Core Glossary
Core Glossary: 2 John — English → Malay
This glossary extends the baseline Romans translation_memory.json. Terms already recorded in the baseline (Kebenaran, Kasih kurnia, Damai sejahtera, Bapa, Anak Allah, Yesus, Kristus, Allah, Pilihan Allah, Persekutuan, Hukum Taurat) are reused exactly, with new notes added only where 2 John introduces a new collision risk for that term. All other terms below are new to this curriculum and must be added to translation memory before Phase 2 processing, per the baseline’s “new theological term” enforcement protocol.
Reused Baseline Terms (No Change — Cite Exactly as Recorded)
| English | Malay | Risk | Doctrine | 2 John Occurrence(s) | Additional Note for This Curriculum |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grace | Kasih kurnia | High | Grace | 1:3 | Now appears alongside a new, related term (mercy/ἔλεος, see below) in the same greeting formula; keep the two visually and lexically distinct in Malay. |
| Peace | Damai sejahtera | Medium | Peace with God | 1:3 | Standard reuse; no new collision. |
| Father | Bapa | Critical | Adoption / Fatherhood of God | 1:3, 1:4, 1:9 | Reuse exactly; tawhid-adjacent caution applies as documented in the baseline. |
| Son of God (doctrine) | Anak Allah | Critical | Sonship of Christ | 1:3, 1:9 | 2 John’s Greek phrasing (“the Son of the Father,” “the Son”) differs slightly from the fuller “Son of God” title, but the doctrinal referent and risk are identical; render with the same Critical-tier discipline. |
| Jesus | Yesus | Critical | Lordship of Christ | 1:3, 1:7 | Reuse exactly; never Isa. |
| Christ / Messiah | Kristus | Critical | Messianic Promise | 1:3, 1:7, 1:9 | Reuse exactly; never Al-Masih. Note: this book also introduces “Antikristus” (ἀντί + Χριστός), built on this same established root — see new terms below. |
| God | Allah | Critical | Deity of Christ | 1:3, 1:9 | Reuse exactly; 2 John 9’s “does not have God” (θεὸν οὐκ ἔχει) raises the stakes of this term’s legal/political sensitivity to a new level within this curriculum — see new terms below. |
| Election (adjective form: “elect”) | Pilihan Allah (root: pilih-/terpilih) | High | Effectual Calling / Election | 1:1, 1:13 | 2 John applies election-vocabulary to a “lady” and to a “sister,” extending the baseline’s soteriological term to a description of a person/community’s status; keep the shared root “pilih/terpilih” consistent with the baseline term. |
| Fellowship | Persekutuan | Low | Christian Fellowship | (implicit background of vv.10-11) | Do not use this noun to render the ironic/negative κοινωνέω of 1:11 (participation in evil works) — see new terms below; reserve Persekutuan strictly for its established positive sense. |
| Law (Mosaic) | Hukum Taurat | High | Fulfillment of Prophecy | (background only; not directly cited in 2 John) | No direct occurrence, but relevant as the term from which Perintah (commandment, this book’s actual vocabulary) must be kept distinct. |
New Terms for This Curriculum (2 John)
| English | Original (Greek) | Malay Rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Key Verse(s) | Alternatives Rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Truth | ἀλήθεια (alētheia) | Kebenaran | keh-beh-NAH-rahn | Critical | Walking in Truth and Love | 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:12 | ”Hal yang benar” (overly clinical, loses scriptural resonance); “fakta” (mere factual correctness, no relational/covenantal weight) | Shares its Malay lexeme with the baseline’s Critical-risk rendering of δικαιοσύνη (righteousness). This is a genuine, unavoidable double-duty collision, not a translation error — teaching material must disambiguate contextually (2 John’s sense = fidelity to the apostolic gospel content, not forensic legal standing) with qualifying phrases such as “kebenaran (ajaran Injil)” on first use per lesson. |
| Love | ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω (agapē / agapaō) | Kasih | KAH-sih | High | Walking in Truth and Love | 1:1, 1:3, 1:5, 1:6 | ”Sayang” (generic affection, too weak); “cinta” (romantic connotation, inappropriate register) | Low syncretism risk (Kasih is well-established Malay Christian vocabulary), but high doctrinal-clarity risk: John explicitly defines love as obedient walking in Christ’s commandments (v.6), not sentiment. Teaching notes must foreground this operational definition on every occurrence. |
| Mercy | ἔλεος (eleos) | Belas kasihan (recommended) | BEH-lahs kah-SEE-hahn | High | Grace (extended) | 1:3 | ”Rahmat” (the natural Malay-Islamic-vocabulary equivalent, explicitly avoided here for the same reason the baseline rejects it for χάρις: it operates within a deeds-and-mercy Islamic judgment framework where final standing remains undetermined until Judgment Day) | New term forced by 2 John’s unusual three-part greeting (grace, mercy, peace) rather than the more typical two-part “grace and peace.” Recommend Belas kasihan to keep this triad’s three terms clearly distinct from Islamic rahmat theology, paralleling the logic that already separated Kasih kurnia from rahmat for grace. |
| Commandment | ἐντολή (entolē) | Perintah | per-IN-tah | Medium | Walking in Truth and Love / Perseverance | 1:4, 1:5, 1:6 | — | Must be kept distinct from Hukum Taurat (Mosaic Law, baseline High-risk term); this is NT relational directive (the command to love), not part of the Mosaic legal code. |
| Walk / walking (conduct) | περιπατέω (peripateō) | Hidup (menurut/dalam …) | HEE-dup | Medium | Walking in Truth and Love | 1:4, 1:6 | Literal “berjalan” (reads oddly; loses the whole-of-life-conduct idiom) | Established Bible-Malay idiom uses “hidup” (to live) rather than literal “berjalan” (to walk) for this verb family; must convey ongoing, observable conduct. |
| World | κόσμος (kosmos) | Dunia | DOO-nee-ah | Medium | Warning against Deceivers | 1:7 | — | Standard term; must carry the Johannine moral-relational sense (a sphere estranged from God), not a neutral “planet/society” sense alone. |
| Deceiver(s) | πλάνος (planos) | Penyesat | peh-nyeh-SAHT | High | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | 1:7 | ”Penipu” alone (too weak, purely a “liar/cheat” sense without the leading-astray dimension) | Shares its root with “ajaran sesat” (“deviant/heretical teaching”), a formal, currently active legal-religious designation used by Malaysian state Islamic authorities (JAKIM, state fatwa councils). Requires explicit teaching disambiguation from that specific state-administrative usage. |
| Antichrist | ἀντίχριστος (antichristos) | Antikristus | AHN-tee-KRIS-toos | Critical | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | 1:7 | ”Dajjal” (the mainstream Sunni Islamic end-times false-messiah figure, al-Masih ad-Dajjal, formally taught in Malaysian Islamic eschatology — a structurally close parallel deliberately NOT used, exactly as the baseline avoids Al-Masih for Kristus) | Retain the transliterated Alkitab convention. Never gloss or explain using Dajjal-derived vocabulary; teach the two concepts as distinct traditions requiring separate treatment, not equivalence. |
| Confess / confessing | ὁμολογέω (homologeō) | Mengaku | meng-AH-koo | High | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | 1:7 | — | Same verb family underlying the Romans 10:9 salvation confession (“Yesus adalah Tuhan”); render consistently so learners connect this negative case (false teachers’ failure to confess) with that positive confession pattern. |
| Flesh (incarnate) / came in the flesh | ἐν σαρκί / ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί (en sarki / erchomenon en sarki) | datang dalam keadaan manusia (preferred) / daging (literal gloss) | dah-TAHNG dah-lahm keh-ah-DAH-ahn mah-NOO-sih-ah | Critical | Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation | 1:7 | ”Menyamar sebagai manusia” (disguised as a human — explicitly rejected in the baseline’s Penjelmaan entry); “diangkat naik ke syurga tanpa mati” (no-death ascension pattern — wholly incompatible) | Direct scriptural warrant for the baseline’s Critical Penjelmaan doctrine. Must affirm real, permanent, bodily human nature — never a temporary appearance or Hindu-Buddhist-derived avatar-style manifestation (penjelmaan dewa). This verse’s warning targets docetic/Gnostic denial of Christ’s physical reality — distinct from mainstream Islamic anthropology, which already affirms Jesus’ full humanity; teaching material must clarify precisely which heresy is in view to avoid misdirecting the warning. |
| Teaching / doctrine of Christ | διδαχή (didachē) | Ajaran (Kristus) | ah-JAH-rahn KRIS-toos | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:9, 1:10 | Bare “ajaran” without qualifier (too broad; risks reading as any generic teaching) | Always pair with “Kristus”; bare “ajaran” shares its root with “ajaran sesat” (see Penyesat entry above) and risks unwanted resonance with that state-administrative category if left unqualified. |
| Abide / remain | μένω (menō) | Tinggal | TING-gahl | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:2 (of truth), 1:9 (of teaching) | — | Established Alkitab rendering (cf. Yohanes 15:4), but an extremely common everyday word (to live/reside) that risks flattening the doctrinal weight of ongoing, Spirit-sustained perseverance into mere physical “staying put.” Requires explicit teaching emphasis on every occurrence. |
| ”Does not have God” | θεὸν οὐκ ἔχει (theon ouk echei) | Tidak memiliki Allah | TEE-dahk meh-MEE-lee-kee ahl-LAHH | Critical | Deity of Christ / Sonship of Christ (extended) | 1:9 | Softened alternatives implying merely “an incomplete view of God” (rejected — the Greek is categorically exclusive) | The sharpest exclusivist Trinitarian claim in the book: no relationship with God apart from holding the Father-Son doctrine. Directly confronts tawhid at its most sensitive point, compounded by “Allah“‘s already-documented legal/political sensitivity in Malaysia. Mandatory human theologian review for every occurrence. |
| Reward / wage | μισθός (misthos) | Upah | OO-pah | High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:8 | — | Risk of being heard within an amal-ledger (deeds-earn-reward) framework; must be taught as reward for perseverance/ministry fruitfulness for those already secure in Christ by grace, not the ground of justification. Cross-reference Romans 6:23’s “upah dosa” (wages of sin) — same root, opposite moral valence; keep senses distinct. |
| Receive into the house (hospitality) | λαμβάνειν εἰς οἰκίαν (lambanein eis oikian) | menerima (dia) masuk ke dalam rumah | meh-neh-REE-mah MAH-sook keh dah-lahm ROO-mah | High | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | 1:10 | — | Direct collision with deeply held Malay cultural hospitality norms (adat, guest-honoring customs reinforced by Islamic teaching). Requires explicit teaching distinction between ordinary social courtesy (not prohibited) and formally sponsoring/endorsing a traveling false teacher (prohibited). Route to human theologian review for pastoral framing, paralleling the baseline’s evangelism-passage routing. |
| ”Greetings” (refused greeting formula) | χαίρειν (chairein) | (refused greeting — see notes) | khai-REIN | Critical | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | 1:10, 1:11 | ”Salam” (rejected — Arabic/Islamic-loaded greeting term, subject of ongoing Malaysian legal/political controversy over non-Muslim usage); “selamat”-rooted phrasing such as “ucapkan selamat” (rejected — shares the exact root already Critical-flagged in the baseline for keselamatan/salvation; risks being subconsciously heard as “do not wish him salvation”) | Highest-stakes lexical decision unique to this book. Recommend a neutral welcome/reception verb instead: “jangan alu-alukan dia” (do not welcome him) or “jangan sambut dia dengan mesra” (do not receive him warmly). Mandatory human theologian review. Contrast explicitly with the benign ἀσπάζεται greeting of 1:13 (see below), which carries no such risk. |
| Participate / share in (negative/ironic use) | κοινωνέω (koinōneō) | turut serta (dalam) / mengambil bahagian (dalam) | too-ROOT SEHR-tah | Medium | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | 1:11 | Any noun form built on “Persekutuan” (rejected — would collide with the baseline’s positive Christian-fellowship term) | Deliberately ironic negative use of the κοινωνία word-family (becoming a “participant” in evil works by extending greeting/hospitality). Must not be rendered with “Persekutuan”-based vocabulary to avoid implying positive Christian fellowship extends to complicity with false teachers. |
| Evil works | ἔργα πονηρά (erga ponēra) | perbuatan-perbuatan yang jahat | per-boo-AH-tahn yahng JAH-hat | Low | Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment | 1:11 | ”Amal jahat” (avoided — “amal” carries specific Islamic deeds-ledger connotations best kept out of this description) | Straightforward; minor register note only. |
| Elder | πρεσβύτερος (presbyteros) | Penatua | peh-nah-TOO-ah | Medium | (Authorial framing) | 1:1 | ”Orang tua” (ambiguous — reads as merely “elderly person,” losing the office sense); “ulama” (rejected — an Islamic religious-scholar category, not a Christian ecclesiastical office) | Established ecclesiological term denoting a recognized New Testament church office/authority. |
| Elect lady | ἐκλεκτῇ κυρίᾳ (eklektē kyria) | Puan pilihan (or transliterated as a name, Kyria) | POO-ahn pee-LEE-hahn | Medium | (Authorial framing) | 1:1, 1:5 | — | Genuine exegetical ambiguity (individual woman vs. personified local church) requires a translator’s note and human theologian review. Secondary, lower-weight risk: possible cultural resonance with Maryam veneration in Malay-Muslim devotional culture; clarify no such veneration is intended. |
| Known the truth | γινώσκω (ginōskō, perfect participle ἐγνωκότες) | mengenal / mengetahui (kebenaran) | meng-EH-nahl | Medium | Walking in Truth and Love | 1:1 | — | Should be taught in explicit contrast to the false teachers’ claimed elitist “higher knowledge” (an early proto-Gnostic tension) — ordinary, shared, apostolic knowledge, not an esoteric class marker. |
| From the beginning | ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς (ap’ archēs) | dari mulanya / sejak awal | DAH-ree MOO-lah-nyah | Medium | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:5, 1:6 | — | Refers to the origin of the apostolic proclamation about Christ, not a vague reference to Genesis creation-origins; grounds the anti-innovation force of the passage. |
| Goes ahead / beyond (does not abide) | προάγω (proagō) | melangkah melampaui (Ajaran Kristus) | meh-LAHNG-kah meh-lahm-POO-ee | Medium-High | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:9 | — | Note a structural resonance worth flagging pastorally: claims of a later, “more advanced” revelation superseding an earlier one bear some resemblance to the Islamic doctrine of Qur’anic finality; teach this verse strictly as an internal warning against abandoning Christ’s own apostolic teaching, not as a general argument about later revelations. |
| Watch yourselves | βλέπετε ἑαυτούς (blepete heautous) | berjaga-jagalah / awasi diri kamu | ber-JAH-gah-JAH-gah-lah | Low | Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ | 1:8 | — | Standard exhortative vocabulary; low risk. |
| Mouth to mouth (idiom: face to face) | στόμα πρὸς στόμα (stoma pros stoma) | berhadapan muka / bersemuka | ber-hah-dah-PAHN MOO-kah | Low | (Authorial framing) | 1:12 | Literal “mulut ke mulut” (rejected — reads oddly, unintended physical connotation) | Idiom; convey meaning (in-person conversation), not literal wording, per the baseline’s general idiom-handling rule. |
| Joy fulfilled | χαρὰ πεπληρωμένη (chara peplērōmenē) | sukacita yang penuh/sempurna | soo-kah-CHEE-tah | Low-Medium | (Authorial framing) | 1:12 | ”Gembira” (too casual a register for the devotional tone intended) | Straightforward; minor register note only. |
| Greets (benign closing salutation) | ἀσπάζεται (aspazetai) | menyampaikan salam / mengirim salam | meh-nyahm-PIE-kahn sah-LAHM | Medium | (Authorial framing) | 1:13 | — | Distinct case from the refused χαίρειν of 1:10–11: here “salam” is contextually safe, ordinary, and conventional between believers in good standing. Teaching material should explicitly note the deliberate contrast in how the same general “greeting” domain is handled differently depending on the recipient’s doctrinal standing. |
| Sister | ἀδελφή (adelphē) | saudari | sow-DAH-ree | Low | (Authorial framing) | 1:13 | — | Likely a sister congregation given the corporate-personification reading of κυρία; straightforward term, low risk. |
Risk Summary for 2 John New Terms
| Risk Tier | Count | Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 5 | Truth (Kebenaran collision), Antikristus, “does not have God,” Flesh/incarnation (came in the flesh), Refused greeting (χαίρειν) |
| High | 8 | Love, Mercy, Deceiver(s), Confess, Teaching of Christ, Abide/remain, Reward, Receive into the house |
| Medium | 8 | Commandment, Walk/conduct, World, Elder, Elect lady, Known the truth, From the beginning, Goes ahead/beyond, Greets (benign) |
| Low | 6 | Evil works, Watch yourselves, Mouth to mouth, Joy fulfilled, Sister, (plus general idiom/logistics vocabulary) |
Review routing recommendation (consistent with baseline conventions): all Critical and High tier terms above require human theologian review before Phase 2 approval, matching the baseline’s escalation rules for Critical/High doctrine categories. Medium tier terms require native speaker review. Low tier terms may proceed with automated review only.
Critical Risk Terms
Father
Approved rendering: Bapa
Transliteration: BAH-pah
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: Pencipta (Creator, as a substitute to avoid relational language)
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Calling God ‘Father’ can register as implying literal offspring, which tawhid forbids; teach the relational, adoptive sense directly. 2 John extension (2 Yohanes 1:3, 1:4, 1:9): the tawhid-adjacent risk is compounded because 2 Yohanes 1:9 makes ‘having the Father’ conditional on holding correct Sonship doctrine, raising the stakes of the relational-not-literal teaching requirement.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Anak Allah
Transliteration: AH-nahk ahl-LAHH
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: kekasih Allah (God’s beloved one), wakil Allah (God’s representative)
Original: υἱός (τοῦ πατρός)
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Full phrase required, never softened; this Language Package explicitly forbids the euphemistic ‘Insider Movement’-style substitution controversy. 2 John extension (2 Yohanes 1:3, 1:9): the precise Greek phrasing here (‘the Son of the Father,’ ‘the Son’) differs slightly from the fuller ‘Son of God’ title, but the doctrinal referent and risk are identical; render with the same Critical-tier discipline and never soften, since 1:9 ties ‘having’ the Son directly to having any true relationship with God at all.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Yesus
Transliteration: YEH-soos
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Isa (the Qur’anic name, deliberately avoided by established Alkitab convention)
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Never use Isa. 2 John extension (2 Yohanes 1:3, 1:7): named in the greeting and as the one whose real incarnation deceivers deny; no new collision beyond the book’s general incarnation-denial theme.
Messiah
Approved rendering: Kristus
Transliteration: KRIS-toos
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: Al-Masih (the Qur’anic title, deliberately avoided in favor of the Greek-derived Alkitab convention)
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Never use Al-Masih. 2 John extension (2 Yohanes 1:3, 1:7, 1:9): this book also introduces a compound built on this same established root, ‘Antikristus’ (see Section B below), which must never be glossed with the Islamic Dajjal figure.
God
Approved rendering: Allah
Transliteration: ahl-LAHH
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Tuhan (used for ‘Lord’ in this Language Package; reserving Allah for ‘God’ keeps the two terms distinct as Alkitab does)
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Single most legally and politically sensitive term in the package (2013 Court of Appeal ruling; 2021 Kuching High Court ruling). 2 John extension (2 Yohanes 1:9): ‘does not have God’ (θεὸν οὐκ ἔχει) ties possession of Allah directly to holding the Father-Son Trinitarian confession, raising this term’s already-documented legal/political sensitivity to a new level within this curriculum; see ‘does_not_have_god’ in Section B.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: Penjelmaan
Transliteration: pen-jel-MAHN
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: Tuhan yang menyamar sebagai manusia (God disguising himself as a human)
Original: (theological category; cf. ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί, 2 Yohanes 1:7)
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Penjelmaan shares its root with ‘penjelmaan dewa,’ a Hindu-Buddhist-derived avatar concept surviving in the Malay Archipelago; must be taught as the eternal Son permanently, not temporarily or repeatably, taking on true human nature. 2 John extension (2 Yohanes 1:7): ‘came in the flesh’ (ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί) supplies a direct New Testament scriptural warrant for this doctrine as an anti-docetic warning — see ‘came_in_flesh’ in Section B for the specific verse-level rendering and the related risk that this verse’s target heresy differs from mainstream Islamic Christology (which already affirms Jesus’ full humanity).
Truth
Approved rendering: Kebenaran
Transliteration: keh-beh-NAH-rahn
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Rejected alternatives: hal yang benar (overly clinical, loses scriptural resonance), fakta (mere factual correctness, no relational/covenantal weight)
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Shares its Malay lexeme with the baseline’s Critical-risk rendering of righteousness/δικαιοσύνη (forensic standing before God, established across Romans). 2 John’s ἀλήθεια is a DIFFERENT Greek word and sense: doctrinal fidelity to the apostolic gospel content (that which the children ‘walk in,’ ‘know,’ and ‘abide in’), not forensic legal standing. This is a genuine, unavoidable double-duty collision, not a translation error. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:1, 1:2, 1:3, 1:4, 1:12. Mandatory qualifying gloss on first use per lesson: ‘kebenaran (ajaran benar Injil).’ Mandatory human theologian review.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: Antikristus
Transliteration: AHN-tee-KRIS-toos
Doctrine: Antichrist and Eschatological Deception
Rejected alternatives: Dajjal (al-Masih ad-Dajjal, the mainstream Sunni Islamic end-times false-messiah figure formally taught in Malaysian Islamic education — structurally close but deliberately NOT used, exactly paralleling the baseline’s Al-Masih avoidance for Kristus)
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Eschatology
NEW TERM for this curriculum, no baseline precedent. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:7. Retain the established Alkitab transliteration exactly. Never gloss or explain using Dajjal-derived vocabulary; teach the two traditions (biblical antichrist / denial of Christ’s incarnate deity, versus Dajjal / Islamic end-times eschatology) as structurally distinct, not equivalent. Mandatory human theologian review.
Came In Flesh
Approved rendering: datang dalam keadaan manusia
Transliteration: dah-TAHNG dah-lahm keh-ah-DAH-ahn mah-NOO-sih-ah
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: menyamar sebagai manusia (disguised as a human — explicitly rejected in the baseline’s Penjelmaan entry), diangkat naik ke syurga tanpa mati (no-death ascension pattern — wholly incompatible)
Original: ἐρχόμενον ἐν σαρκί
Category: Christology
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Direct scriptural warrant (2 Yohanes 1:7) for the baseline’s Critical Penjelmaan doctrine. Must affirm real, permanent, bodily human nature, never a temporary appearance or avatar-style manifestation. Targets docetic/Gnostic denial of Christ’s physical reality — distinct from mainstream Islamic anthropology, which already affirms Jesus’ full humanity; teaching material must clarify precisely which heresy is condemned so the warning is not misdirected. Mandatory human theologian review.
Does Not Have God
Approved rendering: Tidak memiliki Allah
Transliteration: TEE-dahk meh-MEE-lee-kee ahl-LAHH
Doctrine: Deity of Christ and Trinitarian Exclusivity
Rejected alternatives: softened alternatives implying merely ‘an incomplete view of God’ (rejected — the Greek is categorically exclusive)
Original: θεὸν οὐκ ἔχει
Category: God
NEW TERM for this curriculum, no baseline precedent. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:9. The sharpest exclusivist Trinitarian claim in the letter: departing from Christ’s teaching means one does not stand in relationship with God at all. Directly confronts tawhid’s denial of the Father-Son relation (Qur’an 112:3) at its most exclusive point, compounded by Allah’s independently documented Malaysian legal-political sensitivity. Mandatory human theologian review for every occurrence; never soften.
Refused Greeting
Approved rendering: jangan alu-alukan dia
Transliteration: JAHNG-gahn ah-loo-ah-loo-KAHN DEE-ah
Doctrine: Refusal of Greeting as Public Doctrinal Endorsement
Rejected alternatives: salam (rejected — Arabic/Islamic-loaded greeting term, subject of ongoing Malaysian legal/political controversy over non-Muslim usage), selamat-rooted phrasing such as ‘ucapkan selamat’ (rejected — shares the exact root already Critical-flagged in the baseline for keselamatan/salvation; risks being subconsciously heard as ‘do not wish him salvation’)
Original: χαίρειν
Category: Church
NEW TERM for this curriculum, no baseline precedent. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:10, 1:11. The highest-stakes lexical decision unique to this book. Use a neutral welcome/reception verb sharing no root with either Salam or Selamat. Mandatory human theologian review for every occurrence. Contrast explicitly with the benign ‘greets_benign’ (1:13), which carries no such risk.
High Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: Kasih kurnia
Transliteration: KAH-sih KOOR-nee-ah
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: rahmat (mercy, an Arabic-loan term operating within a deeds-and-mercy Islamic judgment framework)
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Kasih kurnia (‘loving favor’) is a native Malay-Sanskrit compound rather than an Arabic loanword, established in Alkitab usage specifically to convey unearned favor apart from merit, distinct from rahmat. 2 John extension (2 Yohanes 1:3): this term now appears in an unusual three-part greeting (grace, mercy, peace) rather than the more typical two-part ‘grace and peace’; must be kept visually and lexically distinct from the newly introduced ‘mercy’ term (Belas kasihan) in the same verse so the triad is not collapsed into a pair.
Election
Approved rendering: Pilihan Allah
Transliteration: pee-LEE-hahn ahl-LAHH
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: takdir (fate/predetermined decree)
Original: ἐκλεκτός (root shared with ἐκλογή)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package exactly (root: pilih-/terpilih). God’s sovereign, personal choosing for salvation; takdir carries fatalistic connotations this term avoids. 2 John extension (2 Yohanes 1:1, 1:13): applied adjectivally to a person/community’s status (‘elect lady,’ ‘elect sister’) rather than the doctrine of election itself; keep the shared root ‘pilih-/terpilih’ consistent with this baseline term. See ‘elect_lady’ in Section B for the compounded interpretive and cultural-resonance risk.
Law
Approved rendering: Hukum Taurat
Transliteration: HOO-koom tow-RAHT
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: Syariah / Hukum Syariat (Islamic religious law, an operative parallel legal system in Malaysia)
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Refers to the Mosaic law given through the Taurat. 2 John extension: no direct occurrence in 2 John’s text, but retained here because it is the term from which ‘Perintah’ (commandment, this book’s actual vocabulary — see Section B) must be kept explicitly distinct; the command to love in 2 Yohanes 1:4-6 is a New Testament relational directive, never part of, or a replacement for, the Mosaic legal code.
Love
Approved rendering: Kasih
Transliteration: KAH-sih
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Rejected alternatives: sayang (generic affection, too weak), cinta (romantic connotation, inappropriate register)
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Faith
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Low syncretism risk (established Malay Christian vocabulary) but HIGH doctrinal-clarity risk: John explicitly defines love as obedient walking in Christ’s commandments (2 Yohanes 1:6), not sentiment. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:1, 1:3, 1:5, 1:6. Teaching notes must foreground this operational, behavioral definition on every occurrence, not assume it is self-evident. Mandatory human theologian review.
Mercy
Approved rendering: Belas kasihan
Transliteration: BEH-lahs kah-SEE-hahn
Doctrine: Grace, Mercy, and Peace as Gospel Gifts
Rejected alternatives: rahmat (the natural Malay-Islamic-vocabulary equivalent, explicitly avoided for the same reason the baseline rejects it for grace: it operates within a deeds-and-mercy Islamic judgment framework where final standing remains undetermined until Judgment Day)
Original: ἔλεος
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM for this curriculum, forced by 2 John’s unusual three-part greeting (grace, mercy, peace) at 2 Yohanes 1:3, rather than the more typical two-part ‘grace and peace.’ Belas kasihan preserves the same grace-versus-merit distinction the baseline already established for Kasih kurnia, now extended to a second, closely related term appearing in the same verse. Mandatory human theologian review.
Deceiver
Approved rendering: Penyesat
Transliteration: peh-nyeh-SAHT
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: penipu alone (too weak, purely a ‘liar/cheat’ sense without the leading-astray dimension)
Original: πλάνος
Category: False Teaching
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:7. Shares its root with ‘ajaran sesat,’ a formal, currently active legal-religious designation used by Malaysian state Islamic authorities (JAKIM, state fatwa councils) for groups judged heretical relative to state-sanctioned Sunni orthodoxy. Requires mandatory explicit teaching-note disambiguation on first use: this is a general biblical category of gospel-denying false teaching, not an invocation of that specific state-administrative apparatus.
Confess
Approved rendering: Mengaku
Transliteration: meng-AH-koo
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: Christology
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:7. Same verb family underlying the Romans 10:9 salvation confession (‘Yesus adalah Tuhan’); render consistently so learners connect this negative diagnostic (the deceivers’ failure to confess Christ’s incarnation) with that established positive confession pattern.
Teaching Of Christ
Approved rendering: Ajaran Kristus
Transliteration: ah-JAH-rahn KRIS-toos
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Rejected alternatives: bare ‘ajaran’ without qualifier (too broad; risks reading as any generic teaching, and shares its root with ‘ajaran sesat’)
Original: διδαχὴ τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Christology
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:9, 1:10. Always pair with ‘Kristus’; never leave bare, to keep the referent unambiguous and prevent unwanted resonance with Malaysia’s state-administrative ‘ajaran sesat’ category.
Abide
Approved rendering: Tinggal
Transliteration: TING-gahl
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Original: μένω
Category: Sanctification
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Established Alkitab rendering (cf. Yohanes 15:4). Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:2 (of truth), 1:9 (of teaching). Extremely common everyday word (to live/reside) that risks flattening the doctrinal weight of ongoing, Spirit-sustained perseverance into mere casual physical staying. Requires explicit teaching emphasis on every occurrence.
Reward
Approved rendering: Upah
Transliteration: OO-pah
Doctrine: Reward for Faithful Perseverance in Ministry
Original: μισθός
Category: Salvation
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:8. Risks being heard within an amal-ledger (deeds-earn-reward) framework, the same works-merit framework the baseline guards against for Kasih kurnia versus amal soleh/rahmat. Must be taught as reward for perseverance/ministry fruitfulness for those already secure in Christ by grace, not the ground of justification. Cross-reference Romans 6:23’s ‘upah dosa’ (wages of sin) — same root, opposite moral valence; keep senses distinct.
Receive Into House
Approved rendering: menerima (dia) masuk ke dalam rumah
Transliteration: meh-neh-REE-mah MAH-sook keh dah-lahm ROO-mah
Doctrine: Hospitality and Doctrinal Discernment
Original: λαμβάνειν εἰς οἰκίαν
Category: Church
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:10. Directly collides with deeply held Malay adat hospitality norms, reinforced by Islamic teaching on honoring guests. Requires explicit teaching distinction between ordinary social courtesy (not prohibited) and formally sponsoring/platforming a traveling teacher who denies the incarnation (prohibited). Route to human theologian review for pastoral framing, paralleling the baseline’s evangelism-passage routing.
Goes Ahead
Approved rendering: melangkah melampaui (Ajaran Kristus)
Transliteration: meh-LAHNG-kah meh-lahm-POO-ee
Doctrine: Perseverance in the Teaching of Christ
Original: προάγω
Category: False Teaching
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:9. Carries a structural resonance worth flagging pastorally: claims of a later, ‘more advanced’ teaching superseding an earlier one bear some resemblance to the Islamic doctrine of Qur’anic finality. Teach strictly as an internal warning against abandoning Christ’s own apostolic teaching, not repurposed into interfaith polemics about the sequence of revelations.
Medium Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: Damai sejahtera
Transliteration: DAH-mai seh-jah-TEH-rah
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: ketenangan (inner calm)
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Relational, whole-life peace with God through justification; ketenangan understates the relational and covenantal dimension. 2 John extension (2 Yohanes 1:3): no new collision beyond appearing alongside the newly introduced mercy term in the same greeting formula.
Commandment
Approved rendering: Perintah
Transliteration: per-IN-tah
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Covenant
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:4, 1:5, 1:6. Must be kept distinct from Hukum Taurat (Mosaic Law, baseline High-risk term); this is a New Testament relational directive (the command to love), not part of the Mosaic legal code. Also distinct from broader Islamic hukum/syariat vocabulary for religious law.
Walk
Approved rendering: Hidup (menurut/dalam kebenaran)
Transliteration: HEE-dup
Doctrine: Walking in Truth and Love
Rejected alternatives: berjalan (literal ‘walking’; reads oddly, loses the whole-of-life-conduct idiom)
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Sanctification
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:4, 1:6. Established Bible-Malay idiom uses ‘hidup’ (to live) rather than literal ‘berjalan’ for this verb family (peripateō); must convey ongoing, observable conduct consistent with the gospel, not a single act.
World
Approved rendering: Dunia
Transliteration: DOO-nee-ah
Doctrine: Warning against Deceivers Denying the Incarnation
Original: κόσμος
Category: Sin
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:7. Standard term, but must carry the Johannine moral-relational sense (a sphere estranged from God), not a neutral ‘planet/society’ sense alone.
Participate In Evil
Approved rendering: turut serta (dalam)
Transliteration: too-ROOT SEHR-tah
Doctrine: Complicity in False Teaching through Endorsement
Rejected alternatives: any noun form built on ‘Persekutuan’ (rejected — would collide with the baseline’s positive Christian-fellowship term and imply that Christian fellowship extends to complicity with false teachers)
Original: κοινωνέω
Category: Church
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:11. Deliberately ironic negative use of the κοινωνία (fellowship) word-family, which Malay cannot reproduce with a single shared root. Use a distinct verb phrase and provide a teaching note explaining the Greek wordplay.
Elder
Approved rendering: Penatua
Transliteration: peh-nah-TOO-ah
Doctrine: Apostolic Authority and Eldership
Rejected alternatives: orang tua (ambiguous — reads as merely ‘elderly person,’ losing the office sense), ulama (rejected — an Islamic religious-scholar category, not a Christian ecclesiastical office)
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:1. Established ecclesiological term denoting a recognized New Testament church office of pastoral/apostolic authority, not age or Islamic scholarly credential.
Elect Lady
Approved rendering: Puan pilihan
Transliteration: POO-ahn pee-LEE-hahn
Doctrine: Election and Calling (Applied to Persons and Communities)
Rejected alternatives: Kyria (transliterated as a proper name — flagged as a secondary option only)
Original: ἐκλεκτῇ κυρίᾳ
Category: Church
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:1, 1:5. Genuine exegetical ambiguity (individual Christian woman vs. personified local congregation) requires a translator’s note and human theologian review. Secondary, lower-weight risk: possible unintended resonance with Maryam (Mary) veneration in Malay-Muslim devotional culture; teaching material should clarify this is an ordinary or corporately personified church member, not a devotional figure.
Known The Truth
Approved rendering: mengenal kebenaran
Transliteration: meng-EH-nahl keh-beh-NAH-rahn
Doctrine: Shared Apostolic Knowledge of the Truth versus Elitist False Gnosis
Original: ἐγνωκότες τὴν ἀλήθειαν
Category: Faith
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:1. Should be taught in explicit contrast to the false teachers’ claimed elitist ‘higher knowledge’ (an early proto-Gnostic tension surfacing again at 1:9) — ordinary, shared, apostolic knowledge marking out the whole believing community, not an esoteric class.
From The Beginning
Approved rendering: dari mulanya
Transliteration: DAH-ree MOO-lah-nyah
Doctrine: Continuity of Apostolic Command from the Beginning
Original: ἀπ’ ἀρχῆς
Category: Covenant
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:5, 1:6. Must be taught as referring to the origin of the apostolic proclamation about Christ, not a vague reference to Genesis creation-origins, to preserve the passage’s anti-innovation polemical force against the ‘progressive’ false teachers of 1:9.
Greets Benign
Approved rendering: menyampaikan salam
Transliteration: meh-nyahm-PIE-kahn sah-LAHM
Doctrine: Mutual Greeting among Believers in Good Standing
Original: ἀσπάζεται
Category: Church
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:13. Distinct case from the refused greeting (χαίρειν) of 1:10-11: here ‘salam’-rooted phrasing is contextually safe and conventional, since this is an ordinary, non-controversial closing greeting between believers in good standing. Teaching material should explicitly note the deliberate rhetorical contrast between the two greeting instances rather than flattening them into identical vocabulary.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: Persekutuan
Transliteration: per-seh-koo-TOO-ahn
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: persaudaraan (brotherhood, generic/ethnic)
Original: κοινωνία / κοινωνέω
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package exactly. Shared participation in Christ. 2 John extension (implicit background of 2 Yohanes 1:1-13; contrasted with 1:11): reserve strictly for its established POSITIVE sense. Do NOT use this noun, or any form built on it, to render the ironic negative κοινωνέω of 1:11 (participation in a false teacher’s evil works) — see ‘participate_in_evil’ in Section B, which uses a distinct verb phrase instead.
Evil Works
Approved rendering: perbuatan-perbuatan yang jahat
Transliteration: per-boo-AH-tahn yahng JAH-hat
Doctrine: Complicity in False Teaching through Endorsement
Rejected alternatives: amal jahat (avoided — ‘amal’ carries specific Islamic deeds-ledger connotations best kept out of this description)
Original: ἔργα πονηρά
Category: Sin
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:11. Straightforward; minor register note only, keeping description in a neutral moral register.
Watch Yourselves
Approved rendering: berjaga-jagalah
Transliteration: ber-JAH-gah-JAH-gah-lah
Doctrine: Reward for Faithful Perseverance in Ministry
Original: βλέπετε ἑαυτούς
Category: Sanctification
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:8. Standard exhortative vocabulary; low doctrinal risk beyond ensuring the object of vigilance (false teaching about the incarnation) remains clear from context.
Mouth To Mouth
Approved rendering: berhadapan muka
Transliteration: ber-hah-dah-PAHN MOO-kah
Doctrine: Christian Joy Fulfilled through In-Person Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: mulut ke mulut (literal — reads oddly, unintended physical connotation)
Original: στόμα πρὸς στόμα
Category: Church
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:12. Semitic/Johannine idiom for direct, in-person conversation; convey meaning (face-to-face meeting), not literal wording, per the baseline’s general idiom-handling rule.
Joy Fulfilled
Approved rendering: sukacita yang penuh
Transliteration: soo-kah-CHEE-tah yahng PEH-nooh
Doctrine: Christian Joy Fulfilled through In-Person Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: gembira (too casual a register for the devotional tone intended)
Original: χαρὰ πεπληρωμένη
Category: Faith
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:12. Complete, relational joy as the goal of personal fellowship, not merely doctrinal correctness in writing.
Sister
Approved rendering: saudari
Transliteration: sow-DAH-ree
Doctrine: Election and Calling (Applied to Persons and Communities)
Original: ἀδελφή
Category: Church
NEW TERM for this curriculum. Occurs 2 Yohanes 1:13. Likely a sister congregation given the corporate-personification reading of ‘elect lady’; straightforward term, low risk.