Semantic Analysis

07 Semantic Analysis — Gospel of John (Koine Greek → Mandarin Chinese)

Methodology

This analysis proceeds in two parts, per the PRD Phase 1 Step 1 mandate:

Core Passage (John 3:1–21), verse-by-verse. Every load-bearing term is analyzed with: original Greek word, transliteration, literal meaning, semantic range, English translation variants, contextual theological meaning within the passage, and the specific Mandarin destination-language rendering risk.
Chapter-by-chapter study of the whole book (John 1–21). Each chapter receives a section covering its load-bearing theological terms with the same analytical fields. Where a chapter introduces no new theological vocabulary beyond terms already treated, this is stated explicitly, and the chapter’s theological content is still summarized.

Baseline reuse rule: Any term already recorded in the Romans translation_memory.json baseline (e.g., 神, 耶稣, 圣灵, 主, 神的儿子, 恩典, 信心, 义, 救恩, 荣耀, 复活, 律法, 罪, 以色列, 大卫, 神的国, 基督, 先知, 约, 拣选, 父, 阿爸, 道成肉身) is reused exactly as recorded, with no re-derivation. Where John’s usage adds a new theological nuance to a baseline term, that nuance is flagged as a note rather than a new rendering.

Script/register: Simplified Chinese, CUV (和合本, Shen edition 神版) register, per baseline.

PART A — Core Passage: John 3:1–21 (Verse-by-Verse)

John 3:1

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
Νικόδημος	Nikódēmos	”victor of the people” (νίκη + δῆμος)	Proper name	Nicodemus	A named individual (contrast with the unnamed Samaritan woman in ch. 4); a real historical encounter, not a parable-character.	尼哥德慕 (Nígédémù)	Low — established CUV transliteration.
Φαρισαῖος	Pharisaios	”separated one” (from Aramaic/Hebrew root)	Member of a Second Temple Jewish sect emphasizing Torah + oral tradition	Pharisee	Represents the religious-legal establishment; sets up the contrast between law-keeping status and the need for the New Birth.	法利赛人 (Fǎlìsàirén)	Medium — readers may unconsciously map this role onto a Confucian scholar-official (士大夫) framework of moral cultivation through learning; teaching must clarify Pharisaic identity as a distinct Second Temple Jewish category, not an analog to Confucian gentry.
ἄρχων (τῶν Ἰουδαίων)	archōn (tōn Ioudaiōn)	“ruler, official, council-member”	Member of the ruling council (Sanhedrin)	ruler, leader, official	Nicodemus holds recognized religious-political authority yet still lacks spiritual insight — status does not confer regeneration.	官 / 犹太人的官	Low-Medium — needs a gloss so “官” is not read as a modern secular bureaucratic office.

John 3:2

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
νυκτός	nyktos	”of night, by night”	Literal time-of-day; symbolic use elsewhere in John (13:30)	“by night,” “at night”	Nicodemus comes under cover of darkness, foreshadowing the light/darkness antithesis in vv. 19–21.	夜里 (yèlǐ)	Low, but flag for teaching: the literary symbolism (coming to the Light while still “in the night”) is not self-evident from 夜里 alone and needs a teaching note.
ῥαββί	rhabbi	”my great one / my teacher” (honorific)	Honorific address for a Jewish teacher of the Law	Rabbi, Teacher	Nicodemus’s address is respectful but Christologically inadequate — a merely human-teacher category applied to the divine Son.	拉比 (lābǐ), CUV gloss 夫子	High — 夫子 carries strong Confucian resonance (孔夫子, “Master Kong”); using it risks framing Jesus as a Confucian-style sage-teacher. Recommend retaining 拉比 as transliteration with an explanatory note, avoiding 夫子 as the primary gloss.
σημεῖα	sēmeia	”signs, marks, tokens”	Johannine technical term for miracles that reveal Christ’s identity/glory (distinct from Synoptic δύναμις)	signs, miraculous signs	John’s signs point beyond the act itself to Jesus’s identity and call for belief (cf. 20:30–31).	神迹 (shénjī)	High — 神迹 risks assimilation into the folk-religious category of 灵验 (“efficacious response” to prayer at a temple), where miracles are generic evidence of any deity’s power. Must be taught as revelatory, identity-disclosing signs unique to the incarnate Son, not generic supernatural proof.
διδάσκαλος	didaskalos	”teacher, instructor”	One who instructs, esp. in religious/moral matters	teacher	Parallel, true-but-incomplete title (cf. Rabbi note above).	教师	Medium — prefer 教师 over 夫子 for the same Confucian-collision reason above.

John 3:3

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι	amēn amēn legō soi	”amen, amen, I say to you”	Solemn double-affirmation formula, unique Johannine style marker (25 occurrences)	“Truly, truly, I say to you”; “I tell you the truth”	Marks a statement carrying unimpeachable, self-authenticating divine authority — exceeding any ordinary rabbi’s teaching authority.	我实实在在地告诉你	Low, but consistency-critical: must render identically at all 25 Johannine occurrences (cf. baseline’s cross-document consistency rule for Rom 1:16–17, 8:28, 10:9–10).
γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν	gennēthē anōthen	”be begotten/born” + “from above / again / from the first”	(1) a second, spiritual birth; (2) birth originating from heaven/God, not human agency — a deliberate Greek double entendre lost on Nicodemus, who hears only the temporal sense	”born again,” “born anew,” “born from above”	THE hinge term of the passage and of the doctrine of the New Birth: regeneration by the Spirit as the absolute precondition for seeing/entering the kingdom of God.	重生 (chóngshēng); CUV margin: 从上头生	CRITICAL — 重生 is common secular Mandarin for any dramatic life-turnaround (“经历重生” after surviving illness/disaster) and must be explicitly taught as a Spirit-wrought, God-originated re-creation, not a self-motivated turning-over-a-new-leaf, and never conflated with Buddhist 轮回 (reincarnation into a new body across lives — already forbidden under baseline “resurrection”). Because 重生 alone loses ἄνωθεν’s spatial “from above” sense, teaching material must supply 从神而生 (cf. John 1:13) to keep the divine-origin nuance visible.
βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ	basileia tou Theou	”kingdom of God”	Reuse — baseline term	kingdom of God	God’s sovereign reign, entered only through the New Birth.	神的国 (baseline reuse)	Medium, per baseline: avoid 天下, 王朝.

John 3:4

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
γέρων	gerōn	”old man”	Literal age descriptor	old, elderly	Nicodemus’s literalistic misunderstanding sets up Jesus’s clarification in v. 5–8.	老了/年老的人	Low.
κοιλία	koilia	”belly, womb”	Literal anatomical term	womb	Underscores that Nicodemus hears ἄνωθεν only as “a second time,” missing “from above.”	母腹 (mǔfù)	Low.

John 3:5

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος	ex hydatos kai pneumatos	”of water and spirit/Spirit”	Debated referent: physical birth-water + spiritual birth; baptismal water + Holy Spirit; or Ezekiel 36:25–27 cleansing-water + new-spirit background	”water and the Spirit”	The Spirit is the effective, God-given agent of the New Birth; water evokes covenant-cleansing/baptismal imagery.	水和圣灵	High — Chinese folk religion uses ritual “talisman water” (符水, blessed by a Daoist priest, drunk or sprinkled for healing/exorcism) as a magical cleansing technique. Must clarify: this birth is God’s sovereign act received by faith, not a ritual technique performed to obtain spiritual benefit.

John 3:6

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
σάρξ	sarx	”flesh, meat”	(1) physical body/human nature generally; (2) — dominant sense here — fallen, merely-human-originated existence, contrasted with Spirit	flesh, human nature	What originates from merely human/biological generation remains confined to the human sphere and cannot itself produce spiritual life.	肉身 / 肉体	Medium — same Mandarin root (肉身) is used positively in the established baseline term 道成肉身 (“the Word became flesh,” Christ’s real human nature). Here the sense is negative/limited (merely-human origin). Requires a translator’s note distinguishing the two valences on each occurrence.
πνεῦμα	pneuma	”spirit, breath, wind”	Here: the regenerated human spirit produced by the Spirit’s begetting act; interwoven with the Holy Spirit’s agency	spirit	What is born of the Spirit shares in the Spirit’s own quality of life.	灵 (human spirit) vs. 圣灵 (Holy Spirit)	High — per baseline, 灵 alone risks folk-spirit-world associations (祖灵 ancestral spirits, 鬼魂 ghosts). Must gloss carefully: the “spirit” born here is a Spirit-produced reality tied to God, not an autonomous folk soul-spirit.

John 3:7

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Theological Meaning	Mandarin	Risk
θαυμάζω	thaumazō	”to wonder, marvel”	Astonishment	marvel, be amazed	Nicodemus’s continued incomprehension.	惊讶 (jīngyà)	Low.

John 3:8

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου θέλει πνεῖ	to pneuma hopou thelei pnei	”the wind/Spirit blows where it wishes”	Deliberate Greek wordplay: πνεῦμα means both “wind” and “Spirit” (as Hebrew רוּח/ruach does), so the same word governs both clauses of the analogy	”the wind blows where it wishes… so is everyone born of the Spirit”	The Spirit’s regenerating work is sovereign, invisible in its source, evidenced only by effect — the central image for the doctrine of the New Birth as a divine, not humanly controlled, act.	风 (wind) / 圣灵 (Spirit)	CRITICAL translation loss — Mandarin has no single lexeme spanning both “wind” (风, fēng) and “Spirit” (圣灵/灵, líng), so the Greek/Hebrew pun cannot be reproduced. CUV bridges the two clauses by simile rather than shared vocabulary (“风随着意思吹…圣灵生的也是如此”). A teaching/translator’s note explaining the original wordplay is mandatory, or the rhetorical force of “sovereign and untraceable” is significantly weakened for Mandarin readers.

John 3:9–10

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Theological Meaning	Mandarin	Risk
πῶς δύναται ταῦτα γενέσθαι	pōs dynatai tauta genesthai	”how can these things be?”	Rhetorical incomprehension	”How can this be?”	Marks the limit of unaided human/religious reasoning before divine revelation.	怎能有这事呢	Low.
διδάσκαλος τοῦ Ἰσραήλ	didaskalos tou Israēl	”teacher of Israel”	Recognized religious-credential title	”the teacher of Israel”	Irony: a recognized religious authority (cf. Confucian-credential collision noted at v.2) fails to grasp elementary spiritual truth — religious/scholarly credentialing does not equal spiritual understanding.	以色列人的先生	Medium — cultural note: avoid letting readers map this onto Chinese scholarly-attainment credentialing (功名/学位) as if greater learning automatically yields spiritual insight.

John 3:11

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Theological Meaning	Mandarin	Risk
μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία	martyreō / martyria	”to bear witness / testimony”	Legal/eyewitness testimony language, repurposed throughout John for divine revelation-testimony	testify, bear witness, testimony	Jesus testifies from his own heavenly, pre-existent vantage point (ties to Deity/Pre-existence of Christ).	见证 / 作证	Medium — well-established in Mandarin Christian usage (also “见证分享,” personal testimony-sharing); low collision risk, but keep the legal-eyewitness weight rather than reducing it to a subjective personal-experience report.

John 3:12

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Theological Meaning	Mandarin	Risk
ἐπίγεια / τὰ ἐπουράνια	epigeia / ta epourania	”earthly things” / “heavenly things”	Contrast between accessible, this-worldly illustrations and higher heavenly/eschatological realities	earthly things / heavenly things	Jesus alone has direct access to and knowledge of heavenly realities.	地上的事 / 天上的事	Low-Medium — avoid conflating with the impersonal folk-cosmological pairing “天地” (heaven-and-earth as impersonal cosmic totality); retain the personal, revelatory sense.

John 3:13

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ἀναβέβηκεν / καταβάς	anabebēken / katabas	”has ascended” / “having descended”	Movement between heaven and earth	ascended / descended	Asserts the Son’s unique pre-existence and heavenly origin — direct, first-hand access to heavenly realities because he came from there.	升到天上 / 从天降下	High — must be taught as literal pre-existent divine origin taking on flesh (cf. 道成肉身), not a mystical ascent achieved through spiritual cultivation, as in the Daoist immortal’s ascension (升天) after attaining the Dao, or a shaman’s spirit-journey. The Son’s descent/ascent is unique and unrepeatable, not a technique.
ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου	ho huios tou anthrōpou	”the son of the man”	Danielic/apocalyptic title (Dan 7:13–14) for the figure given everlasting dominion by God; Jesus’s preferred self-designation, combining true humanity with exalted divine authority	Son of Man	Links Jesus’s incarnate humanity with his heavenly, judging, glorified authority (recurs centrally in chs. 5, 12).	人子 (rénzǐ)	Medium — 人子 has no pre-existing Chinese religious resonance (a collision-risk advantage), but is therefore also opaque without explicit teaching of the Daniel 7 background.

John 3:14

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ὄφις	ophis	”serpent”	Literal; typological reference to Numbers 21:4–9	serpent	The bronze serpent that healed those who looked upon it typifies the crucified Son who gives life to those who believe.	蛇	Low.
ὑψόω (ὕψωσεν)	hypsoō	”to lift up, raise; to exalt/glorify”	Deliberate Johannine double meaning: literal physical elevation (on the cross) fused with honorific exaltation/glorification (recurs 8:28; 12:32,34)	lifted up, exalted	Fuses the crucifixion and the glorification/exaltation of Christ into a single theological event — directly links Christ’s Substitutionary Death to the New Birth/Eternal Life doctrine via typology.	举起来 / 被举起来	High — must NOT be rendered or taught with a term implying triumphant ascension apart from suffering (avoid 升天, which carries Daoist immortal-ascension connotations and would erase the cross’s shame). The paradox — simultaneous humiliation and glorification — must be preserved, not resolved toward only the triumphant sense.

John 3:15

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
πιστεύων (πιστεύω)	pisteuōn (pisteuō)	“believing” (to believe, trust, have confidence in)	Intellectual assent + personal trust/reliance; when governing εἰς/ἐν + person, denotes trust placed specifically in that person	believe, trust, have faith in	Verb form of the baseline’s Faith doctrine — saving faith is trust specifically directed at the Son, not generic religious belief.	信 (xìn)	High, matching baseline “faith” risk — 信 alone can mean mere cognitive assent (“I believe that…”) in everyday Mandarin; the personal object must always be explicit (“信他,” “信入基督”).
ζωὴν αἰώνιον	zōēn aiōnion	”life” (ζωή, the God-given/spiritual quality of life, distinct from βίος “livelihood” or ψυχή “life-force”) + “eternal/age-abiding” (αἰώνιος)	Not merely unending duration but a qualitatively new life — the life of the age to come, entered now by faith	eternal life, everlasting life	Central Johannine soteriological category (cf. 3:16, 3:36, 5:24, 6:47, 10:28, 17:3): eternal life = knowing God/the Son, received now by faith.	永生 (yǒngshēng)	CRITICAL — risks collision with the Daoist pursuit of physical immortality (长生不老 “long life without aging”; alchemical/cultivation traditions aimed at becoming an immortal 仙人/神仙). Must be taught explicitly as present, relational, qualitative life with God through faith in Christ — not an extension of biological existence achieved by technique, elixir, or self-cultivation, and also distinct from Buddhist non-annihilationist aspirations.

John 3:16

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ἠγάπησεν (ἀγαπάω)	ēgapēsen (agapaō)	“loved”	Elevated, willing, self-giving, initiating love, not elicited by the object’s worthiness (though the ἀγαπάω/φιλέω distinction is narrower than older scholarship assumed — see ch. 21)	love	Grounds God’s Love for the World doctrine — the sending of the Son flows from God’s own prior, unmerited love.	爱 (ài)	Medium — 爱 is broad and everyday (romantic, familial, patriotic); teaching must specify this is agapē — self-giving, initiating divine love, tying it back to baseline 恩典 (grace) as its unmerited counterpart.
τὸν κόσμον (κόσμος)	ton kosmon (kosmos)	“order, arrangement” (root sense); extended to “world, humanity, created/fallen order”	(1) the created universe; (2) humanity/human society generally — the sense here; (3) — frequent elsewhere in John, e.g. 15:18–19 — the world in hostile rebellion against God	world, humanity, mankind	God’s Love for the World doctrine: the scope of God’s saving love is the whole (fallen) world of humanity, not a narrow ethnic or religious in-group; note the deliberate tension with sense (3) elsewhere.	世人 (shìrén, CUV “神爱世人”) / 世界 (shìjiè)	High — must retain the universal, no-distinction scope (parallel to baseline’s universal_scope_of_gospel doctrine, High risk in Romans). The same Mandarin word must carry both the positive sense (object of God’s love, here) and the negative sense (God-opposing order, elsewhere, e.g. 15:18) — requires contextual glossing at each occurrence.
μονογενής (υἱός)	monogenēs (huios)	Literally from μόνος “only” + γένος “kind/offspring” — modern lexicography (e.g. BDAG) favors “one-of-a-kind, unique,” NOT etymologically from γεννάω “beget”	Unique, one-of-a-kind, one-and-only (used of an only child in Luke 7:12; 8:42; 9:38; here of the Son’s unique relation to the Father)	only begotten, one and only, unique	Asserts Christ’s unique, exclusive divine Sonship — no other being shares his relation to the Father (Deity/Pre-existence of Christ; Unity of Father and Son).	独生子 (dúshēngzǐ)	CRITICAL — contemporary Mandarin 独生子/独生子女 (dúshēngzǐnǚ, “only child”) is overwhelmingly associated with China’s decades-long one-child policy (1979–2015) and its social phenomena (小皇帝 “little emperor,” family-planning discourse). Younger urban readers, many of whom grew up as only children under that policy, may reflexively hear a demographic-social term rather than a Christological claim about Christ’s unique, eternal, unrepeatable Sonship. Mandatory translator’s note at every occurrence (also affects John 1:14, 1:18, 3:18) distinguishing the theological sense from the social-policy category.
ἀπόληται (ἀπόλλυμι)	apolētai (apollymi)	“to destroy utterly, lose, perish”	Ruin, destruction, being lost — the negative pole paired with “having eternal life”	perish, be destroyed, be lost	The negative outcome of unbelief in the Judgment/Belief doctrine — not mere cessation of existence but a state of ruin under judgment.	灭亡 (mièwáng)	Medium — 灭亡 can be read in a purely this-worldly/political sense (a dynasty’s “灭亡,” extinction/collapse); must clarify this is a personal, eternal, spiritual state contingent on belief/unbelief, and is not equivalent to a Buddhist annihilationist misreading of 无我/涅槃 either.

John 3:17

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ἀπέστειλεν (ἀποστέλλω)	apesteilen (apostellō)	“sent out with authority/purpose” (root of “apostle”)	Commissioned sending	sent, sent forth	Frames the Son’s mission as sent by the Father — reinforces the Father-Son sending relationship central to Johannine Christology and the Unity of the Father and Son doctrine.	差 (chā)	Medium — distinct from but etymologically related to baseline 使徒 (apostle, “one sent”); teaching should connect the two so the sending-pattern (Father→Son→apostles→church) is visible.
κρίνῃ (κρίνω)	krinē (krinō)	“to judge, decide; to condemn” (forensic)	Ranges from neutral “evaluate” to negative “condemn” — negative sense here	judge, condemn	Introduces the key term of the Judgment and Belief/Unbelief doctrine: the Son’s first coming is not primarily to condemn, though rejection of him results in an already-implicit judgment (v. 18).	审判 / 定罪	High — Chinese folk religion has an elaborate postmortem judgment apparatus (十殿阎罗, the Ten Courts of the Kings of Hell; 阎王 Yánwáng as judge of the dead weighing deeds against a karmic ledger). Must clearly distinguish God’s judgment (present, personal, relational, executed by the Father through the Son, cf. 5:22–27, contingent on response to the Son) from this bureaucratic underworld-tribunal picture, and from impersonal 报应 (karmic retribution, already flagged under baseline “sin”).
σωθῇ (σῴζω)	sōthē (sōzō)	“to save, rescue, deliver, heal”	Verb form of baseline σωτηρία/救恩	be saved	Reuse of the baseline Salvation doctrine’s verb form.	得救 (dé jiù)	Critical, per baseline salvation notes — NEVER 解脱 or 超度.

John 3:18

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
κρίνεται / κέκριται (κρίνω)	krinetai / kekritai	”is judged” / “has already been judged”	Present vs. perfect tense — a settled, already-in-effect state	is not judged / stands already judged	Belief/unbelief in the Son is itself the decisive, present criterion of judgment status — no future waiting period.	审判 (same term as v. 17)	High — same κρίνω risk as v. 17; emphasize the present, already-in-effect nature (a status now held), which is easily lost if readers default to a future/postmortem-only judgment framework.
τὸ ὄνομα (τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ τοῦ Θεοῦ)	to onoma	”name”	Extends to “person, identity, authority represented by the name” (common ANE/biblical usage)	the name	”Believing in the name” = trusting the person of the Son himself.	名 / 名字	Medium — in Chinese folk-religious and ancestor-veneration ritual, invoking a deity’s or ancestor’s name correctly can carry a quasi-magical, incantational efficacy (cf. Daoist talismans). Must clarify: this is trust in the person, not ritual efficacy attached to correct verbal invocation.

John 3:19

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
κρίσις	krisis	”judgment, verdict” (noun form of κρίνω)	See κρίνω note above	judgment, verdict	Same as κρίνω note (v.17-18).	审判	High — same note.
φῶς	phōs	”light”	Physical light; central Johannine theological symbol for divine revelation, truth, and Christ’s own person (cf. 1:4-9; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36)	light	Christ’s coming is the in-breaking of divine light that exposes/judges human moral orientation.	光 / 光明	Medium-High — must be distinguished from Daoist yin-yang cosmology (阴阳), where light/dark are complementary, impersonal, morally-neutral cosmic principles in dynamic balance, not a moral-spiritual antithesis rooted in a personal God’s self-revelation.
σκότος	skotos	”darkness”	Parallel theological symbol for moral/spiritual opposition to God	darkness	Same antithesis as φῶς.	黑暗	Same yin-yang risk note as φῶς.
ἠγάπησαν (ἀγαπάω)	ēgapēsan	”loved”	Same lexeme as v.16, applied ironically to humanity’s love of darkness	loved	Deliberate ironic contrast with God’s love for the world in v. 16 — worth flagging for teaching.	爱	Medium — flag the deliberate irony for teachers.
τὰ ἔργα … πονηρά	ta erga … ponēra	”their works [were] evil”	ἔργον = “work, deed” (visible fruit revealing inward condition, cf. ch. 5, 9); πονηρός = “evil, morally corrupt”	evil deeds/works	Visible deeds reveal inward spiritual orientation.	恶 / 邪恶	Low-Medium — standard moral vocabulary.

John 3:20

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
φαῦλα πράσσων	phaula prassōn	”practicing worthless/base things”	Milder synonym of πονηρός, paired for rhetorical intensity	practicing evil	Sin produces self-protective aversion to exposure by the light.	作恶的	Low.
μισεῖ (μισέω)	misei (miseō)	“hates”	Strong aversion	hate	Moral avoidance, not mere intellectual doubt, is the root of unbelief.	恨 (hèn)	Low.
ἐλεγχθῇ (ἐλέγχω)	elenchthē (elenchō)	“to expose, convict, reprove, bring to light”	Strong forensic/moral term	be exposed, be convicted, be reproved	Sinners avoid the light to avoid having their deeds exposed for what they are.	显露 / 责备	Low-Medium — ensure the “expose” sense (not merely “criticize”) is retained.

John 3:21

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ποιῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν	poiōn tēn alētheian	”doing/practicing the truth”	Hebraic idiom (cf. 1 John 1:6) = living in covenant faithfulness/integrity, acting in accordance with God’s revealed reality	practicing the truth, living truthfully	Authentic faith-response is displayed through a life of integrity that welcomes rather than avoids divine exposure.	行真理的	Medium — see ἀλήθεια note below; keep the moral-relational (not merely propositional) sense of “doing.”
ἀλήθεια	alētheia	”truth, reality” (etym.: “un-hiddenness,” ἀ- + λήθη “forgetting/oblivion”)	Not merely factual accuracy but ultimate divine reality revealed in and embodied by Christ (14:6)	truth, reality	The personal, revealed, moral-relational reality centered in Christ, to which an authentic life corresponds.	真理 (zhēnlǐ)	Medium — must be distinguished from Buddhist 真如 (zhēnrú, “suchness/ultimate reality” attained through enlightenment) and from a popular relativistic “your truth/my truth” usage. Johannine ἀλήθεια is personal and revealed, not an impersonal metaphysical absolute realized through meditation.
φανερωθῇ (φανερόω)	phanerōthē (phaneroō)	“to make visible, manifest, reveal what was hidden”	Disclosure of what was concealed	be manifested, be revealed	Good works are shown to their true source.	显明	Low.
ἐν Θεῷ … εἰργασμένα (ἐργάζομαι)	en Theō … eirgasmena (ergazomai)	“wrought/accomplished in God”	Deeds done in dependence on/union with God	”done in God,” “wrought in God”	Good works of the believer are done in dependence on God, not self-generated moral achievement — subtly reinforces the Grace-vs-merit distinction (baseline Critical doctrine) even in this passage’s practical ethics.	靠着神所行的	Medium — reinforce (do not let it slip into) the same grace/merit distinction flagged Critical under baseline 恩典; good works here are not merit accumulated (功德) but Spirit-enabled fruit.

PART B — Chapter-by-Chapter Study, John 1–21

(The core passage, John 3:1–21, is fully treated above in Part A. The Chapter 3 section below covers only the remainder of the chapter, 3:22–36.)

Chapter 1 — Prologue; John the Baptist; the First Disciples

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
λόγος	logos	”word, speech, reason, account”	Divine self-expression; the eternal, personal agent of creation and revelation, pre-existent with God and himself God (1:1-3)	the Word	Foundational text for the Deity and Pre-existence of Christ doctrine — Christ as the eternal Logos, not a created being.	道 (dào)	CRITICAL — 道 is also the central term of Daoist metaphysics (the impersonal cosmic principle/Way of the Dao De Jing). Reuses the same character already flagged Critical in baseline’s 道成肉身 (incarnation). Every occurrence must clarify: this is the personal, eternal, self-existent divine Word, not an impersonal cosmic principle.
ζωή	zōē	”life”	God’s own life, in contrast to mere biological existence (βίος)	life	”In him was life” (1:4) — establishes Christ as the source of life fulfilled fully in ζωὴν αἰώνιον (see 3:15).	生命 (shēngmìng)	Medium — establishes the term-family for 永生 (eternal life) developed in ch. 3 and throughout.
φῶς / σκοτία	phōs / skotia	”light” / “darkness”	See ch. 3 notes	light / darkness	”The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (1:5) — introduces the theological antithesis developed at 3:19-21.	光 / 黑暗	Same yin-yang collision risk as noted in 3:19 — High.
μαρτυρέω	martyreō	”to bear witness”	See ch. 3 note	testify, bear witness	John the Baptist’s role is entirely defined as witness-bearing to the Light, not as a light-source himself (1:6-8).	见证	Medium, see 3:11 note.
κόσμος	kosmos	”world”	See ch. 3 note	world	”He came into the world… the world did not know him” — establishes the world’s culpable rejection even as it will later be the object of God’s love (3:16).	世界	High, see 3:16 note — same dual valence.
λαμβάνω / παραλαμβάνω	lambanō / paralambanō	”to receive, accept”	Personal reception/acceptance	receive, accept	”As many as received him” — receiving Christ personally is the condition for becoming a child of God.	接待 / 接受	Low-Medium.
τέκνα Θεοῦ	tekna Theou	”children of God”	Familial status granted, not by natural birth but by God’s own act	children of God	1:12-13 anticipates the New Birth doctrine of ch. 3: “born… of God” (ἐκ Θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν).	神的儿女 (Shén de érnǚ)	High — connects directly to baseline’s Adoption doctrine (儿子的名分); teaching must link 1:12-13 forward to 3:3-8 as the same New Birth reality.
σάρξ	sarx	”flesh”	Here: full, real human nature assumed by the eternal Word — positive sense	flesh	”The Word became flesh” (1:14) — establishes the baseline’s Critical Incarnation doctrine.	肉身 (per 道成肉身)	Critical, per baseline — same term as ch. 3:6 but here in the positive sense (Christ’s real humanity); note the contrast each time.
σκηνόω	skēnoō	”to tabernacle, dwell, pitch one’s tent”	Echoes the OT tabernacle, God’s dwelling among his people	dwelt, tabernacled, made his home	The incarnate Word takes up permanent, personal residence among humanity — not a temporary theophany.	住 (per CUV “住在我们中间”)	Medium — avoid any suggestion of a temporary, repeatable visitation (cf. incarnation note on 化身/下凡 in baseline).
δόξα	doxa	”glory”	Reuse — baseline term	glory	”We have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father” (1:14) — the incarnate Word’s glory is visible, not hidden.	荣耀 (baseline reuse)	Medium, per baseline.
μονογενής	monogenēs	”only, one-of-a-kind”	See 3:16 note	only Son, one and only	First Johannine occurrence of the term at the heart of the Deity/Pre-existence doctrine.	独生子	CRITICAL, see 3:16 note — one-child-policy collision.
χάρις	charis	”grace”	Reuse — baseline term	grace	”Grace upon grace” (1:16) — the fullness of unmerited favor mediated through Christ, contrasted with the Law given through Moses (1:17).	恩典 (baseline reuse)	Critical, per baseline.
νόμος (via Μωϋσῆς)	nomos	”law”	Reuse — baseline term	law	”The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (1:17) — sets up a law/grace contrast central to John and Romans alike.	律法 (baseline reuse)	High, per baseline.
ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ	amnos tou Theou	”Lamb of God”	Sacrificial imagery, evoking Passover lamb and Isaiah 53	Lamb of God	Introduces Christ’s Substitutionary Death doctrine at the very start of his public ministry (1:29, 1:36).	神的羔羊 (Shén de gāoyáng)	High — must be distinguished from generic sacrificial-animal imagery in Chinese folk religion (animal offerings to appease gods/ancestors); this Lamb’s death is a unique, once-for-all, substitutionary atonement, not a repeated propitiatory offering.
βαπτίζω	baptizō	”to baptize, immerse”	Ritual washing with theological significance	baptize	John’s water baptism anticipates and is surpassed by Spirit-baptism (1:33) — reuse baseline Holy Spirit term.	施洗 (shīxǐ)	Medium — ensure distinguished from generic ritual purification bathing.
Χριστός / Μεσσίας	Christos / Messias	”Anointed One”	Reuse — baseline term	Christ, Messiah	Andrew’s confession, “We have found the Messiah” (1:41) — the long-awaited Messiah has now arrived (Messianic Promise doctrine).	基督 (baseline reuse)	Critical, per baseline — never conflate with 弥勒 (Maitreya).
υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου	huios tou anthrōpou	”Son of Man”	See 3:13 note	Son of Man	First occurrence (1:51), tied to Jacob’s ladder imagery — heaven opened, angels ascending/descending on the Son of Man.	人子	Medium, see 3:13 note.

Chapter 2 — Wedding at Cana; Cleansing the Temple

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
σημεῖον	sēmeion	”sign”	Reuse — see 3:2 note	sign	”This… the first of his signs… manifested his glory” (2:11) — establishes the sign/glory/belief pattern developed throughout John.	神迹	High, see 3:2 note.
δόξα	doxa	”glory”	Reuse	glory	The signs manifest, rather than create, Christ’s pre-existent glory.	荣耀	Medium, per baseline.
πιστεύω	pisteuō	”believe”	Reuse	believe	”His disciples believed in him” — the intended response to signs.	信	High, see 3:15 note.
πάσχα	pascha	”Passover”	The Jewish feast commemorating the Exodus	Passover	Establishes the Passover setting that will recur at Christ’s crucifixion (ch. 13, 19), linking his death typologically to the Passover lamb.	逾越节 (Yúyuèjié)	Medium — requires OT background explanation (parallel to baseline’s note on davidic_covenant needing OT background).
ζῆλος	zēlos	”zeal”	Passionate devotion/indignation	zeal	”Zeal for your house will consume me” (quoting Psalm 69:9) — Christ’s zeal for his Father’s house.	热心 (rèxīn)	Low.
ναός / ἱερόν	naos / hieron	”temple, sanctuary” / “temple precincts”	The Jerusalem Temple	temple	Jesus cleanses the Temple and, in the same episode, identifies his own body as the true temple (2:19-21) — anticipating his death and resurrection.	殿 (diàn) / 圣殿	Medium — distinguish from baseline’s “church” note (avoid 庙/寺/道观); here it correctly refers to the historical Jerusalem Temple, and Jesus’s body as the new, true temple replacing it — a distinct nuance from ekklēsia (church) discussed under baseline.
ἐγείρω	egeirō	”to raise up”	Physical raising; here of the temple/body	raise up	”Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” — a veiled resurrection prediction (2:19-22), tying Temple imagery to the Resurrection doctrine.	建立起来 / 复活 (in gloss)	High — John explicitly glosses this as referring to Christ’s body and resurrection (2:21-22); ensure 复活 (established baseline resurrection term) is used in any teaching gloss, never 轮回/投胎/还魂.

Chapter 3 — Additional Terms Beyond the Core Passage (John 3:22–36)

(John 3:1–21 is treated exhaustively in Part A above.)

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
βαπτίζω	baptizō	”baptize”	Reuse — ch. 1 note	baptize	Both Jesus’s disciples and John continue baptizing; sets up John’s testimony about decreasing as Christ increases.	施洗	Medium, per ch. 1.
νυμφίος	nymphios	”bridegroom”	Wedding imagery	bridegroom	John identifies Christ as the Bridegroom and himself as merely “the friend of the bridegroom” (3:29) — a model of Christ-centered, self-effacing ministry.	新郎 (xīnláng)	Low.
χαρά	chara	”joy”	Positive emotional/spiritual fullness	joy	John’s joy is made complete by the Bridegroom’s arrival, not diminished by his own decreasing prominence — models the doctrine of Christ-Centered Ministry (developed fully in ch. 15, 17).	喜乐 (xǐlè)	Low.
ἄνωθεν	anōthen	”from above”	Reuse — see 3:3 note	from above	”He who comes from above is above all” (3:31) — reapplies the same term used for the New Birth to Christ’s own heavenly origin, tightly linking regeneration to Christology.	从天上来 (per CUV)	High — reinforce the connection to 3:3’s ἄνωθεν; teaching should make the terminological echo explicit even though Mandarin renders the two occurrences with different surface phrasing (重生/从上头生 in 3:3 vs. 从天上来 in 3:31).
μαρτυρία	martyria	”testimony”	Reuse	testimony	”He who has received his testimony has set his seal that God is true” (3:33).	见证	Medium, per 3:11.
πνεῦμα (οὐ μέτρῳ)	pneuma (ou metrō)	“the Spirit without measure”	Fullness of the Spirit’s presence in Christ	Spirit without measure	Christ possesses the Spirit’s fullness, unlike prophets who received the Spirit in measure.	圣灵 (baseline reuse)	Critical, per baseline.
ὀργὴ τοῦ Θεοῦ	orgē tou Theou	”the wrath of God”	Personal, moral, judicial response to unbelief	wrath of God	”Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (3:36) — binds the Judgment/Belief doctrine to a real, personal divine wrath, not an impersonal cosmic consequence.	神的愤怒 / 神的震怒	High — must be distinguished from impersonal karmic retribution (报应, flagged under baseline “sin”) and from Chinese folk notions of offended-deity anger appeased by ritual (e.g., placating a temple god); God’s wrath here is a personal moral response resolved only through faith in the Son, not appeasable by ritual offering.
ἀπειθέω	apeitheō	”to disobey, refuse to be persuaded”	Willful unbelief/disobedience	disobey, not believe	Parallel and near-synonym to unbelief (πιστεύω negated) — unbelief is itself an act of disobedience.	不信从 / 不顺服	Medium.

Chapter 4 — The Samaritan Woman; Healing the Official’s Son

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ὕδωρ ζῶν	hydōr zōn	”living water”	Flowing/spring water; symbolic of the Spirit’s life-giving presence	living water	Christ offers water that “will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (4:14) — reuse and extension of ζωὴν αἰώνιον from ch. 3.	活水 (huóshuǐ)	Medium — distinguish from Daoist/folk “immortality spring” or magical healing-water motifs; this living water is Christ himself/the Spirit, received by faith, not a location or substance with inherent power.
Σαμαρίτης	Samaritēs	”Samaritan”	An ethnic-religious group considered ritually/ethnically compromised by mainstream Judaism	Samaritan	Christ crosses a deep ethnic-religious boundary to offer eternal life — anticipates the Unity of Jews and Gentiles doctrine (baseline High risk) and the Universal Scope of the Gospel.	撒马利亚人 (Sāmǎlìyǎrén)	Medium — teaching should draw the explicit parallel to baseline’s “no distinction” doctrine; avoid any framing that imports a Hua-Yi-style insider/outsider hierarchy (already flagged Medium under baseline “gentiles”).
προσκυνέω	proskyneō	”to worship, bow down to”	Reverent homage to deity	worship	”True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (4:23-24) — worship is relocated from a fixed sacred site (temple/mountain) to a Spirit-enabled, truth-grounded relationship.	敬拜 (jìngbài)	Medium — distinguish from ritual/site-based folk worship practices (temple incense-offering, ancestral rites at a fixed shrine); true worship here is not tied to sacred geography.
πνεῦμα καὶ ἀλήθεια	pneuma kai alētheia	”spirit and truth”	The Spirit-enabled, truth-grounded mode of worship	”in spirit and truth”	Central to redefining worship away from ethnic/geographic categories (Jerusalem vs. Samaria) toward a Spirit-given, Christ-centered reality.	心灵和诚实 (per CUV) / 灵和真理	High — CUV’s “心灵和诚实” (“heart-spirit and sincerity”) somewhat softens πνεῦμα toward a psychological “heart” sense; teaching should clarify this refers to the (Holy) Spirit’s enablement and Christ’s own truth (cf. 14:6), not merely sincere human feeling.
σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου	sōtēr tou kosmou	”Savior of the world”	Universal salvific title	Savior of the world	The Samaritans’ confession (4:42) universalizes the earlier Jewish-specific messianic hope — reinforces Universal Scope of the Gospel and God’s Love for the World.	世界的救主 (shìjiè de jiùzhǔ)	High — reuses baseline 救 root (救恩); must retain full universal scope, resisting any narrowing toward a single ethnic or national savior-figure.
σημεῖον	sēmeion	”sign”	Reuse	sign	The healing of the official’s son is “the second sign” (4:54).	神迹	High, per 3:2.

Chapter 5 — Healing at Bethesda; the Son’s Authority and Witnesses

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
σάββατον	sabbaton	”Sabbath”	The weekly day of rest commanded in the Law	Sabbath	Healing on the Sabbath provokes conflict, setting up Jesus’s claim to divine authority over the Sabbath itself (5:17-18).	安息日 (ānxírì)	Medium — should be distinguished from a generic “rest day” concept; carries covenantal, creation-rooted theological weight.
ἐργάζομαι / ἔργον	ergazomai / ergon	”to work / a work”	Reuse — see 3:21 note, extended	works	”My Father is working… I am working” (5:17) — Jesus claims to share in the Father’s ongoing creative/sustaining work, a direct claim to deity.	做工 / 工作	High — the claim to “work” alongside the Father on the Sabbath is precisely what provokes the charge of blasphemy (5:18); ensure the theological weight (equality with God) is preserved, not read as mere activity.
ἴσος τῷ Θεῷ	isos tō Theō	”equal to God”	Claim of ontological equality	”equal with God"	"This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him… he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (5:18) — explicit statement of the Deity of Christ doctrine.	与神平等	Critical — must be preserved without softening; this is the text’s own explicit interpretation of Jesus’s Sonship claim, foundational to the Deity of Christ doctrine.
ἀνάστασις ζωῆς / ἀνάστασις κρίσεως	anastasis zōēs / anastasis kriseōs	”resurrection of life” / “resurrection of judgment”	Two distinct eschatological outcomes of the general resurrection	resurrection to life / resurrection of judgment	Extends the baseline Resurrection doctrine (复活) into final judgment categories — resurrection is not uniformly positive; its character depends on one’s response to the Son (5:28-29).	复活得生 / 复活受审判	High — must reuse baseline 复活 exactly, while clarifying resurrection itself divides into two distinct destinies depending on belief/unbelief in the Son (ties to κρίσις/judgment note at 3:17-19).
μαρτυρέω	martyreō	”testify”	Reuse	testify, bear witness	A chain of witnesses to Christ’s identity: John the Baptist, the Father, the works, and the Scriptures (5:31-39) — legal-forensic structure.	见证	Medium, per 3:11.
γραφή	graphē	”writing, Scripture”	The OT Scriptures as authoritative divine testimony	Scripture(s)	“You search the Scriptures… it is they that bear witness about me” (5:39) — ties Fulfillment of Prophecy doctrine to Christ.	经上 / 圣经	High — parallel to baseline’s Inspiration of Scripture doctrine; must be distinguished from the Chinese classical canon (经, jīng, e.g. the Confucian Five Classics), authoritative as sage-wisdom rather than as the verbal, God-breathed testimony of a personal God.

Chapter 6 — Bread of Life Discourse

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς	ho artos tēs zōēs	”the bread of life”	The first of the Seven “I Am” Statements	I am the bread of life	Christ himself, not manna, is the true, sustaining bread that gives eternal life (6:35, 48, 51) — introduces the “I Am” statement series central to this curriculum’s doctrine list.	生命的粮 (shēngmìng de liáng)	High — must be distinguished from Buddhist/folk “offering food to hungry ghosts/ancestors” ritual food-offering traditions; this bread is Christ’s own person received by faith, not ritual sustenance offered to spirits.
σάρξ / αἷμα	sarx / haima	”flesh” / “blood”	Eucharistic-anticipating language: “my flesh is true food, my blood is true drink” (6:53-56)	flesh / blood	Anticipates Christ’s substitutionary death and the Lord’s Supper; a hard teaching that causes many disciples to leave (6:60-66).	肉 / 血	High — must avoid any hint of literal cannibalism (a charge historically leveled against early Christians) or conflation with ancestor-offering blood rituals; teaching must clarify this is symbolic/sacramental language pointing to receiving Christ’s sacrificial death by faith.
μένω	menō	”to abide, remain, dwell”	Continuing, permanent relational union	abide, remain	”Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (6:56) — introduces the “abiding” vocabulary developed fully in ch. 15.	住 (per CUV, 常在)	High — key term for Christian Identity in Christ (baseline doctrine); must be distinguished from Daoist/Buddhist meditative “abiding in stillness” (入定, 常住) attained through technique, since here it is a Spirit-given, faith-based union with a person.
ἑλκύω	helkyō	”to draw, drag”	Sovereign, effectual drawing	draw	”No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (6:44) — ties to Effectual/Divine Calling doctrine (baseline High risk).	吸引 / 拉 (per CUV, “吸引”)	High — must not be read as an impersonal, mechanical force; God’s drawing is personal and gracious, paralleling baseline’s caution against 天命/命运 for “calling.”
γογγύζω	gongyzō	”to murmur, grumble”	Discontented complaint	grumble, murmur	The crowd’s grumbling response echoes Israel’s wilderness grumbling against Moses/manna — reinforces the typological contrast between manna and the true Bread.	私下议论 / 抱怨	Low.
ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ Θεοῦ	ho hagios tou Theou	”the Holy One of God”	Divine title	the Holy One of God	Peter’s confession (6:69) — reuse baseline 圣洁/圣 root, applied Christologically.	神的圣者	Medium — connect to baseline’s “holy” (圣洁) note; here applied as a divine title for Christ specifically, reinforcing Deity of Christ.
παραδίδωμι	paradidōmi	”to hand over, betray”	Judicial/relational betrayal	betray, hand over	First reference to Judas’s coming betrayal (6:64, 71) — sets up the Passion narrative.	卖 / 出卖	Medium.

Chapter 7 — Feast of Tabernacles; Rivers of Living Water

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
σκηνοπηγία	skēnopēgia	”Feast of Tabernacles/Booths”	Jewish pilgrimage festival commemorating the wilderness wandering, with water-drawing and light rituals	Feast of Tabernacles/Booths	The festival’s water-drawing ceremony provides the immediate backdrop for Jesus’s “rivers of living water” declaration.	住棚节 (Zhùpéngjié)	Low-Medium — requires brief festival-background explanation for readers without OT literacy (per baseline’s general low-OT-literacy assumption).
ποταμοὶ ὕδατος ζῶντος	potamoi hydatos zōntos	”rivers of living water”	Extension of ch. 4’s living-water imagery to the Holy Spirit specifically	rivers of living water	”This he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive” (7:39) — explicitly identifies the living water with the (not-yet-given) Holy Spirit.	活水的江河	High — reuse 活水 from ch. 4; must retain the explicit identification with the Holy Spirit (baseline Critical term 圣灵), not a generic spiritual-vitality metaphor.
κρίνω	krinō	”judge”	Reuse	judge	”Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment” (7:24) — a secondary, more everyday use of κρίνω distinct from the eschatological sense in ch. 3, 5.	论断 / 审判	Medium — note the different, non-eschatological sense here (fair discernment) vs. the Critical/High divine-judgment sense elsewhere; avoid conflating the two senses in teaching.

Chapter 8 — Light of the World; Truth and Freedom; Before Abraham

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου	to phōs tou kosmou	”the light of the world”	Second “I Am” statement	I am the light of the world	Reuse of φῶς (ch. 1, 3) as a direct self-identification — Christ himself is the light that exposes darkness and gives guidance/life.	世界的光	High, per light/darkness note in ch. 3, 1.
ἀλήθεια / ἐλευθερόω	alētheia / eleutheroō	”truth” / “to set free, liberate”	Truth as liberating reality	”the truth will set you free”	Freedom is found in continuing in Christ’s word and being liberated from sin’s bondage, not from political/social bondage (8:31-36) — a common misunderstanding the passage corrects.	真理 / 释放	High — must be distinguished both from a this-worldly political-liberation reading and from Buddhist “liberation” (解脱, already forbidden under baseline’s Salvation term for a different reason); this freedom is freedom from sin’s power through abiding in Christ’s word, not liberation from the cycle of suffering/rebirth.
δοῦλος / ἐλεύθερος	doulos / eleutheros	”slave” / “free person”	Legal-social status categories, applied spiritually	slave / free	”Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (8:34) — spiritual bondage contrasted with the Son’s power to make truly free.	奴仆 / 自由的人	Medium.
πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί	prin Abraam genesthai egō eimi	”before Abraham was, I am”	Timeless self-existence, echoing the divine name (Exodus 3:14 LXX ἐγώ εἰμι)	“before Abraham was, I am”	Direct claim to eternal pre-existence and to bear the divine name itself — a foundational text for the Deity and Pre-existence of Christ doctrine.	还没有亚伯拉罕就有了我 (CUV)	CRITICAL — the CUV rendering somewhat obscures the “I am” (ἐγώ εἰμι) verbal echo of the divine name; teaching materials must explicitly flag the connection to Exodus 3:14 and to the other absolute “I am” sayings (8:24, 8:28, 13:19, 18:5-6), since this connection is not self-evident from the Mandarin surface text alone.
ὑψωθῆναι (ὑψόω)	hypsōthēnai	”to be lifted up”	Reuse — see 3:14 note	be lifted up	”When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he” (8:28) — reuse of the crucifixion/exaltation double-meaning term.	举起来	High, per 3:14 note.

No major new load-bearing theological terms beyond those already treated in chapters 3, 5, and 8. The chapter reuses: 光/世界的光 (light/light of the world, ch. 8), 罪 (sin, baseline), 安息日 (Sabbath, ch. 5), 神迹 (sign — implied though not the exact word used for this healing), 敬拜 (worship, ch. 4), and applies them to a new narrative case-study of spiritual blindness versus sight as a metaphor for belief/unbelief (Judgment and Belief/Unbelief doctrine). Reviewed; no glossary additions required.

Chapter 10 — The Good Shepherd; Unity of the Father and the Son

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός	ho poimēn ho kalos	”the good shepherd”	Third/fourth “I Am” statement family (also “I am the door,” 10:7,9)	I am the good shepherd	Christ lays down his life for the sheep — ties Christ’s Substitutionary Death doctrine directly to pastoral care and self-sacrifice.	好牧人 (hǎo mùrén)	Medium — distinguish from a generic hired caretaker/manager role; the “good” (καλός) shepherd’s defining mark is willingness to die for the sheep, unlike a hired hand (μισθωτός).
πρόβατα	probata	”sheep”	Believers as objects of Christ’s personal care	sheep	”My sheep hear my voice… and I know them” (10:27) — personal, relational knowledge, not anonymous flock-management.	羊 (yáng)	Low.
θύρα	thyra	”door, gate”	Another “I Am” statement: “I am the door” (10:7, 9)	I am the door	Christ alone is the legitimate access point to salvation/the sheepfold — exclusivity claim.	门 (mén)	Medium — must retain the exclusivity (“I am THE door,” not “a door among several”), paralleling baseline’s caution on Lordship exclusivity (主, not 主人).
τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν	tithēmi tēn psychēn	”to lay down one’s life/soul”	Voluntary self-sacrifice	lay down [my] life	”I lay down my life for the sheep” (10:11, 15, 17-18) — voluntary, substitutionary self-giving, foundational to Christ’s Substitutionary Death doctrine.	舍命 (shěmìng)	High — ensure the voluntary nature (“I lay it down of my own accord,” 10:18) is preserved; this is not a victim’s fate imposed from outside but a willing sacrificial act, central to Substitutionary Atonement.
ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν	egō kai ho patēr hen esmen	”I and the Father are one”	Ontological unity, not mere agreement/harmony	”I and the Father are one”	Direct scriptural statement of the Unity of the Father and the Son doctrine (10:30) — provokes a charge of blasphemy, confirming its high Christological claim.	我与父原为一 (wǒ yǔ Fù yuán wéi yī)	Critical — must be preserved as an ontological unity claim (shared divine being), not softened toward “the Father and I are in agreement/harmony” (a reading some might import from Confucian relational-harmony concepts, e.g. 和 hé). This is the load-bearing verse for the Unity of Father and Son doctrine explicitly named in the curriculum.
ἁγιάζω / ἀποστέλλω	hagiazō / apostellō	”to consecrate/sanctify” / “to send”	Reuse — see baseline 成圣 and ch. 3:17 ἀποστέλλω	consecrated and sent	”The Father… consecrated and sent into the world” (10:36) — links Sanctification vocabulary to Christ’s own unique divine mission (distinct from believers’ sanctification, though the same root term is used).	成圣 / 差	Critical, per baseline 成圣 note — flag that here it describes the Father’s setting-apart of the Son for his unique mission, not the Spirit’s ongoing sanctifying work in believers (ch. 17, Rom 6).

Chapter 11 — The Raising of Lazarus

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή	hē anastasis kai hē zōē	”the resurrection and the life”	Fifth “I Am” statement	I am the resurrection and the life	Christ himself is the personal source and agent of resurrection, not merely a future event — “whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (11:25).	复活和生命 (baseline 复活 reuse)	Critical, per baseline resurrection note — reuse 复活 exactly; Lazarus’s raising is a sign pointing to Christ’s own resurrection and to the resurrection life he grants believers, never to be conflated with 轮回/投胎/还魂.
δόξα τοῦ Θεοῦ	doxa tou Theou	”the glory of God”	Reuse	glory of God	”This illness… [is] for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it” (11:4) — ties suffering/death to divine glory, not tragedy alone.	荣耀	Medium, per baseline.
ταράσσω (τῷ πνεύματι)	tarassō (tō pneumati)	“to be troubled, stirred”	Genuine human emotional distress	”troubled in his spirit"	"Jesus wept” (11:35) and was “deeply moved” — affirms the full, genuine humanity of Christ (Humanity of Christ doctrine), not a merely apparent human experience (against docetic-type readings).	心里悲叹 / 哭了	Medium — ensure genuine emotion is preserved, not minimized into a formal or merely symbolic gesture.
εἷς ἄνθρωπος ἀποθάνῃ ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ	heis anthrōpos apothanē hyper tou laou	”one man should die on behalf of the people”	Caiaphas’s unwitting prophecy of vicarious/substitutionary death	”one man should die for the people”	Ironically spoken by the high priest as political expedience, but the narrator identifies it as unwitting prophecy of Christ’s Substitutionary Death (11:49-52) — extended in 11:52 to gathering “the scattered children of God.”	替百姓死 (tì bǎixìng sǐ)	High — ties directly to the Substitutionary Death doctrine; teaching should highlight the deliberate narrative irony (a hostile, self-interested statement becomes true prophecy).

Chapter 12 — Anointing at Bethany; the Triumphal Entry; the Greeks Seek Jesus

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ἡ ὥρα	hē hōra	”the hour”	The divinely appointed time of Christ’s death/glorification	”the hour has come"	"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (12:23) — the cross is the appointed hour of glory, not merely tragedy (reuse of ὑψόω’s paradox from 3:14, 8:28).	时候到了	High — reinforce the ὑψόω paradox (glorification through suffering) established in ch. 3 and 8.
κόκκος τοῦ σίτου	kokkos tou sitou	”grain of wheat”	Agricultural metaphor for death producing life/fruit	”unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone”	Illustrates the substitutionary/generative pattern of Christ’s death producing much fruit (many believers) — 12:24.	一粒麦子	Medium.
δοξάζω	doxazō	”to glorify”	Reuse — verb form of baseline δόξα/荣耀	glorify	Repeated refrain in chs. 12-17: “Father, glorify your name” (12:28) — a direct petition, answered by a voice from heaven, reinforcing the Father-Son relational unity.	荣耀 (verb form: 使…得荣耀)	Medium, per baseline.
ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου	ho archōn tou kosmou toutou	”the ruler of this world”	Satan’s usurped, temporary authority over the fallen world-order	the ruler of this world	”Now will the ruler of this world be cast out” (12:31) — the cross is simultaneously Christ’s exaltation and Satan’s judicial defeat; distinct from and opposed to the Kingdom of God (baseline term 神的国).	这世界的王 (zhè shìjiè de wáng)	High — must be clearly distinguished from 神的国 (baseline Kingdom of God term) and from any legitimate political “王” (king); this ruler’s authority is usurped, temporary, and already judicially overthrown at the cross.
ἕλκω πάντας πρὸς ἐμαυτόν	helkō pantas pros emauton	”draw/drag all people to myself”	Universal drawing power exercised through the cross	”I will draw all people to myself”	Reuse of ἑλκύω (ch. 6) now applied to the cross’s universal drawing power — reinforces the Universal Scope of the Gospel through Christ’s death specifically.	吸引万人来归我	High, per ch. 6 ἑλκύω note.

Chapter 13 — Foot-Washing; the New Commandment; Prediction of Betrayal

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
νίπτω	niptō	”to wash”	Ordinary washing, elevated here to a symbolic act of servant-love	wash (feet)	Christ’s washing of the disciples’ feet models humble, self-giving love and anticipates the deeper cleansing accomplished by his death.	洗 (xǐ)	Low-Medium — ensure the act’s humility is not read merely as hygienic courtesy but as a deliberate enacted parable of servant-leadership and cleansing.
ἐντολὴ καινή	entolē kainē	”a new commandment”	A fresh, Christologically-grounded ethical mandate	new commandment	”Love one another, as I have loved you” (13:34) — grounds Christian ethical love directly in Christ’s own self-giving love (reuse ἀγαπάω), not in prior Mosaic law categories.	新命令	High — must be distinguished from Confucian relational ethics (仁, rén, benevolence, and 礼, lǐ, ritual propriety — already flagged under baseline “law” note); this love flows from and images Christ’s own sacrificial love, not a duty owed within a fixed social hierarchy.

Chapter 14 — The Way, the Truth, and the Life; the Promise of the Paraclete

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή	hē hodos kai hē alētheia kai hē zōē	”the way, the truth, and the life”	Sixth “I Am” statement	I am the way, the truth, and the life	Exclusive claim: “No one comes to the Father except through me” (14:6) — the sole means of access to God, tying together Eternal Life, Deity of Christ, and Unity of Father and Son doctrines.	道路、真理、生命	High — note the Mandarin ὁδός (“way”) is rendered 道路, sharing the character 道 with λόγος’s rendering 道 (ch. 1). This is a striking, intentional-feeling resonance in Mandarin (Christ as both 道/Word and 道路/Way) that can serve as a teaching bridge, but requires a note clarifying these are two distinct Greek terms (λόγος vs. ὁδός) that happen to share a root character in Mandarin, and both must be kept clear of the Daoist metaphysical 道 (the Way) — the same collision risk flagged Critical for λόγος and 道成肉身.
παράκλητος	paraklētos	”one called alongside; advocate, helper, counselor”	Legal-forensic (“advocate/defense counsel”) + relational (“comforter/helper”) senses combined	Counselor, Comforter, Helper, Advocate	Central term for The Holy Spirit as Counselor doctrine (14:16, 14:26; also 15:26, 16:7) — the Spirit is “another Paraclete,” implying Christ himself has been the first.	保惠师 (bǎohuìshī)	Critical — 保惠师 is a coined Chinese Christian term (literally “protect-and-benefit teacher/master”) largely free of prior secular or folk-religious baggage, which is an advantage; nonetheless it must be actively taught (not assumed self-evident) to convey the full legal-advocate-plus-comforter range of παράκλητος, and must be distinguished from (a) a secular legal advocate/lawyer (律师, lǜshī), (b) a folk-religious spirit-medium or ritual intermediary (法师, fǎshī, who channels or manipulates spiritual power on a client’s behalf), and (c) any impersonal “helper-force.” The Spirit-Paraclete is a personal, divine Person, continuing Christ’s own presence and ministry, not a professional service-role or a manipulable ritual power.
πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας	pneuma tēs alētheias	”the Spirit of truth”	A title of the Holy Spirit, tying his person to ἀλήθεια	Spirit of truth	Reinforces the Holy Spirit’s identity and mission as inseparable from Christ’s own truth (14:6, 14:17) — the Spirit does not introduce a rival or independent revelation.	真理的圣灵	High, per baseline 圣灵 Critical note plus ch. 3 ἀλήθεια note — must retain full personhood, not an impersonal “spirit of truthfulness.”
εἰρήνη	eirēnē	”peace”	Reuse — baseline term	peace	”Peace I leave with you… not as the world gives” (14:27) — explicitly distinguishes Christ’s peace from ordinary, circumstance-dependent worldly peace.	平安 (baseline reuse)	Medium, per baseline — reinforce the explicit textual contrast with worldly/circumstantial peace and with the everyday amulet-blessing sense of 平安 already flagged in baseline.

Chapter 15 — The True Vine; Abiding; the World’s Hatred

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή	hē ampelos hē alēthinē	”the true vine”	Seventh “I Am” statement	I am the true vine	Christ is the sole source of spiritual life and fruitfulness for believers, who are the branches (15:1-5) — direct organic-union imagery for Christian Identity in Christ.	真葡萄树	Medium — distinguish from any autonomous “growing/cultivating oneself” reading; fruitfulness is entirely contingent on abiding union with the vine, not independent effort.
μένω	menō	”abide, remain”	Reuse — see ch. 6 note, now the chapter’s central refrain (10x in 15:4-10)	abide, remain	”Abide in me, and I in you… apart from me you can do nothing” (15:4-5) — the definitive Johannine term for ongoing, life-giving union with Christ.	常在 (cháng zài)	High — must be clearly distinguished from Daoist/Buddhist meditative “abiding” (安住, 入定) cultivated through technique or stillness practice; here it is a relationship of dependent faith sustained by Christ himself, and the text explicitly ties it to obedience to Christ’s commandments and to answered prayer (15:7,10), not to a meditative state.
καρπός	karpos	”fruit”	The visible outcome of abiding union with Christ	fruit, much fruit	Fruitfulness is the evidence, not the achievement, of abiding — “apart from me you can do nothing” (15:5).	果子	Medium — must not be read as merit accumulated through effort (functionally akin to 功德, already Critical-forbidden under baseline “grace”); fruit here flows from union with Christ, not independent moral achievement.
φίλοι (vs. δοῦλοι)	philoi (vs. douloi)	“friends” (vs. “slaves/servants”)	Elevated relational status granted by Christ	”no longer servants but friends"	"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (15:13-15) — reuses τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν from ch. 10, applying the Substitutionary Death pattern relationally.	朋友 (péngyou)	Medium — note the relational upgrade from δοῦλος (slave/servant, cf. ch. 8) to φίλος (friend), signifying intimacy granted by Christ’s revelation and sacrifice, not earned status.
ὁ κόσμος μισεῖ ὑμᾶς	ho kosmos misei hymas	”the world hates you”	κόσμος in its negative, God-opposing sense (cf. 1:10; 3:19 note)	“the world hates you”	Explicit statement of κόσμος’s negative valence, directly following 3:16’s positive “God loved the world” — the same Mandarin word (世界) must carry both senses contextually.	世界	High, per 3:16/1:10 note — the negative-valence occurrence teachers must actively distinguish from the positive-valence occurrence.

Chapter 16 — The Spirit’s Ministry; Sorrow Turned to Joy; “I Have Overcome the World”

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
παράκλητος / πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας	paraklētos / pneuma tēs alētheias	Reuse — see ch. 14	Counselor / Spirit of truth	Reuse	The Spirit’s specific post-ascension ministries are detailed: convicting the world (16:8-11), guiding into all truth (16:13), and glorifying Christ (16:14) — expands The Holy Spirit as Counselor doctrine.	保惠师 / 真理的圣灵	Critical, per ch. 14 note — note the added dimension: the Spirit’s ministry of conviction “concerning sin and righteousness and judgment” (16:8-10) directly reuses baseline’s Critical terms 罪, 义, and this chapter’s 审判/κρίνω — the Spirit’s convicting work must not be reframed as producing guilt-driven self-effort toward merit (功德), but as leading toward faith in the Son.
θλῖψις	thlipsis	”tribulation, affliction, pressure”	Distress, suffering under pressure	tribulation	”In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (16:33).	患难 (huànnàn)	Low-Medium.
νικάω	nikaō	”to conquer, overcome, be victorious”	Decisive victory	overcome, conquer	”I have overcome the world” (16:33) — Christ’s victory over the world’s hostility is already accomplished (perfect tense, νενίκηκα), grounding believers’ endurance in an accomplished fact, not a future hope only.	胜了 / 得胜 (déshèng)	Medium — preserve the perfect-tense “already accomplished” force; avoid a purely future-hope rendering.
ἡ ὥρα τοῦ τόκου	hē hōra tou tokou	”the hour of [her] giving birth”	Childbirth metaphor for grief transformed into joy	”when a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow… but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish”	Illustrates the disciples’ coming grief (at the crucifixion) turning to inextinguishable joy (at the resurrection) — 16:20-22.	妇人生产的痛苦	Low.

Chapter 17 — The High Priestly Prayer

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
δοξάζω	doxazō	”to glorify”	Reuse	glorify	”Father, glorify your Son… as you have given him authority” (17:1-5) — Christ’s prayer explicitly grounds his glorification in a pre-existent glory shared with the Father “before the world existed” (17:5), a direct pre-existence claim.	荣耀	High — 17:5’s “the glory that I had with you before the world existed” is a key Pre-existence of Christ prooftext; ensure teaching explicitly connects it to ch. 1’s λόγος pre-existence claim.
γινώσκω (τὸν Θεόν)	ginōskō (ton Theon)	“to know”	Personal, relational, experiential knowledge (not mere factual information)	“know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”	Defines eternal life itself as relational knowledge of the true God and the Son (17:3) — a fresh definition of ζωὴν αἰώνιον developed since ch. 3.	认识 (rènshi)	High — reinforce that 认识 here means personal, relational knowledge, not mere intellectual information-possession — parallel to baseline’s caution that 信心 (faith) requires a specific relational object, not generic assent.
ἁγιάζω	hagiazō	”to sanctify, consecrate, set apart”	Reuse — see ch. 10 note and baseline 成圣	sanctify, consecrate	”Sanctify them in the truth… I sanctify myself” (17:17,19) — here explicitly the Spirit-and-truth-grounded sanctification of believers (distinct from the unique Father-Son consecration of ch. 10), directly matching baseline’s Sanctification doctrine.	成圣 (baseline reuse)	Critical, per baseline — must retain the distinguishing note that this is Spirit/truth-grounded consecration of an already-loved people, not Neo-Confucian self-cultivation into sagehood.
ἵνα ἓν ὦσιν	hina hen ōsin	”that they may be one”	Relational/spiritual unity among believers, patterned on and grounded in the Father-Son unity	”that they may be one, even as we are one”	Extends the Unity of the Father and the Son doctrine (10:30) to believers’ unity with one another, grounded in and derivative of the prior divine unity (17:11, 21-23) — the two “unities” are related but not identical in kind.	合而为一 (héér wéiyī)	High — teaching must clearly distinguish the ontological unity of Father and Son (10:30, “one” in shared divine being) from the relational/missional unity of believers (17:11, 21-23, unity in purpose/love modeled on, not equal to, the divine unity) — conflating the two risks either overstating believers’ unity as itself divine, or understating the Father-Son unity as merely relational harmony.
κόσμος	kosmos	”world”	Reuse, again spanning both positive (mission field, v.18) and negative (hostile order, v.14) senses within the same chapter	world	Believers are sent “into the world” (positive missional sense, reusing ἀποστέλλω) even while “not of the world” (negative sense) — 17:14-18.	世界	High, per earlier κόσμος notes — this chapter is a clear case study in the term’s dual valence occurring within a few verses of each other.

Chapter 18 — Betrayal and Arrest; Trial Before the High Priest and Pilate

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ἐγώ εἰμι	egō eimi	”I am [he]“	Reuse — see 8:58 note; here at the arrest scene, causing the arresting party to fall back (18:6)	“I am he”	An echo of the absolute divine “I am” self-identification even at the moment of arrest — the arrest proceeds only because Christ voluntarily submits, not because his captors have overpowered him.	我就是	High, per 8:58 note — the same phrase used for ordinary self-identification (“I am [the one you’re looking for]”) carries, in John’s narrative pattern, a deliberate echo of the divine “I am”; teaching should flag this without over-claiming every occurrence is an intentional theophany.
ἡ βασιλεία ἡ ἐμὴ (οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου)	hē basileia hē emē (ouk estin ek tou kosmou toutou)	“my kingdom [is not] of this world”	Reuse of βασιλεία (cf. 3:3, 3:5 βασιλεία τοῦ Θεοῦ) applied to Christ’s own kingship before Pilate	”my kingdom is not of this world”	Clarifies the nature of Christ’s kingship before a Roman political authority — spiritual/eschatological, not a rival political-territorial claim (18:36) — reinforces baseline’s caution against reading Kingdom of God as 天下/王朝.	我的国不属这世界	High, per baseline 神的国 note.
ἀλήθεια	alētheia	”truth”	Reuse	truth	Pilate’s dismissive “What is truth?” (18:38) stands in ironic contrast to Christ’s self-identification as “the truth” (14:6) — the very person of Truth stands before Pilate unrecognized.	真理	Medium, per ch. 3, 14 notes — highlight the dramatic irony for teaching purposes.

Chapter 19 — Crucifixion and Burial

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
σταυρόω	stauroō	”to crucify”	Roman method of execution by fixing to a cross	crucify	The central historical event of Christ’s Substitutionary Death — described with sober historical detail, not mythologized.	钉十字架 (dìng shízìjià)	High — must be presented as a real, historical, physically brutal execution (not a symbolic or docetic-lite event), foundational to the doctrine of Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection.
ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων	ho basileus tōn Ioudaiōn	”the King of the Jews”	Pilate’s official (mocking) inscription, ironically true	King of the Jews	The titulus above the cross unintentionally proclaims a true royal-messianic title even as it mocks — Fulfillment of Prophecy / Messianic Promise irony.	犹太人的王	Medium — highlight the irony (mockery becomes accurate confession) for teaching.
τετέλεσται	tetelestai	”it has been accomplished/completed” (perfect tense)	A declaration of completed, sufficient accomplishment, not mere cessation	”It is finished”	Christ’s dying word (19:30) declares his redemptive work fully and finally accomplished — foundational to Christ’s Substitutionary Death doctrine; the perfect tense signals a completed act with ongoing effect, not simply “it’s over.”	成了 (chéng le)	High — must retain the sense of triumphant completion/accomplishment of a finished redemptive task, not a resigned “it’s over” (defeat) reading; avoid any teaching gloss that suggests an ongoing, repeatable, or incomplete work (contra any drift toward a merit-accumulation model in popular reception).
αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ	haima kai hydōr	”blood and water”	Physical detail from the spear-wound, given evidentiary/testimonial weight by the narrator (19:34-35)	blood and water	Confirms the reality of Christ’s physical death (against docetic denial) and has been read typologically (linking to 1 John 5:6-8’s water/blood/Spirit witness) — reinforces the Humanity of Christ doctrine and the historical reality of his death.	血和水	Medium — primarily emphasize the historical-evidentiary function (real, physical death) rather than over-speculating on typological readings in the base glossary entry.
τὸ ὀστοῦν αὐτοῦ οὐ συντριβήσεται	to ostoun autou ou syntribēsetai	”his bone shall not be broken”	Quotation fulfilling Exodus 12:46/Numbers 9:12 (Passover lamb regulation) and Psalm 34:20	”not one of his bones will be broken”	Explicit typological fulfillment tying Christ’s death to the Passover lamb (cf. ch. 1’s ἀμνὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ) — reinforces Fulfillment of Prophecy doctrine.	他的骨头一根也不折断	Medium — reinforce the Passover-lamb typological link established in 1:29.

Chapter 20 — The Empty Tomb; Resurrection Appearances; the Gospel’s Purpose Statement

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ἀνάστασις (implied through narrative; ἠγέρθη)	anastasis / ēgerthē	”resurrection” / “was raised”	Reuse — baseline Critical term	resurrection, raised	The bodily, historical, once-for-all resurrection is narrated with concrete physical detail (empty grave-clothes, physical appearances, invitation to touch) — the doctrinal core of Christ’s Substitutionary Death and Resurrection.	复活 (baseline reuse)	Critical, per baseline — reuse exactly; the concrete physical/bodily details in this chapter (folded grave-clothes, touching wounds, eating — cf. Luke 24 parallel) are themselves an implicit anti-docetic, anti-ghost-story polemic, reinforcing why 还魂 (folk ghost-reanimation) is explicitly forbidden.
Ὁ Κύριός μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου	Ho Kyrios mou kai ho Theos mou	”My Lord and my God”	Thomas’s confession (20:28) — the Gospel’s climactic Christological confession	”My Lord and my God!”	The most direct and explicit confession of Christ’s full deity and lordship in the entire Gospel, placed deliberately at the narrative climax — foundational to both the Deity of Christ and Lordship of Christ doctrines.	我的主，我的神 (wǒ de Zhǔ, wǒ de Shén)	Critical — reuse baseline 主 (Lord) and 神 (God) exactly; this confession must never be softened (e.g., toward “my lord” in a merely social-honorific sense, cf. baseline’s caution against 老爷/主人) — it is the Gospel’s capstone confession of full, worshiped deity.
λάβετε Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον	labete Pneuma Hagion	”receive [the] Holy Spirit”	Reuse — baseline Critical term	receive the Holy Spirit	Christ’s post-resurrection commissioning act (20:22), echoing Genesis 2:7’s creation-breath — a new-creation motif tying the Holy Spirit’s reception to the New Birth doctrine (ch. 3) and to the Church’s commissioning.	圣灵 (baseline reuse)	Critical, per baseline.
ἵνα πιστεύ[σ]ητε … καὶ … ζωὴν ἔχητε	hina pisteu[s]ēte … kai … zōēn echēte	”that you may believe … and … have life”	The Gospel’s own explicit purpose statement (20:30-31)	“these are written so that you may believe… and that by believing you may have life in his name”	Explicitly states the entire Gospel’s purpose: producing faith (πιστεύω) leading to eternal life through Christ’s name — directly reuses and crowns the Faith and Eternal Life doctrines established from ch. 3 onward.	信 / 生命 (baseline-consistent reuse)	High — this verse functions similarly to Romans 1:16-17 in the baseline’s cross-document consistency rule; recommend establishing 20:30-31 as a fixed, consistency-locked rendering across all John curriculum materials, given its role as the Gospel’s own thesis statement.

Chapter 21 — Epilogue: Restoration of Peter; the Great Catch of Fish

Greek	Translit.	Literal Meaning	Semantic Range	English Variants	Contextual Theological Meaning	Mandarin Rendering	Risk & Note
ἀγαπάω / φιλέω	agapaō / phileō	”to love” (elevated/self-giving) / “to love” (affectionate/friendship)	The famous threefold exchange between Jesus and Peter (21:15-17) alternates between the two verbs; while older preaching traditions built a sharp doctrinal distinction on this alternation, most modern Greek lexicography treats the two as substantially overlapping synonyms in Koine usage, with the alternation serving primarily stylistic/rhetorical variation rather than a rigid semantic ladder	”Do you love me?” (using ἀγαπάω, then φιλέω, then φιλέω again)	Peter’s threefold restoration and recommissioning after his threefold denial (ch. 18); the repeated questioning itself, not primarily a lexical distinction, carries the emotional and theological weight of full restoration to ministry.	爱 (both verbs rendered 爱 in Mandarin, per CUV)	High — Mandarin (like most translations) cannot preserve the two-verb alternation with two distinct words, since 爱 must do service for both; teaching materials must NOT overbuild a doctrinal distinction on a lexical difference that modern Koine scholarship itself treats cautiously, and should instead emphasize the threefold repetition (mirroring and healing the threefold denial) as the passage’s real theological weight — avoiding both under-translation (missing the repetition’s significance) and over-translation (inventing an artificial love-hierarchy from what may be stylistic variation).
ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου / βόσκε τὰ ἀρνία μου	poimaine ta probata mou / boske ta arnia mou	”shepherd/tend my sheep” / “feed my lambs”	Reuse of shepherd/sheep imagery from ch. 10, now transferred as a pastoral commission to Peter	”Feed my lambs” / “Tend my sheep”	Peter is commissioned to continue Christ’s own Good Shepherd ministry (ch. 10) toward the church — a model for Christian ministry grounded in Christ’s prior example, not independent authority.	牧养我的羊 / 喂养我的小羊	Medium — reinforce the direct link back to ch. 10’s 好牧人 (Good Shepherd); Peter’s commission is derivative of and accountable to Christ’s own shepherding, not a replacement for it.
ἀκολούθει μοι	akolouthei moi	”follow me”	A call to discipleship, echoing the Gospel’s opening call (1:43)	“Follow me”	Bookends the Gospel with the same call issued to the first disciples, now including a prediction of Peter’s own martyrdom (21:18-19) as the cost of following.	跟从我 (gēncóng wǒ)	Low-Medium.
μαρτυρία … ἀληθής	martyria … alēthēs	”testimony … true”	Reuse — see 3:11, ties to the Gospel’s closing authentication of its own eyewitness reliability (21:24)	“his testimony is true”	The Gospel closes by asserting the reliability of its own eyewitness testimony — reinforcing the Inspiration of Scripture doctrine’s connection to genuine historical witness, not later legend.	见证是真的	Medium, per 3:11/5:31-39 notes.

Summary Note on Full-Book Coverage

All 21 chapters of the Gospel of John have been reviewed. Chapters 3 (core), 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 each introduce load-bearing theological vocabulary requiring dedicated treatment above. Chapter 9 introduces no new load-bearing theological vocabulary beyond terms already established in chapters 3, 5, and 8 (light, sin, Sabbath, worship, judgment); it has been explicitly reviewed and is noted here as reusing prior-chapter terms rather than silently omitted.

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