Core Glossary
Core Glossary
This curriculum’s glossary covers 47 terms drawn from Romans 1-16, each recorded in full in translation_memory.json with its approved Indonesian rendering, transliteration, doctrine link, risk tier, and rejected alternatives.
Highest-priority terms for translator onboarding
Before translating any Romans segment, translators should be drilled on the Critical-risk terms first, distinguishing two different kinds of risk this glossary handles:
| Term | Approved | Handling required |
|---|---|---|
| Son of God | Anak Allah | Contextual note: relational Sonship, not physical procreation |
| Incarnation | Firman yang menjadi manusia | Contextual note: distinct from Islamic tanzih theology |
| Messiah | Mesias | Contextual note: distinct from the Quranic Isa al-Masih |
| Apostle | Rasul | Contextual note: distinct from Islam’s closed prophetic line |
| Holy Spirit | Roh Kudus | Contextual note: distinct from the angel Gabriel |
| Intercession | doa syafaat | Contextual note: distinct from Muhammad’s shafa’a doctrine |
| Salvation | keselamatan | Contextual note: distinct from deeds-and-mercy judgment |
| Jesus | Yesus | Forbidden substitution: never Nabi Isa |
Note that six of these eight entries are correctly-chosen established terms needing a clarifying note, not word-choice errors to fix — a different failure mode than the “forbidden alternative word” pattern that dominates this Language Package’s other languages.
Glossary structure
The full glossary is bucketed by risk tier in the published bundle (glossary/risk-groups/), Critical first, so reviewers can prioritize their attention. Each entry records the doctrine it supports, so a reviewer flagged on a doctrine (e.g. Sonship of Christ) can immediately see every term tied to that doctrine.
Maintenance note
Any new term encountered during Phase 2 translation that is not yet in this glossary must be added to translation_memory.json before the segment is finalized, following the same fields and risk-assessment process documented in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md.
Critical Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: rasul
Transliteration: rasul
Doctrine: Apostleship
CRITICAL: Rasul is the established Indonesian Bible term but is also the specific Islamic title for the line of major messenger-prophets sent with a book, understood in Islam to culminate and close with Muhammad as the final rasul. Every occurrence needs a translator note distinguishing the New Testament office (an authorized, Spirit-empowered church founder) from the Islamic doctrine of a closed line of scripture-bearing messengers.
Father
Approved rendering: Bapa
Transliteration: Bapa
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
CRITICAL: Islamic theology treats parent-child language applied to Allah as approaching blasphemy, since it can be heard as implying physical procreation, which the Quran explicitly denies. Every occurrence needs teaching support making clear Bapa is relational and adoptive language, not a claim about physical parentage.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Roh Kudus
Transliteration: Roh Kudus
Doctrine: Sanctification
CRITICAL: Islamic theology has its own ‘Ruh al-Qudus’ (Holy Spirit), but this typically identifies the angel Gabriel who delivered revelation to Muhammad, a created being, not a divine Person of the Trinity. Every occurrence in a Critical-risk passage needs a translator note distinguishing the two.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: kebenaran yang diperhitungkan
Transliteration: kebenaran yang diperhitungkan
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: pahala yang dikumpulkan
Righteousness credited by God, not earned. Pahala yang dikumpulkan (merit accumulated through deeds, weighed at judgment) is explicitly rejected as the opposite doctrinal direction, since it reflects the Islamic framework of deeds-based judgment rather than a status credited apart from works.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: Firman yang menjadi manusia
Transliteration: Firman yang menjadi manusia
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: inkarnasi
CRITICAL: Islamic theology holds to tanzih, God’s absolute transcendence and incomparability, and rejects the idea that God takes on physical or human form. The descriptive phrase (echoing John 1:14) is preferred over the loanword inkarnasi because it keeps the historical, incarnate-Word framing explicit rather than leaving an abstract theological label to be filled in however the reader expects.
Intercession
Approved rendering: doa syafaat
Transliteration: doa syafaat
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
CRITICAL: Syafaat is specifically the Islamic doctrine of intercession, primarily associated with Muhammad’s intercession for believers on judgment day. Every occurrence in a Critical-risk passage needs a translator note making clear that Christ’s and the Spirit’s intercession is a present, ongoing mediatorial ministry grounded in Christ’s finished atoning work, not a future appeal for mercy modeled on the Islamic doctrine of shafa’a.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Yesus
Transliteration: Yesus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Nabi Isa
CRITICAL: Never use Nabi Isa, the Islamic framing of Jesus as a prophet who, per mainstream Islamic teaching, was not crucified (Quran 4:157). Yesus preserves full confessional identity as the crucified and risen Lord and Son of God.
Justification
Approved rendering: pembenaran
Transliteration: pembenaran
Doctrine: Salvation
CRITICAL: The forensic declaration of right standing has no equivalent concept in Islamic soteriology, where standing before God is determined by the weighing of deeds and God’s mercy, not a substitutionary legal verdict. Pembenaran requires deliberate teaching support every time it appears, not just correct word choice.
Messiah
Approved rendering: Mesias
Transliteration: Mesias
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
CRITICAL: The Quran also names Jesus ‘Al-Masih’ (Isa al-Masih), but as a great prophet, not the divine incarnate Son who died and rose for sin. Every occurrence in a Critical-risk passage needs a translator note distinguishing the biblical Messiah, fulfilling the OT promise as the crucified and risen Son of God, from the Quranic Isa al-Masih.
Salvation
Approved rendering: keselamatan
Transliteration: keselamatan
Doctrine: Salvation
CRITICAL: Keselamatan is the established Bible term, but Islamic soteriology frames ultimate standing before God as submission (islam) plus deeds weighed against God’s mercy at judgment, not a salvation secured once through faith in a finished, substitutionary atoning death. Every Critical-risk occurrence needs explicit framing distinguishing the two frameworks.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Anak Allah
Transliteration: Anak Allah
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
CRITICAL: The single most theologically sensitive term in this Language Package. The Quran explicitly and repeatedly denies that Allah has a son (Surah Al-Ikhlas: ‘Allah tidak beranak dan tiada diperanakkan’). Anak Allah must always be taught with the clarification that this is not physical procreation but eternal, relational Sonship within the Godhead — every occurrence in a Critical-risk passage requires a theologian-reviewed teaching note.
High Risk Terms
Abba
Approved rendering: Abba
Transliteration: Abba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Aramaic term of intimacy preserved in Romans 8:15. Retain the transliteration alongside Bapa to convey filial closeness the formal title alone may not carry.
Adoption
Approved rendering: pengangkatan sebagai anak
Transliteration: pengangkatan sebagai anak
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Full legal son-status with inheritance rights. Because Islamic theology treats any parent-child framing applied to Allah with extreme caution, every occurrence should make clear this is legal/relational adoption language, not a claim about physical parentage.
Covenant
Approved rendering: perjanjian
Transliteration: perjanjian
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
A relational, binding bond initiated by God; needs context to carry more weight than an ordinary negotiated agreement (perjanjian is also the everyday word for ‘contract’).
Faith
Approved rendering: iman
Transliteration: iman
Doctrine: Faith
Iman is the established Bible term but is also the foundational Islamic concept of the six pillars of faith (rukun iman: belief in Allah, angels, books, prophets, the day of judgment, and divine decree). Every occurrence must anchor iman to personal trust in Christ specifically, not left as generic religious assent to a set of propositions.
God
Approved rendering: Allah
Transliteration: Allah
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Allah has been the established Indonesian Christian term since the earliest Malay-language Bible translations of the 17th century, predating and distinct from the later Malaysian legal dispute restricting the word to Muslim-only use. The term itself is not the risk; the risk lies in the surrounding vocabulary (rasul, nabi, syafaat) that carries specific, contested Quranic doctrinal content.
Gospel
Approved rendering: Injil
Transliteration: injil
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: kabar baik
Injil is the established Indonesian Bible term, but it is also the Quranic name for the revelation Muslims believe was given to Isa (Jesus) and later lost or corrupted. Every use should be anchored to the specific New Testament proclamation of Christ crucified and risen, not left as a generic label for ‘a scripture given to Isa’.
Grace
Approved rendering: anugerah
Transliteration: anugerah
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: rahmat, pahala
Rahmat (God’s mercy/compassion, a core Islamic attribute of Allah) and pahala (merit earned through good deeds, weighed at judgment) both describe favor bound up with human deeds or divine disposition rather than an unconditional, unearned gift secured through Christ. Anugerah keeps the specifically Christian sense of a gift given apart from merit.
Lord
Approved rendering: Tuhan
Transliteration: Tuhan
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
In Romans 10:9 the confession ‘Jesus is Lord’ = Yesus adalah Tuhan. Tuhan is a broad, generic word for ‘lord/god’ across Indonesian religious usage; context must make clear this is a claim of exclusive, supreme divine Lordship.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: ketaatan iman
Transliteration: ketaatan iman
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: ketaatan syariat
Romans 1:5 and 16:26. Obedience that flows from faith, not ketaatan syariat (obedience to a religious law code as the basis of standing before God).
Prophet
Approved rendering: nabi
Transliteration: nabi
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Nabi is shared vocabulary with Islam’s doctrine of a closed line of prophets ending with Muhammad (khatam an-nabiyyin). Biblical prophets must be anchored to the OT redemptive-historical narrative, not left open to being read as part of, or in competition with, the Islamic prophetic line.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: kebangkitan
Transliteration: kebangkitan
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Islam affirms a general bodily resurrection of all people at the day of judgment, so the concept of resurrection itself is not foreign, but Christ’s specific, historical resurrection as vindication of his divine sonship and firstfruits of believers’ own resurrection must be distinguished from that generic end-times expectation.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: kebenaran
Transliteration: kebenaran
Doctrine: Salvation
Right standing before God received by faith. Kebenaran is also the ordinary Indonesian word for ‘truth,’ so context must make clear a relational/legal standing is meant, not a factual claim.
Medium Risk Terms
Called
Approved rendering: yang dipanggil
Transliteration: yang dipanggil
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Context-sensitive: in 1:1 = called to apostleship; in 1:7 = called to be saints; in 8:28-30 = effectual calling to salvation.
Calling
Approved rendering: panggilan
Transliteration: panggilan
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Noun form for the act/state of being called. Standard, well-understood term.
Church
Approved rendering: jemaat
Transliteration: jemaat
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: gereja
Jemaat (the gathered congregation, the people themselves) is preferred over gereja when the text refers to the body of believers rather than a building or institution.
David
Approved rendering: Daud
Transliteration: Daud
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Established Indonesian Bible proper-name form.
Election
Approved rendering: pemilihan
Transliteration: pemilihan
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: takdir
God’s sovereign personal choice, not takdir (Islamic divine decree/fate, qadar), which frames the outcome as a fixed, impersonal decree rather than a personal relationship of choosing.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: bangsa-bangsa lain
Transliteration: bangsa-bangsa lain
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: orang kafir
Non-Jews; never use orang kafir (unbeliever/infidel, a loaded Islamic theological category), which imports an entirely different classification than the New Testament’s ethnic Jew/Gentile distinction.
Glory
Approved rendering: kemuliaan
Transliteration: kemuliaan
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
God’s radiant honor and majesty; standard, well-established term.
Holy
Approved rendering: kudus
Transliteration: kudus
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: suci
Kudus is the established Bible term for moral and relational holiness; suci leans toward ritual purity or ceremonial cleanliness and is used more broadly across Indonesian religious contexts generally.
Israel
Approved rendering: Israel
Transliteration: Israel
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Proper name; established form.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: Kerajaan Allah
Transliteration: Kerajaan Allah
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
God’s sovereign reign; standard, well-established term. Distinguish from an earthly political kerajaan (kingdom/monarchy).
Law
Approved rendering: Hukum Taurat
Transliteration: Hukum Taurat
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: syariat
The Mosaic Law, anchored to Taurat (Torah). Never use syariat, which specifically names Islamic religious law derived from the Quran and Hadith.
Mission
Approved rendering: pekabaran Injil
Transliteration: pekabaran Injil
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Rejected alternatives: misi
Misi carries colonial-era Dutch missionary-society connotation in Indonesian historical memory; pekabaran Injil (proclamation of the gospel) keeps the focus on the message rather than the historical institution.
Peace
Approved rendering: damai sejahtera
Transliteration: damai sejahtera
Doctrine: Peace with God
In Romans 5:1, relational peace with God through justification, not merely the absence of conflict or the greeting-word ‘salam.‘
Power Of God
Approved rendering: kuasa Allah
Transliteration: kuasa Allah
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
God’s own power to save; standard, well-established term.
Providence
Approved rendering: pemeliharaan Allah
Transliteration: pemeliharaan Allah
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: takdir
God’s personal, purposive care; never takdir (impersonal divine decree/fate).
Saints
Approved rendering: orang-orang kudus
Transliteration: orang-orang kudus
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: wali
Wali carries strong association with Islamic Sufi saints (wali songo) venerated at pilgrimage sites in Indonesia. Orang-orang kudus must be taught as every believer set apart in Christ, not a venerated spiritual elite.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: pengudusan
Transliteration: pengudusan
Doctrine: Sanctification
The Spirit’s ongoing work of making believers holy. Standard, well-established term.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: keturunan Daud
Transliteration: keturunan Daud
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Romans 1:3; conveys physical lineage and fulfillment of the Davidic covenant promise.
Sin
Approved rendering: dosa
Transliteration: dosa
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Moral transgression against a personal God; shared vocabulary across Indonesian Muslim and Christian usage with reasonably compatible core meaning, but must be anchored to relational offense rather than left as a purely legal infraction against a code.
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: karunia rohani
Transliteration: karunia rohani
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Spirit-given enablements for service; standard, well-established term.
Low Risk Terms
Exhort
Approved rendering: menasihati
Transliteration: menasihati
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Context-sensitive: use memohon for entreaty and menasihati for building up in encouragement.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: persekutuan
Transliteration: persekutuan
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Shared participation in Christ; standard, well-established term.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: nubuat
Transliteration: nubuat
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
A distinctively biblical-Indonesian term with less Islamic vocabulary overlap than ‘prophet’ itself; low risk.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: ucapan syukur
Transliteration: ucapan syukur
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Standard term shared broadly with Indonesian religious usage generally; no significant doctrinal risk.
Referenced passages