Core Glossary
Core Glossary: Philemon (English–Greek–Pashto)
Part A — Terms Reused Exactly from the Baseline Romans Translation Memory
| Term | Greek | Pashto | Transliteration | Risk (baseline) | Philemon citation(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grace | χάρις | فضل | fazal | High | 1:3, 1:22, 1:25 |
| Peace | εἰρήνη | سوله | sola | Medium | 1:3 |
| Faith | πίστις | ایمان | iman | High | 1:5, 1:6 |
| Saints | ἅγιοι | مقدسان | moqaddasan | Medium | 1:5, 1:7 |
| Fellowship | κοινωνία | ملګرتیا | malgartia | Low | 1:6 |
| Church | ἐκκλησία | کلیسا | kalisa | Medium | 1:2 |
| Lord | κύριος | خداوند | Khudawand | Critical | 1:3, 1:5, 1:16, 1:20, 1:25 |
| God | θεός | خدای | Khudai | Critical | 1:3, 1:4 |
| Father | πατήρ | پلار | plar | High | 1:3 |
| Jesus | Ἰησοῦς | عیسی | Isa | Critical | 1:1, 1:3, 1:9, 1:25 |
| Christ | Χριστός | مسیح | Masih | Critical | 1:1, 1:3, 1:6, 1:8, 1:9, 1:20, 1:23, 1:25 |
| Thanksgiving | εὐχαριστία / εὐχαριστῶ | شکر | shukr | Low | 1:4 |
| Exhort (beseeching sense) | παρακαλέω | نصیحت کول | nasihat kawul | Low (context-sensitive per baseline) | 1:9, 1:10 |
| Paul (proper name) | Παῦλος | پولوس | Pulos | — | 1:1, 1:9, 1:19 |
| Mark, Luke (proper names) | Μᾶρκος, Λουκᾶς | مرقس، لوقا | Marqus, Luqa | — | 1:24 |
Part B — New Terms Introduced for Philemon
| Term (English) | Greek | Transliteration | Pashto | Pashto Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Alternatives Rejected | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Slave / bondservant | δοῦλος | doulos | مریی | mrai | Critical | Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power | غلام (gholam) | غلام is widely used in Dari/Pashto religious speech for the positive Islamic self-designation “slave/servant of God” (ghulam Allah); using it here would import unearned dignity into the very social category Paul asks Philemon to see transcended, blunting the force of “no longer as a slave” (1:16). مریی preserves the plain, non-elevated social-legal sense the contrast requires. |
| Beloved brother | ἀδελφός ἀγαπητός | adelphos agapētos | ګران ورور | gran wror | High | Christian Brotherhood across Social Status | — | The letter’s central social-leveling claim (1:16); must register as a real, load-bearing change of family status (inheritance-adjacent, echoing the baseline’s Critical-risk “adoption” doctrine) and not be softened to a merely polite or sentimental address. |
| Partner (fellowship-partner) | κοινωνός | koinōnos | ملګری | malgari | High | Christian Brotherhood across Social Status; Forgiveness and Reconciliation | شریک (sharik) | شریک shares the ش-ر-ک root with shirk (idolatrous partnership with God), the same collision already documented in the baseline for κοινωνία itself; its cognate κοινωνός must avoid it for identical reasons. ملګری (built on the same root as the already-approved ملګرتیا) is required for consistency. |
| To wrong / to owe (debt of wrong) | ἀδικέω / ὀφείλω | adikeō / opheilō | تیری کول / پور لرل | tiri kawul / por larl | High | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | — | Pashtunwali’s badal (revenge) code expects a wrong to be answered by the wrongdoer himself; Paul’s model — a third party (himself) voluntarily absorbing the debt (1:18) — is a striking, concrete enactment of the nanawatai-adjacent substitutionary logic the baseline already invokes for “salvation,” and should be explicitly cross-referenced here, not merely assumed. |
| Charge to my account | ἐλλογάω | ellogaō | زما په حساب کې لیکل | zma pa hisab ke likal | High | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | — | A literal commercial/legal ledger term. Preserve its concrete, transactional force — do not spiritualize it into a vague apology — since the specificity is precisely what carries the doctrinal weight of substitutionary debt-transfer. |
| Voluntary (uncoerced) | ἑκούσιον | hekousion | رضاکارانه | rizakarana | High | Grace-Motivated Obedience | — | Central to 1:14’s doctrinal hinge; Pashtunwali’s honor code (nang) and tribal-elder authority often render compliance socially compulsory, not freely chosen — this must be taught explicitly against that default. |
| Compulsion / force | ἀνάγκη | anankē | جبر / زور | jabr / zor | High | Grace-Motivated Obedience | — | The antithesis-partner of رضاکارانه above; the pairing must be rendered as a clear, deliberate contrast in every occurrence. |
| Obedience (standalone) | ὑπακοή | hypakoē | اطاعت | ita’at | High | Grace-Motivated Obedience | د ایمان اطاعت (compound, reserved) | Unlike the baseline’s compound “obedience of faith” (د ایمان اطاعت), this is standalone obedience to a personal appeal (1:21) and must be framed as Philemon’s free, grace-shaped response — not generic religious submission, given the same Islamic-submission-as-core-category risk the baseline documents for the compound term. |
| Prisoner (for Christ) | δέσμιος (Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ) | desmios (Christou Iēsou) | بندي (د مسیح عیسی) | bandi (da Masih Isa) | Medium-High | Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another | — | Must be clearly distinguished from a criminal prisoner; carries strong, dignifying pastoral resonance for a persecuted readership among whom imprisonment for faith is a present reality, not merely historical. |
| Fellow soldier | συστρατιώτης | systratiōtēs | روحاني ملګری سرتیری | rohani malgari sartiri | Medium-High | Christian Brotherhood across Social Status | — | The bare military metaphor risks resonance with jihad/mujahid combat categories in the surrounding culture; the qualifier “روحاني” (spiritual) must always accompany it and be explained as shared endurance in gospel labor, never literal or holy-war combat. |
| Appeal (rhetorical act, vs. command) | παρακαλῶ (as noun-sense of the appeal itself) | parakalō | غوښتنه/زاري | ghwashtana / zari | Medium | Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another | — | Supplementary descriptive vocabulary for discussing Paul’s rhetorical strategy in teaching materials; the verb itself in-text uses the Reused نصیحت کول rendering above. |
| Heart (inmost affections) | σπλάγχνα | splanchna | زړه | zra | Medium | Christian Brotherhood across Social Status; Forgiveness and Reconciliation | — | Hebraic/Greek bowels-idiom for deep compassion; render identically at 1:7, 1:12, and 1:20 for cross-verse consistency. |
| Useless / useful (Onesimus wordplay) | ἄχρηστος / εὔχρηστος | achrēstos / euchrēstos | ناکاره / ګټور | nakara / gatawar | Medium | Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power | — | Wordplay on Ὀνήσιμος (“useful/profitable”); invisible in Pashto without a translator’s footnote explaining the name’s Greek meaning — required at first occurrence (1:10-11) and cross-referenced at 1:20’s ὀναίμην wordplay. |
| To benefit/profit (Onesimus wordplay) | ὀναίμην | onaimēn | ګټه اخیستل | gata akhistal | Medium | Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power | — | Second occurrence of the same name-wordplay; requires the same footnote cross-reference as ἄχρηστος/εὔχρηστος above. |
| Child (spiritual) | τέκνον | teknon | زوی | zoy | Medium | Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another | — | Reuses the “adoption” root (زوی نیول) but must be clarified as spiritual mentoring/fatherhood through the gospel, not formal legal adoption in the Romans 8 sense. |
| Boldness / confidence (to command) | παρρησία | parrēsia | باور/بې ډاره وینا | bawar / be-dara wina | Medium | Grace-Motivated Obedience; Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another | — | Names the authority Paul deliberately sets aside (1:8) in favor of appeal (1:9); must not collapse into mere bravado. |
| To command | ἐπιτάσσω | epitassō | امر کول | amr kawul | Low | Grace-Motivated Obedience | — | Standard word for a binding order; must read as a live, available option Paul chooses not to exercise. |
| Love | ἀγάπη | مینه | mina | Low-Medium | Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another; Christian Brotherhood across Social Status | — | Distinguish from Islamic mahabba/Sufi ishq devotional categories; this is Christ-defined, covenantal love. | |
| Flesh (natural relationship sense) | σάρξ | جسد | jasad | Medium | Christian Brotherhood across Social Status | — | Here means “according to natural/human relationship,” not the negative flesh-vs-spirit sense found elsewhere in Paul (e.g., Romans 8); disambiguate by context note. | |
| Guest room / hospitality | ξενία | مېلمستون | melmastun | Low-Medium | Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another | — | Positive cultural bridge resonant with Pashtun melmastia hospitality custom, comparable to the baseline’s treatment of سوله (peace) as an asset term. | |
| House church | ἐκκλησία κατ’ οἶκόν | ekklēsia kat’ oikon | د کور کلیسا | da kor kalisa | Medium | Christian Brotherhood across Social Status | — | Directly names the small, home-based congregational structure; reinforce with the baseline’s Critical-risk “church_as_gods_people” doctrine note on dispersed, often secret communities. |
| Fellow prisoner | συναιχμάλωτος | hambandi | همبندي | hambandi | Low-Medium | Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another | — | Same pastoral sensitivity as δέσμιος/بندي above. |
| To repay / restitution | ἀποτίνω | tadia kawul | تادیه کوم | tadia kawom | Medium | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | — | A genuine, literal financial commitment; preserve the atonement-echo linkage with 1:18’s debt-transfer language. |
| To grant as a favor (grace-root echo) | χαρίζομαι | baksal kedal | بښل کیدل | baksal kedal | Medium | Grace-Motivated Obedience | — | Shares the χάρις (grace) root; worth flagging for teaching materials even where a full compound rendering is not required in-text. |
| Onesimus (proper name, “useful”) | Ὀνήσιμος | Anisimos | انیسیموس | Anisimos | Low (transliteration); Medium (doctrinal footnote required) | Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power | — | Requires a translator’s footnote on first occurrence (1:10) explaining the Greek name’s meaning, since the wordplay at 1:11 and 1:20 is otherwise invisible in Pashto. |
| Philemon, Apphia, Archippus, Timothy, Epaphras, Aristarchus, Demas (proper names) | Φιλήμων, Ἀπφία, Ἄρχιππος, Τιμόθεος, Ἐπαφρᾶς, Ἀρίσταρχος, Δημᾶς | Filemon, Apfiya, Arkhipos, Timotawus, Afra, Aristarkhos, Dimas | فلیمون، اپفیه، ارخپس، تیموتاوس، افرا، ارسترخس، دیماس | Filemon, Apfiya, Arkhipos, Timotawus, Afra, Aristarkhos, Dimas | Low | — | — | Standard transliterated proper names; no doctrinal content risk. |
Part C — Risk Summary for Philemon-Specific Additions
| Risk Tier | Count of New Terms | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 1 (δοῦλος / مریی) | Human theologian |
| High | 7 (ἀδελφός ἀγαπητός, κοινωνός, ἀδικέω/ὀφείλω, ἐλλογάω, ἑκούσιον, ἀνάγκη, ὑπακοή) | Human theologian |
| Medium-High | 2 (δέσμιος, συστρατιώτης) | Human theologian |
| Medium | 11 | Native speaker review |
| Low / Low-Medium | remaining terms and all proper names | Native speaker review / Automated |
This glossary extends, and does not contradict, the baseline Romans translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json. All Part A terms must be enforced exactly per the existing baseline entries. All Part B terms are proposed for addition to translation memory before Phase 2 processing of any Philemon segment, per the version-increment procedure in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md.
Critical Risk Terms
Lord
Approved rendering: خداوند
Transliteration: Khudawand
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: مالک
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Applied to Christ throughout the letter’s greetings and benediction (1:3, 1:5, 1:16, 1:20, 1:25), including 1:16’s ‘in the Lord’; must never be softened to mere ownership or a respectful title.
God
Approved rendering: خدای
Transliteration: Khudai
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: الله
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Named in the letter’s greeting and thanksgiving (1:3-4); strict tawhid theology must be distinguished from the Trinitarian conception denoted by the same word.
Jesus
Approved rendering: عیسی
Transliteration: Isa
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Appears in Paul’s self-identification and every benediction of the letter; the Quranic prophet-only, non-crucified, non-divine narrative must be actively corrected wherever the name is taught.
Messiah
Approved rendering: مسیح
Transliteration: Masih
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. In Philemon appears consistently within compound titles (Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ, Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, 1:1, 1:8, 1:9, 1:20, 1:23) rather than as a bare messianic title; the same honored-prophet, non-divine Quranic content applies with equal force inside these compounds.
Adoption
Approved rendering: زوی نیول
Transliteration: zoy neyol
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Inherited from Romans package. Retained here strictly for cross-reference and disambiguation: the letter’s τέκνον (‘child,’ 1:10, see child_spiritual below) and its ‘beloved brother’ status claim (1:16, see beloved_brother below) must each be explicitly distinguished from this formal, inheritance-bearing legal-adoption doctrine so the two curricula’s teaching does not conflate spiritual mentoring or family-status language with Romans 8’s specific doctrine.
Slave
Approved rendering: مریی
Transliteration: mrai
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Rejected alternatives: غلام
Original: δοῦλος
Category: Slavery and Social Status
δοῦλος (1:16). غلام is rejected because in Dari/Pashto religious usage ‘غلام الله’ (ghulam Allah, ‘slave/servant of God’) is a positive, honorable Islamic self-designation of pious submission; using it here would import unearned dignity into the very social category Paul asks Philemon to see transcended, blunting ‘no longer as a slave.’ مریی retains the plain, non-elevated legal/social sense the contrast with beloved_brother requires. ALSO REJECT آزادول/کفاره (manumission-as-meritorious-piety vocabulary) if a translator is tempted to describe Philemon’s expected action: this would recast the letter’s grace-motivated brotherly love as self-earned religious merit. Add historical-context footnote distinguishing ancient Greco-Roman chattel slavery from any contemporary informal bonded-labor practice or hereditary occupational-caste category, since the letter’s argument dismantles permanence in Christ, not reinforces caste.
High Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: انجیل
Transliteration: Injil
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: زیری
Inherited from Romans package. Relevant to Philemon’s closing network of ‘fellow workers’ and ‘fellow soldier’ in gospel labor (1:1, 1:24); must be taught as the NT record itself, not a lost predecessor text, per the tahrif assumption shared across the Islamicate world.
Grace
Approved rendering: فضل
Transliteration: fazal
Doctrine: Grace
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Frames both the letter’s opening and closing benediction (1:3, 1:25) and is echoed by the grace-root verb χαρίζομαι at 1:22; must not be rendered as a reciprocity-creating melmastia-style gift, especially since Philemon’s own hoped-for obedient response (1:21) could otherwise be misread as repayment for Paul’s grace-laden appeal.
Faith
Approved rendering: ایمان
Transliteration: iman
Doctrine: Faith
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Philemon’s faith is commended and paired with κοινωνία τῆς πίστεως (‘fellowship of faith,’ 1:5-6), anticipating the κοινωνός (‘partner’) appeal of 1:17; object of faith (Christ) must remain recoverable from context even in this brief, personal letter.
Father
Approved rendering: پلار
Transliteration: plar
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Named in the letter’s opening greeting (1:3); even this brief greeting benefits from the baseline’s caution to keep intimate, relational warmth in view rather than the stern-authority connotation dominant in Pashtun patriarchal culture.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: د ایمان اطاعت
Transliteration: da iman ita’at
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Retained here strictly for cross-reference and disambiguation: this protective compound is reserved for the Romans doctrinal sense and must never be conflated with Philemon 1:21’s standalone اطاعت (see obedience_standalone below), which is Philemon’s free, personal, grace-shaped response to an interpersonal appeal, not the compound doctrinal category.
Wronged
Approved rendering: تیری کول
Transliteration: tiri kawul
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Rejected alternatives: بښنه/مغفرت (as an in-text substitute)
Original: ἀδικέω
Category: Reconciliation
Onesimus’s presumed offense against Philemon (1:18). Pashtunwali’s badal (revenge) code expects a wrong to be answered by the wrongdoer himself or avenged by the offended party; Paul’s model of a third party voluntarily absorbing responsibility is a striking, concrete departure from this default and must be taught explicitly. Always render together with debt_owed and charge_to_account as a single argumentative unit.
Debt Owed
Approved rendering: پور لرل
Transliteration: por larl
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: ὀφείλω
Category: Reconciliation
Any material debt Onesimus incurred against Philemon (1:18). Must not default to the cultural expectation that a debtor himself must repay; Paul’s offer to personally cover the debt previews the substitutionary logic the baseline already invokes for salvation via the nanawatai custom.
Charge To Account
Approved rendering: زما په حساب کې لیکل
Transliteration: zma pa hisab ke likal
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: ἐλλογάω
Category: Reconciliation
A literal commercial/legal ledger term (ἐλλογάω, 1:18). Preserve its concrete, transactional force rather than spiritualizing it into a vague apology; the specificity of a real ledger entry is precisely what carries the doctrinal weight of substitutionary debt-transfer, picturing the atonement in miniature. Cross-reference explicitly, but with calibration, to the baseline’s nanawatai-based atonement bridge.
Voluntary
Approved rendering: رضاکارانه
Transliteration: rizakarana
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Original: ἑκούσιον
Category: Faith
ἑκούσιον (1:14), the letter’s doctrinal hinge. Pashtunwali’s honor code (nang) and tribal-elder authority often render social compliance a matter of externally imposed obligation rather than free choice; this insistence on a freely willed response must be taught explicitly, not assumed self-evident. Always render paired with compulsion below as a deliberate antithesis, without exception.
Compulsion
Approved rendering: جبر/زور
Transliteration: jabr/zor
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Original: ἀνάγκη
Category: Faith
ἀνάγκη (1:14), the antithesis-partner of voluntary above. The pairing جبر/زور – رضاکارانه must be rendered as a clear, deliberate contrast at every occurrence, for the identical Pashtunwali honor-compliance reason documented for ‘voluntary.‘
Obedience Standalone
Approved rendering: اطاعت
Transliteration: ita’at
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Rejected alternatives: د ایمان اطاعت (compound, reserved for Romans usage)
Original: ὑπακοή
Category: Faith
ὑπακοή standing alone (1:21), NOT the baseline’s compound ‘obedience of faith.’ Must be framed as Philemon’s free, grace-shaped response to a personal relationship and appeal, not generic religious submission — the same Islamic submission-as-core-category risk and Pashtunwali competing-loyalty-code risk the baseline documents for the compound term apply here to an interpersonal instance.
Beloved Brother
Approved rendering: ګران ورور
Transliteration: gran wror
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Original: ἀδελφὸς ἀγαπητός
Category: Church
ἀδελφὸς ἀγαπητός (1:16), the letter’s central social-leveling claim. Must register as a real, load-bearing change of family/inheritance-adjacent status echoing the baseline’s Critical-risk ‘adoption’ doctrine, not a merely polite or sentimental address, given Pashtun society’s rigid patrilineal qawm/khel descent norms. Also distinguish from generic pan-Islamic ummah-brotherhood horizontal solidarity, which addresses fellowship among equals but not structural status reversal of an owned party.
Partner
Approved rendering: ملګری
Transliteration: malgari
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Rejected alternatives: شریک
Original: κοινωνός
Category: Church
κοινωνός (1:17). شریک shares the ش-ر-ک root with shirk (idolatrous partnership with God), the identical collision the baseline documents for κοινωνία itself; its cognate κοινωνός must avoid it for the same reason. ملګری (built on the same root as the already-approved ملګرتیا) is required for consistency. Must not be under-translated as mere ‘friend’ — ‘receive him as you would receive me’ is a full-parity claim, not a courtesy.
Fellow Soldier
Approved rendering: روحاني ملګری سرتیری
Transliteration: rohani malgari sartiri
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Original: συστρατιώτης
Category: Church
συστρατιώτης (1:2, of Archippus). A bare ‘soldier’ metaphor risks resonance with jihad/mujahid combat categories current in the surrounding Islamicate culture; the qualifier روحاني (‘spiritual’) must always accompany it and be explained as shared endurance in gospel labor, never literal or holy-war combat.
Prisoner For Christ
Approved rendering: بندي
Transliteration: bandi
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Original: δέσμιος
Category: Intercession
δέσμιος (Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ), Paul’s self-designation (1:1, 1:9, 1:23). Must be clearly distinguished from a criminal prisoner; given the present, ongoing reality of imprisonment for faith among Pashto-speaking believers, this carries strong pastoral resonance and dignity that must be preserved, never read with shame.
Medium Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: سوله
Transliteration: sola
Doctrine: Peace with God
Inherited from Romans package. Appears in the letter’s opening greeting (1:3); retains its baseline asset status as a resonant, conflict-ending term.
Saints
Approved rendering: مقدسان
Transliteration: moqaddasan
Doctrine: Sainthood
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Philemon’s love and faith toward ‘all the saints’ (1:5, 1:7) is the letter’s opening commendation; corporate sense for the whole believing community, not an ascetic elite.
Church
Approved rendering: کلیسا
Transliteration: kalisa
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: امت
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Named directly in the letter’s greeting as ‘the church in your house’ (1:2); NEVER امت. Must be taught with a dispersed, often secret house-church community in view, not a public building.
Repay Restitution
Approved rendering: تادیه کوم
Transliteration: tadia kawom
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: ἀποτίνω
Category: Reconciliation
Paul’s personal, handwritten guarantee of full repayment (ἀποτίνω, 1:19). Must be understood as a genuine, literal financial commitment paralleling Christ’s own payment of the sinner’s debt, not a figure of speech; register should match a personally signed legal guarantee.
Grace Grant
Approved rendering: بښل کیدل
Transliteration: baksal kedal
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Original: χαρίζομαι
Category: Reconciliation
χαρίζομαι (1:22), sharing the χάρις/فضل root. Worth flagging in teaching material as a deliberate root-echo even where a full compound rendering is not required in the running text; reinforces that Paul’s own hoped-for release is itself framed as an act of grace.
Boldness Confidence
Approved rendering: باور/بې ډاره وینا
Transliteration: bawar / be-dara wina
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Original: παρρησία
Category: Faith
παρρησία (1:8) — the authority Paul deliberately sets aside in favor of appeal in the very next verse. Must not collapse into mere personal bravado detached from Paul’s apostolic relationship to Philemon; anchor explicitly to 1:8’s context as authority Paul has and chooses not to exercise.
Brother
Approved rendering: ورور
Transliteration: wror
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church
ἀδελφός, the letter’s baseline kinship term (1:1, 1:7, 1:20). Establish consistently from the opening address so the escalation to beloved_brother at 1:16 reads as fulfillment, not a sudden or arbitrary jump.
Flesh
Approved rendering: جسد
Transliteration: jasad
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Original: σάρξ
Category: Slavery and Social Status
σάρξ (1:16, ‘both in the flesh and in the Lord’). Must be clearly distinguished from the negative ‘flesh vs. spirit’ sense elsewhere in Paul (e.g., Romans 8, already a High-risk baseline concern); here it simply means ‘according to natural, human relationship.’ A context note is required so the same lexical item is not read with unintended moral suspicion.
Useless
Approved rendering: ناکاره
Transliteration: nakara
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Original: ἄχρηστος
Category: Slavery and Social Status
ἄχρηστος (1:11), describing Onesimus’s past. Must read as a description of past failure, not permanent identity; should echo the same root as useful below wherever possible in oral delivery, since Onesimus’s very name (‘Useful’) is being enacted in his transformed life.
Useful
Approved rendering: ګټور
Transliteration: gatawar
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Original: εὔχρηστος
Category: Slavery and Social Status
εὔχρηστος (1:11), describing Onesimus’s transformed life. Requires the translator’s footnote fixed at 1:10-11 explaining the name’s Greek meaning, since the wordplay is otherwise invisible in Pashto; echoes 1:20’s ὀναίμην wordplay.
Benefit Profit
Approved rendering: ګټه اخیستل
Transliteration: gata akhistal
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Original: ὀναίμην
Category: Slavery and Social Status
ὀναίμην (1:20), a second, deliberate wordplay on Onesimus’s name. Requires a translator’s footnote cross-referencing the wordplay flagged at 1:10-11, since without it the connection to Onesimus’s name is invisible in Pashto.
Onesimus Name
Approved rendering: انیسیموس
Transliteration: Anisimos
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Original: Ὀνήσιμος
Category: Slavery and Social Status
Ὀνήσιμος, proper name meaning ‘Useful/Profitable’ (1:10), a common slave name in the period. Low risk as a transliterated name on its own, but the doctrinally significant wordplay carried through 1:11 and 1:20 is otherwise invisible in Pashto without a mandatory translator’s footnote at first occurrence.
Child Spiritual
Approved rendering: زوی
Transliteration: zoy
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood and Gospel Ministry
Original: τέκνον
Category: Intercession
τέκνον (1:10). Reuses the ‘adoption’ root (زوی نیول) but must be clarified as a spiritual mentoring/fatherhood relationship formed through conversion, NOT the formal, inheritance-bearing legal adoption taught in Romans 8, to prevent conflating this doctrine with that Critical-risk one. Requires an explicit disambiguation note for learners moving between the Romans and Philemon curricula.
Fellow Prisoner
Approved rendering: همبندي
Transliteration: hambandi
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Original: συναιχμάλωτος
Category: Intercession
συναιχμάλωτος (1:23, of Epaphras). Carries the same pastoral sensitivity as prisoner_for_christ; must not be read with any shame or criminal connotation.
Heart Inmost Affections
Approved rendering: زړه
Transliteration: zra
Doctrine: Spiritual Fatherhood and Gospel Ministry
Original: σπλάγχνα
Category: Intercession
σπλάγχνα (1:7, 1:12, 1:20), the Hebraic/Greek bowels-idiom for deep compassion. A literal anatomical rendering would strike Pashto readers as grotesque; ‘زړه’ (heart) is the functionally equivalent idiom. Render identically at all three occurrences for cross-verse consistency.
House Church
Approved rendering: د کور کلیسا
Transliteration: da kor kalisa
Doctrine: House Church as a Persecuted Community
Original: ἐκκλησία κατ’ οἶκόν
Category: Church
ἐκκλησία κατ’ οἶκόν σου (1:2). Directly names the small, home-based congregational structure many Pashto-speaking believers depend on for safety; reinforce with the baseline’s Critical-risk ‘church_as_gods_people’ doctrine note on dispersed, often secret communities, never implying a visible public building.
Love
Approved rendering: مینه
Transliteration: mina
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Faith
ἀγάπη, the stated motive for Paul’s entire appeal (1:9) and for Philemon’s own reputation (1:5, 1:7). Must be distinguished from Islamic mahabba and Sufi ishq devotional categories current in regional religious and poetic vocabulary; this is Christ-defined, covenantal love grounding a personal appeal, not mystical or romantic sentiment.
Appeal
Approved rendering: غوښتنه/زاري
Transliteration: ghwashtana / zari
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Supplementary descriptive vocabulary for teaching materials discussing Paul’s rhetorical strategy (the noun-sense of his παρακαλῶ appeal). The letter’s own running text uses the Reused نصیحت کول rendering; this term is reserved for commentary and teacher-facing material only.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: ملګرتیا
Transliteration: malgartia
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: شراکت
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Root of the new κοινωνός/ملګری rendering below; native ملګرتیا avoids the ش-ر-ک shirk-root resonance شراکت carries, a collision that also applies to κοινωνός.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: شکر
Transliteration: shukr
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία / εὐχαριστῶ
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Opens Paul’s prayer for Philemon (1:4); a shared major virtue across regional Islamic piety, broadly compatible and low risk, provided thanksgiving is directed to God through Christ, not read as generic social praise of Philemon.
Exhort
Approved rendering: نصیحت کول
Transliteration: nasihat kawul
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Original: παρακαλέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package (beseeching sense of παρακαλέω). Structurally defines Paul’s whole rhetorical strategy at 1:9-10, explicitly contrasted with commanding (ἐπιτάσσω, 1:8); this non-coercive rendering reinforces rather than undercuts the passage’s own argument. Teaching material must foreground that the everyday register of نصیحت is normally elder-to-junior advice, whereas Paul here deliberately speaks as an equal, from love.
Command
Approved rendering: امر کول
Transliteration: amr kawul
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Original: ἐπιτάσσω
Category: Faith
ἐπιτάσσω (1:8), a binding order. Must read as a live, available option Paul explicitly chooses not to exercise, not an authority he lacks; pair explicitly against نصیحت کول in teaching material.
Guest Room Hospitality
Approved rendering: مېلمستون
Transliteration: melmastun
Doctrine: Hospitality and Faith Partnership
Original: ξενία
Category: Intercession
ξενία (1:22). A genuine positive cultural bridge resonant with Pashtun melmastia hospitality custom, comparable to the baseline’s treatment of سوله (peace) as an asset term; Paul’s expected personal visit makes Philemon’s decision something to be visibly, concretely lived out, not merely privately resolved.
Paul
Approved rendering: پولوس
Transliteration: Pulos
Doctrine: Proper Name
Παῦλος, author’s self-identification throughout the letter (1:1, 1:9, 1:19). Standard transliterated form; no doctrinal content risk beyond the surrounding roles (prisoner, guarantor) already flagged elsewhere.
Timothy
Approved rendering: تیموتاوس
Transliteration: Timotawus
Doctrine: Proper Name
Τιμόθεος, co-sender establishing the letter’s semi-communal authorship (1:1). Standard transliteration; low risk.
Philemon
Approved rendering: فلیمون
Transliteration: Filemon
Doctrine: Proper Name
Φιλήμων, the letter’s primary addressee, a slave-owning house-church host. Standard transliteration; also the destination-language book-name form used in citations (see 12_ai_translation_requirements.md).
Apphia
Approved rendering: اپفیه
Transliteration: Apfiya
Doctrine: Proper Name
Ἀπφία, likely Philemon’s wife, addressed as a co-recipient in her own right (1:2). Standard transliteration.
Archippus
Approved rendering: ارخپس
Transliteration: Arkhipos
Doctrine: Proper Name
Ἄρχιππος, addressed as ‘fellow soldier’ (1:2); see fellow_soldier entry for the accompanying doctrinal risk.
Epaphras
Approved rendering: افرا
Transliteration: Afra
Doctrine: Proper Name
Ἐπαφρᾶς, named ‘fellow prisoner’ in the closing greetings (1:23); see fellow_prisoner entry for the accompanying doctrinal risk.
Aristarchus
Approved rendering: ارسترخس
Transliteration: Aristarkhos
Doctrine: Proper Name
Ἀρίσταρχος, named among the closing greetings (1:24). Standard transliteration; no independent doctrinal risk.
Demas
Approved rendering: دیماس
Transliteration: Dimas
Doctrine: Proper Name
Δημᾶς, named among the closing greetings (1:24). Standard transliteration; no independent doctrinal risk.
Mark
Approved rendering: مرقس
Transliteration: Marqus
Doctrine: Proper Name
Μᾶρκος, named among the closing greetings (1:24). Use the established Pashto Christian Bible-tradition form.
Luke
Approved rendering: لوقا
Transliteration: Luqa
Doctrine: Proper Name
Λουκᾶς, named among the closing greetings (1:24). Use the established Pashto Christian Bible-tradition form.
Referenced passages