Core Glossary
Core Glossary: 2 John
Reused Baseline Terms (exact reuse required — no deviation permitted)
| Term (EN) | Original Greek | Translit. | Korean rendering | Risk | Doctrine link | 2 John occurrences | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grace | χάρις | charis | 은혜 | Critical | Grace | 1:3 | REUSE (baseline) exactly. Full forbidden-substitution guidance applies (never a 기복신앙-style transactional exchange). |
| God | θεός | theos | 하나님 | Critical | Deity of Christ | 1:3, 1:9 | REUSE (baseline) exactly. Never 하느님/천주/산신령. |
| Father | πατήρ | patēr | 아버지 | Critical | Adoption / God the Father | 1:3, 1:4, 1:9 | REUSE (baseline) exactly. Teach with jesa (제사) ancestor-rite awareness per baseline note. |
| Jesus | Ἰησοῦς | Iēsous | 예수 | Critical | Lordship of Christ | 1:3, 1:7 | REUSE (baseline) exactly. |
| Messiah/Christ | Χριστός | Christos | 그리스도 | Medium | Messianic Promise | 1:3, 1:7, 1:9 | REUSE (baseline) exactly. |
| Son of God | υἱὸς τοῦ πατρός / ὁ υἱός | huios tou patros / ho huios | 아버지의 아들 / 아들 (cross-ref. 하나님의 아들) | High | Sonship of Christ / Deity of Christ | 1:3, 1:9 | Distinctive Johannine phrasing (“the Father’s Son” / “the Son”) must be taught as referring to the SAME eternal, co-equal divine Son as the baseline’s fuller 하나님의 아들 formula, not a lesser or different sonship. |
| Incarnation | (ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί, cf. ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο) | erchomenon en sarki | 성육신 (doctrine label); verse rendering: 육체로 오심 | Critical | Incarnation | 1:7 | REUSE (baseline) doctrine label exactly; NEVER 화신. This is the direct scriptural anchor of the whole curriculum’s central warning doctrine. |
| Peace | εἰρήνη | eirēnē | 화평 (baseline term) — flagged tension, see note | High | Peace with God / epistolary greeting | 1:3 | Flag: baseline fixes 화평 for the Romans 5:1 justification-peace sense; established KRV usage in epistolary greetings (incl. actual 2 John 1:3) instead uses 평강. Recommend extending translation memory with a distinct “epistolary greeting” sub-entry (평강) rather than overriding 화평. Route to native speaker + theologian review before Phase 2 finalization. |
| Fellowship (root, negative use) | κοινωνέω (κοινωνία root) | koinōneō | 참여하다 (NOT 교제하다 in this negative context) | High | Christian Fellowship (baseline, positive) / new negative-use flag | 1:11 | Baseline’s 교제 (fellowship, Low risk) is reserved for POSITIVE shared participation in Christ. Here the same Greek root is used NEGATIVELY (“shares in evil deeds”); KRV correctly uses 참여하다, not 교제하다. Must not merge these two Korean renderings across contexts. |
| Election (root) | ἐκλεκτή | eklektē | 택하심을 받은 (cross-ref. 선택, baseline) | Medium | Election (baseline) / Sainthood | 1:1, 1:13 | Adjectival form applied to the letter’s addressee(s) (“elect lady,” “elect sister”); reinforces chosen/beloved identity, not a competitive/merit-based “selection,” consistent with baseline’s 선택 entry caution. |
New Terms Required for This Curriculum
| Term (EN) | Original Greek | Translit. | Literal meaning | Korean rendering | Risk | Doctrine link | 2 John occurrences | Rationale / rendering risk notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | ”that which is real/reliable” | 진리 | High | Walking in Truth and Love | 1:1(x2), 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 | Not present as a standalone baseline term. Must be taught as the specific, revealed, Christ-centered gospel truth opposed to deception (πλάνος, 1:7), not a generic philosophical/factual “truth-claim.” Central keyword of the entire letter. |
| Love | ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω | agapē / agapaō | ”self-giving, covenantal love” | 사랑 | High | Walking in Truth and Love | 1:1, 1:3, 1:5, 1:6(x2) | Not present as a standalone baseline term despite its prominence in Romans. Korean 사랑 carries strong everyday romantic/sentimental connotation (reinforced by popular media); must be anchored to 1:6’s explicit definition (love = obedience to God’s commandments), not sentimental feeling. |
| Elder (author’s title) | πρεσβύτερος | presbyteros | ”elder, senior one” | 장로 | High | (authorial identity; connects to Apostleship, baseline) | 1:1 | KRV-established rendering, but 장로 is a highly salient modern Korean Protestant (especially Presbyterian) church-office title carrying institutional/social status connotations; readers may wrongly impose a modern-office reading onto the author’s apostolic-era self-designation. Teaching footnote required. |
| Elect lady / elect sister | ἐκλεκτὴ κυρία / ἀδελφὴ ἐκλεκτή | eklektē kyria / adelphē eklektē | ”chosen lady” / “chosen sister” | 택하심을 받은 부녀 / 택하심을 받은 자매 | High | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment (addressee identity) | 1:1, 1:13 | Interpretive ambiguity: individual woman vs. personified local church (“children” = members). κυρία (lady) must NEVER be rendered with a 주-root term risking confusion with 주님 (Lord, Critical baseline term). Footnote the personification question. |
| Abide/remain | μένω | menō | ”to abide, remain, continue” | 거하다 | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:2, 1:9(x2) | Core recurring Johannine theological verb; must be rendered identically at every occurrence to preserve the letter’s central perseverance doctrine. Not a baseline term (Romans favors “called/calling” language over “abide,” a distinctly Johannine idiom). |
| Walk (conduct of life) | περιπατέω | peripateō | ”to walk” (metaphorical: to conduct one’s life) | 행하다 (NOT literal 걷다) | Medium-High | Walking in Truth and Love | 1:4, 1:6(x2) | Established KRV metaphorical rendering (行, conduct); literal “걷다” would wrongly suggest physical locomotion and lose the idiom. Must be rendered consistently across all occurrences. |
| Commandment | ἐντολή | entolē | ”commandment, directive” | 계명 | Medium | Walking in Truth and Love | 1:4, 1:5, 1:6(x2) | Must be distinguished from Confucian ritual-propriety codes (禮, already flagged under baseline’s “law”/율법 entry); this is moral-relational apostolic mandate, not etiquette. |
| Deceiver | πλάνος | planos | ”one who deceives/misleads” | 미혹하는 자 | High | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | 1:7(x2) | Must be distinguished from generic “liar” (거짓말쟁이) and from shamanistic “spirit that leads astray” framing (귀신이 홀리다); this is active doctrinal false-teaching, not folk-demonic affliction, though NT elsewhere links the two (1 Tim 4:1, 1 John 4:1-3) — that connection requires separate, careful teaching. |
| Antichrist | ἀντίχριστος | antichristos | ”against/instead-of Christ” | 적그리스도 | High | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | 1:7 | Must be taught as a present, recurring reality (any teacher denying the true incarnation), not exclusively the single future eschatological villain figure popularized in apocalyptic media. |
| World (moral order) | κόσμος | kosmos | ”world, ordered system” | 세상 | Medium | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | 1:7 | Johannine moral-order sense (world system opposed to God), not neutral “planet/globe.” |
| Confess / deny | ὁμολογέω (negated) | homologeō | ”to confess, acknowledge” (negated: deny) | 부인하다 (established KRV negated rendering) | High | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | 1:7 | Same verb family as Romans 10:9’s Critical Lordship confession (ὁμολογήσῃς, 예수는 주님이시다); preserve the conceptual link between confessing Christ’s Lordship and confessing/denying his incarnation as two facets of the same essential confession. |
| Reward | μισθός | misthos | ”wage, recompense” | 상 | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:8 | Risk of merit-earned/performance-based misreading in Korea’s achievement-oriented culture (cf. baseline’s “mission” entry); must be taught alongside 은혜 (grace) to avoid implying works-righteousness while preserving genuine differentiated-reward teaching. |
| Going beyond / transgressing | προάγω | proagō | ”to go ahead of, go beyond, transgress” | 지나쳐 (established KRV rendering) | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:9 | Requires an inversion for Korean readers: unlike culturally-prized spiritual “advancement”/“progress” narratives (cf. baseline’s 수행/도 닦기 caution under Sanctification), here “going beyond” Christ’s teaching is a NEGATIVE, doctrinally errant departure. |
| Teaching (of Christ) | διδαχή | didachē | ”teaching, instruction” | 교훈 (established KRV rendering; distinct from 교리) | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:9, 1:10 | Fixed apostolic deposit about Christ, received once, not an evolving scholarly tradition; distinguish from the Confucian classical-teaching/scholarly-lineage model already flagged under baseline’s “inspiration_of_scripture” doctrine. |
| Receive into house / hospitality | λαμβάνω…εἰς οἰκίαν | lambanō eis oikian | ”to receive/welcome…into (one’s) house” | 집에 영접하다 | Critical/High | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | 1:10 | Major cultural collision: Korean hospitality norms toward guests/visiting religious teachers are unusually strong (손님 접대 honor-duty tradition; Korean church hospitality customs). Refusing hospitality to a visiting teacher risks being read as a severe social/propriety breach unless the doctrinal scope (denial specifically of Christ’s incarnation) is tightly and explicitly taught. Requires theologian AND native-speaker/cultural review together. |
| Greeting (withheld) | χαίρειν (infinitive, epistolary greeting formula) | chairein | ”to rejoice” (idiomatically: “Greetings!”) | 인사 (established KRV rendering) | High | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | 1:10, 1:11 | Idiom-handling case: literal “rejoice” rendering would be confusing; use natural equivalent 인사. Severs the χαίρω/χαίρειν wordplay with 1:4 — an acceptable, flagged translation loss to explain in teaching commentary. |
| Greeting (legitimate, closing) | ἀσπάζομαι | aspazomai | ”to greet, send greetings” | 문안하다 | Medium | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment (contrast) | 1:13 | Deliberately distinct term/verb from the withheld χαίρειν greeting of 1:10-11; preserve this literary contrast in teaching (genuine fellowship-greeting vs. withheld false-legitimizing greeting). |
| Mercy | ἔλεος | eleos | ”compassionate covenant-kindness” | 긍휼 | Medium | Grace (baseline, adjacent) | 1:3 | Distinct from generic pity/sympathy (동정); part of the grace-mercy-peace epistolary triad shared with 1-2 Timothy. |
| Speak face to face (idiom) | στόμα πρὸς στόμα | stoma pros stoma | ”mouth to mouth” | 얼굴을 마주 대하여 (established KRV idiom equivalent) | Medium | (epistolary/relational; supports Perseverance doctrine’s relational emphasis) | 1:12 | Idiom-handling case: literal “mouth to mouth” risks sounding like a kiss or resuscitation technique in modern Korean; must use the natural equivalent, matching established KRV practice. |
| Know (relational) | γινώσκω | ginōskō | ”to know experientially/relationally” | 알다 | Medium | Walking in Truth and Love (epistemology of truth) | 1:1 | Relational/experiential knowing (cf. Hebrew yada), not mere propositional information-possession; supports the ἀλήθεια entry. |
| Forever/age | αἰών | aiōn | ”age, unending duration” | 영원히 | Medium | (supports Perseverance doctrine’s permanence claim) | 1:2 | Low-medium risk; briefly distinguish from cyclical-eternity/reincarnation-adjacent framing (cf. baseline’s 부활/resurrection caution against 윤회), though risk is lower here as a simple durational adverb. |
Risk Summary for 2 John
| Risk Tier | Count | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 4 (God, Father, Jesus, Incarnation — all REUSE; plus θεὸν οὐκ ἔχει construction in 1:9 and hospitality term treated at Critical/High) | Human theologian review, every occurrence |
| High | 15 | Human theologian review |
| Medium | 8 | Native speaker review |
| Low | 0 (no Low-only load-bearing terms identified in this short book; all recurring vocabulary carries at least Medium doctrinal weight given the book’s polemical density) | — |
Note on risk density: 2 John, despite its brevity, shows an unusually high concentration of High/Critical risk terms relative to its length. This reflects the letter’s dense polemical/doctrinal purpose (warning against a specific Christological heresy) packed into 13 verses, and should inform Phase 2 review-routing capacity planning: nearly every segment in this short book will require theologian-level review.
Critical Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: 은혜
Transliteration: eunhye
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: 복, 은덕, 기복신앙식 은혜
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. This is the central Korean risk term: never a shamanistic transactional exchange (기복신앙), always unearned, unconditional favor. 2 John 1:3 occurrence: the first element of the epistolary grace-mercy-peace greeting-blessing triad (은혜, 긍휼, 평강). Even in this warm greeting register, the forbidden-substitution guidance applies without relaxation.
God
Approved rendering: 하나님
Transliteration: Hananim
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 하느님, 천주, 산신령
Original: θεός
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Never 하느님 (Catholic/general term), 천주, or 산신령. 2 John occurrences: 1:3 (greeting source), 1:9 (θεὸν οὐκ ἔχει / θεὸν ἔχει — ‘does not have / has God’). In 1:9, retain the KRV honorific verb 모시다 rather than the plain 가지다 for ἔχει, so ‘having God’ reads as a personal, reverent relationship, not mere possession of an object or a fortune-charm-like acquisition (a distinction with real force given the 기복신앙 risk already flagged under ‘grace’).
Father
Approved rendering: 아버지
Transliteration: abeoji
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 제사를 받는 조상
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Teach with continued awareness of Korea’s Confucian jesa (제사) ancestor-rite history. 2 John occurrences: 1:3 (source of the greeting, ‘God the Father’), 1:4 (source of the commandment to love), 1:9 (one of the two divine Persons a persevering believer ‘has’). God the Father here is the personal source of both grace and commandment, not a venerated ancestor requiring ongoing ritual offerings from descendants.
Jesus
Approved rendering: 예수
Transliteration: Yesu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Standard KRV transliteration; no deviation. 2 John occurrences: 1:3, 1:7 (the incarnation-confession test: ‘Jesus Christ coming in the flesh’).
Come In The Flesh
Approved rendering: 육체로 오심
Transliteration: yukche-ro osim
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: 화신, 환생, 영으로만 오심
NEW verse-level entry, cross-referencing the baseline’s High-risk doctrine-label entry ‘incarnation’ (성육신). 2 John 1:7’s Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί is elevated to CRITICAL risk in this letter specifically because its denial is definitionally ‘the deceiver and the antichrist’ (1:7) — the single highest-stakes doctrinal claim in the book. NEVER 화신 (a Buddhist avatar/incarnation-of-a-buddha concept describing a provisional, repeatable manifestation) and never any phrasing implying a merely spiritual, non-bodily coming. Retain KRV’s established simplicity (‘오심,’ having come) without over-resolving the ἐρχόμενον/ἐληλυθότα (1 John 4:2) tense-aspect debate in lay-facing material; flag that nuance only for theologian-facing notes.
Son Of God Johannine
Approved rendering: 아버지의 아들 / 아들
Transliteration: abeoji-ui adeul / adeul
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 작은 아들 (lesser-son framing), 양자 (adoptive-son framing)
NEW. 2 John’s distinctive Johannine phrasing: 1:3 ‘τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ πατρός’ (아버지의 아들, ‘the Father’s Son’) and 1:9’s bare ‘ὁ υἱός’ (아들, ‘the Son’) within the θεὸν ἔχει construction (‘has both the Father and the Son’). Elevated to CRITICAL because 1:9 makes possessing/relating to the Son the very test of possessing God at all. Cross-references the baseline’s Critical/High ‘son_of_god’ entry (하나님의 아들) exactly; teach explicitly that both shorter phrasings denote the SAME eternal, co-equal divine Son, never a lesser, honorary, or adoptive sonship.
Receive Into House
Approved rendering: 집에 영접하다
Transliteration: jibe yeongjeophada
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Rejected alternatives: 집에 들이다 (neutral, loses theological resonance)
Original: λαμβάνω…εἰς οἰκίαν
Category: Church
NEW. HIGHEST-SEVERITY CULTURAL COLLISION IN THIS BOOK. Renders λαμβάνω…εἰς οἰκίαν (1:10), using the SAME KRV verb (영접하다) used positively for receiving Christ (John 1:12, ‘영접하는 자’) — this deliberate irony must be preserved, not smoothed away. GROUNDED RISK: Korean culture places an unusually high social-honor value on hospitality toward guests and visiting religious teachers (손님 접대, itinerant-preacher welcome customs historically treated as an honor-bound duty in Korean church life). Refusing hospitality risks being perceived as a severe breach of Korean social propriety or ‘un-Christian’ coldness — precisely inverting the text’s intent — unless teaching material tightly and explicitly scopes the refusal to ONLY those actively promoting denial of Christ’s incarnation (1:7, 1:9’s ‘this teaching’), never to strangers generally, minor theological differences, or ordinary hospitality obligations (which the NT elsewhere commands, e.g. Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:2). Requires BOTH human theologian AND native-speaker/cultural review.
High Risk Terms
Son Of God
Approved rendering: 하나님의 아들
Transliteration: Hananim-ui adeul
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 환웅식 하늘의 아들
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ πατρός / ὁ υἱός
Category: Christology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. 2 John uses distinctive Johannine phrasing rather than this full formula directly — see the new ‘son_of_god_johannine’ entry below for 1:3’s ‘τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ πατρός’ (아버지의 아들) and 1:9’s bare ‘ὁ υἱός’ (아들). Both phrasings must be taught as referring to the SAME eternal, co-equal divine Son named by this baseline formula, not a lesser or ambiguous referent.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: 성육신
Transliteration: seongyuksin
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: 화신, 환생
Original: Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί
Category: Christology
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE (doctrine-label entry). NEVER 화신 (a Buddhist avatar/incarnation-of-a-buddha concept describing a provisional, repeatable manifestation). 2 John 1:7 supplies this entire curriculum’s direct scriptural anchor and its single highest-stakes verse-level claim; see the new ‘come_in_the_flesh’ entry below for the verse-specific rendering and its elevated Critical risk in this letter’s context.
Truth
Approved rendering: 진리
Transliteration: jilli
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Rejected alternatives: 사실, 견해
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
NEW. Not present as a standalone term in the baseline Romans package. Occurrences: 1:1 (x2), 1:2, 1:3, 1:4. Korean 진리 risks reading as abstract philosophical or scientific ‘truth’ — one competing truth-claim among many in Korea’s pluralistic religious marketplace. Must be taught as the specific, revealed, Christ-centered gospel reality opposed to the ‘deceivers’ (πλάνοι) of 1:7, not generic truth-talk. Pair every doctrinal use with an explicit anchor to the incarnation-confession test of 1:7.
Love
Approved rendering: 사랑
Transliteration: sarang
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Rejected alternatives: 자비, 애정
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Faith
NEW. Not present as a standalone glossary term in the baseline Romans package despite its Pauline prominence. Occurrences: 1:1, 1:3, 1:5, 1:6 (x2). 자비 (compassion) carries Buddhist-adjacent connotation; 애정 is too narrowly romantic. Korean 사랑 carries strong everyday romantic/sentimental connotation reinforced by popular media (K-drama register). MUST be anchored to 1:6’s explicit definitional formula (‘this is love, that we walk according to his commandments’) in every doctrinal teaching use, to prevent collapse into sentimental feeling.
Walk
Approved rendering: 행하다
Transliteration: haenghada
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Rejected alternatives: 걷다
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Established KRV metaphorical rendering (‘to do/conduct oneself’) for the Hebraic/Johannine idiom of habitual life-conduct. NEVER the literal 걷다 (‘to walk’), which would wrongly suggest physical locomotion in modern Korean. Occurrences: 1:4, 1:6 (x2). Must render identically at every occurrence to preserve the letter’s rhetorical structure linking truth, love, and conduct.
Abide
Approved rendering: 거하다
Transliteration: georada
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 머물다, 지속하다
Original: μένω
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Not a baseline term (Romans favors ‘called/calling’ language over this distinctly Johannine idiom, cf. John 15, 1 John 2-4). Occurrences: 1:2, 1:9 (x2). Must be rendered IDENTICALLY at every occurrence — this is the single most important recurring verb for this curriculum’s core doctrine and must never be varied for stylistic reasons, even where 머물다 or 지속하다 might seem more natural in isolation.
Elder
Approved rendering: 장로
Transliteration: jangno
Doctrine: Apostolic and Pastoral Authority (The Elder)
Rejected alternatives: 프레스뷔테로스 (transliteration)
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church
NEW. Established KRV rendering, used for the author’s self-designation (1:1), possibly the apostle John himself. GROUNDED RISK: 장로 is a highly salient, living modern Korean Protestant church-office title, especially prominent in Korean Presbyterianism, designating an ordained lay leadership office of significant institutional/social status (the term has entered wider Korean public discourse). Korean readers risk imposing this modern institutional-office connotation onto the author’s apostolic-era self-designation. Requires a teaching footnote wherever it appears in this book’s lesson materials.
Elect Lady
Approved rendering: 택하심을 받은 부녀
Transliteration: taekhasim-eul badeun buneo
Doctrine: Election and Chosen Identity of the Addressees
Rejected alternatives: 주부인, 여주인, 주 (κύριος-root coinage)
Original: ἐκλεκτὴ κυρία
Category: Church
NEW. Established KRV rendering for ἐκλεκτῇ κυρίᾳ (1:1). CRITICAL FENCING RULE: κυρία shares a root with κύριος (‘Lord’). NEVER use any 주-root Korean word for κυρία, to avoid visual/phonetic confusion with the Critical baseline term 주님. Interpretive ambiguity (a specific individual woman vs. a personified local congregation, with ‘her children’ as members) should be handled with a teaching footnote, not by altering this base rendering.
Elect
Approved rendering: 택하심을 받은
Transliteration: taekhasim-eul badeun
Doctrine: Election and Chosen Identity of the Addressees
Rejected alternatives: 선발된, 당첨된
Original: ἐκλεκτή
Category: Salvation
NEW. Adjectival form of ἐκλεκτή, applied to the addressee(s) at 1:1 (‘elect lady’) and 1:13 (‘elect sister’). Cross-references the baseline’s ‘election’ entry (선택) exactly. Reinforces chosen/beloved covenant identity, NOT a competitive, merit-based ‘selection’ (avoid 선발된, an exam/hiring-culture term, and 당첨된, a lottery-winner term).
Deceiver
Approved rendering: 미혹하는 자
Transliteration: mihokhaneun ja
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: 거짓말쟁이, 귀신이 홀리다
Original: πλάνος
Category: False Teaching
NEW. Established KRV rendering. Occurrence: 1:7 (x2). Must be distinguished from a generic ‘liar’ (거짓말쟁이), which lacks the sense of active doctrinal seduction, AND from Korean shamanistic/folk-religious framing of ‘a spirit that leads astray’ (귀신이 홀리다), which would wrongly recast a doctrinal false-teaching problem as a spirit-possession/affliction phenomenon. This is false teaching, not folk-demonic affliction, even though NT theology elsewhere (1 Tim 4:1, 1 John 4:1-3) links the two — teach that connection separately and carefully, never by default.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: 적그리스도
Transliteration: jeokgeuriseudo
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Christology
NEW. Established transliterated-compound term (적 ‘against’ + 그리스도 ‘Christ’). Occurrence: 1:7. Korean apocalyptic film/media has popularized ‘Antichrist’ as a single sensational future end-times villain; teaching must clarify 2 John’s usage refers to a PRESENT, recurring doctrinal reality — any teacher denying the true incarnation — correcting popular eschatological-thriller associations.
Confess Deny
Approved rendering: 부인하다
Transliteration: buinhada
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: 고백하지 않다
Original: ὁμολογέω (negated)
Category: Christology
NEW. Established KRV rendering of the negated construction οἱ μὴ ὁμολογοῦντες (‘those who do not confess’ = ‘deny’), occurrence 1:7. CROSS-REFERENCE: ὁμολογέω is the same verb family as Romans 10:9’s Critical salvation confession (예수는 주님이시다, ὁμολογήσῃς). Preserve the conceptual link between confessing Christ’s Lordship (positive, Romans 10:9) and confessing/denying his incarnation (negative, here) as two facets of one essential gospel confession.
Teaching Of Christ
Approved rendering: 교훈
Transliteration: gyohun
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 교리
Original: διδαχὴ τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Covenant
NEW. Established KRV rendering of διδαχή (‘teaching/instruction’), NOT 교리 (‘doctrine/dogma’). Occurrences: 1:9, 1:10. Must be distinguished from the Confucian classical-teaching/scholarly-transmission model (already flagged under the baseline’s ‘inspiration_of_scripture’ doctrine, re: Confucian classics 경 transmitted through a scholarly lineage): this is a fixed apostolic deposit about Christ personally, received once, not an evolving scholarly tradition.
Going Beyond
Approved rendering: 지나쳐
Transliteration: jinachyeo
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 앞서 나아가다, 발전하다
Original: προάγω
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Established KRV rendering of προάγω (‘to go ahead of, go beyond, transgress’), occurrence 1:9. GROUNDED CULTURAL COLLISION: Korean religious and self-improvement culture (both Buddhist/folk 수행 and Confucian self-cultivation, already flagged under the baseline’s ‘sanctification’ entry re: 수행/도 닦기) tends to valorize narratives of spiritual ‘advancement’ or ‘progress’ — avoid 앞서 나아가다 or 발전하다, both of which read positively in Korean. This verse requires an explicit INVERSION for Korean readers: ‘going ahead/beyond’ the teaching of Christ is here a NEGATIVE, doctrinally errant abandonment, the opposite of the culturally prized progress narrative.
Reward
Approved rendering: 상
Transliteration: sang
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 성과급, 삯
Original: μισθὸς πλήρης
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Rendering of μισθὸς πλήρης (‘full reward’), occurrence 1:8. GROUNDED RISK: in Korea’s broadly achievement-and-performance-oriented cultural context (cf. baseline’s ‘mission’ entry re: success/growth-metric-driven missions culture), 상 risks being read through a merit-earned, performance-based lens (성과급-like achievement bonus) rather than a gracious eschatological reward for grace-enabled perseverance. MUST be taught alongside 은혜 (grace, Critical) in every occurrence to prevent an implied works-righteousness reading, while still preserving the genuine biblical teaching of differentiated reward for faithfulness (distinct from justification itself).
Greeting Withheld
Approved rendering: 인사
Transliteration: insa
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Rejected alternatives: 기뻐하라고 말하다 (literal rendering of χαίρειν)
Original: χαίρειν (infinitive, epistolary greeting formula)
Category: Church
NEW. Idiom-handling case: χαίρειν (the Hellenistic epistolary greeting infinitive, literally ‘to rejoice’) is withheld in 1:10-11 from deniers of the incarnation. A literal ‘rejoice’-based rendering would be confusing and lose the idiomatic force of a Hellenistic letter-greeting formula; use the natural KRV equivalent 인사. This severs the literary χαίρω (1:4, ‘I rejoiced greatly’) / χαίρειν (1:10-11) wordplay — an acceptable, flagged, non-doctrinal translation loss to explain in teaching commentary, not forced into the base text.
Complicity In Evil
Approved rendering: 참여하다
Transliteration: chamyeohada
Doctrine: Genuine Fellowship versus Complicity in Evil
Rejected alternatives: 교제하다
Original: κοινωνέω
Category: Church
NEW. Renders κοινωνέω used NEGATIVELY in 1:11 (‘shares in his evil deeds’). The baseline Romans package establishes this same root positively as 교제 (Low risk, ‘Christian Fellowship’). ABSOLUTE FENCE: use 참여하다, NEVER 교제하다, in this verse, to avoid implying the positive fellowship-doctrine term applies to complicity in evil. Teach that the underlying Greek root is identical, reinforcing that ‘partnership’ (however framed) always takes on the moral character of what/whom one partners with. This is the pipeline’s most likely silent-drift substitution risk in this book precisely because both candidate words are familiar church vocabulary.
Peace Epistolary Greeting
Approved rendering: 평강
Transliteration: pyeonggang
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace from the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: 화평 (Romans 5:1 justification sense), 평안 (general well-being greeting)
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
NEW required sub-entry, distinct from the baseline’s ‘peace’ entry (화평). Occurrence: 1:3, the third element of the grace-mercy-peace epistolary greeting-blessing formula. Established KRV usage in epistolary greetings (2 John 1:3; cf. Romans 1:7; 1-2 Timothy) uses neither 화평 nor 평안 but 평강, the Korean Bible tradition’s own dedicated greeting-blessing term. This is a genuine THREE-WAY distinction in Korean Bible usage (화평 = reconciled relational status per Romans 5:1; 평강 = epistolary greeting-blessing; 평안 = general secular well-being) that the Romans-only baseline package did not fully capture. Phase 2 workers must not default to 화평 out of habit when translating this and other epistolary openings in this curriculum set.
Medium Risk Terms
Messiah
Approved rendering: 그리스도
Transliteration: Geuriseudo
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: 미륵
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Avoid conflating with 미륵 (Maitreya), historically invoked by Korean folk-millenarian movements — a caution with added force in this letter given its direct proximity to ‘antichrist’ teaching (1:7). 2 John occurrences: 1:3, 1:7, 1:9 (‘the teaching of Christ’).
Peace
Approved rendering: 화평
Transliteration: hwapyeong
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: 평안 (일반적 안녕)
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Reserved for the specifically relational peace-with-God/justification sense anchored to Romans 5:1. NOT the active sense in 2 John 1:3’s epistolary greeting — see the new ‘peace_epistolary_greeting’ entry below (평강) for that context. Retained here unaltered only to preserve baseline consistency and prevent translators from defaulting to 화평 in the greeting context by habit.
Election
Approved rendering: 선택
Transliteration: seontaek
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: 팔자, 운
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Avoid 팔자 (birth-chart fate) or 운 (luck); avoid a merely competitive, merit-based ‘selection’ reading given Korea’s exam/hiring culture. 2 John’s adjectival ‘elect’ (ἐκλεκτή, 1:1 ‘elect lady,’ 1:13 ‘elect sister’) shares this root — see the new ‘elect’ and ‘elect_lady’ entries below, both cross-referencing this baseline entry.
Lord
Approved rendering: 주님
Transliteration: junim
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 주인님
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Established term with required honorific suffix 님. Not itself a term occurring in 2 John’s text, but essential fencing context: κυρία (‘lady,’ 1:1, 1:5, 1:13) shares a Greek root with κύριος (‘Lord’). The Korean rendering of κυρία must NEVER use any 주-root word, to avoid visual/phonetic confusion with this Critical term. See the new ‘elect_lady’ entry below.
Commandment
Approved rendering: 계명
Transliteration: gyemyeong
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Rejected alternatives: 예, 법률
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Covenant
NEW. Standard KRV term (cf. 십계명, Ten Commandments). Occurrences: 1:4, 1:5, 1:6 (x2). Must be distinguished from Confucian ritual-propriety codes (禮, ye — already flagged under the baseline’s ‘law’/율법 entry): this is a moral-relational apostolic mandate grounding love, not an etiquette code.
Children
Approved rendering: 자녀
Transliteration: janyeo
Doctrine: Election and Chosen Identity of the Addressees
Original: τέκνα
Category: Church
NEW. Occurrences: 1:1, 1:4, 1:13. Whether read with individual-family or corporate-church connotation affects whether readers grasp the ‘elect lady/sister as a personified congregation’ reading option. Recommend a teaching footnote rather than altering the base rendering.
World
Approved rendering: 세상
Transliteration: sesang
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: 지구
Original: κόσμος
Category: Sin
NEW. Occurrence: 1:7 (‘many deceivers have gone out into the world’). Johannine moral-order sense (the God-opposed human system), not neutral ‘planet/globe’ (지구). Already well-established in Korean church literature from John/1 John.
Greeting Legitimate
Approved rendering: 문안하다
Transliteration: munanhada
Doctrine: Genuine Fellowship versus Complicity in Evil
Rejected alternatives: 인사하다
Original: ἀσπάζομαι
Category: Church
NEW. Renders ἀσπάζομαι, the letter’s genuine closing greeting (1:13, ‘the children of your elect sister greet you’), deliberately CONTRASTED with the withheld greeting of 1:10-11. Must use a different Korean term (문안하다, not 인사하다) from ‘greeting_withheld’ to preserve this literary/pastoral contrast: the letter closes by modeling genuine fellowship-greeting among the truly ‘elect,’ in deliberate contrast to the greeting withheld from deceivers.
Mercy
Approved rendering: 긍휼
Transliteration: geunghyul
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace from the Father and the Son
Rejected alternatives: 동정
Original: ἔλεος
Category: Salvation
NEW. Not in the baseline Romans package. Occurrence: 1:3, the second element of the grace-mercy-peace epistolary triad (a formula shared with 1-2 Timothy, distinctive from the typical Pauline grace-and-peace pairing). Established KRV rendering 긍휼 must be distinguished from generic sympathy/pity (동정), which lacks the covenantal-kindness sense. Teach alongside 은혜 to avoid readers collapsing the two into one generic ‘blessing’ concept.
Know Relational
Approved rendering: 알다
Transliteration: alda
Doctrine: Fullness of Joy in Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: 인식하다
Original: γινώσκω
Category: Faith
NEW. Renders γινώσκω, occurrence 1:1 (‘all who have known the truth’). Relational, experiential knowing (cf. Hebrew yada), not merely intellectual assent (avoid 인식하다, a cognitive-only term). Supports the ‘truth’ entry’s epistemological dimension.
Forever Age
Approved rendering: 영원히
Transliteration: yeongwonhi
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 윤회 (cyclical-eternity framing)
Original: αἰών
Category: Eschatology
NEW. Renders εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, occurrence 1:2 (‘the truth…will be with us forever’). Unending duration, contrasted implicitly with the deceivers’ temporary influence. Briefly distinguish from a cyclical-eternity or reincarnation-adjacent framing (cf. baseline’s ‘resurrection’ entry’s caution against 윤회), though risk here is lower since this is a simple durational adverb, not a doctrine of the afterlife per se.
Speak Face To Face
Approved rendering: 얼굴을 마주 대하여
Transliteration: eolgul-eul maju daehayeo
Doctrine: Fullness of Joy in Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: 입과 입을 마주하여 (literal ‘mouth to mouth’)
Original: στόμα πρὸς στόμα
Category: Church
NEW. Idiom-handling case for στόμα πρὸς στόμα (1:12), a Hebraic/Greek idiom for direct, personal conversation (cf. Numbers 12:8; 3 John 14’s parallel ‘face to face’). A literal rendering (입과 입을 마주하여) risks sounding like a kiss or a resuscitation technique in modern Korean and must be avoided; use the established KRV natural equivalent 얼굴을 마주 대하여.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: 교제
Transliteration: gyoje
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Original: κοινωνία (root)
Category: Church
INHERITED FROM ROMANS PACKAGE. Reserved strictly for POSITIVE shared participation in Christ and other believers. 2 John 1:11 uses the same Greek root (κοινωνέω) NEGATIVELY (‘shares in his evil deeds’) — see the new ‘complicity_in_evil’ entry below (참여하다), which must never be interchanged with 교제/교제하다.
Referenced passages