Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Titus (English → Malay)
Purpose
This glossary lists every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md across all three chapters of Titus. Terms already recorded in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked [REUSE] and carried forward with their exact recorded Malay rendering and risk tier — no deviation is permitted. Terms newly required by Titus are marked [NEW], with a proposed Malay rendering, risk tier, doctrine link, and rationale, ready for formal addition to translation_memory.json in Phase 2.
Risk tiers follow the baseline’s doctrine_risk_registry.json definitions: Critical (human theologian review, every occurrence), High (human theologian review), Medium (native speaker review), Low (automated review sufficient).
Part A: Terms Reused Exactly from the Romans Baseline
| English Term | Greek | Malay Rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Titus References | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grace | χάρις | Kasih kurnia | High | Grace | 1:4; 2:11; 3:7, 15 | No deviation; Titus’s “grace trains us” (2:11-12) and “justified by his grace” (3:7) both reuse this exactly. |
| Faith | πίστις | Iman | High | Faith | 1:1, 4, 13; 2:2, 10; 3:15 | Object of faith (Allah / Yesus Kristus) must remain explicit in every context. |
| Justification | δικαιόω | Diperbenarkan | Critical | Salvation | 3:7 | Titus’s own grace-alone justification statement; must render identically to Romans 3:24/5:1 usage. |
| Righteousness | δικαιοσύνη | Kebenaran | Critical | Salvation | 3:5 | Central to the “not by works done in righteousness” clause; must not read as amal soleh. |
| Salvation | σωτηρία / σῴζω | Keselamatan | Critical | Salvation | 2:11 (σωτήριος); 3:5 (ἔσωσεν) | A present, completed reality, not a deferred Judgment-Day hope. |
| Grace not works contrast | ἔργα (contrasted with χάρις) | (see “Good Works” below, New Term) | Critical | Salvation by Grace not Works | 3:5, 8 | Escalation rule from Romans baseline (“grace contrasted with works”) applies directly. |
| Apostle | ἀπόστολος | Rasul | High | Apostleship | 1:1 | Same Islamic rasul-category collision risk as documented in the Romans baseline. |
| Election | ἐκλογή / ἐκλεκτός | Pilihan Allah | High | Effectual Calling | 1:1 | Reuse exactly; avoid takdir. |
| Holy Spirit | πνεῦμα ἅγιον | Roh Kudus | Critical | Regeneration by the Holy Spirit | 3:5 | Both baseline collision risks (Jibril; roh halus) apply unchanged. |
| Adoption / Heirship background | υἱοθεσία (conceptually linked) | Pengangkatan sebagai anak | High | Adoption into God’s Family | 3:7 (κληρονόμοι, “heirs”) | Titus’s “heirs” (new term below) extends this existing doctrine; teach together. |
| Peace | εἰρήνη | Damai sejahtera | Medium | Peace with God | 1:4 | Standard epistolary greeting pairing with grace. |
| Glory | δόξα | Kemuliaan | High | Deity of Christ | 2:13 | Part of the “appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior” construction. |
| Law (Mosaic) | νόμος | Hukum Taurat | High | Fulfillment of Prophecy / Avoiding Divisive Controversies | 3:9 | Never render as Syariah; here in the context of legalistic “quarrels about the law.” |
| Obedience of Faith (contrast term) | ὑπακοή / πειθαρχέω family | Ketaatan iman (contrast with Taat kepada, new term below) | High | Obedience of Faith | 3:1 (πειθαρχεῖν, civil obedience) | Keep grace-flowing “ketaatan iman” distinct from civil “taat kepada” (see New Terms). |
| Thanksgiving/Fellowship background terms | — | Kesyukuran / Persekutuan | Low | Thanksgiving / Fellowship | (thematically present in household/church instructions, ch.2-3) | No direct lexical occurrence in Titus but doctrinally continuous; no new risk. |
Part B: New Terms Introduced by Titus
| English Term | Greek / Transliteration | Literal Meaning | Malay Rendering | Risk | Doctrine Link | Titus References | Rationale / Risk Reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appearing / Epiphany | ἐπιφάνεια, ἐπιφαίνω / epiphaneia, epiphainō | ”a shining-forth, manifestation, becoming visible” | Penyataan (noun) / dinyatakan, menyatakan diri (verb) | Critical | Incarnation; Deity of Christ; Salvation | 2:11, 13; 3:4 | Structures the whole letter (grace’s first appearing / glory’s future appearing). Avoid “penampakan” (folk ghost-apparition connotation) and avoid overloading “Penjelmaan” (reserved for the specific incarnation event). Must render all three occurrences with the same verbal root so the literary pairing is visible in Malay. |
| Savior | σωτήρ / sōtēr | ”one who saves/rescues” | Juruselamat | Critical | Deity of Christ; Salvation | 1:3, 4; 2:10, 13; 3:4, 6 | Applied to both the Father and the Son within one short letter; 2:13’s Granville Sharp construction (“our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”) is among the NT’s strongest direct deity-of-Christ statements. Requires theologian review on every occurrence; syntax must preserve single-referent apposition. |
| Grace’s Training/Discipline | παιδεύω / paideuō | ”to train/educate/discipline (as a child)“ | Mendidik | High | Grace That Trains for Godly Living | 2:12 | Risk of assimilation to the Islamic-Arabic tarbiyah (moral/spiritual formation) framework, which is law-and-community sequenced rather than grace-first. Must teach that grace itself, already given, is the trainer. |
| Godliness | εὐσέβεια, εὐσεβῶς / eusebeia, eusebōs | ”reverence/piety toward God” | Kesalehan | High | Grace That Trains for Godly Living | 1:1; 2:12 | Shares the soleh root with amal soleh, already explicitly rejected in the Romans baseline as a works-ground alternative for “righteousness.” Must be taught consistently as fruit of grace, never the ground of standing before God. |
| Self-Control / Sound-Mindedness | σωφρονέω, σώφρων, σωφροσύνη family | ”soundness of mind, self-mastery” | Menguasai diri | Medium | Grace That Trains for Godly Living | 1:8; 2:2, 4-6, 12 | Recurring keyword across all household instructions; risk of reading as bare willpower morality detached from grace — keep visibly linked to 2:11-12’s grace-trains-us clause in teaching material. |
| Servant/Slave of God | δοῦλος θεοῦ / doulos theou | ”slave/bondservant of God” | Hamba Allah | High | Apostleship (background) | 1:1 | Coincides closely with a basic, extremely common Islamic self-designation for every believer (cf. names such as Abdullah). Must be taught as Paul’s specific vocational/apostolic self-designation rooted in covenant relationship, not generic creaturely submission. |
| Elder | πρεσβύτερος / presbyteros | ”elder, senior [office-holder]“ | Penatua | Medium | Qualifications for Elders | 1:5 | Established Malay Protestant church-office term; distinguish from Islamic religious-teacher roles (ustaz, imam) and generic community elders. |
| Overseer / Bishop | ἐπίσκοπος / episkopos | ”one who watches over/supervises” | Penyelia | Medium-High | Qualifications for Elders | 1:7 | Same office as presbyteros in this passage (1:5 vs. 1:7). Avoid transliterated “Uskup,” which implies a distinct, hierarchically superior monarchical-episcopal office in Malaysian Catholic/Anglican usage, contrary to Titus’s own interchangeable usage. |
| Sound / Healthy Doctrine | ὑγιαίνουσα διδασκαλία / hygiainousa didaskalia | ”healthy teaching” | Ajaran yang sihat | Medium-High | Sound Doctrine and Good Works | 1:9, 13; 2:1, 2, 8 | Preserve the health/sickness metaphor explicitly; risk that “sihat” reads as mere logical correctness rather than life-giving spiritual vitality versus corrupting false teaching. |
| Conscience | συνείδησις / syneidēsis | ”co-knowledge, inner moral awareness” | Hati nurani | Medium | Sound Doctrine and Good Works | 1:15 | Broadly shared, safe Malay term; teach that biblical conscience can be defiled/seared and needs gospel cleansing, not treated as an infallible or purely cultural guide. |
| Myths / Fables | μῦθος / mythos | ”invented tale/legend” | Dongeng | Medium | Avoiding Divisive Controversies | 1:14 | Low collision risk; contrasted throughout the letter with sound doctrine and apostolic testimony. |
| Genealogies | γενεαλογία / genealogia | ”lineage record” | Salasilah | Medium | Avoiding Divisive Controversies | 3:9 | Shares vocabulary with Malay royal-lineage tradition (salasilah diraja), already noted as a point of cultural resonance in the Romans baseline for “seed of David.” Here the resonance must be redirected: clarify Paul warns against a specific divisive speculative use, not genealogy or lineage generally. |
| Divisive / Factious Person | αἱρετικὸς ἄνθρωπος / hairetikos anthrōpos | ”a person of a self-chosen faction” | Orang yang menimbulkan perpecahan | Critical | Avoiding Divisive Controversies | 3:10 | Must NOT be rendered bidaah or sesat/ajaran sesat, both of which name a specific, currently state-enforced Malaysian Islamic legal-administrative category (deviant-teaching prosecution). Importing that category would misrepresent an internal church-discipline matter as a state-adjudicated religious offense. |
| Redemption | λυτρόω / lytroō | ”to ransom/buy back at a price” | Menebus / Penebusan | Critical | Salvation by Grace not Works | 2:14 | No parallel substitutionary-ransom concept in Islamic soteriology, which denies the atoning death itself; tied directly to the Resurrection and Incarnation doctrines already flagged Critical in the Romans baseline. |
| Good Works | καλὰ/ἀγαθὰ ἔργα / kala/agatha erga | ”good deeds/actions” | Perbuatan baik | Critical | Sound Doctrine and Good Works; Salvation by Grace not Works | 1:16; 2:7, 14; 3:1, 8, 14 | The letter’s central works/grace tension (bracketing 3:5’s grace-alone statement). Must be taught consistently as necessary fruit and evidence of grace-secured salvation, never its ground — direct extension of the baseline’s amal soleh caution. |
| People for God’s Own Possession | λαὸς περιούσιος / laos periousios | ”a people of [God’s] own possession” | Umat kepunyaan-Nya sendiri | Medium | Unity/Church as God’s People (extension) | 2:14 | Echoes LXX Exodus 19:5/Deuteronomy 7:6. “Umat” is broadly shared vocabulary (cf. umat Islam); teach as covenant particularity through Christ’s redemptive purchase, not a rival ethnic-religious bloc. |
| Submission (to authority) | ὑποτάσσω / hypotassō | ”to subordinate/be subject to” | Tunduk kepada | High | Submission to Authority | 2:5, 9; 3:1 | Distinguish its three contexts (civil rulers; wives to husbands; slaves to masters) so none collapses into the others; Malaysia’s civil/Syariah dual-jurisdiction structure adds sensitivity to the civil-rulers usage specifically. |
| Rulers and Authorities | ἀρχαί, ἐξουσίαι / archai, exousiai | ”rulers, authorities [civil office-holders]“ | Pemerintah dan pihak berkuasa | Medium-High | Submission to Authority | 3:1 | Must be clarified as legitimate civil governance in general, not equivalent to submission owed specifically to Malaysia’s state Islamic administrative/Syariah authorities. |
| Civil Obedience | πειθαρχέω / peitharcheō | ”to obey a ruling authority” | Taat kepada | Medium | Submission to Authority | 3:1 | Distinguish from the grace-flowing “ketaatan iman” (obedience of faith) already registered in the baseline; this is compliance with civil rule specifically. |
| Regeneration / New Birth | παλιγγενεσία / palingenesia | ”a new genesis/re-origination of life” | Kelahiran semula | Critical | Regeneration by the Holy Spirit | 3:5 | Leverages existing strong Malay evangelical currency (“born again”). Must be distinguished both from Hindu-Buddhist-substrate reincarnation concepts and from the Islamic tawbah (repentance) concept, neither of which posits a Spirit-wrought new ontological birth. |
| Renewal | ἀνακαίνωσις / anakainōsis | ”a making-new, renewing” | Pembaharuan | High | Regeneration by the Holy Spirit | 3:5 | Distinguish the ongoing renewing (anakainōsis) from the once-for-all new birth (palingenesia); connect to, but keep distinct from, the existing Pengudusan (sanctification) entry. |
| Washing | λουτρόν / loutron | ”a bath/washing” | Basuhan | Medium-High | Regeneration by the Holy Spirit | 3:5 | Must be distinguished from ritual/ceremonial ablution (e.g., wudu’); a one-time Spirit-wrought cleansing symbolized by, not identical to, water baptism. |
| Poured Out (of the Spirit) | ἐκχέω / ekcheō | ”to pour out” | Dicurahkan | Medium-High | Regeneration by the Holy Spirit | 3:6 | Echoes Joel 2/Acts 2 Pentecost language; an implicit Trinitarian datum (Father pours out the Spirit through the Son) worth surfacing in teaching notes. |
| Heir | κληρονόμος / klēronomos | ”one who receives an inheritance by family right” | Waris | High | Adoption into God’s Family (extension) | 3:7 | Direct extension of the baseline’s adoption doctrine; teach together with Pengangkatan sebagai anak, with the same caution against implying literal divine offspring. |
| Trustworthy Saying | πιστὸς ὁ λόγος / pistos ho logos | ”faithful/trustworthy is the word/saying” | Perkataan ini benar dan boleh dipercayai | Low-Medium | Sound Doctrine (formulaic marker) | 3:8 (cf. 1:9’s related idea) | Distinctive Pastoral Epistles formula; flag for cross-document consistency if curriculum extends to 1-2 Timothy. |
| Husband of One Wife (elder qualification) | μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἀνήρ | ”a man of one woman/wife” | Suami kepada satu isteri | High | Qualifications for Elders | 1:6 | Intersects directly with Malaysia’s legal permission of polygamy for Muslim men under state Syariah family law; must be framed strictly as a church-office qualification, not commentary on that parallel legal provision. |
| Circumcision Party | οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς | ”those of the circumcision” | Golongan yang bersunat | Medium | Avoiding Divisive Controversies (background) | 1:10 | Requires brief historical framing (first-century Judaizing faction) so as not to be read as a general comment on circumcision/khitan practice generally. |
| Purity / Defilement (moral, not ritual) | καθαρός / μεμιαμμένος / katharos / memiammenos | ”pure / defiled” | Suci / tercemar | Medium-High | Sound Doctrine and Good Works (background) | 1:15 | Unusually, the verse’s own argument opposes ritual-purity categories, making “suci” (elsewhere flagged as risky for “holy”) a deliberate teaching opportunity here if the anti-ritualism is made explicit. |
| Household Virtue Cluster (self-control, dignity, purity, domestic diligence) | σεμνός, ἁγνός, οἰκουργός, νηφάλιος, etc. | various | bersopan, suci/murni, rajin menguruskan rumah tangga, tenang dan waras | Low-Medium | Grace That Trains for Godly Living (background) | 2:2-5 | Individually low risk; “oikourgous” (domestically engaged) requires pastoral framing to avoid a universal prohibition on women’s outside work being implied. |
Cross-Reference Notes for Phase 2
- Every Critical-tier new term above (Appearing/Epiphany, Savior, Godliness, Divisive/Factious Person, Redemption, Good Works, Regeneration) must be added to
translation_memory.jsonbefore any Phase 2 segment translation of Titus 2:11-3:8 begins, per the baseline’s “new term encountered” procedure (12_ai_translation_requirements.md, Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions §3). - The “Good Works” (Perbuatan baik) and “Salvation by Grace not Works” (Titus 3:5) pairing must be flagged for human theologian review on every occurrence, applying the Romans baseline’s existing “grace contrasted with works” escalation rule without modification.
- The “Divisive/Factious Person” (Orang yang menimbulkan perpecahan) rendering decision, avoiding bidaah/sesat, should be treated with the same legal-pastoral seriousness the baseline already applies to Allah, Rasul, and evangelism/mission terms — this is a Malaysia-specific legal-register risk, not merely a translation-accuracy question.
- “Savior” (Juruselamat) and “Appearing” (Penyataan) must be cross-checked for rendering consistency across all three of their Titus occurrences each, since the letter’s argument depends on readers perceiving the repeated pattern.
Critical Risk Terms
Justification
Approved rendering: Diperbenarkan
Transliteration: dee-per-beh-NAHR-kahn
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: diampunkan (forgiven, alone)
Inherited from Romans package. Titus 3:7’s ‘being justified by his grace’ is Titus’s own justification-by-grace statement and must render identically to Romans 3:24/5:1 usage to satisfy the cross-document consistency rule.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: Kebenaran
Transliteration: keh-beh-NAH-rahn
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: amal soleh (righteous deeds, as the ground itself)
Inherited from Romans package. Central to Titus 3:5’s explicit denial that ‘works done by us in righteousness’ are the ground of salvation — the letter’s clearest, most direct rejection of the amal soleh framework anywhere in the curriculum.
Salvation
Approved rendering: Keselamatan
Transliteration: keh-seh-lah-MAH-tahn
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: masuk syurga (entering paradise, as the whole content)
Inherited from Romans package. Titus 2:11 calls grace itself ‘salvation-bringing’ (sōtērios) for all people, and 3:5 states God ‘saved us’ (esōsen) as a completed past act — a present reality, not a deferred Judgment-Day hope.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Roh Kudus
Transliteration: ROHKH KOO-doos
Doctrine: Regeneration by the Holy Spirit
Rejected alternatives: Jibril (the archangel Gabriel), roh halus (a generic nature/subtle spirit in traditional Malay animist belief)
Inherited from Romans package. The agent of regeneration and renewal in Titus 3:5-6. Both baseline collision risks (archangel Jibril misreading; folk-animist roh halus misreading) apply here unchanged.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Yesus
Transliteration: YEH-soos
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Isa (the Qur’anic name, deliberately avoided by established Alkitab convention)
Inherited from Romans package. Never Isa. Always paired with Kristus in Titus’s doctrinally significant contexts (2:13; 3:6).
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)
Inherited from Romans package. Titus applies the identical Sōtēr (Savior) title to both Allah the Father (1:3-4; 2:10; 3:4) and Yesus Kristus (1:4; 2:13; 3:6) within one short letter, a significant Trinitarian datum this Language Package’s teaching material must surface explicitly.
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)
Inherited from Romans package. Never Al-Masih. Occurs throughout Titus as ‘Yesus Kristus’ or ‘Kristus Yesus.‘
Father
Approved rendering: Bapa
Transliteration: BAH-pah
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: Pencipta (Creator, as a substitute to avoid relational language)
Inherited from Romans package. Titus 1:4’s greeting names ‘God the Father’ (Allah Bapa) alongside ‘Christ Jesus our Savior.’ Teach the relational, adoptive sense directly, never implying literal offspring, which tawhid forbids.
Redemption
Approved rendering: Menebus / Penebusan
Transliteration: meh-NEH-boos / peh-neh-BOO-sahn
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace not Works
Rejected alternatives: tebusan wang tunai semata-mata (a bare commercial ransom-payment sense, losing the substitutionary-atonement dimension)
NEW term. Titus 2:14: Christ ‘gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness.’ No parallel substitutionary-ransom concept exists in Islamic soteriology, which denies the atoning death itself (Qur’an 4:157). Directly dependent on the Resurrection and Incarnation doctrines already flagged Critical in the Romans baseline. Flag every occurrence for human theologian review.
Regeneration
Approved rendering: Kelahiran semula
Transliteration: keh-lah-HEE-rahn seh-MOO-lah
Doctrine: Regeneration by the Holy Spirit
Rejected alternatives: tawbah / pertaubatan (Islamic repentance/moral re-orientation, without positing a new ontological birth), penjelmaan semula (reincarnation/cyclical rebirth, a Hindu-Buddhist-substrate concept)
NEW term. Titus 3:5: ‘the washing of regeneration.’ Leverages existing strong Malay evangelical ‘born again’ currency. Must be distinguished from Hindu-Buddhist-substrate reincarnation/cyclical rebirth concepts and from the Islamic tawbah concept, neither of which posits a Spirit-wrought new ontological birth. Flag every occurrence for human theologian review.
Good Works
Approved rendering: Perbuatan baik
Transliteration: per-BOO-ah-tahn BAH-ik
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine and Good Works
Rejected alternatives: amal soleh (the works-ledger category central to Islamic judgment theology, presented as the ground of standing rather than its fruit)
NEW term. The letter’s central bracketing motif (1:16; 2:7, 14; 3:1, 8, 14), deliberately contrasted with 3:5’s denial that works are the ground of salvation. Must always be taught as necessary fruit and evidence of grace-secured salvation, never its ground. Flag every occurrence for human theologian review, applying the Romans baseline’s existing ‘grace contrasted with works’ escalation rule.
Savior
Approved rendering: Juruselamat
Transliteration: JOO-roo-seh-LAH-maht
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: penyelamat (a lower-weight, generic secular ‘rescuer,’ losing the specific soteriological/divine title force)
NEW term. Applied to both God the Father (1:3-4; 2:10; 3:4) and Jesus Christ (1:4; 2:13; 3:6) within one short letter. Titus 2:13’s Granville Sharp construction (‘our great God and Savior Jesus Christ’) is among the NT’s clearest direct affirmations of Christ’s full deity. Malay syntax must preserve single-referent apposition without restructuring that could suggest two separate referents. Flag every occurrence for human theologian review.
Appearing
Approved rendering: Penyataan
Transliteration: peh-nyah-tah-AHN
Doctrine: Epiphany of Grace and Glory
Rejected alternatives: penampakan (carries a folk ghost-apparition/supernatural-sighting connotation in everyday Malay), overloading Penjelmaan (already reserved in the baseline for the specific once-for-all incarnation event)
NEW term. Structures the whole letter as a matched pair: grace’s past appearing (2:11; echoed 3:4) and glory’s future appearing (2:13). All three occurrences must share the same Malay verbal root (dinyatakan / menyatakan diri) so Paul’s literary pairing remains visible to Malay readers. Flag every occurrence for human theologian review.
Divisive Person
Approved rendering: Orang yang menimbulkan perpecahan
Transliteration: OH-rahng yahng meh-nim-BOOL-kahn per-peh-CHAH-hahn
Doctrine: Avoiding Divisive Controversies
Rejected alternatives: bidaah (the Arabic-Islamic legal-theological category for prohibited religious innovation), sesat / ajaran sesat (a specific, currently state-enforced Malaysian Islamic administrative and legal category, formally investigated and prosecuted by state Islamic religious departments)
NEW term. Titus 3:10-11 prescribes a two-warning church discipline process for a factious/divisive person (hairetikos anthrōpos). Using bidaah or sesat/ajaran sesat would misrepresent an internal church-discipline matter concerning one divisive individual as a state-adjudicated theological offense. Flag every occurrence for human theologian review, applying the same reasoning the baseline documents for kafir and Syariah.
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)
Inherited from Romans package. In Titus, grace is personified as the active agent that both saves (2:11) and trains (2:12) believers, and closes the letter in the final benediction (3:15). Titus 2:11-12’s ‘grace… training us’ extends the baseline’s grace-vs-amal-soleh distinction: grace is the trainer, not the reward for training completed.
Faith
Approved rendering: Iman
Transliteration: ee-MAHN
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: kepercayaan (generic belief/trust)
Inherited from Romans package. Titus pairs faith repeatedly with soundness (1:13; 2:2) and with obedience to civil rulers kept carefully distinct (3:1). The object of faith (Allah / Yesus Kristus) must remain explicit at every Titus occurrence (1:1, 4, 13; 2:2, 10; 3:15).
Apostle
Approved rendering: Rasul
Transliteration: RAH-sool
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: utusan (a lower-weight, purely secular ‘envoy/messenger’)
Inherited from Romans package. Titus 1:1 opens with Paul’s apostolic self-description, paired with ‘servant of God’ (Hamba Allah, see new term below). Same Islamic rasul-category collision risk as documented in the Romans baseline applies unchanged.
Election
Approved rendering: Pilihan Allah
Transliteration: pee-LEE-hahn ahl-LAHH
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: takdir (fate/predetermined decree)
Inherited from Romans package. Titus 1:1 grounds Paul’s apostleship in ‘the faith of God’s elect,’ reusing this exactly with no deviation.
Adoption
Approved rendering: Pengangkatan sebagai anak
Transliteration: peng-ahng-KAH-tahn seh-BAH-gai AH-nahk
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: anak angkat (bare, without doctrinal qualifier)
Inherited from Romans package. Titus 3:7’s ‘heirs’ (Waris, see new term below) directly extends this doctrine and must be taught together with it.
Glory
Approved rendering: Kemuliaan
Transliteration: keh-moo-lee-AH-ahn
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: nur (divine light, associated with Nur Muhammad devotion in the historic Malay Sufi tradition)
Inherited from Romans package. Part of Titus 2:13’s ‘the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ’ — the letter’s clearest single-verse deity-of-Christ statement.
Law
Approved rendering: Hukum Taurat
Transliteration: HOO-koom tow-RAHT
Doctrine: Avoiding Divisive Controversies
Rejected alternatives: Syariah / Hukum Syariat (Islamic religious law, an operative parallel legal system in Malaysia)
Inherited from Romans package. Titus 3:9 warns against ‘quarrels about the law’ among divisive false teachers. Never render as Syariah; this is specifically a first-century Judaizing/legalistic dispute internal to the early church, not commentary on any contemporary legal system.
Sin
Approved rendering: Dosa
Transliteration: DOH-sah
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: kesilapan (mistake/error)
Inherited from Romans package. Background for Titus 3:3’s universal pre-conversion description (‘we ourselves were once…’) and 2:14’s redemption ‘from all lawlessness’ (anomia, registered as a distinct new term below).
Providence
Approved rendering: Pemeliharaan Allah
Transliteration: peh-meh-lee-hah-RAH-ahn ahl-LAHH
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: takdir (fate/decree)
Inherited from Romans package. Titus 1:2’s promise of eternal life ‘before the ages began’ reinforces the eternality and non-contingency of God’s saving plan; must not collapse into takdir-style fatalism.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: Pengudusan
Transliteration: peng-goo-DOO-sahn
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: penyucian (ritual purification)
Inherited from Romans package. Titus 3:5’s ‘renewal of the Holy Spirit’ (Pembaharuan, see new term below) must be taught as continuous with, but distinct from, this already-registered ongoing sanctifying work.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: Ketaatan iman
Transliteration: keh-tah-AH-tahn ee-MAHN
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: ketaatan agama (generic religious dutifulness/submission)
Inherited from Romans package. Titus 3:1’s civil obedience (Taat kepada, see new term below) must be kept distinct from this grace-flowing obedience of faith — civil compliance with rulers is not saving faith’s fruit.
Mission
Approved rendering: Penyebaran Injil
Transliteration: peh-nyeh-BAH-rahn IN-jeel
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Rejected alternatives: misi (loaded with colonial-era missionary connotations), dakwah-style framing (the specifically Islamic term for religious propagation)
Inherited from Romans package. Titus 1:3’s proclamation (Pemberitaan, see new term below) is the message-content/act of preaching, distinct from this broader missionary-activity term; the same Malaysian legal restriction on proselytizing Muslims applies to both.
Renewal
Approved rendering: Pembaharuan
Transliteration: pem-bah-hah-ROO-ahn
Doctrine: Regeneration by the Holy Spirit
Rejected alternatives: penyucian (ritual purification)
NEW term. Titus 3:5: ‘renewal of the Holy Spirit,’ paired with the once-for-all kelahiran semula. Must be kept conceptually distinct both from that decisive new birth and from the already-registered Pengudusan (sanctification), so learners see both the decisive and continuing dimensions of the Spirit’s work.
Washing
Approved rendering: Basuhan
Transliteration: bah-SOO-hahn
Doctrine: Regeneration by the Holy Spirit
Rejected alternatives: wudu’ (Islamic ritual ablution before prayer)
NEW term. Titus 3:5’s ‘washing of regeneration’ is a one-time, Spirit-wrought cleansing at conversion, symbolized by (not identical to) water baptism, not a repeatable ritual purification act.
Heir
Approved rendering: Waris
Transliteration: WAH-riss
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: pewaris kandung (implying literal biological offspring)
NEW term. Titus 3:7: justified believers ‘become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.’ Direct extension of the baseline’s Pengangkatan sebagai anak doctrine; teach together, with the same caution that this describes legal-relational inheritance status, not literal divine offspring, which tawhid forbids.
Mercy
Approved rendering: Belas kasihan
Transliteration: beh-LAHS kah-see-HAHN
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace not Works
Rejected alternatives: rahmat (the Arabic-loan mercy term already flagged in the Romans baseline as operating within a deeds-still-matter Islamic soteriological framework)
NEW term. Titus 3:5: God saved us ‘according to his own mercy,’ not because of works done in righteousness. Rahmat would silently reintroduce the very deeds-and-mercy framework this verse’s first clause has just excluded; Belas kasihan is the deliberate fencing choice.
Poured Out
Approved rendering: Dicurahkan
Transliteration: dee-choo-RAH-kahn
Doctrine: Regeneration by the Holy Spirit
NEW term. Titus 3:6: the Spirit ‘poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,’ echoing Joel 2:28/Acts 2:17. An implicit Trinitarian datum (the Father pours out the Spirit through the Son) worth surfacing explicitly in teaching notes, since this form of intra-divine cooperation and plurality is directly rejected by tawhid.
Servant Of God
Approved rendering: Hamba Allah
Transliteration: HAHM-bah ahl-LAHH
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: abdi / hamba sahaya (a purely social slave/servant term, without the covenant-vocational sense)
NEW term. Titus 1:1’s self-description, paired with Rasul. Coincides closely with a basic, extremely common Islamic self-designation for every believer (cf. personal names such as Abdullah, ‘servant of Allah’). Must be taught as Paul’s specific vocational/apostolic self-designation rooted in covenant relationship and calling, not generic creaturely submission shared by all humans.
Overseer
Approved rendering: Penyelia
Transliteration: peh-nyeh-LEE-ah
Doctrine: Qualifications for Elders
Rejected alternatives: Uskup (transliterated ‘bishop,’ implying a distinct, hierarchically superior monarchical-episcopal office in Malaysian Catholic/Anglican polity, contrary to Titus’s own interchangeable usage)
NEW term. Titus 1:7 uses this term for the same office as presbyteros/Penatua in 1:5, describing the function (watching over/oversight) rather than a distinct rank. Flag for native speaker review to confirm Penyelia reads as a genuine church office, not a generic corporate title.
Sound Doctrine
Approved rendering: Ajaran yang sihat
Transliteration: AH-jah-rahn yahng SEE-haht
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine and Good Works
Rejected alternatives: ajaran yang betul (merely ‘correct teaching,’ losing Paul’s health/sickness metaphor entirely)
NEW term. Literally ‘healthy teaching,’ a keyword unifying the letter’s concern for right belief and right practice (1:9, 13; 2:1, 2, 8). Risk: Malay readers may hear sihat as merely logically correct rather than teaching that produces spiritual vitality versus teaching that spreads corruption like a disease. Teaching notes must make the health metaphor explicit on first use per lesson.
Proclamation
Approved rendering: Pemberitaan
Transliteration: pem-beh-ree-TAH-ahn
Doctrine: Proclamation of the Word
NEW term. Titus 1:3: God’s word ‘manifested… through the preaching with which I have been entrusted.’ Related to, but distinct from, the baseline’s Penyebaran Injil (broader missionary activity) — this is the message-content/act of proclaiming. Same Malaysian legal-safety sensitivity around proselytizing applies; flag for human theologian review alongside pastoral and legal-safety considerations.
Godliness
Approved rendering: Kesalehan
Transliteration: keh-sah-LEH-hahn
Doctrine: Grace That Trains for Godly Living
NEW term. Titus 1:1; 2:12. Shares its root with amal soleh, already explicitly rejected in the Romans baseline as a works-ground alternative for ‘righteousness.’ Must be taught consistently as fruit of grace already given (2:11-12), never the ground of standing before God — the reverse of how soleh-rooted vocabulary typically functions in an Islamic deeds-and-judgment framework. Flag every occurrence for human theologian review.
Grace Trains
Approved rendering: Mendidik
Transliteration: men-DEE-dik
Doctrine: Grace That Trains for Godly Living
Rejected alternatives: tarbiyah (the Islamic-Arabic moral/spiritual formation concept, which is law-and-community sequenced instruction-then-acceptance, the reverse of Titus’s grace-first sequence)
NEW term. Titus 2:12: grace itself ‘trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.’ Risk that Malay-Muslim readers map this onto the tarbiyah framework. Teaching material must state explicitly that grace, already given (2:11), is the trainer, reversing that sequence.
Purity Defilement
Approved rendering: Suci / tercemar
Transliteration: SOO-chee / ter-CHEH-mahr
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine and Good Works
NEW term. Titus 1:15’s argument locates purity in the mind and conscience, not external ritual categories. Unusually, the baseline elsewhere flags suci as risky for ‘holy’ (Kudus) due to ritual/wudu’-purity connotations; here the verse’s own anti-ritualism makes suci a deliberate teaching opportunity if made explicit. Flag for human theologian review given this reversal of the usual pattern.
Submission
Approved rendering: Tunduk kepada
Transliteration: TOON-dook keh-PAH-dah
Doctrine: Submission to Authority
NEW term. Used in Titus of wives to husbands (2:5), slaves to masters (2:9), and believers to civil rulers (3:1) — a voluntary, Christ-honoring ordering, not coerced servility. Must be carefully distinguished across its three contexts so none is collapsed into the others; Malaysia’s formally distinguished civil/Syariah dual-jurisdiction structure adds sensitivity to the civil-rulers usage specifically.
Rulers And Authorities
Approved rendering: Pemerintah dan pihak berkuasa
Transliteration: peh-meh-REEN-tah dahn PEE-hahk ber-KOO-ah-sah
Doctrine: Submission to Authority
NEW term. Titus 3:1: believers are to ‘be submissive to rulers and authorities.’ Must be clarified as legitimate civil governance in general, not equivalent to the submission Muslim citizens owe specifically to Malaysia’s state Islamic administrative/Syariah authorities, a formally distinct parallel jurisdiction.
Lawlessness
Approved rendering: Kejahatan / pelanggaran hukum
Transliteration: keh-jah-HAH-tahn / peh-lahng-GAH-rahn HOO-koom
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace not Works
NEW term. Titus 2:14, that from which Christ’s self-giving redeems believers; Titus 3:3 describes believers’ own pre-conversion state as foolish, disobedient, and enslaved to passions. Titus 3:3’s universal claim (‘we ourselves were once…’) must be taught as deliberate, since Islamic anthropology (fitrah, humans born sinless) resists inherited universal sinfulness.
Husband Of One Wife
Approved rendering: Suami kepada satu isteri
Transliteration: SOO-ah-mee keh-PAH-dah SAH-too ees-TREE
Doctrine: Qualifications for Elders
NEW term. Titus 1:6’s elder qualification. Intersects directly with polygamy, legally permitted for Muslim men in Malaysia under state Syariah family law; must be framed strictly as a church-office qualification for Christian elders, not commentary on that parallel legal provision. Flag for human theologian review for pastoral sensitivity.
Medium Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: Damai sejahtera
Transliteration: DAH-mai seh-jah-TEH-rah
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: ketenangan (inner calm)
Inherited from Romans package. Titus 1:4’s opening greeting, ‘grace and peace,’ follows Paul’s standard epistolary pattern shared with Romans 1:7.
Church
Approved rendering: Gereja
Transliteration: geh-REH-jah
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: jemaah (a term also used broadly for a mosque congregation or generic religious assembly)
Inherited from Romans package. Background for Titus’s ‘Qualifications for Elders’ doctrine (church office, 1:5-9) and 2:14’s ‘a people for his own possession’ (Church as God’s People extension, see new term below).
Elder
Approved rendering: Penatua
Transliteration: peh-NAH-too-ah
Doctrine: Qualifications for Elders
Rejected alternatives: ustaz / imam (Islamic religious-teacher roles), orang tua-tua kampung (generic community elders, without the ordained-office sense)
NEW term. Titus 1:5’s instruction to ‘appoint elders in every town,’ used interchangeably with episkopos/Penyelia in this same passage (compare 1:5 with 1:7). Established Malay Protestant church-office term.
Conscience
Approved rendering: Hati nurani
Transliteration: HAH-tee noo-RAH-nee
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine and Good Works
NEW term. Titus 1:15: for the defiled and unbelieving, ‘both their minds and their consciences are defiled.’ Broadly shared, safe Malay term used across both Christian and Islamic ethical vocabulary. Teaching notes should clarify the biblical conscience can itself become defiled/seared and needs the gospel’s cleansing, not treated as an infallible or purely culturally-conditioned guide.
People For Gods Own Possession
Approved rendering: Umat kepunyaan-Nya sendiri
Transliteration: OO-maht keh-poo-nyah-AHN-nyah SEHN-dee-ree
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: umat sahaja (bare ‘umat,’ too generic, shared broadly with umat Islam / umat Melayu)
NEW term. Titus 2:14, echoing LXX Exodus 19:5 / Deuteronomy 7:6’s description of Israel, transferred to the church. Must be taught as covenant particularity rooted in Christ’s redemptive purchase, not a rival ethnic-religious bloc analogous to umat Islam.
Self Control
Approved rendering: Menguasai diri
Transliteration: meng-GOO-ah-sai DEE-ree
Doctrine: Grace That Trains for Godly Living
NEW term. Recurring keyword across all Titus’s household instructions (1:8; 2:2, 4-6, 12). Risk of reading as bare willpower morality detached from grace; the surrounding clause (grace trains us, 2:11-12) must always be kept visibly attached in teaching material.
Myths
Approved rendering: Dongeng
Transliteration: DOHNG-ehng
Doctrine: Avoiding Divisive Controversies
Rejected alternatives: ramalan (fortune-telling/prediction, already rejected in the Romans baseline for ‘prophecy’)
NEW term. Titus 1:14 warns against ‘Jewish myths,’ likely speculative legendary material contrasted with sound doctrine. Low collision risk with Islamic vocabulary; standard Malay term for invented legendary stories.
Genealogies
Approved rendering: Salasilah
Transliteration: sah-lah-SEE-lah
Doctrine: Avoiding Divisive Controversies
NEW term. Titus 3:9 warns against divisive ‘genealogies.’ Shares vocabulary with Malay royal-lineage tradition (salasilah diraja), already noted in the Romans baseline as a point of cultural resonance for dynastic-descent claims (cf. seed of David). Here the resonance must be redirected: Paul warns against a specific divisive speculative use, not against genealogy or lineage generally.
Circumcision Party
Approved rendering: Golongan yang bersunat
Transliteration: goh-LOHNG-ahn yahng ber-SOO-naht
Doctrine: Avoiding Divisive Controversies
NEW term. Titus 1:10’s designation for Judaizing false teachers insisting on law-observance for salvation. Requires brief historical-background teaching so Malay readers (who may associate circumcision primarily with Islamic khitan practice) do not read this as a general critique of circumcision itself, but of a specific first-century Judaizing theological faction.
Civil Obedience
Approved rendering: Taat kepada
Transliteration: TAH-aht keh-PAH-dah
Doctrine: Submission to Authority
NEW term. Titus 3:1’s peitharcheō, obedience to a ruling civil authority specifically. Must not be conflated with the grace-flowing ketaatan iman (obedience of faith) already registered in the baseline — this is compliance with civil rule, not saving faith’s fruit.
Blessed Hope
Approved rendering: Pengharapan yang penuh berkat
Transliteration: peng-hah-RAH-pahn yahng peh-NOOH BER-kaht
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation
Rejected alternatives: harapan (bare hoping, without the confident-certainty sense)
NEW term. Titus 2:13: ‘waiting for our blessed hope.’ Must be distinguished from probabilistic, uncertain hoping — this is a confident, certain expectation, not wishful hope, consistent with the baseline’s Assurance of Salvation doctrine.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: Hidup yang kekal
Transliteration: HEE-doop yahng KEH-kahl
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
NEW term. Titus 1:2; 3:7. Standard term with low ambiguity; confirm consistent rendering across the whole curriculum going forward, since Titus 1:2 grounds this promise in God’s eternal purpose ‘before the ages began.‘
Gods Kindness And Love
Approved rendering: Kebaikan dan kasih sayang Allah
Transliteration: keh-BAI-kahn dahn KAH-sih SAH-yahng ahl-LAHH
Doctrine: Epiphany of Grace and Glory
NEW term. Titus 3:4: ‘the goodness (chrēstotēs) and loving kindness (philanthrōpia) of God our Savior appeared.’ Philanthrōpia strikingly emphasizes God’s love directed at humanity as such, reinforcing the letter’s universal-scope doctrine; render as a pair rather than collapsing into one word so both nuances are retained.
Low Risk Terms
Exhort
Approved rendering: Menasihati
Transliteration: meh-NAH-see-HAH-tee
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Inherited from Romans package. Titus 2:15 pairs exhortation with teaching and rebuke as part of Titus’s pastoral authority. Context-sensitive: merayu (entreat) for pleading; menasihati (advise/encourage) for building up, as here.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: Kesyukuran
Transliteration: keh-shoo-KOO-rahn
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Inherited from Romans package. Thematically present in Titus’s household and church instructions though without a direct single-verse lexical occurrence in the core passage; no new risk.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: Persekutuan
Transliteration: per-seh-koo-TOO-ahn
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: persaudaraan (brotherhood, generic/ethnic)
Inherited from Romans package. Thematically present in Titus’s church-community instructions (elder appointment, household ethics, closing greetings 3:15) though without a direct single-verse lexical occurrence; no new risk.
Household Virtue Cluster
Approved rendering: bersopan, suci/murni, rajin menguruskan rumah tangga, tenang dan waras
Transliteration: ber-SOH-pahn, SOO-chee/MOOR-nee, RAH-jin meng-oo-roos-KAHN ROO-mah TAHNG-gah, teh-NAHNG dahn WAH-rahs
Doctrine: Grace That Trains for Godly Living
NEW term cluster. A group of household/character virtues (dignity, purity, domestic diligence, sobriety) applied to specific age/social groups in Titus 2:1-10 and 3:2. Individually low risk; oikourgous (domestically engaged, 2:5) requires pastoral framing to avoid implying a universal prohibition on women’s work outside the home.
Trustworthy Saying
Approved rendering: Perkataan ini benar dan boleh dipercayai
Transliteration: per-kah-TAH-ahn EE-nee BEH-nahr dahn BOH-leh dee-per-chah-YAH-ee
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine and Good Works
NEW term. A formulaic marker distinctive to the Pastoral Epistles (Titus 3:8), flagging what follows as a summary of settled apostolic teaching. Flag for cross-document consistency if this curriculum extends to 1-2 Timothy, where the same formula recurs.
Referenced passages