Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Philemon (English → Polish)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, covering the entire book of Philemon (a single chapter, vv. 1–25). Terms already present in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are marked [Baseline TM — reuse exact]; their recorded Polish rendering, risk tier, and doctrine notes are carried forward unchanged, with any Philemon-specific contextual risk noted separately. Terms new to this curriculum are marked [New] and must be added to translation memory (with incremented version number) before Phase 2 begins.
Risk tiers follow the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json definitions: Critical (human theologian review, every occurrence) / High (human theologian review) / Medium (native speaker review) / Low (automated review sufficient).
A. Reused Baseline Terms (Exact Reuse Required)
| English term | Polish rendering | Risk | Doctrine link | Philemon-specific note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| gospel | Ewangelia | High | Gospel | v.13 “chains of the gospel” — do not dilute to generic “message.” |
| grace | łaska | High | Grace / Grace-Motivated Obedience | v.3, v.25 salutation; v.22 χαρισθήσομαι shares this root — see New Term below. |
| faith | wiara | Critical | Faith | v.5 — object of faith (“toward the Lord Jesus”) must remain explicit. |
| holy / saints | święty / święci | Critical | Sainthood | v.5, v.7 — apply baseline’s mandatory clarifying note (corporate sense, not canonized saints) at every occurrence; directly relevant since v.16 extends “family” status to a slave. |
| fellowship | wspólnota | Low | Christian Fellowship | v.6 κοινωνία τῆς πίστεως; conceptually linked to κοινωνόν (v.17) — see New Term “partner” below; flag the link in teaching notes. |
| church | kościół | Medium | Church as God’s People | v.2 — this occurrence is specifically the house church sense; pair with baseline caution distinguishing from capitalized institutional “Kościół.” |
| peace | pokój | Medium | Peace with God | v.3 — standard epistolary greeting, no elevated risk. |
| thanksgiving | dziękczynienie | Low | Thanksgiving | v.4 — standard, no elevated risk. |
| exhort | napominać | Low (baseline) / elevated to High in this context | Mutual Edification / Intercession and Appeal | vv.9–10 παρακαλῶ — baseline’s “napominać” carries an admonishing tone inappropriate to Paul’s tender personal plea here. Do not replace the baseline TM entry, but apply the contextual gloss “proszę / zwracam się z prośbą” specifically for Philemon 9–10 occurrences, and flag every such segment for human theologian review under the forbidden-substitution/tone-mismatch escalation rule. |
| lord | Pan | Critical | Lordship of Christ | vv.3, 5, 16, 20, 25 — no deviation. |
| son_of_god / christ (proper name) | Chrystus | Critical | Christology (Messianic identity, tied to baseline messiah/son_of_god) | vv.1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 16, 20, 23, 25 — established proper-name form; retain exactly. |
| jesus | Jezus | Critical | Lordship of Christ | vv.1, 3, 5, 9, 25 — no deviation. |
| god | Bóg | Critical | Deity/Fatherhood of God | v.3, v.4 — no deviation. |
| father | Ojciec | Critical | Adoption/Fatherhood of God | v.3 — standard greeting formula; no elevated risk. |
B. New Terms Introduced by Philemon (To Be Added to Translation Memory)
| English term | Original (Greek) | Polish rendering | Risk | Doctrine link | Key note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| slave / bondservant | δοῦλος | niewolnik | Critical | Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power; Christian Brotherhood | v.16. “Sługa” (servant) is explicitly rejected as a substitute — Poland’s serfdom-dominated historical memory (pańszczyzna) creates real risk of softening the term’s chattel-slavery force, which would blunt the “more than a slave, a beloved brother” reversal. |
| charge to account / impute | ἐλλογάω | policzyć na (mój) rachunek / zaliczyć na konto | Critical | Forgiveness and Reconciliation; intertextually, Justification/Imputed Righteousness | v.18. Root-family cognate of λογίζομαι, the verb underlying baseline imputed_righteousness (poczytana sprawiedliwość, Romans 4:3). Rendering must preserve ledger/accounting resonance; a generic “wybacz” (forgive) loses the gospel-echoing wordplay. Cross-reference explicitly with baseline entry in Phase 2 notes. |
| brother | ἀδελφός | brat | High | Christian Brotherhood across Social Status | vv.1, 7, 16, 20. Collision risk with Polish monastic/lay-religious “brat” titles (e.g., “Brat Albert,” a nationally venerated saint). Every application to Onesimus (v.16) requires an explicit clarifying note, parallel to the baseline requirement for “święci.” |
| love | ἀγάπη | miłość | High | Grace-Motivated Obedience; Christian Brotherhood | v.9, v.5, v.7. Must be anchored to self-giving, Christ-shaped love; not to be confused with generic affection or romantic love. |
| voluntary | ἑκούσιον | dobrowolny | High | Grace-Motivated Obedience | v.14. Core thesis term contrasted with ἀνάγκη; must not be blurred with “posłuszny” (obedient/compliant). |
| compulsion / necessity | ἀνάγκη | przymus / z musu | High | Grace-Motivated Obedience | v.14. Avoid fatalistic vocabulary (“z konieczności losu”), consistent with baseline’s rejection of “los/przeznaczenie” for related terms (election, providence). |
| appeal / entreat (Philemon’s tender sense) | παρακαλῶ (contextual gloss, cf. baseline “exhort”) | proszę / zwracam się z prośbą | High | Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another | vv.9–10. See note in Section A above; register-sensitive contextual gloss, not a replacement of the baseline TM entry. |
| partner / participant | κοινωνός | wspólnik / uczestnik (wspólnoty) | Medium-High | Intercession and Appeal; Christian Brotherhood | v.17. “Wspólnik” carries a commercial-partner connotation appropriate to the surrounding accounting metaphors, but must not eclipse the spiritual-fellowship sense already established via κοινωνία (baseline wspólnota). |
| granted as a favor (grace-restoration) | χαρίζομαι (χαρισθήσομαι) | zostać (łaskawie) danym/oddanym | High | Grace; Intercession | v.22. Shares root with χάρις/łaska; must not flatten into a neutral “zostać zwolnionym” (released), which would lose the grace-echo. |
| what is fitting / proper duty | ἀνῆκον | co należy się / co jest właściwe | Medium | Grace-Motivated Obedience | v.8. Avoid legalistic (“obowiązek”) framing that would undercut the voluntary/appeal contrast. |
| authority / boldness | παρρησία | śmiałość / prawo (do żądania) | Medium | Intercession and Appeal | v.8. Relational-apostolic confidence, not coercive legal power. |
| command | ἐπιτάσσω | rozkazywać | Low-Medium | Grace-Motivated Obedience (contrast term) | v.8. The authority Paul explicitly declines to exercise. |
| prisoner | δέσμιος | więzień | Medium | Slavery and Gospel; Intercession | vv.1, 9, 10. Must remain lexically distinct from “niewolnik” (δοῦλος) despite thematic overlap — Paul’s voluntary Christ-bondage vs. Onesimus’s involuntary legal slavery. |
| fellow captive | συναιχμάλωτος | współwięzień | Medium | (supporting) Christian Brotherhood | v.23. More vivid martial nuance than δέσμιος; low doctrinal stakes but flag for lexical distinction. |
| inward parts / heart / affection | σπλάγχνα | serce | Medium | Forgiveness and Reconciliation; Brotherhood | vv.7, 12, 20. Hebraic idiom; never literal “bowels”; use identical Polish term at all three occurrences to preserve the motif. |
| wronged | ἀδικέω | skrzywdził / wyrządził krzywdę | Medium | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | v.18. Preserve moral seriousness; avoid euphemism. |
| owe / debt | ὀφείλω / προσοφείλω | być winnym / być dłużnym | Medium | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | vv.18–19. Commercial-debt metaphor for wrongdoing/sin. |
| repay | ἀποτίσω | odpłacić / spłacić | Low | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | v.19. Substitutionary payment picture; read with ἐλλογάω. |
| voluntary service / ministry | διακονέω / διακονία | służyć / posługa | Medium | Slavery and Gospel’s Transforming Power (contrast term) | v.13. Must remain lexically distinct from “niewolnik” to preserve the free-service/slavery contrast. |
| useless / useful (name-pun) | ἄχρηστος / εὔχρηστος | bezużyteczny / użyteczny | Medium | Slavery and Gospel’s Transforming Power | v.11. Wordplay on the name Onezym; requires translator’s footnote. |
| Onesimus (name-pun) | Ὀνήσιμος / ὀναίμην | Onezym (name); pun unrenderable | High | Slavery and Gospel’s Transforming Power | vv.10, 11, 20. Mandatory translator’s footnote explaining “Onezym” = “useful” in Greek; without it, vv.11 and 20 lose their rhetorical logic in Polish. |
| separated | ἐχωρίσθη | został oddzielony | Medium | Providence (baseline-adjacent); Forgiveness | v.15. Preserve passive/providential undertone without excusing wrongdoing. |
| permanent / forever (relational sense) | αἰώνιον | na zawsze | Medium | Christian Brotherhood | v.15. Relational permanence, not full eschatological “eternal”; flag for native speaker review of register. |
| obedience (specific/personal sense) | ὑπακοή | posłuszeństwo | Medium-High | Grace-Motivated Obedience | v.21. Do not use the full baseline compound “posłuszeństwo wiary” here — that phrase is reserved for the Romans 1:5/16:26 doctrinal formula; this is Paul’s personal confidence in Philemon specifically. |
| confidence / trust | πεποιθὼς | mając ufność / będąc przekonany | Medium | Grace-Motivated Obedience | v.21. Settled trust grounded in relationship, not hopeful guessing. |
| child (spiritual) | τέκνον | dziecko / syn (duchowy) | Low-Medium | (supporting) Intercession and Appeal | v.10. Distinguish from baseline “usynowienie” (adoption into God’s family), a different relationship. |
| beloved | ἀγαπητός | umiłowany / miły | Low-Medium | Christian Brotherhood | vv.1, 16. |
| sister | ἀδελφή | siostra | Low | (supporting) | v.2. |
| fellow-worker | συνεργός | współpracownik | Low | (supporting) | vv.1, 24. |
| fellow-soldier | συστρατιώτης | współbojownik / towarzysz walki | Low-Medium | (supporting) | v.2. |
| prayer | προσευχή | modlitwa | Low | (supporting) | v.4. |
| active / effective | ἐνεργής | skuteczny / czynny | Low-Medium | (supporting) | v.6. |
| full knowledge | ἐπίγνωσις | (pełne) poznanie | Low-Medium | (supporting) | v.6. |
| good (thing) | ἀγαθόν | dobro | Low | (supporting) | v.6. |
| joy | χαρά | radość | Low | (supporting) | v.7. |
| comfort / encouragement | παράκλησις | pociecha / zachęta | Low-Medium | (supporting; cognate of παρακαλῶ) | v.7. |
| give rest / refresh | ἀναπαύω | pokrzepić / dać wytchnienie | Low-Medium | Forgiveness and Reconciliation | vv.7, 20. Match rendering across both occurrences. |
| hospitality / guest room | ξενία | gościna / pokój gościnny | Low | (supporting) | v.22. |
| hope | ἐλπίζω | mieć nadzieję | Medium | (supporting) | v.22. Confident expectation, not idle wish; distinguish from full eschatological “hope” doctrine. |
| human spirit (NOT Holy Spirit) | πνεῦμα ὑμῶν | duch wasz (lowercase) | Medium-High | (false-cognate risk vs. baseline Duch Święty) | v.25. Must remain lowercase and unambiguously human; flag for human theologian review given collision with a Critical baseline term. |
| old man / ambassador (textual variant) | πρεσβύτης / πρεσβευτής | starzec / ambasador | Medium (text-critical) | (supporting; Intercession and Appeal) | v.9. Record chosen manuscript tradition and apply consistently. |
| flesh / in the Lord (dual-plane relationship) | ἐν σαρκί / ἐν κυρίῳ | w ciele / w Panu | Medium | Christian Brotherhood | v.16. Reuses baseline “Pan”; here denotes ordinary social relationship, not corruption — do not import Romans’ negative “flesh” sense uncritically. |
| receive / welcome | προσλαβοῦ | przyjmij | Low-Medium | Christian Brotherhood | v.17. Echoes Romans 14:1 “welcome” language. |
C. Risk Summary for Philemon
| Risk tier | Count | Review routing |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 2 new (niewolnik; ellogaō/policz na rachunek) + reused Critical baseline terms (wiara, święci, Pan, Chrystus, Jezus, Bóg, Ojciec, and elevated πνεῦμα ὑμῶν false-cognate risk) | Human theologian, every occurrence |
| High | 8 new (brat, ἀγάπη/miłość, ἑκούσιον/dobrowolny, ἀνάγκη/przymus, παρακαλῶ-contextual/proszę, χαρίζομαι/zostać danym, Ὀνήσιμος name-pun, exhort-elevated) + reused High baseline (łaska, Ewangelia) | Human theologian |
| Medium | ~20 new supporting terms (see table above) + reused Medium baseline (kościół, pokój, ὑπακοή/posłuszeństwo, κοινωνός/wspólnik) | Native speaker review |
| Low | ~15 new supporting terms + reused Low baseline (dziękczynienie, napominać-general, fellowship-general) | Automated review |
Note on full-book coverage: Philemon consists of a single chapter (25 verses). All verses (1–25) are represented in this glossary via Part 1 (core passage, vv. 8–21) and Part 2 (remainder, vv. 1–7, 22–25) of the companion semantic analysis. No chapter of the book has been silently omitted; there is no chapter beyond chapter 1 in this book.
Critical Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: wiara
Transliteration: pistis
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: wiara jako tożsamość narodowa i kulturowa (‘Polak-katolik’), wiara odziedziczona automatycznie przez chrzest i Pierwszą Komunię
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Personal trust in Christ, not inherited national-religious identity. Philemon-specific: 1:5 pairs faith explicitly with its object (‘toward the Lord Jesus’); this object must remain recoverable in Polish so ‘wiara’ cannot collapse into cultural-Catholic identity divorced from personal trust in Christ.
Saints
Approved rendering: święci
Transliteration: hagioi
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: święci kanonizowani, czczeni i proszeni o wstawiennictwo
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Corporate designation for all believers, not canonized/venerated saints (intensified in Poland by John Paul II’s record canonizations). Philemon-specific: 1:5 and 1:7’s love ‘for all the saints’ is the direct premise Paul extends, three verses later, to a slave (1:16); if ‘święci’ is read as an elite canonized class, the letter’s climactic leveling logic collapses. Mandatory clarifying note required at every occurrence.
Lord
Approved rendering: Pan
Transliteration: kyrios
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Exclusive, supreme lordship. Philemon-specific: occurs at 1:3, 1:5, 1:16, 1:20, 1:25; must retain full exclusive lordship even in the letter’s warm personal register (e.g., 1:20’s ‘refresh my heart in the Lord’) — no diminished, merely honorific, or sentimentalized reading permitted.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jezus
Transliteration: Iēsous
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Standard established Polish Bible form. Philemon-specific: 1:1, 1:3, 1:5, 1:9, 1:25; no variant-form risk.
Christ
Approved rendering: Chrystus
Transliteration: Christos
Doctrine: Christology / Christian Identity in Christ
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
New entry, sibling to inherited ‘jesus’. Established proper-name form shared identically across Polish Catholic and Protestant traditions. Occurs frequently in the phrase ‘ἐν Χριστῷ’ (‘w Chrystusie’) at 1:1, 1:3, 1:6, 1:8, 1:9, 1:16, 1:20, 1:23, 1:25. This phrase is the doctrinal ground of the letter’s radical brotherhood claim (v.16): identity ‘in Christ’ relativizes the master/slave social order. A weakened or merely honorific rendering would sever this argument from its Christological foundation.
God
Approved rendering: Bóg
Transliteration: theos
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Standard and unambiguous. Philemon-specific: 1:3, 1:4.
Father
Approved rendering: Ojciec
Transliteration: patēr
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. God as personal Father. Philemon-specific: 1:3, standard greeting formula, no elevated risk in this occurrence.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Duch Święty
Transliteration: pneuma hagion
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. The third Person of the Trinity, personal and divine. Retained here specifically as the contrast term for Philemon 1:25’s πνεῦμα ὑμῶν (‘your spirit’, see ‘human_spirit’ below); this Critical rendering must never be confused with the lowercase human ‘duch’ of v.25.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: poczytana sprawiedliwość
Transliteration: elogisthē autō eis dikaiosynēn
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: sprawiedliwość wlana (kategoria trydencka)
Inherited from Romans package, retained here for mandatory cross-reference. Righteousness credited/imputed by faith (Romans 4:3). Philemon-specific: v.18’s ἐλλογάω (‘charge it to my account’) is a rare accounting verb from the same root family (λογίζομαι) that produces this doctrine’s key verb. Phase 2 materials must explicitly cross-reference this baseline entry whenever translating Philemon 1:18, so the gospel-echoing wordplay is preserved rather than flattened into generic forgiveness language.
Slave
Approved rendering: niewolnik
Transliteration: doulos
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Rejected alternatives: sługa (servant/employee), poddany (subject/serf)
Original: δοῦλος
Category: Slavery and Social Status
NEW. Philemon 1:16, implicit throughout 1:11-17. Poland’s historical memory is dominated by feudal serfdom (pańszczyzna) rather than chattel slavery, creating real risk that ‘sługa’ is substituted to make the passage feel less severe or more culturally familiar. ‘Sługa’ is EXPLICITLY REJECTED as a substitute for δοῦλος: the doctrinal force of v.16 — that the gospel reclassifies, not merely improves, the relationship — depends on preserving the full legal and social weight of ‘niewolnik’. Requires human theologian review at every occurrence.
Impute To Account
Approved rendering: policzyć na (mój) rachunek / zaliczyć na konto
Transliteration: ellogaō
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Rejected alternatives: wybacz mu to (generic forgiveness, loses ledger register)
Original: ἐλλογάω
Category: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
NEW. Philemon 1:18. Root-family cognate of λογίζομαι, the verb underlying the baseline Critical doctrine of imputed righteousness (Romans 4:3, ‘poczytana sprawiedliwość’). Paul asks that Onesimus’s debt be reckoned to him instead — a substitutionary-imputation transaction mirroring the gospel itself. A generic Polish rendering such as ‘wybacz mu to’ would sever this gospel-echoing wordplay. Must explicitly cross-reference the baseline Romans 4:3 note in Phase 2 materials. Requires human theologian review.
High Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: Ewangelia
Transliteration: euangelion
Doctrine: Gospel
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Standard term shared by Catholic and Protestant Polish Bibles; the specific proclamation of salvation through Christ, not a generic uplifting message or the four Gospel books alone. Philemon-specific: v.13’s genitive construction ‘chains of the gospel’ (δεσμοὶ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου) reframes Paul’s imprisonment as belonging to the gospel’s advance; must not be diluted to a generic ‘wiadomość’ (message).
Grace
Approved rendering: łaska
Transliteration: charis
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: łaska otrzymywana głównie przez zasługi i praktyki sakramentalne
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Unmerited favor by faith, not merit-cooperation. Philemon-specific: occurs in the salutation (1:3) and closing benediction (1:25); also the root shared with χαρίζομαι at 1:22 (see grace_restored below), which must visibly echo łaska rather than flattening into a neutral release-from-custody sense.
Holy
Approved rendering: święty
Transliteration: hagios
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Set apart for God, morally pure; applies to all believers. Underlies the corporate ‘saints’ designation at Philemon 1:5, 1:7.
Exhort
Approved rendering: napominać
Transliteration: parakaleō
Doctrine: Mutual Edification / Intercession and Appeal
Original: παρακαλέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package; RISK ELEVATED from baseline Low to High for this book. The baseline maps παρακαλέω to ‘napominać’ (admonish/exhort), appropriate for Romans’ corrective-exhortation contexts. In Philemon 1:9-10, παρακαλῶ is Paul’s key verb for a tender, non-coercive personal plea; applying ‘napominać’ literally would falsify the tone by importing a rebuking overtone absent from the source. DO NOT replace this baseline TM entry; instead apply the contextual gloss recorded under the ‘appeal’ entry below for Philemon 1:9-10 specifically, and flag every such segment for human theologian review under the tone-mismatch escalation rule.
Brother
Approved rendering: brat
Transliteration: adelphos
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church
NEW. Philemon 1:1, 1:7, 1:16, 1:20. Modern Polish ‘brat’ carries strong associations with monastic and lay-religious titles (e.g., ‘Brat Albert’ — Adam Chmielowski, a nationally venerated saint; also generic ‘braciszek zakonny’). Real risk that Polish readers default to reading ‘brat’ as an honorific religious title rather than Paul’s radical claim in v.16 that a legally owned slave and his free master are now equal family members. Every application to Onesimus requires an explicit clarifying note, parallel to the baseline requirement for ‘święci’.
Love
Approved rendering: miłość
Transliteration: agapē
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Rejected alternatives: zakochanie (romantic love)
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
NEW. Philemon 1:5, 1:7, 1:9. Motivating power behind Paul’s entire appeal — love, not command, is the engine of Christian obedience. Must be anchored to self-giving, Christ-shaped love, not romantic or merely sentimental affection; pair contextually with ‘łaska’ so the two are not read as synonyms.
Voluntary
Approved rendering: dobrowolny
Transliteration: hekousion
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Rejected alternatives: posłuszny (obedient/compliant — blurs the point)
Original: ἑκούσιον
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
NEW. Philemon 1:14. The letter’s thesis term: Paul wants Philemon’s good response to Onesimus to arise from freely chosen love, not external pressure. Must not be blurred into ‘posłuszny’, since the entire point is that this must NOT be compelled obedience; keep firmly distinct from the ἀνάγκη (compulsion) semantic field.
Compulsion
Approved rendering: przymus / z musu
Transliteration: anankē
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Rejected alternatives: z konieczności losu (fatalistic framing)
Original: ἀνάγκη
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
NEW. Philemon 1:14. Explicit foil to ἑκούσιον; Paul refuses to let his personal authority function as ἀνάγκη upon Philemon. Avoid vocabulary suggesting impersonal fate, consistent with the baseline’s explicit rejection of ‘los/przeznaczenie’ for related terms (election, providence).
Appeal
Approved rendering: proszę / zwracam się z prośbą
Transliteration: parakalō
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Rejected alternatives: napominać (admonish — wrong tone for this passage)
Original: παρακαλῶ
Category: Intercession and Appeal
NEW contextual entry, sibling to inherited ‘exhort’ (napominać). Philemon 1:9-10. Recorded as a distinct entry because the baseline’s ‘napominać’ would import an admonishing tone false to Paul’s tender plea. Use ‘proszę’ / ‘zwracam się z prośbą’ specifically for these occurrences; flag every instance for human theologian review under the forbidden-substitution/tone-mismatch escalation rule. Does not replace or modify the baseline ‘exhort’ entry.
Partner
Approved rendering: wspólnik / uczestnik (wspólnoty)
Transliteration: koinōnos
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Original: κοινωνός
Category: Intercession and Appeal
NEW. Philemon 1:17. Paul stakes his own relationship with Philemon as the model and guarantee for how Onesimus should be received. ‘Wspólnik’ carries a strong commercial/business-partner connotation in modern Polish, fitting the surrounding accounting metaphors (vv.18-19), but must not eclipse the spiritual ‘fellowship’ sense already established via κοινωνία in v.6. Recommend a translator’s note clarifying the deliberate double resonance.
Grace Restored
Approved rendering: zostać (łaskawie) danym/oddanym
Transliteration: charizomai / charisthēsomai
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: zostanę zwolniony (flattens the grace-echo)
Original: χαρίζομαι (future passive: χαρισθήσομαι)
Category: Salvation
NEW. Philemon 1:22. Paul frames his own anticipated release/restoration to Philemon’s household in the very vocabulary of grace. A flat rendering (‘zostanę zwolniony’) would lose the deliberate echo of χάρις/łaska. Rendering must visibly share the ‘łask-’ root so attentive readers recognize the connection to the grace doctrine.
Human Spirit
Approved rendering: duch wasz
Transliteration: pneuma hymōn
Doctrine: Human Spirit Distinguished from the Holy Spirit
Rejected alternatives: Duch wasz (capitalized — false Trinitarian reading)
Original: πνεῦμα ὑμῶν
Category: God
NEW. Philemon 1:25, standard Pauline benediction formula (cf. Galatians 6:18; 2 Timothy 4:22). Given the overwhelming baseline association of πνεῦμα with the Critical term ‘Duch Święty’ throughout Romans, there is real risk that translators or reviewers reflexively capitalize this occurrence or read it as a Trinitarian reference. MUST be rendered lowercase and flagged with a translator’s note clarifying this refers to the readers’ own human spirits, not the Holy Spirit. Requires human theologian review given the direct collision with a Critical baseline term.
Onesimus Name Pun
Approved rendering: Onezym
Transliteration: Onēsimos / onaimēn
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Rejected alternatives: inventing a Polish name meaning ‘useful’ (breaks cross-reference continuity with other Bible translations)
Original: Ὀνήσιμος / ὀναίμην
Category: Slavery and Social Status
NEW. Philemon 1:10, 1:11, 1:20. Paul builds a sustained wordplay: a slave literally named ‘Useful’ who had become ‘useless’ to Philemon is now truly ‘very useful,’ and at v.20 Paul asks to ‘have benefit’ from Philemon using the same root as the name. This pun is untranslatable in transliterated Polish (‘Onezym’). Requires a MANDATORY translator’s footnote at v.11 and v.20 explaining the meaning of the name; without it, the rhetorical argument of these verses appears as a non-sequitur in Polish.
Obedience Personal
Approved rendering: posłuszeństwo
Transliteration: hypakoē
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Rejected alternatives: posłuszeństwo wiary (baseline compound reserved for Romans 1:5/16:26)
Original: ὑπακοή
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
NEW. Philemon 1:21. Same root family as the baseline compound ‘obedience_of_faith’ (posłuszeństwo wiary), but here used absolutely, of obedience to Paul’s specific personal appeal, not the programmatic Romans formula. Do NOT use the full baseline compound phrase here — using it in Philemon 1:21 would incorrectly suggest a formal citation of that separate doctrine rather than Paul’s personal confidence in Philemon. Use the simple noun ‘posłuszeństwo’ and flag for human theologian review to preserve this distinction.
Medium Risk Terms
Church
Approved rendering: kościół
Transliteration: ekklēsia
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: Kościół jako jedyna prawowita instytucja hierarchiczna
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Distinguish the local gathered congregation from the capitalized institutional ‘Kościół’. Philemon-specific: 1:2’s ‘the church in your house’ (κατ’ οἶκόν… ἐκκλησία) is the concrete, local, house-congregation sense; must remain lowercase and local, not read as a reference to the institutional Church central to Polish Catholic national life.
Peace
Approved rendering: pokój
Transliteration: eirēnē
Doctrine: Peace with God
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Relational, covenantal peace through justification. Philemon-specific: standard epistolary greeting formula (1:3), identical in form to Romans 1:7; no elevated risk in this occurrence.
Providence
Approved rendering: opatrzność Boża
Transliteration: pronoia
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: los, przeznaczenie
Inherited from Romans package. God’s personal, purposive governance; avoid fatalistic ‘los/przeznaczenie’ framing. Philemon-specific: 1:15’s passive ἐχωρίσθη (‘he was separated’) is likely a divine passive implying God’s providential hand in Onesimus’s departure; render as passive ‘został oddzielony’ to preserve the providential undertone without excusing the wrongdoing for which restitution is still required (vv.18-19).
Adoption
Approved rendering: usynowienie
Transliteration: huiothesia
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Inherited from Romans package, retained here for cross-reference only (not directly used in Philemon’s text). Full son-status with complete inheritance rights, describing the believer’s relationship to God. Must not be confused with, nor supply vocabulary for, Philemon 1:10’s τέκνον (‘spiritual child’, see ‘spiritual_child’ below), which describes a different relationship (apostle-to-convert, not God-to-believer).
Fitting Duty
Approved rendering: co należy się / co jest właściwe
Transliteration: anēkon
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Rejected alternatives: obowiązek (legalistic, reintroduces compulsion)
Original: ἀνῆκον
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
NEW. Philemon 1:8. Names the objectively right action without yet naming it, letting appeal rather than compulsion carry the force. A legalistic rendering risks reintroducing the compulsion Paul is renouncing; prefer relational/moral-fittingness vocabulary.
Boldness
Approved rendering: śmiałość / prawo (do żądania)
Transliteration: parrēsia
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Rejected alternatives: władza (implies coercive legal authority alone)
Original: παρρησία
Category: Intercession and Appeal
NEW. Philemon 1:8. Relational-apostolic confidence, not coercive legal power. Must not undercut the contrast Paul draws between his right to command and his choice to appeal.
Command
Approved rendering: rozkazywać
Transliteration: epitassō
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Original: ἐπιτάσσω
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
NEW. Philemon 1:8. The authority Paul deliberately declines to exercise — the foil against which the whole letter’s appeal-not-command strategy is defined. Keep the negative/concessive framing (‘though I could command…’) clear.
Prisoner
Approved rendering: więzień
Transliteration: desmios
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power / Intercession and Appeal
Original: δέσμιος
Category: Slavery and Social Status
NEW. Philemon 1:1, 1:9, 1:10. Paul’s favored self-designation instead of ‘apostle’. Must remain lexically distinct from δοῦλος (‘niewolnik’); Paul’s rhetorical point depends on his voluntary, Christ-imposed bondage being analogous to, yet distinct from, Onesimus’s involuntary legal slavery.
Fellow Captive
Approved rendering: współwięzień
Transliteration: synaichmalōtos
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Original: συναιχμάλωτος
Category: Church
NEW. Philemon 1:23, applied to Epaphras. More vivid martial term than δέσμιος; ideally distinguished lexically (e.g., ‘towarzysz niewoli’ as an alternate gloss) to preserve nuance. Low doctrinal stakes; native speaker review sufficient.
Heart Affection
Approved rendering: serce
Transliteration: splanchna
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Rejected alternatives: wnętrzności (literal ‘bowels’ — grotesque/misleading)
Original: σπλάγχνα
Category: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
NEW. Philemon 1:7, 1:12, 1:20. Hebraic/Greek idiom for deep emotion/compassion. Must be rendered idiomatically as ‘serce’, never literally; use the identical Polish term consistently across all three occurrences to preserve the recurring motif.
Wronged
Approved rendering: skrzywdził / wyrządził krzywdę
Transliteration: adikeō
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: ἀδικέω
Category: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
NEW. Philemon 1:18. Names Onesimus’s real, acknowledged wrongdoing; must retain moral seriousness, avoiding euphemism, paralleling the baseline caution against minimizing ‘grzech’ (sin).
Debt
Approved rendering: być winnym / być dłużnym
Transliteration: opheilō / prosopheilō
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: ὀφείλω / προσοφείλω
Category: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
NEW. Philemon 1:18-19. Introduces the extended commercial-ledger metaphor for sin and forgiveness running through vv.18-19.
Service Ministry
Approved rendering: służyć / posługa
Transliteration: diakoneō / diakonia
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Original: διακονέω / διακονία
Category: Slavery and Social Status
NEW. Philemon 1:13. Paul deliberately reaches for service vocabulary distinct from slavery vocabulary. Must be kept lexically distinct from ‘niewolnik’ so the free-service/slave-status contrast remains visible in Polish.
Useless Useful
Approved rendering: bezużyteczny / użyteczny
Transliteration: achrēstos / euchrēstos
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Original: ἄχρηστος / εὔχρηστος
Category: Slavery and Social Status
NEW. Philemon 1:11. Marks Onesimus’s transformation, continuing the wordplay on his name. Requires the same mandatory footnote as ‘onesimus_name_pun’; avoid softening into purely sentimental language.
Separated
Approved rendering: został oddzielony
Transliteration: echōristhē (passive of chōrizō)
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: uciekł (active, assigns blame outright)
Original: ἐχωρίσθη
Category: Slavery and Social Status
NEW. Philemon 1:15. Likely a ‘divine passive’ implying God’s providential hand. Preserve the passive construction so the providential undertone is not lost, without excusing wrongdoing (restitution still required, vv.18-19).
Permanent Forever
Approved rendering: na zawsze
Transliteration: aiōnion
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Rejected alternatives: wieczny (imports unintended eschatological weight)
Original: αἰώνιον
Category: Church
NEW. Philemon 1:15. Used relationally (permanent brotherhood), not in its fullest eschatological sense. Flag for native speaker review to confirm register.
Confidence Trust
Approved rendering: mając ufność / będąc przekonany
Transliteration: peithō (perfect participle: pepoithōs)
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Original: πεποιθὼς
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
NEW. Philemon 1:21. Settled trust grounded in relationship, not hopeful guessing.
Spiritual Child
Approved rendering: dziecko / syn (duchowy)
Transliteration: teknon
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Original: τέκνον
Category: Intercession and Appeal
NEW. Philemon 1:10. Paul’s spiritual child born through his gospel ministry. Should not be confused with, nor borrow vocabulary from, the baseline ‘usynowienie’ (adoption into God’s family), a different relationship (God-to-believer, not apostle-to-convert).
Beloved
Approved rendering: umiłowany / miły
Transliteration: agapētos
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Original: ἀγαπητός
Category: Church
NEW. Philemon 1:1 (Philemon), 1:16 (Onesimus). Frames both men in identical terms of belovedness, subtly preparing for the equality claim of v.16.
Flesh In The Lord
Approved rendering: w ciele / w Panu
Transliteration: en sarki … en kyriō
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Original: ἐν σαρκὶ … ἐν κυρίῳ
Category: Slavery and Social Status
NEW. Philemon 1:16. Reuses baseline ‘Pan’ for κύριος. Preserve the dual-plane distinction (ongoing social relationship vs. new spiritual/familial relationship) rather than collapsing ‘in the flesh’ into Romans’ negative ‘sinful’ sense; here it denotes the ordinary social relationship, not corruption.
Receive Welcome
Approved rendering: przyjmij
Transliteration: proslambanō (imperative: proslabou)
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Original: προσλαβοῦ
Category: Church
NEW. Philemon 1:17. Full reception into fellowship, echoing Romans 14:1’s ‘welcome’ language regarding the weak in faith.
Old Man Ambassador
Approved rendering: starzec / ambasador
Transliteration: presbytēs / presbeutēs
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Original: πρεσβύτης / πρεσβευτής (textual variant)
Category: Intercession and Appeal
NEW, text-critical. Philemon 1:9, well-attested textual variant. Either reading strengthens Paul’s appeal (pathos of age, or authority-yet-humility of a chained ambassador, cf. Ephesians 6:20). Record the manuscript tradition/critical text followed and apply consistently; flag as a translator’s-note item, not a doctrinal risk.
Hope
Approved rendering: mieć nadzieję
Transliteration: elpizō
Doctrine: Faith
Original: ἐλπίζω
Category: Faith
NEW. Philemon 1:22. General confident-expectation verb (Paul’s hope to visit); should convey confident expectation, not idle wishing, without conflating with the fuller eschatological ‘hope’ doctrine developed elsewhere.
Fellow Soldier
Approved rendering: współbojownik / towarzysz walki
Transliteration: systratiōtēs
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Original: συστρατιώτης
Category: Church
NEW. Philemon 1:2 (Archippus). Military metaphor for shared spiritual combat/labor; low doctrinal risk, part of Paul’s honorific vocabulary for co-laborers.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: wspólnota
Transliteration: koinōnia
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: świętych obcowanie (specific creedal formula)
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Shared participation in Christ and with other believers. Philemon-specific: risk elevated contextually to Medium because of the shared root with κοινωνός at 1:17 (see ‘partner’ below); teaching notes must flag that Paul’s personal partnership title in v.17 is deliberately continuous with, not a shift away from, the fellowship language of v.6.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: dziękczynienie
Transliteration: eucharistō
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστῶ
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Standard term. Philemon-specific: 1:4, minimal risk.
Repay
Approved rendering: odpłacić / spłacić
Transliteration: apotinō (future: apotisō)
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: ἀποτίσω
Category: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
NEW. Philemon 1:19. Paul personally guarantees Onesimus’s debt with his own signature; read together with ‘impute_to_account’ (v.18) as part of the same substitutionary-payment unit.
Sister
Approved rendering: siostra
Transliteration: adelphē
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Original: ἀδελφή
Category: Church
NEW. Philemon 1:2 (Apphia). Standard term, minimal risk.
Fellow Worker
Approved rendering: współpracownik
Transliteration: synergos
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Original: συνεργός
Category: Church
NEW. Philemon 1:1, 1:24. Identifies partnership within Paul’s gospel-labor network; part of the relational leverage Paul uses in his appeal.
Prayer
Approved rendering: modlitwa
Transliteration: proseuchē
Doctrine: Faith
Original: προσευχή
Category: Faith
NEW. Philemon 1:4. Standard term.
Effective Active
Approved rendering: skuteczny / czynny
Transliteration: energēs
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Original: ἐνεργής
Category: Church
NEW. Philemon 1:6, describing the effective sharing produced by Philemon’s faith.
Full Knowledge
Approved rendering: (pełne) poznanie
Transliteration: epignōsis
Doctrine: Faith
Original: ἐπίγνωσις
Category: Faith
NEW. Philemon 1:6.
Good Thing
Approved rendering: dobro
Transliteration: agathon
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Original: ἀγαθόν
Category: Church
NEW. Philemon 1:6.
Joy
Approved rendering: radość
Transliteration: chara
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Original: χαρά
Category: Church
NEW. Philemon 1:7, the effect of Philemon’s love on Paul.
Comfort Encouragement
Approved rendering: pociecha / zachęta
Transliteration: paraklēsis
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: παράκλησις
Category: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
NEW. Philemon 1:7. Cognate with παρακαλέω (vv.9-10); note the cognate relationship for Phase 2 translators, though the fuller theological freight of the ‘Paraclete’ title (John 14:16, 26) is not activated in this verse.
Give Rest Refresh
Approved rendering: pokrzepić / dać wytchnienie
Transliteration: anapauō
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: ἀναπαύω
Category: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
NEW. Philemon 1:7, 1:20. Must match the rendering chosen across both occurrences to preserve the motif tied to σπλάγχνα (‘serce’).
Hospitality
Approved rendering: gościna / pokój gościnny
Transliteration: xenia
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Original: ξενία
Category: Church
NEW. Philemon 1:22. Ordinary Greco-Roman hospitality custom; no significant Polish cultural collision, and Polish hospitality culture (gościnność) may serve as a positive teaching bridge.
Referenced passages