Semantic Analysis

Semantic Analysis: Ephesians (English → Korean)

Scope and Method

This document analyzes the entire book of Ephesians (chapters 1–6) in the original Koine Greek for the purpose of destination-language (Korean) translation requirements. The core passage, Ephesians 2:1–10, receives full verse-by-verse treatment. Every other chapter receives a chapter-level treatment of its load-bearing theological terms using the same fields.

Reuse rule: Any term already established in the Romans baseline translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json for Korean is reused exactly as recorded there (translation, transliteration, risk tier, notes) and is marked [BASELINE] below. New terms introduced by Ephesians are marked [NEW] and are assigned a doctrine risk tier consistent with the baseline’s Critical/High/Medium/Low framework, extending — never contradicting — the baseline.

Fields provided per term: Original word, Transliteration, Literal meaning, Semantic range, English variants, Contextual theological meaning, Destination-language (Korean) rendering risk.

PART A — CORE PASSAGE: Ephesians 2:1–10 (Verse-by-Verse)

Ephesians 2:1

“καὶ ὑμᾶς ὄντας νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν καὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν” “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins”

νεκρός (nekros) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: dead, lifeless, corpse-like.
Semantic range: physical death; by extension, spiritual deadness/total incapacity toward God.
English variants: dead, deadness.
Contextual meaning: Total spiritual incapacity of the unregenerate person before God’s saving act — not a diminished vitality but a complete absence of spiritual life, paralleling Romans’ “dead to sin, alive to God” (Romans 6) union-with-Christ theme.
Korean rendering: 죽은 (jugeun). Risk: Medium. 죽음 (death) is not itself a collision term, but must be read as spiritual deadness rather than physical death or the folk-Buddhist notion of death as transition within 윤회 (reincarnation cycle, already forbidden under baseline “resurrection”/“salvation”). Teaching must clarify this is a forensic-relational deadness (separation from God’s life), not a metaphysical stage in a rebirth cycle.

παράπτωμα (paraptōma) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: a false step, a fall beside the path; a trespass.
Semantic range: a specific act of wrongdoing, moral failure, transgression — distinct from but overlapping ἁμαρτία.
English variants: trespass, transgression, wrongdoing.
Contextual meaning: Concrete acts of moral failure that, together with ἁμαρτία, characterize the totality of the sinner’s condition before grace.
Korean rendering: 허물 (heomul). Risk: Medium. 허물 is the established KRV term (paired with 죄 in Eph 2:1, 5). Ensure it is not softened toward mere “fault/flaw” (a minor personal shortcoming) but retains full moral-transgression weight.

ἁμαρτία (hamartia) — [BASELINE] Reuse 죄 (joe), High risk, per Romans baseline: “Distinguish from ritual impurity or impersonal bad karma.” Same distinction applies here: not 액운 (bad luck) or 체면 손상 (loss of face).

Ephesians 2:2

“ἐν αἷς ποτε περιεπατήσατε κατὰ τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, κατὰ τὸν ἄρχοντα τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ ἀέρος, τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ νῦν ἐνεργοῦντος ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς τῆς ἀπειθείας” “in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience”

περιπατέω (peripateō) — [NEW — load-bearing throughout the whole book]

Literal meaning: to walk about, to walk around.
Semantic range: literal ambulation; metaphorically, one’s habitual conduct/manner of life.
English variants: walk, live, conduct oneself, way of life.
Contextual meaning: Ephesians’ central ethical metaphor (recurring 2:2, 2:10, 4:1, 4:17, 5:2, 5:8, 5:15) — the believer’s entire pattern of life, structuring the curriculum doctrine “Walking in Newness of Life.”
Korean rendering: 행하다 (haenghada), established KRV rendering. Risk: High. Because this term recurs so often as the connective tissue of Ephesians’ ethics, inconsistent rendering across chapters (sometimes “행하다,” sometimes “살다” [live], sometimes “행동하다” [act]) would fragment the book’s structuring metaphor for a Korean reader. Must be rendered consistently as 행하다 throughout, per the Theological Consistency Rules pattern already established for Romans 1:16–17 and 8:28.

αἰών (aiōn) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: an age, a long duration of time.
Semantic range: this present evil age (contrasted with the age to come); can also mean “world” in a spatial-moral sense.
English variants: age, world, course of this world.
Contextual meaning: The present God-opposing order under Satan’s influence, not a neutral time-period.
Korean rendering: 세대/세상 (sedae/sesang) — KRV Eph 2:2 renders “이 세상 풍조를 따르고” (following the trend/current of this world). Risk: Medium. Ensure “세상” here is not flattened to a morally neutral “world” (지구, world-as-planet) but retains the sense of a corrupt spiritual-moral order in rebellion against God.

ἄρχων τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ ἀέρος (archōn tēs exousias tou aeros) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: the ruler of the authority of the air.
Semantic range: a title for Satan as the head of a hierarchy of spiritual authority operating in the unseen realm.
English variants: prince of the power of the air, ruler of the kingdom of the air.
Contextual meaning: Introduces Ephesians’ spiritual-warfare cosmology (developed fully in ch. 6): a real, personal, hostile spiritual ruler actively opposing God’s people.
Korean rendering: 공중의 권세 잡은 자 (gongjung-ui gwonse jabeun ja), established KRV phrase. Risk: Critical. This is the first appearance of Ephesians’ “powers/authorities” vocabulary (ἀρχή, ἐξουσία — see ch. 6 analysis), which sits extremely close to Korean shamanism’s populated spirit-world of 잡귀/악귀 (evil spirits) warded off through a mudang’s gut ritual or 부적 (talisman). Teaching must present this as the biblical doctrine of a singular defeated-but-still-active adversary confronted through Christ’s finished work, prayer, and God’s armor — never assimilated to a shamanistic exorcism/ward-off-evil-spirits framework, nor treated as one hostile spirit among a populated pantheon to be placated or ritually managed.

υἱοὶ τῆς ἀπειθείας (huioi tēs apeitheias) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: sons of disobedience.
Semantic range: a Hebraic idiom denoting those characterized by disobedience as their essential nature.
English variants: sons of disobedience, those who are disobedient.
Contextual meaning: Describes humanity’s condition apart from Christ — inherent, not merely occasional, resistance to God.
Korean rendering: 불순종의 아들들 (bulsunjong-ui adeuldeul). Risk: Medium. The idiom “sons of X” (Hebraic construction) may read oddly in Korean; a natural-equivalent gloss (“불순종하는 자들,” those characterized by disobedience) may be needed alongside the literal rendering. Distinguish 순종/불순종 from Confucian hierarchical-compliance categories (see “obedience of faith,” Romans baseline) — this is rebellion against God specifically, not failure of social duty.

Ephesians 2:3

“ἐν οἷς καὶ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἀνεστράφημέν ποτε ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν, ποιοῦντες τὰ θελήματα τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ τῶν διανοιῶν, καὶ ἤμεθα τέκνα φύσει ὀργῆς ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποί” “among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind”

σάρξ (sarx) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: flesh, physical body-substance.
Semantic range: literal body tissue; Pauline theological sense — fallen human nature in its self-oriented, God-resistant orientation.
English variants: flesh, sinful nature, body.
Contextual meaning: The corrupted human nature that produces sinful desire, contrasted with life in the Spirit.
Korean rendering: 육체 (yukche). Risk: High. Korean has no single word that cleanly separates “physical body” (중립적 신체) from “fallen moral orientation” as Paul’s σάρξ does; 육체 can be misread as merely “the physical body is bad” (a body-negative, quasi-ascetic reading close to Buddhist body-denial), when Paul’s target is the sin-oriented will, not physical embodiment itself. Requires a clarifying teaching note distinguishing σάρξ from the body itself, especially relevant given Ephesians 5’s positive treatment of the body in marriage.

τέκνα φύσει ὀργῆς (tekna physei orgēs) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: children by nature of wrath.
Semantic range: an inherent, native condition of being under God’s judicial wrath, not merely acquired through individual acts.
English variants: children of wrath, objects of wrath by nature.
Contextual meaning: Establishes universal human accountability (Romans baseline doctrine) even more starkly than Romans — inherited condition, not only individual sins, places all people under God’s wrath prior to grace.
Korean rendering: 본질상 진노의 자녀 (bonjilsang jinno-ui janyeo). Risk: High. 진노 (jinno, wrath) must be read as the settled, righteous judicial anger of a personal, holy God against sin — not impersonal 액운 (misfortune) nor a capricious shamanistic spirit’s anger requiring ritual appeasement (굿). This term anchors the “Salvation by Grace through Faith” doctrine’s necessary presupposition: humanity’s desperate condition apart from grace.

Ephesians 2:4

“ὁ δὲ θεὸς πλούσιος ὢν ἐν ἐλέει, διὰ τὴν πολλὴν ἀγάπην αὐτοῦ ἣν ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς” “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us”

ἔλεος (eleos) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: mercy, compassion shown toward one in a miserable condition.
Semantic range: pity/compassion that moves to help the suffering or guilty; distinguished from χάρις (grace) which emphasizes the unmerited, gift-like character of favor rather than compassion toward misery specifically.
English variants: mercy, compassion.
Contextual meaning: God’s compassionate response to humanity’s desperate condition (2:1–3), which grounds and precedes the “grace” of 2:5, 2:8.
Korean rendering: 긍휼 (geungnyul), established KRV term. Risk: Medium. Must be kept conceptually distinct from 은혜 (grace, baseline Critical term): 긍휼 emphasizes God’s compassion toward the miserable, 은혜 emphasizes the unearned gift itself. Both must be taught as flowing from God’s character, not a mudang’s beneficence that must be petitioned or ritually secured.

ἀγάπη (agapē) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: love.
Semantic range: self-giving, unconditional divine love, distinguished in NT usage from erotic (ἔρως) or affectionate/familial (φιλία, στοργή) love.
English variants: love.
Contextual meaning: The motivating cause of salvation — God’s own self-originating love, prior to and independent of any lovability or merit in its object.
Korean rendering: 사랑 (sarang). Risk: Medium. Standard term; risk is primarily one of dilution, since 사랑 covers all forms of love in ordinary Korean usage (romantic, familial, patriotic). Theological teaching must specify this as God’s self-originating, unconditional 사랑, distinct from reciprocal or earned human love — this connects directly to the 은혜/기복신앙 distinction already flagged as Critical in the Romans baseline.

Ephesians 2:5

“καὶ ὄντας ἡμᾶς νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν συνεζωοποίησεν τῷ Χριστῷ — χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι” “even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved”

συζωοποιέω (syzōopoieō) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: to make alive together with.
Semantic range: a Pauline coinage (also Colossians 2:13) combining σύν (“with/together”) + ζωοποιέω (“make alive”), expressing union with Christ in his resurrection life.
English variants: made alive together with, quickened together with.
Contextual meaning: The reversal of 2:1’s spiritual deadness — believers do not merely receive new life in parallel to Christ but are united with him in his own resurrection life. This is the doctrinal heart of the core passage.
Korean rendering: 함께 살리셨고 (hamkke sallisyeotgo). Risk: Critical. The compound “함께” (together with) must be preserved — a rendering that drops the union-with-Christ sense and reduces this to generic “God gave us life” would lose the passage’s central “in Christ” theology. Must not be assimilated to 환생/윤회 (rebirth/reincarnation, forbidden under baseline “resurrection”) — this is a once-for-all transfer from death to life in union with the historical, resurrected Christ, not entry into a new cycle of existence.

χάρις (charis) — [BASELINE] Reuse 은혜 (eunhye), Critical risk, exactly per Romans baseline. This is the first occurrence of Ephesians’ central soteriological term and must carry the full baseline warning: never a shamanistic transactional exchange (기복신앙 pattern); always unearned, unconditional favor.

σῴζω (sōzō), perfect passive σεσῳσμένοι — [BASELINE, verb form] Reuse 구원 (guwon) root, Critical risk, per Romans baseline “salvation” entry. The Greek perfect tense (completed action with continuing result — “you have been and remain saved”) should be rendered with a Korean perfect/resultative construction (e.g., 구원을 받았느니라/받은 자니라) to preserve the once-for-all, settled nature of salvation, distinct from an ongoing, uncertain process. Risk: Critical. Never 해탈 (Buddhist liberation from samsara).

Ephesians 2:6

“καὶ συνήγειρεν καὶ συνεκάθισεν ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ” “and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus”

συνεγείρω (synegeirō) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: to raise up together with.
Semantic range: shares union-with-Christ force with συζωοποιέω; specifically evokes resurrection.
English variants: raised up with, raised together with.
Contextual meaning: Believers’ participation in Christ’s own resurrection, an already-accomplished (not merely future) reality in Ephesians’ “realized” eschatology.
Korean rendering: 함께 일으키사 (hamkke ireukisa). Risk: High. Reuse baseline 부활 (buhwal) root-concept discipline — never 환생/윤회. The “함께” (with/together) prefix must again be preserved to retain union-with-Christ theology.

συγκαθίζω (synkathizō) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: to seat together with.
Semantic range: a hapax-adjacent Pauline term describing enthronement together with Christ.
English variants: seated with, made to sit with.
Contextual meaning: Believers already share, positionally, in Christ’s heavenly enthronement and authority — a striking “already” note anticipating Ephesians 6’s spiritual warfare (believers reign with the one who has already defeated the powers).
Korean rendering: 함께 앉히시니 (hamkke anchisini). Risk: Medium. No direct baseline overlap; risk is primarily under-communication of the “enthronement/authority” nuance if rendered too plainly as merely “seated” without conveying royal/positional standing.

ἐπουράνιος (epouranios) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: heavenly, of/belonging to the heavens.
Semantic range: the unseen spiritual realm where Christ reigns and where spiritual conflict occurs (Eph 1:3, 1:20, 2:6, 3:10, 6:12).
English variants: heavenly places, heavenly realms.
Contextual meaning: A distinctly Ephesians theological category — not “heaven” as final destination only, but the present unseen spiritual dimension of reality, the site of both believers’ blessing (1:3) and spiritual conflict (6:12).
Korean rendering: 하늘 (haneul) or 하늘에 (contextual). Risk: Medium. Must be distinguished from a generic sky/cosmos reference and from any folk-cosmological framing (e.g., a layered heaven populated by ancestor-spirits or the Dangun myth’s heavenly realm, Hwanin’s abode). This is the specific realm of Christ’s reign and spiritual warfare.

Ephesians 2:7

“ἵνα ἐνδείξηται ἐν τοῖς αἰῶσιν τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις τὸ ὑπερβάλλον πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ ἐν χρηστότητι ἐφ’ ἡμᾶς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ” “so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus”

πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος (ploutos tēs charitos) — [NEW compound on BASELINE root]

Literal meaning: the riches/wealth of grace.
Semantic range: πλοῦτος denotes material or figurative abundance/wealth; paired with χάρις it expresses grace’s inexhaustible, lavish quality.
English variants: riches of grace, wealth of grace, abundant grace.
Contextual meaning: A key Ephesians intensifier of grace (also 1:7, 3:8, 3:16) — grace is not a minimal, bare sufficiency but an overflowing abundance.
Korean rendering: 은혜의 풍성함 (eunhye-ui pungseongham). Risk: High. 은혜 itself carries Critical risk per baseline; pairing it with 풍성함 (“abundance/riches”) creates an added risk of drifting toward a 기복신앙-style reading of grace as material prosperity/abundance-of-blessing (복) rather than the lavish quality of God’s unearned favor. Teaching must clarify “riches” describes grace’s immeasurable sufficiency and generosity, not a promise of material wealth.

χρηστότης (chrēstotēs) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: kindness, goodness, benevolence.
Semantic range: God’s kind disposition in action toward those who do not deserve it.
English variants: kindness, goodness.
Contextual meaning: The relational warmth accompanying grace — grace is not cold, mechanical favor but personally kind.
Korean rendering: 자비/인자하심 (jabi/injahasim). Risk: Low. Standard vocabulary; low collision risk, though should be kept distinct from ἔλεος (mercy toward misery, 긍휼) as a related but separate nuance (kindness of disposition rather than compassion toward suffering).

Ephesians 2:8

“τῇ γὰρ χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι διὰ πίστεως· καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐξ ὑμῶν, θεοῦ τὸ δῶρον” “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God”

χάρις / πίστις — [BASELINE] Reuse 은혜 / 믿음 exactly. This verse is the thesis statement of the “Salvation by Grace through Faith” doctrine and functions in Ephesians the way Romans 1:16–17 functions in Romans — it requires identical, invariant rendering across every document in the curriculum (see Cross-Reference/Consistency rules below).

δῶρον (dōron) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: a gift, a thing given.
Semantic range: a gift given freely, often in cultic/offering contexts (LXX temple offerings); here purely a gift given without payment.
English variants: gift, present.
Contextual meaning: Reinforces χάρις’s unearned character with an explicit “gift” vocabulary — salvation is something given, categorically excluding any sense of purchase, earning, or reciprocal exchange.
Korean rendering: 선물 (seonmul). Risk: Critical. This is the single most doctrinally load-bearing new term in the core passage for the Korean context: 선물 must be taught as a gift given with no expectation of return — explicitly severed from the Korean gift-exchange custom of 답례 (dallye, reciprocal return-gift obligation) and from the 기복신앙 pattern of an offering made in expectation of blessing received in return. Ephesians 2:8’s “not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” is the clearest single-verse rebuttal in the curriculum of a transactional grace-reading and must be translated and taught with maximum clarity on this point.

Ephesians 2:9

“οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων, ἵνα μή τις καυχήσηται” “not a result of works, so that no one may boast”

ἔργα (erga) — [NEW, related to BASELINE “works” concept already embedded in Romans’ righteousness/justification entries]

Literal meaning: works, deeds.
Semantic range: human moral/religious effort of any kind offered as a basis for standing before God.
English variants: works, deeds, works of the law.
Contextual meaning: Explicitly excluded as any ground of salvation — continuing Romans’ justification-by-faith-not-works doctrine (baseline “imputed_righteousness,” “justification”) into Ephesians.
Korean rendering: 행위 (haengwi). Risk: High. Must be kept sharply distinct from 선한 일 (“good works,” Eph 2:10, which are the fruit, not the ground, of salvation) — a Korean reader must not collapse the “not of works” of 2:9 with the “created for good works” of 2:10 into a single confused category. This distinction is essential to the whole doctrine of grace and must be flagged for theologian review wherever both terms occur near each other.

καυχάομαι (kauchaomai) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: to boast, to glory in.
Semantic range: self-congratulatory pride in one’s own achievement or status.
English variants: boast, glory (in the sense of self-praise), take pride.
Contextual meaning: Grace excludes not only the mechanism of works-righteousness but also its psychological fruit — self-congratulation. This connects to Korea’s intensely achievement/status-conscious culture (already flagged under baseline “glory” vs. 출세/명예).
Korean rendering: 자랑하다 (jaranghada). Risk: High. Must be distinguished from the positive, God-directed 자랑 permitted elsewhere in Paul (e.g., “boasting in the Lord”); here it is specifically self-referential boasting in one’s own merit, excluded absolutely from the ground of salvation.

Ephesians 2:10

“αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν ποίημα, κτισθέντες ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς, οἷς προητοίμασεν ὁ θεὸς ἵνα ἐν αὐτοῖς περιπατήσωμεν” “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them”

ποίημα (poiēma) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: a thing made, a work (the root of English “poem”; something crafted/composed).
Semantic range: a product of skilled making — used elsewhere in the NT (Romans 1:20) of God’s created works in nature.
English variants: workmanship, handiwork, masterpiece.
Contextual meaning: Believers are God’s own artistic/skilled creation — the verse pivots directly from “not of works” (2:9) to “created… for good works” (2:10), establishing that good works are the fruit and evidence of salvation, never its ground.
Korean rendering: 그가 만드신 바 (geuga mandeusin ba) or 지으심을 받은 자 (jieusim-eul badeun ja), following KRV’s periphrastic rendering rather than a single noun. Risk: High. Must clearly signal God as the active maker and the believer as the object made — not a self-made achievement. Care must be taken that this is not read as merely “we are useful/functional” (a value-by-utility reading) but as the dignity of being God’s own crafted work.

κτίζω (ktizō) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: to create, to found, to bring into being.
Semantic range: used of God’s original creation (Genesis) and here of new-creation re-making in Christ.
English variants: created, made.
Contextual meaning: A new-creation act, parallel to but distinct from Genesis creation — believers are re-made in Christ specifically for good works.
Korean rendering: 지으심을 받아 (jieusim-eul bada) / 창조되어 (changjodoeeo). Risk: Medium. Should echo, without confusing, the Genesis creation vocabulary (창조, changjo) already established in Korean Bible tradition, signaling this is a real, decisive re-creation, not a metaphor for self-improvement (avoid overlap with 수행/도 닦기, ascetic self-cultivation, already forbidden under baseline “sanctification”).

ἔργα ἀγαθά (erga agatha) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: good works.
Semantic range: concrete acts of moral/practical goodness that flow from and evidence genuine faith.
English variants: good works, good deeds.
Contextual meaning: The intended fruit of salvation — God has a specific, prepared path of good works for each believer to “walk” in (περιπατέω, tying back to 2:2’s negative “walk”). This is the positive form of the book’s central ethical metaphor.
Korean rendering: 선한 일 (seonhan il). Risk: High. As noted at 2:9, this must be sharply distinguished from 행위 (works as a false ground of salvation). 선한 일 in 2:10 are Spirit-produced fruit that God prepared in advance, never the means of earning grace — the Korean rendering and any accompanying teaching note must make this sequence (grace → faith → good works) unmistakably clear, given the risk of collapsing this into the 기복신앙 pattern (do good works → receive blessing/grace) that the whole passage exists to refute.

προετοιμάζω (proetoimazō) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: to prepare beforehand.
Semantic range: God’s prior, sovereign preparation of the specific good works a believer will do.
English variants: prepared beforehand, predestined (in a loose sense), planned in advance.
Contextual meaning: Connects to the book’s strong predestination emphasis (ch. 1) — even the believer’s good works are within God’s sovereign prior plan, reinforcing that they are never self-originated achievements.
Korean rendering: 미리 예비하사 (miri yebihasa). Risk: Medium. Related to, but distinct from, 예정 (predestination, ch. 1) — this is God’s specific advance preparation of tasks, not the eternal decree of salvation itself, though both flow from the same sovereign-grace theology.

περιπατέω (peripateō) — [BASELINE within this document, see 2:2] Reuse 행하다. The positive “walk in them” of 2:10 closes the loop begun at 2:2’s negative “walked … following the prince of the power of the air” — the same Korean verb 행하다 must be used in both places so a Korean reader can perceive the deliberate before/after contrast structuring the whole passage.

PART B — CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER STUDY OF THE WHOLE BOOK

Chapter 1 — Election, Predestination, and the Riches of Grace in Christ

Chapter 1 introduces the doctrinal foundation for “Election and Predestination in Christ” and sets the “in Christ” formula that governs the entire letter.

ἐν Χριστῷ / ἐν αὐτῷ (en Christō / en autō, “in Christ” / “in him”) — [NEW, though continuous with Romans’ “christian_identity_in_christ” doctrine already in the baseline risk registry]

Literal meaning: in Christ, in him.
Semantic range: the governing Pauline formula of union with Christ — spatial/instrumental/incorporative, appearing roughly a dozen times in chapter 1 alone.
English variants: in Christ, in him, through Christ, united to Christ.
Contextual meaning: Every spiritual blessing, God’s electing choice, redemption, and inheritance are all located “in Christ” — this is Ephesians’ single most structurally important phrase.
Korean rendering: 그리스도 안에서 (Geuriseudo an-eseo). Risk: High. Must be rendered with strict consistency every time it occurs (dozens of times across the book); a Korean rendering that varies (“그리스도를 통해,” “그리스도로 말미암아,” etc.) for stylistic variety would obscure this deliberate structural repetition. Flag for consistency review across all six chapters.

εὐλογία / εὐλογέω (“blessed,” “blessing”) — [NEW — direct collision point with baseline’s flagged root]

Literal meaning: to speak well of; a spoken blessing.
Semantic range: God’s act of bestowing every spiritual benefit in Christ (1:3); can also mean human praise directed to God.
English variants: bless, blessed, blessing.
Contextual meaning: Eph 1:3, “every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” — the programmatic statement for the whole chapter’s catalogue of salvation-benefits.
Korean rendering: KRV renders this using 복 (bok) directly: “신령한 복으로 우리에게 복 주시되.” Risk: Critical. This is a direct, load-bearing use of the very syllable (복) flagged as Critical under the Romans baseline’s “gospel” entry for its proximity to 기복신앙 (“fortune-seeking faith”). Ephesians 1:3 cannot avoid this term — it is the KRV’s own established rendering — so the requirement here is not lexical substitution but mandatory accompanying doctrinal teaching: this 복 is explicitly qualified as “신령한” (spiritual) and located “그리스도 안에서” (in Christ) and “하늘에 속한” (heavenly) — never a this-worldly material-fortune blessing sought through ritual performance. Every occurrence must be flagged for human theologian review.

ἐκλέγομαι (eklegomai, “chose”) — [NEW, root-related to BASELINE “election” 선택]

Literal meaning: to choose out, to select.
Semantic range: God’s sovereign choice of believers “before the foundation of the world” (1:4).
English variants: chose, elected, selected.
Contextual meaning: The verbal form underlying Ephesians’ predestination doctrine, paired here explicitly with “before the foundation of the world” and “in Christ,” reinforcing that election is gracious and Christ-centered, not a response to foreseen merit.
Korean rendering: 택하사/택하셨고 (taekhasa/taekhasyeotgo), sharing the root of baseline 선택 (seontaek). Risk: High. Must retain baseline’s caution: not to be read as a competitive, merit-based “selection” (as in Korea’s exam/hiring culture) nor as 팔자/사주 (birth-chart-determined fate). God’s choice here is explicitly “before the foundation of the world” — prior to any human existence at all, underscoring its unconditional, gracious character even more strongly than Romans 9.

προορίζω (proorizō, “predestined”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: to mark out/determine beforehand (ὁρίζω, “to set a boundary,” + πρό, “before”).
Semantic range: God’s prior determination of believers’ adoption and destiny (1:5, 1:11).
English variants: predestined, foreordained, destined beforehand.
Contextual meaning: The doctrinal core of “Election and Predestination in Christ” — closely related to but terminologically distinct from ἐκλέγομαι (“chose”); προορίζω emphasizes the fixing of a future outcome (adoption, inheritance) rather than the act of selecting persons.
Korean rendering: 예정하사 (yejeonghasa), established KRV term (예정, yejeong). Risk: Critical. This term sits at exactly the same collision point flagged for baseline “calling”/“providence”: Korean readers may assimilate 예정 to 팔자/사주팔자 (astrological birth-fate) or 운명 (impersonal destiny), both explicitly forbidden under the baseline. 예정 must always be taught as: (a) personal — decided by a personal God who loves; (b) gracious — “according to the purpose of his will” and “to the praise of his glorious grace” (1:5–6), never arbitrary or capricious like fate; (c) Christ-centered — predestination is to adoption through Jesus Christ, never a bare, Christ-less determinism. Requires mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence, consistent with the baseline’s existing escalation rule for “election/predestination language.”

ἀπολύτρωσις (apolytrōsis, “redemption”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: a buying back, a ransoming, release upon payment of a price (λύτρον, ransom-price).
Semantic range: deliverance secured by a price paid — in NT usage, Christ’s blood as the ransom price for sin’s penalty.
English variants: redemption, ransom.
Contextual meaning: Eph 1:7, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses” — grounds forgiveness specifically in the costly, blood-bought nature of salvation, not a costless declaration.
Korean rendering: 속량 (sokryang), established KRV term (also rendered 구속, gusok, “redemption,” in some contexts). Risk: High. Must retain the sense of a price paid (Christ’s blood) — not merely “release” or “freedom” in a generic sense that could be confused with Buddhist liberation (해탈, forbidden under baseline “salvation”) which involves no substitutionary payment or personal price-bearer. This is a legal-commercial-turned-theological metaphor (a ransom bought), and Korean’s own commercial vocabulary for buying-back/redeeming (e.g., pawned goods) may actually assist clarity here if used carefully, provided it is not reduced to a merely commercial transaction devoid of the personal, sacrificial cost.

ἄφεσις (aphesis, “forgiveness”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: a sending away, a release, a letting go.
Semantic range: the cancellation of a debt or the pardon of an offense.
English variants: forgiveness, remission.
Contextual meaning: Paired with redemption (1:7) as its content — “redemption… the forgiveness of our trespasses” — sin’s guilt is fully cancelled, not merely overlooked.
Korean rendering: 죄 사함 (joe saham), established KRV compound. Risk: Medium. Must be a full legal cancellation of guilt, not a social smoothing-over of relationship (which could be assimilated to a face-saving reconciliation gesture, 체면 회복, in Korean social custom) nor a shamanistic ritual removal of misfortune (부정풀이).

μυστήριον (mystērion, “mystery”) — [NEW — central to “The Mystery of Christ Revealed” doctrine]

Literal meaning: a secret, something hidden and known only to the initiated.
Semantic range: in the Greco-Roman “mystery religions,” secret cultic knowledge revealed only to initiates through ritual; in Paul, God’s redemptive plan, formerly hidden, now publicly revealed in the gospel.
English variants: mystery, secret, hidden purpose.
Contextual meaning: Eph 1:9; 3:3–6, 9; 5:32; 6:19 — Paul deliberately repurposes a term with pagan cultic associations to describe God’s plan (especially the inclusion of Gentiles, ch. 3) as now fully disclosed, in direct contrast to a secret reserved for religious initiates.
Korean rendering: 비밀 (bimil), established KRV term. Risk: High. Korean readers must not read 비밀 through a folk-religious or esoteric lens (e.g., secret rites, hidden fortune-telling knowledge, or a shaman’s privileged spirit-knowledge unavailable to ordinary people). Biblical μυστήριον is the opposite dynamic: once hidden, now openly and publicly proclaimed to all through the gospel (3:9–10) — nothing remains esoteric or reserved for a spiritual elite. This must be explicitly taught wherever the term recurs, especially given Ephesians’ unusually heavy concentration of this term relative to the rest of the NT.

σφραγίζω (sphragizō, “sealed”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: to seal, to stamp with a signet mark of ownership/authentication.
Semantic range: a legal/commercial image of a mark guaranteeing ownership, authenticity, and security (used of documents, property, letters).
English variants: sealed, marked, stamped.
Contextual meaning: Eph 1:13; 4:30 — believers are “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,” marking them as God’s secured possession pending final redemption.
Korean rendering: 인치심 (injchisim; verb root 인치다, injchida). Risk: High. Must retain the legal-ownership/security sense (a definitive, once-for-all divine mark of belonging) — not conflated with a shamanistic protective marking or talisman (부적) placed on a person or object to ward off evil spirits, a genuinely present folk-practice parallel that could otherwise seem to “fit” this image too easily. The seal here is the Holy Spirit himself indwelling the believer, not an external protective object.

ἀρραβών (arrabōn, “guarantee/down payment”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: an earnest, a down payment, a first installment guaranteeing full payment to follow.
Semantic range: a commercial-legal term for a partial payment that legally binds the payer to complete the transaction.
English variants: guarantee, pledge, down payment, deposit, first installment.
Contextual meaning: Eph 1:14, “the guarantee of our inheritance” — the Holy Spirit’s present indwelling is itself a partial, binding installment of the believer’s future, complete inheritance.
Korean rendering: 보증 (bojeung), established KRV term. Risk: Medium. Korean 보증 (guarantee, as in a loan guarantee/collateral) carries strong commercial-legal connotations that can helpfully convey the certainty of the image, provided the teaching clarifies this is God’s own gracious guarantee to his people, not a debt the believer owes or a collateral the believer must provide.

κληρονομία (klēronomia, “inheritance”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: an inheritance, a portion received by right of heirship.
Semantic range: property or blessing passed to an heir upon a testator’s death, or by legal appointment; in the LXX, the land of Canaan as Israel’s inheritance from God.
English variants: inheritance, heritage, portion.
Contextual meaning: Eph 1:11, 1:14, 1:18 — believers’ guaranteed future possession of all the riches of God’s kingdom, secured through adoption (baseline term) into God’s family.
Korean rendering: 기업 (gieop), established KRV term for this concept in older/ecclesial usage. Risk: High. Important modern-Korean homograph collision: in contemporary standard Korean, 기업 (same Hangul spelling, distinct hanja 企業) overwhelmingly means “corporation/business enterprise” in everyday usage. A Korean reader encountering “하나님 나라의 기업” outside a well-established liturgical/hymnic context risks momentary confusion or an unintentionally commercial-sounding reading. This risk is mitigated by long-standing KRV usage (which has trained church readers to recognize the theological sense), but Phase 2 translators must flag every occurrence for native-speaker review to confirm the theological sense is unambiguous in context, and should consider a clarifying gloss (“영원한 기업,” “eternal inheritance/heritage”) where the surrounding text is thin. Note also that Ephesians 3:6 uses a different term, 상속자 (heir), for a related but distinct concept — see ch. 3 below — creating a secondary consistency question to resolve at the glossary level.

σοφία / ἀποκάλυψις (sophia / apokalypsis, “wisdom” / “revelation”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: wisdom / an uncovering, unveiling.
Semantic range: σοφία, insight into God’s ways; ἀποκάλυψις, God’s disclosure of what was previously hidden (paired with μυστήριον).
English variants: wisdom, insight; revelation, disclosure.
Contextual meaning: Eph 1:17, “a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him” — God-given, Spirit-mediated insight into the mystery just described, not human philosophical wisdom or contemplative attainment.
Korean rendering: 지혜 / 계시 (jihye / gyesi). Risk: Medium. 지혜 must be distinguished from Confucian sagely wisdom-cultivation (an achieved virtue through study/self-discipline) and from Buddhist enlightenment-insight (반야/지혜, prajñā) — this is Spirit-given knowledge of a personal God, not an attained inner state.

πλήρωμα (plērōma, “fullness”) — [NEW, foundational for “The Church as the Body of Christ” doctrine]

Literal meaning: that which fills, a full measure, completeness.
Semantic range: a term with philosophical/cosmological resonance in the Greco-Roman world (later prominent in Gnostic systems as the totality of divine emanations); Paul uses it of the church as the “fullness” of Christ and of Christ’s own fullness filling all things (1:23), and of believers being filled to God’s fullness (3:19), and doctrinally of the “fullness of him who fills all in all.”
English variants: fullness, completeness, that which completes.
Contextual meaning: The church is not incidental to Christ but is presented as, in some sense, his “fullness” — the corporate body through which his complete presence and rule is expressed on earth.
Korean rendering: 충만 (chungman), established KRV term. Risk: High. Requires careful theological framing to avoid two errors: (a) reducing “fullness” to a vague spiritual feeling of being “full” (충만한 느낌) rather than a structural, corporate-ecclesiological category; (b) any drift toward a Gnostic-adjacent or pantheistic reading (Christ’s substance diffused into the church as into a container) — Ephesians’ fullness language must be read as relational and functional (the church as the sphere/instrument of Christ’s ongoing rule and presence), not ontological merger.

κεφαλή (kephalē, “head”) — [NEW, appears first in 1:22, developed in 4:15, 5:23]

Literal meaning: the physical head of a body.
Semantic range: source, authority-over, and organic-connection senses in Pauline usage — debated among scholars as to relative emphasis (authority vs. source), but in Ephesians clearly combines headship-authority with the organic body-metaphor (Christ nourishes and directs the body as its head).
English variants: head, head over.
Contextual meaning: Eph 1:22, “he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church” — introduces the “head/body” metaphor that structures the ecclesiology of the whole letter and (in ch. 5) the household-code marriage metaphor.
Korean rendering: 머리 (meori). Risk: High. Must be consistently rendered so that the same term links Christ’s headship over the church (1:22, 4:15) and the husband’s headship in marriage (5:23) — the deliberate Pauline parallel would be lost if different Korean words were used in the two contexts. See ch. 5 below for the specific household-code risk this creates.

Chapter 2 (2:11–22) — Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity

(Verses 1–10 are treated in full above as the core passage; this section covers the remainder of the chapter.)

τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ (to mesotoichon tou phragmou, “the dividing wall of hostility”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: the middle-wall of the fence/partition.
Semantic range: a concrete architectural image, likely alluding to the temple’s actual dividing barrier (the soreg) that barred Gentiles from the inner courts on pain of death.
English variants: dividing wall, wall of separation, barrier.
Contextual meaning: Eph 2:14 — Christ has “broken down” this wall, ending the Jew/Gentile separation once marked by an actual, enforced temple architecture.
Korean rendering: 막힌 담 (makhin dam), established KRV rendering. Risk: High. Directly supports the “Unity of Jews and Gentiles” doctrine already flagged High in the Romans baseline; in the Korean context, this must avoid any assimilation to Korea’s own ethnic-nationalist self-conception (단일민족, “single ethnic nation,” already flagged under baseline “gentiles”), instead teaching that Christ has abolished every such dividing barrier, a point that applies as much within the Korean church’s own social/regional/generational divisions as to the original Jew/Gentile one.

καινὸς ἄνθρωπος (kainos anthrōpos, “one new man / new humanity”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: a new man/human being.
Semantic range: not a renewed individual but a corporately created new humanity formed by uniting formerly separated peoples in Christ.
English variants: one new man, new humanity, new person.
Contextual meaning: Eph 2:15 — the goal of Christ’s reconciling work is not simply tolerance between two groups but the creation of an entirely new, third entity (neither merely “Jew” nor merely “Gentile” but “in Christ”). This same phrase root recurs individually in 4:24 (“put on the new self/man”).
Korean rendering: 한 새 사람 (han sae saram). Risk: High. Must be flagged for consistency alongside 4:24’s “new self” (also 새 사람) — translators must clarify in teaching notes that 2:15 is a corporate/social new humanity (Jew and Gentile united) while 4:24 is the individual new self put on in daily sanctification; the same Korean phrase legitimately carries both senses in Paul’s usage, but this dual reference must not be flattened into only one meaning.

οἰκεῖοι τοῦ θεοῦ (oikeioi tou theou, “household of God”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: members of the household/family.
Semantic range: family-household belonging, as opposed to a “guest” or “resident alien” status.
English variants: members of God’s household, God’s family.
Contextual meaning: Eph 2:19 — Gentiles, formerly “strangers and aliens,” are now full household members with the same standing as Jewish believers — reinforcing “Unity of Jews and Gentiles” with a family-belonging metaphor that anticipates ch. 3’s “fellow heirs.”
Korean rendering: 하나님의 권속 (Hananim-ui gwonsok), established KRV term. Risk: Medium. 권속 (household/family members, including a somewhat archaic/formal register in modern Korean) should be explained in accompanying materials, as the word may be less immediately transparent to younger readers than 가족 (family); the theological point — full belonging, not guest-status — must not be lost to unfamiliar vocabulary.

ἀκρογωνιαῖος / θεμέλιος / ναὸς ἅγιος (akrogōniaios / themelios / naos hagios — “cornerstone” / “foundation” / “holy temple”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: the outermost-cornerstone; a foundation; a holy sanctuary/inner-temple building.
Semantic range: architectural metaphor cluster — apostles/prophets as foundation, Christ as cornerstone, believers collectively as a growing temple.
English variants: cornerstone, foundation stone; foundation; holy temple, sanctuary.
Contextual meaning: Eph 2:20–21 — the church is pictured as a single, Christ-founded building under construction, growing into “a holy temple in the Lord,” directly connecting to ch. 1’s “fullness” ecclesiology and anticipating 4:12–16’s “building up the body” language.
Korean rendering: 모퉁이돌 / 터 / 성전 (mo-tung-i-dol / teo / seongjeon). Risk: Medium. 성전 (holy temple) must be distinguished from a Buddhist temple building (baseline already forbids 절 for “church”); here it functions purely as a metaphor for the corporate people of God, not a physical building at all — the risk is a Korean reader over-literalizing “temple” as endorsing a physical sacred-building theology, when Paul’s point is the opposite (God’s dwelling is now the believing community, not a building).

προσαγωγή (prosagōgē, “access”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: a bringing-to, an introduction, access granted (as into a royal court).
Semantic range: formal, granted right of approach to a superior, especially a monarch.
English variants: access, introduction.
Contextual meaning: Eph 2:18; 3:12 — both Jew and Gentile alike now have direct access to the Father through Christ by one Spirit — grounding the doctrine of direct, unmediated prayer already established in the Romans baseline (“prayer_and_intercession”), now extended interethnically.
Korean rendering: 나아감 (naagam). Risk: Medium. Should reinforce, not compete with, baseline’s “intercession” teaching: this is the believer’s own direct access to God, distinguished from a shamanistic ritual mediator’s (mudang’s) exclusive access to the spirit-world on a client’s behalf — here, all believers, Jew and Gentile alike, have equal, unmediated access.

Chapter 3 — The Mystery Revealed and Gentile Fellow-Heirship

συγκληρονόμος / σύσσωμος / συμμέτοχος (synklēronomos / syssōmos / symmetochos — “fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, fellow partakers”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: a joint-heir; a joint-body-member; a joint-partaker/participant.
Semantic range: a trio of σύν- (“with/together”) compounds Paul stacks for emphasis, each intensifying the equal-standing theme.
English variants: fellow heirs, members of the same body, partakers together, co-heirs.
Contextual meaning: Eph 3:6 — the specific content of the “mystery” (μυστήριον, ch. 1) now disclosed: Gentiles share Israel’s inheritance, body-membership, and covenant promise on fully equal terms, “through the gospel.” This is the doctrinal climax of “Unity of Jews and Gentiles” and “The Mystery of Christ Revealed” together.
Korean rendering: 함께 상속자가 되고 함께 지체가 되고 함께 약속에 참여하는 자 (hamkke sangsokja-ga doego hamkke jiche-ga doego hamkke yaksok-e chamyeohaneun ja). Risk: High. Note the KRV’s use of 상속자 (sangsokja, “heir/successor”) here, distinct from ch. 1’s 기업 (gieop, “inheritance”) for the related inheritance concept — flag this dual vocabulary for glossary-level consistency review (see 08_core_glossary.md). The triple “함께” (together) repetition must be preserved in translation to retain the rhetorical force of Paul’s threefold emphasis on equal Gentile standing.

παρρησία (parrēsia, “boldness/confidence”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: freedom/boldness of speech; frankness.
Semantic range: originally a civic-political term for a citizen’s right to speak freely in the assembly; in NT usage, confident, unashamed approach to God.
English variants: boldness, confidence, freedom of speech.
Contextual meaning: Eph 3:12 — believers may approach God “with boldness and confidence through faith in him” — the practical, experiential fruit of the access (προσαγωγή) doctrine above.
Korean rendering: 담대함 (damdaeham). Risk: Medium. Standard vocabulary; ensure this confidence is grounded explicitly in Christ’s finished work and one’s standing in him, not in personal merit, social status, or a shaman-like ritual “correctness” that might otherwise be thought necessary before approaching the divine.

πλοῦτος (in 3:8, “the unsearchable riches of Christ”) — [NEW, same root as 2:7’s “riches of grace”] Reuse Korean 풍성함 (pungseongham). Risk: High, same caution as at 2:7 regarding drift toward material-prosperity readings; here specifically “the riches of Christ” (his person and work), not a promise of financial blessing.

ἐρριζωμένοι καὶ τεθεμελιωμένοι (errizōmenoi kai tethemeliōmenoi, “rooted and grounded”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: having been rooted (as a plant) and having been founded (as a building).
Semantic range: a mixed agricultural/architectural metaphor for stability.
English variants: rooted and grounded, rooted and established.
Contextual meaning: Eph 3:17 — love (Christ’s indwelling love) as the stabilizing foundation/root of the believer’s whole existence, from which comprehension of the “breadth, length, height, depth” of Christ’s love becomes possible.
Korean rendering: 뿌리가 박히고 터가 굳어져서 (ppuri-ga bakigo teo-ga gudeojyeoseo). Risk: Low. Standard metaphor; low collision risk, primarily a translation-craft matter of preserving both images (root/foundation) rather than collapsing to one.

Chapter 4 — One Body, Gifts for Building Up the Church, and the New Self

ἑνότης τοῦ πνεύματος (henotēs tou pneumatos, “unity of the Spirit”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: oneness of the Spirit.
Semantic range: the already-existing spiritual unity created by the one Holy Spirit indwelling all believers, to be maintained (not created) through practical effort.
English variants: unity of the Spirit, unity the Spirit gives.
Contextual meaning: Eph 4:3, “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” — grounds the sevenfold “one body, one Spirit… one God and Father” creed of 4:4–6.
Korean rendering: 성령이 하나 되게 하신 것 (seongnyeong-i hana doege hasin geot). Risk: High. Must retain baseline’s Holy Spirit protections (성령, never 신령/신 alone) while also conveying that this unity is a given fact to be preserved, not an achievement to be manufactured — relevant given Korea’s denominationally fragmented Protestant landscape, where this passage carries practical ecumenical weight.

Sevenfold unity formula (4:4–6): σῶμα, πνεῦμα, ἐλπίς, κύριος, πίστις, βάπτισμα, θεὸς καὶ πατήρ — [Mixed BASELINE/NEW]

σῶμα (body) — [NEW, ecclesiological sense; see also 1:23]. Korean: 몸 (mom). Risk: High — “one body” is the central image of “The Church as the Body of Christ” doctrine; must be understood organically (living, Spirit-animated union) not merely organizationally (an institution/association).
πνεῦμα (Spirit) — [BASELINE] Reuse 성령.
ἐλπίς (hope) — [NEW]. Korean: 소망 (somang). Risk: Low; standard term.
κύριος (Lord) — [BASELINE] Reuse 주님.
πίστις (faith) — [BASELINE] Reuse 믿음.
βάπτισμα (baptism) — [NEW]. Korean: 세례 (serye), established Korean church term. Risk: Medium — should be understood as the single, unifying rite marking entry into Christ and his body, not a source of denominational division (a live pastoral concern given differing Korean-church baptismal practices/modes).
θεὸς καὶ πατήρ (God and Father) — [BASELINE] Reuse 하나님 아버지 — retain both baseline “god” (Critical: 하나님, never 하느님/천주) and “father” (Critical: 아버지, with jesa-history awareness) protections simultaneously.

Gift-offices (4:11): ἀπόστολος, προφήτης, εὐαγγελιστής, ποιμήν, διδάσκαλος — [Mixed BASELINE/NEW, central to “Gifts for Building Up the Church” doctrine]

ἀπόστολος (apostle) — [BASELINE] Reuse 사도.
προφήτης (prophet) — [BASELINE] Reuse 선지자. Note: in the NT-era church-office sense here (a functioning New Testament congregational gift, distinct from the OT prophetic-canon sense already governed by baseline), the same Korean term applies but the doctrinal referent shifts slightly — flag for a brief clarifying teaching note distinguishing OT canonical prophets from NT congregational prophetic gifting.
εὐαγγελιστής (evangelist) — [NEW]. Korean: 전도자 (jeondoja, “one who does 전도,” evangelism — reusing baseline’s “evangelism” 전도 root exactly). Risk: Medium, consistent with baseline’s “evangelism” entry — frame in terms of gospel proclamation, not achievement-metric evangelism culture.
ποιμήν (pastor/shepherd) — [NEW]. Korean: 목사 (moksa, the established modern Korean clergy title) or the more literal 목자 (mokja, “shepherd,” used elsewhere of Christ). Risk: Medium. Flag: 목사 is now primarily an institutional clergy title in Korean church culture (an ordained office with denominational credentialing), which may narrow the New Testament’s broader “shepherding” gift-function to only ordained clergy; consider whether 목자적 은사 (“shepherding gift”) better preserves the functional, Spirit-gift sense Paul intends here alongside the more familiar 목사.
διδάσκαλος (teacher) — [NEW]. Korean: 교사 (gyosa). Risk: Low; standard term, though note the Greek’s likely hendiadys “pastors and teachers” (one combined gift-office) versus two separate offices — a structural point for translator awareness, not primarily a lexical risk.

καταρτισμός (katartismos, “equipping”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: a making fit, a complete outfitting/preparation (used of setting a fractured bone, or preparing/mending fishing nets).
Semantic range: bringing something to its full, proper, functioning condition.
English variants: equipping, perfecting, preparing.
Contextual meaning: Eph 4:12 — the gift-offices exist “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” — gifts are given not for the office-holder’s status but for the whole congregation’s functional health and growth.
Korean rendering: 온전하게 함 (onjeonhage ham). Risk: Medium. Must retain the sense of functional preparation for ministry work, not merely “moral perfection” (which could drift toward 성화/수행 territory, already governed under baseline “sanctification”).

παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος / καινὸς ἄνθρωπος (palaios anthrōpos / kainos anthrōpos, “old self” / “new self”) — [NEW, individual-ethical counterpart to 2:15’s corporate “new man”]

Literal meaning: the old man / the new man.
Semantic range: the believer’s pre-conversion identity and habits, to be decisively “put off,” versus the Spirit-renewed identity to be “put on,” using a clothing metaphor (ἀποτίθημι, “put off/lay aside”; ἐνδύω, “put on/clothe oneself”).
English variants: old self, old nature; new self, new nature; put off / put on.
Contextual meaning: Eph 4:22–24 — the doctrinal ground of “Walking in Newness of Life” as an ethical, daily-lived reality flowing from the “created in Christ Jesus” reality of 2:10.
Korean rendering: 옛 사람 / 새 사람 (yet saram / sae saram); 벗어 버리다 / 입다 (beoseo beorida / ipda, “take off” / “put on,” a natural Korean clothing-metaphor equivalent). Risk: High. As flagged at 2:15, must be distinguished by teaching context from the corporate “one new man” of ch. 2 while using the identical Korean phrase — both are legitimate, connected senses in Paul, but a Korean reader should be helped to see how the individual and corporate dimensions relate (personal renewal as participation in the larger new-humanity reality) rather than treating them as unrelated. Also must not be assimilated to Confucian or Buddhist self-cultivation renewal (수행, 도 닦기) — this is a decisive, Spirit-enabled reality flowing from union with Christ, not a gradual self-achieved attainment.

λυπέω τὸ πνεῦμα (lypeō to pneuma, “grieve the Spirit”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: to cause grief/sorrow to the Spirit.
Semantic range: a striking personal-relational verb applied to the Holy Spirit — only possible if the Spirit is a personal being capable of relational sorrow, not an impersonal force.
English variants: grieve the Spirit, do not sadden the Spirit.
Contextual meaning: Eph 4:30 — reinforces the Holy Spirit’s full, relational personhood (directly supporting baseline’s Critical “holy_spirit” doctrine against impersonal-force framings) and connects the Spirit’s sealing (1:13) with ongoing ethical accountability.
Korean rendering: 성령을 근심하게 하지 말라 (seongnyeong-eul geunsimhage haji malla), established KRV phrasing. Risk: Critical, inheriting baseline’s Critical status for 성령 itself: this verse is a strong positive resource for teaching the Spirit’s personhood against any shamanistic impersonal-force or channelable-power framing (baseline’s central concern with 신령/영력), and should be highlighted as such in Phase 2 teaching materials.

Chapter 5 — Walking in Love and Light; Household Codes; the Mystery of Marriage

μιμηταὶ τοῦ θεοῦ (mimētai tou theou, “imitators of God”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: imitators/mimics of God.
Semantic range: modeling one’s conduct directly on God’s own character and action (specifically, his self-giving love, 5:1–2).
English variants: imitators of God, followers of God.
Contextual meaning: Eph 5:1 — the ethical imperative flows directly from identity as “beloved children,” not from external rule-compliance; reinforces “Walking in Newness of Life” as gospel-motivated rather than duty-motivated.
Korean rendering: 하나님을 본받는 자 (Hananim-eul bonbanneun ja). Risk: Medium. Ensure “본받다” (imitate/model after) is read as loving, filial imitation flowing from grace-given sonship (echoing baseline “adoption”), not Confucian rule-based deference to a superior’s example performed out of social obligation.

προσφορὰ καὶ θυσία (prosphora kai thysia, “offering and sacrifice”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: an offering (brought near/presented) and a sacrifice (slain victim).
Semantic range: OT/temple cultic-offering vocabulary, applied metaphorically to Christ’s self-giving death (5:2).
English variants: offering and sacrifice, fragrant offering.
Contextual meaning: Eph 5:2 — Christ’s death described in temple-sacrificial terms as “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God,” grounding believers’ self-giving love in Christ’s own atoning self-gift.
Korean rendering: 향기로운 제물과 희생제물 (hyanggiroun jemul-gwa huisaeng-jemul). Risk: High. 제사/제물 (jesa/jemul, “offering/ritual-sacrifice”) is precisely the vocabulary family associated with Korea’s historically sensitive ancestor-memorial rites (제사, already flagged Critical under baseline “father” for its role in Korean Catholic martyrdom history). While the term here refers to Christ’s unique, once-for-all, God-directed atoning sacrifice — categorically different from an ongoing ancestor-veneration rite — the shared root vocabulary requires an explicit teaching note distinguishing Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice to God from any ongoing ritual-offering obligation to ancestors, especially given this term’s proximity to household-code material later in the same chapter.

τέκνα φωτός / καρπὸς τοῦ φωτός (tekna phōtos / karpos tou phōtos, “children of light” / “fruit of light”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: children of light; fruit of the light.
Semantic range: a light/darkness moral-dualism image (cf. also 1 Thessalonians, John’s Gospel) describing believers’ transformed identity and its resulting ethical fruit (goodness, righteousness, truth).
English variants: children of light, sons of light; fruit of the light/Spirit.
Contextual meaning: Eph 5:8–9 — continues “Walking in Newness of Life,” contrasting former “darkness” with present identity as “light in the Lord.”
Korean rendering: 빛의 자녀 / 빛의 열매 (bit-ui janyeo / bit-ui yeolmae). Risk: Low. Standard, well-established biblical-Korean light/darkness imagery; low collision risk.

πληροῦσθε ἐν πνεύματι (plērousthe en pneumati, “be filled with the Spirit”) — [NEW, connects to ch.1’s πλήρωμα]

Literal meaning: be being filled in/by the Spirit (present passive imperative — an ongoing, repeated command, not a one-time event).
Semantic range: continual Spirit-empowerment for worship, thanksgiving, and mutual submission (contrasted with drunkenness, 5:18).
English variants: be filled with the Spirit, keep being filled with the Spirit.
Contextual meaning: Eph 5:18 — the practical, ongoing counterpart to the one-time “sealing” of 1:13; grounds the household-code section (5:21ff.) as itself an outworking of Spirit-fullness, not merely social convention.
Korean rendering: 성령으로 충만함을 받으라 (seongnyeong-euro chungmanham-eul badeura). Risk: Critical, inheriting both baseline’s 성령 Critical status and the “power/Spirit” collision already flagged for baseline “power_of_god”: this “filling” must be taught as the Spirit’s ongoing sanctifying, worship-producing, relationally-fruitful work — never assimilated to ecstatic shamanistic spirit-possession phenomena (a live pastoral concern in parts of Korean charismatic church culture, as the baseline itself already notes for 능력/영력) nor sought as an experience-for-its-own-sake disconnected from the specific fruit Paul names (song, thanksgiving, mutual submission).

ὑποτάσσω (hypotassō, “submit”) — [NEW — central to “Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships” doctrine]

Literal meaning: to arrange under, to place in a subordinate order (military/hierarchical ordering image).
Semantic range: voluntary, willing yielding to another’s authority within an ordered relationship — ranges from mutual deference (5:21, “submitting to one another”) to a wife’s particular submission to her husband (5:22, 24) to the church’s submission to Christ (5:24, the standard/pattern for the former).
English variants: submit, be subject to, yield to.
Contextual meaning: Eph 5:21–24 introduces the household code by first commanding mutual submission (“submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ,” 5:21) before specifying the wife-husband application — a structuring detail with major interpretive and pastoral significance.
Korean rendering: 복종하다 (bokjonghada). Risk: Critical. This is among the highest-risk household-code terms for Korean given the historic, still-influential Confucian patriarchal family structure (male household headship, wife’s structural subordination, echoing the same “three obediences” pattern already flagged Critical under baseline “obedience_of_faith”). Two distinct risks must both be managed: (1) the risk of reading past 5:21’s initial “submit to one another” (mutual, reciprocal) directly to 5:22’s wife-specific application, missing that Paul frames the whole household code within a prior call to mutual deference among all believers; (2) the risk of the Confucian cultural frame absorbing 복종 into a hierarchical power-compliance concept detached from 5:25’s counter-balancing, equally radical command that husbands love their wives “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” — a self-sacrificial standard that relativizes any reading of headship as unilateral authority. Both verses (21 and 25) must be flagged together for mandatory human theologian review; translating 5:22 without the framing of 5:21 and 5:25 risks reinforcing, rather than transforming, existing patriarchal patterns.

κεφαλή (kephalē, “head”) — [Reuse ch.1 entry] Eph 5:23, “the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church.” Risk: Critical in this specific application (elevated from ch. 1’s High rating because of the direct household-application context): the Christ-church headship pattern that defines “head” here is explicitly a self-sacrificial, nourishing, cherishing headship (5:25–29, “as Christ…gave himself up,” “nourishes and cherishes it”), not an authority-only or privilege-only headship. Must always be taught paired with 5:25–29, never isolated as a bare authority-claim.

μυστήριον (mystērion, “mystery”) — [BASELINE root, reuse 비밀] Eph 5:32, “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” Risk: High. The marriage relationship itself is presented as a living picture/parable of the Christ-church mystery already introduced in ch. 1 and ch. 3 — this must be flagged as a deliberate, structurally important callback rather than an unrelated use of “mystery,” reinforcing consistency across the whole book’s μυστήριον vocabulary.

Chapter 6 — Household Codes Continued; Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God

ὑπακούετε τοῖς γονεῦσιν / τίμα τὸν πατέρα καὶ τὴν μητέρα (children obeying parents / honoring father and mother) — [NEW, related to BASELINE “obedience of faith” root]

Literal meaning: obey your parents; honor your father and mother.
Semantic range: ὑπακούω, active compliance with instruction; τιμάω, esteeming/valuing highly (the same verb as “honor” in the Decalogue, quoted directly in 6:2–3).
English variants: obey, be obedient; honor, esteem, respect.
Contextual meaning: Eph 6:1–3 — Paul grounds this instruction explicitly in citing the Decalogue’s fifth commandment “with a promise,” situating the household code within the moral law rather than presenting it as an arbitrary cultural expectation.
Korean rendering: 순종하라 / 공경하라 (sunjonghara / gonggyeonghara). Risk: High. 공경 (honor/respect toward parents/elders) sits very close to the vocabulary of Korean Confucian filial piety, 효 (hyo) — one of the most deeply embedded values in Korean culture, historically extending to ancestor-memorial obligation (제사, already Critical-flagged under baseline “father”). This is a place where biblical instruction and Korean cultural value substantially overlap rather than collide — which is itself a translation risk of a different kind: teaching must clarify this command is grounded in God’s own moral law and “in the Lord” (6:1, a qualifying phrase easily glossed over), not a re-endorsement of the full traditional 효 framework including ancestor ritual veneration, which the gospel does not require and, in its jesa-rite form, historically opposed.

δοῦλοι / κύριοι (douloi / kyrioi, “bondservants” / “masters”) — [NEW — direct collision with BASELINE “lord” 주님]

Literal meaning: slaves/servants; lords/masters/owners.
Semantic range: κύριος is the identical Greek word rendered “Lord” throughout the NT for God/Christ (baseline Critical term); here it denotes an ordinary human slave-owner/master, a first-century social-economic relationship without a modern equivalent.
English variants: bondservants, slaves, servants; masters, owners.
Contextual meaning: Eph 6:5–9 — instructs slaves to serve “as to the Lord” and masters to treat slaves justly, “knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven” — deliberately relativizing the human master/slave relationship under the ultimate Lordship of the true, heavenly κύριος.
Korean rendering: 종들아 / 상전 (jongdeul-a / sangjeon). Risk: Critical. The KRV wisely avoids applying the honorific 주님 (reserved exclusively for God/Christ per baseline) to human masters, instead using the distinct, non-honorific term 상전 (sangjeon, “master” in a social/economic, non-divine sense) — this existing KRV choice must be preserved exactly, since using 주님 or even 주인님 for a human slaveowner would blur the absolute Critical-tier distinction the baseline requires between exclusive divine Lordship and any human authority. This passage additionally requires careful contemporary application teaching, since chattel slavery has no true modern equivalent in Korean social experience; most Korean-church pedagogical tradition applies this passage to employer/employee relationships (상사/직원), which is a legitimate but non-identical application that should be explicitly flagged as an interpretive move, not a literal one-to-one correspondence.

πάλη (palē, “struggle” / “wrestling”) and the πανοπλία τοῦ θεοῦ (panoplia tou theou, “whole armor of God”) — [NEW — central to “Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God” doctrine]

Literal meaning: πάλη, a wrestling match (hand-to-hand combat, not long-range/projectile warfare); πανοπλία, a soldier’s full/complete equipment (πᾶν, “all” + ὅπλον, “weapon/armor”).
Semantic range: πάλη emphasizes close, personal, direct engagement; πανοπλία, the complete Roman legionary’s equipment set, used here as a sustained extended metaphor (6:14–17: belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of the Spirit/word of God).
English variants: struggle, wrestling, contest; full armor, whole armor, armor.
Contextual meaning: Eph 6:10–17 — the climactic ethical-theological image of the book: believers’ conflict is explicitly not against human beings (“flesh and blood”) but against a real, organized, hostile spiritual hierarchy, requiring God’s own provided equipment (each piece corresponding to an already-established doctrine of the letter: truth, righteousness/baseline term 의, the gospel of peace/baseline 화평, faith/baseline 믿음, salvation/baseline 구원, the word of God).
Korean rendering: 씨름/싸움 (ssireum/ssaum) / 하나님의 전신 갑주 (Hananim-ui jeonsin gapju), established KRV phrase for the armor. Risk: Critical. This entire passage is the single greatest concentrated spiritual-warfare collision point in the curriculum, requiring the most careful teaching of any passage in Ephesians for the Korean context:
1. Korean shamanism (무속신앙) is deeply organized around perceived hostile spirits (귀신, 잡귀, 악귀) that cause misfortune, illness, and calamity, addressed through a mudang’s ritual exorcism (굿), protective talismans (부적), or divination to identify and appease/expel the offending spirit.
2. Ephesians 6 must be taught with maximum clarity that biblical spiritual warfare (a) is already-won in principle through Christ’s finished victory (echoing 1:20–22’s Christ enthroned “far above all rule and authority”; 2:6’s believers already seated with him); (b) is engaged through prayer (6:18), truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation (baseline-governed terms), and Scripture — never through ritual objects, exorcistic performance, divination, or a specialist ritual-mediator; (c) targets organized spiritual authorities (ἀρχαί, ἐξουσίαι — “rulers,” “authorities,” see below) under a defeated but still-active adversary, not a populated, negotiable pantheon of spirits to be warded off or placated case by case.
3. This passage must be flagged for mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence, on the same tier as baseline’s “power_of_god” and “holy_spirit” entries, given the exceptionally close and long-documented proximity between this biblical material and Korean folk-shamanistic practice.

ἀρχαί, ἐξουσίαι, κοσμοκράτορες τοῦ σκότους, τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας (archai, exousiai, kosmokratores tou skotous, ta pneumatika tēs ponērias — “rulers,” “authorities,” “cosmic powers over this present darkness,” “spiritual forces of evil”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: rulers/first-ones; authorities/permissions-holders; world-rulers of the darkness; the spiritual things of wickedness.
Semantic range: a stacked, escalating fourfold description of organized hostile spiritual hierarchy, echoing 1:21’s “rule and authority and power and dominion” (there said to be already subject to the exalted Christ).
English variants: rulers, principalities; authorities, powers; world forces of this darkness, cosmic powers; spiritual forces of evil, spiritual hosts of wickedness.
Contextual meaning: Eph 6:12 — names the true, unseen opponents in the spiritual conflict, deliberately distinguished from “flesh and blood” (human opponents) — this verse is the doctrinal key that must reframe any merely interpersonal or merely psychological reading of “spiritual warfare” back to its properly cosmic-spiritual referent.
Korean rendering: 통치자들과 권세들과 이 어둠의 세상 주관자들과 하늘에 있는 악의 영들 (tongchijadeul-gwa gwonsedeul-gwa i eodum-ui sesang jugwanjadeul-gwa haneul-e itneun ak-ui yeongdeul), established KRV phrasing. Risk: Critical. Particular attention to 악의 영 (ak-ui yeong, “evil spirits”): this phrase sits directly adjacent, in ordinary Korean religious vocabulary, to 귀신/악귀 (gwisin/akgwi), the standard folk-shamanistic terms for malevolent spirits addressed through gut ritual, exorcism, or talismans. The doctrinal requirement is not to avoid this vocabulary (Ephesians itself requires naming real, hostile spiritual powers) but to ensure every occurrence is taught within its full Ephesians context: these powers are (a) already defeated in principle by the exalted Christ (1:20–21), (b) engaged only through the God-given armor/prayer, never through folk-ritual counter-measures, and (c) never to be treated with curiosity, fear-driven fascination, or independent “spiritual power” of their own that rivals God’s — the text’s entire rhetorical point is confidence in Christ’s supremacy over them, not anxious preoccupation with their threat. This is the Korean-context equivalent, in intensity, of the baseline’s Critical “power_of_god”/기복신앙 pairing, and must be routed identically for mandatory theologian review.

προσευχή ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ ἐν πνεύματι (proseuchē en panti kairō en pneumati, “prayer at all times in the Spirit”) — [NEW, reinforcing BASELINE prayer/Spirit terms]

Literal meaning: prayer in every season/occasion, in the Spirit.
Semantic range: continual, Spirit-enabled prayer as the concluding, positive practice of the armor section.
English variants: praying at all times in the Spirit, praying always in the Spirit.
Contextual meaning: Eph 6:18 — the armor’s true “offensive” complement; prayer, not ritual, is the believer’s ongoing spiritual-warfare practice.
Korean rendering: 항상 성령 안에서 기도하고 (hangsang seongnyeong an-eseo gidohago). Risk: High. Reinforces baseline’s “prayer_and_intercession” doctrine (direct access to God, distinct from shamanistic ritual mediation) in the specific spiritual-warfare context — an important positive teaching resource to pair with the Critical-risk terms immediately preceding it.

πρεσβεύω ἐν ἁλύσει (presbeuō en halysei, “ambassador in chains”) — [NEW]

Literal meaning: to act as an ambassador/envoy, in a chain (imprisonment).
Semantic range: a diplomatic-representative image applied paradoxically to Paul’s imprisoned condition.
English variants: ambassador in chains, envoy in bonds.
Contextual meaning: Eph 6:20 — Paul’s self-description while requesting prayer for boldness in proclaiming the mystery (μυστήριον) of the gospel, closing the letter’s mystery-theme with a personal, vulnerable application.
Korean rendering: 쇠사슬에 매인 사신 (soesasseul-e maein sasin). Risk: Low. Standard biographical-narrative vocabulary; low doctrinal collision risk, mainly requiring accurate historical-context framing (Roman house-arrest imprisonment) for reader comprehension.

Summary of Full-Book Coverage

All six chapters of Ephesians have been reviewed. No chapter introduces zero new theological vocabulary — Ephesians is unusually dense in load-bearing terms relative to its length, and every chapter contributes at least one term of Medium risk or above requiring specific Korean-context handling, as documented above. Chapters 1, 2 (core passage + 2:11–22), 3, 4, 5, and 6 each contain Critical-risk material requiring mandatory human theologian review under the same escalation framework established in the Romans baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json, extended in analysis/09 (doctrine risk registry update, downstream of this document).

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