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

Core Glossary

08 — Core Glossary: 1 John

This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, covering the full text of 1 John (chapters 1–5), with the core passage (4:7–21) as theological anchor. Terms are split into two sections:

  • Section 1 — terms already fixed in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json; these are reused exactly, per the hard rule, with no re-derivation.
  • Section 2 — new terms unique to 1 John’s theological vocabulary, proposed here for formal registration into an extended translation memory in Phase 1 Step 2.

Risk tiers follow the baseline’s four-tier framework (Critical / High / Medium / Low) and its review-routing convention (Critical & High → human theologian; Medium → native speaker; Low → automated).


Section 1 — Baseline Terms Reused Exactly (No Change Permitted)

English termGreek (transliteration)Javanese rendering (baseline-fixed)RiskOccurrences in 1 JohnNote
Godθεός (theos)Gusti AllahCriticalThroughout (1:5; 4:8,16; 5:20, etc.)Never shorten to bare Gusti.
JesusἸησοῦς (Iēsous)Gusti YesusCritical1:3, 1:7, 2:1, 4:2, 4:15, 5:1, etc.Never Nabi Isa.
Son of Godυἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (huios tou theou)Putrané Gusti AllahCritical3:8, 4:9-10, 4:15, 5:5, 5:9-13, 5:20Reinforced in 4:9 by μονογενής (“only Son”); render adjectivally, do not create a separate term.
Holy Spiritπνεῦμα ἅγιον / τὸ πνεῦμα (pneuma hagion / to pneuma)Roh SuciCritical3:24, 4:2, 4:13, 5:6-8Never dhemit or lelembut — this prohibition is explicitly extended in Section 2 to the broader “testing the spirits” vocabulary.
Fatherπατήρ (patēr)RamaHigh1:2-3, 2:1, 2:13-16, 2:22-24, 3:1, 4:14Never Leluhur.
Incarnationὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο / ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα (cf. John 1:14; 1 Jn 4:2)Gusti Allah dados manungsaCritical1:1-3 (implicit), 4:2-3, 4:9-10Never manunggaling kawula gusti. Central to the “Testing the Spirits” confessional test (4:2-3).
Holyἅγιος (hagios)suciHighImplied throughout via Roh Suci, ἁγιασμός-adjacent contextsNo direct standalone occurrence of “holy” as an attribute of believers in 1 John, but the term underlies Roh Suci and is retained for consistency.
Sinἁμαρτία (hamartia)dosaHigh1:7-10, 2:1-2, 3:4-9, 4:10, 5:16-17Anchor to moral transgression before a personal God throughout, not ritual impurity.
Righteousness / righteousδικαιοσύνη / δίκαιος (dikaiosynē / dikaios)kabeneran / kang mursid-benerHigh1:9 (“just,” πιστός καὶ δίκαιος), 2:1 (Jesus “the righteous”), 2:29, 3:7, 3:10Never kasampurnan — note that this same prohibition is now separately and independently reinforced for τελειόω (“perfected,” Section 2), a related but distinct term.
Faith / believeπίστις / πιστεύω (pistis / pisteuō)pitados (krama) / pracaya (ngoko)Medium3:23, 4:1, 4:16, 5:1, 5:4-5, 5:10, 5:13Object of faith always specified: Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.
Lordκύριος (kyrios)GustiHighNot a frequent title in 1 John itself, but underlies Gusti Yesus and Gusti Allah compounds throughoutRetained for consistency across the curriculum; no standalone “Jesus is Lord”-type confession occurs in 1 John (contrast Romans 10:9), but the term family is fully active.
Fellowshipκοινωνία (koinōnia)patunggilanLow (baseline) — elevated doctrinal weight in 1 John1:3, 1:6-7Rendering unchanged, but this is now the topic-sentence term of an entire epistle; treat with doctrinal weight beyond its Romans-context risk tier when drafting teaching notes.
Children / son(s) [general address]τέκνον / παιδίον (teknon/paidion)related to pengangkatan dadi putra family register, but see Section 2 for the distinct “children of God” theological titleMedium2:1, 2:12-14, 2:18, 2:28, 3:7, 3:18, 4:4, 5:21Affectionate pastoral address; keep distinct from the theologically loaded tekna theou title, registered separately below.

Section 2 — New Terms Introduced for 1 John (Proposed for Translation Memory Extension)

English termGreek (transliteration)Proposed Javanese renderingDoctrine riskDoctrine categoryKey passagesRationale / forbidden alternatives
Love (as God’s nature and command)ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω (agapē / agapaō)katresnanCriticalGod is Light and God is Love; Love for the Brethren2:5,7-11,15; 3:1,10-18; 4:7-21 (throughout); 5:1-3Central term of the entire epistle. Must be unconditional, willed, God-sourced love — not romantic tresna (as in wayang narratives of divine-mortal romance) and not a reciprocal utang budi-style obligation-love (already rejected for grace in the baseline). Word order in “God is Love” (Gusti Allah menika katresnan) must keep God as subject, love as predicate/nature, never reversed.
Lightφῶς (phōs)pepadhangHighGod is Light1:5, 1:7, 2:8-10AVOID cahya (spiritual radiance associated with royal/ascetic wahyu-legitimacy in Javanese tradition, already a forbidden-substitution family in the baseline). Pepadhang = ordinary brightness, paired with teaching on moral/relational purity and truthful self-revelation.
Darknessσκοτία (skotia)pepetengMediumGod is Light1:5-6, 2:8-11Moral corruption/separation from God, paired antonym to pepadhang.
Confess / confessionὁμολογέω / ὁμολογία (homologeō / homologia)ngakeni (verb, krama register) / pangakuan (noun)High (sin-confession, 1:9) / Critical (Christological confession, 4:2-3, 4:15)Confession and Forgiveness of Sin; Incarnation and Antichrist1:9; 4:2-3; 4:15Caution regarding overlap with the Islamic syahadat creedal recitation in a Muslim-majority context; teach as personal, Spirit-enabled acknowledgment aligned with apostolic testimony, not a formulaic entry-rite. Structurally parallel to Romans 10:9’s Critical confession.
Cleanseκαθαρίζω (katharizō)ngresiki (saking dosa)HighConfession and Forgiveness of Sin1:9Distinguish from ritual purification performed before slametan ceremonies (extends the baseline’s sanctification/pensucen caution). God alone is the cleansing agent.
Advocateπαράκλητος (paraklētos, applied to Christ)Pembela ing ngarsanipun RamaCriticalConfession and Forgiveness of Sin; Assurance of Salvation2:1Christ’s exclusive, ongoing heavenly intercessory role. Must not be confused with intercession through wali (venerated Sufi saints) tomb-visitation or ancestor mediation — extends the baseline’s intercession caution (already flagged against nyuwun berkah ing kuburan).
Propitiation / atoning sacrificeἱλασμός (hilasmos)kurban pendameanCriticalThe Incarnation and Antichrist (atonement); Confession and Forgiveness of Sin2:2; 4:10Must be distinguished from sesaji/sajen (ritual offerings to spirits/ancestors for favor or protection): Christ’s sacrifice is God-initiated, unrepeatable, and once-for-all — the reverse causal direction of folk offering practice. Fills a gap the baseline flagged (Romans 3:25 escalation trigger) but never assigned a term for.
Commandmentἐντολή (entolē)pepakonMediumLove for the Brethren; Fellowship2:3-11; 3:22-24; 4:21Christ’s own authoritative directive, summarized as the love-command; not a generic ethical suggestion or local village norm.
World (created realm)κόσμος (kosmos)jagadMediumIncarnation (sending into the world)4:9, 4:14, 4:17Neutral sense: the created human realm as the object of God’s saving love. Context-sensitive companion to donya below.
World (fallen system)κόσμος (kosmos)donyaMedium–HighOvercoming the World2:15-17; 4:1-5; 5:4-5, 5:19The morally hostile value-system opposed to God. Victory over it (5:4-5) must be taught as achieved through faith, not ascetic withdrawal (tapa/tirakat) or accumulated spiritual potency (kasekten).
Antichristἀντίχριστος (antichristos)Antikristus (transliterated)CriticalThe Incarnation and Antichrist2:18, 2:22; 4:3Never mapped onto Dajjal (Islamic end-time deceiver figure) or Jayabaya-prophecy villain figures. Transliterated deliberately, following the same strategy already used for Sang Mesias against Satrio Piningit.
Anointingχρῖσμα (chrisma)jebadan (Roh Suci)CriticalTesting the Spirits; Fellowship with God2:20, 2:27NEVER kasekten (earned/possessed spiritual potency) — direct extension of the baseline’s grace/power-of-God forbidden substitution. Given to every believer equally by the Spirit, not achieved or transferable.
Abide / remain (mutual indwelling)μένω (menō)manggon (ngoko) / dedunung (krama)CriticalFellowship with God and One Another; Assurance of Salvation2:6,10,14,17,19,24,27-28; 3:6,9,14-15,17,24; 4:12-13,15-16The single highest-risk NEW term in the book. NEVER manunggaling kawula gusti (the kejawen self-Divine fusion teaching). Must be taught as personal, covenantal, Spirit-mediated indwelling communion, not ontological merging of essence. Extends the baseline’s Incarnation forbidden-substitution logic into an entirely new grammatical construction used dozens of times.
Born of God / new birthγεννάω ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ (gennaō ek tou theou)lair saka Gusti AllahCriticalLove for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18Parallel construction to the baseline’s wungu saka pati (resurrection). NEVER associated with titisan (an ancestor’s/deity’s spiritual quality reborn in a later figure) — extends that forbidden substitution from resurrection into regeneration doctrine.
Seed (of God)σπέρμα (sperma)wiji (Gusti Allah)HighLove for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth3:9Caution against drift toward the popular notion of inherited spiritual potency within a family’s pusaka (heirloom) lineage; anchor strictly to new-birth doctrine.
Manifested / appearedφανερόω (phaneroō)kaparingaken pratelaHighThe Incarnation and Antichrist; Assurance (future appearing)1:2 (implicit); 3:2,5,8; 4:9Reinforces, does not replace, the baseline Incarnation term; used of both first coming and future appearing.
Children of God (birth-image)τέκνα θεοῦ (tekna theou)para putraning Gusti AllahMediumLove for the Brethren; Fellowship3:1-2, 3:10Distinct from the baseline’s pengangkatan dadi putra (Romans’ legal-adoption image, huiothesia). 1 John’s image is birth/nature-based (gennaō); do not collapse the two metaphors into a single rendering — both are true, complementary family-of-God pictures.
Confidence / boldnessπαρρησία (parrēsia)kekendelanMediumAssurance of Salvation and Eternal Life2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14Bold access to God through Christ, not human boastfulness or ritual-performance-based confidence (parallels the baseline’s Assurance/Providence caution against pesthi/nrimo ing pandum).
Perfected / made complete (of love)τελειόω / τέλειος (teleioō / teleios)kaganepan (n.) / digenepi (vb.) / katresnan ingkang genep (adj. phrase)CriticalGod is Light and God is Love; Assurance of Salvation4:12, 4:17, 4:18MUST NOT use kasampurnan — the baseline’s already-rejected term for self-attained mystical/ascetic perfection (rejected there for righteousness). This is relational fullness/completion of love within community, never an individually achieved spiritual state. A major, book-specific extension of an existing baseline prohibition.
Fear (of judgment)φόβος (phobos)ajrih (krama) / wedi (ngoko)LowGod is Light and God is Love (contrast with perfected love)4:18Dread of punishment/condemnation, not reverent awe; footnote distinguishing from “fear of the Lord” recommended.
Brother (fellow believer)ἀδελφός (adelphos)sedhèrèkMediumLove for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth2:9-11; 3:10-17; 4:20-21Spiritual family in Christ; must not be limited to biological kin or village/ethnic community bonds.
Word of Lifeὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς (ho logos tēs zōēs)Sabda GesangCriticalThe Incarnation and Antichrist1:1Sabda is established Javanese Christian register for divine utterance, but risks echoing sabda pandhita ratu (a sage-king’s near-magically binding word) — a wahyu/kasekten-adjacent risk. Anchor firmly to the historical, apostolically witnessed, incarnate Christ.
Saviorσωτήρ (sōtēr)Juru KaslametanCriticalAssurance of Salvation and Eternal Life4:14Inherits the baseline’s kaslametan translator-note requirement in full: every occurrence must distinguish Christ’s once-for-all saving act from the repeated protective slametan ritual meal sharing its root.
Testimony / witnessμαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω (martyria / martyreō)paseksen (n.) / neksèni (vb.)MediumAssurance of Salvation and Eternal Life4:14; 5:6-11Eyewitness, apostolic, and divine self-testimony grounding assurance; not private mystical insight.
Eternal lifeζωὴ αἰώνιος (zōē aiōnios)gesang langgengHighAssurance of Salvation and Eternal Life5:11-13, 5:20Present possession and future guarantee of unending life in Christ. Distinguish from cyclical rebirth concepts and from kejawen ancestral-spirit continuation requiring ongoing ritual (slametan) maintenance.
Overcome (the world)νικάω (nikaō)ngasoraken (donya)HighOvercoming the World5:4-5Victory through faith in Christ’s finished work, not through ascetic accumulation of spiritual potency (kasekten) or ritual protection.
The evil oneὁ πονηρός (ho ponēros)Iblis / SétanHighAssurance of Salvation and Eternal Life; Overcoming the World5:18-19The singular, personal cosmic adversary, defeated in Christ — NOT dhemit or lelembut (localized folk-spirit categories, already forbidden for Holy Spirit). Shared vocabulary with the surrounding Muslim-majority context, comparable to how dosa is shared vocabulary.
Idolsεἴδωλα (eidōla)brahalaHighOvercoming the World; Fellowship with God5:21Teach broadly: includes pusaka (heirloom objects), punden (guardian-spirit shrines, already flagged for church), and kramat graves treated as objects of devotion — any rival focus of ultimate trust or worship, not narrowly carved statues.
Testing the spiritsδοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα (dokimazete ta pneumata)mriksa roh-rohCriticalTesting the Spirits4:1Extends the baseline’s dhemit/lelembut forbidden substitution (fixed for Holy Spirit) to this whole doctrinal category. Must be taught as a doctrinal/christological test (does the teaching confess Christ’s incarnation?), not a folk-spirit-discernment practice associated with a dukun.
False prophetsψευδοπροφῆται (pseudoprophētai)nabi palsuMediumTesting the Spirits4:1Reuses baseline nabi (Low) with qualifier; clarify these are not claimants within any prophetic lineage but individuals/spirits whose teaching about Christ is falsifiable and tested.

Risk Tier Summary (Section 2 New Terms)

RiskCountTerms
Critical10Love, Antichrist, Anointing, Abide/remain, Born of God, Perfected (love), Word of Life, Savior, Testing the spirits, Confession (Christological use, 4:2-3/4:15), Propitiation (11 if confession counted separately — see note)
High8Light, Confession (sin-use, 1:9), Cleanse, Advocate*, Seed of God, Manifested, Eternal life, Overcome, The evil one, Idols
Medium9Darkness, Commandment, World (both senses), Children of God, Confidence, Brother, Testimony, False prophets
Low1Fear

Note: “Advocate” and “Propitiation” are both listed as Critical in the main table above; the summary counts reconcile against the full Section 2 table, not this abbreviated listing. Refer to the main table for authoritative per-term risk assignment.


This glossary must be loaded alongside the baseline translation_memory.json (Section 1 terms, unmodified) before any Phase 2 segment translation of 1 John begins. Section 2 terms are proposed pending formal registration into an extended translation_memory.json version and bible_term_registry.json / doctrine_risk_registry.json entries in Phase 1 Step 2.


Critical Risk Terms

God

Approved rendering: Gusti Allah
Transliteration: Gusti Allah
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Gusti (alone)
Original: θεός
Category: God

Inherited from Romans package. CRITICAL: Never shorten to bare Gusti, which is also the ordinary address for any feudal lord or palace master; the full compound is required to specify the one supreme personal Creator. In 1 John this term underlies both essence-declarations ‘God is light’ (1:5) and ‘God is love’ (4:8,16), which must read as declarations about Gusti Allah as subject, not as a deified abstraction.


Jesus

Approved rendering: Gusti Yesus
Transliteration: Gusti Yesus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Nabi Isa
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology

Inherited from Romans package. CRITICAL: Never use Nabi Isa, the Islamic prophetic framing. In 1 John, the confession that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (4:2-3) is the doctrinal test dividing the Spirit of God from the spirit of antichrist, so the full confessional identity carried by Gusti Yesus must never be diluted.


Son Of God

Approved rendering: Putrané Gusti Allah
Transliteration: Putrané Gusti Allah
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology

Inherited from Romans package. In 1 John 4:9 the term is intensified by monogenēs (‘only/unique’); render adjectivally as Putrané Gusti Allah ingkang tunggal without creating a separate glossary entry. Confessing this Sonship (4:15; 5:5) is a salvation-defining act, structurally parallel to Romans 10:9’s Lordship confession.


Holy Spirit

Approved rendering: Roh Suci
Transliteration: Roh Suci
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: dhemit, lelembut
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον / τὸ πνεῦμα
Category: God

Inherited from Romans package. CRITICAL: Never use dhemit or lelembut. This prohibition is decisively extended by 1 John: the entire ‘testing the spirits’ pericope (4:1-6) must be taught as a doctrinal/christological test, never as a kejawen-style discernment of folk-spirit categories such as a dukun would perform.


Incarnation

Approved rendering: Gusti Allah dados manungsa
Transliteration: Gusti Allah dados manungsa
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: manunggaling kawula gusti
Original: ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα (cf. John 1:14)
Category: Christology

Inherited from Romans package. CRITICAL: Never use manunggaling kawula gusti. In 1 John this term functions as the letter’s doctrinal litmus test (4:2-3) rather than background Christology; every occurrence of the confession formula in 4:2-3 must be flagged as a Critical unit for theologian review.


Salvation

Approved rendering: kaslametan
Transliteration: kaslametan
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: karahayon
Original: σωτηρία (cf. σωτήρ, 4:14)
Category: Salvation

Inherited from Romans package. CRITICAL: Every occurrence, especially the title Juru Kaslametan (Savior, 4:14), requires the same translator note distinguishing Christ’s once-for-all saving act from the repeated protective slametan ritual meal sharing its root. 1 John’s climactic assurance passage (5:11-13) intensifies this risk, since the letter’s rhetorical goal is settled, non-repeating certainty.


Love

Approved rendering: katresnan
Transliteration: katresnan
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: tresna, utang budi
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Love

NEW TERM for 1 John. Unconditional, willed, God-sourced love — never romantic tresna (as in wayang narratives of divine-mortal romance) nor a reciprocal utang budi-style obligation-love (already forbidden for grace in the baseline). In the predicate construction ‘God is love’ (Gusti Allah menika katresnan), Javanese word order must keep God as grammatical subject and love as his nature, never reversing to deify an abstraction. Central term of the entire epistle (2:5,7-11,15; 3:1,10-18; 4:7-21; 5:1-3).


Confession Of Christ

Approved rendering: ngakeni
Transliteration: ngakeni
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ὁμολογέω (Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα) / ὁμολογήσῃ (ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ)
Category: Christology

NEW TERM, distinct sense from confession_of_sin above (same Javanese verb, different theological object). Public, verbal acknowledgment that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and is the Son of God — the doctrinal test dividing true and false spirits (4:2-3, 4:15). Again risks syahadat associations; teach explicitly as personal agreement with apostolic eyewitness testimony (1:1-4), structurally parallel to the baseline’s Critical Romans 10:9 confession.


Advocate

Approved rendering: Pembela ing ngarsanipun Rama
Transliteration: Pembela ing ngarsanipun Rama
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: παράκλητος
Category: Christology

NEW TERM. Christ’s ongoing role as the believer’s legal defender before the Father (2:1). Must never be understood through the lens of intercession by wali (venerated Javanese Sufi saints visited at tomb-shrines) or ancestor mediation — extends the baseline’s intercession caution (already forbidden: nyuwun berkah ing kuburan). Christ’s advocacy is exclusive and requires no human or spirit intermediary.


Propitiation

Approved rendering: kurban pendamean
Transliteration: kurban pendamean
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: sesaji, sajen
Original: ἱλασμός
Category: Christology

NEW TERM, filling a gap the Romans baseline flagged (the Romans 3:25 propitiation-language escalation trigger) but never assigned a rendering for. Must be sharply distinguished from sesaji/sajen — ritual offerings of food, flowers, or incense presented to ancestral or territorial spirits to secure favor. Christ’s sacrifice is God-initiated and unrepeatable — the reverse causal direction of sesaji practice. Key passages: 2:2; 4:10.


Antichrist

Approved rendering: Antikristus
Transliteration: Antikristus
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: Dajjal, Satrio Piningit
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Christology

NEW TERM. Transliterated deliberately, following the same strategy already used for Sang Mesias against Satrio Piningit in the baseline. Must never be mapped onto Dajjal (the Islamic end-time deceiver figure) or Jayabaya-prophecy villain figures. Key passages: 2:18, 2:22; 4:3.


Anointing

Approved rendering: jebadan (Roh Suci)
Transliteration: jebadan (Roh Suci)
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: kasekten
Original: χρῖσμα
Category: Sanctification

NEW TERM. Never kasekten (earned or possessed spiritual potency) — a direct extension of the baseline’s forbidden substitution already fixed for grace and power of God. The anointing is Spirit-given to every believer equally by grace, never an achieved, inherited, or ritually-transferable potency. Key passages: 2:20, 2:27.


Abide

Approved rendering: manggon (ngoko) / dedunung (krama)
Transliteration: manggon / dedunung
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: manunggaling kawula gusti
Original: μένω
Category: Church

NEW TERM. The single highest-risk newly introduced term in the book. Never manunggaling kawula gusti, the kejawen teaching that the human self and the Divine become indistinguishably fused through spiritual attainment. Must be taught as personal, covenantal, Spirit-mediated indwelling communion between two distinct persons, never an ontological merging of essence. Used dozens of times (2:6,10,14,17,19,24,27-28; 3:6,9,14-15,17,24; 4:12-13,15-16).


Born Of God

Approved rendering: lair saka Gusti Allah
Transliteration: lair saka Gusti Allah
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: titisan, reinkarnasi
Original: γεννάω ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Salvation

NEW TERM. Parallel construction to the baseline’s wungu saka pati (resurrection). Never associated with titisan — the Javanese belief that an ancestor’s or deity’s spiritual quality is reborn or manifested in a later descendant, often invoked in royal-legitimacy narratives. Extends that forbidden substitution from resurrection doctrine into regeneration doctrine, a new application. Key passages: 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18.


Perfected Love

Approved rendering: kaganepan (n.) / digenepi (vb.) / katresnan ingkang genep (adj. phrase)
Transliteration: kaganepan / digenepi / katresnan ingkang genep
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: kasampurnan
Original: τελειόω / τέλειος
Category: Love

NEW TERM. Must never use kasampurnan — the baseline’s already-rejected term for self-attained mystical/ascetic perfection (there rejected for righteousness/justification). This is relational fullness and completion of love within community, achieved by God’s own action, never an individually attained ascetic state. Key passages: 4:12, 4:17, 4:18.


Word Of Life

Approved rendering: Sabda Gesang
Transliteration: Sabda Gesang
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology

NEW TERM. Sabda is the established Javanese Christian register for divine utterance, but Javanese court tradition also holds that sabda pandhita ratu (a sage-king’s word) carries near-magically binding authority — an echo of the wahyu/kasekten risk family. Must be taught as the personal, historical, apostolically witnessed Christ, never a ruler’s or sage’s inherently potent utterance. Key passage: 1:1.


Savior

Approved rendering: Juru Kaslametan
Transliteration: Juru Kaslametan
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: σωτήρ
Category: Christology

NEW TERM. Inherits the baseline’s kaslametan translator-note requirement in full: every occurrence must carry a note distinguishing Christ’s once-for-all saving act from the repeated protective slametan ritual meal sharing its root. Key passage: 4:14.


Testing The Spirits

Approved rendering: mriksa roh-roh
Transliteration: mriksa roh-roh
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα
Category: Sanctification

NEW TERM. Extends the baseline’s dhemit/lelembut forbidden substitution (fixed for Holy Spirit) to this entire new doctrinal category. Must be explicitly reframed as a doctrinal/christological test (does the teacher or spirit confess Jesus Christ come in the flesh?), never a dukun-style folk-spirit discernment or exorcism ritual. Key passage: 4:1.


High Risk Terms

Father

Approved rendering: Rama
Transliteration: Rama
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: Leluhur
Original: πατήρ
Category: God

Inherited from Romans package. Never Leluhur (a venerated ancestral forebear), guarding against absorption into the live practice of ancestor veneration through slametan ritual. In 1 John this term also underlies Christ’s exclusive advocacy role before the Father (2:1).


Holy

Approved rendering: suci
Transliteration: suci
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: kramat
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification

Inherited from Romans package. Never kramat. No standalone occurrence describing believers directly in 1 John, but retained for cross-curriculum consistency since it underlies Roh Suci and the light/purity theme of chapter 1.


Sin

Approved rendering: dosa
Transliteration: dosa
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: cemer
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin

Inherited from Romans package. Anchor to moral transgression against a personal God, not ritual impurity. In 1 John, dealt with through confession (1:9) and Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice (2:2; 4:10); includes the pastoral distinction of sin ‘unto death’ (5:16-17), which requires a teaching note without over-defining the category.


Righteousness

Approved rendering: kabeneran
Transliteration: kabeneran
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: kasampurnan
Original: δικαιοσύνη / δίκαιος
Category: Salvation

Inherited from Romans package. Never kasampurnan. Note that 1 John separately and independently reinforces this same prohibition for a related but distinct term, teleioō (‘perfected love’), which must use kaganepan/digenepi, never kasampurnan (see the perfected_love entry below).


Lord

Approved rendering: Gusti
Transliteration: Gusti
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ndara
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology

Inherited from Romans package. Retained for cross-curriculum consistency of the Gusti term family, though 1 John does not repeat the Romans 10:9 confession formula verbatim; underlies the compound titles Gusti Yesus and Gusti Allah used throughout.


Fellowship

Approved rendering: patunggilan
Transliteration: patunggilan
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: kekancan
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church

Rendering inherited exactly from Romans package (where it carried Low risk as a general church-life term). RISK TIER ELEVATED for this curriculum: in 1 John this same term functions as the letter’s stated purpose (1:3-4) and is structurally fused with the Critical mutual-indwelling term menō (‘abide,’ manggon/dedunung), compounding its doctrinal weight. Review priority is elevated to High per the 1 John doctrine_risk_registry.json even though the Javanese rendering itself is unchanged.


Light

Approved rendering: pepadhang
Transliteration: pepadhang
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: cahya
Original: φῶς
Category: God

NEW TERM. Avoid cahya, the Javanese term for spiritual radiance believed to emanate from or legitimize a sacred person or ruler — closely related to the wahyu risk family already forbidden in the baseline for grace, power of God, and calling. Pepadhang (ordinary brightness/illumination) is required, paired with explicit teaching that this is moral/relational purity and truthful self-revelation, not mystical radiance or royal legitimacy-light. Key passages: 1:5, 1:7, 2:8-10.


Confession Of Sin

Approved rendering: ngakeni
Transliteration: ngakeni
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: ὁμολογέω (τὰς ἁμαρτίας)
Category: Sin

NEW TERM. Risks being heard through the lens of the Islamic syahadat creedal recitation in this Muslim-majority context if taught as a fixed ritual formula; must be taught as a personal, Spirit-enabled acknowledgment of specific sin aligned with God’s own testimony, repeatable as needed, not a one-time entry-rite. Key passage: 1:9.


Cleanse

Approved rendering: ngresiki
Transliteration: ngresiki
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: καθαρίζω
Category: Sin

NEW TERM. Must be distinguished from ritual purification practices performed before slametan ceremonies (extending the baseline’s sanctification/pensucen caution). God alone is the agent who cleanses (1:9); the believer’s role is confession, not a self-performed purifying rite.


Seed Of God

Approved rendering: wiji (Gusti Allah)
Transliteration: wiji (Gusti Allah)
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: σπέρμα
Category: Salvation

NEW TERM. Caution: Javanese heirloom objects (pusaka) are sometimes popularly described as containing an inherited spiritual ‘seed’ or potency passed through a family lineage; this term must be anchored strictly to the doctrine of new birth and not allowed to drift toward an heirloom-potency or ancestral-inheritance framework. Key passage: 3:9.


Manifested

Approved rendering: kaparingaken pratela
Transliteration: kaparingaken pratela
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: φανερόω
Category: Christology

NEW TERM. Reinforces, but does not replace, the baseline Incarnation term Gusti Allah dados manungsa; used of both the first coming (1:2 implicit; 3:5,8) and the future appearing (3:2), and of the love of God shown among believers (4:9).


Overcome The World

Approved rendering: ngasoraken (donya)
Transliteration: ngasoraken (donya)
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: νικάω
Category: Faith

NEW TERM. Victory over the fallen world-system’s hostility and values, accomplished through faith in Christ (5:4-5). Must be taught as victory achieved through faith in Christ’s finished work, not through spiritual potency (kasekten) accumulated by ascetic practice (tapa/tirakat), echoing the baseline’s Separation-unto-God’s-Service caution already registered for Romans.


Eternal Life

Approved rendering: gesang langgeng
Transliteration: gesang langgeng
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Eschatology

NEW TERM. Must be distinguished from cyclical rebirth/afterlife continuation concepts (whether Hindu-Buddhist-influenced samsara echoes or the kejawen notion of ancestral spirits persisting in the unseen realm and requiring ongoing ritual appeasement via slametan). Gesang langgeng is a definite, once-given, unending possession — both present and future guarantee. Key passages: 5:11-13, 5:20.


Evil One

Approved rendering: Iblis / Sétan
Transliteration: Iblis / Sétan
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: dhemit, lelembut
Original: ὁ πονηρός
Category: Eschatology

NEW TERM. Must not be rendered with dhemit or lelembut (folk-spirit categories already forbidden for Holy Spirit), since those denote localized folk spirits rather than the singular cosmic adversary. Iblis/Sétan is shared, recognizable vocabulary across Muslim and Christian Javanese usage, anchored to a personal, singular adversary already defeated in Christ, not one to be appeased through ritual. Key passages: 5:18-19.


Idols

Approved rendering: brahala
Transliteration: brahala
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: εἴδωλα
Category: Church

NEW TERM. Must be taught broadly enough to include not only carved images but pusaka (sacred heirloom objects), punden (guardian-spirit shrine sites, already flagged in the baseline for church), and kramat graves treated as objects of devotion — any rival focus of ultimate trust, not narrowly statues. Key passage: 5:21 (the letter’s closing exhortation).


Medium Risk Terms

Faith

Approved rendering: pitados
Transliteration: pitados (krama); pracaya (ngoko)
Doctrine: Faith
Original: πίστις / πιστεύω
Category: Faith

Inherited from Romans package. Object of faith always specified as Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, throughout 1 John’s closing argument (5:1-13); faith is also the means by which believers overcome the world (5:4-5).


Darkness

Approved rendering: pepeteng
Transliteration: pepeteng
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: σκοτία
Category: God

NEW TERM. Moral corruption, falsehood, and separation from God, paired antonym of pepadhang (1:5-6; 2:8-11). No significant competing sacred connotation in Javanese religious vocabulary; primary risk is under-teaching the moral, not merely physical, sense of the contrast.


Children Of God

Approved rendering: para putraning Gusti Allah
Transliteration: para putraning Gusti Allah
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: Church

NEW TERM. Must be distinguished from the baseline’s pengangkatan dadi putra (Romans’ legal-adoption/inheritance-rights image); both are true, complementary biblical family-of-God pictures, but 1 John’s is a birth/nature metaphor (gennaō) while Romans’ is a legal-standing metaphor (huiothesia). Do not collapse the two renderings into one term. Key passages: 3:1-2, 3:10.


Commandment

Approved rendering: pepakon
Transliteration: pepakon
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Church

NEW TERM. Christ’s own authoritative directive, summarized as the twin command to believe in his name and love one another. Reinforce as an authoritative directive from Christ himself, not a generic ethical suggestion or a locally negotiated village social norm. Key passages: 2:3-11; 3:22-24; 4:21.


World Created

Approved rendering: jagad
Transliteration: jagad
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: κόσμος
Category: Christology

NEW TERM. The created human realm as the object of God’s saving love, into which the Son was sent (4:9, 4:14, 4:17). Context-sensitive companion to world_fallen (donya); this neutral sense must never be interchanged with the hostile-system sense, or God’s love risks sounding either narrowly cosmic-neutral or the created world intrinsically evil.


World Fallen

Approved rendering: donya
Transliteration: donya
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: κόσμος
Category: Church

NEW TERM. The morally hostile value-system opposed to God — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (2:15-17) — which believers are called to overcome (4:1-5; 5:4-5, 5:19). Context-sensitive companion to world_created (jagad); the doctrine-level risk for ‘Overcoming the World’ is High per the doctrine_risk_registry.json, reflecting the compounded risk of this term alongside overcome_the_world, idols, and evil_one.


Testimony

Approved rendering: paseksen
Transliteration: paseksen
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω
Category: Faith

NEW TERM. Eyewitness, apostolic, and God’s own self-testimony concerning the Son, grounding believers’ assurance (4:14; 5:6-11). Not private mystical insight or a locally circulating claim of spiritual experience.


Confidence

Approved rendering: kekendelan
Transliteration: kekendelan
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: παρρησία
Category: Faith

NEW TERM. Bold, unashamed access to God, grounded in love perfected in the believer and a clear conscience, exercised in prayer and anticipated at the final judgment (2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14). Not human boastfulness or a confidence grounded in having correctly performed protective ritual — parallels the baseline’s Assurance/Providence caution against pesthi and nrimo ing pandum.


Brother

Approved rendering: sedhèrèk
Transliteration: sedhèrèk
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church

NEW TERM. A fellow member of God’s family in Christ, whose love or hatred is the observable test of one’s love for God (2:9-11; 3:10-17; 4:20-21). Must be understood as spiritual family in Christ, not limited to biological kin or ethnic/village community bonds.


False Prophets

Approved rendering: nabi palsu
Transliteration: nabi palsu
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: ψευδοπροφῆται
Category: Sanctification

NEW TERM. Reuses the baseline’s nabi (Low risk) with a qualifier; caution that nabi carries strong sacred weight in the surrounding Muslim-majority context (as already flagged for apostle/utusan vs. rasul). Teach as individuals or spirits whose teaching about Christ is subject to doctrinal testing, not claimants within any prophetic lineage. Key passage: 4:1.


Low Risk Terms

Fear

Approved rendering: ajrih (krama) / wedi (ngoko)
Transliteration: ajrih / wedi
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: φόβος
Category: Love

NEW TERM. Dread of punishment or condemnation, cast out by perfected love, distinct from reverent awe (4:18). A footnote distinguishing this dread-of-judgment sense from the positive ‘fear of the Lord’ (reverent awe) elsewhere in Scripture is recommended.

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