Core Glossary
Core Glossary: Galatians (Full Book)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, across all six chapters of Galatians, including the core passage (2:15-21). Terms already present in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked REUSE and MUST be rendered exactly as recorded there — no deviation is permitted. New terms specific to Galatians are marked NEW and are risk-tiered using the same Critical/High/Medium/Low framework as the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json. Recommended new entries for eventual promotion into a shared cross-curriculum translation memory are marked accordingly.
Risk tier definitions (identical to baseline):
- Critical: Mistranslation alters or destroys essential doctrine. Human theologian review required for every occurrence.
- High: Mistranslation creates significant theological confusion or syncretism risk. Human theologian review required.
- Medium: Mistranslation reduces clarity but preserves essential meaning. Native speaker review recommended.
- Low: Mistranslation causes minor misunderstanding or imprecision. Automated review sufficient.
A. Baseline Terms Reused Exactly (from Romans translation_memory.json)
| Term (English) | Hebrew | Transliteration | Risk | First Occurrence in Galatians | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gospel | הבשורה | ha-besorah | Medium | 1:6-11 | Central to “another gospel” crisis (ch.1); see NEW entry for the false-gospel phrase. |
| Grace | חסד | chesed | High/Critical | 1:3, 1:6, 1:15, 2:9, 2:21, 5:4, 6:18 | Central to “Law and Grace” doctrine; every Torah-contrast passage requires the baseline’s non-merit sharpening. |
| Faith | אמונה | emunah | High | 2:16, 2:20, 3:2-26, 5:5-6, 5:22 (note: 5:22’s occurrence is “faithfulness,” see NEW entry נֶאֱמָנוּת) | Object of faith (Christ) must remain explicit; distinguish from praxis-oriented default sense except where that sense is intended (5:22). |
| Righteousness | צדק | tzedek | Critical | 2:21, 3:6 (Gen 15:6 quotation — see imputed_righteousness), 5:5 | Never צדקה outside a direct Genesis 15:6 citation. |
| Justification | ההצדקה | ha-hatzdakah | Critical | 2:16-17, 2:21, 3:8, 3:11, 3:24, 5:4 | Always paired with “by faith” qualifier per baseline rule. |
| Apostle | שליח | shaliach | Medium | 1:1, 1:17, 1:19 | Paul’s opening self-designation; apostleship doctrine. |
| Called / Calling | קרוא / קריאה | karu / keri’ah | High | 1:6, 1:15, 5:8, 5:13 | Context-sensitive across apostolic calling, effectual calling, and calling to freedom. |
| Holy Spirit / Spirit | רוח הקודש | Ruach HaKodesh | Critical | 3:2-5, 3:14, 4:6, 4:29, 5:5, 5:16-25, 6:1, 6:8 | Where the bare “the Spirit” (τὸ Πνεῦμα) is used without “holy,” maintain consistent Hebrew rendering (הָרוּחַ) referring to the same Person; do not introduce ambiguity with an impersonal “spirit.” |
| Father | אבינו | Avinu | Medium | 1:1, 1:3, 1:4, 4:6 | |
| Abba | אבא | Abba | Medium | 4:6 | Must match Romans 8:15 rendering exactly (consistency rule). |
| Adoption | אימוץ | imutz | High | 4:5 | Purpose clause of Christ’s redeeming work. |
| Son of God | בן האלוהים | ben ha-Elohim | Critical | 2:20 | Object of ongoing faith in the core passage; distinguish from the plural “sons of God” applied to believers generally (3:26, 4:6-7) — see NEW entry. |
| Covenant | ברית | brit | High | 3:15, 3:17, 4:24 | Abrahamic vs. Sinai covenant contrast is the letter’s central argument. |
| Law | תורה | Torah | Critical | throughout (esp. 2:16-21, 3:2-25, 4:4-5, 4:21, 5:3-4, 5:14, 5:18, 5:23, 6:2, 6:13) | No viable substitute; risk entirely in framing. Never taught as an attack on Torah itself. |
| Sin | חטא | chet | High | 1:4, 2:17, 3:22 | Noun form; distinguish from the new agent-noun “sinner” (חוֹטֵא), see below. |
| Gentiles | גויים | goyim | Medium | 2:12, 2:14, 2:15, 3:8, 3:14 | Handle pejorative colloquial drift per baseline note. |
| Glory | כבוד | kavod | Medium | 1:5, 1:24 | Doxological usage. |
| Messiah | משיח | Mashiach | Critical | throughout (“Christ”) | Full title המשיח used per baseline’s transliteration standards. |
| Israel | ישראל | Yisra’el | Critical | 6:16 (“the Israel of God”) | See NEW entry for the full contested phrase; single highest-stakes term in the book. |
| Jesus | ישוע | Yeshua | Critical | throughout | NEVER ישו; final ayin mandatory. |
| God | אלוהים | Elohim | Critical | throughout | |
| Church | קהילה | kehilah | Critical | 1:2, 1:13, 1:22 | Never עדה; never framed as Israel’s replacement. |
| Kingdom of God | מלכות האלוהים | malchut ha-Elohim | Medium | 5:21 | Standard baseline rendering. |
| Fellowship | שותפות | shutafut | Low | 2:9 | Distinct from קהילה. |
| David | — | — | — | Not directly named in Galatians | No occurrence; retained here only to note its absence, unlike Romans. |
| Seed (pattern reuse from seed_of_david) | זרע | zera | High | 3:16, 3:19, 3:29 | Same word, extended typologically to “seed of Abraham” and, singularly, to Christ. |
B. New Terms Introduced by Galatians (Not in Baseline)
| # | Term (English) | Greek | Hebrew | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Key Passages | Risk Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sinners (agent noun) | ἁμαρτωλοί | חוֹטְאִים | chotim | Medium | Universal Human Accountability | 2:15, 2:17 | Distinct from the abstract “sin” noun already in baseline; must retain personal, characterizing force. |
| 2 | Works of the law | ἔργα νόμου | מַעֲשֵׂי הַתּוֹרָה | ma’asei ha-Torah | Critical | Law and Grace; Justification by Faith | 2:16 (x3), 3:2, 3:5, 3:10 | Central polemical target of the letter; authentic Second-Temple Hebrew phrase (cf. 4QMMT), but risk is entirely theological framing — critique of law-as-basis-of-justification, never of Torah’s worth. |
| 3 | Faith of/in Jesus Christ (genitive ambiguity) | πίστις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ | אֱמוּנַת יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיח / הָאֱמוּנָה בְּיֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיח | emunat Yeshua ha-Mashiach | High | Faith; Justification by Faith | 2:16, 3:22 | Subjective/objective genitive ambiguity persists identically in Hebrew; flag chosen reading in translator notes. |
| 4 | Crucified with Christ | συσταυρόω | נִצְלַבְתִּי עִם הַמָּשִׁיח | nitzlavti im ha-Mashiach | Critical | Crucified with Christ | 2:19-20, 5:24, 6:14 | Compounds cross-symbol historical weight with participatory-union doctrine lacking a ready Rabbinic category. |
| 5 | Gave himself up (for me) | παραδίδωμι ἑαυτόν | נָתַן אֶת נַפְשׁוֹ / מָסַר אֶת עַצְמוֹ | natan et nafsho | Critical | Crucified with Christ; substitutionary atonement | 2:20 | Echoes Isaiah 53:12’s Masoretic wording — a positive textual bridge, but Isaiah 53’s servant-identity is itself contested in Jewish-Christian exegesis. |
| 6 | Another/different gospel | εὐαγγέλιον ἕτερον | בְּשׂוֹרָה אֲחֶרֶת | besorah acheret | High | The True Gospel versus False Gospels | 1:6-7 | Must be clearly distinguished in register from the baseline definite “הַבְּשׂוֹרָה” so as to read as a false rival, not a mere variant. |
| 7 | Accursed / anathema | ἀνάθεμα | אָרוּר | arur | Critical | The True Gospel versus False Gospels | 1:8-9 | Chosen over חֵרֶם (rejected: holy-war/destruction connotation too strong); echoes Deuteronomy 27’s covenant-curse formula instead. |
| 8 | Present [evil] age | αἰὼν ἐνεστώς | הָעוֹלָם הַזֶּה | ha-olam ha-zeh | Medium | Eschatological framework (undergirds several doctrines) | 1:4 | Positive existing two-ages resource; must teach the NT’s already-inaugurated “age to come,” not defer it entirely to the future. |
| 9 | Slave/servant of Christ | δοῦλος Χριστοῦ | עֶבֶד הַמָּשִׁיח | eved ha-Mashiach | Medium | Paul’s Apostleship | 1:10 | Positive resource (eved Hashem); must retain dignity. |
| 10 | Revelation | ἀποκάλυψις | הִתְגַּלוּת | hitgalut | Medium | Paul’s Apostleship; Inspiration of Scripture | 1:12 | No collision with הִתְגַּלְמוּת (incarnation, different root). |
| 11 | Judaism (Paul’s former life in) | Ἰουδαϊσμός | הַיַּהֲדוּת | ha-Yahadut | Critical | Paul’s Apostleship | 1:13-14 | Must be framed narrowly (Paul’s former zealous/persecuting conduct), never as blanket renunciation of Judaism. |
| 12 | Tradition(s) of the fathers | παράδοσις | מָסֹרֶת | masoret | High | Paul’s Apostleship | 1:14 | Resonates with “mesorah”; must not devalue Jewish tradition per se. |
| 13 | Zealous / zeal | ζῆλος / ζηλωτής | קַנָּאוּת / קַנָּאִי | kana’ut / kana’i | High | Paul’s Apostleship | 1:14, 4:17-18 | Historical weight (Pinchas; 1st-century Zealots); must not read as endorsing revolutionary violence. |
| 14 | Set apart | ἀφορίζω | הִפְרִישׁ | hifrish | High | Paul’s Apostleship; Divine Calling | 1:15 | Connects to baseline’s “separation_unto_gods_service” doctrine. |
| 15 | Freedom / liberty | ἐλευθερία | חֵרוּת | cherut | High | Freedom in Christ | 2:4, 5:1, 5:13 | Named curriculum doctrine; risk of national/political misreading vs. freedom from law’s curse and sin. |
| 16 | Enslave | καταδουλόω | לְשַׁעְבֵּד | leshabed | Medium-High | Law and Grace; Freedom in Christ | 2:4 | Tied to slavery/freedom theme. |
| 17 | Circumcision | περιτομή | מִילָה / בְּרִית מִילָה | milah / brit milah | Critical | Circumcision and the New Creation | 2:3-9, 2:12, 5:2-6, 5:11, 6:12-13 | Single most sensitive covenant-identity marker in Judaism; must distinguish “circumcision as Jewish practice” from “circumcision required for Gentile justification.” |
| 18 | Uncircumcision | ἀκροβυστία | עׇרְלָה | orlah | High | Circumcision and the New Creation | 2:7, 5:6 | Carries secondary connotations (Lev 19:23 orlah fruit; “uncircumcised lips/heart”); must read neutrally here. |
| 19 | Pillars | στῦλοι | עַמּוּדִים | amudim | Medium | Paul’s Apostleship | 2:9 | Positive Temple-pillar resonance. |
| 20 | Hypocrisy | ὑπόκρισις | צְבִיעוּת | tzevi’ut | Low | (narrative, ch.2) | 2:13 | |
| 21 | Truth of the gospel | ἀλήθεια τοῦ εὐαγγελίου | אֱמֶת הַבְּשׂוֹרָה | emet ha-besorah | Medium | The True Gospel versus False Gospels | 2:14 | Reinforces gospel’s exclusivity claim. |
| 22 | Bewitched | βασκαίνω | כִּשֵּׁף | kishef | Medium | The True Gospel versus False Gospels | 3:1 | Vivid rhetorical hyperbole; not a literal sorcery accusation. |
| 23 | Abraham | Ἀβραάμ | אַבְרָהָם | Avraham | Low (proper noun) / High (doctrine) | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 3:6-29, 4:22-31 | Central OT figure; doctrinal weight in typological argument. |
| 24 | Promise | ἐπαγγελία | הַבְטָחָה | havtachah | High | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 3:14-22, 3:29, 4:23, 4:28 | Must be kept distinct from, and prior to, law (Sinai) per Paul’s chronological argument. |
| 25 | Curse | κατάρα | קְלָלָה | klalah | Medium | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise; The Law’s Purpose | 3:10, 3:13 | Standard biblical vocabulary; risk is theological application, not lexical. |
| 26 | Tree (Deut 21:23 citation) | ξύλον | עֵץ | etz | High | Crucified with Christ | 3:13 | Must match Masoretic Deuteronomy 21:23 wording; direct OT citation applied to the crucifixion. |
| 27 | Redeem / redemption | ἐξαγοράζω | פָּדָה / פִּדְיוֹן | padah / pidyon | High | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise; Freedom in Christ | 3:13, 4:5 | Chosen over גְּאוּלָה (rejected: defaults to national/eschatological deliverance, same risk profile as baseline’s “salvation” entry). |
| 28 | God is one | ὁ θεὸς εἷς ἐστιν | וְהָאֱלֹהִים אֶחָד | ve-ha-Elohim echad | High | The Law’s Purpose | 3:20 | Direct Shema echo; must not be confused with the separate Christological deity-of-Christ question. |
| 29 | Guardian / custodian (pedagogue) | παιδαγωγός | אַפּוֹטְרוֹפּוֹס | apotropos | High | The Law’s Purpose | 3:24-25 | Never “teacher” (מוֹרֶה); custodial-not-instructional role; framing sensitivity parallels baseline’s law entry. |
| 30 | Mediator | μεσίτης | מְתַוֵּךְ | metavech | Low-Medium | The Law’s Purpose | 3:19-20 | Standard modern term; implicit Mosaic typology. |
| 31 | Guarded / kept in custody | φρουρέω / συγκλείω | הָיִינוּ נְתוּנִים בְּמִשְׁמָר | hayinu netunim be-mishmar | Medium | The Law’s Purpose | 3:23 | Custodial imagery paired with paidagogos. |
| 32 | Baptized (into Christ) | βαπτίζω | הִטְבִּיל / טְבִילָה | hitbil / tevilah | Critical | Christian Identity in Christ | 3:27 | Gap in baseline package; recommend formal cross-curriculum promotion. Mikveh/conversion-immersion associations require careful framing beyond “another ritual immersion.” |
| 33 | Clothed with (Christ) | ἐνδύω | הִתְלַבֵּשׁ | hitlabesh | Low-Medium | Christian Identity in Christ | 3:27 | Positive Isaiah 61:10 resonance. |
| 34 | Heir | κληρονόμος | יוֹרֵשׁ | yoresh | Medium | Adoption and Sonship | 3:29, 4:1, 4:7 | Inheritance theology, generalized beyond land. |
| 35 | Minor / child (legal status) | νήπιος | קָטִין | katin | Low | Adoption and Sonship; The Law’s Purpose | 4:1, 4:3 | |
| 36 | Guardians and managers | ἐπίτροπος / οἰκονόμος | אַפּוֹטְרוֹפְּסִים וּמְנַהֲלִים | apotropsim u-menahalim | Low-Medium | The Law’s Purpose | 4:2 | Paired with paidagogos entry. |
| 37 | Elemental principles/spirits of the world | στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου | יְסוֹדוֹת הָעוֹלָם | yesodot ha-olam | Critical | The Law’s Purpose | 4:3, 4:9 | Extreme care required at 4:9-10 where applied (controversially) to a reversion to Torah-calendar observance. |
| 38 | Fullness of time | πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου | מְלֹאת הַזְּמַן | melo’t ha-zman | High | Messianic Promise; Incarnation | 4:4 | Ties directly to two-comings framework already flagged Critical in baseline. |
| 39 | Sent forth | ἐξαποστέλλω | שָׁלַח | shalach | Medium | Mission; Adoption and Sonship | 4:4, 4:6 | Positive resonance with shaliach/shlichut root. |
| 40 | Slavery / enslaved | δουλεία / δουλεύω | עַבְדוּת / לְהִשְׁתַּעְבֵּד | avdut / lehishtabed | High | Law and Grace; Freedom in Christ | 4:8-9, 4:24-25 | Must be distinguished from the positive “eved Hashem” framework used elsewhere. |
| 41 | Days, months, seasons, years (calendar observance) | ἡμέρας, μῆνας, καιρούς, ἐνιαυτούς | יָמִים וְחֳדָשִׁים וּמוֹעֲדִים וְשָׁנִים | yamim ve-chodashim u-mo’adim ve-shanim | Critical | The Law’s Purpose | 4:10 | Directly touches Shabbat/Rosh Chodesh/moadim; must be framed as addressing a specific justification-crisis, never general festival observance. |
| 42 | Children of promise | τέκνα ἐπαγγελίας | בְּנֵי הַהַבְטָחָה | b’nei ha-havtachah | High | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise; Adoption and Sonship | 4:28 | Combines promise term with Hagar-Sarah allegory. |
| 43 | Hagar / Sarah / Isaac / Ishmael allegory | Ἁγάρ, Σάρρα, Ἰσαάκ, Ἰσμαήλ | הָגָר, שָׂרָה, יִצְחָק, יִשְׁמָעֵאל | Hagar, Sarah, Yitzchak, Yishma’el | Critical | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise; The Law’s Purpose | 4:21-31 | Modern political sensitivity (Ishmael/Arab-Muslim association) added to typological risk; must be explicitly bounded as Paul’s own argument. |
| 44 | Jerusalem above | ἡ ἄνω Ἱερουσαλήμ | יְרוּשָׁלַיִם שֶׁל מַעְלָה | Yerushalayim shel ma’lah | Critical | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 4:26 | Maximal identity-weight toponym for Hebrew readers; must not disparage the literal city or contemporary Jewish life. |
| 45 | Yoke of slavery | ζυγὸς δουλείας | עֹל הָעַבְדוּת | ol ha-avdut | Critical | Freedom in Christ; Law and Grace | 5:1 | Direct collision with the positive Rabbinic “yoke of Torah / yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven.” |
| 46 | Faith working through love | πίστις δι’ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη | אֱמוּנָה הַפּוֹעֶלֶת מִתּוֹךְ אַהֲבָה | emunah ha-po’elet mitoch ahavah | High | Faith Working through Love | 5:6 | Must not imply love as an additional meritorious work alongside faith. |
| 47 | Leaven / lump of dough | ζύμη / φύραμα | חָמֵץ / בָּצֵק | chametz / batzek | Low | The True Gospel versus False Gospels | 5:9 | Positive asset; parallels Talmudic “leaven in the dough” (Berakhot 17a) image for the evil inclination. |
| 48 | Mutilate themselves | ἀποκόπτω | יְסָרְסוּ אֶת עַצְמָם | yesarsu et atzmam | Medium | (register/decorum) | 5:12 | Graphic rhetorical hyperbole; preserve force without unnecessary vulgarity. |
| 49 | Love your neighbor (Lev 19:18 citation) | ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου | וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ | ve-ahavta le-re’acha kamocha | Low | Faith Working through Love | 5:14 | Must match Masoretic Leviticus 19:18 wording exactly. |
| 50 | Walk by / keep in step with the Spirit | περιπατέω πνεύματι / στοιχέω | הִתְהַלְּכוּ בָּרוּח | hithalchu ba-ruach | Critical | Flesh versus Spirit | 5:16, 5:25 | Root shares ה-ל-ך with halakhah; major teaching asset and major risk simultaneously. |
| 51 | Desire of the flesh | ἐπιθυμία σαρκός | תַּאֲוַת הַבָּשָׂר | ta’avat ha-basar | Medium | Flesh versus Spirit | 5:16 | Bridges to yetzer hara framework. |
| 52 | Flesh | σάρξ | בָּשָׂר | basar | High | Flesh versus Spirit; also physical-body and lineage senses throughout | 2:20, 3:3, 4:13-14, 4:23, 4:29, 5:13-24, 6:12-13 | Range of senses (neutral physical / ancestral / morally-corrupted) requires context-dependent disambiguation; recommend cross-curriculum promotion. |
| 53 | Works of the flesh | τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκός | מַעֲשֵׂי הַבָּשָׂר | ma’asei ha-basar | Medium-High | Flesh versus Spirit | 5:19-21 | Preserve plural-vs-singular literary contrast with “fruit” (below). |
| 54 | Idolatry | εἰδωλολατρία | עֲבוֹדָה זָרָה | avodah zarah | High | Flesh versus Spirit | 5:20 | Cardinal-sin weight in halakhah; reinforces rather than undermines the point but should not be used loosely elsewhere. |
| 55 | Sorcery | φαρμακεία | כִּשּׁוּף | kishuf | Medium | Flesh versus Spirit | 5:20 | Consistent with “bewitched” (3:1) entry. |
| 56 | Fruit of the Spirit | καρπὸς τοῦ πνεύματος | פְּרִי הָרוּחַ | peri ha-ruach | Medium-High | Fruit of the Spirit | 5:22-23 | Preserve singular form (unity emphasis) against plural “works of the flesh.” |
| 57 | Joy | χαρά | שִׂמְחָה | simchah | Low | Fruit of the Spirit | 5:22 | Positive festival-life resource. |
| 58 | Patience / longsuffering | μακροθυμία | אֹרֶךְ אַפַּיִם / סַבְלָנוּת | orech apayim / savlanut | Low | Fruit of the Spirit | 5:22 | |
| 59 | Kindness | χρηστότης | טוּב לֵבָב / נְדִיבוּת | tuv levav / nedivut | Low-Medium | Fruit of the Spirit | 5:22 | Keep distinct from חֶסֶד (grace) to avoid doctrinal blur. |
| 60 | Goodness | ἀγαθωσύνη | טוּב | tuv | Low | Fruit of the Spirit | 5:22 | |
| 61 | Faithfulness (virtue-list sense of πίστις) | πίστις | נֶאֱמָנוּת | ne’emanut | Medium | Fruit of the Spirit | 5:22 | Disambiguates from saving-faith sense (אֱמוּנָה) used elsewhere; here the praxis-oriented sense is precisely correct. |
| 62 | Gentleness / meekness | πραΰτης | עֲנָוָה | anavah | Low | Fruit of the Spirit | 5:23 | Positive Mosaic resonance. |
| 63 | Self-control | ἐγκράτεια | רִיסוּן עַצְמִי / שִׁלְטוֹן עַצְמִי | risun atzmi | Low | Fruit of the Spirit | 5:23 | |
| 64 | Bear one another’s burdens | ἀλλήλων τὰ βάρη βαστάζετε | שְׂאוּ אֶת מַעֲמַסּוֹתֵיכֶם זֶה שֶׁל זֶה | se’u et ma’amasoteichem | Low-Medium | Bearing One Another’s Burdens | 6:2 | Distinguish from v.5’s φορτίον (below). |
| 65 | Law of Christ | νόμος τοῦ Χριστοῦ | תּוֹרַת הַמָּשִׁיחַ | torat ha-Mashiach | Critical | Bearing One Another’s Burdens; Law and Grace | 6:2 | Risk of “rival new Torah” misreading; better framed as fulfillment (cf. Jeremiah 31:31-33). |
| 66 | One’s own load | τὸ ἴδιον φορτίον | מַשָּׂא | masa | Low | Bearing One Another’s Burdens | 6:5 | Distinct Greek word from v.2’s βάρος; preserve the distinction. |
| 67 | Sow / reap | σπείρω / θερίζω | לִזְרֹעַ / לִקְצֹר | lizro’a / liktzor | Low | (closing exhortation) | 6:7-8 | Positive OT-rooted agricultural-moral metaphor (cf. Hosea 8:7). |
| 68 | Corruption / decay | φθορά | כִּלָּיוֹן / הַשְׁחָתָה | kilayon / hashchatah | Medium | (closing exhortation) | 6:8 | Eschatological contrast term. |
| 69 | Eternal life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος | חַיֵּי עוֹלָם | chayei olam | High | (eschatology, undergirds several doctrines) | 6:8 | Echoes Daniel 12:2 and Amidah liturgy; must convey present-possession dimension against corporate-future-only default. |
| 70 | Household of faith | οἰκεῖοι τῆς πίστεως | בְּנֵי הָאֱמוּנָה / בֵּית הָאֱמוּנָה | b’nei ha-emunah | Medium | (church/community) | 6:10 | Must not exclude the “everyone” named in the same verse. |
| 71 | New creation | καινὴ κτίσις | בְּרִיאָה חֲדָשָׁה | beri’ah chadashah | High | Circumcision and the New Creation | 6:15 | Doctrinal capstone answering the circumcision controversy; must convey eschatological transformation, not mere novelty. |
| 72 | Rule / standard | κανών | כְּלָל / קְנֵה מִדָּה | klal / kneh midah | Low | (closing exhortation) | 6:16 | |
| 73 | The Israel of God | Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ θεοῦ | יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁל אֱלֹהִים | Yisra’el shel Elohim | Critical | Unity of Jews and Gentiles (baseline); Church as God’s People (baseline) | 6:16 | Single highest-stakes phrase in the book; mandatory grafting-in framing per baseline instruction set; never supersessionist. |
| 74 | Marks of Jesus | τὰ στίγματα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ | צַלְקוֹת יֵשׁוּעַ | tzalkot Yeshua | Medium | Paul’s Apostleship | 6:17 | Avoid importing later Catholic “stigmata” devotional concept. |
| 75 | Cross / crucifixion | σταυρός / σταυρόω | צְלָב / נִצְלַב | tzlav / nitzlav | Critical | Crucified with Christ | 2:19-20, 3:1, 3:13, 5:11, 5:24, 6:12, 6:14, 6:17 | Historical Jewish-Christian weight of the cross symbol (Crusades, pogroms) compounds the participatory-union doctrinal risk. |
| 76 | Died for nothing / in vain | δωρεὰν ἀπέθανεν | מֵת לַשָּׁוְא | met la-shav | Medium-High | Law and Grace | 2:21 | Use לַשָּׁוְא, not חִנָּם, to avoid echoing the rejected baseline “grace” alternative חֵן. |
| 77 | Nullify / set aside | ἀθετέω | לְבַטֵּל | levatel | Medium | Law and Grace | 2:21 | Legal-invalidation sense, not mere disregard. |
| 78 | Transgressor | παραβάτης | פּוֹשֵׁעַ | poshe’a | Medium | Justification by Faith | 2:18 | Tied specifically to reversion-to-law-works argument in context. |
| 79 | No distinction (Jew/Greek, slave/free, male/female) | οὐκ ἔνι Ἰουδαῖος οὐδὲ Ἕλλην… | אֵין יְהוּדִי וְלֹא יָוָן… | ein Yehudi ve-lo Yavan… | Critical | Unity of Jews and Gentiles (baseline) | 3:28 | Read alongside Romans 11 grafting-in framework; equal standing, not erasure of covenantal distinctiveness. |
C. Recommended Additions to Shared Cross-Curriculum Translation Memory
The following terms recur across NT curricula (already implicit in Romans 6/7/8 but never formally entered) and are recommended for promotion into the shared translation_memory.json at the next version increment, given their appearance here in Galatians:
- Baptized / baptism — הִטְבִּיל / טְבִילָה (tevilah) — Critical
- Flesh (morally-loaded sense, opposed to Spirit) — בָּשָׂר (basar) — High
- Cross / crucified — צְלָב / נִצְלַב (tzlav / nitzlav) — Critical
- Redeem / redemption (ἐξαγοράζω, commercial-legal sense) — פָּדָה / פִּדְיוֹן (padah / pidyon) — High
- Eternal life — חַיֵּי עוֹלָם (chayei olam) — High
D. Proper Nouns (Low Risk, Established Forms)
| English | Hebrew | Transliteration | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abraham | אַבְרָהָם | Avraham | |
| Sarah | שָׂרָה | Sarah | |
| Hagar | הָגָר | Hagar | |
| Isaac | יִצְחָק | Yitzchak | |
| Ishmael | יִשְׁמָעֵאל | Yishma’el | Modern political sensitivity noted (see 07, Ch.4). |
| Cephas / Peter | כֵּיפָא / פֶּטְרוֹס | Keifa / Petros | Use כֵּיפָא when Greek text itself uses Κηφᾶς, to preserve Paul’s Aramaic usage. |
| James | יַעֲקֹב | Ya’akov | Same Hebrew name as “Jacob” — worth a translator note. |
| Barnabas | בַּר־נַבָּא | Bar-Naba | |
| Titus | טִיטוּס | Titus | |
| Arabia | עֲרָב | Arav | |
| Damascus | דַּמֶּשֶׂק | Damesek | |
| Jerusalem | יְרוּשָׁלַיִם | Yerushalayim | See “Jerusalem above” (Critical) for the theologically loaded compound usage. |
| Antioch | אַנְטִיוֹכְיָה | Antiochia | |
| Galatia / Galatians | גָּלָטְיָה / גָּלָטִים | Galatyah / Galatim | Book title: גָּלָטִים. |
This glossary must be loaded alongside the baseline translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json for all Phase 2 Galatians translation work. All Section A terms are enforced exactly per baseline rules. All Section B terms are new proposed entries pending formal incorporation into an updated, versioned translation memory for the Galatians curriculum, following the same update procedure specified in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md.
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 citation. FOR GALATIANS: 2:21 and 5:5 place this term in direct, sharp opposition to law-works, heightening exposure to the Modern Hebrew ‘charity’ drift the baseline flags.
Justification
Approved rendering: ההצדקה
Transliteration: ha-hatzdakah
Doctrine: Salvation
Original: δικαιοῦται / δικαιωθῆναι / δικαιωθήσεται
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Must always appear with the qualifying phrase ‘עַל יְדֵי אֱמוּנָה’ (by faith). FOR GALATIANS: 2:16 alone contains three occurrences of the forensic verb packed against ‘מַעֲשֵׂי הַתּוֹרָה’ — the letter’s single highest-density Critical verse. Every one of the three occurrences requires the qualifier individually, not once per verse.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: תחיית המתים
Transliteration: techiyat hametim
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Inherited from Romans package. Requires the two-comings framework taught explicitly, never assumed self-evident. FOR GALATIANS: even the single opening-verse mention (1:1, ‘raised him from the dead’) carries this full caution — a passing reference must not be treated as a throwaway formula.
Lord
Approved rendering: אדון
Transliteration: Adon
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Inherited from Romans package. Adonai is the traditional spoken substitute for the unpronounced Tetragrammaton. FOR GALATIANS: appears in the epistolary greeting and closing formulas (‘our Lord Jesus Christ,’ 1:3, 6:18) rather than in a dedicated confession passage as in Romans 10:9; the same care against both overreach and undershoot into the merely mundane ‘sir’ sense applies.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: בן האלוהים
Transliteration: ben ha-Elohim
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. A reader’s existing Tanakh ‘sons of God’ categories (angels, Israel corporately) must be explicitly set aside for this ontological sense. FOR GALATIANS: 2:20 is the core passage’s object of ongoing faith; must be kept sharply distinct from the new plural term ‘sons_of_god_believers’ (בְּנֵי הָאֱלֹהִים) used adoptively at 3:26 and 4:6-7 within the very same letter — a disambiguation density Romans never requires in one place.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: התגלמות
Transliteration: hitgalmut
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: הגשמה
Original: γενόμενον ἐκ γυναικός, γενόμενον ὑπὸ νόμον
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. No settled native Hebrew Christian theological term exists; never הגשמה (which trivializes into ‘actualizing a vision’). FOR GALATIANS: 4:4’s ‘born of a woman, born under the law’ uniquely affirms Christ’s genuine Torah-observant Jewish life alongside his humanity — a positive framing asset for teaching that the gospel critiques law-as-justification, never Torah-observance itself.
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; never framed as Israel’s replacement; governed by Romans 11’s grafting-in metaphor. FOR GALATIANS: this framing discipline is intensified by the letter’s climactic 6:16 ‘Israel of God’ phrase (see new term ‘israel_of_god’), which raises the stakes of every earlier ekklēsia occurrence (1:2, 1:13, 1:22).
Law
Approved rendering: תורה
Transliteration: Torah
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. No viable substitute exists; risk is entirely in framing, never an attack on Torah itself. FOR GALATIANS: deployed at far higher density and sharper polemical force than in Romans (throughout, esp. 2:16-21, 3:2-25, 4:4-5, 4:21, 5:3-4, 5:14, 5:18, 5:23, 6:2, 6:13); every occurrence in a law/grace contrast passage must carry the framing note that the target is law-as-basis-of-justification, never Torah’s inherent worth.
Messiah
Approved rendering: משיח
Transliteration: mashiach
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. The two-comings framework must be taught explicitly, never assumed. FOR GALATIANS: used throughout as ‘Christ’; the letter’s ‘law of Christ’ phrase (6:2, see new term ‘law_of_christ’) applies this term in a deliberately provocative new pairing requiring dedicated framing.
Israel
Approved rendering: ישראל
Transliteration: Yisra’el
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Names the reader’s own nation and central identity. FOR GALATIANS: risk is elevated beyond the baseline’s Romans 9-11 treatment because the letter’s single occurrence, in the contested phrase ‘the Israel of God’ (6:16, see new term ‘israel_of_god’), is arguably the single highest-stakes phrase in the entire book for a Hebrew-speaking reader.
Jesus
Approved rendering: ישוע
Transliteration: Yeshua
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ישו
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. NEVER ישו (Yeshu); final ayin mandatory. FOR GALATIANS: applies throughout at identical strictness; no exceptions for any of the letter’s six chapters.
God
Approved rendering: אלוהים
Transliteration: Elohim
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Trinitarian language must be framed as compatible with, not a departure from, absolute divine unity. FOR GALATIANS: 3:20’s ‘God is one’ (see new term ‘god_is_one’) directly echoes the Shema but is used in a distinct argumentative context (the law’s mediated origin) from the Christological deity question raised by 2:20; these two uses must be kept doctrinally distinct in translator notes.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: רוח הקודש
Transliteration: Ruach HaKodesh
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα / πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Romans 8’s permanent, personal, universal indwelling must be taught against the Rabbinic ‘departed after the last prophets’ default. FOR GALATIANS: where the bare ‘the Spirit’ (τὸ Πνεῦμα, e.g. 5:16-25) is used without ‘holy,’ maintain the same Hebrew referent (הָרוּחַ) for the same divine Person; do not introduce ambiguity suggesting an impersonal force.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: נחשבת לו לצדקה
Transliteration: nechshevet lo li-tzedakah
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: צדק מוענק
Original: ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Must echo Genesis 15:6’s own Masoretic wording exactly; add a translator note distinguishing Biblical-Hebrew tzedakah from Modern Hebrew’s narrowed ‘charity’ sense. FOR GALATIANS: cited directly at 3:6 as Paul’s proof-text for Gentile believers being Abraham’s true heirs by faith, not circumcision — the single Genesis 15:6 citation point in the letter.
Anathema
Approved rendering: ארור
Transliteration: arur
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Rejected alternatives: חרם
Original: ἀνάθεμα
Category: Rhetoric
NEW. Paul’s twice-repeated covenant-curse formula against anyone preaching a contrary gospel (1:8-9). חֵרֶם rejected: carries holy-war/total-destruction overtones (Jericho, Amalek) foreign to Paul’s rhetorical register. אָרוּר echoes Deuteronomy 27’s covenant-curse formula, matching Paul’s intent while retaining full covenantal weight. Mandatory theologian review every occurrence.
Judaism
Approved rendering: היהדות
Transliteration: ha-Yahadut
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Original: Ἰουδαϊσμός
Category: Apostleship
NEW. No viable alternative exists; risk is entirely in framing. A Hebrew reader could easily misread 1:13-14 as Paul renouncing Judaism as such rather than his narrower point (his former zealous, persecuting, law-advancement-driven manner of life). Mandatory theologian review every occurrence.
Crucified With Christ
Approved rendering: נצלבתי עם המשיח
Transliteration: nitzlavti im ha-Mashiach
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Original: Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι
Category: Christology
NEW. Perfect-tense participatory union with Christ’s death, a completed past event with ongoing present effect (2:19-20; 5:24; 6:14). Two compounded risks: (1) ‘crucified’ carries the full historical weight of cross-symbolism in Jewish-Christian relations (Crusades, pogroms conducted under the cross); (2) participatory union has no ready Rabbinic category and risks flattening into mere moral imitation rather than the ontological/forensic union Paul intends. Mandatory theologian review every occurrence.
Cross Crucifixion
Approved rendering: צלב / נצלב
Transliteration: tzlav / nitzlav
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Original: σταυρός / σταυρόω
Category: Christology
NEW dedicated entry (baseline treats resurrection but not the cross itself as a standalone term). Recurring motif (3:1,13; 5:11,24; 6:12,17) and the letter’s climactic ground of boasting (6:14). Recommend formal promotion to the shared cross-curriculum translation memory given its frequency across NT letters.
Gave Himself Up
Approved rendering: נתן את נפשו בעדי
Transliteration: natan et nafsho be’adi
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ; Substitutionary Atonement
Rejected alternatives: מסר את עצמו בשבילי
Original: παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ
Category: Christology
NEW, genuinely new vocabulary not covered in the baseline package. Christ’s substitutionary, self-giving atonement ‘for me’ personally (2:20). Deliberately echoes Isaiah 53:12’s Masoretic wording — a positive textual bridge — but Isaiah 53’s suffering servant identity is itself one of the most contested texts in Jewish-Christian exegesis (mainstream Rabbinic reading since Rashi treats the servant as collective Israel). Mandatory theologian review.
Law Of Christ
Approved rendering: תורת המשיח
Transliteration: torat ha-Mashiach
Doctrine: The Law of Christ as Fulfillment (not Replacement)
Rejected alternatives: a softening paraphrase such as ‘the Messiah’s way/teaching’ — rejected because it would blunt the deliberate rhetorical force of Paul’s own provocative coinage
Original: νόμος τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Covenant
NEW, deliberately provocative pairing of the Critical baseline term תּוֹרָה with הַמָּשִׁיחַ (6:2). Risk of being heard as a rival ‘new Torah’ superseding Mosaic Torah, rather than Christ’s own teaching/example as fulfillment (cf. Jeremiah 31:31-33’s Torah written on the heart). Mandatory theologian review.
Works Of The Law
Approved rendering: מעשי התורה
Transliteration: ma’asei ha-Torah
Doctrine: Justification by Faith; Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: a broader paraphrase such as ‘keeping the commandments’ — rejected because it shifts the target from Torah-as-legal-corpus to mitzvah-observance generally, a subtly broader and riskier claim than Paul’s own
Original: ἔργα νόμου
Category: Covenant
NEW. This exact phrase is independently attested in Qumran’s 4QMMT (‘miqtzat ma’asei ha-Torah’), authentic Second-Temple Hebrew, not an artificial coinage — a genuine linguistic asset. The risk is entirely theological: this is the letter’s central polemical target and must be framed as a critique of a soteriological misuse of Torah, never a critique of Torah’s inherent worth. Occurs three times in 2:16 alone, plus 3:2,5,10.
Elemental Principles
Approved rendering: יסודות העולם
Transliteration: yesodot ha-olam
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Original: στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Covenant
NEW. Ambiguous Greek term (elementary principles / cosmic-spiritual powers), applied by Paul to both pagan idolatry and, startlingly, to a Gentile reversion to Torah-calendar observance as a means of justification (4:3,9). Specifically fraught for a Hebrew reader because 4:9-10 applies language originally used of pagan bondage to a return to Torah-calendar observance — must be framed with extreme care so as not to equate Torah observance itself with pagan idolatry. Mandatory theologian review, every occurrence.
Calendar Observance
Approved rendering: ימים וחדשים ומועדים ושנים
Transliteration: yamim ve-chodashim u-mo’adim ve-shanim
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Original: ἡμέρας, μῆνας, καιρούς, ἐνιαυτούς
Category: Covenant
NEW. Calendrical religious observance (days, months, seasons, years) which the Galatians were adopting as part of a justification-by-law system (4:10). Directly touches Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, and the mo’adim (festivals) — the very fabric of Jewish religious calendar life. Must be framed as addressing a specific pastoral crisis (Gentile believers adopting calendar-observance as a requirement for justification), never as a general critique of festival/Sabbath observance. Mandatory theologian review.
Hagar Sarah Allegory
Approved rendering: הגר, שרה, יצחק, ישמעאל
Transliteration: Hagar, Sarah, Yitzchak, Yishma’el
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: Ἁγάρ, Σάρρα, Ἰσαάκ, Ἰσμαήλ
Category: Covenant
NEW. Paul’s extended allegory: Hagar/Ishmael representing the Sinai covenant and slavery, Sarah/Isaac representing the promise and freedom (4:21-31). Requires exceptionally careful handling: risks (a) being heard as disparaging the Sinai covenant itself, and (b) in the contemporary context, Ishmael’s traditional Arab/Muslim association adds a modern political-sensitivity layer absent from the first-century setting. Mandatory theologian review; must be taught as Paul’s own explicitly bounded typological argument, never a statement about any present-day people group.
Jerusalem Above
Approved rendering: ירושלים של מעלה
Transliteration: Yerushalayim shel ma’lah
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise; Church as God’s People
Original: ἡ ἄνω Ἰερουσαλήμ
Category: Covenant
NEW. The heavenly, eschatological Jerusalem, contrasted typologically with ‘the present Jerusalem’ associated with slavery (4:26). Maximal political, religious, and personal identity weight for a Hebrew-speaking reader. Must be explicitly bounded as an argument about covenant-basis only, never a disparagement of the literal city, its people, or contemporary Jewish life. Mandatory theologian review.
Israel Of God
Approved rendering: ישראל של אלוהים
Transliteration: Yisra’el shel Elohim
Doctrine: The Israel of God (Galatians 6:16)
Rejected alternatives: ישראל האמיתי (‘the true Israel’) — rejected, tips toward a supersessionist reading implying replacement or sole legitimacy, a ‘new Israel’ qualifier of any kind — rejected for the same reason
Original: Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Covenant
NEW. One of the most exegetically contested NT phrases (ethnic Israel specifically, believing Jews within Israel, or a more contested reading including Gentiles, 6:16). Use only the bare construct יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁל אֱלֹהִים. Whatever exegetical position is taught, the rendering and accompanying notes must explicitly invoke the Romans 11 grafting-in framework and must never suggest the Church has replaced or become ‘the true Israel’ in supersessionist terms. Mandatory human theologian review — the single highest-stakes phrase in the entire book.
No Distinction
Approved rendering: אין יהודי ולא יוון, אין עבד ולא חופשי, אין זכר ונקבה
Transliteration: ein Yehudi ve-lo Yavan, ein eved ve-lo chofshi, ein zachar u-nekevah
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: οὐκ ἔνι Ἰουδαῖος οὐδὲ Ἕλλην, οὐκ ἔνι δοῦλος οὐδὲ ἐλεύθερος, οὐκ ἔνι ἄρσεν καὶ θῆλυ
Category: Church
NEW dedicated entry (reuses baseline unity_of_jews_and_gentiles doctrine framing). The letter’s sweeping unity-in-Christ statement (3:28). Must be read alongside Romans 11’s grafting-in framework; equal standing in Christ, never erasure of ongoing Jewish covenantal distinctiveness. Do not let popular paraphrase extend this into ‘no Jewish or Gentile identity at all.‘
Circumcision
Approved rendering: מילה
Transliteration: milah
Doctrine: Circumcision and the New Creation
Original: περιτομή
Category: Covenant
NEW. The Abrahamic covenant sign (Genesis 17); the letter’s central practical controversy when required for Gentile justification (2:3-9,12; 5:2-6,11; 6:12-13). The single most sensitive covenant-identity marker in Judaism (Brit Milah, performed on every Jewish male at eight days). Paul’s argument targets circumcision required as a condition of justification for Gentiles, not circumcision as ongoing Jewish practice per se; this distinction is the crux of the letter and must never be flattened. Mandatory theologian review every occurrence in chapter 5.
Baptized
Approved rendering: טבילה
Transliteration: tevilah
Doctrine: Christian Identity in Christ
Original: βαπτίζω
Category: Salvation
NEW; outstanding gap in the baseline Romans package despite Romans 6:3-4 using the same term. Ritual immersion marking incorporation into Christ’s death and resurrection (3:27). Deeply embedded in Jewish practice (mikveh immersion for purity and conversion) — a double-edged asset: immediately intelligible, but risks being heard as merely one more purificatory or conversion-adjacent immersion rather than once-for-all incorporation into Christ. Recommend formal cross-curriculum promotion. Mandatory theologian review.
Freedom
Approved rendering: חרות
Transliteration: cherut
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ
Original: ἐλευθερία
Category: Freedom
NEW, named curriculum doctrine (‘Freedom in Christ’). Freedom from the requirement of circumcision/law-observance for justification, and from sin generally (2:4; 5:1,13). חֵרוּת is a genuine positive resource (Passover’s ‘zman cheiruteinu’; modern Israeli Independence Day vocabulary), but risks being heard as primarily national/political freedom rather than freedom from the law’s curse and from sin. Require accompanying phrasing anchoring cherut to that specific referent at every occurrence.
Yoke Of Slavery
Approved rendering: עול העבדות
Transliteration: ol ha-avdut
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ; Law and Grace
Original: ζυγὸς δουλείας
Category: Freedom
NEW. Paul’s warning against ‘submitting again to a yoke of slavery’ — accepting circumcision/law-observance as necessary for justification (5:1). Direct and serious collision: ‘yoke’ (עֹל) in Rabbinic usage is overwhelmingly positive — ‘עוֹל תּוֹרָה’ and ‘עוֹל מַלְכוּת שָׁמַיִם’ are cherished categories of devoted covenant submission. Paul’s negative sense here refers specifically to circumcision/law-observance imposed as a requirement for justification and must be explicitly taught against the positive Rabbinic default. Mandatory theologian review.
Walk By The Spirit
Approved rendering: התהלכו ברוח
Transliteration: hithalchu ba-ruach
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit; Sanctification
Original: περιπατεῖτε πνεύματι / στοιχῶμεν
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Ongoing lived conduct governed by the Spirit, the positive alternative to both law-works and flesh-indulgence (5:16,25). A remarkable double-edged convergence: the Hebrew root ה-ל-ך (‘to walk’) is the very root of הֲלָכָה (halakhah), Judaism’s entire legal/behavioral practice framework. Genuine teaching asset but also a serious risk of being heard as endorsing lawless subjectivism or a rival halakhic system rather than fulfilling Torah’s moral core. Mandatory theologian review.
Crucified The Flesh
Approved rendering: צלב את הבשר
Transliteration: tzalav et ha-basar
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit; Crucified with Christ
Original: σταυρόω τὴν σάρκα
Category: Sanctification
NEW compound of two already-Critical/High entries (‘cross_crucifixion’ + ‘flesh’); believers ‘have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires,’ extending the 2:20 crucified-with-Christ theme into ongoing sanctified living (5:24). Requires the combined framing cautions of both source entries.
High Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: חסד
Transliteration: chesed
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: חן
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Chesed carries the fuller OT covenant-loyalty sense but must be sharpened to convey favor given wholly apart from Torah observance. FOR GALATIANS: risk tier elevated from the baseline’s Medium to High because Galatians sets grace directly against ‘works of the law’ at higher density and sharper polemical intensity than Romans (1:6; 2:21; 5:4; 6:18); chesed must be resharpened at every occurrence so favor is never implicitly conditioned on Torah-observance.
Faith
Approved rendering: אמונה
Transliteration: emunah
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: ביטחון
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Must be anchored as personal trust in Messiah’s finished work, not bundled with continued Torah-observance as its necessary expression. FOR GALATIANS: occurs at exceptionally high density (2:16, 2:20, 3:2-26, 5:5-6); the object of faith (Christ) must remain explicit at every occurrence. See new term ‘faith_of_christ’ for the genitive-ambiguity nuance and ‘faithfulness_virtue’ for the disambiguated fruit-of-the-Spirit sense at 5:22.
Called
Approved rendering: קרוא
Transliteration: karu
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Original: καλέω
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Context-sensitive across senses. FOR GALATIANS: at least three distinct senses occur within this single short letter — apostolic calling (1:15), calling to grace (1:6), and calling to freedom (5:13) — check which is active at each occurrence.
Calling
Approved rendering: קריאה
Transliteration: keri’ah
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Original: κλῆσις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Must convey sovereign summons, not human-initiated seeking. FOR GALATIANS: noun form supporting the same three senses tracked under ‘called’.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: התקדשות
Transliteration: hitkadshut
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: קידוש
Inherited from Romans package. Never קִידוּש (the Shabbat/holiday wine-blessing ritual). FOR GALATIANS: governs the Spirit-led-living doctrine of ch.5-6 (5:16-25, 6:1); the הֲלָכָה root-echo in ‘walk by the Spirit’ (see new term ‘walk_by_the_spirit’) is a double-edged asset requiring the same forbidden-substitution discipline as this baseline entry.
Adoption
Approved rendering: אימוץ
Transliteration: imutz
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: υἱοθεσία
Category: Adoption
Inherited from Romans package. Israel’s sonship in Jewish self-understanding is by birth-covenant (Deuteronomy 14:1), not adoption. FOR GALATIANS: 4:1-7 develops this doctrine at greater compressed density than any single Romans passage; must be taught alongside, not instead of, Israel’s birth-covenant sonship framework.
Sin
Approved rendering: חטא
Transliteration: chet
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package. Mainstream Jewish anthropology (yetzer hatov/yetzer hara, real freedom to choose good) does not default to an inherited corrupted nature. FOR GALATIANS: distinguish this abstract noun from the new agent-noun ‘sinners’ (חוֹטְאִים, see new term ‘sinners’) used at 2:15,17; also underlies 3:22’s totalizing ‘confined under sin’ claim (see new term ‘universal_human_accountability_terms’).
Covenant
Approved rendering: ברית
Transliteration: brit
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Tightly bound to Torah-observance and circumcision in Jewish self-understanding. FOR GALATIANS: risk is intensified because בְּרִית’s everyday association is specifically Brit Milah (circumcision), the exact practice Paul argues does not condition the Abrahamic promise (3:15,17; 4:24); keep the new term ‘promise’ (הַבְטָחָה) as the lead term through 3:15-18’s sequencing argument before introducing בְּרִית.
Another Gospel
Approved rendering: בשורה אחרת
Transliteration: besorah acheret
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Original: εὐαγγέλιον ἕτερον
Category: Salvation
NEW. A rival proclamation presented as equivalent to Paul’s gospel but requiring circumcision/law-observance for justification (1:6-7). Must be clearly distinguished in register from the definite ‘הַבְּשׂוֹרָה’ so it reads as a false rival, not a mere variant edition.
Faith Of Christ
Approved rendering: אמונת ישוע המשיח
Transliteration: emunat Yeshua ha-Mashiach
Doctrine: Faith; Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: subjective-genitive reading ‘אמונתו של המשיח עצמו’ (the faithfulness of Christ himself) — recorded as a valid alternative reading in translator notes, not rejected outright
Original: πίστις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ / πίστις Χριστοῦ
Category: Faith
NEW. The Greek genitive (πίστις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ) is ambiguous between ‘faith in Christ’ (objective) and ‘the faithfulness of Christ’ (subjective); Hebrew’s construct state preserves the identical ambiguity. Objective reading recommended for consistency with 2:16b’s explicit ‘we believed in Christ Jesus,’ but the subjective alternative must be recorded in a translator note per the ambiguity-handling protocol. Occurs at 2:16 and 3:22.
Faith Working Through Love
Approved rendering: אמונה הפועלת מתוך אהבה
Transliteration: emunah ha-po’elet mitoch ahavah
Doctrine: Faith Working through Love
Original: πίστις δι’ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη
Category: Faith
NEW, named curriculum doctrine (5:6). Must be worded so love is faith’s Spirit-produced organic expression, never an additional meritorious work required alongside faith for justification.
Tradition Of The Fathers
Approved rendering: מסורת
Transliteration: masoret
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Original: παράδοσις
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Object of Paul’s former zeal (1:14). Resonates with ‘the Masorah,’ the authoritative transmission of Jewish textual/legal tradition; must not be misread as Paul devaluing Jewish tradition per se rather than devaluing tradition-observance as the ground of justification specifically.
Zeal
Approved rendering: קנאות
Transliteration: kana’ut
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Original: ζῆλος / ζηλωτής
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Paul’s intense, formerly militant devotion to Torah, expressed in persecuting the church (1:14). Carries substantial historical freight (Pinchas’s righteous zealotry, Numbers 25; the 1st-century Zealot movement); must be clear this describes zealous law-devotion and persecuting activity, not endorsed political revolutionary violence.
Set Apart
Approved rendering: הפריש
Transliteration: hifrish
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship; Divine Calling
Original: ἀφορίσας
Category: Apostleship
NEW. God’s sovereign separation of Paul before birth for apostolic ministry (1:15). Connects directly to the baseline’s High-risk ‘separation unto God’s service’ doctrine (Kohanim/Levi’im/Nazirite categories, now democratized to an individual apostolic calling).
Fullness Of Time
Approved rendering: מלאת הזמן
Transliteration: melo’t ha-zman
Doctrine: Messianic Promise; Incarnation
Original: πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου
Category: Adoption
NEW. The precise, appointed moment of Christ’s sending (4:4). Must be taught alongside the baseline messianic-promise doctrine’s two-comings framework: this language describes the timing of the first coming specifically, within a schedule not self-evidently complete per mainstream Rabbinic expectation.
Sons Of God Believers
Approved rendering: בני האלוהים
Transliteration: b’nei ha-Elohim
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship
Original: υἱοὶ θεοῦ
Category: Adoption
NEW nuance on baseline ‘son_of_god.’ Believers’ adoptive sonship status through faith and the Spirit (3:26; 4:6-7), distinct from Christ’s unique ontological Sonship. Must never be collapsed with ‘בֶּן הָאֱלֹהִים’ applied to Christ. The Tanakh’s prior plural ‘sons of God’ usage (angels, Genesis 6:2; Israel corporately, Exodus 4:22) is the nearer analogue, but the individual filial intimacy Paul describes (Abba-crying, 4:6) exceeds even that corporate model.
God Is One
Approved rendering: והאלוהים אחד
Transliteration: ve-ha-Elohim echad
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose; Deity of Christ (distinct argumentative context)
Original: ὁ δὲ θεὸς εἷς ἐστιν
Category: Covenant
NEW. A statement of divine unity used in Paul’s argument about the law’s mediated, plural-party origin versus the promise’s direct, unified divine origin (3:20). A direct echo of the Shema’s ‘יהוה אֶחָד’; must be handled so this statement is not confused with, or seen to undercut, the separate Christological deity-of-Christ question raised at 2:20 and elsewhere.
Abraham
Approved rendering: אברהם
Transliteration: Avraham
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: Ἀβραάμ
Category: Covenant
NEW dedicated entry (proper noun low risk; doctrinal application high). The central OT figure of Paul’s typological argument that Gentile believers are Abraham’s true heirs by faith, not circumcision (3:6-29; 4:22-31) — a major point of contested Jewish-Christian interpretation requiring careful framing.
Promise
Approved rendering: הבטחה
Transliteration: havtachah
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: ἐπαγγελία
Category: Covenant
NEW. The Abrahamic promise (Genesis 12,15,17), given 430 years before the Sinai law and thus not annulled by it (3:14-22,29; 4:23,28). The entire argument of 3:15-18 depends on the reader grasping that promise (given first, unconditional) and law (given later, at Sinai) operate on different bases; conflating them collapses Paul’s central argument.
Seed Of Abraham
Approved rendering: זרע
Transliteration: zera
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: σπέρμα
Category: Covenant
NEW application of the baseline זרע pattern (previously only ‘seed of David’). Applied typologically first to Christ (singular) and then, in him, to all believers (3:16,19,29). Hebrew זֶרַע, like Greek σπέρμα, is naturally collective/singular-ambiguous, aiding Paul’s wordplay; but the typological leap from Christ to all believers is a distinctively Christian reading requiring explicit teaching.
Tree Of The Curse
Approved rendering: עץ
Transliteration: etz
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ; Covenant Curse and Redemption
Original: ξύλον
Category: Covenant
NEW. Direct citation of Deuteronomy 21:23’s ‘hanged on a tree,’ applied by Paul to Christ’s crucifixion (3:13). Must match the Masoretic Deuteronomy 21:23 wording exactly, per the same citation-fidelity principle as the baseline’s Genesis 15:6 rule; a translator note should explain the deliberate citation and its Christological application.
Redeem
Approved rendering: פדה / פדיון
Transliteration: padah / pidyon
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise; Freedom in Christ
Rejected alternatives: גאולה
Original: ἐξαγοράζω
Category: Freedom
NEW. Commercial-legal ‘buy back’ from the law’s curse (3:13) and from slavery (4:5). פָּדָה/פִּדְיוֹן is closer to the specific legal buy-back sense than גְּאוּלָה, which is rejected here because it too easily defaults to national/eschatological deliverance, the same risk profile the baseline flags for ‘salvation.‘
Paidagogos Guardian
Approved rendering: אפוטרופוס
Transliteration: apotropos
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Rejected alternatives: מורה
Original: παιδαγωγός
Category: Covenant
NEW. A slave entrusted with custodial (not instructional) supervision of a minor until maturity; the law’s temporary function until Christ came (3:24-25). אַפּוֹטְרוֹפּוֹס is a genuine Mishnaic Hebrew loanword for a legal guardian of a minor. FORBIDDEN SUBSTITUTION: never מוֹרֶה (teacher), which would wrongly cast Torah’s role as instructional content-delivery rather than temporary custodial supervision, and would undermine Torah’s dignity contrary to the baseline’s framing principle.
Children Of Promise
Approved rendering: בני ההבטחה
Transliteration: b’nei ha-havtachah
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise; Adoption and Sonship
Original: τέκνα ἐπαγγελίας
Category: Covenant
NEW. Believers identified with Isaac, the child of promise, rather than natural descent alone (4:28). Combines the ‘promise’ term with the Hagar-Sarah allegory.
Universal Human Accountability Terms
Approved rendering: הכתוב כלא את הכל תחת החטא
Transliteration: ha-katuv kala et ha-kol tachat ha-chet
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Original: συνέκλεισεν ἡ γραφὴ τὰ πάντα ὑπὸ ἁμαρτίαν
Category: Sin
NEW. Scripture’s confinement of all things/persons under sin (3:22), grounding universal need for faith rather than law. The Rabbinic yetzer hatov/yetzer hara framework with real freedom to choose good does not default to this totalizing confinement-under-sin claim, which must be taught deliberately against that default.
Idolatry
Approved rendering: עבודה זרה
Transliteration: avodah zarah
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: εἰδωλολατρία
Category: Sin
NEW. Worship of images/false gods; one item in the works-of-the-flesh vice list (5:20). One of the three cardinal transgressions in Jewish law requiring martyrdom rather than transgression; this word choice carries exceptional gravity, reinforcing rather than undermining Paul’s point, but should not be used loosely elsewhere for lesser offenses.
Uncircumcision
Approved rendering: עורלה
Transliteration: orlah
Doctrine: Circumcision and the New Creation
Original: ἀκροβυστία
Category: Covenant
NEW. The physically uncircumcised state; Paul’s deliberately even-handed formula ‘neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything’ (5:6; 2:7). עׇרְלָה also names the fourth-year-fruit prohibition (Leviticus 19:23) and carries a mildly negative connotation elsewhere; must be handled as a neutral descriptive term here, matching Paul’s even-handed force.
Slavery
Approved rendering: עבדות
Transliteration: avdut
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ; Law and Grace
Original: δουλεία / δουλεύω
Category: Freedom
NEW. Bondage; both the Galatians’ former pagan bondage (4:8) and the risk of a new bondage to law-observance-as-justification (4:9), and Hagar’s slave status (4:24-25). Must be carefully distinguished from the positive ‘eved Hashem’ framework used positively elsewhere (see ‘slave_of_christ’); here the sense is wholly negative bondage.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: חיי עולם
Transliteration: chayei olam
Doctrine: Eternal Life as a Present Possession
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Eschatology
NEW. The positive eschatological reward of Spirit-sown living, already being ‘reaped’ in the present (6:8). Directly echoes Daniel 12:2’s ‘chayei olam’ and the Amidah’s liturgical ‘olam ha-ba’ framework. Mainstream Jewish eschatological expectation defaults to a corporate, future-only category, whereas Paul presents eternal life as a present possession already being reaped, not solely a future national hope.
Flesh
Approved rendering: בשר
Transliteration: basar
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: σάρξ
Category: Sanctification
NEW dedicated entry not present in the baseline package (though the underlying flesh/Spirit tension appears in Romans 7-8). Ranges across (1) ordinary physical body (2:20; 4:13-14), (2) human descent/ancestry (4:23,29), (3) morally corrupted human nature opposed to the Spirit (5:13-24). Biblical Hebrew בָּשָׂר ordinarily denotes simply ‘flesh/body/meat’ without inherent moral coloring; the morally-loaded sense must be clearly signaled by context and surrounding vocabulary at every occurrence. Recommend formal cross-curriculum promotion.
Works Of The Flesh
Approved rendering: מעשי הבשר
Transliteration: ma’asei ha-basar
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: τὰ ἔργα τῆς σαρκός
Category: Sanctification
NEW. The itemized vice-list of sinful deeds (5:19-21), structurally contrasted (plural) with the following singular ‘fruit.’ Preserve the deliberate Greek plural-vs-singular literary contrast in Hebrew (plural מַעֲשִׂים vs. singular פְּרִי).
New Creation
Approved rendering: בריאה חדשה
Transliteration: beri’ah chadashah
Doctrine: Circumcision and the New Creation
Original: καινὴ κτίσις
Category: Salvation
NEW, named curriculum doctrine. The letter’s doctrinal capstone directly answering the circumcision controversy: ‘neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but a new creation’ (6:15). Must convey an eschatological, individually-transformative reality, not merely ‘a new development’ in the colloquial register.
Died For Nothing
Approved rendering: מת לשווא
Transliteration: met la-shav
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: מת חינם
Original: Χριστὸς δωρεὰν ἀπέθανεν
Category: Salvation
NEW. The rhetorical climax of 2:21: if law-righteousness were possible, the cross would be superfluous. לַשָּׁוְא (‘in vain’) is required, not חִנָּם (‘for free’), which risks nonsensical reading and also risks echoing the baseline’s explicitly rejected ‘grace’ alternative חֵן.
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; must be qualified as the specific proclamation of salvation through the Messiah, not left to stand alone as generic good tidings. FOR GALATIANS: must always appear with the definite article (הַבְּשׂוֹרָה) to maintain the sharp contrast with the indefinite ‘another gospel’ (בְּשׂוֹרָה אֲחֶרֶת, see new term ‘another_gospel’); a dropped definite article collapses Paul’s central rhetorical antithesis in 1:6-9.
Apostle
Approved rendering: שליח
Transliteration: shaliach
Doctrine: Apostleship
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Main risk is the modern secular Jewish-Agency-emissary overlay. FOR GALATIANS: Paul’s entire ch.1-2 argument defends the divine, non-human origin of his shlichut; never render bare ‘שליח’ in 1:1 without a qualifying phrase (e.g., ‘שָׁלִיחַ יֵשׁוּעַ הַמָּשִׁיחַ’) that keeps the divine-commissioning sense distinct from the everyday emissary sense.
Peace
Approved rendering: שלום
Transliteration: shalom
Doctrine: Peace with God
Inherited from Romans package. Risk of dilution through everyday greeting usage. FOR GALATIANS: appears in the epistolary greeting (1:3) and benediction (6:16); same dilution risk applies.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: מלכות האלוהים
Transliteration: malchut ha-Elohim
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Inherited from Romans package. Distinguish from Jewish national/political sovereignty expectations. FOR GALATIANS: occurs at 5:21 in the vice-list warning (‘will not inherit the kingdom of God’).
Gentiles
Approved rendering: גויים
Transliteration: goyim
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: עמים
Original: ἔθνη
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Colloquial pejorative drift must not undercut the text’s inclusive intent. FOR GALATIANS: central to the letter’s entire practical stake over circumcision/law-works requirements for Gentile justification (2:12, 2:14-15, 3:8, 3:14).
Glory
Approved rendering: כבוד
Transliteration: kavod
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Must retain the weighty manifest-divine-presence sense, not the colloquial ‘kol hakavod’ usage. FOR GALATIANS: appears doxologically at 1:5 and 1:24.
David
Approved rendering: דוד
Transliteration: David
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Inherited from Romans package, retained here to note David is NOT directly named anywhere in Galatians (unlike Romans). Galatians instead develops a broader ‘seed of Abraham’ typology (see new term ‘seed_of_abraham’) rather than the Davidic line specifically.
Father
Approved rendering: אבינו
Transliteration: Avinu
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Avinu in Jewish liturgy is corporate; Romans 8’s individualized filial cry is an emphasis-shift to teach, not a contradiction. FOR GALATIANS: appears at 1:1, 1:3, 1:4, and paired with ‘Abba’ at 4:6 — must match the Romans 8:15 rendering exactly per the cross-document consistency rule.
Abba
Approved rendering: אבא
Transliteration: Abba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: Ἀββά
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Because the word is ordinary, unremarkable Modern Hebrew for ‘Dad,’ Paul’s radical point can be under-appreciated. FOR GALATIANS: appears at 4:6 in an identical formula to Romans 8:15; must match that rendering exactly.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: זרע דוד
Transliteration: zera David
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: σπέρμα Δαυίδ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package, included here for completeness only: this exact phrase does NOT occur in Galatians. Galatians instead extends the baseline ‘זֶרַע’ (seed) pattern to a broader ‘seed of Abraham’ typology (see new term ‘seed_of_abraham’) applied first to Christ singularly and then to all believers (3:16, 3:19, 3:29).
Faithfulness Virtue
Approved rendering: נאמנות
Transliteration: ne’emanut
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: אמונה (bare)
Original: πίστις (Gal 5:22 list sense)
Category: Faith
NEW. The fruit-list sense of πίστις at 5:22 is reliability/trustworthiness in conduct, distinct from saving faith. Use נֶאֱמָנוּת specifically to disambiguate this occurrence from אֱמוּנָה used for saving faith throughout the rest of the letter — here the praxis-oriented sense is precisely correct.
Revelation
Approved rendering: התגלות
Transliteration: hitgalut
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship; Inspiration of Scripture
Original: ἀποκάλυψις
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Direct divine disclosure; Paul insists his gospel came not from human teaching but a personal revelation of Jesus Christ (1:12). No collision with the baseline הִתְגַּלְמוּת (incarnation, different root ג-ל-ה vs ג-ל-ם). Must convey a singular, direct revelatory event, consistent with the Jewish tiered view of inspiration (Torah vs. Prophets/Writings).
Slave Of Christ
Approved rendering: עבד המשיח
Transliteration: eved ha-Mashiach
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Original: δοῦλος Χριστοῦ
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Paul’s self-designation of total, willing ownership-belonging to Christ (1:10). Echoes the honorable ‘eved Hashem’ (Servant of the LORD) framework applied to Moses and the prophets; must retain that dignity, not read as demeaning servitude.
Marks Of Jesus
Approved rendering: צלקות ישוע
Transliteration: tzalkot Yeshua
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Original: τὰ στίγματα τοῦ Ἰησοῦ
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Paul’s physical scars from persecution, presented as evidence of authentic servanthood to Christ (6:17). Must be understood as persecution scars or an ownership/military brand-mark, never the later Catholic devotional ‘stigmata’ concept (miraculous wound-replication).
Heir
Approved rendering: יורש
Transliteration: yoresh
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship
Original: κληρονόμος
Category: Adoption
NEW. Believers, as Abraham’s seed through Christ, are heirs according to promise (3:29; 4:1,7). Draws on nachalah/inheritance theology; must be generalized appropriately beyond land-inheritance to the Abrahamic promise itself.
Sent Forth
Approved rendering: שלח
Transliteration: shalach
Doctrine: Mission; Adoption and Sonship
Original: ἐξαπέστειλεν
Category: Adoption
NEW. God’s commissioned sending of the Son (4:4) and then the Spirit (4:6). Shares the ש-ל-ח root with שָׁלִיח/שְׁלִיחוּת (apostle/mission), reinforcing rather than colliding with the baseline apostleship and mission categories.
Curse
Approved rendering: קללה
Transliteration: klalah
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise; The Law’s Purpose
Original: κατάρα
Category: Covenant
NEW. The covenant-curse consequence of law-violation (Deuteronomy 27-28); Christ redeemed believers from it by becoming a curse for them (3:10,13). Standard, well-established biblical vocabulary; risk is theological application (Christ’s substitutionary curse-bearing), not lexical.
Guarded In Custody
Approved rendering: היינו נתונים במשמר
Transliteration: hayinu netunim be-mishmar
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Original: φρουρούμεθα / συγκλειόμενοι
Category: Covenant
NEW. Custodial confinement describing existence under the law prior to Christ’s coming (3:23). Vivid custodial imagery paired with the paidagōgos metaphor; must be read alongside that entry’s framing caution.
Sinners
Approved rendering: חוטאים
Transliteration: chotim
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Original: ἁμαρτωλοί
Category: Sin
NEW. Agent-noun for persons characterized by transgression; a rhetorical Jewish-perspective label for Gentiles which Paul cites then dismantles (2:15,17). Distinct from the abstract baseline ‘sin’ noun (חֵטְא); must retain personal, characterizing force, not collapse into the abstract term.
Sorcery
Approved rendering: כישוף
Transliteration: kishuf
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: φαρμακεία
Category: Sin
NEW. Occult practice using potions/spells; a vice-list item (5:20), thematically paired with the 3:1 ‘bewitched’ motif.
Bewitched
Approved rendering: כישף
Transliteration: kishef
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Original: ἐβάσκανεν
Category: Rhetoric
NEW. Paul’s rhetorical shock-question accusing the Galatians of having been deceived as if by sorcery (3:1). The word’s connection to Torah’s strong prohibition on sorcery (Exodus 22:17; Deut 18:10-11) sharpens rather than undermines Paul’s point, but must be read as rhetorical hyperbole, not a literal accusation.
Pillars
Approved rendering: עמודים
Transliteration: amudim
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Original: στῦλοι
Category: Church
NEW. Metaphor for James, Peter, and John as foundational leaders of the Jerusalem church (2:9). Positive architectural metaphor, resonant with Temple imagery (the pillars Jachin and Boaz, 1 Kings 7:21).
Truth Of The Gospel
Approved rendering: אמת הבשורה
Transliteration: emet ha-besorah
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Original: ἀλήθεια τοῦ εὐαγγελίου
Category: Rhetoric
NEW. The gospel’s unqualified truth, threatened by inconsistent conduct (2:14). Reinforces the gospel’s exclusive truth-claim against ‘another gospel.‘
Clothed With Christ
Approved rendering: התלבש
Transliteration: hitlabesh
Doctrine: Christian Identity in Christ
Original: ἐνδύω
Category: Salvation
NEW. Garment metaphor for taking on Christ’s identity following baptism (3:27). Echoes Isaiah 61:10’s ‘garments of salvation/righteousness,’ a positive resource.
Enslave
Approved rendering: לשעבד
Transliteration: leshabed
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ; Law and Grace
Original: καταδουλόω
Category: Freedom
NEW. The false brothers’ goal of subjecting Gentile believers to law-observance as a requirement (2:4). Tied to the slavery/freedom theme running through the letter.
Present Evil Age
Approved rendering: העולם הזה
Transliteration: ha-olam ha-zeh
Doctrine: Eternal Life as a Present Possession
Original: αἰὼν ὁ ἐνεστώς
Category: Eschatology
NEW. The two-age apocalyptic framework; Christ’s death ‘rescues us from the present evil age’ (1:4). A genuine positive existing resource: Rabbinic Judaism has its own robust ‘olam ha-zeh / olam ha-ba’ framework; risk is ensuring the NT’s already-inaugurated ‘age to come’ is taught alongside, not simply absorbed into, the standard future-only Rabbinic expectation.
Desire Of The Flesh
Approved rendering: תאות הבשר
Transliteration: ta’avat ha-basar
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: ἐπιθυμία σαρκός
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Sinful appetite/craving, the internal pull opposing the Spirit (5:16). Positive teaching bridge to the existing Rabbinic yetzer hara (evil inclination) framework.
Fruit Of The Spirit
Approved rendering: פרי הרוח
Transliteration: peri ha-ruach
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: פֵּרוֹת הרוח (plural form)
Original: καρπὸς τοῦ πνεύματος
Category: Sanctification
NEW, named curriculum doctrine (5:22-23). Deliberately singular (‘fruit,’ not ‘fruits’), signaling unified character. Must preserve the singular form (never פֵּרוֹת) to retain the organic-unity emphasis, contrasted with the plural ‘works of the flesh.‘
Mutilate Themselves
Approved rendering: יסרסו את עצמם
Transliteration: yesarsu et atzmam
Doctrine: Circumcision and the New Creation (rhetoric)
Original: ἀποκόψονται
Category: Rhetoric
NEW. Paul’s sarcastic wish that the circumcision-pressers would castrate themselves (5:12). Primarily a register/decorum challenge (graphic rhetorical hyperbole) rather than a doctrinal collision; preserve the shocking force without unnecessary vulgarity.
Bear One Anothers Burdens
Approved rendering: שאו את מעמסותיכם זה של זה
Transliteration: se’u et ma’amasoteichem zeh shel zeh
Doctrine: Bearing One Another’s Burdens
Original: ἀλλήλων τὰ βάρη βαστάζετε
Category: Ethics
NEW, named curriculum doctrine (6:2). βάρος (weight/burden) is a distinct Greek word from φορτίον (v.5); preserve this Pauline distinction between shared burdens and personal accountability in the Hebrew rendering (see ‘ones_own_load’).
Corruption
Approved rendering: כליון
Transliteration: kilayon
Doctrine: Eternal Life as a Present Possession
Rejected alternatives: השחתה
Original: φθορά
Category: Ethics
NEW. The negative outcome of sowing to the flesh, contrasted with eternal life (6:8). Significant eschatological weight in context.
Household Of Faith
Approved rendering: בני האמונה
Transliteration: b’nei ha-emunah
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: בית האמונה
Original: οἰκεῖοι τῆς πίστεως
Category: Church
NEW. The household/family metaphor for the community of believers, prioritized for care without excluding ‘everyone’ (6:10). Must not be read as excluding the ‘everyone’ named in the same verse.
Nullify
Approved rendering: מבטל
Transliteration: mevatel
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Original: ἀθετῶ
Category: Salvation
NEW. Legal/covenantal invalidation; Paul insists he does not nullify the grace of God (2:21). Must not be softened to ‘ignore’; the sense is legal invalidation.
Transgressor
Approved rendering: פושע
Transliteration: poshe’a
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Original: παραβάτην
Category: Sin
NEW. One who oversteps a boundary; reversion to law-works as the ground of righteousness would ironically constitute this very transgression (2:18). Must not be read as a general moral-failure term detached from the specific returning-to-law-as-basis-of-righteousness argument in context.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: שותפות
Transliteration: shutafut
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: קהילה
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Kept distinct from קהילה (church). FOR GALATIANS: renders the ‘right hand of fellowship’ extended to Paul and Barnabas at 2:9, confirming shared gospel mission.
Minor Child
Approved rendering: קטין
Transliteration: katin
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship; The Law’s Purpose
Original: νήπιος
Category: Adoption
NEW. A legal minor, under guardians, whose practical condition resembles slavery until maturity (4:1,3). Standard legal-minority term, low collision risk.
Guardians And Managers
Approved rendering: אפוטרופסים ומנהלים
Transliteration: apotropsim u-menahalim
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Original: ἐπίτροπος / οἰκονόμος
Category: Adoption
NEW. Legal custodial/administrative roles over a minor’s estate (4:2), extending the paidagōgos metaphor. Standard legal-guardianship vocabulary; pair with the ‘paidagogos_guardian’ entry’s framing caution.
Mediator
Approved rendering: מתווך
Transliteration: metavech
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Original: μεσίτης
Category: Covenant
NEW. The go-between (traditionally Moses) through whom the law was given (3:19-20). Standard Modern Hebrew term, no significant collision; implicit typological link to Moses as covenant mediator is worth a teaching note.
False Brothers
Approved rendering: אחים כוזבים
Transliteration: achim kozvim
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles (narrative)
Original: ψευδάδελφοι
Category: Church
NEW. Persons posing as fellow believers while undermining the gospel (2:4).
Hypocrisy
Approved rendering: צביעות
Transliteration: tzevi’ut
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles (narrative)
Original: ὑπόκρισις
Category: Church
NEW. Acting inconsistently with one’s true convictions; Peter’s and Barnabas’s public inconsistency (2:13).
Joy
Approved rendering: שמחה
Transliteration: simchah
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Original: χαρά
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Deep gladness; a fruit-of-the-Spirit item (5:22). Genuine positive asset, central to Jewish festival life (simchat chag).
Patience
Approved rendering: אורך אפים
Transliteration: orech apayim
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: סבלנות
Original: μακροθυμία
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Forbearance under provocation; a fruit-of-the-Spirit item (5:22).
Kindness
Approved rendering: טוב לבב
Transliteration: tuv levav
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: נדיבות
Original: χρηστότης
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Benevolent disposition in action; a fruit-of-the-Spirit item (5:22). Should be kept distinct from חֶסֶד (grace) to avoid blurring the doctrinal grace term with an ordinary ethical virtue.
Goodness
Approved rendering: טוב
Transliteration: tuv
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Original: ἀγαθωσύνη
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Moral excellence in action; a fruit-of-the-Spirit item (5:22).
Gentleness
Approved rendering: ענוה
Transliteration: anavah
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Original: πραΰτης
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Humble, non-self-assertive strength; a fruit-of-the-Spirit item (5:23). Positive Mosaic resonance (Moses described as very anav, Numbers 12:3).
Self Control
Approved rendering: ריסון עצמי
Transliteration: risun atzmi
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: שלטון עצמי
Original: ἐγκράτεια
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Mastery over one’s impulses; a fruit-of-the-Spirit item (5:23).
Leaven
Approved rendering: חמץ / בצק
Transliteration: chametz / batzek
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Original: ζύμη / φύραμα
Category: Rhetoric
NEW. Warning that a small compromise (the false teaching) will corrupt the whole community (5:9). Genuine positive asset: chametz’s removal before Passover is deeply embedded practice, and the Talmudic image of ‘leaven in the dough’ (Berakhot 17a) as a figure for the evil inclination is a remarkably close existing rabbinic parallel.
Love Your Neighbor
Approved rendering: ואהבת לרעך כמוך
Transliteration: ve-ahavta le-re’acha kamocha
Doctrine: Faith Working through Love
Original: ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου
Category: Faith
NEW. Direct citation of Leviticus 19:18; the whole law is ‘fulfilled’ in this single command (5:14). Must match the Masoretic Leviticus 19:18 wording exactly, per the same citation-fidelity principle as the baseline’s Genesis 15:6 rule.
Ones Own Load
Approved rendering: משא
Transliteration: masa
Doctrine: Bearing One Another’s Burdens
Original: τὸ ἴδιον φορτίον
Category: Ethics
NEW. Personal accountability, distinct from communal burden-bearing (6:5). See ‘bear_one_anothers_burdens’ for the preserved Greek two-word distinction.
Sow And Reap
Approved rendering: לזרוע / לקצור
Transliteration: lizro’a / liktzor
Doctrine: (closing exhortation)
Original: σπείρῃ / θερίσει
Category: Ethics
NEW. Agricultural metaphor for moral causation (6:7-8). Genuine positive resource, directly echoing OT agricultural-moral imagery (Hosea 8:7).
Rule Standard
Approved rendering: כלל
Transliteration: klal
Doctrine: (closing exhortation)
Rejected alternatives: קנה מידה
Original: κανών
Category: Ethics
NEW. The standard by which those who live by the new-creation principle walk (6:16).
Referenced passages