Doctrine Analysis
Doctrine Analysis — 1 Corinthians | English → Nepali
Purpose
This document provides the complete, chapter-by-chapter doctrine matrix for 1 Corinthians 1–16, extending the Romans baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json for the same language pair (English–Nepali) and remaining fully consistent with the doctrine_risk_registry.json produced for this curriculum (Phase 1 Step 4/5 companion artifact). Every doctrine name, risk tier, and review routing below matches that registry exactly. The core passage (15:1-11) is the theological anchor of the curriculum but not its scope boundary — this matrix covers every chapter, first to last, per the PRD full-book-coverage mandate. Chapters whose content is doctrinally light relative to the curriculum’s ten named doctrines are still analyzed explicitly below and never silently skipped.
Risk tier definitions are inherited unchanged from the baseline:
| Tier | Definition | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | Mistranslation alters or destroys essential doctrine | Human theologian, every occurrence |
| High | Mistranslation creates significant theological confusion or syncretism risk | Human theologian |
| Medium | Mistranslation reduces clarity but preserves essential meaning | Native speaker review |
| Low | Mistranslation causes minor misunderstanding | Automated review |
Chapter-by-Chapter Doctrine Matrix
1 Corinthians 1 — Factionalism, the Cross, and Calling
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk (Nepali-specific) | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Unity versus Factionalism | 1:10-13 | High | Corinth’s Paul/Apollos/Cephas/Christ teacher-loyalty factions map uncomfortably onto Nepal’s own live ethnic, caste, and party-political factional identities (फूट). Must be taught as ecclesial sin, not a general social commentary. | Human theologian |
| The Cross as Wisdom and Power | 1:18-25 | High | बुद्धि shares its root with बोधि/बुद्ध; must not read as Buddhist enlightenment-attainment. परमेश्वरको सामर्थ्य required, never शक्ति (Newar Tantric/Kumari association). | Human theologian |
| Grace and Apostolic Calling | 1:1-9 | High | ”Called to be saints” (बोलाइएका पवित्र जन हुन) reuses baseline calling/sainthood vocabulary; grace (अनुग्रह) must retain its anti-merit force from v.4. | Human theologian |
| Evangelism and Proclamation | 1:17, 1:23 | High | ”Preaching Christ crucified” language must not read as illegal recruitment-style solicitation under Nepal’s 2017 Muluki Criminal Code conversion provisions. | Human theologian |
| Election (baseline, extended) | 1:26-28 | High | God’s “choosing” (छनोट) the foolish/weak/low must not collapse into भाग्य/किस्मत. | Human theologian |
| Church as God’s People (baseline) | 1:2 | Medium | मण्डली established; “church of God at Corinth” is corporate, not a building. | Native speaker review |
1 Corinthians 2 — Wisdom, Mystery, and the Spiritual Person
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cross as Wisdom and Power | 2:1-5 | High | Paul’s refusal of “plausible words of wisdom” reinforces the same बुद्धि caution as ch.1. | Human theologian |
| The Mystery of God’s Revealed Wisdom | 2:6-13 | High | रहस्य must be openly-proclaimed truth, opposite of the initiation-restricted गुह्य teaching in Newar Vajrayana and Tantric practice. | Human theologian |
| The Natural Person versus the Spiritual Person | 2:14-15 | High | ψυχικός (“natural person,” प्राकृतिक मानिस) must not imply any claim about ātman/anātman; it is a pneumatological category (has/lacks the Spirit), not an anthropological one. | Human theologian |
| Holy Spirit (baseline) | 2:10-14 | Critical | पवित्र आत्मा; never ब्रह्म or परमात्मा. | Human theologian |
1 Corinthians 3 — Factions, Building, and the Temple
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Unity versus Factionalism | 3:1-9 | High | ”Jealousy and strife” among believers as evidence of immaturity; same फूट caution as ch.1. | Human theologian |
| The Church and the Believer as Temple of the Holy Spirit (corporate) | 3:16-17 | High | मन्दिर is saturated with live Hindu temple-worship associations (Pashupatinath, thousands of local shrines). Applied metaphorically to the congregation, it requires a clarifying gloss at first use to avoid implying the church is a site for ritual devotion. | Human theologian |
| Natural Person versus Spiritual Person | 3:1-3 | High | ”Fleshly” (शारीरिक स्वभावको) believers behaving like unregenerate people; continuity with ch.2’s category. | Human theologian |
1 Corinthians 4 — Apostolic Ministry and Stewardship
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apostolic Gospel Tradition (spiritual fatherhood aspect) | 4:14-16 | High | ”I became your father through the gospel” must not be read through the guru-shishya lineage model (a spiritual master transmitting and refining teaching across disciples) common in Nepali Hindu and Buddhist practice; Paul’s fatherhood is gospel-originated, not a transmissible teaching-lineage office. | Human theologian |
| Christian Unity versus Factionalism (boasting) | 4:6-7 | Medium | घमण्ड/गर्व गर्नु — boasting in a particular teacher versus boasting in the Lord; reinforces ch.1-3 pattern. | Native speaker review |
| Apostle (baseline) | 4:9 | Medium | प्रेरित; distinct from a generic guru/lama-style spiritual teacher role. | Native speaker review |
| Kingdom of God (baseline) | 4:20 | Medium | परमेश्वरको राज्य is God’s reign in power, not merely persuasive speech. | Native speaker review |
1 Corinthians 5 — Church Discipline and Christ Our Passover
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Church Discipline and Holiness | 5:1-13 | High | ”Purge the evil person from among you” (5:13) must be distinguished from Nepal’s own caste-based social excommunication/untouchability practices, formally codified until the 1963 Muluki Ain reforms and still socially present in places. Biblical discipline is corrective and restoration-aimed, never a permanent caste-like social death. | Human theologian |
| Christ Our Passover: Sacrificial Typology | 5:6-8 | High | निस्तार-चाड (Passover) typology requires Old Testament sacrificial background; must be taught as pointing to Christ’s atoning death, not referenced as an unfamiliar historical festival alone. | Human theologian |
| Sin (baseline) | 5:1 | High | पाप; sexual immorality named specifically as sin against a personal God. | Human theologian |
1 Corinthians 6 — Lawsuits, Sexual Holiness, and Redemption
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sexual Ethics and Bodily Holiness | 6:9-20 | High | यौन अनैतिकता framed as sin against a personal, holy God, not merely ritual defilement or social shame (both categories exist in Nepali cultural understanding but the personal-God ground must not be lost). | Human theologian |
| The Church and the Believer as Temple of the Holy Spirit (individual) | 6:19-20 | High | ”Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” — same मन्दिर collision risk as 3:16-17, now applied to the individual believer’s body; gloss required. | Human theologian |
| Redemption: Bought with a Price | 6:19-20 | High | मूल्य तिरी किनिएका must not evoke lingering cultural memory of the historic kamaiya bonded-labor/debt-slavery system in parts of Nepal; the metaphor is liberating, not enslaving. | Human theologian |
| Resurrection of Believers (bodily continuity) | 6:14 | Critical | ”God raised the Lord and will also raise us up” — पुनरुत्थान, never पुनर्जन्म; establishes bodily resurrection hope grounding the ethical argument of this chapter. | Human theologian |
| Kingdom of God (baseline) | 6:9-10 | Medium | परमेश्वरको राज्य; vice list requires careful, non-euphemistic rendering. | Native speaker review |
1 Corinthians 7 — Marriage and Singleness
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marriage and Singleness | 7:1-40 | High | कुमारी is not religiously neutral in Nepal — it is the title of the living goddess of the Kathmandu Valley Newar tradition, a globally recognized, state-connected religious institution. Rendering Paul’s ordinary “unmarried virgin woman” with कुमारी alone risks unintended sacral resonance; a qualifying phrase and translator note are required at every occurrence. | Human theologian |
| Spiritual Gifts (extended sense: marital state as gift) | 7:7 | Medium | आत्मिक वरदान extended to singleness/marriage as a Spirit-given calling, not merely personal preference or social failure to marry. | Native speaker review |
| Divine Calling (baseline, “called” in one’s state) | 7:17-24 | High | बोलाइएका/बोलावट — remaining in one’s calling is not fatalistic acceptance of a fixed social/caste station; must not be read as endorsing caste-linked station-fixity. | Human theologian |
1 Corinthians 8 — Christian Liberty and Idol Meat (Part 1)
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Liberty and Idol Meat | 8:1-13 | High | Food “offered to idols” directly parallels the still-living Nepali Hindu practice of प्रसाद — food ritually offered to a deity, then shared with and eaten by worshipers regardless of their own faith. This is a live weekly social situation for Nepali believers, not an academic case. | Human theologian |
| The Non-Reality of Idols | 8:4-6 | Medium | Paul’s claim that “an idol has no real existence” must remain clear without reading as dismissive mockery of neighbors’ devotion, which would work against evangelistic witness. | Native speaker review |
| Knowledge versus Love | 8:1-3 | High | ज्ञान (Sanskrit jñāna) is a technical soteriological term in Hindu jñāna-yoga and Buddhist prajñā traditions (liberating knowledge/insight as a path to release). Paul’s γνῶσις here is correct doctrinal understanding that, without love, becomes destructive — the opposite dynamic from a knowledge-path to liberation. | Human theologian |
1 Corinthians 9 — Apostolic Rights and Gospel Adaptability
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evangelism and Proclamation | 9:14-23 | High | ”Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel” and “all things to all people” — adaptability in method must not be softened into doctrinal relativism, nor read as underground/illegal recruitment framing under current Nepali law. | Human theologian |
| Apostle (baseline) | 9:1-2 | Medium | प्रेरित; Paul’s defense of his apostolic office and its rights. | Native speaker review |
| Christ Our Passover / OT typology (sacrificial-worker imagery) | 9:13 | Medium | ”Those who serve at the altar” — temple-service imagery from the Old Testament priesthood, requires background note distinct from Hindu temple-priest (पुजारी) service. | Native speaker review |
1 Corinthians 10 — Idol Meat (Part 2) and the Lord’s Table
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exclusivity of the Lord’s Table | 10:14-22 | High | Concrete relevance in Nepal, where ritual offerings and shared ritual meals to spirits/deities remain active in mainstream Hindu practice and Himalayan/hill shamanic (jhākri/dhāmi) traditions. Must be taught as genuine spiritual exclusivity, not mere dietary preference. | Human theologian |
| Unity of Jews and Greeks in the Church | 10:18 | High | Israel’s sacrificial-fellowship pattern extends into the church’s unity across social distinction; directly relevant to caste-based spiritual hierarchy formerly codified in Nepal’s Muluki Ain. | Human theologian |
| Christian Liberty and Idol Meat | 10:23-31 | High | ”Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” applied to the प्रसाद-adjacent eating situation continued from ch.8. | Human theologian |
| Glory of God (baseline) | 10:31 | High | महिमा; the governing principle for liberty decisions. | Human theologian |
1 Corinthians 11 — The Lord’s Supper and Order in Worship
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Lord’s Supper | 11:17-34 | High | प्रभु भोज must be clearly distinguished from an ordinary communal meal (Paul’s own complaint, 11:20-22) and from any parallel ritual-meal or spirit-offering feast in Nepali religious life. | Human theologian |
| Head Covering and Gender Order in Worship | 11:2-16 | Medium | The underlying honor/order principle must be distinguished from unrelated Hindu head-covering/sari-veiling conventions at temple worship, which carry different ritual-purity associations. | Native speaker review |
| Image and Glory (εἰκών, δόξα) | 11:7 | Medium | स्वरूप/महिमा; avoid प्रतिमूर्ति (contains मूर्ति/“idol” root). | Native speaker review |
1 Corinthians 12 — Spiritual Gifts, Baptism, and the Body of Christ
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ | 12:1-31 | High | आत्मिक वरदान must always be paired with आत्मिक since वरदान alone means “boon,” familiar from Hindu deity-grants-a-boon narratives; gifts are Spirit-distributed for the common good, not individually merited. | Human theologian |
| The Church as the Body of Christ | 12:12-27 | High | ख्रीष्टको शरीर directly extends the baseline’s Unity of Jews/Gentiles doctrine to unity across every social distinction — concrete force given caste-linked division formerly codified in Nepal’s Muluki Ain until 1963. | Human theologian |
| Baptism into One Body | 12:13 | High | बप्तिस्मा must be clearly distinguished from repeatable Hindu ritual purificatory bathing (e.g., Bagmati River or other tirthas); this is a one-time, Spirit-wrought union transcending ethnic/social division. | Human theologian |
| The Gift of Tongues | 12:10, 12:28-30 | High | अन्य भाषा must be distinguished from ecstatic trance-speech associated with jhākri/dhāmi spirit-possession ritual, in which an entranced medium speaks while possessed. The biblical gift is Spirit-given, exercised in full self-possession, intelligible or interpretable. | Human theologian |
| Discerning of Spirits | 12:10 | High | Must be grounded as biblical, Spirit-given discernment exercised within the church, not assimilated to shamanic spirit-diagnosis/exorcism ritual. | Human theologian |
| Unity of Jews and Greeks | 12:13 | High | ”Jews or Greeks, slaves or free” — same caste-relevant force as ch.10. | Human theologian |
| Holy Spirit (baseline) | 12:3-13 | Critical | पवित्र आत्मा throughout; never ब्रह्म/परमात्मा. | Human theologian |
1 Corinthians 13 — Love as the Greater Way
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Love as the Greater Way | 13:1-13 | High | प्रेम in ordinary Nepali usage carries strong romantic/familial connotations, and Nepal’s Hindu devotional culture is saturated with bhakti-प्रेम narrative and song (most famously Radha-Krishna devotional romance). ἀγάπη must be clearly taught as committed, self-giving, non-erotic, non-preferential love — requiring repeated contextual framing throughout, not a one-time footnote, given this doctrine’s status as a named curriculum doctrine. | Human theologian |
| Puffed Up / Arrogant | 13:4 | Medium | फुलिनु/अहंकारी हुनु; love’s negative-definition list. | Native speaker review |
1 Corinthians 14 — Tongues, Prophecy, and Order in Worship
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Gift of Tongues | 14:1-33 | High | Continues ch.12’s shamanic-trance-speech caution; here with the added requirement that tongues in corporate worship be interpreted, reinforcing intelligibility over ecstatic mystery. | Human theologian |
| Order in Worship | 14:26-40 | Medium | ”Decently and in order” (व्यवस्थित तरिका) is procedural and low-collision, but must not be over-ritualized into a fixed liturgical form foreign to the text’s flexible congregational setting. | Native speaker review |
| Mutual Edification | 14:3-5, 14:26 | Low | मण्डलीको उन्नति/निर्माण; building one another up through orderly, intelligible worship. | Automated review |
| Prophecy/Prophet (baseline) | 14:1-39 | Low | अगमवाणी/अगमवक्ता; distinct from ज्योतिषी (astrologer/fortune-teller). | Automated review |
1 Corinthians 15 — The Resurrection (Core Passage) and Its Implications
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Resurrection of Christ | 15:3-8, 15:20-22, core passage 15:1-11 | Critical | पुनरुत्थान must never be रendered पुनर्जन्म. The resurrection-appearance verb ὤφθη (15:5-8) must never use दर्शन, the vivid, currently-practiced Hindu devotional term for a deity or holy person becoming visible to a worshiper at a shrine (e.g., Pashupatinath darshan); this would recast Paul’s evidentiary eyewitness list as devotional vision rather than objective historical testimony. | Human theologian |
| The Resurrection of Believers | 15:12-58 | Critical | The “spiritual body” (15:44) is the SAME body transformed, continuous personal identity — not a soul migrating into a different body as in Hindu/Buddhist rebirth cosmology or the Tibetan tulku reincarnation-recognition tradition present in Nepal’s Himalayan Buddhist communities. अमरता (15:53-54) must be distinguished from the Samudra Manthan अमृत myth. | Human theologian |
| Apostolic Gospel Tradition | 15:1-3, 15:11, core passage | High | παραδίδωμι/παραλαμβάνω describe a fixed, non-evolving apostolic creedal deposit. Must not be rendered with परम्परा (“tradition/lineage”), which suggests the guru-parampara model of oral teaching later refined by the receiving disciple. | Human theologian |
| Fulfillment of Prophecy | 15:3-4, 15:54 | High | पवित्रशास्त्र never धर्मशास्त्र. The linear fulfillment pattern (promise → historical fulfillment) must stay distinct from Hindu śruti (eternally “heard” revelation) and the Buddhist sutra tradition. | Human theologian |
| Resurrection Body Transformation | 15:35-54 | High | Transformation of the SAME body, not a soul migrating into a new body as in Hindu/Buddhist rebirth frameworks; this verse-pair is where the doctrine could most easily be misread as compatible with rebirth if not handled with care. | Human theologian |
| Grace and Apostolic Calling | 15:9-10, core passage | High | Paul’s entire apostolic identity and labor are attributed to अनुग्रह, not merit, reinforcing the mandate to guard the grace/karma-merit contrast (Hindu पुण्य and Buddhist merit-accumulation frameworks); his labor must not be read as accumulating spiritual credit. | Human theologian |
| Evangelism and Proclamation | 15:1, 15:11 | High | ”The gospel I preached to you” — same legal-sensitivity caution as chs.1, 9. | Human theologian |
| Gospel, Faith, Salvation, Sin (baseline) | 15:1-3, 15:17, 15:56 | Critical/High | सुसमाचार, विश्वास, उद्धार, पाप all reused exactly per baseline; the core passage is the densest concentration of Critical-tier baseline terms in the curriculum. | Human theologian |
| Lord (baseline, “Lord Jesus Christ”) | 15:57 | Critical | प्रभु; exclusive, supreme Lordship secured through the resurrection victory declared in this chapter. | Human theologian |
| Kingdom of God (baseline) | 15:24, 15:50 | Medium | परमेश्वरको राज्य; Christ’s reign consummated at the resurrection/return. | Native speaker review |
1 Corinthians 16 — Giving, Greetings, and Closing Exhortation
| Doctrine | Supporting Passages | Risk | Translation Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Fellowship and Giving | 16:1-4, 16:15-18 | Low | चन्दा सङ्कलन; standard cooperative giving instruction. Expresses the same सहभागिता carrying real lived weight given the church’s recent history of legal restriction, but low doctrinal-collision risk in itself. | Automated review |
| Thanksgiving (baseline) | 16:4 (implied), cf. 1:4 | Low | धन्यवाद; standard term. | Automated review |
| Mutual Edification | 16:15-18 | Low | उत्साहित पार्नु; commendation of household service. | Automated review |
| Maranatha / Closing Benediction | 16:22-23 | Medium | मारन आथा transliterated Aramaic, parallel to अब्बा; needs explanatory gloss on first use. “Accursed” language (16:22) requires careful, non-inflammatory register. | Native speaker review |
| Holy Kiss | 16:20 | Medium | पवित्र अभिवादन; cultural greeting-gesture adaptation for a Nepali context where cheek-kissing is not a standard greeting norm. | Native speaker review |
| Church, Fellowship (baseline) | 16:1-16, 16:19 | Medium/Low | मण्डली, सहभागिता reused throughout closing greetings. | Native speaker review |
Book-Level Doctrine Summary Table
(Matches doctrine_risk_registry.json exactly — same doctrine identifiers, names, and tiers.)
| # | Doctrine | Risk | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Resurrection of Christ | Critical | Human theologian |
| 2 | The Resurrection of Believers | Critical | Human theologian |
| 3 | The Gospel as a Fixed Apostolic Deposit | High | Human theologian |
| 4 | Fulfillment of Prophecy | High | Human theologian |
| 5 | Christian Unity versus Factionalism | High | Human theologian |
| 6 | The Church as the Body of Christ | High | Human theologian |
| 7 | The Cross as Wisdom and Power | High | Human theologian |
| 8 | The Mystery of God’s Revealed Wisdom | High | Human theologian |
| 9 | The Natural Person versus the Spiritual Person | High | Human theologian |
| 10 | Church Discipline and Holiness | High | Human theologian |
| 11 | The Church and Believer as Temple of the Holy Spirit | High | Human theologian |
| 12 | Sexual Ethics and Bodily Holiness | High | Human theologian |
| 13 | Redemption: Bought with a Price | High | Human theologian |
| 14 | Marriage and Singleness | High | Human theologian |
| 15 | Christian Liberty and Idol Meat | High | Human theologian |
| 16 | The Non-Reality of Idols | Medium | Native speaker review |
| 17 | Knowledge versus Love | High | Human theologian |
| 18 | Unity of Jews and Greeks in the Church | High | Human theologian |
| 19 | The Lord’s Supper | High | Human theologian |
| 20 | Exclusivity of the Lord’s Table | High | Human theologian |
| 21 | Order in Worship | Medium | Native speaker review |
| 22 | Head Covering and Gender Order in Worship | Medium | Native speaker review |
| 23 | Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ | High | Human theologian |
| 24 | Baptism into One Body | High | Human theologian |
| 25 | The Gift of Tongues | High | Human theologian |
| 26 | Discerning of Spirits | High | Human theologian |
| 27 | Love as the Greater Way | High | Human theologian |
| 28 | Resurrection Body Transformation | High | Human theologian |
| 29 | Christ Our Passover: Sacrificial Typology | High | Human theologian |
| 30 | Grace and Apostolic Calling | High | Human theologian |
| 31 | Evangelism and Proclamation | High | Human theologian |
| 32 | Christian Fellowship and Giving | Low | Automated review |
| 33 | Mutual Edification | Low | Automated review |
| 34 | Thanksgiving | Low | Automated review |
Risk Summary: Critical: 2 · High: 26 · Medium: 3 · Low: 3 · Total requiring theologian review: 28 · Total requiring native speaker review: 3 · Total automated-only: 3
Full-Book Coverage Confirmation
All sixteen chapters of 1 Corinthians have been reviewed. No chapter was silently omitted. Chapters 4, 9, and 16 — the lightest in new doctrinal load-bearing content relative to the ten named curriculum doctrines — are explicitly documented above (apostolic stewardship/spiritual fatherhood in ch.4; apostolic rights and missionary adaptability in ch.9; giving, greetings, and closing exhortation in ch.16), each carrying at minimum reused baseline terms (प्रेरित, मण्डली, सहभागिता, धन्यवाद) plus at least one Medium-or-higher risk item specific to this curriculum.
This document extends, and must remain fully consistent with, the Romans baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json and this curriculum’s own doctrine_risk_registry.json. See 08_core_glossary.md for the underlying term inventory and 12_ai_translation_requirements.md (to follow) for enforcement instructions.
Critical Risk Doctrines
The Resurrection of Christ
Nepali name: ख्रीष्टको पुनरुत्थान
Key terms: resurrection, resurrection_appearance, buried, third day
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: पुनरुत्थान must never be rendered पुनर्जन्म (rebirth). The resurrection-appearance verb ὤφθη (15:5-8) must never use दर्शन, the vivid, currently-practiced Hindu devotional term for a deity or holy person becoming visible to a worshiper at a temple/shrine (e.g. Pashupatinath darshan); this would recast Paul’s evidentiary eyewitness list as devotional visions rather than objective historical testimony.
The Resurrection of Believers
Nepali name: विश्वासीहरूको पुनरुत्थान
Key terms: resurrection of the dead, spiritual_body, natural_body, imperishable, immortality
Review routing: Human theologian
CRITICAL: the ‘spiritual body’ (15:44) is the SAME body transformed, continuous personal identity, not a soul migrating into a different body as in Hindu/Buddhist rebirth cosmology (the six realms) or the Tibetan tulku reincarnation-recognition tradition present in Nepal’s Himalayan Buddhist communities. अमरता (immortality, 15:53-54) must be distinguished from the Samudra Manthan अमृत myth of gods and demons contending for the nectar of deathlessness.
High Risk Doctrines
The Gospel as a Fixed Apostolic Deposit
Nepali name: प्रेरितहरूद्वारा सुम्पिएको स्थिर सुसमाचार
Key terms: delivered_received, gospel, of first importance
Review routing: Human theologian
παραδίδωμι/παραλαμβάνω describe a fixed, non-evolving apostolic creedal deposit. Must not be rendered with परम्परा (‘tradition/lineage’), which would suggest the guru-parampara model in which a disciple receives oral teaching later refined by the receiving disciple, common in Nepali Hindu and Buddhist teacher-lineage practice.
Fulfillment of Prophecy
Nepali name: अगमवाणीको पूर्ति
Key terms: scripture, according to the Scriptures
Review routing: Human theologian
पवित्रशास्त्र must never be rendered धर्मशास्त्र, since धर्म carries the caste-code and Hindu-kingdom weight already excluded across this pipeline. The linear fulfillment pattern (promise, then historical fulfillment) must be kept distinct from Hindu śruti (eternally ‘heard’ revelation) and the Buddhist sutra tradition.
Christian Unity versus Factionalism
Nepali name: मसीही एकता विरुद्ध फूट
Key terms: division_schism, quarrels_contentions, boast, body_of_christ
Review routing: Human theologian
Corinth’s teacher-loyalty factions (Paul/Apollos/Cephas/Christ, 1:12) map uncomfortably well onto Nepal’s own live ethnic, caste, and party-political factional identities. फूट must be taught as a specifically ecclesial sin, not conflated with these wider social/political fault lines.
The Church as the Body of Christ
Nepali name: ख्रीष्टको शरीरको रूपमा मण्डली
Key terms: body_of_christ, member, baptism_one_spirit
Review routing: Human theologian
ख्रीष्टको शरीर directly extends the baseline’s ‘Unity of Jews and Gentiles’ doctrine to unity across every social distinction (‘Jews or Greeks, slaves or free,’ 12:13) — a message with concrete force given caste-linked social division formally codified in Nepal’s own Muluki Ain until 1963.
The Cross as Wisdom and Power
Nepali name: क्रूस: बुद्धि र सामर्थ्य
Key terms: wisdom, foolishness, cross, power_of_god, stumbling_block
Review routing: Human theologian
बुद्धि shares its root with बोधि/बुद्ध (‘the Awakened One’); God’s wisdom revealed in the cross must not be assimilated to Buddhist enlightenment attained through meditative insight, but taught as revealed, cross-centered, gift wisdom the world calls foolish. परमेश्वरको सामर्थ्य required; never शक्ति (Newar Tantric Shakta/Kumari association).
The Mystery of God’s Revealed Wisdom
Nepali name: परमेश्वरको प्रकट गरिएको रहस्ययुक्त बुद्धि
Key terms: mystery, spirit of God
Review routing: Human theologian
Nepal’s living Newar Vajrayana Buddhist and Hindu Tantric traditions maintain active esoteric, initiation-restricted ‘secret’ (गुह्य) teaching. रहस्य here is the opposite dynamic: once-hidden truth now openly and publicly proclaimed to all believers, not privileged teaching reserved for an initiated elite.
The Natural Person versus the Spiritual Person
Nepali name: प्राकृतिक मानिस विरुद्ध आत्मिक मानिस
Key terms: natural_person_unspiritual, spiritual_adj
Review routing: Human theologian
ψυχικός (‘natural person’) describes someone without the indwelling Holy Spirit — a pneumatological category. It must never be rendered so as to imply a claim about the existence, nature, or absence of an inner soul/ātman, a concept central to Hindu anthropology and, in negated form (anātman), to Buddhist anthropology.
Church Discipline and Holiness
Nepali name: मण्डलीय अनुशासन र पवित्रता
Key terms: church_discipline_expel, leaven_unleavened, christ_our_passover
Review routing: Human theologian
Church discipline (‘purge the evil person from among you,’ 5:13) must be carefully distinguished from Nepal’s own caste-based social excommunication and untouchability practices, formally codified until the 1963 Muluki Ain reforms and still socially present in places. It is corrective, temporary, and aimed at repentance and restoration, never a permanent caste-like social death.
The Church and the Believer as Temple of the Holy Spirit
Nepali name: पवित्र आत्माको मन्दिर
Key terms: temple_of_god, holy_spirit
Review routing: Human theologian
मन्दिर is saturated with concrete, currently-practiced Hindu temple-worship associations (Pashupatinath and thousands of local shrines). Applied metaphorically to the church (corporate, 3:16) and to the believer’s body (individual, 6:19), it risks being read as implying the church or body is itself a site for ritual devotion practiced at a Hindu मन्दिर. A clarifying gloss is required at first use in every context.
Sexual Ethics and Bodily Holiness
Nepali name: यौन नैतिकता र शारीरिक पवित्रता
Key terms: sexual_immorality, bought_with_a_price, washed
Review routing: Human theologian
यौन अनैतिकता must be framed as sin against a personal, holy God (see baseline पाप), not primarily as ritual defilement or social shame, though both categories exist in Nepali cultural understanding of sexual sin; the underlying ground (belonging to God, not self) must not be lost.
Redemption: Bought with a Price
Nepali name: मूल्य तिरी किनिएको उद्धार
Key terms: bought_with_a_price, righteousness
Review routing: Human theologian
The purchase/redemption metaphor must not be flattened into a purely commercial transaction, nor evoke lingering social memory of literal bonded-labor/debt-slavery arrangements still within living cultural memory in parts of Nepal (e.g. the historic kamaiya system), obscuring the liberating, not enslaving, intent of the metaphor.
Marriage and Singleness
Nepali name: विवाह र अविवाहित जीवन
Key terms: marriage, unmarried_singleness, virgin, divorce_separation
Review routing: Human theologian
कुमारी is not a religiously neutral word in Nepal: it is the title of the living goddess of the Kathmandu Valley Newar tradition, a globally recognized, state-connected religious institution. Rendering Paul’s ordinary ‘unmarried virgin woman’ with कुमारी alone risks an unintended sacral resonance entirely foreign to the text; a qualifying phrase and translator note are required at every occurrence.
Christian Liberty and Idol Meat
Nepali name: मसीही स्वतन्त्रता र मूर्तिलाई चढाइएको भोजन
Key terms: idol, food_offered_to_idols, liberty_right, conscience
Review routing: Human theologian
Food ‘offered to idols’ directly parallels the still-living Nepali Hindu practice of प्रसाद (prasad) — food ritually offered to a deity, then distributed to and eaten by worshipers, often shared with neighbors regardless of their own faith. This is a live, weekly social situation for Nepali believers, not an academic case.
Knowledge versus Love
Nepali name: ज्ञान विरुद्ध प्रेम
Key terms: knowledge, love_agape
Review routing: Human theologian
ज्ञान (Sanskrit jñāna) is a technical soteriological term in both Hindu jñāna-yoga (liberating knowledge as a path to mokṣa) and Buddhist prajñā traditions (liberating insight). Paul’s γνῶσις is correct doctrinal understanding that, without love, becomes spiritually destructive — the opposite dynamic from a knowledge-path to liberation; this contrast must be made explicit.
Unity of Jews and Greeks in the Church
Nepali name: यहूदी र युनानीहरूको एकता
Key terms: israel, body_of_christ, baptism_one_spirit
Review routing: Human theologian
Directly extends the baseline’s caste-relevant ‘Unity of Jews and Gentiles’ doctrine; Corinth’s own Jew/Greek social distinction is dissolved ‘in one Spirit’ (12:13), a pattern that must retain full force given caste-based spiritual hierarchy formerly codified in Nepal’s own Muluki Ain.
The Lord’s Supper
Nepali name: प्रभु भोज
Key terms: lords_supper, remembrance, discern_the_body, judgment_discipline_sacramental, covenant
Review routing: Human theologian
प्रभु भोज is the sacramental core of the chapter; it must be clearly distinguished from an ordinary communal meal (Paul’s own complaint, 11:20-22) and from any parallel ritual-meal, spirit-offering, or feast practice in Nepali religious life.
Exclusivity of the Lord’s Table
Nepali name: प्रभुको टेबलको विशिष्टता
Key terms: cup_table_of_the_lord, participation_communion
Review routing: Human theologian
This exclusivity claim has direct, concrete relevance in Nepal, where ritual offerings and shared ritual meals to spirits/deities remain an active part of both mainstream Hindu practice and Himalayan/hill shamanic (jhākri/dhāmi) traditions. The doctrine must be taught as genuine spiritual exclusivity — one cannot rightly participate in both — not mere dietary preference.
Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ
Nepali name: आत्मिक वरदान र ख्रीष्टको शरीर
Key terms: spiritual_gifts, member, body_of_christ
Review routing: Human theologian
आत्मिक वरदान must always be paired with आत्मिक (Spirit-given) per baseline rule, since वरदान alone means ‘boon,’ familiar from Hindu deity-grants-a-boon narratives; gifts here are Spirit-distributed for the common good, not individually merited or bestowed as a personal favor.
Baptism into One Body
Nepali name: एउटै शरीरमा बप्तिस्मा
Key terms: baptism_one_spirit, body_of_christ
Review routing: Human theologian
बप्तिस्मा must be clearly distinguished from repeatable Hindu ritual purificatory bathing (e.g. in the Bagmati River or at other sacred tirthas); this is a one-time, Spirit-wrought union of the believer with Christ and his body, transcending ethnic and social division.
The Gift of Tongues
Nepali name: अन्य भाषाको वरदान
Key terms: tongues, interpretation
Review routing: Human theologian
The gift of tongues must be carefully distinguished from ecstatic trance-speech associated with spirit-possession in Nepali shamanic (jhākri/dhāmi) ritual practice, in which an entranced medium speaks in altered or unintelligible speech while possessed by a spirit. The biblical gift is Spirit-given, exercised by a believer in full self-possession, and intelligible or interpretable in corporate worship.
Discerning of Spirits
Nepali name: आत्माहरूको पहिचान
Key terms: discerning_of_spirits
Review routing: Human theologian
Given the prominence of spirit-discernment, exorcism, and spirit-identification rites among Nepali shamanic practitioners, this gift must be clearly grounded as biblical, Spirit-given discernment exercised within the church, not assimilated to shamanic diagnostic practice.
Love as the Greater Way
Nepali name: प्रेम: उत्तम मार्ग
Key terms: love_agape, puffed_up_arrogant
Review routing: Human theologian
प्रेम in ordinary Nepali usage carries strong romantic and familial connotations, and Nepal’s Hindu devotional culture is saturated with bhakti-प्रेम narrative and song (most famously Radha-Krishna devotional romance). ἀγάπη must be clearly taught as committed, self-giving, non-erotic, non-preferential love, not assimilated to romantic bhakti-प्रेम devotionalism — a distinction requiring repeated contextual framing, not a one-time footnote, given this doctrine’s status as a named curriculum doctrine.
Resurrection Body Transformation
Nepali name: पुनरुत्थान शरीरको रूपान्तरण
Key terms: spiritual_body, natural_body, imperishable, immortality
Review routing: Human theologian
Describes transformation of the SAME body, not a soul migrating into a new, different body as in Hindu/Buddhist rebirth frameworks; this verse-pair is where the resurrection doctrine could most easily be misread as compatible with rebirth if not handled with care.
Christ Our Passover: Sacrificial Typology
Nepali name: हाम्रो निस्तार-चाड ख्रीष्ट
Key terms: christ_our_passover, leaven_unleavened
Review routing: Human theologian
This sacrificial-substitution typology parallels the baseline’s messianic promise/fulfillment doctrine (already High/Critical); it must be clearly taught as pointing to Christ’s atoning death, not merely referenced as a historical festival unfamiliar to a non-Old-Testament-literate audience.
Grace and Apostolic Calling
Nepali name: अनुग्रह र प्रेरितीय बोलावट
Key terms: grace, called, apostle
Review routing: Human theologian
Paul’s entire apostolic identity and labor are attributed to अनुग्रह, not merit, reinforcing the baseline’s mandate to guard the grace/karma-merit contrast (Hindu पुण्य and Buddhist merit-accumulation frameworks) at every occurrence; his labor must not be read as accumulating spiritual credit.
Evangelism and Proclamation
Nepali name: सुसमाचार प्रचार
Key terms: preach_proclaim, mission, gospel
Review routing: Human theologian
As with the baseline’s ‘Evangelism’ doctrine, proclamation language must be worded so as not to read as illegal recruitment-style solicitation under Nepal’s 2017 Muluki Criminal Code religious-conversion provisions — a live, current legal risk distinct from purely social sensitivity.
Medium Risk Doctrines
The Non-Reality of Idols
Nepali name: मूर्तिको अवास्तविकता
Key terms: idol
Review routing: Native speaker review
Paul’s claim that ‘an idol has no real existence’ (8:4) must remain clear without reading as dismissive mockery of neighbors’ devotion, which would work against, not for, evangelistic witness in a Hindu-majority social context.
Order in Worship
Nepali name: आराधनामा व्यवस्था
Key terms: order, edification
Review routing: Native speaker review
The controlling principle (‘decently and in order,’ 14:40) is procedural and low-collision, but must not be over-ritualized into a fixed liturgical form foreign to the text’s own flexible congregational setting.
Head Covering and Gender Order in Worship
Nepali name: शिर छोप्ने चलन र लिङ्ग-सम्बन्धी क्रम
Key terms: head_covering, image_and_glory
Review routing: Native speaker review
The underlying principle (honor/order in worship) must be distinguished from any parallel-looking but theologically unrelated Hindu head-covering custom (e.g. sari-veiling conventions at temple worship), which carries different ritual-purity associations.
Low Risk Doctrines
Christian Fellowship and Giving
Nepali name: मसीही सहभागिता र दान
Key terms: collection, fellowship
Review routing: Automated review
Standard cooperative giving instruction; low doctrinal collision risk, though it expresses the same सहभागिता already carrying real lived weight for this audience given the church’s recent history of legal restriction.
Mutual Edification
Nepali name: आपसी वृद्धि
Key terms: edification, order
Review routing: Automated review
Building one another up through orderly, intelligible worship; no significant doctrinal risk beyond standard vocabulary consistency.
Thanksgiving
Nepali name: धन्यवाद
Key terms: thanksgiving, grace
Review routing: Automated review
Standard term reused from the baseline; minor risk of over-ritualization only.
Referenced passages