Doctrine Analysis
Doctrine Analysis — Acts (Hindi Destination)
A. Risk Tier Summary (must match doctrine_risk_registry.json)
| Tier | Count | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 9 | Human theologian, every occurrence |
| High | 11 | Human theologian |
| Medium | 6 | Native speaker review |
| Low | 1 | Automated review |
| Total doctrines | 27 |
B. Full Doctrine Matrix
B.1 Critical-Risk Doctrines
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages (Acts) | Risk | Translation Risk Summary | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Holy Spirit and Pentecost | 1:5,8; 2:1-4,16-21,33,38; 4:8,31; 5:3-4,9; 6:3,5; 7:51; 8:15-19; 9:17; 10:44-47; 11:15-17; 13:2,4,9,52; 15:8,28; 19:2-6; 20:23,28 | Critical | Sustained risk across 50+ occurrences of a Hindu āveśa (possession-trance) reading in which the Spirit displaces personal agency, versus Acts’ consistent portrait of Spirit-filled persons as coherent, responsible speakers. पवित्र आत्मा locked; never ब्रह्म/परमात्मा. | Human theologian |
| Repentance and Baptism | 2:38; 3:19; 8:12-13,36-38; 9:18; 10:47-48; 11:18; 16:31-33; 17:30; 18:8; 19:1-5; 22:16 | Critical | 2:38’s compound formula is the NT’s paradigm conversion text. “In the name of Jesus” risks assimilation to japa/nāma-smaraṇa (merit through name-repetition); “forgiveness of sins” risks assimilation to पाप-नाश through ritual bathing/pilgrimage rather than a personal God’s judicial pardon. | Human theologian |
| Justification apart from the Law | 13:38-39; 15:1-11,28-29; 21:20-25 | Critical | Acts’ narrative counterpart to the Galatians forensic-declaration doctrine. धर्मी ठहराया जाना must never abbreviate to माफी पाना or पुण्य प्राप्त करना; व्यवस्था must never drift toward धर्म; Acts 21’s cultural accommodation must not read as a reversal. | Human theologian |
| Lordship and Deity of Christ | 2:34-36; 7:55-56; 9:5; 10:36; 14:11-15 | Critical | Acts 14 (Lystra) dramatizes within the narrative itself the exact pagan avatar-alternative the देहधारण-vs-अवतार distinction excludes. 2:36 (“God made him Lord and Christ”) must avoid an adoptionist reading. | Human theologian |
| Resurrection of Christ | 1:3,22; 2:24-32; 3:15; 4:2,10,33; 5:30; 10:40-41; 13:30-37; 17:18,31-32; 23:6-8; 24:15,21; 25:19; 26:8,23 | Critical | The central apostolic proclamation in nearly every sermon. 23:6-8 and 17:32 both depend on पुनरुत्थान denoting a single bodily historical event, never पुनर्जन्म’s cyclical rebirth. | Human theologian |
| Exclusivity of Salvation in Christ’s Name | 4:8-12; 16:31 | Critical | 4:12’s “no other name” is Acts’ counterpart to the Galatians false-gospel exclusivity doctrine; must not be softened toward “many paths, one truth” pluralism. | Human theologian |
| Confrontation with Idolatry and Paganism | 14:8-18; 17:16-31; 19:23-41 | Critical | The NT’s most extensive direct pagan confrontations, each with a live Indian parallel (avatar-descent at Lystra, pluralist/Advaitic immanence at Athens, goddess-cult/temple-economy at Ephesus). Softening any one blunts the book’s sharpest engagement with the destination culture’s dominant religious vocabulary. | Human theologian |
| Sonship and Deity Titles for Christ | 2:36; 3:13-15; 7:56; 9:20 | Critical | मनुष्य का पुत्र (Son of Man) risks a flattened “a human being” reading that erases its Daniel 7 exalted-divine-figure background; combines with परमेश्वर का पुत्र and जीवन का कर्ता as a mutually reinforcing title-cluster. | Human theologian |
| Faith and Grace as the Sole Basis of Salvation | 3:16; 13:39,43,48; 14:9,27; 15:9,11; 16:31; 20:21,24,32 | Critical | 15:11’s Council resolution is Acts’ narrative counterpart to the Galatians law/grace antithesis. अनुग्रह must never drift toward कृपा here; विश्वास must retain Christ as specified object, never generalized śraddhā-devotion. | Human theologian |
B.2 High-Risk Doctrines
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages (Acts) | Risk | Translation Risk Summary | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | 1:8; 2:39; 10:1-11:18; 13:46-48; 14:27; 15:1-29; 17:24-31; 18:6; 28:28 | High | Acts 10’s clean/unclean vision and 10:34-35’s impartiality conclusion directly parallel India’s caste-purity boundaries; a merely dietary rendering would blunt the claim that God abolishes ethnic/purity-based spiritual hierarchy. | Human theologian |
| Apostolic Authority and Miracles | 1:8; 2:22,43; 3:1-16; 4:29-31,33; 5:12-16; 6:8; 8:6-13; 9:32-42; 13:9-12; 14:3,8-11; 19:11-12; 28:3-9 | High | Highest miracle-narrative density in the curriculum; सामर्थ्य risks drifting toward शक्ति (Shakti) or signs being read as generic siddhi rather than God-authenticated evidentiary acts. Simon Magus (8:18-24) risks a transactional-devotion reading. | Human theologian |
| Persecution and Bold Witness | 4:1-31; 5:17-42; 6:8-7:60; 8:1-3; 9:1-2,23-25,29; 12:1-19; 13:50; 14:5,19; 16:19-24; 17:5-9,13; 18:12-17; 19:23-41; 21:27-36; 23:12-35; 25:1-12 | High | गवाह/साक्षी risks collision with Vedantic sākṣī-bhāva (impersonal witness-consciousness), an entirely different concept from courtroom-grade eyewitness testimony to a historical resurrection. Density of persecution narratives makes this recur almost every chapter. | Human theologian |
| Conversion of Paul | 9:1-22; 22:3-21; 26:9-23 | High | Narrated three times; each retelling risks “light from heaven” being assimilated to Hindu divine-light/darshan/enlightenment concepts rather than Christ’s objective, sovereign, external confrontation of an actively hostile person. | Human theologian |
| The Great Commission Fulfilled | 1:8; 8:4-40; 9:15; 13:1-3,47; 16:6-10; 19:10,20; 22:21; 26:17-18; 28:16-31 | High | 1:8’s programmatic verse and 28:31’s climactic “unhindered” require the same cross-document consistency rigor as Romans 1:16-17/8:28, since they structure the book’s entire geographic/theological argument. | Human theologian |
| Ascension of Christ | 1:9-11; 2:33 | High | Distinct historical event, separate from resurrection; must not assimilate to Hindu deity/sage ascent-narratives implying dissolution into an undifferentiated divine state rather than a bodily, visible departure of a Person who will return bodily. | Human theologian |
| Divine Election and Calling | 1:24-26; 9:15-16; 13:2,48; 15:7; 22:14 | High | Saul’s election while persecuting the church (9:15) is the strongest anti-merit case study in Acts; must never render with भाग्य/नियति/किस्मत. Matthias’s lot-casting (1:24-26) risks a divination reading unless prayer’s governing role stays explicit. | Human theologian |
| Providence and Divine Sovereignty | 1:7,26; 4:28; 5:38-39; 17:26-28; 27:21-25; 28:1-6 | High | God’s personal governance across the shipwreck narrative and Gamaliel’s counsel must never render with भाग्य/नियति or karma-law language; lot-casting compounds this risk. | Human theologian |
| Inclusion of Gentiles and the Abolition of the Purity Boundary | 10:9-16,28,34-35; 11:1-18; 15:8-9 | High | Distinguished from the broader Gospel-to-Gentiles doctrine by its specific शुद्ध/अशुद्ध vocabulary risk, structurally parallel to caste-purity categories (स्पर्श-दोष, जन्म-आधारित अशुद्धता); must read as ceremonial-religious, not merely dietary, and decisively abolished. | Human theologian |
| Spirit-Initiated Commissioning and Sending | 1:8; 13:1-4; 26:16-18 | High | The Spirit’s setting apart of Barnabas and Saul (13:2) must not be read through a sannyasa (renunciation) lens; it is temporary missional commissioning, not permanent religious-state change. Accompanying fasting (उपवास) must not read as merit-earning व्रत. | Human theologian |
| Suffering and Martyrdom for the Gospel | 7:54-60; 12:1-2; 22:20 | High | Stephen’s death is the prototype Christian martyrdom, deliberately echoing Jesus’ own dying words; गवाह/साक्षी must retain forensic eyewitness-testimony sense even as it extends toward testimony sealed by death, not drift toward generic devotional self-sacrifice. | Human theologian |
B.3 Medium-Risk Doctrines
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages (Acts) | Risk | Translation Risk Summary | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Church as Community | 2:42-47; 4:32-35; 6:1-6; 11:26; 20:17-28 | Medium | Breaking of bread must not assimilate to प्रसाद (temple-offering food); “all things in common” must not read as compulsory redistribution rather than voluntary Spirit-motivated generosity. | Native speaker review |
| Christian Community and Voluntary Sharing | 2:44-45; 4:32-37; 5:1-11; 6:1-6 | Medium | Economic-sharing narratives risk a compulsory-redistribution misreading, which 5:4 explicitly denies; breaking-of-bread risk overlaps with the Church-as-Community entry. | Native speaker review |
| Church Leadership and Governance | 6:1-6; 11:30; 14:23; 15:2,6,22-23; 20:17,28; 21:18 | Medium | प्राचीन/अध्यक्ष/चरवाही must convey accountable, Christ-modeled servant-leadership, not a caste-like hereditary priestly office or an unaccountable guru-figure. | Native speaker review |
| Civil Authority and Legal Process | 16:35-40; 18:12-17; 22:25-29; 23:23-24:27; 25:1-27:1 | Medium | Paul’s use of legitimate civil rights (citizenship, appeal to Caesar) must read as principled, non-compromising legal process advancing gospel proclamation, not political accommodation diluting exclusivity claims. | Native speaker review |
| Confrontation with Sorcery and the Occult | 8:9-24; 13:6-12; 19:13-20 | Medium | जादू-टोना names a live, widely practiced occult tradition in India; verdict must not be softened even while handled pastorally; the Spirit’s power must stay categorically distinct from manipulable occult power. | Native speaker review |
| The Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation in the Church | 2:17-18; 11:27-28; 13:1-2; 20:23; 21:4,10-11; 27:23-24 | Medium | NT prophecy/vision-language must stay distinct from astrological prediction (भविष्यफल) and devotional darshan (a deity’s visionary self-disclosure); Acts’ frequent Spirit-guidance to named individuals requires consistent handling. | Native speaker review |
B.4 Low-Risk Doctrines
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages (Acts) | Risk | Translation Risk Summary | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Fellowship and Thanksgiving | 2:42,46-47; 20:7,11; 27:35 | Low | Standard, already-established Hindi Christian vocabulary; minor risk of over-ritualization if breaking-of-bread language drifts toward प्रसाद-like connotations, addressed at the term level. | Automated review |
C. Chapter-by-Chapter Coverage Matrix (Full-Book Mandate)
Every chapter of Acts 1-28 is accounted for below. Chapters contributing no doctrine beyond what is already fully documented in an earlier chapter are explicitly marked “reviewed — no new doctrinal content” rather than silently omitted.
| Ch. | Doctrines Active | Coverage Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Holy Spirit and Pentecost (promise, 1:5,8); Ascension of Christ; Great Commission Fulfilled (1:8 programmatic verse); Divine Election and Calling (lot-casting, 1:24-26); Providence and Divine Sovereignty (1:7,26); Resurrection of Christ (1:3,22) | Foundational chapter; sets the book’s geographic/theological program. |
| 2 | Core passage. Holy Spirit and Pentecost; Repentance and Baptism (2:38); Lordship and Deity of Christ (2:34-36); Sonship and Deity Titles (2:36); Faith and Grace in Salvation (implicit in 2:38-41); Gospel to Jews and Gentiles (2:39); Church as Community (2:42-47); Christian Community and Sharing (2:44-45); Christian Fellowship and Thanksgiving (2:42,46-47); Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation (2:17-18, Joel citation) | Theological anchor of the whole curriculum; every Critical-tier doctrine converges here except Justification-apart-from-Law and Idolatry-confrontation. |
| 3 | Apostolic Authority and Miracles (3:1-16); Resurrection of Christ (3:15); Sonship and Deity Titles (Author of Life, 3:13-15); Faith and Grace in Salvation (3:16); Repentance and Baptism (3:19) | Peter’s healing and sermon at the Temple gate. |
| 4 | Persecution and Bold Witness (4:1-31); Apostolic Authority and Miracles (4:29-31,33); Exclusivity of Salvation (4:8-12); Providence and Divine Sovereignty (4:28); Christian Community and Sharing (4:32-35) | First Sanhedrin confrontation; salvation-exclusivity climax. |
| 5 | Persecution and Bold Witness (5:17-42); Holy Spirit and Pentecost (lying to the Spirit, 5:3-4,9); Apostolic Authority and Miracles (5:12-16); Christian Community and Sharing (5:1-11); Providence and Divine Sovereignty (Gamaliel, 5:38-39) | Ananias/Sapphira and Gamaliel episodes. |
| 6 | Church Leadership and Governance (6:1-6); Apostolic Authority and Miracles (6:8); Persecution and Bold Witness (6:8-7:60 begins); Holy Spirit and Pentecost (6:3,5) | Institution of the seven; sets up Stephen’s martyrdom. |
| 7 | Suffering and Martyrdom (7:54-60); Persecution and Bold Witness; Holy Spirit and Pentecost (7:51, resisting the Spirit); Sonship and Deity Titles (Son of Man, 7:56) | Stephen’s speech and death — prototype martyrdom. |
| 8 | Great Commission Fulfilled (8:4-40); Confrontation with Sorcery and the Occult (8:9-24); Apostolic Authority and Miracles (8:6-13); Holy Spirit and Pentecost (8:15-19); Repentance and Baptism (8:12-13,36-38); Persecution and Bold Witness (8:1-3) | Philip in Samaria and with the Ethiopian eunuch; Simon Magus. |
| 9 | Conversion of Paul (9:1-22); Lordship and Deity of Christ (9:5); Resurrection of Christ (implicit continuity); Divine Election and Calling (9:15-16); Holy Spirit and Pentecost (9:17); Persecution and Bold Witness (9:1-2,23-25,29); Sonship and Deity Titles (9:20); Repentance and Baptism (9:18) | Saul’s Damascus-road conversion — first narration. |
| 10 | Gospel to Jews and Gentiles (10:1-11:18); Inclusion of Gentiles and Purity Boundary (10:9-16,28,34-35); Holy Spirit and Pentecost (10:44-47); Repentance and Baptism (10:47-48); Lordship and Deity of Christ (10:36); Apostolic Authority and Miracles (implicit) | Cornelius episode — the book’s central Gentile-inclusion narrative. |
| 11 | Gospel to Jews and Gentiles (11:1-18); Inclusion of Gentiles and Purity Boundary (11:1-18); Holy Spirit and Pentecost (11:15-17); Repentance and Baptism (11:18); Church Leadership and Governance (11:30); Church as Community (11:26, “Christians” coined) | Jerusalem council’s first hearing of the Cornelius report; Antioch church founded. |
| 12 | Persecution and Bold Witness (12:1-19); Providence and Divine Sovereignty (implicit, Peter’s deliverance) | James’s martyrdom and Peter’s escape; reviewed — reinforces persecution doctrine already documented, no new doctrinal category. |
| 13 | Justification apart from the Law (13:38-39); Faith and Grace in Salvation (13:39,43,48); Spirit-Initiated Commissioning and Sending (13:1-4); Divine Election and Calling (13:2,48); Confrontation with Sorcery and the Occult (13:6-12); Holy Spirit and Pentecost (13:2,4,9,52); Great Commission Fulfilled (13:1-3,47); Persecution and Bold Witness (13:50) | Antioch commissioning; first missionary journey begins; Paul’s synagogue sermon. |
| 14 | Lordship and Deity of Christ (14:11-15); Confrontation with Idolatry and Paganism (14:8-18); Apostolic Authority and Miracles (14:3,8-11); Faith and Grace in Salvation (14:9,27); Persecution and Bold Witness (14:5,19) | Lystra — the avatar-collision episode. |
| 15 | Justification apart from the Law (15:1-11,28-29); Faith and Grace in Salvation (15:9,11); Gospel to Jews and Gentiles (15:1-29); Inclusion of Gentiles and Purity Boundary (15:8-9); Divine Election and Calling (15:7); Church Leadership and Governance (15:2,6,22-23); Holy Spirit and Pentecost (15:8,28) | The Jerusalem Council — doctrinal hinge of the book. |
| 16 | Exclusivity of Salvation (16:31); Repentance and Baptism (16:31-33); Civil Authority and Legal Process (16:35-40); Great Commission Fulfilled (16:6-10) | Philippian jailer; Paul and Silas imprisoned. |
| 17 | Confrontation with Idolatry and Paganism (17:16-31); Gospel to Jews and Gentiles (17:24-31); Resurrection of Christ (17:18,31-32); Persecution and Bold Witness (17:5-9,13); Repentance and Baptism (17:30) | Athens/Areopagus — the pluralism/pantheism-collision episode. |
| 18 | Repentance and Baptism (18:8); Persecution and Bold Witness (18:12-17); Civil Authority and Legal Process (18:12-17); Gospel to Jews and Gentiles (18:6) | Corinth; reviewed — reuses previously documented doctrinal categories (repentance/baptism, persecution, civil process); no new doctrinal category introduced. |
| 19 | Holy Spirit and Pentecost (19:2-6); Repentance and Baptism (19:1-5); Confrontation with Sorcery and the Occult (19:13-20); Confrontation with Idolatry and Paganism (19:23-41); Apostolic Authority and Miracles (19:11-12); Great Commission Fulfilled (19:10,20); Persecution and Bold Witness (19:23-41) | Ephesus — Apollos disciples, Sons of Sceva, Artemis riot. |
| 20 | Church as Community (20:17-28); Church Leadership and Governance (20:17,28); Providence and Divine Sovereignty/Spirit of Prophecy (20:23); Faith and Grace in Salvation (20:21,24,32); Christian Fellowship and Thanksgiving (20:7,11) | Miletus farewell address to the Ephesian elders. |
| 21 | Justification apart from the Law (21:20-25, Nazirite-vow accommodation); Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation (21:4,10-11); Persecution and Bold Witness (21:27-36); Church Leadership and Governance (21:18) | Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem; cultural-accommodation test case. |
| 22 | Conversion of Paul (22:3-21, second narration); Persecution and Bold Witness (22:20); Civil Authority and Legal Process (22:25-29); Repentance and Baptism (22:16) | Paul’s defense before the Jerusalem crowd. |
| 23 | Resurrection of Christ (23:6-8, Pharisee-Sadducee dispute); Persecution and Bold Witness (23:12-35); Providence and Divine Sovereignty (implicit) | Reviewed — reuses previously documented Sanhedrin/persecution and resurrection doctrinal categories; no new doctrinal category introduced. |
| 24 | Resurrection of Christ (24:15,21); Civil Authority and Legal Process (23:23-24:27); Persecution and Bold Witness | Paul before Felix; continuation of legal-process doctrine. |
| 25 | Resurrection of Christ (25:19); Civil Authority and Legal Process (25:1-27:1); Persecution and Bold Witness (25:1-12) | Paul before Festus and Agrippa; appeal to Caesar. |
| 26 | Conversion of Paul (26:9-23, third narration); Resurrection of Christ (26:8,23); Divine Election and Calling (22:14/26 continuity); Spirit-Initiated Commissioning and Sending (26:16-18) | Paul’s defense before Agrippa — fullest conversion retelling. |
| 27 | Providence and Divine Sovereignty (27:21-25); Christian Fellowship and Thanksgiving (27:35) | Shipwreck narrative; reviewed — reinforces providence doctrine already documented (also cf. baseline परमेश्वर का विधान), no new doctrinal category introduced. |
| 28 | Great Commission Fulfilled (28:16-31, “unhindered” climax); Providence and Divine Sovereignty (28:1-6); Gospel to Jews and Gentiles (28:28) | Rome — the book’s climactic, programmatically “unhindered” close. |
D. Cross-Cutting Observations
- Programmatic-verse consistency requirement. Acts 1:8 and 28:31 bookend the entire narrative and must be rendered with the same cross-document rigor the baseline Language Package applies to Romans 1:16-17, 8:28, and 10:9-10. Any Phase 2 document touching either verse must check prior renderings before finalizing.
- Term families spanning many chapters. Several terms recur so densely (गवाह/साक्षी across 15+ chapters; पवित्र आत्मा से भर गए across 8+ chapters; सामर्थ्य across 10+ chapters) that a single mistranslation early in the book propagates doctrinal drift through every later occurrence. Phase 2 must treat first-occurrence renderings as load-bearing precedents.
- Chapters with no new doctrine are explicitly reviewed, not omitted (12, 18, 23, 27 above), consistent with the full-book-coverage mandate. Each such chapter reinforces, rather than introduces, doctrine already carrying Critical or High risk elsewhere.
- Three-fold narration risk (Paul’s conversion, ch. 9/22/26). Because the same event is retold three times with variations, translators must render “light from heaven,” “Why do you persecute me,” and “chosen instrument” identically across all three occurrences, per the baseline’s cross-document consistency principle.
- Doctrine clusters that must be handled together. Sonship-and-Deity-Titles, Lordship-and-Deity-of-Christ, and Resurrection-of-Christ form a mutually reinforcing Christological cluster (see especially Acts 2 and 7); a weak rendering in any one member undermines the theological force of the others.
This document, together with assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json and analysis/08_core_glossary.md, constitutes the Phase 1 Step 4 doctrine-analysis deliverable for the Acts curriculum. It is fully consistent with the doctrine names, tiers, and review routing recorded in the registry.
Critical Risk Doctrines
The Holy Spirit and Pentecost
Hindi name: पवित्र आत्मा और पिन्तेकुस्त
Key terms: holy_spirit, filled_with_holy_spirit, other_tongues, tongues_of_fire, spirit_poured_out, gift_of_the_holy_spirit, baptized_with_holy_spirit, lie_to_the_holy_spirit
Review routing: Human theologian
Over 50 occurrences of Spirit-filling/outpouring language across Acts create sustained, repeated exposure to the risk of a Hindu āveśa (possession-trance) reading, in which a person’s own consciousness is involuntarily displaced by an external spirit-force. Acts consistently portrays Spirit-filled persons as coherent, responsible moral agents speaking meaningfully — this personal, non-displacing character of the Holy Spirit’s fullness must be reinforced at every occurrence, not only at Acts 2.
Repentance and Baptism
Hindi name: मन फिराव और बपतिस्मा
Key terms: repentance, baptism, name_of_jesus, forgiveness_of_sins_acts, johns_baptism_vs_christian_baptism, salvation_formula_household, what_must_i_do_to_be_saved
Review routing: Human theologian
Acts 2:38’s compound instruction (repent, be baptized in Jesus’ name, receive forgiveness and the Spirit) is the paradigm conversion text of the whole New Testament. ‘In the name of Jesus’ risks assimilation to japa/nāma-smaraṇa (devotional name-repetition believed to generate merit through repetition itself), and ‘forgiveness of sins’ risks assimilation to पाप-नाश achieved through ritual bathing or pilgrimage rather than a personal God’s judicial pardon. Both risks recur at every baptismal narrative in the book.
Justification apart from the Law
Hindi name: व्यवस्था के बिना धर्मी ठहराया जाना
Key terms: justification, law, grace, yoke_of_slavery, purification_rites
Review routing: Human theologian
Acts 13:38-39 and 15:11 teach the identical forensic-declaration doctrine the Galatians baseline documents at length; धर्मी ठहराया जाना must never be abbreviated toward माफी पाना (mere pardon) or पुण्य प्राप्त करना (merit-acquisition), and व्यवस्था must never drift toward धर्म. Acts 21’s Nazirite-vow accommodation additionally risks being read as a reversal of this teaching unless framed explicitly as voluntary cultural accommodation, not law-righteousness.
Lordship and Deity of Christ
Hindi name: मसीह का प्रभुत्व और ईश्वरत्व
Key terms: lord, god_made_him_lord_and_christ, gods_have_come_down, son_of_man
Review routing: Human theologian
Acts 14’s Lystra episode dramatizes within the narrative itself the exact pagan alternative (temporary, repeatable deity-descent into human disguise) that the baseline’s देहधारण-vs-अवतार distinction exists to exclude; Paul and Barnabas’s horrified refusal of worship must retain full force. Acts 2:36’s ‘God made him Lord and Christ’ must be handled so as not to suggest adoptionism (Jesus becoming divine at that moment) rather than a publicly vindicated eternal identity.
Resurrection of Christ
Hindi name: मसीह का पुनरुत्थान
Key terms: resurrection
Review routing: Human theologian
पुनरुत्थान recurs as the central apostolic proclamation in nearly every recorded sermon in Acts; 23:6-8’s live Pharisee-Sadducee dispute and 17:32’s Greek mockery both depend on the term denoting a single, bodily, historical event rather than पुनर्जन्म’s cyclical rebirth, making consistent enforcement of this baseline prohibition unusually load-bearing across the whole book.
Exclusivity of Salvation in Christ’s Name
Hindi name: मसीह के नाम में उद्धार की अनन्यता
Key terms: salvation, name_of_jesus, salvation_formula_household
Review routing: Human theologian
Acts 4:12’s ‘there is salvation in no other name’ is Acts’ direct counterpart to the Galatians baseline’s false_gospel exclusivity doctrine. India’s pluralist religious environment readily treats multiple religious messages/names as equally valid paths to the same liberation; this exclusivity clause must not be softened toward a ‘many paths, one truth’ framing.
Confrontation with Idolatry and Paganism
Hindi name: मूर्तिपूजा और पगान धर्म का सामना
Key terms: idolatry, creator, gods_have_come_down, unknown_god, in_him_we_live_and_move, great_is_artemis
Review routing: Human theologian
These three passages are the New Testament’s most extensive direct confrontations with pagan religious systems and each has a live Indian parallel: Lystra’s deity-descent to the avatar concept, Athens’s ‘unknown god’ and Stoic-immanence quotation to religious-pluralist inclusivism and Advaitic pantheism, and Ephesus’s Artemis-cult to India’s temple-economy and goddess devotion. Softening any of the three would blunt the book’s clearest direct engagements with the destination culture’s dominant religious vocabulary.
Sonship and Deity Titles for Christ
Hindi name: मसीह के पुत्रत्व और ईश्वरत्व की उपाधियाँ
Key terms: son_of_god, son_of_man, messiah, author_of_life
Review routing: Human theologian
मनुष्य का पुत्र (Son of Man) risks a literal-generic ‘a human being’ misreading that would erase its Daniel 7 exalted-divine-figure background entirely; this sits alongside परमेश्वर का पुत्र (Son of God) and जीवन का कर्ता (Author of Life) as cluster of Christological titles whose combined weight establishes Christ’s unique deity — any single weak rendering in the cluster undermines the others’ force.
Faith and Grace as the Sole Basis of Salvation
Hindi name: उद्धार का एकमात्र आधार विश्वास और अनुग्रह
Key terms: faith, grace, salvation
Review routing: Human theologian
Acts 15:11’s Council resolution (‘we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are’) is Acts’ direct narrative counterpart to the Galatians law_and_grace doctrine; अनुग्रह must never drift toward कृपा in this specific salvific contrast, and विश्वास must retain Christ as its specified object throughout, never generalized śraddhā-style devotion.
High Risk Doctrines
The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles
Hindi name: यहूदियों और अन्यजातियों के लिये सुसमाचार
Key terms: gospel, gentiles, clean_unclean, impartiality_of_god, god_fearer, promise
Review routing: Human theologian
The clean/unclean vision (Acts 10) and Peter’s impartiality conclusion (10:34-35) directly parallel India’s caste-purity boundaries (शुद्धता/अशुद्धता), where certain persons are considered ritually defiling by birth. A softened or merely dietary rendering of these passages would blunt the text’s central social-theological claim that God himself abolishes ethnic/purity-based spiritual hierarchy for the gospel’s sake.
Apostolic Authority and Miracles
Hindi name: प्रेरितों का अधिकार और चमत्कार
Key terms: apostle, power_of_god, signs_and_wonders, authority_exousia, laying_on_of_hands, gift_of_god_simon_magus
Review routing: Human theologian
Acts contains far more miracle narratives per chapter than Romans/Galatians, multiplying the risk that सामर्थ्य (power) drifts toward शक्ति (Hindu Shakti/goddess-power) or that signs are read as generic siddhi (yogic supernatural attainment) rather than evidentiary acts pointing to and authenticated by the one true God. Simon Magus’s attempted purchase of the Spirit’s gift (8:18-24) additionally risks a transactional-devotion reading in which ritual payment secures divine favor.
Persecution and Bold Witness
Hindi name: उपद्रव और निडर गवाही
Key terms: witness_martyr, boldness, sanhedrin, stiff_necked_resist_spirit, why_do_you_persecute_me, great_fear
Review routing: Human theologian
गवाह/साक्षी (witness) is the term from which the Christian concept of martyrdom develops; साक्षी risks collision with Vedantic sākṣī-bhāva (the impersonal witness-consciousness underlying the self in meditation), an entirely different concept from courtroom-grade eyewitness testimony to a historical, bodily resurrection. Given the density of persecution narratives across the book, this collision risk recurs at nearly every chapter.
Conversion of Paul
Hindi name: पौलुस का धर्मपरिवर्तन
Key terms: light_from_heaven, scales_fell_from_eyes, chosen_instrument, heavenly_vision, why_do_you_persecute_me
Review routing: Human theologian
Saul’s conversion is narrated three times, and each retelling risks the ‘light from heaven’ being assimilated to Hindu divine-light/darshan/enlightenment concepts (a guru’s or deity’s illuminating self-disclosure, or an interior awakening the seeker attains). The passage must remain Christ’s objective, sovereign, external confrontation of a specific historical person actively hostile to the gospel — not a gradual religious search or self-attained insight.
The Great Commission Fulfilled
Hindi name: महान आज्ञा की पूर्ति
Key terms: witness_martyr, hinder_unhindered, kingdom_of_god, word_of_god_increased
Review routing: Human theologian
Acts 1:8’s programmatic verse and 28:31’s climactic ‘unhindered’ both require cross-document consistency with the same rigor the baseline applies to Romans 1:16-17 and 8:28, since this verse-pair structures the entire book’s geographic and theological argument (Jerusalem to Rome, the empire’s center) — an inconsistent Hindi rendering across study materials would obscure the book’s literary and theological architecture.
Ascension of Christ
Hindi name: मसीह का स्वर्गारोहण
Key terms: ascension
Review routing: Human theologian
This distinct historical event, separate from the resurrection, must not be assimilated to Hindu narratives of a deity’s or sage’s ascent/departure from earthly form, which sometimes imply dissolution back into an undifferentiated divine state rather than a bodily, visible, historically-witnessed departure of a Person who remains distinct and will return bodily (1:11).
Divine Election and Calling
Hindi name: परमेश्वर का चुनाव और बुलाहट
Key terms: election, called, chosen_instrument, casting_lots
Review routing: Human theologian
Saul’s election while actively persecuting the church (9:15) is the strongest anti-merit case study in Acts, directly reinforcing the baseline’s caution that election must never be rendered with भाग्य/नियति/किस्मत (impersonal fate or karma-determined destiny). Matthias’s selection by lot (1:24-26) additionally risks a divination reading unless the preceding prayer’s governing role is kept explicit.
Providence and Divine Sovereignty
Hindi name: परमेश्वर का विधान और संप्रभुता
Key terms: providence, casting_lots
Review routing: Human theologian
God’s personal, purposive governance across the shipwreck narrative (27) and Gamaliel’s counsel (5:38-39) must never be rendered with भाग्य/नियति (impersonal fate) or karma-law language; the lot-casting scene (1:24-26) compounds this risk by requiring explicit framing as prayer-governed divine sovereignty rather than divination.
Inclusion of Gentiles and the Abolition of the Purity Boundary
Hindi name: अन्यजातियों का समावेश और शुद्धता की सीमा का उन्मूलन
Key terms: clean_unclean, impartiality_of_god, god_fearer
Review routing: Human theologian
This doctrine is distinguished from the broader Gospel-to-Gentiles doctrine because its translation risk is specifically about the शुद्ध/अशुद्ध (clean/unclean) vocabulary’s direct structural parallel to caste-purity categories (स्पर्श-दोष, जन्म-आधारित अशुद्धता); the passage’s entire rhetorical force depends on this boundary being read as ceremonial-religious, not merely dietary, and as decisively abolished by God himself.
Spirit-Initiated Commissioning and Sending
Hindi name: आत्मा द्वारा आरम्भित नियुक्ति और भेजा जाना
Key terms: set_apart_for_mission, fasting, laying_on_of_hands
Review routing: Human theologian
The Spirit’s own initiative in setting apart Barnabas and Saul (13:2, अलग करना/नियुक्त करना) must not be read through the lens of sannyasa (renunciation of ordinary life for asceticism); it is a specific, temporary, missional commissioning, not a permanent change of religious state, and the fasting that accompanies it (उपवास) must not be read as merit-earning व्रत.
Suffering and Martyrdom for the Gospel
Hindi name: सुसमाचार के लिये दुःख भोगना और बलिदान होना
Key terms: witness_martyr, boldness
Review routing: Human theologian
Stephen’s death is the prototype Christian martyrdom, and his dying prayer deliberately parallels Jesus’ own (Luke 23:34,46); the गवाह/साक्षी root from which ‘martyr’ develops must retain its forensic eyewitness-testimony sense even as it extends toward testimony sealed by death, not drift toward a generic devotional self-sacrifice concept.
Medium Risk Doctrines
The Church as Community
Hindi name: समुदाय के रूप में कलीसिया
Key terms: church, fellowship, breaking_of_bread, all_things_in_common, one_heart_and_soul, added_to_number, christians_term
Review routing: Native speaker review
The ‘breaking of bread’ meal must not be assimilated to प्रसाद (temple-offering food returned from a deity to devotees), and ‘all things in common’ must not be read as a compulsory redistribution mandate rather than voluntary Spirit-motivated generosity — both are naturalness/clarity risks rather than doctrinal collisions of the highest order.
Christian Community and Voluntary Sharing
Hindi name: मसीही समुदाय और स्वैच्छिक सहभागिता
Key terms: all_things_in_common, one_heart_and_soul, breaking_of_bread
Review routing: Native speaker review
The economic-sharing narratives risk being read either as a compulsory redistribution system (which 5:4’s ‘was it not at your own disposal?’ explicitly denies) or, via the breaking-of-bread meal, as analogous to प्रसाद (temple-offering food) rather than a believer-to-believer shared meal of remembrance.
Church Leadership and Governance
Hindi name: कलीसिया का अगुआपन और प्रबंधन
Key terms: elders_overseers_shepherd, authority_exousia
Review routing: Native speaker review
प्राचीन/अध्यक्ष/चरवाही (elders/overseers/shepherding) must convey accountable, Christ-modeled servant-leadership, not a caste-like hereditary priestly office or an unaccountable guru-figure whose authority a disciple never formally outgrows.
Civil Authority and Legal Process
Hindi name: शासकीय अधिकार और न्यायिक प्रक्रिया
Key terms: roman_citizen, appeal_to_caesar, sanhedrin
Review routing: Native speaker review
Paul’s appeals to legitimate civil rights (Roman citizenship, appeal to Caesar) must be read as principled, non-compromising use of legal process to advance gospel proclamation, consistent with the baseline’s governing_authorities caution — not political accommodation that dilutes the gospel’s exclusivity claims made in the same narrative arc.
Confrontation with Sorcery and the Occult
Hindi name: जादू-टोना और तंत्र-मंत्र का सामना
Key terms: sorcery, gift_of_god_simon_magus
Review routing: Native speaker review
जादू-टोना names a live, widely practiced occult tradition in the Indian context; these passages’ verdict must not be softened even while handled pastorally, and the Spirit’s true power must be kept categorically distinct from manipulable occult power.
The Spirit of Prophecy and Revelation in the Church
Hindi name: कलीसिया में भविष्यवाणी और प्रकाशन की आत्मा
Key terms: prophecy, prophet, revelation, heavenly_vision
Review routing: Native speaker review
New Testament prophecy and vision-language must be kept distinct from astrological prediction (भविष्यफल) and from devotional darshan (a deity’s visionary self-disclosure to a devotee); Acts’ frequent Spirit-given guidance to named individuals (Agabus, the Antioch prophets, Paul’s own visions) requires this distinction applied consistently.
Low Risk Doctrines
Christian Fellowship and Thanksgiving
Hindi name: मसीही संगति और धन्यवाद
Key terms: fellowship, thanksgiving, breaking_of_bread
Review routing: Automated review
Standard, low-risk vocabulary already established in Hindi Christian usage; minor risk of over-ritualization if breaking-of-bread language drifts toward प्रसाद-like connotations, addressed at the term level.
Referenced passages