Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 2 Corinthians — English → Italian
Purpose
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md (core passage 2 Corinthians 5:11–21, plus the full chapter-by-chapter study of chapters 1–13) into a single per-term reference table. It extends, and must never contradict, the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json. Terms already fixed in the Romans baseline are marked REUSED and the recorded Italian rendering is carried over exactly. Terms new to this curriculum are marked NEW and are proposed here for addition to translation memory in Phase 2, with a doctrine risk assigned using the same Critical/High/Medium/Low framework as the baseline.
Risk tier definitions are identical to the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json:
- Critical — mistranslation alters or destroys essential doctrine; human theologian review required for every occurrence.
- High — mistranslation creates significant theological confusion or denominational-conflation risk; human theologian review required.
- Medium — mistranslation reduces clarity but preserves essential meaning; native speaker review recommended.
- Low — mistranslation causes minor misunderstanding; automated review sufficient.
Part 1 — Terms Reused Exactly from the Romans Baseline
| Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Italian rendering | Risk | Doctrine link (2 Cor) | 2 Corinthians–specific note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gospel | εὐαγγέλιον | vangelo | Low | — | Stable; no new 2 Cor risk. |
| grace | χάρις | grazia | High | Generosity and Grace in Giving | Extended sense in ch.8–9 (grace expressed through generous giving) and ch.12:9 (“la mia grazia ti basta”); must retain unmerited-favor sense as the ground of giving, not mere “kindness.” |
| faith | πίστις | fede | Medium | — | 13:5 “examine yourselves whether you are in the faith”; positive resonance with Catholic “esame di coscienza” practice — see 08 Part 3 notes. |
| righteousness | δικαιοσύνη | giustizia (di Dio) | Critical | Reconciliation with God | Central to 5:21’s “great exchange”; also appears in a distinct ethical-fruit sense at 9:9-10 (must not conflate the two senses). |
| justification | δικαίωσις | giustificazione | Critical | Reconciliation with God | Underlying doctrine of 5:21, though the specific noun δικαίωσις does not recur in 2 Corinthians; retained for doctrinal cross-reference. |
| salvation | σωτηρία | salvezza | Medium | Reconciliation with God | 1:6; 6:2; 7:10. |
| apostle | ἀπόστολος | apostolo | Low | Genuine versus False Apostleship | Base term; contrasted throughout with the NEW term “falsi apostoli” (see Part 2). |
| called / calling | κλητός / κλῆσις | chiamato / chiamata | High | — | Not thematically central in 2 Corinthians but underlies Paul’s apostolic self-identity (1:1). |
| holy | ἅγιος | santo | Medium | — | 13:12 “holy kiss” (bacio santo); 1:1 “santi” (see below). |
| saints | ἅγιοι | santi | High | — | 1:1; 8:4; 9:1,12; 13:12-context. Same Italian saint-veneration collision risk as documented in the Romans baseline applies identically here — clarify “tutti i credenti” for the corporate sense per baseline forbidden-substitution rule. |
| sanctification | ἁγιασμός / ἁγιωσύνη | santificazione | Medium | — | 7:1 “perfecting holiness.” |
| resurrection | ἀνάστασις / ἐγείρω | risurrezione | Medium | Reconciliation with God | 4:14; 5:15. |
| lord | κύριος | Signore | High | Sincerity and Apostolic Authority | 5:11 “fear of the Lord”; recurs throughout as the confessional title of Christ. |
| son_of_god / sonship | — | Figlio di Dio | Critical | — | Underlies 1:19’s “Son of God, Jesus Christ” reference. |
| incarnation | — | incarnazione | Medium | — | Background doctrine for 5:16-19, 8:9 (Christ’s voluntary self-impoverishment). |
| peace | εἰρήνη | pace | Low | — | 13:11 “live in peace.” |
| spiritual_gifts | χαρίσματα | carismi | Medium | — | Background to 12:12’s “signs and wonders and mighty works.” |
| thanksgiving | εὐχαριστία | ringraziamento | Low | Generosity and Grace in Giving | 9:11-12. |
| fellowship | κοινωνία | comunione fraterna | High | Generosity and Grace in Giving | 8:4 (partnership in the collection); see Part 3 for the 13:13 exception. |
| church | ἐκκλησία | chiesa | High | Genuine versus False Apostleship | Implicit throughout (Paul’s letters to/about “the church(es)”); 8:1,18-19,23-24; 11:8,28; 12:13. |
| law | νόμος | legge | High | The New Covenant versus the Old | Background to ch.3’s old-covenant argument, though νόμος itself is not the dominant term (διαθήκη, γράμμα are). |
| sin | ἁμαρτία | peccato | High | Reconciliation with God | 5:21 (twice); “che peccato!” colloquial-drift risk applies with maximal force at this verse. |
| gentiles | ἔθνη | pagani | Medium | — | Not thematically prominent in 2 Corinthians. |
| glory | δόξα | gloria | Medium | The New Covenant versus the Old | Central to ch.3:7-18’s fading-vs-abiding-glory argument and 4:17’s “eternal weight of glory.” |
| power_of_god | δύναμις θεοῦ | potenza di Dio | Medium | Power in Weakness | 4:7; 12:9 (elevated to Critical in combination — see Part 2 “power perfected in weakness”). |
| father | πατήρ | Padre | Medium | — | 1:3 “God… Father of mercies”; 6:18; 13:13(14) benediction context (“l’amore di Dio,” implicitly Padre). |
| holy_spirit | πνεῦμα ἅγιον | Spirito Santo | Medium | — | 1:22; 3:3,6,17-18; 13:13(14). |
| god | θεός | Dio | Medium | Reconciliation with God | 5:18-20 “God reconciled us… God was in Christ.” |
| jesus | Ἰησοῦς | Gesù | Low | — | Throughout; also part of “another Jesus” (ἄλλος Ἰησοῦς, 11:4) — see Part 2. |
| exhort | παρακαλέω (appeal/exhort sense) | esortare | Low | Sincerity and Apostolic Authority | 5:20 (appeal sense); note the distinct “comfort” sense of the same root is a NEW sub-entry — see Part 2. |
| imputed_righteousness | ἐλογίσθη… εἰς δικαιοσύνην (cf. λογίζομαι) | giustizia imputata | Critical | Reconciliation with God | Directly underlies 5:19’s “not imputing trespasses” and 5:21’s “become the righteousness of God” — the two verses together form 2 Corinthians’ clearest restatement of the imputed-righteousness doctrine outside Romans. |
Part 2 — New Terms Proposed for 2 Corinthians Translation Memory
| Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Italian rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Notes / Alternatives rejected |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| reconciliation | καταλλαγή | katallagē | riconciliazione | Critical | Reconciliation with God | 5:18-19. Collides with the Catholic Sacrament of Reconciliation/Confession (“il sacramento della Riconciliazione”); must be taught as God’s once-for-all, unmediated act in Christ, received by faith, not a repeatable sacramental procedure. |
| to reconcile | καταλλάσσω | katallassō | riconciliare | Critical | Reconciliation with God | 5:18-20. Same collision as above; imperative form “riconciliatevi con Dio” (5:20) must be read as receiving an accomplished reconciliation, not achieving one. |
| new creation | καινὴ κτίσις | kainē ktisis | nuova creazione | Critical | New Creation in Christ | 5:17. Risk of flattening into secular “fresh start” / wellness “rinascita personale” language; must convey an objective, God-wrought ontological change. |
| made [him] to be sin | ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν | hamartian epoiēsen | lo ha reso/fatto peccato | Critical | Reconciliation with God | 5:21. Must not imply Christ became morally sinful; forensic imputation of guilt for the purpose of substitutionary bearing, mirrored by the imputed righteousness given to believers in the same verse. |
| power perfected in weakness | ἡ δύναμις ἐν ἀσθενεί�ᾳ τελειοῦται | hē dynamis en astheneia teleioutai | la potenza si manifesta perfettamente nella debolezza | Critical | Power in Weakness | 12:9. Must not be flattened to “God’s power works despite/in spite of weakness”; weakness is the venue of power’s fullest display, not merely tolerated. |
| ministry / service | διακονία | diakonia | ministero | High | Sincerity and Apostolic Authority; Genuine versus False Apostleship | 3:6-9; 4:1; 5:18; 6:3-4; 8:4; 9:12-13; 11:8,23. Risk of narrowing to clerical/ordained office in Italian Catholic usage; context must clarify apostolic-office vs. general-service senses. |
| new covenant | καινὴ διαθήκη | kainē diathēkē | nuova alleanza | High | The New Covenant versus the Old | 3:6. Compounds baseline “alleanza” (Medium) with “nuova”; elevated risk in this curriculum since the whole doctrine turns on a qualitative, not merely sequential, newness. |
| the letter [of the law] | γράμμα | gramma | la lettera | High | The New Covenant versus the Old | 3:6-7. Risk of collapsing into the secular idiom “la lettera della legge” (strict literalism) rather than Paul’s covenantal claim about the old covenant’s inherent inability to give life. |
| comfort / consolation | παράκλησις (comfort sense) | paraklēsis | consolazione / consolare | High | Suffering and Comfort in Ministry | 1:3-7; 7:4,6,7,13. Distinct sub-sense of the same root fixed as “esortare” (Low) in the Romans baseline for the exhortation sense; comfort sense risks a passive, sentimental flattening versus the active, ministry-generating overflow Paul describes. |
| sincerity | εἱλικρίνεια | eilikrineia | sincerità | High | Sincerity and Apostolic Authority | 1:12; 2:17. Risk of flattening a technical apologetic term (defense against charges of manipulation) into generic personal-virtue language. |
| godly grief | λύπη κατὰ θεόν | lypē kata theon | tristezza secondo Dio | High | Sincerity and Apostolic Authority (repentance/restoration sub-theme) | 7:9-10. Must be distinguished sharply from “worldly grief,” which produces death. |
| repentance | μετάνοια | metanoia | pentimento / conversione | High | Sincerity and Apostolic Authority (repentance/restoration sub-theme) | 7:9-10; 12:21. Collides with the Sacrament of Confession’s “atto di pentimento”; must convey a comprehensive life-reorientation available directly to every believer, not exclusively a sacramental-procedural category. |
| false apostles | ψευδαπόστολοι | pseudapostoloi | falsi apostoli | High | Genuine versus False Apostleship | 11:13. Named opposite of genuine apostleship; must be taught as describing a real historical danger, not mere rhetoric. |
| another Jesus / a different gospel | ἄλλος Ἰησοῦς / ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον | allos Iēsous / heteron euangelion | un altro Gesù / un altro vangelo | High | Genuine versus False Apostleship | 11:4. A real, false alternative message, not a variant emphasis within the same faith. |
| weakness | ἀσθένεια | astheneia | debolezza | High | Power in Weakness | 11:29-30; 12:5,9-10; 13:4,9. Risk of secular self-help flattening (“turn weakness into strength”) divorced from the specific theological claim of 12:9. |
| judgment seat of Christ | βῆμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ | bēma tou Christou | il tribunale di Cristo | High | Reconciliation with God (assurance sub-theme) | 5:10. Risk of a condemnation-court misreading (echoing baseline “giustizia” collision) or conflation with Catholic particular-judgment/Confession-examination categories; must be taught as reward-evaluation for the already-reconciled, not a re-litigation of salvation status. |
| temple of the living God | ναὸς θεοῦ ζῶντος | naos theou zōntos | tempio del Dio vivente | High | New Creation in Christ (corporate identity sub-theme) | 6:16. Risk of building-centered misreading (ancient pagan temple or church-building association) rather than the believer/church as God’s living dwelling. |
| ambassador | πρεσβεύω | presbeuō | ambasciatore | Medium | Sincerity and Apostolic Authority | 5:20. Vivid, low-collision political-diplomatic metaphor; ensure the weight of delegated authority (“speaking for the one who sent you”) is reinforced. |
| affliction / suffering | θλῖψις | thlipsis | afflizione / tribolazione | Medium | Suffering and Comfort in Ministry | 1:4,8; 2:4; 4:8,17; 6:4; 7:4; 8:2. Companion term to “consolazione.” |
| guarantee / down payment (of the Spirit) | ἀρραβών | arrabōn | caparra | Medium | New Creation in Christ | 1:22; 5:5. Natural, precise Italian commercial-legal equivalent; ensure it does not reduce the Spirit’s presence to a mere transaction. |
| boasting / ground for boasting | καύχημα / καυχάομαι | kauchēma / kauchaomai | vanto / vantarsi / gloriarsi | Medium | Sincerity and Apostolic Authority; Genuine versus False Apostleship | 5:12; 10:8,13,15-17; 11:10,16-18,30; 12:1,5-6,9,11. Structuring device of ch.10-12’s polemic against the rivals; must track Paul’s ironic “foolish boasting” register. |
| peddle / adulterate [God’s word] | καπηλεύω | kapēleuō | mercanteggiare / fare mercimonio della parola di Dio | Medium | Genuine versus False Apostleship | 2:17. Marketplace metaphor for profit-driven distortion of the gospel message. |
| transformed | μεταμορφούμεθα | metamorphoumetha | trasformati | Medium | New Creation in Christ | 3:18. Positive resonance with the Catholic “Trasfigurazione” feast/doctrine; risk of secular “trasformazione” flattening (digital/personal transformation marketing). Distinguish lexically from the negative counterfeit “disguise” sense at 11:13-15 (μετασχηματίζομαι) — see below. |
| disguise / masquerade as | μετασχηματίζομαι | metaschēmatizomai | travestirsi da / trasformarsi (in senso negativo) | Medium | Genuine versus False Apostleship | 11:13-15. Same root family as “transformed” (3:18) but opposite moral valence (counterfeit vs. genuine); recommend distinct Italian phrasing (“travestirsi da”) to avoid visual/conceptual conflation with 3:18. |
| unequally yoked | ἑτεροζυγέω | heterozygeō | non vi mettete in un giogo estraneo | Medium | New Creation in Christ (separation sub-theme) | 6:14. Agricultural metaphor unfamiliar to a modern urban Italian audience; comprehension risk more than doctrinal-collision risk. |
| set apart / be separate | ἀφορίζω | aphorizō | separatevi | Medium | New Creation in Christ (separation sub-theme) | 6:17. Directly continuous with the Romans baseline doctrine separation_unto_gods_service (Medium risk there); must not collapse into monastic withdrawal. |
| equality (in giving) | ἰσότης | isotēs | uguaglianza / giusto equilibrio | Medium | Generosity and Grace in Giving | 8:13-14. Risk of contemporary socio-political “uguaglianza” debates overshadowing the specific voluntary, grace-motivated NT sense. |
| cheerful giver | ἱλαρὸς δότης | hilaros dotēs | un donatore gioioso | Medium | Generosity and Grace in Giving | 9:7. High pastoral/quotational use; ensure “gioioso” conveys deep Spirit-given joy, not mere pleasantness. |
| thorn in the flesh | σκόλοψ τῇ σαρκί | skolops tē sarki | una spina nella carne | Medium | Power in Weakness | 12:7. Now a fixed Italian idiom (sourced from this verse); risk of proverbial-nuisance flattening versus the specific sanctifying affliction in view. |
| signs, wonders, and mighty works | σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα καὶ δυνάμεις | sēmeia kai terata kai dynameis | segni, prodigi e miracoli | Medium | Genuine versus False Apostleship | 12:12. Intersects with Italy’s Catholic Charismatic Renewal and Pentecostal engagement with this vocabulary (cf. baseline “carismi” note); balance miraculous emphasis against Paul’s endurance-based argument. |
| godly jealousy | ζῆλος θεοῦ | zēlos theou | gelosia secondo Dio | Medium | Genuine versus False Apostleship | 11:2. Betrothal-imagery protective concern for the church’s fidelity to Christ. |
| according to the flesh | κατὰ σάρκα | kata sarka | secondo la carne | High | Genuine versus False Apostleship; Sincerity and Apostolic Authority | 5:16; 10:2-3; 11:18. Risk of narrowing to culinary or sexual/appetite senses; requires consistent glossing at first occurrence as “worldly evaluative standard.” |
| sufficient / sufficiency | ἱκανός / ἱκανότης | hikanos / hikanotēs | sufficiente / adeguatezza | Medium | Sincerity and Apostolic Authority | 2:16; 3:5-6. Paul’s competence for ministry as God-given, not self-derived. |
| tablets of stone / tablets of the heart | πλάκες λίθιναι / πλάκες καρδίας | plakes lithinai / plakes kardias | tavole di pietra / tavole del cuore | Medium | The New Covenant versus the Old | 3:3. Requires Exodus/Jeremiah OT background given low OT literacy. |
| veil | κάλυμμα | kalymma | velo | Medium | The New Covenant versus the Old | 3:13-16. Requires Exodus 34 background; no major religious-dress collision in Italian, unlike some other target languages. |
| treasure in jars of clay | θησαυρὸς ἐν ὀστρακίνοις σκεύεσιν | thēsauros en ostrakinois skeuesin | tesoro in vasi di terracotta | Medium | Power in Weakness | 4:7. Foundational image for the doctrine, developed fully at 12:9. |
| the god of this age | ὁ θεὸς τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου | ho theos tou aiōnos toutou | il dio di questo mondo (= Satana) | Medium | New Creation in Christ (contrast sub-theme) | 4:4. Requires deliberate typographic/contextual disambiguation from the true God. |
| godly grief’s counterpart: worldly grief | ἡ τοῦ κόσμου λύπη | hē tou kosmou lypē | tristezza del mondo | Medium | Sincerity and Apostolic Authority (repentance sub-theme) | 7:10. Companion term to “godly grief,” above. |
| commend / commendation | συνιστάνω | synistanō | raccomandare | Medium | Sincerity and Apostolic Authority; Genuine versus False Apostleship | 3:1; 4:2; 5:12; 6:4; 10:12,18; 12:11. Technical term for the self-recommendation controversy; consistent rendering required across all occurrences. |
| paradise | παράδεισος | paradeisos | paradiso | Medium | Power in Weakness (Paul’s visions/revelations sub-theme) | 12:2-4. Stable Italian term; ensure not conflated with later medieval multi-tiered heaven conceptions not in view here. |
| stronghold | ὀχύρωμα | ochyrōma | fortezza | Low-Medium | Genuine versus False Apostleship | 10:4. Military metaphor for spiritual conflict against false ideas. |
| sealed | σφραγίζω | sphragizō | sigillato | Low-Medium | New Creation in Christ | 1:22. Mark of divine ownership and security. |
| aroma / fragrance of Christ | ὀσμή / εὐωδία | osmē / euōdia | profumo / buon odore | Low-Medium | Suffering and Comfort in Ministry | 2:14-16. OT sacrificial-offering background; brief framing recommended. |
| triumphal procession | θριαμβεύω | thriambeuō | corteo trionfale | Medium | Suffering and Comfort in Ministry | 2:14. Roman military metaphor unfamiliar to modern readers; comprehension risk more than doctrinal risk. |
| outer man / inner man | ὁ ἔξω ἄνθρωπος / ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος | ho exō anthrōpos / ho esō anthrōpos | l’uomo esteriore / l’uomo interiore | Low-Medium | Suffering and Comfort in Ministry | 4:16. Guard against a secular-psychological “inner self” self-help reading. |
| weapons of righteousness | ὅπλα δικαιοσύνης | hopla dikaiosynēs | le armi della giustizia | Critical (inherits δικαιοσύνη) | Reconciliation with God | 6:7. “Giustizia” here in its righteous-conduct sense flowing from righteous status; must not slide to the Italian legal-system default. |
| judgment seat | see “judgment seat of Christ” above | |||||
| eternal weight of glory | αἰώνιον βάρος δόξης | aiōnion baros doxēs | un peso eterno di gloria | Low-Medium | The New Covenant versus the Old | 4:17. Deliberate weight/weight wordplay with “light affliction,” preservable in Italian. |
Part 3 — Special Notes and Cross-References
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Reconciliation / Repentance cluster and the Sacrament of Confession. Three terms in this glossary — riconciliazione/riconciliare (5:18-20), pentimento/metanoia (7:9-10), and il tribunale di Cristo (5:10) — independently collide with adjacent categories in Italian Catholic sacramental practice (Confession/Reconciliation, its required interior disposition, and the examination of conscience). Recommend these three terms be reviewed together by a single theologian pass rather than in isolation, since teaching materials addressing one will likely need to address the collision risk for all three coherently.
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κοινωνία exception at 2 Corinthians 13:13(14). The Romans baseline’s forbidden-substitution rule (“never use bare ‘comunione’ for fellowship — always use ‘comunione fraterna’”) must not be mechanically applied to the Trinitarian benediction’s “κοινωνία τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος” (“the fellowship/communion of the Holy Spirit”), which is a distinct grammatical construction (communion given/mediated by the Spirit, not fellowship among believers) and which corresponds word-for-word to the long-established Italian Catholic Mass greeting (“la comunione dello Spirito Santo”). Recommend this be recorded as a scoped exception in the translation memory update, not a contradiction of the baseline rule.
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The “great exchange” of 5:21 as the doctrinal center. Four Critical-risk terms converge in this single verse: ἁμαρτία (peccato, reused High from Romans), ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν (lo ha reso peccato, NEW Critical), δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ (giustizia di Dio, reused Critical from Romans), and the underlying imputation logic shared with giustizia imputata (reused Critical from Romans). This verse should be treated as the single highest-priority theologian-review item in the entire 2 Corinthians curriculum, on the model of the Romans baseline’s treatment of Romans 1:16-17, 8:28, and 10:9-10 as consistency-critical anchor verses.
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κατὰ σάρκα (“according to the flesh”) as a recurring interpretive key. This phrase recurs at 1:17; 5:16; 10:2-3; 11:18 as Paul’s consistent rhetorical marker for worldly, external evaluation standards, structurally opposing it to Spirit-given discernment. Recommend a single fixed Italian rendering (“secondo la carne”) with a standing explanatory gloss introduced at first occurrence and referenced (not re-explained) at each subsequent occurrence, per the baseline’s glossary-enforcement priority-order principle.
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Doctrine coverage check. All eight curriculum doctrines are represented in this glossary: Reconciliation with God (riconciliazione, giustizia di Dio, lo ha reso peccato, il tribunale di Cristo); New Creation in Christ (nuova creazione, tempio del Dio vivente, ἀρραβών/caparra, separatevi); Suffering and Comfort in Ministry (consolazione, afflizione, tesoro in vasi di terracotta partially); The New Covenant versus the Old (nuova alleanza, la lettera, tavole di pietra/del cuore, velo, gloria); Sincerity and Apostolic Authority (sincerità, ambasciatore, raccomandare, ministero, sufficiente); Generosity and Grace in Giving (grazia [giving sense], uguaglianza, un donatore gioioso); Power in Weakness (debolezza, la potenza si manifesta perfettamente nella debolezza, una spina nella carne, tesoro in vasi di terracotta); Genuine versus False Apostleship (falsi apostoli, un altro Gesù/un altro vangelo, mercanteggiare la parola di Dio, travestirsi da, segni prodigi e miracoli).
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Full-book coverage confirmation. Every chapter of 2 Corinthians (1–13) contributed at least one term to this glossary; none required a “no new vocabulary” notation, consistent with the density of theological argumentation across the entire letter.
Critical Risk Terms
Righteousness
Approved rendering: giustizia (di Dio)
Transliteration: giustizia (di Dio)
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: virtù
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Central to the ‘great exchange’ of 2 Corinthians 5:21 and reappears in a distinct ethical-fruit sense at 9:9-10 (righteous character flowing from generosity); the two senses must not be conflated when teaching 5:21 alongside chapter 9. Also underlies the compound ‘le armi della giustizia’ (6:7, see below).
Justification
Approved rendering: giustificazione
Transliteration: giustificazione
Doctrine: Salvation
Original: δικαίωσις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. The noun δικαίωσις does not recur verbatim in 2 Corinthians, but the underlying doctrine grounds 5:21’s forensic exchange; retained for doctrinal cross-reference to Romans curriculum materials.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Figlio di Dio
Transliteration: Figlio di Dio
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Underlies 1:19’s reference to ‘il Figlio di Dio, Gesù Cristo’ as the ground of God’s unwavering ‘Sì’ to his promises.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: giustizia imputata
Transliteration: giustizia imputata
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: giustizia meritata
Original: ἐλογίσθη… εἰς δικαιοσύνην (root: λογίζομαι)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians 5:19 and 5:21 together form this book’s clearest restatement of the doctrine outside Romans: sin not imputed to believers (5:19) and righteousness imputed/credited to them (5:21) in one unified forensic exchange.
Reconciliation
Approved rendering: riconciliazione
Transliteration: riconciliazione
Doctrine: Reconciliation with God
Rejected alternatives: riappacificazione (too weak/informal)
Original: καταλλαγή
Category: Reconciliation
NEW — CRITICAL. Collides with ‘il sacramento della Riconciliazione,’ the modern liturgical name for Catholic Confession, used constantly in Italian catechesis since Vatican II. Must be taught as God’s once-for-all, unmediated act in Christ, received by faith, never a repeatable sacramental procedure. Occurs at 5:18-19.
Reconcile
Approved rendering: riconciliare
Transliteration: riconciliare
Doctrine: Reconciliation with God
Original: καταλλάσσω
Category: Reconciliation
NEW — CRITICAL. Same Sacrament-of-Confession collision as ‘reconciliation’ above. The imperative ‘riconciliatevi con Dio’ (5:20) is especially sensitive: passive in force (accept a reconciliation already accomplished), not a call to self-effected religious reconciliation through confession, penance, or moral effort.
Not Imputing Trespasses
Approved rendering: non imputando (le colpe)
Transliteration: mē logizomenos (ta paraptōmata)
Doctrine: Imputed Righteousness and Substitutionary Atonement
Rejected alternatives: senza perdonare le colpe, senza dimenticare le colpe
Original: μὴ λογιζόμενος (τὰ παραπτώματα)
Category: Reconciliation
NEW — CRITICAL. Uses the identical accounting-verb root (logizomai) behind the baseline’s ‘giustizia imputata.’ Must be rendered with an accounting-precision phrase, not a generic ‘forgetting/forgiving’ verb, to preserve the forensic symmetry with the positive imputation of righteousness in 5:21.
One Died For All
Approved rendering: uno è morto per tutti
Transliteration: heis hyper pantōn apethanen
Doctrine: Universal Scope of Reconciliation
Original: εἷς ὑπὲρ πάντων ἀπέθανεν
Category: Salvation
NEW — CRITICAL. Italian ‘per’ is ambiguous between benefactive (‘for the benefit of’) and substitutionary (‘in place of’) force; Italian lacks a preposition as precise as Greek hyper here. No lexical fix exists; surrounding catechesis must make the vicarious, representative sense explicit at 5:14, every occurrence flagged for theologian review.
New Creation
Approved rendering: nuova creazione
Transliteration: kainē ktisis
Doctrine: New Creation in Christ
Rejected alternatives: rinascita personale, nuovo inizio
Original: καινὴ κτίσις
Category: New Creation
NEW — CRITICAL. Lexically stable and unambiguous in Italian (no rival deity-concept collision), but risks flattening into psychological/therapeutic ‘rinascita personale’ or ‘nuovo inizio’ — phrases heavily used in Italian self-help/wellness marketing. Must convey a definitive, God-wrought ontological change, occurring at 5:17.
Made To Be Sin
Approved rendering: lo ha reso/fatto peccato
Transliteration: hamartian epoiēsen
Doctrine: Imputed Righteousness and Substitutionary Atonement
Rejected alternatives: è diventato peccatore, ha preso su di sé la nostra punizione (too vague)
Original: ἁμαρτίαν ἐποίησεν
Category: Salvation
NEW — CRITICAL. Risks two opposite errors if unglossed: (a) suggesting Christ became personally/morally sinful; or (b) flattening into a vague ‘took our punishment’ without the specific forensic-imputation logic mirrored by the imputed righteousness later in the same verse (5:21). Requires an explicit teaching note at every occurrence.
Weapons Of Righteousness
Approved rendering: le armi della giustizia
Transliteration: hopla dikaiosynēs
Doctrine: Imputed Righteousness and Substitutionary Atonement
Original: ὅπλα δικαιοσύνης
Category: Salvation
NEW — CRITICAL (inherits ‘giustizia’s’ Critical risk). Occurs at 6:7 in a righteous-conduct-flowing-from-status sense; reviewers must confirm the connection to the forensic sense of 5:21 is not lost when ‘giustizia’ shifts registers within the same letter.
God Was In Christ
Approved rendering: Dio era in Cristo
Transliteration: theos ēn en Christō
Doctrine: Deity of Christ in the Work of Reconciliation
Rejected alternatives: Dio agiva attraverso Cristo
Original: θεὸς ἦν ἐν Χριστῷ
Category: Christology
NEW — CRITICAL. Must not be softened to ‘Dio agiva attraverso Cristo’ (God worked through Christ, as through a prophet), which would distance the divine Persons. Occurs at 5:19; flagged alongside ‘son_of_god’ (inherited, Critical).
Power Perfected In Weakness
Approved rendering: la potenza si manifesta perfettamente nella debolezza
Transliteration: hē dynamis en astheneia teleioutai
Doctrine: Power in Weakness
Rejected alternatives: si compensa con la debolezza, nonostante la debolezza
Original: ἡ δύναμις ἐν ἀσθενείᾳ τελειοῦται
Category: Suffering
NEW — CRITICAL. The doctrine’s clearest single-verse statement (12:9). Must not be rendered as merely ‘is compensated for by’ or ‘despite’ weakness, which would flatten Paul’s paradox into power working despite weakness rather than weakness being the very venue of power’s fullest, intended display. Treat as a fixed, non-improvisable rendering across all curriculum documents, parallel to the baseline’s treatment of Romans 8:28 and 10:9-10.
High Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: grazia
Transliteration: grazia
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: favore
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Extended sense in 2 Corinthians 8-9 (grace expressed through sacrificial giving, 8:1,9; 9:8,14) and 12:9 (‘la mia grazia ti basta’), a highly quoted pastoral verse requiring cross-document consistency. Reviewers must confirm ‘grazia’ retains its unmerited-favor sense in the giving chapters, never flattening to generic ‘kindness’ or a rewarded virtue.
Calling
Approved rendering: chiamata
Transliteration: chiamata
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: vocazione (clergy-narrowing risk)
Original: κλῆσις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package unchanged. ‘Vocazione’ remains forbidden for the general believer’s-calling sense in this curriculum as well; reserve only for segments explicitly about priestly/religious-life calling.
Saints
Approved rendering: santi
Transliteration: santi
Doctrine: Sainthood
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:1; 8:4; 9:1,12 — the Jerusalem-collection passages (‘ministrare ai santi’) carry a distinctive risk of being misheard as almsgiving to canonized figures’ shrines rather than material aid to fellow living believers. Retain the baseline’s forbidden-substitution guidance: clarify ‘tutti i credenti’ for the corporate sense.
Lord
Approved rendering: Signore
Transliteration: Signore
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: padrone
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Same everyday ‘Signor/Signora’ title collision risk applies at 5:11 (‘il timore del Signore’) and throughout; context must anchor the exalted, exclusive sense.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: comunione fraterna
Transliteration: comunione fraterna
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: comunione (bare)
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 8:4 (partnership in the collection). SCOPED EXCEPTION: at 13:13(14)‘s Trinitarian benediction, ‘koinōnia tou hagiou pneumatos’ is a distinct construction (communion mediated BY the Spirit, not fellowship among believers) that legitimately renders as bare ‘comunione’ — see the dedicated entry ‘fellowship_of_the_holy_spirit’ below. Do not apply the ‘never bare comunione’ rule to that verse.
Church
Approved rendering: chiesa
Transliteration: chiesa
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Implicit throughout Paul’s references to ‘the church(es)’ and explicit at 8:1,18-19,23-24; 11:8,28; 12:13; same institutional/Vatican-adjacent collision risk applies unchanged.
Law
Approved rendering: legge
Transliteration: legge
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Background to chapter 3’s old-covenant argument, though the chapter’s dominant terms are ‘alleanza’ (covenant) and ‘la lettera’ (letter) rather than ‘legge’ itself — see ‘new_covenant’ and ‘letter_of_the_law’ below.
Sin
Approved rendering: peccato
Transliteration: peccato
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package. The baseline’s ‘che peccato!’ colloquial-drift risk applies with maximal force at 5:21, where the entire ‘great exchange’ argument depends on this term retaining full weight as culpable guilt, not a ‘pity’ or ‘shame.‘
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: obbedienza della fede
Transliteration: obbedienza della fede
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Parallel construction to this curriculum’s new term ‘obedience_to_christ’ (10:5); the same Tridentine ‘fede operante per carità’ merit-reading caution applies to both.
Message Of Reconciliation
Approved rendering: il messaggio della riconciliazione
Transliteration: ho logos tēs katallagēs
Doctrine: Reconciliation with God
Original: ὁ λόγος τῆς καταλλαγῆς
Category: Reconciliation
NEW. The proclaimed content entrusted to believers (5:19). Inherits the Critical-adjacent sensitivity of ‘riconciliazione’ but as a message/proclamation rather than the reconciling act itself.
Died With Christ
Approved rendering: quindi tutti sono morti
Transliteration: hoi pantes apethanon
Doctrine: Universal Scope of Reconciliation
Original: οἱ πάντες ἀπέθανον
Category: Salvation
NEW. Believers’ representative, corporate participation in Christ’s death by virtue of union with him (5:15) — must not be read as a universalist claim (all humanity automatically saved) nor collapsed into a merely figurative expression detached from real union with Christ.
Temple Of The Living God
Approved rendering: tempio del Dio vivente
Transliteration: naos theou zōntos
Doctrine: New Creation in Christ
Original: ναὸς θεοῦ ζῶντος
Category: New Creation
NEW. ‘Tempio’ in Italian readily denotes an ancient pagan temple (archaeological/touristic register) or, loosely, a Catholic church building; the doctrinal point — believers themselves, not a building, are God’s dwelling — requires explicit reinforcement at 6:16, structurally similar to the baseline’s ‘chiesa’ High-risk note.
New Covenant
Approved rendering: nuova alleanza
Transliteration: kainē diathēkē
Doctrine: The New Covenant versus the Old
Original: καινὴ διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
NEW compound term elevating the baseline’s bare ‘alleanza’ (Medium) to High in this curriculum: chapter 3’s entire argument (surpassing glory, permanence, Spirit vs. letter) rests on this phrase’s contrast with the Mosaic covenant; readers must not hear merely ‘an updated version’ of the same covenant.
Letter Of The Law
Approved rendering: la lettera
Transliteration: gramma
Doctrine: The New Covenant versus the Old
Original: γράμμα
Category: Covenant
NEW. Occurs at 3:6-7 (‘la lettera uccide, ma lo Spirito dà vita’). Risk of collapsing into the secular Italian idiom ‘la lettera della legge’ (strict literalism vs. flexible intent) rather than Paul’s covenantal, salvation-historical claim about the old covenant’s inherent inability to give life apart from the Spirit.
Ministry
Approved rendering: ministero
Transliteration: diakonia
Doctrine: Sincerity and Apostolic Authority
Original: διακονία
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Occurs at 3:6-9; 4:1; 5:18; 6:3-4; 8:4; 9:12-13; 11:8,23. In Italian Catholic usage strongly connotes ordained clerical office; must be balanced against Waldensian/evangelical usage (closer to the NT’s broader sense, but risking the opposite drift into a generic ‘job/role’). Context must clarify whether a given occurrence is (a) Paul’s specific apostolic commission or (b) the general service every believer/church renders.
Sincerity
Approved rendering: sincerità
Transliteration: eilikrineia
Doctrine: Sincerity and Apostolic Authority
Original: εἰλικρίνεια
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Occurs at 1:12; 2:17. Lexically stable, but risks flattening a technical apologetic term (defense against charges of manipulation/mixed motives by rival teachers) into generic personal-virtue language, losing the passage’s authority-authentication function.
According To The Flesh
Approved rendering: secondo la carne
Transliteration: kata sarka
Doctrine: Genuine versus False Apostleship
Original: κατὰ σάρκα
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Recurring rhetorical marker (1:17; 5:16; 10:2-3; 11:18). Bare ‘carne’ in Italian defaults to the culinary sense or a vague ‘physicality/desire’ sense, risking either bathos or a narrowing to sexual/appetite sin alone, missing Paul’s comprehensive ‘worldly evaluative standard’ sense. Requires consistent glossing at first occurrence (1:17), referenced (not re-explained) at each subsequent occurrence.
False Apostles
Approved rendering: falsi apostoli
Transliteration: pseudapostoloi
Doctrine: Genuine versus False Apostleship
Original: ψευδαπόστολοι
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Occurs at 11:13, the named opposite of genuine apostleship. Must be taught as describing a real, historically identifiable danger present already in the apostolic era, not merely rhetorical flourish.
Another Gospel
Approved rendering: un altro Gesù / un altro vangelo
Transliteration: allos Iēsous / heteron pneuma / heteron euangelion
Doctrine: Genuine versus False Apostleship
Original: ἄλλος Ἰησοῦς / ἕτερον πνεῦμα / ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Occurs at 11:4. No lexical ambiguity, but doctrinal weight requires reviewers to ensure this is taught with full force — a genuinely false alternative message, not ‘another denomination’s slightly different emphasis.‘
Obedience To Christ
Approved rendering: obbedienza a Cristo
Transliteration: hypakoē tou Christou
Doctrine: Genuine versus False Apostleship
Original: ὑπακοὴ τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Apostleship
NEW, parallel to the baseline’s ‘obbedienza della fede.’ Occurs at 10:5. Must be taught as the fruit/direction of faith-driven allegiance to Christ, not a separate meritorious condition of standing before God (same Tridentine ‘fede operante per carità’ caution applies).
Comfort
Approved rendering: consolazione / consolare
Transliteration: paraklēsis / parakaleō (comfort sense)
Doctrine: Suffering and Comfort in Ministry
Original: παράκλησις / παρακαλέω (comfort sense)
Category: Suffering
NEW, distinguished from the baseline’s ‘esortare’ (exhort sense, Low, reused above) fixed for a different sense of the same Greek root. Modern Italian ‘consolazione’ trends passive, sentimental, private-emotional (‘una consolazione’ = a small compensatory comfort), under-conveying the active, ministry-generating, communal-overflow dynamic of 1:3-7. Flag for native speaker review at every occurrence (1:3-11; 7:4,6,7,13) with explicit catechetical framing.
Weakness
Approved rendering: debolezza
Transliteration: astheneia
Doctrine: Power in Weakness
Original: ἀσθένεια
Category: Suffering
NEW. The pivotal term of ‘Power in Weakness’ (11:29-30; 12:5,9-10; 13:4,9). No competing religious concept in Italian, but strong risk of a merely motivational/self-help flattening (‘turn your weakness into strength’) divorced from the specific theological claim of 12:9.
Judgment Seat Of Christ
Approved rendering: il tribunale di Cristo
Transliteration: bēma tou Christou
Doctrine: Assurance and the Judgment Seat of Christ
Original: βῆμα τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Occurs at 5:10. ‘Tribunale’ strongly evokes both the civil/criminal court system and Catholic particular-judgment/Confession-examination associations; must be taught as a believer’s reward-evaluation for the already-reconciled, not a re-litigation of salvation status (cf. baseline ‘assurance_of_salvation’).
Godly Grief
Approved rendering: tristezza secondo Dio
Transliteration: lypē kata theon
Doctrine: Godly Grief and Repentance
Original: λύπη κατὰ θεόν
Category: Sin
NEW. Occurs at 7:9-10; must be sharply distinguished from its counterpart ‘worldly grief’ — the pastoral point of the passage depends on Italian readers not collapsing the two into a single generic ‘sadness’ word.
Repentance
Approved rendering: pentimento / conversione
Transliteration: metanoia
Doctrine: Godly Grief and Repentance
Original: μετάνοια
Category: Sin
NEW. Occurs at 7:9-10; 12:21. ‘Pentimento’ is tightly bound to the Sacrament of Confession’s required interior disposition (‘atto di pentimento’); ‘conversione’ avoids that collision but risks sounding like a one-time initial event rather than the ongoing reorientation in view. Review jointly with ‘reconciliation’ and ‘judgment_seat_of_christ’ per the cross-collision note in 11_doctrine_analysis.md.
Fellowship Of The Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: la comunione dello Spirito Santo
Transliteration: koinōnia tou hagiou pneumatos
Doctrine: Trinitarian Benediction and Fellowship of the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: la comunione fraterna dello Spirito Santo (do not apply the fellowship rule here)
NEW — SCOPED EXCEPTION. Occurs only at 13:13(14). This is the one context in the whole curriculum where bare ‘comunione’ is the correct, established rendering, since this construction is communion mediated BY the Spirit, not fellowship among believers, and corresponds word-for-word to the greeting opening the Roman Catholic Mass. Phase 2 automated validation must NOT flag or ‘correct’ this to ‘comunione fraterna.’ High risk is procedural/liturgical-familiarity risk (readers processing it as ritual formula rather than Paul’s personal blessing), not a doctrinal-collision risk of the kind documented for ‘fellowship’ generally.
Medium Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: fede
Transliteration: fede
Doctrine: Faith
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. 2 Corinthians 13:5’s self-examination call (‘esaminate voi stessi per vedere se siete nella fede’) benefits from positive resonance with the Catholic practice of ‘esame di coscienza,’ but the object of examination (gospel-standing in Christ) must not be narrowed to a private moral inventory.
Salvation
Approved rendering: salvezza
Transliteration: salvezza
Doctrine: Salvation
Original: σωτηρία
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:6; 6:2 (quoting Isaiah 49:8, ‘il giorno della salvezza’); 7:10 (contrasted with worldly grief producing death).
Called
Approved rendering: chiamato
Transliteration: chiamato
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Original: κλητός
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Underlies Paul’s self-identification as ‘apostolo… per volontà di Dio’ (2 Corinzi 1:1); not independently developed further in 2 Corinthians beyond Romans usage.
Holy
Approved rendering: santo
Transliteration: santo
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs in ‘bacio santo’ (holy kiss, 13:12) and within ‘santi’ (saints, see below).
Sanctification
Approved rendering: santificazione
Transliteration: santificazione
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἁγιασμός / ἁγιωσύνη
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 7:1, ‘portando a compimento la santificazione,’ paired with the chapter 6 separation call.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: risurrezione
Transliteration: risurrezione
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Original: ἀνάστασις / ἐγείρω
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package. Grounds ongoing Christian life at 4:14 and 5:15 (‘colui che è morto… ed è stato risuscitato’).
Incarnation
Approved rendering: incarnazione
Transliteration: incarnazione
Doctrine: Incarnation
Original: ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο (theological category)
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Background doctrine for 8:9 (‘essendo ricco, si è fatto povero per voi’) and for the union-with-Christ logic of 5:16-19.
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: carismi
Transliteration: carismi
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Rejected alternatives: doni naturali
Original: χαρίσματα
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Background to 12:12’s ‘segni, prodigi e miracoli’; Italy’s three-way Catholic Charismatic/Pentecostal/evangelical engagement with this vocabulary applies with equal force here.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: pagani
Transliteration: pagani
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: genti
Original: ἔθνη
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Not thematically prominent in 2 Corinthians beyond 11:26’s travel-hardship catalogue (‘pericoli da parte dei pagani’).
Glory
Approved rendering: gloria
Transliteration: gloria
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Central to chapter 3’s fading-Moses-glory versus abiding-new-covenant-glory argument (3:7-18) and 4:17’s ‘un peso eterno di gloria’; must not collapse into a generic synonym for ‘grandeur’ divorced from the Moses narrative.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: potenza di Dio
Transliteration: potenza di Dio
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Original: δύναμις θεοῦ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Sharpened in this curriculum’s ‘Power in Weakness’ doctrine: 4:7 (‘questa potenza smisurata appartiene a Dio’) and, combined with ‘debolezza,’ elevated to Critical at 12:9 (see ‘power_perfected_in_weakness’ below).
Covenant
Approved rendering: alleanza
Transliteration: alleanza
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: patto (more contract-like)
Original: διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Bare ‘alleanza’ underlies chapter 3’s discussion before the qualified compound ‘nuova alleanza’ (see below) sharpens the risk to High in this curriculum.
Israel
Approved rendering: Israele
Transliteration: Israele
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 11:22 (‘Ebrei… Israeliti… discendenza di Abramo’) in Paul’s credentials catalogue against the rival teachers; same contemporary-political-conflation caution applies.
God
Approved rendering: Dio
Transliteration: Dio
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Central to 5:18-20’s reconciliation statement (‘Dio ci ha riconciliati… Dio era in Cristo’).
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Spirito Santo
Transliteration: Spirito Santo
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:22 (seal/guarantee), 3:3-18 (letter/Spirit contrast), and 13:13(14) benediction.
Father
Approved rendering: Padre
Transliteration: Padre
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:3, ‘il Padre della misericordia,’ and 6:18 (quoting 2 Samuele 7:14); the priestly-title adjacency (‘Padre’ as address for a Catholic priest) applies unchanged.
Trespasses
Approved rendering: colpe / trasgressioni
Transliteration: paraptōma
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Original: παράπτωμα
Category: Sin
NEW. Near-synonym of ‘peccato’ (reused, High) with a distinct ‘false step/stumble’ nuance worth preserving in teaching notes at 5:19, without requiring a separate forbidden-substitution rule.
Sinlessness Of Christ
Approved rendering: colui che non ha conosciuto peccato
Transliteration: ton mē gnonta hamartian
Doctrine: Imputed Righteousness and Substitutionary Atonement
Original: τὸν μὴ γνόντα ἁμαρτίαν
Category: Christology
NEW. Occurs at 5:21; must retain the absolute, total sense (‘no sin whatsoever’), not a merely comparative ‘relatively less sinful’ reading — the necessary premise for a valid, spotless substitute.
Love
Approved rendering: amore
Transliteration: agapē
Doctrine: Reconciliation with God
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: God
NEW (no dedicated entry in the Romans baseline). Italian ‘amore’ is unmarked/generic across romantic, familial, and divine senses, unlike Greek’s distinct terms; context and capitalization conventions must reinforce the theological weight. Anchors 5:14 (‘l’amore di Cristo ci spinge’) and the Trinitarian benediction (13:13/14, ‘l’amore di Dio’); must render identically in both places.
In Christ
Approved rendering: in Cristo
Transliteration: en Christō
Doctrine: New Creation in Christ
Rejected alternatives: attraverso l’esempio di Cristo (moralizing, rejected)
Original: ἐν Χριστῷ
Category: Salvation
NEW. The Pauline formula of union/incorporation into Christ, the locus and precondition of new creation (5:17); must not be flattened to ‘through Christ’s example.‘
World
Approved rendering: il mondo
Transliteration: kosmos
Doctrine: Universal Scope of Reconciliation
Original: κόσμος
Category: God
NEW. Standard and stable in Italian but must not be over-particularized (e.g., limited to ‘the world of believers’); anchors the universal scope of God’s reconciling purpose at 5:19.
Transformed
Approved rendering: trasformati
Transliteration: metamorphoumetha
Doctrine: New Creation in Christ
Original: μεταμορφούμεθα
Category: New Creation
NEW. Occurs at 3:18. Positive resonance with ‘Trasfigurazione’ (a major Italian Catholic liturgical feast, 6 August); risk of secular flattening via ordinary ‘trasformazione’ (digital/personal transformation marketing). Must be kept lexically distinct from the negative counterfeit sense at 11:13-15 (see ‘disguise’ below) — never use a form of ‘trasform-’ for that negative sense.
Disguise
Approved rendering: travestirsi da
Transliteration: metaschēmatizomai
Doctrine: Genuine versus False Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: trasformarsi (forbidden here — see ‘transformed’ entry)
Original: μετασχηματίζομαι
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Same Greek root family as ‘transformed’ (3:18) but opposite moral valence (counterfeit disguise, 11:13-15) — deliberately fenced with distinct Italian phrasing to prevent visual/conceptual conflation with genuine Spirit-wrought change.
Unequally Yoked
Approved rendering: non vi mettete in un giogo estraneo
Transliteration: heterozygeō
Doctrine: Separation unto God’s Service
Original: ἑτεροζυγέω
Category: New Creation
NEW. Occurs at 6:14; the agricultural double-yoke image is unfamiliar to a largely urban, low-agrarian-background modern Italian audience — primarily a comprehension risk, requiring brief explanatory framing rather than a doctrinal-collision fix.
Set Apart
Approved rendering: separatevi
Transliteration: aphorizō
Doctrine: Separation unto God’s Service
Original: ἀφορίζω
Category: Sanctification
NEW, directly continuous with the Romans baseline doctrine ‘separation_unto_gods_service’ (Medium risk there). Occurs at 6:17; must not collapse into monastic withdrawal, a live cultural reference point given Italy’s dense concentration of monastic and religious-order life. Relational, not physical/geographic, separation is intended.
Guarantee Down Payment
Approved rendering: caparra
Transliteration: arrabōn
Doctrine: The Spirit as Guarantee of Inheritance
Original: ἀρραβών
Category: New Creation
NEW. Occurs at 1:22 and 5:5. ‘Caparra’ is a precise, natural Italian commercial-legal equivalent (real-estate/contract deposits); ensure the commercial register does not reduce the Spirit’s presence to a bare transactional metaphor devoid of personal relationship.
Image Of God
Approved rendering: immagine (di Dio)
Transliteration: eikōn (tou theou)
Doctrine: Deity of Christ in the Work of Reconciliation
Original: εἰκών (τοῦ θεοῦ)
Category: Christology
NEW. Occurs at 4:4 (Christ) and 3:18 (believers conformed to ‘the same image’); the 4:4 Christological usage functions closer to a deity-of-Christ category and must not be read as a mere metaphorical likeness.
Freedom Liberty
Approved rendering: libertà
Transliteration: eleutheria
Doctrine: The New Covenant versus the Old
Original: ἐλευθερία
Category: Covenant
NEW. Occurs at 3:17 (‘dov’è lo Spirito del Signore, c’è libertà’); must not be read as generic civic/political freedom divorced from the Spirit’s specific liberating work described in context.
Tablets Of Stone And Heart
Approved rendering: tavole di pietra / tavole del cuore
Transliteration: plakes lithinai / plakes kardias
Doctrine: The New Covenant versus the Old
Original: πλάκες λίθιναι / πλάκες καρδίας
Category: Covenant
NEW. Occurs at 3:3; requires Exodus/Jeremiah Old Testament background to land, consistent with low OT literacy documented for this audience across all three religious constituencies.
Veil
Approved rendering: velo
Transliteration: kalymma
Doctrine: The New Covenant versus the Old
Original: κάλυμμα
Category: Covenant
NEW. Occurs at 3:13-16 (Moses’ veil, and by extension unbelieving minds). No major religious-dress collision in Italian; primary risk is under-appreciating the Exodus 34 background.
Ambassador
Approved rendering: ambasciatore
Transliteration: presbeuō
Doctrine: Sincerity and Apostolic Authority
Original: πρεσβεύω
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Occurs at 5:20. Vivid, low-collision political-diplomatic metaphor; brief contextual reinforcement recommended to convey the weight of delegated authority (‘speaking for the one who sent you’).
Commend
Approved rendering: raccomandare
Transliteration: synistanō
Doctrine: Sincerity and Apostolic Authority
Original: συνιστάνω / συνίστημι
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Occurs at 3:1; 4:2; 5:12; 6:4; 10:12,18; 12:11 — the technical term for the self-recommendation controversy running through the false-apostles polemic; recommend fixed, consistent use across all occurrences.
Boasting
Approved rendering: vanto / vantarsi / gloriarsi
Transliteration: kauchēma / kauchaomai
Doctrine: Genuine versus False Apostleship
Original: καύχημα / καυχάομαι
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Structures Paul’s ironic ‘foolish boasting’ discourse (ch.10-12). ‘Vanto/vantarsi’ carries a mild vainglory connotation in ordinary Italian usage; reviewers must track Paul’s deliberately ironic register so the rendering does not read as sincere self-promotion.
Peddle Gods Word
Approved rendering: mercanteggiare / fare mercimonio della parola di Dio
Transliteration: kapēleuō
Doctrine: Genuine versus False Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: essere un tavernaio (too obscure)
Original: καπηλεύω
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Occurs at 2:17. Marketplace metaphor for teachers who dilute/commercialize God’s message for profit; anticipates the false-apostles polemic of chapter 11.
Signs Wonders Mighty Works
Approved rendering: segni, prodigi e miracoli
Transliteration: sēmeia kai terata kai dynameis
Doctrine: Genuine versus False Apostleship
Original: σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα καὶ δυνάμεις
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Occurs at 12:12. Intersects with Italy’s significant Catholic Charismatic Renewal and Pentecostal engagement with this vocabulary (parallels the baseline’s ‘carismi’ note); balance the miraculous emphasis against Paul’s actual argument that steadfast endurance, not merely miracles, authenticates his apostleship.
Godly Jealousy
Approved rendering: gelosia secondo Dio
Transliteration: zēlos theou
Doctrine: Genuine versus False Apostleship
Original: ζῆλος θεοῦ
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Occurs at 11:2; Paul’s protective, betrothal-imagery concern for the church’s exclusive fidelity to Christ. The betrothal metaphor requires brief cultural/OT framing but carries no doctrinal-collision risk.
Sufficiency
Approved rendering: sufficiente / adeguatezza
Transliteration: hikanos / hikanotēs
Doctrine: Sincerity and Apostolic Authority
Original: ἱκανός / ἱκανότης
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Occurs at 2:16; 3:5-6. Straightforward rendering; ensure the theological point (competence as God’s gift, not human achievement) is not lost to a generic professional-adequacy reading.
Affliction
Approved rendering: afflizione / tribolazione
Transliteration: thlipsis
Doctrine: Suffering and Comfort in Ministry
Original: θλῖψις
Category: Suffering
NEW. Companion term to ‘comfort’ throughout the book (1:4,8; 2:4; 4:8,17; 6:4; 7:4; 8:2). No major competing-concept risk in Italian, but ‘afflizione’ can sound literary/formal unless paired with concrete ministry-context vocabulary.
Treasure In Jars Of Clay
Approved rendering: tesoro in vasi di terracotta
Transliteration: thēsauros en ostrakinois skeuesin
Doctrine: Power in Weakness
Rejected alternatives: tesoro in contenitori (too generic)
Original: θησαυρὸς ἐν ὀστρακίνοις σκεύεσιν
Category: Suffering
NEW. Occurs at 4:7; foundational image for the doctrine, developed fully at 12:9. Ensure translators do not ‘upgrade’ the container to something less humble/fragile-sounding.
Thorn In The Flesh
Approved rendering: una spina nella carne
Transliteration: skolops tē sarki
Doctrine: Power in Weakness
Original: σκόλοψ τῇ σαρκί
Category: Suffering
NEW. Occurs at 12:7. Now a fixed Italian idiom (sourced from this very verse) used even in secular contexts for ‘a persistent annoyance’ — a double-edged resource risking proverbial-nuisance flattening rather than the specific, humbling, God-permitted, sanctifying affliction in view.
Triumphal Procession
Approved rendering: corteo trionfale
Transliteration: thriambeuō
Doctrine: Suffering and Comfort in Ministry
Original: θριαμβεύω
Category: Suffering
NEW. Occurs at 2:14; a Roman military metaphor not part of ordinary modern Italian cultural knowledge, requiring brief historical framing — a comprehension risk, not a doctrinal-collision risk.
Paradise
Approved rendering: paradiso
Transliteration: paradeisos
Doctrine: Power in Weakness
Original: παράδεισος
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Occurs at 12:2-4. Stable, established Italian term with deep Catholic afterlife-imagery resonance, helpful for comprehension; ensure it is not conflated with later medieval/Dantean multi-tiered heaven conceptions not in view here.
Worldly Grief
Approved rendering: tristezza del mondo
Transliteration: hē tou kosmou lypē
Doctrine: Godly Grief and Repentance
Original: ἡ τοῦ κόσμου λύπη
Category: Sin
NEW. Companion term to ‘godly grief’ (7:10); risk is chiefly ensuring the contrast, not the term itself, is preserved in teaching materials.
Equality In Giving
Approved rendering: uguaglianza / giusto equilibrio
Transliteration: isotēs
Doctrine: Generosity and Grace in Giving
Original: ἰσότης
Category: Giving
NEW. Occurs at 8:13-14. Modern Italian ‘uguaglianza’ carries strong contemporary socio-political connotations; the specific NT sense (voluntary, grace-motivated mutual aid, not mandated redistribution) must be preserved.
Cheerful Giver
Approved rendering: un donatore gioioso
Transliteration: hilaros dotēs
Doctrine: Generosity and Grace in Giving
Original: ἱλαρὸς δότης
Category: Giving
NEW. Occurs at 9:7, the most-quoted verse of the giving doctrine (‘Dio ama chi dona con gioia’). Ensure ‘gioioso’ conveys deep Spirit-given joy, not mere pleasantness or sociability.
Service Collection
Approved rendering: servizio
Transliteration: leitourgia
Doctrine: Generosity and Grace in Giving
Rejected alternatives: liturgia (forbidden — see note)
NEW. Occurs at 9:12-13 of the practical service of the collection. Never render as ‘liturgia,’ which in Italian is almost exclusively the technical term for the order of Catholic/Orthodox worship service; keep distinct from ‘ministero’ (the broader diakonia term) as the specific practical-service register for the Jerusalem collection.
Fear Of The Lord
Approved rendering: il timore del Signore
Transliteration: phobos tou Kyriou
Doctrine: Assurance and the Judgment Seat of Christ
NEW. Occurs at 5:11. ‘Timore’ can flatten toward everyday ‘worry/fright,’ but ‘timor di Dio’ is also a recognized positive category in Catholic catechesis (one of the traditional ‘doni dello Spirito Santo’), a rare case where Catholic catechetical vocabulary reinforces rather than distorts the biblical reverential-accountability sense.
God Of This Age
Approved rendering: il dio di questo mondo (cioè Satana)
Transliteration: ho theos tou aiōnos toutou
Doctrine: New Creation in Christ
NEW. Occurs at 4:4, of Satan as a usurping, blinding power. Requires deliberate typographic/contextual disambiguation (lowercase ‘dio,’ explicit apposition ‘cioè Satana’) so readers do not momentarily read this as a statement about the true God.
Low Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: vangelo
Transliteration: vangelo
Doctrine: Gospel
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. In 2 Corinthians appears in the ‘true gospel vs. different gospel’ contrast (11:4, see ‘another_gospel’ below); this occurrence does not alter the base term’s own Low risk profile.
Apostle
Approved rendering: apostolo
Transliteration: apostolo
Doctrine: Apostleship
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Apostleship
Inherited from Romans package. Functions throughout 2 Corinthians as the base term contrasted with this book’s High-risk compound ‘falsi apostoli’ (11:13, see below).
Peace
Approved rendering: pace
Transliteration: pace
Doctrine: Peace with God
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 13:11, ‘vivete in pace,’ in the closing exhortations.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: ringraziamento
Transliteration: ringraziamento
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 9:11-12 as the outcome of the Corinthians’ generosity.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Gesù
Transliteration: Gesù
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Also appears in the false-teaching warning phrase ‘un altro Gesù’ (11:4) — see ‘another_gospel’ below for that compound’s elevated risk.
Exhort
Approved rendering: esortare
Transliteration: esortare
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Original: παρακαλέω (appeal/exhort sense)
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package, used here in its appeal/entreaty sense (5:20; 10:1). The distinct ‘comfort’ sense of the same Greek root (paraklēsis/parakaleō) is tracked separately as ‘comfort’ below (High risk) to prevent flattening across this book’s multiple senses of the same root.
Christ Name
Approved rendering: Cristo
Transliteration: Cristo
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
NEW. Stable, standard Italian Bible name-form used in running text (e.g. ‘in Cristo,’ ‘l’amore di Cristo’), distinct from ‘Messia’ (the baseline’s title-concept term), which should be reserved for contexts explicitly foregrounding fulfillment of Jewish messianic promise.
Sealed
Approved rendering: sigillato
Transliteration: sphragizō
Doctrine: The Spirit as Guarantee of Inheritance
Original: σφραγίζω
Category: New Creation
NEW. Occurs at 1:22; no major cultural collision in Italian, ensure it does not sound like a merely bureaucratic ‘stamping’ divorced from the relational-ownership sense.
Stronghold
Approved rendering: fortezza
Transliteration: ochyrōma
Doctrine: Genuine versus False Apostleship
Original: ὀχύρωμα
Category: Apostleship
NEW. Occurs at 10:4; a military metaphor for entrenched false ideas/arguments, vivid and intelligible with no major collision — primarily a comprehension matter (ancient siege warfare imagery).
Aroma Fragrance Of Christ
Approved rendering: profumo / buon odore
Transliteration: osmē / euōdia
Doctrine: Suffering and Comfort in Ministry
Original: ὀσμή / εὐωδία
Category: Suffering
NEW. Occurs at 2:14-16, echoing OT sacrificial ‘pleasing aroma’ imagery. Brief OT sacrificial-background framing recommended given low OT literacy; no doctrinal-collision risk.
Outer Inner Man
Approved rendering: l’uomo esteriore / l’uomo interiore
Transliteration: ho exō anthrōpos / ho esō anthrōpos
Doctrine: Suffering and Comfort in Ministry
Original: ὁ ἔξω ἄνθρωπος / ὁ ἔσω ἄνθρωπος
Category: Suffering
NEW. Occurs at 4:16; guard against a secular-psychological ‘inner self’ self-help reading divorced from the Spirit’s specific renewing work.
Eternal Weight Of Glory
Approved rendering: un peso eterno di gloria
Transliteration: aiōnion baros doxēs
Doctrine: Suffering and Comfort in Ministry
Original: αἰώνιον βάρος δόξης
Category: Suffering
NEW. Occurs at 4:17; the Greek light/heavy weight wordplay is largely recoverable in Italian (‘la nostra leggera afflizione… un peso eterno di gloria’) and should be preserved.
Referenced passages