Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 1 Corinthians
A. Reused Baseline Terms (apply Romans translation_memory.json exactly)
| English Term | Japanese | Transliteration | Risk (baseline) | Doctrine | 1 Cor. Chapters | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| gospel | 福音 | fukuin | Medium | Gospel | 1, 9, 15 | REUSED |
| grace | 恵み | megumi | Critical | Grace | 1, 3, 15, 16 | REUSED |
| faith | 信仰 | shinkou | High | Faith | 2, 3, 12, 13, 15 | REUSED |
| called / calling | 召された / 召し | mesareta / meshi | High | Divine Calling | 1, 7 | REUSED |
| apostle | 使徒 | shito | Low | Apostleship | 1, 4, 9, 12, 15 | REUSED |
| holy | 聖い | kiyoi | Medium | Sanctification | 1, 3, 7 | REUSED |
| saints | 聖徒 | seito | High | Sainthood | 1, 6, 14, 16 | REUSED |
| sanctification | 聖化 | seika | High | Sanctification | 1, 6, 7 | REUSED |
| resurrection | 復活 | fukkatsu | High | Resurrection of Christ | 15 | REUSED |
| lord | 主 | shu | High | Lordship of Christ | 1, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16 | REUSED |
| spiritual gifts | 賜物 | tamamono | Medium | Spiritual Gifts | 1, 7, 12 | REUSED |
| thanksgiving | 感謝 | kansha | Low | Thanksgiving | 1, 10, 14, 15 | REUSED |
| fellowship | 交わり | majiwari | Low | Christian Fellowship | 1, 10 | REUSED |
| church | 教会 | kyoukai | Medium | Church as God’s People | 1, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 14, 16 | REUSED |
| kingdom of God | 神の国 | Kami no Kuni | High | Kingdom Mission | 4, 6, 15 | REUSED |
| law | 律法 | ritsuhou | Medium | (Mosaic Law background) | 9, 14 | REUSED |
| sin | 罪 | tsumi | High | Universal Human Accountability | 6, 7, 15 | REUSED |
| glory | 栄光 | eikou | Medium | Deity of Christ | 10, 11 | REUSED |
| messiah | キリスト | Kirisuto | Critical | Messianic Promise | 1–16 passim | REUSED |
| prophet / prophecy | 預言者 / 預言 | yogensha / yogen | Medium / Low | Fulfillment of Prophecy | 12, 13, 14, 15 | REUSED |
| jesus | イエス | Iesu | Critical | Lordship of Christ | 1–16 passim | REUSED |
| god | 神 | Kami | Critical | Deity of Christ | 1–16 passim | REUSED |
| holy_spirit | 聖霊 | Seirei | Critical | Sanctification | 2, 3, 6, 12, 14 | REUSED |
| exhort | 勧める | susumeru | Low | Mutual Edification | 1, 4 | REUSED |
| mission | 宣教 | senkyou | Medium | Mission to the Nations | 9 | REUSED |
| israel | イスラエル | Isuraeru | Medium | (OT typology) | 10 | REUSED |
| david | ダビデ | Dabide | Low | (background reference) | 15 (implicit, via messianic line) | REUSED |
B. New Terms Introduced in 1 Corinthians
| English Term | Original (Greek) | Japanese | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Chapters | Notes / Rejected Alternatives |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| division / schism | σχίσμα | 分裂 | bunretsu | High | Christian Unity vs. Factionalism | 1, 11, 12 | Risk: readers may normalize as ordinary faction politics (派閥, habatsu) rather than sin against gospel unity. |
| wisdom (worldly/divine) | σοφία | 知恵 | chie | High | The Cross as Wisdom and Power | 1, 2, 3 | NEVER 智慧 (chie written with Buddhist prajñā kanji) — reserve 知恵 kanji exclusively. |
| foolishness (of the cross) | μωρία | 愚かさ | orokasa | Medium-High | The Cross as Wisdom and Power | 1 | Preserve Paul’s rhetorical inversion; do not soften into a concession of real inferiority. |
| stumbling block | σκάνδαλον / πρόσκομμα | つまずき | tsumazuki | Medium | Christian Unity / Christian Liberty | 1, 8, 10 | Standard term; low collision risk. |
| boasting | καύχησις / καυχάομαι | 誇る | hokoru | High | The Cross as Wisdom and Power | 1, 3, 4, 9, 13, 15 | Collides with Japan’s humility norm (謙遜, kenson); must preserve Paul’s “boast in the Lord alone” redirection. |
| fleshly / carnal | σαρκικός | 肉的な | nikuteki na | Medium | Christian Unity vs. Factionalism | 3 | Connects to baseline sin/罪 note: moral failure before God, not mere social friction. |
| foundation / build | θεμέλιος / οἰκοδομέω | 土台 / 建てる | dodai / tateru | Low-Medium | Church Discipline and Holiness | 3, 14 | Low risk. |
| fire (eschatological testing) | πῦρ | 火 | hi | Medium | Church Discipline and Holiness | 3 | Distinguish from Japanese ritual fire-purification practice (護摩木, 火渡り); tests the work, not the person’s salvation. |
| temple (of God / of the body) | ναός | 神殿 | shinden | High | Church Discipline and Holiness / Christian Liberty | 3, 6 | Structural similarity to Shinto shrine-as-kami-dwelling; must anchor firmly to the one Spirit indwelling God’s people/individual believers, never a physical building or one kami among many. Human theologian review recommended. |
| steward / mystery | οἰκονόμος / μυστήριον | 管理者 / 奥義 | kanrisha / ougi | Medium / High | Church Discipline and Holiness | 2, 4 | 奥義 collides with martial-arts/traditional-craft “secret technique attained through discipline” (aikido/kendo ougi); this mystery is graciously disclosed, not mastered through practice. |
| judge (dispute/discipline) | κρίνω | 裁く | sabaku | Medium | Church Discipline and Holiness | 4, 5, 6 | Japan’s low-litigation, mediation-preferring culture may cause shallow “of course, harmony” reading that misses the gospel-witness point. |
| sexual immorality | πορνεία | 淫らな行い | midara na okonai | High | Church Discipline and Holiness | 5, 6, 7, 10 | Contemporary secular Japanese sexual ethics sit at real distance from the biblical norm; requires theological grounding, not assumed shared intuition. |
| leaven / yeast | ζύμη | パン種 | pan-dane | Medium | Church Discipline and Holiness | 5 | Biblical-illiteracy risk (Passover symbolism); requires OT background teaching. |
| bought with a price | ἀγοράζω | 買い取られました | kaitoraremashita | High | Christian Liberty and Idol Meat (body/redemption) | 6 | Risk of flattening into ordinary commercial-purchase sense; no vivid cultural manumission-image to draw on; requires active teaching, echoing baseline covenant/adoption dilution cautions. |
| marriage | γάμος | 結婚 | kekkon | Low-Medium | Marriage and Singleness | 7 | Standard term. |
| singleness / unmarried (as calling) | ἄγαμος | 独身 | dokushin | Medium-High | Marriage and Singleness | 7 | Risk of conflation with secular marriage-avoidance trend (非婚化); must be distinguished as a specific Spirit-given vocational gift, not generic relationship-avoidance. |
| virgin | παρθένος | 処女 | shojo | Low-Medium | Marriage and Singleness | 7 | Standard term. |
| separate / divorce | χωρίζω | 離れる / 離婚 | hanareru / rikon | Medium | Marriage and Singleness | 7 | Standard term; contextual sensitivity required. |
| idol | εἴδωλον | 偶像 | guuzou | High | Christian Liberty and Idol Meat | 8, 10, 12 | Collides with normalized Japanese household ancestor-veneration/kami-shelf practice (butsudan/kamidana); requires careful, non-offensive, theologically grounded framing. Human theologian review recommended. |
| food offered to idols | εἰδωλόθυτον | 偶像に献げられた肉 | guuzou ni sasagerareta niku | High | Christian Liberty and Idol Meat | 8, 10 | Direct structural parallel to Japanese food-offering practice (お供え物); same collision profile as “idol” above. |
| knowledge | γνῶσις | 知識 | chishiki | Medium | Christian Liberty and Idol Meat | 8, 12, 13 | ”Knowledge puffs up, love builds up” — must not be reduced to mere correct-information possession. |
| conscience | συνείδησις | 良心 | ryoushin | Medium-High | Christian Liberty and Idol Meat | 8, 10 | Risk of defaulting to social-harmony sensing rather than a God-oriented moral faculty (parallels baseline sin/shame-culture note). |
| right / authority (liberty) | ἐξουσία | 権利 | kenri | Medium-High | Christian Liberty and Idol Meat | 6, 8, 9, 10 | Japan’s group-harmony culture mutes individual rights-language; must convey voluntary renunciation of a genuine right, not absence of standing. |
| freedom | ἐλευθερία | 自由 | jiyuu | Medium | Christian Liberty and Idol Meat | 9, 10 | Standard term; pair with qualification against libertinism. |
| athletic race / prize / crown | ἀγών / βραβεῖον / στέφανος | 競技 / 冠 | kyougi / kan | High | Christian Liberty and Idol Meat (ministry discipline) | 9 | Collides with Japan’s competitive exam/selection culture (受験, 選抜) and ganbaru achievement-merit framing; must read as disciplined stewardship of a grace already given, not merit toward earning reward/salvation. |
| demon | δαιμόνιον | 悪霊 | akuryou | Critical | Christian Liberty and Idol Meat | 10 | Pre-existing Japanese folk/horror-culture term for evil spirits; must be taught as personal, morally culpable beings opposing God specifically, not filed alongside yūrei/yōkai folklore. Human theologian review required for every occurrence. |
| table of the Lord / table of demons | τράπεζα κυρίου / δαιμονίων | 主の食卓 / 悪霊の食卓 | Shu no shokutaku / akuryou no shokutaku | High | Christian Liberty and Idol Meat / The Lord’s Supper | 10, 11 | Must be kept sharply distinct from each other; anticipates and must not be confused with the Lord’s Supper. |
| head / headship | κεφαλή | かしら | kashira | High | Order in Worship | 11 | Collides with Japan’s traditional patriarchal household authority (家長, kachou, per baseline father entry); requires functional/relational framing, avoiding both dominance-overreading and doctrinal flattening. Human theologian review recommended. |
| the Lord’s Supper | κυριακὸν δεῖπνον | 主の晩餐 | Shu no Bansan | High | The Lord’s Supper | 11 | Distinguish from Buddhist memorial meal (法事, hōji) and Obon ancestor food-offerings; this is participatory communion and proclamation of Christ’s return, not memorial for one who remains departed. |
| remembrance | ἀνάμνησις | 記念 | kinen | High | The Lord’s Supper | 11 | Same memorial-rite collision risk as above; anchor to a death reversed by resurrection. |
| body (sacramental / ecclesial / resurrection) | σῶμα | 体 / からだ | karada | High | The Lord’s Supper / Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ / Resurrection | 6, 11, 12, 15 | Polysemous across at least four distinct theological senses in this book; teaching materials must make each sense explicit rather than assuming intuitive disambiguation. |
| discerning the body | διακρίνων τὸ σῶμα | からだを見分ける | karada wo miwakeru | High | The Lord’s Supper | 11 | Exegetically ambiguous referent (Christ’s body vs. church body); flag for theologian review per ambiguity-handling protocol. |
| body of Christ (corporate) | σῶμα Χριστοῦ | キリストの体 | Kirisuto no karada | High | Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ | 12 | Must be clearly distinguished from the sacramental and resurrection senses of σῶμα above. |
| members / limbs | μέλη | 肢体 | shitai | Low-Medium | Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ | 12 | Standard term for the extended body metaphor. |
| manifestation of the Spirit | φανέρωσις τοῦ Πνεύματος | 御霊の現れ / 御霊の働き | mitama no araware / mitama no hataraki | Medium | Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ | 12 | Emphasize corporate-benefit purpose, not individual status-marker. |
| tongues | γλῶσσαι | 異言 | igen | High | Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ / Order in Worship | 12, 13, 14 | Collides with Japanese trance-mediumship folk phenomena (e.g., itako oracular mediums); must distinguish Spirit-given, speaker-controlled, orderly gift from spirit-possession/channeling phenomena. |
| interpretation (of tongues) | ἑρμηνεία | 解き明かし | tokiakashi | Medium-High | Order in Worship | 14 | Inherits tongues’ collision risk; required companion for public use of tongues per 14:27-28. |
| healings / workings of miracles | ἴασις / ἐνεργήματα δυνάμεων | 癒しの力 / 力あるわざ | iyashi no chikara / chikara aru waza | Medium | Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ | 12 | 癒し must be elevated to genuine supernatural healing, countering baseline’s wellness-marketing dilution caution (opposite direction from the “peace” entry’s concern). |
| love (agapē) | ἀγάπη | 愛 | ai | High | Love as the Greater Way | 13 (also implicit throughout 8, 14, 16) | Risk of collapse into contemporary Japanese romantic-love default sense (愛してる); historically reshaped word from missionary translation; must restore self-giving, non-romantic, ecclesial force against wedding-reading-only association. Human theologian review recommended. |
| order | τάξις | 秩序 | chitsujo | Low | Order in Worship | 14 | Rare genuinely easy bridge concept; aligns well with Japanese cultural value on procedural order. |
| firstfruits | ἀπαρχή | 初穂 | hatsuho | Medium | The Resurrection of Christ and Believers | 15 | Biblical-illiteracy risk (OT festal background unfamiliar); requires explanatory teaching. |
| last Adam (typology) | ὁ ἔσχατος Ἀδάμ | 最後のアダム | Saigo no Adamu | High | The Resurrection of Christ and Believers | 15 | Requires Genesis background teaching; compounding biblical-illiteracy risk with doctrinal weight. |
| spiritual body | σῶμα πνευματικόν | 御霊のからだ | mitama no karada | Critical | The Resurrection of Christ and Believers | 15 | Must be taught as genuinely bodily/physical transformation, opposite of Japanese folk/Buddhist disembodied-spirit afterlife imagery (hotoke, wandering rei/kon at Obon). Same review priority as baseline resurrection entry. |
| perishable / imperishable | φθαρτός / ἄφθαρτος | 朽ちる / 朽ちない | kuchiru / kuchinai | Medium | The Resurrection of Christ and Believers | 15 | Standard descriptive terms; low collision risk beyond general resurrection-doctrine care. |
| victory / sting (of death) | νῖκος / κέντρον | 勝利 / とげ | shouri / toge | Low-Medium | The Resurrection of Christ and Believers | 15 | Preserve rhetorical/poetic climax force. |
| deliver / receive (tradition) | παραδίδωμι / παραλαμβάνω | 伝える / 受ける | tsutaeru / ukeru | High | The Resurrection of Christ and Believers | 15 | Bridges usefully with Japan’s iemoto master-disciple transmission culture (tea ceremony, martial arts); must clarify this transmits verifiable historical eyewitness testimony, not an esoteric technique for initiates. |
| according to the Scriptures | κατὰ τὰς γραφάς | 聖書に書いてあるとおり | Seisho ni kaite aru toori | High | The Resurrection of Christ and Believers | 15 | Linear historical fulfillment, never fortune-telling coincidence (占い); compounded by OT-narrative biblical illiteracy. |
| buried | ἐτάφη | 埋葬されました | maisou saremashita | Low-Medium | The Resurrection of Christ and Believers | 15 | Note Japan’s cremation-dominant funerary custom differs from the first-century rock-tomb burial practice assumed by the empty-tomb narrative; brief clarification recommended. |
| appeared (resurrection appearance) | ὤφθη | 現れました | arawaremashita | High | The Resurrection of Christ and Believers | 15 | Collides with Japanese ghost/apparition usage (幽霊が現れる); must convey bodily, physical, multiply-witnessed encounter, not a spectral sighting — parallels baseline holy_spirit’s bare-霊 caution. |
| one untimely born | ἔκτρωμα | 月足らずで生まれた者 | tsukitarazu de umareta mono | Medium-High | The Resurrection of Christ and Believers | 15 | Preserve Paul’s deliberate self-abasing shock value; avoid euphemistic smoothing. |
| brothers (address) | ἀδελφοί | 兄弟たち | kyoudai-tachi | Low-Medium | (general address) | 1, 15, 16 | Clarify inclusive address to the whole congregation, not literal male siblings only. |
| collection | λογεία | 献金 | kenkin | Medium | (Christian generosity / unity) | 16 | Distinguish from Buddhist temple donation custom (お布施, ofuse), a fee-adjacent ritual-service expectation rather than free, joyful, cross-congregational giving. |
| Maranatha | μαράνα θά | マラナ・タ | Marana ta | Low | (eschatological hope) | 16 | Retain as transliteration per baseline Aramaic-preservation convention (cf. Abba); gloss on first occurrence. |
| holy kiss | φίλημα ἅγιον | 聖なる口づけ | seinaru kuchizuke | Low | (Christian Fellowship) | 16 | Cultural-practice note only; no Japanese kissing-greeting custom exists — explain as ancient equivalent of a warm greeting, not a prescribed practice. |
C. Risk Summary for New Terms
| Risk Tier | Count | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 3 (temple-of-body sub-risk escalated within High; demon; spiritual body) | Human theologian — every occurrence |
| High | 20 | Human theologian |
| Medium-High (borderline, treat as High for routing) | 6 | Human theologian |
| Medium | 13 | Native speaker review |
| Low / Low-Medium | 8 | Automated / native speaker spot-check |
Escalation note: Per the baseline’s escalation rules, the following new terms must be automatically flagged for human theologian review in every Phase 2 occurrence, alongside the existing baseline Critical/High list: 悪霊 (demon), 御霊のからだ (spiritual body), 神殿 (temple, both corporate and individual-body senses), かしら (headship), 愛 (agapē love, ch.13), 異言 (tongues), 主の晩餐 / 記念 (Lord’s Supper / remembrance), 偶像 / 偶像に献げられた肉 (idol / food offered to idols), and 誇る (boasting) wherever contrasted with humility teaching.
This glossary extends the baseline Romans translation_memory.json for the 1 Corinthians curriculum. Upon Phase 1 sign-off, Section B entries should be merged into a versioned translation_memory.json update (increment version, per the baseline’s Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions) before Phase 2 segment translation begins.
Critical Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: 恵み
Transliteration: megumi
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: 恩返しが要る恵み, 功徳
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. CRITICAL: must be taught as non-transactional against Japan’s on-giri (恩・義理) reciprocal-obligation logic. 1 Corinthians usage: 15:10’s threefold repetition (‘by the grace of God I am what I am… his grace… was not without effect… yet not I, but the grace of God’) is a textbook site where on-giri logic could re-enter — the rendering must make clear Paul’s subsequent labor (see kopiao/労苦する entry) is grace’s FRUIT, not a repayment installment. Also 1:3-4, 3:10, 16:23.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: 義
Transliteration: gi
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 道徳, 正義感
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. CRITICAL: must be distinguished from 義 as a Bushido honor-code virtue (Nitobe’s Bushido). 1 Corinthians usage: 1:30, ‘Christ Jesus… became for us… righteousness’ — Christ himself IS the believer’s righteousness, not a virtue the believer cultivates or displays; reinforce this received, not achieved, sense every occurrence.
Justification
Approved rendering: 義と認められること
Transliteration: gi to mitomerareru koto
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 悟りを開くこと, 解脱
Original: δικαιόω
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. CRITICAL: NEVER 悟りを開く (Buddhist enlightenment attained through practice). 1 Corinthians usage: 6:11, ‘you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus’ — listed alongside washing/sanctification as things done TO the believer, reinforcing the forensic, received (not self-achieved) sense.
Salvation
Approved rendering: 救い
Transliteration: sukui
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 解脱, 極楽往生
Original: σωτηρία / σῴζω
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. CRITICAL: NEVER 解脱; extreme care with 極楽往生 bridge language. 1 Corinthians usage: 1:18,21 and 15:2 anchor 救い to the specific cross-and-resurrection event (‘the message of the cross… is the power of God to us who are being saved’), not generalized well-being.
Jesus
Approved rendering: イエス
Transliteration: Iesu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ゼズス
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Use イエス exclusively, never the Kirishitan-era ゼズス. 1 Corinthians usage: throughout, especially the salvation-confession context of 12:3 and the resurrection-appearance list of 15:5-8.
God
Approved rendering: 神
Transliteration: Kami
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 八百万の神の一柱としての神, 神様
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. CRITICAL, highest-risk term. 1 Corinthians usage: 8:4-6’s explicit monotheistic confession (‘there is no idol/God but one… yet for us there is one God, the Father’) is a uniquely weighty doctrinal statement given the surrounding idol-meat subject matter; use 唯一のまことの神 at this passage WITHOUT EXCEPTION, since the argument is directly about the reality of the ‘eight million kami’ (八百万の神) worldview that 神 alone risks invoking.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: 聖霊
Transliteration: Seirei
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 霊, 幽霊
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον / τὸ Πνεῦμα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. NEVER 霊 alone. 1 Corinthians usage: chs.2,3,6,12,14. Ch.2:12’s contrast with ‘the spirit of the world’ (この世の霊, see new term entry) makes vigilant qualification especially necessary since both terms appear in close proximity — readers must not conclude these are two members of one animistic spirit-category differing only by degree.
Demon
Approved rendering: 悪霊
Transliteration: akuryou
Doctrine: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
Original: δαιμόνιον
Category: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
NEW term. δαιμόνιον, a malevolent spiritual being behind pagan idol worship, opposed to God (10:20-21). 悪霊 is already well-established in Japanese folk religion, horror cinema/manga, and exorcism-adjacent popular culture (お祓い). This existing cultural furniture makes the word instantly intelligible but risks readers filing biblical demons alongside folk yūrei/yōkai as one more category within an animistic spirit-world taxonomy, rather than personal, morally culpable beings actively opposing the one true God specifically. Same rigor as the baseline’s 聖霊/霊 distinction required. Human theologian review required at every occurrence.
Spiritual Body
Approved rendering: 御霊のからだ
Transliteration: mitama no karada
Doctrine: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
Original: σῶμα πνευματικόν
Category: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
NEW term. σῶμα πνευματικόν, the imperishable, glorious, Spirit-animated resurrection body, genuinely continuous with the body sown in death, not its replacement by a disembodied spirit-existence (15:42-44). Japanese folk-religious and Buddhist afterlife conceptions widely available to secular readers (becoming an ancestral spirit/hotoke 仏 venerated at the butsudan; the wandering, ethereal 霊/魂 returning at Obon; popular ghost-story culture) all tend toward a DISEMBODIED spirit-existence. Must be taught as emphatically the opposite: genuinely physical, tangible, transformed, continuous with the body that died. Same human-theologian-review priority as the resurrection term itself.
High Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: 信仰
Transliteration: shinkou
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: 信心, 宗教心
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Must be distinguished from generic 宗教心 (religious sentiment). 1 Corinthians usage: 15:2,11,14,17 ties 信仰 to specific, checkable historical claims (Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, appearances) rather than a felt religious disposition; 2:5 explicitly grounds faith ‘not in human wisdom but in God’s power’; 12:9 lists it as one gift among several, distinct from saving faith generally — flag this sense-shift for teaching clarity; 13:13 names it alongside hope and love.
Called
Approved rendering: 召された
Transliteration: mesareta
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 運命づけられた, 天職
Original: κλητός
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Avoid 運命づけられた and use 天職 only with caution. 1 Corinthians usage: 1:1-2 (Paul’s own apostolic calling and the Corinthians ‘called to be saints’), 1:9, 1:24, 1:26; 7:15,17-24 extends the term to the state of life (marriage/singleness) one was called in — flag this extended sense for cross-reference with ‘calling’ below.
Calling
Approved rendering: 召し
Transliteration: meshi
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 運命, 天職
Original: κλῆσις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. NEVER 運命 alone. 1 Corinthians usage: 1:26, 7:20’s instruction to ‘remain in the state in which you were called’ — a personal, relational summons, not a fixed destiny; connects to ch.7’s unusual application of 賜物 (spiritual gift) to a life-state.
Saints
Approved rendering: 聖徒
Transliteration: seito
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: 聖者, 菩薩
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. NEVER 菩薩 or 聖者. 1 Corinthians usage: 1:2, and especially 6:1-2 (‘the saints will judge the world’) — the corporate, non-elite, every-believer-at-Corinth sense must be preserved, not an ascetic elite class. Also 6:1, 14:33, 16:1,15.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: 聖化
Transliteration: seika
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 修行, 悟り
Original: ἁγιασμός / ἡγιασμένοι
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Distinguish from 修行 (ascetic training) and 悟り (sudden enlightenment). 1 Corinthians usage: 1:2, 6:11 lists sanctification alongside washing and justification as the Spirit’s work upon the believer, not self-directed moral improvement.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: 復活
Transliteration: fukkatsu
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 輪廻転生, カムバック
Original: ἀνάστασις / ἐγείρω
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package. NEVER 輪廻転生. THE single most load-bearing term in the entire 1 Corinthians curriculum (ch.15, the core passage’s chapter). 復活’s secular pop-culture ‘comeback’ usage (band reunions, product relaunches, sports rallies) must be actively counteracted throughout ch.15 — supplying the correct word alone is insufficient. Governs 15:4,12-58 and 6:14. Treat as functionally Critical-tier for review routing within this curriculum given the anchor passage’s centrality, while the baseline TM classification (High) is retained unchanged per exact-copy requirement.
Lord
Approved rendering: 主
Transliteration: shu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 主君, ご主人様
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. 1 Corinthians usage: 12:3, ‘no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit’ directly parallels Romans 10:9 and must use the identical unqualified rendering (イエスは主です); 主君 feudal-lord framing may bridge but must not reduce Christ’s Lordship to political fealty. Also 1:2-3, 8:6, 15:47, 16:22-23.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: 神の国
Transliteration: Kami no Kuni
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Rejected alternatives: 神国日本
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Inherited from Romans package. Must not stand unanchored, per baseline’s pre-1945 State Shinto 神国日本 caution. 1 Corinthians usage: 4:20; 6:9-10’s vice-list exclusion clause; 15:24,50 (‘flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God’) — apply the same Romans 14:17 anchoring discipline at each occurrence.
Sin
Approved rendering: 罪
Transliteration: tsumi
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: 恥, 迷惑をかけること
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package. Risk of being processed as 迷惑 (trouble caused to others) or public 恥 (shame) rather than guilt before God is acute in chs.5-7’s sexual-immorality material, where church social embarrassment could eclipse the moral-guilt dimension Paul actually addresses. Also 15:3,17 (‘Christ died for our sins… if Christ has not been raised… you are still in your sins’).
Messiah
Approved rendering: キリスト
Transliteration: Kirisuto
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: 救世主
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Secular Japanese readers know ‘Kirisuto’ mainly as a foreign cultural brand (commercialized Christmas, wedding-chapel aesthetics). 1 Corinthians usage: 1:23 (‘Christ crucified… a stumbling block to Jews’) and 15:3 (‘Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures’) require substantial OT-messianic-fulfillment teaching, not just correct word choice.
Covenant
Approved rendering: 契約
Transliteration: keiyaku
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. 契約’s fully secularized commercial-contract default sense is a dilution risk. 1 Corinthians usage: 11:25, ‘this cup is the new covenant in my blood’ — this is the single highest-stakes liturgical occurrence of this term in the whole two-book language package; requires active restoration of its relational, blood-sealed, gracious sense at the Lord’s Supper institution words, not passive reliance on the word alone.
Division Schism
Approved rendering: 分裂
Transliteration: bunretsu
Doctrine: Christian Unity versus Factionalism
Rejected alternatives: 派閥
Original: σχίσμα
Category: Christian Unity
NEW term. σχίσμα, a social/factional rupture around teacher-personalities (1:10-13, 11:18, 12:25). Japan’s well-documented faction culture (派閥, habatsu — political, corporate, and religious-sectarian) makes 分裂 instantly recognizable but risks readers processing church division as ordinary, tolerable organizational politics rather than sin fracturing the body Christ died for. Must escalate the moral weight above ‘normal group politics’ in every occurrence.
Wisdom
Approved rendering: 知恵
Transliteration: chie
Doctrine: The Cross as Wisdom and Power
Rejected alternatives: 智慧
Original: σοφία
Category: Wisdom and Power of the Cross
NEW term. σοφία, contrasting worldly rhetorical/philosophical wisdom with God’s wisdom revealed in the crucified Christ (1:17-2:16, 3:19). MANDATE the 知恵 kanji exclusively; NEVER 智慧, the standard Japanese Buddhist term for prajñā (transcendent insight attained through enlightenment/practice) — this is a silent kanji-substitution risk parallel to the baseline’s 預言/予言 homophone caution, but attached to a doctrinally central term. God’s wisdom in the cross is revealed, not attained through spiritual discipline.
Foolishness
Approved rendering: 愚かさ
Transliteration: orokasa
Doctrine: The Cross as Wisdom and Power
Original: μωρία
Category: Wisdom and Power of the Cross
NEW term. μωρία, Paul’s deliberately provocative label for the gospel as it appears to unbelieving sophistication (1:18-25). The paradox (God’s ‘foolishness’ is wiser than human wisdom) requires careful framing so respectability-conscious Japanese readers do not read this as an actual concession of intellectual inferiority rather than Paul’s deliberate rhetorical inversion.
Boasting
Approved rendering: 誇る
Transliteration: hokoru
Doctrine: The Cross as Wisdom and Power
Original: καύχησις / καυχάομαι
Category: Wisdom and Power of the Cross
NEW term. καύχησις/καυχάομαι, sinful self-glorying redirected by Paul to boasting ‘in the Lord’ alone (1:29,31, 3:21, 4:7, 9:15-16, 13:3, 15:31). Japan’s humility norm (謙遜, kenson) makes any positive treatment of boasting culturally jarring; conversely readers may reduce ‘boast in the Lord’ to mere modesty and miss that ALL self-glorying — including subtle humility-as-virtue-signaling — is confronted, not just crude arrogance.
Temple
Approved rendering: 神殿
Transliteration: shinden
Doctrine: Church Discipline and Holiness
Original: ναός
Category: Church Discipline and Holiness
NEW term. ναός, applied to the corporate church (3:16-17) and the individual believer’s body (6:19). 神殿 is also the standard architectural term for a Shinto shrine’s inner hall where a kami is believed to dwell — a structurally, not merely superficially, similar concept. Useful as a bridge but must be firmly anchored to the ONE Holy Spirit indwelling the covenant community/individual believers, never a physical building or one kami-dwelling among many. Human theologian review required at every occurrence.
Mystery
Approved rendering: 奥義
Transliteration: ougi
Doctrine: Spirit-Revealed Wisdom versus Worldly Wisdom
Original: μυστήριον
Category: Church Discipline and Holiness
NEW term. μυστήριον, God’s redemptive plan, formerly hidden, now openly disclosed through the Spirit (2:1,7; 4:1). 奥義 is the standard word for a martial art’s or traditional craft’s ‘secret technique’ (aikido, kendo, tea-ceremony ougi), attained only after long discipleship under a master — precisely the elite-initiation, effort-attained framing Paul is REVERSING. Must clarify this mystery is graciously disclosed to all believers through the Spirit, not mastered through years of disciplined practice.
Sexual Immorality
Approved rendering: 淫らな行い
Transliteration: midara na okonai
Doctrine: Church Discipline and Holiness
Original: πορνεία
Category: Church Discipline and Holiness
NEW term. πορνεία, sexual sin outside God’s design for marriage — the incest case of 5:1, and recurring 6:9,13,18, 7:2, 10:8. Contemporary secular Japanese sexual ethics (normalized cohabitation, a large commercialized ‘love hotel’ industry, low social stigma outside traditionalist subcultures) sit at real distance from the biblical norm Paul assumes as obvious; requires establishing the theological basis (body as temple, one-flesh union), not assumed shared intuition.
Bought With A Price
Approved rendering: 買い取られました
Transliteration: kaitoraremashita
Doctrine: Church Discipline and Holiness
Original: ἀγοράζω
Category: Salvation
NEW term. ἀγοράζω, purchased out of slavery into new ownership by Christ (6:20, 7:23). 買い取る’s default modern sense is an ordinary commercial transaction (real estate, contract buyout), risking a flattened reading of costly, gracious rescue as a business transaction; no vivid cultural memory of chattel-slave manumission-by-purchase exists in modern Japan. Requires active explanatory teaching, paralleling the baseline’s covenant/adoption dilution cautions.
Singleness
Approved rendering: 独身
Transliteration: dokushin
Doctrine: Marriage and Singleness
Original: ἄγαμος
Category: Marriage and Singleness
NEW term. ἄγαμος, the unmarried state, explicitly named a Spirit-given calling for undivided devotion to Christ (7:7-8,32-35). Contemporary Japan’s pronounced marriage-avoidance trend (非婚化, hikonka; rising lifetime unmarried rate; ‘herbivore men’/草食系男子 discourse) risks this being misapplied as scriptural endorsement of secular relationship-avoidance rather than a specific vocational gift oriented toward gospel service; must be clearly distinguished.
Idol
Approved rendering: 偶像
Transliteration: guuzou
Doctrine: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
Original: εἴδωλον
Category: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
NEW term. εἴδωλον, a cult image representing a false god; theological premise of chs.8,10 (‘there is no idol/God but one,’ 8:4). Collides with normalized Japanese household ancestor-veneration and kami-shelf practice (butsudan 仏壇, kamidana 神棚, present in many secular homes with regular food/drink offerings, お供え). Bidirectional risk: readers may treat idols as irrelevant ancient exotica, OR feel ordinary family piety toward deceased parents is being accused of paganism if the parallel is drawn too bluntly. Human theologian review required at every occurrence.
Food Offered To Idols
Approved rendering: 偶像に献げられた肉
Transliteration: guuzou ni sasagerareta niku
Doctrine: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
Original: εἰδωλόθυτον
Category: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
NEW term. εἰδωλόθυτον, meat sold in the market after temple sacrifice — the specific practical question of chs.8,10. Direct structural parallel to Japanese food-offering practice (お供え物, rice/sake/food offered at kamidana/butsudan and later often consumed by the family) intensifies the same collision profile as ‘idol’. Human theologian review required at every occurrence.
Conscience
Approved rendering: 良心
Transliteration: ryoushin
Doctrine: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
Original: συνείδησις
Category: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
NEW term. συνείδησις, the inner faculty of moral self-judgment — the ‘weak conscience’ that may be caused to stumble (8:7-12, 10:25-29). Connects to the baseline sin/罪 shame-orientation caution: 良心 risks defaulting to social-propriety-sensing (avoiding 迷惑 or public disharmony) rather than an internal moral compass answerable to God regardless of social consequence.
Rights Authority
Approved rendering: 権利
Transliteration: kenri
Doctrine: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
Original: ἐξουσία
Category: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
NEW term. ἐξουσία, a genuine right voluntarily forgone for the gospel’s sake — Paul’s defended-then-renounced apostolic right to support (9:4-18); liberty rights more broadly (8:9). Japan’s group-harmony culture (和) mutes individual rights-assertion language, risking a misreading of Paul as having no real standing rather than freely surrendering a genuine right he argues forcefully before renouncing.
Athletic Race Prize Crown
Approved rendering: 競技 / 冠
Transliteration: kyougi / kan
Doctrine: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
Original: ἀγών / βραβεῖον / στέφανος
Category: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
NEW term. ἀγών/βραβεῖον/στέφανος, the athletic-competition metaphor for disciplined ministry effort toward an imperishable reward (9:24-27), drawn from Corinth’s Isthmian Games. Sits directly on Japan’s competitive exam/hiring ‘selection’ culture (受験, 選抜) and ganbaru achievement-merit framing, risking a ‘hard work earns your reward/salvation’ misreading that contradicts grace-based assurance. Must be taught as disciplined stewardship of a gift already graciously given (echo 15:10’s grace-then-labor pattern), not merit accumulation.
Table Of Lord And Demons
Approved rendering: 主の食卓 / 悪霊の食卓
Transliteration: Shu no shokutaku / akuryou no shokutaku
Doctrine: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
Original: τράπεζα κυρίου / τράπεζα δαιμονίων
Category: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
NEW term. τράπεζα κυρίου/δαιμονίων, two mutually exclusive tables of spiritual communion (10:21), anticipating ch.11’s Lord’s Supper material. Sharing a table with a spiritual power was understood as entering communion with it — structurally intelligible via Japan’s own kami/ancestor food-offering custom, making the parallel too available. The two phrases must be kept sharply, unambiguously distinct from each other and from the Lord’s Supper.
Headship
Approved rendering: かしら
Transliteration: kashira
Doctrine: Order in Worship
Rejected alternatives: 家長
Original: κεφαλή
Category: Order in Worship
NEW term. κεφαλή, a relational ordering invoked to ground worship practice (11:3, ‘the head of Christ is God, the head of the man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man’). 家長 (kachou, feudal/patriarchal household-head authority) was deliberately rejected as too heavily loaded with hierarchical-dominance connotation; かしら was chosen instead but still sits close to Japan’s traditional patriarchal household-authority structure. Risks either an overstated hierarchical-dominance reading or a defensively softened, doctrinally flattened rendering. Must present the functional, relational sense (echoing the Trinitarian Father-Son relation in 11:3) without overstating dominance or erasing genuine ordering language. Human theologian review required.
Lords Supper
Approved rendering: 主の晩餐
Transliteration: Shu no Bansan
Doctrine: The Lord’s Supper
Original: κυριακὸν δεῖπνον
Category: The Lord’s Supper
NEW term. κυριακὸν δεῖπνον, the corporate sacramental meal named and corrected in 11:20-34. Must be distinguished from Japan’s Buddhist memorial-meal tradition (法事, hōji, on death anniversaries) and Obon ancestor food-offerings; taught as participatory communion in Christ’s ONGOING life and proclamation of his RETURN (11:26), not a memorial rite for one who remains among the departed dead.
Remembrance
Approved rendering: 記念
Transliteration: kinen
Doctrine: The Lord’s Supper
Original: ἀνάμνησις
Category: The Lord’s Supper
NEW term. ἀνάμνησις, the commemorative act commanded in the Supper’s institution words (11:24-25, ‘do this in remembrance of me’). Same memorial-rite collision risk as ‘the Lord’s Supper’ above; must be anchored to a death that has been REVERSED BY RESURRECTION, cross-linking to 15:3-4, not remembrance of someone who remains departed.
Body Polysemous
Approved rendering: 体 / からだ
Transliteration: karada
Doctrine: The Lord’s Supper
Original: σῶμα
Category: The Lord’s Supper
NEW term. σῶμα, used in at least four distinct theological senses across the book: sacrificial body given in the Supper (11:24,27,29), the individual believer’s body as temple (6:19), the corporate body of Christ (12:12-27), and the resurrection body (15:35-44). 体/からだ carries no built-in sense-marker; translators must track which sense is active in each passage and teaching materials must make the shift explicit rather than assuming readers will intuit the metaphorical range.
Discerning The Body
Approved rendering: からだを見分ける
Transliteration: karada wo miwakeru
Doctrine: The Lord’s Supper
Original: διακρίνων τὸ σῶμα
Category: The Lord’s Supper
NEW term. διακρίνων τὸ σῶμα, the warning against partaking unworthily without recognizing ‘the body’ (11:27-29). Genuine EXEGETICAL ambiguity, not merely cultural collision, exists over whether ‘the body’ refers to Christ’s sacrificial body, the gathered church body, or both. Flag per the baseline ambiguity-handling protocol; record the alternative rendering and route to human theologian/native speaker review rather than silently resolving.
Body Of Christ Corporate
Approved rendering: キリストの体
Transliteration: Kirisuto no karada
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ
Original: σῶμα Χριστοῦ
Category: Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ
NEW term. σῶμα Χριστοῦ, the corporate church as one organic body with many interdependent members (12:12-27). Must be clearly distinguished in teaching from the sacramental ‘body’ of ch.11 and the resurrection ‘body’ of ch.15, even though the same Japanese word (体/からだ) necessarily recurs across all three senses.
Tongues
Approved rendering: 異言
Transliteration: igen
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ
Rejected alternatives: グロソラリア
Original: γλῶσσαι
Category: Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ
NEW term. γλῶσσαι, the Spirit-given gift of ecstatic/other-language speech, one gift among many (12:10,28,30; central again in ch.14). A transliterated loanword (グロソラリア) was rejected as a foreign technical curiosity disconnected from lived devotional vocabulary. 異言 risks collision with Japanese trance-mediumship folk phenomena (itako, イタコ, oracular mediums of the Tohoku region who channel the words of the dead) and broader shamanistic/channeling associations. Must clearly distinguish Spirit-given tongues as intelligible-to-God, edifying, orderly, SPEAKER-CONTROLLED speech under God’s authorship, from trance-mediumship where the medium’s own agency is displaced by another entity.
Interpretation Of Tongues
Approved rendering: 解き明かし
Transliteration: tokiakashi
Doctrine: Order in Worship
Original: ἑρμηνεία
Category: Order in Worship
NEW term. ἑρμηνεία, the required companion gift for public use of tongues in corporate worship (14:5,13,27-28). Inherits tongues’ collision risk; adds the specific concern that untranslated, uninterpreted ‘spiritual speech’ in a public gathering could otherwise be indistinguishable to an outside observer from trance-mediumship phenomena.
Love Agape
Approved rendering: 愛
Transliteration: ai
Doctrine: Love as the Greater Way
Rejected alternatives: アガペー
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Love as the Greater Way
NEW term. ἀγάπη, self-giving, unconditional love defined by action (13:4-7); without it even the most impressive spiritual gifts are worthless (13:1-3), and it outlasts faith and hope (13:13). A transliterated loanword (アガペー) was rejected in favor of correcting the existing native term rather than creating a disconnected vocabulary island. 愛 was substantially reshaped by 19th-century missionary translation to carry agapē’s weight; pre-Christian/Buddhist connotations leaned toward romantic attachment or even negatively-viewed clinging attachment (愛着, aichaku, linked to suffering-causing craving). Contemporary secular usage defaults overwhelmingly to romantic love (愛してる); ch.13 is frequently read at weddings even by non-Christians, risking absorption purely as romantic-relationship advice. Human theologian review required at every occurrence in ch.13.
Last Adam
Approved rendering: 最後のアダム
Transliteration: Saigo no Adamu
Doctrine: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
Original: ὁ ἔσχατος Ἀδάμ
Category: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
NEW term. ὁ ἔσχατος Ἀδάμ, Christ as head of resurrection-life, contrasted with Adam as head of humanity in death (15:21-22,45-49). Requires substantial Genesis-narrative background teaching for readers with no prior exposure to the Adam account — a biblical-illiteracy risk compounding the doctrinal weight of the typology at the climax of the resurrection argument.
Deliver Receive Tradition
Approved rendering: 伝える / 受ける
Transliteration: tsutaeru / ukeru
Doctrine: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
Original: παραδίδωμι / παραλαμβάνω
Category: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
NEW term. παραδίδωμι/παραλαμβάνω, technical vocabulary for the formal transmission of authoritative apostolic tradition (15:1,3; also 11:2,23). Bridges usefully with Japan’s iemoto (家元) master-disciple transmission culture (tea ceremony, martial arts budō menkyo) as a structural analogy for careful, guarded transmission, but must clarify Paul is transmitting VERIFIABLE HISTORICAL EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY about a public event, not an esoteric technique reserved for initiates.
According To Scriptures
Approved rendering: 聖書に書いてあるとおり
Transliteration: Seisho ni kaite aru toori
Doctrine: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
Original: κατὰ τὰς γραφάς
Category: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
NEW term. κατὰ τὰς γραφάς, Christ’s death and resurrection as the planned fulfillment of the OT prophetic corpus (15:3-4). Must be taught as linear, one-time HISTORICAL fulfillment, never as a fortune-telling prediction (占い) coming true by chance; compounded by secular Japanese readers’ general lack of OT narrative literacy.
Appeared
Approved rendering: 現れました
Transliteration: arawaremashita
Doctrine: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
Original: ὤφθη
Category: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
NEW term. ὤφθη, the technical formula for a genuine, objective post-resurrection encounter with the risen Christ, listed across named eyewitnesses (15:5-8). The Japanese verb 現れる is used broadly for ghosts (幽霊が現れる) and apparitions in popular horror/ghost-story culture; must clarify this is a bodily, physical, repeatable-to-multiple-witnesses encounter with a resurrected human body, not a spectral sighting — directly parallel to the baseline’s caution against bare 霊 for the Holy Spirit.
Untimely Born
Approved rendering: 月足らずで生まれた者
Transliteration: tsukitarazu de umareta mono
Doctrine: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
Rejected alternatives: 予期せず
Original: ἔκτρωμα
Category: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
NEW term. ἔκτρωμα, Paul’s deliberately jarring self-description as one ‘born out of due season,’ underscoring his apostleship as pure undeserved grace (15:8). A bland euphemism such as 予期せず (‘unexpectedly’) was rejected as it would smooth away Paul’s deliberate shock/self-abasement value. Preserve the harshness rather than softening it into a generic ‘unexpectedly.‘
Medium Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: 福音
Transliteration: fukuin
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: いい知らせ, グッドニュース
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Established Shinkaiyaku term; main risk is blankness/biblical illiteracy for secular readers, not competing meaning. 1 Corinthians usage: 1 Cor 15:1-2,11 anchors 福音 as fixed, defined historical content (‘delivered’/‘received’, see paradidōmi/paralambanō entry below), not a vague sentiment — reinforce this distinction throughout the core passage. Also occurs 1:17, 9:12-23.
Holy
Approved rendering: 聖い
Transliteration: kiyoi
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 清らか, 穢れがない
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Distinguish from Shinto ritual-purity concepts. 1 Corinthians usage: 3:17 (the temple is holy), 7:14’s unusual statement that an unbelieving spouse/children are ‘sanctified’ through a believing spouse/parent — must be taught as relational/covenantal set-apartness, not ritual purification or automatic salvation.
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: 賜物
Transliteration: tamamono
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Rejected alternatives: 超能力, 霊力
Original: χαρίσματα / πνευματικά
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Always qualify as 御霊の賜物 in doctrinally weighty statements. 1 Corinthians usage: central to ch.12 (12:1,4,9,28,31); 7:7 applies the same word to a life-state (singleness) as a Spirit-given calling — an unusual extended sense requiring an explanatory bridge to ch.12’s ministry-ability sense so readers do not conclude these are two unrelated words.
Church
Approved rendering: 教会
Transliteration: kyoukai
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: 寺, 神社
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. NEVER 寺 or 神社. 1 Corinthians usage: especially important in ch.14’s worship-order material, where 教会 as a gathered assembly (not a building) must be kept clear, and in the Lord’s Supper material (11:18) and closing greetings (16:1,19).
Law
Approved rendering: 律法
Transliteration: ritsuhou
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 空気を読むこと, 法律
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. NEVER 法律. 1 Corinthians usage: 9:8-9,20 (Paul’s adaptability to those under the Law) and 14:21,34; avoid collapsing 律法 into Japan’s social-conformity ‘reading the air’ (空気を読む) norm.
Glory
Approved rendering: 栄光
Transliteration: eikou
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 名誉
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Avoid collapsing into 名誉 (secular honor/reputation). 1 Corinthians usage: 10:31, 11:7, and especially 15:40-43’s application to the resurrection body’s glory — requires the full weight of divine radiance, not social prestige.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: 神の力
Transliteration: Kami no Chikara
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 気, パワー
Original: δύναμις θεοῦ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Avoid 気 and パワー. 1 Corinthians usage: 1:18,24 and 2:5 apply this to the paradox of power displayed through a CRUCIFIED Messiah — a theological layer beyond Romans’ usage requiring its own explanatory framing (weakness-as-power paradox), not merely avoidance of pop-culture superpower drift. Also 6:14.
Prophet
Approved rendering: 預言者
Transliteration: yogensha
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: 予言者, 占い師
Original: προφήτης
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Always verify the 預 kanji (not 予). 1 Corinthians usage: the prophet gift is ranked and discussed in 12:28-29, 14:29,32,37 — chapter 14’s high term density (adjacent to 預言/賜物/異言) heightens the homophone-verification requirement at every occurrence.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: 預言
Transliteration: yogen
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 予言, 占い
Original: προφητεία
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Same 預言/予言 homophone risk as ‘prophet’. 1 Corinthians usage: 12:10, 13:2,8-9, and central to ch.14 (14:1-6,22,24,39) where Paul explicitly prefers intelligible prophecy over uninterpreted tongues for corporate edification — verify kanji at every occurrence given the chapter’s term density.
Election
Approved rendering: 選び
Transliteration: erabi
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: 合格, 選抜
Original: ἐκλέγομαι
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Must not be read through Japan’s competitive exam/hiring ‘selection’ culture (受験, 選抜). 1 Corinthians usage: 1:27-28, ‘God chose what is foolish… what is weak… what is low and despised’ — explicitly INVERTS merit; a competitive-selection frame would produce the opposite of Paul’s point here.
Mission
Approved rendering: 宣教
Transliteration: senkyou
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Rejected alternatives: 布教
Original: εὐαγγελίζομαι / ἀποστολή
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Frame with awareness of Kirishitan-persecution history and Japan’s low per-capita evangelism response rate. 1 Corinthians usage: 9:16-23’s adaptable missionary strategy (‘I have become all things to all people’) should not be read as doctrinal compromise.
Israel
Approved rendering: イスラエル
Transliteration: Isuraeru
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. 1 Corinthians usage: 10:1-13,18’s exodus/wilderness-generation typology (‘our fathers… Israel according to the flesh’) carries heavy biblical-illiteracy risk for secular readers lacking OT narrative background, compounding the term’s baseline risk.
Father
Approved rendering: 父
Transliteration: chichi
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 家長
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. 1 Corinthians usage: 8:6, ‘there is one God, the Father, from whom all things came’ — requires the relational-warmth sense to be actively built, not assumed, given Japan’s culturally distant ‘absent salaryman father’ association noted in the baseline.
Brothers Address
Approved rendering: 兄弟たち
Transliteration: kyoudai-tachi
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀδελφοί
Category: Church
NEW term. ἀδελφοί, Paul’s fictive-kinship address to the whole congregation, male and female (1:10-11, 15:1,58, 16:15). 兄弟 defaults in ordinary Japanese to literal male siblings; without explanatory framing this risks reading as excluding women, especially notable at the resurrection chapter’s emotionally weighted opening and closing (15:1,58). Teaching materials should clarify the address is to the entire congregation.
Stumbling Block
Approved rendering: つまずき
Transliteration: tsumazuki
Doctrine: Christian Unity versus Factionalism
Original: σκάνδαλον / πρόσκομμα
Category: Christian Unity
NEW term. σκάνδαλον/πρόσκομμα — the cross as stumbling block to Jews (1:23); liberty causing a weaker believer to stumble (8:9,13). Standard rendering; low collision risk. Use consistently across chs.1 and 8 so readers connect the cross’s own offense to the later ethical warnings.
Fleshly
Approved rendering: 肉的な
Transliteration: nikuteki na
Doctrine: Christian Unity versus Factionalism
Original: σαρκικός
Category: Church Discipline and Holiness
NEW term. σαρκικός, governed by sinful human nature rather than the Spirit; the Corinthians’ factionalism diagnosed as evidence of ongoing fleshliness (3:1-3). Must connect to the baseline 罪 (sin) entry: factional jealousy is a moral failure before God, not mere social friction.
Fire Testing
Approved rendering: 火
Transliteration: hi
Doctrine: Church Discipline and Holiness
Original: πῦρ
Category: Church Discipline and Holiness
NEW term. πῦρ, eschatological fire testing the quality of ministry work at judgment (3:13-15). Distinguish from Japanese purificatory fire rituals (護摩木, Buddhist fire offerings; 火渡り, fire-walking purification) — this fire tests the WORK, not the person’s salvation, which the text explicitly states is not at stake (3:15).
Steward
Approved rendering: 管理者
Transliteration: kanrisha
Doctrine: Church Discipline and Holiness
Original: οἰκονόμος
Category: Church Discipline and Holiness
NEW term. οἰκονόμος, a trusted household manager applied to apostles as accountable stewards of God’s mysteries (4:1-2). Standard managerial vocabulary; moderate risk primarily from adjacency to the higher-risk ‘mystery’ term it governs.
Judge Dispute
Approved rendering: 裁く
Transliteration: sabaku
Doctrine: Church Discipline and Holiness
Original: κρίνω
Category: Church Discipline and Holiness
NEW term. κρίνω, to judge/evaluate — Paul’s ministry (4:3-5), church discipline (5:3,12-13), lawsuits among believers (6:1-6). Japan’s low civil-litigation rate and preference for mediated settlement (示談) risks a shallow ‘of course, harmony is good’ reading that misses Paul’s actual point: public lawsuits between believers shame the gospel witness regardless of outcome fairness.
Leaven
Approved rendering: パン種
Transliteration: pan-dane
Doctrine: Church Discipline and Holiness
Original: ζύμη
Category: Church Discipline and Holiness
NEW term. ζύμη, yeast; symbol of corruption spreading through the whole congregation if tolerated (5:6-8), tied to Passover/unleavened-bread symbolism. Primarily a biblical-illiteracy risk (zero cultural resonance without OT background) rather than doctrinal collision; requires explanatory teaching from scratch.
Marriage
Approved rendering: 結婚
Transliteration: kekkon
Doctrine: Marriage and Singleness
Original: γάμος
Category: Marriage and Singleness
NEW term. γάμος, the God-ordained marital estate, central to 7:1-16,25-40. Standard term with low-medium risk; ensure consistency with 独身 as its paired counterpart throughout ch.7’s argument.
Virgin
Approved rendering: 処女
Transliteration: shojo
Doctrine: Marriage and Singleness
Original: παρθένος
Category: Marriage and Singleness
NEW term. παρθένος, subject of Paul’s counsel to the unmarried/betrothed (7:25-38). Standard rendering; low-medium risk.
Separate Divorce
Approved rendering: 離れる / 離婚
Transliteration: hanareru / rikon
Doctrine: Marriage and Singleness
Original: χωρίζω
Category: Marriage and Singleness
NEW term. χωρίζω, marital separation/divorce, including the ‘Pauline privilege’ for an unbelieving spouse who departs (7:10-15). Standard rendering; contextual pastoral sensitivity required given real mixed-faith-marriage situations readers may face.
Knowledge
Approved rendering: 知識
Transliteration: chishiki
Doctrine: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
Original: γνῶσις
Category: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
NEW term. γνῶσις, correct theological information which ‘puffs up’ without love (8:1-2, 13:2,8). Risk that 知識 is reduced to mere information-possession, missing Paul’s point that correct doctrine without love is spiritually destructive.
Freedom
Approved rendering: 自由
Transliteration: jiyuu
Doctrine: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
Original: ἐλευθερία
Category: Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
NEW term. ἐλευθερία, Christian liberty (9:19, 10:29). Standard rendering; must be paired with Paul’s qualifications against libertinism (10:23-24) to avoid an unqualified ‘anything goes’ reading.
Members Limbs
Approved rendering: 肢体
Transliteration: shitai
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ
Original: μέλη
Category: Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ
NEW term. μέλη, bodily limbs/organs in the extended body metaphor — hand, foot, eye, ear as interdependent members, none dispensable (12:14-26). Standard anatomical vocabulary; must retain each member’s genuine indispensability against Japan’s group-harmony (和) tendency to smooth over Paul’s pointed rebuke of status-ranking.
Manifestation Of Spirit
Approved rendering: 御霊の現れ / 御霊の働き
Transliteration: mitama no araware / mitama no hataraki
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ
Original: φανέρωσις τοῦ Πνεύματος
Category: Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ
NEW term. φανέρωσις τοῦ Πνεύματος, gifts exist for corporate benefit, not individual status (12:7). Must emphasize corporate-benefit purpose in translation, resisting any reading that turns gifts into individual status-markers.
Healings Miracles
Approved rendering: 癒しの力 / 力あるわざ
Transliteration: iyashi no chikara / chikara aru waza
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ
Original: ἴασις / ἐνεργήματα δυνάμεων
Category: Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ
NEW term. ἴασις/ἐνεργήματα δυνάμεων, gifts of healing and miracle-working (12:9-10,28). 癒し must here be ELEVATED to genuine supernatural healing — the inverse concern from the baseline’s ‘peace’ entry, which cautions against 癒し’s dilution into Japan’s wellness/relaxation-marketing industry usage.
Firstfruits
Approved rendering: 初穂
Transliteration: hatsuho
Doctrine: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
Original: ἀπαρχή
Category: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
NEW term. ἀπαρχή, Christ’s resurrection as the guarantee and first installment of all believers’ future resurrection, drawn from the OT Feast of Firstfruits (15:20,23). Primarily a biblical-illiteracy risk (zero cultural resonance without OT background) rather than doctrinal collision; requires explanatory teaching of the OT firstfruits concept from scratch.
Perishable Imperishable
Approved rendering: 朽ちる / 朽ちない
Transliteration: kuchiru / kuchinai
Doctrine: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
Original: φθαρτός / ἄφθαρτος
Category: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
NEW term. φθαρτός/ἄφθαρτος, the mortal body’s essential quality contrasted with the resurrection body’s (15:42,50,53-54). Standard descriptive vocabulary; medium risk primarily from proximity to the higher-risk spiritual-body doctrine it describes.
Victory Sting
Approved rendering: 勝利 / とげ
Transliteration: shouri / toge
Doctrine: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
Original: νῖκος / κέντρον
Category: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
NEW term. νῖκος/κέντρον, the triumphant climax quoting Hosea/Isaiah: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory… where, O death, is your sting?’ (15:54-57). Primarily rhetorical/poetic force to preserve, not a doctrinal collision risk; ensure the climactic tone is not flattened.
Buried
Approved rendering: 埋葬されました
Transliteration: maisou saremashita
Doctrine: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
Original: ἐτάφη
Category: The Resurrection of Christ and Believers
NEW term. ἐτάφη, establishing the reality and completeness of Christ’s death as the premise for a genuinely bodily resurrection (15:4). Japanese funerary custom is overwhelmingly cremation (火葬) rather than burial (土葬); teaching should clarify this describes a first-century Jewish rock-tomb burial, a different physical practice, to avoid confusion about the empty-tomb narrative’s plausibility structure.
Collection
Approved rendering: 献金
Transliteration: kenkin
Doctrine: Christian Generosity and Cross-Congregational Unity
Original: λογεία
Category: Church
NEW term. λογεία, the voluntary collection for the Jerusalem church, an act of cross-congregational Christian generosity and unity (16:1-4). Distinguish from Buddhist temple donation practice (お布施, ofuse), which carries a fee-for-ritual-service, social-obligation logic closer to a customary expectation than 16:1-4’s model of free, joyful, cross-congregational giving motivated by gospel unity.
Low Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: 使徒
Transliteration: shito
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: 教祖
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Avoid 教祖 (post-Aum-Shinrikyo negative associations), especially relevant since 1 Cor 9:1-2 and 15:9-10 depict Paul actively defending his personal apostolic legitimacy — a context where a ‘guru/founder’ misreading is more tempting than in Romans. Also 1:1, 4:9, 12:28-29, 15:7.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: 感謝
Transliteration: kansha
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία / εὐχαριστέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Standard term, minor risk of generic secular gratitude without reference to God. 1 Corinthians usage: 1:4, 14:16-18, 15:57.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: 交わり
Transliteration: majiwari
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: 仲間意識
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Avoid 仲間意識 (generic in-group harmony feeling). 1 Corinthians usage: 1:9; 10:16’s sacramental usage (‘participation in the blood/body of Christ’) requires the participatory, not merely social, sense — connects directly to the Lord’s Supper doctrine.
David
Approved rendering: ダビデ
Transliteration: Dabide
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: Δαυίδ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Standard Shinkaiyaku proper-name form. 1 Corinthians usage: background reference underlying the Davidic-messianic line implicit in 15:3-4’s fulfillment argument.
Exhort
Approved rendering: 勧める
Transliteration: susumeru
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Original: παρακαλέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Standard term, no significant risk. 1 Corinthians usage: 1:10, 4:16, 16:15-16.
Foundation And Building
Approved rendering: 土台 / 建てる
Transliteration: dodai / tateru
Doctrine: Church Discipline and Holiness
Original: θεμέλιος / οἰκοδομέω
Category: Church Discipline and Holiness
NEW term. θεμέλιος/οἰκοδομέω — Christ as the sole foundation; ministry as building work tested by fire (3:10-15). Standard construction vocabulary; low collision risk.
Order
Approved rendering: 秩序
Transliteration: chitsujo
Doctrine: Order in Worship
Original: τάξις
Category: Order in Worship
NEW term. τάξις, proper arrangement in corporate worship, the chapter’s summary principle (14:40, ‘let all things be done decently and in order’). Japan’s strong cultural value on procedural order and propriety maps unusually well onto this principle — one of the few genuinely easy bridge concepts in the epistle. Minor risk only of reducing the doctrine to generic etiquette detached from its theological grounding (14:33, God’s own character).
Maranatha
Approved rendering: マラナ・タ
Transliteration: Marana ta
Doctrine: Maranatha: Eschatological Hope for Christ’s Return
Original: μαράνα θά
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. μαράνα θά, ‘Our Lord, come!’ — an Aramaic liturgical formula preserved untranslated in the Greek text (16:22). Retained as transliteration per the baseline’s convention for preserving Aramaic devotional formulas (cf. アバ, Abba). A brief explanatory gloss (‘主よ、来てください’) is recommended on first occurrence.
Holy Kiss
Approved rendering: 聖なる口づけ
Transliteration: seinaru kuchizuke
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Original: φίλημα ἅγιον
Category: Church
NEW term. φίλημα ἅγιον, the customary greeting of the early church (16:20). Physical kissing is not a customary Japanese greeting gesture in any context; teaching materials should explain this as the ancient equivalent of a warm Christian greeting (which a modern reader might express through a bow, handshake, or verbal greeting), not prescribe literal kissing practice.
Referenced passages