Core Glossary
Titus — Core Glossary (English–Greek–Persian)
Per-Term Translation Risk Table, Full Book Coverage (Titus 1–3)
Curriculum: Titus
Core passage anchor: Titus 2:11–3:8
Reuse policy: Terms marked [BASELINE] are locked exactly as recorded in the Romans translation_memory.json/bible_term_registry.json and MUST NOT be altered. Terms marked [NEW] are introduced by this curriculum and require entry into translation memory at Phase 2 Step 16 per the AI Translation Requirements (12_ai_translation_requirements.md) load/versioning procedure.
A. Baseline Terms Reused Exactly (from Romans Language Package)
| English Term | Greek | Persian (reused exactly) | Transliteration | Risk | Titus Occurrences | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grace | χάρις | فیض | feyz | High | 1:4, 2:11, 3:7, 3:15 | Same emanation-vs-personal-gift caution applies; here grace is the subject of παιδεύω (“trains”) — reinforces personal agency. |
| Faith / believe | πίστις / πιστεύω | ایمان | iman | High | 1:1, 1:4, 1:13, 2:2, 2:10, 3:8, 3:15 | Anchor as trust in Christ, not creedal/Imamate assent. |
| Righteousness | δικαιοσύνη | عدالت | edalat | Critical | 3:5 (noun); 1:8, 2:12 (adj./adv. root) | پارسایی remains forbidden. |
| Justification | δικαιόω (part.) | عادل شمرده شدن | adel shomorde shodan | Critical | 3:7 | Forensic sense retained; do not render as “made righteous.” |
| Salvation (root) | σωτήριος / σῴζω | نجات(-بخش) / نجات داد | nejat(-bakhsh) / nejat dad | Critical | 2:11, 3:5 | Karbala/martyrdom-intercession distinction required, especially at 2:14, 3:5. |
| Apostle | ἀπόστολος | رسول | rasul | High | 1:1 | Imamate-succession competing-authority caution applies. |
| Election / elect | ἐκλεκτός | برگزیدگی خدا | bargozidegi-ye khoda | High | 1:1 | Do not import Imamate lineage-succession content. |
| Holy Spirit | πνεῦμα ἅγιον | روحالقدس | Ruh-ol-Qods | Critical | 3:5 | Jibril/Gabriel-identification caution applies; personal divine agency of regeneration must be explicit. |
| Grace and Peace (greeting) | χάρις καὶ εἰρήνη | فیض و سلام | feyz va salam | High/Medium | 1:4 | آرامش remains forbidden for εἰρήνη. |
| God the Father | θεὸς πατήρ | خدای پدر | khoda-ye pedar | Critical | 1:4 | Tawhid-anthropomorphism caution applies. |
| God | θεός | خدا | Khoda | Critical | throughout | Native pre-Islamic word retained; content-level Trinitarian distinction required, especially given interchange with σωτήρ. |
| Jesus / Christ | Ἰησοῦς Χριστός | عیسی مسیح | Isa Masih | Critical | throughout | Quranic prophet-only narrative must be actively corrected, especially at 2:13. |
| Exhort | παρακαλέω | تشویق کردن | tashviq kardan | Low | 1:9, 2:6, 2:15 | Context-sensitive per baseline note; here often paired with correction (ἔλεγχε). |
| Glory | δόξα | جلال | jalal | Medium | 2:13 | Sufi jalal/jamal-pairing caution; here specifically Christ’s own glory, not diffuse mystical splendor. |
| Sin (concept) | ἁμαρτάνω / ἀνομία (contextual) | گناه | gonah | High | 3:11 (verb); 2:14 (ἀνομία, contextual) | See NEW entry below for ἀνομία’s own specific namus-collision risk. |
| Law (Mosaic, root) | νόμος (adj. νομικός) | ناموس | namus | Critical | 3:9 (μάχας νομικάς) | Retain baseline’s shari’a-collision caution; do not use شریعت. |
B. New Terms Introduced by Titus — Full Risk Detail
| English Term | Greek / Transliteration | Persian Rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine Link | Occurrences | Risk Reasoning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Appearing / Epiphany | ἐπιφάνεια, ἐπιφαίνω (epiphaneia, epephanē) | ظهور / آشکار شد | zohur / āshekār shod | Critical | Grace That Trains for Godly Living; implicit Christology | 2:11, 2:13, 3:4 | ظهور is the standard Twelver Shia term for the Hidden Imam’s awaited reappearance (zohur-e Imam-e Zaman). Risk of Christ’s first and second appearing being absorbed into Mahdist eschatological expectation. Requires mandatory contextual qualification at every occurrence. |
| Savior | σωτήρ (sōtēr) | منجی | monji | Critical | Salvation by Grace not Works; implicit Deity of Christ | 1:3, 1:4, 2:10, 2:13, 3:4, 3:6 | Applied interchangeably to God the Father and Jesus Christ six times — an implicit deity-of-Christ argument; must render identically regardless of referent. |
| Great God and Savior (title) | ὁ μέγας θεὸς καὶ σωτήρ | خدای بزرگ و نجاتدهنده | khoda-ye bozorg va nejat-dahandeh | Critical | Deity of Christ | 2:13 | Single-article Greek construction identifies Jesus as God; must not be split into two figures in translation, which would concede the tawhid objection this verse directly confronts. |
| Redeem / Redemption | λυτρόω, λύτρωσις (lytroō) | رهایی بخشد / رهایی | rahaii bakhshad / rahaii | Critical | Salvation by Grace not Works | 2:14 | The lexically natural فدیه (fadyeh) is a live Islamic legal term for a compensatory ransom-payment substituting for an unperformed religious obligation; risks a transactional-legal misreading rather than personal substitutionary atonement. |
| Lawlessness | ἀνομία (anomia) | سرکشی / گناه | sarkeshi / gonah | High | Salvation by Grace not Works | 2:14 | A ناموس-negation coinage must be avoided: in colloquial modern Persian ناموس primarily denotes personal/family honor, so “بیناموسی” reads as a serious insult (dishonorable/unchaste), not “lawlessness.” |
| A people for his own possession | λαὸς περιούσιος (laos periousios) | قوم خاص خدا | qom-e khass-e khoda | High | Sound Doctrine and Good Works; Unity of Jews/Gentiles (cross-ref.) | 2:14 | Transfers Sinai covenant-people language to the Church; must not be read as commentary on the modern political state of Israel given Iran’s propagandized anti-Israel stance. |
| Good works | ἔργα (καλά/ἀγαθά) (erga) | اعمال (نیکو) | a’maal (-e nikoo) | Critical | Salvation by Grace not Works; Sound Doctrine and Good Works | 1:16, 2:7, 2:14, 3:1, 3:8, 3:14 | اعمال is the central term of Islamic deeds-weighing (Mizan) soteriology. The letter’s own tension — not saved by works (3:5) yet zealous for works (2:14) as fruit — is the single highest-stakes teaching challenge in the book; every occurrence must be anchored as fruit, never ground, of salvation. |
| Mercy | ἔλεος (eleos) | رحمت | rahmat | High | Salvation by Grace not Works | 3:5 | Rahmat opens the Quran itself (Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim) and carries deep independent Islamic theological content; must be filled with the specific content of Christ’s atonement and Spirit-regeneration, not left as a generalized divine attribute. |
| Washing of regeneration | λουτρὸν παλιγγενεσίας (loutron palingenesias) | غسل تعمید / تولد تازه | ghusl-e ta’mid / tavallod-e tazeh | Critical | Regeneration by the Holy Spirit | 3:5 | غسل is the specific Islamic ritual-ablution term (major purification washing); risks a mechanical-ritual-purification reading. تولد تازه (“new birth”) is the established Persian evangelical idiom and should anchor the doctrine; must be taught as the Spirit’s monergistic act, not human tawba (repentance-turning). |
| Renewal (of the Spirit) | ἀνακαίνωσις (anakainōsis) | نوسازی | now-sazi | High | Regeneration by the Holy Spirit | 3:5 | Co-agent with παλιγγενεσία of the new birth; reinforce personal Spirit-agency per baseline holy_spirit caution. |
| Poured out (of the Spirit) | ἐκχέω (ekcheō) | ریخت / فرو ریخت | rikht / foru rikht | Medium | Regeneration by the Holy Spirit | 3:6 | Echoes Pentecost/Joel outpouring language; ensure personal (not impersonal-force) agency is reinforced in surrounding teaching. |
| Heir / Inheritance | κληρονόμος (klēronomos) | وارث(ان) | vares(an) | Critical | Salvation by Grace not Works (adoption cross-ref.) | 3:7 | Directly compounds the baseline adoption Critical risk: Iranian civil law’s use of the weaker سرپرستی (custodianship) instead of full adoption is explicitly because Islamic inheritance law (mirath) denies adopted children inheritance rights; this verse asserts the opposite for believers. |
| Eternal life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος (zōē aiōnios) | حیات ابدی | hayat-e abadi | Medium-High | Salvation by Grace not Works | 3:7 | Distinguish from بهشت (behesht, paradise as a sensory reward-place reached by deeds-weighing); this is relational union with God, not merely a future destination. |
| Submit / Submission | ὑποτάσσω (hypotassō) | مطیع بودن / تسلیم شدن | moti’ budan / taslim shodan | Critical | Submission to Authority | 2:5, 2:9, 3:1 | تسلیم shares Islam’s own etymological root (“submission to God”); prefer مطیع بودن. Also collides with Iranian family law’s tamkin (wife’s legal submission obligation) at 2:5. |
| Rulers, authorities | ἀρχαί, ἐξουσίαι (archai, exousiai) | حکمرانان و قدرتها | hokmranan va qodrat-ha | Critical | Submission to Authority | 3:1 | Iran’s Velayat-e Faqih fuses civil and religious authority into one sacralized office; teaching submission here risks being heard as endorsing this specific religious-political structure rather than general civic order. |
| Obey (authority) | πειθαρχέω (peitharcheō) | از فرمان اطاعت کردن | az farman eta’at kardan | High | Submission to Authority | 3:1 | Shares the same political-sensitivity profile as ὑποτάσσω/ἀρχαί above. |
| Elder (office) | πρεσβύτερος (presbyteros) | کشیش | kashish | High | Qualifications for Elders | 1:5 | Risk of importing a sacral/clerical-caste distinction from Iranian Christian usage or Iran’s own tiered Shia clergy (shaykh/hojjat al-eslam/ayatollah); must be taught as a functional, character-qualified, plural congregational role. |
| Overseer / Bishop | ἐπίσκοπος (episkopos) | ناظر | nazer | High | Qualifications for Elders | 1:7 | Avoid اسقف (“bishop”), which implies later monarchical-hierarchical church order absent from Titus’s plural eldership; ἐπίσκοπος = πρεσβύτερος here, same office. |
| Steward (of God) | οἰκονόμος θεοῦ (oikonomos theou) | مباشر خدا / امین خانهٴ خدا | mobasher-e khoda / amin-e khane-ye khoda | High | Qualifications for Elders | 1:7 | Avoid وکیل (“deputy”): the specific term used in Twelver Shia political theology for clerical deputyship of the Hidden Imam, the theological root of Velayat-e Faqih governance. |
| Husband of one wife | μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἀνήρ (mias gynaikos anēr) | مردی که فقط یک زن دارد | mardi ke faqat yek zan darad | Critical | Qualifications for Elders | 1:6 | Directly confronts live legal norms: Iranian Shia law permits up to four wives and additionally recognizes mut’ah/sigheh temporary marriage, unique to Twelver Shia jurisprudence. |
| Blameless | ἀνέγκλητος (anegklētos) | بیعیب | bi-eyb | Medium | Qualifications for Elders | 1:6, 1:7 | Reputation-based (āberu-adjacent honor/shame resonance), not sinless-perfection; must not reduce to mere social respectability. |
| Sound doctrine/teaching | ὑγιαίνουσα διδασκαλία (hygiainousa didaskalia) | تعلیم سالم / آموزهٴ صحیح | ta’lim-e salem / amuze-ye sahih | High | Sound Doctrine and Good Works | 1:9, 1:13, 2:1, 2:2, 2:8 | Risk that “soundness” defaults to the Iranian religious-cultural framework of correct sectarian alignment (Sunni-Shia, intra-Shia usuli/akhbari disputes) rather than specific apostolic gospel content. |
| Godliness / Ungodliness | εὐσέβεια / ἀσέβεια (eusebeia / asebeia) | دینداری / بیدینی | dindari / bi-dini | High | Grace That Trains for Godly Living | 1:1, 2:12 (x2) | تقوا (taqwa) explicitly rejected: the Quran’s most central, most frequent virtue-term, embedding NT godliness wholesale into the Islamic legal-moral piety framework. |
| Self-controlled / Self-control (word family) | σώφρων, σωφροσύνη, σωφρόνως, σωφρονίζω, σωφρονεῖν (sōphrōn family) | خوددار / خودداری | khoddar / khoddari | High | Grace That Trains for Godly Living | 1:8; 2:2, 2:4, 2:5, 2:6, 2:12 | Six occurrences; risk of being read as self-achieved nafs-mastery (jihad al-nafs / Sufi zabt-e nafs) rather than grace-trained fruit (2:12’s governing verb is παιδεύουσα, grace training us). Must render identically at every occurrence. |
| Train / Discipline | παιδεύω (paideuō) | تربیت میکند | tarbiat mikonad | High | Grace That Trains for Godly Living | 2:12 | Names the curriculum doctrine directly: grace, not law or human ascetic effort, is the trainer — must be taught against the Persian religious-cultural default that a code or discipline (not a gift already received) forms character. |
| Philanthropy / Love for mankind | φιλανθρωπία (philanthrōpia) | انساندوستی / نوعدوستی خدا | ensan-dusti / now’-dusti-ye khoda | Medium-High | Salvation by Grace not Works | 3:4 | Standard contemporary Persian usage denotes secular humanitarianism (NGO/charity register); must be qualified as God’s specific saving love revealed in Christ, not generic benevolence. |
| Kindness | χρηστότης (chrēstotēs) | مهربانی | mehrabani | Low-Medium | Salvation by Grace not Works | 3:4 | Low collision; note the early patristic Χρηστός/Χριστός wordplay as a possible teaching illustration. |
| Pure / Defiled | καθαρός / μεμιαμμένος (katharos / memiammenos) | پاک / نجس، آلوده | pak / najis, aludeh | High | Avoiding Divisive Controversies (legalism); Universal Human Accountability (cross-ref.) | 1:15 | Three-way collision: Islamic tahara/najasat ritual purity; Zoroastrianism’s own independently-developed pak/paleed ritual-purity system; the verse’s own point that moral/conscience purity, not ritual purity, is what matters. |
| Conscience | συνείδησις (syneidēsis) | وجدان | vejdan | Medium | Avoiding Divisive Controversies | 1:15 | Standard modern philosophical-moral term; ensure specifically theological (God-oriented) sense is retained. |
| Knowledge of the truth | ἐπίγνωσις ἀληθείας (epignōsis alētheias) | شناخت حقیقت | shenakht-e haqiqat | Medium | Sound Doctrine and Good Works | 1:1 | Prefer شناخت over معرفت (ma’refat), which carries strong Sufi esoteric-gnosis connotations risking a mystical-experiential misreading. |
| Factious / Divisive person | αἱρετικὸς ἄνθρωπος (hairetikos anthrōpos) | شخص تفرقهانداز | shakhs-e tafraqe-andaz | High | Avoiding Divisive Controversies | 3:10 | Etymological root of “heretic.” Avoid a بدعت (bid’ah, “religious innovation”)-rooted rendering, a serious and frequently weaponized charge in Sunni-Shia and intra-Shia polemic; keep the focus behavioral (division-sowing), not a doctrinal-innovation accusation. |
| Commandments of men | ἐντάλματα ἀνθρώπων (entalmata anthrōpōn) | احکام انسانی / دستورهای بشری | ahkam-e ensani / dastur-haye bashari | High | Avoiding Divisive Controversies | 1:14 | احکام is a specific, weighty Islamic fiqh term for jurist-derived legal rulings; risks sounding like an anachronistic polemic against the Islamic legal system rather than Paul’s target of first-century Judaizing legalism. |
| Quarrels about the law | μάχαι νομικαί (machai nomikai) | جدالها بر سر ناموس/شریعت موسی | jedal-ha bar sar-e namus-e Musa | Medium-High | Avoiding Divisive Controversies | 3:9 | Iran’s own legal system is structured around live juristic disputes; risk of the text being heard as commentary on those disputes rather than first-century Mosaic-law legalism specifically. |
| Slave/servant of God | δοῦλος θεοῦ (doulos theou) | بندهٴ خدا | bandeh-ye khoda | Low (positive) | (identity/apostleship) | 1:1 | Genuine cultural asset: “bandeh-ye khoda” is warmly standard Islamic-Persian self-description; contrast carefully with the negative δουλεύοντες of 3:3 (bondage to passion). |
| Hospitable | φιλόξενος (philoxenos) | مهماننواز | mehman-navaz | Low (positive) | Qualifications for Elders | 1:8 | Strong cultural bridge: hospitality is a foundational, celebrated Persian cultural value. |
| Master (of a slave) | δεσπότης (despotēs) | ارباب | arbab | Medium | (household code) | 2:9 | Residual historical arbab-ra’iyat (landlord-tenant) connotation in Iran; requires pastoral bridging to modern employer-employee relationships since Iran has no legal slavery today. |
| Led astray / deceived | πλανάω (planaō) | گمراه | gomrah | Medium (bridge) | Universal Human Accountability (cross-ref.) | 3:3 | Genuine bridge concept: guidance vs. misguidance (hidayat/gomrahi) is a major shared Quranic-Christian religious axis; the source of true guidance (Christ/gospel) must be made explicit. |
| Adorn (the doctrine) | κοσμέω (kosmeō) | بیارایند / زینت دهند | biarayand / zinat dahand | Low (positive) | Sound Doctrine and Good Works | 2:10 | Vivid, low-risk metaphor: godly conduct makes the gospel attractive — pastorally valuable in the reputation-conscious house-church context. |
| Faithful is the saying (formula) | πιστὸς ὁ λόγος (pistos ho logos) | این کلام امین است | in kalam-e amin ast | Medium | Sound Doctrine and Good Works | 3:8 | Fixed Pastoral-Epistles formula; flag for cross-document consistency if curriculum extends to 1–2 Timothy. |
| Devote oneself to (good works) | προΐστημι (proistēmi) | پیشتاز … بودن / خود را وقف … کردن | pishtaz … budan / khod ra vaqf … kardan | High | Salvation by Grace not Works | 3:8, 3:14 | Directly governs the letter’s “good works” keyword (see above); same verb elsewhere describes an elder “managing” his household — note the semantic link for teaching continuity. |
C. Lower-Risk Supporting Vocabulary (grouped, Low tier unless noted)
| English Term(s) | Greek | Persian Rendering | Risk | Occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gentleness, forbearance, peaceableness | πραΰτης, ἐπιεικής, ἄμαχος | ملایمت، باگذشت، بینزاع | Low | 3:2 |
| Rebuke / reprove | ἐλέγχω | توبیخ کردن / سرزنش کردن | Medium | 1:9, 1:13, 2:15 |
| Authority (Titus’s own pastoral) | ἐπιταγή | اقتدار / اختیار | Medium | 2:15 |
| Older men / older women | πρεσβύτης / πρεσβῦτις | مردان سالخورده / زنان سالخورده | Low | 2:2, 2:3 |
| Sober, dignified, reverent (vice/virtue lists) | νηφάλιος, σεμνός, ἱεροπρεπής, ἀφθορία | هوشیار، باوقار، مقدسمنش، درستکاری | Low | 2:2, 2:3, 2:7 |
| Loving husbands/children, pure, homeworking, kind | φίλανδρος, φιλότεκνος, ἁγνός, οἰκουργός, ἀγαθός | شوهردوست، فرزنددوست، پاک، خانهدار، نیک | Low | 2:4-5 |
| Self-willed, quick-tempered, drunkard, violent, greedy (elder vice list) | αὐθάδης, ὀργίλος, πάροινος, πλήκτης, αἰσχροκερδής | خودرأی، تندخو، میگسار، ستیزهجو، طمعکار | Low | 1:7 |
| Lover of good, just, holy, disciplined (elder virtue list) | φιλάγαθος, δίκαιος, ὅσιος, ἐγκρατής | دوستدار نیکی، عادل، پرهیزکار، ضبطنفس | Medium | 1:8 |
| Foolish, disobedient, various desires/pleasures, malice, envy, hateful (pre-conversion vice list) | ἀνόητος, ἀπειθής, ἐπιθυμία/ἡδονή, κακία, φθόνος, στυγητός | نادان، نافرمان، هوس/لذت، بدخواهی، حسادت، نفرتانگیز | Low | 3:3 |
| Empty talkers, deceivers, liars, lazy gluttons (false teacher description) | ματαιολόγος, φρεναπάτης, ψεύστης, γαστέρες ἀργαί | یاوهگو، فریبدهنده، دروغگو، شکمپرست تنبل | Low | 1:10, 1:12 |
| Circumcision (party) | περιτομή | ختنه | Medium | 1:10 |
| Jewish myths | Ἰουδαϊκοὶ μῦθοι | افسانههای یهودی | Medium | 1:14 |
| Unfit / disqualified | ἀδόκιμος | نامناسب / رد شده | Low | 1:16 |
| Foolish controversies, genealogies, strife, unprofitable | μωραὶ ζητήσεις, γενεαλογία, ἔρις, ἀνωφελής, μάταιος | بحث احمقانه، شجرهنامه، نزاع، بیفایده، بیهوده | Low | 3:9 |
| Warning / admonition | νουθεσία | نصیحت / اخطار | Low | 3:10 |
| Warped, self-condemned | ἐξέστραπται, αὐτοκατάκριτος | منحرف شده، خودمحکوم | Low | 3:11 |
| Learn, unfruitful | μανθάνω, ἄκαρπος | یاد بگیرند، بیثمر | Low | 3:14 |
| Personal names (Artemas, Tychicus, Zenas, Apollos) | — | آرتماس، تیخیکوس، زیناس، آپولس | Low | 3:12-13 |
Doctrine-to-Term Cross-Reference (for Phase 2 Routing)
| Curriculum Doctrine | Primary Terms (this glossary) |
|---|---|
| Grace That Trains for Godly Living | فیض [BASELINE], تربیت میکند [NEW], خوددار/خودداری [NEW], دینداری/بیدینی [NEW] |
| Qualifications for Elders | کشیش [NEW], ناظر [NEW], مباشر خدا [NEW], مردی که فقط یک زن دارد [NEW], بیعیب [NEW], مهماننواز [NEW] |
| Sound Doctrine and Good Works | تعلیم سالم [NEW], اعمال (نیکو) [NEW], بیارایند [NEW], این کلام امین است [NEW] |
| Salvation by Grace not Works | نجات(-بخش) [BASELINE], رهایی بخشد [NEW], اعمال [NEW], رحمت [NEW], وارثان [NEW], حیات ابدی [NEW], منجی [NEW] |
| Regeneration by the Holy Spirit | روحالقدس [BASELINE], غسل تعمید/تولد تازه [NEW], نوسازی [NEW], ریخت [NEW] |
| Submission to Authority | مطیع بودن/تسلیم شدن [NEW], حکمرانان و قدرتها [NEW], از فرمان اطاعت کردن [NEW] |
| Avoiding Divisive Controversies | تعلیم سالم [NEW], شخص تفرقهانداز [NEW], احکام انسانی [NEW], جدالها بر سر ناموس [NEW], پاک/نجس [NEW] |
All entries in this file must be loaded into translation_memory.json (as new entries, version-incremented) and bible_term_registry.json/doctrine_risk_registry.json (as new/extended doctrine entries) before Phase 2 segment translation begins, per the procedure fixed in 12_ai_translation_requirements.md.
Critical Risk Terms
Righteousness
Approved rendering: عدالت
Transliteration: edalat
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: پارسایی
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). پارسایی (Zoroastrian-inflected virtue/piety) remains forbidden. Titus 3:5 (‘not by works done in righteousness… but according to his mercy’) makes the baseline’s forensic-not-achievement caution the letter’s central soteriological statement.
Justification
Approved rendering: عادل شمرده شدن
Transliteration: adel shomorde shodan
Doctrine: Salvation
Original: δικαιωθέντες (δικαιόω)
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Compound phrase required to convey forensic declaration, not a process of becoming righteous. In Titus 3:7 this is the direct ground of the believer being made an ‘heir’ (وارثان) — retain the forensic sense exactly so the inheritance argument is not weakened into ‘forgiveness’ alone.
Salvation
Approved rendering: نجات
Transliteration: nejat
Doctrine: Salvation
Original: σωτηρία / σωτήριος / σῴζω
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Karbala/Hussein martyrdom-intercession distinction required, especially at Titus 2:14 (Christ’s self-giving) and 3:4-7 (God’s mercy, not works, saves).
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: روحالقدس
Transliteration: Ruh-ol-Qods
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Quranic tafsir tradition’s identification of ‘Ruh al-Qudus’ with the angel Jibril/Gabriel must be resisted. In Titus 3:5-6 the Spirit is grammatically the personal, divine co-agent (with the washing of regeneration) of the new birth, and the one ‘poured out’ richly through Christ — this personal, monergistic agency must be made explicit.
Father
Approved rendering: پدر
Transliteration: pedar
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Shares Arabic’s tawhid-anthropomorphism objection to Father-language for God. Occurs in the compound greeting ‘خدای پدر’ (Titus 1:4).
God
Approved rendering: خدا
Transliteration: Khoda
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: الله
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Native pre-Islamic word retained as a genuine linguistic asset; strict tawhid theology must be distinguished from the Trinitarian conception denoted by the same word. In Titus, θεός interchanges repeatedly with σωτήρ (Savior) across both the Father and the Son (1:3-4, 2:13, 3:4, 3:6), intensifying this content-level distinction requirement beyond the Romans baseline.
Jesus
Approved rendering: عیسی
Transliteration: Isa
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). No live naming controversy in Persian; the risk is entirely in content — the Quranic prophet-only, non-divine narrative must be actively corrected at every occurrence, with special force at Titus 2:13’s explicit single-title deity statement.
Messiah
Approved rendering: مسیح
Transliteration: Masih
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Shia Mahdi-displacement caution applies throughout Titus; every occurrence must actively assert Christ’s own primary, sufficient redemptive role, intensified at 2:13’s ‘blessed hope’ and ‘appearing of the glory’ language (see epiphany_appearing entry below).
Law
Approved rendering: ناموس
Transliteration: namus
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: شریعت
Original: νόμος / νομικός
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). شریعت remains forbidden given Iran’s shari’a-based legal system. In Titus this root appears specifically in the phrase ‘quarrels about the law’ (μάχας νομικάς, 3:9); see the new quarrels_about_the_law entry below for the additional risk this specific Titus phrase introduces beyond the Romans baseline.
Savior
Approved rendering: منجی
Transliteration: monji
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: استفاده از دو واژهٴ متفاوت برای خدای پدر و عیسی مسیح
Original: σωτήρ
Category: Christology
NEW. Applied interchangeably to God the Father and Jesus Christ six times across Titus (1:3, 1:4, 2:10, 2:13, 3:4, 3:6), functioning as an implicit deity-of-Christ argument. Must render identically regardless of referent; a divergent Persian word for the two referents would obscure the deliberate identification Titus is making. Built on the baseline نجات root.
Great God And Savior
Approved rendering: خدای بزرگ و نجاتدهندهٴ ما عیسی مسیح
Transliteration: khoda-ye bozorg va nejat-dahandeh-ye ma, Isa Masih
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: خدای بزرگ، و نجاتدهندهٴ ما عیسی مسیح (rendered with a comma implying two separate figures)
Original: ὁ μέγας θεὸς καὶ σωτὴρ ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός
Category: Christology
NEW. Titus 2:13’s single-article (Granville Sharp) Greek construction names Jesus Christ, in one unbroken title, as both ‘the great God’ and ‘Savior.’ Must never be split into two figures in translation; this is the sharpest deity-of-Christ statement in the letter and directly confronts tawhid’s absolute non-plurality of God.
Epiphany Appearing
Approved rendering: ظهور / آشکار شد
Transliteration: zohur / āshekār shod
Doctrine: Blessed Hope and Christ’s Second Coming
Rejected alternatives: ظهور بهکار رفته بدون قید صریح نام مسیح در همان جمله
Original: ἐπιφάνεια / ἐπιφαίνω (ἐπεφάνη)
Category: Christology
NEW. ظهور is the standard Twelver Shia technical term for the Hidden Twelfth Imam’s awaited reappearance (zohur-e Imam-e Zaman), one of the most emotionally charged phrases in Iranian popular piety. Occurs at Titus 2:11 (grace’s appearing), 2:13 (Christ’s future glorious appearing — the highest-stakes occurrence), and 3:4 (God’s kindness appearing). Every occurrence requires mandatory Christ-naming qualification; prefer آشکار شد where the noun form is not grammatically forced. Never allow ظهور to stand unqualified.
Redeem Redemption
Approved rendering: رهایی بخشد
Transliteration: rahaii bakhshad
Doctrine: Christ’s Redemptive Self-Sacrifice
Rejected alternatives: فدیه (fadyeh)
Original: λυτρόω / λύτρωσις (λυτρώσηται)
Category: Salvation
NEW. Titus 2:14: Christ ‘gave himself… to redeem us.’ فدیه is a live Islamic fiqh term for a compensatory ransom-payment substituting for an unperformed religious obligation; using it risks a transactional-legal misreading rather than a personal, once-for-all act of the divine Redeemer. ‘خود را فدا کرد’ (gave himself) additionally echoes Karbala/Hussein martyrdom-register vocabulary and must be taught as categorically distinct from that devotional pattern.
Good Works
Approved rendering: اعمال (نیکو)
Transliteration: a’maal (-e nikoo)
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine and Good Works
Original: ἔργα (καλά / ἀγαθά)
Category: Salvation
NEW. The letter’s single most recurrent phrase (1:16, 2:7, 2:14, 3:1, 3:8, 3:14). اعمال is the central category of Islamic Mizan deeds-weighing soteriology (recorded in the ‘nameh-ye amal,’ weighed at judgment). Titus’s own argument depends on holding two things together without collapse: not saved by works (3:5), yet necessarily, zealously devoted to works as evidence of grace already received (2:14, 3:8, 3:14). Every occurrence must be anchored as fruit, never ground, of salvation — the single most important teaching challenge in the book for a Muslim-background audience.
Washing Of Regeneration
Approved rendering: غسل تعمید / تولد تازه
Transliteration: ghusl-e ta’mid / tavallod-e tazeh
Doctrine: Regeneration by the Holy Spirit
Rejected alternatives: غسل بهتنهایی، بدون تعمید یا تولد تازه
Original: λουτρὸν παλιγγενεσίας
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Titus 3:5 core phrase: ‘the washing of regeneration.’ غسل is the specific, load-bearing Islamic ritual-ablution term (major full-body purification washing); even paired with تعمید (the established Christian baptism term), this root risks a mechanical ritual-purification reading. تولد تازه (‘new birth’) is the established Persian evangelical idiom and must anchor the doctrine as the Spirit’s monergistic, decisive act — not a human tawba (repentance-turning) act.
Heir
Approved rendering: وارثان
Transliteration: varesan
Doctrine: Assurance of Eternal Life and Inheritance
Rejected alternatives: سرپرستی-based rendering implying custodianship rather than inheritance
Original: κληρονόμος
Category: Salvation
NEW. Titus 3:7: justified ‘so that we might become heirs.’ Directly compounds the baseline’s Critical adoption risk: Islamic inheritance law (mirath/ershaad) denies an adopted child inheritance rights under both Sunni and Shia fiqh (Quran 33:4-5), which is precisely why Iranian civil law uses the weaker سرپرستی (custodianship) instead of full adoption. This verse asserts the theological opposite for believers and must be taught against this real, current legal-religious default.
Husband Of One Wife
Approved rendering: مردی که فقط یک زن دارد
Transliteration: mardi ke faqat yek zan darad
Doctrine: Qualifications for Elders
Rejected alternatives: any lexically compressed single-noun rendering that softens or obscures the numerical restriction
Original: μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἀνήρ
Category: Church
NEW. Titus 1:6: μιᾶς γυναικὸς ἀνήρ. Directly confronts a live, legally sanctioned Iranian practice: Shia fiqh permits up to four simultaneous wives and additionally recognizes mut’ah/sigheh (temporary marriage), a distinctively Twelver Shia legal institution with no Sunni equivalent. Requires the full descriptive clause, never a compressed lexical shortcut, to retain its actual confrontational force for the target audience.
Submit
Approved rendering: مطیع بودن
Transliteration: moti’ budan
Doctrine: Submission to Authority
Rejected alternatives: تسلیم شدن (taslim shodan) — shares Islam’s own etymological self-definition (‘submission to God’)
Original: ὑποτάσσω / ὑποτάσσεσθαι
Category: Ethics
NEW. ὑποτάσσω, recurring for wives (2:5), slaves (2:9), and citizens (3:1). تسلیم شares Islam’s own root meaning; using it for submission to human authority creates an unintended echo of Islam’s own name and self-definition, so مطیع بودن is locked as the exclusive default. At 2:5, additionally collides with Islamic family law’s own developed doctrine of a wife’s tamkin (compliance) as a legal marital obligation with real civil consequences in Iran; the NT’s mutual, gospel-shaped household ethic must not be flattened into that legal-obligation category.
Rulers And Authorities
Approved rendering: حکمرانان و قدرتها
Transliteration: hokmranan va qodrat-ha
Doctrine: Submission to Authority
Original: ἀρχαὶ ἐξουσίαι
Category: Ethics
NEW. Titus 3:1: ἀρχαῖς ἐξουσίαις. Iran’s system of governance (Velayat-e Faqih, ‘Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist’) explicitly fuses religious and civil authority into a single sacralized office. Teaching submission to ‘rulers and authorities’ risks being heard — by both the state and by believers — as a direct endorsement of the Islamic Republic’s own specifically religious claim to governing authority, categorically different from Paul’s general instruction regarding secular civil order. Requires combined theologian and pastoral-safety review.
High Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: انجیل
Transliteration: Injil
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: مژده
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Injil is shared Quranic vocabulary; must be taught as the NT record itself, not a lost/corrupted predecessor text (tahrif). In Titus this underlies the gospel-content description of 1:1-3 and the theological content of 2:11-14 and 3:4-7, though ‘gospel’ does not recur as its own standalone lexeme within the core passage.
Grace
Approved rendering: فیض
Transliteration: feyz
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: لطف
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Feyz’s Illuminationist/Mulla Sadra ‘automatic emanation’ loading must be corrected toward a freely willed, personal gift. Titus 2:12 sharpens this baseline caution: grace itself is the grammatical subject of the verb ‘trains’ (παιδεύουσα), so its personal, willed agency must be reinforced even more strongly here than in Romans. Also occurs in the greeting formula (1:4) and closing benediction (3:15).
Faith
Approved rendering: ایمان
Transliteration: iman
Doctrine: Faith
Original: πίστις / πιστεύω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Anchor as personal trust in Christ, not creedal assent to a list of propositions or to the Imamate succession doctrine. Occurs in Titus at 1:1, 1:4, 1:13, 2:2, 2:10, 3:8, 3:15.
Apostle
Approved rendering: رسول
Transliteration: rasul
Doctrine: Apostleship
Original: ἀπόστολος
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Same collision with Muhammad’s rasul title, with the added Shia Imamate-succession competing-authority dimension. Paul’s self-designation in Titus 1:1, paired with δοῦλος θεοῦ (بندهٴ خدا).
Election
Approved rendering: برگزیدگی خدا
Transliteration: bargozidegi-ye khoda
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Original: ἐκλεκτῶν θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Do not import the Imamate’s lineage-based succession content onto this different, salvation-through-faith election. Titus 1:1: ‘for the faith of God’s elect.‘
Sin
Approved rendering: گناه
Transliteration: gonah
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Original: ἁμαρτάνω (3:11) / ἀνομία (2:14, contextual)
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Distinguish from ritual impurity or Zoroastrian Chinvat Bridge deeds-weighing intuitions. In Titus used at 3:11 (verb form) and contextually underlying 2:14’s ἀνομία and 3:3’s pre-conversion vice list — see lawlessness and led_astray entries below.
Adoption
Approved rendering: فرزندخواندگی
Transliteration: farzand-khandegi
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: سرپرستی
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). سرپرستی (custodianship, Iran’s own weaker civil-law term) remains rejected. Not a standalone lexeme in Titus, but this doctrine and its exact legal-collision reasoning directly underlie the new ‘heir’ (وارثان) entry below at Titus 3:7 — Islamic inheritance law’s denial of adoptive inheritance rights (mirath) is the same legal-religious default Titus 3:7 confronts.
Lawlessness
Approved rendering: سرکشی / گناه
Transliteration: sarkeshi / gonah
Doctrine: Christ’s Redemptive Self-Sacrifice
Rejected alternatives: بیناموسی (a νόμος-negation coinage)
Original: ἀνομία
Category: Sin
NEW. Titus 2:14: redeemed ‘from all lawlessness.’ A coinage negating the baseline’s ناموس (Mosaic Law) must be actively avoided: in everyday modern Persian, ناموس primarily denotes personal/family honor, so ‘بیناموسی’ would read as a serious colloquial insult (dishonorable, unchaste) rather than ‘lawlessness’ — a risk specific to Titus’s vocabulary, not surfaced by Romans’s use of νόμος.
Mercy
Approved rendering: رحمت
Transliteration: rahmat
Doctrine: Salvation by Grace not Works
NEW. Titus 3:5: God saved us ‘according to his own mercy.’ رحمت opens the Quran itself (Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim) and carries deep, unavoidable independent Islamic theological content. Must be filled with the specific content of Christ’s atoning self-giving (2:14) and the Spirit’s regenerating work (3:5), not left as a generalized divine attribute invoked apart from the cross.
Renewal
Approved rendering: نوسازی
Transliteration: now-sazi
Doctrine: Regeneration by the Holy Spirit
Original: ἀνακαίνωσις
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Titus 3:5: ‘renewal of the Holy Spirit,’ grammatically co-agent with παλιγγενεσία (new birth). Reinforce personal Spirit-agency per the baseline holy_spirit caution; do not let ‘renewal’ be read as diffuse spiritual energy or an impersonal force.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: حیات ابدی
Transliteration: hayat-e abadi
Doctrine: Assurance of Eternal Life and Inheritance
Rejected alternatives: بهشت (behesht, paradise)
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
NEW. Titus 3:7: ‘the hope of eternal life,’ the direct outcome of justification and inheritance. Distinguish from بهشت, the Quranic/Zoroastrian sensory afterlife destination reached by favorable deeds-weighing; this is a present quality of relationship with the eternal God, not merely a future reward-place separately earned.
Philanthropy Love For Mankind
Approved rendering: انساندوستی / نوعدوستی خدا
Transliteration: ensan-dusti / now’-dusti-ye khoda
Doctrine: God’s Kindness and Saving Love for Mankind
Original: φιλανθρωπία
Category: God
NEW. Titus 3:4: φιλανθρωπία. Contemporary Iranian usage of انساندوستی denotes secular humanitarianism (the NGO/charity register); must be qualified every time as God’s specific, saving love revealed in Christ’s appearing, not generic divine benevolence or moral do-goodism divorced from the cross.
Elder
Approved rendering: کشیش
Transliteration: kashish
Doctrine: Qualifications for Elders
Original: πρεσβύτερος
Category: Church
NEW. Titus 1:5: πρεσβύτερος. کشیش carries, in broader Iranian Christian usage, connotations of a distinct sacramental/priestly caste; most Persian-speaking house-churches function without formal clerical hierarchy. Must be taught as a functional, character-qualified, plural congregational role, not an analog to Iran’s tiered Shia clerical hierarchy (shaykh / hojjat al-eslam / ayatollah), and as the same office as ἐπίσκοπος (overseer, 1:7), not a distinct rank.
Overseer
Approved rendering: ناظر
Transliteration: nazer
Doctrine: Qualifications for Elders
Rejected alternatives: اسقف (bishop)
Original: ἐπίσκοπος
Category: Church
NEW. Titus 1:7: ἐπίσκοπος, the same office as πρεσβύτερος in this context. Explicitly avoid اسقف (‘bishop’), the established Persian word for a hierarchical/monarchical bishop, which would import a later ecclesiastical development absent from Titus’s plural, congregational eldership.
Steward Of God
Approved rendering: مباشر خدا / امین خانهٴ خدا
Transliteration: mobasher-e khoda / amin-e khane-ye khoda
Doctrine: Qualifications for Elders
Rejected alternatives: وکیل (vakil, deputy/representative)
Original: οἰκονόμος θεοῦ
Category: Church
NEW. Titus 1:7: οἰκονόμος θεοῦ. Explicitly avoid وکیل, the specific term used in Twelver Shia political theology for clerical deputyship of the Hidden Imam during his absence — the theological root claimed for Velayat-e Faqih governance. Using it here risks an unintended and serious parallel to that politically-loaded doctrine.
People For His Own Possession
Approved rendering: قوم خاص خدا
Transliteration: qom-e khass-e khoda
Doctrine: The Church as God’s Treasured Possession
Original: λαὸς περιούσιος
Category: Church
NEW. Titus 2:14: λαὸς περιούσιος, echoing Exodus 19:5’s covenant description of Israel, applied to the Church. Given Iran’s officially propagandized anti-Israel political stance (see baseline ‘israel’ entry), requires careful framing so the Church’s inheritance of this description through union with Christ is not heard as a supersessionist political claim about the modern state of Israel.
Divisive Person
Approved rendering: شخص تفرقهانداز
Transliteration: shakhs-e tafraqe-andaz
Doctrine: Avoiding Divisive Controversies
Rejected alternatives: بدعتگذار (bid’ah-rooted rendering)
Original: αἱρετικὸς ἄνθρωπος
Category: Church
NEW. Titus 3:10: αἱρετικὸς ἄνθρωπος, the etymological root of English ‘heretic,’ though the NT sense here is behavioral. Explicitly avoid a بدعت (bid’ah, ‘religious innovation’)-rooted rendering, one of the most serious and frequently weaponized accusations in Sunni-Shia and intra-Shia theological polemic; keep the charge focused on divisive behavior, not a doctrinal-innovation accusation.
Self Control
Approved rendering: خوددار / خودداری
Transliteration: khoddar / khoddari
Doctrine: Self-Control as Grace-Trained Virtue
Original: σώφρων / σωφροσύνη / σωφρόνως / σωφρονίζω / σωφρονεῖν
Category: Sanctification
NEW. The σώφρων word family (σώφρων, σωφροσύνη, σωφρόνως, σωφρονίζω, σωφρονεῖν) recurs six times across Titus (1:8; 2:2, 2:4, 2:5, 2:6, 2:12), a structural refrain. Persian religious culture’s own robust self-mastery vocabulary (Islamic jihad al-nafs, Sufi zabt-e nafs) risks the term being read as human ascetic achievement rather than grace’s trained fruit — 2:12’s own governing verb is grace training us (παιδεύουσα). Must render identically at every occurrence for learner recognition.
Train Discipline
Approved rendering: تربیت میکند
Transliteration: tarbiat mikonad
Doctrine: Grace That Trains for Godly Living
Original: παιδεύουσα (παιδεύω)
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Titus 2:12: παιδεύουσα — grace itself, not law, is the subject of this verb; this is the verse that names the curriculum doctrine. تربیت is warm, everyday Persian vocabulary for child-rearing/moral formation, also used heavily in Islamic religious-education discourse (‘tarbiat-e dini’). The radical claim that grace — not a code or ascetic discipline — is the trainer must be actively taught against the Persian cultural default that a code or discipline forms character.
Godliness
Approved rendering: دینداری / بیدینی
Transliteration: dindari / bi-dini
Doctrine: Grace That Trains for Godly Living
Rejected alternatives: تقوا (taqwa)
Original: εὐσέβεια / ἀσέβεια
Category: Sanctification
NEW. εὐσέβεια/ἀσέβεια, occurring at Titus 1:1 and twice at 2:12. تقوا (taqwa) is explicitly rejected: one of the Quran’s most central and frequently repeated virtue-terms (~250 occurrences), which would embed NT godliness wholesale into the Islamic legal-moral piety framework. دینداری is preferred, still requiring active teaching that this godliness is grace-trained fruit, not taqwa-style meritorious observance.
Pure Defiled
Approved rendering: پاک / نجس، آلوده
Transliteration: pak / najis, aludeh
Doctrine: Moral Purity versus Ritual Purity
Original: καθαρός / μεμιαμμένος
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Titus 1:15: ‘to the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure.’ Three-way collision: Islamic tahara/najasat ritual-purity categories, Zoroastrianism’s own independently-developed pak/paleed ritual-purity system (a second, pre-Islamic indigenous source), and the verse’s own explicit point that moral/conscience purity, not ritual purity, is what actually matters. Must be taught as directly confronting, not affirming, both ritual-purity defaults.
Commandments Of Men
Approved rendering: احکام انسانی / دستورهای بشری
Transliteration: ahkam-e ensani / dastur-haye bashari
Doctrine: Rejection of Legalism and Jewish Ceremonial Requirements
Original: ἐντάλματα ἀνθρώπων
Category: Covenant
NEW. Titus 1:14: ἐντάλματα ἀνθρώπων. احکام is a specific, weighty term in Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) for categories of jurist-derived legal rulings; naming merely-human religious additions ‘ahkam-e ensani’ risks sounding like an anachronistic polemic against the Islamic legal system rather than Paul’s actual target — first-century Judaizing legalism in Crete. Teaching notes must clarify this historical anchoring.
Quarrels About The Law
Approved rendering: جدالها بر سر ناموس/شریعت موسی
Transliteration: jedal-ha bar sar-e namus-e Musa
Doctrine: Avoiding Divisive Controversies
Original: μάχαι νομικαί
Category: Covenant
NEW. Titus 3:9: μάχαι νομικαί. Because Iran is itself a state structured around ongoing juristic disputes over correctly-derived legal rulings (fiqh disputes among competing schools/ayatollahs), this instruction risks being heard either as a general dismissal of legal-theological reasoning as such, or as implicit commentary on live Iranian juristic disputes. Must be anchored specifically to first-century Judaizing legal minutiae via explicit contextual gloss.
Obey Authority
Approved rendering: از فرمان اطاعت کردن
Transliteration: az farman eta’at kardan
Doctrine: Submission to Authority
Original: πειθαρχεῖν (πειθαρχέω)
Category: Ethics
NEW. Titus 3:1: πειθαρχεῖν. Shares the same political-sensitivity profile as ὑποτάσσω/ἀρχαί above; care should be taken not to conflate this with the letter’s own pastoral ἐπιταγή (Titus’s teaching authority, 2:15).
Sound Doctrine
Approved rendering: تعلیم سالم / آموزهٴ صحیح
Transliteration: ta’lim-e salem / amuze-ye sahih
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine and Good Works
Original: ὑγιαίνουσα διδασκαλία / λόγος
Category: Doctrine
NEW. ὑγιαίνουσα διδασκαλία, a structural refrain across the Pastorals recurring at Titus 1:9, 1:13, 2:1, 2:2, 2:8. The health-metaphor rendering itself is low-collision, but Iranian religious culture (Sunni-Shia disputes; intra-Shia usuli/akhbari jurisprudential disputes) has a deeply entrenched framework of ‘sound/correct doctrine’ defined as correct sectarian alignment. Must be actively anchored to specific apostolic gospel content (cross-reference to 2:11-14’s gospel summary) rather than defaulting to a generic sectarian-correctness framework.
Medium Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: سلام
Transliteration: salam
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: آرامش
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). آرامش (secular wellness ‘inner calm’) remains forbidden. Occurs in the greeting formula, Titus 1:4: ‘grace and peace’ (فیض و سلام).
Glory
Approved rendering: جلال
Transliteration: jalal
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Sufi jalal/jamal-pairing caution applies; in Titus 2:13 jalal must denote Christ’s own specific future glory, not a diffuse mystical-aesthetic category.
Poured Out
Approved rendering: ریخت / فرو ریخت
Transliteration: rikht / foru rikht
Doctrine: Regeneration by the Holy Spirit
Original: ἐξέχεεν (ἐκχέω)
Category: God
NEW. Titus 3:6: the Spirit ‘poured out on us richly,’ echoing Pentecost/Joel outpouring language. Ensure the verb is not read as describing an impersonal force or diffuse substance being dispensed, but the personal Holy Spirit being given; reinforce with explicit personal-agency language in surrounding teaching.
Knowledge Of Truth
Approved rendering: شناخت حقیقت
Transliteration: shenakht-e haqiqat
Doctrine: Apostolic Authority and Divine Calling
Rejected alternatives: معرفت (ma’refat)
Original: ἐπίγνωσις ἀληθείας
Category: Faith
NEW. Titus 1:1: ‘…and their knowledge of the truth.’ Prefer شناخت over معرفت, which carries strong Sufi esoteric-gnosis connotations, risking a mystical hidden-knowing misreading rather than the plain, propositional-and-relational NT sense of knowing gospel truth.
Faithful Saying
Approved rendering: این کلام امین است
Transliteration: in kalam-e amin ast
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine and Good Works
Original: Πιστὸς ὁ λόγος
Category: Faith
NEW. Titus 3:8: ‘Πιστὸς ὁ λόγος’ — a fixed formula recurring across the Pastoral Epistles marking a statement of settled doctrinal reliability. امین shares its root with the already-transliterated آمین (Amen); flag for cross-document consistency if this curriculum is extended to 1-2 Timothy.
Kindness
Approved rendering: مهربانی
Transliteration: mehrabani
Doctrine: God’s Kindness and Saving Love for Mankind
Original: χρηστότης
Category: God
NEW. Titus 3:4: ‘the kindness (χρηστότης) and philanthropy of God our Savior appeared.’ Low-collision, warm standard vocabulary; note the early patristic Χρηστός/Χριστός wordplay as a possible teaching illustration only, not a translation risk.
Blameless
Approved rendering: بیعیب
Transliteration: bi-eyb
Doctrine: Qualifications for Elders
Original: ἀνέγκλητος
Category: Church
NEW. Titus 1:6-7: ἀνέγκλητος, framing the whole elder-qualification list. Reputation-based, not sinless-perfection-based; resonates with the Iranian social category of āberu (public reputation/honor) as a helpful bridge, provided it is not reduced to mere social respectability apart from genuine godly character.
Master Despotes
Approved rendering: ارباب
Transliteration: arbab
Doctrine: Household Ethics and Family Order
Original: δεσπότης
Category: Ethics
NEW. Titus 2:9: δεσπότης, the master of a household slave. ارباب carries residual historical connotation in Iran of the feudal arbab-ra’iyat landlord-tenant system, only formally dismantled by 20th-century land reforms; requires pastoral bridging to modern employer-employee or general power-difference relationships, since Iran has no legal slavery today.
Conscience
Approved rendering: وجدان
Transliteration: vejdan
Doctrine: Moral Purity versus Ritual Purity
Original: συνείδησις
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Titus 1:15: συνείδησις. Standard modern Persian philosophical/moral term; ensure the specifically theological (God-oriented) sense is taught, not merely a social-psychological one.
Led Astray
Approved rendering: گمراه
Transliteration: gomrah
Doctrine: Universal Pre-Conversion Bondage to Sin
Original: πλανώμενοι (πλανάω)
Category: Sin
NEW. Titus 3:3: πλανώμενοι, part of the pre-conversion vice-list. گمراه (‘misguided/led astray’) is significant Islamic religious vocabulary (opposite of hidayat, divine guidance — cf. Sura al-Fatiha’s prayer against being among ‘al-dallin’). A genuine bridge concept since guidance-versus-misguidance is a major shared religious axis, but the source of true guidance (Christ/gospel, not Quran/Sharia) must be made explicit rather than left implicit.
Circumcision
Approved rendering: ختنه
Transliteration: khatneh
Doctrine: Rejection of Legalism and Jewish Ceremonial Requirements
Original: περιτομή
Category: Covenant
NEW. Titus 1:10: περιτομή, ‘the circumcision party.’ ختنه is shared vocabulary since circumcision is also a near-universal Islamic practice in Iran, for different theological reasons. Paul’s point (rejecting legalism as a system, not the physical practice) must be actively taught so the passage is not misheard as commentary on the unrelated contemporary practice.
Jewish Myths
Approved rendering: افسانههای یهودی
Transliteration: afsaneh-haye yahudi
Doctrine: Rejection of Legalism and Jewish Ceremonial Requirements
Original: Ἰουδαϊκοὶ μῦθοι
Category: Covenant
NEW. Titus 1:14: Ἰουδαϊκοὶ μῦθοι, speculative Jewish legendary material Paul rejects as distracting from sound doctrine. Low-collision, descriptive rendering with no significant independent Persian religious-vocabulary collision.
Low Risk Terms
Exhort
Approved rendering: تشویق کردن
Transliteration: tashviq kardan
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Original: παρακαλέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package (unchanged). Context-sensitive per baseline note. In Titus frequently paired with ἔλεγχε (rebuke, 1:9, 2:15), leaning toward the urging/entreating sense rather than pure encouragement.
Servant Of God
Approved rendering: بندهٴ خدا
Transliteration: bandeh-ye khoda
Doctrine: Apostolic Authority and Divine Calling
Original: δοῦλος θεοῦ
Category: Church
NEW. Titus 1:1: δοῦλος θεοῦ. A strong positive point of contact: ‘bandeh-ye khoda’ is warmly standard, positively-regarded Islamic-Persian religious self-description. Contrast carefully with the involuntary, degrading δουλεύοντες of 3:3 (bondage to passion) to preserve Titus’s own deliberate wordplay between honored willing service and degrading enslavement.
Hospitable
Approved rendering: مهماننواز
Transliteration: mehman-navaz
Doctrine: Qualifications for Elders
Original: φιλόξενος
Category: Church
NEW. Titus 1:8: φιλόξενος. Strong positive cultural bridge: hospitality (mehman-navazi) is a deeply celebrated, foundational Persian cultural value, making this qualification unusually easy to affirm and illustrate for an Iranian audience.
Adorn
Approved rendering: بیارایند / زینت دهند
Transliteration: biarayand / zinat dahand
Doctrine: Sound Doctrine and Good Works
Original: κοσμῶσιν (κοσμέω)
Category: Sanctification
NEW. Titus 2:10: κοσμῶσιν — godly conduct ‘adorns’ the teaching, making it attractive. Vivid, positive, low-risk metaphor, pastorally valuable in the reputation-conscious, safety-conscious house-church context.
Referenced passages