Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Gospel of John (English → Hungarian)
This glossary extends, and never contradicts, the baseline Romans Language Package. Terms already fixed in translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json are reused exactly and marked “REUSED.” New terms introduced specifically by John’s Gospel are assigned risk tiers using the same Critical/High/Medium/Low framework defined in the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json, with grounded, Hungary-specific reasons for every Critical/High assignment.
Part 1 — Baseline Terms Reused Exactly from the Romans Language Package
| Term | Hungarian rendering | Risk (baseline) | John chapters where used | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| grace | kegyelem | Critical | 1:14,16-17 | Reuse exactly; “grace and truth” pairing introduces the new truth term alongside it — see Part 2. |
| faith / believe | hit / hisz | High | 1:7,12; 3:15-18,36; 5:24; 6:29,35,47; 8:24; 11:25-27; 14:1; 20:29,31 | John’s Gospel uses the verb πιστεύω far more than the noun; render consistently as “hisz,” always with a recoverable object. |
| salvation / save | üdvösség / megmenekül, üdvözül | Critical | 3:17; 4:22,42; 5:34; 10:9; 12:47 | REUSED; note John prefers “eternal life” (see Part 2) as his own preferred near-synonym term. |
| resurrection | feltámadás | Critical | 2:22; 5:29; 6:39-40,44,54; 11:24-25; 20:1-29; 21:14 | REUSED exactly across all occurrences. |
| lord | Úr | Critical | 6:68; 9:38; 11:3,21,27,32,34,39; 13:6,9,13-14,36-37; 14:5,8,22; 20:2,13,18,20,25,28; 21:7,12,15-17,20-21 | REUSED; culminates Critically in 20:28’s “Én Uram és én Istenem.” |
| son_of_god | Isten Fia | Critical | 1:34,49; 3:18; 5:25; 9:35; 10:36; 11:4,27; 19:7; 20:31 | REUSED exactly; keep distinct from “Isten gyermekei” (adoptive) and “Emberfia” (Son of Man, a different title) — see Part 2. |
| incarnation (doctrine label) | megtestesülés | Critical | 1:14 | REUSED; textual home is John 1:14 (“the Word became flesh”). |
| holy | szent | High | 1:33; 6:69; 7:39; 10:36; 14:26; 17:11,17,19; 20:22 | REUSED. |
| holy_spirit | Szentlélek | Critical | 1:32-33; 3:5-8,34; 7:39; 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7,13; 20:22 | REUSED; John’s “Spirit” occurrences must be checked contextually to determine whether the personal Holy Spirit or a general/wind sense is intended (see John 3:8 in Part 2). |
| father | Atya | Critical | Pervasive, esp. chs. 1, 5, 8, 10, 14-17, 20 | REUSED; John’s Gospel is the New Testament’s densest concentration of Father-Son relational language. |
| glory / glorify | dicsőség / megdicsőít | Medium (glory) / new verb form | 1:14; 2:11; 7:39; 8:54; 11:4,40; 12:23,28,41; 13:31-32; 17:1,4-5,10,22,24 | Noun REUSED exactly; verb form (δοξάζω, “glorify”) is new and Critical — see Part 2. |
| kingdom_of_god | Isten országa | Medium | 3:3,5; 18:36 | REUSED exactly; John uses this phrase far less than the Synoptics, preferring “eternal life” for the same reality. |
| law | törvény | High | 1:17,45; 7:19,23,49,51; 8:5,17; 10:34; 15:25; 19:7 | REUSED; keep distinct from the new term “commandment” (ἐντολή) — see Part 2. |
| sin | bűn | High | 1:29; 8:21,24,34,46; 9:2-3,34,41; 15:22,24; 16:8-9; 19:11; 20:23 | REUSED. |
| messiah | Messiás | Critical | 1:41; 4:25 | REUSED; John explicitly glosses “Messiás (azaz Krisztus),” preserving both established terms side by side. |
| covenant | szövetség | Critical | (implicit background to 1:14 “grace and truth,” 10:35 “Scripture cannot be broken”) | REUSED as needed for background notes; not a frequent explicit term in John itself. |
| election | kiválasztás | Critical | 13:18; 15:16,19 | REUSED; John 15:16 (“You did not choose me, but I chose you”) directly engages the same Reformed/Catholic fault line already flagged Critical in the baseline for Romans 9-11 — apply identical non-resolution rules. |
| intercession | közbenjárás | High | 14:16 (implicit, of the Paraclete’s advocacy); 17:9,20 (Christ’s prayer for the disciples) | REUSED; John 17 is the Gospel’s own extended intercessory prayer, directly relevant to the baseline’s Reformed/Catholic mediation-practice sensitivity. |
| mission | misszió | Medium | 17:18; 20:21 (“as the Father sent me, I am sending you”) | REUSED as the doctrine label for the sending motif; the specific verb is treated fresh in Part 2 (send). |
| david | Dávid | Low | 7:42 | REUSED. |
| israel | Izrael | Low | 1:31,49; 3:10; 12:13 | REUSED. |
| jesus | Jézus | Critical | Pervasive | REUSED. |
| god | Isten | Critical | Pervasive | REUSED. |
| peace | béke | Medium | 14:27; 16:33; 20:19,21,26 | REUSED; John’s “peace I leave with you” (14:27) is a distinct emphasis from the Romans baseline’s peace-through-justification sense — teach as complementary, not identical. |
| church | egyház | Medium | (not a frequent explicit term in John; ecclesiological background only, e.g., 17’s unity prayer) | REUSED as needed. |
| sanctification | megszentelődés | High | 17:17,19 (believers); 10:36 (Christ, distinct sense) | REUSED; flag the distinct Christological application at 10:36 — see John semantic analysis Part B, Chapter 10. |
| apostle / send (mission root) | apostol / elküld | Low–Medium | 13:16; 17:3,8,18,21,23,25; 20:21 | REUSED root for the sending/mission concept; John prefers ἀποστέλλω/πέμπω verbs over the noun ἀπόστολος itself. |
Part 2 — New Terms Introduced by John’s Gospel
| # | Term | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Category / Doctrine | Risk | Hungarian rendering | Alternatives rejected | Grounded risk reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Word | λόγος | logos | Deity/Pre-existence of Christ | Critical | Ige (capitalized) | “üzenet” (message — loses personal/pre-existent referent); “beszéd” (speech — too generic) | Foundational deity/pre-existence title (John 1:1,14); shared identically by Hungarian Catholic and Reformed liturgical memory, so risk is one of simplification/loss of capitalization convention, not confessional division. |
| 2 | Eternal life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος | zōē aiōnios | Eternal Life through Faith | Critical | örök élet | — | John’s signature soteriological term (~17x); must remain perfectly consistent with Romans TM’s salvation/resurrection cluster without being collapsed into either. |
| 3 | Believe (verb, object-bearing) | πιστεύω | pisteuō | Eternal Life through Faith; Judgment/Belief | High | hisz | — | Verb form of REUSED faith (hit); object of belief (Christ) must always remain recoverable from context, per baseline registry note on faith. |
| 4 | Light | φῶς | phōs | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | High | világosság | ”fény” (too physical/scientific in modern Hungarian, loses moral-revelatory sense) | Central light/darkness dualism spanning chs. 1, 3, 8, 9, 12; consistency required. |
| 5 | Darkness | σκότος / σκοτία | skotos / skotia | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | Medium | sötétség | — | Standard, low-ambiguity term across Hungarian traditions. |
| 6 | World | κόσμος | kosmos | God’s Love for the World; Judgment | Medium-High | világ | — | Ranges from neutral “created order” to morally-loaded “God-opposing humanity” to, in 3:16, the unqualified object of God’s redemptive love; context must govern sense but the universal scope of 3:16 must never be narrowed in translation. |
| 7 | Born again / born from above | γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν | gennēthē anōthen | New Birth and Regeneration | Critical | újonnan születik (with mandatory gloss: “felülről, Istentől születik”) | “megtér” (converts — collapses the passive, divinely-initiated sense into an active human decision); “újjászületik” (considered as an alternative single-word rendering — acceptable as a secondary gloss but the primary text should retain the Károli-tradition “újonnan születik” for continuity with existing Hungarian Bible memory) | Core New Birth doctrine term; the double sense of ἄνωθεν (again / from above) is only partially captured by any single Hungarian word, requiring an explicit translator gloss so the “from above” (divine origin, not human achievement) sense is not lost — directly relevant to the Reformed monergistic/Catholic synergistic tension already flagged Critical for calling/grace in the baseline. |
| 8 | Born of water and the Spirit | ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος | ex hydatos kai pneumatos | New Birth and Regeneration | Critical | vízből és Lélektől [születik] | A rendering that forces a single fixed sacramental referent (e.g., explicitly “a keresztségből,” “from baptism”) | Directly engages the Catholic/Reformed baptismal-regeneration debate; must be rendered literally, letting teaching notes — not the translated text — carry the interpretive options, consistent with the baseline’s non-resolution principle for grace and calling. |
| 9 | Flesh (versus Spirit-birth) | σάρξ | sarx | New Birth; Incarnation | Medium-High | test | — | Same Hungarian word as σῶμα (“body”); in John 3:6 the sense is birth-order/origin, not Pauline moral corruption — flag the distinction from Romans’ sarx-vs-pneuma usage so as not to import Romans 7-8’s moral battle into John 3’s origin-of-birth point. |
| 10 | Wind/Spirit wordplay | πνεῦμα | pneuma | New Birth and Regeneration | High | szél (wind) / Lélek (Spirit) | — | The Greek wordplay linking the Spirit’s regenerating freedom to the wind’s untraceable movement is lexically untranslatable into Hungarian (unrelated words); requires an explanatory footnote at John 3:8. |
| 11 | Son of Man | ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου | ho huios tou anthrōpou | Deity/Pre-existence; Substitutionary Death | Critical | Emberfia | ”az ember fia” (generic phrase, loses established titular/messianic force) | Distinct messianic self-designation combining full humanity, heavenly authority, and (in John) explicit connection to the cross (3:14) and final judgment (5:27); must never be conflated with, nor substituted for, “Isten Fia.” |
| 12 | Lifted up (double sense: crucified/exalted) | ὑψωθῆναι / ὕψωσεν | hypsōthēnai / hypsōsen | Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | Critical | felemel(tetik) | A rendering resolving only to “kivégeztetik” (executed, loses exaltation sense) or only to “megdicsőül” (glorified, loses the cross itself) | John deliberately identifies the crucifixion itself as the moment of exaltation/glory (3:14; 8:28; 12:32,34); the Hungarian rendering must be able to bear both senses simultaneously, exactly as the Greek does. |
| 13 | Only begotten / unique Son | μονογενής | monogenēs | Deity/Pre-existence; Sonship of Christ | Critical | egyszülött | ”egyetlen” (modern lexical alternative — rejected to preserve continuity with the established Hungarian Bible-tradition rendering and to avoid ambiguity with ordinary “only child” language) | Marks Christ’s unique, unrepeatable divine Sonship, distinct in kind (not degree) from believers’ adoptive sonship; parallels the baseline’s son_of_god Critical entry. |
| 14 | Love (God’s love, self-giving) | ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη | agapaō / agapē | God’s Love for the World | Critical | szeret / szeretet | — | Grounds the entire Gospel’s soteriology (3:16; 13:34-35; 15:9-13; 17:23-26); must not be reduced to sentimental affection; note the untranslatable ἀγαπάω/φιλέω distinction surfacing at John 21:15-17 (see #33 below). |
| 15 | Truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | Multiple: Deity of Christ (14:6); Holy Spirit as Counselor; Judgment | CRITICAL — NEW LEXICAL COLLISION | igazság | A distinct Hungarian coinage separating “truth” from “righteousness” was considered and rejected, since no such distinction exists in standing Hungarian Bible translation tradition and departing from it would itself create inconsistency with every other Hungarian Bible in active use | Hungarian igazság is already fixed by the Romans baseline as the rendering of δικαιοσύνη (“righteousness,” Critical risk). John’s Gospel requires the identical Hungarian word for the unrelated Greek term ἀλήθεια (“truth,” epistemic/revelatory). This is a lexical, not doctrinal, collision, but its pastoral effect is significant: readers may import Romans’ forensic-righteousness associations into John’s “grace and truth” (1:14), “Spirit of truth” (14:17), “I am… the truth” (14:6), and “What is truth?” (18:38). MANDATORY teaching-note discipline: every occurrence of “igazság” in John curriculum materials should be accompanied by a brief contextual gloss clarifying which Greek term and sense is intended. |
| 16 | Grace and truth | χάρις καὶ ἀλήθεια | charis kai alētheia | Deity/Pre-existence; Incarnation | High | kegyelem és igazság | — | Combines REUSED Critical grace with the new Critical truth/igazság collision term; echoes the OT covenant-character formula (Exod 34:6) and should be footnoted as such. |
| 17 | Eat my flesh, drink my blood | φάγητε τὴν σάρκα… πίητε τὸ αἷμα | phagēte tēn sarka… piēte to haima | (New doctrinal territory not present in Romans; relevant to Substitutionary Death / union with Christ) | CRITICAL — MAJOR NEW COLLISION | eszi az én testemet és issza az én véremet (render literally) | A rendering that resolves toward exclusively symbolic/memorial language, or one that resolves toward exclusive Real-Presence/transubstantiation language | John 6:53-56 sits at the center of the sharpest Eucharistic divide within Hungarian Christianity: Catholic transubstantiation/Real Presence doctrine versus Hungarian Reformed symbolic/spiritual-real-presence doctrine received by faith without a repeated sacrifice. This is comparable in magnitude to the baseline’s grace/justification fault line and must be handled with the same rigor: translate literally, escalate every occurrence to human theologian review, and never resolve the sacramental debate within the translated text itself. |
| 18 | Draw (the Father’s drawing to the Son) | ἕλκω | helkyō | (Directly overlaps baseline’s calling/election Critical fault line) | Critical | vonz | A rendering implying either strict irresistibility or freely-resistible synergistic cooperation as the text’s own settled claim | John 6:44 (“no one can come to me unless the Father… draws him”) is functionally identical ground to the Reformed irresistible-calling / Catholic synergistic-cooperation debate the baseline already flags Critical for Romans 9-11; apply the identical non-resolution discipline. |
| 19 | Absolute “I am” (deity self-naming) | ἐγώ εἰμι | egō eimi | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | Critical | Én vagyok | A rendering that reduces the present tense to a past-tense “I existed” | John 8:58 and 18:5-8 use the present-tense divine self-naming echoing Exodus 3:14 LXX; grammatical tense must be preserved as the doctrinal crux of the deity claim. |
| 20 | The Seven “I Am” predicated statements | ἐγώ εἰμι + predicate | egō eimi + predicate | The Seven “I Am” Statements | Critical (as a set) | (1) az élet kenyere [6:35,48]; (2) a világ világossága [8:12]; (3) az ajtó [10:7,9]; (4) a jó pásztor [10:11,14]; (5) a feltámadás és az élet [11:25]; (6) az út, az igazság és az élet [14:6]; (7) az igazi szőlőtő [15:1,5] | — | Each predicate term is treated individually above/below; as a set they form the curriculum’s own named doctrine and must be rendered with perfect cross-chapter consistency for each repeated image (e.g., φῶς at 8:12 must match 1:4-9’s rendering; ζωή at 11:25 must match 14:6’s and 3:15’s). |
| 21 | Judge / condemn | κρίνω | krinō | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | High | kárhoztat (negative/condemn sense) / megítél (neutral/adjudicate sense) | — | Context must govern which sense is active (e.g., 3:17’s negative “condemn” vs. 5:22’s neutral judicial “judge”); collapsing the two senses obscures Paul-independent but doctrinally load-bearing distinctions within John itself. |
| 22 | Judgment | κρίσις | krisis | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | High | ítélet | — | Ground of condemnation identified as a moral response to revealed light (3:19), not an arbitrary decree; must not read as fatalistic. |
| 23 | Wrath of God | ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ | orgē tou theou | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | High | Isten haragja | A rendering reducing this to mere disappointment or an impersonal natural consequence | 3:36 pairs disobedience toward the Son directly with the wrath of God “remaining on” the disobedient; this personal, relational, judicial force must be preserved plainly without editorializing toward either tradition’s developed doctrine of final judgment/purgation. |
| 24 | Lamb of God | ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ | amnos tou theou | Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | Critical | Isten Báránya | A rendering using only a generic “gentle/meek” metaphor divorced from sacrificial sense | Passover/sin-offering typology (1:29,36) is essential background for the Substitutionary Death doctrine; requires an Old Testament explanatory note for readers without strong biblical literacy. |
| 25 | Lay down one’s life | τὴν ψυχὴν τίθημι | tēn psychēn tithēmi | Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | Critical | életét adja / leteszi | — | Repeated (10:11,15,17-18) explicit substitutionary self-giving language; core textual anchor for the doctrine. |
| 26 | It is finished | τετέλεσται | tetelestai | Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | CRITICAL | Elvégeztetett | — | Declares the atoning work completely and sufficiently accomplished; of pastoral importance given the historic Reformed/Catholic divide over the sufficiency of Christ’s one sacrifice versus sacramental re-presentation (parallel to the baseline’s grace/merit notes); preserve the perfect-tense “completed, unrepeatable” force plainly without adjudicating that systematic debate in-text. |
| 27 | I and the Father are one | ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν | egō kai ho patēr hen esmen | Unity of the Father and the Son | CRITICAL | én és az Atya egy vagyunk | A rendering implying identity of Person (modalism) or a rendering weakening it to mere agreement/cooperation | The Gospel’s strongest unity statement (10:30), provoking a contemporaneous blasphemy charge understood as a deity claim; must preserve essential/relational oneness between distinct Persons — the same “egy” root must recur consistently at 14:10-11,20 and 17:11,21-22. |
| 28 | That they may be one | ἵνα ὦσιν ἕν | hina ōsin hen | Unity of the Father and the Son | Critical | hogy egyek legyenek | A rendering collapsing believers’ derivative unity into ontological identity with the Father-Son unity | 17:11,21-22 extends unity language to the believing community; this is unity of love, purpose, and witness, patterned after — not equivalent to — the essential divine unity; the shared “egy” root must be retained deliberately for the literary link while teaching notes distinguish the two applications. |
| 29 | Consecrate / sanctify (Christological sense) | ἁγιάζω | hagiazō | Unity of the Father and the Son (mission); reuses sanctification root | High | megszentel | — | 10:36 applies this to the Father’s setting-apart of the Son for mission — a distinct application from the REUSED believer-sanctification sense (17:17,19; baseline sanctification); flag the distinction in teaching notes. |
| 30 | The Counselor / Paraclete | ὁ παράκλητος | ho paraklētos | The Holy Spirit as Counselor | CRITICAL | Pártfogó | ”Vígasztaló” (older Károli-tradition rendering — retained in teaching notes as the historically familiar alternative, but under-translates the legal-advocacy and teaching senses); “Szószóló” (Advocate-only — under-translates the comforting/indwelling-presence sense) | The Holy Spirit’s post-ascension identity and threefold ministry (advocacy, teaching, comfort) across chs. 14-16; the chosen Hungarian rendering must be flagged as a genuine translation decision among several partially-overlapping historic options, none of which fully captures the Greek term’s full semantic range. |
| 31 | Spirit of truth | τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας | to pneuma tēs alētheias | The Holy Spirit as Counselor | Critical | az igazság Lelke | — | Compounds two Critical terms (REUSED holy_spirit root + the new truth/igazság collision term); requires the same contextual-gloss discipline as entry #15. |
| 32 | Abide / remain | μένω | menō | (Supports Eternal Life and Unity doctrines; union with Christ) | High | megmarad | — | Describes ongoing, dependent union with Christ (ch. 15); complements, but is a distinct term from, Romans’ “in Christ” union language (baseline christian_identity_in_christ) — cross-reference in teaching notes rather than treating as identical vocabulary. |
| 33 | Love (ἀγαπάω) vs. love (φιλέω) — John 21 | ἀγαπάω / φιλέω | agapaō / phileō | (Discipleship restoration; touches God’s Love for the World doctrine indirectly) | High | Both render as szeret | — | Hungarian has no lexical distinction paralleling this Greek pair; John 21:15-17’s deliberate (or at minimum stylistically marked) variation is untranslatable into a single Hungarian verb and must be flagged with a footnote rather than silently lost. |
| 34 | New commandment | ἐντολὴ καινή | entolē kainē | (Supports the Unity/discipleship doctrines) | Medium | új parancsolat | — | Distinct Greek root from REUSED law (νόμος/törvény); must not be conflated with törvény in teaching notes despite thematic overlap. |
| 35 | Living water | ὕδωρ ζῶν | hydōr zōn | New Birth and Regeneration (background); Holy Spirit | Medium | élő víz | — | Recurs at 4:10-14 and 7:38 (explicitly glossed by the narrator as the Spirit, 7:39); ties back to 3:5’s water/Spirit pairing. |
| 36 | Worship in spirit and truth | προσκυνέω ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ | proskyneō en pneumati kai alētheia | (Background to Holy Spirit and Truth doctrines) | High | lélekben és igazságban imádja | — | Redefines worship away from fixed cultic geography; carries the truth/igazság collision term — apply entry #15’s gloss discipline. |
| 37 | My Lord and my God | ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου | ho kyrios mou kai ho theos mou | Deity of Christ (climactic confession) | CRITICAL | Én Uram és én Istenem! | A rendering softening or qualifying either title | Thomas’s confession combines REUSED Critical lord and god terms in direct worship-address; must be rendered without qualification, exactly paralleling the baseline’s treatment of “Jézus az Úr” (Romans 10:9). |
| 38 | Receive the Holy Spirit; forgiveness of sins (commissioning) | λάβετε πνεῦμα ἅγιον / ἀφίενται [αἱ ἁμαρτίαι] | labete pneuma hagion / aphientai | (New doctrinal territory; touches Substitutionary Death’s application) | CRITICAL — NEW COLLISION | Vegyétek a Szentlelket… megbocsáttatnak nekik | A rendering adopting either the Catholic sacramental-absolution model (priestly power to effect forgiveness) or excluding it entirely as the text’s own claim | 20:22-23 sits at a genuine Catholic/Reformed divide (sacramental absolution vs. declarative gospel proclamation), structurally parallel to the baseline’s intercession entry; translate the plain grammatical sense and escalate every occurrence for human theologian review. |
| 39 | Sign | σημεῖον | sēmeion | (Supports all Christological doctrines via John’s narrative structure) | Medium | jel | — | John’s technical term (~17 occurrences) for miracles as revelatory pointers to Christ’s glory/identity, not mere wonders; consistency required across chs. 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 20. |
| 40 | The hour | ἡ ὥρα | hē hōra | (Structural motif supporting Substitutionary Death doctrine) | Medium-High | az óra | — | John’s recurring technical phrase for the divinely appointed time of the Passion/glorification (2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23,27; 13:1; 17:1); requires a note establishing this as a technical, not merely temporal, usage. |
| 41 | Ruler of this world | ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου | ho archōn tou kosmou toutou | (Satanology; background to Substitutionary Death/Judgment) | Medium-High | e világ fejedelme | — | Requires background note distinguishing this satanological title from legitimate human/political rulers. |
Cross-Reference Notes for Phase 2 Enforcement
- Truth/igazság collision (entry #15) is the single most consequential new risk this glossary introduces. Every Phase 2 segment containing ἀλήθεια-derived vocabulary (“igazság,” “az igazság Lelke,” “igazságban”) must be checked against this entry and, where doctrinally load-bearing, accompanied by a contextual translator note distinguishing it from the baseline’s
righteousnesssense of the same Hungarian word. - Eucharistic language (entry #17) and sacramental-forgiveness language (entry #38) are new Critical-collision categories not present in the Romans baseline and must be added to the Phase 2 escalation rules (see
12_ai_translation_requirements.mdupdate in Phase 1 Step 9) alongside the existing grace/justification/election escalation triggers. - The Seven “I Am” Statements (entry #20) require a consistency table cross-checked at Phase 2 QA: each of the seven predicate nouns (bread, light, door, shepherd, resurrection/life, way/truth/life, vine) must use the identical Hungarian rendering established here every time it recurs elsewhere in the Gospel (e.g., φῶς at 8:12 and 9:5 must match 1:4-9’s “világosság”).
- All terms in Part 1 must be enforced with zero deviation, per the baseline’s Glossary Enforcement Priority Order (Critical risk terms first, absolute enforcement).
Critical Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: kegyelem
Transliteration: charis
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: kegyelem mint érdemek által gyarapítható, szentségek közvetítette adomány (tridenti értelmezés)
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. John’s textual home is 1:14,16-17 (‘grace and truth,’ ‘grace upon grace’), where it is paired with the new Critical ‘truth’/igazság collision term (see ‘truth’ and ‘grace_and_truth’ entries below). Do not resolve the Reformed/Catholic grace debate in either direction within the translated text.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: igazság
Transliteration: dikaiosynē
Doctrine: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for δικαιοσύνη. Retained here explicitly (though John rarely uses this Greek term itself) because Hungarian ‘igazság’ is also required by John for the unrelated Greek term ἀλήθεια (‘truth’). This entry is the anchor reference for the Critical lexical collision documented under the new ‘truth’ entry below; every occurrence of ‘igazság’ in John materials must be checked against both this entry and ‘truth’ to determine which sense is intended.
Salvation
Approved rendering: üdvösség
Transliteration: sōtēria
Doctrine: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for σωτηρία/σῴζω (3:17; 4:22,42; 5:34; 10:9; 12:47). John prefers ‘örök élet’ (see below) as his own near-synonym term for the same reality; the two must remain distinct, cross-referenced vocabulary, never silently merged.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: feltámadás
Transliteration: anastasis
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Original: ἀνάστασις
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. John’s Gospel (chs. 2, 5, 6, 11, 20-21) provides the fullest narrative demonstration of this doctrine in the New Testament; risk is concentrated in preserving the historical/bodily concreteness of chs. 20-21 against any drift toward a merely spiritual or visionary reading.
Lord
Approved rendering: Úr
Transliteration: kyrios
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. Culminates Critically at John 20:28’s ‘Én Uram és én Istenem,’ which must be rendered without qualification, exactly paralleling the baseline’s treatment of ‘Jézus az Úr’ (Romans 10:9).
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Isten Fia
Transliteration: huios theou
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Isten fia általános értelemben, minden hívőre alkalmazva
Original: υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. Must be kept lexically distinct throughout John from ‘Isten gyermekei’ (believers’ adoptive sonship, 1:12-13) and from ‘Emberfia’ (Son of Man, a different title). Hungarian pastoral speech applies ‘Isten gyermeke’ loosely; guard against flattening Christ’s unique status.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Szentlélek
Transliteration: pneuma hagion
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. John’s ‘Spirit’ occurrences must be checked contextually to distinguish the personal Holy Spirit from the general wind/breath sense (see John 3:8, ‘wind_and_spirit_wordplay’ below) and from the ordinary ‘human spirit’ sense (e.g., 4:23-24; 11:33).
Father
Approved rendering: Atya
Transliteration: patēr
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. John’s Gospel is the New Testament’s densest concentration of Father-Son relational language (chs. 1, 5, 8, 10, 14-17, 20); central to the Unity of the Father and the Son doctrine.
Messiah
Approved rendering: Messiás
Transliteration: Christos / Messias
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: Χριστός / Μεσσίας
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. John explicitly glosses ‘Messiás (azaz Krisztus)’ at 1:41, preserving both established transliterated forms side by side.
Covenant
Approved rendering: szövetség
Transliteration: diathēkē
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: szövetség kizárólag jogi vagy politikai szerződésként
Original: διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. Not a frequent explicit term in John, but relevant background to 1:14’s ‘grace and truth’ (echoing the Exodus 34:6 covenant formula) and 10:35’s ‘Scripture cannot be broken.‘
Election
Approved rendering: kiválasztás
Transliteration: eklogē / eklegomai
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: kiválasztás, mely emberi együttműködés nélkül értelmezhetetlen (szinergista olvasat kényszerítése), kiválasztás mint szabad akarat nélküli, vak végzet (fatalista félreolvasás)
Original: ἐκλογή / ἐκλέγομαι
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. John 15:16 (‘You did not choose me, but I chose you’) and 13:18 directly reopen the identical Reformed/Catholic fault line already flagged Critical for Romans 9-11; apply identical non-resolution rules. Kept deliberately distinct from the new term ‘draw_to_christ’ (vonz, ἕλκω, John 6:44) so the parallel is drawn in teaching notes rather than implied by identical vocabulary.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jézus
Transliteration: Iēsous
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly.
God
Approved rendering: Isten
Transliteration: theos
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. See 05_translation_landscape.md §5.1: the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Új világ fordítás renders John 1:1’s predicate with an indefinite, lower-case construction (‘a Szó isten volt’) denying full deity; this or any indefinite/lesser-deity rendering of ‘Isten’ applied to the Word must never be echoed.
Word Logos
Approved rendering: Ige
Transliteration: logos
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: üzenet (message — loses personal/pre-existent referent), beszéd (speech — too generic)
Original: λόγος
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John. Must be capitalized (‘Ige’) to mark the personal, divine, eternal referent, distinct from lowercase ‘ige’ (ordinary word). Textual home: John 1:1,14. Shared identically by Hungarian Catholic and Reformed liturgical memory; risk is simplification into poetic metaphor, not confessional division.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: örök élet
Transliteration: zōē aiōnios
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
New term introduced by John (John’s signature soteriological term, ~17 occurrences). Must remain perfectly consistent across all 21 chapters and must never be silently merged with the inherited ‘üdvösség.’ Reformed perseverance-of-the-saints doctrine reads ‘has eternal life’ (5:24) as a settled present verdict; Catholic theology maintains ongoing dependence on grace and final perseverance — do not resolve this in the translated text.
Born From Above
Approved rendering: újonnan születik (felülről, Istentől születik)
Transliteration: gennēthē anōthen
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: megtér (converts — collapses the divinely-initiated sense into a human decision; FORBIDDEN), újjászületik (modern single-word alternative — acceptable only as secondary teaching-note gloss, not primary running text, to preserve continuity with Károli-tradition memory)
Original: γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν
Category: Salvation
New term introduced by John; core passage (John 3:3,7). ἄνωθεν carries both ‘again’ and ‘from above’ senses; standard Hungarian Bible tradition renders only the ‘again’ sense (‘újonnan’), so the parenthetical gloss restoring ‘from above’ is MANDATORY, not optional. Directly engages the Reformed monergistic / Catholic synergistic tension already flagged Critical for grace and calling in the baseline.
Born Of Water And Spirit
Approved rendering: vízből és Lélektől születik
Transliteration: ex hydatos kai pneumatos
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: a rendering that fixes a single sacramental referent, e.g. explicitly naming ‘a keresztségből’ (baptism)
Original: ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος
Category: Salvation
New term introduced by John; core passage (John 3:5). Sits directly on the Catholic baptismal-regeneration / Reformed symbolic-water-plus-monergistic-Spirit fault line. Render literally; do not resolve in the translated text — let teaching notes carry the interpretive options, exactly as the baseline requires for grace and calling.
Son Of Man
Approved rendering: Emberfia
Transliteration: ho huios tou anthrōpou
Doctrine: Son of Man Christology
Rejected alternatives: az ember fia (generic phrase, loses established titular/messianic force)
Original: ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John; core passage anchor at John 3:13-14. Distinct messianic self-designation (cf. Dan 7:13-14) combining full humanity, heavenly authority, and explicit connection to the cross (3:14) and final judgment (5:27). Must never be conflated with, nor substituted for, ‘Isten Fia.‘
Lifted Up
Approved rendering: felemel(tetik)
Transliteration: hypsōthēnai / hypsōsen
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: kivégeztetik (execution only — loses the exaltation sense), megdicsőül (glorified only — loses the cross itself)
Original: ὑψωθῆναι / ὕψωσεν
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John; core passage anchor at John 3:14. Deliberate double sense (physically lifted up on the cross AND exalted/glorified) recurring at 3:14; 8:28; 12:32,34. The Hungarian rendering must be able to bear both senses simultaneously across all three occurrences.
Only Begotten
Approved rendering: egyszülött
Transliteration: monogenēs
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: egyetlen (modern lexical alternative — rejected to preserve continuity with established Hungarian Bible-tradition rendering and to avoid ambiguity with ordinary ‘only child’ language)
Original: μονογενής
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John; core passage anchor at John 3:16,18 (also 1:14,18). Marks Christ’s unique, unrepeatable divine Sonship, distinct in kind (not degree) from believers’ adoptive sonship. Note the John 1:18 textual-variant divergence (μονογενὴς υἱός in Textus Receptus/Károli tradition vs. μονογενὴς θεός in Nestle-Aland/RÚF); both readings affirm full deity — document which Greek base text underlies this curriculum’s citations and apply consistently.
Love Of God
Approved rendering: szeret / szeretet
Transliteration: agapaō / agapē
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Original: ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη
Category: God
New term introduced by John; core passage anchor at John 3:16. Self-giving, deliberate, willed love, the ultimate ground of the gospel; must not be reduced to sentimental affection. See ‘love_agape_vs_phileo’ below for the untranslatable ἀγαπάω/φιλέω distinction surfacing at John 21:15-17.
Truth
Approved rendering: igazság
Transliteration: alētheia
Doctrine: Truth and Revelation
Rejected alternatives: a distinct Hungarian coinage separating ‘truth’ from ‘righteousness’ — rejected because no such distinction exists in standing Hungarian Bible translation tradition, and departing from it would itself create inconsistency with every other Hungarian Bible in active use
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Christology
CRITICAL LEXICAL COLLISION — the single highest-consequence ambiguity in this Language Package. Hungarian ‘igazság’ is already fixed by the Romans baseline as the rendering of δικαιοσύνη (‘righteousness,’ forensic standing before God, Critical risk — see ‘righteousness’ entry above). John’s Gospel requires the identical Hungarian word for the unrelated Greek term ἀλήθεια (‘truth,’ epistemic/revelatory, first appearing in the core passage at 3:21’s ‘does the truth’). MANDATORY: every occurrence of ‘igazság’ in John curriculum materials must carry a contextual gloss clarifying which Greek term/sense is intended (1:14,17; 3:21; 4:23-24; 8:31-32; 14:6,17; 16:13; 18:37-38).
Eat Flesh Drink Blood
Approved rendering: eszi az én testemet és issza az én véremet
Transliteration: phagēte tēn sarka… piēte to haima
Doctrine: Eucharistic Language and Union with Christ
Rejected alternatives: a rendering resolving toward exclusively symbolic/memorial language, a rendering resolving toward exclusive Real-Presence/transubstantiation language
Original: φάγητε τὴν σάρκα… πίητε τὸ αἷμα
Category: Salvation
MAJOR NEW CRITICAL COLLISION, comparable in magnitude to the baseline’s grace/justification fault line. John 6:53-56 sits at the center of Hungary’s sharpest Eucharistic divide: Catholic transubstantiation/Real Presence versus Hungarian Reformed symbolic/spiritual reception by faith, without a repeated sacrifice. Render literally; escalate every occurrence to human theologian review; never resolve the sacramental debate within the translated text itself.
Draw To Christ
Approved rendering: vonz
Transliteration: helkyō
Doctrine: Effectual Calling and Election
Rejected alternatives: a rendering implying either strict irresistibility or freely-resistible synergistic cooperation as the text’s own settled claim, reusing the inherited ‘elhívás’/‘kiválasztás’ vocabulary directly (rejected so the Romans 9-11 parallel is drawn in teaching notes, not implied automatically by identical vocabulary appearing in an unrelated Greek term)
Original: ἕλκω
Category: Salvation
New term introduced by John (6:44). Functionally identical ground to the Reformed irresistible-calling / Catholic synergistic-cooperation debate already flagged Critical for Romans 9-11’s ‘kiválasztás’/‘elhívás.’ Apply the identical non-resolution discipline.
Absolute I Am
Approved rendering: Én vagyok
Transliteration: egō eimi
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: a rendering that reduces the present tense to a past-tense ‘I existed before Abraham’ (FORBIDDEN — this is the exact error made by the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Új világ fordítás at John 8:58, rendering ‘before Abraham came into existence, I already was’)
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John (8:58; 18:5-8). Present-tense divine self-naming echoing the LXX rendering of Exodus 3:14, claiming timeless eternal existence. Grammatical present tense must be preserved without exception; this is the single most exploited verse by cult mistranslation in Hungary (see 05_translation_landscape.md §5.1).
I Am Bread Of Life
Approved rendering: az élet kenyere
Transliteration: ho artos tēs zōēs
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John. I AM statement #1 (6:35,48). Must match consistently at both occurrences; part of the seven-statement consistency set.
I Am Light Of World
Approved rendering: a világ világossága
Transliteration: to phōs tou kosmou
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John. I AM statement #2 (8:12; 9:5). Must match the ‘világosság’ rendering established at 1:4-9 and 3:19-21 exactly.
I Am Good Shepherd
Approved rendering: a jó pásztor
Transliteration: ho poimēn ho kalos
Doctrine: The Good Shepherd and Self-Sacrifice
Original: ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John. I AM statement #4 (10:11,14). Combines pastoral care with willing self-sacrifice; ties directly into the Substitutionary Death doctrine (see ‘lay_down_life’ below).
I Am Resurrection And Life
Approved rendering: a feltámadás és az élet
Transliteration: hē anastasis kai hē zōē
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John. I AM statement #5 (11:25). Combines the inherited Critical ‘feltámadás’ with John’s own ‘élet’ term; Christ himself possesses and grants resurrection-life presently, not merely as future agent.
I Am Way Truth Life
Approved rendering: az út, az igazság és az élet
Transliteration: hē hodos kai hē alētheia kai hē zōē
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John. I AM statement #6 (14:6), combined predicate. Reinforces the truth/igazság collision above (mandatory gloss required at this verse above all others, given its catechetical prominence); must also preserve the exclusivity clause that follows (‘no one comes to the Father except through me’) without softening.
I Am True Vine
Approved rendering: az igazi szőlőtő
Transliteration: hē ampelos hē alēthinē
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John. I AM statement #7 (15:1,5). Consistent rendering required at both occurrences.
Lamb Of God
Approved rendering: Isten Báránya
Transliteration: amnos tou theou
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: a rendering using only a generic ‘gentle/meek’ metaphor divorced from sacrificial sense
Original: ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
New term introduced by John (1:29,36). Passover-lamb and sin-offering typology combined; requires an Old Testament background note for readers without strong biblical literacy.
Lay Down Life
Approved rendering: életét adja / leteszi
Transliteration: tēn psychēn tithēmi
Doctrine: The Good Shepherd and Self-Sacrifice
Original: τὴν ψυχὴν τίθημι
Category: Salvation
New term introduced by John. Repeated (10:11,15,17-18) explicit substitutionary self-giving language; core textual anchor for the Substitutionary Death doctrine. Render consistently across all four occurrences.
It Is Finished
Approved rendering: Elvégeztetett
Transliteration: tetelestai
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: τετέλεσται
Category: Salvation
New term introduced by John (19:30), but rendered with an established, deeply memorized Károli-tradition phrase across all Hungarian Christian traditions. Preserve the perfect-tense, completed-and-sufficient force plainly; do not adjudicate the historic Reformed/Catholic divide over the sufficiency of Christ’s one sacrifice versus the Mass’s sacramental re-presentation within the translated text.
Father Son Essential Unity
Approved rendering: én és az Atya egy vagyunk
Transliteration: egō kai ho patēr hen esmen
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: egyetlen személy vagyunk (modalist collapse into identity of Person — FORBIDDEN), egyet gondolunk / egyet akarunk (mere-agreement reading that understates the claim — FORBIDDEN)
Original: ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John (10:30). ‘Egy’ denotes essential/relational oneness between distinct Persons, provoking a contemporaneous blasphemy charge understood as a deity claim. Must recur consistently at 14:10-11,20 and 17:11,21-22. A live proof-text for both Jehovah’s Witnesses’ purpose-only reading and historic Hungarian (Transylvanian) Unitarian subordinationism — see 05_translation_landscape.md §5.1, §5.3; teaching notes must foreclose both readings.
Believers Unity
Approved rendering: hogy egyek legyenek
Transliteration: hina ōsin hen
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: a rendering collapsing believers’ derivative unity into ontological identity with the Father-Son unity
Original: ἵνα ὦσιν ἕν
Category: Church
New term introduced by John (17:11,21-22). Extends unity language to the believing community; this is unity of love, purpose, and witness patterned after — not equivalent to — the essential divine unity above. The shared ‘egy’ root must be retained deliberately for the literary link while teaching notes distinguish the two applications.
Paraclete Counselor
Approved rendering: Pártfogó
Transliteration: ho paraklētos
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Rejected alternatives: Vígasztaló (older Károli-tradition rendering — retained in teaching notes as the historically familiar alternative, but under-translates the legal-advocacy and teaching senses), Szószóló (Advocate-only — under-translates the comforting/indwelling-presence sense)
Original: ὁ παράκλητος
Category: God
New term introduced by John (14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7). No single existing Hungarian Bible-tradition rendering fully captures the term’s combined advocacy/teaching/comfort senses; this is a genuine, flagged translation decision, not a lexical given. Teaching notes must name ‘Vígasztaló’ so readers moving between Hungarian Bible editions are not confused.
Spirit Of Truth
Approved rendering: az igazság Lelke
Transliteration: to pneuma tēs alētheias
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας
Category: God
New term introduced by John (14:17; 15:26; 16:13). Compounds two Critical terms (inherited ‘Szentlélek’ root plus the ‘truth’/igazság collision term); requires the same contextual-gloss discipline as the ‘truth’ entry above at every occurrence.
My Lord And My God
Approved rendering: Én Uram és én Istenem!
Transliteration: ho kyrios mou kai ho theos mou
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: a rendering softening or qualifying either title
Original: ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John (20:28). Thomas’s climactic confession, the Gospel’s clearest single explicit worship-confession of Christ’s full deity, combining the inherited Critical ‘Úr’ and ‘Isten’ in direct address. Must be rendered without qualification, exactly paralleling the baseline’s treatment of ‘Jézus az Úr’ (Romans 10:9).
Receive Spirit Forgive Sins
Approved rendering: Vegyétek a Szentlelket… megbocsáttatnak nekik
Transliteration: labete pneuma hagion / aphientai
Doctrine: Sacramental Forgiveness and Spirit Commissioning
Rejected alternatives: a rendering adopting the Catholic sacramental-absolution model (priestly power to effect forgiveness) as the text’s own exclusive claim, a rendering excluding that model entirely as impossible
Original: λάβετε πνεῦμα ἅγιον / ἀφίενται
Category: Church
NEW CRITICAL COLLISION, structurally parallel to the baseline’s ‘intercession’ entry. John 20:22-23 sits at a genuine Catholic (sacramental absolution)/Reformed (declarative gospel proclamation) divide. Translate the plain grammatical sense only; escalate every occurrence to human theologian review.
Equal With God
Approved rendering: egyenlővé tette magát Istennel
Transliteration: ison heauton poiōn tō theō
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: a rendering presenting this as a misunderstanding by ‘the Jews’ rather than an accurate perception the narrative affirms
Original: ἴσον ἑαυτὸν ποιῶν τῷ θεῷ
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John (5:18). Must be preserved as a genuine claim the narrative affirms as accurately perceived. Affirmed identically by both Hungarian Catholic and Reformed traditions; risk is simplification, not confessional division.
Honor Son As Father
Approved rendering: úgy tisztelje a Fiút, ahogyan az Atyát tiszteli
Transliteration: tima ton huion kathōs tima ton patera
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: τιμᾷ τὸν υἱὸν καθὼς τιμᾷ τὸν πατέρα
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John (5:23). Demands the identical honor due the Father be given the Son; ties directly to the inherited ‘Úr’ (lordship) doctrine; must not be softened into merely great respect.
Resurrection Of Life And Judgment
Approved rendering: életre való feltámadás / ítéletre való feltámadás
Transliteration: anastasis zōēs / anastasis kriseōs
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: ἀνάστασις ζωῆς / ἀνάστασις κρίσεως
Category: Eschatology
New term introduced by John (5:29). Combines the inherited ‘feltámadás’ with new judgment vocabulary; must retain the sharp either/or contrast without blurring the two outcomes.
Mutual Indwelling
Approved rendering: én az Atyában vagyok, és az Atya bennem van
Transliteration: egō en tō patri kai ho patēr en emoi
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Original: ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John (14:10-11,20). Mutual indwelling language, a further pillar of the Unity doctrine alongside 10:30 and 17:21-22; must be preserved as part of the same consistent unity-doctrine vocabulary set.
Eternal Life As Knowing God
Approved rendering: az az örök élet, hogy megismerjenek téged
Transliteration: hautē estin hē aiōnios zōē, hina ginōskōsin se
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: αὕτη ἐστὶν ἡ αἰώνιος ζωή, ἵνα γινώσκωσίν σε
Category: Salvation
New term introduced by John (17:3). Defines eternal life relationally, as personal knowledge of the Father and the Son, deepening the inherited ‘örök élet’ term. NOTE: this verse is also exploited by both Jehovah’s Witnesses’ anti-Trinitarian apologetics and historic Hungarian Unitarian tradition (see 05_translation_landscape.md §5.1, §5.3); render plainly and pair with a teaching note connecting it to John’s own unambiguous deity claims elsewhere (1:1, 8:58, 10:30, 20:28).
Father Greater Than I
Approved rendering: az én Atyám nagyobb nálamnál
Transliteration: ho patēr mou meizōn mou estin
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: a rendering left without a clarifying note implying ontological inferiority of the Son
New term introduced by John (14:28). Historic Hungarian (Transylvanian) Unitarian tradition, founded by Ferenc Dávid and still active today (Magyarországi Unitárius Egyház / Erdélyi Unitárius Egyház), cites this verse against Christ’s full deity. Render plainly per the text’s own wording, but pair with a mandatory teaching note clarifying this refers to the incarnate Son’s voluntary, functional subordination in mission, not an ontological inferiority denying the deity already affirmed at 1:1, 8:58, 10:30, and 20:28.
High Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: evangélium
Transliteration: euangelion
Doctrine: Gospel
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. Not a frequent explicit noun in John itself, but the underlying proclamation concept (20:31’s purpose statement) depends on it.
Faith
Approved rendering: hit
Transliteration: pistis
Doctrine: Faith
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for the noun πίστις. John’s Gospel overwhelmingly prefers the verb form πιστεύω (see ‘believe’ below); the noun itself is comparatively rare. Also relevant background for the Hungarian Word-of-Faith movement (Hit Gyülekezete) sensitivity documented in 05_translation_landscape.md §5.1: teaching notes must distinguish trust-in-the-person-of-Christ from any prosperity-formula sense some Hungarian readers may attach to this word.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: megtestesülés
Transliteration: ho logos sarx egeneto
Doctrine: Incarnation
Original: ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. John 1:14 (‘testté lett’) is this doctrine’s explicit textual home. Shared, orthodox doctrine across Hungarian Catholic and Reformed traditions; risk is simplification into a temporary divine appearance rather than a permanent assumption of human nature.
Holy
Approved rendering: szent
Transliteration: hagios
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly (John 1:33; 6:69; 7:39; 10:36; 14:26; 17:11,17,19; 20:22).
Law
Approved rendering: törvény
Transliteration: nomos
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly (John 1:17,45; 7:19,23,49,51; 8:5,17; 10:34; 15:25; 19:7). Keep lexically distinct from the new term ‘new_commandment’ (ἐντολή) despite thematic overlap.
Sin
Approved rendering: bűn
Transliteration: hamartia
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly (John 1:29; 8:21,24,34,46; 9:2-3,34,41; 15:22,24; 16:8-9; 19:11; 20:23).
Intercession
Approved rendering: közbenjárás
Transliteration: enteuxis
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Rejected alternatives: kizárólag szentek és Mária közbenjárása mint szükséges (katolikus olvasat)
Original: ἔντευξις (implicit in John’s prayer/advocacy language)
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. John 17 is Christ’s own extended intercessory prayer, and the Paraclete’s advocacy (14:16) is implicitly intercessory; directly relevant to the baseline’s noted sensitivity around Catholic saints’/Marian intercession versus the Reformed emphasis on Christ’s own direct, sufficient intercession.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: megszentelődés
Transliteration: hagiasmos / hagiazō
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἁγιασμός / ἁγιάζω
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for the believer-sanctification sense (17:17,19). Keep distinct from the new Christological sense at 10:36 (see ‘christological_consecration’ below) — the Father’s unique, unrepeatable consecration of the Son for mission must not be conflated with the believer’s ongoing, Spirit-driven growth in holiness.
Believe
Approved rendering: hisz
Transliteration: pisteuō
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: πιστεύω
Category: Faith
New term introduced by John as the verb form of the inherited ‘hit.’ John’s dominant faith-verb (~98 occurrences); the object of belief (Christ) must always remain grammatically recoverable, per the baseline’s note on faith. Distinguish John’s own consistent trust-in-the-person-of-Christ sense from any prosperity-formula sense associated with the Hungarian Hit Gyülekezete (Word-of-Faith) movement.
Light
Approved rendering: világosság
Transliteration: phōs
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Rejected alternatives: fény (too physical/scientific in modern Hungarian; loses the moral-revelatory sense)
Original: φῶς
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John. Central to the light/darkness dualism spanning chs. 1, 3, 8, 9, 12. Must be rendered identically at every occurrence, including within I AM statement #2 (8:12; 9:5).
World
Approved rendering: világ
Transliteration: kosmos
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Original: κόσμος
Category: Salvation
New term introduced by John. Ranges from the created order to fallen God-opposing humanity to, at 3:16, unqualified humanity as the object of God’s redemptive love — three senses within the same chapter. Preserve the unqualified universal scope of 3:16; do not add restrictive qualifiers absent from the Greek.
Water Of New Birth
Approved rendering: víz
Transliteration: hydōr
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Original: ὕδωρ
Category: Salvation
New term introduced by John; core passage (John 3:5). Debated referent (John’s baptism, Christian baptism, cleansing, or hendiadys with Spirit); render literally without importing either the Catholic sacramental-regeneration reading or the purely Reformed symbolic-only reading.
Flesh Birth Order
Approved rendering: test
Transliteration: sarx
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Original: σάρξ
Category: Salvation
New term introduced by John; core passage (John 3:6). Same Hungarian word used for σῶμα (‘body’); here the sense is birth-order/origin, not Pauline moral corruption. Flag the distinction from Romans 7-8’s sarx-versus-pneuma moral battle so the two are not conflated in teaching materials.
Wind And Spirit Wordplay
Approved rendering: szél / Lélek
Transliteration: pneuma
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Original: πνεῦμα
Category: God
New term introduced by John; core passage (John 3:8). A single Greek word functions as both ‘wind’ and ‘Spirit’ within one verse; Hungarian ‘szél’ and ‘Lélek’ are unrelated words, so the wordplay is unavoidably lost and requires an explanatory footnote.
Grace And Truth
Approved rendering: kegyelem és igazság
Transliteration: charis kai alētheia
Doctrine: Grace and Truth as Covenant Character
Original: χάρις καὶ ἀλήθεια
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John (1:14,16-17). Combines the inherited Critical ‘kegyelem’ with the Critical truth/igazság collision term above. Echoes the Old Testament covenant-character formula (Exodus 34:6, chesed we’emet); footnote this allusion so readers do not read ‘igazság’ here as a forensic-righteousness claim.
I Am Door
Approved rendering: az ajtó
Transliteration: hē thyra
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἡ θύρα
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John. I AM statement #3 (10:7,9). Consistent rendering required at both occurrences.
Judge Condemn
Approved rendering: kárhoztat (elítél) / megítél
Transliteration: krinō
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: κρίνω
Category: Judgment
New term introduced by John; core passage anchor at John 3:17-18. Context must govern sense-selection: negative ‘condemn’ (kárhoztat/elítél) at 3:17-18, versus neutral judicial ‘judge’ (megítél) at 5:22,27,30. Collapsing the two senses obscures 3:17’s own contrast that the Son’s first purpose is not condemnation.
Judgment Noun
Approved rendering: ítélet
Transliteration: krisis
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: κρίσις
Category: Judgment
New term introduced by John; core passage anchor at John 3:19. The ground/verdict of condemnation identified as a moral response to revealed light, not an arbitrary decree; must not read as fatalistic.
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: Isten haragja
Transliteration: orgē tou theou
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Rejected alternatives: a rendering reducing this to mere disappointment or an impersonal natural consequence
Original: ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: God
New term introduced by John; core passage anchor at John 3:36. God’s settled, holy, personal opposition to unbelief and disobedience, ‘remaining on’ the disobedient. Must be preserved as personal, judicial, relational language; both Hungarian traditions differ on the final state’s remedy (purgatorial process vs. settled verdict) but this text must not be forced to resolve that downstream difference.
Christological Consecration
Approved rendering: megszentel
Transliteration: hēgiasen
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἡγίασεν
Category: Sanctification
New term introduced by John (10:36), a distinct application of the inherited believer-sanctification root (‘megszentelődés’). The Father’s unique, unrepeatable setting-apart of the Son for his mission must not be conflated with the ongoing believer-sanctification sense at 17:17,19.
Abide In Christ
Approved rendering: megmarad
Transliteration: menō
Doctrine: Abiding Union with Christ
Original: μένω
Category: Church
New term introduced by John (ch. 15). Describes ongoing, dependent union with Christ; complements, but is a distinct term from, Romans TM’s ‘in Christ’ union-with-Christ language (baseline doctrine christian_identity_in_christ) — cross-reference as complementary vocabulary, not an identical synonym.
Love Agape Vs Phileo
Approved rendering: szeret
Transliteration: agapaō / phileō
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Rejected alternatives: an artificial two-word Hungarian solution not present in ordinary usage (e.g., inventing a distinct verb for each Greek term — rejected as a translator’s invention absent from the Greek text’s actual lexical structure)
Original: ἀγαπάω / φιλέω
Category: Church
New term introduced by John (21:15-17). Jesus’s threefold question uses ἀγαπάω (twice) then φιλέω (once); Peter answers with φιλέω throughout. Hungarian has no lexical distinction paralleling this Greek pair; both collapse to ‘szeret’ and require a footnote rather than silent loss.
Worship Spirit And Truth
Approved rendering: lélekben és igazságban imádja
Transliteration: proskyneō en pneumati kai alētheia
Doctrine: Worship in Spirit and Truth
Original: προσκυνέω ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ
Category: Church
New term introduced by John (4:23-24). Redefines acceptable worship away from fixed cultic geography; carries the truth/igazság collision term — apply the mandatory contextual-gloss discipline.
Children Of God General
Approved rendering: Isten gyermekei / Istentől születtek
Transliteration: tekna theou / egennēthēsan ek theou
Doctrine: Children of God versus the Son of God
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ / ἐγεννήθησαν ἐκ θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
New term introduced by John (1:12-13). Believers’ derivative divine sonship through receiving/believing; same distinction the baseline flags for Romans 8’s ‘Isten gyermekei’ versus ‘Isten Fia’ — reinforce, do not collapse, especially given Hungarian pastoral speech’s loose application of ‘Isten gyermeke.‘
Glorify Verb
Approved rendering: megdicsőít
Transliteration: doxazō
Doctrine: Signs and the Glory of Christ
Original: δοξάζω
Category: God
New term introduced by John, building on the inherited noun ‘dicsőség.’ Applied climactically to the cross as the moment of the Son’s glorification (12:23,28; 13:31-32; 17:1,4-5); must preserve John’s paradox that the cross itself is the glorification, not merely its prelude.
Medium Risk Terms
Glory
Approved rendering: dicsőség
Transliteration: doxa
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly as the noun. See new entry ‘glorify_verb’ (δοξάζω) below for the related verb form John introduces, applied climactically to the cross.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: Isten országa
Transliteration: basileia tou theou
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. John uses this phrase only at 3:3,5 (core passage) and 18:36, far less than the Synoptics, preferring ‘örök élet’ for the same reality. 18:36 (‘my kingdom is not of this world’) must be preserved as clarifying the non-political, non-territorial nature of Christ’s kingship.
Mission
Approved rendering: misszió / elküld
Transliteration: apostolē / pempō / apostellō
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Original: ἀποστολή / πέμπω / ἀποστέλλω
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly as the doctrine label. John 20:21 (‘as the Father has sent me, I am sending you’) is the Gospel’s programmatic mission statement.
Peace
Approved rendering: béke
Transliteration: eirēnē
Doctrine: Peace with God
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. John’s ‘peace I leave with you’ (14:27; 16:33; 20:19,21,26) is a distinct pastoral emphasis (peace given amid coming trouble) from Romans’ peace-through-justification sense; teach as complementary, not identical.
Church
Approved rendering: egyház
Transliteration: ekklēsia
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Original: ἐκκλησία (implicit background)
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. Not a frequent explicit term in John itself; relevant ecclesiological background to John 17’s unity prayer.
Darkness
Approved rendering: sötétség
Transliteration: skotos / skotia
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: σκότος / σκοτία
Category: Judgment
New term introduced by John. Standard, low-ambiguity term; the culpable default human condition apart from Christ.
New Commandment
Approved rendering: új parancsolat
Transliteration: entolē kainē
Doctrine: Discipleship and the Love Command
Original: ἐντολὴ καινή
Category: Church
New term introduced by John (13:34-35; 15:12,17). Distinct Greek root (ἐντολή) from the inherited ‘törvény’ (νόμος); must not be conflated with törvény despite thematic overlap.
Living Water
Approved rendering: élő víz
Transliteration: hydōr zōn
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Original: ὕδωρ ζῶν
Category: God
New term introduced by John (4:10-14; 7:38, explicitly glossed by the narrator as the Spirit at 7:39). Ties back to the core passage’s water/Spirit pairing at 3:5.
Sign
Approved rendering: jel
Transliteration: sēmeion
Doctrine: Signs and the Glory of Christ
Original: σημεῖον
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John. Technical term (~17 occurrences) for Jesus’s miracles as revelatory pointers to his identity and glory, not mere wonders. Must be used consistently across chs. 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 20.
The Hour
Approved rendering: az óra
Transliteration: hē hōra
Doctrine: The Hour and the Cross
Original: ἡ ὥρα
Category: Christology
New term introduced by John. Recurring technical phrase for the divinely appointed time of the Passion/glorification (2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23,27; 13:1; 17:1); requires a translator note so its fulfillment at 12:23 registers as deliberate narrative payoff.
Ruler Of This World
Approved rendering: e világ fejedelme
Transliteration: ho archōn tou kosmou toutou
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου
Category: Eschatology
New term introduced by John. Satanological title, cast out at the cross (12:31; recurring 14:30; 16:11); requires background note distinguishing it from legitimate human/political rulers.
Overcome The World
Approved rendering: legyőztem a világot
Transliteration: nenikēka ton kosmon
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον
Category: Eschatology
New term introduced by John (16:33). Christ’s decisive victory over the world’s hostility, grounding the disciples’ hope in coming tribulation; standard, low-ambiguity rendering.
Low Risk Terms
David
Approved rendering: Dávid
Transliteration: Dauid
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: Δαυίδ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly (John 7:42).
Israel
Approved rendering: Izrael
Transliteration: Israēl
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly (John 1:31,49; 3:10; 12:13).
Apostle
Approved rendering: apostol
Transliteration: apostolos
Doctrine: Apostleship
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. John prefers the verbs ἀποστέλλω/πέμπω over this noun (13:16; 17:3,8,18,21,23,25; 20:21).
Referenced passages