Passage
Romans 8
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Glossary Term
Abba
Aramaic term of intimacy preserved in Romans 8:15 (アバ、父よ).
ROM.8.15, ROM.8.23
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Glossary Term
Adoption
Unlike some contexts where adoption customs carry a reduced-status risk, Japan's well-established practice of adult heir adoption (養子縁組, yōshi engumi — commonly adopting a son-in-law or capable outsider as full heir to continue a family name or business when no biological heir exists, still common in Japanese corporate succession today) is actually a helpful cultural bridge: it already carries full inheritance and family-name status, which maps well onto Romans 8's picture of adoption bringing complete inheritance rights.
ROM.8.15, ROM.8.23
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Doctrine
Adoption into God's Family
Japan's established adult-heir adoption practice (養子縁組), still common for business succession, is a helpful cultural bridge for full inheritance rights rather than a liability, unlike in some other cultural contexts.
ROM.8.15, ROM.8.23
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Doctrine
Assurance of Salvation
Assurance rests on God's unchanging character, not on an ongoing on-giri repayment relationship that could always still be judged insufficiently repaid.
ROM.8.1, ROM.8.28-39
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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.8.28-30
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Glossary Term
Calling
NEVER use 運命 (unmei, impersonal fate/destiny) alone.
ROM.8.28-30
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Doctrine
Christian Identity in Christ
Identity located in union with Christ, not in group-belonging/harmony status (和) or social role performance.
ROM.8.1
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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.8.28-30
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Doctrine
Effectual Calling
God's sovereign call that secures the salvation of the called; not impersonal fate (運命) or a competitive-selection outcome (選抜).
ROM.8.28-30
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Glossary Term
Election
Avoid framing through Japan's intensely competitive, merit-based exam and hiring 'selection' culture (受験, 選抜) — being 'selected' colloquially implies passing a competitive process through effort and ability, whereas God's election is a sovereign, gracious, unmerited choice.
ROM.8.28-30
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Glossary Term
Father
God as personal, caring Father.
ROM.8.15, ROM.8.23
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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.8.3
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Glossary Term
Incarnation
CRITICAL: established Japanese theological term ('receiving flesh').
ROM.8.3
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Glossary Term
Intercession
Prayer on behalf of others addressed to God.
ROM.8.26-27
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Glossary Term
Peace
In Romans 5:1, clarify this is relational peace with God through justification, not the generic 'peace of mind'/self-care sense of 安心 or 癒し (iyashi, 'healing/soothing,' heavily used in Japan's large wellness/relaxation-goods marketing).
ROM.8.6
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Doctrine
Peace with God
Relational, covenantal peace through justification, not the generic wellness/self-care sense of 安心 or 癒し common in Japan's relaxation-and-wellness marketing culture.
ROM.8.6
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Doctrine
Prayer and Intercession
Direct access to God in Christ's name; distinguish from Shinto/Buddhist ritual petition at a shrine or temple (お参り, おみくじ).
ROM.8.26-27
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Doctrine
Providence
God's personal, purposive care, not impersonal fate/destiny (運命, 宿命).
ROM.8.28-30
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Glossary Term
Providence
NEVER use 運命 or 宿命 (unmei/shukumei, impersonal fate/destiny, very common secular vocabulary).
ROM.8.28-30
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Glossary Term
Resurrection
NEVER use 輪廻転生 (rinne tenshou, the Buddhist cycle of reincarnation).
ROM.8.11
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Doctrine
Resurrection of Christ
NEVER 輪廻転生 (reincarnation cycle).
ROM.8.11
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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.8.3, ROM.8.29
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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.8.3, ROM.8.29