Core Glossary
Core Glossary: Gospel of John — English → Javanese
Per-Term Translation Risk Reference
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md across John 1–21. It supplements — and never contradicts — the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json. Terms marked (baseline reuse) must use the EXACT recorded Javanese rendering from the baseline package. Terms marked (NEW) are proposed additions requiring registration in translation memory before Phase 2 begins, per the AI Translation Requirements’ new-term protocol (select rendering → assign risk → record in translation memory → flag Critical/High for theologian review → increment version).
Risk tiers follow baseline definitions exactly: Critical (theologian review, every occurrence), High (theologian review), Medium (native speaker review), Low (automated review).
Table 1 — Baseline Terms Confirmed Present in John (Reuse Exactly)
| English Term | Javanese Rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Chapters Cited | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | Gusti Allah | Critical | Deity of Christ / Trinity | 1, 3-21 (pervasive) | Never shorten to bare “Gusti.” |
| Jesus | Gusti Yesus | Critical | Lordship of Christ | 1-21 (pervasive) | Never “Nabi Isa.” |
| Holy Spirit | Roh Suci | Critical | Sanctification / Counselor | 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 14, 15, 16, 20 | Never dhemit/lelembut. |
| Lord | Gusti | Critical | Lordship of Christ | 6, 9, 11, 13, 20, 21 | Requires context of exclusive supreme Lordship; climaxes at 20:28. |
| Son of God | Putrané Gusti Allah | Critical | Sonship/Deity of Christ | 1, 3, 5, 9, 10, 11, 19, 20 | Reserved exclusively for Christ; see τέκνα θεοῦ distinction (Table 2). |
| Incarnation | Gusti Allah dados manungsa | Critical | Incarnation | 1 (esp. 1:14) | Never manunggaling kawula gusti. |
| Resurrection | wungu saka pati | Critical | Resurrection of Christ | 2, 5, 11, 20 | Never titisan/reinkarnasi; also covers general future resurrection (5:29). |
| Messiah | Sang Mesias | Critical | Messianic Promise | 1, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 20 | Never Satrio Piningit. “Kristus” retained as proper-name element (“Gusti Yesus Kristus”). |
| Grace | sih-rahmat | Critical | Grace | 1 (1:14,16,17 only) | Never kasekten/wahyu/utang budi. Notably absent elsewhere in John. |
| Salvation / Savior | kaslametan / Juru Slamet | Critical | Salvation | 3, 4, 12 | Requires distinguishing note from slametan ritual at every occurrence. |
| Righteousness | kabeneran | High | Judgment / Spirit’s Ministry | 16 (16:8,10 only) | Note semantic shift toward “vindication” sense in 16:8-11; flag for translator. |
| Sin | dosa | High | Universal Human Accountability | 1, 8, 9, 15, 16, 19, 20 | Shared vocabulary with Islamic usage; anchor to moral transgression. |
| Law | angger-anggering Toret | Medium | Fulfillment of Prophecy | 1, 7, 8, 10, 15, 19 | Mosaic Law specifically. |
| Glory / Glorify | kamulyan / mulyakaken | High | Deity of Christ | 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 17 | Never wahyu/kasekten. |
| Kingdom of God | Kratoning Gusti Allah | Medium | Kingdom Mission | 3 (3:3,5), 18 (18:36, “my kingdom”) | Distinguish from earthly keraton. |
| Israel | Israel | Medium | Covenant | 1, 3, 12 | Established form. |
| David / Seed of David | Dawud / tedhak turune Dawud | Medium/High | Davidic Covenant | 7 (7:42) | Established forms. |
| Peace | katentreman | Medium | Peace with God | 14, 16, 20 | Relational peace, not meditative calm. |
| Thanksgiving | pamuji sukur | Low | Thanksgiving | 6, 11 | Standard term. |
| Election (choose) | pepilihanipun Gusti Allah / milih | High | Effectual Calling | 6, 13, 15 | Never impersonal fate. |
| Father | Rama | High | Adoption / Trinity | 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 14-17, 20 (pervasive esp. chs.14-17) | Never Leluhur (ancestor). |
| Holy / Sanctification | suci / pensucen | High | Sanctification | 17 (17:11,17,19) | Never kramat/ascetic self-purification. |
| Sabbath | dinten Sabat | Low | — | 5, 9 | Loanword/transliteration. |
| Prophet | nabi | Low/Medium | Inspiration of Scripture | 1, 4, 6, 7, 9 | ”The Prophet” (definite) is a distinct eschatological figure — flag Medium when definite article present. |
| Gentiles (concept, cf. “Greeks”) | bangsa liya (general) / tiyang Yunani (Greeks specifically, NEW) | Medium | Unity of Jew & Gentile | 7, 12 | John prefers the specific ethnic term “Greeks” over the general category. |
Table 2 — New Terms Introduced by John (Proposed Renderings for Translation Memory)
| English Term | Greek | Javanese Rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Chapters Cited | Alternatives Rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Word (Logos) | λόγος | Sabda | Critical | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 1 | ”tembung” (too weak, ordinary vocabulary) | Established Javanese Bible term; royal/authoritative utterance resonance (“sabda pandita ratu”) is useful but must be explicitly personal and divine, not an impersonal creative principle. |
| Light | φῶς | pepadhang | High | Judgment/Belief; Christ as Light | 1, 3, 8, 9, 12 | ”cahya" | "Cahya” evokes pulung/wahyu, the mystical light of royal legitimacy in Javanese court cosmology — collision risk. |
| Darkness | σκότος / σκοτία | pepeteng | Medium | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 1, 3, 12 | — | Anchor to moral rebellion, not folk nocturnal-spirit associations. |
| Life / Eternal Life | ζωή / ζωὴ αἰώνιος | gesang / gesang langgeng | Critical | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ | 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 17, 20 | ”urip sejati” | Must not be conflated with kejawen mystical “true life” attained through ascetic self-realization. |
| The World (relational/theological sense) | κόσμος | jagad | Medium | God’s Love for the World | 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17 | ”donya” (too generic/geographic) | Context-sensitive: object of God’s love (3:16) vs. world-system hostile to God (15:18-19). |
| Testimony / Witness | μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω | paseksèn / nyekseni | Low-Medium | Inspiration of Scripture | 1, 3, 5, 8, 15, 19, 21 | — | Legal/eyewitness weight. |
| Only Begotten / Unique Son | μονογενής | Putra…ingkang ontang-anting (qualifier on baseline Putrané Gusti Allah) | Critical | Sonship of Christ | 1, 3 | — | Guard against wayang cosmology’s many divine offspring of high gods (e.g., Bathara Guru). |
| Truth | ἀλήθεια | kayektosan | High | Christ as Truth; Spirit of Truth | 1, 3, 8, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 | — | Distinguish from kejawen mystical Absolute Reality (kasunyatan sejati, kawruh sejati) attained through ascetic gnosis. |
| Fullness | πλήρωμα | kaluberaning / kebak | Low | Grace | 1 | — | Minor. |
| Baptize | βαπτίζω | mbaptis | Medium | — | 1, 3, 4 | — | Distinguish from siraman/jamasan pusaka ritual washing. |
| Lamb of God | ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ | Cempéning Gusti Allah | Critical | Christ’s Substitutionary Death | 1 | — | Distinguish from ruwatan (Javanese exorcistic ritual averting cosmic misfortune/sukerta). |
| King of Israel / King of the Jews | βασιλεὺς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ / τῶν Ἰουδαίων | Ratuning Israel / Ratuning tiyang Yahudi | High | Messianic Promise; Davidic Covenant | 1, 12, 19 | — | “Ratu” resonates with the folk-eschatological Ratu Adil expectation (same tradition behind the baseline-forbidden Satrio Piningit). Must anchor to the specific, exclusive Davidic covenant fulfillment. |
| Angels | ἄγγελοι | malaekat | Low | — | 1 | — | Shared loanword with Islamic usage. |
| Sign | σημεῖον | pratandha | High | Deity of Christ (revelatory acts) | 2, 4, 6, 9, 11, 12, 20 | — | Never kasekten (magical potency); revelatory, not power-display. |
| Temple | ναός | Padaleman Suci | Medium | Resurrection of Christ (2:19-21) | 2 | — | Distinguish from ordinary keraton dalem or a punden shrine. |
| Bridegroom | νυμφίος | penganten jaler | Medium | Messianic Promise | 3 | — | Distinguish from kejawen/Sufi bridal-mystical-union poetry. |
| Wrath of God | ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ | dukanipun Gusti Allah | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 3 | ”bebendhu,” “kualat” (both rejected) | Personal, moral, righteous — not impersonal calamity or automatic folk retribution. |
| Abide / Remain | μένω | manggon | Medium-High | Christian Identity in Christ | 3, 6, 8, 14, 15 | — | Living relational union, not static location. |
| Living Water | ὕδωρ ζῶν | toya gesang | High | Holy Spirit; Eternal Life | 4, 7 | — | Distinguish from ritually empowered tirta/banyu suci. |
| Worship | προσκυνέω | nyembah | High | God’s Love / Deity of Christ | 4, 9 | — | Must specify Gusti Allah/Gusti Yesus exclusively; distinguish from ancestor veneration. |
| Savior of the World | σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου | Juru Slamet ing jagad | Critical | Salvation | 4 | — | Same slametan-root collision as baseline “salvation”; requires same distinguishing note. |
| Harvest | θερισμός | panen | Low | Mission to the Nations | 4 | — | Minor. |
| Equal with God | ἴσος τῷ θεῷ | sami kaliyan Gusti Allah | Critical | Deity of Christ | 5 | — | Distinguish from Javanese/Hindu-Buddhist dewa-raja (god-king) concept — this is essential, not conferred, deity. |
| Scriptures | γραφαί | Kitab Suci | Low-Medium | Inspiration of Scripture | 5 | — | Standard term. |
| I Am (formula) | ἐγώ εἰμι | Kula punika… | Critical | The Seven “I Am” Statements; Deity of Christ | 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15, 18 | — | Absolute/unpredicated uses (esp. 8:58) echo Exodus 3:14’s divine Name; must retain emphatic self-existence force. |
| Bread of Life | ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς | roti gesang | Critical | I Am Statement #1 | 6 | — | Part of I AM set. |
| Manna | μάννα | manna | Low | — | 6 | — | Transliteration. |
| Flesh / Blood (eat/drink) | σάρξ / αἷμα | daging / rah | High | Christ’s Substitutionary Death | 6, 19 | — | Figurative faith-union language; not literal, not blood-offering ritual. |
| Draw | ἑλκύω | narik | Medium | Effectual Calling | 6 | — | Personal divine initiative, not impersonal fate. |
| Devil | διάβολος | Iblis | Medium | — | 8 | ”dhemit,” “lelembut” (both rejected) | Singular personal Adversary, not diffuse kejawen nature-spirit categories. |
| Freedom / Set Free | ἐλευθερόω / ἐλεύθερος | mardika | High | Sin / Christian Identity in Christ | 8 | — | Strong contemporary political-independence resonance (“Kemerdekaan”); must be anchored to freedom from sin’s bondage, not political liberation. |
| Slave / Servant | δοῦλος | batur tukon / kawula | Medium | Sin | 8 | — | Distinguish from honorable court service (abdi dalem). |
| Son of Man | ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου | Putraning Manungsa | Critical | Humanity of Christ; Deity of Christ | 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13 | — | Not merely “a human being”; not the Sufi/kejawen Insan Kamil (Perfect Man) attainable ideal — Christ’s own unique Danielic heavenly-authority title. |
| Blind (spiritual) | τυφλός | wuta | Medium | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 9 | — | Physical/spiritual double sense. |
| Put out of synagogue | ἀποσυνάγωγος | katundhung saking papan pangibadah | Low-Medium | Evangelism | 9 | — | Sociological note. |
| Good Shepherd | ποιμὴν ὁ καλός | Pangèn ingkang sae | Medium | I Am Statement #3 | 10, 21 | — | Personal, costly care, not hired labor. |
| Door / Gate | θύρα | lawang | Low (Critical by I AM-set association) | I Am Statement #4 | 10 | — | — |
| Lay Down [One’s] Life | τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν | masrahaken nyawa | High | Christ’s Substitutionary Death | 10, 15 | — | Voluntary vicarious sacrifice, not wayang honorable-battle-death trope. |
| I and the Father Are One | ἓν ἐσμεν | Kula kalihan Sang Rama, sami setunggal | Critical | Unity of the Father and the Son | 10, 17 | — | Essential unity of nature; never manunggaling kawula gusti (achievable-by-anyone fusion). |
| Blasphemy | βλασφημία | panyenyamah | Medium | Deity of Christ | 10 | — | — |
| High Priest | ἀρχιερεύς | Imam Agung | Medium | Christ’s Substitutionary Death | 11, 18 | — | Distinguish from Islamic “imam” (prayer leader). |
| Die On Behalf Of / Substitution (ὑπέρ) | ὑπέρ | minangka gantosipun / pejah minangka gantosipun bangsa | Critical | Christ’s Substitutionary Death | 10, 11, 15 | simple “kanggo” alone (too weak) | Requires a compound phrase to carry vicarious/substitutionary weight; single preposition insufficient. |
| Grain of Wheat | κόκκος τοῦ σίτου | wiji gandum | Low | Christ’s Substitutionary Death | 12 | — | Agricultural metaphor. |
| Lay Down Life / Soul | ψυχή | nyawa | High | Christ’s Substitutionary Death | 10, 12 | — | See above. |
| Wash (feet) | νίπτω | wijik | Low-Medium | Mutual Edification | 13 | — | Culturally resonant servant-posture term. |
| New Commandment | ἐντολὴ καινή | pepakon enggal | Low-Medium | Mutual Edification | 13 | — | — |
| Way, Truth, Life | ὁδὸς ἀλήθεια ζωή | margi, kayektosan, saha gesang | Critical | I Am Statement #6; Deity of Christ | 14 | — | Exclusivity clause (“no one comes to the Father except through me”) must not be softened. |
| Counselor / Paraclete | παράκλητος | Roh Suci, Sang Panglipur | Critical | The Holy Spirit as Counselor | 14, 15, 16 | — | Personal divine Third Person, never an occult spirit-guide/pamomong/danyang. |
| Dwelling Place | μονή | padununganipun | Low-Medium | — | 14 | — | — |
| Father Greater Than I | ὁ πατὴρ μείζων μού ἐστιν | Sang Rama langkung ageng saking kula | High | Unity of Father and Son | 14 | — | Mission/role distinction, not denial of co-equal deity. |
| True Vine | ἄμπελος ἀληθινή | wit anggur ingkang sejati | Medium (Critical by I AM-set association) | I Am Statement #7 | 15 | — | — |
| Branch | κλῆμα | pang | Low | — | 15 | — | — |
| Convict | ἐλέγχω | ndakwa / mbeneraken ingkang lepat | High | Holy Spirit’s Ministry; Judgment | 16 | — | Reuse kabeneran with translator note on vindication-sense nuance. |
| Judge / Judgment | κρίνω / κρίσις | ngukum / pancasan, pengadilan | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 16, 18 | — | Personal, forensic — never impersonal kualat or karma-like retribution. |
| Crucify | σταυρόω | disalib | Medium | Christ’s Substitutionary Death | 19 | — | Historical/specific, not generic martyrdom. |
| It Is Finished | τετέλεσται | Sampun rampung | Critical | Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection | 19 | any “sampurna”-root rendering (explicitly rejected) | Avoid smuggling in kejawen ascetic-perfection connotation (kasampurnan, already baseline-forbidden for righteousness). |
| Tomb | μνημεῖον | kuburan | High | Resurrection of Christ | 19, 20 | ”pasarean” (flagged, not preferred) | “Pasarean” evokes Wali Songo grave-shrine veneration/pilgrimage; the empty tomb is the opposite of such a site. |
| Breathe On / Receive the Spirit | ἐμφυσάω | ndamu | Medium | Holy Spirit | 20 | — | Echoes Gen. 2:7/Ezek. 37; needs OT-background note. |
| My Lord and My God | ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου | Gusti kula saha Allah kula | Critical | Deity of Christ | 20 | — | Climactic full-deity confession; never softened to mere exclamation. |
| In His Name | τὸ ὄνομα (αὐτοῦ) | asmanipun | High | Eternal Life through Faith | 3, 20 | — | Relational/authority-based access, not magical name-invocation (avoid ngèlmu asma association). |
| Authority | ἐξουσία | wewenang / panguwaos | Medium-High | Power of God (John’s preferred term) | 1, 5, 10, 17, 19 | — | Legitimately granted right, not kasekten. |
| Love (God’s/self-giving) | ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη | katresnan / tresna | Critical | God’s Love for the World | 3, 13, 14, 15, 21 | ”utang budi” (implicitly rejected, per baseline grace logic) | Precedes and is not earned by merit; not romantic love alone; creates no reciprocal debt. |
| Love (affection/friendship) | φιλέω | remen | Medium | — | 21 | — | Paired alongside katresnan/tresna to signal Peter-dialogue’s two Greek verbs; pastoral point must not be lost in over-engineering. |
| Children of God | τέκνα θεοῦ | anak-anakipun Gusti Allah | High | New Birth; Unity of Father and Son | 1, 11 | ”para putranipun Gusti Allah” (flagged — reserve “Putra” for Christ) | Preserves John’s careful lexical distinction between τέκνα (believers) and υἱός (Christ alone). |
| Born Again / Born From Above | γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν | kalairan saking nginggil / kalairan malih | Critical | The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit | 3 | ”titisan”-style rebirth language (explicitly rejected) | One-time, Spirit-wrought, not repeatable ritual or cyclical rebirth of spiritual essence. |
| Eternal Life (see also Table 2 “Life”) | ζωὴ αἰώνιος | gesang langgeng | Critical | Eternal Life through Faith in Christ | 3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 17, 20 | ”urip sejati” (explicitly rejected) | See full note above. |
| Perish | ἀπόλλυμι | katiwasan | High | Judgment and Belief/Unbelief | 3 | — | Final spiritual ruin, not impersonal bad luck (kacilakan). |
| Lifted Up (double meaning: crucified/exalted) | ὑψόω | diunggahaken | Critical | Christ’s Substitutionary Death; Deity of Christ | 3, 8, 12 | — | Must retain BOTH senses (crucifixion AND glorification) simultaneously. |
| Ascended | ἀναβαίνω | minggah | High | Deity and Pre-existence of Christ | 3 | — | Historical event of the pre-existent Son’s return, not mystical visionary ascent. |
Table 3 — Terms Textually Present in Romans but Notably Absent or Rare in John (Reference Only)
| Term | Status in John | Notes for Translators |
|---|---|---|
| Gospel (εὐαγγέλιον) | Absent (0x) | John never uses the noun; the book’s content functions as “gospel” without the label. Do not force-insert “Injil” where the Greek does not have εὐαγγέλιον. |
| Faith (πίστις, noun) | Absent (0x) | Only the verb πιστεύω (98x) is used. Sustain a living verb rendering (“pitados dhateng,” “sing sapa pitados”) throughout; avoid lapsing into a static noun. |
| Salvation (σωτηρία, noun) | Absent (0x) | Only σωτήρ (4:42) and σῴζω (verb, e.g. 3:17; 5:34; 10:9; 12:47) occur. |
| Apostle (ἀπόστολος) | Absent (0x) | The Twelve are called μαθηταί (“disciples/learners”), not “apostles,” throughout John. |
| Church (ἐκκλησία) | Absent (0x) | No institutional-church vocabulary in John; the closest concepts are the flock (ch.10) and the unity of believers (ch.17). |
| Fellowship (κοινωνία) | Absent (0x) | — |
| Covenant (διαθήκη) | Absent (0x) | — |
| Power of God (δύναμις) | Rare/absent in the Pauline sense | John prefers ἐξουσία (“authority,” see Table 2) over δύναμις for God’s/Christ’s capability. |
| Abba | Absent (0x) | Not used in John (appears only Mark 14:36; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). |
Glossary Maintenance Notes for Phase 2
- All Critical-tier terms in Table 2 require human theologian review at every occurrence, per baseline
doctrine_risk_registry.jsonrouting rules. - Terms flagged with explicit “Alternatives Rejected” must trigger the same forbidden-substitution validation check used in the baseline AI Translation Requirements (
12_ai_translation_requirements.md), extended to include: titisan-style rebirth language (for “born again”), urip sejati (for “eternal life”), cahya/wahyu (for “light”), pasarean (for “tomb”), sampurna-root words (for “it is finished”), Ratu Adil framing (for “King of Israel/Jews”), Insan Kamil (for “Son of Man”), and any occult spirit-guide term (for “Counselor/Paraclete”). - The Seven “I Am” Statements (Table 2) must be cross-checked for rendering consistency across all Phase 2 documents, per the same consistency principle the baseline applies to Romans 1:16-17, 8:28, and 10:9-10.
- John 20:30-31 (purpose statement) and John 3:16 (core passage thesis) should receive the same “identical-rendering-across-documents” treatment the baseline mandates for Romans’ thesis verses.
Critical Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: sih-rahmat
Transliteration: sih-rahmat
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: kasekten, wahyu, utang budi
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Never use kasekten, wahyu, or utang budi. John-specific: χάρις occurs in John only at 1:14, 16, 17 (the prologue); do not force-insert sih-rahmat where the underlying Greek is absent from later chapters.
Salvation
Approved rendering: kaslametan
Transliteration: kaslametan
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: karahayon
Original: σῴζω / σωτήρ
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. CRITICAL root-collision with slametan, the protective ritual meal, applies to every occurrence in John (3:17; 5:34; 10:9; 12:47) and to the related title Juru Slamet ing jagad (4:42). Every occurrence requires the same distinguishing teaching note used in the baseline.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: wungu saka pati
Transliteration: wungu saka pati
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: titisan, reinkarnasi
Original: ἀνάστασις / ἐγείρω
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package. Never titisan or reinkarnasi. John-specific: covers both Christ’s own bodily resurrection (2:19-22; 11:25; 20:1-29) and the future general resurrection of all people, some to life and some to judgment (5:28-29; 6:39-40,44,54; 11:24-26) — same constraint applies identically to both referents.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Putrané Gusti Allah
Transliteration: Putrané Gusti Allah
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. John-specific: reserved exclusively for Christ (1:14,18,49; 3:16-18; 5:18; 10:36; 11:27; 20:31); must never be applied to believers, who are instead anak-anakipun Gusti Allah (see children_of_god below) — a lexical distinction John himself carefully maintains.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: Gusti Allah dados manungsa
Transliteration: Gusti Allah dados manungsa
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: manunggaling kawula gusti
Original: ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Never manunggaling kawula gusti. John-specific: this is THE Incarnation text of the whole NT (1:14, ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’).
Messiah
Approved rendering: Sang Mesias
Transliteration: Sang Mesias
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: Satrio Piningit
Original: Χριστός / Μεσσίας
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Never Satrio Piningit. John-specific: 1:41 uniquely preserves and glosses the transliterated Aramaic term (‘We have found the Messiah, which means Christ’) — a model for keeping the term distinct from Ratu Adil/Jayabaya folk-prophetic categories. ‘Kristus’ is retained as the established proper-name element within ‘Gusti Yesus Kristus.‘
Jesus
Approved rendering: Gusti Yesus
Transliteration: Gusti Yesus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Nabi Isa
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Never Nabi Isa. Pervasive throughout John 1-21.
God
Approved rendering: Gusti Allah
Transliteration: Gusti Allah
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Gusti (alone)
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Never shorten to bare Gusti. John-specific: 1:1c’s anarthrous θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος (‘the Word was God,’ not ‘a god’) must never be softened toward a lesser divine-being category; climaxes at Thomas’s confession (20:28).
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Roh Suci
Transliteration: Roh Suci
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: dhemit, lelembut
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον / τὸ πνεῦμα
Category: Pneumatology
Inherited from Romans package. Never dhemit or lelembut. John-specific: John’s frequent unqualified ‘the Spirit’ (3:5,8; 6:63; 7:39) must still be read as this same divine Person, not a generic wind-spirit; the title ‘Counselor’ (see counselor_paraclete below) is this same Person under a role-title.
Word Logos
Approved rendering: Sabda
Transliteration: Sabda
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Rejected alternatives: tembung, Kalimatullah (unmarked)
Original: λόγος
Category: Christology
NEW. Sabda carries useful royal/authoritative-utterance resonance (‘sabda pandita ratu’) but must never stand alone in 1:1, 1:14, 1:18; always pair with explicit predication (‘Sabda punika Gusti Allah piyambak’) to prevent assimilation to Islamic Kalimatullah Christology, which affirms Jesus as ‘a Word from God’ while explicitly denying deity.
Life
Approved rendering: gesang
Transliteration: gesang
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Rejected alternatives: urip sejati
Original: ζωή
Category: Salvation
NEW. Life as a divine quality possessed by the Logos and given to believers (1:4; 5:26; 6:33,51), distinct from mere biological existence. Never urip sejati, the kejawen mystical goal attained through ascetic self-realization.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: gesang langgeng
Transliteration: gesang langgeng
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Rejected alternatives: urip sejati
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
NEW. A present-possessed, unending relational quality of life with God through the Son (3:15-16,36; 5:24; 6:47,68; 10:28; 11:25-26; 17:3; 20:31), explicitly defined at 17:3 as knowing the true God and Jesus Christ. Never urip sejati. Render with present-tense verb forms (‘gadhah gesang langgeng’) to avoid collapse into a merely future afterlife-place sense (akhirat).
Only Begotten Son
Approved rendering: Putrané Gusti Allah ingkang ontang-anting
Transliteration: Putrané Gusti Allah ingkang ontang-anting
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: anak siji, sulung
Original: μονογενής
Category: Christology
NEW. Qualifier attached to baseline Putrané Gusti Allah for μονογενής (1:14,18; 3:16,18). Guards against wayang cosmology’s background assumption that high gods (e.g., Bathara Guru) beget numerous divine offspring — Christ is not one son among many, but the singular, eternal, unique Son.
Lamb Of God
Approved rendering: Cempéning Gusti Allah
Transliteration: Cempéning Gusti Allah
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
NEW. John the Baptist’s declaration of Jesus as the one who takes away the sin of the world (1:29,36), echoing Passover and Isaiah 53. Must not be assimilated to Javanese ruwatan (a ritual involving offerings and wayang performance to ward off cosmic misfortune/sukerta) — Christ’s sacrifice is a personal, moral, historical, once-for-all bearing of sin, not a repeatable danger-averting rite.
Savior Of World
Approved rendering: Juru Slamet ing jagad
Transliteration: Juru Slamet ing jagad
Doctrine: Universal Scope of Salvation
Original: σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Salvation
NEW. The Samaritan villagers’ confession (4:42) — one of John’s clearest universal-scope salvation statements. Shares the same root-collision with the protective slametan ritual meal as baseline kaslametan; requires the same distinguishing teaching note at every occurrence.
Equal With God
Approved rendering: sami kaliyan Gusti Allah
Transliteration: sami kaliyan Gusti Allah
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: ἴσος τῷ θεῷ
Category: Christology
NEW. Essential, ontological equality with God, correctly perceived and rejected by the Jewish leaders as Jesus’s own implicit claim (5:18). Must be distinguished from the Javanese/Hindu-Buddhist dewa-raja (god-king) concept, in which a ruler is honored as a manifestation of deity by conferral rather than by essential nature.
I Am Formula
Approved rendering: Kula punika…
Transliteration: Kula punika…
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἐγώ εἰμι
Category: Christology
NEW. Christ’s self-identification formula in formal krama register. The absolute/unpredicated uses (8:24,28,58; 13:19; 18:5-6,8) echo the divine self-revelation of Exodus 3:14 LXX and must retain maximal emphatic self-existence force, never flattened into ordinary self-introduction. No surface Javanese grammar distinguishes ordinary from absolute use — a standing translator note citing Exodus 3:14 is mandatory at every absolute occurrence.
Bread Of Life
Approved rendering: roti gesang
Transliteration: roti gesang
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
NEW. I AM statement #1 (6:35,48): Christ himself, not manna, is the true, sufficient, life-giving sustenance. Part of the Seven I AM Statements set.
Son Of Man
Approved rendering: Putraning Manungsa
Transliteration: Putraning Manungsa
Doctrine: Humanity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Insan Kamil
Original: ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου
Category: Christology
NEW. Christ’s recurring self-title from Daniel 7, uniquely combining real humanity with heavenly authority (1:51; 3:13-14; 5:27; 6:27,53,62; 8:28; 9:35; 12:23,34; 13:31). Must not be flattened to mean merely ‘a human being,’ nor conflated with the Sufi/kejawen Insan Kamil (‘Perfect Man’) attainable ideal.
Good Shepherd
Approved rendering: Pangèn ingkang sae
Transliteration: Pangèn ingkang sae
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ποιμὴν ὁ καλός
Category: Christology
NEW. I AM statement #3 (10:11,14): Christ’s personal, sacrificial, protective care for his own, contrasted with the hired hand. Part of the Seven I AM Statements set.
Door Gate
Approved rendering: lawang
Transliteration: lawang
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: θύρα
Category: Christology
NEW. I AM statement #4 (10:7,9): Christ as the exclusive means of entry to salvation and pasture. Part of the Seven I AM Statements set; exclusivity of access must be preserved.
One With Father
Approved rendering: Kula kalihan Sang Rama, sami setunggal
Transliteration: Kula kalihan Sang Rama, sami setunggal
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: manunggal-root renderings
Original: ἓν ἐσμεν
Category: Christology
NEW. ‘I and the Father are one’ (10:30) — essential, ontological unity of nature. The registered rendering deliberately avoids the manunggal morpheme (shared with manunggaling kawula gusti, the kejawen mystical fusion any devotee could in principle attain) and must never be altered even under stylistic pressure. Must always be held together with father_greater (14:28) as a mission-role statement, not a denial of co-equal deity.
Substitutionary Death Hyper
Approved rendering: minangka gantosipun
Transliteration: minangka gantosipun
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: kanggo (bare preposition)
Original: ὑπέρ
Category: Salvation
NEW. Renders ὑπέρ, the key NT substitutionary-atonement preposition (10:11,15; 11:50-52; 15:13). A bare ‘kanggo’ (for) reads as general benefit only; the compound phrase is required to clearly convey vicarious substitution (‘in place of’) in every occurrence.
Way Truth Life
Approved rendering: margi, kayektosan, saha gesang
Transliteration: margi, kayektosan, saha gesang
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ὁδὸς ἀλήθεια ζωή
Category: Christology
NEW. I AM statement #6 (14:6): ‘No one comes to the Father except through me.’ The exclusivity clause must be preserved without softening in a religiously plural Javanese-Muslim-kejawen context; the single most doctrinally load-bearing I AM statement for exclusivist salvation claims.
Counselor Paraclete
Approved rendering: Roh Suci, Sang Panglipur
Transliteration: Roh Suci, Sang Panglipur
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Rejected alternatives: pamomong, danyang
Original: παράκλητος
Category: Pneumatology
NEW. The Holy Spirit’s title in the Farewell Discourse (14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7). Never an occult spirit-guide or ancestral guardian consulted in kejawen practice (pamomong, danyang), which would be summoned by human initiative rather than sovereignly given by the Father and the Son. Sang Panglipur alone (‘comforter’) under-covers the Greek’s advocate/convicting range (ch.16); always retain the full compound and supplement with ‘ndakwa’ language where the convicting sense is active.
True Vine
Approved rendering: wit anggur ingkang sejati
Transliteration: wit anggur ingkang sejati
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: ἄμπελος ἀληθινή
Category: Christology
NEW. I AM statement #7 (15:1,5): Christ as the genuine, life-sustaining source, contrasted implicitly with Israel as a failed vine. Part of the Seven I AM Statements set.
It Is Finished
Approved rendering: Sampun rampung
Transliteration: Sampun rampung
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: kasampurnakaken, any sampurna-root word
Original: τετέλεσται
Category: Salvation
NEW. Christ’s final word from the cross (19:30), the completion of the redemptive work. NEVER any sampurna-root rendering, which would wrongly imply a mystical self-attained perfection process rather than a finished, objective, once-for-all act.
My Lord And My God
Approved rendering: Gusti kula saha Allah kula
Transliteration: Gusti kula saha Allah kula
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου
Category: Christology
NEW compound reusing Gusti (Lord) and Gusti Allah (God) exactly. Thomas’s climactic confession (20:28), the Gospel’s definitive full-deity confession, forming an inclusio with 1:1. Must retain full, unqualified force as direct worship, never softened to mere astonishment.
Love Agape
Approved rendering: katresnan
Transliteration: katresnan / tresna
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Rejected alternatives: utang budi
Original: ἀγαπάω / ἀγάπη
Category: Salvation
NEW. Self-giving, deliberate, sacrificial love — God’s love for the world (3:16), Christ’s love for his own (13:1,34; 15:13), the command to love one another (13:34-35). Must be distinguished from ordinary romantic tresna and from utang budi (the baseline-forbidden reciprocal social debt); God’s love precedes and creates no debt owed by its object.
Born Again
Approved rendering: kalairan saking nginggil
Transliteration: kalairan saking nginggil / kalairan malih
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: titisan-style rebirth language
Original: γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν
Category: Salvation
NEW. The deliberate double meaning of ἄνωθεν (‘from above’/‘again’) driving Nicodemus’s confusion (3:3-7). Must never use titisan-style rebirth language (an ancestor’s or deity’s spiritual quality reborn in a later figure) nor frame this as a repeatable slametan-style purification rite; it is a one-time, Spirit-wrought act. The agent (dening Roh Suci) should always be named explicitly in the same sentence.
Lifted Up
Approved rendering: diunggahaken
Transliteration: diunggahaken
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: salib (alone), kaluhuraken (alone)
Original: ὑψόω
Category: Christology
NEW. John’s characteristic double meaning: physically lifted up on the cross AND exalted/glorified (3:14; 8:28; 12:32,34) — the crucifixion IS the exaltation. Must be capable of carrying both senses simultaneously; resolving the ambiguity too early loses this central Johannine paradox.
High Risk Terms
Righteousness
Approved rendering: kabeneran
Transliteration: kabeneran
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: kasampurnan
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Never kasampurnan. John-specific: occurs almost exclusively in the Spirit’s threefold convicting ministry (16:8,10), carrying a ‘vindication’ sense (Christ proven righteous by his return to the Father) rather than only the forensic-justification sense emphasized in Romans; attach a translator note at 16:8-11 clarifying this nuance.
Holy
Approved rendering: suci
Transliteration: suci
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: kramat
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Never kramat. John-specific: applied to the Father (17:11) and pervasively to the Spirit (Roh Suci).
Sanctification
Approved rendering: pensucen
Transliteration: pensucen
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἁγιάζω
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. John-specific: 17:17,19, God’s/Christ’s act of setting believers apart in truth; distinct from self-directed ascetic discipline aimed at kasampurnan (mystical perfection).
Lord
Approved rendering: Gusti
Transliteration: Gusti
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ndara
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Every occurrence in John needs context establishing exclusive, supreme Lordship rather than ordinary feudal/palace deference, climaxing at Thomas’s confession (20:28, see my_lord_and_my_god below).
Sin
Approved rendering: dosa
Transliteration: dosa
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: cemer
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package. John-specific: major theme in chs. 8, 9, 15, 16, 19, 20, and central to the Baptist’s declaration ‘the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world’ (1:29).
Glory
Approved rendering: kamulyan
Transliteration: kamulyan
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: wahyu, kasekten
Original: δόξα / δοξάζω
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Never wahyu or kasekten. John-specific: manifested in Christ’s signs (2:11) and supremely in his ‘hour’ of death and resurrection (12:23; 13:31; 17:1) — the cross itself is the moment of glory, a paradox that must be preserved in the verb form mulyakaken.
Election
Approved rendering: pepilihanipun Gusti Allah
Transliteration: pepilihanipun Gusti Allah
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: wahyu
Original: ἐκλέγομαι
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Never wahyu. John-specific: rendered in verb form ‘milih’ at 6:70; 13:18; 15:16,19, Christ’s sovereign, personal choosing of his disciples, never arbitrary favoritism or impersonal fate.
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. John-specific: the dominant divine title in chs. 14-17, in unique and eternal relation to the Son.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: tedhak turune Dawud
Transliteration: tedhak turune Dawud
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: σπέρμα Δαυίδ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. John-specific: raised as a popular objection/expectation at 7:42 regarding the Messiah’s Bethlehem/Davidic origin; requires OT covenant background teaching for a low-OT-literacy audience.
Light
Approved rendering: pepadhang
Transliteration: pepadhang
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Rejected alternatives: cahya
Original: φῶς
Category: Christology
NEW. Never cahya, which evokes pulung/wahyu, the mystical light of royal legitimacy in Javanese court cosmology. Christ as Light (1:4-9; 3:19-21; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36,46) is the self-revealing eternal Logos, not a transferable charismatic radiance.
Truth
Approved rendering: kayektosan
Transliteration: kayektosan
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Rejected alternatives: kasunyatan sejati, kawruh sejati
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Revelation
NEW. God’s own trustworthy self-disclosure, personified in Christ (14:6) and mediated by the Spirit of truth (14:17; 15:26; 16:13). Must be distinguished from the impersonal mystical Absolute Reality sought through kejawen ascetic gnosis.
King Of Israel
Approved rendering: Ratuning Israel
Transliteration: Ratuning Israel / Ratuning tiyang Yahudi
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: βασιλεὺς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ / τῶν Ἰουδαίων
Category: Christology
NEW. Royal-messianic title confessed by Nathanael (1:49) and the crowds (12:13), ironically inscribed at the cross (19:19-22). ‘Ratu’ resonates strongly with the Javanese folk-eschatological Ratu Adil expectation (Jayabaya tradition, same family as the baseline-forbidden Satrio Piningit). Must anchor to the specific, exclusive Davidic covenant fulfillment, not a folk-political liberator hope.
Sign
Approved rendering: pratandha
Transliteration: pratandha
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: kasekten
Original: σημεῖον
Category: Revelation
NEW. Never kasekten. A miraculous act pointing beyond itself to Christ’s identity and glory (2:11; 4:54; 6:14; 9:16; 11:47; 12:18; 20:30) — revelatory, not a power-display.
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: dukanipun Gusti Allah
Transliteration: dukanipun Gusti Allah
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Rejected alternatives: bebendhu, kualat
Original: ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Judgment
NEW. Never bebendhu (impersonal calamitous curse) or kualat (automatic misfortune for disrespecting a sacred person/place). God’s settled, righteous, personal opposition to unbelief (3:36) — a moral response, not automatic retribution.
Abide Remain
Approved rendering: manggon wonten ing
Transliteration: manggon wonten ing
Doctrine: Discipleship and Abiding in Christ
Original: μένω
Category: Discipleship
NEW. Ongoing, sustained relational union with Christ, the central verb of chs. 14-17, especially the vine metaphor (15:4-10, 10x in this chapter alone). Must convey living, mutual, faith-sustained union, not static or merely spatial ‘staying.‘
Living Water
Approved rendering: toya gesang
Transliteration: toya gesang
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Rejected alternatives: tirta, banyu suci
Original: ὕδωρ ζῶν
Category: Pneumatology
NEW. The Spirit’s life-giving presence (4:10-14; 7:38-39). Must be distinguished from ritually empowered water (tirta/banyu suci) used in Javanese ceremonial blessing (e.g., siraman rites), believed to carry transferable spiritual potency.
Worship Proskuneo
Approved rendering: nyembah
Transliteration: nyembah
Doctrine: Worship in Spirit and Truth
Original: προσκυνέω
Category: Worship
NEW. Shared vocabulary with Islamic sujud and kejawen ancestor-veneration (nyembah leluhur). Must always specify Gusti Allah/Gusti Yesus as the exclusive object (4:20-24; 9:38), distinguishing from ancestor or shrine/heirloom veneration.
Flesh And Blood
Approved rendering: daging / rah
Transliteration: daging / rah
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: σάρξ / αἷμα
Category: Salvation
NEW. Figurative language for total, participatory faith-union with Christ’s atoning death (6:53-56). Must be taught clearly as figurative sacramental/faith-union language, distinct from literal consumption and from any Javanese traditional blood-offering practice.
Freedom Set Free
Approved rendering: mardika
Transliteration: mardika
Doctrine: Sin and Freedom in Christ
Original: ἐλευθερόω / ἐλεύθερος
Category: Sin
NEW. Freedom from the bondage of sin (8:32-36). Mardika/merdeka is the very word for Indonesian national political independence and carries strong contemporary political resonance; must always be paired with an explicit qualifier (‘saking pangawulan dosa,’ from bondage to sin), especially since Jesus’s original hearers themselves misread it politically (8:33).
Lay Down Life
Approved rendering: masrahaken nyawa
Transliteration: masrahaken nyawa
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν
Category: Salvation
NEW. The Good Shepherd’s voluntary, purposeful, substitutionary self-sacrifice (10:11,15,17-18; cf. 15:13). Must convey vicarious, atoning self-sacrifice, distinct from the wayang heroic-death trope of a ksatria dying for duty or glory, which lacks the specifically substitutionary-for-sin dimension.
Father Greater
Approved rendering: Sang Rama langkung ageng saking kula
Transliteration: Sang Rama langkung ageng saking kula
Doctrine: Unity of the Father and the Son
Original: ὁ πατὴρ μείζων μού ἐστιν
Category: Christology
NEW. ‘The Father is greater than I’ (14:28), held alongside one_with_father (10:30). Requires careful doctrinal framing as a statement about the Son’s incarnate mission/role, not a denial of full co-equal deity already affirmed at 1:1, 5:18, 10:30, 20:28; must never be presented as a standalone verse in isolation.
Convict
Approved rendering: ndakwa
Transliteration: ndakwa / mbeneraken ingkang lepat
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: ἐλέγχω
Category: Pneumatology
NEW. The Spirit’s ministry of exposing the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (16:8). Reuse kabeneran for the righteousness component with the attached translator note on the vindication-sense nuance.
Judgment Krino
Approved rendering: ngukum
Transliteration: ngukum (verb) / pancasan, pengadilan (noun)
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Rejected alternatives: kualat, karma-like retribution
Original: κρίνω / κρίσις
Category: Judgment
NEW. God’s/Christ’s forensic judgment, both present (3:18-19; 9:39) and future (5:22,27-29; 12:48), and the Spirit’s convicting ministry (16:11). Must convey personal, righteous, forensic judgment — never impersonal fated calamity or karma-like cosmic retribution. Use ‘sampun kaukum’ (already judged) at 3:18 to preserve the present-tense force distinct from future-judgment passages.
Tomb
Approved rendering: kuburan
Transliteration: kuburan
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Rejected alternatives: pasarean
Original: μνημεῖον
Category: Eschatology
NEW. The empty tomb (20:1-10), central evidence of the bodily resurrection. Prefer kuburan over pasarean, the specific Javanese term for venerated Wali Songo grave-shrines and ongoing pilgrimage sites; if pasarean is ever used it must carry an explicit note that the tomb is EMPTY, the opposite of an ongoing veneration site.
In His Name
Approved rendering: asmanipun
Transliteration: asmanipun
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Rejected alternatives: ngèlmu asma framing
Original: τὸ ὄνομα (αὐτοῦ)
Category: Salvation
NEW. Christ’s identity/authority as the object and basis of saving faith (1:12; 3:18; 20:31). Must convey relational trust in Christ’s identity/authority, not a magical name-invocation formula (avoid ngèlmu asma association, the kejawen/Sufi mystical recitation of sacred names believed to confer supernatural power).
Authority Exousia
Approved rendering: wewenang
Transliteration: wewenang / panguwaos
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: kasekten
Original: ἐξουσία
Category: Christology
NEW. Delegated right/authority — to become children of God (1:12), to lay down and take up life (10:18), to execute judgment (5:27), over all flesh (17:2). John’s preferred term over Pauline δύναμις. Never kasekten (magical/ascetic-earned potency) — this is a legitimately granted right or inherent authority.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: anak-anakipun Gusti Allah
Transliteration: anak-anakipun Gusti Allah
Doctrine: The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: para putranipun Gusti Allah
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
NEW. Believers’ status as God’s children (τέκνα), a status John deliberately never calls υἱοί (sons) — that title is reserved exclusively for Christ (1:12; 11:52). Explicitly not ‘para putranipun Gusti Allah,’ to preserve John’s own lexical distinction reserving the full honorific Putrané Gusti Allah exclusively for Christ.
Perish
Approved rendering: katiwasan
Transliteration: katiwasan
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Rejected alternatives: kacilakan
Original: ἀπόλλυμι
Category: Judgment
NEW. Final, eternal separation from God (3:16). Must convey final spiritual ruin/loss, not merely temporary misfortune; avoid confusion with the Javanese folk-fatalistic kacilakan, which suggests impersonal bad luck rather than a personal, moral, avoidable outcome.
Ascended
Approved rendering: minggah
Transliteration: minggah
Doctrine: The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ (the Word)
Original: ἀναβέβηκεν / ἀναβαίνω
Category: Christology
NEW. The pre-existent Son’s own prior heavenly origin and historical return to heaven (3:13; 6:62; 20:17). Must not be softened into a merely visionary/mystical ascent (as in some Javanese/Sufi mystical ‘journey’ traditions of the soul ascending to divine union) — this is the unique, historical Son’s own heavenly origin and return.
Unity Of Believers
Approved rendering: supados sami tunggal
Transliteration: supados sami tunggal
Doctrine: Unity of Believers
Rejected alternatives: manunggal-root renderings
Original: ἓν ὦσιν
Category: Church
NEW. Believers’ relational/purposive unity (17:11,21-23), patterned after but categorically distinct from the Father-Son’s essential ontological unity. Must never imply believers become ontologically fused with God or each other — avoid any resonance with manunggaling kawula gusti.
Medium Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: pitados
Transliteration: pitados (krama); pracaya (ngoko)
Doctrine: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. John-specific: the Gospel uses only the verb πιστεύω (98x) and never the noun πίστις; sustain a living verb form (‘sing sapa pitados,’ ‘pitados dhateng Gusti Yesus’) throughout, never lapsing into a static noun that could read as mere religious affiliation.
Peace
Approved rendering: katentreman
Transliteration: katentreman
Doctrine: Peace with God
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. John-specific: Christ’s own gift of peace to his disciples (14:27; 16:33; 20:19,21,26), distinct from worldly peace and from meditative inner calm.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: Kratoning Gusti Allah
Transliteration: Kratoning Gusti Allah
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Inherited from Romans package. John-specific: entered only through the new birth (3:3,5); explicitly distinguished by Jesus’s own words before Pilate (‘my kingdom is not of this world,’ 18:36) from an earthly keraton such as Yogyakarta or Surakarta.
Law
Approved rendering: angger-anggering Toret
Transliteration: angger-anggering Toret
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: hukum agami
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. John-specific: contrasted with grace and truth (1:17) and cited as authoritative Scripture (7:19,23,49,51; 8:5,17; 10:34; 15:25; 19:7).
Gentiles
Approved rendering: bangsa liya
Transliteration: bangsa liya
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: ἔθνη / Ἕλληνες
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. John-specific: John also uses the specific ethnic term ‘Greeks’ (Ἕλληνες, 7:35; 12:20) as representatives of the wider Gentile world; see the new term ‘greeks’ below for that specific usage, kept distinct from this general category term.
Mission
Approved rendering: pekabaran Injil
Transliteration: pekabaran Injil
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Inherited from Romans package. John-specific: underlies the harvest imagery of 4:35-38 and the sending pattern ‘as the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you’ (20:21).
David
Approved rendering: Dawud
Transliteration: Dawud
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. John-specific: underlies the crowd’s objection at 7:42 (see seed_of_david below).
Israel
Approved rendering: Israel
Transliteration: Israel
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. John-specific: ‘teacher of Israel’ (3:10) and ‘King of Israel’ (1:49; 12:13, see king_of_israel below).
Darkness
Approved rendering: pepeteng
Transliteration: pepeteng
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: σκότος / σκοτία
Category: Judgment
NEW. Must be anchored to moral/spiritual rebellion (1:5; 3:19; 12:35,46), not folk associations with lelembut/nocturnal spirit activity common in kejawen belief.
World Kosmos
Approved rendering: jagad
Transliteration: jagad
Doctrine: God’s Love for the World
Rejected alternatives: donya
Original: κόσμος
Category: Salvation
NEW. Prefer jagad over the more generic/geographic donya, which skews toward ‘worldly/materialistic concerns’ idiomatically. Context-sensitive: the created order/humanity in general (1:10; 3:16) versus the world-system hostile to God (15:18-19; 17:14).
Testimony Witness
Approved rendering: paseksèn
Transliteration: paseksèn / nyekseni (verb)
Doctrine: Inspiration and Witness of Scripture
Original: μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω
Category: Revelation
NEW. Legal-style eyewitness testimony, a major structural theme (John the Baptist, ch.1,3; the Scriptures, 5:39; the Spirit, 15:26; the beloved disciple, 19:35; 21:24). Must retain legal/eyewitness weight, distinct from generic personal opinion.
Baptize
Approved rendering: mbaptis
Transliteration: mbaptis
Doctrine: Discipleship and Abiding in Christ
Original: βαπτίζω
Category: Discipleship
NEW. Ritual immersion signifying repentance/identification (1:25-33; 3:22-26; 4:1-2). Must be distinguished from Javanese ceremonial washing (siraman) or heirloom-cleansing (jamasan pusaka) rites, which confer ritual potency rather than mark repentance and identification with Christ.
Temple
Approved rendering: Padaleman Suci
Transliteration: Padaleman Suci
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ναός
Category: Christology
NEW. Jesus applies the word metaphorically to his own body (2:19-21), directly tying to the resurrection doctrine. ‘Dalem’ (royal residence) must be distinguished from an ordinary keraton royal residence or a village punden shrine.
Bridegroom
Approved rendering: penganten jaler
Transliteration: penganten jaler
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: νυμφίος
Category: Christology
NEW. Messianic bridegroom image; John the Baptist casts himself as ‘the friend of the bridegroom’ (3:29). Must not be conflated with kejawen/Sufi bridal-mystical-union poetry (wahdat al-wujud-style imagery); the image here is corporate/covenantal joy, not personal mystical fusion.
Scriptures
Approved rendering: Kitab Suci
Transliteration: Kitab Suci
Doctrine: Inspiration and Witness of Scripture
Original: γραφαί
Category: Revelation
NEW. The OT writings, cited as an authoritative witness to Christ (5:39; 7:38,42; 10:35; 19:24,36-37; 20:9). Established shared vocabulary.
Draw Helkuo
Approved rendering: narik
Transliteration: narik
Doctrine: Effectual Calling and Election
Rejected alternatives: pesthi (impersonal fate)
Original: ἑλκύω
Category: Salvation
NEW. God’s sovereign, initiating action in bringing a person to faith (6:44; 12:32). Must convey personal, sovereign, initiating action, not impersonal fate drawing a person passively.
Devil
Approved rendering: Iblis
Transliteration: Iblis
Doctrine: Sin and Freedom in Christ
Rejected alternatives: dhemit, lelembut, memedi
Original: διάβολος
Category: Sin
NEW. The singular personal Adversary, father of lies and murderer from the beginning (8:44; 13:2). Established loanword shared with Islamic usage; never the diffuse, morally ambivalent nature-and-place spirits of kejawen folk belief.
Slave Servant
Approved rendering: batur tukon
Transliteration: batur tukon / kawula
Doctrine: Sin and Freedom in Christ
Original: δοῦλος
Category: Sin
NEW. Bondservant to sin, contrasted with the permanent status of a son (8:34-35). Distinguish from voluntary honorable court service (abdi dalem), which carries positive, dignified connotations.
Blind
Approved rendering: wuta
Transliteration: wuta
Doctrine: Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
Original: τυφλός
Category: Judgment
NEW. Physical and, figuratively, spiritual blindness/unbelief (ch.9). The double physical/spiritual sense must be preserved contextually.
Put Out Of Synagogue
Approved rendering: katundhung saking papan pangibadah
Transliteration: katundhung saking papan pangibadah
Doctrine: Mission and Witness to the World
Original: ἀποσυνάγωγος
Category: Discipleship
NEW. Excommunication from synagogue fellowship as the social cost of confessing Jesus as the Christ (9:22; 12:42; 16:2). Sociological note relevant to evangelism sensitivities in a Muslim-majority Javanese context.
Blasphemy
Approved rendering: panyenyamah
Transliteration: panyenyamah
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: βλασφημία
Category: Christology
NEW. The Jewish leaders’ charge against Jesus for making himself God (10:33).
High Priest
Approved rendering: Imam Agung
Transliteration: Imam Agung
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: ἀρχιερεύς
Category: Covenant
NEW. Established shared vocabulary. Caiaphas unknowingly prophesies Christ’s substitutionary death (11:49-51) and interrogates him (18:13-24). Distinguish from the generic Islamic ‘imam’ (prayer leader).
Crucify
Approved rendering: disalib
Transliteration: disalib
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: σταυρόω
Category: Christology
NEW. The historical, physical means of Christ’s substitutionary death (ch.19); established loanword. Keep clearly historical and specific, never generalized to ‘martyrdom.‘
Breathe Receive Spirit
Approved rendering: ndamu
Transliteration: ndamu
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit as Counselor
Original: ἐμφυσάω
Category: Pneumatology
NEW. Jesus breathing on the disciples, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ (20:22), echoing Genesis 2:7 and Ezekiel 37. Flag with a translator note on the OT new-creation echo given assumed low OT literacy.
Love Phileo
Approved rendering: remen
Transliteration: remen
Doctrine: Discipleship and Abiding in Christ
Original: φιλέω
Category: Discipleship
NEW. Warm affection/friendship-love, alternated with ἀγαπάω in Jesus’s threefold question to Peter (21:15-17). Javanese lacks two lexically distinct root words for this nuance; pair remen alongside katresnan/tresna to signal the two different Greek words, without over-engineering the distinction — the pastoral point (Peter’s full restoration) must not be lost.
The Prophet
Approved rendering: Nabi ingkang kajanjèkaken
Transliteration: Nabi ingkang kajanjèkaken
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
NEW. ὁ προφήτης (definite), the specific eschatological Prophet of Deut. 18:15 (1:21,25; 7:40), distinct from a generic nabi. Requires the definite qualifier to preserve the distinct messianic-adjacent expectation.
Greeks
Approved rendering: tiyang Yunani
Transliteration: tiyang Yunani
Doctrine: Mission and Witness to the World
NEW. Ἕλληνες, John’s specific ethnic term for representatives of the wider Gentile world (7:35; 12:20), distinct from the general baseline category bangsa liya.
Low Risk Terms
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: pamuji sukur
Transliteration: pamuji sukur
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. John-specific: modeled by Jesus before feeding the crowd (6:11,23), at Lazarus’s tomb (11:41), and throughout the High Priestly Prayer (ch.17).
Prophet
Approved rendering: nabi
Transliteration: nabi
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: dhukun
Inherited from Romans package. Never dhukun. John-specific: applied to Jesus generically (4:19) as well as to ‘the Prophet’ (ὁ προφήτης, definite, a distinct eschatological figure of Deut. 18:15) — see the new term ‘the_prophet’ below for that specific usage.
Fullness
Approved rendering: kaluberaning
Transliteration: kaluberaning / kebak
Doctrine: Grace
Original: πλήρωμα
Category: Salvation
NEW. The abundant completeness of grace received from the incarnate Word (1:16). Minor risk.
Angels
Approved rendering: malaekat
Transliteration: malaekat
Doctrine: Inspiration and Witness of Scripture
Original: ἄγγελοι
Category: Revelation
NEW. Heavenly messengers (1:51), echoing Jacob’s ladder. Established shared vocabulary with Islamic usage, similar in status to dosa.
Harvest
Approved rendering: panen
Transliteration: panen
Doctrine: Mission and Witness to the World
Original: θερισμός
Category: Discipleship
NEW. Agricultural image for spiritual ingathering (4:35-38).
Manna
Approved rendering: manna
Transliteration: manna
Doctrine: The Seven ‘I Am’ Statements
Original: μάννα
Category: Revelation
NEW. The wilderness bread of Exodus 16, contrasted with the true bread from heaven (6:31-33,49). Established loanword.
Grain Of Wheat
Approved rendering: wiji gandum
Transliteration: wiji gandum
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
Original: κόκκος τοῦ σίτου
Category: Discipleship
NEW. Agricultural image for Christ’s death as the necessary, fruit-producing pattern also required of discipleship (12:24).
Wash Feet
Approved rendering: wijik
Transliteration: wijik
Doctrine: Discipleship and Abiding in Christ
Original: νίπτω
Category: Discipleship
NEW. Jesus’s servant-posture act of washing the disciples’ feet (13:5-14); an established Javanese term specifically for washing feet/hands, culturally resonant.
New Commandment
Approved rendering: pepakon enggal
Transliteration: pepakon enggal
Doctrine: Discipleship and Abiding in Christ
Original: ἐντολὴ καινή
Category: Discipleship
NEW. The command to love one another as Christ loved (13:34-35), the distinguishing mark of discipleship.
Dwelling Place
Approved rendering: padununganipun
Transliteration: padununganipun
Doctrine: Eternal Life through Faith in Christ
Original: μονή
Category: Eschatology
NEW. The prepared place with God (14:2), assurance of a future home.
Branch
Approved rendering: pang
Transliteration: pang
Doctrine: Discipleship and Abiding in Christ
Original: κλῆμα
Category: Discipleship
NEW. Believers as branches, fruitful only through abiding connection to the vine (15:2,4-6).
Sabbath
Approved rendering: dinten Sabat
Transliteration: dinten Sabat
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Original: σάββατον
Category: Covenant
NEW. The seventh-day rest commanded in the Law; occasion of controversy over Jesus’s healings (5:9-10; 9:14-16). Transliteration/established loanword.
Ruler Of The Jews
Approved rendering: panggedhening tiyang Yahudi
Transliteration: panggedhening tiyang Yahudi
Doctrine: Inspiration and Witness of Scripture
NEW. Nicodemus’s status as ἄρχων τῶν Ἰουδαίων, a member of the Sanhedrin (3:1). Must not be rendered as a Javanese aristocratic (priyayi) rank, which could import unrelated social-caste connotations.
Hour
Approved rendering: wanci
Transliteration: wanci / titimangsa
Doctrine: Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection
NEW. ὥρα, a divinely appointed, not merely chronological, moment — the recurring ‘hour’ time-marker (2:4; 7:30; 12:23,27; 13:1; 16:32; 17:1).
Referenced passages