Log in

or use your email

Search the Library

Keyword search across Doctrine Analysis, Core Glossary, Comparative Theology, and Regional Analysis. Mention a language name for the best results — e.g. "remnant burmese" or "what glossary terms conflict for burmese."

Type at least 2 characters to search.

Work with us

Tell us a bit about how you'd like to work with tri-bible.ai.

Stay informed Get our weekly newsletter. Never sold or shared, unsubscribe anytime.

Let us serve you Church leaders and ministry networks seeking translated curriculum Join our team Volunteers interested in reviewing translations
Download Translation Skill

Linguistic Gap Analysis

Linguistic Gap Analysis — Gospel of John (English → Japanese)

Purpose and Scope

This analysis identifies where standard modern Japanese lacks native vocabulary for John’s theological content, where existing Japanese religious/secular vocabulary is already “crowded” by competing meanings that must be actively fenced off, and which transliteration-vs-paraphrase decisions carry doctrinal weight. It extends the Romans baseline (translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, doctrine_risk_registry.json) without contradicting any established rendering, and incorporates the John-specific terms already proposed in 08_core_glossary.md and the John bible_term_registry.json. Coverage spans John 1–21 in full; the core passage John 3:1-21 receives concentrated treatment as the curriculum’s theological anchor, not its scope boundary.

The nine curriculum doctrines are treated as the organizing spine of Section A:

  1. The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
  2. The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
  3. Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
  4. God’s Love for the World
  5. Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
  6. The Seven “I Am” Statements
  7. The Holy Spirit as Counselor
  8. Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
  9. Unity of the Father and the Son

Section A: Doctrine Vocabulary Matrix

DoctrineAvailable Japanese TermsWeaknesses / GapsRecommended Strategy
1. Deity and Pre-existence of Christ神の子 (baseline), ことば (Logos, new), 神と等しい (new), わたしはある (new, absolute ego eimi), 受肉 (baseline)神 alone risks a “kami among many” reading (baseline Critical carries forward unchanged, but John’s concentration of deity claims at 1:1, 1:18, 5:18, 8:58, 10:30, 20:28 raises frequency-weighted exposure); ことば risks 言霊 (kotodama) resonance — an impersonal mystical word-power, not a personal pre-existent Being; 受肉 must resist bleeding into the honji suijaku 化身/権化 provisional-manifestation frame.Apply baseline’s 唯一のまことの神 qualifier at every doctrinally weighty John occurrence, not only “first occurrence” as in Romans, given far higher doctrinal density. Mandatory first-occurrence teaching note distinguishing ことば from 言霊. Cross-reference わたしはある to Shinkaiyaku Exodus 3:14 (わたしはある、という者だ) at both 8:58 and 18:5-6.
2. The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit新しく生まれる (new), 水と御霊 (new), 風/御霊 wordplay (new)ἄνωθεν’s Greek double sense (“again” + “from above”) has no single Japanese lexical equivalent — 新しく (again/newly) discards the spatial “from above” sense entirely; 生まれ変わる (an available near-synonym) is worse, carrying reincarnation overtones; 御霊 (used by Shinkaiyaku here instead of 聖霊) creates a cross-document consistency gap against baseline’s mandatory 聖霊 compound.Retain 新しく生まれる as the primary rendering (per Shinkaiyaku), but require an explicit two-part teaching note unpacking both Greek senses at every occurrence in the core passage (3:3, 3:7). Require an explicit “御霊 here = 聖霊, the Holy Spirit” doctrinal gloss at 3:5, 3:6, 3:8, since this is the core passage’s own first occurrence of the term.
3. Eternal Life through Faith in Christ永遠のいのち (new), いのち (new), 信じる (new), 信仰 (baseline noun)永遠のいのち risks assimilation to 不老不死 (Daoist-derived immortality/eternal-youth, familiar via classical Chinese literature and modern anime/fantasy fiction) — an unending biological extension pursued through effort, exactly the earned-attainment frame the doctrine must avoid; いのち vs. clinical 生命 is a register choice, not a doctrinal one, but inconsistent use dilutes the connective tissue between 3:15-16, 5:24, and 17:3.Cite John 17:3’s definition (“eternal life is this: to know you”) directly and immediately at every occurrence of 永遠のいのち in teaching material, especially at 3:15-16 in the core passage, as the built-in scriptural corrective to the 不老不死 collision. Enforce いのち (never 生命) as the sole register throughout.
4. God’s Love for the World世 (new), 愛する/愛 (new)世 risks two distinct collisions: (a) uchi-soto insider/outsider narrowing (reading 世 as “everyone except us” rather than the whole created order), and (b) Buddhist 無常 (mujō)-flavored reading of the world as a transient, ultimately illusory realm to be escaped rather than a real world God loves and sends his Son into; 愛 carries pre-modern Buddhist 愛着 (clinging attachment, a cause of suffering) and modern romantic-love dominant usage (J-pop/dorama), both distant from willed, sacrificial agapē.At John 3:16 (core passage) and 4:42 (世の救い主), teaching must state explicitly that 世 denotes the entire created/human order that God actually loves and acts to save — not an illusory realm to transcend, and not bounded by any insider group. Teach 愛する at 3:16 as willed, self-giving, cross-directed love, distinct from both attachment and romance.
5. Judgment and Belief/Unbelief裁く/裁き (new), 信じる (new), 光/闇 (new)裁き risks collapse into 因果応報 (ingahōō), the popular Buddhist-derived folk concept of automatic, impersonal karmic cause-and-effect — the opposite of a personal God’s forensic verdict tied specifically to one’s response to the Son (3:18-19); 闇 carries a strong aesthetic-positive tradition in Japanese culture (cf. Tanizaki’s 陰翳礼讃, “In Praise of Shadows”) that could soften the moral gravity of darkness as active opposition to God.Teach 裁き in the core passage (3:18-19) as a personal verdict already rendered on the basis of belief/unbelief in the Son, explicitly contrasted with self-balancing karmic retribution. Flag 光/闇 at 3:19-21 as a moral, not aesthetic, category at first occurrence.
6. The Seven “I Am” Statementsわたしはいのちのパンです / わたしは世の光です / わたしは良い牧者です / わたしは羊の門です / わたしは復活であり、いのちです / わたしが道であり、真理であり、いのちなのです / わたしは真のぶどうの木です (all new)The absolute, grammatically marked divine-name echo present in the Greek ἐγώ εἰμι is invisible in six of the seven predicated statements, since Japanese ordinary copula sentences (わたしは〜です) carry no comparable grammatical signal; only the two predicate-less absolute uses (8:58; 18:5-6) preserve the echo via わたしはある.Present the seven statements as a coordinated, book-spanning set in all teaching material (see Section C of 08_core_glossary.md) and explicitly cross-reference each of the six predicated statements back to the two absolute uses, so the deity claim is anchored by content-plus-explicit-cross-reference rather than by grammar alone.
7. The Holy Spirit as Counselor聖霊 (baseline), 助け主 (new), 真理の御霊 (new)助け主 (Tasukenushi) risks being heard as a subordinate assistant, since 助ける is an ordinary everyday “to help” verb — understating the Spirit’s full, co-equal divine personhood and authority as “another Paraclete” (implying Christ himself was the first, 14:16); 御霊/聖霊 inconsistency recurs here (14:17; 15:26; 16:13) exactly as in the new-birth doctrine above.Require an explicit doctrinal note at first occurrence of 助け主 (14:16) clarifying full divine personhood, not a lesser assistant role. Apply the same 御霊=聖霊 anchoring note required under Doctrine 2 at each Counselor-passage occurrence of 御霊.
8. Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection十字架/十字架につける, 完了した, 〜のためにいのちを捨てる, 復活, 上げられる/高く上げられる (all new/baseline as noted)完了した is standard neutral Japanese business/project-completion phrasing, risking a flattened reading that misses the specific, sufficient, once-for-all atonement claim; 〜のために (for the sake of) is also ordinary secular altruism vocabulary (e.g., 家族のために), risking collapse of unique substitutionary atonement into generic self-sacrifice; 上げられる privileges the literal-crucifixion sense and easily loses the simultaneous exaltation/glory sense; 復活 (baseline) carries forward its established secular “comeback” dilution risk.Teach 完了した at 19:30 as the decisive, sufficient completion of atonement, explicitly countering any works-based supplementation. Teach 〜のためにいのちを捨てる (10:11, 15; 15:13) as unique substitutionary atonement, not generic altruism. Teach 上げられる at 3:14 (core passage), 8:28, 12:32-34 as one Greek word carrying both crucifixion and glorification meanings simultaneously — never split the two senses apart in exposition.
9. Unity of the Father and the Sonわたしと父とは一つです (new), 彼らが一つになるために (new)一つ (hitotsu, “one”) risks assimilation to 和 (wa), Japan’s deeply valued ideal of cooperative harmony among distinct, separate individuals, rather than the ontological unity of divine essence John 10:30 actually asserts; the identical vocabulary reused for believers’ relational unity (ch. 17) risks either divinizing believers or reducing the Father-Son unity to mere social harmony if the two senses are not carefully distinguished.Teach 10:30’s わたしと父とは一つです as ontological/essential oneness — explicitly not 和-style cooperative agreement between separate wills — citing the hearers’ own (correct) blasphemy-charge reaction (10:33) as narrative confirmation. In ch. 17, explicitly flag that 彼らが一つになるために is patterned after, but categorically distinct from, the Father-Son unity of ch. 10.

Section B: Missing Vocabulary Map

These are concepts for which standard modern Japanese has no native single-word or single-construction equivalent, requiring a compound, paraphrase, or explicit teaching supplement rather than a simple lexical substitution.

Source conceptGreek featureWhy no Japanese equivalent existsChosen compromiseResidual gap requiring teaching
Born again/from aboveἄνωθεν double sense (“again” + “from above”)Japanese spatial and repetition adverbs are lexically distinct (再び/もう一度 = again; 上から = from above); no single word carries both新しく生まれる (Shinkaiyaku’s established compromise, favoring the “newness” sense)The spatial “from above” (divine origin, not human initiative) sense must be taught explicitly at every occurrence (3:3, 3:7); without it, the phrase can be misheard as the secular self-help idiom 心を入れ替える (“turn over a new leaf”).
Wind/Spirit punπνεῦμα (single word, dual referent)Japanese has no word spanning both “wind” and “spirit”Split into two words: 風 (illustration) / 御霊 (referent)The compact wordplay of 3:8 is structurally destroyed by the split; teaching must state explicitly that one Greek word underlies both halves of the verse.
Substitutionary ὑπέρGreek preposition marking vicarious substitutionJapanese のために (“for the sake of”) covers ordinary altruism and substitution alike, with no dedicated grammatical marker for the latter〜のためにいのちを捨てるEvery occurrence (10:11, 15; 11:50-51; 15:13; 17:19) requires an explicit note that this is unique atoning substitution, not the same category as ordinary Japanese self-sacrifice idiom.
Double meaning of ὑψόω (“lifted up”)Simultaneous physical-crucifixion + exaltation/glory sense in one verbJapanese 上げられる is capable of either sense but not both at once without added context上げられる / 高く上げられる, always taught together with the glory motifLeft untaught, the exaltation half of the meaning is very likely to be lost entirely; core-passage occurrence at 3:14 is the doctrine’s first appearance and sets the pattern for 8:28 and 12:32-34.
ἀγαπάω vs. φιλέω distinction (21:15-17)Two distinct Greek verbs for love in the same exchangeModern Japanese has collapsed to a single common verb, 愛する, for both私を愛していますか / わたしはあなたを愛しています (same verb both times)The Greek alternation is entirely invisible in Japanese; a mandatory translator’s note explaining the underlying two Greek verbs is required rather than inventing an artificial two-word Japanese pair not native to the language (per John bible_term_registry.json).
παράκλητος (multivalent: Advocate/Helper/Comforter/Counselor)A single Greek term spanning legal-advocate, comforting, and counseling sensesNo single Japanese word covers this same semantic range助け主 (established Shinkaiyaku term)The legal-advocate and full co-equal-divine-personhood dimensions are weaker in 助け主 than in the Greek; explicit teaching of full divine personhood is required at first occurrence (14:16).
ἐγώ εἰμι absolute (predicate-less “I am”)Grammatically marked divine self-declaration echoing Exodus 3:14 LXXJapanese predicate-less “to be” statements are grammatically unremarkable in ordinary speechわたしはある (matching Shinkaiyaku’s Exodus 3:14 rendering)Works well at 8:58 and 18:5-6 specifically because the OT cross-reference exists in the same translation tradition; still requires the OT link to be made explicit, since a bare わたしはある reads as mundane without it.

Section C: Crowded Semantic Neighborhoods Requiring Fencing

These are cases where the chosen Japanese term is correct and retained, but sits inside an already dense field of competing religious, folk, or secular associations that must be actively “fenced off” in teaching material — distinguished from Section B’s true vocabulary gaps, where no adequate term exists at all.

Japanese termDoctrine contextCompeting neighbor concept(s)Fencing required
神 (Kami)Deity of Christ; God’s Love for the WorldThe yaoyorozu no kami (八百万の神, countless Shinto deities/spirits)Carry forward baseline’s 唯一のまことの神 qualifier; John’s higher deity-claim density (1:1, 1:18, 5:18, 10:30, 17:3, 20:28) means this fence must be reinforced more often than in Romans.
ことば (Kotoba, Logos)Deity and Pre-existence of Christ言霊 (kotodama), the native folk-Shinto belief in words’ inherent impersonal mystical powerExplicit note at 1:1: the Logos is a co-eternal personal Being, not a mystical property inherent in speech itself.
聖霊 / 御霊 (Seirei / Mitama)New Birth; Holy Spirit as CounselorJapan’s vivid animistic spirit-world (幽霊, 妖怪, ancestral spirits at Obon) — baseline’s existing Critical fence; PLUS John’s own internal 聖霊/御霊 terminological inconsistencyBaseline fence against bare 霊 continues in force; ADD a John-specific internal-consistency fence: require explicit “御霊 = 聖霊” gloss at every 御霊 occurrence (3:5-8; 14:17; 15:26; 16:13), since 御霊 is not “bare 霊” but still lacks baseline’s mandatory 聖 qualifier.
光 / 闇 (Hikari / Yami)Judgment and Belief/UnbeliefJapan’s aesthetic tradition treating shadow/darkness (陰翳) as beautiful, restful, even spiritually positive (cf. Tanizaki)Fence at every occurrence (3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36): this is a moral-spiritual dualism of exposure vs. concealment before God, not an aesthetic or mood category.
愛する / 愛 (Ai suru / Ai)God’s Love for the World(a) Pre-Meiji Buddhist 愛着 (aijaku, clinging attachment, a cause of suffering); (b) contemporary romantic-love-dominant usage (J-pop, dorama)Fence at 3:16 and throughout: God’s ἀγάπη is willed, self-giving, sacrificial, other-directed love — neither clinging attachment nor romantic sentiment.
世 (Yo, kosmos)God’s Love for the World(a) Uchi-soto insider/outsider social framing; (b) Buddhist 無常 (mujō), the transient/illusory realm to be escapedFence at 3:16-17: the actual created/human world God loves and sends his Son to save, not narrowed to an in-group nor treated as illusory.
裁き (Sabaki, judgment)Judgment and Belief/Unbelief因果応報 (ingahōō), impersonal karmic cause-and-effect retributionFence at 3:18-19: a personal God’s forensic verdict tied to belief/unbelief in the Son, not a self-balancing cosmic ledger.
復活 (Fukkatsu, resurrection)Christ’s Substitutionary Death and ResurrectionSecular pop-culture “comeback” usage (bands, products, sports teams) — baseline’s existing Medium/High fenceReinforce at 11:25 (fifth “I Am” statement) with the strongest available restoration of doctrinal weight, since this verse identifies Christ’s own person with resurrection life, not merely an event he performs.
一つ (Hitotsu, “one/unity”)Unity of the Father and the Son和 (wa), Japan’s ideal of cooperative harmony among distinct willsFence at 10:30: ontological unity of divine essence, not relational-functional harmony; and fence again at 17:11-23 to keep believers’ unity categorically distinct from the Father-Son unity, despite shared vocabulary.
完了した (Kanryō shita, “it is finished”)Christ’s Substitutionary DeathOrdinary Japanese business/project-completion registerFence at 19:30: the sufficient, once-for-all completion of atonement — not a neutral task-completion statement inviting later supplementation.
助け主 (Tasukenushi, Paraclete)Holy Spirit as CounselorOrdinary meaning of 助ける (“to help/assist”), implying a subordinate assistant roleFence at 14:16: full divine personhood and authority, taking Christ’s own place among the disciples — not a lesser helper.
肉 (Niku, flesh)Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (positive, 1:14) vs. New Birth (negative, 3:6)The same word carries opposite theological valence within the same book, plus ordinary literal meat/body-tissue meaning and idiomatic 肉欲 (“fleshly lust”)Fence both directions: the incarnation’s 肉 (1:14) must not be read through 3:6’s negative “merely natural” sense, and vice versa; footnote both occurrences with the contrasting cross-reference.
生きた水 (Ikita mizu, living water)Eternal Life through Faith (background)お神水 (o-shinsui), ritually drawn Shinto shrine well-water believed to carry purifying/healing powerFence at 4:10-14: symbol of the Spirit’s life-giving provision received by faith in Christ, not water empowered by a ritual site or rite.
永遠のいのち (Eien no inochi, eternal life)Eternal Life through Faith不老不死 (furōshi), Daoist-derived immortality/eternal-youth concept familiar via classical literature and modern fantasy fictionFence at 3:15-16 and 17:3: qualitative, relational, present-possessed life defined as knowing God — not an unending extension of biological existence pursued through effort or elixir.

Section D: Transliteration vs. Paraphrase Decisions

Term / NameDecisionForm usedRationale
Logos (λόγος)Paraphrase, not transliterationことばTransliterating as ロゴス would strand the term as an unexplained Greek philosophical loanword with zero devotional resonance in Japanese Christian usage; ことば is Shinkaiyaku’s established plain title-form and preserves continuity with baseline conventions.
Paraclete (παράκλητος)Paraphrase, not transliteration助け主パラクレートス would be unintelligible to a general reader; 助け主 is the established Shinkaiyaku compound. Accept the “subordinate helper” risk noted in Section C as a teaching-note problem rather than reject the established rendering.
Messiah/Christ (Χριστός / Μεσσίας)Established transliteration (baseline), with occasional secondary transliterationキリスト (primary); メシア (only when John explicitly transliterates the Hebrew term itself, 1:41; 4:25)Matches baseline exactly. メシα is reserved strictly for the two verses where the narrative itself names the Hebrew-Greek transliteration relationship, to preserve that specific narrative detail without creating a competing everyday synonym for キリスト.
Absolute ἐγώ εἰμι (8:58; 18:5-6)Paraphrase anchored to an existing OT transliteration precedentわたしはあるNot a transliteration of Greek, but a direct textual match to Shinkaiyaku’s own Exodus 3:14 rendering — the strongest available strategy since it reuses an already-existing intra-canon Japanese echo rather than inventing new vocabulary.
Amen / HallelujahEstablished transliteration (baseline, unchanged)アーメン / ハレルヤNo paraphrase attempted; these are conventional liturgical transliterations across the Japanese Bible-translation tradition.
Proper names: Nicodemus, Nathanael, Lazarus, Martha, Mary, Thomas, Pilate, Caiaphas, Annas, Samaria, Galilee, Cana, Bethany, Golgotha, Siloam, CephasEstablished transliteration, Shinkaiyaku formsニコデモ, ナタナエル, ラザロ, マルタ, マリア, トマス, ピラト, カヤパ, アンナス, サマリア, ガリラヤ, カナ, ベタニア, ゴルゴタ, シロアム, ケファStandard practice; no doctrinal risk, included here for full-book proper-noun coverage completeness per the transliteration standards this document extends.
Water and Spirit / Spirit of truth (御霊 forms)Retain Shinkaiyaku’s textual form, do not silently normalize to 聖霊水と御霊 / 真理の御霊Silently substituting 聖霊 for 御霊 in direct Scripture quotation would create a visible mismatch against the printed Shinkaiyaku text learners may already own; instead, retain 御霊 in direct quotation and require an explicit accompanying gloss (see Section C) rather than resolving the inconsistency by paraphrase substitution.
Wrath of God (ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ)Paraphrase, not transliteration神の怒りNo transliteration option is relevant; the decision recorded here is the rejection of any softened/generic paraphrase (e.g., 神の不満, “God’s displeasure”) in favor of retaining the full judicial-wrath sense while requiring the fencing note in Section C.
Do you love me? (ἀγαπάω / φιλέω)Paraphrase with mandatory annotation, explicitly rejecting an invented lexical distinction私を愛していますか / わたしはあなたを愛しています (same Japanese verb both times)An artificial two-word Japanese pair (e.g., coining a special term for φιλέω) was considered and rejected as not native to the language and likely to confuse rather than clarify; the Greek alternation is better preserved through an explicit translator’s note than through invented vocabulary.

Section E: Ranked List of Highest-Risk Ambiguities

Ranked by combined severity (doctrinal centrality), frequency/exposure across the book, and collision potential with a specific competing Japanese concept. Items 1–5 concentrate in or directly touch the core passage (John 3:1-21).

  1. 新しく生まれる — the ἄνωθεν “again/from above” double sense (John 3:3, 7). Core-passage term. Highest risk because it is both a true vocabulary gap (Section B) and the doctrinal hinge of the entire core passage; misconstrual here (e.g., as 心を入れ替える, “turning over a new leaf”) undermines the doctrine of regeneration at its point of first teaching.

  2. 御霊 vs. 聖霊 — cross-cutting terminological inconsistency (John 3:5-8; 14:17; 15:26; 16:13). Critical because it touches two curriculum doctrines simultaneously (New Birth and Holy Spirit as Counselor) and directly intersects baseline’s single highest-stakes forbidden-substitution rule (NEVER bare 霊); the risk is not that 御霊 is wrong, but that its inconsistency with baseline’s mandated compound could be read by a careless downstream process as a violation, or by a reader as two different entities.

  3. 神と等しい / 神の子 / わたしはある — the deity-claim cluster (John 5:18; 8:58; 10:30; 20:28). Critical; John’s concentration and narrative confirmation of these claims (via blasphemy charges the original hearers correctly leveled) means any softening toward “close to God” or “an especially exalted man” would contradict the Gospel’s own stated purpose (20:31) more directly than any Romans passage.

  4. わたしと父とは一つです — 一つ vs. 和 (wa) collision (John 10:30; cf. 17:11-23). Critical; the risk is doubled by the reuse of the same vocabulary for believers’ derivative unity in ch. 17, creating both an external collision (with 和) and an internal consistency risk (conflating two distinct unities).

  5. 神の怒り and 光/闇’s moral sense within the core passage (John 3:19-21, 36). High; two collision risks converge in the same textual unit — 裁き/因果応報 (karmic collapse) and 闇’s aesthetic-positive cultural resonance — making 3:19-21 a concentrated risk zone despite being part of the same core passage already flagged for ranking #1.

  6. ことば / 言霊 (John 1:1, 14). Critical; though outside the core passage, it is the doctrinal foundation for Deity and Pre-existence of Christ and the first term a reader encounters in the book.

  7. 永遠のいのち / 不老不死 (John 3:15-16; 17:3). Critical; directly inside the core passage (3:15-16) and recurring at the book’s climactic self-definition (17:3); risk is amplified by strong pop-culture/anime familiarity with the competing concept among younger secular readers, the curriculum’s likely audience.

  8. 世 / mujō and uchi-soto (John 3:16-17). High; inside the core passage, foundational to the God’s-Love-for-the-World doctrine; risk is subtler than ranking #1-7 because both collision concepts (mujō, uchi-soto) require cultural literacy to recognize, making silent mistranslation more likely to go undetected in review.

  9. 完了した and 〜のためにいのちを捨てる (John 19:30; 10:11,15; 15:13). Critical; outside the core passage but doctrinally central to Christ’s Substitutionary Death; ranked below core-passage items only because of textual distance from John 3, not because of lower doctrinal stakes.

  10. 助け主 (John 14:16). Critical; the single clearest case in this analysis of an established term whose ordinary-language etymology (助ける, “to help”) actively undercuts the doctrine it names (full divine personhood), requiring the heaviest teaching-note compensation relative to term length.

  11. 上げられる — the “lifted up” double meaning (John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32-34). High; the core-passage occurrence (3:14) is this motif’s introduction, and losing the exaltation sense here weakens every subsequent occurrence’s payoff.

  12. 裁き / 因果応報 (John 3:18-19; 5:24, 29; 9:39; 12:48; 16:8-11). High; recurring across many chapters, making a single early mistranslation (most likely at its core-passage introduction, 3:18-19) propagate confusion downstream.

  13. 肉’s contrasting valence (John 1:14 positive / 3:6 negative). High; the negative occurrence falls inside the core passage, directly adjacent to ranking #1’s regeneration teaching, raising the risk that 3:6’s “flesh gives birth to flesh” could be misread as devaluing the very human nature affirmed at 1:14.

  14. アガペー/フィレオー untranslatable distinction (John 21:15-17). High but low-frequency (a single three-verse exchange); ranked lower because its risk is fully containable by a single well-placed translator’s note rather than requiring sustained doctrinal vigilance across many chapters.

  15. 復活’s secular “comeback” dilution (John 11:25; throughout). High; carried forward from baseline, but John’s fifth “I Am” statement (11:25) raises the stakes to near-Critical by personally identifying Christ with resurrection life rather than merely narrating an event.


Section F: Full-Book Chapter Coverage Confirmation

Per the full-book-coverage mandate, every chapter of John has been reviewed for linguistic-gap-analysis purposes. Chapters not separately elaborated above contribute no additional gap beyond what is already logged in Sections A–E; each is confirmed reviewed below.

ChapterGap-analysis relevanceStatus
1ことば/言霊 (Rank 6); 肉 dual-valence introduced (positive, 1:14); 神の子羊; 人の子Covered above
2時 (hōra) motif introduced (2:4); no new fencing beyond Section A Doctrine 8 backgroundReviewed — no additional gap
3Core passage: 新しく生まれる (Rank 1), 水と御霊/御霊-聖霊 (Rank 2), 神と等しい precursor language, 上げられる introduced (Rank 11), 永遠のいのち (Rank 7), 世 (Rank 8), 神の怒り/光/闇 (Rank 5)Covered extensively above
4生きた水/お神水 fencing (Section C); 世の救い主; 霊とまことによる礼拝 (bare 霊 ambiguity flagged for theologian review per bible_term_registry.json)Covered above
5神と等しい (Rank 3); 人の子; 裁き introduced in forensic senseCovered above
6First “I Am” (いのちのパン); 引く/引き寄せる (draw); 肉を食べ、血を飲むCovered above (Rank 6/Doctrine 6 matrix)
7律法 background contrast; メシア named explicitly (Section D)Reviewed — no additional gap beyond Section D entry
8Second “I Am” (世の光); わたしはある absolute (Rank 3); 真理はあなたたちを自由にします; 罪の奴隷; 悪魔/偽りの父; 上げられる (8:28)Covered above
9Reuses light/darkness, judgment, worship vocabulary established in ch. 3-5, 8Reviewed — no new load-bearing gap (consistent with 08_core_glossary.md Section D)
10Third/Fourth “I Am” (良い牧者/羊の門); わたしと父とは一つです (Rank 4); 〜のためにいのちを捨てる introducedCovered above
11Fifth “I Am” (復活であり、いのちです) (Rank 15)Covered above
12一粒の麦; この世の支配者; 上げられる (12:32-34)Reviewed — reuses Ranks 8, 11 vocabulary; no new gap category
13新しい戒め; 使徒/遣わす wordplay (13:16)Reviewed — Section A Doctrine background only, no Critical/High gap
14Sixth “I Am” (道・真理・いのち); 助け主 (Rank 10); 真理の御霊 (Rank 2 family); 父の家Covered above
15Seventh “I Am” (真のぶどうの木); 友と呼ぶ; 〜のためにいのちを捨てる (15:13)Reviewed — reuses Ranks 4, 9, 10 vocabulary
16わたしはすでに世に勝っています; 真理の御霊 continuedReviewed — reuses Rank 2, Doctrine 7 vocabulary; no new gap category
17彼らが一つになるために (Rank 4); 永遠のいのちとは、あなたを知ることです (Rank 7 anchor); 聖め別ってくださいCovered above
18わたしがそれです (absolute ego eimi, Rank 3 family); わたしの国はこの世のものではありません (reinforces 神の国 baseline caution)Reviewed — reuses Rank 3, no new gap category
19十字架; 完了した (Rank 9); 血と水; ユダヤ人の王Covered above
20わが主、わが神 (Rank 3 family, personal application); 聖霊を受けなさい/罪を赦される (kanji homophone caution, 赦す vs 許す); 20:31 thesis statementReviewed — reuses Rank 3 and baseline’s homophone-kanji caution pattern; flagged for cross-document verbatim-consistency in Phase 2
21私を愛していますか (Rank 14); わたしの羊を養いなさい/飼いなさい; わたしについて来なさいCovered above

All 21 chapters are confirmed reviewed. No chapter is silently omitted from this gap analysis.


This document extends, and must be read together with, 08_core_glossary.md and the John bible_term_registry.json. It does not introduce any rendering not already recorded in those artifacts; it organizes and ranks their doctrinal-risk implications for Phase 2 planning.

Library content is free and openly licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — share and adapt it for non-commercial use, with attribution to tri-bible.ai.

Give feedback

How would you rate this page?

0 / 500 words