Locked TM rendering; appears alongside new “predestined” term in the same clause (1:5). |
| sin | חֵטְא | chet | High | 2:1 | Locked TM rendering; paired with new term “trespasses” (פשעים). |
| righteousness | צֶדֶק | tzedek | Critical | 4:24, 5:9, 6:14 | Locked TM rendering; underlies “breastplate of righteousness” (6:14). |
| law | תּוֹרָה | Torah | Critical | 2:15 (“the law of commandments”) | Locked TM rendering; 2:15’s phrase requires the same non-anti-Torah framing already established in the baseline. |
| covenant | בְּרִית | brit | High | 2:12 (“covenants of promise”) | Locked TM rendering. |
| god | אֱלֹהִים | Elohim | Critical | throughout | Locked TM rendering. |
| holy spirit | רוּחַ הַקֹּדֶש | Ruach HaKodesh | Critical | 1:13, 2:18, 2:22, 3:16, 4:3-4, 4:30, 5:18, 6:17-18 | Locked TM rendering; ch.4’s “grieve the Spirit” (new term) reinforces personhood; underlies “sword of the Spirit” (6:17). |
| jesus | יֵשׁוּעַ | Yeshua | Critical | throughout | Locked TM rendering; never יש״ו. |
| messiah/christ | מָשִׁיחַ | Mashiach | Critical | throughout | Locked TM rendering. |
| lord | אָדוֹן | Adon | Critical | 1:2-3, 4:1, 4:5, 5:20, 6:1, 6:5-9 | Locked TM rendering; ch.6:9’s “you also have a Master [Adon] in heaven” deliberately puns against 6:5’s human “masters” (new term אדונים) — preserve this wordplay in teaching notes. |
| father | אָבִינוּ | Avinu | Medium | 1:2, 1:17, 2:18, 3:14, 4:6, 6:23 | Locked TM rendering. |
| resurrection | תְּחִיַּת הַמֵּתִים | techiyat hametim | Critical | 1:20 | Locked TM rendering; underlies but is grammatically distinct from the new “made alive/raised with” compound terms in 2:5-6 — see new-term table. |
| spiritual gifts | מַתָּנוֹת רוּחָנִיּוֹת | matanot ruchaniyot | Medium | 4:7-11 (conceptually) | Locked TM rendering; note Eph 4 uses δόματα/δωρεά (not χαρίσματα as in Romans) for the specific gift-offices — same doctrine, see new term entries for the offices themselves. |
| fellowship | שתָּפוּת | shutafut | Low | 3:9 (κοινωνία-adjacent) | Locked TM rendering. |
| power of God | כּוֹחַ הָאֱלֹהִים | koach ha-Elohim | Medium | 1:19, 3:7, 3:16, 3:20, 6:10 | Locked TM rendering; never גבורה. |
| providence | הַשְׁגָּחָה פְּרָטִית | hashgachah pratit | Medium | 1:11 (“works all things according to his purpose”) | Locked TM rendering. |
| apostle | שָׁלִיח | shaliach | Medium | 1:1, 2:20, 3:5, 4:11 | Locked TM rendering; foundation-stone image (2:20) and office-list (4:11) both apply. |
| prophet | נָבִיא | navi | Low | 2:20, 3:5, 4:11 | Locked TM rendering. |
| exhort | לְעוֹדֵד | le’oded | Low | 4:1 (“I urge/exhort you to walk…”) | Locked TM rendering. |
| israel | יִשְׂרָאֵל | Yisra’el | Critical | 2:12 (“commonwealth of Israel”) | Locked TM rendering; 2:12’s phrase requires careful handling parallel to Romans 9-11’s treatment. |
| son of God / sonship | בֶּן הָאֱלֹהִים | ben ha-Elohim | Critical | 4:13 (“the Son of God”) | Locked TM rendering. |
Table 2 — New Terms Introduced by Ephesians (require translation_memory.json entry)
| English Term | Hebrew | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Ch. Ref | Rationale / Rejected Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dead (spiritually) | מֵתִים | metim | Critical | Salvation by Grace through Faith | 2:1, 2:5 | Total spiritual incapacity collides with mainstream Jewish anthropology’s real-free-will framework more sharply than Romans 5’s federal headship. Must always pair with vv.4-5’s “but God” reversal in teaching material. |
| trespasses | פְּשָׁעִים | pesha’im | Medium | Salvation by Grace through Faith | 2:1 | Paired with reused חטא. |
| by nature (children of wrath) | מִטִּבְעֵנוּ | mi-tiv’einu | High | Salvation by Grace through Faith | 2:3 | Asserts inborn, not merely acquired, condition — sharpest anti-yetzer-hara-framework phrase in the book. |
| children of wrath | בְּנֵי חֲרוֹן אַף | benei charon af | High | Salvation by Grace through Faith | 2:3 | חרון אף is authentic OT vocabulary (Ex 32:12); must be held with v.4’s mercy pivot. |
| made alive / raised with Christ (positional) | הֶחְיָה/הֵקִים אוֹתָנוּ יַחַד עִם הַמָּשִׁיחַ | hechyah/hekim otanu yachad im ha-Mashiach | Critical | Salvation by Grace through Faith | 2:5-6 | Must remain grammatically distinct from תחיית המתים (bodily resurrection, already Critical) to preserve the already/not-yet distinction. |
| heavenly places | בַּמְּרוֹמִים | ba-meromim | High | Church as the Body of Christ; Spiritual Warfare | 1:3, 1:20, 2:6, 3:10, 6:12 | Ephesians’ signature spatial term; risk of over-literalizing into cosmological speculation (cf. Chagigah 12b). Fixed rendering required across all 5 occurrences. |
| gift (of salvation) | מַתְּנַת הָאֱלֹהִים | matnat ha-Elohim | Medium | Salvation by Grace through Faith | 2:8 | Distinguished from “spiritual gifts” (מתנות רוחניות) — different referent, do not conflate. |
| works (as basis, excluded) | מַעֲשִׂים | ma’asim | Critical | Salvation by Grace through Faith | 2:9 | Must be taught as excluded ONLY as ground of salvation, not as devaluation of the mitzvot-observant ethical life. |
| workmanship/handiwork | יְצִירָתוֹ | yetzirato | Medium | Salvation by Grace through Faith | 2:10 | Root-shares with יֵצֶר (yetzer) — pedagogically useful contrast with yetzer hara. |
| good works (as fruit) | מַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים | ma’asim tovim | High | Salvation by Grace through Faith | 2:10 | Must be taught together with v.9 as a single ground/fruit unit. |
| prepared beforehand | הֵכִין מֵרֹאשׁ | hechin me-rosh | Medium-High | Election and Predestination | 2:10 | Cross-references “predestined” (1:5). |
| predestined | יִעוּד מֵרֹאשׁ | ye’ud me-rosh | High | Election and Predestination | 1:5, 1:11 | Collides with Pirkei Avot 3:15’s free-will affirmation; must be taught alongside Ephesians’ own ethical exhortations as compatible with responsibility. |
| redemption | גְּאוּלָה | ge’ulah | High | Salvation by Grace through Faith | 1:7 | Baseline explicitly reserved this word, kept distinct from ישועה; must be taught as already-accomplished, not only future/national. |
| forgiveness | סְלִיחָה | selichah | Medium | Salvation by Grace through Faith | 1:7, 4:32 | Liturgical resonance (Selichot); clarify Christ’s-blood basis vs. annual atonement cycle. |
| mystery | סוֹד | sod | Critical | The Mystery of Christ Revealed | 1:9, 3:3-9, 5:32, 6:19 | Risk of Kabbalistic PaRDeS mystical-esoteric misreading; consider רָז (Daniel’s term) as a lower-risk alternative in translator notes. |
| inheritance | נַחֲלָה | nachalah | High | Election and Predestination; Unity of Jews and Gentiles | 1:11, 1:14, 1:18, 5:5 | OT land-allotment term; NT’s shared heavenly inheritance must expand, not erase, the land promises. |
| seal (of the Spirit) | חוֹתָם / נֶחְתַּמְנוּ | chotam / nechtamnu | Medium | Church as the Body of Christ | 1:13, 4:30 | Positive resonance (Song of Songs 8:6). |
| guarantee/down payment | עֵרָבוֹן | eravon | Medium | Church as the Body of Christ | 1:14 | Genesis 38:17-18 precedent; risk of trivializing modern-commercial-deposit register. |
| head (headship) | רֹאשׁ | rosh | High | Church as the Body of Christ; Household Codes | 1:22, 4:15, 5:23 | Same word serves Christ’s cosmic headship AND husband’s relational headship — must distinguish scope in teaching. |
| body (of Christ) | גוּף | guf | Medium | Church as the Body of Christ | 1:23, 2:16, 4:4, 4:12, 4:16, 5:23, 5:30 | Must be taught as corporate/metaphorical; reinforce grafting-in framing alongside קהילה. |
| fullness | מְלוֹא | melo | Medium | Church as the Body of Christ; Mystery of Christ | 1:23, 3:19, 4:13, 5:18 | Fixed rendering required across all occurrences; echoes Psalm 24:1. |
| circumcision / uncircumcision | מִילָה / עָרְלָה | milah / orlah | High | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | 2:11 | Framing risk only; milah itself is not to be devalued, only its boundary-marker role. |
| far off / near | רְחוֹקִים / קְרוֹבִים | rechokim / kerovim | Medium | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | 2:13, 2:17 | Echoes Isaiah 57:19, likely Paul’s own source text. |
| hostility/enmity | אֵיבָה | eivah | Medium | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | 2:14-16 | Genesis 3:15 resonance. |
| dividing wall | מְחִצָּה | mechitzah | Critical | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | 2:14 | NEVER כותל (reserved for the Western Wall). Likely alludes to the Temple’s soreg; must not be read as a general critique of synagogue mechitzah practice. |
| abolish/nullify | בִּטֵּל | bittel | High | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | 2:14-15 | Scope strictly to the wall/enmity, not extended to Torah generally. |
| reconcile/reconciliation | פִּיּוּס / לְפַיֵּס | piyus / le-fayes | High | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | 2:16 | Positive Days-of-Awe resonance; scope to both vertical (God) and horizontal (Jew-Gentile) dimensions. |
| cross | הַצְּלָב | ha-tzlav | High | The Mystery of Christ Revealed | 2:16 | No viable substitute; carries painful historical freight requiring sensitive surrounding framing. |
| access | קִרְבָה | kirvah | Medium | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | 2:18, 3:12 | Root-shares with קרבן (korban); positive resonance. |
| household of God | בְּנֵי בֵּיתוֹ שֶׁל הָאֱלֹהִים | benei beito shel ha-Elohim | Low-Medium | Church as the Body of Christ | 2:19 | |
| cornerstone/foundation | אֶבֶן הַפִּנָּה | even ha-pinah | Medium | Church as the Body of Christ | 2:20 | Echoes Psalm 118:22 / Isaiah 28:16, disputed messianic prooftexts. |
| temple | הֵיכָל | heichal | High | Church as the Body of Christ | 2:21 | Metaphorical extension must not compete with hope for a rebuilt physical Temple. |
| dwelling place | מִשְׁכָּן | mishkan | Medium | Church as the Body of Christ | 2:22 | Strong positive Tabernacle resonance. |
| stewardship | נְאֶמָנוּת | ne’emanut | Low-Medium | The Mystery of Christ Revealed | 3:2, 3:9 | Root-shares with אמונה. |
| fellow heirs/members/partakers | שֻׁתָּפִים בַּנַּחֲלָה/בַּגּוּף/בַּהַבְטָחָה | shutafim ba-nachalah/ba-guf/ba-havtachah | High | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | 3:6 | Compounds the “inheritance” risk; sharpest single statement of full Gentile inclusion. |
| principalities/authorities/rulers/cosmic powers | שָׂרִים וְשִׁלְטוֹנוֹת; שׁוֹלְטֵי הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה שֶׁל הַחֹשֶׁךְ; כֹּחוֹת רוּחָנִיִּים שֶׁל הָרִשְׁעָה | sarim ve-shiltonot; sholtei ha-olam ha-zeh shel ha-choshech; kochot ruchaniyim shel ha-rish’ah | Critical | Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God | 1:21, 2:2, 3:10, 6:12 | Real Jewish angelology/demonology categories exist (asset) but risk both dismissal-as-superstition and importation of magical/dualistic frameworks (folk practice, ayin ha-ra); must be taught as real but subordinate to God’s sovereignty. |
| boldness/confident access | עֹז | oz | Medium | The Mystery of Christ Revealed | 3:12 | Avoid בטחון to prevent overlap with rejected “faith” alternative. |
| walk (ethical conduct) | הִתְהַלֵּךְ | hit’halech | Medium | Walking in Newness of Life | 2:2, 2:10, 4:1, 4:17, 5:2, 5:8, 5:15 | Fixed verb form required across all occurrences for the book’s central ethical motif; echoes Genesis 5:24, 17:1. |
| unity | אַחְדוּת | achdut | Medium | Unity of Jews and Gentiles; Gifts for Building Up | 4:3, 4:13 | Shares root with baseline doctrine name; teach as Spirit-given, to be maintained not achieved. |
| baptism | טְבִילָה | tevilah | High | Church as the Body of Christ | 4:5 | Existing mikveh/conversion-immersion associations must be distinguished from union with Christ’s death/resurrection. |
| evangelist | מְבַשֵּׂר | mevaser | Medium | Gifts for Building Up the Church | 4:11 | Shares root with besorah (gospel) — positive etymological asset. |
| pastor/shepherd | רוֹעֶה | ro’eh | Medium | Gifts for Building Up the Church | 4:11 | Rich OT resonance (Psalm 23, Ezekiel 34); must be elevated beyond literal shepherding. |
| teacher | מוֹרֶה | moreh | Medium | Gifts for Building Up the Church | 4:11 | Ordinary secular-teacher word; context must mark the Spirit-given office. |
| building up | בְּנִיָּן | binyan | Low | Gifts for Building Up the Church | 4:12, 4:16, 4:29 | Consistent with baseline mutual_edification vocabulary. |
| put off / put on | לְהַשְׁלִיךְ / לְהִתְלַבֵּשׁ | le-hashlich / le-hitlabesh | Medium | Walking in Newness of Life | 4:22-24 | Sets up ch.6’s armor “clothing” imagery. |
| old self / new self (individual) | הָאָדָם הַיָּשָׁן / הָאָדָם הֶחָדָש | ha-adam ha-yashan / ha-adam ha-chadash | High | Walking in Newness of Life | 4:22, 4:24 | Must be distinguished in teaching from 2:15’s corporate “one new man” despite near-identical phrasing. |
| renewed (in mind/spirit) | לְהִתְחַדֵּשׁ | le-hitchadesh | Low-Medium | Walking in Newness of Life | 4:23 | Positive Rosh Chodesh / liturgical-renewal resonance. |
| grieve (the Spirit) | לְהַעֲצִיב | le-ha’atziv | Medium | Walking in Newness of Life | 4:30 | Reinforces the Spirit’s personhood (baseline Critical doctrine). |
| one new man (corporate) | אָדָם חָדָש אֶחָד | adam chadash echad | Critical | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | 2:15 | Central Jew-Gentile-unity term; must be taught via grafting-in framework, not replacement. See also 4:22-24 individual-sense risk of conflation. |
| imitators (of God) | מְחַקִּים | mechakim | Medium | Household Codes | 5:1 | Positive imitatio Dei parallel (Sotah 14a). |
| offering and sacrifice | קָרְבָּן וּמִנְחָה | korban u-minchah | High | The Mystery of Christ Revealed | 5:2 | Must be framed as fulfillment, not dismissal, of the Temple sacrificial system. |
| fragrant offering | רֵיח נִיחוֹחַ | re’ach nichoach | Low-Medium | The Mystery of Christ Revealed | 5:2 | Direct Genesis 8:21 quotation. |
| children of light | בְּנֵי אוֹר | benei or | Low-Medium | Walking in Newness of Life | 5:8 | Parallels Dead Sea Scrolls “Sons of Light” self-designation — historical interest, not doctrinal risk. |
| filled with the Spirit | הִתְמַלְּאוּ בָּרוּחַ | hitmal’u ba-Ruach | Medium | Church as the Body of Christ | 5:18 | Reuses מלוא root for consistency. |
| submit | לְהִכָּנַע | le-hikana | High | Household Codes | 5:21, 5:22, 5:24 | כניעה’s military-surrender register risks a domination reading; must foreground 5:21’s mutuality and 5:25’s sacrificial-love parallel. |
| one flesh | בָּשָׂר אֶחָד | basar echad | Low | Household Codes | 5:31 | Direct Genesis 2:24 quotation. |
| obey | לְהִשָּׁמַע | le-hishama | Low | Household Codes | 6:1 | OT idiom. |
| bondservants/masters | עֲבָדִים / אֲדוֹנִים | avadim / adonim | High | Household Codes | 6:5-9 | אדונים shares its root with the Critical “Lord” title (אדון) for Christ; Paul’s own 6:9 pun (“a Master in heaven”) should be preserved and taught explicitly. |
| respect of persons / partiality | מַשּׂוֹא פָנִים | masso panim | Low | Household Codes | 6:9 | Direct Torah legal term (Deut 1:17, Lev 19:15). |
| armor of God | כְּלֵי נֶשֶׂק הָאֱלֹהִים | kelei nesheq ha-Elohim | High | Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God | 6:11, 6:13 | Draws on Isaiah 11:5/59:17 Divine Warrior imagery (asset); full doctrine of real cosmic conflict must be taught, not merely metaphorical self-improvement. |
| individual armor pieces (belt/breastplate/shoes/shield/helmet/sword) | חֲגוֹרָה, שִׁרְיוֹן, נַעֲלַיִם, מָגֵן, כּוֹבַע, חֶרֶב | chagorah, shiryon, na’alayim, magen, kova, cherev | Medium | Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God | 6:14-17 | Each attaches to an already-locked TM term (truth, righteousness/צדק, gospel/הבשורה, faith/אמונה, salvation/ישועה, Spirit/word) — do not substitute those attached terms even within this metaphor. |
| wrestle/struggle | הֵאָבְקוּת | he’avkut | Low-Medium | Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God | 6:12 | Echoes Jacob’s wrestling, Genesis 32:25. |
| devil | הַשָּׂטָן | ha-satan | Medium-High | Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God | 6:11 | Must retain OT subordination-to-God motif (Job 1-2), not an independent cosmic-rival framing. |
| wiles/schemes | תַּחְבּוּלוֹת | tachbulot | Medium | Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God | 6:11 | Semantic flip from Proverbs’ positive use of the same word for wise strategy. |
| incorruptible (love) | אַהֲבָה שֶׁאֵינָהּ כָּלָה | ahavah she-einah kalah | Low | Household Codes | 6:24 |
Chapter Coverage Confirmation
| Chapter | Status |
|---|---|
| 1 | New/reused terms documented above (blessing, election, predestination, redemption, forgiveness, mystery, inheritance, seal, guarantee, power of God, head, body, fullness). |
| 2:1-10 (core) | Full verse-by-verse treatment in 07_semantic_analysis.md; all terms documented above. |
| 2:11-22 | New/reused terms documented above (circumcision, far/near, hostility, dividing wall, abolish, reconcile, cross, access, household of God, cornerstone, temple, dwelling place). |
| 3 | New/reused terms documented above (mystery, stewardship, fellow heirs/members/partakers, principalities/authorities, boldness, fullness of God). |
| 4 | New/reused terms documented above (walk, unity, baptism, gift-offices, building up, put off/on, old/new self, renewed, grieve the Spirit). |
| 5 | New/reused terms documented above (imitators, offering/sacrifice, fragrant offering, children of light, filled with the Spirit, submit, head, one flesh, mystery of marriage). |
| 6 | New/reused terms documented above (obey, honor parents, bondservants/masters, partiality, armor of God and its pieces, principalities/powers/cosmic forces, wrestle, devil, wiles, ambassador, incorruptible love). |
No chapter of Ephesians is without load-bearing theological vocabulary; every chapter is represented above with explicit term-level treatment.
This glossary must be merged into translation_memory.json (incrementing the version number, per the baseline’s Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions) before any Phase 2 segment translation of Ephesians begins. All Critical and High risk new terms above require theologian review before their first approved use.
Critical Risk Terms
Righteousness
Approved rendering: צדק
Transliteration: tzedek
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: צדקה
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Never צדקה outside a direct Genesis 15:6 quotation. Underlies Ephesians 4:24 (the new self created in righteousness), 5:9 (fruit of light), and ‘breastplate of righteousness’ (6:14).
Salvation
Approved rendering: ישועה
Transliteration: yeshu’ah
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: גאולה
Original: σωτηρία
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. גאולה is kept separate (see new term ‘redemption’ below); never interchange. Ephesians 2:5,8 is the thesis-statement occurrence for the curriculum’s core doctrine and must render identically across all Ephesians documents. Also underlies ‘helmet of salvation’ (6:17).
Resurrection
Approved rendering: תחיית המתים
Transliteration: techiyat hametim
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Original: ἀνάστασις / ἐγείρω
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 1:20 applies this to Christ’s own resurrection. Must remain grammatically distinct from the new compound term ‘made_alive_with_christ’ (2:5-6), which names believers’ present positional co-resurrection, to preserve the already/not-yet distinction.
Lord
Approved rendering: אדון
Transliteration: Adon
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 6:9’s ‘you also have a Master (Adon) in heaven’ deliberately puns against 6:5’s human ‘masters’ (see new term ‘bondservants_masters’) — preserve this wordplay, do not smooth it away.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: בן האלוהים
Transliteration: ben ha-Elohim
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 4:13 sets ‘the knowledge of the Son of God’ as the church’s corporate maturity-target, tying ordinary Christian growth directly to this Critical Christological category — re-teach the ontological sense here, not assumed already settled.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: התגלמות
Transliteration: hitgalmut
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: הגשמה
Inherited from Romans package. Recurs implicitly in Ephesians’ central ‘in Christ’ locative phrase and in 2:14-16’s flesh/cross argument. No continuous native-Hebrew Christian theological tradition existed to settle this term; Ephesians inherits, rather than newly creates, this gap.
Church
Approved rendering: קהילה
Transliteration: kehilah
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: עדה
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Never עדה. Ephesians attaches an unusually dense metaphor cluster to this term (body, head, fullness, temple, dwelling place, bride) — all must be taught through Romans 11’s grafting-in framework, never as Israel’s replacement. Ephesians-specific doctrine name: ‘The Church as the Body of Christ.‘
Law
Approved rendering: תורה
Transliteration: Torah
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 2:15’s phrase ‘the law of commandments’ (in the context of the abolished dividing wall) requires the same non-anti-Torah framing already established in the baseline: what is set aside is the wall’s boundary-marking function, not Torah itself. See new term ‘abolish’ (בִּטֵּל).
Messiah
Approved rendering: משיח
Transliteration: mashiach
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: Χριστός / מָשִׁיחַ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians uses ‘in Christ’ (בַּמָּשִׁיחַ) as its central theological locative phrase, repeated throughout 1:3-14 alone — render consistently.
Israel
Approved rendering: ישראל
Transliteration: Yisra’el
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 2:12’s ‘commonwealth of Israel’ names a real historical exclusion and requires the same careful handling as Romans 9-11; never treat as merely rhetorical.
Jesus
Approved rendering: ישוע
Transliteration: Yeshua
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ישו
Original: Ἰησοῦς / יֵשׁוּעַ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Must always be spelled with the final ayin, ישוע, throughout Ephesians. Never the truncated ישו.
God
Approved rendering: אלוהים
Transliteration: Elohim
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός / אֱלֹהִים
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. No viable alternative; risk is entirely in surrounding Trinitarian framing, especially dense at Ephesians 1:3-14 and 4:4-6.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: רוח הקודש
Transliteration: Ruach HaKodesh
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians uniquely reinforces the Spirit’s personhood via the new term ‘grieve_the_spirit’ (4:30) against the Rabbinic impersonal-influence default (Yoma 9b); also underlies sealing (1:13) and ‘sword of the Spirit’ (6:17).
Spiritually Dead
Approved rendering: מתים
Transliteration: metim
Doctrine: Universal Spiritual Deadness in Sin
Rejected alternatives: חולים רוחנית (spiritually sick — rejected as too weak, implies partial rather than total incapacity)
Original: νεκρούς
Category: Sin
Total spiritual incapacity toward God apart from Christ’s life-giving act (Ephesians 2:1,5), not mere weakness or sickness. Mainstream Jewish anthropology (yetzer hatov/yetzer hara in real tension, genuine capacity to ‘choose life,’ Deut 30:19) does not default to total spiritual deadness prior to any divine act — sharper than Romans 5’s federal-headship argument. Must always be paired with 2:4’s ‘but God’ reversal in the same teaching unit. Flag every occurrence for theologian review.
Made Alive With Christ
Approved rendering: החיה אותנו יחד עם המשיח
Transliteration: hechyah otanu yachad im ha-Mashiach
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace through Faith
Rejected alternatives: תחיית המתים (would conflate present positional union with future bodily resurrection)
Original: συζωοποιέω / συνεγείρω
Category: Salvation
Believers’ present, positional spiritual co-resurrection and co-enthronement with Christ (Ephesians 2:5-6), distinct from future bodily resurrection. Must remain grammatically distinct from תחיית המתים (already Critical in the Romans baseline) to preserve the already/not-yet distinction; risk of readers assuming full bodily resurrection has already occurred if the terms are conflated.
Works Excluded
Approved rendering: מעשים
Transliteration: ma’asim
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace through Faith
Original: ἔργα
Category: Salvation
Human effort/achievement excluded specifically as the BASIS of salvation (Ephesians 2:9). מעשים טובים (good deeds/mitzvot) is a deeply positive Jewish category; ‘not of works’ must be explicitly taught as excluding works-as-ground only, not devaluing the entire mitzvot-observant ethical life — same framing already required for grace/Torah in the baseline (Romans 4:4-5, 11:5-6).
Mystery
Approved rendering: סוד
Transliteration: sod
Doctrine: The Mystery of Christ Revealed
Rejected alternatives: מיסטריון (transliteration — semantically empty loanword, sounds like a puzzle or mystery novel), רז (Daniel’s term — lower mystical risk but archaic/foreign register; reserved for translator footnotes only, not running text)
Original: μυστήριον
Category: Mystery
A previously hidden divine plan, now historically and publicly disclosed (Jew-Gentile unity in Christ, and marriage as an image of Christ and the church, 5:32). Risk: in Kabbalistic tradition, סוד is the fourth, innermost, mystical layer of the PaRDeS interpretive scheme, inviting an esoteric-mystical reading rather than Paul’s sense of a real, historical, now-publicly-proclaimed plan. Recurs at 1:9; 3:3-9; 5:32; 6:19 and must render identically with a mandatory disambiguation note at each occurrence.
Dividing Wall
Approved rendering: מחיצה
Transliteration: mechitzah
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity
Rejected alternatives: כותל (FORBIDDEN — reserved exclusively for the Western Wall; using it here would be doctrinally explosive and deeply insensitive)
Original: μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ
Category: Church
Likely alludes to the Temple’s soreg, the barrier excluding Gentiles from the inner courts (2:14). מחיצה is also the ordinary word for the synagogue’s gender-separation partition; teaching must make unmistakably clear the specific barrier abolished is the Temple’s Gentile-exclusion barrier, not a general critique of mechitzah practice.
Principalities And Powers
Approved rendering: שרים ושלטונות
Transliteration: sarim ve-shiltonot
Doctrine: Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
Original: ἀρχαί, ἐξουσίαι, κοσμοκράτορες, πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας
Category: Spiritual Warfare
Real, personal, organized spiritual opposition, subordinate to God’s supreme authority (1:21; 2:2; 3:10; 6:12). Jewish tradition has genuine angelology/demonology categories (Talmudic sarim, mazikin, shedim), a partial asset, but modern secular Israeli readers may dismiss this as superstition, while readers familiar with Kabbalistic or folk-practice frameworks (amulets, ayin ha-ra) may import a magical, semi-dualistic frame that compromises God’s sovereignty. Must be taught as real but entirely subordinate to Christ’s cosmic headship (Eph 1). The full fourfold escalating Greek structure at 6:12 must be preserved, not compressed.
One New Man
Approved rendering: אדם חדש אחד
Transliteration: adam chadash echad
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity
Original: εἷς καινὸς ἄνθρωπος
Category: Church
The CORPORATE creation of one new humanity from believing Jews and Gentiles together, replacing neither (2:15). Central Jew-Gentile-unity term; must be taught via the grafting-in framework, not replacement, and explicitly distinguished from ch.4’s individual old-self/new-self language despite near-identical phrasing.
High Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: אמונה
Transliteration: emunah
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: ביטחון
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Jewish emunah is praxis-oriented; must be anchored as personal trust in Messiah, not bundled with continued Torah observance as its necessary expression. Also underlies ‘shield of faith’ (Ephesians 6:16).
Called
Approved rendering: קרוא
Transliteration: karu
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Original: κλητός / κλῆσις (verbal sense)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Context-sensitive across senses. Ephesians 4:1 ties the calling directly to the ethical ‘walk’ motif that governs chs. 4-6.
Calling
Approved rendering: קריאה
Transliteration: keri’ah
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Original: κλῆσις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 1:18 and 4:4 both use this noun for the singular hope to which believers are called.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: התקדשות
Transliteration: hitkadshut
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: קידוש
Original: ἁγιασμός / ἁγιάζω
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Never קידוש. Ephesians 5:26 applies the verb form to the church’s cleansing ‘by the washing of water with the word’ and adds a corporate (not only individual) dimension not present in the Romans baseline — see doctrine ‘Sanctification and the Church’s Holiness’.
Adoption
Approved rendering: אימוץ
Transliteration: imutz
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: υἱοθεσία
Category: Election
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 1:5 places adoption in the same clause as the new term ‘predestined,’ compounding the collision with Israel’s birth-covenant sonship self-understanding (Deut 14:1); teach both together.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: מלכות האלוהים
Transliteration: malchut ha-Elohim
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Inherited from Romans package. Not directly load-bearing in Ephesians’ assigned doctrines but retained for cross-document consistency should any lesson reference it (cf. Eph 5:5’s ‘kingdom of Christ and of God’).
Sin
Approved rendering: חטא
Transliteration: chet
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 2:1 pairs it with the new term ‘trespasses’ (פשעים) for rhetorical fullness, underlying the sharper new-term claim ‘spiritually dead’ (מתים).
Gentiles
Approved rendering: גויים
Transliteration: goyim
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: עמים
Original: ἔθνη
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 2:11-3:6 makes this term the direct subject of the unity doctrine; surrounding text must actively counteract the everyday pejorative colloquial shade.
Covenant
Approved rendering: ברית
Transliteration: brit
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 2:12 speaks of Gentiles as formerly ‘strangers to the covenants of promise’ — must be taught as inclusion into, not erasure of, Israel’s covenants.
Election
Approved rendering: בחירה
Transliteration: bechirah
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Original: ἐξελέξατο / ἐκλογή
Category: Election
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 1:4 sharpens the timing to explicitly ‘before the foundation of the world,’ intensifying the collision with the automatic corporate-chosenness default reading; teach alongside the new term ‘predestined’ (1:5,11). Ephesians-specific doctrine name: ‘Election and Predestination in Christ.‘
By Nature
Approved rendering: מטבענו
Transliteration: mi-tiv’einu
Doctrine: Universal Spiritual Deadness in Sin
Original: φύσει
Category: Sin
The sharpest single phrase in Ephesians for a Jewish reader: asserts an inherited condition of guilt prior to any individual act, directly against the mainstream Jewish view that moral condition results from ongoing choice between yetzer hatov and yetzer hara, not an inborn verdict. Flag for theologian review every occurrence (Ephesians 2:3), alongside Romans 5:12-19.
Children Of Wrath
Approved rendering: בני חרון אף
Transliteration: benei charon af
Doctrine: Universal Spiritual Deadness in Sin
Original: τέκνα ὀργῆς
Category: Sin
חרון אף is an authentic OT phrase for God’s kindled anger (Exodus 32:12; Deut 9:19) — an asset for weight, but must be held together with Ephesians 2:4’s ‘but God’ pivot to avoid reading as capricious rage.
Good Works
Approved rendering: מעשים טובים
Transliteration: ma’asim tovim
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace through Faith
Original: ἔργα ἀγαθά
Category: Salvation
The proper fruit, not root, of salvation (Ephesians 2:10). Deliberately reuses the ordinary Jewish ethical term for good deeds/mitzvot-adjacent conduct, since Paul’s point is continuity of ethical expectation and discontinuity only of the ground of standing. Must be taught together with ‘works_excluded’ (v.9) as a single ground/fruit unit.
Predestined
Approved rendering: יעוד מראש
Transliteration: ye’ud me-rosh
Doctrine: Election and Predestination in Christ
Original: προορίζω
Category: Election
Sovereign prior determination, distinct from though related to election (Ephesians 1:5, 1:11). Directly collides with the strong Jewish emphasis on moral free will (Pirkei Avot 3:15, ‘all is foreseen, yet freedom of choice is given’; Rambam, Hilchot Teshuvah 5). Must be taught as compatible with human responsibility, since Ephesians itself immediately moves to ethical exhortation, not fatalism. No native Hebrew term carries this exact sense; a constructed compound requiring sustained teaching support.
Redemption
Approved rendering: גאולה
Transliteration: ge’ulah
Doctrine: Redemption and Forgiveness through Christ’s Blood
Rejected alternatives: ישועה (reserved exclusively for ‘salvation’ per baseline; must not be interchanged)
Original: ἀπολύτρωσις
Category: Salvation
Deliverance secured through Christ’s blood (Ephesians 1:7). The baseline explicitly reserved this word, kept distinct from ישועה. Risk: ge’ulah carries strong national/messianic-age connotations (deliverance of Israel from exile); must be taught as already accomplished in Christ’s blood for individuals, without erasing its future corporate/cosmic dimension.
Inheritance
Approved rendering: נחלה
Transliteration: nachalah
Doctrine: Adoption and Inheritance in God’s Family
Original: κληρονομία
Category: Election
Believers’ guaranteed future possession in Christ (Ephesians 1:11,14,18; 5:5). The OT’s own term for Israel’s tribal land-allotment; the NT’s heavenly/spiritual inheritance shared by Jew and Gentile must be taught as an expansion, not an erasure, of the land promises.
Head
Approved rendering: ראש
Transliteration: rosh
Doctrine: Christ’s Headship over the Church and Cosmos
Original: κεφαλή
Category: Church
Christ’s supreme headship over all things and the church (1:22; 4:15); the relational headship pattern in marriage (5:23). The SAME Hebrew word must serve both scopes — every occurrence requires an explicit scope marker (cosmic vs. marital) in accompanying teaching material to avoid collapsing the two.
Circumcision Uncircumcision
Approved rendering: מילה / עורלה
Transliteration: milah / orlah
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity
Original: περιτομή / ἀκροβυστία
Category: Covenant
Marks the Jew-Gentile distinction Paul says is now transcended in Christ (2:11), without being erased as history. Standard, unavoidable, doctrinally central terms (brit milah). Risk is entirely in framing: must not read as devaluing milah itself, only its role as a boundary-marker for covenant access to God through Christ.
Abolish
Approved rendering: ביטל
Transliteration: bittel
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity
Original: καταργέω
Category: Covenant
What Christ did to the hostility/dividing wall, not to Torah itself (2:14-15). A term with real halachic weight (bittul, nullification of a legal status); must be scoped precisely to the wall/enmity, not extended by implication to Torah as a whole, per the baseline’s existing law-doctrine framing.
Reconciliation
Approved rendering: פיוס
Transliteration: piyus
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Original: ἀποκαταλλάσσω / καταλλαγή
Category: Church
Double reconciliation: humanity to God, and Jew to Gentile, both through the cross (2:16). Resonates with the Days-of-Awe interpersonal piyus before Yom Kippur, a genuine positive asset if scoped correctly to both the vertical and horizontal dimensions Paul intends.
Cross
Approved rendering: הצלב
Transliteration: ha-tzlav
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Original: σταυρός
Category: Christology
The specific historical instrument and event accomplishing reconciliation (2:16). No viable substitute exists, but the cross as a symbol carries painful historical freight (Crusades, forced conversions) for a Hebrew-speaking audience; contextual sensitivity in surrounding teaching material is required.
Temple
Approved rendering: היכל
Transliteration: heichal
Doctrine: The Church as the Body of Christ
Original: ναός
Category: Church
The corporate church as God’s dwelling-place, a metaphorical extension of Temple imagery (2:21). Applying sanctuary language to the non-physical, corporate church intersects with the still-active Jewish hope for a rebuilt physical Third Temple; must be taught as a genuine but non-competing metaphorical extension, not a spiritualizing-away of that hope.
Fellow Heirs
Approved rendering: שותפים בנחלה
Transliteration: shutafim ba-nachalah
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity
Original: συγκληρονόμα / σύσσωμα / συμμέτοχα
Category: Church
The precise content of the mystery: full, equal Gentile inclusion in the inheritance, body, and promise, not second-tier status (3:6). Compounds the ‘inheritance’ (נחלה) risk already flagged: this is the sharpest statement that Gentiles fully share Israel’s promised nachalah, requiring the most careful theological framing in the entire book for the unity doctrine.
Baptism
Approved rendering: טבילה
Transliteration: tevilah
Doctrine: The Church as the Body of Christ
Original: βάπτισμα
Category: Church
‘One baptism’ — union with Christ’s death and resurrection, part of the sevenfold unity list (4:5). Existing Jewish ritual-immersion associations (mikveh, conversion immersion, niddah purification) may obscure the NT sense of union with Christ; must be taught as distinct in meaning though not entirely unrelated in form.
Old Self New Self
Approved rendering: האדם הישן / האדם החדש
Transliteration: ha-adam ha-yashan / ha-adam ha-chadash
Doctrine: The New Self and Ethical Transformation
Original: παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος / νέος (καινὸς) ἄνθρωπος
Category: Sanctification
The INDIVIDUAL counterpart to the CORPORATE ‘one new man’ of 2:15 (4:22,24). Near-identical phrase-pattern to 2:15’s corporate אדם חדש אחד risks conflating this individual-renewal doctrine with the earlier corporate Jew-Gentile-unity doctrine despite different scope and referent; teaching notes must flag the distinction explicitly every time either phrase appears.
Offering And Sacrifice
Approved rendering: קרבן ומנחה
Transliteration: korban u-minchah
Doctrine: The Mystery of Christ Revealed
Original: προσφορὰ καὶ θυσία
Category: Christology
Christ’s self-giving death described in sacrificial-cultic terms (5:2). Direct Temple sacrificial vocabulary; applying Temple categories to Christ’s death requires the same ‘fulfillment not abolition’ framing already established for Torah in the baseline; must reference the Temple system’s typological fulfillment, not dismissal.
Submit
Approved rendering: להיכנע
Transliteration: le-hikana
Doctrine: Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Rejected alternatives: לקבל מרות (too weak — loses the volitional force of the original)
Original: ὑποτάσσω
Category: Household Codes
5:21’s mutual submission frames 5:22-33’s wife-husband instruction — voluntary, Christ-patterned order, not domination. כניעה carries a defeat/surrender-in-battle register in Hebrew (military/national capitulation), risking a domination-submission reading; teaching must foreground 5:21’s mutuality and 5:25’s parallel call to husbands’ sacrificial love before any wife-specific instruction is presented.
Bondservants Masters
Approved rendering: עבדים / אדונים
Transliteration: avadim / adonim
Doctrine: Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Rejected alternatives: עובדים / מעבידים (euphemistic ‘workers/employers’ — rejected because it would destroy Paul’s deliberate 6:9 wordplay on the shared Adon root)
Original: δοῦλοι / κύριοι
Category: Household Codes
Household-code instruction assuming the ancient institution of slavery, redirected by shared accountability to a heavenly Master (6:5-9). עבדים carries both OT legal-slavery resonance (Exodus 21, Jubilee release) and painful modern historical echoes; אדונים shares its root with the divine title אדון applied to Christ’s Lordship (Critical in the baseline) — Paul deliberately puns on this in 6:9 (‘you also have a Master in heaven’); this wordplay must be preserved and explicitly taught, not smoothed away.
Armor Of God
Approved rendering: כלי נשק האלוהים
Transliteration: kelei nesheq ha-Elohim
Doctrine: Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
Original: πανοπλία τοῦ Θεοῦ
Category: Spiritual Warfare
The controlling metaphor for real, personal, cosmic spiritual conflict, drawing on Isaiah’s Divine Warrior imagery (Isaiah 11:5; 59:17), 6:11,13. The OT source is a genuine asset reducing collision risk; still High risk because the full doctrine (real cosmic conflict, not merely metaphorical self-improvement) must be explicitly taught.
Medium Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: הבשורה
Transliteration: ha-besorah
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: חדשות טובות
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Besorah is generic Hebrew for ‘good news’ of any kind and must be qualified as the specific proclamation of salvation through the Messiah. In Ephesians underlies the compound ‘gospel of peace’ (6:15, shoes of the armor) and shares its root with the new term ‘evangelist’ (מבשר, 4:11) — a positive etymological asset.
Grace
Approved rendering: חסד
Transliteration: chesed
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: חן
Inherited from Romans package. חן has drifted toward ‘charm/cuteness’ in Modern Hebrew; חסד carries the fuller OT covenant-loyalty sense but must be sharpened to convey favor apart from Torah observance. Ephesians 2:5,7-8 is a new thesis-verse occurrence for the ‘Salvation by Grace through Faith’ doctrine and must render identically across all Ephesians lesson documents, alongside Romans 1:16-17 and 10:9-10.
Apostle
Approved rendering: שליח
Transliteration: shaliach
Doctrine: Apostleship
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. The Jewish shlichut concept remains a genuine asset; modern secular Jewish-Agency-emissary overlay remains the main risk. Ephesians 2:20 makes apostles (with prophets) the foundation of the church-as-temple; 4:11 lists apostle among the ascension gift-offices.
Holy
Approved rendering: קדוש
Transliteration: kadosh
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 5:27 applies it to the church’s eschatological presentation as holy and blameless.
Saints
Approved rendering: קדושים
Transliteration: kedoshim
Doctrine: Sainthood
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Frequent in Ephesians’ opening address and prayers (1:1,15,18; 3:8,18; 6:18).
Peace
Approved rendering: שלום
Transliteration: shalom
Doctrine: Peace with God
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 2:14-17 extends shalom to both the vertical (God) and horizontal (Jew-Gentile) dimensions, echoing Isaiah 57:19. Also underlies ‘shoes of the gospel of peace’ (6:15) and the closing benediction (6:23).
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: מתנות רוחניות
Transliteration: matanot ruchaniyot
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Rejected alternatives: מתנות
Original: δόματα / δωρεά (Eph 4:7-11, not χαρίσματα)
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 4:7-11 uses different Greek vocabulary (δόματα/δωρεά, gift-offices) for the same underlying doctrine as Romans’ χαρίσματα; retain this locked doctrinal category term for teaching continuity, but render the individual offices (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher) with their own dedicated new terms, not by repeating this phrase for each.
Glory
Approved rendering: כבוד
Transliteration: kavod
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Unusually dense concentration in Ephesians 1’s doxology (1:6,12,14,17-18) and ch.3’s benediction (3:13,16,21).
Power Of God
Approved rendering: כוח האלוהים
Transliteration: koach ha-Elohim
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: גבורת האל
Original: δύναμις
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Never גבורה (Kabbalistic sefirah). Dense in Ephesians 1:19, 3:7,16,20, and 6:10 (‘be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might’).
Prophet
Approved rendering: נביא
Transliteration: navi
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Original: προφήτης
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Same dual foundation-stone role as apostle in Ephesians 2:20 and same office-list role in 4:11.
Providence
Approved rendering: השגחה פרטית
Transliteration: hashgachah pratit
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: השגחה
Original: πρόνοια (cf. Eph 1:11’s ‘works all things according to his purpose’)
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Never bare השגחה. Applies to Ephesians 1:11’s ‘works all things according to his purpose.‘
Father
Approved rendering: אבינו
Transliteration: Avinu
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 3:14-15 extends the fatherhood image to ‘every family in heaven and on earth’ being named from him — a universalizing move worth flagging in teaching notes.
Trespasses
Approved rendering: פשעים
Transliteration: pesha’im
Doctrine: Universal Spiritual Deadness in Sin
Original: παραπτώματα
Category: Sin
Strong OT rebellion term (Isaiah 53:5), paired with the baseline’s חטא (sin) for rhetorical fullness in Ephesians 2:1 and 2:5.
Gift Of Salvation
Approved rendering: מתנת האלוהים
Transliteration: matnat ha-Elohim
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace through Faith
Rejected alternatives: מתנות רוחניות (different referent — would create false equivalence with spiritual gifts)
Original: δῶρον
Category: Salvation
The freely given, unearned bestowal of salvation itself (Ephesians 2:8). Distinct referent from ‘spiritual gifts’ — do not conflate or reuse the ruchaniyot qualifier here.
Workmanship
Approved rendering: יצירתו
Transliteration: yetzirato
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace through Faith
Original: ποίημα
Category: Salvation
A crafted product; the believer as God’s own handiwork, recreated for good works (Ephesians 2:10). Root י-צ-ר also underlies יֵצֶר (yetzer, ‘inclination’) — a pedagogically fruitful resonance: believers are a new ‘yetzirah’ whose fruit is good, an implicit contrast with the yetzer hara.
Prepared Beforehand
Approved rendering: הכין מראש
Transliteration: hechin me-rosh
Doctrine: Election and Predestination in Christ
Original: προετοιμάζω
Category: Election
Sovereign, prior divine planning of the good works believers walk in (Ephesians 2:10). Ties good works into the same sovereign-planning register as ‘predestined’ in ch.1 — cross-reference required; use the same ‘me-rosh’ construction consistently.
Forgiveness
Approved rendering: סליחה
Transliteration: selichah
Doctrine: Redemption and Forgiveness through Christ’s Blood
Original: ἄφεσις
Category: Salvation
Release/remission of trespasses according to the riches of grace (Ephesians 1:7, 4:32). Resonates with the Selichot liturgy of the Days of Awe. Must clarify the basis is Christ’s blood, not the annual repentance/atonement cycle.
Seal Of The Spirit
Approved rendering: חותם
Transliteration: chotam
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit’s Sealing and Personhood
Original: σφραγίζω
Category: God
The Spirit as the mark of God’s ownership and security over believers (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30). Good OT resonance (Song of Songs 8:6).
Guarantee
Approved rendering: ערבון
Transliteration: eravon
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit’s Sealing and Personhood
Original: ἀρραβών
Category: God
The Spirit as first installment guaranteeing the full future inheritance (Ephesians 1:14). Genesis 38:17-18 precedent (Judah’s pledge to Tamar); also common Modern Hebrew for a commercial deposit, risking trivialization into a rental-deposit register.
Body Of Christ
Approved rendering: גוף
Transliteration: guf
Doctrine: The Church as the Body of Christ
Original: σῶμα
Category: Church
The church as Christ’s body, with him as head (1:23; 2:16; 4:4,12,16; 5:23,30). Must be taught as corporate/metaphorical, not anatomical; pairs with קהילה — reinforce the grafting-in, not-replacement framing.
Fullness
Approved rendering: מלוא
Transliteration: melo
Doctrine: The Church as the Body of Christ
Original: πλήρωμα
Category: Church
That which fills, completeness — Christ fills the church, and believers are to be filled with all God’s fullness (1:23; 3:19; 4:13; 5:18’s ‘filled with the Spirit’). Echoes Psalm 24:1. Fixed rendering required across all occurrences.
Far Off Near
Approved rendering: רחוקים / קרובים
Transliteration: rechokim / kerovim
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity
Original: μακράν / ἐγγύς
Category: Church
Spatial metaphor for Gentile exclusion now removed, and Jewish nearness, both now shared in Christ (2:13,17). Retains Isaiah 57:19’s own ‘peace to the far and the near’ echo — likely Paul’s own source text.
Hostility
Approved rendering: איבה
Transliteration: eivah
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Original: ἔχθρα
Category: Church
The Jew-Gentile hostility, and the God-humanity hostility, that Christ’s cross abolished (2:14-16). Strong OT term (Genesis 3:15).
Access
Approved rendering: קרבה
Transliteration: kirvah
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity
Original: προσαγωγή
Category: Church
Both Jew and Gentile now have access to the Father through Christ (2:18; 3:12). Root ק-ר-ב shared with קרבן (korban, sacrificial offering, ‘that which draws near’), a fruitful positive resonance.
Cornerstone
Approved rendering: אבן הפינה
Transliteration: even ha-pinah
Doctrine: The Church as the Body of Christ
Original: ἀκρογωνιαῖος
Category: Church
Christ as the foundation of the new temple-community, apostles/prophets as the foundation courses (2:20). Direct echo of Psalm 118:22 and Isaiah 28:16, both long-disputed messianic prooftexts in Jewish-Christian polemics.
Dwelling Place
Approved rendering: משכן
Transliteration: mishkan
Doctrine: The Church as the Body of Christ
Original: κατοικητήριον
Category: Church
God’s Spirit dwelling in the church, echoing the wilderness Tabernacle (2:22). The Torah’s own Tabernacle term (Exodus 25-40); strong positive resonance provided it is taught as continuity, not displacement.
Boldness
Approved rendering: עֹז
Transliteration: oz
Doctrine: Prayer, Intercession, and Confident Access to God
Rejected alternatives: בטחון (rejected — would overlap with the baseline’s rejected alternative for ‘faith,’ creating a false doctrinal equivalence between confident boldness and saving trust)
Original: παρρησία
Category: Faith
Confident approach to God made possible through Christ (2:18; 3:12), echoing 2:18’s ‘access.‘
Walk Ethical
Approved rendering: התהלך
Transliteration: hit’halech
Doctrine: Walking in Newness of Life
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Sanctification
Conduct of life; the overarching ethical-exhortation motif of Ephesians (2:2,10; 4:1,17; 5:2,8,15). Echoes Genesis 5:24, 17:1. Fixed verb form required across all seven occurrences for pedagogical continuity, including the death-to-good-works inclusio between 2:2 and 2:10.
Unity
Approved rendering: אחדות
Transliteration: achdut
Doctrine: Gifts for Building Up the Church
Original: ἑνότης
Category: Church
Unity of the Spirit, expressed in the sevenfold ‘one body, one Spirit… one God and Father’ (4:3-6). Shares its root with the baseline doctrine name for Jew-Gentile unity (אחדות היהודים והגויים). Must be taught as Spirit-given unity to be maintained, not achieved uniformity.
Evangelist
Approved rendering: מבשר
Transliteration: mevaser
Doctrine: Gifts for Building Up the Church
Original: εὐαγγελιστής
Category: Church
One of Christ’s ascension gift-offices to the church, devoted to gospel proclamation (4:11). Shares the root with ‘gospel’ (besorah, already in TM), a strong positive etymological asset.
Pastor
Approved rendering: רועה
Transliteration: ro’eh
Doctrine: Gifts for Building Up the Church
Original: ποιμήν
Category: Church
A shepherding office among Christ’s ascension gifts to the church (4:11). Rich OT resonance (Psalm 23, Ezekiel 34); must be elevated beyond literal shepherding to the church-office sense.
Teacher
Approved rendering: מורה
Transliteration: moreh
Doctrine: Gifts for Building Up the Church
Original: διδάσκαλος
Category: Church
A teaching office among Christ’s ascension gifts to the church (4:11). The ordinary word for any teacher (including a school teacher); context must mark this as a Spirit-given church office, not a secular vocation.
Put Off Put On
Approved rendering: להשליך / להתלבש
Transliteration: le-hashlich / le-hitlabesh
Doctrine: The New Self and Ethical Transformation
Original: ἀποθέσθαι / ἐνδύσασθαι
Category: Sanctification
Ethical imagery of changing clothes — decisively renouncing the old self, decisively donning the new (4:22-24). Sets up ch.6’s armor-of-God clothing imagery — cross-reference required for consistency.
Grieve The Spirit
Approved rendering: להעציב
Transliteration: le-ha’atziv
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit’s Sealing and Personhood
Original: λυπέω
Category: God
Assumes the Spirit is a Person capable of relational sorrow (4:30). Reinforces the Spirit’s personhood, already Critical in the baseline’s holy_spirit entry — a genuine doctrinal asset in Ephesians for teaching against the Rabbinic impersonal-influence default (Yoma 9b).
Imitators Of God
Approved rendering: מחקים
Transliteration: mechakim
Doctrine: Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Original: μιμηταί
Category: Sanctification
A bold call to imitate God’s own character, grounded in Christ’s self-giving love (5:1). Positive Jewish parallel exists (imitatio Dei, Sotah 14a) — an asset more than a risk.
Filled With The Spirit
Approved rendering: התמלאו ברוח
Transliteration: hitmal’u ba-Ruach
Doctrine: The Church as the Body of Christ
Original: πληροῦσθε ἐν Πνεύματι
Category: God
Ongoing, repeated Spirit-filling as the alternative to drunkenness (5:18). Shares the מלוא (fullness) root already established for consistency across Eph 1, 3, and 4.
Armor Pieces
Approved rendering: חגורה, שריון, נעליים, מגן, כובע, חרב
Transliteration: chagorah, shiryon, na’alayim, magen, kova, cherev
Doctrine: Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
Original: ζώνη, θώραξ, ἑτοιμασία (ὑποδήματα), θυρεός, περικεφαλαία, μάχαιρα
Category: Spiritual Warfare
Belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of the Spirit/word of God (6:14-17). Each equipment noun pairs with an already-locked TM term (צדק, אמונה, ישועה, הבשורה, שלום, רוח הקודש). Because those theological nouns are already Critical/High baseline TM terms, translators must NOT substitute alternative renderings for any of them even inside this military-metaphor context.
Devil
Approved rendering: השטן
Transliteration: ha-satan
Doctrine: Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
Original: διάβολος
Category: Spiritual Warfare
The personal source of the wiles/schemes believers resist (6:11). Direct OT term (Job, Zechariah 3). The OT Satan functions as a subordinate prosecuting/accusing figure operating only within God’s permission (Job 1-2); must be taught consistently with that subordination motif, reinforced by Christ’s supreme cosmic headship (Eph 1), not as an independent cosmic rival.
Wiles Schemes
Approved rendering: תחבולות
Transliteration: tachbulot
Doctrine: Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
Original: μεθοδεία
Category: Spiritual Warfare
The devil’s crafty strategies to be resisted through the armor (6:11). Semantic flip worth flagging: Proverbs uses this word positively for wise strategy (Prov 1:5; 20:18), applied here negatively to the devil’s schemes.
Low Risk Terms
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: הודיה
Transliteration: hodayah
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Inherited from Romans package. Strong positive overlap with Jewish liturgy. Dense in Ephesians 1:3-14’s doxology and 5:19-20’s ‘singing and making melody… giving thanks.‘
Fellowship
Approved rendering: שותפות
Transliteration: shutafut
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: קהילה
Original: κοινωνία (conceptually, via Eph 3:9)
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Kept distinct from קהילה per baseline convention. Conceptually present at Ephesians 3:9.
Exhort
Approved rendering: לעודד
Transliteration: le’oded
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Original: παρακαλέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Ephesians 4:1 uses this to introduce the entire ethical ‘walk’ section governing chs. 4-6.
Household Of God
Approved rendering: בני ביתו של האלוהים
Transliteration: benei beito shel ha-Elohim
Doctrine: The Church as the Body of Christ
Original: οἰκεῖοι τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Church
Corporate family-belonging language (2:19), complementing ‘body’ and anticipating ‘temple.‘
Stewardship
Approved rendering: נאמנות
Transliteration: ne’emanut
Doctrine: The Mystery of Christ Revealed
Original: οἰκονομία
Category: Mystery
Paul’s entrusted commission to make the mystery known (3:2,9). Root shared with אמונה (faith/faithfulness), a positive resonance.
Building Up
Approved rendering: בניין
Transliteration: binyan
Doctrine: Gifts for Building Up the Church
Original: οἰκοδομή
Category: Church
The purpose of all the gift-offices — growth of the whole body toward maturity (4:12,16,29). Consistent with the baseline’s existing mutual-edification vocabulary.
Renewed
Approved rendering: להתחדש
Transliteration: le-hitchadesh
Doctrine: The New Self and Ethical Transformation
Original: ἀνανεοῦσθαι
Category: Sanctification
Ongoing Spirit-wrought inner transformation, distinct from once-for-all regeneration (4:23). Resonates with Rosh Chodesh (monthly renewal) and the Days-of-Awe liturgical line ‘chadesh yameinu ke-kedem.’ Strong positive resonance.
Fragrant Offering
Approved rendering: ריח ניחוח
Transliteration: re’ach nichoach
Doctrine: The Mystery of Christ Revealed
Original: ὀσμὴ εὐωδίας
Category: Christology
Echoes Genesis 8:21’s post-flood ‘pleasing aroma’ of Noah’s offering (5:2). Direct OT quotation, strong positive resonance.
Children Of Light
Approved rendering: בני אור
Transliteration: benei or
Doctrine: Walking in Newness of Life
Original: τέκνα φωτός
Category: Sanctification
Believers’ new identity, contrasted with darkness (5:8). Notably parallels the Dead Sea Scrolls’ ‘Sons of Light’ sectarian self-designation, an interesting historical resonance, not a doctrinal collision.
One Flesh
Approved rendering: בשר אחד
Transliteration: basar echad
Doctrine: Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Original: μία σάρξ
Category: Household Codes
Direct quotation of Genesis 2:24, applied typologically to Christ and the church (5:31). No independent risk; strong positive resonance.
Obey
Approved rendering: להישמע
Transliteration: le-hishama
Doctrine: Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Original: ὑπακούω
Category: Household Codes
Children’s obedience to parents ‘in the Lord’ (6:1). OT idiom ‘to hearken to the voice of.‘
Honor Parents
Approved rendering: כבד את אביך ואת אמך
Transliteration: kabed et avicha ve-et imecha
Doctrine: Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Original: τίμα τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα
Category: Household Codes
Direct citation of the Fifth Commandment (Exodus 20:12/Deut 5:16), 6:2-3 — Paul explicitly grounds household ethics in Torah, not against it. Genuine asset — flag as a positive teaching point that household codes are Torah-continuous.
Partiality
Approved rendering: משוא פנים
Transliteration: masso panim
Doctrine: Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Original: προσωπολημψία
Category: Household Codes
God shows no partiality between master and slave — grounds equal accountability (6:9). Direct Torah legal term (Deut 1:17; Lev 19:15). Strong positive resonance.
Wrestle
Approved rendering: האבקות
Transliteration: he’avkut
Doctrine: Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
Original: πάλη
Category: Spiritual Warfare
‘We wrestle not against flesh and blood’ — frames the conflict as spiritual, not interpersonal (6:12). Echoes Jacob’s wrestling with the angel (Genesis 32:25), a strong positive OT resonance.
Incorruptible Love
Approved rendering: אהבה שאינה כלה
Transliteration: ahavah she-einah kalah
Doctrine: Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Original: ἀφθαρσία
Category: Household Codes
The closing benediction’s description of proper, undying love for Christ (6:24).
Referenced passages