Passage

Romans 1

• Glossary Term

  Apostle

  A descriptive phrase ('one who has been sent') conveys authorized, commissioned ministry.

  ROM.1.1

• Doctrine

  Apostleship

  Risk of reducing apostleship to a generic religious-specialist role paralleling a maiba or maibi's recognized ritual office rather than a unique, Christ-commissioned sent ministry.

  ROM.1.1

• Glossary Term

  Called

  Context-sensitive: in 1:1 = called to apostleship; in 1:7 = called to be saints; in 8:28-30 = effectual calling to salvation.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.6-7

• Glossary Term

  Calling

  Noun form for the act/state of being called, kept structurally parallel to কৌখিবা (called).

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.6-7

• Doctrine

  Christian Fellowship

  Shared participation in Christ; not merely clan (yumnak) or social association.

  ROM.1.12

• Glossary Term

  Covenant

  A relational covenant/promise bond; confirm this rendering's exact naturalness with a Manipuri-speaking theologian, as no crystallized single covenant-theology term is attested in currently available Manipuri Christian literature.

  ROM.1.3

• Glossary Term

  David

  Standard proper-name transliteration, following existing Manipuri Bible-translation convention.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Davidic Covenant

  Requires explicit Old Testament background teaching; there is no analogous royal-covenant concept in Sanamahi tradition, though the Meitei cultural emphasis on royal lineage (the Pakhangba descent claim of historic Meitei kingship) gives 'seed of David' language a point of natural, if distinct, resonance.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Deity of Christ

  CRITICAL: full, co-equal divine nature; must not be softened into 'a great avatar' or 'a specially favored spirit within the Umang Lai pantheon.'

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Divine Calling

  God's sovereign call must be distinguished from a maibi being ritually seized/called by an Umang Lai deity during Lai Haraoba trance, and from ৱাইফম-style impersonal fate.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.6-7

• Glossary Term

  Exhort

  Context-sensitive: use for encouragement/building up; use হায়জবা (entreaty/pleading) for beseeching contexts.

  ROM.1.12

• Doctrine

  Faith

  Personal trust in Christ; the object of faith must always be named, distinguished from ভক্তি (bhakti), the specific devotional-love practice central to Manipuri Vaishnavism.

  ROM.1.17

• Glossary Term

  Faith

  থাজবা (belief/trust) is preferred over ভক্তি because Manipuri Vaishnavism's ভক্তি names a specific, well-developed devotional practice (as expressed in Ras Lila devotion to Krishna) rather than the personal, saving trust in Christ Romans describes.

  ROM.1.17

• Glossary Term

  Fellowship

  Shared participation in Christ, conveying togetherness/companionship; confirm regional naturalness with native speakers given limited established Manipuri Christian devotional vocabulary for this specific sense.

  ROM.1.12

• Doctrine

  Fulfillment of Prophecy

  Linear historical fulfillment (Old Testament promise to New Testament fulfillment in Christ); not a cyclical avatar-sequence pattern as in Vaishnava theology, in which further divine descents remain conceptually open.

  ROM.1.2-4

• Glossary Term

  Glory

  God's radiant honor and presence.

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  God

  CRITICAL: তেংবাং মপু, the established Manipuri Christian term for God, is deliberately preferred over both ঠাকুর (which would place God inside the existing Krishna-devotional framework) and সানামাহি (the household/ancestral deity of indigenous Sanamahi religion, currently undergoing active revival).

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Gospel

  Must be distinguished from festive announcements associated with the Vaishnava devotional calendar (e.g.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Gospel

  নুংঙাইবগী পাউ ('joyful/good news') is a plain descriptive rendering.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.16

• Doctrine

  Humanity of Christ

  Christ's full, real humanity must not be diluted into a temporary devotional-performance embodiment as Ras Lila dance-drama enacts Krishna's appearances.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Incarnation

  CRITICAL: must be sharply distinguished from অবতার theology as practiced in Manipuri Vaishnavism and expressed through the Ras Lila dance tradition.

  ROM.1.3

• Glossary Term

  Incarnation

  CRITICAL: NEVER use অবতার.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Inspiration of Scripture

  The historical burning of indigenous Meitei religious manuscripts (puya) in the 1729 Puya Meithaba means this curriculum should teach the God-breathed, providentially preserved character of Scripture with particular sensitivity to Meitei cultural memory around lost sacred texts.

  ROM.1.2

• Glossary Term

  Jesus

  জিসু follows the existing Manipuri Bible's established form; confirm against a current printed edition before this curriculum is finalized.

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  Justification

  CRITICAL: a descriptive compound ('being made/declared righteous') is required to carry the forensic, once-for-all legal-declaration sense; must never be abbreviated to mere forgiveness, which loses the 'declared righteous' dimension central to Romans 4.

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Law

  য়াথাং (rule/law/command) refers to the Mosaic Law/Torah in this curriculum.

  ROM.1.2-4

• Glossary Term

  Lord

  CRITICAL: মপু ইবুংগো ('Lord/Master,' an existing respectful Meitei title) is preferred over ঠাকুর, which carries strong devotional association with Krishna specifically in Manipuri Vaishnava practice (as venerated through Ras Lila devotion); using ঠাকুর risks framing Christ as one more object of bhakti devotion within the existing Vaishnava system rather than exclusive, supreme Lord.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Lordship of Christ

  CRITICAL: exclusive, supreme Lordship.

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  Messiah

  Transliterated term, following existing Manipuri Bible-translation convention.

  ROM.1.3-4

• Doctrine

  Messianic Promise

  CRITICAL: Messiah is a specific Jewish Old Testament category fulfilled exclusively in Jesus; it must not be presented as one figure among Vishnu's recognized avatar sequence, culminating in some Vaishnava schemes with Krishna.

  ROM.1.3-4

• Glossary Term

  Mission

  'The task of spreading the news.' Given the history of American Baptist mission work in the Manipur hills (among neighboring Naga and Kuki-Zo communities) becoming entangled in regional memory with colonial-era administration and, more recently, with sensitive inter-community relations within Manipur, frame evangelism as the church's own calling rather than a foreign or ethnically-coded project.

  ROM.1.5, ROM.1.13-14

• Doctrine

  Mission to the Nations

  Given the historical association of Christian mission work with colonial-era administration and, more recently, with sensitive inter-community relations within Manipur, frame evangelism as the church's own calling rather than a foreign or ethnically-coded project.

  ROM.1.5, ROM.1.13-14

• Doctrine

  Mutual Edification

  Building one another up in faith; no significant doctrinal risk.

  ROM.1.12

• Doctrine

  Obedience of Faith

  Obedience flowing from faith, not সেবা (ritual devotional service performed to build bhakti standing) as practiced in Manipuri Vaishnavism.

  ROM.1.5

• Glossary Term

  Obedience Of Faith

  Romans 1:5 and 16:26.

  ROM.1.5

• Glossary Term

  Power Of God

  A descriptive compound for God's saving power is preferred; শক্তি carries strong association with maibi trance-power and, in the Vaishnava-Shakta overlap found elsewhere in the region, goddess-power, neither of which should be casually borrowed for Romans 1:16.

  ROM.1.16

• Doctrine

  Power of God for Salvation

  Must be kept categorically distinct from the ritual/oracular power attributed to a maibi's Lai Haraoba trance state.

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Prophecy

  God-inspired declaration; distinct from a maibi's trance utterances during Lai Haraoba.

  ROM.1.2-4

• Glossary Term

  Prophet

  God's spokesperson; must not be confused with মৈবা, the male ritual specialist and healer recognized in traditional Sanamahi religious practice, or with a মৈবী (maibi) priestess's oracular role.

  ROM.1.2

• Glossary Term

  Resurrection

  CRITICAL: a descriptive phrase ('coming back to life from death') avoids পুনর্জন্ম, the rebirth/reincarnation vocabulary that entered Meitei religious discourse through the Hindu Vaishnava tradition.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Resurrection of Christ

  CRITICAL: bodily, once-for-all resurrection, not পুনর্জন্ম (rebirth), a concept absorbed into Meitei religious discourse through Vaishnavization.

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  Righteousness

  CRITICAL: right standing before God received through faith, not ধর্ম-style religious duty.

  ROM.1.16

• Doctrine

  Sainthood (Called to be Holy)

  All believers are saints corporately; must not be narrowed to a Vaishnava renunciant-devotee class (গোসাঞি) or a specialist ritual role paralleling the maibi/maiba.

  ROM.1.7

• Doctrine

  Salvation

  CRITICAL: never মোক্ষ (Vaishnava liberation) and never framed as a devotee's hoped-for eternal union with or nearness to Krishna's presence.

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Salvation

  CRITICAL: অহানবা ('being rescued/delivered') must never collapse into মোক্ষ (Vaishnava liberation) or into a bhakti-devotee's hoped-for eternal nearness to or absorption into Krishna's presence in Vaikuntha/Goloka, a real and specific aspiration within Manipuri Vaishnava devotional life.

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Seed Of David

  Romans 1:3; a descriptive phrase conveying physical lineage, which can resonate with the Meitei cultural emphasis on royal and clan (yumnak) descent lines, but requires explicit Old Testament covenant background to avoid being read as merely a genealogical claim of the Pakhangba-lineage type.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Separation unto God's Service

  Must not be confused with the ritual preparations undertaken before Lai Haraoba or Vaishnava temple worship.

  ROM.1.1

• Glossary Term

  Sin

  পাপ (a term shared broadly across regional Indic religious vocabulary) conveys moral transgression before a personal God.

  ROM.1.18

• Glossary Term

  Son Of God

  CRITICAL: full phrase required, built on তেংবাং মপু (see 'god' entry).

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Sonship of Christ

  CRITICAL: eternal, unique Sonship, not one avatar among Vishnu's many recognized avatars as understood within Manipuri Vaishnavism.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Spiritual Gifts

  Spirit-given enablements for the whole church; not the ritual/oracular power attributed to a maibi's Lai Haraoba trance state.

  ROM.1.11

• Glossary Term

  Spiritual Gifts

  থাওয়াইগী খুদোল ('gift of the Spirit') must be kept distinct from the ritual/oracular power attributed to a maibi in Lai Haraoba trance possession.

  ROM.1.11

• Doctrine

  Thanksgiving

  Standard term.

  ROM.1.8, ROM.1.21

• Glossary Term

  Thanksgiving

  Standard term for gratitude/thanks.

  ROM.1.8, ROM.1.21

• Doctrine

  Universal Human Accountability

  All humanity equally guilty before God; retain universal language without softening, even against any residual royal-divine-lineage status claims tied to the historic Pakhangba descent tradition.

  ROM.1.18

• Doctrine

  Universal Scope of the Gospel

  No clan (yumnak), caste, or ethnic barrier to the gospel; retain unqualified universality, a point of particular sensitivity given Manipur's contemporary inter-community tensions.

  ROM.1.16