Passage

Romans 1

• Glossary Term

  Apostle

  Same collision with Muhammad's title as in Arabic, with an added Shia layer: the Imamate's claim to unique ongoing authoritative succession after Muhammad can implicitly compete with any claim to authoritative apostolic office.

  ROM.1.1

• Doctrine

  Apostleship

  Collides with Muhammad's rasul title as in Arabic, with an added Shia dimension: the Imamate's claim to unique ongoing authoritative succession can implicitly compete with any claim to authoritative apostolic office.

  ROM.1.1

• Glossary Term

  Called

  Context-sensitive: in 1:1 = called to apostleship; in 1:7 = called to be saints; in 8:28-30 = effectual calling to salvation.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.6-7

• Glossary Term

  Calling

  Unlike Arabic da'wah, Persian da'vat is genuinely everyday vocabulary (inviting someone to dinner or a wedding) and carries less exclusively religious-missionary weight; still needs the direction of address (God calling a person, not a person inviting others) made explicit.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.6-7

• Doctrine

  Christian Fellowship

  Shared participation in Christ; note the root-resonance between mosharekat and shirk (idolatrous partnership), inherited into Persian via Arabic.

  ROM.1.12

• Glossary Term

  Covenant

  Also covers generic pledges and treaties in everyday Persian; retain the relational, unilaterally-initiated biblical covenant sense.

  ROM.1.3

• Glossary Term

  David

  Shared, positively-regarded Quranic prophet-king figure; supply the covenant-king typology pointing to Messiah explicitly, since the Quranic portrayal does not include it.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Davidic Covenant

  Davud is a shared, positively-regarded Quranic prophet-king, but without the covenant-king typology pointing forward to a promised messianic heir; this background must be taught, not assumed.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Deity of Christ

  CRITICAL: co-equal divine nature, the paradigm case of shirk from a tawhid standpoint shared by Persian Shia Islam.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Divine Calling

  Persian da'vat is genuinely everyday invitation-vocabulary, less exclusively religious-missionary than Arabic da'wah; still needs the direction of address (God calling a person) made explicit.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.6-7

• Glossary Term

  Exhort

  Context-sensitive: نصیحت کردن (nasihat kardan, to admonish) for beseeching; تشویق کردن (to encourage) for building up.

  ROM.1.12

• Doctrine

  Faith

  Persian Shia iman includes belief in the Imamate as a core article; must be anchored as personal trust in Christ specifically, not creedal assent to a succession doctrine.

  ROM.1.17

• Glossary Term

  Faith

  Shares the same six-pillars creedal-assent structure as Arabic iman, with a further Shia-specific layer: belief in the Imamate (the divinely-appointed succession beginning with Ali) is itself a core article of Shia iman.

  ROM.1.17

• Glossary Term

  Fellowship

  Shares the same ش-ر-ک root as shirk (idolatrous partnership) inherited into Persian via Arabic; the resonance is uncomfortable but the term is established and context disambiguates.

  ROM.1.12

• Doctrine

  Fulfillment of Prophecy

  Naskh (abrogation) doctrine, shared across Sunni and Shia Islam, treats later revelation as superseding earlier revelation; Romans' fulfillment argument needs deliberate framing against this default.

  ROM.1.2-4

• Glossary Term

  Glory

  Jalal carries deep devotional-poetic resonance in Persian mystical (Sufi) literature (e.g.

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  God

  CRITICAL: unlike Arabic's total dependence on Allah, Khoda is a native pre-Islamic Persian word (from Middle Persian 'khwatay') used across Zoroastrian, Christian, and Muslim Persian traditions alike - a genuine linguistic asset.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Gospel

  Must be taught as the NT record itself, not conceded as a corrupted successor to a lost original revelation, per the tahrif assumption shared across the Persian-Islamic world.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Gospel

  Injil is shared Quranic vocabulary (the revelation given to 'Isa); the same tahrif (corruption) assumption found across the Islamicate world applies in Iran.

  ROM.1.1, ROM.1.16

• Doctrine

  Humanity of Christ

  Real, physical human nature - not an illusion.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Incarnation

  CRITICAL: shares Arabic's tawhid objection.

  ROM.1.3

• Glossary Term

  Incarnation

  CRITICAL: shares Arabic's tawhid-denial problem.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Inspiration of Scripture

  Islamic wahy denotes verbatim divine dictation; biblical inspiration is God moving human authors to write in their own voice.

  ROM.1.2

• Glossary Term

  Jesus

  CRITICAL, but for a different reason than Arabic: unlike Arabic, Persian Christian Bible tradition itself (Tarjome Ghadeem, Mojdeh) has always used 'Isa Masih,' with no live, competing 'Yeshua'-style alternative in circulation - there is no naming controversy in Persian the way there is in Arabic.

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  Justification

  CRITICAL: compound phrase required to convey the forensic declaration - 'to be counted/reckoned as righteous' - rather than a process of becoming righteous through deeds.

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Law

  CRITICAL: some existing Persian Bible translations (Tarjome Ghadeem, Mojdeh) do use شریعت (shari'at) for the Mosaic Law, unlike Arabic Bible tradition's deliberate avoidance of the shari'a-cognate word.

  ROM.1.2-4

• Glossary Term

  Lord

  CRITICAL: unlike Arabic's al-Rabb, Khodavand derives from a native pre-Islamic Persian word (Middle Persian 'khwatay') rather than a specific Quranic title, so the collision here is less about 'borrowing the Quran's own word' and more about the underlying tawhid objection to ascribing supreme, exclusive Lordship to a human-born man.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Lordship of Christ

  CRITICAL: Khodavand is a native pre-Islamic word rather than a Quranic title, so the collision is less about borrowing sacred vocabulary and more about the core tawhid objection to ascribing supreme Lordship to a human-born man.

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  Messiah

  CRITICAL: carries the same pre-loaded Quranic content as Arabic's al-Masih, with an added Shia displacement: popular messianic expectation centers primarily on the Hidden Twelfth Imam (Mahdi) as the awaited deliverer, with Isa al-Masih in a secondary, supporting role at his return.

  ROM.1.3-4

• Doctrine

  Messianic Promise

  CRITICAL: beyond the shared Quranic Masih content, popular Shia messianic expectation centers on the Hidden Twelfth Imam (Mahdi), with Isa in a secondary role at his return.

  ROM.1.3-4

• Glossary Term

  Mission

  رسالت (resalat) echoes the prophetic-commission vocabulary of Muhammad's own resalat; ماموریت is a more neutral general-purpose word for mission/assignment.

  ROM.1.5, ROM.1.13-14

• Doctrine

  Mission to the Nations

  Avoid resalat (prophetic-commission) vocabulary that invites comparison to Muhammad's own resalat; open evangelism also carries real legal risk under Iran's restrictions on Muslim-background conversion.

  ROM.1.5, ROM.1.13-14

• Doctrine

  Mutual Edification

  Building one another up in faith; no significant doctrinal risk.

  ROM.1.12

• Doctrine

  Obedience of Faith

  CRITICAL: submission/obedience is the defining category of the surrounding Islamic religious culture, shared fully by Persian Shia Islam; must be taught consistently as fruit, never ground, of right standing.

  ROM.1.5

• Glossary Term

  Obedience Of Faith

  As in Arabic, submission/obedience is the defining category of the surrounding Islamic religious culture; must be taught as faith's fruit, never its ground.

  ROM.1.5

• Glossary Term

  Power Of God

  Broadly compatible concept, low collision risk beyond standard care.

  ROM.1.16

• Doctrine

  Power of God for Salvation

  Broadly compatible concept; low independent collision risk beyond standard care.

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Prophecy

  Low independent risk beyond the prophet entry's own note.

  ROM.1.2-4

• Glossary Term

  Prophet

  A native Persian compound ('message' + 'bearer'), not an Arabic loanword.

  ROM.1.2

• Glossary Term

  Resurrection

  CRITICAL: shares the Quran's crucifixion-denial problem (4:157) with Arabic.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Resurrection of Christ

  CRITICAL: shares the Quran's crucifixion-denial (4:157) with Arabic; Shia eschatology's Mahdi-centered expectation further subordinates Jesus's own resurrection and return to a supporting role at the Hidden Imam's reappearance.

  ROM.1.4

• Glossary Term

  Righteousness

  CRITICAL: پارسایی (parsa'i, piety/virtue) carries a Zoroastrian-inflected ethical-purity connotation, tied to Zoroastrianism's own good-thoughts/good-words/good-deeds ethical triad - an achievement-of-virtue framework.

  ROM.1.16

• Doctrine

  Sainthood (Called to be Holy)

  Corporate sense for all believers, not an ascetic or shrine-venerated elite class.

  ROM.1.7

• Doctrine

  Salvation

  CRITICAL: beyond the shared deeds-weighing (mizan) framework, popular Shia piety's Karbala/Hussein martyrdom-intercession devotion offers a superficially similar but categorically distinct pattern (an innocent holy figure's suffering benefiting those who honor it) that must be carefully distinguished from Christ's unique, sufficient atonement.

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Salvation

  CRITICAL: beyond the shared Islamic deeds-weighing (mizan) framework, Persian/Shia popular piety has an especially developed doctrine of intercession through the martyred Imam Hussein's suffering at Karbala (widely believed to secure forgiveness for those who properly mourn him).

  ROM.1.16

• Glossary Term

  Seed Of David

  Romans 1:3; conveys physical lineage and OT covenant fulfillment.

  ROM.1.3

• Doctrine

  Separation unto God's Service

  Must not be confused with Sufi zuhd (world-renunciation) practiced in Persian mystical tradition; biblical separation is devoted engagement with the world, not withdrawal from it.

  ROM.1.1

• Glossary Term

  Sin

  Native pre-Islamic Persian word.

  ROM.1.18

• Glossary Term

  Son Of God

  CRITICAL: 'برگزیده خدا' ('God's Chosen One') is the actual softened rendering used by the controversial Hezare No (New Millennium) Persian NT translation to reduce offense; it provoked significant backlash within the Iranian Protestant and house-church community, most of which continued using the literal پسر خدا from the older Tarjome Ghadeem and Mojdeh translations.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Sonship of Christ

  CRITICAL: the Hezare No Persian NT translation's softened 'God's Chosen One' rendering, which provoked significant backlash within Iranian Protestant circles, is a documented cautionary precedent; this doctrine must be taught using the literal, historically established پسر خدا.

  ROM.1.4

• Doctrine

  Spiritual Gifts

  Must retain the 'spiritual' qualifier so it is not read as ordinary talent.

  ROM.1.11

• Glossary Term

  Spiritual Gifts

  Always pair with روحانی so the phrase is not read as ordinary talent.

  ROM.1.11

• Doctrine

  Thanksgiving

  Shukr is also a major Islamic virtue; broadly compatible, low risk.

  ROM.1.8, ROM.1.21

• Glossary Term

  Thanksgiving

  Shukr is also a major Islamic virtue category; broadly compatible, low risk.

  ROM.1.8, ROM.1.21

• Doctrine

  Universal Human Accountability

  Islamic fitrah doctrine and Zoroastrianism's own Chinvat Bridge deeds-weighing independently reinforce a strong Persian cultural default toward innate goodness balanced against deeds, rather than inherited guilt in Adam.

  ROM.1.18

• Doctrine

  Universal Scope of the Gospel

  Must be framed so as not to be heard as religious pluralism claiming all paths are equally valid, while retaining the full inclusive force of the text.

  ROM.1.16