Core Glossary

Colossians — Core Glossary (Hmong Language Package)

Risk-tier definitions are inherited unmodified from assets/bible_term_registry.json (Romans baseline): Critical = strong, specific collision with Hmong traditional religion that could invert/neutralize doctrine; High = real confusion potential, manageable with a documented disambiguating strategy; Medium = partial mismatch/comprehension gap, no direct collision; Low = stable, minimal ambiguity.

Status column: Reused = unmodified Romans-baseline TM entry, cited by baseline ID; Extended = Romans-baseline entry reapplied to a new doctrinal context in Colossians, flagged per baseline escalation rules; NEW = no prior TM entry, proposed here for the first time.

#	Category	English Term	Greek	Transliteration	Hmong Rendering	Risk	Status	Doctrine(s)	Chapters	Notes
1	Divine Persons	God	θεός	theos	Vajtswv	Low	Reused (baseline #1)	Cross-cutting	all	Exact reuse.
2	Divine Persons	Lord	κύριος	kyrios	tus Tswv	Low	Reused (baseline #2)	Cross-cutting	1,3,4	Exact reuse for the divine title; see #38 below for the NEW human-master disambiguation this creates in ch.3-4.
3	Divine Persons	Jesus Christ	Ἰησοῦς Χριστός	Iēsous Christos	Yexus Khetos	Low	Reused (baseline #3)	Cross-cutting	all	Exact reuse.
4	Divine Persons	Holy Spirit	πνεῦμα ἅγιον	pneuma hagion	Vaj Ntsuj Plig	Critical	Reused (baseline #5)	Sanctification / Life in the Spirit	1,3	Mandatory “Vaj” prefix rule applies unchanged (e.g. “nkauj Vaj Ntsuj Plig,” 3:16).
5	Divine Persons	Son of God	υἱὸς θεοῦ	huios theou	Leej Tub ntawm Vajtswv	Low	Reused (baseline #7)	Union with Christ / Christ’s Supremacy	1	Exact reuse.
6	Christology	Image (of God)	εἰκών	eikōn	tus duab	High	NEW	Supremacy of Christ; Fullness of Deity	1,3	Near-homophone risk with dab (spirit); must be distinguished from `dab mlom` (idol, baseline #32). Mandatory teaching note.
7	Christology	Firstborn (of all creation / from the dead)	πρωτότοκος	prōtotokos	tus Thawj Tub	Critical	NEW	Supremacy of Christ over Creation	1	MANDATORY rank/heir qualifier clause at every occurrence; forbidden reading = “first created being” (Watchtower/NWT-pattern error, cf. baseline §3.1 diminished-Sonship prohibition).
8	Cosmology	Creation	κτίσις	ktisis	tej uas raug tsim los	Low	Reused (baseline #35)	Supremacy of Christ over Creation	1	Exact reuse.
9	Cosmology	Cosmic powers (thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities)	θρόνοι, κυριότητες, ἀρχαί, ἐξουσίαι	thronoi, kyriotētes, archai, exousiai	cov Zwm Txwv, cov Thawj Kav, cov Muaj Hwjchim, thiab cov Muaj Cai Kav saum ntuj ceeb tsheej	Critical	NEW	Supremacy of Christ over Creation	1,2	Highest-density collision point in the book: risks confirming a spirit-hierarchy worth fearing/appeasing rather than subordinating it to Christ. Mandatory qualifier: “created by God, under Christ’s rule, none equal/superior to Christ.”
10	Cosmology	Hold together / cohere	συνέστηκεν	synestēken	tuav ua ke	Medium	NEW	Supremacy of Christ over Creation	1	Comprehension gap (ongoing sustaining causation), not a collision.
11	Ecclesiology	Head (of the body/church)	κεφαλή	kephalē	taubhau	Low-Medium	NEW	Christ as Head of the Church	1,2	Extension of baseline `body_of_christ` (#66) metaphor; keep consistent across 1:18, 2:10, 2:19.
12	Ecclesiology	Church	ἐκκλησία	ekklēsia	pawg ntseeg	Low	NEW (established usage)	Christ as Head of the Church	1,4	Standard existing Hmong Christian term.
13	Christology	Beginning / first-principle	ἀρχή	archē	pib / tus pib	Low-Medium	NEW	Supremacy of Christ over Creation	1	Must be kept contextually distinct from plural “rulers” sense of same root (#9).
14	Soteriology	Fullness (pleroma)	πλήρωμα	plērōma	qhov puv npo	Critical	NEW	Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily	1,2,4	Guards against distributing divine sufficiency among multiple spirit-powers; Christ holds the undivided whole.
15	Christology	Deity / Godhead	θεότης	theotēs	Vajtswv lub Yam Ntxwv tag nrho	Critical	NEW	Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily	2	Central Christological affirmation; guard against both docetism and subordinationism. Highest-priority theologian review.
16	Soteriology	Reconcile (cosmic scope)	ἀποκαταλλάξαι	apokatallaxai	kev sib haum xeeb (nrog Vajtswv) [+ cosmic qualifier]	High	Extended (baseline #43)	Reconciliation through the Cross	1	Extends baseline `reconciliation` to “all things in heaven and earth”; must not be read as universalism.
17	Atonement	Blood of the cross	αἷμα τοῦ σταυροῦ	haima tou staurou	cov ntshav ntawm tus Ntoo Khaub Lig	Low-Medium	NEW	Reconciliation through the Cross	1,2	Cross-reference with baseline `propitiation_atoning_sacrifice` (#37) once-for-all qualifier.
18	Atonement	Cross	σταυρός	stauros	tus Ntoo Khaub Lig	Low	NEW (established usage)	Reconciliation through the Cross	1,2	Standard existing Hmong Christian term.
19	Grace & Faith	Grace	χάρις	charis	txiaj ntsim	Critical	Reused (baseline #14)	Cross-cutting	1,3,4	`koob hmoov` permanently forbidden; also see #35 for the ordinary-sense “gracious speech” caution at 4:6.
20	Grace & Faith	Faith / Believe	πίστις	pistis	kev ntseeg / ntseeg	Medium	Reused (baseline #16)	Cross-cutting	1,2	Exact reuse.
21	Grace & Faith	Love	ἀγάπη	agapē	kev hlub	Low	Reused (TM)	Christian Living	1,3	Exact reuse.
22	Grace & Faith	Hope	ἐλπίς	elpis	kev cia siab	Low	Reused (TM)	Christian Living	1	Exact reuse.
23	Gospel	Gospel	εὐαγγέλιον	euangelion	Txoj Moo Zoo	Low	Reused (baseline #8)	Cross-cutting	1	Exact reuse.
24	Knowledge	Full knowledge (vs. mere knowledge)	ἐπίγνωσις / γνῶσις	epignōsis / gnōsis	kev paub tseeb / kev paub	Medium	NEW	Warning against False Teaching	1,2	Counters false teachers’ claimed esoteric knowledge; must be anchored to Christ alone.
25	Sovereignty	Power	δύναμις	dynamis	hwjchim (mandatory: Vajtswv hwjchim)	High	Reused (baseline #62)	Cross-cutting	1	Exact reuse with mandatory qualifier.
26	Sovereignty	Dominion/authority of darkness	ἐξουσία τοῦ σκότους	exousia tou skotous	lub hwjchim ntawm qhov tsaus ntuj	Critical	NEW	Warning against False Teaching; Supremacy of Christ	1	Must be taught as an already-defeated, subordinate realm, not an ongoing rival force requiring negotiation.
27	Redemption	Redemption / Forgiveness of sins	ἀπολύτρωσις / ἄφεσις	apolytrōsis / aphesis	kev txhiv / kev zam txim	Medium	Reused (baseline #38) + NEW (aphesis)	Reconciliation through the Cross	1	Redemption reused exactly; forgiveness is new, low collision.
28	Mystery	Mystery	μυστήριον	mystērion	zaj lus zais cia	Medium	Extended (baseline #59)	Warning against False Teaching	1,2,4	Referent shift from Israel’s future (Romans) to Christ himself/Christ-in-Gentiles (Colossians); logged per escalation rule.
29	Union with Christ	Christ in you	Χριστὸς ἐν ὑμῖν	Christos en hymin	Khetos nyob hauv nej	High	NEW (inverse of TM `in_christ_union_formula`)	Union with Christ	1,3	Never use possession-verb nkag (forbidden per baseline §3.1); teach as mutual indwelling.
30	Union with Christ	In Christ / in Christ in God	ἐν Χριστῷ / ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ ἐν τῷ θεῷ	en Christō	nyob hauv Khetos	High	Reused (baseline `in_christ_union_formula`)	Union with Christ	3	Exact reuse, doubled formula at 3:3.
31	Suffering	Filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions	ἀνταναπληρῶ τὰ ὑστερήματα τῶν θλίψεων	antanaplērō ta hysterēmata tōn thlipseōn	ua kom tiav tej kev txom nyem uas tseem tshuav ntawm Yexus Khetos tej kev txom nyem	Critical	NEW	Reconciliation through the Cross (guard-rail)	1	MUST NOT imply insufficiency of Christ’s atonement; refers to Paul’s apostolic mission-suffering.
32	False Teaching	Philosophy and empty deceit	φιλοσοφία καὶ κενῆς ἀπάτης	philosophia kai kenēs apatēs	tej kev xav thiab kev dag ntxias uas tsis muaj qab hau	Medium-High	NEW	Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism	2	Scope narrowly to the specific Colossian heresy, not all non-Christian thought.
33	False Teaching	Human tradition (vs. according to Christ)	παράδοσις τῶν ἀνθρώπων / κατὰ Χριστόν	paradosis tōn anthrōpōn / kata Christon	kevcai neeg tsim los / raws li Khetos	Critical	NEW	Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism	2	Shares root with `kev cai dab qhuas` (religion/ancestral spirit-custom); central risk term for syncretism given live pressure from ancestral kevcai practice.
34	False Teaching	Elemental spirits / elements of the world	στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου	stoicheia tou kosmou	tej hauv paus qub ntawm lub ntiajteb	Critical	NEW	Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism	2	Single most dangerous comprehension-collision point; any dab-root rendering FORBIDDEN.
35	Grace & Faith	Gracious speech (ordinary sense)	λόγος ἐν χάριτι	logos en chariti	lus hais nrog txiaj ntsim	Low-Medium	NEW (ordinary-sense flag)	Cross-cutting	4	Everyday-graciousness sense; not the Critical soteriological `txiaj ntsim` referent — flagged to prevent over-application of the Critical caution.
36	Christology	Head of all rule and authority	κεφαλὴ πάσης ἀρχῆς καὶ ἐξουσίας	kephalē pasēs archēs kai exousias	taubhau ntawm tag nrho cov Thawj Kav thiab cov Muaj Cai Kav	Critical	NEW (reuses #9, #11)	Fullness of Deity; Supremacy of Christ	2	Same mandatory qualifier as #9 applies.
37	Sacraments	Baptism (buried/raised with Christ)	βάπτισμα / συνταφέντες / συνηγέρθητε	baptisma / synetaphēte / synēgerthēte	kev cai raus dej / tau nrog Khetos raug faus thiab sawv hauv qhov tuag rov qab los	High	Reused (baseline #45) + Extended	Union with Christ	2,3	Same once-for-all, non-repeatable teaching frame as Romans baseline.
38	Household Code	Master (human, household sense)	κύριος	kyrios	tus tswv tsev	High	NEW disambiguation	Household Codes	3,4	Same Greek word as the divine title `tus Tswv` (#2); must be visually/contextually distinguished at every occurrence with a clause anchoring to service ultimately rendered to Christ (3:24).
39	Household Code	Slave/servant (literal, household)	δοῦλος	doulos	qhev	High	Reused (baseline #10) + Extended	Household Codes	3,4	Requires an ADDITIONAL note distinguishing the literal ancient household-slavery referent here from the devotional qhev-to-Christ metaphor elsewhere in the TM.
40	Household Code	Submit	ὑποτάσσω	hypotassō	nyob hauv qab / mloog (mandatory: raws li tsim nyog rau hauv tus Tswv)	High	NEW	Household Codes	3	Must always be presented with the reciprocal husbands’-love and fathers’-non-provocation clauses; never isolated.
41	Anthropology	Old self / New self	παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος / νέος ἄνθρωπος	palaios anthrōpos / neos anthrōpos	tus neeg qub / tus neeg tshiab	Medium	NEW	Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New	3	Clothing metaphor transfers well; must exclude any reincarnation/soul-transfer misreading via teaching note.
42	Anthropology	Renewal (of the new self)	ἀνακαινούμενον	anakainoumenon	hloov siab tshiab	Low-Medium	Reused (TM)	Putting Off/On	3	Exact reuse of established Hmong Christian idiom.
43	Sovereignty	Chosen / Elect	ἐκλεκτοί	eklektoi	cov uas Vajtswv xaiv (raws li nws lub siab nyiam)	Critical	Reused (baseline #54)	Election (background); Christian Living	3	`hmoov` (fate) vocabulary permanently forbidden; volitional clause mandatory.
44	Ethics	Idolatry	εἰδωλολατρία	eidōlolatria	kev pehawm dab mlom	High	Reused (baseline #32)	Putting Off the Old Self	3	Reuses fixed `idol` term exactly.
45	Sovereignty	Wrath of God	ὀργὴ θεοῦ	orgē theou	kev npau taws ntawm Vajtswv	High	Reused (baseline #31)	Putting Off the Old Self	3	Exact reuse.
46	Cross-cutting	Peace of Christ	εἰρήνη τοῦ Χριστοῦ	eirēnē tou Christou	kev thaj yeeb ntawm Khetos	Low	Reused (baseline #15)	Christian Living	3	Exact reuse of `peace` base term.
47	Worship	Worship of angels (forbidden practice)	θρησκεία τῶν ἀγγέλων	thrēskeia tōn angelōn	kev pehawm cov tim tswv saum ntuj	Critical	NEW	Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism	2	Reuses flagged `pehawm` verb (baseline #71) with an explicitly FORBIDDEN object; direct parallel to ancestor/spirit-intermediary veneration risk.
48	Worship	Self-made religion	ἐθελοθρησκία	ethelothrēskia	kev pehawm Vajtswv raws li tus kheej lub siab xav	High	NEW	Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism	2	Scope narrowly to self-devised ascetic regulation, not all unfamiliar devotion.
49	Worship	Disarm / triumph over powers	ἀπεκδυσάμενος … θριαμβεύσας	apekdysamenos … thriambeusas	rho tawm lawv lub hwjchim thiab kov yeej cov Thawj Kav thiab cov Muaj Hwjchim saum ntuj tab meeg	Critical	NEW	Reconciliation through the Cross; Supremacy of Christ	2	Must be taught as unique, total, once-for-all public victory — not a provisional shamanic power-contest.
50	Ecclesiology	Kingdom of God / of the Son	βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ / τοῦ υἱοῦ	basileia tou theou / tou huiou	lub Nceeg Vaj ntawm Vajtswv / ntawm nws Leej Tub	Low	Reused (baseline #68)	Cross-cutting	1,4	Exact reuse.
51	Ecclesiology	Saints / holy ones	ἅγιοι	hagioi	cov ntseeg dawb huv	High	NEW	Christian Living; Sanctification	1	Inherits `dawb huv` ritual-purity collision risk from baseline sanctification entry (#46).
52	Ecclesiology	Ministry/service (office-adjacent)	διακονία	diakonia	(pattern of) tus pab tu pawg ntseeg	Medium	Reused (baseline #11 pattern)	Christ as Head of the Church	4	Kept distinct from `qhev`.
53	Apostolic Office	Apostle	ἀπόστολος	apostolos	tus Tub Txib	Medium	Reused (baseline #9)	Cross-cutting	1	Exact reuse.
54	Peoples & Groups	Jew / Greek / circumcision-uncircumcision / barbarian / Scythian / slave / free	Ἰουδαῖος, Ἕλλην, περιτομή/ ἀκροβυστία, βάρβαρος, Σκύθης, δοῦλος, ἐλεύθερος	Ioudaios, Hellēn, peritomē/akrobystia, barbaros, Skythēs, doulos, eleutheros	cov Yudas / cov Kilis / kev txiav / cov neeg txawv teb chaws / cov Xikithias / qhev / tus keej	Low-Medium	Reused (baseline #19-22, #28) + NEW (Scythian)	Putting Off the Old Self (unity in Christ)	3	Scythian is a new transliterated proper ethnonym; all others reuse baseline exactly.

Cross-Reference Note

Every “Reused” entry above is copied verbatim in rendering from the Romans baseline TM and MUST NOT be altered for Colossians. Every “Extended” entry reapplies a fixed Romans-baseline rendering to a genuinely new doctrinal context within Colossians and is logged here per the baseline’s own escalation rule (12_ai_translation_requirements.md §9: “Low-risk term reused in a novel doctrinal context… log the new context”). Every “NEW” entry is a proposed addition awaiting formal TM-revision review before any Phase 2 content generation may treat it as permanent, per the same document’s governing principle that new terms may be used ad hoc under established transliteration/register conventions but must never be silently treated as permanent.

Chapters explicitly reviewed with no additional new terms beyond those logged above and in 07_semantic_analysis.md: none — all four chapters of Colossians contributed at least one load-bearing term to this glossary; there is no “thin” chapter in this short letter requiring a bare reviewed-but-empty notation.

Critical Risk Terms

Holy Spirit

Approved rendering: Vaj Ntsuj Plig
Transliteration: pneuma hagion / pneuma hagiōsynēs
Doctrine: Union with Christ / Sanctification background
Rejected alternatives: bare ntsuj plig (no Vaj prefix) — rejected, denotes an animistic wandering human soul

Fixed collocation; ‘Vaj’ prefix mandatory at every occurrence, including in the compound ‘nkauj Vaj Ntsuj Plig’ (spiritual songs, Col 3:16). Inherited from Romans package.

Grace

Approved rendering: txiaj ntsim
Transliteration: charis
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting (background to all doctrines)
Rejected alternatives: koob hmoov (fortune/blessing tied to fate and ritual correctness) — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN for this sense

koob hmoov reserved exclusively for ordinary material ‘blessing’ contexts, never for salvific grace. Colossians also uses charis in the ordinary ‘gracious speech’ sense at 4:6 — see NEW entry ‘gracious_speech_ordinary’ for that distinct, non-Critical usage. Inherited from Romans package.

Flesh Moral Sinful Nature

Approved rendering: kev xav/kev ua raws li lub cev nqaij tawv
Transliteration: sarx (moral)
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Rejected alternatives: bare nqaij tawv reused unmarked from neutral sense — rejected, undermines the flesh/Spirit contrast

Reused in Col 2:18 for ‘vainly puffed up by the fleshly mind’ (tou noos tēs sarkos), describing false-teacher visionary/ecstatic authority claims. Inherited from Romans package.

Election Choose

Approved rendering: kev xaiv (Vajtswv xaiv raws li nws lub siab nyiam)
Transliteration: eklogē / eklegomai
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New (ethical-identity marker)
Rejected alternatives: hmoov (impersonal fate/fortune) vocabulary — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN

Reused exactly for Col 3:12’s ‘God’s chosen ones’ (eklektoi), a direct reuse of the Romans-baseline Critical Election vocabulary in a new ethical-exhortation context. Volitional verb-phrase mandatory, never a bare noun. Inherited from Romans package.

Propitiation Atoning Sacrifice

Approved rendering: qhov theej txhoj kev txhaum
Transliteration: hilastērion
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Rejected alternatives: transliterated loanword — rejected, would be opaque and prevent needed contrast-teaching, bare ‘qhov theej’ without a once-for-all qualifying clause — rejected

Must be taught as once-for-all, sufficient, unrepeatable, distinguished from shamanic sacrificial appeasement. Cross-referenced with Colossians’ NEW ‘blood_of_the_cross’ entry (Col 1:20, 2:14) to prevent the cross being assimilated into a repeatable appeasement transaction. Inherited from Romans package.

Law Mosaic Divine

Approved rendering: Txoj Kevcai (ntawm Vajtswv / Mauxes)
Transliteration: nomos
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism (background)
Rejected alternatives: bare ‘Txoj Kevcai’ without qualifier — rejected, collapses into kev cai dab qhuas (ancestral spirit-worship customs)

Qualifier mandatory at every occurrence without exception. Cross-referenced in Colossians against the NEW ‘human_tradition_vs_according_to_christ’ entry: the shared ‘kevcai’ root morpheme family (divine Mosaic Law / condemned human tradition / ancestral religion / baptism) requires each compound to always carry its own full fixed qualifier; the bare root ‘kevcai’ alone must never appear in doctrinal content. Inherited from Romans package.

Image Of God

Approved rendering: tus duab
Transliteration: eikōn
Doctrine: The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation
Rejected alternatives: a rendering assimilated toward dab mlom (idol) vocabulary — rejected, inverts Christ’s status as the living antithesis of a manufactured cult-image

NEW ENTRY. Christ as the exact, personal, visible manifestation of the invisible God (Col 1:15); reused at 3:10 for ‘the image of the one who created’ the new self. Near-homophone risk with ‘dab’ (spirit/demon) and semantic-collision risk with the fixed Critical ‘idol’ entry (dab mlom). Mandatory teaching note at every occurrence: Christ as tus duab is the living antithesis of dab mlom, a Person perfectly revealing God, never a lifeless cult-object.

Firstborn Supremacy

Approved rendering: tus Thawj Tub ntawm tag nrho tej uas raug tsim los
Transliteration: prōtotokos pasēs ktiseōs
Doctrine: The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation
Rejected alternatives: a bare birth-order gloss (‘the first one born’) — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, produces the Watchtower/NWT-pattern ‘first created being’ error

NEW ENTRY. This is Colossians’ thesis-defining Christological verse (Col 1:15) and this Language Package’s core passage. MANDATORY rank/heir qualifying clause required at every occurrence: ’— qhia txog nws txoj cai loj dua ntais thiab txoj cai qub txeeg qub teg, tsis yog tias nws yog thawj tus uas Vajtswv tsim los’ (indicating his supreme rank and inheritance-right, not that he was the first being God created). Highest-severity instance in this Package of the diminished-Sonship prohibition already established in the Romans baseline.

Cosmic Powers Merism

Approved rendering: cov Zwm Txwv, cov Thawj Kav, cov Muaj Hwjchim, thiab cov Muaj Cai Kav saum ntuj ceeb tsheej
Transliteration: thronoi, kyriotētes, archai, exousiai
Doctrine: The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation
Rejected alternatives: any rendering left unqualified as ‘the various spirits’ — FORBIDDEN, confirms rather than subordinates the Hmong spirit-hierarchy

NEW ENTRY — the single highest-density collision point in this entire Language Package. Maps directly onto Hmong cosmology’s ranked plurality of ancestor, household, and territorial/nature spirits (dab ntuj, dab teb) negotiated with via the txiv neeb. MANDATORY appended clause at first occurrence (Col 1:16) and every recurrence (2:10, 2:15): ’— txhua yam no puavleej yog Vajtswv tsim los thiab nyob hauv qab Khetos txoj kev kav, tsis muaj ib qho twg zoo sib npaug lossis siab dua Khetos.’ Never dropped for space, including in titles/quiz stems.

Fullness Pleroma

Approved rendering: qhov puv npo
Transliteration: plērōma
Doctrine: Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily
Rejected alternatives: a transliterated loanword — rejected, would sever the term from its mandatory contrast-teaching

NEW ENTRY. Christ holds the entire, undivided fullness of God’s nature (Col 1:19, 2:9-10) — must be taught as guarding against distributing divine sufficiency among multiple spirit-powers, structurally identical to Hmong cosmology’s negotiable spirit-portions. MANDATORY qualifier: always ‘undivided/whole’, never partitive. This root recurs at Col 4:12 in an ordinary devotional sense (‘fully assured’) — see NEW entry ‘fully_assured_ordinary’ — which must NEVER carry this Critical apparatus.

Deity Godhead

Approved rendering: Vajtswv lub Yam Ntxwv tag nrho
Transliteration: theotēs
Doctrine: Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily

NEW ENTRY. This book’s central Christological affirmation (Col 2:9). Must simultaneously guard against docetism (denying Christ’s genuine physical body) and subordinationism/emanation-theology (denying the undivided divine nature is fully present in Christ). Highest-priority theologian review of any term in this Language Package.

Dominion Of Darkness

Approved rendering: lub hwjchim ntawm qhov tsaus ntuj
Transliteration: exousia tou skotous
Doctrine: The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation

NEW ENTRY. Col 1:13. Must be taught as an already-defeated, subordinate realm from which believers have been rescued/transferred — not a currently-contesting equal force requiring ongoing shamanic negotiation. Sits immediately before the cosmic-powers passage (1:16) and must be taught in tandem with it.

Elemental Spirits Stoicheia

Approved rendering: tej hauv paus qub ntawm lub ntiajteb
Transliteration: stoicheia tou kosmou
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Rejected alternatives: ANY dab-root rendering — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, would validate the reality/relevance of dab ntuj/dab teb nature-spirits

NEW ENTRY. Col 2:8, 2:20. Single most dangerous comprehension-collision point in the letter. Mandatory teaching note distinguishing legitimate acknowledgment that spirit-beings exist and were created by Christ (1:16) from the false teachers’ claim that submission to ascetic/ritual regulations connected to such powers is spiritually necessary.

Disarm Triumph Over Powers

Approved rendering: rho tawm lawv lub hwjchim thiab kov yeej cov Thawj Kav thiab cov Muaj Hwjchim saum ntuj tab meeg
Transliteration: apekdysamenos tas archas kai tas exousias, thriambeusas
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Rejected alternatives: framing suggesting Christ won merely one round of an ongoing negotiable contest — FORBIDDEN, inverts the doctrine

NEW ENTRY. Col 2:15. Must be taught as Christ’s unique, total, once-for-all, public cosmic victory — categorically different from the provisional, negotiated, repeatable power-contests of shamanic spirit-warfare (txiv neeb ritual combat with hostile spirits).

Worship Of Angels

Approved rendering: kev pehawm cov tim tswv saum ntuj
Transliteration: thrēskeia tōn angelōn
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Rejected alternatives: presenting this as a neutral devotional option — FORBIDDEN, must always be marked as condemned

NEW ENTRY. Col 2:18. Reuses the flagged ‘pehawm’ verb (worship_serve_cultic) with an explicitly FORBIDDEN object. Structurally identical to the danger of treating ancestor spirits or nature spirits as necessary intermediaries to God; must be taught with full force, not softened, as this is a direct, explicit warning against exactly the kind of spirit-intermediary religion embedded in Hmong ancestor veneration.

Filling Up Christs Afflictions

Approved rendering: ua kom tiav tej kev txom nyem uas tseem tshuav ntawm Yexus Khetos tej kev txom nyem
Transliteration: antanaplērō ta hysterēmata tōn thlipseōn tou Christou
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Rejected alternatives: any implication that Christ’s atonement was insufficient — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, directly contradicts the propitiation_atoning_sacrifice mandatory qualifier

NEW ENTRY. Col 1:24, Paul’s own ongoing apostolic suffering in gospel mission-labor, sharing the pattern/cost of proclaiming Christ, NOT completing Christ’s finished atoning work. Mandatory guard-rail teaching note required at every occurrence.

Human Tradition Vs According To Christ

Approved rendering: kevcai neeg tsim los / raws li Khetos
Transliteration: paradosis tōn anthrōpōn / kata Christon
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Rejected alternatives: ‘kevcai neeg tsim los’ appearing without its ‘raws li Khetos’ contrast in the same clause — FORBIDDEN

NEW ENTRY. Col 2:8. ‘Kevcai’ shares its root with ‘kev cai dab qhuas’ (religion/ancestral spirit-worship customs); the central lexical-doctrinal risk for the syncretism doctrine given live pressure from Hmong ancestral kevcai practice (funeral rites, spirit-offering customs). Must always be paired with ‘raws li Khetos’ in the same teaching unit, never left to stand alone.

High Risk Terms

Servant Slave Doulos

Approved rendering: qhev
Transliteration: doulos
Doctrine: Household Codes
Rejected alternatives: koom tes (co-worker/partner) — rejected softening, erases total-surrender force

Strong residual connotation of literal chattel/debt slavery. In Colossians this single term must serve THREE distinct senses that must never be merged in teaching: (1) Paul’s devotional self-designation to Christ (honored bondservice); (2) the literal first-century household-slavery institution addressed pastorally in 3:22-4:1; (3) a social-category merism member in 3:11 rendered irrelevant in Christ. Each occurrence requires its own context-specific teaching note. Inherited from Romans package.

Wrath Of God

Approved rendering: kev npau taws ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: orgē theou
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New
Rejected alternatives: unqualified ‘npau taws’ associated only with capricious spirit/ancestor anger — rejected without explicit contrast teaching

Reused exactly for Col 3:6, closing the vice list of 3:5-8. Inherited from Romans package.

Idol

Approved rendering: dab mlom
Transliteration: eidōlon
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New
Rejected alternatives: generic ‘statue’ softening — rejected, must not soften the term

Underlies ‘kev pehawm dab mlom’ (idolatry, Col 3:5), listed among the vices to be put to death; explicitly linked to covetousness in that verse. Inherited from Romans package.

Baptism

Approved rendering: kev cai raus dej
Transliteration: baptizō / baptisma
Doctrine: Union with Christ (Died and Raised With Him)
Rejected alternatives: transliterated loanword — rejected, would sidestep rather than resolve the kevcai collision, baptism-as-testimony-only catechesis — rejected, loses union-with-Christ doctrine

Shares kevcai root with ritual purification from spirit-contamination; must be taught as once-for-all identification with Christ’s death/resurrection. In Colossians 2:11-13 this risk is intensified because baptism is explicitly paralleled with circumcision as a cutting/removal rite — see NEW entry ‘buried_raised_with_christ’ for the extended union formula this generates. Inherited from Romans package.

Sanctification

Approved rendering: kev raug ua kom dawb huv
Transliteration: hagiasmos
Doctrine: Union with Christ (Died and Raised With Him) / background
Rejected alternatives: treating dawb huv as a repeatable ritual-cleansing state — rejected

Dawb huv also = ritual purity from spirit-contamination in folk practice; must be taught as progressive, Spirit-wrought moral transformation. Its root underlies the NEW noun entry ‘saints_holy_ones’ (hagioi, Col 1:2,4,12,26). Inherited from Romans package.

Power

Approved rendering: hwjchim
Transliteration: dynamis
Doctrine: The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation (background)
Rejected alternatives: bare, unqualified hwjchim — FORBIDDEN, identical to a shaman’s (txiv neeb) ritual power

Always qualify as ‘Vajtswv hwjchim’ (Col 1:11, 1:29). This root also underlies THREE further Critical Colossians-specific compounds that each carry their own mandatory qualifier — see NEW entries ‘cosmic_powers_merism’, ‘dominion_of_darkness’, and ‘disarm_triumph_over_powers’. Never allow bare hwjchim to stand doctrinally unqualified anywhere in Colossians content. Inherited from Romans package.

In Christ Union Formula

Approved rendering: nyob hauv Khetos
Transliteration: en Christō
Doctrine: Union with Christ (Died and Raised With Him)
Rejected alternatives: bare spatial ‘hauv’ with no fixed co-text — rejected, misses the participatory, mystical-union sense

Must always be distinguished from mere physical ‘nyob hauv’ by consistent co-text referencing union with Christ’s death/resurrection. Colossians doubles this formula at 3:3 (‘hidden in Christ in God’) and structurally inverts it at 1:27 (‘Christ in you’) — see NEW entries ‘hidden_in_christ_in_god’ and ‘christ_in_you’. The possession-verb ‘nkag’ remains permanently forbidden for any of these formulas. Inherited from Romans package.

Worship Serve Cultic

Approved rendering: pehawm / pab teev
Transliteration: latreuō
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Rejected alternatives: bare, unanchored pehawm — FORBIDDEN, identical verb used for pehawm dab (ancestor/spirit veneration)

Object of pehawm must always be stated. In Colossians this verb recurs with a FORBIDDEN object at 2:18 (‘worship of angels’) and 2:23 (‘self-made religion’) — see NEW entries ‘worship_of_angels’ and ‘self_made_religion’, and the reused ‘kev pehawm dab mlom’ at 3:5. Inherited from Romans package.

Firstborn From Dead

Approved rendering: tus Thawj Tub uas sawv hauv qhov tuag rov qab los
Transliteration: prōtotokos ek tōn nekrōn
Doctrine: The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation

NEW ENTRY, reuses the fixed ‘tus Thawj Tub’ rank-term (Col 1:18). Unlike firstborn_supremacy (rank-only sense), THIS occurrence correctly carries BOTH the chronological sense (first to be raised to permanent resurrection life) AND the rank sense. Mandatory teaching note distinguishing this correct chronological-plus-rank sense from 1:15’s rank-only sense, so learners neither import a ‘first-created’ reading here nor wrongly deny the intended ‘first to rise’ sense.

Dwell Permanently

Approved rendering: nyob ruaj khov
Transliteration: katoikēsai
Doctrine: Fullness of Deity in Christ Bodily
Rejected alternatives: nkag (the verb for a spirit/dab entering a medium temporarily) — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN

NEW ENTRY. Permanent, settled indwelling (Col 1:19), as opposed to temporary visitation. Must be explicitly distinguished from the temporary spirit-possession verb ‘nkag’, already forbidden in the Romans baseline for 5:12’s ‘sin entered’; that prohibition extends here with equal force, with zero exceptions.

Reconcile Cosmic Scope

Approved rendering: kev sib haum xeeb (nrog Vajtswv) [+ cosmic qualifier: rau tag nrho tej uas raug tsim los, saum ntuj thiab hauv ntiajteb]
Transliteration: apokatallaxai
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Rejected alternatives: flattening to a claim of unconditional universal salvation of every being — FORBIDDEN, contradicts the simultaneous ‘disarmed/subjugated’ powers language of 2:15

NEW ENTRY (Extended use of the reused ‘reconciliation’ base term). Col 1:20 extends reconciliation to cosmic scope. Must never be taught without the accompanying distinction between reconciliation (offered to all, received by faith) and subjugation/disarming of hostile powers (2:15, not the same as their being saved). Escalated per the Romans-baseline rule for a fixed term reused in a novel doctrinal context; requires native-speaker-plus-theologian review.

Self Made Religion

Approved rendering: kev pehawm Vajtswv raws li tus kheej lub siab xav, tsis yog raws li Vajtswv qhia
Transliteration: ethelothrēskia
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism
Rejected alternatives: a blanket dismissal of all unfamiliar devotional practice — FORBIDDEN, must be scoped narrowly

NEW ENTRY. Col 2:23. Religious practice devised from one’s own thinking rather than God’s revelation, tied to the false ascetic movement. Must be taught narrowly (self-styled asceticism/regulations).

Christ In You

Approved rendering: Khetos nyob hauv nej
Transliteration: Christos en hymin
Doctrine: Union with Christ (Died and Raised With Him)
Rejected alternatives: nkag (spirit-possession verb) — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN

NEW ENTRY. Col 1:27. The structural inverse of the fixed ‘in_christ_union_formula’. Must be taught as mutual indwelling (believers in Christ AND Christ in believers), reinforcing rather than confusing the existing ‘nyob hauv Khetos’ formula.

Hidden In Christ In God

Approved rendering: tau muab zais nyob hauv Khetos, uas nyob hauv Vajtswv
Transliteration: kekryptai en tō Christō en tō theō
Doctrine: Union with Christ (Died and Raised With Him)
Rejected alternatives: nkag (spirit-possession verb) — PERMANENTLY FORBIDDEN, collapsing the two stacked prepositional layers into one, shorter Hmong clause for stylistic smoothness — rejected, theological precision outweighs stylistic economy here

NEW ENTRY. Col 3:3, doubles the in_christ_union_formula. Requires careful, non-repetitive but faithful rendering of the stacked union-phrases; a two-layer indwelling claim requiring the nkag prohibition twice over.

Buried Raised With Christ

Approved rendering: tau nrog Khetos raug faus thiab tau nrog Khetos sawv hauv qhov tuag rov qab los
Transliteration: synetaphēte / synēgerthēte
Doctrine: Union with Christ (Died and Raised With Him)
Rejected alternatives: treating this as a repeatable ritual re-enactment — FORBIDDEN

NEW ENTRY. Col 2:12, 3:1. Direct extension of the Romans-baseline Union with Christ doctrine (previously anchored mainly in Romans 6), here explicitly paralleled with circumcision (2:11-13), intensifying the ritual-purification misreading risk. Must reuse the same once-for-all, non-repeatable teaching frame already mandated for baptism.

Image Of Creator

Approved rendering: tus duab ntawm tus uas tsim nws
Transliteration: eikona tou ktisantos
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New

NEW ENTRY. Col 3:10. Reuses the Critical ‘image_of_god’ (eikōn/tus duab) term established at 1:15; same phonetic-collision caution with ‘dab’ and ‘dab mlom’ applies unchanged.

Submit Hypotasso

Approved rendering: nyob hauv qab / mloog
Transliteration: hypotassō
Doctrine: Household Codes
Rejected alternatives: submission taught/quoted in isolation from husbands’-love (3:19) and fathers’-non-provocation (3:21) clauses — FORBIDDEN

NEW ENTRY. Col 3:18. MANDATORY qualifying clause at every occurrence, never presented bare: ‘raws li tsim nyog rau hauv tus Tswv’ (as is fitting in the Lord). Hmong clan/household culture already enforces strong, unqualified submission norms; the mandatory teaching note must present the full reciprocal structure together, never isolating the wives’-submission clause.

Household Master Human

Approved rendering: tus tswv tsev
Transliteration: kyrios (human referent)
Doctrine: Household Codes
Rejected alternatives: capitalizing/marking this as the divine ‘tus Tswv’ title — FORBIDDEN

NEW disambiguation entry. Col 3:22-4:1. Same Greek word as the fixed divine ‘tus Tswv’ title (Lord entry); this human-referent rendering must never be capitalized/marked as the divine title, and must carry a mandatory contextual clause anchoring service ultimately to the true tus Tswv (Christ), per Col 3:24. This dual-referent risk did not arise as acutely in Romans and must be logged as a new disambiguation rule for this Language Package.

Saints Holy Ones

Approved rendering: cov ntseeg dawb huv
Transliteration: hagioi
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New (background) / General

NEW noun entry. Col 1:2, 1:4, 1:12, 1:26. No dedicated Romans-baseline noun for ‘saints’ (Romans TM has only the process ‘sanctification’ = kev raug ua kom dawb huv). Inherits the dawb huv ritual-purity collision documented in the Romans-baseline sanctification entry; must be taught as a status conferred by union with Christ, not an achieved ritual-purity state.

Medium Risk Terms

Apostle

Approved rendering: tus Tub Txib
Transliteration: apostolos
Doctrine: General / Ecclesial Office

Bridges to secular clan-messenger role; requires teaching note. Inherited from Romans package.

Deacon Servant

Approved rendering: tus pab tu pawg ntseeg
Transliteration: diakonos
Doctrine: Christ as Head of the Church
Rejected alternatives: qhev — rejected, would confuse a recognized office/abstract ministry-service with the total-ownership bondservant metaphor

Kept lexically distinct from ‘qhev’. In Colossians reused as the pattern underlying the abstract noun diakonia (‘ministry/service’, 4:17), not only an office-title. Inherited from Romans package.

Faith Believe

Approved rendering: kev ntseeg / ntseeg
Transliteration: pistis / pisteuō
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting

Must always be anchored explicitly to its object (Christ). Inherited from Romans package.

Reconciliation

Approved rendering: kev sib haum xeeb (nrog Vajtswv)
Transliteration: katallagē
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross
Rejected alternatives: bare ‘kev sib haum xeeb’ with no God-ward anchor — rejected, defaults to merely horizontal/interpersonal reconciliation

Base term reused exactly for Col 1:21-22’s personal reconciliation of former alienated enemies. Colossians ALSO extends this term to cosmic scope at 1:20 — see NEW entry ‘reconcile_cosmic_scope’ for that escalated, doctrinally distinct usage requiring an additional qualifier. Inherited from Romans package.

Redemption

Approved rendering: kev txhiv
Transliteration: apolytrōsis
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross

Reused exactly for Col 1:14, paired there with the NEW ‘forgiveness_of_sins’ entry; good economic-legal bridge via Hmong debt-redemption custom. Inherited from Romans package.

Circumcision

Approved rendering: kev txiav (raws li Txoj Kevcai Mauxes)
Transliteration: peritomē
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New

Reused for both Col 3:11 (literal, in the unity merism) and Col 2:11 (Christ’s ‘circumcision made without hands’, applied metaphorically); requires an added teaching note at 2:11 distinguishing the literal Mosaic rite from its spiritual fulfillment. Inherited from Romans package.

Hold Together Cohere

Approved rendering: tuav ua ke
Transliteration: synestēken
Doctrine: The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation

NEW ENTRY. Christ’s ongoing sustaining causation of the universe’s coherence (Col 1:17), parallel to Heb 1:3. Comprehension gap (abstract metaphysical concept), not a traditional-religion collision; needs a teaching note clarifying this is continuous divine action, not a one-time past act of construction.

Forgiveness Of Sins

Approved rendering: kev zam txim
Transliteration: aphesis tōn hamartiōn
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross

NEW ENTRY. Paired with redemption at Col 1:14, and with the erased debt-record at 2:13-14. No dedicated Romans-baseline noun entry; pairs naturally with the existing debt-redemption cultural bridge; comprehension-level risk only.

Full Knowledge Vs Knowledge

Approved rendering: kev paub tseeb / kev paub
Transliteration: epignōsis / gnōsis
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism

NEW ENTRY. Col 1:9-10, 2:2-3. Counters the false teachers’ claimed esoteric knowledge; must be anchored to Christ alone. Needs a teaching note distinguishing Christian epignōsis from any claim to secret/special spiritual knowledge, given live parallel to shamanic claims of hidden spiritual insight.

Shadow Vs Substance

Approved rendering: duab qauv (tsis tseeb) / qhov tseeb tiag
Transliteration: skia / sōma
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism

NEW ENTRY. Col 2:17. Old-covenant ritual observances as a mere foreshadowing ‘shadow’ of the substantial reality found in Christ; comprehension gap only, no direct collision.

Old Self

Approved rendering: tus neeg qub
Transliteration: palaios anthrōpos
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New
Rejected alternatives: any framing suggestive of reincarnation/soul-transfer/soul-exchange — FORBIDDEN

NEW ENTRY. Col 3:9. The pre-conversion self, characterized by the vices of 3:5-9, to be put off. Clothing metaphor transfers well culturally; must exclude any reincarnation/soul-transfer misreading via teaching note, since Hmong funerary/hu plig practice involves a detachable-soul concept that could be wrongly imported here.

New Self

Approved rendering: tus neeg tshiab
Transliteration: neos anthrōpos
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New
Rejected alternatives: any framing suggestive of reincarnation/soul-transfer/soul-exchange — FORBIDDEN

NEW ENTRY. Col 3:10, paired with ‘old_self’. The regenerate self, being renewed in the image of its Creator; same clothing-metaphor caution applies.

Virtue List Ch3

Approved rendering: kev khuv leej, kev zoo siab, kev txo hwjchim, kev txo siab, kev ua siab ntev, kev hlub uas cog txhua yam ua ke
Transliteration: splanchna oiktirmou, chrēstotēs, tapeinophrosynē, prautēs, makrothymia, agapē, syndesmos tēs teleiotētos
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New

NEW ENTRY. Col 3:12-14. Standard virtue vocabulary. IMPORTANT: tapeinophrosynē (humility) here uses the SAME lexeme as the FALSE, self-devised humility condemned at 2:18/2:23 — disambiguate by context flag, never by inventing a separate lexeme.

Forgiving One Another

Approved rendering: zam txim rau
Transliteration: charizomenoi
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New
Rejected alternatives: substitution for or confusion with the Critical ‘grace’ (txiaj ntsim) entry — FORBIDDEN

NEW ENTRY. Col 3:13. Shares a root with charis/grace but functions as an ordinary interpersonal-forgiveness verb; flagged to ensure it is never confused with, or substituted for, the Critical grace entry.

Alienated Enemies

Approved rendering: tau ncaim deb ntawm Vajtswv / Vajtswv cov yeeb ncuab
Transliteration: apēllotriōmenoi / echthroi
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross

NEW ENTRY. Col 1:21. The believers’ former estranged, hostile standing toward God prior to reconciliation; reinforces Original-Sin-adjacent separation-from-God teaching. Culturally intelligible concepts, low collision risk.

Fully Assured Ordinary

Approved rendering: tag npo siab ntseeg tsis muaj kev xav txhaws
Transliteration: peplērōmenoi
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Rejected alternatives: applying the Critical Christological plērōma/fullness apparatus to this ordinary usage — rejected, under-recognizes the pastoral, non-Christological register

NEW ENTRY. Col 4:12, Epaphras’s prayer that the Colossians stand fully assured/convinced in God’s will. Reuses the plērōma root established as Critical at 1:19/2:9-10 in an ordinary devotional sense; flagged to prevent over-applying the Critical qualifier note to this non-Christological occurrence.

Low Risk Terms

God

Approved rendering: Vajtswv
Transliteration: theos
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Rejected alternatives: Ntuj (impersonal sky/heaven) — rejected, lacks personal deity sense, dab (spirit) — rejected, denotes false/lesser spirit

Established compound (king+lord). Inherited from Romans package.

Lord

Approved rendering: tus Tswv
Transliteration: kyrios
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting

Stable existing usage; applied to God and Christ. Inherited from Romans package. NOTE: in Colossians 3:22-4:1 the same Greek word kyrios is also applied to a human household master; see NEW entry ‘household_master_human’ below for the mandatory disambiguation this creates — ‘tus Tswv’ itself is never modified.

Jesus Christ

Approved rendering: Yexus Khetos
Transliteration: Iēsous Christos
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting

Standard transliteration baseline. Inherited from Romans package.

Father God

Approved rendering: Leej Txiv
Transliteration: patēr
Doctrine: Union with Christ

Honorific already settled; pairs with ‘Leej Tub’ for the Son. Inherited from Romans package.

Son Of God

Approved rendering: Leej Tub ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: huios theou
Doctrine: The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation
Rejected alternatives: diminished-sonship renderings found in sectarian materials — rejected, must preserve full deity

Honorific parallel to Leej Txiv; also underlies Col 1:13’s ‘the Son he loves’. Inherited from Romans package.

Gospel

Approved rendering: Txoj Moo Zoo
Transliteration: euangelion
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting

Settled Hmong Christian term (‘good news’). Inherited from Romans package.

Peace

Approved rendering: kev thaj yeeb
Transliteration: eirēnē
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting

Stable, positive term; underlies ‘kev thaj yeeb ntawm Khetos’ (the peace of Christ, Col 3:15). Inherited from Romans package.

Love

Approved rendering: kev hlub
Transliteration: agapē
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New

Stable, existing warm-affection term; culminates the Col 3:12-14 virtue list as ‘the bond of perfection’. Inherited from Romans package.

Hope

Approved rendering: kev cia siab
Transliteration: elpis
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting

Confident expectation grounded in gospel promise, laid up in heaven (Col 1:5). Inherited from Romans package.

Jew

Approved rendering: cov Yudas
Transliteration: Ioudaios
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New

Established transliteration; part of Col 3:11’s unity-in-Christ merism. Inherited from Romans package.

Greek

Approved rendering: cov Kilis
Transliteration: Hellēn
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New

Established transliteration; part of Col 3:11’s unity-in-Christ merism. Inherited from Romans package.

Merism Greeks Barbarians Wise Unwise

Approved rendering: cov Kilis thiab cov neeg txawv teb chaws, cov txawj ntse thiab cov ruam
Transliteration: Hellēsin te kai barbarois, sophois te kai anoētois
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New

Established merism pattern; the Colossians 3:11 merism (Greek/Jew, circumcised/uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free) reuses this same ‘foreign/uncultured peoples’ rendering for barbaros and extends it with the new Scythian ethnonym (see ‘scythian_ethnonym’ NEW entry). Inherited from Romans package.

Creation

Approved rendering: tej uas raug tsim los
Transliteration: ktisis
Doctrine: The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation

Reused exactly for Col 1:15-16’s ‘all creation’/‘in heaven and on earth’; ‘all creation’ = ‘tag nrho tej uas raug tsim los’. Inherited from Romans package.

Body Of Christ

Approved rendering: lub cev ntawm Khetos
Transliteration: sōma Christou
Doctrine: Christ as Head of the Church

Stable metaphor; members rendered ‘cov tswv cuab’. Underlies the Colossians NEW ‘head_of_body’ entry (kephalē, Col 1:18, 2:19). Inherited from Romans package.

Impartiality Of God

Approved rendering: tsis saib ntsej muag
Transliteration: aprosōpolēmpsia
Doctrine: Household Codes

Reused for Col 3:25’s negated form (masters and slaves equally accountable). Inherited from Romans package.

Thanksgiving

Approved rendering: ua tsaug
Transliteration: eucharistō / eucharistia
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting

Stable everyday and liturgical term, repeatedly commanded throughout Colossians (1:3, 3:15-17, 4:2). Inherited from Romans package.

Kingdom Of God

Approved rendering: lub Nceeg Vaj ntawm Vajtswv
Transliteration: basileia tou theou
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting

Reused exactly; Colossians extends the pattern to ‘the kingdom of the Son he loves’ (1:13, rendered ‘lub Nceeg Vaj ntawm nws Leej Tub’) and reuses the base form at 4:11. Inherited from Romans package.

Church Ekklesia

Approved rendering: pawg ntseeg
Transliteration: ekklēsia
Doctrine: Christ as Head of the Church

NEW noun entry (established existing Hmong Christian usage, consistent with Romans-baseline ‘pab pawg ntseeg’). Covers both the universal Church (1:18) and local congregation senses (4:15-16).

Cross Stauros

Approved rendering: tus Ntoo Khaub Lig
Transliteration: stauros
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross

NEW ENTRY (established existing Hmong Christian term). The instrument of Christ’s execution and atoning death (Col 1:20, 2:14).

Things Above

Approved rendering: tej uas nyob saum ntuj ceeb tsheej
Transliteration: ta anō
Doctrine: Union with Christ (Died and Raised With Him)

NEW ENTRY. Col 3:1-2, spatial-theological metaphor for the heavenly realm where believers’ life is now oriented, in union with the risen Christ.

Will Be Revealed

Approved rendering: yuav raug qhia tshwm los
Transliteration: phanerōthēsetai
Doctrine: Union with Christ (Died and Raised With Him)

NEW ENTRY. Col 3:4. The future public disclosure of believers’ glory with Christ.

From The Soul

Approved rendering: tag siab tag ntsws
Transliteration: ek psychēs
Doctrine: Household Codes

NEW ENTRY. Col 3:23. Uses psychē in its ordinary ‘inner self’ sense, a distinct Greek word from the anthropological pneuma/ntsuj plig Romans-baseline entry; no collision requiring flagging, but translators should note the distinct etymology.

Founded Steadfast Immovable

Approved rendering: muaj kaus taw ruaj khov, sawv ruaj, tsis txav
Transliteration: tethemeliōmenoi / hedraioi / ametakinētoi
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism (background)

NEW ENTRY. Col 1:23. Descriptive stability metaphors for the believers’ required steadfastness in the faith they have received.

Prayer Watchfulness

Approved rendering: kev thov Vajtswv / ceev faj
Transliteration: proseuchē / grēgoreō
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting

NEW ENTRY. Col 4:2. Devoted, alert prayer; standard devotional vocabulary, no collision.

Low-Medium Risk Terms

Mystery

Approved rendering: zaj lus zais cia
Transliteration: mystērion
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism

EXTENDED REUSE: in Romans this referred to Israel’s future; in Colossians (1:26-27, 2:2, 4:3) the referent shifts to Christ himself and specifically Christ indwelling the Gentiles — logged per the Romans-baseline escalation rule for a fixed term reused in a novel doctrinal context. Inherited from Romans package.

Renewal Of The Mind

Approved rendering: hloov siab tshiab
Transliteration: anakainōsis tou noos / anakainoumenon
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New

Reused exactly for Col 3:10’s ongoing renewal of the new self, being renewed after the Creator’s image. Inherited from Romans package.

Beginning Arche

Approved rendering: pib / tus pib
Transliteration: archē
Doctrine: The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation

NEW ENTRY. Christ as originating source of the new resurrection-order (Col 1:18). Must be kept contextually distinct from the plural cosmic-powers sense of the same Greek root (rendered ‘cov Thawj Kav’, see ‘cosmic_powers_merism’), since singular ‘beginning/source’ and plural ‘rulers’ require different Hmong renderings despite sharing an etymology.

Preeminent

Approved rendering: muaj feem loj dua ntais rau txhua yam
Transliteration: prōteuōn
Doctrine: The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation

NEW ENTRY. States Col 1:15-20’s overarching thesis explicitly (1:18b purpose clause). Should echo the same ‘supreme rank’ vocabulary used for firstborn_supremacy for doctrinal/stylistic consistency across the passage.

All Things Totality

Approved rendering: tag nrho tej yam / txhua yam
Transliteration: ta panta
Doctrine: The Supremacy and Sufficiency of Christ over Creation
Rejected alternatives: a vaguer ‘many/most’ quantifier — rejected, damages the fourfold rhetorical spine’s absoluteness

NEW ENTRY. The fourfold repetition of ‘ta panta’ in Col 1:15-20 (vv.16 x2, 17, 18, 20) is the passage’s rhetorical spine, asserting Christ’s absolute, exception-free supremacy; also recurs at Col 3:11 (‘Christ is all, and in all’). Must always use a genuinely totalizing Hmong quantifier at every occurrence.

Head Of Body

Approved rendering: taubhau
Transliteration: kephalē
Doctrine: Christ as Head of the Church

NEW ENTRY. Extension of the fixed ‘body_of_christ’ metaphor (Col 1:18, 2:10, 2:19). Hmong clan/household culture’s existing ‘tus taubhau’ concept denotes top-down juridical/genealogical authority (the clan patriarch), risking a flattened reading that loses Paul’s organic, life-giving, nutrient-supplying sense (the body draws its actual growth from the Head, 2:19). Mandatory explanatory clause at first occurrence per lesson unit distinguishing organic/life-sustaining headship from mere clan-chief command authority. Overall doctrine risk tier: High (see doctrine_risk_registry.json Doctrine 2).

Peace Making Verb

Approved rendering: ua kom muaj kev thaj yeeb
Transliteration: eirēnopoiēsas
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross

NEW verb form built on the reused ‘peace’ noun. Col 1:20’s accomplished act of making peace through Christ’s cross-blood.

Blood Of The Cross

Approved rendering: cov ntshav ntawm tus Ntoo Khaub Lig
Transliteration: haima tou staurou
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross

NEW ENTRY. Metonym for Christ’s sacrificial, atoning death (Col 1:20), the means of cosmic reconciliation. Must be cross-referenced with the Critical ‘propitiation_atoning_sacrifice’ entry to preserve its once-for-all, sufficient qualifier.

Severity To Body

Approved rendering: kev tsim txom lub cev
Transliteration: apheidia sōmatos
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism

NEW ENTRY. Col 2:23. Harsh ascetic bodily discipline claimed (falsely) to have spiritual value; comprehension-level risk only.

Feast New Moon Sabbath

Approved rendering: hnub caiv, hli tshiab, hnub Xanpatau
Transliteration: heortē, neomēnia, sabbata
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism

NEW ENTRY. Col 2:16. Calendar/ritual observances the false teachers wrongly bound as necessary; no direct collision, reinforces that ritual-calendar observance is not salvation-necessary.

Eye Service People Pleasers

Approved rendering: kev ua haujlwm rau luag pom xwb / cov nyiam txaus siab rau tib neeg xwb
Transliteration: ophthalmodoulia / anthrōpareskoi
Doctrine: Household Codes

NEW ENTRY. Col 3:22. Insincere service performed only to be seen, contrasted with wholehearted service to the Lord; no collision.

Vice List Ch3

Approved rendering: kev deev luag pojniam txiv neej, kev qias neeg, kev ntxhov siab kev ntshaw phem, kev ntshaw luag tug, kev npau taws, lus phem lus qias
Transliteration: porneia, akatharsia, pathos, epithymia kakē, pleonexia, orgē, thymos, kakia, blasphēmia, aischrologia
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New

NEW ENTRY. Col 3:5-8. Standard ethical vocabulary; the ‘idolatry’ item embedded within this list reuses the fixed High-risk ‘idol’ entry and carries that entry’s collision handling separately.

Word Of Christ Songs

Approved rendering: Khetos Txoj Lus; nkauj hu qhuas Vajtswv, nkauj qhuas, thiab nkauj Vaj Ntsuj Plig
Transliteration: logos tou Christou; psalmoi, hymnoi, ōdai pneumatikai
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting (worship)

NEW ENTRY. Col 3:16. Standard worship vocabulary; the final phrase reuses the fixed ‘Vaj Ntsuj Plig’ collocation with its mandatory Vaj-prefix.

Blameless Without Reproach

Approved rendering: tsis muaj chaw thuam
Transliteration: amōmos / anegklētos
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross

NEW ENTRY. Col 1:22. The believers’ hoped-for future standing before Christ.

Stewardship Oikonomia

Approved rendering: haujlwm saib xyuas (ntawm Vajtswv)
Transliteration: oikonomia
Doctrine: Christ as Head of the Church (background)

NEW ENTRY. Col 1:25. Paul’s divinely-given administrative commission to make known the mystery of Christ; comprehension-level, no collision.

Door For The Word

Approved rendering: qhov rooj rau txoj lus
Transliteration: thyra tou logou
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting (mission)

NEW ENTRY. Col 4:3. Standard missional metaphor for gospel-proclamation opportunity; comprehension-level only.

Gracious Speech Ordinary

Approved rendering: lus hais nrog txiaj ntsim
Transliteration: logos en chariti
Doctrine: General / Cross-cutting
Rejected alternatives: applying the Critical soteriological grace apparatus to this ordinary usage — rejected, over-weights an everyday idiom

NEW ENTRY. Col 4:6. Everyday, non-soteriological sense of charis (‘winsome/pleasant speech’), distinct from the Critical ‘grace’ entry; flagged so the everyday usage is not over-weighted with Critical-tier caution.

Scythian Ethnonym

Approved rendering: cov Xikithias
Transliteration: Skythēs
Doctrine: Putting Off the Old Self and Putting On the New

NEW ENTRY. Col 3:11. Transliterated proper ethnonym with no Hmong cultural equivalent; requires a footnote explaining it denotes a proverbially ‘uncivilized’ people-group in Paul’s cultural context, paralleling ‘barbarian’.

Medium-High Risk Terms

Handwritten Debt Record

Approved rendering: daim ntawv qhia nqi kev txhaum uas cuam tshuam rau peb [raug rho tawm thiab txawb rau saum tus Ntoo Khaub Lig]
Transliteration: cheirographon / dogmata
Doctrine: Reconciliation through the Cross

NEW ENTRY. Col 2:14. Good bridge via the existing Hmong debt-culture concept already used for redemption; must be anchored to the same cross-event as 1:20’s atonement language, not presented as a separate transaction.

Philosophy Empty Deceit

Approved rendering: tej kev xav thiab kev dag ntxias uas tsis muaj qab hau
Transliteration: philosophia kai kenēs apatēs
Doctrine: Warning against False Teaching and Syncretism

NEW ENTRY. Col 2:8. Must be scoped narrowly to the specific Colossian syncretism Paul confronts, not generalized into a blanket condemnation of all non-Christian thought.

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