Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 1 John (English → Hindi)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md across all five chapters of 1 John, including the core passage (4:7-21). Terms are grouped by status:
- [BASELINE — REUSE]: term already recorded in the Romans/Galatians
translation_memory.json/bible_term_registry.json. Rendering reused exactly; risk tier as recorded there unless explicitly noted as contextually elevated for this curriculum (elevation applies only to review routing emphasis, never to the rendering itself). - [NEW]: term not present in the baseline; proposed rendering and risk tier for Phase 1 Step 2+ adjudication and eventual addition to translation memory.
All Hindi renderings are in Devanagari script per the established package standard.
Table 1 — Terms Reused Exactly from the Romans/Galatians Baseline
| # | English term | Hindi rendering | Transliteration | Risk (baseline) | Doctrine link (1 John) | Key passages | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God | परमेश्वर | Parameśvara | Critical | God is Light / God is Love | 1:5; 4:8,16; 5:20 | Never भगवान/ईश्वर for doctrinal precision, per baseline |
| 2 | Jesus | यीशु | Yīśu | Critical | Incarnation and Antichrist | 4:2-3,15; 5:1,5 | BSI OV standard form |
| 3 | Son of God | परमेश्वर का पुत्र | Parameśvara kā putra | Critical | Incarnation and Antichrist; Assurance | 4:9,15; 5:5,10-13,20 | Full phrase mandatory; never softened |
| 4 | Incarnation | देहधारण | dehadhāraṇa | Critical | The Incarnation and Antichrist | 4:2-3 | Never अवतार |
| 5 | Flesh (literal, incarnational sense) | शरीर | śarīra | High | The Incarnation and Antichrist | 4:2; 2:16 (ethical sense) | Distinguish literal-body sense (4:2) from Pauline technical fallen-nature sense (2:16); context governs |
| 6 | Holy Spirit | पवित्र आत्मा | Pavitra Ātmā | Critical | Fellowship with God; Assurance; Testing the Spirits | 3:24; 4:2,6,13 | Never ब्रह्म/परमात्मा alone |
| 7 | Propitiation | प्रायश्चित्त | prāyaścitta | Critical | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin; God is Love | 2:2; 4:10 | Mandatory translator note: God provides it, sinner does not perform it |
| 8 | Sin | पाप | pāpa | High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 1:7-10; 2:1-2; 3:4-9; 5:16-17 | Never अशुद्धता/अधर्म |
| 9 | New Birth | नया जन्म | nayā janma | High | Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18 | Never पुनर्जन्म (reincarnation) |
| 10 | Faith / believe | विश्वास | viśvāsa | High | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | 3:23; 4:16; 5:1,4-5,10,13 | Object of faith must be recoverable: Jesus/the Son |
| 11 | Eternal Life | अनन्त जीवन | ananta jīvana | High | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | 2:25; 3:15; 5:11-13,20 | Never अमरता/moksha-adjacent framing |
| 12 | Confession (of faith) | अंगीकार करना | aṅgīkāra karanā | High | Incarnation and Antichrist; Confession of Sin | 1:9; 2:23; 4:2-3,15 | Same verb used for confessing Christ (4:2) and confessing sin (1:9) — keep doctrinally distinct via context notes |
| 13 | Idolatry / idols | मूर्तिपूजा / मूर्तियाँ | mūrtipūjā / mūrtiyāṅ | High | (closing exhortation) | 5:21 | Direct pastoral relevance; do not soften |
| 14 | Fellowship | संगति | saṃgati | Low (baseline); elevated High for this curriculum | Fellowship with God and One Another | 1:3-7 | Stated purpose of the letter; elevate review priority though rendering is unchanged |
| 15 | Brotherly Love (concept) | भाई / भाईचारे का प्रेम (frame) | bhāī / bhāīcāre kā prema | Medium (baseline); elevated High for this curriculum | Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | 2:9-11; 3:10-17; 4:20-21 | ἀδελφός is 1 John’s constant diagnostic term; elevate review priority |
| 16 | Righteous / Righteousness (of God/Christ) | धार्मिकता (family) | dhārmikatā | Critical | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 1:9; 2:1,29; 3:7 | Never धर्म |
| 17 | Mercy / compassion | दया | dayā | Medium | Love for the Brethren | 3:17 (σπλάγχνα) | Kept distinct from अनुग्रह |
| 18 | Boasting (concept, ἀλαζονεία) | घमण्ड | ghamaṇḍa | Low | Overcoming the World | 2:16 | Contextualized to “pride of life” |
| 19 | Revelation-adjacent (φανερόω, “manifest”) | प्रकट होना/करना | prakaṭa honā/karanā | Medium (new sense of a related baseline caution) | God is Light and God is Love; Incarnation | 1:2; 3:2,5,8; 4:9 | Avoid दर्शन; distinct Greek word from ἀποκάλυψις but shares the same caution |
Table 2 — New Terms Introduced by 1 John (Proposed Renderings for Adjudication)
| # | English term | Greek | Hindi rendering | Transliteration | Proposed risk | Doctrine link | Key passages | Rejected alternatives | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Love (agapē) | ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω | प्रेम / प्रेम करना | prema | Critical | God is Light and God is Love; Love for the Brethren | 2:5,10,15; 3:1,10-18; 4:7-21 (throughout) | — (प्रेम is unavoidable as the base Hindi word) | Requires mandatory translator note distinguishing self-giving, God-defined, ethically-extended ἀγάπη from bhakti’s devotee-cultivated romantic/mystical प्रेम (Radha-Krishna literature; Bollywood usage). This is the single highest-stakes new term in this curriculum |
| 2 | God is Light | ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν | परमेश्वर ज्योति है | Parameśvara jyoti hai | Critical | God is Light and God is Love | 1:5 | प्रकाश (weaker, more generic) | Must be anchored to its explanatory content (1:6-7: no falsehood/moral inconsistency in God) to avoid absorption into Hindu light-mysticism (Brahman-as-light, ātman-as-spark) |
| 3 | Light (general) | φῶς | ज्योति | jyoti | High | God is Light | 1:5,7; 2:8-10 | प्रकाश | Established BSI term (John 1:4); pair with अंधकार |
| 4 | Darkness | σκοτία / σκότος | अंधकार | andhakāra | High | God is Light | 1:5-6; 2:8-11 | — | Consistent with baseline armor_of_light pairing |
| 5 | World (bifurcated: loved by God / opposed to God) | κόσμος | जगत् | jagat | Critical/High | God is Love; Overcoming the World | 2:15-17; 4:1-5,9,14,17; 5:4-5,19 | संसार (absolutely forbidden — samsara-transcendence collision) | जगत् itself requires a translator note distinguishing real-created-fallen from Advaitic illusory māyā-jagat |
| 6 | Truth | ἀλήθεια | सच्चाई | saccāī | High | Confession and Forgiveness; Testing the Spirits | 1:6,8; 2:4,21; 3:18-19; 4:6; 5:6 | सत्य (too philosophically loaded — Sat-Chit-Ananda, Satyagraha) | Consistent with baseline truth_of_the_gospel precedent |
| 7 | Lie / liar | ψεῦδος / ψεύστης | झूठ / झूठा | jhūṭha / jhūṭhā | Medium | Confession and Forgiveness; Incarnation and Antichrist | 1:10; 2:4,21-22; 4:20; 5:10 | — | Retain full bluntness; do not soften to “mistaken” |
| 8 | Advocate (of Christ) | παράκλητος | सहायक / मध्यस्थ | sahāyaka / madhyastha | High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin; Assurance | 2:1 | वकील (too secular-legal) | Distinguish forensic advocacy-before-Father sense from the Spirit’s Paraclete/Comforter sense elsewhere in Johannine literature |
| 9 | Forgive / forgiveness | ἀφίημι / ἄφεσις | क्षमा करना | kṣamā karanā | Medium | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 1:9; 2:12 | — | Must stay grounded in Christ’s blood/propitiation context, not generic human virtue of forgiving |
| 10 | Cleanse / purify | καθαρίζω | शुद्ध करना | śuddha karanā | Medium-High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 1:7,9 | — | Ground explicitly in Christ’s blood and God’s faithful character; avoid ritual shuddhi/self-purification reading |
| 11 | Blood (of Jesus) | αἷμα | लहू | lahū | Medium | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 1:7 | रक्त (more generic/clinical) | Direction of atonement runs God-to-sinner, not sinner-to-deity (unlike bali) |
| 12 | Commandment(s) | ἐντολή / ἐντολαί | आज्ञा / आज्ञाएँ | ājñā / ājñāeṅ | Medium-High | Love for the Brethren; Overcoming the World | 2:3-8; 3:22-24; 4:21; 5:2-3 | व्यवस्था (reserved for Torah per baseline law) | 5:3 (“not burdensome”) is the internal safeguard against a duty/dharma misreading; cite it in every translator note on ἐντολή |
| 13 | Abide / remain | μένω | में बना रहना / स्थिर रहना | meṅ banā rahanā / sthira rahanā | High | Fellowship with God and One Another | 2:24,27-28; 3:6,24; 4:12-16 | — | Guard against advaitic identity-collapse reading, per baseline christ_lives_in_me caution; must preserve two distinct, personal, relating parties |
| 14 | Children of God | τέκνα θεοῦ | परमेश्वर की सन्तान | Parameśvara kī santāna | High | Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | 3:1-2,10; 5:2 | — | Keep distinct from baseline adoption (दत्तक-पुत्रता, Pauline legal image); this is the Johannine begetting image |
| 15 | Lawlessness | ἀνομία | व्यवस्था का उल्लंघन / अवज्ञा | vyavasthā kā ullaṅghana / avajñā | Critical | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 3:4 | अधर्म (absolutely forbidden — Bhagavad Gita 4:7-8 dharma/adharma avatar-doctrine collision) | Highest-stakes lexical-choice flag in the glossary outside of ἀγάπη/φῶς |
| 16 | Devil | διάβολος | शैतान | śaitāna | Medium | Love for the Brethren; Overcoming the World | 3:8,10; 5:19 (ὁ πονηρός parallel) | — | Established Hindi Christian term |
| 17 | Seed (of God, indwelling) | σπέρμα | बीज | bīja | Medium | Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | 3:9 | वंश (reserved for lineage-seed, baseline seed_of_abraham/seed_of_david) | Distinct metaphor from covenant-lineage seed |
| 18 | Compassion / bowels of mercy | σπλάγχνα | करुणा / दया | karuṇā / dayā | Medium | Love for the Brethren | 3:17 | — | Tied to baseline दया (mercy) |
| 19 | Confidence / boldness | παρρησία | निडरता / हियाव | niḍaratā / hiyāva | Medium-High | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | 2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14 | — | Ground in grace/love, not merit or ritual-purity credentials |
| 20 | Perfect / perfected / complete | τέλειος / τελειόω | पूर्ण / पूर्ण होना | pūrṇa / pūrṇa honā | Critical | God is Light and God is Love; Assurance | 2:5; 4:12,17,18 | सिद्ध (absolutely forbidden — yogic/ascetic “perfected being,” siddha/siddhi attainment collision) | Second-highest-stakes lexical-choice flag after ἀγάπη |
| 21 | Fear | φόβος | भय | bhaya | Low-Medium | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | 4:18 | — | Dread-of-judgment sense here, not reverent awe |
| 22 | Punishment / torment | κόλασις | दण्ड | daṇḍa | Low | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | 4:18 | — | Consistent with baseline condemnation family |
| 23 | Overcome / victory | νικάω / νίκη | जय पाना / विजय | jaya pānā / vijaya | High | Overcoming the World | 2:13-14; 4:4; 5:4-5 | — | Must keep πίστις (faith) as the explicit stated ground of victory (5:4-5), never self-effort/jñāna-liberation framing |
| 24 | Antichrist | ἀντίχριστος | मसीह-विरोधी | Masīha-virodhī | Medium-High | The Incarnation and Antichrist | 2:18,22; 4:3 | bare transliteration alone | Compound preserves मसीह (baseline) with transparent “opposed to” sense |
| 25 | Anointing | χρῖσμα | अभिषेक | abhiṣeka | Critical | Testing the Spirits | 2:20,27 | — (no safer lexical alternative identified; risk must be managed via mandatory note, not lexical avoidance) | Direct collision with Hindu deity-anointing ritual (Shiva-abhishek); mandatory translator note every occurrence |
| 26 | Test the spirits | δοκιμάζειν τὰ πνεύματα | आत्माओं को परखना | ātmāoṅ ko parakhanā | High | Testing the Spirits | 4:1 | — | Distinguish doctrinal/Christological test from occult/folk spirit-discernment and guru-authenticity practices |
| 27 | False prophet | ψευδοπροφήτης | झूठा भविष्यद्वक्ता | jhūṭhā bhaviṣyadvaktā | Medium | Testing the Spirits | 4:1 | — | Reuses baseline भविष्यद्वक्ता root |
| 28 | Word of Life / Word (Logos) | ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς | जीवन का वचन | jīvana kā vacana | High | The Incarnation and Antichrist | 1:1 | — | Distinguish from shabda-brahman (impersonal cosmic sound/mantra) |
| 29 | We have heard/seen/touched (apostolic testimony) | ἀκηκόαμεν, ἑωράκαμεν, ἐψηλάφησαν | सुना, देखा, स्पर्श किया | sunā, dekhā, sparśa kiyā | Medium-High | The Incarnation and Antichrist | 1:1-3 | दर्शन-based phrasing | Historical/eyewitness/bodily emphasis must not become devotional-visionary language |
| 30 | Manifest / reveal | φανερόω | प्रकट होना / करना | prakaṭa honā/karanā | Medium | God is Light and God is Love; Incarnation | 1:2; 3:2,5,8; 4:9 | दर्शन, साक्षात्कार | See Table 1 note #19; distinct Greek word from ἀποκάλυψις but same caution applies |
| 31 | Testimony / witness | μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω | गवाही / गवाही देना | gavāhī / gavāhī denā | Medium | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | 1:2; 4:14; 5:6-11 | — | Retain eyewitness/legal force |
| 32 | Savior of the world | σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου | जगत् का उद्धारकर्ता | jagat kā uddhārakartā | Critical | God is Love; Assurance of Salvation | 4:14 | जगत् का मुक्तिदाता (forbidden — मुक्ति) | Compounds two baseline-Critical elements: उद्धार and जगत् |
| 33 | Water, blood, Spirit (triple witness) | ὕδωρ, αἷμα, πνεῦμα | जल, लहू, आत्मा | jala, lahū, ātmā | High | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | 5:6-8 | — | Interpretive/textual-critical risk (Comma Johanneum at 5:7); mandatory theologian review and footnote |
| 34 | Sin unto death | ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον | मृत्यु की ओर ले जानेवाला पाप | mṛtyu kī ora le jānevālā pāpa | Medium-High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 5:16-17 | — | Avoid implying an unforgivable-sin despair category or karma-sealed-fate reading |
| 35 | The evil one | ὁ πονηρός | वह दुष्ट | vaha duṣṭa | Medium | Overcoming the World | 5:18-19 | — | Parallel to διάβολος/शैतान |
| 36 | Understanding / mind | διάνοια | समझ | samajha | Low-Medium | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | 5:20 | बुद्धि (risk of higher-faculty philosophical association) | — |
| 37 | The true God | ὁ ἀληθινός (θεός) | सच्चा परमेश्वर | saccā Parameśvara | Critical | God is Light and God is Love; Assurance | 5:20 | — | Forms closing inclusio with idol-warning (5:21); unqualified exclusivity required |
| 38 | Beloved (address) | ἀγαπητοί | प्रिय भाइयों / प्रियो | priya bhāiyoṅ | Low | (epistolary framing) | 2:7; 3:2,21; 4:1,7,11 | — | Warm pastoral address |
| 39 | Little children (address) | τεκνία | प्रिय बालको / मेरे बालको | priya bālako | Low | (epistolary framing) | 2:1,12,28; 3:7,18; 4:4; 5:21 | — | Warm pastoral address |
| 40 | Hate | μισέω | घृणा करना / बैर रखना | ghṛṇā karanā | Low-Medium | Love for the Brethren | 2:9,11; 3:15; 4:20 | — | Standard vocabulary |
| 41 | Day of judgment | ἡ ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως | न्याय का दिन | nyāya kā dina | Medium | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | 4:17 | — | Keep as personal, one-time eschatological judgment, not karmic reckoning |
| 42 | We owe / ought (obligation) | ὀφείλομεν | उचित है / ऋणी होना (caution) | ucita hai | Medium | Love for the Brethren | 3:16; 4:11 | ऋणी होना (used with caution — ऋण/debt risk of pitṛ-ṛṇa/deva-ṛṇa associations) | Prefer neutral “it is fitting” phrasing over debt-vocabulary |
| 43 | He first loved us (priority clause) | αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς | उसने पहले हमसे प्रेम किया | usane pahale hamase prema kiyā | High | God is Light and God is Love | 4:19 | — | The temporal/causal “first” must be explicit or the grace-priority logic is lost |
| 44 | Laying down one’s life (for the brothers) | τὴν ψυχὴν τιθέναι | अपना प्राण दे देना | apanā prāṇa de denā | High | Love for the Brethren | 3:16 | बलिदान चढ़ाना (ritual-offering register) | Ethical extension of Christ’s self-giving pattern, not a ritual act |
Cross-Reference: Doctrine-to-Term Map
| Curriculum doctrine | Primary terms (Table 1 + Table 2 #) |
|---|---|
| God is Light and God is Love | परमेश्वर, ज्योति, अंधकार, प्रेम, “परमेश्वर ज्योति है,” “परमेश्वर प्रेम है,” सच्चा परमेश्वर |
| Fellowship with God and One Another | संगति, में बना रहना (μένω), पवित्र आत्मा |
| Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | पाप, अंगीकार करना, क्षमा करना, शुद्ध करना, लहू, प्रायश्चित्त, धार्मिकता, मृत्यु की ओर ले जानेवाला पाप |
| Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | प्रेम, भाई, नया जन्म, परमेश्वर की सन्तान, बीज, करुणा/दया, अपना प्राण दे देना, ऋणी/उचित है |
| The Incarnation and Antichrist | देहधारण, शरीर, परमेश्वर का पुत्र, यीशु, मसीह-विरोधी, अंगीकार करना, जीवन का वचन, सुना/देखा/स्पर्श किया |
| Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | अनन्त जीवन, विश्वास, निडरता, पूर्ण/पूर्ण होना, गवाही, जल-लहू-आत्मा, सच्चा परमेश्वर, न्याय का दिन |
| Overcoming the World | जगत्, जय पाना/विजय, वह दुष्ट/शैतान, घमण्ड, आज्ञा |
| Testing the Spirits | आत्माओं को परखना, झूठा भविष्यद्वक्ता, अभिषेक, सत्य की आत्मा/भ्रम की आत्मा, देहधारण (as the test’s content) |
Adjudication Flags for Phase 1 Step 2 (Doctrine Risk Registry Extension)
The following five items require priority adjudication given their exceptional syncretism/collision risk, in descending order of stakes:
- ἀγάπη / प्रेम — the book’s title-defining term; no existing baseline precedent; Critical.
- ἀνομία — explicit prohibition of अधर्म — direct collision with Bhagavad Gita 4:7-8 avatar-doctrine; Critical.
- τέλειος/τελειόω — explicit prohibition of सिद्ध — direct collision with yogic siddha/siddhi attainment theology; Critical.
- κόσμος / जगत् — bifurcated positive/negative usage plus the संसार/māyā-jagat double collision risk; Critical/High.
- χρῖσμα / अभिषेक — no safer lexical alternative available; requires mandatory note-based mitigation rather than avoidance; Critical.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर
Transliteration: Parameśvara
Doctrine: God Is Light and God Is Love; Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ईश्वर, भगवान
Original: θεός
Category: God
[Inherited from Romans package.] परमेश्वर (Supreme Lord) is the BSI OV standard. ईश्वर is used in some contexts; both are acceptable but परमेश्वर is preferred for doctrinal precision. भगवान has broad Hindu deity usage — avoid. In 1 John this precision is unusually load-bearing because both ontological predicates attached to God (light, 1:5; love, 4:8,16) are vulnerable to being heard as impersonal Hindu metaphysical categories rather than statements about this personal, self-revealing God.
Jesus
Approved rendering: यीशु
Transliteration: Yīśu
Doctrine: Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: ईसा, ईशू
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
[Inherited from Romans package.] BSI OV standard form. ईसा is used in Muslim/Urdu contexts. In 1 John this proper name anchors the letter’s doctrinal test that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (4:2-3) and is the Son of God (4:15; 5:5).
Son Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर का पुत्र
Transliteration: Parameśvara kā putra
Doctrine: Incarnation and Antichrist; Assurance of Salvation
Rejected alternatives: ईश्वर का अंश, देव-पुरुष
Original: ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
[Inherited from Romans package.] Full phrase mandatory; never softened. In 1 John 4:9 modified by μονογενής (‘only/unique Son’ — उसका एकलौता पुत्र per the BSI John 3:16 pattern), reinforcing Jesus is not one exalted son or avatar among several. Confessing this is the letter’s salvation-test (4:15; 5:5,10-13).
Incarnation
Approved rendering: देहधारण
Transliteration: dehadhāraṇa
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: अवतार, देह प्रकटीकरण
Original: Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα
Category: Christology
[Inherited from Romans package.] NEVER अवतार. Doctrinal center of the antichrist test (4:2-3): denying the eternal Son’s genuine, permanent, once-for-all incarnation is explicitly named ‘antichrist’ (4:3), the single highest-stakes doctrinal test in the letter.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: पवित्र आत्मा
Transliteration: Pavitra Ātmā
Doctrine: Fellowship with God; Testing the Spirits; Assurance of Salvation
Rejected alternatives: ब्रह्म, परमात्मा, देव-आत्मा
Original: πνεῦμα (ἅγιον)
Category: God
[Inherited from Romans package.] NEVER ब्रह्म or परमात्मा alone. In 1 John the Spirit functions as objective, testable, doctrinal evidence (3:24; 4:13) and as the criterion for testing the spirits (4:1-6); this objective function must not be assimilated to trance-based or ecstatic spirit-discernment practices.
Propitiation
Approved rendering: प्रायश्चित्त
Transliteration: prāyaścitta
Doctrine: Propitiation for Sin
Rejected alternatives: तुष्टीकरण
Original: ἱλασμός
Category: Atonement
[Inherited from Romans package.] Overlaps the Hindu concept of self-performed penance; every occurrence requires a note that God provides the propitiation, the sinner does not perform it. In 1 John this risk doubles at 4:10, where the same verse denies human initiative (‘not that we loved God, but that he loved us’) in the same breath as introducing this term. Also occurs at 2:2.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: धार्मिकता
Transliteration: dhārmikatā
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, पुण्य, न्याय
Original: δικαιοσύνη / δίκαιος
Category: Salvation
[Inherited from Romans package.] NEVER धर्म. In 1 John extended to describe God’s own consistent moral-forensic character as the ground of forgiveness (1:9), not only the believer’s justified standing; also of practicing righteousness as evidence of new birth (2:29; 3:7).
Messiah
Approved rendering: मसीह
Transliteration: Masīha
Doctrine: Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: अभिषिक्त व्यक्ति, देव-दूत
[Inherited from Romans/Galatians package.] In 1 John, confessing ‘Jesus is the Christ’ (2:22; 5:1) is the doctrinal test contrasted with the denial that constitutes antichrist; also forms the compound मसीह-विरोधी.
Father
Approved rendering: पिता
Transliteration: Pitā
Doctrine: New Birth and Children of God; Fellowship with God
Rejected alternatives: ब्रह्मा, सृष्टिकर्ता
[Inherited from Romans/Galatians package.] Never Hindu creator-deity names. 1 John refers to ‘the Father’ extensively (2:1,13-16,22-24; 3:1; 4:14) as the one who sent the Son and whose children believers have become through new birth (3:1).
Christ Lives In Me
Approved rendering: अब मैं जीवित नहीं, परन्तु मसीह मुझ में जीवित है
Transliteration: aba maiṃ jīvita nahīṃ, parantu Masīha mujha meṃ jīvita hai
Doctrine: Mutual Indwelling — Abiding in God and God in Us (governing precedent)
Rejected alternatives: आत्मा=परमात्मा प्रकार की विलय व्याख्या (advaitic ego-dissolution reading)
[Inherited from Galatians package.] The baseline’s own highest advaita-collision precedent. Retained as the governing guardrail for 1 John’s μένω (‘abide/remain’) vocabulary (2:24,27-28; 3:6,24; 4:12-16), which raises the identical risk in reciprocal form. God/Christ must remain a distinct, personal presence within a believer who remains a real, distinct ‘I’.
Trinity
Approved rendering: त्रिएकता
Transliteration: trieakatā
Doctrine: The Triple Witness — Water, Blood, and Spirit; The True God and Idolatry
Rejected alternatives: त्रिमूर्ति
[Inherited from Romans package.] NEVER त्रिमूर्ति. This doctrine is established independently of 1 John 5:7’s disputed Comma Johanneum text; if the HOV longer reading is quoted at 5:7 it must carry an explicit textual-critical footnote.
Salvation
Approved rendering: उद्धार
Transliteration: uddhāra
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: मुक्ति, मोक्ष, छुटकारा
[Inherited from Romans package.] NEVER मुक्ति or मोक्ष. In 1 John compounds with जगत् in the new title ‘Savior of the world’ (4:14; see savior_of_the_world), doubling enforcement stakes.
Love Agape
Approved rendering: प्रेम
Transliteration: prema
Doctrine: God Is Light and God Is Love; Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: स्नेह (too weak — affection only), करुणा (compassion toward suffering only, a different concept)
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Love
NEW — the single highest-stakes term in this curriculum. प्रेम is unavoidable as the base Hindi word for ἀγάπη, but carries a dense field of prior Hindu religious/literary association: Krishna-Radha prema-bhakti romantic-mystical devotion; Bollywood romantic saturation; bhakti’s devotee-cultivated-emotion model, the reverse of 1 John’s insistence that love originates IN God and is GIVEN (4:19), not achieved. No lexical substitute exists. Mandatory translator note at every Critical occurrence (4:7-8,10,16,19 and throughout ch.2-4) anchoring the term to: (i) God’s own prior, definitional nature; (ii) the cross/propitiation as its defining content (4:10); (iii) its inseparable ethical extension to ‘brother’ (4:20-21).
God Is Love
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर प्रेम है
Transliteration: Parameśvara prema hai
Doctrine: God Is Love
Rejected alternatives: प्रेम ही परमेश्वर है / प्रेम ही परमात्मा है (word-order inversion producing a pantheistic identity-statement — absolutely forbidden)
Original: ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν
Category: Love
NEW. Repeated identically at 4:8 and 4:16; must never be inverted in word order. Highly vulnerable to absorption into generic bhakti-devotional maxims. Mandatory theologian review and translator note on every occurrence anchoring the clause to vv.9-10’s defining event and v.19; must never be taught or rendered in isolation from its Christological/atoning ground.
God Is Light
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर ज्योति है
Transliteration: Parameśvara jyoti hai
Doctrine: God Is Light
Rejected alternatives: परमेश्वर प्रकाश है (weaker, more generic), परमेश्वर ज्योति-स्वरूप है (adds an essence-morpheme not in source, inviting Advaitic light-metaphysics)
Original: ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν
Category: Light and Darkness
NEW. Exceptionally vulnerable to absorption into Hindu light-theology (Brahman-as-luminosity, ātman-as-spark, ‘tamaso mā jyotir gamaya’, Diwali symbolism). Must be anchored to 1:6-7’s ethical content (no falsehood, no moral inconsistency). Mandatory translator note on every occurrence.
World
Approved rendering: जगत्
Transliteration: jagat
Doctrine: Overcoming the World; God Is Love (Savior of the world)
Rejected alternatives: संसार (absolutely forbidden — the Hindu technical term for the rebirth cycle from which moksha is sought)
Original: κόσμος
Category: Sin
NEW. Established BSI rendering of κόσμος; never संसार. जगत् itself carries residual risk (Advaita glosses जगत् as māyā); must be glossed as real, created, morally fallen — never illusory. 1 John bifurcates usage: object of God’s love (4:9,14) vs. system to be overcome (2:15-17; 5:4-5,19). Mandatory translator note at first and every doctrinally weighted occurrence; do not artificially harmonize the deliberate tension.
Abide Remain
Approved rendering: में बना रहना
Transliteration: meṅ banā rahanā
Doctrine: Mutual Indwelling — Abiding in God and God in Us; Fellowship with God
Rejected alternatives: स्थिर रहना (acceptable stylistic variant only, same guardrail applies)
Original: μένω
Category: Fellowship
NEW — Critical. Durative, reciprocal, personal indwelling (2:24,27-28; 3:6,24; 4:12-16). Vulnerable to a static/locative reading and, more seriously, to an advaitic ātman=Brahman identity-collapse reading, the same collision documented for christ_lives_in_me. Must preserve two distinct, personal, relating parties. No single Hindi word suffices; periphrasis plus mandatory theologian review on every occurrence is required.
Lawlessness
Approved rendering: व्यवस्था का उल्लंघन
Transliteration: vyavasthā kā ullaṅghana
Doctrine: Sin as Lawlessness
Rejected alternatives: अधर्म (absolutely forbidden — see notes), अवज्ञा (acceptable secondary gloss only)
Original: ἀνομία
Category: Sin
NEW — Critical. 1 John’s definitional statement about sin (3:4). अधर्म is absolutely forbidden under any circumstance: it invokes the Hindu dharma/adharma cosmology, and specifically Bhagavad Gita 4:7-8’s avatar-doctrine (‘when dharma declines and adharma increases’), placing this verse in damaging dialogue with a rival incarnation theology. Mandatory theologian review.
Perfect Perfected
Approved rendering: पूर्ण
Transliteration: pūrṇa
Doctrine: Perfect Love and Freedom from Fear
Rejected alternatives: सिद्ध (absolutely forbidden — see notes)
Original: τέλειος / τελειόω
Category: Sanctification
NEW — Critical. Goal-reaching completeness God’s love works in the believer (2:5; 4:12,17,18), not self-attained moral perfection. सिद्ध/सिद्धि is absolutely forbidden — a major Hindu yogic/ascetic term for a ‘perfected being’ or supernatural attainment through spiritual discipline, which would invert agency. Mandatory translator note on every occurrence.
Anointing
Approved rendering: अभिषेक
Transliteration: abhiṣeka
Doctrine: The Anointing of the Spirit
Original: χρῖσμα
Category: Spiritual Discernment
NEW — Critical. The Spirit’s inward teaching presence in every believer (2:20,27). अभिषेक is the standard term for ritual deity-anointing (e.g., Shiva-abhishek); no safer lexical alternative exists. Mandatory translator note on every occurrence distinguishing the Spirit’s internal, non-ritual indwelling from external devotional consecration.
Savior Of The World
Approved rendering: जगत् का उद्धारकर्ता
Transliteration: jagat kā uddhārakartā
Doctrine: God Is Love; Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: जगत् का मुक्तिदाता (forbidden — मुक्ति)
Original: σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Salvation
NEW — Critical. Compounds two independently baseline-Critical elements (उद्धार, जगत्) in the title of 4:14. Must communicate a personal Deliverer of real humanity, never a liberator from samsara.
True God
Approved rendering: सच्चा परमेश्वर
Transliteration: saccā Parameśvara
Doctrine: The True God and the Warning Against Idols
Original: ὁ ἀληθινός (θεός)
Category: God
NEW — Critical. Closing exclusivity claim (5:20-21), forming an inclusio with the idol-warning. Must be rendered with unqualified exclusivity, consistent with परमेश्वर (never भगवान).
High Risk Terms
Flesh
Approved rendering: शरीर
Transliteration: śarīra
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: देह (in sarx contexts)
Original: σάρξ
Category: Christology
[Inherited from Romans package.] 1 John uses this in two distinct senses requiring context-governed translator notes: (a) literal physical body — Christ’s genuine incarnate flesh (4:2), refuting docetism; (b) the Pauline-style technical sense of disordered desire (‘desire of the flesh’, 2:16). Never let 4:2 carry body-negating overtones; never let 2:16 read as mere physicality.
Sin
Approved rendering: पाप
Transliteration: pāpa
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: अधर्म, अशुद्धता
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
[Inherited from Romans package.] Moral transgression before a personal God; distinguish from ritual impurity and karma. 1 John defines sin definitionally as ‘lawlessness’ (3:4; see lawlessness entry) and requires ongoing confession (1:8-10).
New Birth
Approved rendering: नया जन्म
Transliteration: nayā janma
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: पुनर्जन्म
Original: γεννάω (ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ)
Category: Sanctification
[Inherited from Romans package.] NEVER पुनर्जन्म (reincarnation). 1 John presents new birth (perfect tense — completed act, abiding result) as the ground of practicing righteousness (2:29), not sinning habitually (3:9; 5:18), loving the brethren (4:7), believing (5:1), and overcoming the world (5:4).
Faith
Approved rendering: विश्वास
Transliteration: viśvāsa
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: श्रद्धा, आस्था, भरोसा
Original: πίστις / πιστεύω
Category: Faith
[Inherited from Romans package.] Trust in a specific person (Christ/God). In 1 John 5:4-5 must not be detached from its verb (‘overcomes’) — faith, not self-effort, is explicitly named the ground of victory over the world.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: अनन्त जीवन
Transliteration: ananta jīvana
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: अमरता (immortality-through-liberation framing)
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Eschatology
[Inherited from Romans/Galatians package.] Never explained via अमरता or moksha-adjacent absorption framing. 1 John makes this the letter’s explicit stated purpose of writing (5:13; cf. 2:25; 3:15; 5:11,20), mediated exclusively through the Son.
Confession Of Faith
Approved rendering: अंगीकार करना
Transliteration: aṅgīkāra karanā
Doctrine: Incarnation and Antichrist; Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: स्वीकार करना
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: Christology
[Inherited from Romans package.] 1 John uses the identical Hindi verb for two distinct objects: (a) confessing Jesus Christ come in the flesh / Son of God (2:23; 4:2-3,15) — the doctrinal test; (b) confessing one’s own sins to God (1:9) — private acknowledgment. Both senses must be kept doctrinally distinct via context and translator notes; never render either as a bare verb without its object.
Idolatry
Approved rendering: मूर्तिपूजा
Transliteration: mūrtipūjā
Doctrine: The True God and the Warning Against Idols
Original: εἴδωλα
Category: Sin
[Inherited from Romans package.] Handle pastorally but do not soften. 1 John’s closing exhortation (‘guard yourselves from idols’, 5:21) forms an inclusio with 5:20’s ‘the true God’, of unusually direct pastoral relevance given mūrti-pūjā’s status as majority religious practice.
Law
Approved rendering: व्यवस्था
Transliteration: vyavasthā
Doctrine: Sin as Lawlessness
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, शरीयत, नियम
[Inherited from Romans package.] Reserved exclusively for Torah. NEVER धर्म. Root of the mandatory rendering व्यवस्था का उल्लंघन for ἀνομία (3:4); must be distinguished from ἐντολή (‘commandment’, आज्ञा), Christ’s relational directives, not the Torah code.
Adoption
Approved rendering: दत्तक-पुत्रता
Transliteration: dattaka-putratā
Doctrine: New Birth and Children of God
Rejected alternatives: गोद लेना
[Inherited from Romans package.] Pauline legal-placement image (huiothesia). Must be kept conceptually distinct from 1 John’s τέκνα θεοῦ (परमेश्वर की सन्तान, an organic begetting image, 3:1-2,9-10; 5:2). 1 John does not use this term itself; retained here solely to enforce the distinction in translator notes.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: दाऊद के वंश से
Transliteration: Dāūda ke vaṃśa se
Doctrine: (background — referenced only for contrast with seed_of_god)
[Inherited from Romans package.] Retained solely to anchor the distinction required for 1 John 3:9’s σπέρμα (‘his seed’ — rendered बीज, not वंश). वंश denotes physical/covenantal lineage-descent and must never be used for 1 John’s internal-generative seed metaphor.
Seed Of Abraham
Approved rendering: वंश
Transliteration: vaṃśa
Doctrine: (background — referenced only for contrast with seed_of_god)
[Inherited from Galatians package.] वंश is reserved exclusively for covenant/physical lineage-seed. 1 John 3:9’s σπέρμα (God’s own generative nature remaining in the believer) is a categorically different metaphor and must be rendered बीज, never वंश.
Gave Himself For Me
Approved rendering: जिसने मुझसे प्रेम किया और मेरे लिये अपने आप को दे दिया
Transliteration: jisane mujhase prema kiyā aura mere liye apane āpa ko de diyā
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist (background — Christology)
Rejected alternatives: बलि, यज्ञ
[Inherited from Galatians package.] Substitutionary self-giving; must not be assimilated to ritual-offering vocabulary — the gift moves from God to the sinner, not the reverse. Directly informs the mandatory rendering of 1 John 3:16 and 4:10, where the same directional guardrail applies.
Truth Of The Gospel
Approved rendering: सुसमाचार की सच्चाई
Transliteration: susamācar kī saccāī
Doctrine: God Is Light (background — precedent for सच्चाई over सत्य)
Rejected alternatives: संदेश (message), दृष्टिकोण (perspective)
[Inherited from Galatians package.] Retained as the precedent establishing सच्चाई (never सत्य) as the correct register for ἀλήθεια-family terms. 1 John’s truth entry follows this precedent exactly.
Known By God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर ने तुम्हें जान लिया
Transliteration: Parameśvara ne tumheṃ jāna liyā
Doctrine: God Is Love (background — corrective-clause precedent)
[Inherited from Galatians package.] Retained as structural precedent for 1 John 4:10’s corrective clause (‘not that we loved God, but that he loved us’) and for γινώσκω/‘know God’ language (4:7-8). Divine relational initiative, not attainment of jñāna.
Light
Approved rendering: ज्योति
Transliteration: jyoti
Doctrine: God Is Light
Rejected alternatives: प्रकाश
Original: φῶς
Category: Light and Darkness
NEW. Established BSI term (cf. John 1:4). Pair consistently with अंधकार. Carries the collision risk detailed under god_is_light; elsewhere (2:8-10) denotes the sphere of truth/righteousness.
Darkness
Approved rendering: अंधकार
Transliteration: andhakāra
Doctrine: God Is Light
Original: σκοτία / σκότος
Category: Light and Darkness
NEW. The sphere of sin, falsehood, and separation from God (1:5-6; 2:8-11), consistent with the baseline armor_of_light pairing.
Truth
Approved rendering: सच्चाई
Transliteration: saccāī
Doctrine: God Is Light; Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: सत्य (too philosophically loaded — Sat-Chit-Ananda, Satyagraha)
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
NEW. Consistent with the baseline truth_of_the_gospel precedent. God’s own truthful self-consistency, the alternative to falsehood throughout the letter (1:6,8; 2:4,21; 3:18-19; 4:6; 5:6).
Advocate
Approved rendering: सहायक
Transliteration: sahāyaka
Doctrine: Christ’s Advocacy for Sinning Believers
Rejected alternatives: वकील (too secular-legal)
Original: παράκλητος
Category: Christology
NEW. Christ’s forensic intercessory ministry before the Father for believers who sin (2:1). Requires a note distinguishing this from the Spirit’s Paraclete/Comforter sense elsewhere in Johannine literature.
Cleanse
Approved rendering: शुद्ध करना
Transliteration: śuddha karanā
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Cleansing from Sin
Original: καθαρίζω
Category: Sin
NEW. Already flagged under the baseline holy entry for ritual-purity connotation. Must be explicitly grounded in Christ’s blood (1:7) and God’s faithful character (1:9), never self-performed shuddhi-style purification.
Commandment
Approved rendering: आज्ञा
Transliteration: ājñā
Doctrine: Commandment-Keeping as Love, Not Burden
Rejected alternatives: व्यवस्था (reserved exclusively for Torah)
Original: ἐντολή / ἐντολαί
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Epitomized in the twin command to believe in Christ and love the brother (2:3-8; 3:22-24; 4:21; 5:2-3). Cite 5:3 (‘not burdensome’) in every translator note to guard against a dharma/karma-yoga duty-performance misreading.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर की सन्तान
Transliteration: Parameśvara kī santāna
Doctrine: New Birth and Children of God
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Begotten (not legally adopted) offspring of God, based on new birth (3:1-2,10; 5:2). Keep distinct from the baseline adoption entry (दत्तक-पुत्रता, the Pauline legal-placement image).
Confidence Boldness
Approved rendering: निडरता
Transliteration: niḍaratā
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: हियाव (regional variant, gloss only)
Original: παρρησία
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Fearless confidence before God in prayer (3:21; 5:14) and at judgment (2:28; 4:17). Must be grounded in Christ-produced love (4:17), never merit, ritual-purity credentials, or a karma-account balance.
Overcome Victory
Approved rendering: जय पाना
Transliteration: jaya pānā
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: विजय (acceptable noun-form variant)
Original: νικάω / νίκη
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Decisive victory over the world-system, attributed explicitly to faith (5:4-5), not self-effort/jñāna/ascetic renunciation. Never detach the verb from विश्वास as its stated ground.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: मसीह-विरोधी
Transliteration: Masīha-virodhī
Doctrine: Antichrist and Denial of the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: bare transliteration alone (अन्तिख्रिस्त) — obscures the term’s polemical sense
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Christology
NEW. Denying Jesus Christ come in the flesh; equated with denying the Father (2:22-23). The compound preserves मसीह with a transparent ‘opposed to’ morpheme.
Test The Spirits
Approved rendering: आत्माओं को परखना
Transliteration: ātmāoṅ ko parakhanā
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα
Category: Spiritual Discernment
NEW. Narrowly doctrinal/Christological test (4:1-3), not the experiential/ritual spirit-discernment paradigm live in Indian culture (exorcism, oracular possession, guru-authenticity testing). The 4:2-3 criterion must always accompany the command.
Word Of Life
Approved rendering: जीवन का वचन
Transliteration: jīvana kā vacana
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
NEW. The letter’s opening Christological anchor (1:1). वचन is the established Logos rendering; must be distinguished from shabda-brahman (impersonal cosmic sound/mantra) — this Word is personal, historical, heard/seen/touched.
Apostolic Testimony
Approved rendering: सुना, देखा, स्पर्श किया
Transliteration: sunā, dekhā, sparśa kiyā
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: दर्शन-based phrasing (devotional-visionary sight of a deity)
Original: ἀκηκόαμεν, ἑωράκαμεν, ἐψηλάφησαν
Category: Christology
NEW. The emphatic sensory-empirical apostolic testimony chain (1:1-3), refuting docetism. Must remain forensic-eyewitness, never devotional-visionary; preserve the full verb chain.
Water Blood Spirit
Approved rendering: जल, लहू, आत्मा
Transliteration: jala, lahū, ātmā
Doctrine: The Triple Witness — Water, Blood, and Spirit
Original: ὕδωρ, αἷμα, πνεῦμα
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Three coordinated witnesses to Jesus as the Christ (5:6-8). Primarily a textual-critical risk: the Comma Johanneum at 5:7 (Textus Receptus/HOV) is absent from earliest manuscripts. This package follows the critical-text shorter reading by default; mandatory theologian review and explicit footnoting if the longer reading is cited.
Sin Unto Death
Approved rendering: मृत्यु की ओर ले जानेवाला पाप
Transliteration: mṛtyu kī ora le jānevālā pāpa
Doctrine: Sin unto Death and the Limits of Intercession
Original: ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον
Category: Sin
NEW. A debated category exempted from commanded intercession (5:16-17). Must avoid both an unforgivable-sin despair reading and a karma-sealed-fate reading; flag for theologian review.
He First Loved Us
Approved rendering: उसने पहले हमसे प्रेम किया
Transliteration: usane pahale hamase prema kiyā
Doctrine: God Is Love
Original: αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς
Category: Love
NEW. Strict temporal/causal priority of divine love (4:19); the ‘first’ (पहले) must remain explicit or the sentence reads as a mutual bhakti-style love-exchange rather than grace preceding and generating response.
Laying Down Ones Life
Approved rendering: अपना प्राण दे देना
Transliteration: apanā prāṇa de denā
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: बलिदान चढ़ाना (ritual-offering register — forbidden)
Original: τὴν ψυχὴν τιθέναι (ὑπὲρ)
Category: Love
NEW. Christ’s self-giving death as the paradigm of ἀγάπη (3:16), extended ethically to believers. Never बलिदान चढ़ाना, which would invert the direction of the gift.
Greater Is He That Is In You
Approved rendering: जो तुम में है वह उससे बड़ा है जो जगत् में है
Transliteration: jo tuma meṃ hai vaha usase baṛā hai jo jagat meṃ hai
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: an impersonal ‘greater power’ formula — forbidden (would read as shakti-versus-shakti)
Original: μείζων ἐστὶν ὁ ἐν ὑμῖν ἢ ὁ ἐν τῷ κόσμῳ
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Personal-agency comparison grounding victory over false spirits (4:4); never abstract into generic power vocabulary.
Brother Love For The Brethren
Approved rendering: भाई
Transliteration: bhāī
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἀδελφός / ἀγαπᾶν τὸν ἀδελφόν
Category: Church
NEW. 1 John’s constant, load-bearing diagnostic noun (2:9-11; 3:10-17; 4:20-21), the visible/tangible counterpart in the letter’s central evidentiary argument. Distinct from, but review-elevated alongside, the baseline brotherly_love entry.
Medium Risk Terms
Brotherly Love
Approved rendering: भाईचारे का प्रेम
Transliteration: bhāīcāre kā prema
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
[Inherited from Romans/Galatians package.] Philadelphia (φιλαδελφία), the familial-affection term, distinct from the letter’s constant diagnostic noun ἀδελφός/भाई (see brother_love_for_the_brethren) and from ἀγάπη/प्रेम itself (see love_agape). Keep the three vocabulary families separate in translator notes.
Mercy
Approved rendering: दया
Transliteration: dayā
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: σπλάγχνα
Category: God
[Inherited from Romans package.] Kept distinct from अनुग्रह. In 1 John renders σπλάγχνα (‘bowels of compassion’, 3:17) — concrete inward compassion toward a brother in need, the test of abiding love.
Revelation
Approved rendering: प्रकाशन
Transliteration: prakāśana
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist (background — φανερόω precedent)
Rejected alternatives: दर्शन (darshan, devotional sight of a deity), साक्षात्कार (mystical self-realization)
[Inherited from Galatians package.] Retained as governing precedent against दर्शन/साक्षात्कार for manifestation/disclosure vocabulary. 1 John’s related but distinct verb φανερόω (see manifest_reveal) carries the identical guardrail.
Lie Liar
Approved rendering: झूठा
Transliteration: jhūṭhā
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin; Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ψεῦδος / ψεύστης
Category: Sin
NEW. Applied to denying one’s own sin (1:10), denying Christ (2:22), and hating a professed-loved brother (4:20). Retain full bluntness; do not soften to ‘mistaken’.
Forgiveness
Approved rendering: क्षमा करना
Transliteration: kṣamā karanā
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Cleansing from Sin
Original: ἀφίημι / ἄφεσις
Category: Sin
NEW. Must stay grounded in the propitiation/blood-of-Christ context (1:9; 2:2), not presented as a generic human virtue.
Blood Of Jesus
Approved rendering: लहू
Transliteration: lahū
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Cleansing from Sin
Rejected alternatives: रक्त (more generic/clinical)
Original: αἷμα (Ἰησοῦ)
Category: Atonement
NEW. The objective ground of ongoing cleansing and fellowship (1:7). Must not be assimilated to Hindu bali; direction runs from God to the sinner, not the reverse.
Devil
Approved rendering: शैतान
Transliteration: śaitāna
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth; Overcoming the World
Original: διάβολος
Category: Sin
NEW. The personal malevolent spiritual being, source of sin, paternity-metaphor for habitual sinners (3:8,10). Parallel to evil_one (5:18-19).
Seed Of God
Approved rendering: बीज
Transliteration: bīja
Doctrine: New Birth and Children of God
Rejected alternatives: वंश (reserved for lineage-seed — a categorically different metaphor)
Original: σπέρμα (αὐτοῦ)
Category: Sanctification
NEW. God’s own generative, indwelling nature remaining in the believer (3:9). Use बीज, never वंश; note the distinction from the baseline वंश entries on first use.
Fear
Approved rendering: भय
Transliteration: bhaya
Doctrine: Perfect Love and Freedom from Fear
Original: φόβος
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Dread of divine punishment (4:18), excluded by perfected love; context (paired with दण्ड) must fix the dread-of-judgment sense, not reverent awe.
False Prophet
Approved rendering: झूठा भविष्यद्वक्ता
Transliteration: jhūṭhā bhaviṣyadvaktā
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: ψευδοπροφήτης
Category: Spiritual Discernment
NEW. Reuses the baseline भविष्यद्वक्ता root with the झूठा modifier (4:1).
Manifest Reveal
Approved rendering: प्रकट होना
Transliteration: prakaṭa honā
Doctrine: God Is Light and God Is Love; The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: दर्शन, साक्षात्कार
Original: φανερόω
Category: Christology
NEW. God’s love made visible (4:9); the Son’s future and historical appearing (3:2,5,8). Same guardrail as the baseline revelation entry, though a distinct Greek word.
Testimony Witness
Approved rendering: गवाही
Transliteration: gavāhī
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Apostolic and divine testimony to the Son (1:2; 4:14; 5:6-11); retain eyewitness/legal force, not devotional inner-experience testimony.
Evil One
Approved rendering: वह दुष्ट
Transliteration: vaha duṣṭa
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: ὁ πονηρός
Category: Sin
NEW. Personal title for Satan (5:18-19), parallel to devil/शैतान.
Ought Obligation
Approved rendering: उचित है
Transliteration: ucita hai
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: ऋणी होना (gloss only — risks देव-ऋण/पितृ-ऋण debt-repayment resonance)
Original: ὀφείλομεν
Category: Love
NEW. Binding moral obligation grounded in having already been loved (3:16; 4:11); a grateful ethical response, not transactional debt-repayment.
Day Of Judgment
Approved rendering: न्याय का दिन
Transliteration: nyāya kā dina
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life; Perfect Love and Freedom from Fear
Original: ἡ ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Personal, one-time eschatological judgment (4:17); must not be equated with karmic reckoning despite न्याय’s dharmic-ethics overtones.
Spirit Of Truth And Error
Approved rendering: सत्य की आत्मा / भ्रम की आत्मा
Transliteration: satya kī ātmā / bhrama kī ātmā
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
NEW. Contrasting divine/deceptive spiritual sources (4:6). सत्य is used here (exceptionally, unlike the letter’s default सच्चाई) specifically because it is contrasted with भ्रम; flag for native speaker review to ensure the contrast lands naturally without over-invoking Vedantic error/illusion categories. Do not substitute without theologian sign-off.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: संगति
Transliteration: saṃgati
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: दोस्ती, भाईचारा
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
[Inherited from Romans package; baseline risk Low, ELEVATED review priority for this curriculum.] 1 John makes κοινωνία the letter’s explicitly stated purpose (1:3-4), tested by walking in the light (1:6-7) — a mistranslation here compromises the letter’s own self-declared aim.
Boasting
Approved rendering: घमण्ड
Transliteration: ghamaṇḍa
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: ἀλαζονεία
Category: Salvation
[Inherited from Romans package.] In 1 John renders ἀλαζονεία (‘pride of life’, 2:16), the third member of the worldly triad opposed to ‘the will of God’ (2:17).
Prophet
Approved rendering: भविष्यद्वक्ता
Transliteration: bhaviṣyadvaktā
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: ज्योतिषी
[Inherited from Romans package.] In 1 John forms the root of झूठा भविष्यद्वक्ता (‘false prophet’, 4:1).
Punishment
Approved rendering: दण्ड
Transliteration: daṇḍa
Doctrine: Perfect Love and Freedom from Fear
Original: κόλασις
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Torment/chastisement anticipated by fear in 4:18, resolved by perfected love. Consistent with the baseline condemnation family.
Understanding Mind
Approved rendering: समझ
Transliteration: samajha
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: बुद्धि (risk of higher intellectual/meditative-faculty association)
Original: διάνοια
Category: Eschatology
NEW. The relational/cognitive capacity to know the true God, given by Christ (5:20).
Hate
Approved rendering: घृणा करना
Transliteration: ghṛṇā karanā
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: μισέω
Category: Sin
NEW. Opposite of loving the brother (2:9,11; 3:15; 4:20); standard vocabulary, low syncretism risk.
Beloved Address
Approved rendering: प्रिय भाइयों
Transliteration: priya bhāiyoṅ
Doctrine: (epistolary framing)
NEW. Ἀγαπητοί, warm pastoral address (2:7; 3:2,21; 4:1,7,11). Low risk, standard usage.
Little Children Address
Approved rendering: प्रिय बालको
Transliteration: priya bālako
Doctrine: (epistolary framing)
NEW. Τεκνία, affectionate address (2:1,12,28; 3:7,18; 4:4; 5:21). Distinct from the doctrinal title children_of_god; carries no separate doctrinal weight.
Referenced passages