Core Glossary
Core Glossary: 1 John (Korean Destination Language)
This glossary lists every load-bearing theological term identified in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, covering all five chapters of 1 John. Terms already present in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] and carry forward their exact recorded Korean rendering, risk tier, and doctrinal note without modification. New terms specific to 1 John are marked [NEW] and are risk-tiered using the identical Critical/High/Medium/Low framework.
Baseline Terms Reused in 1 John
| Term | Korean | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Occurs in 1 John | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | 하나님 | Hananim | Critical | God | 1-5 (throughout) | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] Never 하느님/천주/산신령. |
| Jesus | 예수 | Yesu | Critical | Lordship of Christ | 1:3; 2:1,22; 4:2-3,15; 5:1,5-6,20 | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] |
| Christ / Messiah | 그리스도 | Geuriseudo | Medium | Messianic Promise | 1:3; 2:1,22; 3:23; 4:2-3; 5:1,6,20 | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] |
| Son of God | 하나님의 아들 | Hananim-ui adeul | Critical | Deity/Sonship of Christ | 3:8; 4:9,15; 5:5,9-13,20 | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY]; also add 독생자 (only-begotten) at 4:9 |
| Father | 아버지 | abeoji | Critical | Adoption into God’s Family | 1:2-3; 2:1,13-16,22-24; 3:1; 4:14 | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY]; jesa/ancestor-rite awareness applies |
| Holy Spirit | 성령 | seongnyeong | Critical | Sanctification | 3:24; 4:2,13; 5:6-8 | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] |
| Righteousness/righteous | 의 / 의로우신 | ui | High/Critical | Salvation | 1:9; 2:1,29; 3:7,10,12 | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] |
| Sin | 죄 | joe | High | Universal Human Accountability | 1:7-10; 2:1-2,12; 3:4-9; 4:10; 5:16-17 | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] |
| Faith/believe | 믿음 / 믿다 | mideum / mitda | High | Faith | 3:23; 4:1,16; 5:1,4-5,10,13 | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] |
| Fellowship | 교제 | gyoje | Low | Christian Fellowship | 1:3,6,7 | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY]; note double vertical+horizontal object in 1 John |
| Salvation/Savior | 구원 / 구주 | guwon / guju | Critical | Salvation | 4:14 | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] |
| Law | 율법 | yulbeop | High | Fulfillment of Prophecy | (background to 3:4 ἀνομία) | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] |
| Covenant | 언약 | eonyak | Low | Davidic Covenant | (background to 2:7-8 old/new commandment) | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] |
| World (background sense) | 세상 | sesang | High | — | 2:2,15-17; 4:1,3-5,9,14,17; 5:4-5,19 | See NEW entry below for expanded 1 John-specific risk notes |
| Called/calling (background) | 부르심 | bureusim | High | Divine Calling | (conceptual background to sonship, not a frequent lexeme in 1 John) | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] |
| Prophet/false prophet (background) | 선지자 / 거짓 선지자 | seonjija | Medium | Inspiration of Scripture | 4:1 (“false prophets”) | [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY]; extend to “false prophets” collocation |
| Truth | — | — | — | — | 1:6,8; 2:4,21; 3:18-19; 4:6; 5:6 | See NEW entry below (not previously in baseline) |
New Terms Introduced by 1 John
Critical Risk
| Term | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Literal Meaning | Semantic Range | English Variants | Korean Rendering | Contextual Theological Meaning | Translation Risk & Grounded Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God is love / Love | ἀγάπη / ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν | agapē | committed, willed, self-giving love | God’s essential nature (4:8,16); commanded human love (4:7,11-12,19-21); love as opposed to hate (4:20) | “love,” “God is love” | 사랑 / 하나님은 사랑이시라 | Grounds Christian ethics in God’s own revealed nature, defined by the cross (4:10), not a free-floating sentiment | Critical. Korean 사랑 covers romantic, filial, and biblical senses without lexical distinction, and Korean 정 (jeong, relational attachment) offers a further non-equivalent collision. Must never be taught in reversible form (“love is God”), which would resonate with Cheondogyo’s 인내천 (“man is heaven”) and generic pantheistic “the universe is love” popular spirituality. Christ’s atoning death must always anchor the definition. |
| Propitiation | ἱλασμός | hilasmos | a sacrifice that satisfies/averts wrath and secures reconciliation | atoning, wrath-averting, sin-removing sacrifice | ”propitiation,” “atoning sacrifice,” “expiation” | 화목제물 | Christ himself as the God-provided, God-initiated atoning sacrifice for sin (2:2; 4:10) | Critical. Collides directly with Korean shamanistic gut-ritual offering-to-appease-spirits pattern (제물) and Confucian jesa ancestor food-offerings. Must always teach that God himself provides and initiates the offering out of prior love — the reverse of the folk pattern of humans appeasing an unpredictable power. Same collision family as baseline’s “grace” (기복신앙). |
| Test the spirits | δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα | dokimazete ta pneumata | to examine/assay for genuineness | doctrinal examination of prophetic claims | ”test the spirits,” “discern the spirits” | 영들을 시험하라 / 영들을 분별하라 | Doctrinal (Christological) test distinguishing true from false spiritual claims (4:1-6) | Critical. Near-identical vocabulary to Korean shamanism’s own claimed specialty, 영분별/접신 (a mudang’s spirit-discernment/spirit-contact practice). Must always be paired with the sole doctrinal test given in 4:2-3 (confessing Jesus Christ come in the flesh), never taught as a general spiritual-sensing ability. |
| Antichrist | ἀντίχριστος | antichristos | against/instead-of Christ | a false-Christ figure or teaching denying the Father and the Son (2:18-23; 4:3) | “antichrist,” “false Christ” | 적그리스도 | Any person/teaching denying Jesus is the Christ, functioning as an alternative to him | Critical. Korea has produced multiple prominent living-founder new religious movements claiming unique messianic/second-coming status (통일교/Unification Church; JMS; 신천지/Shincheonji) — a direct, documented, ongoing real-world instance of exactly the pattern 1 John addresses, not a hypothetical or purely historical risk. |
| Born of God / New birth | γεννάω ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ | gennaō ek tou theou | to beget/bring forth, of God | once-for-all spiritual regeneration producing ongoing new nature | ”born of God,” “born again,” “regenerated” | 하나님께로부터 난 자 / 거듭나다 | The Spirit-wrought new birth that is the objective ground of Christian assurance and new-nature living (2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18) | Critical. NEVER conflate with 환생 (Buddhist rebirth) or 윤회 (reincarnation cycle) — same forbidden-substitution logic as baseline’s “resurrection” entry. This is a personal, non-repeating, once-for-all spiritual birth into permanent sonship. |
| True God | ἀληθινός θεός | alēthinos theos | genuine/real God | exclusive, monotheistic identification of the one true God as opposed to any counterfeit | ”the true God” | 참되신 하나님 | Closing doctrinal seal of the letter (5:20), tying together its argument against false-Christ claims and idols | Critical (inherits baseline “god” tier). Must retain full monotheistic exclusivity; never softened toward a “one true reality among several valid paths” reading. |
High Risk
| Term | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Literal Meaning | Semantic Range | English Variants | Korean Rendering | Contextual Theological Meaning | Translation Risk & Grounded Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Light / Darkness | φῶς / σκότος, σκοτία | phōs / skotos, skotia | brightness / absence of light | moral purity, truth, self-revealing holiness (φῶς); moral corruption, falsehood, separation from God (σκοτία) | “light”/“darkness” | 빛 / 어둠 | God’s essential moral character (1:5); ethical walk in the light vs. darkness (1:6-7; 2:8-11) | High. Risk of pantheistic-cosmic misreading via Won Buddhism’s 일원상 (Il-Won-Sang) light-symbol for the Dharmakaya Buddha and Cheondogyo’s 인내천 indwelling-divine-light teaching; also shamanistic ritual candlelight in gut ceremonies. Must be taught as the personal, morally perfect character of the one true God, not an impersonal illumination-principle. |
| Abide | μένω | menō | to remain, stay, continue | ongoing relational communion/indwelling and continued obedience | ”abide,” “remain,” “dwell” | 거하다 | Continuing, willed relational fellowship with God/Christ and in his commandments/love (2:6,24,27-28; 3:6,24; 4:12-16) | High. Sharp collision with Korean shamanistic spirit-possession vocabulary (신들림, 접신 — a mudang’s involuntary trance-indwelling by a spirit). Must be taught as conscious, willed, obedient communion, never an ecstatic possession-state. Reinforces baseline’s “holy_spirit” Critical warning. |
| Confess (sin) | ὁμολογέω (object: sins) | homologeō | to say the same thing, acknowledge | moral acknowledgment/admission of wrongdoing to God | ”confess (sin)“ | 자백하다 | Direct, unmediated confession of sin to God, who is faithful and just to forgive (1:9) | High. Must be kept distinct from (a) Catholic sacramental confession requiring a priest-mediator (고해성사) and (b) a mudang’s ritual mediating role for spiritual offenses. This is a direct transaction between believer and God alone. |
| Confess (doctrine) | ὁμολογέω (object: Jesus is the Son of God/Christ) | homologeō | to say the same thing, publicly affirm | public doctrinal affirmation/creed-confession | ”confess,” “acknowledge,” “affirm” | 시인하다 | The doctrinal test distinguishing true teaching from antichrist deception (4:2-3,15; cf. Romans 10:9’s 예수는 주님이시다) | High. Must be kept lexically distinct from 자백하다 (sin-confession, 1:9) to avoid collapsing a Christological creed-test into a penitential act. |
| Advocate | παράκλητος | paraklētos | one called alongside, esp. legally | Christ’s heavenly legal intercession on believers’ behalf (2:1) | “advocate,” “counselor,” “intercessor” | 대언자 | Christ’s ongoing righteous defense of believers before the Father, grounded in his propitiatory work (2:1-2) | High. Parallels baseline’s “intercession” entry: must not be read as a mudang’s ritual mediation with unpredictable spirits; this is a settled, righteous legal defense secured once for all by Christ’s finished work. |
| Anointing | χρῖσμα | chrisma | the act/substance of anointing with oil | the Holy Spirit’s indwelling teaching ministry given to every believer | ”anointing” | 기름부으심 | Every believer’s Spirit-given capacity to discern true doctrine from antichrist deception (2:20,27) | High. Connects directly to baseline’s “power_of_god” Critical warning against 영력 (shaman’s spirit-power) framing; Korean charismatic “anointing” language must stay tied to ordinary believers’ doctrinal discernment, not an elite power-display. |
| Eternal life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος | zōē aiōnios | life of/belonging to the age to come | qualitative, relational, unending life with God, both present possession and future hope | ”eternal life,” “everlasting life” | 영생 | The letter’s stated purpose: “that you may know you have eternal life” (5:13); grounded in union with Christ (5:11-12; 1:2; 2:25; 3:15; 5:20) | High. Must be distinguished from Daoist/folk 불로장생 (deathless-longevity) and 신선 (immortal-sage) ideals (cf. baseline “saints” entry), and from Buddhist 극락왕생 (Pure-Land rebirth through merit). 영생 is a present relational possession by faith, not physical longevity or merit-based post-mortem attainment. |
| Overcome the world | νικάω τὸν κόσμον | nikaō ton kosmon | to conquer/prevail | decisive spiritual victory over the God-opposing world-system, through faith | ”overcome,” “conquer,” “victory” | 세상을 이기다 | Victory secured through faith that Jesus is the Son of God (5:4-5), not through ritual technique | High. Must be distinguished from Korean folk practices of warding off misfortune/malevolent spirits through 부적 (talismans) and 액막이 (ritual warding-off); biblical victory is a settled reality grounded in faith in Christ, not an ongoing ritual technique requiring renewal. |
| Idols | εἴδωλα | eidōla | images/representations of a deity used for worship | cult images; anything competing for the devotion due to the one true God | ”idols,” “false gods” | 우상 | The letter’s closing warning (5:21), guarding against any rival object of devotion | High. Directly continues the baseline “father” entry’s jesa/ancestor-rite historical collision (ancestor spirit-tablets 신주/위패) and the baseline “church” entry’s contrast with shamanistic shrines (당집) and Buddhist temple images (불상); should be taught with this full concrete Korean range in view, not as a merely ancient/abstract warning. |
| Boldness / Confidence | παρρησία | parrēsia | freedom of speech, confident openness | confident standing before God grounded in Christ’s finished work, not innate self-assurance | ”boldness,” “confidence” | 담대함 | Confidence in prayer (5:14), at Christ’s return (2:28), and at judgment (3:21; 4:17) | High. Must be distinguished from generic secular self-confidence (자신감) and from a shaman’s ritual boldness in confronting spirits; grounded entirely in the believer’s standing through Christ’s atoning work, not personal spiritual power. |
| Commandment | ἐντολή | entolē | authoritative directive from a superior | binding command, especially the love-commandment; cumulatively, obedience to God’s revealed will | ”commandment,” “command” | 계명 | The single love-commandment (4:21) and the broader pattern of grace-responsive obedience (2:3-4,7-8; 3:22-24; 5:2-3) | High. Extends baseline’s “law”/“obedience_of_faith” risk: must flow from grace-given relationship, not function as an independent meritorious code, nor be assimilated to Confucian ritual-propriety (예) or filial-duty (효) hierarchical obligation codes. |
| Children of God (born-sense) | τέκνα θεοῦ | tekna theou | children by birth | organic new-birth family identity and resemblance | ”children of God” | 하나님의 자녀 | New birth producing family identity and Christlike resemblance (2:29-3:2; 3:10) | High. Complements, does not replace, baseline’s “adoption” (양자, legal-inheritance emphasis); both must avoid the Korean traditional-adoption pattern of adoption existing primarily to continue ancestor rites (제사) rather than relational belonging. |
| World (expanded) | κόσμος | kosmos | the created order; also, the human system organized against God | (a) humanity as object of God’s saving love (4:9,14); (b) the God-opposing moral-spiritual system (2:15-17; 4:1,3-5,17; 5:4-5,19) | “world,” “world system” | 세상 | Both senses appear within the same letter and must be disambiguated per occurrence | High. Korean 세상 carries little inherent signal distinguishing these two senses; translator notes must flag which sense is active at each occurrence to prevent doctrinal flattening (e.g., reading 2:15’s prohibition against loving “the world” as a prohibition against loving people, rather than the God-opposing system). |
| Sin unto death / not unto death | ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον / οὐ πρὸς θάνατον | hamartia pros thanaton | sin leading to death / not leading to death | likely decisive, unrepentant apostasy vs. ordinary sins believers commit | ”mortal sin” (avoid Catholic-specific technical term), “sin unto/leading to death” | 사망에 이르는 죄 / 사망에 이르지 아니하는 죄 | Intercessory prayer guidance for the church regarding a fellow believer’s sin (5:16-17) | High. Requires careful pastoral framing to avoid inducing anxious uncertainty (compounded by Korean 체면/shame-sensitivity) about having committed an unforgivable sin, while preserving the letter’s serious warning about decisive apostasy. |
| Threefold witness (Spirit, water, blood) | τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα | to pneuma kai to hydōr kai to haima | the Spirit and the water and the blood | testimony affirming the true, full incarnation and real death of Jesus Christ | ”the Spirit, the water, and the blood” | 성령과 물과 피 | Anti-docetic testimony that the same Jesus baptized also truly died (5:6-8) | High. Reinforces baseline’s “incarnation” (성육신) Critical entry; must retain that this is a real, complete, undivided human life and death, not a partial or symbolic incarnation. |
| Cleanse | καθαρίζω | katharizō | to make clean, purify | moral cleansing from sin’s guilt through Christ’s blood | ”cleanse,” “purify” | 깨끗하게 하다 / 정결하게 하다 | Ongoing cleansing from all sin through confession and Christ’s blood (1:7,9) | High. Parallels baseline’s “holy” entry: must be distinguished from shamanistic ritual purification (부정을 씻음) addressing misfortune/ritual pollution rather than moral guilt before a holy God. |
| Truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | that which is real/genuine, not hidden or false | God’s revealed reality in Christ, in contrast to deception/error (πλάνη) and falsehood (ψεῦδος) | “truth” | 진리 | The Spirit of truth vs. spirit of error (4:6); walking/abiding in truth (1:6,8; 3:18-19) | High. Must be distinguished from a generic philosophical-relativistic “my truth,” and from Confucian moral-Way (道, 도) or Buddhist true-nature concepts; this is God’s own revealed, personal, exclusive truth in Christ. |
Medium Risk
| Term | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Literal Meaning | Semantic Range | English Variants | Korean Rendering | Contextual Theological Meaning | Translation Risk & Grounded Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manifested/revealed | φανερόω | phaneroō | to make visible, disclose | objective historical disclosure (incarnation, cross) | “manifested,” “revealed,” “shown” | 나타나다 | God’s love and Christ himself objectively disclosed in history (1:2; 3:5,8; 4:9) | Medium. Emphasize concrete historical revelation, not private mystical illumination comparable to shamanistic spirit-revelation claims. |
| Savior of the world | σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου | sōtēr tou kosmou | one who rescues, of the world | Christ’s universal-scope saving mission (4:14) | “Savior of the world” | 세상의 구주 | Inherits baseline “salvation” Critical tier | Medium-High. Must not be softened to generic “benefactor of humanity”; retains 구원’s exclusive personal-God-reconciliation sense against 해탈. |
| Perfected/complete | τελειόω | teleioō | to bring to completeness/its intended goal | love’s relational completion through obedient communion, not ascetic self-attainment | ”perfected,” “made complete,” “matured” | 온전하게 되다 / 온전히 이루어지다 | Love/confidence “perfected” through abiding relationship with God (2:5; 4:12,17-18) | Medium. Distinguish from Buddhist/folk ascetic self-cultivation (수행, 도 닦기, cf. baseline “sanctification”); this is relational completion, not individual spiritual-attainment achievement. |
| Fear | φόβος | phobos | dread, terror | craven fear of judgment/punishment (distinct from reverent awe elsewhere in Scripture) | “fear,” “dread,” “terror” | 두려움 | Perfect love casts out tormenting fear of judgment (4:18) | Medium. Distinguish from reverent “fear of the Lord” sense used elsewhere in Scripture; also pastorally contrasts with the never-fully-resolved fear of offended spirits driving repeat shamanistic ritual observance. |
| Testify/witness | μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία | martyreō / martyria | to give authoritative testimony | eyewitness, authoritative apostolic testimony; also the Spirit’s/water’s/blood’s testimony (5:6-11) | “testify,” “witness,” “testimony” | 증언하다 / 증거 | Authoritative apostolic and divine testimony to Christ (1:2; 4:14; 5:6-11) | Medium. Retain authoritative, formal-testimony sense; not a subjective personal impression comparable to a mudang’s claimed spirit-communication. |
| Walk | περιπατέω | peripateō | to walk about, go on foot | ongoing manner of life/conduct (Hebraic idiom) | “walk,” “live,” “conduct oneself” | 행하다 / 살다 | Ongoing lifestyle-conduct in light vs. darkness (1:6-7; 2:6,11) | Medium. Standard, well-established Korean Bible idiom; ensure read as ongoing pattern of life, not a single ritual act. |
| Obligation (“we ought”) | ὀφείλω | opheilō | to owe, be under obligation | moral necessity flowing from having received God’s love, not a debt-repayment transaction | ”we ought,” “we are obligated” | 마땅하다 | Grace-responsive obligation to love one another (4:11; 3:16) | Medium. Must not be read as reciprocal repayment completing a debt to God (cf. baseline’s caution against 은덕/Confucian reciprocal-obligation benevolence under “grace”). |
| Day of judgment | ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως | hēmera tēs kriseōs | day of the verdict/decision | future personal divine tribunal | ”day of judgment” | 심판 날 | The eschatological day believers may face with confidence (4:17) | Medium. Ensure read as a personal divine tribunal, not an impersonal karmic reckoning. |
| Brother | ἀδελφός | adelphos | male sibling; fellow member of a family | fellow believer, spiritual sibling, equal standing regardless of age/social rank | ”brother,” “brother/sister,” “fellow believer” | 형제 | Basis of the love-test: love/hate of a “brother” evidences love/hate of God (2:9-11; 3:10-17; 4:20-21) | Medium. Korean 형제 usage carries inherited Confucian age-hierarchy overtones (형/오빠 vs. 동생); clarify spiritual siblingship is equal standing as God’s children, not an elder-younger obligation structure. |
| Lawlessness | ἀνομία | anomia | without-law-ness, rebellion against law | rebellion against God’s moral revelation, defining the essence of sin (3:4) | “lawlessness,” “iniquity” | 불법 | Sin defined as rebellion against God’s law, not merely social rule-breaking | Medium-High. Must be read as rebellion against divine moral revelation specifically, not reduced to civil illegality (cf. baseline “law” caution). |
| God’s seed | σπέρμα θεοῦ | sperma theou | seed, generative principle | the Spirit-given new nature from regeneration preventing habitual sin (3:9) | “his seed,” “God’s seed” | 하나님의 씨 | The abiding regenerate nature within the believer | Medium-High. Avoid any magical/talisman-like object reading; this is the Spirit-given new nature from new birth, not a quasi-physical substance or protective charm. |
| Children of the devil | τέκνα τοῦ διαβόλου | tekna tou diabolou | children by birth/nature, of the devil | the stark antithetical spiritual parentage opposite τέκνα θεοῦ (3:10) | “children of the devil” | 마귀의 자녀 | Binary moral-spiritual anthropology; behavior (hatred, sin-practice) reveals spiritual parentage | Medium-High. Preserve the letter’s binary framing without softening into a spectrum; distinguish from folk-religious generational-curse/ancestral-affliction causation categories sometimes imported into Korean quasi-Christian folk belief. |
| Confidence toward God (heart) | καρδία / πεποίθησις πρὸς τὸν θεόν | kardia | the seat of moral self-awareness/conscience | God’s grace exceeding the condemning verdict of one’s own conscience | ”if our heart condemns us,” “confidence toward God” | 마음이 책망함 / 하나님 앞에서 담대함 | Comfort that God is greater than the heart’s self-condemnation (3:19-21) | Medium. Should not be flattened into mere self-forgiveness psychology; pastorally significant given Korean culture’s strong 체면 (face/shame) sensitivity, but must retain God’s objective, gracious verdict as the ground of comfort. |
| Spirit of error / spirit of truth | πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης / πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας | pneuma tēs planēs / tēs alētheias | spirit of wandering-astray / spirit of genuineness | the doctrinal source distinguishing false from true teaching (4:6) | “spirit of error,” “spirit of truth” | 미혹의 영 / 진리의 영 | Companion concept to testing the spirits (4:1-6) | Medium-High. Reinforces the antichrist/testing-spirits Critical risk complex; must retain doctrinal (Christ-confession) content, not generic “positive vs. negative energy” framing. |
Low Risk
| Term | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Literal Meaning | Semantic Range | English Variants | Korean Rendering | Contextual Theological Meaning | Translation Risk & Grounded Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hate | μισέω | miseō | settled hostility/aversion | direct antonym of ἀγαπάω in the letter’s binary moral logic | ”hate” | 미워하다 | Diagnostic opposite of love (2:9-11; 3:15; 4:20) | Low. Retain forceful, unambiguous moral-diagnostic tone. |
| Liar | ψεύστης | pseustēs | one who speaks falsehood | moral-doctrinal falsehood in word or claim | ”liar” | 거짓말하는 자 | Repeated moral-diagnostic label for false claims (1:10; 2:4,22; 4:20; 5:10) | Low-Medium. Retain the letter’s forceful tone; avoid softening to “one who is mistaken.” |
| Punishment/torment | κόλασις | kolasis | penal suffering | judgment-consequence tormenting the fearful | ”punishment,” “torment” | 형벌 | Consequence associated with unresolved fear (4:18) | Low-Medium. Standard judgment vocabulary. |
| New/old commandment | καινή / παλαιά ἐντολή | kainē / palaia entolē | new / old command | covenant continuity: Christ’s command as both old (Lev 19:18) and newly embodied | ”new commandment,” “old commandment” | 새 계명 / 옛 계명 | Continuity/fulfillment of the love-command (2:7-8) | Low-Medium. Standard covenant-continuity vocabulary; connect to baseline “law”/“covenant.” |
| Coming/appearing (parousia) | παρουσία | parousia | arrival, presence | Christ’s future visible, personal return | ”coming,” “appearing,” “return” | 강림 / 재림 | Basis for confident hope, not shame, at Christ’s return (2:28) | Low-Medium. Ensure a personal, visible, historical return, not a symbolic “spiritual” return as claimed by some Korean new religious movements (cf. Antichrist entry). |
| First (priority) | πρῶτος | prōtos | first, prior | God’s love’s causal and temporal priority over human response | ”first,” “first loved us” | 먼저 | Summary principle: love originates with God (4:19) | Low. Reinforces non-transactional priority already flagged under propitiation/grace. |
Cross-Reference Notes for Phase 2 Enforcement
- All terms marked [BASELINE — REUSE EXACTLY] must be pulled from
translation_memory.jsonverbatim; this glossary does not redefine them, only cites their occurrence in 1 John. - All Critical and High risk new terms above must be added to an updated
translation_memory.json(version increment) before Phase 2 segment translation of 1 John begins, per the12_ai_translation_requirements.mdTranslation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions. - The two distinct Korean verbs for ὁμολογέω (자백하다 for sin-confession at 1:9; 시인하다 for doctrinal confession at 4:15, 2:23, 4:2-3) must be enforced as a strict pair, never interchanged, and flagged for theologian review wherever ὁμολογέω occurs.
- 세상 (κόσμος) requires a per-occurrence sense-disambiguation flag (neutral/object-of-love sense vs. God-opposing-system sense) in the Phase 2 segment cache.
- The antichrist/testing-spirits/false-teaching term cluster (적그리스도, 영들을 시험하라, 미혹의 영) should be routed as a linked review group given their shared, high-salience live Korean context (self-proclaimed-messiah new religious movements; shamanistic spirit-discernment practice).
This glossary extends, and does not contradict, the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json. See analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md for full verse-by-verse and chapter-by-chapter argumentation supporting each entry.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: 하나님
Transliteration: Hananim
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 하느님, 천주, 산신령
Original: θεός
Category: God
CRITICAL: this package standardizes on 하나님 (Protestant usage). NEVER substitute 하느님 (Catholic/general term), 천주 (Cheonju, Catholic ‘Lord of Heaven’), or 산신령 (a shamanistic mountain spirit-deity). [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum. In 1 John, 하나님’s identity as both 빛 (1:5) and 사랑 (4:8,16) must be taught as descriptions of one personal, self-revealing God, never as an impersonal cosmic principle compatible with Won Buddhism’s 일원상 or Cheondogyo’s 인내천.]
Jesus
Approved rendering: 예수
Transliteration: Yesu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Standard KRV transliteration. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, where Jesus’s real incarnation and death are affirmed against docetic denial, 1 John 4:2-3; 5:6.]
Son Of God
Approved rendering: 하나님의 아들
Transliteration: Hananim-ui adeul
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 환웅식 하늘의 아들
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Full phrase required; avoid any framing that assimilates Christ’s Sonship to Korea’s Dangun/Hwanung founding-myth pattern. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, where it is upgraded to Critical risk (see doctrine_risk_registry.json for 1 John) because it must also resist assimilation to a claimed human ‘second Christ’ figure in Korean new religious movements (통일교, JMS, 신천지). Always pair with 독생자 at 4:9 to preserve absolute uniqueness.]
Father
Approved rendering: 아버지
Transliteration: abeoji
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 제사를 받는 조상
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
CRITICAL: Korea’s jesa (제사) ancestor-memorial-rite history remains the sharpest collision point. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, where ‘Father’ language (1:2-3; 2:1,22-24; 3:1; 4:14) and ‘children of God’ (τέκνα θεοῦ, 3:1-2) must be taught as relational belonging, not rite-continuation duty.]
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: 성령
Transliteration: seongnyeong
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 신령, 귀신, 무당이 부르는 영
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον / τὸ πνεῦμα
Category: God
CRITICAL: always use the compound 성령; NEVER 신령 or 신 alone. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, where the Spirit’s ‘abiding’ in believers (3:24; 4:13) and role in doctrinal discernment (4:1-6) makes the forbidden-substitution guardrail against shamanistic spirit-possession vocabulary (신들림, 접신) especially acute — see new term ‘abide’ below.]
Salvation
Approved rendering: 구원
Transliteration: guwon
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 해탈, 윤회에서 벗어남
Original: σωτηρία / σῴζω
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: NEVER 해탈 or 윤회에서 벗어남. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, underlying ‘Savior of the world’ (구주, 4:14) — must never be softened toward generic ‘benefactor of humanity.’]
Grace
Approved rendering: 은혜
Transliteration: eunhye
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: 복, 은덕, 기복신앙식 은혜
CRITICAL: NEVER 복 alone or 은덕. Must always be taught as unearned, unconditional favor, not a reciprocal exchange. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, where this exact collision family (기복신앙, unpredictable-power appeasement) directly grounds the analysis of ‘propitiation’ (화목제물) below — love/grace flows from God’s initiative, never elicited by prior human devotion or ritual, 4:10,19.]
Power Of God
Approved rendering: 능력
Transliteration: neungnyeok
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 영력, 굿의 힘
CRITICAL: NEVER 영력 (a mudang’s spirit-power). [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, directly grounding the ‘anointing’ (기름부으심) entry below — Korean charismatic ‘anointing’ language must stay tied to ordinary believers’ doctrinal discernment, not an elite power-display resembling shamanistic 영력.]
Love
Approved rendering: 사랑
Transliteration: sarang
Doctrine: God is Love
Rejected alternatives: 정 (jeong), 인 (Confucian benevolence), 가족애만을 의미하는 사랑
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Ethics
CRITICAL — NEW. Korean 사랑 covers romantic, filial, and biblical senses without lexical distinction, and Korean 정 (jeong, deep relational attachment) offers a further non-equivalent collision; Confucian 인 (hierarchical benevolence) is also insufficient. The predicate formula 하나님은 사랑이시라 (1 John 4:8,16) must NEVER be taught in reversible form (‘love is therefore God’/사랑이면 곧 하나님이다), which would resonate with Cheondogyo/Donghak’s 인내천 (‘man is heaven’) teaching and generic pantheistic ‘the universe is love’ popular spirituality. Christ’s atoning death (4:10, 화목제물) must always anchor and control the definition of this love as willed, self-giving, and God-initiated, never a free-floating sentiment. Governs both 4:7-21 (core passage) and 3:10-17; 4:20-21 (love for the brethren as evidence of new birth).
Propitiation
Approved rendering: 화목제물
Transliteration: hwamok jemul
Doctrine: Propitiation and Atoning Sacrifice
Rejected alternatives: 제물을 바쳐 화를 면함, 빌어서 얻는 용서
Original: ἱλασμός
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL — NEW. Collides directly with Korean shamanistic gut-ritual offering-to-appease-spirits (제물) and Confucian jesa ancestor food-offerings (제사). Must always be taught with the crucial reversal these folk patterns lack: God himself provides and initiates the offering out of his own prior love (4:10a), not humans offering a sacrifice to appease an unpredictable spiritual power. Same collision family as ‘grace’ above. Occurs 1 John 2:2; 4:10. Requires paraphrastic unpacking in teaching text, not just citation as a technical term.
Test The Spirits
Approved rendering: 영들을 시험하라
Transliteration: yeongdeul-eul siheomhara
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: 영들을 분별하라 (paired variant, not rejected but secondary), 영적 감각을 개발하라
Original: δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα
Category: Discernment
CRITICAL — NEW. This vocabulary sits directly on top of a live, specific Korean shamanistic practice: 영분별 (‘spirit discernment’) and 접신 (‘spirit-contact/possession’) are the mudang’s own claimed specialty. Must ALWAYS be paired, in the same sentence or immediately adjacent clause, with the sole test given in 4:2-3 (confessing Jesus Christ has come in the flesh) — never presented as a standalone spiritual-sensing ability. 1 John 4:1. 분별하라 (bunbyeolhara, ‘discern’) is an accepted secondary rendering already in Korean church usage, but must carry the identical doctrinal-test pairing requirement.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: 적그리스도
Transliteration: jeokgeuriseudo
Doctrine: Antichrist and False Teaching
Rejected alternatives: 가짜 그리스도 (informal paraphrase, insufficiently established)
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Christology
CRITICAL — NEW. Established Korean Christian term (적 ‘against’ + 그리스도 ‘Christ’). Korea has produced multiple influential, still-active new religious movements built around a living human figure claiming unique messianic or second-coming status — 통일교 (Unification Church), 기독교복음선교회/JMS, 신천지 (Shincheonji) — a documented, ongoing real-world instance of exactly this denial-of-Christ pattern, not a hypothetical or purely historical-critical concern. Occurs 1 John 2:18 (twice), 2:22; 4:3. Teaching notes must name these movements explicitly as the doctrine’s contemporary relevance.
Born Of God
Approved rendering: 하나님께로부터 난 자
Transliteration: Hananim-kkero-buteo nan ja
Doctrine: New Birth and Regeneration
Rejected alternatives: 환생, 윤회, 다시 태어남 (범용 표현)
Original: γεννάω ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL — NEW. NEVER conflate with 환생 (Buddhist rebirth) or 윤회 (the reincarnation cycle) — same forbidden-substitution logic as the baseline’s ‘resurrection’ entry, applied here even more directly since this is a personal, once-for-all, non-repeating spiritual birth into permanent sonship. Companion verb 거듭나다 (‘to be born again’) is the standard Korean church usage. Occurs 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18 — clusters especially at 4:7, inside the core passage.
True God
Approved rendering: 참되신 하나님
Transliteration: chamdoesin Hananim
Doctrine: Deity and Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 하나의 참된 실재로서의 하나님 (softened pluralist framing)
Original: ὁ ἀληθινός θεός
Category: God
CRITICAL — NEW. Closing doctrinal seal of the letter (5:20), tying together its argument against antichrist teaching and idols. Must retain full monotheistic exclusivity — never softened toward ‘one true reality among several valid paths,’ a reading that would blunt the letter’s entire argument against false messianic claims documented in Korea’s new religious movements.
Only Begotten Son
Approved rendering: 독생자
Transliteration: dokssaengja
Doctrine: Deity and Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 유일한 아들 (unestablished paraphrase)
Original: ὁ υἱὸς ὁ μονογενής
Category: Christology
CRITICAL — NEW. Established KRV compound used alongside 하나님의 아들. Must retain absolute uniqueness — never one divine sent-son among other founder-figures, and never plural or repeatable as in a claimed lineage of successive ‘anointed’ human leaders in Korean new religious movements. Occurs 1 John 4:9. Must always accompany 하나님의 아들 in teaching text on this verse.
High Risk Terms
Righteousness
Approved rendering: 의
Transliteration: ui
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 의리, 도덕
Original: δικαιοσύνη / δίκαιος
Category: Salvation
의 anchors 의리 (Korean loyalty-ethics). [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, where 의 describes both God’s/Christ’s character (1:9; 2:1,29) and the believer’s practiced righteousness as evidence of new birth (2:29; 3:7,10) — must be taught as fruit flowing from new birth and love for God, not a socially-displayed loyalty code.]
Sin
Approved rendering: 죄
Transliteration: joe
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: 액운, 체면 손상
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Distinguish from 액운 (misfortune) and 체면 손상 (loss of face). [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, where universal sinfulness (1:8,10) must be read as moral guilt before God, not social embarrassment or bad luck.]
Faith
Approved rendering: 믿음
Transliteration: mideum
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: 미신적 믿음, 사주팔자를 믿는 것
Original: πίστις / πιστεύω
Category: Faith
Personal trust in Christ specifically. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, where faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, is the mark of new birth and the means of overcoming the world, 5:1,4-5.]
Law
Approved rendering: 율법
Transliteration: yulbeop
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 예, 법률
Original: νόμος (background to ἀνομία, 3:4)
Category: Covenant
The Mosaic Law; moral revelation, not social-etiquette code. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum as background to ἀνομία/lawlessness (불법, 3:4) — sin is defined as rebellion against this moral revelation, not civil illegality.]
Calling
Approved rendering: 부르심
Transliteration: bureusim
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 운명, 팔자
Original: κλῆσις (conceptual background to sonship/new birth)
Category: Salvation
NEVER 운명 or 팔자. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum as conceptual background to believers’ identity as God’s children, 3:1-2 — God’s call establishing sonship is personal and relational, not a birth-chart-determined fate.]
Adoption
Approved rendering: 양자
Transliteration: yangja
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 제사를 위한 양자
Traditional Korean adoption existed primarily to continue jesa ancestor-memorial rites, an instrumental purpose. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, where it must be taught alongside — not in place of — this book’s ‘children of God’ (하나님의 자녀) term: 1 John’s τέκνα emphasizes the organic new-birth family reality, complementing Romans’ legal-inheritance emphasis under 양자.]
Holy
Approved rendering: 거룩한
Transliteration: georokan
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 부정을 씻은, 정결한 (무속 의미)
Set apart for God, morally pure, distinct from shamanistic ritual purification. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, directly grounding this book’s ‘cleanse’ (깨끗하게 하다) entry below — Christ’s blood cleanses moral guilt before a holy God, not ritual pollution/misfortune (부정을 씻음).]
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: 믿음의 순종
Transliteration: mideum-ui sunjong
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: 효를 위한 순종, 삼종지도식 순종
Must resist reduction to Confucian hierarchical-obedience ethics, including the rejected ‘three obediences’ doctrine. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, directly grounding this book’s ‘commandment’ (계명) entry below — obedience flows from grace-given relationship, not merit or hierarchical compliance.]
Saints
Approved rendering: 성도
Transliteration: seongdo
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: 신선, 도인
NEVER 신선 (Daoist immortal) or 도인 (Way-master). [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, directly grounding this book’s ‘eternal life’ (영생) entry below — 영생 must likewise never be assimilated to the 신선 immortal-sage ideal or Daoist 불로장생 (deathless longevity).]
Light
Approved rendering: 빛
Transliteration: bit
Doctrine: God is Light
Rejected alternatives: 일원상식 광명 (Won Buddhist cosmic-light framing), 내재된 신성의 빛 (Cheondogyo-style indwelling divine light)
Original: φῶς
Category: God
HIGH — NEW. Risk of pantheistic-cosmic misreading via Won Buddhism’s 일원상 (Il-Won-Sang, the Dharmakaya-light symbol), Cheondogyo’s 인내천 (‘man is heaven’) indwelling-divine-light teaching, and shamanistic ritual candlelight in gut ceremonies. Must be taught as the personal, morally perfect, self-revealing character of the one true God (1:5), not an impersonal illumination-principle. Directly parallel to ‘love’ above — both predicate-nominative statements about God’s nature are vulnerable to the same pantheistic-collapse misreading.
Darkness
Approved rendering: 어둠
Transliteration: eodum
Doctrine: Walking in the Light versus Darkness
Rejected alternatives: 악령의 세력 (folk-spiritual ‘force’ framing)
Original: σκότος / σκοτία
Category: God
HIGH — NEW. Moral corruption, falsehood, and separation from God (1:5-6; 2:9,11), the direct antithesis of light — an ethical/relational state, not a literal-visual or cosmic-dualistic force to be ritually warded off. Avoid conflation with folk-shamanistic notions of malevolent spiritual darkness countered by ritual technique.
Abide
Approved rendering: 거하다
Transliteration: georhada
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: 신들림 상태로 머무름, 접신하여 함께함
Original: μένω
Category: Sanctification
HIGH — NEW. Sharpest collision risk in the letter beside ‘testing the spirits’: Korean shamanism describes a spirit’s indwelling of a mudang during ritual trance as 신들림 (spirit-possession) or 접신 (spirit-contact/possession). μένω/거하다 in 1 John must ALWAYS be taught as conscious, willed, ongoing relational communion and obedience, never an ecstatic, involuntary trance-state. Occurs c. 24 times (2:6,10,14,24,27-28; 3:6,9,14-15,17,24; 4:12-13,15-16), clustering densely in the core passage (4:12-16).
Confess Sin
Approved rendering: 자백하다
Transliteration: jabaekhada
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: 고해성사식 고백, 시인하다 (reserved for doctrinal confession — never interchange)
Original: ὁμολογέω (object: sins)
Category: Sin
HIGH — NEW. Must be kept distinct from (a) Catholic sacramental confession requiring a priest-mediator (고해성사) and (b) a mudang’s ritual mediating role for spiritual offenses during a gut ceremony. This is a direct, unmediated transaction between the believer and God alone (1:9). Must NEVER be interchanged with 시인하다 (see below) — enforce as a strict, non-interchangeable pair.
Confess Doctrine
Approved rendering: 시인하다
Transliteration: si-inhada
Doctrine: Incarnation of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 자백하다 (reserved for sin-confession — never interchange)
Original: ὁμολογέω (object: Jesus is the Son of God/Christ come in the flesh)
Category: Christology
HIGH — NEW. Public doctrinal affirmation that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and is the Son of God — the test distinguishing true teaching from antichrist deception (2:23; 4:2-3,15). Must be kept lexically distinct from 자백하다 (sin-confession, 1:9) to avoid collapsing a Christological creed-test into a penitential act. Parallels the baseline Romans 10:9 confession pattern (예수는 주님이시다).
Advocate
Approved rendering: 대언자
Transliteration: daeeonja
Doctrine: Advocate and Intercession of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 보혜사 (reserved for the Spirit’s Paraklētos role in John 14-16 — do not substitute here), 무당의 중재
Original: παράκλητος
Category: Christology
HIGH — NEW. Must not be read as a mudang’s ritual mediation between the living and an unpredictable offended spirit during a gut ceremony. Christ’s advocacy is a settled, righteous legal defense secured once for all by his finished atoning work (2:1-2), requiring no ongoing ritual renewal. Do NOT substitute 보혜사 (used for the Holy Spirit’s Paraklētos role elsewhere in Johannine literature) — this term is reserved for Christ’s specific heavenly intercession here.
Anointing
Approved rendering: 기름부으심
Transliteration: girembueusim
Doctrine: Anointing and Spirit-Taught Discernment
Rejected alternatives: 영력 (shamanistic spirit-power), 신유 능력만을 의미하는 기름부음
Original: χρῖσμα
Category: Sanctification
HIGH — NEW. Korean Pentecostal/charismatic practice (안수기도, 기름부음 healing services) uses ‘anointing’ language heavily; must stay tied specifically to ordinary believers’ doctrinal discernment of truth from antichrist error (2:20,27), never reframed as an elite shamanistic spirit-power (영력) display, per the baseline’s Critical ‘power_of_god’ warning.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: 영생
Transliteration: yeongsaeng
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: 불로장생, 신선이 되는 삶, 극락왕생
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Eschatology
HIGH — NEW. Must be distinguished from the Daoist/folk 불로장생 (‘deathless long life’) and 신선 (Daoist immortal) ideal, and from Buddhist 극락왕생 (rebirth into the Western Paradise through merit). 영생 is a present relational possession by faith grounded in union with Christ (5:11-13, the letter’s stated purpose), not physical longevity or merit-based post-mortem attainment. Occurs 1:2; 2:25; 3:15; 5:11,13,20.
Overcome The World
Approved rendering: 세상을 이기다
Transliteration: sesang-eul igida
Doctrine: Overcoming the World through Faith
Rejected alternatives: 부적으로 세상을 이기다, 액막이를 통한 승리
Original: νικάω τὸν κόσμον
Category: Eschatology
HIGH — NEW. Must be distinguished from Korean folk practices of warding off misfortune or malevolent spirits through 부적 (talismans) and 액막이 (ritual warding-off); biblical victory is a settled reality grounded in faith that Jesus is the Son of God (5:4-5), not an ongoing ritual technique requiring renewal.
Idols
Approved rendering: 우상
Transliteration: usang
Doctrine: Idolatry and Exclusive Devotion to God
Rejected alternatives: 단순한 조각상 (reduces to literal statues only)
Original: εἴδωλα
Category: Worship
HIGH — NEW. Established Korean Christian term. Continues the baseline ‘father’ entry’s jesa/ancestor-rite historical collision (ancestor spirit-tablets 신주/위패) and the baseline ‘church’ entry’s contrast with shamanistic shrines (당집) and Buddhist temple images (불상). The letter’s closing exhortation (5:21) should be taught with this full concrete Korean cultural range in view, not merely as an ancient/abstract warning.
Boldness
Approved rendering: 담대함
Transliteration: damdaeham
Doctrine: Boldness and Confidence before God
Rejected alternatives: 자신감 (generic secular self-confidence), 무당의 담력
Original: παρρησία
Category: Faith
HIGH — NEW. Must be distinguished from generic secular self-confidence (자신감) and from a shaman’s ritual boldness in confronting or commanding spirits during a gut ceremony; biblical 담대함 is confidence rooted entirely in Christ’s finished atoning work (2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14), not personal spiritual power or achievement.
Commandment
Approved rendering: 계명
Transliteration: gyemyeong
Doctrine: The Commandment to Love and Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: 예 (Confucian ritual-propriety code), 효 (filial-duty code)
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Covenant
HIGH — NEW. Established KRV term, shared root with 십계명 (‘Ten Commandments’). Must be taught as flowing from and expressing the love relationship already established by grace, not an independent meritorious moral code, and must not be assimilated to Confucian ritual-propriety (예) or filial-duty (효) codes that structure obligation by social hierarchy. Occurs 2:3-4,7-8; 3:22-24; 4:21; 5:2-3.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: 하나님의 자녀
Transliteration: Hananim-ui janyeo
Doctrine: Children of God versus Children of the Devil
Rejected alternatives: 제사 계승을 위한 양자 (instrumental jesa-continuation framing)
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
HIGH — NEW. Complements, does not replace, the baseline ‘adoption’ (양자) entry: emphasizes organic new-birth family identity and Christlike resemblance (2:29-3:2; 3:10). Must avoid the Korean traditional-adoption pattern of adoption existing primarily to continue ancestor rites (제사) rather than for relational belonging.
Children Of The Devil
Approved rendering: 마귀의 자녀
Transliteration: magwi-ui janyeo
Doctrine: Children of God versus Children of the Devil
Rejected alternatives: 조상 저주로 인한 자녀 (generational-curse folk framing)
Original: τέκνα τοῦ διαβόλου
Category: Sin
HIGH — NEW. The stark antithetical parallel to 하나님의 자녀 (3:10). The letter’s binary moral-spiritual anthropology must be preserved without softening into a spectrum; must not be confused with folk-religious generational-curse/ancestral-affliction causation categories sometimes imported into Korean quasi-Christian folk belief. The diagnosis here is present moral/spiritual allegiance (love vs. hatred), not inherited spiritual affliction.
Cleanse
Approved rendering: 깨끗하게 하다
Transliteration: kkaekkeutage hada
Doctrine: Cleansing from Sin by the Blood of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 부정을 씻다 (shamanistic ritual-impurity removal)
Original: καθαρίζω
Category: Sanctification
HIGH — NEW. Directly parallels the baseline’s ‘holy’ entry: must be distinguished from shamanistic ritual purification (부정을 씻음, ‘washing away ritual impurity/misfortune’ performed in a gut ceremony). Christ’s blood cleanses the moral guilt of sin before a holy God, once for all (1:7,9), not repeatable ritual pollution-removal.
Truth
Approved rendering: 진리
Transliteration: jilli
Doctrine: Truth versus Deception
Rejected alternatives: 나만의 진리 (relativistic ‘my truth’), 도 (Confucian/Daoist moral-Way)
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
HIGH — NEW. Must be distinguished from a generic philosophical-relativistic ‘my truth,’ and from Confucian moral-Way (道, 도) or Buddhist true-nature concepts; this is God’s own revealed, personal, exclusive truth in Christ, tied directly to the Spirit of truth (4:6). Occurs 1:6,8; 2:4,21; 3:18-19; 4:6; 5:6.
World
Approved rendering: 세상
Transliteration: sesang
Doctrine: Overcoming the World through Faith
Rejected alternatives: 단일민족적 세상 개념 (ethnic-insider framing, borrowed caution from baseline ‘gentiles’)
Original: κόσμος
Category: Ethics
HIGH — NEW. Two distinct senses appear within the same letter: (a) humanity as object of God’s saving love (4:9,14) and (b) the God-opposing moral-spiritual system believers must not love and must overcome (2:15-17; 4:1,3-5,17; 5:4-5,19). Korean 세상 carries little inherent signal distinguishing these; each occurrence must be disambiguated by translator note to prevent doctrinal flattening (e.g., reading 2:15’s prohibition as a prohibition against loving people rather than the God-opposing system).
Sin Unto Death
Approved rendering: 사망에 이르는 죄 / 사망에 이르지 아니하는 죄
Transliteration: samang-e ireuneun joe / samang-e ireuji anihaneun joe
Doctrine: Sin unto Death and Intercessory Prayer
Rejected alternatives: 대죄 (Catholic ‘mortal sin’ technical category — do not substitute)
Original: ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον / οὐ πρὸς θάνατον
Category: Sin
HIGH — NEW. Likely a decisive, unrepentant rejection of Christ versus ordinary sins believers commit and should pray for one another about (5:16-17). Must NOT be abbreviated or replaced with the unrelated Catholic technical category 대죄 (‘mortal sin’). Requires careful pastoral framing to avoid inducing anxious uncertainty (compounded by Korean 체면/shame-sensitivity) about having committed an unforgivable sin, while preserving the letter’s serious warning about decisive apostasy.
Lawlessness
Approved rendering: 불법
Transliteration: bulbeop
Doctrine: Children of God versus Children of the Devil
Rejected alternatives: 법률 위반 (mere civil illegality)
Original: ἀνομία
Category: Sin
HIGH — NEW. Extends the baseline ‘law’ entry: sin is defined as ἀνομία, rebellion against God’s moral revelation (3:4), never reduced to mere civil illegality (법률) or generic social rule-breaking.
Gods Seed
Approved rendering: 하나님의 씨
Transliteration: Hananim-ui ssi
Doctrine: New Birth and Regeneration
Rejected alternatives: 부적과 같은 영적 물건 (talisman/charm-object framing)
Original: σπέρμα αὐτοῦ (θεοῦ)
Category: Sanctification
HIGH — NEW. Avoid any reading that suggests a magical or quasi-biological talisman-like substance; this is the Spirit-given new nature from regeneration (see ‘born_of_god’), causing the believer not to persist in habitual sin (3:9), not an object, charm, or protective force to be possessed or manipulated.
Spirit Of Error
Approved rendering: 미혹의 영
Transliteration: mihok-ui yeong
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: 부정적 기운 (generic ‘negative energy’ framing)
Original: τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης
Category: Discernment
HIGH — NEW. Reinforces the antichrist/testing-spirits Critical risk complex (4:6); must retain doctrinal (Christ-confession-denying) content, not a generic ‘negative energy’ framing that would blend into folk-spiritual categories.
Spirit Of Truth
Approved rendering: 진리의 영
Transliteration: jilli-ui yeong
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: 긍정적 기운 (generic ‘positive energy’ framing)
Original: τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας
Category: Discernment
HIGH — NEW. Must be identified with 성령’s doctrinal-truth ministry (cf. ‘anointing’), not treated as one spiritual influence among several competing spirits perceivable by a gifted human discerner (4:6).
Blood Of Jesus
Approved rendering: 예수의 피
Transliteration: Yesu-ui pi
Doctrine: Cleansing from Sin by the Blood of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 액막이용 피 (folk exorcism/warding blood-ritual framing)
Original: αἷμα Ἰησοῦ
Category: Salvation
HIGH — NEW. Distinguish from any Korean folk-ritual use of blood in exorcism/warding practices (액막이); connects to the propitiation (화목제물) analysis — this is the historical, once-for-all atoning event (1:7), not a repeatable ritual substance.
Threefold Witness
Approved rendering: 성령과 물과 피
Transliteration: Seongnyeong-gwa mul-gwa pi
Doctrine: Threefold Witness and Reality of the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: 성령의 증거만 (abbreviating to only the Spirit’s witness)
Original: τὸ πνεῦμα καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα
Category: Christology
HIGH — NEW. Must be retained as a fixed triad, never abbreviated to just ‘the Spirit’s witness,’ since the letter’s anti-docetic argument (5:6-8) depends on all three elements testifying together that the same Jesus was truly baptized and truly died — a real, complete, undivided human life, not a partial or symbolic incarnation (contrast 화신).
Savior Of The World
Approved rendering: 세상의 구주
Transliteration: sesang-ui guju
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: 인류의 은인/후원자 (generic ‘benefactor of humanity’)
Original: σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Salvation
HIGH — NEW. Inherits baseline ‘salvation’ Critical tier; must not be softened to a generic ‘benefactor/helper of humanity.’ Retains 구원’s exclusive personal-God-reconciliation sense against Buddhist 해탈 and against any rival human ‘savior’ figure claimed by Korean new religious movements (4:14).
Medium Risk Terms
Christ
Approved rendering: 그리스도
Transliteration: Geuriseudo
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: 미륵
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
그리스도 (transliteration of ‘Christos’) is the KRV standard. Avoid conflating with 미륵 (Mireuk, Maitreya, the future Buddha of Korean Buddhist eschatology). [Inherited from Romans baseline package under key ‘messiah’; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, where the confession ‘Jesus is the Christ’ (2:22; 5:1) is the doctrinal test separating true belief from antichrist denial — must not be softened toward a generic ‘enlightened teacher’ title compatible with rival messianic claims.]
Prophet
Approved rendering: 선지자
Transliteration: seonjija
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: 점쟁이, 무당
Original: προφήτης / ψευδοπροφήτης
Category: Discernment
God’s spokesperson; distinguish from 점쟁이 and mudang shamans. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, extended to the ‘false prophets’ collocation (거짓 선지자) of 4:1, contrasted with those who have ‘gone out into the world.’]
Resurrection
Approved rendering: 부활
Transliteration: buhwal
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 환생, 윤회
NEVER 환생 or 윤회. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, where the SAME forbidden-substitution logic (never conflate with Buddhist rebirth/reincarnation) applies even more directly to this book’s ‘born of God’ (하나님께로부터 난 자) term below — see that entry’s Critical risk rationale.]
Intercession
Approved rendering: 중보기도
Transliteration: jungbo gido
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Rejected alternatives: 굿을 통한 중재
Prayer addressed directly to God through Christ, distinct from a mudang’s ritual mediation. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, directly grounding this book’s ‘advocate’ (대언자) entry below, which extends this same collision guardrail to Christ’s own heavenly intercession, 2:1-2.]
Manifested
Approved rendering: 나타나다
Transliteration: natanada
Doctrine: Incarnation of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 신비 체험으로 나타남 (mystical-experience framing)
Original: φανερόω
Category: Christology
MEDIUM — NEW. Objective, historical disclosure of God’s love and of Christ himself (1:2; 3:5,8; 4:9). Emphasize concrete historical revelation, not private mystical illumination comparable to shamanistic spirit-revelation or new-religious ‘enlightenment experience’ claims.
Perfected
Approved rendering: 온전하게 되다
Transliteration: onjeonhage doeda
Doctrine: God is Love
Rejected alternatives: 수행을 통해 온전해짐 (ascetic self-cultivation framing)
Original: τελειόω
Category: Sanctification
MEDIUM — NEW. Love’s relational completion through obedient communion with God (2:5; 4:12,17-18), not sinless moral perfection in the abstract. Distinguish from Buddhist/folk ascetic self-cultivation (수행, 도 닦기, cf. baseline ‘sanctification’).
Fear
Approved rendering: 두려움
Transliteration: duryeoum
Doctrine: Boldness and Confidence before God
Rejected alternatives: 경외심 (reverent ‘fear of the Lord’ sense — different nuance, not used here)
Original: φόβος
Category: Faith
MEDIUM — NEW. Tormented dread of judgment, which perfect love casts out (4:18). Distinguish from the reverent ‘fear of the Lord’ sense used elsewhere in Scripture; also contrasts pastorally with the never-fully-resolved fear of offended spirits driving repeat shamanistic ritual observance.
Testify
Approved rendering: 증언하다
Transliteration: jeungeonhada
Doctrine: Apostolic Eyewitness Testimony
Rejected alternatives: 무당의 영적 증언 (mudang’s claimed spirit-communication testimony)
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Faith
MEDIUM — NEW. Authoritative eyewitness/apostolic testimony to Christ, and the Spirit’s, water’s, and blood’s testimony (1:2; 4:14; 5:6-11). Retain the authoritative, formal-testimony sense, not a subjective personal impression.
Walk
Approved rendering: 행하다
Transliteration: haenghada
Doctrine: Walking in the Light versus Darkness
Rejected alternatives: 단일 의식 행위 (single ritual-act framing)
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Ethics
MEDIUM — NEW. One’s ongoing manner of life/conduct, in the light or in darkness (1:6-7; 2:6,11). Well-established Korean Bible idiom for lifestyle-conduct; ensure it is read as an ongoing pattern of life, not a single ritual act.
Obligation
Approved rendering: 마땅하다
Transliteration: matanghada
Doctrine: The Commandment to Love and Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: 은덕을 갚음 (Confucian reciprocal-obligation repayment framing)
Original: ὀφείλω
Category: Ethics
MEDIUM — NEW. The moral necessity of loving one another, flowing from having received God’s prior love (3:16; 4:11). Must not be read as reciprocal repayment completing a debt to God, per the baseline’s caution against 은덕 (Confucian reciprocal-obligation benevolence) under ‘grace.‘
Day Of Judgment
Approved rendering: 심판 날
Transliteration: simpan nal
Doctrine: Confidence at the Day of Judgment
Rejected alternatives: 윤회적 업보 심판 (karmic-reckoning framing)
Original: ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως
Category: Eschatology
MEDIUM — NEW. The future day believers may face with confidence rather than dread (4:17). Ensure this is read as a personal divine tribunal, not an impersonal karmic reckoning.
Brother
Approved rendering: 형제
Transliteration: hyeongje
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: 형/오빠-동생 위계식 형제 (Confucian elder/younger hierarchy framing)
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church
MEDIUM — NEW. A fellow believer, spiritual sibling of equal standing, the object of the love-test (2:9-11; 3:10-17; 4:20-21). Korean 형제 usage carries inherited Confucian age-hierarchy overtones (형/오빠 for older, 동생 for younger); teaching should clarify spiritual siblingship is equal standing as God’s children, not an elder-younger obligation structure.
Confidence Of Heart
Approved rendering: 마음의 책망함
Transliteration: maeum-ui chaekmangham
Doctrine: Boldness and Confidence before God
Rejected alternatives: 단순한 자기 용서 심리 (mere self-forgiveness psychology)
Original: καρδία καταγινώσκῃ / πεποίθησις πρὸς τὸν θεόν
Category: Faith
MEDIUM — NEW. God’s grace exceeding the condemning verdict of one’s own conscience, grounding confidence toward him (3:19-21). Should not be flattened into mere self-forgiveness psychology; pastorally significant given Korean culture’s strong 체면 (face/shame) sensitivity, but must retain God’s objective, gracious verdict as the ground of comfort.
Parousia
Approved rendering: 강림 / 재림
Transliteration: gangnim / jaerim
Doctrine: Confidence at the Day of Judgment
Rejected alternatives: 영적 재림만을 의미 (symbolic-only ‘spiritual return’ framing)
Original: παρουσία
Category: Eschatology
MEDIUM — NEW. Christ’s future, visible, personal return, the basis for confident hope rather than shame (2:28). Ensure a personal, visible, historical return, not a symbolic or purely ‘spiritual’ second coming as claimed by some Korean new religious movements (cf. ‘antichrist’).
Liar
Approved rendering: 거짓말하는 자
Transliteration: geojitmalhaneun ja
Doctrine: Universal Sinfulness and Self-Deception
Rejected alternatives: 단순히 착각한 사람 (softened ‘one who is mistaken’)
Original: ψεύστης
Category: Sin
MEDIUM — NEW. One whose claim contradicts reality/truth, used repeatedly of false doctrinal and moral claims (1:10; 2:4,22; 4:20; 5:10). Retain the letter’s forceful diagnostic tone; avoid softening.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: 교제
Transliteration: gyoje
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Shared participation in Christ. [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum, where 1 John distinctively pairs vertical fellowship (with the Father and Son, 1:3) with horizontal fellowship (with one another, 1:7) as mutually evidencing and inseparable.]
Covenant
Approved rendering: 언약
Transliteration: eonyak
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: 계약
Original: διαθήκη (background to old/new commandment, 2:7-8)
Category: Covenant
Relational covenant kept distinct from 계약 (commercial contract). [Inherited from Romans baseline package; retained unchanged for 1 John curriculum as background to the ‘old/new commandment’ continuity teaching of 2:7-8.]
New Commandment
Approved rendering: 새 계명
Transliteration: sae gyemyeong
Doctrine: The Commandment to Love and Obedience of Faith
Original: καινὴ ἐντολή
Category: Covenant
LOW — NEW. Christ’s love-command as newly embodied and fulfilled in him and his people (2:7-8). Standard covenant-continuity vocabulary; connect to baseline ‘law’/‘covenant.‘
Old Commandment
Approved rendering: 옛 계명
Transliteration: yet gyemyeong
Doctrine: The Commandment to Love and Obedience of Faith
Original: παλαιὰ ἐντολή
Category: Covenant
LOW — NEW. The command believers have had from the beginning, continuous with the OT command to love (2:7). Minor risk beyond consistency with 새 계명.
Hate
Approved rendering: 미워하다
Transliteration: miwohada
Doctrine: Hatred as Evidence of Spiritual Death
Original: μισέω
Category: Sin
LOW — NEW. Settled hostility, the direct antonym of love in the letter’s binary moral logic (2:9-11; 3:15; 4:20). Retain the letter’s forceful, unambiguous moral-diagnostic tone.
Punishment
Approved rendering: 형벌
Transliteration: hyeongbeol
Doctrine: Boldness and Confidence before God
Original: κόλασις
Category: Eschatology
LOW — NEW. Penal suffering associated with unresolved dread of judgment (4:18). Standard judgment vocabulary.
First Priority
Approved rendering: 먼저
Transliteration: meonjeo
Doctrine: God is Love
Original: πρῶτος
Category: Ethics
LOW — NEW. God’s love’s causal and temporal priority over any human response (4:19). Reinforces the non-transactional priority already flagged under ‘propitiation’ and ‘love’: love/grace flows from God’s initiative, never elicited by prior human devotion or ritual.
Referenced passages