Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Galatians
Section A: Terms Reused Exactly from the Romans Baseline
These renderings are locked. Do not substitute, re-derive, or “improve” them for Galatians — consistency across the full curriculum library is a hard requirement (see 12_ai_translation_requirements.md, Theological Consistency Rules).
| English Term | Japanese Rendering | Transliteration | Baseline Risk | Galatians Chapters Where It Recurs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gospel | 福音 | fukuin | Medium | 1, 2 |
| Grace | 恵み | megumi | Critical | 1, 2, 5, 6 |
| Faith | 信仰 | shinkou | High | 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 |
| Righteousness | 義 | gi | Critical | 2, 3, 5 |
| Justification | 義と認められること | gi to mitomerareru koto | Critical | 2, 3, 5 |
| Imputed Righteousness | 義と認められること | gi to mitomerareru koto | Critical | 3 (Gen 15:6 citation, must match Romans 4:3 rendering verbatim) |
| Salvation | 救い | sukui | Critical | (implicit throughout; explicit doctrine-adjacent) |
| Apostle | 使徒 | shito | Low | 1, 2 |
| Called / Calling | 召された / 召し | mesareta / meshi | High | 1, 5 |
| Holy | 聖い | kiyoi | Medium | (implicit, sanctification contexts) |
| Sanctification | 聖化 | seika | High | (implicit, ch.5 Spirit-fruit contexts) |
| Adoption | 子とされること | ko to sareru koto | High | 4 |
| Law | 律法 | ritsuhou | Medium | 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 |
| Sin | 罪 | tsumi | High | 1, 2, 3 |
| Gentiles | 異邦人 | ihoujin | Medium | 2, 3 |
| Glory | 栄光 | eikou | Medium | 1 |
| Son of God | 神の子 | Kami no Ko | Critical | 2 (core passage), 4 |
| Holy Spirit | 聖霊 | Seirei | Critical | 3, 4, 5, 6 (default rendering outside the fixed 御霊の実 idiom — see Section B) |
| God | 神 | Kami | Critical | throughout |
| Father | 父 | chichi | Medium | 1, 4 |
| Abba | アバ | Aba | Medium | 4 (verbatim match to Romans 8:15 required) |
| Covenant | 契約 | keiyaku | High | 3, 4 |
| Kingdom of God | 神の国 | Kami no Kuni | High | 5 |
| Israel | イスラエル | Isuraeru | Medium | 6 |
| David | ダビデ | Dabide | Low | (pattern-referenced for セード形式 “seed of X” construction; David himself not named in Galatians) |
| Jesus | イエス | Iesu | Critical | throughout |
| Christ | キリスト | Kirisuto | High | throughout |
| Thanksgiving | 感謝 | kansha | Low | (minor) |
| Fellowship | 交わり | majiwari | Low | 2 |
Section B: New Terms Introduced by Galatians
| English Term | Japanese Rendering | Transliteration | Risk Tier | Associated Curriculum Doctrine(s) | First Occurrence | Alternatives Rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Another/False Gospel | ほかの福音 | hoka no fukuin | High | The True Gospel versus False Gospels | Gal 1:6-9 | 違う福音 (acceptable variant, less standard) | Must preserve Paul’s irony that this “other gospel” is not a legitimate variant but a denial of the gospel’s essential content; pair every occurrence with 1:8-9’s anathema pronouncement in teaching material. |
| Accursed / Anathema | のろわれるべき者 | norowareru beki mono | High | The True Gospel versus False Gospels | Gal 1:8-9 | 破門された者 (excommunicated one — too narrowly ecclesiastical) | Distinguish from Japanese folk-curse (呪い) vocabulary — this is formal apostolic pronouncement of divine judgment for gospel-corruption, not occult malediction. |
| Revelation | 啓示 | keiji | Medium | Paul’s Apostleship | Gal 1:12, 16 | 悟り (NEVER — Buddhist enlightenment-attainment concept; this is God’s initiative disclosing content, not human attainment) | Grounds the divine (not human) origin of Paul’s gospel and apostleship. |
| Judaism | ユダヤ教 | Yudayakyou | Medium | Paul’s Apostleship (background) | Gal 1:13-14 | none | Risk that 教 suffix makes this sound like a neutrally-listed peer world religion; clarify as Paul’s own former total-life system within the Jewish covenant community. |
| Slave / Slavery (of Christ / to the law / to sin) | 奴隷 | dorei | High | Law and Grace; Freedom in Christ | Gal 1:10; 2:4; 4:1-9, 24-25; 5:1 | 僕 (shimobe — too gentle/archaic, loses bondage force in negative contexts); しもべ | Tracked polysemous term: positive sense (Paul as Christ’s willing slave, 1:10) vs. negative sense (bondage to law/sin, 4:1-9, 5:1) vs. transcended-category sense (3:28). Flag every occurrence for a context-clarifying note on which sense is active. |
| Freedom / Liberty | 自由 | jiyuu | High | Freedom in Christ | Gal 2:4; 5:1, 13 | 解放 (release/liberation — too passive, loses “for freedom…set free” active force) | Central positive doctrine of the letter. Modern secular 自由 defaults to individual autonomy/personal license; must be anchored at first occurrence and at 5:1/5:13 to freedom FROM the law’s condemnation and slavery to sin, and freedom FOR loving service — not unrestricted personal license. |
| Yoke of Slavery | 奴隷のくびき | dorei no kubiki | High | Freedom in Christ; Law and Grace | Gal 5:1 | none | Agricultural yoke image; culturally accessible via Japan’s own farming heritage, but must be tied specifically to law-bondage, not generalized “burdens of life.” |
| False Brothers | 偽りの兄弟 | itsuwari no kyoudai | Medium | The True Gospel versus False Gospels | Gal 2:4 | none | Names a doctrinal threat from within the professing community, not ordinary interpersonal conflict. |
| Truth of the Gospel | 福音の真理 | fukuin no shinri | Medium | The True Gospel versus False Gospels | Gal 2:5, 14 | none | 真理 carries philosophical/quasi-Buddhist “ultimate truth” overtones; anchor concretely to 2:16’s justification-by-faith content. |
| Hypocrisy | 偽善 | gizen | Medium | The True Gospel versus False Gospels | Gal 2:13 | none | Japan’s tatemae/honne social convention normalizes situational face-management in a way that could soften Peter’s failure into ordinary social tact rather than a serious doctrinal lapse; teaching must clarify the gospel-truth stakes Paul saw in it. |
| Works of the Law | 律法の行い | ritsuhou no okonai | High | Justification by Faith; Law and Grace | Gal 2:16 (x3), 3:2, 5, 10 | 善行 (good deeds — too generic, loses specific Torah-observance reference) | Must not be softened to “good deeds” generally; specifically Torah-observance deeds (circumcision, food laws, sabbath, etc.), consistently rendered at every occurrence. |
| Crucified with Christ | キリストと共に十字架につけられる | Kirisuto to tomo ni juujika ni tsukerareru | Critical | Crucified with Christ | Gal 2:19-20; 5:24; 6:14 | 自分を殺す (kill oneself/self-mortify — imports ascetic self-discipline framing, must be avoided) | Core-passage doctrinal anchor. Perfect-tense force (past event, present abiding result) must be preserved. Must not be read as Buddhist-adjacent ascetic self-mortification (修行); this is definitive union with Christ’s finished death, not ongoing self-discipline. Mandatory theologian review at every occurrence. |
| Transgressor | 違反者 | ihansha | Medium | Justification by Faith | Gal 2:18 | 犯罪者 (criminal — too narrowly civil/criminal-code, loses theological register) | Specifically a transgressor against God’s revealed Law in a righteousness argument, not a generic rule-breaker. |
| Nullify (grace) | 無にする | mu ni suru | High | Law and Grace | Gal 2:21 | 軽んじる (make light of — too weak) | Must convey legal invalidation, not mere downplaying; connects directly to Critical-risk grace doctrine. |
| In Vain / For Nothing (of Christ’s death) | 無駄に | muda ni | Medium-High | Law and Grace | Gal 2:21 | 恵みによって (NEVER — false-friend trap; this would invert Paul’s meaning by importing the “freely given” sense of δωρεάν instead of its “needlessly/pointlessly” sense here) | Flag for mandatory Phase 2 verification against Greek sense; a hasty rendering could accidentally reverse the verse’s logic. |
| Bewitched | 惑わした | madowashita | High | Justification by Faith (contextual) | Gal 3:1 | 魔法にかけられた (avoid as primary rendering — risks trivializing into literal sorcery or validating folk-occult categories) | Japan’s active folk-curse/evil-eye landscape makes a literal occult rendering risky; use standard non-occult “deceived” gloss, reserve vivid original imagery for teaching commentary. |
| Curse | 呪い | noroi | Critical | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise; The Law’s Purpose | Gal 3:10, 13 | none viable — no low-risk alternative exists | Highest syncretism-risk term in the letter given Japan’s living folk-curse/tatari (祟り) culture. Must be taught as the covenant-legal penalty for lawbreaking, not occult malediction; “Christ became a curse for us” must be taught as bearing the legal penalty, not absorbing a magical attack. Mandatory theologian review at every occurrence. |
| Redeem / Redemption | 贖い出す | aganai dasu | Critical | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise; Adoption and Sonship | Gal 3:13; 4:5 | 買い戻す (buy back — too commercially generic, strips covenantal/substitutionary weight) | Substitutionary, legal, personal; distinguish from Buddhist merit-transfer concepts. May be taught alongside the baseline salvation entry’s tariki (other-power) bridge-language, with the same non-equivalence caution. |
| Promise | 約束 | yakusoku | High | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | Gal 3:14-29 (recurring) | 契約 (NEVER substitute for covenant’s own established term — the two must remain distinct, since Paul’s argument in 3:15-18 depends on distinguishing promise from the later-given law/covenant-document) | Ordinary secular word for everyday promises; dilution risk analogous to baseline’s covenant caution. Must be actively restored to God’s unilateral, unbreakable pledge to Abraham. |
| Seed/Offspring of Abraham | アブラハムの子孫 | Abraham no shison | Medium | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | Gal 3:16, 29 | none | Parallel construction to baseline’s ダビデの子孫; requires OT covenant-background teaching. |
| Mediator | 仲介者 | chuukaisha | High | The Law’s Purpose | Gal 3:19-20 | 巫女的な存在 (NEVER — imports Shinto shrine-medium framing) | Collision risk with miko (shrine mediums) and bodhisattva-intercessor figures; clarify as a specific historical-covenantal office (Moses administering the Law’s giving), distinct from any ongoing mediating function. |
| Guardian / Tutor (paidagōgos) | 教育係 | kyouikugakari | Medium-High | The Law’s Purpose | Gal 3:24-25 | 先生 (teacher — too generic, loses custodial/disciplinary/temporary nuance) | Pending Phase 2 verification against current Shinkaiyaku wording. No Japanese cultural parallel to the Greco-Roman slave-tutor institution; requires first-principles explanation that the Law’s role was temporary and protective, not competing with faith. |
| Inheritance / Heir | 相続財産 / 相続人 | souzoku zaisan / souzokunin | Medium | Adoption and Sonship; The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | Gal 3:18, 29; 4:1, 7 | none | Japan’s established inheritance-succession culture (相続, historic 家督) is a genuine cultural bridge, similar to the baseline’s adoption/養子縁組 note — full inheritance rights secured by sonship, not achievement. |
| Elemental Spirits / Basic Principles of the World | この世を支配する諸霊 (spirit-reading) OR 世の幼稚な教え (principle-reading) | kono yo o shihai suru sho-rei / yo no youchi na oshie | Critical | The Law’s Purpose | Gal 4:3, 9 | パワー / 気 (NEVER — pop-culture/vital-energy framing entirely inadequate to either reading) | Single highest-collision new term in the letter given Japan’s vivid mainstream animistic landscape. Two candidate renderings reflect genuine scholarly ambiguity in the Greek itself; do NOT settle at Phase 1 — present both to human theologian review for final decision, with strong caution against inadvertently validating the folk spirit-world as theologically real. Mandatory theologian review at every occurrence. |
| Fullness of Time | 時が満ちて | toki ga michite | Medium | Adoption and Sonship (incarnation background) | Gal 4:4 | none | Established biblical idiom, low biblical-illiteracy risk if cross-referenced to Mark 1:15’s parallel phrase. |
| Bondwoman / Slave Woman (Hagar figure) | 女奴隷 | onna dorei | Medium | Freedom in Christ; The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | Gal 4:21-31 | none | Builds on tracked 奴隷 vocabulary; unintelligible without OT narrative background (Genesis 16, 21) supplied in teaching material. |
| Allegory | 比喩 | hiyu | Low | The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | Gal 4:24 | none | Low risk; standard literary term. |
| Faith Working through Love | 愛によって働く信仰 | ai ni yotte hataraku shinkou | High | Faith Working through Love | Gal 5:6 | 愛から生じる信仰 (love-produces-faith — reverses Paul’s causality; NEVER use) | Faith is the root/source, love its active expression; causality direction must not be reversed. |
| Love (agapē) | 愛 | ai | Medium-High | Faith Working through Love; Fruit of the Spirit; Crucified with Christ (2:20) | Gal 2:20; 5:6, 14, 22 | none viable — fully established term | Dual collision risk: (1) modern pop-culture romantic-love dilution; (2) classical/Buddhist 愛着 (aijaku, “attachment”) names a clinging desire Buddhist teaching seeks to overcome, in tension with agapē as a virtue to be cultivated. Retain established rendering but address the Buddhist-attachment contrast proactively in teaching material. |
| Fallen from Grace | 恵みから落ちる | megumi kara ochiru | Critical | Law and Grace | Gal 5:4 | none | Directly engages the baseline grace entry’s Critical on-giri risk; ironically, an on-giri-shaped misreading (“failed to repay a favor”) would invert Paul’s actual meaning (abandoning grace for a merit-system). Mandatory theologian review. |
| Works of the Flesh | 肉の行い | niku no okonai | High | Flesh versus Spirit | Gal 5:19-21 | none | Umbrella category for the vice list; individual high-risk members (idolatry, sorcery) carry independent Critical/High flags below. |
| Idolatry | 偶像礼拝 | guuzou reihai | Critical | Flesh versus Spirit | Gal 5:20 | none viable | Direct, unavoidable collision with mainstream Japanese practice (butsudan ancestor altars, kamidana household shrines, temple/shrine image veneration) common even among secular households. Must define the target precisely (worship replacing exclusive devotion to the one true God) without either softening biblical exclusivity or triggering needless cultural alienation. Mandatory theologian review, coordinated with the baseline God entry’s Critical qualifier requirement. |
| Sorcery / Witchcraft | 魔術 | majutsu | High | Flesh versus Spirit | Gal 5:20 | none | Collision with Japan’s active folk-occult landscape (onmyoudo heritage, fortune-telling, curse-removal services); condemn the practice without mocking or over-dramatizing contemporary folk-practice culture. |
| Flesh (moral sense) | 肉 | niku | High | Flesh versus Spirit | Gal 5:13, 16-24 (moral sense); note distinct neutral sense at 2:20 | none viable — fully established NT term | 肉’s dominant everyday sense is literal meat; teaching material must actively and repeatedly restore the Pauline moral-theological sense (self-serving, God-resistant human nature), analogous to baseline’s caution about 復活’s pop-culture dilution. |
| Fruit of the Spirit | 御霊の実 | mitama no mi | High | Fruit of the Spirit | Gal 5:22-23 | 聖霊の実 (grammatically defensible but breaks with the entrenched traditional phrase) | Deliberate, documented exception to the baseline’s 聖霊-only rule. 御霊 (mitama) is also standard Shinto vocabulary for ancestral/enshrined spirits (mitama matsuri, mitamaya) — the very risk the baseline warns against for 霊 alone. Retained because it is the entrenched traditional rendering of this specific famous phrase; requires a mandatory clarifying note at every occurrence that 御霊 here = 聖霊 (Holy Spirit), not a kami-spirit. Do not flag as an unresolved inconsistency in Phase 2 QA — this is an intentional, documented exception. |
| Gentleness | 柔和 | nyuuwa | Low | Fruit of the Spirit | Gal 5:23; 6:1 | none | Standard NT vocabulary. |
| Self-Control | 自制 | jisei | Low | Fruit of the Spirit | Gal 5:23 | none | Standard vocabulary. |
| Walk by the Spirit / Keep in Step | 御霊によって歩む (fixed idiom context) / 聖霊によって歩む (general use) | mitama/Seirei ni yotte ayumu | Medium | Flesh versus Spirit | Gal 5:16, 25 | none | Default to 聖霊 outside the fixed 5:22-23 fruit-of-the-Spirit idiom, to minimize the syncretism footprint of 御霊 across the wider text. |
| Burden(s) shared | 重荷 | omoni | Low | Bearing One Another’s Burdens | Gal 6:2 | none | Distinguish from 6:5’s distinct Greek term for “one’s own load” (自分の荷) — a deliberate contrast, not a synonym pair. |
| One’s Own Load | 自分の荷 | jibun no ni | Low | Bearing One Another’s Burdens | Gal 6:5 | 重荷 (do not collapse into the shared-burden term above) | Deliberate lexical contrast with βάρος (6:2) must be preserved with two distinct Japanese terms. |
| Law of Christ | キリストの律法 | Kirisuto no ritsuhou | Medium | Bearing One Another’s Burdens; Law and Grace | Gal 6:2 | none | Must not be heard as reintroducing law-righteousness; this is Christ’s love-ethic (echoing 5:14), not a new merit-earning code. |
| New Creation | 新しい創造 | atarashii souzou | High | Circumcision and the New Creation | Gal 6:15 | 新しい自分 (NEVER as primary — reduces cosmic-theological category to secular self-help “new me” language) | Dilution risk from Japan’s self-help/lifestyle-marketing culture; anchor to the cosmic scope that renders circumcision/non-circumcision entirely moot (v.15). |
| Circumcision | 割礼 | katsurei | High | Circumcision and the New Creation | Gal 2:3; 5:2-6, 11; 6:12-13, 15 | none | OT covenant-sign background required for biblically illiterate readers; central to the letter’s central controversy over whether it is required for salvation (it is not). |
| Marks / Brands (of Jesus) | しるし | shirushi | Medium | Crucified with Christ (suffering-solidarity extension) | Gal 6:17 | 焼き印 (avoid as primary — risks unwanted association with penal/livestock branding and Japan’s irezumi-yakuza cultural link; reserve for footnoted literal background only) | Paul’s closing appeal to suffering-marks as authenticating evidence; avoid criminal-underworld connotation absent from the original. |
| Sow / Reap | 種を蒔く / 実を結ぶ・刈り取る | tane o maku / mi o musubu, kariotoru | Low | Bearing One Another’s Burdens (framing principle) | Gal 6:7-8 | none | Low risk; Japan’s rice-farming heritage makes this an unusually accessible metaphor. |
| Household of Faith | 信仰の家族 | shinkou no kazoku | Low | Bearing One Another’s Burdens | Gal 6:10 | none | Positive resonance with Japan’s family-unit (家) vocabulary; distinguish from the formal patriarchal-authority connotations flagged for 家長 in the baseline’s father entry — intended sense here is belonging/mutual care. |
Risk Summary for Galatians New Terms
| Risk Tier | Count | Representative Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 6 | Curse, Redeem/Redemption, Elemental Spirits, Fallen from Grace, Crucified with Christ, Idolatry |
| High | 15 | Another/False Gospel, Accursed, Slave/Slavery, Freedom, Yoke of Slavery, Works of the Law, Nullify (grace), Mediator, Faith Working through Love, Love (agapē), Works of the Flesh, Flesh (moral sense), Fruit of the Spirit, New Creation, Circumcision |
| Medium | 15 | Revelation, Judaism, False Brothers, Truth of the Gospel, Hypocrisy, Transgressor, In Vain/For Nothing, Bewitched, Promise, Seed of Abraham, Guardian/Tutor, Inheritance/Heir, Fullness of Time, Bondwoman, Sorcery, Marks/Brands, Law of Christ, Walk by the Spirit, Faith Working through Love (compound components) |
| Low | 7 | Allegory, Gentleness, Self-Control, Burden(s) shared, One’s Own Load, Sow/Reap, Household of Faith |
All Critical and High tier entries above require mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence per the escalation rules in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md. Medium tier entries require native speaker review. This glossary must be merged into translation_memory.json (incrementing to version 2) before any Phase 2 segment translation of Galatians 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: Japanese social ethics run on 恩 (on) and 義理 (giri) — the on-giri reciprocity system. Grace must be taught as explicitly non-transactional. In Galatians this risk is maximally active at 2:21 and 5:4 (fallen from grace), where the letter’s whole argument depends on grace and law-merit being mutually exclusive systems. NEVER use 功徳.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: 義
Transliteration: gi
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 道徳, 正義感
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] CRITICAL: 義 is a core Bushido virtue (rectitude/moral courage, per Nitobe Inazo). In Galatians this collision is maximally acute at 2:21 (‘if righteousness is through law’) and throughout 3:6-11 — this is precisely the achievement-based sense the doctrine denies. Always flag with a distinguishing note.
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: δικαιοῦται / δικαιωθῶμεν / δικαιωθήσεται
Category: Salvation
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] CRITICAL: established Shinkaiyaku compound, a forensic declaration, not a process. Galatians 2:16 triple-repeats this verb (δικαιοῦται/δικαιωθῶμεν/δικαιωθήσεται) — the triple repetition must be preserved as triple repetition in Japanese, not smoothed into one clause. NEVER use 悟りを開く.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: 義と認められること
Transliteration: gi to mitomerareru koto
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 修行によって得た義, 自己義認
Original: ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην
Category: Salvation
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] CRITICAL: righteousness credited by God, not earned. Galatians 3:6 cites the identical Genesis 15:6 text also cited in Romans 4:3 — must be rendered VERBATIM IDENTICALLY to the existing Romans rendering per cross-curriculum consistency rules.
Salvation
Approved rendering: 救い
Transliteration: sukui
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 解脱, 極楽往生
Original: σωτηρία
Category: Salvation
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] CRITICAL: NEVER use 解脱. Implicit throughout Galatians as the good underlying justification, freedom, and adoption.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: 神の子
Transliteration: Kami no Ko
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 現人神, 神の化身
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] CRITICAL: NEVER use 現人神. Core passage anchor at Galatians 2:20 and again at 4:4-6.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: 聖霊
Transliteration: Seirei
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 霊, 幽霊
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον / πνεῦμα
Category: God
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] CRITICAL: NEVER use 霊 alone. This is the DEFAULT rendering throughout Galatians 3, 4, 5, 6 EXCEPT within the fixed 5:22-23 ‘fruit of the Spirit’ idiom, which retains 御霊 as a separate, documented exception (see fruit_of_the_spirit entry below).
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: requires the qualifier 唯一のまことの神 at first occurrence and doctrinal statements. Especially load-bearing in Galatians 4:8-9’s contrast with ‘those that by nature are not gods’ and throughout the idolatry doctrine (5:20).
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.] Modern Protestant/ecumenical standard. NEVER ゼズス (Kirishitan-era historical form) in modern curriculum text. Used throughout Galatians.
Crucified With Christ
Approved rendering: キリストと共に十字架につけられる
Transliteration: Kirisuto to tomo ni juujika ni tsukerareru
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Rejected alternatives: 自分を殺す
Original: Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι
Category: Christology
New Critical term; core-passage doctrinal anchor (Gal 2:19-20; also 5:24; 6:14). Perfect-tense force (past event, present abiding result) must be preserved (~つけられました, not present-progressive). Must not be read as 修行 (ascetic self-mortification) — this is definitive union with Christ’s finished death, not ongoing self-discipline. Mandatory theologian review at every occurrence.
Curse
Approved rendering: 呪い
Transliteration: noroi
Doctrine: Redemption from the Curse; The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: κατάρα
Category: Judgment
New Critical term; no viable low-risk alternative exists (Gal 3:10, 13). Highest syncretism-risk term in the letter given Japan’s living folk-curse/tatari (祟り) culture. Must be taught as covenant-legal penalty for lawbreaking, never occult malediction; ‘Christ became a curse for us’ must be taught as bearing the legal penalty, not absorbing a magical attack. Mandatory theologian review at every occurrence.
Redeem Redemption
Approved rendering: 贖い出す
Transliteration: aganai dasu
Doctrine: Redemption from the Curse; Adoption and Sonship
Rejected alternatives: 買い戻す
Original: ἐξαγοράζω
Category: Salvation
New Critical term (Gal 3:13; 4:5). Substitutionary, legal, personal — must be distinguished from Buddhist merit-transfer/karma-offsetting concepts and from generic commercial ‘buying back.‘
Elemental Spirits
Approved rendering: この世を支配する諸霊 / 世の幼稚な教え
Transliteration: kono yo o shihai suru sho-rei / yo no youchi na oshie
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose; Elemental Spirits and Spiritual Bondage
Rejected alternatives: パワー, 気
Original: στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Spiritual Conflict
New Critical term, UNRESOLVED — two candidate renderings reflecting genuine scholarly ambiguity in the Greek (στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου, Gal 4:3, 9). Single highest-collision new term in the letter given Japan’s vivid, mainstream animistic landscape. Do NOT settle at Phase 1; forward both candidates to mandatory human theologian adjudication at every occurrence.
Fallen From Grace
Approved rendering: 恵みから落ちる
Transliteration: megumi kara ochiru
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Original: ἐκπίπτω τῆς χάριτος
Category: Salvation
New Critical term (Gal 5:4). Directly engages the baseline grace entry’s on-giri risk: an on-giri-shaped misreading (‘failed to repay a favor received’) would invert Paul’s meaning of abandoning a grace-system for a merit-system. Mandatory theologian review.
Idolatry
Approved rendering: 偶像礼拝
Transliteration: guuzou reihai
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit; Idolatry and Exclusive Worship of the One True God
Original: εἰδωλολατρία
Category: Sin
New Critical term (Gal 5:20), no viable alternative. Direct, unavoidable collision with normal Japanese household religious practice (仏壇 butsudan, 神棚 kamidana), common even in secular homes. Must define the target (worship displacing exclusive devotion to the one true God) without softening biblical exclusivity or triggering needless cultural alienation. Mandatory theologian review.
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.] Personal trust in Christ specifically. In Galatians repeatedly paired against 律法の行い (works of the law) at 2:16 (x3), 3:2, 3:5 — object of faith (Christ) must remain explicit.
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 / καλέσας
Category: Salvation
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] Avoid 運命づけられた and 天職 used alone. Galatians 1:15 (Paul’s calling) and 5:13 (‘called to freedom’) both apply; 5:13 additionally risks being misheard as a call to autonomous self-determination rather than God’s personal, gracious, freedom-defining summons.
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 use 運命 alone. Applies to Paul’s apostolic calling and the Galatians’ calling to freedom (5:13).
Sanctification
Approved rendering: 聖化
Transliteration: seika
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 修行, 悟り
Original: ἁγιασμός
Category: Sanctification
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] Distinguish from 修行 (ascetic self-training) and 悟り. Underlies the walk-by-the-Spirit material in Galatians 5; this same 修行 collision risk recurs even more sharply for the new term crucified_with_christ (see below).
Adoption
Approved rendering: 子とされること
Transliteration: ko to sareru koto
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 養子縁組
Original: υἱοθεσία
Category: Adoption
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] Japan’s 養子縁組 adult-heir adoption custom is a genuine cultural bridge. Galatians 4:5-7 makes the redemptive-legal basis (redemption from the law’s curse, ἐξαγοράζω) more explicit than Romans 8 — teach the 贖い出す → 子とされること causal chain clearly.
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.] Galatians 2:15’s ‘Gentile sinners’ (異邦人の中の罪人) quotes a Jewish-Christian slur Paul is about to overturn; 罪人 must be heard as morally guilty before God, not merely socially disgraceful (恥).
Covenant
Approved rendering: 契約
Transliteration: keiyaku
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] 契約 defaults to an everyday commercial contract. DOCUMENTED EXCEPTION for Galatians: at 3:15-18, Paul’s own argument deliberately exploits this everyday legal-will sense (a ratified testament cannot be altered by a later document) — do NOT restore relational warmth there; elsewhere (3:17 background, 4:24) restore the relational/promissory sense. Must remain lexically distinct from 約束 (promise, new entry below).
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.] Historical association with pre-1945 State Shinto’s 神国日本. Galatians 5:21 — those practicing works of the flesh ‘will not inherit the kingdom of God’; retain the Romans 14:17 doctrinal anchor at every occurrence.
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.] キリスト is used so pervasively in Galatians (especially 2:16-21) that it functions almost as a second proper name for Jesus; the standing biblical-illiteracy risk applies — most readers know ‘Kirisuto’ only as a cultural/Christmas reference, requiring heavy explanatory teaching.
Another Gospel
Approved rendering: ほかの福音
Transliteration: hoka no fukuin
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Rejected alternatives: 違う福音
Original: ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
New term. Must preserve Paul’s irony (Gal 1:7, ‘not that there is another’) — not a legitimate denominational variant but a denial of the gospel’s essential content (grace apart from law-works). Pair every occurrence with 1:8-9’s anathema pronouncement in teaching material.
Accursed Anathema
Approved rendering: のろわれるべき者
Transliteration: norowareru beki mono
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Rejected alternatives: 破門された者, アナテマ
Original: ἀνάθεμα
Category: Judgment
New term. Formal apostolic pronouncement of divine judgment for gospel-corruption (Gal 1:8-9). Distinguish from Japan’s folk-curse vocabulary (呪い) — must retain full doctrinal severity, not soften to ‘shame on them.‘
Slave Slavery
Approved rendering: 奴隷
Transliteration: dorei
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ; Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: 僕, しもべ
Original: δοῦλος
Category: Freedom
New term, tracked polysemous across the book. Modern 奴隷 carries only negative connotations (trafficking, feudal bondage), yet Paul uses it in THREE distinct senses: positive (Christ’s willing slave, 1:10), negative (bondage to law/sin, 4:1-9; 5:1), and transcended-category (3:28). Flag every occurrence for a context-clarifying note on which sense is active.
Freedom Liberty
Approved rendering: 自由
Transliteration: jiyuu
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ
Rejected alternatives: 解放
Original: ἐλευθερία
Category: Freedom
New term, central positive doctrine of the letter (Gal 2:4; 5:1, 13). Modern secular 自由 defaults to individual autonomy/personal license; must be anchored at first occurrence and at 5:1/5:13 to freedom FROM the law’s condemnation and slavery to sin, freedom FOR loving service.
Yoke Of Slavery
Approved rendering: 奴隷のくびき
Transliteration: dorei no kubiki
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ; Law and Grace
Original: ζυγὸς δουλείας
Category: Freedom
New term (Gal 5:1). Agricultural yoke image accessible via Japan’s own farming heritage, but must be tied specifically to law-bondage, not vague ‘burdens of life’ in general.
Works Of The Law
Approved rendering: 律法の行い
Transliteration: ritsuhou no okonai
Doctrine: Justification by Faith; Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: 善行
Original: ἔργα νόμου
Category: Law
New term, key compound (Gal 2:16 x3; 3:2, 5, 10). Must not be softened to ‘good deeds’ generally — specifically Torah-observance deeds (circumcision, food laws, sabbath); render identically at every occurrence.
Nullify Grace
Approved rendering: 無にする
Transliteration: mu ni suru
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: 軽んじる
Original: ἀθετῶ
Category: Salvation
New term (Gal 2:21). Must convey full legal invalidation of grace, not a soft ‘downplaying’; connects directly to the Critical-risk grace doctrine.
Bewitched
Approved rendering: 惑わした
Transliteration: madowashita
Doctrine: Justification by Faith (contextual)
Rejected alternatives: 魔法にかけられた
Original: ἐβάσκανεν
Category: Faith
New term (Gal 3:1). Standard non-occult ‘deceived/led astray’ gloss preferred over a literal occult rendering, which risks trivializing into literal sorcery or validating Japan’s folk evil-eye/occult categories.
Promise
Approved rendering: 約束
Transliteration: yakusoku
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: 契約 (never substitute for covenant’s own term)
Original: ἐπαγγελία
Category: Covenant
New term (Gal 3:14-29, recurring). Fully secularized everyday word for any promise/appointment; must be actively restored to God’s unilateral, unbreakable pledge to Abraham, and must NEVER be used interchangeably with 契約 (covenant) — Paul’s argument at 3:15-18 depends on keeping the two distinct.
Mediator
Approved rendering: 仲介者
Transliteration: chuukaisha
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose; Covenant Mediation
Rejected alternatives: 巫女的な存在
Original: μεσίτης
Category: Covenant
New term (Gal 3:19-20). NEVER use language importing Shinto shrine-medium (miko) framing. Clarify Moses’ role as a specific historical-covenantal office administering the Law’s giving, distinct from Christ’s own unique mediatorship.
Faith Working Through Love
Approved rendering: 愛によって働く信仰
Transliteration: ai ni yotte hataraku shinkou
Doctrine: Faith Working through Love
Rejected alternatives: 愛から生じる信仰
Original: πίστις δι᾽ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη
Category: Faith
New term (Gal 5:6). Faith must remain the root/source, love its active expression; NEVER reverse the causality.
Works Of The Flesh
Approved rendering: 肉の行い
Transliteration: niku no okonai
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: ἔργα τῆς σαρκός
Category: Ethics
New term (Gal 5:19-21), umbrella category for the vice list. Two list-items (idolatry, sorcery) carry independent Critical/High flags below.
Sorcery Witchcraft
Approved rendering: 魔術
Transliteration: majutsu
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: φαρμακεία
Category: Sin
New term (Gal 5:20). Collides with Japan’s active folk-occult landscape (onmyoudo divination heritage, fortune-telling, commercial curse-removal services); condemn the practice without mocking or over-dramatizing contemporary folk-practice culture.
Flesh Moral Sense
Approved rendering: 肉
Transliteration: niku
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: σάρξ
Category: Ethics
New term, fully established NT vocabulary but severe dilution risk (Gal 5:13, 16-24). 肉’s dominant everyday sense is literal meat (焼肉, supermarket 肉 sections); teaching material must actively and repeatedly restore the Pauline moral-theological sense rather than assume readers will supply it automatically.
Flesh Neutral Sense
Approved rendering: この肉体において / この身において
Transliteration: kono nikutai ni oite / kono mi ni oite
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ (contextual disambiguation)
Rejected alternatives: 肉 alone, unqualified
New term, contextual disambiguation entry for ἐν σαρκί at Gal 2:20 — a NEUTRAL sense (‘in the body/in this earthly life’), distinct from the strongly negative moral sense of 肉 used elsewhere in this letter (5:16-24). Flag with a translator note distinguishing this dual usage to prevent readers importing the negative sense here.
All Flesh Negation
Approved rendering: 誰も…ない / 人はだれも
Transliteration: dare mo…nai / hito wa dare mo
Doctrine: Justification by Faith (contextual)
Rejected alternatives: 肉 (literal rendering of πᾶσα σάρξ)
New term, contextual disambiguation entry for πᾶσα σάρξ (‘all flesh’ = every human being, a Hebraism) at Gal 2:16. Must NOT be rendered with 肉 — a literal rendering would produce a confusing, near-comic reading (‘no meat will be justified’). Flag for theologian review.
Fruit Of The Spirit
Approved rendering: 御霊の実
Transliteration: mitama no mi
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: 聖霊の実
Original: καρπὸς τοῦ πνεύματος
Category: Sanctification
New term, DELIBERATE DOCUMENTED EXCEPTION to the baseline’s 聖霊-only rule (Gal 5:22-23). 御霊 (mitama) is standard Shinto vocabulary for enshrined ancestral/deified spirits (mitama matsuri, mitamaya); retained ONLY because it is the entrenched traditional rendering of this famous phrase. Requires a mandatory clarifying note at every occurrence that 御霊 here = 聖霊, not a kami-spirit. Do not flag as an inconsistency in Phase 2 QA.
In Christ
Approved rendering: キリストにあって
Transliteration: Kirisuto ni atte
Doctrine: Christian Identity in Christ
New term, Paul’s characteristic union-with-Christ locative formula (Gal 2:17). Must not be flattened into group-belonging (和, wa) language; ties to the baseline’s christian_identity_in_christ doctrine.
New Creation
Approved rendering: 新しい創造
Transliteration: atarashii souzou
Doctrine: Circumcision and the New Creation
Rejected alternatives: 新しい自分
Original: καινὴ κτίσις
Category: Salvation
New term (Gal 6:15). NEVER substitute 新しい自分 (‘a new me’), which flattens this cosmic-theological category into Japan’s self-help/lifestyle-marketing register. Anchor to the cosmic scope that renders the circumcision/non-circumcision distinction entirely moot.
Circumcision
Approved rendering: 割礼
Transliteration: katsurei
Doctrine: Circumcision and the New Creation
Original: περιτομή
Category: Covenant
New term (Gal 2:3; 5:2-6, 11; 6:12-13, 15). Requires OT covenant-sign background (Genesis 17) for a biblically illiterate readership with zero prior exposure to why this rite carries theological weight.
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 not mistranslation but blankness: most secular Japanese readers have zero prior exposure to 福音 as a concept and will need it explained from scratch. In Galatians this term is immediately contested by ほかの福音 (1:6-9); teach the two together.
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.] Set apart for God, morally pure. Implicit background to the Fruit of the Spirit and Flesh vs. Spirit material in Galatians 5.
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.] The Mosaic Law. NEVER use 法律. Recurs across Galatians 2-6 as the primary term contrasted with grace and faith; avoid reduction to Japan’s social-conformity ‘reading the air’ (空気を読む) framework.
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.] Avoid 外人. Central to the Unity of Jews and Gentiles doctrine developed across Galatians 2-3.
Glory
Approved rendering: 栄光
Transliteration: eikou
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 名誉
Original: δόξα
Category: God
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] Avoid 名誉. Galatians 1:24 — Paul’s conversion causes others to glorify God.
Father
Approved rendering: 父
Transliteration: chichi
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 家長
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] Appears at Galatians 1:1, 1:3-4, 4:6; pair with アバ per 4:6’s Abba formula.
Abba
Approved rendering: アバ
Transliteration: Aba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: Ἀββά
Category: God
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] Aramaic term of intimacy. Galatians 4:6 uses the IDENTICAL formula as Romans 8:15 (アバ、父よ) — must be rendered verbatim identically across both curricula.
Israel
Approved rendering: イスラエル
Transliteration: Isuraeru
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] Proper name; established form. Background referent for ‘Israel of God’ at Galatians 6:16.
Revelation
Approved rendering: 啓示
Transliteration: keiji
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: 悟り
Original: ἀποκάλυψις
Category: Apostleship
New term. NEVER use 悟り (Buddhist self-attained enlightenment). This is God’s initiative disclosing content TO Paul (Gal 1:12, 1:16), not human attainment BY Paul.
Judaism
Approved rendering: ユダヤ教
Transliteration: Yudayakyou
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship (background)
Original: Ἰουδαϊσμός
Category: Covenant
New term. The 教 suffix could make this sound like a neutrally-listed peer world religion alongside キリスト教; clarify (Gal 1:13-14) as Paul’s own former total-life system within God’s covenant people, not an outside religion compared abstractly.
False Brothers
Approved rendering: 偽りの兄弟
Transliteration: itsuwari no kyoudai
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Original: ψευδάδελφοι
Category: Church
New term (Gal 2:4). Names a doctrinal threat from within the professing community, not ordinary interpersonal conflict.
Truth Of The Gospel
Approved rendering: 福音の真理
Transliteration: fukuin no shinri
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Original: ἀλήθεια τοῦ εὐαγγελίου
Category: Salvation
New term (Gal 2:5, 14). 真理 carries philosophical/quasi-Buddhist ‘ultimate truth’ overtones; anchor concretely to 2:16’s justification-by-faith content rather than leaving it abstract.
Hypocrisy
Approved rendering: 偽善
Transliteration: gizen
Doctrine: Hypocrisy and Gospel Integrity
Original: ὑπόκρισις
Category: Church
New term (Gal 2:13). Japan’s tatemae/honne (建前・本音) social convention could soften Peter’s inconsistency into ordinary social tact; teaching must clarify Paul treats it as a serious gospel-truth failure.
Transgressor
Approved rendering: 違反者
Transliteration: ihansha
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 犯罪者
Original: παραβάτης
Category: Law
New term (Gal 2:18). Specifically a transgressor against God’s revealed Law within a righteousness argument, not a generic civil-code rule-breaker.
In Vain For Nothing
Approved rendering: 無駄に
Transliteration: muda ni
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: 恵みによって
Original: δωρεάν
Category: Salvation
New term (Gal 2:21, δωρεάν sense b, ‘needlessly’). NEVER render as 恵みによって (‘by grace,’ sense a) — a false-friend trap that would invert Paul’s meaning entirely. Mandatory Phase 2 verification against Greek sense.
Seed Of Abraham
Approved rendering: アブラハムの子孫
Transliteration: Abraham no shison
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ
Category: Covenant
New term (Gal 3:16, 29). Parallel construction to the baseline’s ダビデの子孫; requires OT covenant-background teaching for a biblically illiterate readership.
Guardian Tutor
Approved rendering: 教育係
Transliteration: kyouikugakari
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Rejected alternatives: 先生
Original: παιδαγωγός
Category: Law
New term, PENDING Phase 2 verification against current Shinkaiyaku wording (Gal 3:24-25). No Japanese cultural parallel to the Greco-Roman paidagōgos institution; do NOT render as 先生 (teacher) alone, which loses the custodial/disciplinary/temporary nuance.
Inheritance Heir
Approved rendering: 相続財産 / 相続人
Transliteration: souzoku zaisan / souzokunin
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship; The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: κληρονομία / κληρονόμος
Category: Adoption
New term (Gal 3:18, 29; 4:1, 7). Japan’s established inheritance-succession culture (相続, historic 家督) is a genuine cultural bridge, similar to the baseline’s 養子縁組 note for adoption.
Fullness Of Time
Approved rendering: 時が満ちて
Transliteration: toki ga michite
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship (incarnation background)
Original: πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου
Category: Christology
New term (Gal 4:4). Established biblical idiom (cf. Mark 1:15); low biblical-illiteracy risk if cross-referenced.
Bondwoman Slave Woman
Approved rendering: 女奴隷
Transliteration: onna dorei
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ; The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: παιδίσκη
Category: Freedom
New term (Gal 4:21-31). Builds on the tracked 奴隷 vocabulary family; unintelligible without OT narrative background (Genesis 16, 21).
Walk By The Spirit
Approved rendering: 聖霊によって歩む
Transliteration: Seirei ni yotte ayumu
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Original: Πνεύματι περιπατεῖτε / στοιχῶμεν
Category: Sanctification
New term (Gal 5:16, 25). Default to 聖霊 outside the fixed 5:22-23 fruit-of-the-Spirit idiom, to minimize the syncretism footprint of 御霊 across the wider text.
Mē Genoito Idiom
Approved rendering: 決してそうではありません
Transliteration: kesshite sou dewa arimasen
Doctrine: Justification by Faith (rhetorical context)
Rejected alternatives: それが起こらないように (literal, rejected)
New term, Paul’s signature emphatic-denial idiom μὴ γένοιτο (Gal 2:17). A literal rendering is unnatural, weak Japanese; must use an idiomatic emphatic-denial equivalent per system-prompt idiom-handling rules.
Law Of Christ
Approved rendering: キリストの律法
Transliteration: Kirisuto no ritsuhou
Doctrine: Bearing One Another’s Burdens; Law and Grace
Original: νόμος τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Ethics
New term (Gal 6:2). Must not be heard as reintroducing law-righteousness; this is Christ’s own ethic of self-giving love (echoing 5:14), not a new merit-earning legal code.
Marks Of Jesus
Approved rendering: しるし
Transliteration: shirushi
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ (suffering-solidarity extension); Authenticating Suffering for Christ
Rejected alternatives: 焼き印
Original: στίγματα (τοῦ Ἰησοῦ)
Category: Apostleship
New term (Gal 6:17). Avoid 焼き印 as primary rendering — risks unwanted association with livestock branding or Japan’s historical penal tattooing (入れ墨/刺青) and its modern yakuza organized-crime connotation.
Low Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: 使徒
Transliteration: shito
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: 教祖
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Apostleship
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] Established term. Avoid 教祖. Galatians 1:1 is the NT’s most emphatic defense of Paul’s apostolic authority as divinely, not humanly, sourced — a doctrinal claim underwriting the whole letter even though the term itself carries low collision risk.
David
Approved rendering: ダビデ
Transliteration: Dabide
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: Δαυίδ
Category: Covenant
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] Not named directly in Galatians, but the アブラハムの子孫 (‘seed of Abraham’) construction follows the identical established pattern used for ダビデの子孫.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: 感謝
Transliteration: kansha
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία
Category: Faith
[INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE.] Standard term. Minor presence in Galatians; no significant book-specific risk.
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.] Galatians 2:9 — the ‘right hand of fellowship’ extended to Paul and Barnabas.
Allegory
Approved rendering: 比喩
Transliteration: hiyu
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: ἀλληγορούμενα
Category: Covenant
New term (Gal 4:24). Standard literary term, low risk.
Gentleness
Approved rendering: 柔和
Transliteration: nyuuwa
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Original: πραΰτης
Category: Sanctification
New term (Gal 5:23; 6:1). Standard NT vocabulary, low risk.
Self Control
Approved rendering: 自制
Transliteration: jisei
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Original: ἐγκράτεια
Category: Sanctification
New term (Gal 5:23). Standard vocabulary, low risk.
Diakonos Rhetorical
Approved rendering: 仕える者 / 助長する者
Transliteration: tsukaeru mono / jochou suru mono
Doctrine: Justification by Faith (rhetorical context)
New term (Gal 2:17, διάκονος in Paul’s rhetorical question ‘is Christ then a servant of sin?’). Must convey Paul’s rhetorical, near-absurd hypothetical tone, not a flat factual statement.
Burden Shared
Approved rendering: 重荷
Transliteration: omoni
Doctrine: Bearing One Another’s Burdens
Original: βάρος
Category: Community
New term (Gal 6:2). Distinguish from 6:5’s distinct Greek term for ‘one’s own load’ (自分の荷, see ones_own_load) — a deliberate contrast, not a synonym pair.
Ones Own Load
Approved rendering: 自分の荷
Transliteration: jibun no ni
Doctrine: Bearing One Another’s Burdens
Rejected alternatives: 重荷 (do not collapse into the shared-burden term)
Original: φορτίον
Category: Community
New term (Gal 6:5). Deliberate lexical contrast with βάρος (6:2) must be preserved with two distinct Japanese terms.
Sow Reap
Approved rendering: 種を蒔く / 刈り取る
Transliteration: tane o maku / kariotoru
Doctrine: Bearing One Another’s Burdens; Sowing and Reaping Accountability
Original: σπείρειν / θερίζειν
Category: Ethics
New term (Gal 6:7-8). Japan’s own rice-farming heritage makes this an unusually accessible, low-risk metaphor requiring little cultural bridging.
Household Of Faith
Approved rendering: 信仰の家族
Transliteration: shinkou no kazoku
Doctrine: Bearing One Another’s Burdens
Original: οἰκεῖοι τῆς πίστεως
Category: Community
New term (Gal 6:10). Resonates naturally with Japan’s family-unit (家) vocabulary; distinguish from the formal patriarchal-authority connotations flagged for 家長 in the baseline’s father entry — intended sense here is belonging/mutual care.
Medium-High Risk Terms
Love Agape
Approved rendering: 愛
Transliteration: ai
Doctrine: Faith Working through Love; Fruit of the Spirit; Crucified with Christ (2:20)
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Ethics
New term (Gal 2:20; 5:6, 14, 22). Dual collision risk: modern pop-culture romantic-love dilution, and a documented historical tension with Buddhist 愛着 (aijaku, clinging attachment identified as a cause of suffering) — the opposite valence from agapē as a cultivated virtue. Retain established Meiji-era rendering; address the Buddhist-attachment contrast proactively in teaching.
Referenced passages