Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 1 Timothy | English → Japanese
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, covering the entire book (chapters 1-6) with the core passage (3:1-13) as theological anchor. It is organized in two parts:
- Part A — Terms already established in the Romans baseline
translation_memory.json. These MUST be reused with the EXACT recorded Japanese rendering; no deviation is permitted. Risk tiers shown are the baseline’s recorded tiers. - Part B — New terms introduced by 1 Timothy’s subject matter, not present in the Romans baseline. Risk tiers are newly assigned here, consistent with the baseline’s Critical/High/Medium/Low framework, and must be added to
translation_memory.jsonin Phase 2 per the AI Translation Requirements’ term-discovery protocol.
Risk tier definitions follow the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json exactly:
- Critical: Human theologian review required for every occurrence; mistranslation destroys/alters essential doctrine.
- High: Human theologian review required; significant theological confusion or syncretism risk.
- Medium: Native speaker review recommended; clarity reduced but essential meaning preserved.
- Low: Automated review sufficient; minor imprecision risk only.
Part A — Terms Reused Exactly from the Romans Baseline
| Term (English) | Original | Japanese (MUST reuse exactly) | Transliteration | Risk | Chapters in 1 Timothy | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | θεός | 神 | Kami | Critical | 1,2,3,4,6 | Baseline’s highest-risk term; qualify with 唯一のまことの神 at doctrinally weighty points (e.g., 1:17’s “the only God,” 2:5’s “one God”). |
| Jesus | Ἰησοῦς | イエス | Iesu | Critical | 1,2,3,5,6 | Standard form throughout. |
| Christ | Χριστός | キリスト | Kirisuto | Critical | throughout | Standard form; part of “Christ Jesus” combinations throughout. |
| Lord | κύριος | 主 | shu | Critical | 1,6 | 6:14-15’s “our Lord Jesus Christ” and “Lord of lords.” Must not be confused with δεσπότης (6:1-2, human masters) — see Part B. |
| Holy Spirit | πνεῦμα ἅγιον | 聖霊 | Seirei | Critical | 3(implicit),4 | 3:16’s ἐν πνεύματι (of Christ’s vindication) requires care; 4:1’s πνεύματα πλάνα (“deceiving spirits”) is NOT this term — see Part B, never confuse. |
| Father | πατήρ | 父 | chichi | Medium | 1 | 1:2, “God the Father.” |
| Grace | χάρις | 恵み | megumi | Critical | 1,6 | 1:2 greeting; 6:21 closing benediction. Non-transactional clarification (vs. on-giri) applies throughout. |
| Faith | πίστις | 信仰 | shinkou | High | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | The letter’s most frequent theological term; occurs in nearly every chapter (sound doctrine, mystery of the faith, apostasy from the faith, good confession, etc.). |
| Salvation / to save | σωτηρία / σῴζω | 救い / 救われる | sukui / sukuwareru | Critical | 1,2,4 | 2:4 (all to be saved), 2:15 (CRITICAL exegetical caution — see 07 analysis), 4:16. |
| Righteousness | δικαιοσύνη | 義 | gi | Critical | 3,6 | 3:16 (Christ “vindicated”/justified — see justification below); 6:11 (virtue list) — Bushido-virtue collision risk is HEIGHTENED here because 6:11 structurally resembles a codified virtue list. |
| Justification | δικαιόω (as “vindicated”) | 義と認められること / 義とされ | gi to mitomerareru koto / gi to sare | Critical | 3 | 3:16, applied to Christ’s own vindication, NOT the believer’s forensic justification — flag distinct referent in translator notes. |
| Apostle | ἀπόστολος | 使徒 | shito | Low | 1,2 | 1:1, 2:7. |
| Called / Calling | κλητός / κλῆσις (conceptually, via κατ’ ἐπιταγήν and related calling language) | 召された / 召し | mesareta / meshi | High | 1,6 | 6:12, “to which you were called.” |
| Holy | ἅγιος (and adjacent ὅσιος, merged) | 聖い | kiyoi | High | 2,3 | 2:8 (ὅσιος, “holy hands” — distinct Greek word, same Japanese rendering, flag the merge); 3:9 (καθαρὰ συνείδησις, “clean/holy conscience” idiom). |
| Sanctification / holiness | ἁγιασμός | 聖化 | seika | High | 2 | 2:15, “if they continue… in holiness.” |
| Church | ἐκκλησία | 教会 | kyoukai | Medium | 3 | 3:5, 3:15 (“church of the living God”). |
| Law | νόμος | 律法 | ritsuhou | Medium | 1 | 1:8-9. |
| Sin / sinner | ἁμαρτία / ἁμαρτωλός | 罪 / 罪人 | tsumi / tsumibito | High | 1,5 | 1:9,15 (“chief of sinners”); 5:20,24. Note etymological link to ἀστοχέω (“miss the mark,” 6:21) worth teaching. |
| Gentiles | ἔθνη | 異邦人 | ihoujin | Medium | 2,3 | 2:7, 3:16. |
| Glory | δόξα | 栄光 | eikou | Medium | 1,3 | 1:11,17; 3:16. |
| Spiritual gifts | χάρισμα | 賜物 | tamamono | Medium | 4 | 4:14, tied to laying on of hands by the council of elders. |
| Thanksgiving | εὐχαριστία | 感謝 | kansha | Low | 2 | 2:1. |
| Intercession | ἔντευξις | とりなし | torinashi | Medium | 2,4 | 2:1, 4:5. |
| Peace | εἰρήνη | 平安 | heian | Medium | 1 | 1:2 greeting. |
| Exhort | παρακαλέω (conceptually, “urged”) | 勧める | susumeru | Low | 1 | 1:3. |
Part B — New Terms Introduced in 1 Timothy
| Term (English) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Japanese Rendering | Japanese Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Chapters | Rejected Alternatives | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mediator | μεσίτης | mesitēs | 仲介者 | chuukaisha | Critical | Christ as the One Mediator | 2 | (none viable; 仲介者 is the only established option) | Highest-risk new term in the book. Bodhisattva-intercession, ancestor-veneration/ritual go-between, and secular real-estate/marriage-broker (仲人) dilution all converge. Exclusivity (εἷς…εἷς, “ONE…ONE”) must be stated explicitly every occurrence. Mandatory theologian review every occurrence. |
| Ransom | ἀντίλυτρον | antilytron | 贖いの代価 | akanai no daika | High | Christ as the One Mediator | 2 | — | 代価 risks commercial “price paid” dilution, parallel to baseline’s covenant/契約 caution. |
| Godliness | εὐσέβεια / θεοσέβεια | eusebeia / theosebeia | 敬虔 | keiken | High | Godliness and Contentment | 2,3,4,6 | 敬虔さ alone without object-anchoring | Confucian social-reverence collapse risk; compounds with righteousness (義) Bushido risk at 6:11. |
| Contentment | αὐτάρκεια | autarkeia | 満足 | manzoku | High | Godliness and Contentment | 6 | 自足 (too philosophically loaded toward Stoic self-sufficiency) | Strong Buddhist 知足 (chisoku) bridge available (Ryōan-ji tsukubai 吾唯足知) — use as bridge, must distinguish desire-extinguishing framework from trust-in-God’s-provision framework. |
| Means of gain | πορισμός | porismos | 利益の手段 | rieki no shudan | Medium | Godliness and Contentment | 6 | — | Contrast term to αὐτάρκεια; universal prosperity-teaching caution, not Japan-specific. |
| Mystery (of the faith / of godliness) | μυστήριον | mystērion | 奥義 | okugi | High | Guarding the Deposit of Faith; Sound Doctrine | 3 | 秘密 (too plainly “secret,” loses revealed-truth nuance) | Esoteric-Buddhism (密教) master-to-initiate transmission and martial-arts “secret technique” collision — must clarify: now OPENLY revealed, not an ongoing restricted secret. |
| Sound / healthy doctrine | ὑγιαίνουσα διδασκαλία | hygiainousa didaskalia | 健全な教え | kenzen na oshie | High | Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching | 1,4,6 | 正統な教え (too abstractly “orthodox,” loses health metaphor) | Risk of dilution into generic secular “wholesome/appropriate” (健全な経営 etc.); must anchor to gospel-content correctness. Preserve wordplay with νοσέω (“sick for controversy,” 6:4). |
| Myths / endless genealogies | μῦθοι καὶ γενεαλογίαι ἀπέραντοι | mythoi kai genealogiai aperantoi | 作り話と果てのない系図 | tsukuribanashi to hate no nai keizu | High | Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching | 1 | 神話 (NEVER — direct collision with Kojiki/Nihon Shoki kami-genealogy tradition and pre-1945 State Shinto imperial-lineage ideology) | One of the most culturally acute risk points in the book; mandatory theologian review. |
| Teach a different doctrine | ἑτεροδιδασκαλέω | heterodidaskaleō | 異なる教えを教える | kotonaru oshie o oshieru | Medium | Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching | 1,6 | — | No established single-word equivalent; must render identically at 1:3 and 6:3. |
| Doctrines of demons / deceiving spirits | διδασκαλίαι δαιμονίων / πνεύματα πλάνα | didaskaliai daimoniōn / pneumata plana | 悪霊の教え / 惑わす霊 | akuryou no oshie / madowasu rei | High | Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching | 4 | 霊の教え alone (risk of confusion with 聖霊) | MUST remain lexically distinct from 聖霊 at all times; both “spirit” categories now appear in the same short book. |
| Conscience | συνείδησις | syneidēsis | 良心 | ryoushin | Medium | Sound Doctrine; Qualifications for Church Leadership | 1,3,4 | — | Confucian/shame-culture social-conscience collapse risk; must anchor as “before God,” not merely social. |
| Falsely-called knowledge | ψευδώνυμος γνῶσις | pseudōnymos gnōsis | 偽りの知識 | itsuwari no chishiki | High | Guarding the Deposit of Faith | 6 | — | Proto-Gnostic; risk of reading as anti-intellectualism if not carefully framed as anti-rival-doctrine, not anti-scholarship. |
| Deposit / that which is entrusted | παραθήκη | parathēkē | ゆだねられたもの | yudanerareta mono | Critical | Guarding the Deposit of Faith | 6 | 預金 / 委託 (NEVER — pure banking/commercial terms that erase the doctrinal sense) | The curriculum’s climactic named doctrine. Steward-not-owner distinction is the entire theological point; mandatory theologian review every occurrence. |
| Overseer / bishop | ἐπίσκοπος | episkopos | 監督 | kantoku | High | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | 指導者 (too generic) | Severe secular dilution risk: “film director” / “sports manager” are the dominant contemporary meanings. Anchor to 教会の監督 at first occurrence. |
| Elder | πρεσβύτερος | presbyteros | 長老 | chourou | High | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3(implicit),4,5 | — | Dual sense (age vs. office) requires disambiguating modifiers; Buddhist monastic-rank and generic-elder-respect associations risk flattening to social seniority rather than accountable office. |
| Deacon | διάκονος | diakonos | 執事 | shitsuji | High | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | — | Severe pop-culture dilution risk: butler trope (執事喫茶, Kuroshitsuji). Anchor to 教会の執事の職 at first occurrence. |
| Council of elders | πρεσβυτέριον | presbyterion | 長老たちの会 | chourou-tachi no kai | High | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 4 | — | Inherits πρεσβύτερος risk profile; corporate (not individual) leadership function. |
| Household of God / household of faith | οἶκος θεοῦ / οἴκος πίστεως (concept) | oikos theou | 神の家 | Kami no Ie | High | The Church as Pillar of Truth; Care for Widows and the Household of Faith | 3,5 | — | Japan’s 家 (ie) lineage-succession system risk: entrance by faith, not blood/lineage/heir-adoption logic. |
| Pillar and foundation of truth | στῦλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας | stylos kai hedraiōma tēs alētheias | 柱と基 | hashira to motoi | High | The Church as Pillar of Truth | 3 | — | Subtle Shinto kami-counter-word (柱) resonance; positive 大黒柱 (household mainstay) bridge available but must anchor object to “the truth,” not generic social support. |
| Household (domestic) | οἶκος | oikos | 家庭 | katei | Medium | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | — | Domestic-management sense, distinguished from 神の家 (church) usage. |
| Widow / true widow | χήρα / ὄντως χήρα | chēra / ontōs chēra | やもめ / 真のやもめ | yamome / shin no yamome | Medium | Care for Widows and the Household of Faith | 5 | 未亡人 (NEVER — pejorative patriarchal-mourning connotation) | Qualifying criteria (family support, age, character) must not be flattened. |
| Providing for family (human) | προνοέω | pronoeō | 世話をする | sewa o suru | Low | Care for Widows and the Household of Faith | 5 | 摂理 (reserved for divine providence only) | Shares Greek root with baseline’s providence (摂理) entry — teach the etymological link, never conflate the Japanese renderings. |
| Breaking a pledge | ἀθετέω | atheteō | 誓いを破る | chikai o yaburu | Low | Care for Widows and the Household of Faith | 5 | — | Covenant-breaking concept, of younger widows’ broken commitment. |
| Savior | σωτήρ | sōtēr | 救い主 | Sukuinushi | High | Salvation (baseline-adjacent) | 1,2,4 | — | Amida Buddha / Pure Land “other-power” savior-figure parallel; useful bridge, never equivalence (per baseline’s existing salvation entry logic). |
| Hope | ἐλπίς | elpis | 望み | nozomi | Medium | Salvation; Godliness and Contentment | 1,4,5,6 | — | Distinguish confident-expectation sense from ordinary Japanese “wish” (uncertain fulfillment) sense. |
| Mercy | ἔλεος | eleos | 憐れみ | awaremi | Medium | Grace (baseline-adjacent) | 1 | — | Distinguish from mere pity/sympathy (同情); non-transactional, as with grace. |
| Eternal life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος | zōē aiōnios | 永遠のいのち | eien no inochi | Medium | Salvation; Guarding the Deposit of Faith | 1,6 | — | Distinguish from longevity wishes (長寿) and from rebirth-cycle (輪廻) resonance per baseline’s resurrection caution. |
| Immortal / imperishable (of God) | ἄφθαρτος | aphthartos | 不滅 | fumetsu | Medium | Christ as the One Mediator (God’s nature) | 1 | — | Distinct word from ἀθανασία (6:16); both flagged separately to avoid conflation. |
| Immortality (God’s alone) | ἀθανασία | athanasia | 不死 | fushi | Medium | Christ as the One Mediator (God’s nature) | 6 | — | Daoist 仙人 (immortal-sage-through-cultivation) collision: God’s immortality is inherent/exclusive, never an attained state. |
| Invisible (of God) | ἀόρατος | aoratos | 見えない | mienai | Low | Christ as the One Mediator (God’s nature) | 1,6 | — | No collision. |
| Confession | ὁμολογία | homologia | 告白 | kokuhaku | Medium | Public Worship and Prayer; Christ as the One Mediator | 6 | — | Contemporary romantic “confession of feelings” (dating culture) dilution risk; qualify as 信仰の告白 in didactic material. |
| Fight / contest (perseverance) | ἀγών / ἀγωνίζομαι | agōn / agōnizomai | 戦い / 戦う | tatakai / tatakau | Medium | Guarding the Deposit of Faith | 4,6 | — | Bushido/ganbaru self-effort-for-honor collapse risk; anchor to Spirit-empowered faithfulness, not willpower. |
| Warfare / shipwreck (of faith) | στρατεία / ναυαγέω | strateia / nauageō | 戦い / 信仰を破綻させた | tatakai / shinkou o hatan saseta | Medium / Low | Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching | 1 | — | Same military-metaphor caution as ἀγών; shipwreck metaphor transfers naturally (island-nation maritime vocabulary). |
| Train / discipline (for godliness) | γυμνάζω / γυμνασία | gymnazō / gymnasia | 鍛える | kitaeru | Medium | Godliness and Contentment | 4 | — | Shugyō/ascetic-merit-training collision risk, adjacent to baseline’s sanctification caution; anchor as grace-responsive, not merit-earning. |
| King of kings, Lord of lords | βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλευόντων καὶ κύριος τῶν κυριευόντων | basileus tōn basileuontōn kai kyrios tōn kyrieuontōn | 王の王、主の主 | ō no ō, shu no shu | Medium | Christ as the One Mediator; Public Worship and Prayer (civil authority) | 6 | — | Pastorally useful counter to lingering arahitogami-adjacent divine-ruler memory; keep 主 referent (God/Christ) unconfused with 6:14’s distinct “our Lord Jesus Christ” clause. |
| Slave / bondservant | δοῦλος | doulos | 奴隷 | dorei | Medium | (pastoral application; no dedicated named doctrine) | 6 | — | No direct religious collision; requires pastoral-historical framing, not merely lexical treatment. |
| Master (of slaves) | δεσπότης | despotēs | 主人 | shujin | Medium | (pastoral application) | 6 | — | Legitimate distinct use-case; MUST NOT bleed into or soften baseline’s guarded 主 (Christ’s Lordship, κύριος). |
| Love of money | φιλαργυρία / ἀφιλάργυρος | philargyria / aphilargyros | 金銭を愛すること | kinsen o ai suru koto | Medium | Godliness and Contentment; Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3,6 | — | Preserve “a root,” not “the root,” of all kinds of evils — avoid absolute-causation overstatement. |
| Exercise authority (over) | αὐθεντέω | authenteō | 権威を振るう | ken’i o furuu | High | Public Worship and Prayer; Qualifications for Church Leadership | 2 | 支配する (more negative “dominate” reading) | Rare word, genuinely contested meaning; translation-accuracy risk, not culture-collision; mandatory theologian review, resolve via documented interpretive rationale, not translation-memory default. |
| Women (deacons’ wives / deaconesses) | γυναῖκας | gynaikas | 婦人たち | fujin-tachi | High | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | 妻たち (forecloses the ambiguity) | Genuine, longstanding exegetical division in the source text itself; flag, do not silently resolve. |
| Saved through childbearing | σωθήσεται διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας | sōthēsetai dia tēs teknogonias | 子を産むことによって救われます | ko o umu koto ni yotte sukuwaremasu | Critical | Salvation (baseline-adjacent) | 2 | — | Highest exegetical-doctrinal risk in the book: must never be allowed to read as works/role-based salvation contradicting salvation by grace through faith. Mandatory theologian review with documented interpretive options before any rendering is finalized. |
| Apparel / modesty / self-control | καταστολή / αἰδώς / σωφροσύνη | katastolē / aidōs / sōphrosynē | 服装 / 慎み / 慎み深さ | fukusou / tsutsushimi / tsutsushimi-bukasa | Medium | Public Worship and Prayer | 2 | — | 慎み is a strong natural cultural fit (positive Japanese social virtue) but must not import a general cultural expectation of female self-effacement beyond the text’s specific historical concern. |
| Above reproach / blameless | ἀνεπίλημπτος / ἀνέγκλητος | anepilēmptos / anenklētos | 責められるところのない / 非難されるところがなく | semerareru tokoro no nai / hinan sareru tokoro ga naku | Low | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3,5,6 | — | Recurring qualification-list term across offices; keep consistent phrasing. |
| Sober-minded / self-controlled / respectable | νηφάλιος / σώφρων / κόσμιος | nēphalios / sōphrōn / kosmios | 自分を制することができ / 思慮深い / 品位のある | jibun o seisuru koto ga deki / shiryo bukai / hin’i no aru | Medium | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | — | Compounding Bushido/Confucian virtue-cultivation collision risk when read as a sequential “code” of self-mastery virtues; anchor as Spirit-recognized maturity, not self-generated honor. |
| Gentle / peaceable / not violent | ἐπιεικής / ἄμαχος / πλήκτης (negated) | epieikēs / amachos / plēktēs | 柔和で / 争わず / 暴力的でなく | nyūwa de / arasowazu / bouryoku-teki de naku | Medium | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | — | ἐπιεικής specifically needs the “gracious restraint despite having standing to insist” nuance, easily lost against Japan’s upward-deference-default hierarchy culture. |
| New convert | νεόφυτος | neophytos | 信仰に入って間もない人 | shinkou ni haitte mamonai hito | Low | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | — | Descriptive phrase; no single-word equivalent. |
| Good testimony (from outsiders) | μαρτυρία καλή / οἱ ἔξωθεν | martyria kalē / hoi exōthen | 良い評判 / 教会外の人々 | yoi hyouban / kyoukai-gai no hitobito | Medium | Qualifications for Church Leadership; Mission (baseline-adjacent) | 3 | — | Avoid collapsing into pure social-face (体面) management; genuine moral credibility before a watching society. |
| Devil / snare of the devil | διάβολος / παγίς | diabolos / pagis | 悪魔 / 罠 | akuma / wana | Medium | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3,6 | — | 悪魔 must be understood as a real personal adversary, not folkloric 妖怪/yōkai; also used adjectivally of human “slanderers” at 3:11, linking gossip to the Accuser’s character. |
| Testing / examine (candidates) | δοκιμάζω | dokimazō | よく試され | yoku tamesare | Low | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | — | Assay/metal-testing metaphor; observation period before recognition of office. |
| Standing / rank | βαθμός | bathmos | 良い地位 | yoi chii | Medium | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | — | Risk of importing corporate-rank status-ladder reading onto what may be a purely spiritual-confidence statement; flag for theologian review. |
| Boldness / confidence | παρρησία | parrēsia | 確信 / 大胆さ | kakushin / daitansa | Low-Medium | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | — | Japan’s reserved-communication (enryo) norms make “boldness” culturally unfamiliar as a virtue; clarify as confidence before God/in gospel witness, not social self-assertion. |
| Stewardship / administration of God | οἰκονομία θεοῦ | oikonomia theou | 神の経綸 | Kami no keirin | Medium | Guarding the Deposit of Faith | 1 | 神の計画 (more accessible gloss) | Biblical-illiteracy risk (archaic/unfamiliar formal term), not a false-concept collision; thematically links to the book’s οἶκος motif throughout. |
| Herald / preacher | κῆρυξ | kēryx | 説教者 | sekkyousha | Low | Public Worship and Prayer | 2 | — | Authorized public proclamation, reinforcing baseline’s gospel-as-authoritative-announcement framing. |
| Puffed up / conceited | τυφόομαι | typhoomai | 高慢になり | kouman ni nari | Low | Qualifications for Church Leadership; Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching | 3,6 | — | Smoke-metaphor lost in translation; restore via teaching note. |
| Seared conscience | καυστηριάζω τὴν συνείδησιν | kaustēriazō tēn syneidēsin | 良心が焼き印を押されたように麻痺している | ryoushin ga yakiin o osareta you ni mahi shite iru | Medium | Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching | 4 | — | Vivid branding metaphor requires a full descriptive phrase, not a single compound. |
| Living God | θεὸς ζῶν | theos zōn | 生ける神 | ikeru Kami | Medium | Christ as the One Mediator (God’s nature); The Church as Pillar of Truth | 3,4 | — | Built-in polemical contrast with enshrined/venerated images in Japan’s religious landscape; handle with mission-sensitivity, not triumphalism. |
| Example / pattern | τύπος | typos | 模範 | mohan | Low | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 4 | — | Standard, low-risk. |
| Faithful / trustworthy saying | πιστὸς ὁ λόγος | pistos ho logos | この言葉は真実です | kono kotoba wa shinjitsu desu | Low | Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching | 1,3,4 | — | Fixed formula recurring 5x in the Pastorals; keep consistent phrasing across all occurrences for future curricula. |
| Office of overseer | ἐπισκοπή | episkopē | 監督の職 | kantoku no shoku | High | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | — | Abstract “office” framing helps counteract ἐπίσκοπος’s secular-dilution risk. |
| Good/noble work | καλὸν ἔργον | kalon ergon | 良い働き | yoi hataraki | Low | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | — | Standard, low-risk. |
| Manage / lead (household/church) | προΐστημι | proistēmi | よく治め | yoku osame | Low | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3,5 | 支配する (avoid — over-emphasizes domination) | Same verb links household headship and church eldership. |
| Submission (children) | ὑποταγή | hypotagē | 従順 | juujun | Medium | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | — | Shares baseline’s “obedience of faith” hierarchical-compliance caution; anchor as willing response, not mere conformity. |
| Dignity / respectability | σεμνότης | semnotēs | 品位 | hin’i | Low | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 2,3 | — | Standard, low-risk. |
| Double-tongued | δίλογος | dilogos | 二枚舌を使わず | nimai-jita o tsukawazu | Low | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | — | Natural existing Japanese idiom; good fit. |
| Greedy for dishonest gain | αἰσχροκερδής | aischrokerdēs | 不正な利益を求めず | fusei na rieki o motomezu | Medium | Qualifications for Church Leadership | 3 | — | Distinct from general love-of-money (φιλαργυρία); tied to handling entrusted funds specifically. |
Cross-Reference Notes for Phase 2
- God-family disambiguation is doubled in this book: both 聖霊 (Holy Spirit, Critical) and 悪霊/惑わす霊 (deceiving/evil spirits, High) legitimately occur within a few chapters of each other (3:16 and 4:1). Phase 2 segment validation must check BOTH that 聖霊 always carries its qualifier where required AND that no “spirit” language referring to demonic beings is ever rendered with an unqualified 霊 that could be misread as approaching Holy Spirit territory, nor vice versa.
- The Bushido/Confucian virtue-list risk is compounding, not isolated: it recurs at 3:2-3 (overseer qualifications), 2:9 (women’s modesty), and 6:11 (the “flee…pursue” virtue list including 義/righteousness and 敬虔/godliness together). Teaching materials for all three passages should share a common explanatory framework: these are marks the church recognizes as evidence of the Spirit’s work, not virtues cultivated by personal discipline for honor.
- Office-term secular dilution (監督, 執事, 長老) is a THREE-WAY compounding risk unique to this curriculum’s core passage; no single occurrence should be translated without its anchoring modifier (教会の…) at first use in any given document.
- Three Critical-tier terms are unique to 1 Timothy and must be added to translation memory with the same enforcement rigor as the baseline’s existing Critical terms: 仲介者 (mediator), ゆだねられたもの (deposit), and the 2:15 childbearing/salvation construction. All three require mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence per the baseline’s escalation rules.
- One term is flagged for exegetical ambiguity requiring resolution before Phase 2, not during it: γυναῖκας (3:11) and αὐθεντέω (2:12) must have their interpretive rationale documented in the segment cache before translation proceeds, per the baseline’s ambiguity-handling protocol.
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. Frames both the letter’s opening greeting (1:2) and closing benediction (6:21), bookending the whole letter. Non-transactional clarification against on-giri reciprocity applies at both points.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: 義
Transliteration: gi
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 道徳, 正義感
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. At 6:11 sits in a virtue list alongside 敬虔 (godliness) — the Bushido-virtue collision is HEIGHTENED here because the verse structurally resembles a codified honor-code list; teach as Spirit-produced marks pursued in response to grace, not self-cultivated honor.
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: ἐδικαιώθη (δικαιόω)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. At 3:16 the cognate verb is applied uniquely to Christ’s OWN vindication (‘justified/vindicated in the Spirit’), not the believer’s forensic standing — see justified_christ entry for the distinct referent; a translator’s note distinguishing the two is mandatory at every occurrence of 3:16.
Justified Christ
Approved rendering: 義とされ
Transliteration: gi to sare
Doctrine: The Mystery of Godliness (Incarnation Hymn)
1 Timothy 3:16’s ἐδικαιώθη ἐν πνεύματι applies the justification root to Christ’s own public vindication (e.g., via the resurrection), not the believer’s justification. Uses the same Japanese root as justification above but MUST be flagged in translator notes as a distinct referent every occurrence, to prevent readers conflating Christ’s vindication with the ordinary doctrine of justification by faith.
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. Governs God’s universal saving will (2:4) and Timothy’s own salvation and that of his hearers (4:16). EXTREME care required at 2:15’s ‘saved through childbearing’ construction — see saved_through_childbearing entry; must never contradict salvation by grace through faith.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: 受肉
Transliteration: juniku
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: 化身, 権化
Inherited from Romans package. Directly required at 3:16’s ‘manifested in the flesh’ (ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί) within the mystery-of-godliness hymn. NEVER use 化身/権化 (a kami’s or bodhisattva’s provisional, repeatable manifestation per honji suijaku theology) in this hymn under any circumstance.
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. Standard form throughout 1 Timothy, frequently in the combination ‘Christ Jesus.‘
Christ
Approved rendering: キリスト
Transliteration: Kirisuto
Doctrine: Messianic Promise / Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 救世主
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package (same Japanese rendering as baseline’s messiah entry). 1 Timothy uses this constantly in the fixed combination ‘Christ Jesus’ throughout; risk tier raised to Critical for this curriculum given its constant collocation with Jesus and Lord in doctrinally weighty statements (2:5, 6:13-15).
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. Qualify with 唯一のまことの神 at doctrinally weighty points: 1:17’s ‘the only God’ doxology, 2:5’s ‘one God,’ and 6:15-16’s second doxology are exactly the kind of key statements the baseline requires this qualifier for.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: 聖霊
Transliteration: Seirei
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 霊, 幽霊
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. 1 Timothy uniquely requires active disambiguation from πνεύματα πλάνα/δαιμονίων (deceiving spirits/demons, 4:1), which occur within one chapter of 3:16’s Spirit reference. 聖霊 must NEVER be confused with 悪霊/惑わす霊 — absolute lexical separation required.
Mediator
Approved rendering: 仲介者
Transliteration: chuukaisha
Doctrine: Christ as the One Mediator
Original: μεσίτης
Category: Christology
NEW TERM, highest-risk in the book. 1 Timothy 2:5: ‘One God, and one mediator.’ Collides with (1) bodhisattva intercession (Kannon, Jizō) as compassionate go-between figures; (2) ancestor-veneration ritual intermediaries (butsudan practice, Shinto priests/miko) normalizing ‘many mediators for different needs’; (3) secular real-estate/marriage-broker (仲人) dilution, flattening mediation into transactional brokering. No viable alternative exists. Numerical exclusivity (εἷς…εἷς, ‘ONE…ONE’) MUST be stated explicitly at every occurrence, never left implicit. Mandatory theologian review every occurrence.
Saved Through Childbearing
Approved rendering: 子を産むことによって救われます
Transliteration: ko o umu koto ni yotte sukuwaremasu
Doctrine: Women’s Role in Worship and Teaching
Original: σωθήσεται διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM, single highest exegetical-doctrinal risk in the book. 2:15’s notoriously difficult σωθήσεται διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας. Rendering 救われる directly adjacent to ‘childbearing’ risks appearing to teach works/role/biology-conditioned salvation, contradicting salvation by grace through faith. MUST NEVER be silently resolved; mandatory human theologian review with documented interpretive options (kept safe through childbirth / through THE Childbearing i.e. Christ’s birth / contingent on continuing in faith) before any Phase 2 rendering is finalized.
Mystery Of Godliness
Approved rendering: 敬虔の奥義
Transliteration: keiken no okugi
Doctrine: The Mystery of Godliness (Incarnation Hymn)
Rejected alternatives: 秘密, 秘伝
Original: μυστήριον τῆς εὐσεβείας / ἐφανερώθη ἐν σαρκί
Category: Christology
NEW TERM. 3:16’s creedal hymn (‘manifested in the flesh… taken up in glory’). Triple-compounded risk: (1) 奥義’s esoteric-Buddhism/martial-arts secret-transmission collision — clarify this mystery is now OPENLY revealed, not an ongoing restricted secret; (2) 敬虔’s Confucian-piety collapse; (3) the baseline’s Critical incarnation caution (受肉-consistent phrasing only, NEVER 化身/権化). Mandatory theologian review every occurrence.
Deposit Of Faith
Approved rendering: ゆだねられたもの
Transliteration: yudanerareta mono
Doctrine: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
Rejected alternatives: 預金, 委託
Original: παραθήκη
Category: Doctrine
NEW TERM, the curriculum’s climactic named doctrine (6:20). The Greek’s own commercial/legal register (property entrusted for safekeeping) is EVEN MORE directly present in modern Japanese than in English (預金, 委託 are ordinary banking/legal vocabulary) — NEVER use these as the primary rendering. The doctrine’s entire weight is steward-not-owner: Timothy (and every generation of the church) guards a fixed, complete truth unaltered, never a financial asset managed for growth. Mandatory theologian review every occurrence.
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. 1 Timothy’s most frequent theological term, occurring in nearly every chapter. Repeated ‘departing from’ or ‘shipwrecking’ the faith (1:19, 4:1) language must be taught as abandonment of trust in Christ specifically, not lapsing from generic 宗教心.
Called
Approved rendering: 召された
Transliteration: mesareta
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 運命づけられた, 天職
Inherited from Romans package. Relevant to 6:12’s exhortation to ‘take hold of the eternal life to which you were called’ — distinguish from impersonal fate (運命) and 天職.
Calling
Approved rendering: 召し
Transliteration: meshi
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 運命, 天職
Inherited from Romans package. Applies to 6:12’s calling to eternal life; NEVER use 運命 alone.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: 聖化
Transliteration: seika
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 修行, 悟り
Original: ἁγιασμός
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Referenced at 2:15 (‘if they continue… in holiness’). Distinguish from 修行 — especially important given 4:7-8’s adjacent command to 鍛える (train) for godliness, which risks conflation with self-effort sanctification if not carefully taught.
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. 6:14-15’s ‘our Lord Jesus Christ’ and ‘Lord of lords.’ Must be kept lexically separate from δεσπότης (6:1-2, human slave-masters, rendered 主人) — 主 is reserved exclusively for divine Lordship.
Sin
Approved rendering: 罪
Transliteration: tsumi
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: 恥, 迷惑をかけること
Original: ἁμαρτία / ἁμαρτωλός
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package. Paul calls himself ‘the foremost of sinners’ (1:15) as the paradigm case of mercy received. Worth teaching the etymological link (‘missing the mark’) shared with ἀστοχέω (‘swerved from the mark,’ 6:21) as a closing wordplay, though Japanese 罪 does not itself carry this image.
Messiah
Approved rendering: キリスト
Transliteration: Kirisuto
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: 救世主
Inherited from Romans package. Retained as the underlying doctrinal category (the Anointed One, OT fulfillment) distinct from the constant name-usage captured under ‘christ’ above.
Ransom
Approved rendering: 贖いの代価
Transliteration: akanai no daika
Doctrine: Christ as the One Mediator
Original: ἀντίλυτρον
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM. 2:6’s ἀντίλυτρον, naming the mechanism of Christ’s mediation. 代価 is everyday commercial ‘price paid’ vocabulary, risking transactional-purchase dilution parallel to the baseline’s covenant/契約 caution. Teaching must restore this as Christ’s own life given for captives unable to free themselves, echoing the baseline’s non-transactional clarification for grace.
Savior
Approved rendering: 救い主
Transliteration: Sukuinushi
Doctrine: God’s Universal Saving Will
Original: σωτήρ
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM. A title for God the Father as universal Savior (1:1, 2:3, 4:10). Japan’s Pure Land Buddhism centers devotion on Amida Buddha as a savior-figure delivering the faithful through ‘other-power’ (他力) — a useful teaching bridge, per the baseline’s salvation-entry precedent, but never an equivalence: 救い主 is the one personal, holy, triune God who judges sin, not a Buddha-figure within an ongoing rebirth cosmology.
Godliness
Approved rendering: 敬虔
Transliteration: keiken
Doctrine: Godliness and Contentment
Rejected alternatives: 敬虔さ alone without object-anchoring
Original: εὐσέβεια / θεοσέβεια
Category: Sanctification
NEW TERM. Recurs 2:2,10; 3:16; 4:7,8; 6:3,5,6,11. Japan’s Confucian-shaped reverence vocabulary (敬老, 敬語) denotes social respect toward properly-ranked superiors, not devotion to a personal transcendent God. Risk intensifies at 6:11 where it sits beside 義 in a virtue list. ALWAYS anchor to its object: reverence toward God specifically.
Contentment
Approved rendering: 満足
Transliteration: manzoku
Doctrine: Godliness and Contentment
Rejected alternatives: 自足
Original: αὐτάρκεια
Category: Sanctification
NEW TERM. 6:6-8’s αὐτάρκεια. Genuinely strong bridge to Zen Buddhism’s 知足 (‘knowing sufficiency,’ iconically inscribed 吾唯足知 at Ryōan-ji) — but 知足 grounds contentment in extinguishing/restraining desire through disciplined insight, whereas biblical αὐτάρκεια is grounded in trust in God’s ongoing provision. Use 知足 explicitly as a bridge ONLY in teaching material, clearly distinguishing the two frameworks; never substitute it into Scripture text itself.
Love Of Money
Approved rendering: 金銭を愛すること
Transliteration: kinsen o ai suru koto
Doctrine: Love of Money and False Motives in Ministry
Original: φιλαργυρία / ἀφιλάργυρος
Category: Sanctification
NEW TERM. 6:10’s φιλαργυρία (‘a root of all kinds of evil’); disqualifying for office at 3:3 (ἀφιλάργυρος). Preserve ‘a root,’ not ‘the root,’ of ‘all kinds of,’ not literally every, evil — avoid the commonly repeated absolute-causation misquotation.
Training For Godliness
Approved rendering: 鍛える
Transliteration: kitaeru
Doctrine: Training for Godliness
Original: γυμνάζω / γυμνασία
Category: Sanctification
NEW TERM. 4:7-8’s γυμνάζω/γυμνασία. Sits directly adjacent to the baseline’s caution against 修行 (ascetic Buddhist training) as a false-equivalent for Spirit-wrought sanctification. This rare positive NT command to ‘train’ risks being read, given Japan’s rich vocabulary of merit-earning 修行・鍛錬, as license for a meritorious, self-effort path to godliness. Anchor as grace-responsive pursuit tied to 4:10’s ‘living God, who is the Savior.‘
Sound Doctrine
Approved rendering: 健全な教え
Transliteration: kenzen na oshie
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Rejected alternatives: 正統な教え
Original: ὑγιαίνουσα διδασκαλία
Category: Doctrine
NEW TERM. 1:10; 6:3; cf. 4:6,16. Retains the health/sickness metaphor (νοσέω, ‘sick for controversy,’ 6:4) but 健全 is extremely common secular Japanese for generic ‘wholesome/appropriate’ (健全な経営). MUST be anchored to correspondence with apostolic gospel content every occurrence, not left to drift toward social wholesomeness.
Myths And Genealogies
Approved rendering: 作り話と果てのない系図
Transliteration: tsukuribanashi to hate no nai keizu
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Rejected alternatives: 神話
Original: μῦθοι καὶ γενεαλογίαι ἀπέραντοι
Category: Doctrine
NEW TERM. 1:4’s μῦθοι καὶ γενεαλογίαι ἀπέραντοι. NEVER use 神話 — the natural gloss directly names the genre of Japan’s own Kojiki/Nihon Shoki kami-genealogy tradition and its pre-1945 State Shinto weaponization (already Critical in the Romans baseline under son_of_god/arahitogami). Use 作り話 with a strong teaching note clarifying Paul targets speculative doctrinal fabrication, not any culture’s traditional narratives as a genre. Mandatory theologian review.
Deceiving Spirits Demons
Approved rendering: 悪霊の教え / 惑わす霊
Transliteration: akuryou no oshie / madowasu rei
Doctrine: Apostasy and Doctrines of Demons
Rejected alternatives: 霊の教え alone
Original: πνεύματα πλάνα / διδασκαλίαι δαιμονίων
Category: Doctrine
NEW TERM. 4:1’s πνεύματα πλάνα / διδασκαλίαι δαιμονίων. This is the OPPOSITE risk-direction from the baseline’s Holy Spirit caution: 霊/悪霊 here correctly and legitimately draws on Japan’s vivid animistic spirit-world vocabulary. Requirement is absolute lexical separation from 聖霊, since both occur within a few chapters of each other (3:16, 4:1).
Falsely Called Knowledge
Approved rendering: 偽りの知識
Transliteration: itsuwari no chishiki
Doctrine: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
Original: ψευδώνυμος γνῶσις
Category: Doctrine
NEW TERM. 6:20’s ψευδώνυμος γνῶσις. Structurally resembles later Gnostic secret-knowledge claims, resonating with the esoteric-transmission framework flagged for μυστήριον/奥義. Care needed that condemning this does not read as anti-intellectualism; the target is rival, exclusivist doctrine, not scholarship or learning as such.
Overseer
Approved rendering: 監督
Transliteration: kantoku
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Overseers)
Rejected alternatives: 指導者
Original: ἐπίσκοπος
Category: Church
NEW TERM, core passage (3:1-7). 監督 is the settled Japanese Bible-translation term, but in contemporary secular Japanese it overwhelmingly means ‘film director’ or ‘sports team manager/coach.’ MUST be anchored to church context at first occurrence (教会の監督) in every document.
Office Of Overseer
Approved rendering: 監督の職
Transliteration: kantoku no shoku
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Overseers)
Original: ἐπισκοπή
Category: Church
NEW TERM. 3:1’s ἐπισκοπή, the abstract office aspired to as ‘a good/noble work.’ The abstract ‘office’ framing helps counteract 監督’s secular-dilution risk by making explicit this is a defined role, not a generic reputation.
Elder
Approved rendering: 長老
Transliteration: chourou
Doctrine: Elder Honor and Accountability
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church
NEW TERM. Ranges from a non-technical ‘older man/woman’ (5:1-2) to the formal office with ‘double honor’ (5:17,19). 長老 carries pre-existing associations as a generic village-elder honorific or, in Zen Buddhist tradition, a senior-monk monastic rank. Disambiguate with modifiers: 年配の人 (non-technical) vs. 教会の長老 (office) — 長老 alone defaults toward the office reading.
Council Of Elders
Approved rendering: 長老たちの会
Transliteration: chourou-tachi no kai
Doctrine: Elder Honor and Accountability
Original: πρεσβυτέριον
Category: Church
NEW TERM. 4:14’s πρεσβυτέριον, the corporate body of elders recognizing/commissioning Timothy’s gift. Inherits 長老’s risk profile; emphasize CORPORATE, not single-figure, leadership function.
Deacon
Approved rendering: 執事
Transliteration: shitsuji
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership (Deacons)
Original: διάκονος
Category: Church
NEW TERM, core passage (3:8-13). 執事 is the established Japanese Bible-translation term, but in contemporary pop culture it is a highly recognizable trope word for a Western-style domestic butler (Kuroshitsuji, 執事喫茶 butler cafés). MUST be anchored to its ecclesial office sense at first occurrence (教会の執事の職) in every document.
Household Of God
Approved rendering: 神の家
Transliteration: Kami no Ie
Doctrine: The Church as Pillar of Truth
Original: οἶκος θεοῦ
Category: Church
NEW TERM. 3:15. 家 (ie) carries Japan’s legally-codified-until-1947 patrilineal household system: continuous lineage, ancestor veneration, headship succession (often via 養子縁組 heir-adoption), family-registry (戸籍) exclusivity. Explicitly and repeatedly clarify entrance is by faith, not blood or ancestral continuity — connects directly to the baseline’s unity_of_jews_and_gentiles doctrine.
Pillar And Foundation
Approved rendering: 柱と基
Transliteration: hashira to motoi
Doctrine: The Church as Pillar of Truth
Original: στῦλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας
Category: Church
NEW TERM. 3:15’s στῦλος καὶ ἑδραίωμα τῆς ἀληθείας. 柱 (hashira) doubles as the reverential Japanese counting word for enumerating Shinto kami (e.g., 二柱の神), subtly priming a sacred-object reading. The positive 大黒柱 (household mainstay/breadwinner) bridge may be used with care but must anchor the object explicitly as ‘the truth,’ not generic social stability.
Women Deacons Wives
Approved rendering: 婦人たち
Transliteration: fujin-tachi
Doctrine: Women’s Role in Worship and Teaching
Rejected alternatives: 妻たち
Original: γυναῖκας
Category: Church
NEW TERM. 3:11’s γυναῖκας — genuinely ambiguous in the Greek itself (no dedicated ‘deaconess’ word existed). 婦人たち preserves the ambiguity; 妻たち forecloses it toward ‘deacons’ wives.’ MUST NOT be silently resolved; mandatory theologian review with documented interpretive rationale.
Exercise Authority
Approved rendering: 権威を振るう
Transliteration: ken’i o furuu
Doctrine: Exercising Authority in the Church
Rejected alternatives: 支配する
Original: αὐθεντέω
Category: Doctrine
NEW TERM. 2:12’s αὐθεντέω, one of the rarest NT words with a genuinely contested lexical range (neutral ‘have authority’ to negative ‘domineer’). A translation-accuracy risk, not a culture-collision risk, but doctrinally consequential; mandatory theologian review, resolve via documented interpretive rationale, never translation-memory default.
Apostasy From Faith
Approved rendering: 信仰から離れる
Transliteration: shinkou kara hanareru
Doctrine: Apostasy and Doctrines of Demons
NEW TERM. ἀφίστημι τῆς πίστεως (4:1). Inherits the baseline’s High risk for 信仰; the addition here is doctrinal (apostasy as a real, ongoing danger, not a hypothetical one) rather than a new lexical collision.
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
Inherited from Romans package. 1 Timothy 1:11 speaks of ‘the glorious gospel of the blessed God’ — same blankness/biblical-illiteracy risk as baseline; most secular Japanese readers have no prior exposure to 福音 as a concept.
Holy
Approved rendering: 聖い
Transliteration: kiyoi
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 清らか, 穢れがない
Original: ἅγιος / ὅσιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. 1 Timothy uniquely merges a SECOND distinct Greek word (ὅσιος, 2:8’s ‘holy hands’ in prayer) into this same Japanese rendering since no lexical Japanese distinction exists; record this merge in the segment cache, do not silently lose it. Also used in 3:9’s idiom καθαρὰ συνείδησις (clean/holy conscience).
Peace
Approved rendering: 平安
Transliteration: heian
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: 安心, 癒し
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. 1:2 greeting (‘grace, mercy, and peace’).
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: 賜物
Transliteration: tamamono
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Rejected alternatives: 超能力, 霊力
Original: χάρισμα
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. 4:14: Timothy’s specific gift, tied to the laying on of hands by the council of elders — connects this doctrine directly to Qualifications for Church Leadership.
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. Named ‘church of God’ (3:5) and ‘church of the living God’ (3:15). In immediate collocation with 神, ensure the phrase is never misread as ‘a shrine/temple belonging to a kami’ — reinforce this is God’s assembly, never comparable to 寺 or 神社.
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. Referenced at 1:8-9 regarding its proper use. NEVER use 法律.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: 異邦人
Transliteration: ihoujin
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: 外人
Original: ἔθνη
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. 2:7 (Paul’s appointment as teacher of the Gentiles); 3:16 (the mystery proclaimed among the nations).
Glory
Approved rendering: 栄光
Transliteration: eikou
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 名誉
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. The doxology of 1:17 and the hymn of 3:16.
Intercession
Approved rendering: とりなし
Transliteration: torinashi
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Original: ἔντευξις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Part of the fourfold call to public prayer (2:1); named again at 4:5. Must not be conflated with shrine-mediated petition functions (お参り, おみくじ).
Father
Approved rendering: 父
Transliteration: chichi
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 家長
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Named in the letter’s opening greeting (1:2), ‘God the Father.‘
King Of Kings Lord Of Lords
Approved rendering: 王の王、主の主
Transliteration: ō no ō, shu no shu
Doctrine: Sole Sovereignty of God
Original: βασιλεὺς τῶν βασιλευόντων καὶ κύριος τῶν κυριευόντων
Category: God
NEW TERM. 6:15’s superlative title applied to God the Father. Pastorally useful given Japan’s history of an unqualified divine-human-sovereign doctrine (pre-1946 arahitogami): subordinates ALL human kingship to God’s. Keep the referent (God the Father, distinct from 6:14’s ‘our Lord Jesus Christ’) clear.
Living God
Approved rendering: 生ける神
Transliteration: ikeru Kami
Doctrine: The Church as Pillar of Truth
Original: θεὸς ζῶν
Category: God
NEW TERM. A standing biblical polemical phrase (3:15, ‘church of the living God’; 4:10) contrasting God with lifeless idols. Built-in polemic against Japan’s religious landscape of venerated images and enshrined objects — handle with pastoral sensitivity, not triumphalism.
Mercy
Approved rendering: 憐れみ
Transliteration: awaremi
Doctrine: Grace
Original: ἔλεος
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM. Paul’s own conversion (1:13,16, ‘I was shown mercy’) is the paradigm case. Must be distinguished from mere pity/sympathy (同情) — biblical mercy flows from God’s character toward the guilty, non-transactionally, like grace.
Hope
Approved rendering: 望み
Transliteration: nozomi
Doctrine: Salvation
Original: ἐλπίς
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM. 1:1 uniquely names Christ himself ‘our hope.’ 望み in ordinary Japanese leans toward uncertain ‘wish’ (望みが叶う); distinguish as certain, object-grounded confidence at first occurrence.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: 永遠のいのち
Transliteration: eien no inochi
Doctrine: Salvation
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM. 1:16; 6:12,19. Distinguish from generic Japanese long-life well-wishes (長寿) and from resonance with the rebirth cycle (輪廻), per the baseline’s resurrection caution.
Means Of Gain
Approved rendering: 利益の手段
Transliteration: rieki no shudan
Doctrine: Love of Money and False Motives in Ministry
Original: πορισμός
Category: Sanctification
NEW TERM. 6:5’s πορισμός — the false teachers’ corrupted motive of treating godliness as commodified profit. Not Japan-specific; universally applicable to any context where religious teaching becomes commercial profit-seeking.
Teach Different Doctrine
Approved rendering: 異なる教えを教える
Transliteration: kotonaru oshie o oshieru
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Original: ἑτεροδιδασκαλέω
Category: Doctrine
NEW TERM. Pauline coinage ἑτεροδιδασκαλέω (1:3; 6:3). No established single-word Japanese equivalent; must render identically at both occurrences for cross-reference consistency.
Conscience
Approved rendering: 良心
Transliteration: ryoushin
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Original: συνείδησις
Category: Doctrine
NEW TERM. Recurs 1:5,19; 3:9; 4:2. 良心 is standard secular vocabulary shaped by Confucian ethical tradition, functioning largely as an internalized social-harmony/shame faculty. Teach that a ‘clean conscience’ means standing rightly before God, not merely social ease — connects to the baseline’s shame-versus-guilt caution under ‘sin.‘
Seared Conscience
Approved rendering: 良心が焼き印を押されたように麻痺している
Transliteration: ryoushin ga yakiin o osareta you ni mahi shite iru
Doctrine: Apostasy and Doctrines of Demons
Original: καυστηριάζω τὴν συνείδησιν
Category: Doctrine
NEW TERM. 4:2’s καυστηριάζω τὴν συνείδησιν, a vivid branding-iron metaphor for a conscience rendered morally insensible. No single Japanese compound conveys the image; a full descriptive phrase is required, with a translator’s note restoring the vivid image for teaching.
Household Domestic
Approved rendering: 家庭
Transliteration: katei
Doctrine: Household Management as a Qualification for Leadership
Original: οἶκος
Category: Church
NEW TERM. 3:4-5,12’s οἶκος in its domestic sense — a man’s own family. Distinguished carefully from 神の家 (the church, 3:15) despite the letter’s own deliberate analogy between the two.
Submission Children
Approved rendering: 従順
Transliteration: juujun
Doctrine: Household Management as a Qualification for Leadership
Original: ὑποταγή
Category: Church
NEW TERM. 3:4’s ὑποταγή, of children’s well-ordered submission. Shares its kanji with the baseline’s High-risk compound 信仰の従順 — teach as willing, well-ordered family response, not mere hierarchical compliance modeled on senpai-kōhai or feudal loyalty patterns.
Husband Of One Wife
Approved rendering: 一人の妻の夫
Transliteration: hitori no tsuma no otto
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἄνδρα
Category: Church
NEW TERM. μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἄνδρα (3:2, 3:12). Modern Japan is legally monogamous (concubinage/妾 abolished 1898); the literal polygamy referent is culturally distant and needs a brief historical footnote. Exegetically contested (divorced/remarried, widowers, unmarried candidates) — flag for theologian review as an interpretive, not merely lexical, ambiguity.
Hospitable
Approved rendering: 旅人をもてなす
Transliteration: tabibito o motenasu
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: φιλόξενος
Category: Church
NEW TERM. φιλόξενος (3:2). Japan’s もてなし (omotenashi) hospitality culture is a strong positive bridge, but is typically extended within known social frames (customer, honored guest); the literal force of φιλόξενος — welcome to the OUTSIDER/stranger — must be preserved, echoing the baseline’s uchi-soto caution under gentiles.
Sober Minded Self Controlled
Approved rendering: 自分を制することができ / 思慮深い
Transliteration: jibun o seisuru koto ga deki / shiryo bukai
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: νηφάλιος / σώφρων / κόσμιος
Category: Church
NEW TERM. νηφάλιος/σώφρων/κόσμιος (3:2; echoed 2:9, 3:11). Risk that the whole sequential qualification list is read as a Bushido/Confucian self-cultivation honor code (克己) rather than Spirit-produced maturity RECOGNIZED, not self-generated, for the sake of a God-given office.
Gentle Peaceable
Approved rendering: 柔和で / 争わず
Transliteration: nyūwa de / arasowazu
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: ἐπιεικής / ἄμαχος / πλήκτης (negated)
Category: Church
NEW TERM. ἐπιεικής/ἄμαχος/πλήκτης negated (3:2-3). ἐπιεικής specifically needs the nuance of a leader who COULD insist on rights/status but chooses gracious restraint — easily lost against Japan’s vertical-hierarchy culture, which more readily supplies upward deference than downward restraint.
Devil Snare
Approved rendering: 悪魔 / 悪魔の罠
Transliteration: akuma / akuma no wana
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: διάβολος / παγίς τοῦ διαβόλου
Category: Church
NEW TERM. διάβολος/παγίς (3:6-7; adjectivally of human slanderers, 3:11). 悪魔 must be understood as a real personal adversary, not folkloric 妖怪. Restore the etymological link between Satan’s character (the Accuser) and everyday slander in teaching, since gossip might otherwise be minimized as ordinary social friction.
Good Testimony Outsiders
Approved rendering: 良い評判 / 教会外の人々
Transliteration: yoi hyouban / kyoukai-gai no hitobito
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: μαρτυρία καλή / οἱ ἔξωθεν / ὀνειδισμός
Category: Church
NEW TERM. μαρτυρία καλή/οἱ ἔξωθεν/ὀνειδισμός (3:7). Avoid collapsing into uchi-soto social-face management (体面); genuine moral credibility before a watching society, not reputational shame-avoidance, is the point.
Apparel Modesty Self Control
Approved rendering: 服装 / 慎み / 慎み深さ
Transliteration: fukusou / tsutsushimi / tsutsushimi-bukasa
Doctrine: Women’s Role in Worship and Teaching
Original: καταστολή / αἰδώς / σωφροσύνη
Category: Church
NEW TERM. καταστολή/αἰδώς/σωφροσύνη (2:9). 慎み is a strong natural cultural fit (linked to 謙遜/humility), but must not import a general cultural expectation of female self-effacement beyond the text’s specific historical concern (ostentatious wealth display).
Standing Rank
Approved rendering: 良い地位
Transliteration: yoi chii
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: βαθμός
Category: Church
NEW TERM. βαθμός (3:13), a NT hapax legomenon. 地位 risks importing Japan’s status-conscious corporate-rank vocabulary onto what may be a purely spiritual-confidence statement. Flag for theologian review given genuine exegetical uncertainty.
Boldness Confidence
Approved rendering: 確信 / 大胆さ
Transliteration: kakushin / daitansa
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: παρρησία
Category: Church
NEW TERM. παρρησία (3:13). Japan’s reserved-communication norms (遠慮) make open ‘boldness’ unfamiliar as a virtue; clarify as confidence before God and in gospel witness, not social self-assertion.
Greedy For Dishonest Gain
Approved rendering: 不正な利益を求めず
Transliteration: fusei na rieki o motomezu
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: αἰσχροκερδής
Category: Church
NEW TERM. αἰσχροκερδής (3:8), distinct from love of money as such — tied to dishonest means when handling entrusted funds. Preserve the distinction from φιλαργυρία.
Widow
Approved rendering: やもめ / 真のやもめ
Transliteration: yamome / shin no yamome
Doctrine: Care for Widows and the Household of Faith
Rejected alternatives: 未亡人
Original: χήρα / ὄντως χήρα
Category: Household
NEW TERM. χήρα/ὄντως χήρα (5:3-16). NEVER use 未亡人 (‘the one who has not yet died [with her husband]’), a pejorative patriarchal-mourning term. Preserve Paul’s qualifying criteria (family support, age, character) — do not flatten the emphatic ὄντως (‘truly/really’).
Slave
Approved rendering: 奴隷
Transliteration: dorei
Doctrine: Slaves, Masters, and Christian Conduct within Social Structures
Original: δοῦλος
Category: Household
NEW TERM. δοῦλος (6:1-2). No direct Shinto/Buddhist religious collision, but requires pastoral-historical framing so the passage is understood as instruction within an existing unjust social structure, not an endorsement of it.
Master Despotes
Approved rendering: 主人
Transliteration: shujin
Doctrine: Slaves, Masters, and Christian Conduct within Social Structures
Original: δεσπότης
Category: Household
NEW TERM. δεσπότης (6:1-2), a human slave-master, distinct from κύριος. Legitimate distinct use-case, but MUST NOT bleed into or soften the baseline’s guarded 主 (shu), reserved exclusively for Christ’s unique divine Lordship.
Confession
Approved rendering: 告白
Transliteration: kokuhaku
Doctrine: The Good Confession and Perseverance in the Faith
Original: ὁμολογία
Category: Christology
NEW TERM. ὁμολογία (6:12-13), applied to both Timothy’s own confession and Christ’s testimony before Pilate. Connects to the baseline’s Romans 10:9 salvation-confession framework. In contemporary youth/dating culture 告白 is the near-universal term for romantic ‘confession of feelings’; use the qualifier 信仰の告白 in didactic material.
Fight The Good Fight
Approved rendering: 戦い / 戦う
Transliteration: tatakai / tatakau
Doctrine: The Good Confession and Perseverance in the Faith
Original: ἀγών / ἀγωνίζομαι / στρατεία
Category: Sanctification
NEW TERM. ἀγών/ἀγωνίζομαι/στρατεία (1:18; 4:10; 6:12). Risks absorption into Bushido martial-honor ethics or the 頑張る willpower-perseverance idiom, reframing Christian perseverance as self-discipline earning a reward rather than Spirit-empowered faithfulness. Anchor explicitly to ‘the faith’ and ‘eternal life… to which you were called’ (6:12).
Immortal Imperishable
Approved rendering: 不滅
Transliteration: fumetsu
Doctrine: Sole Sovereignty of God
Original: ἄφθαρτος
Category: God
NEW TERM. ἄφθαρτος (1:17 doxology). A distinct word from ἀθανασία (6:16); the two must be flagged and rendered separately to avoid conflation.
Immortality
Approved rendering: 不死
Transliteration: fushi
Doctrine: Sole Sovereignty of God
Original: ἀθανασία
Category: God
NEW TERM. ἀθανασία (6:16), belonging to God ALONE. Japan’s Daoist-derived 仙人 (immortal-sage-through-cultivation) trope risks framing God’s immortality as an advanced ACHIEVED state rather than inherent and exclusively his. Teach as unshared with any creature, contrasted with the believer’s given, never self-attained, resurrection hope.
Stewardship Of God
Approved rendering: 神の経綸
Transliteration: Kami no keirin
Doctrine: Guarding the Deposit of Faith
Original: οἰκονομία θεοῦ
Category: Doctrine
NEW TERM. οἰκονομία θεοῦ (1:4), God’s ordered redemptive plan received by faith, contrasted with myths and genealogies. 経綸 is a formal, archaic theological term unfamiliar to secular readers — a biblical-illiteracy risk (like the baseline’s 摂理), not a false-concept collision. Provide a 計画-style gloss at first use.
Low Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: 使徒
Transliteration: shito
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: 教祖
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Paul’s self-designation (1:1) and appointment as ‘a preacher and apostle’ (2:7), grounding his authority to define sound doctrine.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: 感謝
Transliteration: kansha
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Named in the fourfold call to public prayer (2:1).
Exhort
Approved rendering: 勧める
Transliteration: susumeru
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Original: παρακαλέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. The letter’s opening command to Timothy (1:3).
Manage Lead
Approved rendering: よく治め
Transliteration: yoku osame
Doctrine: Household Management as a Qualification for Leadership
Rejected alternatives: 支配する
Original: προΐστημι
Category: Church
NEW TERM. προΐστημι (3:4,12; 5:17), linking household management and church eldership via the same verb. Avoid 支配する (‘dominate/rule over’), which over-emphasizes coercive control.
Able To Teach
Approved rendering: 教えることができ
Transliteration: oshieru koto ga deki
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: διδακτικός
Category: Church
NEW TERM. διδακτικός (3:2), notably absent from the deacon list (3:8-13), distinguishing the teaching-overseer office.
Above Reproach
Approved rendering: 責められるところのない / 非難されるところがなく
Transliteration: semerareru tokoro no nai / hinan sareru tokoro ga naku
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: ἀνεπίλημπτος / ἀνέγκλητος
Category: Church
NEW TERM. ἀνεπίλημπτος/ἀνέγκλητος, recurring across overseers (3:2), deacons (3:10), widows (5:7), and Timothy himself (6:14). Keep consistent phrasing across every office for cross-reference clarity.
New Convert
Approved rendering: 信仰に入って間もない人
Transliteration: shinkou ni haitte mamonai hito
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: νεόφυτος
Category: Church
NEW TERM. νεόφυτος (3:6). No single-word Japanese theological equivalent; use consistently.
Puffed Up Conceited
Approved rendering: 高慢になり
Transliteration: kouman ni nari
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: τυφόομαι
Category: Church
NEW TERM. τυφόομαι (3:6; recurs 6:4 of false teachers). The smoke-metaphor (‘clouded by pride as by smoke’) is lost in translation; restore via teaching note.
Testing Examine
Approved rendering: よく試され
Transliteration: yoku tamesare
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: δοκιμάζω
Category: Church
NEW TERM. δοκιμάζω (3:10), the metal-assay testing metaphor before deacon candidates’ approval.
Dignity Respectability
Approved rendering: 品位
Transliteration: hin’i
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: σεμνότης
Category: Church
NEW TERM. σεμνότης (2:2; 3:4; 3:8). Standard, low-risk descriptive term.
Double Tongued
Approved rendering: 二枚舌を使わず
Transliteration: nimai-jita o tsukawazu
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: δίλογος
Category: Church
NEW TERM. δίλογος (3:8). 二枚舌 is a natural, well-understood existing Japanese idiom for insincerity/duplicity.
Good Work
Approved rendering: 良い働き
Transliteration: yoi hataraki
Doctrine: Qualifications for Church Leadership
Original: καλὸν ἔργον
Category: Church
NEW TERM. καλὸν ἔργον (3:1), the noble task of church oversight aspired to, not seized for prestige.
Providing For Family
Approved rendering: 世話をする
Transliteration: sewa o suru
Doctrine: Family Duty and Provision
Rejected alternatives: 摂理
Original: προνοέω
Category: Household
NEW TERM. προνοέω (5:4,8,16) shares its Greek root with the baseline’s divine-providence term (πρόνοια, 摂理) but MUST be rendered with an entirely distinct, non-theological Japanese term to avoid conflating human duty with divine sovereignty.
Breaking A Pledge
Approved rendering: 誓いを破る
Transliteration: chikai o yaburu
Doctrine: Care for Widows and the Household of Faith
Original: ἀθετέω
Category: Household
NEW TERM. ἀθετέω (5:12), of younger widows breaking their pledged commitment. Standard covenant-breaking concept.
Warfare Shipwreck
Approved rendering: 信仰を破綻させた
Transliteration: shinkou o hatan saseta
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Original: ναυαγέω
Category: Sanctification
NEW TERM. ναυαγέω (1:19-20), of Hymenaeus and Alexander’s catastrophic failure regarding the faith. Japan’s maritime cultural vocabulary makes the shipwreck metaphor transfer naturally, though light unpacking may be needed for its application to abstract ‘faith.‘
Invisible God
Approved rendering: 見えない
Transliteration: mienai
Doctrine: Sole Sovereignty of God
Original: ἀόρατος
Category: God
NEW TERM. ἀόρατος (1:17; 6:16). No collision; standard descriptive term.
Herald Preacher
Approved rendering: 説教者
Transliteration: sekkyousha
Doctrine: Public Worship and Prayer
Original: κῆρυξ
Category: Church
NEW TERM. κῆρυξ (2:7), an authorized public proclaimer, reinforcing the baseline’s ‘authoritative announcement’ framing for the gospel.
Example Pattern
Approved rendering: 模範
Transliteration: mohan
Doctrine: Training for Godliness
Original: τύπος
Category: Sanctification
NEW TERM. τύπος (4:12), Timothy’s youth being no disqualification if his life is exemplary. Standard, low-risk.
Faithful Trustworthy Saying
Approved rendering: この言葉は真実です
Transliteration: kono kotoba wa shinjitsu desu
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine versus False Teaching
Original: πιστὸς ὁ λόγος
Category: Doctrine
NEW TERM. πιστὸς ὁ λόγος, a fixed formula recurring 5 times across the Pastoral Epistles (1:15; 3:1; 4:9 in 1 Timothy). Keep the formulaic, repeated phrasing consistent across all occurrences for future cross-curriculum consistency.
Petitions
Approved rendering: 願い
Transliteration: negai
Doctrine: Public Worship and Prayer
Original: δέησις
Category: Faith
NEW TERM. δέησις (2:1), specific urgent requests, distinguished from general prayer (προσευχή). Transparent, no collision.
Quiet Peaceable Life
Approved rendering: 平穏で静かな生活
Transliteration: heion de shizuka na seikatsu
Doctrine: Public Worship and Prayer
Original: ἤρεμον καὶ ἡσύχιον βίον
Category: Church
NEW TERM. ἤρεμον καὶ ἡσύχιον βίον (2:2), the goal of prayer for civil authorities. Standard, low-risk; not political endorsement of any particular ruler, nor withdrawal from public life.
Referenced passages