Core Glossary
1 John — Core Glossary (Koine Greek → Maithili)
This glossary extends the baseline Romans translation_memory.json for the 1 John curriculum. Section A lists terms already established in the Romans baseline that MUST be reused exactly, unchanged, when they recur in 1 John. Section B lists new terms required by 1 John’s distinct vocabulary, each analyzed and risk-tiered following the same framework as the baseline bible_term_registry.json and doctrine_risk_registry.json. This glossary must be merged into an updated translation_memory.json before Phase 2 processing begins (version increment required per the AI Translation Requirements document).
Section A — Baseline Terms Reused Exactly (No Change)
| Term | Maithili (reused) | Risk | 1 John Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|
| God | परमेश्वर | Critical | 1:5; 2:5; 3:1; 4:8,16; 5:20; throughout |
| Jesus | यीशु | Critical | 1:3,7; 2:1; 4:2,15; 5:1,5-6,20 |
| Christ / Messiah | मसीह | Critical | 1:3; 2:1,22; 4:2; 5:1,6,20 |
| Son of God | परमेश्वरक पुत्र | Critical | 3:8; 4:15; 5:5,10-13,20 |
| Holy Spirit / Spirit (of God) | पवित्र आत्मा | Critical | 3:24; 4:2,13; 5:6-8 |
| Righteousness / righteous | धार्मिकता / धर्मी | Critical | 1:9; 2:1,29; 3:7,10 |
| Sin | पाप | High | 1:7-10; 2:1-2,12; 3:4-9; 4:10; 5:16-17 |
| Fellowship | सङ्गति | Low | 1:3,6,7 |
| Faith / believe | विश्वास | High | 5:1,4,5,10,13 |
| Incarnation (doctrinal reference for “come in the flesh”) | देहधारण | Critical | 4:2-3 (direct test-confession) |
| Salvation (root, for “Savior”) | उद्धार (root of उद्धारकर्ता) | Critical | 4:14 |
| Resurrection (forbidden-term discipline applies by analogy) | पुनरुत्थान (न. — पुनर्जन्म forever forbidden) | Critical | governs “born of God” handling throughout |
| Lord (title, honorific verb छथि pattern) | प्रभु / honorific छथि pattern | Critical | pattern reused for all identity-confession clauses (e.g. “यीशु परमेश्वरक पुत्र छथि,” “परमेश्वर प्रेम छथि”) |
| Calling / called | बजाओल / बजाओल जाएब | High | conceptually relevant to “children of God,” not directly lexicalized in 1 John but underlies the doctrine |
| Adoption | पुत्रत्व प्रदान | High | conceptually paired with 1 John’s “born of God” (Section B) as complementary family-of-God images |
Section B — New Terms Introduced by 1 John
| Term | Category | Risk | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Definition | Translation Notes | Maithili Term |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Love (agape) | God / Love-Fellowship | Critical | ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω | agapē / agapaō | Self-giving, willed love; God’s own essential nature (4:8,16) and the defining mark of new birth and fellowship. | प्रेम is the entrenched North Indian Bible-translation rendering, but Mithila is the historic home of Vidyapati’s Radha-Krishna prema-bhakti poetry, in which प्रेम/अनुराग denotes passionate, often longing (विरह) romantic-devotional attachment. 1 John’s ἀγάπη is a non-erotic, self-giving, ontological identity claim about God (“God is love”), not viraha-prema. A standing translator note distinguishing covenantal self-giving love from bhakti-viraha love is required at every occurrence. Alternatives rejected: अनुराग (too tied to passionate/erotic bhakti attachment), स्नेह (too weak — cannot bear “God is love” ontological weight). | प्रेम |
| Born of God / new birth | Salvation / New Birth | Critical | γεννάω ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ (γεγέννηται) | gennaō ek tou theou (gegennētai) | Perfect passive: a completed, God-initiated spiritual begetting evidenced by ongoing love, faith, and righteousness (2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18). | MUST NOT be rendered or explained in any way that suggests पुनर्जन्म (forbidden term for reincarnation, per baseline resurrection entry). This is a single, decisive begetting by God’s will, not entry into a repeatable life-cycle. Teach as the organic-family counterpart to baseline’s legal-forensic adoption (पुत्रत्व प्रदान) — two complementary NT images for the same reality of belonging to God’s family. Alternatives rejected: नव जन्म alone (still risks birth-cycle association without the anchoring “from God” phrase), पुनर्जन्म (forbidden). | परमेश्वरसँ जन्म पाओल |
| Children of God | Salvation / New Birth | Critical | τέκνα θεοῦ | tekna theou | Corporate, familial designation for all believers as God’s own children (3:1-2,10). | Companion term to “born of God” above; must be taught alongside, not instead of, baseline’s पुत्रत्व प्रदान. Alternatives rejected: none required beyond noting the term must not collapse into a caste/lineage-based kinship category. | परमेश्वरक सन्तान |
| Propitiation | Salvation / Atonement | Critical | ἱλασμός | hilasmos | The atoning sacrifice — Christ himself, sent by the Father — that satisfies God’s own righteous judgment against sin and removes its guilt (2:2; 4:10). | प्रायश्चित्त in ordinary Hindu usage denotes self-performed penance undertaken BY the sinner to remove ritual/moral guilt — a human-initiated act. Biblical ἱλασμός reverses this: God himself provides and initiates the atoning sacrifice. Mandatory translator note distinguishing “God-provided atonement” from “self-performed penance” at every occurrence. This term also triggers the baseline’s mandatory human-theologian escalation rule for atonement/propitiation language. Alternatives rejected: प्रायश्चित्त alone (implies self-performed penance); बलिदान alone (loses the specific wrath-satisfying/atoning sense). | प्रायश्चित्त-बलिदान |
| God is Light | God / Nature of God | Critical | φῶς (ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν) | phōs (ho theos phōs estin) | Core ontological identity statement (1:5) — God’s very nature is truth, moral purity, and self-revealing holiness; paired antithetically with darkness (σκότος). | प्रकाश (rather than ज्योति, which baseline already flags as carrying Puranic divine-luster/bodily-radiance associations, e.g. a deity’s radiant form beheld in theophany or darshan) is chosen because 1 John’s “light” is a moral-relational-epistemic claim, not a visual radiance to behold. Translator note required at first occurrence (1:5). Alternatives rejected: ज्योति (too tied to visible divine-luster imagery). | प्रकाश |
| Darkness | God / Nature of God | Medium | σκότος | skotos | Moral corruption, falsehood, and alienation from God, contrasted with light (1:5-6; 2:9,11). | Standard, low-collision term; ensure paired consistently and antithetically with प्रकाश. | अन्धकार |
| Abide / abiding | Fellowship with God | High | μένω | menō | Continuous, relational, mutual indwelling/communion between God and the believer (2:6,10,24,27-28; 3:6,9,14-15,17,24; 4:12-13,15-16). | Must be rendered as ongoing relational dwelling/communion between two distinct persons, not the Vedantic goal of ontological merger/absorption of the self into the divine (a live theological alternative in this region’s Advaitic and bhakti-union thought). The believer and God remain distinct persons in loving communion. Alternatives rejected: लीन होएब / एक भऽ जाएब (both suggest dissolving merger, inappropriate). | स्थिर रहब |
| Perfected / made complete (love) | Fellowship / Sanctification | High | τελειόω (τετελειωμένη) | teleioō (teteleiōmenē) | Love reaching its intended maturity/completeness in the community’s mutual love, not human moral flawlessness (2:5; 4:12,17,18). | Deliberately renders as पूर्ण (complete/whole) rather than सिद्ध/सिद्धि, which carries strong yogic/tantric “attainment of supernatural power” associations in regional Shaiva-Tantric practice. Alternatives rejected: सिद्ध भेल (risks conflation with siddhi-attainment). | पूर्ण भेल |
| Confidence / boldness | Assurance | High | παρρησία | parrēsia | Fearless confidence before God, in prayer and at the final judgment, grounded in Christ’s finished work and present love, not accumulated merit (2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14). | Ties directly to baseline’s assurance_of_salvation doctrine (High, Human theologian review). Must be grounded in God’s settled character, not the anxious uncertainty about a karmic account governing popular expectation of a final cosmic reckoning (कर्मफलक हिसाब). Alternatives rejected: निडरता alone (too flat, lacks the courtroom/relational-access connotation). | साहस |
| Day of judgment | Eschatology | High | ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως | hēmera tēs kriseōs | The final, personal divine tribunal (4:17). | Must be framed as a personal God’s tribunal, not an impersonal karmic ledger/accounting. | न्यायक दिन |
| Fear (servile) | Assurance | Medium | φόβος | phobos | Dread of divine punishment/judgment, incompatible with mature love and settled assurance (4:18). | Standard term; ensure distinguished from reverent “fear of the Lord” senses found elsewhere in Scripture (not prominent in 1 John itself). | डर |
| Punishment / torment | Eschatology | Medium | κόλασις | kolasis | Judicial penalty anticipated by servile fear (4:18). | Standard term. | दण्ड |
| Savior (of the world) | Salvation | Critical | σωτήρ | sōtēr | Christ’s unique, universal role as the one who rescues and delivers (4:14). | Built on baseline’s उद्धार root. NEVER रक्षक alone (too generic, suggests any protector-deity) nor मुक्तिदाता (reintroduces the forbidden मुक्ति/liberation-from-rebirth sense). | उद्धारकर्ता |
| Confess (Christ) | Christology / Faith | Critical | ὁμολογέω | homologeō | Public, doctrinal acknowledgment that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, come in the flesh (2:23; 4:2-3,15). | Distinguish sharply in context from ὁμολογέω used of confessing SIN (1:9, admitting wrongdoing). This sense is the direct Johannine parallel to Romans 10:9’s salvation confession and must be rendered with the honorific verb छथि pattern established in baseline (“यीशु परमेश्वरक पुत्र छथि”). | अंगीकार करब |
| Confess (sin) | Sin / Confession | High | ὁμολογέω | homologeō | Honest acknowledgment/admission of one’s own sin to God, the condition for forgiveness and cleansing (1:9). | Distinguish from the Christological confession sense above; this is admission of personal wrongdoing, a continual practice, not a one-time act. | पाप स्वीकार करब |
| Cleanse | Sin / Confession | High | καθαρίζω | katharizō | Christ’s blood accomplishing a decisive, once-for-all moral-spiritual cleansing from sin’s guilt (1:7,9). | शुद्ध risks evoking ritual/ceremonial purity concerns tied to Panjikaran lineage-purity and संस्कार rites (cf. baseline’s caution on शुद्ध under “holy”). Translator note required distinguishing moral-relational cleansing (once, by Christ’s blood) from ceremonial purification (repeatable ritual). | शुद्ध करब |
| Forgive | Sin / Confession | High | ἀφίημι | aphiēmi | God’s forensic pardon of confessed sin, grounded in Christ’s atonement (1:9). | Distinguish from क्षमा as a cultivated personal ethical virtue (patience/forbearance) in general regional ethics; this is God’s judicial pardon, not a human character trait. | क्षमा करब |
| Word of Life | Christology / Incarnation | Critical | ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς | ho logos tēs zōēs | The eternal Word (cf. John 1:1,14), who is also Life itself, made tangibly manifest and apostolically witnessed (1:1). | Must be explicitly connected via translator note to baseline’s देहधारण (incarnation) doctrine — this is 1 John’s own opening restatement of “the Word became flesh.” | जीवनक वचन |
| Manifested / revealed | Christology / Incarnation | High | φανερόω | phaneroō | Disclosure of what was previously hidden — Christ’s incarnate appearing, God’s love shown concretely, and (future) believers’ glorified appearing (1:2; 3:2,5,8; 4:9). | Must be tied to a concrete historical event (the sending/appearing of the Son), not a mystical or repeatable theophany/avatar-appearance pattern. | प्रकट भेल |
| Advocate | Christology / Intercession | High | παράκλητος | paraklētos | Christ’s ongoing heavenly ministry of legal-forensic defense before the Father on behalf of believers (2:1). | Distinguish from baseline’s मध्यस्थता (general prayer-intercession, a different Greek term/concept); this is specifically a courtroom-defense image. Translator note should establish the legal background: Christ as our defense counsel before God the righteous Judge. | अधिवक्ता |
| Commandment | Ethics / Obedience | High | ἐντολή | entolē | Christ’s specific, authoritative relational directives, especially the love-command; distinguished as “old” (already known) and “new” (its Christ-revealed fullness) (2:3-8; 3:22-24; 4:21). | NEVER व्यवस्था (baseline reserves this for the Mosaic Law/Torah). This is Christ’s own relational command, not Torah-code observance. | आज्ञा |
| Keep (commandments) | Ethics / Obedience | High | τηρέω | tēreō | Ongoing, careful, love-motivated observance of Christ’s commands, evidencing genuine knowledge of God (2:3-5). | Avoid पालन करब where it frames obedience as duty-discharge (कर्तव्य-पालन) rather than love’s relational response, per baseline’s obedience_of_faith caution. | मानब |
| World | Ethics / Cosmology | Medium | κόσμος | kosmos | The present fallen moral-relational order organized in opposition to God and his love (2:15-17; 4:1,3-5,9,14,17; 5:4-5,19). | Standard, unavoidable Bible-translation term; note it may echo the Hindu philosophical संसार-चक्र (rebirth-cycle) sense in ordinary speech — clarify this is the present moral order opposed to God, not a metaphysical cycle. | संसार |
| Lust of the flesh / lust of the eyes / pride of life | Ethics / Worldliness | Medium-High | ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός / ἐπιθυμία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν / ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου | epithymia tēs sarkos / epithymia tōn ophthalmōn / alazoneia tou biou | A summary taxonomy of worldly temptation opposed to love for the Father (2:16). | अभिलाषा (desire/craving) is chosen over वासना, which carries strong sensual/erotic connotations from the region’s Radha-Krishna devotional poetic tradition. | देहक अभिलाषा / आँखिक अभिलाषा / जीवनक अहंकार |
| Antichrist | Eschatology / Christology | High | ἀντίχριστος | antichristos | A specific eschatological figure/spirit denying that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (2:18,22; 4:3). | Must be distinguished by translator note from generic epic antagonists (e.g., Ravana) in regional literature — this is specifically doctrinal denial of Christ’s identity, not a generic villain archetype. | मसीह-विरोधी |
| Anointing | Sanctification / Spirit | Critical | χρῖσμα | chrisma | The Holy Spirit’s indwelling teaching presence, given to every believer (2:20,27). | अभिषेक is the standard word for Hindu ritual anointing, and in Mithila names specifically the Shiva-linga ritual bathing/anointing central to regional Shaiva devotional practice. Mandatory translator note distinguishing the Spirit’s inward, teaching anointing of every believer from external ritual substance-anointing of an idol/image. Always pair with पवित्र आत्मा explicitly. | पवित्र आत्माक अभिषेक |
| God’s seed | Sanctification / New Birth | Critical | σπέρμα αὐτοῦ | sperma autou | The abiding divine life/nature that remains in the believer, producing a settled inability to continue in habitual sin (3:9). | Deliberately rendered with बीआ (native Maithili “seed,” agricultural sense) rather than वंश (lineage, which baseline reserves for physical genealogical descent, cf. seed_of_david). Using वंश here would wrongly import Panjikaran-style caste-lineage purity concerns into a statement about inward spiritual nature. | परमेश्वरक बीआ |
| Devil | Sin / Spiritual Warfare | Medium | διάβολος | diabolos | The personal evil adversary, ultimate source of sin (3:8,10). | Standard, low-collision transliterated/loan term already familiar across South Asian Christian usage. | शैतान |
| Lay down one’s life | Love / Sacrifice | Medium-High | τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν | tithēmi tēn psychēn | Self-sacrificial giving of one’s own life for another, patterned on Christ’s atoning death (3:16). | Standard idiom; ensure the connection to Christ’s atonement as the pattern/standard is retained. | प्राण देब |
| Compassion (bowels of) | Love / Ethics | Low-Medium | σπλάγχνα | splanchna | Deep, gut-level compassion moved to practical action toward a brother in need (3:17). | Standard term; low collision risk. | करुणा |
| Brother / brethren | Church / Love | High | ἀδελφός | adelphos | Fellow believer within the community of faith (fictive kinship in Christ), not biological or caste-lineage brotherhood (2:9-11; 3:10-17; 4:20-21). | In Mithila’s social imagination, “brotherhood” (बिरादरी) is frequently understood along caste-community lines reinforced by the Panjikaran lineage-registry system. Must be taught, per baseline’s unity_of_jews_and_gentiles doctrine, as the new spiritual family in Christ cutting across caste and lineage. | भाइ |
| Test the spirits | Discernment | High | δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα | dokimazete ta pneumata | The command to actively evaluate spiritual claims/teachers against the doctrinal standard of the true incarnation (4:1). | The plural “spirits” here must be clearly distinguished from पवित्र आत्मा (the one true Holy Spirit); this passage concerns discerning true from false spiritual claims/teachers. | आत्मा जाँच करब |
| Spirit of truth / spirit of error | Discernment | High | πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας / πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης | pneuma tēs alētheias / pneuma tēs planēs | The two ultimate spiritual sources contesting for influence over teachers and hearers (4:6). | Standard rendering; ensure “spirit of truth” here is not casually conflated with पवित्र आत्मा without context, though they refer to the same reality in this passage. | सत्यक आत्मा / भ्रमक आत्मा |
| Overcome (the world) | Assurance / Perseverance | High | νικάω | nikaō | Victory over the world’s opposition, won through ongoing, abiding faith in Christ (4:4; 5:4-5). | Must be distinguished by translator note from the region’s Durga-versus-Mahishasura victory narrative (celebrated at Vijayadashami/Dussehra) — this is persevering faith through ongoing spiritual struggle, not a singular decisive martial triumph by a warrior-deity. | जीतब / विजय पाओब |
| Water and blood | Christology / Testimony | High | τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα | to hydōr kai to haima | Testimony (commonly understood as Christ’s baptism and death) confirming the reality of his incarnate, atoning work against docetic denial (5:6-8). | Interpretively complex; render plainly but flag for theologian review regarding exposition. | जल आ लहू |
| Testimony / witness | Faith / Evidence | Medium | μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω | martyria / martyreō | Legal-forensic evidence-giving; God’s own testimony concerning his Son, and apostolic eyewitness testimony to the incarnate Word (1:2; 4:14; 5:9-11) | Standard term; ensure the legal/evidentiary force is retained, not flattened to casual “sharing.” | गवाही / गवाही देब |
| Eternal life | Salvation / Assurance | Critical | ζωὴ αἰώνιος | zōē aiōnios | Life of the age to come, already possessed now by believers, and consummated eternally in relational communion with God through the Son (5:11-13,20). | Same forbidden-term discipline as baseline’s salvation entry applies: NEVER मुक्ति or मोक्ष. This is relational communion with a personal God, not liberation from a rebirth cycle. | अनन्त जीवन |
| Sin unto death / not unto death | Sin / Intercession | High | ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον / μὴ πρὸς θάνατον | hamartia pros thanaton / mē pros thanaton | A theologically debated distinction bearing on intercessory prayer for a sinning believer (5:16-17). | Interpretively complex and pastorally sensitive; flag explicitly for mandatory human theologian review; do not resolve the ambiguity with a confident formulaic rendering. | मृत्युदायक पाप / मृत्युदायक नहि पाप |
| Guard / keep oneself | Ethics / Perseverance | Medium | φυλάσσω | phylassō | Active, vigilant self-guarding against idolatry, the epistle’s climactic closing command (5:21). | Standard term. | बचाए राखब |
| Idols | Ethics / Exclusive Devotion | Critical | εἴδωλον | eidōlon | Physical images representing deities, objects of worship, from which believers must keep themselves (5:21). | The most direct doctrinal collision in the book: names precisely the devotional images (Durga, Kali, Shiva, Vishnu, Ram-Sita) central to daily religious life across Mithila. Must NOT be softened into an abstract “false things” euphemism; pastoral clarity requires the concrete referent, but delivery requires careful, non-inflammatory discipleship framing. Mandatory human theologian review. | मूर्ति |
| Know (relational/epistemic) | Faith / Assurance | Medium | γινώσκω / οἶδα | ginōskō / oida | Recurring diagnostic refrain (“by this we know…”) — relational, experiential knowledge of God verified by love and obedience, not mere factual assent (2:3,5,29; 3:16,19,24; 4:2,6,7,8,13,16; 5:2,13,19-20). | Keep rendering consistent (जानब) across all occurrences so the reader recognizes the book’s repeated rhetorical test-formula. | जानब |
| Liar | Sin / Truth | Low-Medium | ψεύστης | pseustēs | Strong, recurring diagnostic label for false profession (1:10; 2:4,22; 4:20; 5:10). | Standard term, consistent across occurrences. | झूठा |
Risk Summary for 1 John Extension
| Risk Tier | Count (new terms, Section B) | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 11 | Human theologian (mandatory) |
| High | 16 | Human theologian (mandatory) |
| Medium | 8 | Native speaker review |
| Low-Medium | 2 | Native speaker review |
Total new terms requiring human theologian review: 27 Total new terms requiring native speaker review only: 10
This glossary, together with analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, must be merged into an updated translation_memory.json (version increment required) and cross-referenced into an updated bible_term_registry.json and doctrine_risk_registry.json before Phase 2 segment translation begins for the 1 John curriculum.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर
Transliteration: parameśvar
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: भगवान, ईश्वर
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, no re-derivation. Governs both of 1 John’s ontological identity statements: ‘परमेश्वर प्रकाश छथि’ (1:5) and ‘परमेश्वर प्रेम छथि’ (4:8,16).
Jesus
Approved rendering: यीशु
Transliteration: Yīśu
Doctrine: Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: ईसा
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. Central to every confession-test clause in 1 John (2:22; 4:2-3,15; 5:1,5).
Messiah
Approved rendering: मसीह
Transliteration: masīh
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: अवतारी पुरुष, अभिषिक्त पुरुष
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. 1 John’s decisive discernment test (2:22; 4:2-3; 5:1) turns on confessing ‘Jesus is the मसीह come in the flesh’ — never assimilate to Ram/Krishna avatar-figures.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरक पुत्र
Transliteration: parameśvarak putra
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ / Assurance of Salvation
Rejected alternatives: ईश्वरक अंश, देवपुरुष
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. The confession object of 1 यूहन्ना 4:15 and the ground of eternal life in 5:5,10-13,20; rendered with honorific छथि in confession clauses (‘यीशु परमेश्वरक पुत्र छथि’).
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: पवित्र आत्मा
Transliteration: pavitra ātmā
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another / Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: ब्रह्म, परमात्मा
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον / τὸ πνεῦμα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. Must be kept sharply distinct from the bare, plural, contextual आत्मा of 1 यूहन्ना 4:1-6 (contested spiritual claims under test).
Righteousness
Approved rendering: धार्मिकता
Transliteration: dhārmiktā
Doctrine: Sin Defined as Lawlessness, Contrasted with Righteousness
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, पुण्य, सतीत्व
Original: δικαιοσύνη / δίκαιος
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. Governs 1 John 1:9; 2:1,29; 3:7,10 — the diagnostic mark distinguishing God’s child from the devil’s child; never धर्म or सतीत्व.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: देहधारण
Transliteration: dehadhāraṇ
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: अवतार, देह प्रकट
Original: ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα (4:2) / ὁ λόγος … σὰρξ ἐγένετο
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. Underlies 1 John 1:1-2 (‘Word of Life’ restatement) and is the direct object of the confession-test at 4:2-3. NEVER अवतार.
Salvation
Approved rendering: उद्धार
Transliteration: uddhār
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: मुक्ति, मोक्ष, छुटकारा
Original: σωτηρία (root; realized as σωτήρ, 4:14)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly as the root of उद्धारकर्ता (‘Savior,’ 4:14). NEVER मुक्ति or मोक्ष.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: पुनरुत्थान
Transliteration: punaruthān
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God) — forbidden-term discipline governs by analogy
Rejected alternatives: पुनर्जन्म, पुनर्जीवन
Original: ἀνάστασις (conceptual; not directly lexicalized in 1 John)
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package; not directly lexicalized in 1 John, but its NEVER-पुनर्जन्म discipline extends by analogy to ‘born of God’ (परमेश्वरसँ जन्म पाओल) throughout this epistle.
Lord
Approved rendering: प्रभु
Transliteration: prabhu
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ — honorific pattern
Rejected alternatives: स्वामी, मालिक
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly. The प्रभु/छथि honorific-verb pattern established at Romans 10:9 governs every identity-confession clause in 1 John (e.g. ‘यीशु परमेश्वरक पुत्र छथि,’ ‘परमेश्वर प्रेम छथि’).
Love
Approved rendering: प्रेम
Transliteration: prem
Doctrine: God is Love / Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: अनुराग, स्नेह, भक्ति
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: God
New term. प्रेम is the entrenched North Indian Bible-translation term, but Mithila is Vidyapati’s homeland, the historic center of Radha-Krishna prema-bhakti poetry, where प्रेम/अनुराग denotes passionate, longing (विरह) romantic-devotional attachment. 1 John’s ἀγάπη is a non-erotic, self-giving, ontological identity claim about God (4:8,16) and the ground/priority of God’s initiating love (4:19). MANDATORY STANDING translator note required at EVERY occurrence, not just first use, distinguishing covenantal self-giving love from bhakti-viraha love. अनुराग rejected as too erotic/bhakti-coded; स्नेह rejected as too weak to bear ‘God IS love’ ontological weight; भक्ति already forbidden by baseline for ‘faith’ and equally unsuitable here.
Born Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरसँ जन्म पाओल
Transliteration: parameśvarasã̃ janma pāol
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Rejected alternatives: पुनर्जन्म, नव जन्म
Original: γεγέννηται ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: New Birth
New term. Perfect-passive γεγέννηται: a completed, God-initiated spiritual begetting evidenced by ongoing love, faith, righteousness (2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18). MUST NOT be associated with पुनर्जन्म (forbidden reincarnation term, per baseline resurrection entry). Never shorten to नव जन्म alone — the anchoring ‘from God’ (-सँ) must always be present. Teach as the organic-family counterpart to पुत्रत्व प्रदान (adoption), not a competing image.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरक सन्तान
Transliteration: parameśvarak santān
Doctrine: Children of God / Adoption
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: New Birth
New term. Corporate familial designation for all believers (3:1-2,10). Must be taught alongside, not instead of, पुत्रत्व प्रदान. Must not collapse into a caste/lineage-based kinship category shaped by Mithila’s Panjikaran-registry custom.
Only Begotten Son
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरक एकलौता पुत्र
Transliteration: parameśvarak ekalautā putra
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ / The Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: परमेश्वरक अनोखा पुत्र
New term, built on baseline परमेश्वरक पुत्र with एकलौता added to render μονογενής at 1 John 4:9. Guards explicitly against Christ being read as one avatar-son among several (Ram, Krishna) in a region where multiple divine ‘sons’ are already devotionally familiar.
Propitiation
Approved rendering: प्रायश्चित्त-बलिदान
Transliteration: prāyaścitta-balidān
Doctrine: Propitiation / Atonement
Rejected alternatives: प्रायश्चित्त, बलिदान
Original: ἱλασμός
Category: Salvation
New term. प्रायश्चित्त alone denotes self-performed penance BY the sinner in ordinary Hindu usage — a human-initiated act. Biblical ἱλασμός (2:2; 4:10) reverses this: God himself provides and initiates the atoning sacrifice. Mandatory translator note distinguishing ‘God-provided atonement’ from ‘self-performed penance’ at every occurrence. Triggers baseline’s mandatory human-theologian escalation rule for atonement/propitiation language.
Light
Approved rendering: प्रकाश
Transliteration: prakāś
Doctrine: God is Light
Rejected alternatives: ज्योति, तेज
Original: φῶς
Category: God
New term. Core ontological identity statement (1:5), paired antithetically with darkness. प्रकाश chosen over ज्योति/तेज, which carry Puranic divine-luster/darshan (visible radiant theophany) associations. 1 John’s light is a moral-relational-epistemic claim (truth, holiness, self-revelation), not visible radiance. Mandatory translator note at first occurrence (1:5).
Savior
Approved rendering: उद्धारकर्ता
Transliteration: uddhārkartā
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: रक्षक, मुक्तिदाता
Original: σωτήρ
Category: Salvation
New term, built on baseline उद्धार root. Christ’s unique, universal saving role (4:14). NEVER रक्षक alone (too generic, any protector-deity) nor मुक्तिदाता (reintroduces forbidden मुक्ति/liberation-from-rebirth sense).
Confess Christ
Approved rendering: अंगीकार करब
Transliteration: aṅgīkār karab
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist / Assurance of Salvation
Original: ὁμολογέω (Christological sense)
Category: Christology
New term. Public, doctrinal acknowledgment that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, come in the flesh (2:23; 4:2-3,15) — 1 John’s own parallel to Romans 10:9’s salvation confession. Rendered with the honorific verb छथि pattern (‘यीशु परमेश्वरक पुत्र छथि’). Must be kept distinct from पाप स्वीकार करब (confessing sin, below); the same Greek verb ὁμολογέω is deliberately split across two Maithili phrases.
Word Of Life
Approved rendering: जीवनक वचन
Transliteration: jīvanak vacan
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
New term. The eternal Word (cf. John 1:1,14), who is also Life itself, made tangibly manifest and apostolically witnessed (1:1). Mandatory translator note explicitly connecting this to देहधारण — 1 John’s own opening restatement of ‘the Word became flesh.‘
Anointing
Approved rendering: पवित्र आत्माक अभिषेक
Transliteration: pavitra ātmāk abhiṣek
Doctrine: The Anointing of the Holy Spirit
Rejected alternatives: अभिषेक (alone)
Original: χρῖσμα
Category: Sanctification
New term. χρῖσμα: the Holy Spirit’s indwelling teaching presence given to every believer (2:20,27). अभिषेक alone names the Shiva-linga ritual bathing/anointing (जलाभिषेक, दुग्धाभिषेक) central to regional Shaiva practice. NEVER use अभिषेक unpaired; always pair with पवित्र आत्मा. Mandatory translator note distinguishing the Spirit’s inward teaching anointing from external ritual substance-anointing of an idol/image.
Gods Seed
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरक बीआ
Transliteration: parameśvarak bīā
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Rejected alternatives: परमेश्वरक वंश
Original: σπέρμα αὐτοῦ
Category: New Birth
New term. σπέρμα αὐτοῦ: the abiding divine life/nature that remains in the believer (3:9). Deliberately uses बीआ (agricultural ‘seed’ sense), never वंश, which baseline reserves for physical genealogical descent (cf. seed_of_david) and would wrongly import Panjikaran caste-lineage-purity concerns into a statement about inward spiritual nature.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: अनन्त जीवन
Transliteration: anant jīvan
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: मुक्ति, मोक्ष
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
New term. ζωὴ αἰώνιος: life of the age to come, already possessed now, consummated eternally in relational communion with God through the Son (5:11-13,20). Same forbidden-term discipline as baseline salvation entry: NEVER मुक्ति or मोक्ष.
Idols
Approved rendering: मूर्ति
Transliteration: mūrti
Doctrine: Exclusive Devotion / Guarding Against Idols
Rejected alternatives: प्रतिमा, देवता, झूठ चीज
Original: εἴδωλον
Category: Ethics
New term. εἴδωλον: physical images representing deities (5:21). The most direct doctrinal collision in the book: names precisely the devotional images (Durga, Kali, Shiva, Vishnu, Ram-Sita) central to daily religious life across Mithila. Must NOT be softened into an abstract ‘false things’ euphemism; pastoral clarity requires the concrete referent. Mandatory human theologian review and careful, non-inflammatory discipleship framing required.
High Risk Terms
Sin
Approved rendering: पाप
Transliteration: pāp
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: अधर्म, अशुद्धता
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly across 1 John 1:7-10; 2:1-2,12; 3:4-9; 4:10; 5:16-17.
Faith
Approved rendering: विश्वास
Transliteration: biswas
Doctrine: Faith in the Son of God
Rejected alternatives: श्रद्धा, भक्ति
Original: πίστις / πιστεύω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for 1 John 5:1,4,5,10,13. Must remain personal trust in Christ specifically, not generalized bhakti reverence.
Calling
Approved rendering: बजाओल जाएब
Transliteration: bajāol jāeb
Doctrine: New Birth / Children of God (conceptual cross-reference)
Rejected alternatives: आह्वान
Original: κλῆσις / κλητός (conceptual; not directly lexicalized in 1 John)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Not directly lexicalized in 1 John, but reused wherever teaching materials cross-reference Romans’ calling doctrine alongside 1 John’s ‘born of God’ / ‘children of God’ teaching.
Called
Approved rendering: बजाओल
Transliteration: bajāol
Doctrine: New Birth / Children of God (conceptual cross-reference)
Rejected alternatives: आमंत्रित, नेह पाओल
Inherited from Romans package; retained for cross-curriculum consistency in teaching materials that link Romans’ calling doctrine to 1 John’s new-birth doctrine.
Adoption
Approved rendering: पुत्रत्व प्रदान
Transliteration: putratva pradān
Doctrine: Children of God / Adoption
Rejected alternatives: गोद लेब
Original: υἱοθεσία (conceptual; the legal-forensic counterpart to ‘children of God’)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly as the legal-forensic complement to 1 John’s organic ‘born of God’/‘children of God’ (3:1-2) family imagery — two complementary NT pictures, not competing ones.
Law
Approved rendering: व्यवस्था
Transliteration: byavasthā
Doctrine: Obedience to Christ’s Commandments (contrast reference)
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, नियम
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly, reserved strictly for the Mosaic Law/Torah. Retained in this TM specifically so that 1 John’s ἐντολή (‘commandment,’ आज्ञा) is never confused with or rendered as व्यवस्था.
Grace
Approved rendering: अनुग्रह
Transliteration: anugraha
Doctrine: God is Love (grace-priority parallel, 1 John 4:10,19)
Rejected alternatives: कृपा, दया, पुण्य, कर्मफल, भाग
Inherited from Romans package; retained because 1 John 4:10 (‘not that we loved God, but that he loved us’) and 4:19 (‘we love because he first loved us’) are the epistle’s own restatement of Romans’ grace-versus-merit contrast. Must resist assimilation to Sita’s self-sacrificial virtue or to a bhakti approach-to-god pattern.
Abide
Approved rendering: स्थिर रहब
Transliteration: sthir rahab
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: लीन होएब, एक भऽ जाएब
Original: μένω
Category: Fellowship with God
New term. μένω: continuous, mutual, relational indwelling between God and believer (2:6,10,24,27-28; 3:6,9,14-15,17,24; 4:12-13,15-16). Must convey two distinct persons remaining in loving communion, NOT the Vedantic/Advaitic goal of ontological merger or self-dissolution into the divine — a live theological alternative in this region’s Advaita and bhakti-union thought. लीन होएब / एक भऽ जाएब both rejected as merger-suggestive.
Perfected
Approved rendering: पूर्ण भेल
Transliteration: pūrṇ bhel
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another / God is Love
Rejected alternatives: सिद्ध भेल, सिद्धि
Original: τελειόω
Category: Sanctification
New term. τελειόω: love reaching intended maturity/completeness (2:5; 4:12,17,18), not human moral flawlessness. Deliberately avoids सिद्ध/सिद्धि, which carries strong yogic/tantric ‘attainment of supernatural power’ associations in regional Shaiva-Tantric practice.
Confidence
Approved rendering: साहस
Transliteration: sāhas
Doctrine: Confidence Before God at the Day of Judgment
Rejected alternatives: निडरता, भरोसा
Original: παρρησία
Category: Assurance
New term. παρρησία: fearless confidence before God, in prayer and at final judgment, grounded in Christ’s finished work and present love (2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14) — not accumulated merit. निडरता rejected as too flat (lacks courtroom/relational-access sense); भरोसा rejected as too generic-trust. Must be grounded in God’s settled character, not anxious uncertainty about a karmic account (कर्मफलक हिसाब).
Day Of Judgment
Approved rendering: न्यायक दिन
Transliteration: nyāyak din
Doctrine: Confidence Before God at the Day of Judgment
Original: ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως
Category: Eschatology
New term. The final, personal divine tribunal (4:17). Must be framed as a personal God’s tribunal, not an impersonal karmic ledger/accounting.
Confess Sin
Approved rendering: पाप स्वीकार करब
Transliteration: pāp svīkār karab
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: ὁμολογέω (sin-confession sense)
Category: Sin
New term. Honest acknowledgment/admission of one’s own sin to God, the condition for forgiveness and cleansing (1:9) — a continual practice, not a one-time act. Kept sharply distinct from अंगीकार करब (Christological confession).
Cleanse
Approved rendering: शुद्ध करब
Transliteration: śuddh karab
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: καθαρίζω
Category: Sin
New term. Christ’s blood accomplishing a decisive, once-for-all moral-spiritual cleansing (1:7,9). शुद्ध risks evoking ritual/ceremonial purity tied to Panjikaran lineage-purity and संस्कार rites; mandatory translator note distinguishing moral-relational cleansing (once, by Christ’s blood) from repeatable ceremonial purification.
Forgive
Approved rendering: क्षमा करब
Transliteration: kṣamā karab
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin / Forgiveness Grounded in God’s Character
Original: ἀφίημι
Category: Sin
New term. God’s forensic pardon of confessed sin, grounded in Christ’s atonement and God’s own faithful, righteous character (1:9). Must be distinguished from क्षमा as a cultivated personal ethical virtue (patience/forbearance) in general regional ethics.
Manifested
Approved rendering: प्रकट भेल
Transliteration: prakaṭ bhel
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist / God is Love
Original: φανερόω
Category: Christology
New term. φανερόω: disclosure of what was previously hidden — Christ’s incarnate appearing, God’s love shown concretely, believers’ future glorified appearing (1:2; 3:2,5,8; 4:9). Must be tied to a concrete historical event, not a mystical or repeatable theophany/avatar-appearance pattern.
Advocate
Approved rendering: अधिवक्ता
Transliteration: adhivaktā
Doctrine: Christ’s Advocacy Before the Father
Original: παράκλητος
Category: Christology
New term. παράκλητος: Christ’s ongoing heavenly legal-forensic defense before the Father (2:1). Distinguish from baseline’s मध्यस्थता (general prayer-intercession, a different concept); translator note should establish the courtroom background — Christ as defense counsel before God the righteous Judge.
Commandment
Approved rendering: आज्ञा
Transliteration: ājñā
Doctrine: Obedience to Christ’s Commandments
Rejected alternatives: व्यवस्था
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Ethics
New term. ἐντολή: Christ’s specific relational directives, especially the love-command; ‘old commandment’ = पुरान आज्ञा, ‘new commandment’ = नव आज्ञा (2:3-8; 3:22-24; 4:21). NEVER व्यवस्था, which baseline reserves for the Mosaic Law/Torah.
Keep Commandments
Approved rendering: मानब
Transliteration: mānab
Doctrine: Obedience to Christ’s Commandments
Rejected alternatives: पालन करब
Original: τηρέω
Category: Ethics
New term. τηρέω: ongoing, careful, love-motivated observance of Christ’s commands (2:3-5). Avoid पालन करब where it frames obedience as duty-discharge (कर्तव्य-पालन) rather than love’s relational response, per baseline’s obedience_of_faith caution.
Worldly Desires
Approved rendering: देहक अभिलाषा / आँखिक अभिलाषा / जीवनक अहंकार
Transliteration: dehak abhilāṣā / ā̃khik abhilāṣā / jīvanak ahaṅkār
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: वासना
Original: ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός / ἐπιθυμία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν / ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου
Category: Ethics
New term (triad). ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός / ἐπιθυμία τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν / ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου (2:16). अभिलाषा chosen over वासना, which carries strong sensual/erotic connotations from the region’s Radha-Krishna devotional poetic tradition.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: मसीह-विरोधी
Transliteration: masīh-virodhī
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Eschatology
New term. A specific eschatological figure/spirit denying that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (2:18,22; 4:3). Mandatory translator note distinguishing from generic epic antagonists (e.g., Ravana) — this names specifically doctrinal denial of Christ’s identity, not a villain archetype.
Brother
Approved rendering: भाइ
Transliteration: bhāi
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church
New term. ἀδελφός: fellow believer within the community of faith (fictive kinship in Christ), not biological or caste-lineage brotherhood (2:9-11; 3:10-17; 4:20-21). Mithila’s बिरादरी social imagination frequently reads brotherhood along caste-community lines reinforced by Panjikaran; must be taught, per baseline’s unity_of_jews_and_gentiles doctrine, as spiritual family cutting across caste and lineage.
Test The Spirits
Approved rendering: आत्मा जाँच करब
Transliteration: ātmā jā̃c karab
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα
Category: Discernment
New term. δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα: the command to actively evaluate spiritual claims/teachers against the incarnation-confession standard (4:1). The plural, bare आत्मा here must be clearly distinguished from पवित्र आत्मा, given the region’s many active guru and spirit-medium discernment traditions.
Spirit Of Truth Error
Approved rendering: सत्यक आत्मा / भ्रमक आत्मा
Transliteration: satyak ātmā / bhramak ātmā
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας / πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης
Category: Discernment
New term. πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας / πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης: the two ultimate spiritual sources contesting for influence (4:6). Ensure ‘spirit of truth’ is not casually conflated with पवित्र आत्मा without contextual anchoring, though the same reality is in view here.
Overcome
Approved rendering: जीतब / विजय पाओब
Transliteration: jītab / vijay pāob
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: νικάω
Category: Assurance
New term. νικάω: victory over the world’s opposition, won through ongoing, abiding faith in Christ (4:4; 5:4-5). Mandatory translator note distinguishing from the region’s Durga-versus-Mahishasura martial-triumph narrative (Vijayadashami/Dussehra) — this is persevering faith through ongoing spiritual struggle, not a singular decisive warrior-deity victory.
Water And Blood
Approved rendering: जल आ लहू
Transliteration: jal ā lahū
Doctrine: The Testimony of Water and Blood
Original: τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα
Category: Christology
New term. τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα: testimony (commonly Christ’s baptism and death) confirming his incarnate, atoning work against docetic denial (5:6-8). Interpretively complex; render plainly, flag for theologian review on exposition.
Sin Unto Death
Approved rendering: मृत्युदायक पाप / मृत्युदायक नहि पाप
Transliteration: mṛtyudāyak pāp / mṛtyudāyak nahi pāp
Doctrine: Sin unto Death / Not unto Death
Original: ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον / μὴ πρὸς θάνατον
Category: Sin
New term. ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον / μὴ πρὸς θάνατον: a theologically debated, pastorally sensitive distinction bearing on intercessory prayer for a sinning believer (5:16-17). Flag explicitly for mandatory human theologian review; do not resolve ambiguity with confident formulaic rendering.
Medium Risk Terms
Darkness
Approved rendering: अन्धकार
Transliteration: andhakār
Doctrine: God is Light
Original: σκότος
Category: God
New term. Moral corruption, falsehood, alienation from God (1:5-6; 2:9,11); standard, low-collision term, paired consistently and antithetically with प्रकाश.
Fear
Approved rendering: डर
Transliteration: ḍar
Doctrine: Confidence Before God at the Day of Judgment
Original: φόβος
Category: Assurance
New term. Servile dread of divine punishment (4:18), incompatible with mature love and settled assurance.
Punishment
Approved rendering: दण्ड
Transliteration: daṇḍa
Doctrine: Confidence Before God at the Day of Judgment
Original: κόλασις
Category: Eschatology
New term. Judicial penalty anticipated by servile fear (4:18).
World
Approved rendering: संसार
Transliteration: sansār
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: जगत
Original: κόσμος
Category: Ethics
New term. κόσμος: the present fallen moral-relational order opposed to God and his love (2:15-17; 4:1,3-5,9,14,17; 5:4-5,19). No unoccupied alternative exists; translator note at 2:15 must clarify this is the present moral order opposed to God, not the Hindu philosophical संसार-चक्र rebirth cycle.
Devil
Approved rendering: शैतान
Transliteration: śaitān
Doctrine: Sin Defined as Lawlessness, Contrasted with Righteousness
Original: διάβολος
Category: Sin
New term. διάβολος: the personal evil adversary, ultimate source of sin (3:8,10). Standard, low-collision loan term already naturalized in South Asian Christian usage.
Lay Down Life
Approved rendering: प्राण देब
Transliteration: prāṇ deb
Doctrine: Practical Love and Compassion in Action
Original: τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν
Category: Love & Fellowship
New term. τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν: self-sacrificial giving of one’s life for another, patterned on Christ’s atoning death (3:16). Standard idiom; retain the explicit connection to Christ’s atonement as pattern/standard.
Testimony
Approved rendering: गवाही
Transliteration: gavāhī
Doctrine: The Testimony of Water and Blood
Original: μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω
Category: Faith
New term. μαρτυρία/μαρτυρέω: legal-forensic evidence-giving; God’s own testimony concerning his Son, apostolic eyewitness testimony (1:2; 4:14; 5:9-11). Ensure legal/evidentiary force retained, not flattened to casual ‘sharing.‘
Guard
Approved rendering: बचाए राखब
Transliteration: bacāe rākhab
Doctrine: Exclusive Devotion / Guarding Against Idols
Original: φυλάσσω
Category: Ethics
New term. φυλάσσω: active, vigilant self-guarding against idolatry, the epistle’s climactic closing command (5:21).
Know
Approved rendering: जानब
Transliteration: jānab
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life (diagnostic refrain)
Original: γινώσκω / οἶδα
Category: Faith
New term. γινώσκω/οἶδα: recurring diagnostic refrain (‘by this we know…’) — relational, experiential knowledge verified by love and obedience, not mere factual assent (2:3,5,29; 3:16,19,24; 4:2,6,7,8,13,16; 5:2,13,19-20). Keep rendering consistent across all occurrences.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: सङ्गति
Transliteration: saṅgati
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: मित्रता, समाज
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package; reused exactly for 1 John 1:3,6,7.
Compassion
Approved rendering: करुणा
Transliteration: karuṇā
Doctrine: Practical Love and Compassion in Action
Original: σπλάγχνα
Category: Love & Fellowship
New term. σπλάγχνα: deep, gut-level compassion moved to practical action toward a brother in need (3:17). Low collision risk.
Liar
Approved rendering: झूठा
Transliteration: jhūṭhā
Doctrine: Truthfulness versus Falsehood in Profession
Original: ψεύστης
Category: Sin
New term. ψεύστης: strong, recurring diagnostic label for false profession (1:10; 2:4,22; 4:20; 5:10). Standard term, consistent across occurrences.
Referenced passages