Core Glossary
Core Glossary: Ephesians — Pashto Destination Language
Section A — Baseline Terms Reused Exactly (No Change Permitted)
| Term | Pashto | Risk | Doctrine | Key Ephesians Occurrences | Reuse Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| god | خدای | Critical | Deity | 1:1-3, 2:4, 2:19, 4:6, etc. | Reuse exactly |
| jesus | عیسی | Critical | Christology | throughout | Reuse exactly |
| lord | خداوند | Critical | Lordship of Christ | 1:2-3, 4:1, 5:22, 6:5-9 (Christ only) | Reuse exactly; NEVER use for human masters (κύριοι, 6:5-9) — see فارغ term “مالک” below |
| messiah/christ | مسیح | Critical | Messianic Promise | throughout | Reuse exactly |
| holy_spirit | روح القدس | Critical | Sanctification/Trinity | 1:13, 4:30, 5:18, 6:17-18 | Reuse exactly; personal-Person distinction reinforced at 4:30 (grieved) |
| father | پلار | Critical | Adoption | 1:2-3, 1:17, 2:18, 3:14-15, 4:6, 5:20, 6:2-4 | Reuse exactly; ch.3 fatherhood wordplay is an opportunity to soften stern-authority default |
| abba | ابا | High | Adoption | (not directly in Ephesians; retained for cross-reference to Romans 8) | Reuse if invoked in teaching notes |
| grace | فضل | High (Critical at 2:5,8) | Grace / Salvation | 1:2,6-7; 2:5-8; 3:2,7-8; 4:7,29; 6:24 | Reuse exactly; 2:8 joins the cross-document verbatim-consistency list |
| faith | ایمان | High | Faith | 1:15; 2:8; 3:12,17; 4:5,13; 6:16,23 | Reuse exactly |
| gospel | انجیل | High | Gospel | 1:13; 3:6; 6:15,19 | Reuse exactly |
| salvation | نجات | Critical | Salvation | 1:13; 2:5,8; 6:17 | Reuse exactly |
| righteousness | صداقت | Critical | Salvation | 4:24; 5:9; 6:14 | Reuse exactly |
| called/calling | بلل شوی / بلنه | High | Divine Calling | 1:18; 4:1,4 | Reuse exactly |
| holy | مقدس | High | Sanctification | 1:4; 5:27 | Reuse exactly |
| saints | مقدسان | High | Sainthood | 1:1,15,18; 2:19; 3:8,18; 4:12; 5:3; 6:18 | Reuse exactly |
| adoption | زوی نیول | Critical | Adoption | 1:5 (υἱοθεσία, direct) | Reuse exactly — direct term match, high-priority passage |
| church | کلیسا | Critical | Church as God’s People | 1:22; 3:10,21; 5:23-32 | Reuse exactly |
| election | غوره کول | High | Election/Predestination | 1:4,11 | Reuse exactly; pair with new مخکې ټاکل شوی (predestined) below |
| peace | سوله | Medium | Peace/Reconciliation | 1:2; 2:14-17; 4:3; 6:15,23 | Reuse exactly; strong asset for Unity of Jews/Gentiles doctrine |
| glory | جلال | High | Glory of God | 1:6,12,14,17-18; 3:13,16,21 | Reuse exactly |
| apostle | رسول | High | Apostleship | 1:1; 2:20; 3:5; 4:11 | Reuse exactly |
| prophet | پیغمبر | Low (framing High) | Inspiration of Scripture | 2:20; 3:5; 4:11 | Reuse exactly |
| spiritual_gifts | روحاني ورکړې | Medium | Gifts for Building Up the Church | 4:7-13 | Reuse exactly; core term for Doctrine 8 |
| fellowship | ملګرتیا | Low | Christian Fellowship | 3:9 (κοινωνία context) | Reuse exactly |
| gentiles | غیر یهودیان | Medium | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | 2:11; 3:1,6,8; 4:17 | Reuse exactly; NEVER use امتونه |
| israel | اسرائیل | High | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | 2:12 | Reuse exactly |
| sin | ګناه | High | Universal Human Accountability | 2:1 (paired with new تېروتنه) | Reuse exactly |
| power_of_god | د خدای قدرت | Medium/High in context | Power of God | 1:19,21; 3:7,16,20 | Reuse exactly |
| kingdom_of_god | د خدای پاچاهي | Medium | Kingdom Mission | 5:5 | Reuse exactly |
| covenant | تړون | High | Covenant | 2:12 | Reuse exactly (plural form) |
| providence | د خدای تدبیر | Medium | Providence | 1:11 (βουλή, “counsel/purpose”) | Reuse exactly |
| thanksgiving | شکر | Low | Thanksgiving | 1:16; 5:4,20 | Reuse exactly |
| exhort | هڅول | Low | Mutual Edification | 4:1 (παρακαλῶ) | Reuse exactly |
| mission | ماموریت | High | Mission to Nations | 3:1-13 context; 6:19-20 | Reuse exactly; safety-critical |
| law | ناموس | Critical | Law | 2:15 (νόμος τῶν ἐντολῶν) | Reuse exactly; NEVER شریعت |
| imputed_righteousness | محسوبه شوی صداقت | Critical | Justification | (conceptually underlies 2:8-9) | Reuse exactly if invoked in teaching |
Section B — New Terms Identified in Ephesians (Proposed for Translation Memory)
| Term (English) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Pashto Rendering | Risk | Doctrine | Grounded Risk Reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| trespasses | παράπτωμα | paraptōma | تېروتنه (pl. تېروتنې) | Medium | Salvation by Grace | Must be distinguished from خطا (unintentional fault in Islamic jurisprudence); paired with ګناه (gunah) it must retain culpable, willful force. |
| walk (ethical conduct) | περιπατέω | peripateō | چلند کول | Medium | Walking in Newness of Life | Recurring structural motif (2:2,10; 4:1,17; 5:2,8,15); must be rendered identically at every occurrence to preserve the letter’s before/after “walk” contrast. |
| ruler of the power of the air | ὁ ἄρχων τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ ἀέρος | ho archōn tēs exousias tou aeros | د هوا واکمن | High | Spiritual Warfare | Must be clearly identified with شیطان to avoid confusion with the wider, morally mixed Islamic jinn taxonomy. |
| flesh (ethical/Pauline sense) | σάρξ | sarx | نفس | High | Universal Human Accountability | نفس is a live Islamic ethical category (self-discipline of the lower self); risks reducing Paul’s total-depravity claim to an achievable self-mastery project. |
| wrath (of God) | ὀργή | orgē | غضب | High | Salvation by Grace | Shared Quranic term for divine anger; must be anchored to Christ’s atoning death (already Critical), not left as impersonal cosmic ledger-keeping. |
| made alive together with Christ | συζωοποιέω | syzōopoieō | د مسیح سره یوځای بیا راژوندي کول | Critical | Resurrection / Salvation | Must retain باseline’s exact resurrection term to preserve the doctrinal link to Christ’s own historically-contested bodily resurrection. |
| seated together (with Christ) | συγκαθίζω | synkathizō | سره کیناستل | High | Assurance of Salvation | Extraordinary status-elevating claim in a hierarchical honor culture; must be taught as gift, not achievement, echoing the melmastia-reciprocity risk already flagged for فضل. |
| heavenly places | ἐπουράνια | epourania | آسماني ځایونه | Medium | Spiritual Warfare | Must denote the unseen spiritual realm of authority/conflict, not literal sky or generic afterlife. |
| gift (of salvation) | δῶρον | dōron | ډالۍ | High | Salvation by Grace | Maximum-stakes collision with melmastia hospitality-reciprocity code; must be taught as creating no repayment obligation. |
| works (excluded as grounds) | ἔργα | erga | کارونه | Critical | Salvation by Grace | Must render the “not from works” exclusion unqualified, resisting both Islamic mizan deeds-weighing and Pashtunwali honor-earned-by-deeds defaults. |
| boast | καυχάομαι | kauchaomai | فخر کول | High | Salvation by Grace | Confronts honor-shame culture’s default logic that accomplishment is the source of honor. |
| workmanship | ποίημα | poiēma | د خدای جوړونه | Medium-High | Walking in Newness of Life | Must not flatten to “creature” (مخلوق); names purposeful re-creation of the believer, distinct from original creation. |
| good works (as fruit) | ἔργα ἀγαθά | erga agatha | ښه کارونه | Critical | Salvation by Grace | Same root as excluded کارونه (2:9) but positively framed (2:10) as prepared fruit, not grounds; sequence must be unmistakable given Islamic amal-e-saleh vocabulary overlap. |
| blessing | εὐλογία | eulogia | برکت | Medium | Election/Predestination | Genuinely positive shared Islamic concept; must anchor to the specific Christ-centered spiritual blessings of 1:3-14, not folk-barakat. |
| predestined/foreordained | προορίζω | proorizō | مخکې ټاکل شوی | Critical | Election and Predestination in Christ | Collides directly with qadar (fatalistic divine decree, a pillar of iman); must be taught as Christ-centered, redemptive, assurance-producing, not blanket cosmic fatalism. |
| redemption | ἀπολύτρωσις | apolytrōsis | خلاصون | High | Salvation by Grace | Avoid فدیه (a minor Islamic compensatory-payment term); Christ’s redemption is total, costly liberation from sin’s slavery. |
| seal (of the Spirit) | σφραγίζω | sphragizō | مهر کول | Medium | Assurance of Salvation | Everyday ownership/authentication term; reinforce as secure divine ownership guarantee. |
| inheritance | κληρονομία | klēronomia | میراث | High | Election / Adoption | Must be disentangled from rigid patrilineal qawm/khel inheritance customs already flagged Critical under Adoption. |
| mystery | μυστήριον | mystērion | راز | High | The Mystery of Christ Revealed | Collides with Sufi elite-initiate “raz” tradition; Ephesians’ mystery is fully and publicly disclosed to all believers, not progressively unveiled to a spiritual elite. |
| body of Christ | σῶμα Χριστοῦ | sōma Christou | د مسیح بدن | High | Church as the Body of Christ | Must be taught as living organic unity under Christ’s headship, functioning without dependence on visible institutional/building form. |
| fullness | πλήρωμα | plērōma | بشپړتیا | High | Church as the Body of Christ / Mystery | Must avoid collapsing into Sufi wahdat al-wujud pantheistic “all is filled with God” monism; this is Christ’s personal, relational filling of his own body. |
| circumcision | περιτομή | peritomē | سنت | Medium | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | Must be distinguished from the broader Islamic sunnah/sunnat usage. |
| commonwealth/citizenship of Israel | πολιτεία τοῦ Ἰσραήλ | politeia tou Israēl | د اسرائیل ټولنه | High | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | Avoid قوم (qawm), which would reinforce rather than dismantle ethnic-lineage exclusivity, exactly the point Paul is overturning. |
| strangers/aliens | ξένοι / πάροικοι | xenoi/paroikoi | پردي | Low | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | Standard vocabulary; note the deliberate reversal into household membership at 2:19. |
| dividing wall | τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ | to mesotoichon tou phragmou | د بېلتون دیوال | Medium | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | Keep concrete/visual; anchors the doctrine in a specific historical image. |
| one new man/humanity | καινὸς ἄνθρωπος | kainos anthrōpos | نوی انسان | High | Unity of Jews and Gentiles / Walking in Newness of Life | Must be a genuinely new third category, not merely a coalition of two pre-existing ethnic/tribal groups; same term reused individually at 4:24. |
| reconciliation | ἀποκαταλλάσσω / καταλλαγή | apokatallassō / katallagē | پخلاینه | Medium | Unity of Jews and Gentiles | Positive jirga/sola-adjacent bridge; calibrate as Christ’s unilateral achievement, not bilateral negotiated settlement. |
| access | προσαγωγή | prosagōgē | لاسرسی | High | Unity of Jews and Gentiles / Prayer | Countercultural claim of unmediated bold access to God in a patron-client honor culture; parallels the Abba-intimacy note. |
| household of God | οἰκεῖοι τοῦ θεοῦ | oikeioi tou theou | د خدای کورنۍ | High | Adoption / Church | Extends Critical-tier Adoption doctrine corporately; full family belonging without blood descent. |
| cornerstone | ἀκρογωνιαῖος | akrogōniaios | د کونج ډبره | Medium | Church as the Body of Christ | Keep Christ as foundation, not merely an important figure among others. |
| temple (living, corporate) | ναός | naos | معبد | High | Church as the Body of Christ | Risk of being heard as a physical building (colliding with جومات/mosque); must denote the living community, consistent with the church’s dispersed, often secret existence. |
| unity | ἑνότης | henotēs | یووالی | High | Unity of Jews and Gentiles / Church | Sevenfold “one” (4:4-6) must not blur into tawhid’s numerical divine-essence singularity; this is diverse-body unity around one Lord. |
| baptism | βάπτισμα | baptisma | تعمید | High | Church / Christian Identity | Avoid غسل (Islamic ritual washing); baptism is a once-for-all identification with Christ’s death/resurrection, not repeatable ritual purification. |
| evangelist | εὐαγγελιστής | euangelistēs | د انجیل ویناوال | High | Gifts for Building Up the Church | Same severe safety risk already flagged for evangelism/mission; office-title must be handled with full security awareness. |
| pastor/shepherd | ποιμήν | poimēn | شپون | Medium | Gifts for Building Up the Church | Positive regional shepherding-culture resonance; retain specific sense of spiritual oversight, not general community leadership. |
| mature/complete man | τέλειος ἀνήρ | teleios anēr | بشپړ انسان | Medium | Gifts for Building Up the Church / Church | Render with generic انسان per established gender-language convention; referent is the church’s corporate maturity. |
| old self/man | παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος | palaios anthrōpos | زوړ انسان | Medium | Walking in Newness of Life | Pairs with نوی انسان; individual-ethical register (4:22) distinct from, but linked to, corporate register (2:15). |
| grieve the Holy Spirit | λυπέω τὸ Πνεῦμα | lypeō to Pneuma | د روح القدس خفه کول | High | Sanctification / Trinity | Decisive evidence of the Spirit’s personal nature, directly countering the created-angel (Jibril) identification already flagged Critical. |
| imitators of God | μιμηταὶ τοῦ θεοῦ | mimētai tou theou | د خدای پیروي کوونکي | Medium | Walking in Newness of Life | Ethical imitation of God’s self-giving love, not ontological participation in the divine nature (tawhid sensitivity). |
| filled with the Spirit | πληρόω (ἐν Πνεύματι) | plēroō | له روح القدس نه ډک کیدل | Medium-High | Sanctification | Distinguish from Sufi ecstatic/trance devotional states; issues in sober, communal, relational fruit. |
| submit/submission | ὑποτάσσω | hypotassō | غاړه ایښودل | Critical | Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships | Acute triple collision: Islam’s own definitional “submission to God,” Pashtunwali elder/tribal submission expectations, and risk of losing 5:21’s mutuality beneath 5:22’s wife-specific instruction. |
| head (authority) | κεφαλή | kephalē | سر | High | Household Codes | Pashtun patriarchal default reads “head” as stern control; must be redefined per Christ’s self-sacrificial headship model (5:25). |
| one flesh | μία σάρξ | mia sarx | یوه غوښه | Medium | Household Codes / Mystery | Keep concrete Genesis idiom; ties marriage bond to the Christ-church mystery (5:32). |
| bondservant/slave | δοῦλος | doulos | غلام | Medium | Household Codes | Requires historical-context note distinguishing Greco-Roman household slavery from other regional slavery associations. |
| master (human) | κύριος (human referent) | kyrios | مالک | Critical | Household Codes | Cross-referenced with خداوند: مالک (rejected for divine Lordship in the baseline) is the correct, necessary, and mandatory term here — خداوند must never be applied to a human slave-master. |
| armor of God | πανοπλία τοῦ θεοῦ | panoplia tou theou | د خدای وسله | Critical | Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God | Extreme safety sensitivity: وسله (weapons/arms) collides with literal armed-conflict and jihadist framing in the region; must be taught as exclusively non-violent, defensive, spiritual imagery. |
| rulers/authorities/cosmic powers | ἀρχαί, ἐξουσίαι, κοσμοκράτορες | archai, exousiai, kosmokratores | روحاني واکمنۍ او ځواکونه | High | Spiritual Warfare | Regional jinn/unseen-world belief is both asset and liability; must preserve Christ’s total, already-accomplished cosmic authority (1:21), not reduce him to one actor among many spirits. |
| word of God (sword of the Spirit) | ῥῆμα θεοῦ | rhēma theou | د خدای کلام | Medium-High | Spiritual Warfare / Inspiration of Scripture | کلام is also the precise Islamic technical term for the Quran’s uncreated divine speech; distinguish from that specific doctrine of literal dictation/eternality. |
| ambassador (in chains) | πρεσβεύω ἐν ἁλύσει | presbeuō en halysei | زندانی سفیر | Medium-High | Mission to the Nations / Evangelism | Mirrors the real, contemporary imprisonment/persecution risk already flagged Critical for gospel proclamation in this region. |
Cross-Reference Notes for Phase 2 Tooling
- Ephesians 2:8 (“by grace you have been saved through faith… it is the gift of God”) should be added to the baseline’s existing cross-document verbatim-consistency list (alongside Romans 1:16-17, 8:28, 10:9-10) given its centrality as the core passage’s thesis statement and its direct restatement of Romans’ own grace/faith argument.
- مالک vs خداوند: the baseline rejected مالک for divine Lordship; Ephesians 6:5-9 requires مالک precisely because it must NOT use خداوند for a human master. Both facts should be recorded together in translation memory to prevent a future worker from “correcting” مالک back to خداوند in this passage.
- راز (mystery) and بشپړتیا (fullness) should be flagged for mandatory theologian review at every occurrence given their direct collision surface with regional Sufi devotional vocabulary — a collision risk class not present in the Romans baseline and specific to Ephesians’ Mystery-of-Christ doctrine.
- د خدای وسله (armor of God) and the related روحاني واکمنۍ او ځواکونه (rulers/powers) terms should be routed with the same theologian-review-every-occurrence discipline the baseline already applies to Mission and Evangelism, given the severe real-world safety stakes of any collision with literal armed-jihad framing.
- All Section A terms remain governed entirely by the Romans baseline
translation_memory.json; this document adds no new risk assessment for them beyond noting their Ephesians occurrences.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: خدای
Transliteration: Khudai
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: الله
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Native Old Iranian root shared with Persian’s Khoda, not exclusively Arabic/Quranic; strict tawhid theology must be distinguished from the Trinitarian conception denoted by the same word. Ephesians occurrences: throughout (1:1-3, 2:4, 2:19, 4:6, etc.).
Jesus
Approved rendering: عیسی
Transliteration: Isa
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Settled, uncontroversial Pashto Christian usage; ‘Isa’ still carries the Quranic prophet-only, non-crucified, non-divine narrative that must be actively corrected. Ephesians occurrences: throughout.
Lord
Approved rendering: خداوند
Transliteration: Khudawand
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: مالک
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. مالک is too transactional and undershoots the claim. In Ephesians, reserved exclusively for Christ (1:2-3, 4:1, 4:5, 5:20, 6:1). NEVER use for the human ‘master’ of Ephesians 6:5-9 — see master_human entry, which mandates مالک there instead.
Messiah
Approved rendering: مسیح
Transliteration: Masih
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Carries the same pre-loaded Quranic content (honored prophet, not divine, not crucified); every occurrence must actively assert Christ’s unique redemptive sufficiency. Ephesians occurrences: 1:1, 2:13, 5:32, throughout.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: روح القدس
Transliteration: Rooh-ul-Qudus
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Identical Quranic phrase and mainstream tafsir identification with the angel Jibril; created-being-versus-divine-Person distinction must be explicit at every occurrence. Ephesians 4:30’s ‘grieve’ language (see grieve_holy_spirit) decisively reinforces personhood. Ephesians occurrences: 1:13, 4:30, 5:18, 6:17-18.
Salvation
Approved rendering: نجات
Transliteration: nejat
Doctrine: Salvation
Original: σωτηρία
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Nanawatai (ritual submission accepted in place of retaliation) is a positive cultural bridge for substitutionary atonement and should be invoked explicitly. Ephesians occurrences: 1:13, 2:5, 2:8, 6:17.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: صداقت
Transliteration: sadaqat
Doctrine: Salvation
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Honor-restoration framing must supplement, never replace, the forensic sense in an honor-shame culture. Ephesians occurrences: 4:24, 5:9, 6:14.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: بیا راژوندي کیدل
Transliteration: bya rajwandi kedal
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Original: ἀνάστασις
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package. Shares the Quran’s crucifixion-denial (4:157); oral/narrative apologetic explanation is especially important. Ephesians occurrences: 1:20 (Christ’s own resurrection); 2:5-6 as the base term inside the compounds made_alive_with_christ and seated_with_christ — must never be substituted with a generic ‘revive/renew’ verb.
Church
Approved rendering: کلیسا
Transliteration: kalisa
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: امت
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. امت must never substitute. Must be taught as a dispersed, often secret community, not a building. Ephesians occurrences: 1:22, 3:10, 3:21, 5:23-32.
Law
Approved rendering: ناموس
Transliteration: namus
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: شریعت
Original: νόμος τῶν ἐντολῶν
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. NEVER شریعت; must be distinguished from both formal shari’a and Pashtunwali customary law. Ephesians occurrence: 2:15 (νόμος τῶν ἐντολῶν, the ceremonial law abolished as a Jew-Gentile barrier).
Son Of God
Approved rendering: د خدای زوی
Transliteration: da Khudai zoy
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Same Quranic denial (112:3, 19:35) applies with full force. Ephesians occurrence: 4:13.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: محسوبه شوی صداقت
Transliteration: mahsuba shway sadaqat
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: لاسته راوړی صداقت
Original: ἐλογίσθη αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην (conceptual referent)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Must retain ‘credited/reckoned,’ never ‘earned.’ Underlies Ephesians 2:8-9’s salvation formula conceptually, even though the compound noun does not itself occur in the Greek text of Ephesians.
Made Alive With Christ
Approved rendering: د مسیح سره یوځای بیا راژوندي کول
Transliteration: da Masih sara yawdzai bya rajwandi kawul
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace through Faith
Original: συζωοποιέω
Category: Salvation
New term (compound). Must retain the baseline resurrection term بیا راژوندي کیدل exactly, never substituted with a generic ‘revive/renew’ verb, since this ties personal salvation directly to Christ’s own historically-contested bodily resurrection. Ephesians occurrence: 2:5.
Works Excluded
Approved rendering: کارونه
Transliteration: karoona
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace through Faith
Original: ἔργα
Category: Salvation
New term. Must render the exclusion unqualified (‘not from works,’ never ‘not from works alone’), resisting both Islamic mizan deeds-weighing theology and Pashtunwali’s honor-earned-through-deeds default. Ephesians occurrence: 2:9. This is the single most load-bearing ‘works’ occurrence in the core passage.
Good Works Fruit
Approved rendering: ښه کارونه
Transliteration: kha karoona
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace through Faith
Original: ἔργα ἀγαθά
Category: Salvation
New term. Same root as the excluded کارونه of 2:9 but positively framed as prepared fruit, never grounds; the 2:9/2:10 sequence must be unmistakable given overlap with Islamic amal-e-saleh (deeds weighed on the mizan) vocabulary. Ephesians occurrence: 2:10.
Predestined
Approved rendering: مخکې ټاکل شوی
Transliteration: makhke takal shaway
Doctrine: Election and Predestination in Christ
Original: προορίζω
Category: Election
New term. Collides directly with qadar, a pillar of Sunni iman, popularly received with fatalistic resignation; must always appear bound to the qualifying phrase ‘په مسیح کې’ (in Christ) at every occurrence, taught as specific, redemptive, Christ-centered predestination, not blanket cosmic fatalism. Ephesians occurrences: 1:5, 1:11.
Submission
Approved rendering: غاړه ایښودل
Transliteration: ghara ekhodal
Doctrine: Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Rejected alternatives: تسلیمیدل, اطاعت کول
Original: ὑποτάσσω
Category: Household Codes
New term. Acute triple collision: (1) Islam’s own definitional submission owed exclusively to God (تسلیمیدل explicitly rejected as a substitute for this reason); (2) Pashtunwali’s own honor-code and tribal-elder submission expectations; (3) risk that 5:21’s mutual submission is lost beneath 5:22’s wife-specific instruction. Must be taught as a Christ-modeled, self-giving pattern, categorically distinct from submission to God alone or to tribal authority. Ephesians occurrences: 5:21, 5:22, 5:24.
Master Human
Approved rendering: مالک
Transliteration: malik
Doctrine: Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Rejected alternatives: خداوند
Original: κύριος (ἀνθρώπινος)
Category: Household Codes
New term. The baseline rejects مالک for divine Lordship as too transactional — precisely for that reason مالک is correct and mandatory here for the human ‘master’ of 6:5-9. خداوند must NEVER be used for a human slave-master, since doing so would either divinize the human master or dilute the exclusive divine title reserved for Christ. Record this reversal explicitly in tooling to prevent a future worker from ‘correcting’ مالک back to خداوند. Ephesians occurrences: 6:5, 6:9.
Armor Of God
Approved rendering: د خدای وسله
Transliteration: da Khudai wasla
Doctrine: Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
Rejected alternatives: روحاني وسایل
Original: πανοπλία τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Spiritual Warfare
New term. وسله (weapons/arms) carries extremely heavy, immediate cultural and political resonance given decades of armed conflict, tribal badal feuding, and Taliban jihadist rhetorical framing; a softer euphemistic substitute (روحاني وسایل) was considered and rejected because Paul’s text deliberately draws on concrete Roman military imagery. Every occurrence must repeatedly and explicitly clarify this armor is exclusively spiritual, exclusively defensive, and never a warrant for literal violence. MANDATORY theologian review at every single occurrence — among the most acute real-world safety collisions in the curriculum. Ephesians occurrences: 6:11, 6:13.
High Risk Terms
Father
Approved rendering: پلار
Transliteration: plar
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Shares tawhid-anthropomorphism objection; also carries strong stern-authority connotation in Pashtun patriarchal culture. Ephesians 3:14-15’s fatherhood wordplay (‘every family named from the Father’) is an opportunity to soften this default explicitly. Ephesians occurrences: 1:2-3, 1:17, 2:18, 3:14-15, 4:6, 5:20, 6:2-4.
Abba
Approved rendering: ابا
Transliteration: Abba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Inherited from Romans package. Aramaic intimacy-term. Not directly present in Ephesians’ Greek text but retained here for teaching notes wherever 1:5’s adoption (زوی نیول) is explained, preserving the Romans 8 intimacy contrast.
Grace
Approved rendering: فضل
Transliteration: fazal
Doctrine: Grace
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Pashtunwali’s melmastia hospitality code treats gift-giving as reciprocity-creating; فضل must be taught as one-directional, creating no repayment obligation. Ephesians 2:8 joins the cross-document verbatim-consistency list alongside Romans 1:16-17, 8:28, 10:9-10. Ephesians occurrences: 1:2, 1:6-7, 2:5, 2:7-8, 3:2, 3:7-8, 4:7, 4:29, 6:24.
Faith
Approved rendering: ایمان
Transliteration: iman
Doctrine: Faith
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Personal trust in Christ, not loyalty to Islamic creedal iman or Pashtunwali’s honor code (nang). Ephesians occurrences: 1:15, 2:8, 3:12, 3:17, 4:5, 4:13, 6:16, 6:23.
Gospel
Approved rendering: انجیل
Transliteration: Injil
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: زیری
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Must be taught as the NT record itself, not a lost predecessor text (tahrif assumption). Ephesians occurrences: 1:13, 3:6, 6:15, 6:19.
Called
Approved rendering: بلل شوی
Transliteration: balal shaway
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Original: κλητός
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Context-sensitive across apostleship/sainthood/salvation senses; check which is active. Ephesians occurrences: 1:18, 4:1, 4:4.
Calling
Approved rendering: بلنه
Transliteration: balana
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Original: κλῆσις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Must convey a sovereign summons from God, not human-initiated seeking. Ephesians occurrences: 1:18, 4:1, 4:4.
Holy
Approved rendering: مقدس
Transliteration: moqaddas
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Relational, Spirit-wrought sense, not ritual-observance holiness. Ephesians occurrences: 1:4, 5:27.
Saints
Approved rendering: مقدسان
Transliteration: moqaddasan
Doctrine: Sainthood
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Corporate sense for all believers, not an ascetic elite. Ephesians occurrences: 1:1, 1:15, 1:18, 2:19, 3:8, 3:18, 4:12, 5:3, 6:18.
Adoption
Approved rendering: زوی نیول
Transliteration: zoy neyol
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: υἱοθεσία
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Sharper departure from Pashtun patrilineal qawm/khel inheritance norms than in other language contexts; must be taught explicitly. Direct υἱοθεσία occurrence at Ephesians 1:5, extended corporately at 2:19 and 3:14-15 (see household_of_god).
Election
Approved rendering: غوره کول
Transliteration: ghwara kawul
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Original: ἐκλέγομαι
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. God’s free redemptive choice unrelated to lineage or tribal standing. Ephesians occurrences: 1:4, 1:11; pair with new predestined term.
Glory
Approved rendering: جلال
Transliteration: jalal
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Anchor to Christ’s specific historical glory, not generalized mystical splendor from the region’s Sufi poetic tradition. Ephesians occurrences: 1:6, 1:12, 1:14, 1:17-18, 3:13, 3:16, 3:21.
Apostle
Approved rendering: رسول
Transliteration: rasul
Doctrine: Apostleship
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Collides with Muhammad’s defining rasul title. Ephesians occurrences: 1:1, 2:20, 3:5, 4:11.
Prophet
Approved rendering: پیغمبر
Transliteration: peghambar
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Original: προφήτης
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Must be paired with fuller Christological titles against khatam al-anbiya (finality of prophethood) association. Ephesians occurrences: 2:20, 3:5, 4:11 (as a NT gift-office).
Sin
Approved rendering: ګناه
Transliteration: gunah
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package. Bridges honor-shame-primary ethics to guilt-before-God framework. In Ephesians paired with the new term trespasses (تېروتنه) at 2:1 to preserve Paul’s double emphasis. Ephesians occurrence: 2:1.
Power Of God
Approved rendering: د خدای قدرت
Transliteration: da Khudai qodrat
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation
Original: δύναμις θεοῦ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Here specifically Christ’s resurrection power now at work in believers, tying to Assurance and Spiritual Warfare. Ephesians occurrences: 1:19, 1:21, 3:7, 3:16, 3:20.
Covenant
Approved rendering: تړون
Transliteration: tarun
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Original: διαθῆκαι τῆς ἐπαγγελίας
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Biblical covenant is unilaterally initiated by God, not negotiated between equals as in Pashtunwali treaty-making. Ephesians occurrence: 2:12 (plural, ‘covenants of promise’).
Providence
Approved rendering: د خدای تدبیر
Transliteration: da Khudai tadbir
Doctrine: Providence
Original: βουλή
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Keep distinct from folk qadar fatalism. Ephesians occurrence: 1:11 (βουλή, God’s counsel/purpose).
Mission
Approved rendering: ماموریت
Transliteration: ma’muriyat
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations
Original: οἰκονομία τοῦ μυστηρίου / ἀποστολή
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Open evangelism carries severe, potentially life-threatening legal/social risk in much of the Pashto-speaking world. Ephesians occurrences: 3:1-13 (context), 6:19-20.
Israel
Approved rendering: اسرائیل
Transliteration: Esra’il
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Requires deliberate pastoral framing; the theological point (Gentile inclusion) must be foregrounded over contemporary political sentiment. Ephesians occurrence: 2:12.
Flesh Ethical
Approved rendering: نفس
Transliteration: nafs
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Original: σάρξ
Category: Sin
New term. نفس is a live Islamic ethical category (the disciplined lower self); risks reducing Paul’s total-depravity claim to an achievable self-mastery project rather than a condition of death requiring God’s unilateral resurrecting action. Ephesians occurrences: 2:3, 4:22. Requires explicit teaching gloss at every occurrence.
Wrath Of God
Approved rendering: غضب
Transliteration: ghazab
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Original: ὀργή
Category: God
New term. Shared Quranic term for divine anger; must be anchored to Christ’s atoning death (نجات), not left as impersonal cosmic ledger-keeping. Ephesians occurrences: 2:3, 5:6.
Seated With Christ
Approved rendering: سره کیناستل
Transliteration: sara kenastal
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation
Original: συγκαθίζω
Category: Salvation
New term. Extraordinary status-elevating claim in a hierarchical patron-client honor culture; must be taught as gift, not achievement, echoing the melmastia-reciprocity risk flagged for فضل. Ephesians occurrence: 2:6.
Gift Of Salvation
Approved rendering: ډالۍ
Transliteration: dalai
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace through Faith
Original: δῶρον
Category: Salvation
New term. Maximum-stakes collision with Pashtunwali’s melmastia reciprocity code, in which a gift from a powerful patron customarily obligates a return gift; teaching must make explicit this ډالۍ creates no repayment obligation whatsoever. Ephesians occurrence: 2:8.
Boast
Approved rendering: فخر کول
Transliteration: fakhr kawul
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace through Faith
Original: καυχάομαι
Category: Salvation
New term. Confronts the honor-shame culture’s default logic that personal/tribal honor (nang) is earned and displayed through deeds; a direct, culturally unsettling claim, not generic humility advice. Ephesians occurrence: 2:9.
Workmanship
Approved rendering: د خدای جوړونه
Transliteration: da Khudai jorona
Doctrine: Walking in Newness of Life
Rejected alternatives: مخلوق
Original: ποίημα
Category: Sanctification
New term. Must not be flattened to مخلوق (generic Islamic term for any created being); names the purposeful, skilled re-creation of the individual believer in Christ, distinct from and additional to original creation. Ephesians occurrence: 2:10.
Redemption
Approved rendering: خلاصون
Transliteration: khlasoon
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace through Faith
Rejected alternatives: فدیه
Original: ἀπολύτρωσις
Category: Salvation
New term. Avoid فدیه, the Islamic legal term for a minor compensatory payment discharging a missed religious obligation; خلاصون preserves total, costly liberation from sin’s slavery. Ephesians occurrences: 1:7, 1:14.
Inheritance
Approved rendering: میراث
Transliteration: miras
Doctrine: Election and Predestination in Christ
Original: κληρονομία
Category: Election
New term. Must be explicitly disentangled from rigid Pashtun patrilineal (qawm/khel) inheritance customs, reinforcing that this inheritance comes through adoption in Christ (زوی نیول), not tribal descent. Ephesians occurrences: 1:11, 1:14, 1:18.
Mystery
Approved rendering: راز
Transliteration: raz
Doctrine: The Mystery of Christ Revealed
Rejected alternatives: سر
Original: μυστήριον
Category: Mystery of Christ
New term. راز is embedded in the region’s Sufi devotional tradition as an esoteric secret progressively unveiled only to a spiritual elite (murid/pir); Ephesians’ mystery is the opposite — fully and publicly disclosed to all believers, requiring no elite tier of access. MANDATORY theologian review at every single occurrence, not merely first use. Ephesians occurrences: 1:9, 3:3, 3:4, 3:9, 5:32, 6:19.
Body Of Christ
Approved rendering: د مسیح بدن
Transliteration: da Masih badan
Doctrine: The Church as the Body of Christ
Original: σῶμα Χριστοῦ
Category: Church
New term. Must be taught as a living, organic, functioning unity under Christ’s headship, not a mere organizational metaphor, and not dependent on visible institutional/building form given the church’s often secret existence in the region. Ephesians occurrences: 1:22-23, 4:4, 4:12, 4:16, 5:23, 5:30.
Fullness
Approved rendering: بشپړتیا
Transliteration: bashpartia
Doctrine: The Church as the Body of Christ
Original: πλήρωμα
Category: Church
New term. Must avoid flattening to bare size/completeness and must avoid conflation with Sufi wahdat al-wujud pantheistic monism (‘all things filled with God’s being’); this is Christ’s personal, relational filling of his own body. MANDATORY theologian review at every occurrence. Ephesians occurrences: 1:23, 3:19, 4:13.
Commonwealth Of Israel
Approved rendering: د اسرائیل ټولنه
Transliteration: da Esra’il tolana
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: قوم
Original: πολιτεία τοῦ Ἰσραήλ
Category: Unity
New term. Avoid قوم (tribal/ethnic-lineage community, central to Pashtun identity); using qawm here would reinforce, rather than dismantle, the ethnic-lineage exclusivity Paul is overturning. Ephesians occurrence: 2:12.
One New Man
Approved rendering: نوی انسان
Transliteration: nawi insan
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: καινὸς ἄνθρωπος
Category: Unity
New term. Must be taught as a genuinely new, third category of humanity, not merely a coalition of two pre-existing ethnic/tribal groups, in a region where identity defaults to qawm/khel lineage. Reused individually at 4:24 for the old-self/new-self ethical register — same lexeme, both registers. Ephesians occurrences: 2:15, 4:24.
Access
Approved rendering: لاسرسی
Transliteration: laasrasi
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: προσαγωγή
Category: Unity
New term. In a hierarchical patron-client honor culture, ordinary persons do not have unmediated bold access to a powerful patriarch; this is a striking, deliberately countercultural claim, comparable to the Abba intimacy note. Ephesians occurrences: 2:18, 3:12.
Household Of God
Approved rendering: د خدای کورنۍ
Transliteration: da Khudai koranai
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: οἰκεῖοι τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Church
New term. Extends the Critical-tier Adoption doctrine corporately — full family membership and belonging without blood descent, against the rigid patrilineal qawm/khel default. Ephesians occurrence: 2:19.
Temple Living
Approved rendering: معبد
Transliteration: ma’bad
Doctrine: The Church as the Body of Christ
Original: ναός
Category: Church
New term. Risk of being heard as a physical building, colliding with جومات (mosque); must denote the living, dispersed community, consistent with the church’s often secret existence. Recommend modifying with ژوندی (living) at first use in teaching material: ژوندی معبد. Ephesians occurrence: 2:21.
Unity
Approved rendering: یووالی
Transliteration: yaywali
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: ἑνότης
Category: Unity
New term. The sevenfold ‘one’ of 4:4-6 must not blur into tawhid’s own numerical singularity of the divine essence; this is diverse-body unity around one Lord, a different category. Names the resulting corporate identity, distinct from سوله (peace) and پخلاینه (the unilateral act). Ephesians occurrences: 4:3, 4:4, 4:13.
Baptism
Approved rendering: تعمید
Transliteration: ta’mid
Doctrine: The Church as the Body of Christ
Rejected alternatives: غسل
Original: βάπτισμα
Category: Church
New term. NEVER غسل (Islamic ritual washing), which would collapse baptism into repeatable ritual purification rather than a once-for-all identification with Christ’s death and resurrection. Ephesians occurrence: 4:5.
Evangelist
Approved rendering: د انجیل ویناوال
Transliteration: da Injil wainawaal
Doctrine: Gifts for Building Up the Church
Rejected alternatives: انجیلیست
Original: εὐαγγελιστής
Category: Gifts for Building Up the Church
New term. Keeps انجیل visibly embedded in the office title. Carries the same severe, potentially life-threatening safety risk already flagged for open gospel proclamation; naming this as a formal office in written material may itself be a security liability. Ephesians occurrence: 4:11.
Grieve Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: د روح القدس خفه کول
Transliteration: da Rooh-ul-Qudus khafa kawul
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: λυπέω τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Ἅγιον
Category: God
New term. Decisive evidence of the Spirit’s personal, relational nature; directly counters the created-angel (Jibril) identification already flagged Critical for روح القدس. Ephesians occurrence: 4:30.
Filled With Spirit
Approved rendering: له روح القدس نه ډک کیدل
Transliteration: la Rooh-ul-Qudus na dak kedal
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πληρόω ἐν Πνεύματι
Category: Sanctification
New term. Must be distinguished from ecstatic/trance devotional states associated with regional Sufi practice (e.g., dhikr-induced ecstasy); Spirit-fullness here issues in sober, communal, relational fruit, not loss of self-control. Ephesians occurrence: 5:18.
Head Authority
Approved rendering: سر
Transliteration: sar
Doctrine: Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Original: κεφαλή
Category: Household Codes
New term. In Pashtun patriarchal family culture, سر defaults to stern, controlling authority; Ephesians 5:23-25 redefines headship as Christ’s own self-sacrificial, loving headship, and this redefinition must be taught explicitly alongside the term in the same teaching unit, not left to a separate cross-reference. Ephesians occurrence: 5:23.
Rulers Authorities Powers
Approved rendering: روحاني واکمنۍ او ځواکونه
Transliteration: rohani wakmani aw dzwakoona
Doctrine: Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
Original: ἀρχαί, ἐξουσίαι, κοσμοκράτορες τοῦ σκότους, πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας
Category: Spiritual Warfare
New term. Widespread regional belief in jinn as a populated, morally mixed unseen-world taxonomy can be either asset or liability; must preserve Christ’s total, already-accomplished cosmic authority (1:21), not reduce him to one actor among many contending spirits. Ephesians occurrences: 1:21, 2:2, 3:10, 6:12.
Word Of God Sword
Approved rendering: د خدای کلام
Transliteration: da Khudai kalam
Doctrine: Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
Original: ῥῆμα θεοῦ
Category: Spiritual Warfare
New term. کلام is also the precise Islamic technical term for the Quran’s uncreated divine speech (Kalam Allah); a genuine point of contact but must not imply the Bible matches that specific doctrine of literal verbatim dictation and eternal uncreated status. Ephesians occurrence: 6:17.
Ambassador In Chains
Approved rendering: زندانی سفیر
Transliteration: zindani safir
Doctrine: Mission and Evangelism
Rejected alternatives: سفیر
Original: πρεσβεύω ἐν ἁλύσει
Category: Mission
New term (compound). A generic single-word ‘ambassador’ (سفیر alone) would lose the imprisonment context that gives this verse its rhetorical and pastoral force for a persecuted readership. Mirrors the real, contemporary imprisonment/persecution risk for gospel proclamation among Muslim-background Pashtuns. Ephesians occurrence: 6:20.
Ruler Of Power Of Air
Approved rendering: د هوا واکمن
Transliteration: da hawa wakman
Doctrine: Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
Original: ὁ ἄρχων τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ ἀέρος
Category: Spiritual Warfare
New term. Must be clearly identified in context as شیطان so it is not mistaken for a jinn-lord or lesser spirit within the wider Islamic unseen-world taxonomy; Ephesians presents one singular defeated enemy, not a populated hierarchy of morally ambiguous jinn. Ephesians occurrence: 2:2.
Medium Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: سوله
Transliteration: sola
Doctrine: Peace with God
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Everyday word for war-ending settlement (sola jirga); resonant asset. In Ephesians also names peace between Jew and Gentile (2:14-17), distinct in role from پخلاینه (the unilateral act) and یووالی (the resulting identity) — do not use interchangeably. Ephesians occurrences: 1:2, 2:14-17, 4:3, 6:15, 6:23.
Spiritual Gifts
Approved rendering: روحاني ورکړې
Transliteration: rohani warkane
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts
Original: χαρίσματα / δόματα
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Always retain روحاني so the phrase is not read as ordinary talent. Core term for Ephesians 4:7-13’s gift-office list. Ephesians occurrences: 1:11 (context), 4:7-13.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: غیر یهودیان
Transliteration: gheyr yahudian
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: امتونه
Original: ἔθνη
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. امتونه shares the loaded Ummah root and must never substitute. Ephesians occurrences: 2:11, 3:1, 3:6, 3:8, 4:17.
Kingdom Of God
Approved rendering: د خدای پاچاهي
Transliteration: da Khudai pachahi
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission
Original: βασιλεία τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ
Category: Kingdom
Inherited from Romans package. Distinguish God’s spiritual reign from political-religious sovereignty claims, including Islamic Emirate framing. Ephesians occurrence: 5:5.
Intercession
Approved rendering: منځګړیتوب
Transliteration: manzgaritob
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Original: προσευχή / δέησις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Nanawatai mediation custom is a positive cultural bridge for Christ’s intercession, calibrated carefully. Ephesians occurrences: 1:16-19, 3:14-19, 6:18-20 (Paul’s prayers for the church and for himself).
Trespasses
Approved rendering: تېروتنه
Transliteration: terwatna
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: خطا
Original: παράπτωμα
Category: Sin
New term. Must not be softened to the Islamic jurisprudential category خطا (khata, unintentional/excusable fault); these are culpable acts, paired with ګناه (gunah) to preserve Paul’s double emphasis in Ephesians 2:1, 2:5.
Heavenly Places
Approved rendering: آسماني ځایونه
Transliteration: asmani dzayuna
Doctrine: Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God
Original: ἐπουράνια
Category: Spiritual Warfare
New term. Must denote the unseen spiritual realm of authority and conflict, not literal sky or a generic afterlife destination. Ephesians occurrences: 1:3, 1:20, 2:6, 3:10, 6:12.
Blessing
Approved rendering: برکت
Transliteration: barakat
Doctrine: Election and Predestination in Christ
Original: εὐλογία
Category: Election
New term. برکت is a major, positively-loaded Islamic concept; must be anchored to the specific Christ-centered spiritual blessings of 1:3-14, not folk-barakat (charm/talisman-adjacent good fortune). Ephesians occurrence: 1:3.
Seal Of Spirit
Approved rendering: مهر کول
Transliteration: muhr kawul
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation
Original: σφραγίζω
Category: Sanctification
New term. Everyday word for an official seal/stamp of ownership; reinforces the Spirit as God’s mark of secure ownership and guaranteed inheritance. Ephesians occurrences: 1:13, 4:30.
Circumcision
Approved rendering: سنت
Transliteration: sunnat
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: περιτομή
Category: Unity
New term. سنت is an established Islamic term (also ‘Muhammad’s tradition/practice’); context must clarify this refers specifically to the Abrahamic covenant sign, not Islamic sunnah generally. Ephesians occurrence: 2:11.
Dividing Wall
Approved rendering: د بېلتون دیوال
Transliteration: da beltoon diwal
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ
Category: Unity
New term. Keep concrete and visual (likely alluding to the temple’s Court of the Gentiles barrier) rather than abstracted away, anchoring the Unity doctrine in a specific historical image. Ephesians occurrence: 2:14.
Reconciliation
Approved rendering: پخلاینه
Transliteration: pakhlaina
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: ἀποκαταλλάσσω / καταλλαγή
Category: Unity
New term. Positive bridge to feud-ending peacemaking, but biblical reconciliation is achieved unilaterally by Christ’s cross, not bilaterally negotiated as in customary jirga-mediated پخلاینه; calibrate accordingly. Names the unilateral act, distinct from سوله (resulting state) and یووالی (resulting identity). Ephesians occurrence: 2:16.
Cornerstone
Approved rendering: د کونج ډبره
Transliteration: da kunj dabara
Doctrine: The Church as the Body of Christ
Original: ἀκρογωνιαῖος
Category: Church
New term. Must keep Christ as the sole foundation, not merely an important figure among the apostles and prophets also mentioned in the same verse. Ephesians occurrence: 2:20.
Pastor Shepherd
Approved rendering: شپون
Transliteration: shpoon
Doctrine: Gifts for Building Up the Church
Original: ποιμήν
Category: Gifts for Building Up the Church
New term. Positive, well-established regional shepherding-culture image; must retain the specific sense of spiritual oversight, not general community leadership. Ephesians occurrence: 4:11.
Mature Man
Approved rendering: بشپړ انسان
Transliteration: bashpar insan
Doctrine: Gifts for Building Up the Church
Original: τέλειος ἀνήρ
Category: Gifts for Building Up the Church
New term. Render with the generic انسان rather than a strictly male-marked noun, per established gender-language convention; referent is the church’s corporate maturity, not individual male maturity. Ephesians occurrence: 4:13.
Old Self
Approved rendering: زوړ انسان
Transliteration: zor insan
Doctrine: Walking in Newness of Life
Original: παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος
Category: Walking in Newness of Life
New term. Pairs with نوی انسان; individual-ethical register here distinct from, but linked to, the corporate register at 2:15. Ephesians occurrence: 4:22.
Imitators Of God
Approved rendering: د خدای پیروي کوونکي
Transliteration: da Khudai peyrawi kawunki
Doctrine: Walking in Newness of Life
Original: μιμηταὶ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Walking in Newness of Life
New term. Must be distinguished from the tawhid-sensitive idea of ontological participation in the divine nature; this is ethical imitation of God’s self-giving love, not becoming like God in essence. Ephesians occurrence: 5:1.
One Flesh
Approved rendering: یوه غوښه
Transliteration: yawa ghwakha
Doctrine: Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Original: μία σάρξ
Category: Household Codes
New term. Retain the concrete Genesis idiom rather than abstracting to ‘one union,’ since Paul explicitly ties it to the μυστήριον (راز) of Christ and the church in the next verse. Ephesians occurrence: 5:31.
Bondservant
Approved rendering: غلام
Transliteration: ghulam
Doctrine: Household Codes and Christ-Centered Relationships
Original: δοῦλος
Category: Household Codes
New term. Requires a brief historical-context note distinguishing Greco-Roman household slavery from other regional slavery associations, and clarifying Paul’s simultaneous claim (6:9) that masters and slaves share one Master in heaven who shows no favoritism. Ephesians occurrence: 6:5.
Sons Of Disobedience
Approved rendering: د سرغړونې زامن
Transliteration: da sarghwarune zaaman
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Original: υἱοὶ τῆς ἀπειθείας
Category: Sin
New term. A Semitic ‘sons/children of X’ idiom already familiar to Pashto Bible readers (compare ‘sons of Israel’); render literally rather than paraphrasing, per the baseline idiom-handling rule preserving doctrinal meaning over naturalness. Ephesians occurrence: 2:2.
Walk Ethical Conduct
Approved rendering: چلند کول
Transliteration: chalánd kawul
Doctrine: Walking in Newness of Life
Rejected alternatives: ګرځېدل
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Walking in Newness of Life
New term. Recurring structural motif across the whole letter; must be rendered with the identical lexeme at every one of its seven occurrences so the letter’s before/after ‘walk’ contrast remains visible to the Pashto reader. Ephesians occurrences: 2:2, 2:10, 4:1, 4:17, 5:2, 5:8, 5:15.
Stewardship
Approved rendering: انتظام
Transliteration: intizam
Doctrine: The Mystery of Christ Revealed
Original: οἰκονομία
Category: Mystery of Christ
New term. Standard vocabulary; must retain the specific sense of Paul’s God-given commission tied to his apostleship (رسول), not generic organizational management. Ephesians occurrences: 3:2, 3:9.
Boldness Confidence
Approved rendering: زړورتوب
Transliteration: zrawartob
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Original: παρρησία / πεποίθησις
Category: Unity
New term. Pair conceptually with لاسرسی (access); bold confidence before a powerful authority figure is not the ordinary default in a patron-client honor culture and should be taught as a Christ-secured privilege. Ephesians occurrence: 3:12.
Low Risk Terms
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: شکر
Transliteration: shukr
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Also a major Islamic virtue; broadly compatible. Ephesians occurrences: 1:16, 5:4, 5:20.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: ملګرتیا
Transliteration: malgartia
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: شراکت
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. شراکت shares the shirk root; ملګرتیا is native and avoids this. Ephesians occurrence: 3:9 (κοινωνία context).
Exhort
Approved rendering: هڅول
Transliteration: hakol
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Original: παρακαλέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Context-sensitive between entreaty and encouragement. Ephesians occurrence: 4:1 (παρακαλῶ).
Strangers Aliens
Approved rendering: پردي
Transliteration: pardi
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: ξένοι / πάροικοι
Category: Unity
New term. Standard vocabulary; note the deliberate reversal at 2:19 where former outsiders become fellow citizens and household members. Ephesians occurrences: 2:12, 2:19.
Manifold Wisdom
Approved rendering: حکمت
Transliteration: hikmat
Doctrine: The Mystery of Christ Revealed
Original: πολυποίκιλος σοφία
Category: Mystery of Christ
New term. حکمت is a shared, positively-loaded Islamic theological term for divine wisdom; low collision risk provided anchored to God’s specific redemptive plan displayed through the church. Ephesians occurrence: 3:10.
Referenced passages