Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 1 John (English → Nepali)
This glossary compiles every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, across all five chapters of 1 John, including the core passage (4:7–21). Terms marked Baseline Reuse carry forward the exact rendering already fixed in the Romans translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json and must not be altered. Terms marked New are proposed additions for this curriculum, pending confirmation and formal addition to an updated translation memory in Phase 1 Step 2 and beyond. Risk tiers follow the baseline’s four-tier convention (Critical / High / Medium / Low) and its review-routing logic (Critical/High → human theologian; Medium → native speaker; Low → automated).
Reused Baseline Terms Occurring in 1 John
| Term (EN) | Greek | Nepali Rendering | Risk | Doctrine(s) | Chapters | Status | Key Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | θεός | परमेश्वर | Critical | God is Light/Love; all | 1–5 | Baseline Reuse | Never भगवान (state-Hindu-Kingdom association). |
| Jesus | Ἰησοῦς | येशू | Critical | Incarnation; Assurance | 1–5 | Baseline Reuse | Established Nepali Christian standard form. |
| Son of God | υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ | परमेश्वरका पुत्र | Critical | Incarnation and Antichrist; Sonship | 1, 3, 4, 5 | Baseline Reuse | Never देवपुत्र; central confession-test in 4:15, 5:5. |
| Father | πατήρ | पिता | Critical | Fellowship with God | 1–3 | Baseline Reuse | Personal, relational Father. |
| Holy Spirit | (τὸ) πνεῦμα, referring to the Spirit | पवित्र आत्मा | Critical | Testing the Spirits; Fellowship | 3, 4, 5 | Baseline Reuse | 1 John never uses the bare phrase “Holy Spirit” — apply पवित्र आत्मा only where the referent is God’s own indwelling Spirit (3:24; 4:13), never for the tested/false “spirits” of 4:1–6. |
| Sin | ἁμαρτία | पाप | High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 1–5 | Baseline Reuse | Never अकुशल कर्म. |
| Righteousness | δικαιοσύνη | धार्मिकता | Critical | Love as Evidence of New Birth | 2, 3 | Baseline Reuse | Never धर्म; here functions as visible fruit of new birth as well as forensic status. |
| Fellowship | κοινωνία | सहभागिता | High (elevated for this curriculum) | Fellowship with God and One Another | 1 | Baseline Reuse | Baseline risk Low; elevated here since Fellowship is a named curriculum doctrine given its programmatic statement in 1:3. |
| Messiah/Christ | Χριστός | मसीह / ख्रीष्ट | Critical | Incarnation and Antichrist; Messianic confession | 2, 4, 5 | Baseline Reuse | 2:22, 4:2–3, 5:1 confession tests hinge on this term. |
| Resurrection (background) | ἀνάστασις (implicit, not lexically frequent in 1 John) | पुनरुत्थान | Critical | Assurance of Eternal Life (background doctrine) | — | Baseline Reuse | Retained for consistency; never पुनर्जन्म. |
| Faith/believe | πίστις / πιστεύω | विश्वास | High | Faith; Overcoming the World | 3, 4, 5 | Baseline Reuse | Basis of victory over the world, 5:4–5. |
| Intercession (root) | — (used to coordinate παράκλητος) | मध्यस्थता | Medium | Advocate (Christ’s intercession) | 2 | Baseline Reuse | Root reused to build मध्यस्थ (advocate), see New Terms table. |
| Prophet | προφήτης | अगमवक्ता | Low | Testing the Spirits (false prophets) | 4 | Baseline Reuse | Base for झूटा अगमवक्ता (false prophet). |
| Law (root) | νόμος (root only, via ἀνομία) | व्यवस्था | High | (background to Lawlessness) | 3 | Baseline Reuse | Root reused to build व्यवस्थाहीनता (lawlessness), see New Terms table. |
| Seed of David (contrast term) | σπέρμα Δαυίδ | दाऊदको वंश | High | (contrast with “seed of God,” 3:9) | — | Baseline Reuse | Cited for contrast only; not itself in 1 John. |
| Adoption (companion doctrine) | υἱοθεσία | दत्तक पुत्रता | High | Children of God (companion doctrine) | 3 | Baseline Reuse | Coordinate with, but distinct from, 1 John’s τέκνα θεοῦ (new-birth family-likeness) framing. |
New Terms Introduced by 1 John
| Term (EN) | Greek | Transliteration | Proposed Nepali Rendering | Risk | Doctrine(s) | Chapters | Rejected Alternatives | Key Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Love | ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω | agapē / agapaō | प्रेम | High | God is Light and God is Love; Love for the Brethren | 2, 3, 4, 5 | — | Distinguish from bhakti-style devotional love and from romantic/familial प्रेम without moral content. |
| God is love (identity statement) | ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν | ho theos agapē estin | परमेश्वर प्रेम हुनुहुन्छ | Critical | God is Light and God is Love | 4 | परमेश्वरले प्रेम गर्नुहुन्छ (activity-only, rejected) | Must preserve essence/identity predication, not reduce to activity-statement; parallels Romans 10:9 confession-fixing precedent. |
| Light | φῶς | phōs | ज्योति | High | God is Light | 1 | तेज (rejected, per baseline glory caution) | Avoid conflation with Hindu/Buddhist “enlightenment” attained through practice; God is Light is a revealed moral-relational claim. |
| Darkness | σκότος / σκοτία | skotos / skotia | अन्धकार | Medium | God is Light | 1 | — | Standard term; moral-relational, not merely absence of physical light. |
| Cleanse | καθαρίζω | katharizō | शुद्ध पार्नु | High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 1 | — | Must be flagged as moral/forensic cleansing by Christ’s blood, not ritual purification, despite reuse of शुद्ध root the baseline avoided for “holy.” |
| Confess (sin/doctrine) | ὁμολογέω | homologeō | स्वीकार गर्नु / अंगाल्नु | High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin; Incarnation and Antichrist | 1, 4 | — | Public, verbal acknowledgment; coordinate with Romans 10:9 confession pattern. |
| Blood | αἷμα | haima | रगत | Medium | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 1, 5 | — | Concrete, historical atoning blood of Christ; part of 5:6–8 threefold testimony. |
| Unrighteousness | ἀδικία | adikia | अधार्मिकता | High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 1 | अधर्म (rejected — retains धर्म root) | New coinage extending baseline’s धर्म-avoidance principle; flag for theologian review. |
| Word (of life) | λόγος (τῆς ζωῆς) | logos (tēs zōēs) | वचन (जीवनको वचन) | Critical | Incarnation (background); Fellowship | 1 | — | Guard against conflation with Vedic वाक्/शब्द ब्रह्म (Shabda Brahman); must be the personal, eternal Son. |
| Advocate | παράκλητος | paraklētos | मध्यस्थ | Critical | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin; Assurance | 2 | — | Critical collision with Mahayana Buddhist bodhisattva-intercessor/merit-transfer concept; anchor in Christ’s unique atoning work. |
| Propitiation | ἱλασμός | hilasmos | प्रायश्चित्तको बलिदान | Critical | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 2, 4 | प्रायश्चित्त alone (rejected — denotes self-performed Hindu penance) | Must retain बलिदान (sacrifice) to preserve God’s initiative/direction, opposite of self-performed expiation. |
| Antichrist | ἀντίχριστος | antichristos | ख्रीष्ट-विरोधी | Critical | The Incarnation and Antichrist | 2, 4 | generic “evil person,” Ravana/Mara-type mythological demon (rejected) | Specifically Christological heresy-denial figure, not generic evil or indigenous demonology. |
| Anointing | χρῖσμα | chrisma | अभिषेक (पवित्र आत्माको अभिषेक) | High | Testing the Spirits; Fellowship | 2 | — | Collision with Hindu deity-consecration ritual and former royal Shah-dynasty coronation rite; stress universality (every believer, not an elite). |
| The Holy One (title) | ὁ ἅγιος | ho hagios | पवित्र प्रभुबाट / पवित्र हुनुहुनेबाट | Medium-High | Testing the Spirits; Anointing | 2 | पवित्र जन (rejected — reserved for corporate “saints”) | Singular Christological/divine title; must not reuse baseline’s plural corporate “saints” term. |
| Children of God | τέκνα θεοῦ | tekna theou | परमेश्वरका सन्तान | High | Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | 2, 3 | — | Complements, does not replace, baseline’s दत्तक पुत्रता (legal adoption); emphasizes birth-nature/family likeness. |
| Born of God / New birth | γεννάω ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ | gennaō ek tou theou | परमेश्वरबाट जन्म पाएका / नयाँ जन्म | Critical | Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | 2, 3, 4, 5 | पुनर्जन्म (forbidden — reincarnation) | Always anchor with परमेश्वरबाट/पवित्र आत्माद्वारा; single decisive event, never a repeatable rebirth cycle. |
| Seed of God | σπέρμα (αὐτοῦ) | sperma (autou) | परमेश्वरको बीज | High | Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | 3 | — | Distinct from baseline’s “seed of David” (physical lineage); caution re: Tantric बीज मन्त्र (seed-syllable) associations. |
| Lawlessness | ἀνομία | anomia | व्यवस्थाहीनता | High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 3 | अधर्म (rejected — retains धर्म root) | New coinage built on baseline’s व्यवस्था (law), consistent with धर्म-avoidance principle. |
| Devil | διάβολος | diabolos | दियाबल / शैतान | High | The Incarnation and Antichrist | 3, 5 | — | Single personal fallen being; distinguish from Hindu/Buddhist demon classes and from folk भूत-प्रेत addressed by jhankri ritual. |
| Know (relational) | γινώσκω | ginōskō | चिन्नु | High | Assurance of Salvation; Testing the Spirits | 2, 3, 4 | जान्नु (fact-knowledge, distinguished not rejected) | Anti-Gnostic: relational/ethical knowledge tied to obedience and love, not esoteric secret knowledge. |
| Abide/remain | μένω | menō | रहनु | High | Fellowship with God and One Another | 1–4 | — | Personal, relational, ongoing communion between two distinct persons; not mystical absorption/non-dual union. |
| Perfect/perfected | τέλειος / τελειόω | teleios / teleioō | पूर्ण / पूर्ण हुनु | High | God is Love; Assurance of Salvation | 4 | सिद्ध (rejected — Hindu/Tantric siddha self-attainment) | Love brought to full, given (not self-achieved) completeness. |
| Confidence/boldness | παρρησία | parrēsia | निर्धक्कता / साहस | Medium-High | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | 3, 4 | — | Assurance grounded in Christ’s finished work, not karmic merit-accounting. |
| Fear | φόβος | phobos | डर | Medium | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | 4 | — | Dread of judgment cast out by perfected love; distinguish from positive “fear of the Lord” usage elsewhere. |
| Overcome/victory | νικάω / νίκη | nikaō / nikē | जित्नु / जीत | High | Overcoming the World | 2, 4, 5 | — | Victory through faith-union with Christ, not self-achieved yogic/Buddhist conquest of desire or craving. |
| World | κόσμος | kosmos | संसार | High | Overcoming the World; Universal Scope-adjacent | 1–5 | विदेशी (irrelevant/rejected) | Established Nepali Bible term but a major, direct collision with Hindu/Buddhist saṃsāra (rebirth cycle); teach as moral system opposed to God, not created/embodied existence itself. |
| Savior | σωτήρ | sōtēr | उद्धारकर्ता | High | Salvation; Universal Scope of the Gospel | 4 | — | Built on baseline’s Critical उद्धार; double collision risk when paired with संसार in “Savior of the world.” |
| Testify/testimony | μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία | martyreō / martyria | गवाही दिनु / गवाही | Medium | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | 1, 4, 5 | — | Forensic eyewitness testimony; distinguish from jhankri/dhami channeled spirit-oracle utterance. |
| Manifested/revealed | φανερόω | phaneroō | प्रकट हुनु | High | The Incarnation | 1, 3, 4 | — | Historical, once-for-all disclosure; not a repeatable avatar-style divine descent. |
| Only-begotten/unique Son | μονογενής | monogenēs | एकमात्र पुत्र | Critical | Sonship of Christ; Incarnation | 4 | — | Uniqueness of relationship, not implying a beginning in time; not a tulku-style reincarnate lineage. |
| Come in the flesh | ἐν σαρκί / σάρξ | en sarki / sarx | देहमा आउनुभयो (देहधारण) | Critical | The Incarnation and Antichrist | 4 | अवतार (forbidden, per baseline) | Denial of this is the doctrinal mark of antichrist (4:2–3); real, physical, once-for-all human nature. |
| Test the spirits | δοκιμάζω (τὰ πνεύματα) | dokimazō (ta pneumata) | आत्माहरूलाई जाँच्नु | High | Testing the Spirits | 4 | — | Doctrinal/Christological test, not comparative assessment of ritual/spiritual power as in jhankri-dhami practice. |
| Spirit(s) (general, tested) | πνεῦμα | pneuma | आत्मा (never पवित्र आत्मा for this sense) | Critical | Testing the Spirits | 4 | — | Must be disambiguated per-occurrence from the Holy Spirit; आत्मा alone risks Vedantic Ātman / folk ghost-spirit associations. |
| False prophet | ψευδοπροφήτης | pseudoprophētēs | झूटा अगमवक्ता | Medium | Testing the Spirits | 4 | — | Compound built on baseline’s अगमवक्ता. |
| Eternal life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος | zōē aiōnios | अनन्त जीवन | Critical | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | 1, 2, 3, 5 | मोक्ष/मुक्ति/निर्वाण (forbidden, per baseline) | Present, knowable, unending relational life with God; not extended favorable rebirths nor cessation of self. |
| Idols | εἴδωλον | eidōlon | मूर्ति | High | (Closing exhortation; Overcoming the World) | 5 | — | Concrete, highly visible referent in Nepali daily religious life; retain full unqualified force. |
| The evil one | ὁ πονηρός | ho ponēros | दुष्ट / शैतान | Medium | The Incarnation and Antichrist; Overcoming the World | 5 | — | Same personal figure as διάβολος (3:8). |
| Liar | ψεύστης | pseustēs | झूटा | Low-Medium | Love for the Brethren; Testing the Spirits | 2, 4 | — | Accusatory force must be retained, not softened to “mistaken.” |
| Brother | ἀδελφός | adelphos | भाई (भाइबहिनी where inclusive clarity needed) | Medium-High | Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | 2–4 | — | Must transcend caste/ethnicity/biological family; constituted by common new birth. |
| Commandment | ἐντολή | entolē | आज्ञा | Medium | Love for the Brethren; Confession | 2, 3, 4 | — | Flows from grace received (1 John 4:19), not independent law-merit performance. |
| Faithful | πιστός | pistos | विश्वासयोग्य | Low | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 1 | — | Built on baseline’s विश्वास root. |
| Righteous (adj., of God/Christ) | δίκαιος | dikaios | धर्मी | Medium | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | 1, 2 | — | Consistent with baseline’s established धर्मी-in-compound usage (justification); never bare धर्म. |
| Deceive/deceiver | πλανάω / πλάνος | planaō / planos | बहकाउनु / छली | Medium | Testing the Spirits | 2, 3, 4 | — | Straightforward; doctrinal weight carried by context (false teaching), not the verb itself. |
Risk Summary for 1 John (This Curriculum)
| Risk Tier | Count (New + Elevated Baseline) | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 9 | Human theologian (mandatory, every occurrence) |
| High | 20 | Human theologian |
| Medium-High | 2 | Human theologian (flagged for referent/interpretation confirmation) |
| Medium | 8 | Native speaker review |
| Low / Low-Medium | 3 | Automated / native speaker spot-check |
Notes for Phase 2 Preparation
- All New terms in this glossary must be formally added to an updated
translation_memory.json(version increment) before any Phase 2 segment translation of 1 John begins, per the baseline’s Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions. - The single highest-priority disambiguation task for Phase 2 is πνεῦμα: every occurrence in 1 John must be individually tagged as either (a) the Holy Spirit → पवित्र आत्मा, or (b) a created/tested spirit → आत्मा alone, before translation proceeds.
- संसार (κόσμος) and व्यवस्थाहीनता / अधार्मिकता (ἀνομία / ἀδικία, avoiding the धर्म root) should be treated as extensions of the baseline’s existing risk-avoidance methodology and flagged explicitly for theologian confirmation as new coinages, not silently assumed.
- एकमात्र पुत्र (μονογενής) and मध्यस्थ (παράκλητος) both require Critical-tier theologian review specifically because of well-established, real, and currently-practiced parallel concepts in Nepal’s Hindu (avatar/tulku-adjacent) and Buddhist (bodhisattva) traditions, respectively — these are not abstract or hypothetical collision risks.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर
Transliteration: Parameshwar
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: भगवान
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Never भगवान, given Nepal’s constitutional Hindu-Kingdom history until 2007. Governs both of 1 John’s essence-statements about God’s nature (1:5, 4:8).
Jesus
Approved rendering: येशू
Transliteration: Yeshu
Doctrine: Deity and Sonship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Established Nepali Christian standard form; central to every confession formula in 1 John (2:22-23; 4:2-3,15; 5:1,5,10-13,20).
Son Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरका पुत्र
Transliteration: Parameshwarka Putra
Doctrine: Deity and Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: देवपुत्र
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Never देवपुत्र. In 1 John this is the central doctrinal-confession test (4:15; 5:5,10-13) and must not be collapsed into the Himalayan Buddhist tulku framework of recognized reincarnate lineage.
Father
Approved rendering: पिता
Transliteration: Pita
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. God as personal Father; object of true fellowship (1:3) and giver of new-birth family identity (3:1).
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: पवित्र आत्मा
Transliteration: Pavitra Atma
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: ब्रह्म, परमात्मा
Original: πνεῦμα (referring to God’s own indwelling Spirit)
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. CRITICAL DISAMBIGUATION FOR THIS BOOK: 1 John never uses the bare phrase ‘Holy Spirit.’ Apply पवित्र आत्मा ONLY where the referent is God’s own indwelling Spirit (3:24; 4:13). Never apply to the tested/false spirits of 4:1-6 (see spirits_general below), to avoid implying multiple ‘holy spirits’ and to keep this Person distinct from impersonal Vedantic Ātman.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: धार्मिकता
Transliteration: dharmikata
Doctrine: Righteousness as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, पुण्य
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged; never धर्म. 1 John adds a nuance beyond Romans’ forensic sense: here righteousness also functions as visible fruit of new birth (2:29; 3:7,9-10), never as dharma-performance that earns standing.
Messiah
Approved rendering: मसीह
Transliteration: Masih
Doctrine: Antichrist and Denial of the Incarnation
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Denial that Jesus is the Messiah/Christ is the defining mark of antichrist (2:22) and object of the letter’s confessional tests (4:2-3; 5:1).
Resurrection
Approved rendering: पुनरुत्थान
Transliteration: punarutthan
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: पुनर्जन्म
Original: ἀνάστασις (background doctrine underlying eternal life and Christ’s finished work)
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Not lexically frequent in 1 John but presupposed as background to eternal life and ‘he who overcomes’; never पुनर्जन्म. This ban extends directly to 1 John’s new-birth vocabulary, which carries an even higher collision risk than resurrection since it uses common ‘birth’ vocabulary rather than a distinct theological term.
Lord
Approved rendering: प्रभु
Transliteration: prabhu
Doctrine: Deity and Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: मालिक, ईश्वर
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Romans 10:9’s fixed confession येशू प्रभु हुनुहुन्छ must be treated as the consistency anchor for 1 John’s parallel confession formulas in 4:15 and 5:1.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: देहधारण
Transliteration: dehadharan
Doctrine: Incarnation — The Son Come in the Flesh
Rejected alternatives: अवतार
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged; never अवतार. Stakes are raised in 1 John: denial of this doctrine (4:2-3) is the explicit diagnostic mark of antichrist, elevating the अवतार-ban from a positive-statement risk (Romans) to a heresy-identification risk (1 John).
Salvation
Approved rendering: उद्धार
Transliteration: uddhar
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: मुक्ति, मोक्ष, निर्वाण
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Dual-front ban (never मुक्ति/मोक्ष, never निर्वाण) is extended and reinforced by 1 John’s अनन्त जीवन (eternal life, see below).
God Is Love
Approved rendering: परमेश्वर प्रेम हुनुहुन्छ
Transliteration: Parameshwar prem hunuhunchha
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: परमेश्वरले प्रेम गर्नुहुन्छ
Original: ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν
Category: God
Fixed identity/essence-copula statement (4:8,16). NEVER reduce to परमेश्वरले प्रेम गर्नुहुन्छ (God does love), which converts an essence-claim into an activity-claim and erases the priority-of-God’s-love sequence in 4:19. Parallels the Romans baseline’s fixed confession treatment of येशू प्रभु हुनुहुन्छ.
Word Of Life
Approved rendering: जीवनको वचन
Transliteration: jivanko vachan
Doctrine: Word of Life and Apostolic Testimony
Original: ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
The personal, eternal Son, heard, seen, and touched by the apostolic eyewitnesses (1:1). वचन carries a serious latent collision with Hindu Vedic वाक् (Vāc) and शब्द ब्रह्म (Shabda Brahman, impersonal ultimate reality manifest through mantra/sound). Must be taught unambiguously as the personal, eternal Son physically encountered, never an impersonal cosmic sound-principle.
Advocate
Approved rendering: मध्यस्थ
Transliteration: madhyastha
Doctrine: Advocate and Intercession of Christ
Original: παράκλητος
Category: Christology
Christ’s ongoing intercessory ministry before the Father on behalf of believers who sin (2:1), grounded in his propitiatory death (2:2). Carries a direct, currently-practiced collision risk with the Mahayana Buddhist bodhisattva merit-transfer intercessor. Must be anchored in Christ’s unique, finished, once-for-all atoning work and deity/incarnation, never one compassionate intercessor among many.
Propitiation
Approved rendering: प्रायश्चित्तको बलिदान
Transliteration: prayashchittako balidan
Doctrine: Propitiation and Atonement
Rejected alternatives: प्रायश्चित्त
Original: ἱλασμός
Category: Salvation
प्रायश्चित्त alone must NEVER be used: it is a live Nepali Hindu term for self-performed penance/ritual expiation undertaken BY the sinner (fasting, pilgrimage, ritual acts) — the reverse theological direction from ἱλασμός, where God himself provides and sends the atoning sacrifice (2:2; 4:10). The compound बलिदान (sacrifice) must always be retained to anchor divine initiative.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: ख्रीष्ट-विरोधी
Transliteration: Khrist-virodhi
Doctrine: Antichrist and Denial of the Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: generic term for ‘evil person’, Ravana/Mara-type mythological demon rendering
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Christology
One who denies that Jesus is the Christ come in the flesh (2:22; 4:3). Must not be flattened into a generic evil figure nor mapped onto Hindu epic demonology (Ravana) or Buddhist demonology (Mara), which would relocate this specifically Christological heresy into an unrelated mythological category.
Born Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरबाट जन्म पाएका
Transliteration: Parameshwarbata janma paeka
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Rejected alternatives: पुनर्जन्म
Original: γεννάω ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
The single, decisive, Spirit-wrought new birth (2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18), 1 John’s most repeated theological claim. NEVER पुनर्जन्म. Always anchor with परमेश्वरबाट or पवित्र आत्माद्वारा to communicate a single, once-for-all event, not a repeatable transmigration across lifetimes (Hindu/Buddhist karma-rebirth, including the tulku recognized-reincarnation tradition).
Only Begotten
Approved rendering: एकमात्र पुत्र
Transliteration: ekmatra putra
Doctrine: Deity and Sonship of Christ
Original: μονογενής
Category: Christology
Unique, one-of-a-kind sonship, without implying a beginning in time (4:9). एकमात्र communicates uniqueness of relationship, not merely numerical singularity; must not be collapsed into the Himalayan Buddhist tulku framework of a recognized reincarnate lineage-successor. Use alongside परमेश्वरका पुत्र where the fuller title is needed.
Come In Flesh
Approved rendering: देहमा आउनुभयो
Transliteration: dehama aunubhayo
Doctrine: Incarnation — The Son Come in the Flesh
Rejected alternatives: अवतार
Original: ἐν σαρκί / ἐληλυθότα ἐν σαρκί
Category: Christology
The eternal Son’s real, physical assumption of human nature (4:2-3), denial of which is the doctrinal mark of the spirit of antichrist. Directly reinforces देहधारण: a unique, historical, once-for-all assumption of real human nature, not a repeatable royal or divine avatar-descent. Must be taught with full doctrinal weight since denial (docetism) is the exact heresy this passage confronts.
Spirits General
Approved rendering: आत्मा
Transliteration: aatma
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: पवित्र आत्मा (never for this sense)
Original: πνεῦμα (of created, tested spirits — true or false)
Category: Spiritual Discernment
CRITICAL DISAMBIGUATION POINT: created spirits, whether the spirit of truth or the spirit of error, distinct from the Holy Spirit (4:1,3,6). Render as plain आत्मा, explicitly WITHOUT the qualifier पवित्र. Unqualified आत्मा is heavily loaded: Vedantic Ātman (the eternal universal Self), and ancestral/malevolent spirits/ghosts addressed by jhankri ritual. Every occurrence of the underlying Greek term must be individually flagged for whether पवित्र आत्मा or plain आत्मा is intended.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: अनन्त जीवन
Transliteration: ananta jivan
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: मोक्ष, मुक्ति, निर्वाण
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
Unending, personal, relational life with the true God through the Son, the letter’s explicit purpose statement (5:13; also 1:2; 2:25; 3:15; 5:11,20). Inherits the baseline’s Critical उद्धार risk profile; must be positively distinct from मोक्ष/मुक्ति (liberation from rebirth) and निर्वाण (cessation of craving/self). 5:13’s assurance is a settled, knowable present possession, sharply distinct from uncertain multi-lifetime progress toward liberation.
High Risk Terms
Sin
Approved rendering: पाप
Transliteration: paap
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: अकुशल कर्म
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Moral transgression before a personal God, confessed and forgiven on the basis of Christ’s blood (1:7-9; 2:1-2).
Fellowship
Approved rendering: सहभागिता
Transliteration: sahabhagita
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: मित्रता
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Fellowship
Inherited from Romans package (rendering unchanged) but RISK TIER ELEVATED from Low to High for this curriculum: Fellowship with God and One Another is a named doctrine and receives its programmatic statement in 1:3. Carries weight as covenant community formed under past legal restriction.
Faith
Approved rendering: विश्वास
Transliteration: vishwas
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: श्रद्धा, भक्ति
Original: πίστις / πιστεύω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. In 1 John explicitly the ground of victory over the world (5:4-5) and paired repeatedly with relational knowledge (4:16; see know_relational below).
Law
Approved rendering: व्यवस्था
Transliteration: vyavastha
Doctrine: Righteousness as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: धर्म, नियम
Original: νόμος (root reused to build ‘lawlessness’)
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Root reused to build the new coinage व्यवस्थाहीनता (lawlessness, 3:4), John’s definition of sin. Never धर्म.
Seed Of David
Approved rendering: दाऊदको वंश
Transliteration: Daudko vansha
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Original: σπέρμα Δαυίδ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Cited in this curriculum only for deliberate terminological contrast with 1 John’s ‘seed of God’ metaphor (3:9), which is regeneration, not royal lineage.
Adoption
Approved rendering: दत्तक पुत्रता
Transliteration: dattak putrata
Doctrine: Children of God and Family Likeness
Rejected alternatives: धर्मपुत्र बनाउने, गोद लिने
Original: υἱοθεσία
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Companion legal doctrine to 1 John’s family-likeness language (τέκνα θεοῦ); coordinate with, but keep distinct from, परमेश्वरका सन्तान (children of God), which emphasizes birth-nature rather than legal transaction.
Holy
Approved rendering: पवित्र
Transliteration: pavitra
Doctrine: Anointing of the Holy Spirit
Rejected alternatives: शुद्ध
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Root underlying पवित्र आत्मा, पवित्र आत्माको अभिषेक, and पवित्र प्रभुबाट (all below); avoid शुद्ध for this root due to ritual-purity connotations.
Grace
Approved rendering: अनुग्रह
Transliteration: anugraha
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: कृपा, पुण्य, भाग्य
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Not a frequent lexeme in 1 John itself, but the Grace doctrine (unmerited, prior, initiating favor) is the direct theological engine behind 4:19 (‘he loved us first’) and must be taught in explicit tension with Hindu/Buddhist merit-first ethics, exactly as the Romans baseline requires.
Love
Approved rendering: प्रेम
Transliteration: prem
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Love
Standard Nepali word for love across registers. Must be distinguished from (a) Hindu bhakti-love directed toward a deity in expectation of favor, and (b) sentimental romantic/familial प्रेम devoid of moral content. Anchor consistently to God’s self-giving, initiating pattern (4:10, 19).
Light
Approved rendering: ज्योति
Transliteration: jyoti
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: तेज
Original: φῶς
Category: God
God’s radiant moral purity and self-revelation (1:5,7). Must not be conflated with the Hindu/Buddhist metaphor of ‘enlightenment’ (illumination attained through meditative or ascetic practice, e.g. bodhi). This is a revealed, received truth about God’s nature, not an achievable inner state.
Cleanse
Approved rendering: शुद्ध पार्नु
Transliteration: shuddha parnu
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: καθαρίζω
Category: Sin
Established Nepali Bible rendering, retained despite the baseline’s rejection of the शुद्ध root for ‘holy.’ Must be taught explicitly as once-for-all moral/forensic cleansing by Christ’s blood (1:7,9), not repeatable Hindu ritual bathing (snana) or Buddhist purification rites performed by the worshiper.
Confess
Approved rendering: स्वीकार गर्नु
Transliteration: swikar garnu
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: Sin
Open, verbal acknowledgment of sin (1:9) or of doctrinal truth about Christ (4:2-3,15). Distinguish from Hindu ritual confession/penance practices and from mere private assent; the doctrinal-confession sense (4:15) is parallel to and must be rendered consistently with the fixed येशू प्रभु हुनुहुन्छ pattern (Romans 10:9).
Unrighteousness
Approved rendering: अधार्मिकता
Transliteration: adharmikata
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: अधर्म
Original: ἀδικία
Category: Sin
New coinage built as the direct negation of the established धार्मिकता, rather than the more common अधर्म, which reintroduces the धर्म root the baseline excludes due to Muluki Ain caste-code associations (1:9). Flagged for theologian confirmation as extension of baseline methodology.
Anointing
Approved rendering: पवित्र आत्माको अभिषेक
Transliteration: Pavitra Atmako abhishek
Doctrine: Anointing of the Holy Spirit
Rejected alternatives: अभिषेक (bare, unqualified)
Original: χρῖσμα
Category: Sanctification
The Holy Spirit’s indwelling gift given to every believer (2:20,27). अभिषेक alone is a live Nepali/Hindu ritual term for ceremonial consecration of deity images and, historically, the Shah-dynasty royal coronation rite (kings venerated as living Vishnu avatars until 2008). Must always appear as the full qualified compound, stressing this gift is universal, not an elite rite.
Holy One
Approved rendering: पवित्र प्रभुबाट
Transliteration: Pavitra Prabhubata
Doctrine: Anointing of the Holy Spirit
Rejected alternatives: पवित्र जन
Original: ὁ ἅγιος
Category: Christology
A singular divine/Christological title (2:20), likely referring to Christ, from whom believers receive the anointing. Must NOT reuse the baseline’s plural corporate term पवित्र जन (saints/believers), which has a different referent. Flagged for theologian confirmation of exact referent (Christ vs. the Father).
Children Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरका सन्तान
Transliteration: Parameshwarka santaan
Doctrine: Children of God and Family Likeness
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
Family-membership language grounded in new birth and shared nature/likeness (3:1-2,10). Coordinate with, but keep distinct from, दत्तक पुत्रता (adoption, legal transaction/inheritance). Must not be read through Hindu Puranic narratives of semi-divine offspring of gods, nor the Himalayan Buddhist tulku framework.
Seed Of God
Approved rendering: परमेश्वरको बीज
Transliteration: Parameshwarko beej
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Original: σπέρμα (αὐτοῦ)
Category: Salvation
The implanted divine life/nature at new birth producing continuity in righteous living (3:9). Distinct from दाऊदको वंश (seed of David, physical lineage). बीज also carries resonance with Newar Tantric बीज मन्त्र (bīja mantra, a seed-syllable with inherent power); must be explained as Spirit-given regenerating life, never a mystically potent formula.
Lawlessness
Approved rendering: व्यवस्थाहीनता
Transliteration: vyavasthahinata
Doctrine: Righteousness as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: अधर्म
Original: ἀνομία
Category: Sin
Transgression of God’s moral order; John’s explicit definition of sin (3:4; 5:17). New coinage built on the baseline’s established व्यवस्था rather than अधर्म, consistent with the same धर्म-avoidance principle applied to अधार्मिकता.
Devil
Approved rendering: दियाबल
Transliteration: diyabal
Doctrine: Devil and Spiritual Warfare
Original: διάβολος
Category: Sin
The personal fallen spiritual being who sinned from the beginning (3:8,10), whose works Christ came to destroy. Must be a single, personal, fallen being opposed to God — not one class among many mythological demons (rakshasa, asura) nor the malevolent spirits (भूत-प्रेत) addressed by jhankri/dhami shamanic ritual specialists. Retained as a distinct loanword, deliberately not mapped onto any existing Nepali demon category.
Know Relational
Approved rendering: चिन्नु
Transliteration: chinnu
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: γινώσκω
Category: Faith
Relational, experiential knowledge of God evidenced by obedience and love (2:3-4; 3:1,6; 4:7-8), distinguished from जान्नु (fact-knowledge). Directly opposes proto-Gnostic claims to esoteric knowledge divorced from ethics, with a live parallel-risk in Nepal’s own guru-initiation esoteric/tantric traditions.
Abide
Approved rendering: रहनु
Transliteration: rahanu
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Original: μένω
Category: Fellowship
Ongoing, settled, personal communion — God’s indwelling presence in the believer and the believer’s continuing communion with God (2:6,10,24,27-28; 3:24; 4:12-13,16). Must be relational communion between two distinct persons, never the absorption/dissolution-of-self implied by Vedantic advaita or non-dual Buddhist meditative states. Kept terminologically distinct from, but doctrinally coordinated with, सहभागिता.
Perfected
Approved rendering: पूर्ण
Transliteration: purna
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: सिद्ध
Original: τέλειος / τελειόω
Category: Sanctification
Brought to full, mature, intended expression — God’s love reaching its full visible form in and through believers (2:5; 4:12,17-18). AVOID सिद्ध (siddha, the Hindu/Tantric term for a self-attained perfected adept). पूर्ण keeps the sense of wholeness as a given, not self-achieved, reality.
Confidence
Approved rendering: निर्धक्कता
Transliteration: nirdhakkata
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: παρρησία
Category: Assurance
Confident, unashamed boldness before God, in prayer (3:21; 5:14) and at the future day of judgment (4:17), grounded in union with Christ. Must communicate assurance grounded in Christ’s finished work, not the anxious uncertainty of karma-based merit-accounting frameworks.
Overcome
Approved rendering: जित्नु
Transliteration: jitnu
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: νικάω / νίκη
Category: Eschatology
Decisive victory over the world-system, secured by faith in Christ (2:13-14; 4:4; 5:4-5). Must be taught as victory granted through faith-union with the already-victorious Christ, never self-achieved yogic conquest of desire or Buddhist conquest of craving (taṇhā) through disciplined self-effort.
World
Approved rendering: संसार
Transliteration: sansaar
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: विदेशी
Original: κόσμος
Category: Eschatology
In 1 John’s negative sense, the moral-spiritual system in rebellion against God (2:15-17; 4:4-5; 5:4-5,19). संसार is the established Nepali Bible rendering for κόσμος and must be retained for consistency, but it is also the exact Sanskrit/Nepali word for saṃsāra, the Hindu/Buddhist rebirth-cycle escaped by मोक्ष/निर्वाण. Must be actively taught as rejection of a moral system, not a call to renounce embodied existence (vairāgya).
Savior
Approved rendering: उद्धारकर्ता
Transliteration: uddharkarta
Doctrine: Incarnation — The Son Come in the Flesh
Original: σωτήρ
Category: Salvation
Christ as the one sent by the Father to save/deliver, universal in scope of offer (4:14, ‘Savior of the world’). Built on the baseline’s Critical-tier उद्धार; must never drift toward मुक्ति/मोक्ष/निर्वाण-style universal liberation language. Pairing with संसार in the same clause doubles the collision surface.
Manifested
Approved rendering: प्रकट हुनु
Transliteration: prakat hunu
Doctrine: Incarnation — The Son Come in the Flesh
Original: φανερόω
Category: Christology
God’s love and the Son himself made historically visible in a specific, once-for-all act (1:2; 3:5,8; 4:9). Must be anchored to the one-time historical sending of the Son (देहधारण), never a repeatable divine descent as in Hindu avatar theology.
Test The Spirits
Approved rendering: आत्माहरूलाई जाँच्नु
Transliteration: aatmaharulai janchnu
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: δοκιμάζω (τὰ πνεύματα)
Category: Spiritual Discernment
The active discernment of true from false spiritual claims by the objective doctrinal criterion of confessing Christ come in the flesh (4:1-3). Has a concrete, current point of cultural contact in the living Nepali tradition of jhankri/dhami shamanic ritual specialists. Must be taught as a doctrinal/Christological test, not comparative ritual-power or trance-authenticity assessment.
Idols
Approved rendering: मूर्ति
Transliteration: murti
Doctrine: Idolatry and Exclusive Worship
Original: εἴδωλον
Category: Worship
Objects of false worship, from which believers are commanded to keep themselves (5:21). मूर्ति denotes the literal physical images at the center of daily Hindu devotional life (temple/household shrine images, Pashupatinath) and Buddhist devotional images — an unusually concrete, visible referent. Must retain full, direct, unqualified force, not softened into inward detachment from worldly distractions.
Brother
Approved rendering: भाई
Transliteration: bhai
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Fellowship
A fellow believer, the object of the love that evidences new birth (2:9-11; 3:10-17; 4:20-21), regardless of blood kinship. Given the baseline’s documented concern about caste-linked social hierarchy formerly codified in the Muluki Ain (in force until 1963), this term must clearly transcend caste, ethnicity, and biological family lines. भाइबहिनी may be used where inclusive gender clarity is needed.
Medium Risk Terms
Intercession
Approved rendering: मध्यस्थता
Transliteration: madhyasthata
Doctrine: Advocate and Intercession of Christ
Original: (root reused to build the Advocate concept)
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Root reused to construct the new Critical-tier term मध्यस्थ (advocate, see below) for Christ’s specific intercessory role in 2:1.
Darkness
Approved rendering: अन्धकार
Transliteration: andhakar
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: σκότος / σκοτία
Category: Sin
Moral and relational estrangement from God’s light and truth (1:5-6; 2:9-11); not merely absence of physical light.
Blood
Approved rendering: रगत
Transliteration: ragat
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: αἷμα
Category: Salvation
The literal, historical blood of Jesus’ death (1:7), part of the threefold testimony (5:6-8). Must be kept concrete and historical, never symbolic-only.
Fear
Approved rendering: डर
Transliteration: dar
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: φόβος
Category: Assurance
The anxious dread of judgment that perfected love casts out (4:18). Distinguish from reverential ‘fear of the Lord’ language elsewhere in Scripture, a distinct positive sense not in view here.
Testify
Approved rendering: गवाही दिनु
Transliteration: gavahi dinu
Doctrine: Word of Life and Apostolic Testimony
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Faith
Forensic, eyewitness testimony grounding the gospel (1:2; 4:14; 5:6-11). Distinct from the more fluid, experience-based testimony of a spirit-medium’s utterance in jhankri/dhami practice, where a spirit ‘speaks through’ a human vessel; John’s testimony is remembered apostolic eyewitness report.
False Prophet
Approved rendering: झूटा अगमवक्ता
Transliteration: jhutaa agamavakta
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: ψευδοπροφήτης
Category: Spiritual Discernment
A teacher who speaks falsely about Christ, to be tested and rejected (4:1). Straightforward compound built on the baseline’s established अगमवक्ता.
Evil One
Approved rendering: दुष्ट
Transliteration: dushta
Doctrine: Devil and Spiritual Warfare
Original: ὁ πονηρός
Category: Sin
The personal figure under whose power the whole world lies (5:18-19), the same being as दियाबल (3:8). Coordinate rendering; not a class of impersonal folk-spirits.
Liar
Approved rendering: झूटा
Transliteration: jhutaa
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ψεύστης
Category: Sin
One exposed by false profession — claiming to love God while hating a brother, or denying Jesus is the Christ (2:4,22; 4:20). The accusatory force must be retained, not softened to ‘is mistaken.‘
Commandment
Approved rendering: आज्ञा
Transliteration: agya
Doctrine: Commandment to Love
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Fellowship
Christ’s binding relational charge to love one another (2:7-8; 3:23; 4:21), received from him and enabled by love already given. Consistent with the आज्ञा root in the baseline’s विश्वासको आज्ञाकारिता; must flow from grace already received, not independent legal duty performed to earn standing.
Righteous Adj
Approved rendering: धर्मी
Transliteration: dharmi
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: धर्म (bare)
Original: δίκαιος
Category: Salvation
God’s/Christ’s righteous character (1:9; 2:1,29), and the corresponding character of those born of him (3:7). Consistent with the baseline’s established धर्मी-in-compound usage; never bare धर्म.
Deceive
Approved rendering: बहकाउनु
Transliteration: bahakaunu
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: πλανάω / πλάνος
Category: Spiritual Discernment
Leading astray through false teaching, a repeated warning throughout the letter (2:26; 3:7; 4:6). Straightforward; doctrinal weight carried by the false-teaching context, not the verb itself.
Low Risk Terms
Prophet
Approved rendering: अगमवक्ता
Transliteration: agamavakta
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: ज्योतिषी
Original: προφήτης
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package, unchanged. Base term underlying the new compound झूटा अगमवक्ता (false prophet, 4:1).
Faithful
Approved rendering: विश्वासयोग्य
Transliteration: vishwasyogya
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: πιστός
Category: Sin
God’s reliable, trustworthy character in forgiving confessed sin (1:9). Built on the baseline’s विश्वास root; low ambiguity risk.
Referenced passages