Doctrine Analysis
Doctrine Analysis: Titus (Full Book, Chapters 1–3)
Purpose
This document is the PRD Phase 1 Step 4 doctrine matrix for the Titus curriculum. It enumerates every doctrine identified in doctrine_risk_registry.json (Titus), maps each to its supporting passages across the entire book, and states the risk tier, the specific translation risk (grounded in Korean religious-vocabulary collision, per this pipeline’s established method), and the review routing. Tiers and doctrine names below are identical to doctrine_risk_registry.json; this document does not introduce new tiers or doctrine names — it provides the full-book analytical narrative behind the registry’s entries and confirms full-chapter coverage.
The core passage, Titus 2:11–3:8, is the theological anchor of the curriculum (Grace That Trains for Godly Living; Salvation by Grace not Works; Regeneration by the Holy Spirit) and receives the deepest treatment below. However, per the full-book coverage mandate, Titus 1 and the remainder of Titus 2–3 outside the core span are analyzed with equal rigor; no chapter or section is silently omitted.
Part A: Full Doctrine Matrix
| # | Doctrine | Risk | Supporting Passages (Titus) | Translation Risk (Korean-specific) | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Grace That Trains for Godly Living | Critical | 2:11, 2:12, 2:13, 2:14 | Grace personified as active trainer (양육하다/훈육하다) risks collapsing into either (a) self-effort cultivation (수양, 도 닦기), making godliness a human achievement, or (b) an impersonal automatic force bypassing the will, drifting toward the 기복신앙 transactional pattern already Critical in the Romans baseline. Both must be foreclosed. | Human theologian |
| 2 | Qualifications for Elders | High | 1:5, 1:6, 1:7, 1:8, 1:9 | 장로 risks collapsing into Confucian age-based honorary elder-respect (연장자 존중) rather than the doctrinally/morally examined office of vv.6–9; 감독 risks importing later Korean denominational hierarchy (e.g., Methodist bishopric) absent from this text, where elder and overseer name one office. | Human theologian |
| 3 | Sound Doctrine and Good Works | High | 1:9, 1:13, 2:1, 2:7-8, 2:10, 2:14, 3:1, 3:8, 3:14 | 바른 교훈 risks being heard as Confucian orthodoxy (正道) or Buddhist 정법 (“right teaching”) — abstract social-philosophical correctness rather than apostolic, Christ-centered teaching producing a healthy, grace-shaped life; 선한 일 risks collapsing into Buddhist 공덕 (karmic merit-accumulation) if read as generating merit rather than flowing from grace already given (sequencing explicit in 3:5, 8). | Human theologian |
| 4 | Salvation by Grace not Works | Critical | 3:4, 3:5, 3:6, 3:7 | 3:5’s explicit negation (“not because of works done by us in righteousness”) is the strongest anti-merit statement in the letter; directly forecloses the reciprocal 기복신앙 exchange-logic (offering made, blessing granted) and the Buddhist 공덕 merit-accumulation reading of “righteous deeds.” | Human theologian |
| 5 | Regeneration by the Holy Spirit | Critical | 3:5, 3:6 | 중생 (KRV term for “regeneration”) is a homophone of the foundational Buddhist term 衆生 (“all sentient beings”), one of Korean Buddhism’s most frequent words — the single highest specific-vocabulary collision risk in this book. Must never stand unqualified; always paired as 중생의 씻음, with 거듭남/거듭나다 offered as collision-free supplementary gloss. NEVER 환생/윤회. | Human theologian |
| 6 | Submission to Authority | Critical | 2:5, 2:9, 3:1 | A single Greek submission-verb (ὑποτάσσω) spans civil (3:1), marital (2:5), and servile (2:9) relationships. 2:5 carries the sharpest risk: Korea’s historic, now-rejected Confucian 삼종지도 (“three obediences”) doctrine. All three contexts risk collapsing gospel-motivated, Spirit-enabled voluntary submission into rigid Confucian hierarchical-compliance culture. | Human theologian (mandatory for 2:5) |
| 7 | Avoiding Divisive Controversies | High | 1:10-14, 3:9, 3:10, 3:11 | 족보 carries deep positive Korean Confucian cultural weight (clan identity, ancestor-memorial practice); a surface “avoid genealogies” reading risks a mistaken general judgment against family-lineage interest or conflation with the separate jesa-rite controversy. 이단 carries intense modern institutional force (labeling controversial new religious movements, and at times rival denominations); Titus 3:10’s narrower two-warning pastoral-discipline scenario must not be conflated with this broader modern usage. | Human theologian |
| 8 | Deity of Christ | Critical | 1:3-4, 2:13, 3:4-6 | 2:13’s Granville-Sharp construction (“our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”) is the letter’s clearest single deity-of-Christ affirmation; Korean rendering must preserve single-referent grammatical unity. 구주 must not dilute toward the secular hero-rescuer trope (구원자) common in Korean film/drama. | Human theologian |
| 9 | Godliness and Piety | High | 1:1, 2:12 | 경건 risks being heard through Korea’s rigorous Confucian ritual-reverence/ancestor-memorial (제사) framework — already Critical under the Romans baseline’s “father” doctrine — as ritual/filial performance rather than personal devotion to the living God that grace itself produces. | Human theologian |
| 10 | Apostolic Authority and Delegated Ministry | Medium | 1:1-3, 1:5, 2:15 | 사도 and 하나님의 종 are comparatively low-collision established terms, but 종 carries residual Joseon-era slave-class (노비) connotation risking a degrading reading rather than honored total devotion. | Native speaker |
| 11 | Household Codes and Intergenerational Discipleship | Medium | 2:1-8 | Generic honorific respect Korean culture extends to elders (연장자) by age alone must not substitute for 2:1-8’s specific call to Spirit-produced character and active discipleship of the younger generation by the older. | Native speaker |
| 12 | Universal Scope of the Gospel | High | 2:11, 2:14 | ”Grace… to all people” (모든 사람) and “a people for his own possession” (자기 백성) risk being read through Korea’s ethnic-nationalist 단일민족 self-conception as an ethnic-insider category rather than the cross-ethnic, faith-constituted scope Titus intends — the same collision flagged under the Romans baseline’s “gentiles” and “unity_of_jews_and_gentiles.” | Human theologian |
| 13 | Redemption and Purification | Critical | 2:14 | 속량하다 and 깨끗하게 하다 together closely parallel the surface “washing/freeing a spirit” imagery of 씻김굿 (a shamanic ritual cleansing a deceased spirit’s grudge, 한, so it may rest). Christ’s redemption/purification is a completed, once-for-all act by his own self-gift, not a repeatable ritual performed by a religious specialist. | Human theologian |
| 14 | Hope of Eternal Life | Medium | 1:2, 2:13, 3:7 | 영생 must be distinguished from the Daoist/folk pursuit of physical immortality (불로장생), with genuine currency in Korean folk religion and popular media. Biblical eternal life is relational communion with God secured by grace, not extended physical existence via spiritual technique. | Native speaker |
| 15 | Rejection of False Teaching | High | 1:10-16 | The pure/defiled contrast in 1:15 locates defilement explicitly in “mind and conscience” — an interior moral state. Korean shamanistic 부정 (ritual/misfortune-linked impurity, addressed through gut-ceremony cleansing) risks reframing this as an external ritual condition removable by rite. | Human theologian |
| 16 | Mission Support for Gospel Workers | Medium | 3:12-14 | Consistent with the Romans baseline’s mission caution: Korea’s success-and-growth-oriented, numbers-driven missions-sending culture risks reframing practical support instruction as achievement-metric fundraising rather than gospel-motivated, relational provision. | Native speaker |
| 17 | Transformed Life Before and After Conversion | High | 3:3, 3:4-7 | The “before” catalogue (slavery to desires, malice, mutual hatred) and “after” (regeneration, renewal, heirship) describe a decisive, Spirit-wrought transition, not gradual self-improvement; Korean readers may otherwise assimilate this to ascetic self-cultivation (수행, 도 닦기) rather than a one-time act of God’s kindness and mercy received by grace. | Human theologian |
| 18 | Election and Divine Calling | Medium | 1:1 | Consistent with the Romans baseline’s election caution: 선택 must not render as 팔자/운 (birth-chart fate/luck) nor reduce to a competitive, merit-based “selection” outcome given Korea’s exam/hiring culture. | Native speaker |
| 19 | Inspiration and Knowledge of the Truth | Medium | 1:1-3 | 진리를 아는 지식 must be distinguished from Confucian scholarly transmission of classical texts (경) or Buddhist meditative enlightenment-knowledge (깨달음); this is personal knowledge of a specific, historical, revealed God’s truth, grounded in “God, who never lies” (1:2). | Native speaker |
| 20 | Stewardship of God’s Household | Medium | 1:7 | 청지기 must be distinguished from a Confucian household head (가장) who exercises paternal authority as his own prerogative; a biblical steward manages another’s property for the Owner’s (God’s) purposes, fully accountable to him. | Native speaker |
| 21 | Christian Witness and Gospel Reputation | Medium | 2:5, 2:8, 2:10 | Household conduct’s effect on the gospel’s public reputation (“so that the word of God may not be reviled,” 2:5; “adorn the doctrine,” 2:10) must be taught as gospel witness, not mere Confucian social-conformity or face-saving (체면) concern. | Native speaker |
| 22 | Mercy and Kindness of God | High | 3:4, 3:5 | 자비 is the primary Korean Buddhist compassion term (karuna/metta), a cultivated moral virtue extended to all sentient beings. Must be taught as God’s own initiating disposition accomplishing salvation (3:5), not a self-cultivated universal virtue attainable through spiritual practice. | Human theologian |
| 23 | Holiness and Purity of Conduct | High | 1:8, 1:15, 2:3, 2:12 | Must not be read through Korean shamanistic ritual-impurity concepts (부정을 씻다, removed via gut ceremony); biblical holiness across these passages is moral and relational set-apartness produced by grace, not ritual purification from misfortune. | Human theologian |
| 24 | Mutual Love and Gentleness | Low | 3:2 | Standard interpersonal ethic (gentleness, courtesy, avoiding slander) extending from the submission-to-authority instruction; no significant syncretism concern identified. | Automated review |
Tier totals (must match doctrine_risk_registry.json exactly): Critical 6, High 9, Medium 8, Low 1 — total 24 doctrines; 15 requiring human theologian review, 8 requiring native speaker review, 1 automated-only.
Part B: Chapter-by-Chapter Coverage
Titus 1:1–4 — Salutation
Doctrines active: Election and Divine Calling (1:1, “God’s elect,” 선택); Inspiration and Knowledge of the Truth (1:1-3, “knowledge of the truth,” “God, who never lies”); Apostolic Authority and Delegated Ministry (1:1, “servant of God, apostle of Jesus Christ”); Godliness and Piety (1:1, “truth that accords with godliness”); Deity of Christ (1:3-4, “God our Savior,” “Christ Jesus our Savior”); Hope of Eternal Life (1:2, “in hope of eternal life”). This four-verse salutation is unusually dense — nearly every major Titus doctrine is seeded here in miniature, consistent with Pauline salutation style (cf. Romans 1:1-7 in the baseline). Each term is governed by its registry entry above; no additional doctrine requires separate tracking here.
Titus 1:5–9 — Qualifications for Elders
Doctrines active: Qualifications for Elders (1:5-9, full qualification list); Stewardship of God’s Household (1:7, “God’s steward”); Sound Doctrine and Good Works (1:9, “hold firm to the trustworthy word… instruction in sound doctrine”). Verse-level notes: 1:6’s household-management criteria and 1:8’s virtue list (hospitable, self-controlled, upright, holy, disciplined) are covered under Qualifications for Elders and Holiness and Purity of Conduct respectively; no new doctrine beyond the registry’s scope is introduced.
Titus 1:10–16 — Warning Against False Teachers
Doctrines active: Rejection of False Teaching (1:10-16, “empty talkers and deceivers,” “Jewish myths,” “detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work”); Avoiding Divisive Controversies (1:10-14, background to the fuller 3:9-11 treatment); Holiness and Purity of Conduct (1:15, “to the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled…”). This section is reviewed in full; its “profess to know God but deny him by their works” clause (1:16) is tracked under Rejection of False Teaching and anticipates the profess/deny confessional-verb contrast noted in the Part B glossary (08_core_glossary.md).
Titus 2:1–8 — Instructions for Household Groups
Doctrines active: Household Codes and Intergenerational Discipleship (2:1-8, older men, older women, younger women, younger men); Submission to Authority (2:5, wives to husbands — flagged Critical, mandatory theologian review); Christian Witness and Gospel Reputation (2:5, “that the word of God may not be reviled”); Holiness and Purity of Conduct (2:3, “reverent in behavior”); Sound Doctrine and Good Works (2:7-8, Titus’s own model of good works and sound speech). Every verse in this span (2:1-8) is accounted for under these four doctrines; none is silently omitted.
Titus 2:9–10 — Instructions for Bondservants
Doctrines active: Submission to Authority (2:9, servants to masters); Christian Witness and Gospel Reputation (2:10, “so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior”). The household-master term (δεσπότης, 상전/주인) here is deliberately distinguished per the core glossary from κύριος (baseline 주님); this distinction is preserved as a translation-memory rule rather than a separate doctrine entry.
Titus 2:11–15 — Grace That Trains (Core Passage, Part 1)
Doctrines active: Grace That Trains for Godly Living (2:11-14, the curriculum’s namesake doctrine); Deity of Christ (2:13, “our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”); Universal Scope of the Gospel (2:11, “grace… to all people”; 2:14, “a people for his own possession”); Redemption and Purification (2:14, “redeem us… purify for himself”); Hope of Eternal Life (2:13, “our blessed hope”); Sound Doctrine and Good Works (2:15, “Declare these things… with all authority”). This is the theological hinge of the letter, and every doctrine active here receives Critical or High tier and human theologian review, consistent with the registry.
Titus 3:1–2 — Instructions for Life in Society
Doctrines active: Submission to Authority (3:1, “to be submissive to rulers and authorities”); Mutual Love and Gentleness (3:2, “to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people”). 3:2 is the book’s sole Low-risk doctrine node; it is retained here explicitly rather than omitted, per the full-coverage mandate, even though it carries no significant syncretism concern.
Titus 3:3–8 — Salvation by Grace, Not Works (Core Passage, Part 2)
Doctrines active: Transformed Life Before and After Conversion (3:3, the “before” catalogue); Salvation by Grace not Works (3:4-7, the letter’s central soteriological statement); Mercy and Kindness of God (3:4-5, χρηστότης/ἔλεος, “the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared… he saved us… according to his own mercy”); Regeneration by the Holy Spirit (3:5-6, “the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit”); Deity of Christ (3:4-6, Father/Spirit/Son triadic structure); Hope of Eternal Life (3:7, “heirs according to the hope of eternal life”); Sound Doctrine and Good Works (3:8, “these things are excellent and profitable for people… careful to devote themselves to good works”). This is the doctrinal climax of the entire book and receives the most concentrated cluster of Critical-tier doctrines (four of the six) in a single six-verse span.
Titus 3:9–11 — Avoiding Divisive Controversies
Doctrines active: Avoiding Divisive Controversies (3:9, “foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law”; 3:10, the divisive-person pastoral-discipline procedure; 3:11, “such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned”). Fully reviewed; no additional doctrine beyond the registry entry is introduced.
Titus 3:12–15 — Final Instructions, Greetings, and Benediction
Doctrines active: Mission Support for Gospel Workers (3:12-14, travel plans for Artemas/Tychicus, Zenas and Apollos, “let our people learn to devote themselves to good works… so as to help cases of urgent need”); Sound Doctrine and Good Works (3:14, restated); Grace That Trains for Godly Living (3:15, closing benediction, “Grace be with you all,” bookending 1:4’s opening grace — see baseline reuse note in 08_core_glossary.md). The closing greeting is reviewed explicitly: it introduces no new doctrine but reconfirms the letter’s grace-inclusio structure (1:4 / 3:15), which Phase 2 must render with the identical established term 은혜 in both locations for translation-memory consistency.
Part C: Full-Coverage Confirmation
| Chapter | Verses | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Titus 1 | 1:1-4 | Reviewed — multiple doctrines (see Part B) |
| Titus 1 | 1:5-9 | Reviewed — Qualifications for Elders; Stewardship; Sound Doctrine |
| Titus 1 | 1:10-16 | Reviewed — Rejection of False Teaching; Divisive Controversies (seed); Holiness |
| Titus 2 | 2:1-8 | Reviewed — Household Codes; Submission; Witness; Sound Doctrine |
| Titus 2 | 2:9-10 | Reviewed — Submission; Witness |
| Titus 2 | 2:11-15 | Reviewed — Core passage doctrines (Grace, Deity of Christ, Universal Scope, Redemption, Hope, Sound Doctrine) |
| Titus 3 | 3:1-2 | Reviewed — Submission; Mutual Love and Gentleness (Low) |
| Titus 3 | 3:3-8 | Reviewed — Core passage doctrines (Transformed Life, Salvation by Grace, Mercy/Kindness, Regeneration, Deity of Christ, Hope, Sound Doctrine) |
| Titus 3 | 3:9-11 | Reviewed — Divisive Controversies |
| Titus 3 | 3:12-15 | Reviewed — Mission Support; Sound Doctrine; Grace (closing inclusio) |
No chapter, section, or verse range in Titus 1–3 is omitted from this analysis. Every doctrine listed in doctrine_risk_registry.json is traced to its full set of supporting passages across the whole book, and every risk tier and review-routing assignment in Part A matches the registry exactly.
This document extends the Romans baseline 11_doctrine_analysis.md pattern to Titus and must be read alongside 08_core_glossary.md (term-level detail), doctrine_risk_registry.json (machine-enforced tiers), and the forthcoming Titus-specific update to translation_memory.json and 12_ai_translation_requirements.md.
Critical Risk Doctrines
Grace That Trains for Godly Living
Korean name: 경건한 삶을 훈육하는 은혜
Key terms: grace, training_for_godliness, epiphany_appearing, godliness, self_control
Review routing: Human theologian
Grace is personified here as the active agent that ‘trains’ (양육하다/훈육하다) believers, the curriculum’s namesake doctrine. Two Korean-specific failure modes threaten it: reading the training as self-effort resembling 수양/도 닦기 (self-cultivation), making godliness a human achievement, contrary to grace being the trainer; or reading grace as an impersonal automatic force producing morality without engaging the will, drifting toward a fatalistic reading adjacent to the 기복신앙 (fortune-seeking faith) pattern already flagged Critical in the Romans baseline’s ‘grace’ entry. Both must be foreclosed: grace is the personal trainer; godly living is its fruit.
Salvation by Grace not Works
Korean name: 행위가 아닌 은혜로 말미암은 구원
Key terms: grace, mercy, justification, kindness, good_works
Review routing: Human theologian
Titus 3:5’s explicit negation (‘not because of works done by us in righteousness’) is the single strongest anti-merit statement in this curriculum. Korean Christianity’s well-documented, self-critical history around 기복신앙 (fortune-seeking faith) — where prayer for blessing can slide into a shamanistically-inflected transactional exchange (an offering made, a blessing granted) — is precisely the reciprocal logic this verse forecloses. It must also guard against a Buddhist merit-accumulation (공덕) reading of ‘righteous deeds’ as spiritually efficacious toward salvation.
Regeneration by the Holy Spirit
Korean name: 성령으로 말미암은 중생
Key terms: regeneration, renewal_of_holy_spirit, holy_spirit, salvation
Review routing: Human theologian
중생 (the established KRV rendering of ‘regeneration’) is a homophone of the foundational Buddhist term 衆生 (‘all sentient beings’), one of the most frequently used words in Korean Buddhism. This is the single highest specific-vocabulary collision risk identified anywhere in this book: 중생 must never stand alone without its clarifying phrase 중생의 씻음 (‘the washing of regeneration’), and 거듭남/거듭나다 (‘born again’) should be offered as a collision-free supplementary gloss. NEVER render with 환생 or 윤회 (rebirth/reincarnation cycle) — this is a one-time, individual, Spirit-wrought inner renewal at conversion, not a repeatable cycle.
Submission to Authority
Korean name: 권위에 대한 복종
Key terms: submit, obey_authorities, rulers_and_authorities, household_master
Review routing: Human theologian
Titus uses a single submission-verb (ὑποτάσσω) across three relationships — civil (3:1), marital (2:5), and servile (2:9) — but 2:5’s wife-to-husband instruction carries the sharpest Korean collision: the traditional, now officially rejected Confucian ‘three obediences’ doctrine (삼종지도 — a woman’s prescribed lifelong obedience to father, then husband, then son) is a specific, documented Korean ethical-historical framework this verse risks being read through. Civil and servile submission likewise risk collapsing gospel-motivated, Spirit-enabled voluntary submission into rigid Confucian hierarchical-compliance culture rather than a Christ-modeled response.
Deity of Christ
Korean name: 그리스도의 신성
Key terms: god, jesus, savior, glory
Review routing: Human theologian
Titus 2:13’s Granville-Sharp construction (‘our great God and Savior Jesus Christ’) is the clearest single affirmation of Christ’s full deity in this letter. The Korean rendering must preserve single-referent grammatical unity so the phrase does not read as two separate figures. 구주 (Savior) must not be diluted toward the secular hero-rescuer trope common in Korean film/drama (구원자), which would reduce Christ’s saving work to circumstantial heroic rescue rather than deliverance from sin and death by the eternal, co-equal Son.
Redemption and Purification
Korean name: 속량과 정결케 하심
Key terms: redeem, purify, peculiar_people
Review routing: Human theologian
속량하다 and 깨끗하게 하다 together closely parallel the surface ‘washing/freeing a spirit’ imagery of 씻김굿 (a shamanic ritual cleansing a deceased spirit’s unresolved grudge, 한, so it may rest). Christ’s redemption and purification in 2:14 is a completed, once-for-all act accomplished by his own self-gift, not a repeatable ritual performed by a religious specialist to resolve a spirit’s grievance.
High Risk Doctrines
Qualifications for Elders
Korean name: 장로의 자격
Key terms: elder, overseer, blameless, steward, one_woman_man
Review routing: Human theologian
Korea’s pre-Christian Confucian elder-respect convention (연장자에 대한 자동적 공경, automatic social respect due to age alone) risks collapsing 장로 into an honorary age-based social title rather than the doctrinally and morally examined office the qualification list (vv.6-9) describes. Additionally, 감독 risks importing a later Korean denominational hierarchical distinction (e.g., the Methodist bishopric office) not present in Titus 1:5-7, where elder and overseer name the same local office.
Sound Doctrine and Good Works
Korean name: 바른 교훈과 선한 일
Key terms: sound_doctrine, good_works, zealous_for_good_works
Review routing: Human theologian
바른 교훈 risks being heard through Confucian orthodoxy (正道, ‘the correct/proper Way’) or Buddhist ‘right teaching’ (정법) as abstract social-philosophical correctness rather than apostolic, Christ-centered teaching that produces a healthy, grace-shaped life. Meanwhile 선한 일 risks collapsing into Buddhist 공덕 (merit accumulation affecting karmic outcome) if works are read as generating spiritual merit rather than flowing from grace and regeneration already given (explicit sequencing in 3:5, 8).
Avoiding Divisive Controversies
Korean name: 분쟁을 일으키는 논쟁을 피함
Key terms: foolish_controversies, genealogies, quarrels_about_law, divisive_person, self_condemned
Review routing: Human theologian
족보 (genealogies) carries deep positive Korean Confucian cultural weight tied to clan identity and ancestor-memorial practice (제사); a surface reading of ‘avoid genealogies’ risks a mistaken general judgment against family-lineage interest, or unrelated entanglement with the separate historical jesa-rite controversy in Korean church history. Separately, 이단 (divisive/factious person) carries intense modern institutional force in Korean Protestant discourse, used to label controversial new religious movements (e.g. Shincheonji, JMS) and, at times, rival denominations; Titus 3:10’s narrower two-warning pastoral-discipline scenario must not be conflated with this broader modern labeling practice.
Godliness and Piety
Korean name: 경건
Key terms: godliness, ungodliness, training_for_godliness
Review routing: Human theologian
경건 risks being heard through Korea’s rigorous Confucian ritual-reverence and ancestor-memorial (제사) framework — already flagged Critical under the Romans baseline’s ‘father’ doctrine — as ritual correctness/filial performance toward superiors and ancestors, rather than personal devotion to the living God that grace itself produces (2:11-12).
Universal Scope of the Gospel
Korean name: 복음의 보편성
Key terms: grace, peculiar_people
Review routing: Human theologian
Both ‘grace… to all people’ (모든 사람) and ‘a people for his own possession’ (자기 백성) risk being read through Korea’s ethnic-nationalist 단일민족 (‘single ethnic nation’) self-conception as an ethnic-insider category, rather than the text’s cross-ethnic, faith-constituted redemptive-historical scope — the same collision the Romans baseline flags under ‘gentiles’ and ‘unity_of_jews_and_gentiles.‘
Rejection of False Teaching
Korean name: 거짓 교훈을 배격함
Key terms: jewish_myths, circumcision_party, pure_and_defiled, profess_deny, disqualified
Review routing: Human theologian
The pure/defiled contrast in 1:15 locates defilement explicitly in ‘mind and conscience,’ an interior moral state. Korean shamanistic 부정 (ritual/misfortune-linked impurity, addressed through gut-ceremony cleansing) risks reframing this as an external ritual condition removable by rite, rather than the text’s specifically moral-interior sense of corruption in false teachers.
Transformed Life Before and After Conversion
Korean name: 회심 전후의 변화된 삶
Key terms: disobedient, kindness, mercy, regeneration, heirs
Review routing: Human theologian
The ‘before’ catalogue (slavery to desires, malice, mutual hatred) and the ‘after’ (regeneration, renewal, heirship) describe a decisive, Spirit-wrought transition, not a gradual self-improvement arc; Korean readers may otherwise assimilate this pattern to ascetic self-cultivation (수행, 도 닦기) rather than a one-time act of God’s kindness and mercy received by grace.
Mercy and Kindness of God
Korean name: 하나님의 자비와 인자하심
Key terms: kindness, philanthropy, mercy
Review routing: Human theologian
자비 is the primary Korean Buddhist compassion term (karuna/metta), a cultivated moral virtue extended to all sentient beings. Must be taught as God’s own initiating disposition that accomplishes salvation (3:5), not a self-cultivated universal virtue any person may attain through spiritual practice or meditation.
Holiness and Purity of Conduct
Korean name: 거룩함과 정결한 삶
Key terms: holy, pure_and_defiled, godliness
Review routing: Human theologian
Must not be read through Korean shamanistic ritual-impurity concepts (부정을 씻다, removed via a gut ceremony); biblical holiness across these passages is moral and relational set-apartness produced by grace, not ritual purification from misfortune.
Medium Risk Doctrines
Apostolic Authority and Delegated Ministry
Korean name: 사도의 권위와 위임된 사역
Key terms: apostle, servant_of_god, rebuke
Review routing: Native speaker review
사도 and 하나님의 종 are established terms with comparatively low collision risk, but 종 carries a residual Joseon-era slave-class (노비) connotation that could read as degrading rather than honored total devotion; teaching should clarify this distinction when presenting Paul’s and Titus’s delegated authority.
Household Codes and Intergenerational Discipleship
Korean name: 가정 윤리와 세대 간 제자훈련
Key terms: older_men_women, self_control, sound_doctrine
Review routing: Native speaker review
The generic honorific respect Korean culture already extends to elders (연장자) by age alone must not substitute for Titus 2:1-8’s specific call to Spirit-produced character and active, intentional discipleship of the younger generation by the older.
Hope of Eternal Life
Korean name: 영생의 소망
Key terms: eternal_life, blessed_hope
Review routing: Native speaker review
영생 must be distinguished from the Daoist/folk-religious pursuit of physical immortality (불로장생), a concept with genuine currency in Korean folk religion and popular ‘immortal cultivator’ media tropes. Biblical eternal life is relational communion with God secured by grace, not extended physical existence attained through spiritual technique.
Mission Support for Gospel Workers
Korean name: 복음 사역자를 위한 후원
Key terms: support_for_mission, mission, good_works
Review routing: Native speaker review
Consistent with the Romans baseline’s mission caution: Korea’s success-and-growth-oriented, numbers-driven missions-sending culture risks reframing Titus 3:13-14’s practical support instruction as achievement-metric fundraising rather than gospel-motivated, relational provision.
Election and Divine Calling
Korean name: 하나님의 택하심과 부르심
Key terms: election, faith
Review routing: Native speaker review
Consistent with the Romans baseline’s election caution: 선택 must not be rendered as 팔자/운 (birth-chart fate/luck) nor reduced to a competitive, merit-based ‘selection’ outcome given Korea’s intensely competitive exam/hiring culture.
Inspiration and Knowledge of the Truth
Korean name: 진리의 지식과 성경의 신뢰성
Key terms: knowledge_of_truth, god
Review routing: Native speaker review
진리를 아는 지식 must be distinguished from Confucian scholarly transmission of classical texts (경) or Buddhist meditative enlightenment-knowledge (깨달음); this is personal knowledge of a specific, historical, revealed God’s truth, grounded in ‘God, who never lies’ (1:2).
Stewardship of God’s Household
Korean name: 하나님의 청지기 직분
Key terms: steward, overseer
Review routing: Native speaker review
청지기 must be distinguished from a Confucian household head (가장) who exercises paternal authority as his own prerogative; a biblical steward manages another’s property for the Owner’s (God’s) purposes and remains fully accountable to him.
Christian Witness and Gospel Reputation
Korean name: 그리스도인의 증거와 복음의 명예
Key terms: sound_doctrine, good_works
Review routing: Native speaker review
Household conduct’s effect on the gospel’s public reputation (‘so that the word of God may not be reviled,’ 2:5; ‘adorn the doctrine,’ 2:10) must be taught as a matter of gospel witness, not mere Confucian social-conformity or face-saving (체면) concern.
Low Risk Doctrines
Mutual Love and Gentleness
Korean name: 서로 사랑하고 온유함
Key terms: rulers_and_authorities
Review routing: Automated review
Low collision risk; a standard interpersonal ethic (gentleness, courtesy, avoiding slander) extending from the submission-to-authority instruction, with no significant syncretism concern identified.
Referenced passages