Core Glossary
08 Core Glossary — Galatians (English → Mandarin)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, covering Galatians 1–6 in full. Terms are grouped into (A) terms reused exactly from the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and (B) new terms introduced by Galatians’ distinct argument, which must be added to the translation memory in Phase 1 Step 2. A supplementary table (C) addresses context-sensitive terms whose Mandarin rendering varies by passage. Risk tiers follow the baseline’s definitions (doctrine_risk_registry.json).
A. Terms Reused Exactly from the Romans Baseline (No New Decision Required)
| English Term | Mandarin | Transliteration | Risk (baseline) | Galatians Occurrences | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | 神 | Shén | Critical | throughout | No change; monotheism must remain explicit |
| Jesus | 耶稣 | Yēsū | Critical | throughout | CUV standard form |
| Christ / Messiah | 基督 | Jīdū | Critical | throughout | Never conflate with 弥勒 (Maitreya) |
| Lord | 主 | zhǔ | Critical | 1:3 etc. | Exclusive Lordship, not 主人/老爷 |
| Holy Spirit | 圣灵 | Shènglíng | Critical | 3:2-5,14; 4:6,29; 5:5,16-25; 6:1,8 | Never 灵 alone; central to flesh/Spirit contrast |
| Grace | 恩典 | ēndiǎn | Critical | 1:3,6,15; 2:9,21; 5:4; 6:18 | Never 功德/阴德/造化 |
| Faith | 信心 | xìnxīn | High | 1:23; 2:16,20; 3:2-26; 5:5-6,22; 6:10 | Object of faith always specified; see Table C for πίστις-as-faithfulness |
| Righteousness | 义 | yì | Critical | 2:21; 3:6,21; 5:5 | Confucian-virtue collision at full force; every occurrence needs distinguishing note |
| Justification | 称义 | chēngyì | Critical | 2:16-17,21; 3:8,11,24; 5:4 | Never 修成正果 |
| Imputed Righteousness | 算为义 | suàn wéi yì | Critical | 3:6 (Gen 15:6 citation) | Forensic crediting, not moral achievement |
| Salvation | 救恩 | jiùēn | Critical | thematic (not a frequent noun in Galatians but doctrinally presupposed) | Never 解脱/超度 |
| Sin | 罪 | zuì | High | 1:4; 2:17; 3:19,22 | Moral offense, not karmic retribution |
| Law | 律法 | lǜfǎ | High | 2:16-21; 3:2-24; 4:4-5,21; 5:3-4,14,18,23; 6:2,13 | Never 礼/法律; central to whole letter |
| Apostle | 使徒 | shǐtú | Low (elevated stakes in Gal.) | 1:1,17,19 | Authority under direct challenge in this letter |
| Church(es) | 教会 | jiàohuì | Medium | 1:2,13,22 | Never 庙/寺/道观 |
| Holy | 圣洁 | shèngjié | High | (implied in sanctification passages) | — |
| Saints | 圣徒 | shèngtú | High | (implied, corporate address) | Never 圣人 |
| Sanctification | 成圣 | chéngshèng | Critical | thematic (Ch. 5-6 holy-living passages) | Never self-achieved; direct link to new-creation caution |
| Adoption | 儿子的名分 | érzi de míngfèn | High | 4:5 | Never 过继 |
| Father (God) | 父 | fù | High | 1:1,3; 4:6 | Not ancestor veneration |
| Abba | 阿爸 | Ābà | High | 4:6 | Kept with 父 exactly as in Romans 8:15 |
| Son of God | 神的儿子 | Shén de érzi | Critical | 2:20; 4:4 | Never 天子/神人 |
| Fellowship | 团契 | tuánqì | Low | 2:9 | Formal ecclesial recognition, not mere camaraderie |
| Gentiles | 外邦人 | wàibāngrén | Medium | 2:2,8-9,12,14-15; 3:8,14 | Never 夷人 |
| Israel | 以色列 | Yǐsèliè | Medium | 6:16 (“Israel of God”) | Standard |
| David | 大卫 | Dàwèi | Low | (pattern reused for 后裔/seed, see B) | — |
| Peace | 平安 | píng’ān | Medium | 1:3; 5:22; 6:16 | Relational, not amulet-style well-wishing |
| Glory | 荣耀 | róngyào | Medium | 1:5,24 | Not 面子/光宗耀祖 |
| Thanksgiving | 感恩 | gǎn’ēn | Low | (implied doxology, 1:5) | — |
B. New Terms Introduced by Galatians (Require Translation Memory Extension)
| English Term | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Proposed Mandarin | Risk | Category / Doctrine | Chapters | Key Collision / Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| works of the law | ἔργα νόμου | erga nomou | 律法的行为 (CUV verbal: 行律法) | Critical | Justification by Faith | 2, 3 | Central polemical antithesis to faith; risk of readers exempting moral (vs. ceremonial) law-keeping |
| flesh (neutral sense) | σάρξ | sarx | 肉体 | Critical | Flesh versus Spirit | 2:20 | Ordinary bodily existence; must not import moral condemnation |
| flesh (moral/fallen sense) | σάρξ | sarx | 肉体 (CUV list-context: 情欲的事) | Critical | Flesh versus Spirit | 5:13-24; 6:8 | Sin-inclined disposition, not the body itself; risk of ascetic/body-denial misreading |
| crucified with Christ | συνεσταύρωμαι (συσταυρόω) | systauroō | 与基督同钉十字架 | Critical | Crucified with Christ | 2:20 | Completed past union, not repeatable ascetic self-mortification |
| cross (noun) | σταυρός | stauros | 十字架 | High | Crucified with Christ | 2:20; 6:12,14 | Lexically settled; risk is honor/shame (面子) inversion, not vocabulary |
| gave himself for me | παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπέρ | paradontos heauton hyper | 为我舍己 | Medium | Crucified with Christ | 2:20 | Preserve substitutionary ὑπέρ, not mere moral example |
| another/different gospel | ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον | heteron euangelion | 别的福音 | Critical | True Gospel vs. False Gospels | 1:6-9 | 别的 must convey categorical falsity, not a valid alternative |
| accursed / curse | ἀνάθεμα / κατάρα | anathema / katara | 咒诅 | Critical | True Gospel vs. False Gospels; Law’s Purpose | 1:8-9; 3:10,13 | God’s judicial pronouncement, not folk-magic hex/ritual curse |
| revelation | ἀποκάλυψις | apokalypsis | 启示 | Medium | Paul’s Apostleship | 1:12,16 | Not divinatory 占卜/算卦 |
| circumcision | περιτομή | peritomē | 割礼 | High | Circumcision and New Creation | 2:3-14; 5:2-11; 6:12-15 | Lexically clear; doctrinal weight needs OT covenant background |
| truth of the gospel | ἀλήθεια τοῦ εὐαγγελίου | alētheia tou euangeliou | 福音的真理 | Medium | True Gospel vs. False Gospels | 2:5,14 | Exclusive truth, not “a” truth among paths (道) |
| freedom / liberty | ἐλευθερία | eleutheria | 自由 | High | Freedom in Christ | 2:4; 5:1,13 | Not secular-political liberty; freedom FOR love, not mere autonomy |
| slave / slavery (negative) | δοῦλος / δουλεία | doulos / douleia | 奴仆 / 奴役 (为奴) | High | Law and Grace; Freedom in Christ | 3:23-4:9; 4:22-31; 5:1 | Distinguish from Paul’s own positive δοῦλος Χριστοῦ self-designation (1:10) |
| yoke of slavery | ζυγὸς δουλείας | zygos douleias | 奴仆的枷锁 / 奴役的轭 | High | Freedom in Christ | 5:1 | Not the Confucian honorable-duty “yoke” (礼); wholly negative |
| bewitched | ἐβάσκανεν (βασκαίνω) | baskainō | 迷惑 | High | True Gospel vs. False Gospels | 3:1 | CUV de-literalizes; do not affirm folk-magic causation |
| promise | ἐπαγγελία | epangelia | 应许 | High | Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 3:14-29; 4:23,28 | Distinct from 约 (covenant-bond); names the pledged content |
| seed / offspring | σπέρμα | sperma | 后裔 | Critical | Abrahamic Covenant and Promise | 3:16,19,29 | Chinese is number-neutral; Paul’s singular/plural argument needs explicit note |
| curse of the law | κατάρα (νόμου) | katara (nomou) | 律法的咒诅 | Critical | Law’s Purpose | 3:10,13 | See “accursed/curse” above; substitutionary ὑπέρ at 3:13 |
| redeem / redemption | ἐξαγοράζω | exagorazō | 救赎 / 赎出 | Critical | Law’s Purpose; Adoption | 3:13; 4:5 | Not a ritual “buy-back” performed by the sinner; God’s own costly initiative |
| guardian / tutor | παιδαγωγός | paidagōgos | 师傅 | High | Law’s Purpose | 3:24-25 | Must stress TEMPORARY, expiring custodial role, unlike enduring 师傅/宗师 mentorship |
| mediator | μεσίτης | mesitēs | 中间人 | Medium | Law’s Purpose; Abrahamic Covenant | 3:19-20 | Keep distinct from 中保 (reserved for Christ elsewhere) |
| transgression | παράβασις | parabasis | 过犯 | Low | Law’s Purpose | 3:19 | Standard, low risk |
| transgressor | παραβάτης | parabatēs | 犯法的人 | Low | Justification by Faith | 2:18 | Boundary-violation logic, distinct from 罪人 |
| heir | κληρονόμος | klēronomos | 后嗣 / 承受产业的 | High | Adoption and Sonship | 3:29; 4:1,7 | Distinguish from clan-lineage inheritance (家产/宗族继承); universal scope (3:28) |
| baptized / put on Christ | βαπτίζω / ἐνδύω | baptizō / endyō | 受洗 / 披戴 | Medium | Adoption and Sonship | 3:27 | Distinguish from ritual purification bathing (斋戒沐浴) |
| free woman / slave woman | ἐλευθέρα / παιδίσκη | eleuthera / paidiskē | 自由的妇人 / 使女 | Medium | Law and Grace; Freedom in Christ | 4:22-31 | Typological allegory, not endorsement of the historical institution |
| elemental/elementary things of the world | στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου | stoicheia tou kosmou | 世上的小学 | High | Law’s Purpose | 4:3,9 | Risk of literal “elementary school” reading AND of 五行 Five-Elements collision if rendered “elements” |
| faith working through love | πίστις δι’ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη | pistis di’ agapēs energoumenē | 使人生发仁爱的信心 | Critical | Faith Working through Love | 5:6 | Compounds 信心, 仁爱, and grace/works risk in one phrase; love as fruit, not added merit-condition |
| love (as fruit / virtue) | ἀγάπη | agapē | 仁爱 | Critical | Fruit of the Spirit; Faith Working through Love | 5:6,13,22 | Same Confucian Five-Virtues collision as 义; must not be self-cultivated |
| fruit of the Spirit | καρπὸς τοῦ Πνεύματος | karpos tou Pneumatos | 圣灵所结的果子 | Critical | Fruit of the Spirit | 5:22-23 | Singular organic fruit, not nine separate achievable virtues |
| works of the flesh | ἔργα τῆς σαρκός | erga tēs sarkos | 肉体的行为 (CUV: 情欲的事) | Critical | Flesh versus Spirit | 5:19-21 | CUV narrows to appetitive sins; literal rendering preserves full breadth (idolatry, enmity, sorcery, etc.) |
| walk by / keep in step with the Spirit | Πνεύματι περιπατέω / στοιχέω | peripateō / stoicheō (Pneumati) | 顺着圣灵而行 | Medium | Flesh versus Spirit | 5:16,25 | Willing cooperation, not filial-duty compliance (孝顺) |
| bear one another’s burdens | ἀλλήλων τὰ βάρη βαστάζετε | ta barē bastazete | 重担 / 互相担当 | High | Bearing One Another’s Burdens | 6:2 | Communal mutual aid, not individualist karma-retribution (自作自受) |
| law of Christ | νόμος τοῦ Χριστοῦ | nomos tou Christou | 基督的律法 | High | Law and Grace | 6:2 | Not a new legal code re-opening works/grace question; fulfills 5:14’s love-command |
| sow / reap | σπείρω / θερίζω | speirō / therizō | 撒种 / 收(割) | High | Fruit of the Spirit | 6:7-8 | Distinguish from impersonal karmic proverb 种因得果 |
| new creation | καινὴ κτίσις | kainē ktisis | 新造的人 | Critical | Circumcision and New Creation | 6:15 | Never 脱胎换骨 (forbidden Daoist idiom) or 轮回/投胎; God’s decisive re-creative act, not self-cultivation |
| marks (of Jesus) | στίγματα | stigmata | 印记 | Low | Paul’s Apostleship | 6:17 | Ownership/devotion brand-marks; not tattoo/talisman practice |
| zeal | ζῆλος | zēlos | 热心 | Low | Paul’s Apostleship; True Gospel vs. False Gospels | 1:14; 4:17-18 | Standard, low risk |
| nullify (grace) | ἀθετέω | atheteō | 废掉 | Medium | Law and Grace | 2:21 | Absolute either/or; do not soften to “diminish” |
| in vain / for nothing | δωρεάν | dōrean | 徒然 | Medium | Justification by Faith | 2:21 | Hinge of core-passage logic; ironic link to δωρεά “gift” root |
| minister/servant (of sin) | διάκονος | diakonos | 罪的仆役 (CUV: 叫人犯罪的) | Medium | Justification by Faith | 2:17 | Functional agent-role, distinct from δοῦλος ownership-bondage |
| nature / by nature | φύσις | physis | 生来 / 本来 (context-dependent) | Medium | Justification by Faith | 2:15; 4:8 | See Table C |
C. Context-Sensitive Terms (Same Greek Word, Different Mandarin Rendering by Context)
These terms require an explicit disambiguation rule in Phase 2 segment processing: the same source-language term must NOT receive a single fixed Mandarin gloss across all occurrences, and each occurrence must be flagged with which sense is active.
| Greek Term | Sense A | Mandarin A | Sense B | Mandarin B | Disambiguation Rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| πίστις (pistis) | Saving faith / trust in Christ (justification sense) | 信心 (xìnxīn) | Faithfulness as a Spirit-produced character trait (fruit of the Spirit, 5:22) | 信实 (xìnshí) | Never use 信心 for the fruit-of-Spirit list at 5:22; never use 信实 for the justification passages (2:16, 3:6-26) |
| σάρξ (sarx) | Neutral: ordinary bodily/human existence | 肉体 (plain sense) | Moral: sin-inclined fallen disposition opposed to the Spirit | 肉体 (with mandatory context note) / CUV list-context: 情欲的事 | Flag every occurrence for active sense; 2:20 = neutral, 5:13-24 and 6:8 = moral |
| φύσις (physis) | Birth-status / innate ethnic-religious condition | 生来 (shēnglái) | Essential nature / what something truly is | 本来 (běnlái) | 2:15 = birth-status sense; 4:8 = essential-nature sense |
| δοῦλος (doulos) | Positive: Paul’s willing self-designation as Christ’s servant | 主的仆人 / 基督的奴仆 (honorific framing) | Negative: bondage under the law/sin, to be escaped | 奴仆 / 为奴 (negative framing) | 1:10 = positive; 3:23-4:9, 4:22-31, 5:1 = negative |
| ἔργα (erga) | Neutral/positive: general deeds, or Spirit-produced conduct | 行为 / 果子 (context) | Negative: law-works or flesh-works opposed to faith/Spirit | 律法的行为 / 肉体的行为 | Always pair with its governing noun (νόμου, σαρκός) rather than translating ἔργα in isolation |
D. Fruit of the Spirit — Full Nine-Term Sub-Glossary (Galatians 5:22-23)
| Greek | Transliteration | Mandarin (CUV) | Risk | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἀγάπη | agapē | 仁爱 | Critical | Confucian Five-Virtues collision (仁); see main table |
| χαρά | chara | 喜乐 | Low | Standard; joy grounded in God, not circumstantial happiness |
| εἰρήνη | eirēnē | 和平 | Medium | Distinct rendering from 平安 (relational peace with God, baseline); here interpersonal/communal peace as Spirit-fruit |
| μακροθυμία | makrothymia | 忍耐 | Low | Patient endurance; standard |
| χρηστότης | chrēstotēs | 恩慈 | Medium | Kindness; shares root 恩 with 恩典 (grace) — reinforce as Spirit-produced, not innate temperament |
| ἀγαθωσύνη | agathōsynē | 良善 | Low | Goodness; standard |
| πίστις | pistis | 信实 | High | See Table C — do not confuse with 信心 |
| πραΰτης | prautēs | 温柔 | Low | Gentleness; standard |
| ἐγκράτεια | egkrateia | 节制 | Medium | Self-control; distinguish from Daoist/Buddhist ascetic self-discipline (修炼) achieved by technique — this is Spirit-enabled, not self-generated |
This glossary must be merged into an updated translation_memory.json (version increment) as part of Phase 1 Step 2 before any Phase 2 segment translation of Galatians begins. All Critical and High risk new terms above require human theologian review routing consistent with doctrine_risk_registry.json conventions established in the Romans baseline.
Critical Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: 恩典
Transliteration: ēndiǎn
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: 功德, 造化, 福气, 阴德
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: 1:3,6,15; 2:9,21; 5:4; 6:18. Galatians 2:21 and 5:4 make grace and law-as-basis-of-standing STRICTLY mutually exclusive (falling from grace = returning to law-works), sharpening the baseline’s grace-versus-merit (功德/阴德) warning into the letter’s central either/or. Never soften ‘nullify grace’ (2:21, see nullify_grace below) into a partial diminishment.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: 义
Transliteration: yì
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 道德, 善行
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Justification
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: 2:21; 3:6,21; 5:5. The Confucian Five Constant Virtues collision (仁义礼智信) applies with FULL, arguably heightened, force in Galatians because the letter’s entire argument is that this 义 is unobtainable by exactly the kind of disciplined moral/ritual observance (律法的行为, works_of_the_law) that Confucian 义 is culturally understood to require. Every occurrence needs the same distinguishing note mandated in the Romans baseline, escalated in urgency here.
Justification
Approved rendering: 称义
Transliteration: chēngyì
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 修成正果, 赎罪
Original: δικαιόω / δικαίωσις
Category: Justification
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: 2:16-17,21; 3:8,11,24; 5:4. Central to the core passage (2:15-21). NEVER 修成正果 (Buddhist/Daoist attainment idiom) — this rule carries full force in Galatians, where the letter’s entire argument is that justification is emphatically NOT self-cultivated attainment.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: 算为义
Transliteration: suàn wéi yì
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 修成正果的义, 自义
Original: ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην
Category: Justification
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrence: 3:6, citing Genesis 15:6 as Paul’s proof-text that Abraham himself was justified by faith centuries before the law existed — a direct link to the Romans-baseline treatment of this same citation (Romans 4:3).
Salvation
Approved rendering: 救恩
Transliteration: jiùēn
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: 解脱, 超度, 得道
Original: σωτηρία
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Presupposed thematically throughout Galatians’ justification argument even though not a frequent standalone noun in this letter. NEVER 解脱 or 超度.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: 成圣
Transliteration: chéngshèng
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 修身, 修炼
Original: ἁγιασμός
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Thematic throughout Galatians 5-6’s holy-living, flesh/Spirit, and works/fruit contrasts, where the self-effort-vs-Spirit-work distinction is the passage’s explicit point — the Neo-Confucian self-cultivation collision already flagged in the baseline is especially live here alongside the new fruit_of_the_spirit and works_of_the_flesh terms below.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: 复活
Transliteration: fùhuó
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 轮回, 投胎, 还魂
Original: ἐγείρω (ἐγείραντος)
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrence: 1:1 (God who raised Christ from the dead, foundation of Paul’s apostolic commission). NEVER 轮回, 投胎, or 还魂.
Lord
Approved rendering: 主
Transliteration: zhǔ
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 主人, 老爷
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: 1:3; 6:14,18 and throughout as part of the full name ‘the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Never 主人/老爷.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: 神的儿子
Transliteration: Shén de érzi
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 天子, 神人
Original: υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: 2:20; 4:4. NEVER 天子 (imperial ‘Son of Heaven’ title) or 神人.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: 道成肉身
Transliteration: dào chéng ròushēn
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: 化身, 转世, 下凡
Original: ἐξαπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ, γενόμενον ἐκ γυναικός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. This is the theological name for Galatians 4:4’s ‘God sent his Son, born of a woman’ and connects to 1:3’s ‘came in flesh’ background. Every use must clarify this is the personal, eternal divine Son, not an impersonal cosmic Way (道) or a temporary manifestation (化身/下凡/转世). Note the DISTINCT, dual-sense term 肉体 (sarx/flesh, see ‘flesh’ below) which also appears throughout Galatians and must not be confused with this incarnation-specific compound.
Messiah
Approved rendering: 基督
Transliteration: Jīdū
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: 弥勒, 救世主式泛称
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Used dozens of times throughout Galatians as the letter’s central figure. NEVER conflate with 弥勒 (Maitreya).
Jesus
Approved rendering: 耶稣
Transliteration: Yēsū
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. CUV standard transliteration used throughout Galatians.
God
Approved rendering: 神
Transliteration: Shén
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 上帝, 天, 老天爷
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged (Shen edition standardization). Monotheism must remain explicit throughout Galatians’ doctrinal argument, exactly as in the Romans baseline.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: 圣灵
Transliteration: Shènglíng
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 祖灵, 灵
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Load-bearing across nearly all of Galatians 3-6 (3:2-5,14; 4:6,29; 5:5,16-25; 6:1,8), central to the letter’s flesh/Spirit contrast. Never 灵 alone or 祖灵.
Works Of The Law
Approved rendering: 律法的行为
Transliteration: lǜfǎ de xíngwéi
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 行为 (unqualified — too vague, loses Torah-specific reference), 善行 (conflates with generic good deeds)
Original: ἔργα νόμου
Category: Justification
NEW term. The central polemical antithesis of the whole letter, set against faith in Christ (2:16; 3:2,5,10). CUV often smooths this into a verbal construction 因行律法. Every occurrence requires a note that this phrase includes ALL law-keeping — ceremonial AND moral — as a basis of standing before God, not merely Jewish ceremonial markers; otherwise a Confucian moral-cultivation reading (礼/道德修养) could reassert itself even after 义/称义 are correctly taught.
Flesh
Approved rendering: 肉体
Transliteration: ròutǐ
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Rejected alternatives: 身体 (purely biological, loses the moral sense entirely), 情欲 alone (narrows too far to appetite/desire)
Original: σάρξ
Category: Flesh and Spirit
NEW term (dual-sense). (1) Neutral: ordinary physical/bodily human existence (Galatians 2:20); (2) Moral: the sin-inclined disposition opposed to the Spirit (5:13-24; 6:8; also the typological sense at 4:23,29). Rendered 肉体 in BOTH senses; every occurrence must be flagged for the active sense to avoid (a) importing moral condemnation into neutral statements about bodily life, echoing Buddhist/Daoist ascetic body-denial traditions, or (b) reading the moral catalogue as mere appetite-control. In the ‘works of the flesh’ catalogue (5:19-21), CUV’s interpretive 情欲的事 risks narrowing the list to appetitive sins alone; prefer the more literal 肉体的行为 (see works_of_the_flesh below) in teaching-material contexts.
Crucified With Christ
Approved rendering: 与基督同钉十字架
Transliteration: yǔ Jīdū tóng dìng shízìjià
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Rejected alternatives: 自我了断 (self-directed ending, loses Christ’s agency), 脱胎换骨 (forbidden Daoist self-cultivation idiom)
Original: συνεσταύρωμαι (συσταυρόω)
Category: Christology
NEW term. Galatians 2:20 (Greek perfect tense συνεσταύρωμαι, ‘I have been and remain crucified’), echoed at 5:24 and 6:14. Matches CUV’s own rendering. Must be taught as a completed, once-for-all past union with Christ’s death with ongoing effect, NEVER as a repeatable ascetic self-mortification practice — a real danger given Buddhist/Daoist self-mortification traditions and the Neo-Confucian self-cultivation already flagged Critical under 成圣.
Different Gospel
Approved rendering: 别的福音
Transliteration: bié de fúyīn
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Rejected alternatives: 另一种福音 (still reads as a valid alternative option), 另一个福音 (same neutrality problem)
Original: ἕτερον εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Gospel
NEW term. Galatians 1:6-9. Paul’s ἕτερος (categorically different/false) rather than ἄλλος (another of the same kind) is the point. Neutral Mandarin 别的 alone could be misread as ‘an alternative, equally valid version’ — precisely the false ecumenism Paul condemns with the double anathema of 1:8-9. A clarifying note is required at every occurrence.
Accursed Curse
Approved rendering: 咒诅
Transliteration: zhòuzǔ
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Rejected alternatives: 下咒 (folk ritual hexing performed by a human ritual specialist), 诅咒 unqualified (lacks the divine-judicial framing)
Original: ἀνάθεμα
Category: Gospel
NEW term (covers both ἀνάθεμα, 1:8-9, and κατάρα in its general sense). Sits directly beside a rich Chinese folk-religious vocabulary of ritual curses and hexes (符咒, 下咒, 诅咒仪式) performed by folk practitioners against enemies. Every occurrence must clarify this is God’s own judicial pronouncement tied to covenant/gospel violation, not a magical hex operating independently of God’s will.
Curse Of The Law
Approved rendering: 律法的咒诅
Transliteration: lǜfǎ de zhòuzǔ
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Rejected alternatives: 律法的报应 (karmic-retribution framing)
Original: κατάρα
Category: Law
NEW term. Galatians 3:10,13 — the law’s inherent judicial curse on all who fail to keep it perfectly, and Christ’s voluntary bearing of that curse in the sinner’s place (‘having become a curse for us,’ 3:13). Same folk-magic collision risk as accursed_curse above; the substitutionary ὑπέρ-force of 3:13 must be preserved, not softened into a generic curse-avoidance idea.
Seed Offspring
Approved rendering: 后裔
Transliteration: hòuyì
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: 子孙 (loses the collective-singular grammatical ambiguity Paul exploits and skews toward a purely biological-lineage reading)
Original: σπέρμα
Category: Covenant
NEW term. Galatians 3:16,19,29. Mandarin 后裔 is number-neutral, like the Greek collective singular, removing Mandarin readers’ access to Paul’s own grammatical-numeric argument at 3:16 (identifying Christ as the single ‘seed’). A mandatory translator’s note (e.g. 那一个后裔, ‘that one/single descendant’) is REQUIRED at 3:16 specifically.
Redemption
Approved rendering: 救赎
Transliteration: jiùshú
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Rejected alternatives: 买命 (folk ritual buy-back of fate performed by a family), 解脱 (Buddhist liberation from samsara, already forbidden under salvation)
Original: ἐξαγοράζω
Category: Law
NEW term. Galatians 3:13 (redemption from the law’s curse); 4:5 (redemption enabling adoption). Commercial ‘buying back’ of a soul or fate is a recognized folk-Daoist/Buddhist ritual practice; must be taught as God’s own initiative in Christ, at Christ’s own cost, never a transaction a person or family performs to appease a spiritual power.
Faith Working Through Love
Approved rendering: 使人生发仁爱的信心
Transliteration: shǐ rén shēngfā rén’ài de xìnxīn
Doctrine: Faith Working through Love
Rejected alternatives: 信心加仁爱 (reads as two separate merit-conditions rather than one organic expression)
Original: πίστις δι’ ἀγάπης ἐνεργουμένη
Category: Faith
NEW term. Galatians 5:6 — Paul’s summary formula: neither circumcision nor its absence counts, but faith that actively expresses itself through love. Compounds THREE separate collision risks already flagged elsewhere: 信心 (faith), 仁爱 (love), and the works/grace relationship itself. Must be taught as a description of what genuine, Spirit-given faith naturally and necessarily produces — not a second, additional requirement (love-as-merit) reopening the faith-plus-works error the letter refutes.
Love Fruit
Approved rendering: 仁爱
Transliteration: rén’ài
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: 爱 alone (loses the Spirit-fruit register CUV specifically assigns here), 仁 alone (a pure Confucian virtue term without the 爱 element)
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Fruit of the Spirit
NEW term. Galatians 5:22 (also 5:6, 5:13). CUV renders ἀγάπη here as 仁爱, NOT the plain 爱 used elsewhere. 仁 is itself one of the Confucian Five Constant Virtues (仁义礼智信) — the SAME virtue-set flagged Critical in the baseline for 义. Chinese readers steeped in Confucian ethics may hear 仁爱 as a self-cultivated virtue rather than a Spirit-produced organic fruit. Requires the same class of clarifying note the baseline mandates for 义, at every doctrinal occurrence.
Fruit Of The Spirit
Approved rendering: 圣灵所结的果子
Transliteration: Shènglíng suǒ jié de guǒzi
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: 圣灵的恩赐 (conflates with spiritual gifts, a distinct baseline concept/term)
Original: καρπὸς τοῦ Πνεύματος
Category: Fruit of the Spirit
NEW term. Galatians 5:22-23. καρπός is deliberately SINGULAR even though nine qualities follow — signaling one unified, organic outgrowth, not nine separately achievable virtues. The ἔργα (works, effort-based, 5:19) vs. καρπός (fruit, organic/Spirit-given, 5:22) contrast is structurally the SAME contrast as grace-versus-merit already flagged Critical in the baseline. The singular, unified nature must be preserved against a natural Mandarin tendency to read nine nouns as nine separately cultivable virtues, which would reintroduce the self-cultivation framework (修身/修炼) this term exists to refute.
Works Of The Flesh
Approved rendering: 肉体的行为
Transliteration: ròutǐ de xíngwéi
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Rejected alternatives: 情欲的事 as the sole rendering (narrows the catalogue to appetitive sins alone)
Original: ἔργα τῆς σαρκός
Category: Flesh and Spirit
NEW term. Galatians 5:19-21. CUV’s interpretive 情欲的事 risks narrowing the list to appetitive/sexual sins alone, when Paul’s list also includes relational sins (enmity, strife, jealousy) and religious sins (idolatry, sorcery). Recommend the more literal 肉体的行为 in teaching-material contexts to preserve the full breadth of the catalogue; 情欲的事 may be noted as the register-matching alternative for quoted Scripture text.
New Creation
Approved rendering: 新造的人
Transliteration: xīnzào de rén
Doctrine: Circumcision and the New Creation
Rejected alternatives: 脱胎换骨 (forbidden Daoist immortality-cultivation idiom), 轮回 / 投胎 (forbidden reincarnation terms)
Original: καινὴ κτίσις
Category: Salvation
NEW term. Galatians 6:15 — the climactic resolution term of the letter’s central controversy: ‘neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but a new creation.’ This term sits directly beside the baseline’s own explicit forbidden-idiom warning against 脱胎换骨. New creation must be taught as God’s own sovereign, gracious act of re-creation in a believer united to Christ (a completed, received reality), never as a self-directed process of spiritual refinement achieved through cultivation technique, and never confused with rebirth/reincarnation concepts (轮回/投胎, already forbidden under ‘resurrection’).
High Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: 信心
Transliteration: xìnxīn
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: 虔诚, 迷信, 信仰
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: 1:23; 2:16(x3),20; 3:2-26; 5:5-6; 6:10. Object of faith must always be Christ (信基督耶稣的信心, 2:16). Must NOT be used for the distinct Spirit-produced-character sense of the same Greek word (πίστις) at 5:22, which is rendered 信实 (see faithfulness_fruit below) — see the mandatory sense-disambiguation rule shared with that entry.
Called
Approved rendering: 蒙召的
Transliteration: méngzhào de
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 受命于天, 天命所归
Original: καλέω / κλητός
Category: Divine Calling
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrence: 1:15 (Paul’s own calling by grace). NEVER 天命所归.
Calling
Approved rendering: 呼召
Transliteration: hūzhào
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: 天命, 命运
Original: κλῆσις
Category: Divine Calling
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: 1:6 (God’s call of believers ‘in the grace of Christ’); 5:8,13 (call to freedom). NEVER 天命 alone or 命运/缘分.
Holy
Approved rendering: 圣洁
Transliteration: shèngjié
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: 清净, 圣人般的
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Implied throughout Galatians’ holy-living passages (5:13-6:10). Avoid 清净 or a ‘sage-like’ gloss.
Saints
Approved rendering: 圣徒
Transliteration: shèngtú
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: 圣人, 高僧
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Implied in Galatians’ corporate address to believers. Never 圣人.
Adoption
Approved rendering: 儿子的名分
Transliteration: érzi de míngfèn
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 过继, 收养
Original: υἱοθεσία
Category: Adoption
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians 4:1-7 develops this doctrine even more extensively than Romans 8, structuring an entire chapter around adoption versus slavery (δουλεία) as its structural opposite. NEVER 过继, the traditional Chinese practice of transferring an heir within the clan chiefly to continue ancestor-worship obligations — an instrumental, lineage-continuation arrangement contrary to Paul’s full relational sonship.
Law
Approved rendering: 律法
Transliteration: lǜfǎ
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: 礼, 道德规范, 法律
Original: νόμος
Category: Law
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. This is the single most load-bearing term in the whole letter (2:16-21; 3:2-24; 4:4-5,21; 5:3-4,14,18,23; 6:2,13). Never equate with 礼 or 法律. Note the new compound 基督的律法 (law_of_christ, 6:2) reuses this root and requires its own mandatory clarifying note (see below) so readers do not conclude Paul has reintroduced a new legal code.
Sin
Approved rendering: 罪
Transliteration: zuì
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: 报应, 罪犯式的罪
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: 1:4; 2:17; 3:19,22. Not karmic retribution (报应).
Covenant
Approved rendering: 约
Transliteration: yuē
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: 合同, 契约
Original: διαθήκη
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: 3:15,17 (the Abrahamic covenant’s legal irrevocability); 4:24 (the two-covenants allegory, Sinai/Hagar vs. promise/Sarah). Avoid 合同/契约. Must be kept terminologically DISTINCT from the new term 应许 (promise, see below), which names the specific pledged content carried within this covenant bond — collapsing the two would blur Paul’s argument in 3:15-18 that the promise’s legal priority cannot be overridden by the later law.
Father
Approved rendering: 父
Transliteration: fù
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: 祖先, 老天爷
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: 1:1,3; 4:6. Not ancestor veneration (祭祖); never 祖先 or 老天爷.
Abba
Approved rendering: 阿爸
Transliteration: Ābà
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: Ἀββά
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians 4:6 usage (‘阿爸父’) is identical in form to Romans 8:15 and MUST remain verbatim-consistent with that rendering per the baseline’s cross-document consistency rule.
Cross
Approved rendering: 十字架
Transliteration: shízìjià
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Original: σταυρός
Category: Christology
NEW term. Galatians 2:20; 6:12,14. Lexically settled with no viable alternative or rival folk-religious term. The risk is entirely at the level of cultural logic: boasting (καυχάομαι, 6:14) in an instrument of shameful criminal execution runs directly against Chinese honor/face (面子) culture, where public shame is normally to be avoided, not gloried in. Teaching material must make explicit Paul’s deliberate inversion of the normal honor-shame calculus.
Circumcision
Approved rendering: 割礼
Transliteration: gēlǐ
Doctrine: Circumcision and the New Creation
Original: περιτομή
Category: Covenant
NEW term. Galatians 2:3-14; 5:2-11; 6:12-15. Lexically unambiguous — Chinese has no competing religious use of this term — but doctrinally High risk because Chinese readers have no native cultural referent for a physical covenant-sign carrying this degree of soteriological weight. Requires substantial OT covenant-background teaching, not just correct lexical choice, so the rite is not read as a minor ceremonial footnote rather than the church-dividing issue Paul treats it as (‘falling from grace,’ 5:4).
Freedom
Approved rendering: 自由
Transliteration: zìyóu
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ
Rejected alternatives: 自主 (self-determination, still individualist), 解放 (carries a political-liberation connotation)
Original: ἐλευθερία
Category: Freedom
NEW term. Galatians 2:4; 5:1,13. Modern Mandarin 自由 carries strong secular-political liberty/individual-rights connotations that can crowd out the theological sense — freedom FROM the law’s condemning power and slavery to sin, FOR a Spirit-empowered life of love and service (5:13). A clarifying note is required at every major occurrence pairing freedom with its purpose clause.
Slavery Negative
Approved rendering: 奴仆 / 奴役
Transliteration: núpú / núyì
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: 奴隶 (modern chattel-slavery register, distracts from the spiritual-bondage sense)
Original: δουλεία / δοῦλος (negative sense)
Category: Freedom
NEW term (negative sense of δοῦλος/δουλεία). Galatians 3:23-4:9; 4:22-31; 5:1 — bondage under the law, sin, or ‘the elemental things of the world.’ Must be distinguished from Paul’s own positive self-designation as Christ’s willing servant (δοῦλος Χριστοῦ, 1:10) — see slave_of_christ_positive below. Every occurrence must be flagged for which sense is active.
Yoke Of Slavery
Approved rendering: 奴仆的枷锁 / 奴役的轭
Transliteration: núpú de jiāsuǒ / núyì de è
Doctrine: Freedom in Christ
Rejected alternatives: 礼的轭 (would wrongly import the positive Confucian ritual-duty connotation)
Original: ζυγὸς δουλείας
Category: Freedom
NEW term. Galatians 5:1 — ζυγὸς δουλείας, the agricultural yoke image applied to a return to law-bondage after being set free in Christ. Must not be confused with the Confucian ideal of an honorable, dutifully-borne yoke of filial/ritual obligation (礼); this yoke is unambiguously negative, unlike the positive burden-bearing of 6:2 (see bear_burdens below).
Bewitched
Approved rendering: 迷惑
Transliteration: míhuò
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Rejected alternatives: 蛊惑 (would affirm folk-magic causation), 中邪 (possession framing)
Original: ἐβάσκανεν (βασκαίνω)
Category: Gospel
NEW term. Galatians 3:1, ἐβάσκανεν — ‘bewitched/cast the evil eye upon.’ CUV de-literalizes as 迷惑. Avoid a more literal folk-magic rendering, which would risk affirming the objective efficacy of folk sorcery within the biblical text itself.
Promise
Approved rendering: 应许
Transliteration: yīngxǔ
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: 约 (collapses into the covenant-bond term, losing the promise/covenant distinction)
Original: ἐπαγγελία
Category: Covenant
NEW term. Galatians 3:14-29; 4:23,28. Names God’s specific pledged content, distinct from the covenant bond itself (约). Must be kept terminologically distinct from 约 — collapsing the two would blur Paul’s argument (3:15-18) that the promise’s legal priority and unconditional character cannot be overridden by the later-arriving law.
Guardian Tutor
Approved rendering: 师傅
Transliteration: shīfu
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Rejected alternatives: 监护人 (modern legal-guardian register, lacks the temporariness), 宗师 (implies a durable, honored master-disciple lineage)
Original: παιδαγωγός
Category: Law
NEW term (παιδαγωγός). Galatians 3:24-25 — the law as a temporary, subordinate custodial guardian assigned to a freeborn child until legal maturity, then formally discharged. Modern Mandarin 师傅 denotes a valued, often lifelong master-craftsman or mentor relationship — the OPPOSITE of Paul’s point, since a παιδαγωγός’s authority is designed to expire. Mandatory clarifying note required at every occurrence stressing the TEMPORARY nature of this guardianship.
Heir
Approved rendering: 后嗣 / 承受产业的
Transliteration: hòusì / chéngshòu chǎnyè de
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship
Rejected alternatives: 家产继承人 (clan-lineage inheritance restricted to biological male heirs)
Original: κληρονόμος
Category: Adoption
NEW term. Galatians 3:29; 4:1,7. Must be clearly distinguished from Chinese inheritance-law concepts tied to clan lineage and ancestral property (家产, 宗族继承), typically restricted to biological male heirs within a patriline. Paul’s point (3:28-29) that Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free are ALL equally heirs directly confronts any lineage-based, gender-restricted inheritance framework; the translation must not accidentally narrow this universal scope.
Elemental Things Of World
Approved rendering: 世上的小学
Transliteration: shìshàng de xiǎoxué
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Rejected alternatives: 元素 (collides with the Chinese Five Elements 五行 cosmological system), 小学 unqualified (risks a literal ‘elementary school’ misreading)
Original: στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Law
NEW term. Galatians 4:3,9 (στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου) — describes the rudimentary/immature stage of religious existence under either Jewish law-observance or paganism, superseded by adoption as full sons. This is the single hardest genuine lexical gap in the letter: CUV’s 世上的小学 risks a literal ‘elementary school’ misreading, while a literal ‘elements’ rendering (元素) would collide with 五行 (Wood/Fire/Earth/Metal/Water) folk cosmology. Retain CUV’s phrase with a mandatory dual-warning clarifying note.
Sow Reap
Approved rendering: 撒种 / 收割
Transliteration: sāzhǒng / shōugē
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: 种因得果 (affirms an impersonal karmic causation framework)
Original: σπείρω / θερίζω
Category: Fruit of the Spirit
NEW term. Galatians 6:7-8 — the sow/reap moral-consequence principle. Closely parallels the common Chinese Buddhist-derived proverb 种因得果 (‘sow a cause, reap a fruit/result’), the standard popular articulation of karmic causation in Chinese folk Buddhism. Paul’s point presupposes a personal moral Governor (God) who ensures just consequences, not an impersonal, self-operating karmic law. A clarifying note is required.
Bear Burdens
Approved rendering: 重担 / 互相担当
Transliteration: zhòngdàn / hùxiāng dāndāng
Doctrine: Bearing One Another’s Burdens
Rejected alternatives: 自作自受 (individualized-consequence proverb, the opposite of Paul’s mutuality command)
Original: ἀλλήλων τὰ βάρη βαστάζετε
Category: Ethics
NEW term. Galatians 6:1-5. Chinese moral-cosmological proverbs about bearing one’s own burdens/consequences (自作自受; the Buddhist-inflected 自业自受) frame burden-bearing as strictly individual and self-contained. Paul’s command inverts this — burdens are shared MUTUALLY within the community. Distinguish from the negative ‘yoke of slavery’ (yoke_of_slavery, above) — this is a positive, freely-chosen act of love, not an imposed bondage.
Law Of Christ
Approved rendering: 基督的律法
Transliteration: Jīdū de lǜfǎ
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: 新律法 (implies a wholly new legal code, reopening the works/grace question)
Original: νόμος τοῦ Χριστοῦ
Category: Law
NEW term. Galatians 6:2. Reusing 律法 here creates a real risk of readers assuming Paul has simply reintroduced a new legal code to replace the old Mosaic one. A mandatory clarifying note is required: ‘the law of Christ’ picks up 5:14’s summary (love fulfills the law’s deepest intent) — it names the Spirit-produced pattern of self-giving love, not a new set of legal requirements functioning as a basis for justification.
Faithfulness Fruit
Approved rendering: 信实
Transliteration: xìnshí
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: 信心 (reserved for saving faith in justification contexts; must never be used for this fruit-of-Spirit sense)
Original: πίστις (as fruit)
Category: Fruit of the Spirit
NEW term (πίστις as fruit). Galatians 5:22 — reliability/trustworthiness as a Spirit-produced character trait, distinct from 信心 (saving faith, justification sense). Translators unfamiliar with this distinction risk either implying ‘faith’ is one of nine separately achievable virtues, or losing the personal-trust sense entirely in justification contexts. A cross-reference note is required linking these two related-but-distinct Mandarin renderings of the same Greek word.
Medium Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: 福音
Transliteration: fúyīn
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: 好消息, 喜讯
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Gospel
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: throughout, especially 1:6-9, 1:11, 2:2,5,7,14, 3:8. The term itself remains Medium risk per baseline, but in Galatians it is immediately and violently contested (‘a different gospel,’ 1:6-9); every occurrence must be read alongside the new Critical-risk term 别的福音 (different_gospel) below. 福音’s root 福 (fortune/blessing) still risks folk fortune-seeking resonance; Galatians intensifies the need to teach the gospel as a single, fixed, non-negotiable message rather than one blessing-option among others.
Peace
Approved rendering: 平安
Transliteration: píng’ān
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: 安宁, 平安符式的平安
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: 1:3 (epistolary greeting); 6:16 (closing benediction, ‘Israel of God’). Must be kept DISTINCT from the interpersonal/communal sense of the same Greek word (εἰρήνη) as a fruit of the Spirit (5:22), which is rendered 和平 — see peace_fruit below; do not conflate the two Mandarin terms.
Church
Approved rendering: 教会
Transliteration: jiàohuì
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: 庙, 寺, 道观
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: 1:2,13,22. Never 庙/寺/道观.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: 神的国
Transliteration: Shén de guó
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Rejected alternatives: 天下, 王朝
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrence: 5:21 (those practicing the works of the flesh ‘will not inherit the kingdom of God’). Never 天下 or 王朝.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: 外邦人
Transliteration: wàibāngrén
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: 夷人, 外国人
Original: ἔθνη
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: 2:2,8-9,12,14-15; 3:8,14. Never 夷人.
Glory
Approved rendering: 荣耀
Transliteration: róngyào
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: 面子, 光宗耀祖
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrences: 1:5,24 (doxological formulas). Not 面子/光宗耀祖. Cross-reference the NEW term 十字架 (cross) below, whose associated honor/shame (面子) collision risk is distinct from, but related to, this entry’s warning.
Israel
Approved rendering: 以色列
Transliteration: Yǐsèliè
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrence: 6:16, ‘the Israel of God.‘
Gave Himself For Me
Approved rendering: 为我舍己
Transliteration: wèi wǒ shě jǐ
Doctrine: Crucified with Christ
Rejected alternatives: 为我而死 (loses the self-giving agency nuance of παραδίδωμι), 牺牲自己 (risks reducing to generic heroic self-sacrifice, echoing Confucian loyal-minister-dies-for-his-lord tropes)
Original: παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ
Category: Christology
NEW term. Galatians 2:20, παραδόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ. Preserve the substitutionary ὑπέρ sense; avoid reducing this to a merely exemplary self-sacrifice narrative.
Revelation
Approved rendering: 启示
Transliteration: qǐshì
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: 占卜 (divination), 算卦 (fortune-casting)
Original: ἀποκάλυψις
Category: Apostleship
NEW term. Galatians 1:12,16 — the direct, personal, non-repeatable disclosure of the gospel to Paul, not derived from human teaching. Must be distinguished from divinatory revelation-seeking practices already flagged under ‘prophecy’ in the Romans baseline.
Truth Of The Gospel
Approved rendering: 福音的真理
Transliteration: fúyīn de zhēnlǐ
Doctrine: The True Gospel versus False Gospels
Rejected alternatives: 福音的道 (risks a Daoist ‘the Way’ pluralist reading)
Original: ἀλήθεια τοῦ εὐαγγελίου
Category: Gospel
NEW term. Galatians 2:5,14. 真理 can carry a scientific-objective-fact register or, in Daoist/Buddhist contexts, a ‘one Truth/Way among several paths’ register; context must make clear this is the singular, exclusive truth-content of the Christian proclamation.
Slave Of Christ Positive
Approved rendering: 基督的仆人
Transliteration: Jīdū de púrén
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: 奴仆 unqualified (collapses into the negative bondage sense dominant in chs. 3-5)
Original: δοῦλος (positive sense)
Category: Apostleship
NEW term (positive sense of δοῦλος). Galatians 1:10 — Paul’s honorific self-designation as Christ’s willing, devoted servant. Rendered honorifically to avoid confusion with the negative slavery-under-the-law sense. Never collapse both senses into a single undifferentiated term without a context flag.
Mediator
Approved rendering: 中间人
Transliteration: zhōngjiānrén
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Rejected alternatives: 中保 (reserved for Christ’s unique mediatorial office elsewhere in the curriculum)
Original: μεσίτης
Category: Covenant
NEW term. Galatians 3:19-20 — used of Moses’ subordinate, secondary role in giving the law through angels, contrasted with the direct, unmediated Abrahamic promise. Must be kept distinct from 中保 to preserve the distinction between Moses’ broker-like function and Christ’s unique mediatorial office elsewhere.
Baptized Put On Christ
Approved rendering: 受洗 / 披戴
Transliteration: shòuxǐ / pīdài
Doctrine: Adoption and Sonship
Rejected alternatives: 斋戒沐浴 (Daoist/folk ritual purification bathing)
Original: βαπτίζω / ἐνδύω
Category: Adoption
NEW term. Galatians 3:27 — ‘baptized into Christ… have put on Christ.’ 受洗 should be distinguished from ritual purification bathing found in some Chinese folk-religious and Daoist practices; this is a one-time act signifying union with Christ, not a repeatable purification ritual.
Free Woman Slave Woman
Approved rendering: 自由的妇人 / 使女
Transliteration: zìyóu de fùrén / shǐnǚ
Doctrine: The Abrahamic Covenant and Promise
Original: ἐλευθέρα / παιδίσκη
Category: Covenant
NEW term. Galatians 4:21-31 — the Sarah/Hagar allegory mapping the promise-covenant and the Sinai-law-covenant. Must be taught as a typological argument about covenant status, not as biblical endorsement of the historical treatment of Hagar or of slavery/concubinage as an institution.
Walk By Spirit
Approved rendering: 顺着圣灵而行
Transliteration: shùn zhe Shènglíng ér xíng
Doctrine: Flesh versus Spirit
Rejected alternatives: 孝顺圣灵 (imports filial-duty compliance framing)
Original: Πνεύματι περιπατέω / στοιχέω
Category: Flesh and Spirit
NEW term. Galatians 5:16,25 (Πνεύματι περιπατεῖτε / στοιχῶμεν). Standard Chinese Christian idiom for Spirit-directed living. 顺 shares a root with 孝顺 (xiàoshùn, filial obedience) already flagged in the baseline’s ‘obedience of faith’ entry — reinforce that this is willing, Spirit-enabled cooperation, not duty-based compliance owed to a superior.
Minister Of Sin
Approved rendering: 叫人犯罪的
Transliteration: jiào rén fànzuì de
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 罪的奴仆 (collapses διάκονος’s functional-agent sense into δοῦλος’s ownership-bondage sense)
Original: διάκονος (ἁμαρτίας)
Category: Justification
NEW term. Galatians 2:17 (διάκονος ἁμαρτίας) — a functional agent/promoter role hypothetically and rejected of Christ in Paul’s reductio ad absurdum. CUV’s interpretive rendering is preferred for running text; a more literal study gloss ‘罪的仆役’ may surface the rhetorical logic for teaching purposes.
Nullify Grace
Approved rendering: 废掉
Transliteration: fèidiào
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: 减少 (too weak — ‘diminish’ loses Paul’s absolute either/or)
Original: ἀθετέω
Category: Salvation
NEW term. Galatians 2:21 (ἀθετέω) — returning to law-observance as a ground of standing would functionally cancel God’s grace, not merely supplement it. Must preserve Paul’s absolute either/or; do not soften.
In Vain
Approved rendering: 徒然
Transliteration: túrán
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Original: δωρεάν
Category: Justification
NEW term. Galatians 2:21 (δωρεάν, ironically the adverbial form of ‘gift’) — the hinge of the core passage’s logic: if righteousness came through the law, Christ died for nothing. Low lexical difficulty but high doctrinal weight; note the ironic double sense of the δωρεά root.
Nature By Birth
Approved rendering: 生来
Transliteration: shēnglái
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 本来 (reserved for the essential-nature sense at 4:8; must not be conflated)
Original: φύσις
Category: Justification
NEW term (sense A of φύσις). Galatians 2:15 — one’s inherent birth-condition/ethnic status (Jewish birth), conceded as spiritually irrelevant to justification. Must not be flattened into the same rendering used for φύσις’s essential-nature sense (see nature_essential below); select the contextually appropriate rendering at each occurrence.
Nature Essential
Approved rendering: 本来
Transliteration: běnlái
Doctrine: Law and Grace
Rejected alternatives: 生来 (reserved for the birth-status sense at 2:15; must not be conflated)
Original: φύσις
Category: Law
NEW term (sense B of φύσις). Galatians 4:8 — the essential, inherent character of a thing, used of false gods that ‘by nature are not gods.’ Distinct from the birth-status sense (see nature_by_birth above); do not conflate.
Peace Fruit
Approved rendering: 和平
Transliteration: hépíng
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: 平安 (reserved for the baseline sense of relational peace with God, e.g. 1:3, 6:16; must not be conflated)
Original: εἰρήνη (as fruit)
Category: Fruit of the Spirit
NEW term (εἰρήνη as fruit). Galatians 5:22 — interpersonal/communal peace among believers produced by the Spirit, distinct rendering from the baseline’s 平安. Do not conflate the two Mandarin terms.
Kindness
Approved rendering: 恩慈
Transliteration: ēncí
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Original: χρηστότης
Category: Fruit of the Spirit
NEW term. Galatians 5:22. Shares the root 恩 with 恩典 (grace); reinforce as Spirit-produced, not an innate temperament.
Self Control
Approved rendering: 节制
Transliteration: jiézhì
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Rejected alternatives: 修炼 (Daoist/Buddhist/qigong ascetic self-discipline achieved through technique)
Original: ἐγκράτεια
Category: Fruit of the Spirit
NEW term. Galatians 5:23. Distinguish from Daoist/Buddhist ascetic self-discipline achieved by technique — this is Spirit-enabled, not self-generated.
Low Risk Terms
Apostle
Approved rendering: 使徒
Transliteration: shǐtú
Doctrine: Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: 宗师, 大师
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Apostleship
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged (term-level risk remains Low). Galatians occurrences: 1:1,17,19; 2:8. NOTE: although the TERM itself carries the same Low lexical risk as in Romans, the DOCTRINE ‘Paul’s Apostleship’ is elevated to High risk in the Galatians doctrine_risk_registry because his apostleship is under direct challenge in this letter (unlike Romans, where it is simply asserted); Mandarin phrasing at 1:1,11-24 must preserve the direct divine-vs-human-mediated contrast (‘not from men nor through man’) and avoid any resonance with a human teacher-lineage/discipleship-transmission model (宗师/大师).
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: 感恩
Transliteration: gǎn’ēn
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία (implied doxology)
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Implied in Galatians’ opening doxology (1:5, ‘to whom be glory forever’). Low risk.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: 团契
Transliteration: tuánqì
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: 交情, 结拜
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Galatians occurrence: 2:9, the ‘right hand of fellowship’ extended by the Jerusalem pillars to Paul and Barnabas — a formal act of ecclesial recognition, not merely social camaraderie. Avoid 结拜 (ritualized sworn-brotherhood pact).
Transgression
Approved rendering: 过犯
Transliteration: guòfàn
Doctrine: The Law’s Purpose
Original: παράβασις
Category: Law
NEW term. Galatians 3:19, ‘the law was added because of transgressions.’ Standard, low collision risk.
Transgressor
Approved rendering: 犯法的人
Transliteration: fànfǎ de rén
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: 罪人 (blurs the specific boundary-violation logic of this verse with the broader moral-sinner category used elsewhere in the passage)
Original: παραβάτης
Category: Justification
NEW term. Galatians 2:18 (παραβάτης) — a consistency argument about re-establishing a legal boundary, not a general statement about lawbreaking.
Joy
Approved rendering: 喜乐
Transliteration: xǐlè
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Original: χαρά
Category: Fruit of the Spirit
NEW term. Galatians 5:22. Standard, low risk; joy grounded in God, not circumstantial happiness.
Patience
Approved rendering: 忍耐
Transliteration: rěnnài
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Original: μακροθυμία
Category: Fruit of the Spirit
NEW term. Galatians 5:22. Standard, low risk.
Goodness
Approved rendering: 良善
Transliteration: liángshàn
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Original: ἀγαθωσύνη
Category: Fruit of the Spirit
NEW term. Galatians 5:22. Standard, low risk.
Gentleness
Approved rendering: 温柔
Transliteration: wēnróu
Doctrine: Fruit of the Spirit
Original: πραΰτης
Category: Fruit of the Spirit
NEW term. Galatians 5:23; also 6:1 (‘restore him in a spirit of gentleness’). Standard, low risk.
Zeal
Approved rendering: 热心
Transliteration: rèxīn
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Original: ζῆλος
Category: Apostleship
NEW term. Galatians 1:14 (Paul’s former zeal for Jewish tradition); 4:17-18 (the false teachers’ misdirected zeal). Standard, low risk.
Marks Of Jesus
Approved rendering: 印记
Transliteration: yìnjì
Doctrine: Paul’s Apostleship
Rejected alternatives: 文身 / 护身符印记 (tattoo/talisman practice)
Original: στίγματα
Category: Apostleship
NEW term. Galatians 6:17 (στίγματα) — physical scars from persecution borne by Paul, evidence of authentic apostolic suffering. Ownership/devotion brand-marks, not to be confused with tattoo/talisman practices in folk-religious contexts.
Referenced passages