Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Philippians (English → Persian)
This glossary catalogs every load-bearing theological term identified across all four chapters of Philippians (analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md). Terms already fixed in the baseline translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json are marked Reused and carry the baseline rendering unchanged. Terms newly identified in Philippians are marked New with a recommended Persian rendering, proposed risk tier, and citation of chapters where they occur. This table is the seed for extending translation_memory.json in Phase 2.
Legend
- Status: Reused (baseline, unchanged) | New (proposed, pending theologian ratification)
- Risk: Critical / High / Medium / Low (baseline definitions)
- Review Routing: Human theologian | Native speaker | Automated
A. Reused Baseline Terms (unchanged — enforce exactly)
| Term (Eng) | Greek | Persian | Translit. | Risk | Chapters | Doctrine Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gospel | εὐαγγέλιον | انجیل | Injil | High | 1, 2, 4 | Gospel |
| Grace | χάρις | فیض | feyz | High | 1, 4 | Grace |
| Faith | πίστις | ایمان | iman | High | 1, 3 | Faith |
| Righteousness | δικαιοσύνη | عدالت | edalat | Critical | 1, 3 | Righteousness by Faith vs. Law |
| Salvation | σωτηρία | نجات | nejat | Critical | 1, 2, 3 | Salvation |
| Saints | ἅγιοι | مقدسین | moqaddasin | High | 1, 4 | Sainthood |
| Holy | ἅγιος | مقدس | moqaddas | Medium | throughout | Sanctification |
| Fellowship/Partnership | κοινωνία | مشارکت | mosharekat | Medium | 1, 2, 3, 4 | Partnership in the Gospel; Christian Fellowship |
| Church | ἐκκλησία | کلیسا | kelisa | High | 3, 4 | Church as God’s People |
| Lord | κύριος | خداوند | Khodavand | Critical | throughout, esp. 2:11 | Lordship of Christ |
| Christ | Χριστός | مسیح | Masih | Critical | throughout | Messianic Promise |
| Jesus | Ἰησοῦς | عیسی | Isa | Critical | throughout | Lordship/Deity of Christ |
| God | θεός | خدا | Khoda | Critical | throughout | Deity of Christ |
| Father | πατήρ | پدر | pedar | Critical | 1, 2, 4 | Adoption; Father-language |
| Holy Spirit | πνεῦμα (ἅγιον) | روحالقدس | Ruh-ol-Qods | Critical | 1, 2, 3 | Sanctification |
| Glory | δόξα | جلال | jalal | High | 2, 3, 4 | Deity of Christ |
| Law | νόμος | ناموس | namus | Critical | 3 | Righteousness by Faith vs. Law |
| Resurrection | ἀνάστασις | قیامت | qiyamat | Critical | 3 | Resurrection of Christ |
| Calling | κλῆσις | دعوت | da’vat | High | 3 | Effectual Calling |
| Peace | εἰρήνη | سلام | salam | Medium | 1, 4 | Peace with God |
| Thanksgiving | εὐχαριστία | شکرگزاری | shokr-gozari | Low | 4 | Thanksgiving |
| Israel | Ἰσραήλ | اسرائیل | Esra’il | High | 3 | Unity of Jews and Gentiles |
| Children of God | τέκνα θεοῦ | فرزندان خدا | farzandan-e khoda | Critical | 2 | Adoption into God’s Family |
B. New Terms Introduced in Philippians (proposed for Phase 2 translation memory)
| Term (Eng) | Greek | Translit. | Proposed Persian | Risk | Chapters | Doctrine Link | Translator Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emptied himself (Kenosis) | ἐκένωσεν | ekenosen | خود را خالی کرد | Critical | 2 | Incarnation and Self-Emptying of Christ | Double collision: tawhid-immutability objection + Sufi fanā (self-annihilation) mystical framework. Must be glossed at every occurrence as change of status/mode, never change of divine essence. |
| Form of God | μορφή θεοῦ | morphe theou | صورت خدا / ذات الاهی | Critical | 2 | Incarnation; Deity of Christ | Tawhid anthropomorphism (tashbih) risk; gloss as essence/manifestation, not physical shape. |
| A thing to be grasped | ἁρπαγμός | harpagmos | چیزی که باید غنیمت شمرد | High | 2 | Incarnation; Deity of Christ | Must not imply Christ lacked or merely aspired to deity; he already possessed it and chose not to exploit it. |
| Equal with God | ἴσα θεῷ | isa theo | برابر با خدا | Critical | 2 | Deity of Christ | Paradigm shirk-claim from tawhid standpoint; never soften. |
| Form of a servant | μορφὴν δούλου | morphen doulou | صورت غلام / هیئت بنده | Critical | 2 | Incarnation | Must echo the Persian rendering of μορφή θεοῦ to preserve the God-to-slave reversal structure. |
| Servant / slave | δοῦλος | doulos | بنده | High | 1, 2 | Incarnation; humility | بنده preferred over عبد (avoid Islamic-devotional-loan overtones); applying it to God himself (2:7) is the deliberate theological shock and must not be softened. |
| Likeness of men | ὁμοίωμα ἀνθρώπων | homoioma anthropon | شباهت انسانها (noun, not adjective شبیه) | Critical | 2 | Incarnation; Humanity of Christ | Direct lexical collision with Qur’an 4:157 shubbiha lahum (“made to appear”). Forbid adjectival شبیه construction here. |
| Found in human form | σχῆμα | schema | شکل ظاهری انسانی | High | 2 | Humanity of Christ | Same docetism-collision cluster as ὁμοίωμα; must affirm real, observable humanity. |
| Humility | ταπεινοφροσύνη | tapeinophrosyne | فروتنی | High | 2 | Unity and Humility in the Church | Prefer فروتنی over تواضع (Islamic merit-earning ascetic-virtue connotation); teach as Christ’s self-giving example, not a piety technique. |
| Christ’s obedience | ὑπήκοος | hypekoos | مطیع / اطاعتکننده | High | 2 | Incarnation; Kenosis | Distinguish from the Islamic prophetic-submission paradigm (islam = submission); this is the Son’s voluntary self-giving, not a creature’s submission to external command. |
| Cross | σταυρός | stauros | صلیب | Critical | 2 | Incarnation; Resurrection of Christ | Direct collision with Qur’anic crucifixion denial (4:157); state plainly, never euphemize. |
| Highly exalted | ὑπερύψωσεν | hyperypsosen | بسیار سرافراز نمود | High | 2 | Resurrection; Lordship of Christ | Retain compound intensifier; avoid a flat “honored,” which risks Mahdi-displacement-style subordination. |
| Bow the knee | γόνυ κάμψῃ | gony kampse | زانو زدن / زانو خم کردن | Critical | 2 | Deity/Lordship of Christ | Salat-prostration collision; retain worship-specific force (not تعظیم/generic respect) — apologetic opportunity as well as risk. |
| Same mind / mindset | φρονέω | phroneo | همفکر بودن | High | 2 | Unity and Humility in the Church | Must render identically at 2:2 and 2:5 to preserve the deliberate verbal link between the church’s call and Christ’s own example. |
| Joy / rejoice | χαρά / χαίρω | chara / chairo | شادی / شاد بودن | High | 1, 2, 4 | Joy in Suffering and Imprisonment | Ground explicitly in Christ/gospel advance amid hardship; do not let it drift into secular wellness-culture “positivity” register (same risk class as baseline’s آرامش caution for peace). |
| Bonds / imprisonment | δεσμά | desma | زنجیرها / حبس | Medium | 1 | Joy in Suffering and Imprisonment | Teach with awareness of real, present imprisonment risk for Iranian house-church believers. |
| Overseers | ἐπίσκοποι | episkopoi | ناظران | Medium-High | 1 | Church as God’s People | Avoid اسقف (imports formal clerical hierarchy); avoid unintended parallel with Shia clerical ranks. |
| Deacons | διάκονοι | diakonoi | خادمان | Medium | 1 | Church as God’s People | — |
| Sacrifice / offering (figurative) | θυσία, σπένδομαι | thysia, spendomai | قربانی (شدن) | High | 2, 4 | Partnership in the Gospel; Joy in Suffering | Distinguish sharply from Islamic qorbani ritual and from Christ’s own unique atoning sacrifice; this is responsive, non-atoning self-giving. |
| Zeal | ζῆλος | zelos | تعصب (preferred over غیرت) | Medium-High | 3 | Righteousness by Faith vs. Law | غیرت carries Iranian honor-culture connotations inappropriate here; تعصب better captures “misguided religious zealotry.” |
| Rubbish / loss | σκύβαλον, ζημία | skybalon, zemia | زباله/فضله؛ ضرر | Medium | 3 | Righteousness by Faith vs. Law | Preserve Paul’s deliberately shocking/crude force; do not over-euphemize. |
| Mature / perfect | τέλειος | teleios | کامل | High | 3 | Pressing on toward the Goal | Risk of conflation with Sufi/Shia insān-e kāmel (“Perfect Man”) ontological category; teach as relative maturity still pursuing the goal, not a perfected-being status. |
| Press on / pursue | ἐπεκτείνομαι, διώκω | epekteinomai, dioko | پیش رفتن به سوی هدف؛ تعقیب کردن | Medium | 3 | Pressing on toward the Goal | Distinguish from Islamic jihād (striving) framework — different theological scope and merit-structure. |
| Citizenship in heaven | πολίτευμα | politeuma | شهروندی آسمانی (primary); وطن آسمانی (devotional alternative) | Critical | 1, 3 | Citizenship in Heaven | Real safety stakes: وطن carries intense Iranian nationalist/patriotic loading and political-conflation risk (Velayat-e Faqih); شهروندی آسمانی is the safer primary rendering. Pastoral safety note required in all teaching material. |
| Savior | σωτήρ | soter | نجاتدهنده | Critical | 3 | Citizenship in Heaven; Salvation | Same Mahdi-displacement and Karbala-intercession cautions as baseline salvation/messianic_promise entries. |
| Content / self-sufficient | αὐτάρκης | autarkes | قناعت | Critical | 4 | Contentment in All Circumstances | Qana’at is a celebrated Persian Sufi/poetic self-achieved-detachment virtue; Paul’s contentment is externally sourced (Christ-empowered), not self-generated. Must be taught together with v.13. |
| Who strengthens me | ἐνδυναμοῦντί με | endynamounti me | او که مرا تقویت میکند | Critical | 4 | Contentment in All Circumstances | High risk of secular self-help/motivational misappropriation (“I can achieve anything”); keep bound to vv.11-12’s want/plenty context in all uses. |
| Do not be anxious | μὴ μεριμνᾶτε | me merimnate | نگران نباشید | Medium | 4 | Contentment in All Circumstances | Teach as prayer-directed trust, not positive-thinking suppression of real fear. |
| Giving and receiving (gospel partnership) | δόσις καὶ λῆμψις | dosis kai lempsis | دادن و گرفتن | High | 4 | Partnership in the Gospel | Pair consistently with مشارکت; avoid a purely commercial/transactional reading. |
| Full/experiential knowledge | ἐπίγνωσις | epignosis | معرفت کامل | Medium | 1 | (supports Righteousness/Faith clarity) | Distinguish from mere γνῶσις (3:8); caution against importing graduated Sufi-gnostic (ma’refat) mystical-stages framework. |
| Messenger (non-technical) | ἀπόστολος (of Epaphroditus) | apostolos | فرستاده (not رسول) | Medium | 2 | Apostleship (baseline) | Must not be rendered رسول, which would wrongly elevate Epaphroditus to the formal apostolic office. |
| Same mind (hinge, see also above) | φρονέω | phroneo | همفکر بودن | High | 2 | Unity and Humility | Duplicate entry retained for cross-reference emphasis — see row above. |
C. Doctrine-to-Term Cross-Reference Map
| Curriculum Doctrine | Primary Terms | Primary Passages |
|---|---|---|
| The Incarnation and Self-Emptying of Christ (Kenosis) | ἐκένωσεν, μορφή θεοῦ, ἁρπαγμός, μορφὴν δούλου, ὁμοίωμα ἀνθρώπων, σχῆμα, σταυρός | 2:6-8 |
| Joy in Suffering and Imprisonment | χαρά/χαίρω, δεσμά, πάσχειν | 1:12-30; 2:17-18; 4:4 |
| Unity and Humility in the Church | κοινωνία, φρονέω, ταπεινοφροσύνη, σύμψυχοι, ἐριθεία, κενοδοξία | 2:1-4, 14; 4:2-3 |
| Righteousness by Faith versus the Law | δικαιοσύνη, νόμος, πίστις, σκύβαλον, ζῆλος | 3:1-11 |
| Contentment in All Circumstances | αὐτάρκης, μεριμνάω, ἐνδυναμοῦντί με | 4:10-13 |
| Citizenship in Heaven | πολίτευμα, πολιτεύεσθε, σωτήρ | 1:27; 3:20 |
| Partnership in the Gospel | κοινωνία, δόσις καὶ λῆμψις, θυσία | 1:5; 4:14-19 |
| Pressing on toward the Goal in Christ | ἐπεκτείνομαι, διώκω, σκοπός, βραβεῖον, τέλειος | 3:12-16 |
D. Chapters Reviewed with No New Theological Vocabulary
All four chapters of Philippians contribute new load-bearing vocabulary; no chapter is without new terms. (For completeness of the full-book coverage mandate: Chapter 2 vv.1-11 are treated verse-by-verse in 07_semantic_analysis.md Part 1, and Chapter 2 vv.12-30 are treated in the Chapter 2 chapter-section of the same document — no verses of the book are unreviewed.)
This glossary must be loaded alongside the baseline translation_memory.json in any Phase 2 Philippians translation session. Entries marked New require theologian ratification before being written into an updated translation memory (per baseline Section: “Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions”).
Critical Risk Terms
Righteousness
Approved rendering: عدالت
Transliteration: edalat
Doctrine: Righteousness by Faith versus the Law
Rejected alternatives: پارسایی
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Philippians 3:6-9 restates Romans’ forensic righteousness-by-faith argument using Paul’s own biography; پارسایی remains forbidden for the same Zoroastrian virtue-achievement reason.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: عدالت محسوبشده
Transliteration: edalat-e mahsub-shode
Doctrine: Righteousness by Faith versus the Law
Rejected alternatives: عدالت کسبشده
Original: δικαιοσύνην τὴν ἐκ θεοῦ ἐπὶ τῇ πίστει
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Philippians 3:9 (‘righteousness from God on the basis of faith’) is Paul’s autobiographical restatement of this doctrine; عدالت کسبشده (‘earned righteousness’) remains forbidden.
Salvation
Approved rendering: نجات
Transliteration: nejat
Doctrine: Salvation
Original: σωτηρία
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs at 1:19, 1:28, 2:12; the Karbala/Hussein martyrdom-intercession distinction from the baseline applies with equal force.
Lord
Approved rendering: خداوند
Transliteration: Khodavand
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: سرور
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Climactic in Philippians 2:11’s confession ‘عیسی مسیح خداوند است’; must match the Romans 10:9 wording as closely as Greek syntax allows.
Messiah
Approved rendering: مسیح
Transliteration: Masih
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package.
Jesus
Approved rendering: عیسی
Transliteration: Isa
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package.
God
Approved rendering: خدا
Transliteration: Khoda
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: الله
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package.
Father
Approved rendering: پدر
Transliteration: pedar
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Appears in Philippians’ opening, doxological, and closing greetings (1:2; 2:11; 4:20); Christ’s lordship in 2:11 fulfills, not rivals, the Father’s glory.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: روحالقدس
Transliteration: Ruh-ol-Qods
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Must disambiguate from the human-spirit sense also present in Philippians (e.g. 1:27) and from the Quranic identification with the angel Jibril.
Law
Approved rendering: ناموس
Transliteration: namus
Doctrine: Righteousness by Faith versus the Law
Rejected alternatives: شریعت
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. شریعت remains forbidden for the same Iranian shari’a-based legal system collision reason; used at 3:6, 3:9.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: قیامت
Transliteration: qiyamat
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Original: ἀνάστασις
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package. Extends to believers’ future bodily hope (3:10-11, 3:20-21); must not be absorbed into Shia Mahdi-centered eschatology.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: پسر خدا
Transliteration: pesar-e khoda
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: برگزیده خدا
Inherited from Romans package. Not the specific phrase Philippians 2:6-11 uses (it argues Christ’s deity via ‘form of God’ / ‘equal with God’ instead), but the identical Sonship/Deity doctrine and the identical forbidden softened alternative apply across this curriculum.
Kenosis
Approved rendering: خود را خالی کرد
Transliteration: khod ra khali kard
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Self-Emptying of Christ (Kenosis)
Rejected alternatives: تنازل کرد, تجسد یافت (as a standalone substitute)
Original: ἐκένωσεν
Category: Christology
CRITICAL, double collision unique to Persian: (1) strict Shia tawhid holds God’s essence absolutely immutable, making any ‘emptying’ sound like a direct essence-change; (2) Persian Sufi devotional literature’s doctrine of fanā (self-annihilation into the Divine) risks the reader assimilating this to a mystical ego-dissolution technique, inverting Paul’s meaning. Every occurrence (2:7) requires a theologian-reviewed footnote distinguishing this from fanā and affirming no change in divine essence.
Form Of God
Approved rendering: صورت خدا
Transliteration: surat-e khoda
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Self-Emptying of Christ (Kenosis); Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: ذات الاهی (as unglossed primary)
Original: μορφῇ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: Persian Shia tawhid theology emphatically rejects any ‘form’ (tashbih, anthropomorphism) predicated of God. Must be paired with an explanatory gloss (‘not outward shape, but divine essence/glory’) at first occurrence (2:6) and cross-referenced with the baseline تجسد entry’s Zoroastrian-emanation caution.
Equality With God
Approved rendering: برابر با خدا
Transliteration: barabar ba khoda
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: ἴσα θεῷ
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: the explicit, unambiguous co-equal-deity claim (2:6) — the paradigm shirk-claim from a tawhid standpoint shared fully by Persian Shia Islam. Must never be softened.
Form Of A Servant
Approved rendering: صورت غلام
Transliteration: surat-e gholam
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Self-Emptying of Christ (Kenosis)
Rejected alternatives: هیئت بنده (as unglossed primary)
Original: μορφὴν δούλου
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: must share the identical root used for صورت خدا so the Persian reader perceives the deliberate God-to-slave reversal (2:6-7) the Greek text builds; the hymn’s theological center depends on this visible verbal parallel.
Likeness Of Men
Approved rendering: شباهت انسانها
Transliteration: shabahat-e ensan-ha
Doctrine: Humanity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: شبیه انسانها (adjectival form forbidden)
Original: ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: the adjectival شبیه is the exact term embedded in the Qur’an’s crucifixion-denial phrase شُبِّهَ لَهُم (Q4:157, ‘it was made to appear’). Using it at 2:7 would read as ‘he only appeared human.’ The noun شباهت is required, always with an explicit gloss affirming real, historical human nature.
Cross
Approved rendering: صلیب
Transliteration: salib
Doctrine: Crucifixion and Death of Christ
Original: σταυρός
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: directly names the mode of death the Qur’an (4:157) explicitly denies occurred to Jesus. The single most theologically load-bearing word in 2:8 for a Persian Muslim-background audience; must be stated plainly at every occurrence, never softened to a vaguer ‘death.‘
Name Above Every Name
Approved rendering: نام برتر از هر نام
Transliteration: nam-e bartar az har nam
Doctrine: Exaltation and Lordship of Christ
Original: τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: at 2:9, the identity of ‘the name’ with خداوند in verse 11 must be preserved as a single continuous argument across both verses, or the deity claim is weakened.
Bow The Knee
Approved rendering: زانو زدن
Transliteration: zanu zadan
Doctrine: Universal Worship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: تعظیم, سجده (as direct substitute in running text), رکوع (as direct substitute in running text)
Original: πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ
Category: Christology
CRITICAL with a documented apologetic opportunity: bowing/prostration is the defining posture of Muslim salat, reserved exclusively for God. Rendered plainly at 2:10, this makes an unmistakable deity claim about Jesus. Must not be softened to تعظیم (generic respect); سجده/رکوع may be invoked only in teaching commentary as an apologetic bridge, never as a direct in-text substitute.
Savior
Approved rendering: نجاتدهنده
Transliteration: nejat-dahandeh
Doctrine: Citizenship in Heaven; Salvation
Original: σωτήρ
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: at 3:20, retains the baseline’s Karbala/Hussein intercession-martyrdom distinction and Mahdi-displacement caution; Christ’s unique role as the awaited deliverer from heaven must not be assimilated to either popular framework.
Power Of Resurrection And Fellowship Of Sufferings
Approved rendering: مشارکت در رنجهای او و قدرت قیامت او
Transliteration: mosharekat dar ranj-ha-ye u va qodrat-e qiyamat-e u
Doctrine: Resurrection Hope of Believers
Original: κοινωνίαν παθημάτων αὐτοῦ … δύναμιν τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ
Category: Christology
Reuses مشارکت and قیامت exactly (3:10). The full baseline caution against absorption into Shia Mahdi-centered eschatology applies to قدرت قیامت here without qualification.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: فرزندان خدا
Transliteration: farzandan-e khoda
Doctrine: Adoption and Identity in Christ
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: at 2:15, draws directly on the baseline Adoption into God’s Family framework; the Iranian civil-law sarparasti-only default caution applies — full inheritance/family status must be taught, not a lesser or provisional standing.
Citizenship In Heaven
Approved rendering: شهروندی آسمانی
Transliteration: shahrvandi-ye asemani
Doctrine: Citizenship in Heaven
Rejected alternatives: وطن آسمانی (permitted only as a lower-risk secondary devotional variant with mandatory safety note), ملیت آسمانی, تابعیت آسمانی (available only as a footnoted legal clarification)
Original: πολίτευμα / πολιτεύεσθε
Category: Kingdom
CRITICAL, with real safety stakes: وطن (‘homeland’) is intensely loaded in Iranian nationalist and state-religious ideology (Velayat-e Faqih). شهروندی آسمانی (civic register) is the required primary rendering at 1:27 and 3:20; both occurrences must match. Pastoral safety notes mandatory whenever وطن آسمانی is used as a secondary variant.
Content Self Sufficient
Approved rendering: قناعت
Transliteration: qana’at
Doctrine: Contentment in All Circumstances
Rejected alternatives: رضا, زهد, بینیازی (clarifying gloss only, not primary)
Original: αὐτάρκης
Category: Sanctification
CRITICAL: قناعت is a celebrated Persian Sufi/poetic virtue of self-achieved detachment (Sa’di, Hafez) — the opposite causal direction from Paul’s Christ-empowered sufficiency (4:11). Must always be taught bound to verse 13’s ‘who strengthens me.‘
Who Strengthens Me
Approved rendering: او که مرا تقویت میکند
Transliteration: u ke mara taqviyat mikonad
Doctrine: Contentment in All Circumstances
Original: τῷ ἐνδυναμοῦντί με
Category: Sanctification
CRITICAL: 4:13 is exceptionally prone to extraction as a secular self-help/motivational slogan matching Iran’s growing wellness culture. Verses 11-13 must always be presented as a single non-splittable teaching/translation unit so ‘all things’ reads as ‘all circumstances of want or plenty,’ never unlimited personal achievement.
High Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: انجیل
Transliteration: Injil
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: مژده
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Central to Philippians’ ‘partnership in the gospel’ theme (1:5, 1:12, 1:27, 4:15); must be taught as the NT record itself, not a corrupted successor text.
Grace
Approved rendering: فیض
Transliteration: feyz
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: لطف
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Opens and closes the letter (1:2; 4:23); must not collapse into the Illuminationist/Sadraean ‘automatic emanation’ sense — always a freely willed, personal gift.
Faith
Approved rendering: ایمان
Transliteration: iman
Doctrine: Faith
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Anchors Philippians 3:9’s righteousness-by-faith argument as personal trust in Christ, not creedal assent including Imamate-style succession content.
Saints
Approved rendering: مقدسین
Transliteration: moqaddasin
Doctrine: Sainthood
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Corporate address to all believers at the letter’s opening (1:1) and close (4:22), not an ascetic or shrine-venerated elite.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: تقدیس
Transliteration: taqdis
Doctrine: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Broader doctrine category underlying Philippians’ humility and same-mind vocabulary (2:1-4, 14; 4:2-3), which bible_term_registry.json categorizes under Sanctification.
Church
Approved rendering: کلیسا
Transliteration: kelisa
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: امت
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package.
Abba
Approved rendering: ابا
Transliteration: Abba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Inherited from Romans package. Not directly occurring in the Philippians text itself, but retained for cross-document consistency with Romans 8:15’s Father-intimacy doctrine, relevant to Philippians’ own Father-language (1:2, 4:20).
Glory
Approved rendering: جلال
Transliteration: jalal
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Credited to the Father even as Christ is confessed Lord (2:11); the future state of believers’ transformed bodies (3:21).
Called
Approved rendering: دعوتشده
Transliteration: da’vat-shode
Doctrine: Divine Calling
Inherited from Romans package.
Calling
Approved rendering: دعوت
Transliteration: da’vat
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Original: κλῆσις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. The ‘upward call’ (τῆς κλήσεως) Paul presses toward in 3:14; must convey sovereign summons, not human-initiated striving.
Israel
Approved rendering: اسرائیل
Transliteration: Esra’il
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Original: Ἰσραήλ
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. Invoked in Paul’s credentials list (3:5); requires deliberate pastoral framing distinct from Iran’s officially propagandized anti-Israel political stance.
Apostle
Approved rendering: رسول
Transliteration: rasul
Doctrine: Apostleship
Inherited from Romans package. Notably unclaimed in Philippians’ opening (1:1 reads ‘servants,’ not ‘apostle’); must be distinguished from the non-technical use applied to Epaphroditus at 2:25, which renders فرستاده instead — never رسول.
Adoption
Approved rendering: فرزندخواندگی
Transliteration: farzand-khandegi
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: سرپرستی
Original: υἱοθεσία (conceptually underlying τέκνα θεοῦ, 2:15)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Underlies the ‘children of God’ designation at 2:15; سرپرستی remains forbidden per the Iranian civil-law/fiqh caution.
Harpagmos
Approved rendering: چیزی که باید غنیمت شمرد
Transliteration: chizi ke bayad ghanimat shomord
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Self-Emptying of Christ (Kenosis); Deity of Christ
Original: ἁρπαγμός
Category: Christology
HIGH: an imprecise rendering could be read, by an audience already primed to deny Christ’s deity, as ‘he did not consider becoming equal with God,’ reversing Paul’s claim that he already possessed that equality and chose not to exploit it (2:6). Requires theologian-reviewed gloss at every occurrence.
Servant Slave
Approved rendering: بنده
Transliteration: bandeh
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Self-Emptying of Christ (Kenosis); Unity and Humility in the Church
Rejected alternatives: عبد, خادم (must not be interchanged)
Original: δοῦλος
Category: Christology
HIGH: بنده is the standard, largely positive Persian-Islamic term for a human’s status before God, a useful bridge concept at 1:1 (Paul and Timothy as bandeh), but applying it to God himself at 2:7 is the deliberate theological shock the Greek intends and must not be softened. Avoid عبد (heavier Arabic-Islamic devotional loading, e.g. ‘Abdullah’).
Found In Human Form
Approved rendering: شکل ظاهری انسانی
Transliteration: shekl-e zaheri-ye ensani
Doctrine: Humanity of Christ
Original: σχήματι
Category: Christology
HIGH, same collision cluster as likeness_of_men: must reinforce genuine, observable, non-illusory humanity at 2:8, engaging directly (not avoiding) the shubbiha lahum docetist default.
Obedient Unto Death
Approved rendering: مطیع
Transliteration: moti’
Doctrine: Obedience of Christ unto Death
Rejected alternatives: تسلیم
Original: ὑπήκοος
Category: Christology
HIGH: Sunni and Shia Islam alike already possess a ready-made category for prophetic submission to God’s will (islam itself means submission). Christ’s obedience (2:8) must be taught as the voluntary self-giving of God the Son within the Godhead’s own unified will, not a creature’s submission to external command; تسلیم is forbidden because it imports the entire prophetic-submission paradigm.
Highly Exalted
Approved rendering: بسیار سرافراز نمود
Transliteration: besyar sarafraz namud
Doctrine: Exaltation and Lordship of Christ
Original: ὑπερύψωσεν
Category: Christology
HIGH: the compound intensifier (ὑπερ-, ‘above/super’) must be retained at 2:9; a flat ‘exalted’ understates the totality Paul intends and could be misread as merely honoring a great prophet (Mahdi-displacement risk).
To Live Is Christ
Approved rendering: زیستن، مسیح است
Transliteration: zistan, Masih ast
Doctrine: Adoption and Identity in Christ
Original: τὸ ζῆν Χριστός
Category: Christology
Extends the baseline’s Christian Identity in Christ doctrine into a life-and-death register (1:21), given the unusually high personal and social cost of departing from prior religious/national identity in Iran.
Humility
Approved rendering: فروتنی
Transliteration: forutani
Doctrine: Unity and Humility in the Church
Rejected alternatives: تواضع, خشوع
Original: ταπεινοφροσύνη
Category: Sanctification
HIGH: تواضع functions in Iranian Islamic piety as a merit-earning ascetic virtue performed for religious credit, echoing the pattern already rejected for پارسایی. خشوع carries ritual-prostration connotation. فروتنی (native compound) is preferred at 2:3; must be taught as Christ’s own self-giving status-reversal (2:6-8), not a piety technique.
Same Mind
Approved rendering: همفکر بودن
Transliteration: ham-fekr budan
Doctrine: Unity and Humility in the Church
Original: φρονέω / τὸ αὐτὸ φρονῆτε
Category: Sanctification
HIGH: must be rendered identically at 2:2, 2:5, and functionally at 4:2 (Euodia/Syntyche) so the reader perceives the deliberate verbal link between the church’s unity appeal and Christ’s own disposition. Inconsistent rendering breaks the passage’s central rhetorical strategy.
Sacrifice Offering
Approved rendering: قربانی
Transliteration: qorbani
Doctrine: Sacrificial Giving
Rejected alternatives: ذبیحه, نذر
Original: θυσία / σπένδομαι / ὀσμὴ εὐωδίας
Category: Church
HIGH: قربانی independently evokes the major Islamic ritual sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) and Zoroastrian sacrificial heritage. Paul’s figurative self-offering (2:17) and the Philippians’ gift (4:18) must be taught explicitly as responsive, non-atoning gratitude, categorically distinct from Christ’s own unique atoning sacrifice and from the qorbani ritual.
Joy Rejoice
Approved rendering: شادی
Transliteration: shadi
Doctrine: Joy in Suffering and Imprisonment
Rejected alternatives: خوشحالی (as primary doctrinal term)
Original: χαρά / χαίρω
Category: Sanctification
HIGH: must not collapse into generic positivity, stoic endurance, or the secular Iranian wellness-culture ‘positivity’ register already flagged for آرامش. Joy in Philippians (1:12-30; 2:17-18; 4:4-7) is grounded explicitly in Christ and gospel advance, never in circumstances.
Suffer For Christ
Approved rendering: رنج کشیدن بهخاطر مسیح
Transliteration: ranj keshidan be-khater-e Masih
Doctrine: Joy in Suffering and Imprisonment
Original: τὸ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ πάσχειν
Category: Sanctification
Suffering for Christ’s sake described as a granted privilege (1:29), not merely an unfortunate byproduct of faith; must be taught with full awareness of genuine persecution risk, not abstractly.
Mature Perfect
Approved rendering: کامل
Transliteration: kamel
Doctrine: Pressing on toward the Goal in Christ
Original: τέλειος
Category: Sanctification
HIGH: risks conflation with the Persian Sufi/Shia category of insān-e kāmel (‘the Perfect Man,’ applied to the Imams). Must always be presented at 3:15 bound to the ‘not yet attained’ concession of 3:12 in the same teaching unit, never as a standalone claim of static perfection.
Giving And Receiving
Approved rendering: دادن و گرفتن
Transliteration: dadan va gereftan
Doctrine: Partnership in the Gospel
Rejected alternatives: صدقه, انفاق, کمک مالی (descriptive gloss only, not primary)
Original: δόσις καὶ λῆμψις
Category: Church
HIGH: the financial-partnership dimension of κοινωνία made explicit (4:15-17). صدقه (Islamic almsgiving) and انفاق (Qur’anic spending-in-God’s-way vocabulary) are both forbidden — they would recast reciprocal gospel partnership as unilateral religious almsgiving. Must always be paired with, never substituted for, مشارکت.
Work Out Salvation
Approved rendering: نجات خود را به عمل درآورید
Transliteration: nejat-e khod ra be amal dar-avarid
Doctrine: Working Out Salvation
Original: κατεργάζεσθε … σωτηρίαν
Category: Salvation
HIGH: in a culture shaped by both the Islamic mizan deeds-weighing framework and the Zoroastrian Chinvat Bridge default, κατεργάζεσθε (2:12) could be misheard as salvation produced by human effort. Verse 13 (‘God who works in you’) must never be taught or printed apart from verse 12 in any segment.
Medium Risk Terms
Holy
Approved rendering: مقدس
Transliteration: moqaddas
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: مشارکت
Transliteration: mosharekat
Doctrine: Partnership in the Gospel; Christian Fellowship
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Philippians’ single most structurally load-bearing recurring term (1:5; 2:1; 3:10; 4:14-15); must render identically at every occurrence despite the shirk-root resonance.
Peace
Approved rendering: سلام
Transliteration: salam
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: آرامش
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. آرامش remains forbidden; Philippians 4:6-7 is especially prone to secular wellness-culture extraction if stripped of its prayer-grounded, Christ-centered context.
Cosmic Realms
Approved rendering: آسمانیان، زمینیان و زیرزمینیان
Transliteration: asemanian, zaminian va zir-zaminian
Doctrine: Universal Worship of Christ
Original: ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων
Category: Christology
Ensure the threefold cosmic totality of 2:10 is preserved, not collapsed into a vague ‘everyone.‘
Confess
Approved rendering: اعتراف کند
Transliteration: e’teraf konad
Doctrine: Universal Worship of Christ
Original: ἐξομολογήσηται
Category: Christology
Established Persian Christian confessional vocabulary at 2:11; must be kept consistent with رومیان ۱۰:۹-۱۰ wording per the baseline’s cross-document consistency rule.
Transform The Body
Approved rendering: دگرگون میسازد
Transliteration: degargun misazad
Doctrine: Resurrection Hope of Believers
Original: μετασχηματίσει
Category: Christology
Shares the σχῆμα root with 2:8’s ‘found in human form’ — a structural echo worth teaching (3:21); reinforce بدن پرجلال with جلال (baseline glory term) for consistency.
One Soul
Approved rendering: یکدل
Transliteration: yek-del
Doctrine: Unity and Humility in the Church
Original: σύμψυχοι
Category: Sanctification
A natural, warm Persian idiom (2:2); ensure it is not read as mere emotional camaraderie divorced from the doctrinal agreement Paul calls for.
Selfish Ambition
Approved rendering: جاهطلبی خودخواهانه
Transliteration: jah-talabi-ye khodkhahaneh
Doctrine: Unity and Humility in the Church
Original: ἐριθεία
Category: Sanctification
Standard descriptive Persian compound (2:3); retain the self-promotion-at-others’-expense nuance, not mere disagreement.
Empty Conceit
Approved rendering: خودبزرگبینی
Transliteration: khod-bozorg-bini
Doctrine: Unity and Humility in the Church
Original: κενοδοξία
Category: Sanctification
Shares the root κενός (‘empty’) that governs ἐκένωσεν (2:7); the untranslatable Greek wordplay between human empty-glory-seeking (2:3) and Christ’s self-emptying should be flagged explicitly in teaching notes.
Encouragement
Approved rendering: تشویق
Transliteration: tashviq
Doctrine: Unity and Humility in the Church
Original: παράκλησις
Category: Faith
Noun form of the baseline’s تشویق کردن verb; must keep ‘در مسیح’ explicit as the ground of the appeal at 2:1, not mere social solidarity.
Full Knowledge
Approved rendering: معرفت کامل
Transliteration: ma’refat-e kamel
Doctrine: Mutual Encouragement and Love
Rejected alternatives: عرفان, علم
Original: ἐπίγνωσις
Category: Faith
At 1:9, معرفت carries Sufi-gnostic relational-knowledge resonance that can usefully reinforce the sense but must not import a graduated mystical-stages framework. عرفان (Sufi mysticism as a system) and علم (formal/academic knowledge) are both excluded as primary renderings.
Overseers
Approved rendering: ناظران
Transliteration: nazeran
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Officers
Rejected alternatives: اسقف
Original: ἐπίσκοποι
Category: Church
MEDIUM-HIGH: Philippians 1:1 is the only Pauline salutation naming church officers directly; اسقف imports a formal clerical hierarchy risking unintended parallel with Shia clerical ranks (ayatollah/hojjatoleslam), inappropriate to informal, non-hierarchical Iranian house-church ecclesiology.
Deacons
Approved rendering: خادمان
Transliteration: khademan
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Officers
Original: διάκονοι
Category: Church
Same institutional-caution as overseers (1:1); avoid vocabulary suggesting a formal clerical class. Must not be interchanged with بنده (the theological servant/slave term).
Messenger Non Technical
Approved rendering: فرستاده
Transliteration: ferestadeh
Doctrine: Partnership in the Gospel
Rejected alternatives: رسول
Original: ἀπόστολον [ὑμῶν]
Category: Church
Non-technical use of ἀπόστολος for Epaphroditus (2:25); must not be rendered رسول, which would wrongly elevate him to the formal apostolic office Paul himself did not claim in this letter’s opening.
Bonds Imprisonment
Approved rendering: زنجیرها
Transliteration: zanjir-ha
Doctrine: Joy in Suffering and Imprisonment
Original: δεσμά
Category: Church
Paul’s literal chains (1:13-14), reframed as gospel opportunity; teach with acute awareness of the real, present imprisonment risk for Iranian house-church believers, not as historical curiosity.
Circumcision
Approved rendering: ختنه
Transliteration: khatneh
Doctrine: Zeal and Religious Credentials
Original: περιτομή
Category: Covenant
Part of Paul’s catalogue of Jewish religious credentials (3:5), set up only to be counted as loss; requires OT/Jewish-background teaching notes for a Muslim-background readership.
Zeal
Approved rendering: تعصب
Transliteration: ta’assob
Doctrine: Zeal and Religious Credentials
Rejected alternatives: غیرت
Original: ζῆλος
Category: Sin
غیرت carries strong Iranian honor-culture (family/personal-honor) connotations inappropriate to Paul’s misguided pre-conversion religious fervor (3:6); تعصب better isolates the zealotry sense.
Rubbish Loss
Approved rendering: زباله
Transliteration: zobaleh
Doctrine: Righteousness by Faith versus the Law
Rejected alternatives: ضرر (as a euphemistic softening of σκύβαλον specifically)
Original: σκύβαλον / ζημία
Category: Salvation
Paul’s deliberately crude σκύβαλον (3:8) must not be euphemized; formal Persian religious register tends toward softening, but the rhetorical shock is doctrinally purposeful.
Press On Pursue
Approved rendering: پیش رفتن به سوی هدف
Transliteration: pish raftan be su-ye hadaf
Doctrine: Pressing on toward the Goal in Christ
Rejected alternatives: جهاد کردن
Original: ἐπεκτείνομαι / διώκω
Category: Sanctification
جهاد کردن is forbidden entirely — it imports the Islamic merit-accumulating struggle framework. At 3:12-14, pursuit must be taught as relational (knowing Christ more fully), not religious merit or struggle against an external enemy.
Do Not Be Anxious
Approved rendering: نگران نبودن
Transliteration: negaran nabudan
Doctrine: Prayer and Freedom from Anxiety
Original: μὴ μεριμνᾶτε
Category: Faith
At 4:6, must be taught as prayer-directed trust, not positive-thinking suppression of real fear; connects to genuine anxiety sources for house-church believers (safety, family, imprisonment risk).
Low Risk Terms
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: شکرگزاری
Transliteration: shokr-gozari
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Paired with prayer and petition in 4:6.
Exhort
Approved rendering: تشویق کردن
Transliteration: tashviq kardan
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Inherited from Romans package. Verb root of the noun παράκλησις rendered تشویق in Philippians 2:1.
Consider Others More Significant
Approved rendering: برتر شمردن
Transliteration: bartar shomordan
Doctrine: Unity and Humility in the Church
Original: ὑπερέχοντας ἑαυτῶν
Category: Sanctification
Standard descriptive Persian phrase (2:3); low ambiguity risk.
Goal Prize
Approved rendering: هدف و جایزه
Transliteration: hadaf va ja’ize
Doctrine: Pressing on toward the Goal in Christ
Original: σκοπός / βραβεῖον
Category: Sanctification
Standard athletic-metaphor vocabulary (3:14); low independent risk beyond the surrounding press_on_pursue caution.
Referenced passages