Passage

Romans 1

• Glossary Term

  Apostle

  Established term.

  ROM.1.1

• Doctrine

  Apostleship

  Low collision risk; avoid the word 教祖 ('religious movement founder/guru'), which carries negative post-Aum Shinrikyo associations in Japan.

  ROM.1.1

• Glossary Term

  Called

  Avoid 運命づけられた (destined by impersonal fate) and use 天職 (tenshoku, 'heaven-appointed vocation,' a common secular Japanese phrase for one's calling/career passion) only with caution — it risks reducing God's specific relational summons to a generic sense of career fulfillment.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.6-7

• Glossary Term

  Calling

  NEVER use 運命 (unmei, impersonal fate/destiny) alone.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.6-7

• Doctrine

  Christian Fellowship

  Shared participation in Christ, not generic in-group harmony feeling (仲間意識) from Japan's wa culture.

  ROM.1.12

• Glossary Term

  Covenant

  契約 is the only common Japanese word for both 'covenant' and an ordinary secular contract (employment, rental, insurance) — a fully secularized commercial term in everyday use.

  ROM.1.3

• Glossary Term

  David

  Standard Shinkaiyaku proper name form.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Davidic Covenant

  Requires OT background explanation; 契約 (covenant) defaults to the everyday commercial-contract sense in modern Japanese, so the relational, unconditional nature of God's promise to David needs active restoration in teaching.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Deity of Christ

  CRITICAL: co-equal, eternal divine nature — not a deified human ruler, as in the pre-1946 State Shinto arahitogami ('living god') doctrine of imperial divinity.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Divine Calling

  Must be distinguished from impersonal fate (運命) and from the secular sense of 天職 (a fulfilling vocation/career passion).

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.6-7

• Glossary Term

  Exhort

  Standard term for encouraging/urging fellow believers.

  ROM.1.12

• Doctrine

  Faith

  Personal trust in Christ specifically, not the generic 'both-and' religious sentiment typical of Japan's syncretistic shrine-and-temple practice.

  ROM.1.17

• Glossary Term

  Faith

  Personal trust in Christ specifically; must be distinguished from generic 宗教心 (religious sentiment) common in Japan's famously syncretistic 'do both' religious practice (visiting a Shinto shrine at New Year and a Buddhist temple at Obon without exclusive commitment to either).

  ROM.1.17

• Glossary Term

  Fellowship

  Shared participation in Christ.

  ROM.1.12

• Doctrine

  Fulfillment of Prophecy

  Linear, one-time historical fulfillment (OT to NT), not a fortune-telling prediction (占い) coming true by chance.

  ROM.1.2-4

• Glossary Term

  Glory

  Avoid collapsing into 名誉 (meiyo, secular honor/reputation), which reduces God's radiant divine glory to human social prestige.

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  God

  CRITICAL: this is the single highest-risk term in the Japanese package.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Gospel

  The term itself is unambiguous, but most secular Japanese readers have no prior exposure to it at all; the risk is blankness/biblical illiteracy rather than a competing wrong meaning.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Gospel

  Established Shinkaiyaku term.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.16

• Doctrine

  Humanity of Christ

  Real, physical human nature, not a temporary provisional manifestation-form (化身) a kami or bodhisattva could exchange for another appearance.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Incarnation

  CRITICAL: NEVER 化身/権化 (a kami's or bodhisattva's provisional, repeatable manifestation, per honji suijaku Shinto-Buddhist syncretism theology).

  ROM.1.3

• Glossary Term

  Incarnation

  CRITICAL: established Japanese theological term ('receiving flesh').

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Inspiration of Scripture

  Distinguish God-breathed Scripture from Buddhist sutras (経, kyou) transmitted through a teacher-disciple lineage, or from secular literary-classic status; Scripture is the direct, verbal communication of a personal God.

  ROM.1.2

• Glossary Term

  Jesus

  イエス is the modern Protestant/ecumenical standard, phonetically close to Greek/English.

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  Justification

  CRITICAL: established Shinkaiyaku compound, 'being recognized/counted as righteous' — a forensic declaration, not a process.

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Law

  The Mosaic Law.

  ROM.1.2-4

• Glossary Term

  Lord

  Established term.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Lordship of Christ

  CRITICAL: Romans 10:9 — イエスは主です is the salvation confession.

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  Messiah

  キリスト (transliteration of 'Christos') is the standard term — so standard that 'Christianity' itself is キリスト教.

  ROM.1.3-4

• Doctrine

  Messianic Promise

  CRITICAL: most secular Japanese readers know 'Kirisuto' only as a foreign cultural brand (commercialized Christmas, wedding-chapel aesthetics) with no connection to Jewish messianic-fulfillment content.

  ROM.1.3-4

• Glossary Term

  Mission

  Japan's Christian history carries the weight of the 16th-17th century Kirishitan persecution and the subsequent two-and-a-half centuries of national seclusion (sakoku) during which hidden Christians (隠れキリシタン, Kakure Kirishitan) practiced underground.

  ROM.1.5, ROM.1.13-14

• Doctrine

  Mission to the Nations

  Carries the historical weight of the Kirishitan persecution and centuries of national seclusion (sakoku), plus the modern reality of very low response rates to evangelism in Japan; frame with historical awareness and without triumphalism.

  ROM.1.5, ROM.1.13-14

• Doctrine

  Mutual Edification

  Building one another up in faith; no significant doctrinal risk.

  ROM.1.12

• Doctrine

  Obedience of Faith

  Japan's strong hierarchical-obedience culture (seniority systems, corporate hierarchy, historic Bushido loyalty) risks reducing obedience of faith to social-conformity compliance rather than a Spirit-produced response to grace.

  ROM.1.5

• Glossary Term

  Obedience Of Faith

  Romans 1:5 and 16:26.

  ROM.1.5

• Glossary Term

  Power Of God

  Avoid 気 (ki, the vital life-energy concept from traditional Japanese medicine and martial arts such as aikido) and generic loanword パワー (pawaa, 'power'), which given Japan's anime/manga/tokusatsu pop-culture saturation risks sounding like a generic fictional superpower rather than the specific saving power of Romans 1:16.

  ROM.1.16

• Doctrine

  Power of God for Salvation

  Avoid 気 (traditional vital-energy concept) and generic loanword パワー, both of which risk sounding like a pop-culture superpower trope rather than the specific saving power of Romans 1:16.

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Prophecy

  Same 預言/予言 homophone risk as 'prophet' above.

  ROM.1.2-4

• Glossary Term

  Prophet

  IMPORTANT: 預言者 ('one who deposits/entrusts words,' prophet) is a homophone of 予言者 ('one who predicts,' a fortune-teller), differing only in the kanji 預 vs.

  ROM.1.2

• Glossary Term

  Resurrection

  NEVER use 輪廻転生 (rinne tenshou, the Buddhist cycle of reincarnation).

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Resurrection of Christ

  NEVER 輪廻転生 (reincarnation cycle).

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  Righteousness

  CRITICAL: 義 is one of the core Bushido virtues (rectitude/moral courage) as codified in Nitobe Inazo's influential Bushido: The Soul of Japan — a samurai-ethics honor-code virtue displayed through right action.

  ROM.1.16

• Doctrine

  Sainthood (Called to be Holy)

  All believers are 聖徒 corporately; not an elevated bodhisattva (菩薩) or arhat (聖者) class.

  ROM.1.7

• Doctrine

  Salvation

  CRITICAL: NEVER 解脱 (liberation from samsara).

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Salvation

  CRITICAL: NEVER use 解脱 (gedatsu, Buddhist liberation from the cycle of samsara).

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Seed Of David

  Romans 1:3; conveys physical lineage and OT covenant fulfillment.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Separation unto God's Service

  Must not be confused with ascetic withdrawal for spiritual training (修行) or Shinto ritual purification (禊, misogi).

  ROM.1.1

• Glossary Term

  Sin

  Japan's culture is frequently described (following Ruth Benedict's shame/guilt framework) as shame-oriented (恥, haji, public loss of face) rather than guilt-oriented; there is a real risk that 罪 gets processed primarily as causing 迷惑 (meiwaku, trouble/inconvenience to others) or public shame rather than moral guilt before a holy God regardless of social consequence.

  ROM.1.18

• Glossary Term

  Son Of God

  CRITICAL: NEVER use 現人神 (arahitogami, 'a god in human form,' the pre-1946 State Shinto doctrine that the Emperor was a living, incarnate divine being descended from the sun goddess Amaterasu — a doctrine Emperor Hirohito formally renounced in his 1946 Ningen-sengen, 'Declaration of Humanity').

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Sonship of Christ

  CRITICAL: NEVER equate with 現人神 (arahitogami), the pre-1946 doctrine of the Emperor as a living god descended from Amaterasu, formally renounced in Hirohito's 1946 Humanity Declaration.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Spiritual Gifts

  Spirit-given enablements, not anime/manga-flavored 'superpowers' (超能力) or folk-medium psychic ability (霊力).

  ROM.1.11

• Glossary Term

  Spiritual Gifts

  Always clarify as 霊的な賜物 (Spirit-given gifts) in context.

  ROM.1.11

• Doctrine

  Thanksgiving

  Standard term; minor risk of generic secular gratitude without reference to God specifically.

  ROM.1.8, ROM.1.21

• Glossary Term

  Thanksgiving

  Standard term.

  ROM.1.8, ROM.1.21

• Doctrine

  Universal Human Accountability

  All humanity equally guilty before God regardless of social standing; must be taught as guilt before a personal God, not merely social shame (恥) or causing 迷惑 to others.

  ROM.1.18

• Doctrine

  Universal Scope of the Gospel

  No insider/outsider (内・外, uchi-soto) barrier to the gospel; must resist framing that echoes Japan's strong insider/outsider social distinction.

  ROM.1.16