Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 1 John (English → Portuguese)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, organized by the eight curriculum doctrines plus a cross-cutting reference section for terms reused verbatim from the baseline Romans Language Package. All Portuguese renderings for terms already present in the baseline translation_memory.json are reused exactly, per hard rule. New terms follow the same risk-tier conventions (Critical/High/Medium/Low) established by the baseline.
Reminder for Phase 2: Load this glossary alongside the baseline translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json before any 1 John segment translation. Where a term appears in both, the baseline rendering governs; this glossary’s “Notes” column supplies 1 John-specific doctrinal and Brazilian-context guidance that supplements, but never contradicts, the baseline.
1. God is Light and God is Love
| Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Portuguese Rendering | Risk | Notes / Collision Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God is Light | ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν | ho theos phōs estin | Deus é luz | Critical | Direct collision with Kardecist “espíritos de luz” and “seguir para a luz” framings, where light denotes an evolutionary spiritual attainment/destination rather than God’s own unchanging moral character and self-revelation. Requires explanatory pairing in every occurrence. |
| Light | φῶς | phōs | luz | High | Same collision as above when applied theologically; lower risk in purely descriptive (non-doctrinal) contexts. |
| Darkness | σκοτία / σκότος | skotia / skotos | trevas | Medium | Ethical-relational estrangement from God, not an independent cosmic force equal to God (avoid dualistic reading). |
| God is Love | ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν | ho theos agapē estin | Deus é amor | Critical | Must always be taught with its context (God’s love demonstrated by sending the Son as an atoning sacrifice, 1 John 4:9-10), never as a freestanding slogan compatible with generic Kardecist/Umbanda “universal love” ethics. |
| Love | ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω | agapē / agapaō | amor / amar | High | Specific, self-giving, Christ-defined love, not a generic ethical ideal or karmic virtue accumulated across lives. |
| Perfect / Perfected (love) | τέλειος / τελειόω | teleios / teleioō | perfeito / aperfeiçoado | High | Love reaching its full, intended expression in the present community through the Spirit — not a spirit’s gradual moral perfection achieved across successive reincarnations (Kardecist collision). |
2. Fellowship with God and One Another
| Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Portuguese Rendering | Risk | Notes / Collision Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fellowship (with God) | κοινωνία | koinōnia | comunhão | Medium | Reuses baseline fellowship root; recommend “comunhão” specifically for fellowship with the Father and Son (1:3,6), reserving baseline’s “companheirismo” for fellowship among believers. Avoid the specific creedal phrase “a comunhão dos santos.” |
| Fellowship (with one another) | κοινωνία | koinōnia | companheirismo | Low | Reused exactly from baseline fellowship entry for horizontal, believer-to-believer sense (1:7). |
| Abide / Remain | μένω | menō | permanecer | High | Pervasive verb (20+ occurrences) for mutual indwelling of God and believer; consistency of rendering across every occurrence is essential for learners to track the theological thread. |
| Word of Life | ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς | ho logos tēs zōēs | a Palavra da vida | Critical | Anti-docetic anchor: the eternal Word tangibly, bodily, historically present (heard, seen, touched) — not an illusory or purely visionary spirit-appearance (cf. Kardecist “materialização” claims). |
| Manifested | φανερόω | phaneroō | manifestado / manifesta | Medium | Standard revelation term; avoid drift toward “materialização” (Spiritist séance vocabulary for alleged physical spirit manifestation). |
3. Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
| Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Portuguese Rendering | Risk | Notes / Collision Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sin | ἁμαρτία | hamartia | pecado | Medium | Reused exactly from baseline. Moral transgression before a personal God requiring atonement in this life, not a correctable “erro” to be worked off across future incarnations. |
| Confess | ὁμολογέω | homologeō | confessar | Medium-High | For confession of sin (1:9): honest acknowledgment directly to God grounded in Christ’s cleansing blood, not sacramental confession mediated exclusively through a priest, nor a Kardecist-adjacent public testimonial of psychic experience. |
| Cleanse | καθαρίζω | katharizō | purificar | High | Prefer “purificar/purificação” over “limpar/limpeza” to avoid association with “limpeza espiritual,” a well-known Afro-Brazilian ritual-cleansing practice (herbs, smoke, ritual baths). |
| Blood (of Jesus) | αἷμα | haima | sangue | Medium | Christ’s atoning death, unique and once-for-all; distinguish from Candomblé/Umbanda ritual blood offerings to orixás, which function as an ongoing ritual transaction rather than a completed atonement. |
| Unrighteousness | ἀδικία | adikia | injustiça | Medium | Antithesis of baseline righteousness; standard rendering. |
| Advocate | παράκλητος | paraklētos | Advogado | High | Christ’s legal intercession before the Father when believers sin (2:1); distinguish sharply from Catholic saint/Marian intercession and, more distinctively, from Kardecist mediumistic claims of spirits interceding on behalf of the living or dead. Extends baseline intercession entry. |
| Propitiation | ἱλασμός | hilasmos | propiciação | Critical | Christ’s unique, once-for-all atoning sacrifice; must not be conflated with the Tridentine “infused merit” category or, distinctively for Brazil, with Candomblé/Umbanda ritual offerings made to secure favor or resolve spiritual debt. |
| Liar | ψεύστης | pseustēs | mentiroso | Low-Medium | Diagnostic category for false religious claims (professed love/knowledge of God contradicted by conduct); do not soften to a merely social lapse. |
| Truth | ἀλήθεια | alētheia | verdade | Medium | Conformity of confession and conduct to God’s revealed reality, not a relativized “personal truth” within an eclectic spiritual marketplace. |
4. Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
| Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Portuguese Rendering | Risk | Notes / Collision Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born of God | γεννάω (perf. pass. γεγεννημένος) | gennaō / gegennēmenos | nascido de Deus | High | A decisive, one-time, permanent regenerating act of God, evidenced by ongoing love and righteousness — not a stage in an evolving spirit’s progress across successive incarnations (the operative Kardecist framework for spiritual advancement). |
| Children of God | τέκνα θεοῦ | tekna theou | filhos de Deus | High | Believers’ derivative, adoptive family identity; must never be interchanged with the baseline’s Critical son_of_god = “Filho de Deus,” reserved exclusively for Christ’s unique, eternal Sonship. |
| Seed (of God) | σπέρμα | sperma | semente | Medium | The durable new nature grounding ongoing practice of righteousness (3:9); avoid esoteric “growth across incarnations” associations present in some eclectic Brazilian spiritual vocabularies. |
| Lawlessness | ἀνομία | anomia | iniquidade / transgressão da lei | Medium | Reuses baseline law/sin cautions; sin defined relationally against God’s revealed will, not an impersonal cosmic order. |
| Brother | ἀδελφός | adelphos | irmão | Medium | The specific, named object of the “love the brethren” tests in chs. 2-4: fellow believer within the covenant community, not humanity in general. |
| Commandment | ἐντολή | entolē | mandamento | Medium-High | Command flowing from and evidencing new birth (2:3-5), not a legalistic rule for merit nor a Kardecist-style ethical self-improvement code. |
| Lay down one’s life | τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν | tithēmi tēn psychēn | dar a vida | Medium | Christ’s self-sacrifice as the pattern for love toward the brethren (3:16); central positive exemplar. |
| Murderer | ἀνθρωποκτόνος | anthrōpoktonos | homicida | Low-Medium | Strong moral-equivalence claim (hatred = murder, 3:15) that must not be softened in translation. |
| Cain | Κάϊν | Kain | Caim | Low | Proper name; negative counter-example to brotherly love (3:12). |
5. The Incarnation and Antichrist
| Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Portuguese Rendering | Risk | Notes / Collision Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Come in the flesh | ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα | en sarki elēlythota | veio em carne | Critical | Extends baseline incarnation Critical entry: every occurrence must clarify the Son’s unique, non-repeating, historically singular assumption of human nature, explicitly excluding any reading of Christ as one incarnation among a spirit’s many recurring embodiments (mainstream Kardecist doctrine). |
| Only-begotten | μονογενής | monogenēs | unigênito | Critical | Categorically unique Sonship; reinforces baseline son_of_god Critical entry — never one especially advanced spirit among others. |
| Antichrist | ἀντίχριστος | antichristos | anticristo | High | 1 John’s own usage is plural and present (“many antichrists… have come now,” 2:18), doctrinally defined as denial of the Father and Son together and denial of the incarnation — not, as popular Brazilian usage (influenced by apocalyptic fiction) tends to assume, exclusively a single future political figure. |
| Spirit of truth / spirit of error | πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας / πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης | pneuma tēs alētheias / tēs planēs | Espírito da verdade / espírito do erro | High | Reinforces that the Holy Spirit is the one specific, personal, divine Spirit, over against any and all other spiritual sources, categorized simply as “erro,” not as morally neutral alternative guides. |
| False prophets | ψευδοπροφῆται | pseudoprophētai | falsos profetas | Medium | Antithesis of baseline prophet; doctrinally defined by false confession about Christ, not by supernatural performance. |
| Anointing | χρῖσμα | chrisma | unção | High | The Spirit’s teaching ministry given to every believer at conversion (2:20,27), not a special, escalatable, ritually-conferred power; distinguish from Brazilian Pentecostal/Charismatic performance culture and from Kardecist/Candomblé-Umbanda ritual anointing associated with mediumistic empowerment or spirit incorporation. |
6. Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
| Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Portuguese Rendering | Risk | Notes / Collision Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eternal Life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος | zōē aiōnios | vida eterna | Critical | 1 John 5:13’s stated purpose is that believers may know with settled certainty, now, that they possess eternal life — the direct, explicit opposite of the Kardecist framework’s endless cycle of successive reincarnated lives with no single, decisive, present possession of ultimate destiny. Equal weight to baseline salvation Critical entry. |
| Confidence / Boldness | παρρησία | parrēsia | confiança / ousadia | High | Assurance expressed as confident standing before God at judgment (2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14); must retain full force against the Kardecist framework in which a spirit can never be fully certain of its standing. Extends baseline assurance_of_salvation Critical doctrine. |
| Know | γινώσκω / εἰδέναι (variously) | ginōskō / eidenai | conhecer / saber | Medium | Two distinct Greek verbs (relational-experiential vs. settled-cognitive knowledge) both important to the letter’s repeated “we know” assurance formulas; Portuguese lacks an exact two-verb split, so context must carry the distinction. |
| Savior | σωτήρ | sōtēr | Salvador | Critical | Tied directly to baseline salvation; a decisive, accomplished rescue by a specific person, not a facilitator of a spirit’s own gradual self-directed evolution. |
| Believe (that Jesus is the Christ) | πιστεύω | pisteuō | crer | High | Reused from baseline faith; personal trust in the specific, unique Messiah, not generic belief in “the spirit world.” |
| Sin unto death | ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον | hamartia pros thanaton | pecado que leva à morte | Medium-High | A this-life, one-life pastoral category (likely apostasy/hardened rejection), not karmic retribution carried across lifetimes. |
| The evil one | ὁ πονηρός | ho ponēros | o maligno | Medium | A personal, defeated adversary, not an impersonal negative force or karmic principle. |
| Idols | εἴδωλα | eidōla | ídolos | High | The letter’s closing warning (5:21) has direct, unavoidable resonance with Catholic saint-image veneration, Candomblé/Umbanda orixá veneration (sometimes syncretized with Catholic saints), and Kardecist veneration of spirit guides — teach concretely, not as an abstract ancient-world-only warning. |
7. Overcoming the World
| Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Portuguese Rendering | Risk | Notes / Collision Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| World (fallen system) | κόσμος | kosmos | mundo | Medium | 1 John uses κόσμος in two senses: (a) fallen humanity as object of God’s saving love (4:9), and (b) the value-system opposed to God, to be neither loved (2:15-17) nor feared but overcome (4:4; 5:4-5). Context must clarify which sense is active. |
| Overcome / Victory | νικάω / νίκη | nikaō / nikē | vencer / vitória | High | An already-accomplished, faith-grounded victory secured through new birth and union with Christ (5:4-5), sharply distinguished from the well-known Brazilian Kardecist phrase “vencer as provas/provações da vida” — a self-directed, effort-based overcoming of trials across successive reincarnations. |
| Lust of the flesh / lust of the eyes / pride of life | ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός / τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν / ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου | epithymia tēs sarkos / tōn ophthalmōn / alazoneia tou biou | a concupiscência da carne, a concupiscência dos olhos e a soberba/orgulho da vida | Medium | The triad defining worldliness (2:16); foundational for the doctrine of overcoming the world. |
| Water and blood | τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα | to hydōr kai to haima | a água e o sangue | Medium | Historical-evidentiary witnesses to Christ’s identity (5:6-8), alongside the Spirit; distinguish from ritual blood-offering associations noted under Confession/Forgiveness above. |
| Testimony / Witness | μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω | martyria / martyreō | testemunho / testemunhar | Medium | Eyewitness, historically-grounded apostolic testimony (1:2; 4:14; 5:6-11), not mediumistic or visionary “revelation”; avoid confusion with the denominational self-designation “Testemunhas de Jeová” in surrounding catechetical material. |
8. Testing the Spirits
| Term (EN) | Original (Greek) | Transliteration | Portuguese Rendering | Risk | Notes / Collision Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test the spirits | δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα | dokimazete ta pneumata | provai os espíritos / examinai os espíritos | Critical | The single highest-stakes term in this Language Package for 1 John. Must never be taught as biblical warrant for engaging with or consulting spirits under any protocol; the test (4:2-3) is exclusively a doctrinal confession test (the incarnation) applied to teachers, decisively excluding — not regulating — mediumistic or spirit-incorporation practice, both mainstream, organized religious practices in Brazil (Kardecism, Candomblé/Umbanda). |
| Spirit (Holy Spirit) | πνεῦμα (ἅγιον) | pneuma (hagion) | Espírito (Santo) | Critical | Reused exactly from baseline holy_spirit: the personal third Person of the Trinity, explicitly distinguished from Kardecist “espíritos guias”/“mentores espirituais” and from Candomblé/Umbanda orixás and spirit guides. |
| Test / Examine | δοκιμάζω | dokimazō | provar / examinar | High | To test for genuineness (as assaying metal); the criterion applied is strictly doctrinal (confession of the incarnation), not experiential or phenomenological. |
| Confess (Christ) | ὁμολογέω | homologeō | confessar | High | Continuous with baseline Romans 10:9 “Jesus é o Senhor” confession language; here applied to “Jesus é o Filho de Deus” (4:15) and “Jesus Cristo veio em carne” (4:2). |
Cross-Reference: Terms Reused Verbatim from Baseline Romans Translation Memory
The following terms occur in 1 John and carry an established, non-negotiable rendering already recorded in the baseline translation_memory.json. They are reused exactly and are not re-analyzed here beyond a pointer; consult the baseline entries directly for full doctrine notes.
| Term (EN) | Portuguese Rendering | Baseline Risk | 1 John Occurrences (representative) |
|---|---|---|---|
| God | Deus | Critical | Throughout |
| Jesus | Jesus | Critical | Throughout |
| Lord | Senhor | Critical | 1 John does not use κύριος as densely as Romans, but the confession pattern (4:15; cf. Romans 10:9) governs |
| Son of God | Filho de Deus | Critical | 3:8; 4:15; 5:5,10,12-13,20 |
| Holy Spirit | Espírito Santo | Critical | 3:24; 4:2,13; 5:6-8 |
| Father | Pai | Critical | 1:2-3; 2:1,13-16,22-24; 3:1; 4:14 |
| Incarnation | encarnação (doctrine name only; term itself avoided in running text per baseline caution) | Critical | 4:2-3; 1:1-2 (Word of Life) |
| Resurrection | ressurreição | Critical | Implicit background to “life”/“eternal life” doctrine; not a frequent explicit term in 1 John itself |
| Messiah / Christ | Messias / Cristo | Critical | 2:22; 4:2; 5:1,6 |
| Salvation | salvação | Critical | Underlying doctrine of “eternal life” and “Savior,” 4:14 |
| Faith | fé | High | 5:1,4 |
| Righteousness/Righteous | justiça / justo | Critical | 2:1,29; 3:7,10 |
| Sin | pecado | Medium | 1:7-10; 2:1-2,12; 3:4-9; 4:10; 5:16-17 |
| Grace | graça | High | Not densely used in 1 John’s own vocabulary but underlies the doctrine of unmerited love/propitiation |
| Fellowship | companheirismo / comunhão (context-sensitive, see Doctrine 2 above) | Low (baseline) / Medium (this curriculum) | 1:3,6-7 |
| Intercession | intercessão | High | Underlies “Advocate” (παράκλητος) doctrine, 2:1 |
| Prophet | profeta | Low | 4:1 (antithesis: false prophets) |
| Glory | glória | Medium | Not densely used but relevant to eschatological hope (3:2) |
| Church | igreja | Medium | Implicit ecclesial community addressed throughout; not a frequent explicit term in 1 John |
This glossary must be loaded alongside analysis/07_semantic_analysis.md, the baseline translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and doctrine_risk_registry.json before any Phase 2 translation of 1 John segments. New terms introduced here (Sections 1-8 above) must be added to a 1_john_translation_memory.json in Phase 1 Step 3 with the risk tiers recorded above, and Critical/High entries must be flagged for human theologian review per the baseline’s escalation rules.
Critical Risk Terms
Righteousness
Approved rendering: justiça
Transliteration: dikaiosynē
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: mérito conquistado por esforço moral próprio
CRITICAL: right standing before God granted through faith; applied in 1 John to Christ (‘Jesus Cristo, o justo,’ 2:1,29) and derivatively to those born of him (2:29; 3:7,10). Both the Tridentine infused-merit reading and the Kardecist self-earned moral-progress-across-lifetimes reading must be excluded. Inherited from Romans package.
Salvation
Approved rendering: salvação
Transliteration: sōtēria
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: evolução espiritual através de reencarnações sucessivas
CRITICAL: underlies 1 John’s ‘Salvador’ (4:14) and ‘vida eterna’ (5:11-13) doctrine cluster. Kardecist Spiritism teaches gradual evolução espiritual across successive reincarnations, not a decisive reconciliation accomplished by Christ and received by faith. Inherited from Romans package.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: ressurreição
Transliteration: anastasis
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: reencarnação
CRITICAL: NEVER reencarnação. Bodily, historical, once-for-all resurrection, sharply distinct from Kardecist reincarnation. Implicit background to 1 John’s ‘life’/‘eternal life’ doctrine (1:2; 5:11-13), though not a frequent explicit term in 1 John’s own vocabulary. Inherited from Romans package.
Lord
Approved rendering: Senhor
Transliteration: kyrios
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Senhor apenas em sentido devocional, sem reivindicação de senhorio total
CRITICAL: exclusive, supreme lordship over the whole of life. 1 John does not use κύριος as densely as Romans, but the confession pattern of 4:15 (‘Jesus é o Filho de Deus’) functions analogously to Romans 10:9’s Lordship confession. Inherited from Romans package.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Filho de Deus
Transliteration: huios theou
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: filho de Deus no sentido genérico aplicado a todo crente
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: full phrase required, reserved exclusively for Christ’s eternal, unique Sonship (3:8; 4:15; 5:5,10,12-13,20). Must never be interchanged with 1 John’s own distinct term for believers, ‘filhos de Deus’ (τέκνα θεοῦ, 3:1-2). Inherited from Romans package.
Incarnation
Approved rendering: encarnação
Transliteration: ho logos sarx egeneto
Doctrine: Incarnation
Rejected alternatives: encarnação como uma entre muitas vidas sucessivas de um espírito (sentido espírita)
CRITICAL: ‘encarnação’/‘encarnar’ is the everyday Kardecist term for a spirit taking on a body for one of its many successive lives. In 1 John this doctrine becomes the letter’s own explicit diagnostic confession test (4:2-3, ‘veio em carne’) and anti-docetic prologue claim (1:1-2, ‘a Palavra da vida’). Every occurrence must clarify the unique, non-repeating incarnation of the Son. Inherited from Romans package; reserve the noun ‘encarnação’ for doctrine-label use only, paired with the mandatory distinguishing clause.
Messiah
Approved rendering: Messias
Transliteration: Christos / Mashiach
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: um espírito superior ou mais evoluído (leitura espírita de Jesus como ‘o mais evoluído dos espíritos’)
CRITICAL: 1 John 2:22 defines antichrist doctrine precisely as denial that ‘Jesus is the Christ.’ Kardecist Christology’s ‘most evolved spirit’ framing must be excluded. Inherited from Romans package; in 1 John typically rendered ‘Cristo’ in running text with ‘Messias’ available for explanatory use, per baseline convention.
Father
Approved rendering: Pai
Transliteration: patēr
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
God as personal Father; standard and unambiguous. Central to 1 John’s fellowship doctrine (1:3) and believers’ adoptive identity (3:1). Inherited from Romans package.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Espírito Santo
Transliteration: pneuma hagion
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: espíritos guias ou mentores espirituais (espiritismo), orixás e guias (Candomblé/Umbanda)
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
CRITICAL: must be taught as the personal third Person of the Trinity, explicitly distinguished from Kardecist ‘espíritos guias’ and Candomblé/Umbanda orixás and spirit guides. Foundational to 1 John’s ‘anointing’ (2:20,27), ‘testing the spirits’ (4:1-6,13), and abiding (4:13) doctrines. Inherited from Romans package.
God
Approved rendering: Deus
Transliteration: theos / Elohim / YHWH
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
Standard and unambiguous. In 1 John, God’s nature is defined by two axiomatic statements this curriculum foregrounds: ‘Deus é luz’ (1:5) and ‘Deus é amor’ (4:8,16) — see new entries below. Inherited from Romans package.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jesus
Transliteration: Iēsous / Yeshua
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Standard across all Portuguese Bible traditions. In 1 John the risk centers on the doctrinal content around the name — the incarnation and Messiahship confession tests (2:22; 4:2-3; 5:1,5-6). Inherited from Romans package.
God Is Light
Approved rendering: Deus é luz
Transliteration: ho theos phōs estin
Doctrine: God is Light
Rejected alternatives: luz como nível de evolução espiritual atingido por um espírito, luz como destino póstumo alcançado por progresso moral
Original: ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν
Category: God
CRITICAL: 1 John 1:5. Brazilian Kardecist Spiritism pervasively speaks of ‘espíritos de luz,’ the deceased ‘seguindo para a luz,’ and mediums who ‘trabalham na luz.’ Must never be presented as a freestanding slogan; always co-teach with 1:6-7 (walking in the light = ethical/relational conformity to God’s revealed character, not luminosity level or evolutionary attainment).
God Is Love
Approved rendering: Deus é amor
Transliteration: ho theos agapē estin
Doctrine: God is Love
Rejected alternatives: amor universal impessoal compatível com qualquer caminho espiritual
Original: ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν
Category: God
CRITICAL: 1 John 4:8,16. Frequently detached from its context and popularly invoked in Brazil, across Kardecist, Candomblé/Umbanda, and generic civil-religious usage, to mean an impersonal, universally accepting cosmic force. Must always be taught with 4:9-10 (God’s love demonstrated in sending his Son as an atoning sacrifice), never as a freestanding slogan.
Word Of Life
Approved rendering: a Palavra da vida
Transliteration: ho logos tēs zōēs
Doctrine: The Incarnation (Christ Come in the Flesh)
Rejected alternatives: uma aparição visionária ou espiritual sem corpo (leitura docética), materialização (termo espírita de fenômeno mediúnico)
Original: ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: 1 John 1:1-2. Anti-docetic anchor for the whole letter: the eternal Word tangibly, bodily, historically present (heard, seen, touched). Never suggest an illusory or purely visionary spirit-appearance, a live concern given Brazilian Kardecist ‘materialização’ claims of physical spirit manifestation at séances. Supply a translator’s note at first occurrence stating these are historical, bodily-sensory verbs.
Propitiation
Approved rendering: propiciação
Transliteration: hilasmos
Doctrine: Propitiation / Atoning Sacrifice
Rejected alternatives: sacrifício tridentino re-oferecido continuamente, oferendas rituais (Candomblé/Umbanda) para obter favor ou resolver dívida espiritual, perdão (collapses propitiation into simple forgiveness, losing the satisfaction-of-justice dimension)
Original: ἱλασμός
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: 1 John 2:2; 4:10. Christ’s unique, once-for-all, divinely-initiated atonement. ‘Propiciação’ is a low-frequency, technical, Latinate term with no natural conversational register — a genuine lexical gap. ALWAYS pair with a short explanatory gloss (‘o sacrifício que satisfaz plenamente a justiça de Deus e remove a barreira do pecado’) at every occurrence in teaching prose.
Come In The Flesh
Approved rendering: veio em carne
Transliteration: en sarki elēlythota
Doctrine: The Incarnation (Christ Come in the Flesh)
Rejected alternatives: uma entre as muitas encarnações recorrentes de um espírito (leitura espírita mainstream)
Original: ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: 1 John 4:2-3. The letter’s explicit doctrinal test-case confession. In Brazilian Portuguese, ‘encarnação’/‘encarnar’ is the everyday Kardecist term for a spirit’s routine rebirth. Use this verbal phrase as the primary running-text rendering, always paired with the mandatory clause distinguishing the Son’s unique, non-repeating, historically singular assumption of human nature. Treat as a fixed, non-negotiable compound unit, not a free-standing translatable phrase.
Only Begotten
Approved rendering: unigênito
Transliteration: monogenēs
Doctrine: Deity and Unique Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: o espírito mais evoluído entre outros (Kardecist Christology)
Original: μονογενής
Category: Christology
CRITICAL: 1 John 4:9. Christ’s categorically unique Sonship. ‘Unigênito’ is correct and traditional but formal/rare in everyday Portuguese; always gloss at first occurrence per lesson (‘unigênito — o único Filho, sem igual, não um espírito mais avançado entre outros’). Never allow a reading in which Jesus is one especially advanced spirit among others.
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: vida eterna
Transliteration: zōē aiōnios
Doctrine: Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: um elo dentro de uma cadeia reencarnacional sem fim (leitura espírita)
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: 1 John 1:2; 2:25; 5:11-13,20. 1 John 5:13’s stated purpose is that believers may know with settled certainty, NOW, that they possess eternal life — the direct opposite of the mainstream Brazilian Kardecist framework’s endless cycle of successive reincarnated lives. Equal weight to the baseline salvation Critical entry. Every occurrence in teaching prose should include or be adjacent to present-possession language (‘desde já,’ ‘possuída agora’).
Savior
Approved rendering: Salvador
Transliteration: sōtēr
Doctrine: Deity and Unique Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: facilitador da própria evolução espiritual gradual de um espírito
Original: σωτήρ
Category: Salvation
CRITICAL: 1 John 4:14. Tied directly to the baseline salvation entry; must convey a decisive, accomplished rescue by a specific person, not a facilitator of a spirit’s own gradual self-directed evolution.
Test The Spirits
Approved rendering: provai os espíritos
Transliteration: dokimazete ta pneumata
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: consultar ou discernir espíritos por meio de mediunidade antes de os invocar, avaliar espíritos guias como protocolo espiritual regulado
Original: δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα
Category: Faith
CRITICAL: 1 John 4:1. The single highest-stakes term in this Language Package. Retained as a direct literal rendering (not paraphrased away) to preserve the letter’s diagnostic-test image and memorability, but MANDATORY, NON-OPTIONAL FENCE at every occurrence: the test is a single, closed, doctrinal confession test (4:2-3) applied to human teachers and their claims about Christ, never a protocol for engaging, discerning among, ranking, or consulting spirits. The test excludes mediumship; it does not regulate or improve it.
High Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: evangelho
Transliteration: euangelion
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: mensagem de evolução moral (Kardecist ethical-progress framing)
Standard term shared by Catholic and Protestant Portuguese Bibles. Distinctive Brazilian risk: Allan Kardec’s ‘O Evangelho Segundo o Espiritismo’ reinterprets ‘evangelho’ as ethical teaching compatible with reincarnation and mediumship. Underlies 1 John’s own proclamation/testimony framing (1:1-4; 4:14). Inherited from Romans package.
Grace
Approved rendering: graça
Transliteration: charis
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: mérito espiritual acumulado ao longo de vidas sucessivas
Unmerited favor received by faith; underlies 1 John’s unmerited-love argument (4:10, ‘not that we loved God, but that he loved us’), though 1 John itself uses ἀγάπη rather than χάρις as its primary vocabulary. Inherited from Romans package.
Faith
Approved rendering: fé
Transliteration: pistis
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: convicção espírita, fé genérica em forças espirituais
Personal trust in Christ, not generic belief in ‘the spirit world’ or confidence in one’s own moral and spiritual progress. Directly relevant to 1 John 5:1,4-5 (‘this is the victory… our faith’). Inherited from Romans package.
Sanctification
Approved rendering: santificação
Transliteration: hagiasmos
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: purificação cármica ao longo de reencarnações (leitura espírita)
The Spirit’s ongoing work of making believers holy in this life; relevant background to 1 John’s ‘perfected love’ (τελειόω) doctrine, which must likewise be distinguished from Kardecist gradual purification across multiple incarnations. Inherited from Romans package.
Law
Approved rendering: lei
Transliteration: nomos
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
The Mosaic law/Torah. Relevant background to 1 John 3:4’s ‘sin is lawlessness’ (ἀνομία, a term derived from νόμος); distinguish clearly from the Kardecist ‘lei de causa e efeito.’ Inherited from Romans package.
Intercession
Approved rendering: intercessão
Transliteration: hyperentynchanei / enteuxis
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession
Rejected alternatives: comunicação com espíritos de mortos por meio de médiuns, intercessão exclusiva dos santos e de Maria
Underlies 1 John’s unique application of this doctrine to Christ’s role as ‘Advogado’ (παράκλητος, 2:1) — see the new advocate entry below for the 1 John-specific extension. Must be distinguished from Kardecist mediumistic communication with the spirits of the dead. Inherited from Romans package.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: obediência da fé
Transliteration: hypakoē pisteōs
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: cumprimento de preceitos religiosos, disciplina moral espírita de autoaperfeiçoamento
Obedience flowing from faith, not compliance with church precepts or Kardecist ethical self-improvement discipline; directly relevant to 1 John’s ‘commandment’ doctrine (2:3-6; 3:22-24; 5:2-3), where obedience is fruit and evidence of new birth, not its precondition. Inherited from Romans package.
Light
Approved rendering: luz
Transliteration: phōs
Doctrine: God is Light
Rejected alternatives: luz como energia espiritual ou aura
Original: φῶς
Category: God
When applied theologically to God or the believer’s walk (1:5-7; 2:8-11), avoid any suggestion of a spiritual energy level or evolutionary attainment, the everyday sense of ‘luz’ in Kardecist vocabulary. Lower risk in purely descriptive, non-doctrinal contexts.
Love
Approved rendering: amor
Transliteration: agapē / agapaō
Doctrine: Love as Evidence of Knowing God
Rejected alternatives: virtude cármica acumulada para avanço espiritual, amor genérico como ideal ético universal
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Ethics
Specific, self-giving, Christ-defined love (4:9-10; 3:16-18), not a generic ethical ideal or karmic virtue accumulated across successive lifetimes for spiritual advancement. Reinforce with concrete acts whenever taught in isolation.
Perfected Love
Approved rendering: aperfeiçoado / perfeito
Transliteration: teleios / teleioō
Doctrine: Love as Evidence of Knowing God
Rejected alternatives: aperfeiçoamento espiritual através de sucessivas existências (leitura espírita)
Original: τέλειος / τελειόω
Category: Sanctification
1 John 4:12,17-18. ‘Aperfeiçoamento’ as a noun is the single most common Kardecist self-description of the purpose of reincarnated life. HIGH-PRIORITY FENCE: ban the noun ‘aperfeiçoamento’ outright in 1 John generated text; use verbal/adjectival forms with explicit in-Christ, present-life framing.
Abide
Approved rendering: permanecer
Transliteration: menō
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: ficar, continuar, morar (inconsistent alternate renderings)
Original: μένω
Category: Sanctification
Pervasive verb (20+ occurrences: 2:6,10,14,17,19,24,27,28; 3:6,9,14,15,17,24; 4:12,13,15,16), denoting continuous, settled, mutual indwelling of God and believer. Lock ‘permanecer’ as the single, invariant rendering throughout the letter regardless of English source variation (‘abide,’ ‘remain,’ ‘continue,’ ‘live in’). Any deviation must be flagged for immediate correction.
Confess Sin
Approved rendering: confessar
Transliteration: homologeō
Doctrine: Confession of Sin
Rejected alternatives: confissão sacramental exclusivamente mediada por um sacerdote, testemunho público de experiência psíquica ou espiritual (registro espírita-adjacente)
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: Sin
1 John 1:9. Honest, verbal acknowledgment of sin directly to God as the condition for forgiveness, grounded in Christ’s cleansing blood. Fence with explicit direction of address: confession is TO God, requiring no human intermediary.
Cleanse
Approved rendering: purificar
Transliteration: katharizō
Doctrine: Cleansing and Forgiveness through Christ’s Blood
Rejected alternatives: limpar / limpeza (risks association with ‘limpeza espiritual,’ a well-known Afro-Brazilian ritual-cleansing practice)
Original: καθαρίζω
Category: Sin
1 John 1:7,9. MANDATORY: use ‘purificar/purificação’ exclusively for καθαρίζω; treat ‘limpar’ as a forbidden substitution in this letter, equivalent in force to the baseline’s ‘reencarnação’ prohibition for this doctrine.
Advocate
Approved rendering: Advogado
Transliteration: paraklētos
Doctrine: Christ as Advocate
Rejected alternatives: intercessão exclusiva dos santos e de Maria, espíritos intercedendo pelos vivos ou mortos por meio de médiuns (leitura espírita), paracleto (transliteration opaque to general readers)
Original: παράκλητος
Category: Salvation
1 John 2:1. Christ’s own direct legal intercession before the Father when believers sin; extends the baseline intercession entry. ‘Advogado’ is the standard Almeida-tradition functional-equivalent rendering (paraphrase, not transliteration). Fence explicitly: only Christ, alive and glorified, functions in this role.
Born Of God
Approved rendering: nascido de Deus
Transliteration: gennaō / gegennēmenos
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Rejected alternatives: estágio de progresso de um espírito em evolução ao longo de sucessivas encarnações (leitura espírita)
Original: γεννάω (perf. pass. γεγεννημένος)
Category: Salvation
1 John 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18. A decisive, one-time, permanent regenerating act of God, evidenced by ongoing love and righteousness. Fence explicitly as a completed past event with permanent, unrepeatable result — never a rung on a ladder of successive lives.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: filhos de Deus
Transliteration: tekna theou
Doctrine: Adoption / Children of God
Rejected alternatives: uso intercambiável com ‘Filho de Deus’ (reservado exclusivamente a Cristo)
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
1 John 3:1-2,10. Believers’ derivative, adoptive family identity. Must never be interchanged with ‘Filho de Deus’ (huios theou), reserved exclusively for Christ’s unique, eternal Sonship. Enforce strict typographic and lexical distinction: capital ‘Filho’ singular for Christ; lowercase ‘filhos’ plural for believers. Flag any segment where the two phrases co-occur for extra QA.
Commandment
Approved rendering: mandamento
Transliteration: entolē
Doctrine: Obedience to God’s Commandments
Rejected alternatives: regra legalista para obtenção de mérito, código de autoaperfeiçoamento ético espírita
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Covenant
1 John 2:3-8; 3:22-24; 4:21; 5:2-3. Command flowing from and evidencing new birth (2:3-5), not a legalistic rule for merit nor a Kardecist-style ethical self-improvement code aimed at advancing across lifetimes.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: anticristo
Transliteration: antichristos
Doctrine: Antichrist and Denial of Christ
Rejected alternatives: exclusivamente uma futura figura político-mundial isolada (leitura popular apocalíptica)
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Christology
1 John 2:18-23; 4:1-3. 1 John’s own usage is plural and present (‘muitos anticristos… já se levantaram,’ 2:18), doctrinally defined by denial of the Father and Son together and denial of the incarnation. Popular Brazilian usage, shaped by apocalyptic film/fiction genres, narrows this to a single future figure — this narrowing must be corrected in teaching material. Established, fully naturalized loanword; no transliteration decision required.
Spirit Of Truth Error
Approved rendering: Espírito da verdade / espírito do erro
Transliteration: pneuma tēs alētheias / pneuma tēs planēs
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: espíritos guias como fontes neutras alternativas de orientação (leitura espírita)
Original: πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας / πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης
Category: God
1 John 4:6. Reinforces that the Holy Spirit is one specific, personal, divine Spirit, over against any and all other spiritual sources, categorized simply as ‘erro,’ not as morally neutral alternative guides. Enforce capitalization rule: ‘Espírito’ (capital) always for the Holy Spirit; lowercase ‘espírito’ for the spirit of error.
Anointing
Approved rendering: unção
Transliteration: chrisma
Doctrine: The Anointing of the Holy Spirit
Rejected alternatives: poder especial e escalável conferido a uma elite carismática (cultura de performance pentecostal/carismática brasileira), unção ritual associada a incorporação mediúnica (Kardecismo/Candomblé/Umbanda)
Original: χρῖσμα
Category: Sanctification
1 John 2:20,27. The Holy Spirit’s ordinary, universal teaching gift given to every believer at conversion, enabling discernment of truth from false teaching — not a special, escalatable, or ritually-conferred power. ‘Unção’ is the natural, fully naturalized functional-equivalent paraphrase (from ‘ungir’); no transliteration alternative exists.
Confidence Boldness
Approved rendering: confiança / ousadia
Transliteration: parrēsia
Doctrine: Confidence/Boldness before God
Rejected alternatives: autoconfiança emocional genérica (perde a dimensão forense/diante-do-Juiz)
Original: παρρησία
Category: Salvation
1 John 2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14. Confident, unashamed standing before God, especially at final judgment, grounded in present union with Christ. Prefer the expanded collocation ‘confiança diante de Deus’ / ‘ousadia diante do trono de Deus’ over bare ‘confiança’ to retain the forensic dimension. Must retain full force against the Kardecist framework of perpetual standing-uncertainty.
Idols
Approved rendering: ídolos
Transliteration: eidōla
Doctrine: Idolatry and Rival Devotion
Original: εἴδωλα
Category: God
1 John 5:21. The letter’s closing warning has direct, unavoidable resonance with Catholic saint-image veneration, Candomblé/Umbanda orixá veneration (sometimes syncretized with Catholic saints, e.g. Iemanjá/Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes), and Kardecist veneration of spirit guides. Teach concretely as contemporary application, not as an abstract ancient-world-only warning.
Overcome Victory
Approved rendering: vencer / vitória
Transliteration: nikaō / nikē
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: vencer as provas/provações da vida (well-known Brazilian Kardecist collocation for self-directed, effort-based overcoming across successive reincarnations — avoid this exact phrase entirely)
Original: νικάω / νίκη
Category: Salvation
1 John 4:4; 5:4-5. An already-accomplished, faith-grounded victory over the world’s value-system, secured through new birth and union with Christ. AVOID the collocation ‘vencer as provas da vida’ entirely; anchor ‘vencer o mundo’ tightly to 5:4-5’s stated ground (faith, new birth).
Test Examine
Approved rendering: provar / examinar
Transliteration: dokimazō
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: δοκιμάζω
Category: Faith
1 John 4:1. To test for genuineness, as assaying metal; the criterion applied is strictly doctrinal (confession of the incarnation), not experiential, phenomenological, or mediumistic verification.
Confess Christ
Approved rendering: confessar
Transliteration: homologeō
Doctrine: Deity and Unique Sonship of Christ
Original: ὁμολογέω
Category: Christology
1 John 4:2,15. Public, verbal acknowledgment that Jesus is the Son of God come in the flesh. Continuous with the baseline Romans 10:9 ‘Jesus é o Senhor’ confession language; here applied to ‘Jesus é o Filho de Deus’ and ‘Jesus Cristo veio em carne.’ Must retain the baseline’s exact ‘Filho de Deus’ phrase without variation.
Medium Risk Terms
Holy
Approved rendering: santo
Transliteration: hagios
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: puro em sentido ritual
Set apart for God and morally pure. Underlies 1 John 3:3’s purification hope (‘purifica-se, assim como ele é puro’) though 1 John does not use ἅγιος as densely as Romans. Inherited from Romans package.
Adoption
Approved rendering: adoção
Transliteration: huiothesia
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Full son-status with complete inheritance rights; conceptual background to 1 John 3:1-2’s ‘filhos de Deus’ doctrine, though 1 John itself uses τέκνα θεοῦ rather than υἱοθεσία. Inherited from Romans package.
Sin
Approved rendering: pecado
Transliteration: hamartia
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability
Rejected alternatives: erro a ser corrigido em vidas futuras (leitura espírita)
Moral transgression before a personal, holy God requiring atonement in this life, not a correctable ‘erro’ worked off across future incarnations. Central to 1 John’s confession-and-cleansing doctrine (1:7-10; 2:1-2,12; 3:4-9; 4:10; 5:16-17). Inherited from Romans package.
Church
Approved rendering: igreja
Transliteration: ekklēsia
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: a Igreja (institutional-hierarchical sense)
Distinguish the gathered people of God from the capitalized institutional sense foregrounded in Catholic usage. 1 John addresses an implicit ecclesial community throughout but does not use the explicit term densely. Inherited from Romans package.
Glory
Approved rendering: glória
Transliteration: doxa
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: δόξα
Category: God
God’s radiant honor and presence; relevant to 1 John 3:2’s eschatological hope of being made like Christ, though not densely used elsewhere in the letter. Inherited from Romans package.
Abba
Approved rendering: Abba
Transliteration: Abba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Aramaic term of intimacy from Romans 8:15, paired with ‘Pai.’ Not present in 1 John itself, but retained here for cross-document consistency: if any 1 John lesson cross-references Romans 8’s adoption doctrine alongside 1 John 3:1-2, the pairing convention must match. Inherited from Romans package.
Darkness
Approved rendering: trevas
Transliteration: skotia / skotos
Doctrine: Walking in the Light versus Darkness
Rejected alternatives: trevas como reino espiritual povoado, paralelo e oposto a Deus (leitura dualista)
Original: σκοτία / σκότος
Category: Sin
Moral estrangement from God evidenced by unloving, false conduct (1:6; 2:9-11). Keep as an ethical-relational category, not an independent cosmic force equal to God; fence explicitly against mapping onto Kardecist/Umbanda ‘espíritos das trevas’ folk vocabulary.
Fellowship With God
Approved rendering: comunhão
Transliteration: koinōnia
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: comunhão dos santos (specific Catholic creedal phrase), comunhão exclusivamente eucarística
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
1 John 1:3,6 use κοινωνία for fellowship with the Father and the Son, a theologically weightier vertical usage than Romans’ general goodwill sense. Reserve ‘comunhão’ for this vertical sense; reserve baseline ‘companheirismo’ for the horizontal sense (1:7). Avoid the specific creedal phrase ‘a comunhão dos santos’ and avoid narrowing to the Eucharistic sense alone.
Manifested
Approved rendering: manifestado / manifesta
Transliteration: phaneroō
Doctrine: The Incarnation (Christ Come in the Flesh)
Rejected alternatives: materialização (Spiritist séance vocabulary for alleged physical spirit manifestation)
Original: φανερόω
Category: Christology
1 John 1:2; 4:9. Standard revelation term for making visible what was previously hidden; avoid drift toward ‘materialização.‘
Blood Of Jesus
Approved rendering: sangue
Transliteration: haima
Doctrine: Cleansing and Forgiveness through Christ’s Blood
Rejected alternatives: oferenda ritual de sangue a orixás (Candomblé/Umbanda)
Original: αἷμα
Category: Salvation
1 John 1:7. Christ’s atoning death, unique and once-for-all; distinguish from Candomblé/Umbanda ritual blood offerings to orixás, an ongoing ritual transaction rather than a completed atonement.
Unrighteousness
Approved rendering: injustiça
Transliteration: adikia
Doctrine: Cleansing and Forgiveness through Christ’s Blood
Original: ἀδικία
Category: Sin
1 John 1:9; 5:17. Antithesis of baseline ‘justiça’; standard rendering, no significant additional Brazilian collision risk.
Liar
Approved rendering: mentiroso
Transliteration: pseustēs
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ψεύστης
Category: Sin
1 John 1:10; 2:4,22; 4:20; 5:10. Diagnostic category for false religious claims; ensure not softened to a merely social lapse when applied to false religious professions about God or Christ.
Truth
Approved rendering: verdade
Transliteration: alētheia
Doctrine: Confession of Sin
Rejected alternatives: verdades espirituais igualmente válidas dentro de um mercado religioso eclético
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
1 John 1:6,8. Conformity of confession and conduct to God’s revealed reality, not a relativized ‘personal truth’ within Brazil’s eclectic religious marketplace.
Seed Of God
Approved rendering: semente
Transliteration: sperma
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Rejected alternatives: semente espiritual em crescimento ao longo de vidas sucessivas
Original: σπέρμα
Category: Sanctification
1 John 3:9. The durable, God-given new nature grounding ongoing practice of righteousness; avoid drift toward esoteric ‘growth across incarnations’ imagery. Anchor tightly to the once-for-all new-birth event; avoid standalone use without the ‘de Deus’ qualifier.
Lawlessness
Approved rendering: iniquidade
Transliteration: anomia
Doctrine: Practice of Righteousness
Rejected alternatives: transgressão de uma ordem cósmica impessoal
Original: ἀνομία
Category: Sin
1 John 3:4. Sin defined as rebellion against God’s revealed will, not violation of an impersonal cosmic order. Retain ‘iniquidade’ for Almeida-register consistency; may gloss colloquially in teaching prose without replacing the Scripture-text term.
Brother
Approved rendering: irmão
Transliteration: adelphos
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: humanidade em geral (diluição do termo)
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church
The specific object of the love commands in chapters 2-4: a fellow believer within the covenant community, not humanity in general (contrast the broader kosmos-directed love of 4:9-10 with the adelphos-directed test of 4:20-21).
Lay Down Life
Approved rendering: dar a vida
Transliteration: tithēmi tēn psychēn
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν
Category: Ethics
1 John 3:16. Christ’s self-sacrifice as the pattern for love toward the brethren; central positive exemplar, low additional Brazilian collision risk beyond standard sacrificial-love teaching.
Murderer
Approved rendering: homicida
Transliteration: anthrōpoktonos
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἀνθρωποκτόνος
Category: Sin
1 John 3:15. A strong moral-equivalence claim (hatred equals murder) that must not be softened in translation.
False Prophets
Approved rendering: falsos profetas
Transliteration: pseudoprophētai
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: ψευδοπροφῆται
Category: Covenant
1 John 4:1. Antithesis of baseline ‘profeta’; doctrinally defined by false confession about Christ, not by lack of supernatural performance.
Know Relational Cognitive
Approved rendering: conhecer / saber
Transliteration: ginōskō / eidenai
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation
Original: γινώσκω / εἰδέναι
Category: Faith
Portuguese lacks an exact two-verb split for the letter’s repeated ‘we know’ assurance formulas. Fixed convention: render the settled-cognitive ‘we know’ assurance formula (preceding doctrinal claims, e.g. 5:13,18-20) consistently as ‘sabemos que’; reserve ‘conhecer’ for relational-experiential knowledge of God/Christ (e.g., 2:3-4; 4:7-8).
Sin Unto Death
Approved rendering: pecado que leva à morte
Transliteration: hamartia pros thanaton
Doctrine: Sin Unto Death and the Limits of Intercessory Prayer
Rejected alternatives: retribuição cármica levada por vidas sucessivas
Original: ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον
Category: Sin
1 John 5:16-17. A pastorally distinct, this-life, one-life category (likely apostasy or hardened rejection of Christ) for which intercessory prayer is not urged; must not be taught as karmic retribution carried across lifetimes.
Evil One
Approved rendering: o maligno
Transliteration: ho ponēros
Doctrine: The Evil One and Spiritual Conflict
Rejected alternatives: força negativa impessoal ou princípio cármico
Original: ὁ πονηρός
Category: Sin
1 John 2:13-14; 3:12; 5:18-19. A personal, defeated spiritual adversary, not an impersonal negative force or karmic principle as in some Brazilian folk-spiritual frameworks; victory over him is grounded in Christ, not ritual protection practices.
World Fallen System
Approved rendering: mundo
Transliteration: kosmos
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: κόσμος
Category: Kingdom
1 John uses κόσμος in two senses: fallen humanity as object of God’s saving love (4:9) and the value-system opposed to God, to be neither loved (2:15-17) nor feared but overcome (4:4; 5:4-5). Genuinely irreducible polysemy gap at the lexical level; flag every occurrence for a translator/teacher note specifying which sense is active.
Lust Triad
Approved rendering: a concupiscência da carne, a concupiscência dos olhos e a soberba da vida
Transliteration: epithymia tēs sarkos / tōn ophthalmōn / alazoneia tou biou
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός / τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν / ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου
Category: Kingdom
1 John 2:16. The threefold definition of worldliness; traditional Almeida-register phrase, stable across Portuguese Bible traditions, low incremental risk.
Water And Blood
Approved rendering: a água e o sangue
Transliteration: to hydōr kai to haima
Doctrine: Apostolic Eyewitness Testimony
Rejected alternatives: elementos rituais simbólicos desconectados de eventos históricos
Original: τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα
Category: Christology
1 John 5:6-8. Historical, bodily events (Christ’s baptism and/or death) offered as corroborating witnesses to his identity, alongside the Spirit; brief contextual gloss recommended to avoid readers drifting toward the ritual-offering lens flagged for blood_of_jesus.
Testimony
Approved rendering: testemunho
Transliteration: martyria / martyreō
Doctrine: Apostolic Eyewitness Testimony
Rejected alternatives: revelação mediúnica ou visionária, psicografia (Kardecist mediumistic transcription, as already flagged in the baseline prophecy entry)
Original: μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω
Category: Faith
1 John 1:2; 4:14; 5:6-11. Eyewitness, historically-grounded apostolic witness, not mediumistic or visionary ‘revelation.’ The ordinary verb ‘testemunhar’ is safe in running biblical text; add an awareness note for adjacent catechetical material discussing ‘Testemunhas de Jeová’ to avoid incidental confusion.
Christs Return
Approved rendering: vinda
Transliteration: parousia
Doctrine: Christ’s Return (Parousia)
1 John 2:28; 3:2-3. Standard future, personal, visible return of Christ and believers’ resulting transformation; low additional Brazilian-specific risk beyond general OT/eschatology literacy gaps already noted in the baseline.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: companheirismo
Transliteration: koinōnia
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: comunhão dos santos (specific Catholic liturgical formula)
Use ‘companheirismo’ for 1 John’s horizontal, believer-to-believer sense (1:7); reserve ‘comunhão’ for the vertical sense with the Father and Son (1:3,6) per the new fellowship_with_god entry below, which elevates this doctrine’s risk tier for this curriculum. Inherited from Romans package.
Prophet
Approved rendering: profeta
Transliteration: prophētēs
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture
Rejected alternatives: médium (channeler of spirit messages)
Original: προφήτης
Category: Covenant
God’s spokesperson, not a Kardecist medium channeling messages from discarnate spirits. Relevant to 1 John 4:1’s antithetical ‘false prophets’ (ψευδοπροφῆται). Inherited from Romans package.
Cain
Approved rendering: Caim
Transliteration: Kain
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
1 John 3:12. Proper name; negative counter-example to brotherly love. Standard, unambiguous transliteration in the Almeida tradition.
Walk
Approved rendering: andar
Transliteration: peripateō
Doctrine: Walking in the Light versus Darkness
1 John 1:6-7; 2:6,11. Standard metaphor for lived conduct/lifestyle; low risk, standard rendering.