Semantic Analysis

Semantic Analysis: Gospel of John (Koine Greek) — Full Book, for Punjabi Destination Language

Methodology

This analysis follows the PRD Phase 1 Step 1 mandate: the ENTIRE book of John is analyzed chapter by chapter, first to last. The core passage, John 3:1-21, receives verse-by-verse treatment of every load-bearing term. Every other chapter receives a chapter section covering its load-bearing theological terms with the same fields: original word, transliteration, literal meaning, semantic range, English variants, contextual theological meaning, and destination-language (Punjabi) rendering risk.

Terms already fixed in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json are reused exactly and are marked “(established, reused from Romans TM)” rather than re-derived. New terms proposed here are candidates for addition to translation memory and are flagged with a risk tier using the same Critical/High/Medium/Low framework as the baseline doctrine_risk_registry.json.

Punjabi script throughout is Gurmukhi, per baseline convention. No Shahmukhi or Romanized forms appear in destination-language renderings themselves (transliterations given here are for the analyst’s reference only).

PART A — CORE PASSAGE: John 3:1-21 (Verse-by-Verse)

John 3:1

Greek: Ἦν δὲ ἄνθρωπος ἐκ τῶν Φαρισαίων, Νικόδημος ὄνομα αὐτῷ, ἄρχων τῶν Ἰουδαίων.

Φαρισαῖος (Pharisaios) — Lit. “separated one.” Semantic range: member of a Jewish lay-renewal sect emphasizing strict Torah observance and oral tradition. English variants: “Pharisee.” Theological meaning: establishes Nicodemus’s credentials as a religiously serious, law-observant Jewish teacher — his coming to Jesus is significant precisely because he represents establishment piety. Punjabi: ਫ਼ਰੀਸੀ (Farisi, transliteration). Risk: Low — but requires a brief historical-cultural gloss for readers with no Second Temple Judaism background, similar to the OT-background flag already used for seed_of_david in the baseline.
Νικόδημος (Nikodēmos) — proper name. Punjabi: ਨਿਕੁਦੇਮੁਸ (transliteration, per Punjabi Bible naming convention). Risk: Low.
ἄρχων (archōn) — Lit. “ruler, first one.” Semantic range: a member of the ruling council (Sanhedrin). English variants: “ruler,” “leader,” “member of the council.” Theological meaning: Nicodemus holds religious-political authority, heightening the drama of a teacher-of-Israel seeking instruction from Jesus. Punjabi: ਆਗੂ (agu, leader). Risk: Low.
Ἰουδαῖος (Ioudaios) — Lit./semantic range: “Jew,” “Judean”; in John can mean the ethnic-religious people broadly OR (very often) the hostile Jerusalem religious authorities specifically. English variants: “Jew,” “the Jews,” “Jewish leaders.” Punjabi: ਯਹੂਦੀ (Yahudi, established transliteration). Risk: Medium — John’s frequent “the Jews” (οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι) must be handled with contextual sensitivity throughout the whole Gospel to avoid an anti-Jewish reading; where the narrative clearly means the hostile leadership, a contextual gloss “ਯਹੂਦੀ ਆਗੂ” (Jewish leaders) is recommended rather than a blanket ethnic label. Flagged for native-speaker review wherever it recurs (see Chapters 5, 7-9, 18-19).

John 3:2

Greek: οὗτος ἦλθεν πρὸς αὐτὸν νυκτὸς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Ῥαββί, οἴδαμεν ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐλήλυθας διδάσκαλος· οὐδεὶς γὰρ δύναται ταῦτα τὰ σημεῖα ποιεῖν ἃ σὺ ποιεῖς, ἐὰν μὴ ᾖ ὁ θεὸς μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ.

νυκτός (nyktos) — “by night.” Theological/literary significance: John’s light/darkness motif begins immediately — Nicodemus comes out of the dark, foreshadowing 3:19-21. Low risk, but translators should preserve this detail plainly (ਰਾਤ ਨੂੰ) without added commentary, letting the motif do its own work.
Ῥαββί (Rhabbi) — Lit. “my great one / my master,” a Jewish honorific for a teacher of the Law. English variants: “Rabbi,” “Teacher,” “Master.” Theological meaning: Nicodemus addresses Jesus with the highest available title of respect for a religious teacher, yet — as ch. 3 will show — still fundamentally misunderstands him. CRITICAL TRANSLATION DECISION: NEVER render as ਗੁਰੂ. Punjabi: ਰੱਬੀ (transliteration of the Hebrew/Aramaic title, following the same logic that gives Punjabi ਰਸੂਲ for “apostle” — a borrowed, non-native title rather than a native title already reserved for a different, incompatible role). Risk: Critical — this is a direct extension of the baseline’s apostle/ਗੁਰੂ prohibition into a term that appears repeatedly through John (1:38, 3:2, 4:31, 6:25, 9:2, 11:8, 20:16 “Rabboni”). Applying ਗੁਰੂ to Jesus would be a category error of the highest order: it would fold the eternal, pre-existent, divine Son (John’s own explicit claim, ch. 1) into the closed Sikh doctrine of the Guru lineage terminating in the Guru Granth Sahib. This risk did not exist in Romans (Paul is never called “Rabbi”) and is newly introduced by John’s Gospel; it must be added to the forbidden-substitution list for this curriculum.
διδάσκαλος (didaskalos) — Lit. “teacher, instructor.” Same critical prohibition applies: Punjabi ਉਸਤਾਦ (ustad, a Perso-Arabic loanword already naturalized in Punjabi for “teacher/master craftsman,” carrying no Sikh guru-lineage association). Risk: Critical, same reasoning as Ῥαββί above. Recurs at 3:10 (“teacher of Israel”) — see below.
σημεῖον (sēmeion) — Lit. “sign, mark, token.” Semantic range: in John, specifically the miracles of Jesus understood as pointing beyond themselves to his identity (distinct from the Synoptics’ more common δύναμις, “act of power”). English variants: “sign,” “miracle,” “miraculous sign.” Punjabi: ਚਿੰਨ੍ਹ (chinh, sign/symbol). Risk: Medium — REJECT ਨਿਸ਼ਾਨ as the primary rendering: ਨਿਸ਼ਾਨ carries a specific, visible institutional association in Punjab today (the Nishan Sahib, the Sikh triangular flag flown at every Gurdwara), which would import an unrelated devotional-institutional image into a term John uses theologically (a sign points to who Jesus is). ਚਿੰਨ੍ਹ avoids this collision while preserving the “pointer/indicator” sense. New term for translation memory; recurs constantly through chs. 2–12 (John’s “Book of Signs”).

John 3:3

Greek: ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν, οὐ δύναται ἰδεῖν τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ.

Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι (Amēn amēn legō soi) — “Truly, truly, I say to you” — John’s distinctive double-Amen formula (25 occurrences), marking a solemn, authoritative pronouncement unique to Jesus’s speech in this Gospel. Punjabi: ਮੈਂ ਤੈਨੂੰ ਸੱਚ ਸੱਚ ਆਖਦਾ ਹਾਂ. Risk: Low, but flag for consistency — this exact formula must render identically every time it recurs (over 20 times across the book) per the baseline’s cross-document consistency principle.
γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν (gennēthē anōthen) — This is the single most theologically load-bearing phrase in the core passage. γεννάω, lit. “to beget, bring forth, give birth to” — used of both natural procreation/birth and, metaphorically, of spiritual origin. ἄνωθεν is a deliberately double-meaning Greek adverb: it can mean “again, a second time” (temporally) OR “from above” (spatially/spiritually — its dominant sense elsewhere in John, e.g. 3:31, 19:11, 19:23). Nicodemus’s confused reply in 3:4 shows he hears only the “again” sense; Jesus’s own clarification in 3:5-8 shows he intends “from above” — birth originating from and enacted by the Spirit of God, not a repeated natural birth. English variants: “born again,” “born anew,” “born from above.” Contextual theological meaning: this is the John’s Gospel’s foundational statement of the doctrine of regeneration — a sovereign, Spirit-wrought spiritual origin, without which no one can perceive or enter God’s reign. Punjabi rendering: ਨਵੇਂ ਸਿਰਿਓਂ ਜਨਮ ਲਵੇ (nave sirion janam lave, “be born anew / from the very start”). Risk: CRITICAL. Two distinct dangers converge here: (1) Punjabi has no single word carrying the Greek’s deliberate again/from-above ambiguity, so the Nicodemus-confusion that drives the whole passage risks being flattened unless a translator note explains the wordplay explicitly; (2) far more seriously, “born again” MUST NEVER be rendered with anything resembling ਪੁਨਰ-ਜਨਮ or ਆਵਾਗਵਣ, the terms already forbidden in the baseline for “resurrection” because they name reincarnation/transmigration in Sikh doctrine. The very last thing this passage should suggest to a Punjab reader is that Jesus is describing another cycle of rebirth — he is describing the opposite: a once-for-all, Spirit-originated new beginning that ends dependence on any cycle. A mandatory translator’s bridge-note is required at every occurrence (3:3, 3:7; conceptually also 1:13).
βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ (basileia tou theou) — “Kingdom of God” (established, reused from Romans TM: ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦਾ ਰਾਜ). Risk: High (per baseline note on ਰਾਜ’s Khalsa-Raj political resonance) — here reinforced by the immediate, unambiguous spiritual-entrance framing (“see”/“enter” by new birth, not by political or communal belonging), which should be preserved plainly.

John 3:4

Greek: λέγει πρὸς αὐτὸν [ὁ] Νικόδημος· Πῶς δύναται ἄνθρωπος γεννηθῆναι γέρων ὤν; μὴ δύναται εἰς τὴν κοιλίαν τῆς μητρὸς αὐτοῦ δεύτερον εἰσελθεῖν καὶ γεννηθῆναι;

Nicodemus’s question demonstrates the “again” (not “from above”) misreading of ἄνωθεν discussed above — no new terms, but this verse is the interpretive proof-point that the wordplay note at 3:3 is essential, not optional. Punjabi must render Nicodemus’s literalism plainly (ਮਾਂ ਦੀ ਕੁੱਖ, “mother’s womb”) without importing any softening.

John 3:5

Greek: ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς· Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι, ἐὰν μή τις γεννηθῇ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος, οὐ δύναται εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ θεοῦ.

ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος (hydatos kai pneumatos, “of water and the Spirit”) — Semantic range debated across Christian tradition (physical birth + spiritual birth; ritual/baptismal cleansing + Spirit; OT cleansing imagery, e.g. Ezekiel 36:25-27, fulfilled in Spirit-given new life). Punjabi: ਪਾਣੀ ਅਤੇ ਆਤਮਾ ਤੋਂ ਜਨਮ. Risk: High — this phrase’s exegetical complexity should be preserved, not resolved, by the translation; the Punjabi rendering must stay as open as the Greek and not silently commit to one interpretive tradition (e.g., by adding “ਬਪਤਿਸਮੇ ਦੇ ਪਾਣੀ” which would import a specific baptismal reading not explicit in the text). Flag for human theologian review.
πνεῦμα (pneuma) here = Holy Spirit (established, reused from Romans TM: ਪਵਿੱਤਰ ਆਤਮਾ, or contextually shortened to ਆਤਮਾ where the referent is unambiguous within the passage, matching Punjabi Bible convention). Risk: Critical throughout, per baseline.

John 3:6

Greek: τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τῆς σαρκὸς σάρξ ἐστιν, καὶ τὸ γεγεννημένον ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος πνεῦμά ἐστιν.

σάρξ (sarx) — Lit. “flesh.” Semantic range: physical body; also, especially in Paul, fallen human nature — here in John, simply unregenerate human origin/nature as opposed to Spirit-originated life. English variants: “flesh,” “human nature,” “physical body.” Punjabi: ਸਰੀਰ (sarir) in this contrastive human-nature sense (reserve ਮਾਸ, “meat/literal flesh,” for the more graphic sacramental language of John 6 — see Chapter 6 below, a deliberate lexical distinction this analysis recommends). Risk: Medium — must clearly convey “merely human, unregenerate origin” without suggesting the body itself is evil (a common South Asian ascetic assumption this Gospel does not share; cf. John 1:14, the Word becoming σάρξ, is treated as a positive act, not a degradation).

John 3:7

Greek: μὴ θαυμάσῃς ὅτι εἶπόν σοι· δεῖ ὑμᾶς γεννηθῆναι ἄνωθεν.

Repeats γεννηθῆναι ἄνωθεν (see 3:3). No new terms.

John 3:8

Greek: τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου θέλει πνεῖ, καὶ τὴν φωνὴν αὐτοῦ ἀκούεις, ἀλλ᾿ οὐκ οἶδας πόθεν ἔρχεται καὶ ποῦ ὑπάγει· οὕτως ἐστὶν πᾶς ὁ γεγεννημένος ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος.

πνεῦμα (pneuma) — untranslatable Greek wordplay: the same word means both “wind” and “Spirit” (as also in Hebrew רוּחַ, ruach). Jesus’s illustration depends on this single word carrying both senses simultaneously. Punjabi has two separate words — ਹਵਾ (hawa, wind) and ਆਤਮਾ (atma, Spirit) — so the pun is unavoidably lost in translation. Risk: Medium — a mandatory translator’s note is required explaining that the Greek uses one word for both “wind” and “Spirit,” so that the illustration’s logic (the Spirit’s invisible, sovereign, untraceable movement) is not lost on the Punjabi reader who encounters two unrelated words.

John 3:9

Greek: ἀπεκρίθη Νικόδημος καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Πῶς δύναται ταῦτα γενέσθαι;

No new terms; Nicodemus’s continued incomprehension.

John 3:10

Greek: ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Σὺ εἶ ὁ διδάσκαλος τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ταῦτα οὐ γινώσκεις;

ὁ διδάσκαλος τοῦ Ἰσραήλ (“the teacher of Israel”) — the definite article suggests a recognized, perhaps preeminent teaching office. Same critical ਉਸਤਾਦ rendering and ਗੁਰੂ prohibition as 3:2 apply, now sharpened: Jesus’s rebuke (“you, of all people…”) depends on Nicodemus’s teaching authority being real but insufficient — this authority must not be rendered in a way (ਗੁਰੂ) that would, ironically, exceed what even Nicodemus himself would claim.

John 3:11

Greek: ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι ὅτι ὃ οἴδαμεν λαλοῦμεν καὶ ὃ ἑωράκαμεν μαρτυροῦμεν, καὶ τὴν μαρτυρίαν ἡμῶν οὐ λαμβάνετε.

μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία (martyreō / martyria) — Lit. “to bear witness / testimony,” a legal-forensic term (cf. courtroom witness) that becomes one of John’s dominant theological categories (John the Baptist’s testimony, the Father’s testimony, the Spirit’s testimony, the works’ testimony, the Scriptures’ testimony). English variants: “testify,” “bear witness,” “testimony,” “witness.” Punjabi: ਗਵਾਹੀ ਦੇਣਾ (gawahi dena, to bear witness) / ਗਵਾਹੀ (gawahi, testimony). Risk: Medium — theologically important as a structuring category for the whole Gospel (see Chapters 1, 5, 8, 15 below); must render consistently throughout.

John 3:12

Greek: εἰ τὰ ἐπίγεια εἶπον ὑμῖν καὶ οὐ πιστεύετε, πῶς ἐὰν εἴπω ὑμῖν τὰ ἐπουράνια πιστεύσετε;

πιστεύω (pisteuō, “believe”) — verb form of established faith (ਨਿਹਚਾ). Punjabi: ਨਿਹਚਾ ਕਰਨਾ (nihcha karna). Risk: High (inherits the risk profile of ਨਿਹਚਾ from the baseline) — note the Greek construction πιστεύειν εἰς (“believe INTO,” a directional, whole-person entrusting, as at 3:16, 3:18) is stronger than “believe that” (a propositional πιστεύειν ὅτι, as here in 3:12). Where the Greek uses εἰς, the Punjabi should favor ਨਿਹਚਾ ਕਰਨਾ…ਵਿੱਚ or ਉੱਤੇ ਨਿਹਚਾ ਕਰਨਾ to preserve the sense of personal trust placed IN Christ, not mere assent to a claim ABOUT him. This distinction recurs at 3:15, 3:16, 3:18 below and should be flagged for consistent handling.

John 3:13

Greek: καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς, ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.

ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (ho huios tou anthrōpou, “the Son of Man”) — a Messianic self-designation drawn from Daniel 7:13-14 (one “like a son of man” given everlasting dominion), used by Jesus of himself throughout the Gospels as his preferred title. English variants: “Son of Man,” “the Man.” Contextual theological meaning: paradoxically combines humility (a human figure) with the highest divine authority (descended from/ascending to heaven, exercising judgment). Punjabi: ਮਨੁੱਖ ਦਾ ਪੁੱਤਰ (manukkh da puttar). Risk: High — without the Daniel 7 background, Punjabi readers will hear only “a human being,” missing the deliberate paradox; requires the same kind of OT-background flag the baseline attaches to seed_of_david. Must not be confused with, nor substituted for, the separately Critical son_of_god (ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦਾ ਪੁੱਤਰ) — John uses both titles for Jesus with distinct theological freight, and translators must keep them lexically distinct.
καταβάς / ἀναβέβηκεν (“descended / ascended”) — pre-existence and return language; directly supports the doctrine of Christ’s pre-existence (cf. ch. 1 analysis below). Punjabi: ਉਤਰਿਆ (descended) / ਚੜ੍ਹਿਆ (ascended). Risk: Medium; flag as doctrinally load-bearing for the Deity/Pre-existence of Christ doctrine even though the individual words are common.

John 3:14

Greek: καὶ καθὼς Μωϋσῆς ὕψωσεν τὸν ὄφιν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, οὕτως ὑψωθῆναι δεῖ τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου,

ὑψόω (hypsoō, “lift up, exalt”) — Lit. “to lift high, raise up.” Semantic range: deliberately double: (1) the physical lifting up of Jesus on the cross; (2) exaltation/glorification (its dominant sense in the LXX and elsewhere in John, e.g. 8:28, 12:32-34, echoing Isaiah 52:13). English variants: “lifted up,” “exalted.” Contextual theological meaning: the cross itself IS Jesus’s exaltation/glorification in John’s theology — a paradox central to Christ’s substitutionary death doctrine. Punjabi: ਉੱਚਾ ਕੀਤਾ ਜਾਣਾ (ucha kita jana). Risk: Critical — the double meaning (shameful execution = glorious exaltation) must be preserved or explicitly noted; a flattened rendering (e.g., using only a word meaning “crucified/killed”) would lose the theological paradox entirely. Requires the OT background of Numbers 21:4-9 (the bronze serpent) to be supplied for a Punjabi audience unfamiliar with the Torah narrative.

John 3:15

Greek: ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ἐν αὐτῷ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.

ζωὴ αἰώνιος (zōē aiōnios, “eternal life”) — ζωή, lit. “life” (as opposed to βίος, mere biological existence, or ψυχή, soul/self); αἰώνιος, “eternal, age-lasting, belonging to the age to come.” Semantic range: not merely unending duration but a qualitatively new kind of life — participation now in the life of the age to come, a relationship with God through Christ (cf. John 17:3, “this is eternal life, that they know you…”). English variants: “eternal life,” “everlasting life,” “life of the age to come.” Punjabi: ਸਦੀਵੀ ਜੀਵਨ (sadivi jivan). Risk: CRITICAL — this is the doctrinal keystone term of the whole Gospel (used ~17 times) and stands in direct, necessary relationship to the baseline’s already-Critical salvation (ਮੁਕਤੀ) entry. The SAME danger applies with even greater force here: a Punjabi reader must not hear “eternal life” as the Hindu/Sikh goal of liberation from the cycle of rebirth (ਆਵਾਗਵਣ) achieved gradually through meditative merit, nor as an impersonal, un-ending continuation of consciousness (a concern shared with Hindu moksha frameworks). Every doctrinally load-bearing occurrence of ਸਦੀਵੀ ਜੀਵਨ should carry the same category of mandatory clarifying gloss the baseline requires for ਮੁਕਤੀ: eternal life is a decisive, relational, once-given gift received now by faith in Christ (John 5:24, “has passed from death to life”), not a status attained gradually through religious practice across possibly many lifetimes.

John 3:16

Greek: Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὥστε τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλ᾿ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.

ἀγαπάω (agapaō, “to love”) — the distinctively self-giving, willed love of God, as opposed to mere affection or attraction to what is lovable. English variants: “love,” “loved.” Punjabi: ਪਿਆਰ (piar) / verb ਪਿਆਰ ਕਰਨਾ. Risk: High (new term for translation memory) — ਪਿਆਰ/ਪ੍ਰੇਮ has strong positive resonance in Punjabi bhakti and Sufi devotional vocabulary (divine-human love as the heart of religion), which is a genuine bridge, BUT the direction of movement must stay clear: in 3:16 God initiates love toward a rebellious world at cost to himself (giving his Son), which is the reverse movement from bhakti’s devotee-initiated love straining toward the divine. A translator’s note anchoring this as God’s initiating, sacrificial love (cf. established grace, ਕਿਰਪਾ) rather than devotional aspiration is recommended.
κόσμος (kosmos, “world”) — Lit. “order, arrangement” (cf. “cosmos”); in John, semantic range spans (a) the created physical order, (b) the whole of humanity, and, very often, (c) humanity organized in hostile rebellion against God (cf. 1:10, 15:18-19). English variants: “world,” “the world,” “humanity.” Punjabi: ਸੰਸਾਰ (sansar). Risk: High — ਸੰਸਾਰ is cognate with Sanskrit/Hindi saṃsāra, the technical term for the cycle of rebirth and worldly entanglement in Hindu and Sikh thought. John’s κόσμος is NOT a cyclical metaphysical system to escape but the object of God’s decisive, historical love and the arena of his saving action. Translators must ensure context makes clear that “world” here means “humanity/created order,” not the doctrinal Samsara-cycle — a risk not present in Romans’ vocabulary and newly introduced by John’s Gospel, where κόσμος is used 78 times.
μονογενής (monogenēs, “only, unique, one-of-a-kind”) — Lit. “only-born” or “unique-kind” (the -genēs element indicates kind/class more than the act of birth per se). Semantic range: “only child,” “unique, without peer.” English variants: “only begotten,” “only,” “one and only.” Contextual theological meaning: asserts Christ’s utterly unique, non-repeatable Sonship — not one son among others, not one of several divine emanations or avatars. Punjabi: ਇਕਲੌਤਾ ਪੁੱਤਰ (iklauta puttar, “only/unique son”). Risk: CRITICAL — must always appear alongside or clearly connected to the established son_of_god (ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦਾ ਪੁੱਤਰ) so the two together assert both full deity and unrepeatable uniqueness; this guards decisively against any Hindu avatar-among-many or Sikh Guru-lineage-successor misreading of Christ’s Sonship.
ἀπόλλυμι (apollymi, “perish”) — Lit. “to destroy, lose, ruin.” Punjabi: ਨਾਸ ਹੋਣਾ (nash hona). Risk: Medium — the contrast “perish / have eternal life” is a binary, not a spectrum; ensure the Punjabi retains the same stark either/or force found in the Greek.

John 3:17

Greek: οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν υἱὸν εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἵνα κρίνῃ τὸν κόσμον, ἀλλ᾿ ἵνα σωθῇ ὁ κόσμος δι᾿ αὐτοῦ.

κρίνω (krinō, “to judge, condemn”) — Lit. “to separate, decide, judge.” Semantic range spans neutral “to evaluate/decide” and the negative “to condemn.” English variants: “judge,” “condemn.” Punjabi: ਨਿਆਂ ਕਰਨਾ (nyay karna, to judge) — note this is a DIFFERENT use of ਨਿਆਂ than the one explicitly rejected in the baseline as an alternative for “righteousness” (ਧਾਰਮਿਕਤਾ); here it correctly names legal/forensic judgment, not right-standing, so no conflict arises, but translators must not confuse the two entries. Risk: Medium.
σῴζω (sōzō, “to save”) — verb form of established salvation (ਮੁਕਤੀ). Punjabi: ਬਚਾਉਣਾ / passive ਮੁਕਤੀ ਪਾਉਣਾ or ਬਚਾਇਆ ਜਾਣਾ. Risk: Critical, inherits the full mukti-gloss requirement from the baseline’s salvation entry — John 3:17 is a doctrinally load-bearing occurrence requiring the mandatory Sikh/Christian mukti-distinction note.

John 3:18

Greek: ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν οὐ κρίνεται· ὁ δὲ μὴ πιστεύων ἤδη κέκριται, ὅτι μὴ πεπίστευκεν εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ μονογενοῦς υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ.

κέκριται (“has been condemned already”) — perfect tense, stressing a settled, present state of condemnation, not merely a future prospect. Punjabi should preserve this present-settled sense: ਦੋਸ਼ੀ ਠਹਿਰਾਇਆ ਜਾ ਚੁੱਕਾ ਹੈ (already stands condemned), rather than a future-tense rendering. Risk: High — this verse anchors the “Judgment and Belief/Unbelief” doctrine: judgment is not merely future but a present reality determined by one’s relationship to Christ now.
τὸ ὄνομα (to onoma, “the name”) — “believing in the name of” is a Hebraic idiom for trusting the person and revealed character/authority behind the name, not a magical formula. Punjabi: ਨਾਮ (naam) — CAUTION: ਨਾਮ (Naam) is one of the single most theologically loaded words in all of Sikh doctrine (Naam Japna/Naam-simran, meditative repetition of the divine Name as the central spiritual practice of Sikhism). Risk: High — while ਨਾਮ is the correct, unavoidable Punjabi word for “name,” translators must ensure context makes unmistakably clear that “believing in his name” means personal trust in the person of Christ and what God has revealed him to be, NOT a meditative practice of repeating a sacred syllable/name for spiritual merit. This is a newly surfaced risk for John’s Gospel (which uses “name” theology repeatedly — 1:12, 3:18, 20:31) not previously addressed in the Romans baseline.

John 3:19

Greek: αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ κρίσις ὅτι τὸ φῶς ἐλήλυθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον καὶ ἠγάπησαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι μᾶλλον τὸ σκότος ἢ τὸ φῶς· ἦν γὰρ πονηρὰ αὐτῶν τὰ ἔργα.

κρίσις (krisis, “judgment”) — noun form of κρίνω above; here explicitly DEFINED by John as the confrontation between light and darkness, not a future courtroom scene alone. Punjabi: ਨਿਆਂ. Risk: Medium (see 3:17 note).
φῶς (phōs, “light”) — Lit. “light.” Semantic range: physical light; also, dominantly in John, divine self-revelation, truth, and moral purity embodied in Christ (cf. 1:4-9; 8:12; 9:5; 12:35-36,46). English variants: “light.” Punjabi: ਚਾਨਣ (chanan). Risk: CRITICAL — REJECT ਜੋਤ. This is one of the most important new forbidden-substitution decisions this curriculum must make: ਜੋਤ names, in Sikh doctrine, the single divine light passed sequentially through the Ten Gurus into the Guru Granth Sahib as its permanent living Guru — precisely the kind of transmitted, successive revelation-structure the baseline already rejects for both glory and holy_spirit. Using ਜੋਤ for John’s φῶς — a Gospel saturated with light-language describing Christ’s own unique, once-for-all self-disclosure — would risk collapsing John’s Christology into the Guru-lineage light-transmission doctrine at exactly the point where the two are most different. ਚਾਨਣ (ordinary, non-liturgical Punjabi word for “light/illumination”) is required instead.
σκότος / σκοτία (skotos/skotia, “darkness”) — Punjabi: ਹਨੇਰਾ (hanera). Risk: Low, but always paired with the φῶς decision above; the light/darkness contrast must remain sharp and binary as in the Greek.
ἔργα (erga, “works, deeds”) — Punjabi: ਕੰਮ or ਕਾਰਜ. Risk: Low here, though “works” becomes theologically weighty elsewhere in John (the Father’s works, ch. 5, 9-10) — see those chapters below.

John 3:20

Greek: πᾶς γὰρ ὁ φαῦλα πράσσων μισεῖ τὸ φῶς καὶ οὐκ ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ φῶς, ἵνα μὴ ἐλεγχθῇ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ·

ἐλέγχω (elenchō, “expose, convict, reprove”) — Lit. “to bring to light, cross-examine, refute.” Semantic range: to expose wrongdoing, convict, or rebuke through demonstrated evidence. English variants: “expose,” “reprove,” “convict.” Punjabi: ਦੋਸ਼ੀ ਠਹਿਰਾਉਣਾ here in the sense of “exposed as guilty” — note this SAME Greek verb, ἐλέγχω, recurs critically in John 16:8 for the Holy Spirit’s convicting work; translators should use a related but context-flexible Punjabi rendering (see Chapter 16 below) while keeping the conceptual link visible. Risk: Medium.

John 3:21

Greek: ὁ δὲ ποιῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ φῶς, ἵνα φανερωθῇ αὐτοῦ τὰ ἔργα ὅτι ἐν θεῷ ἐστιν εἰργασμένα.

ἀλήθεια (alētheia, “truth”) — Lit. “un-hiddenness, that which is not concealed” (from Greek a- privative + lēthē, “forgetting/concealment”). Semantic range: factual accuracy; also, dominantly in John, God’s own reality and faithfulness disclosed in Christ (cf. 1:14,17; 14:6; 18:37-38). English variants: “truth,” “truthfulness,” “reality.” Punjabi: ਸਚਾਈ (sachai). Risk: High — Sikh theology centers on Sat/Satnam (“True Name,” from the Mul Mantar’s opening ੴ ਸਤਿ ਨਾਮੁ), where Truth is God’s fundamental nature approached through Naam-simran. This is a genuine, positive point of contact (as with grace/ਕਿਰਪਾ and fellowship/ਸੰਗਤ in the baseline) but requires the same discipline: John’s ਸਚਾਈ is PERSONAL and christologically concrete (John 14:6, “I am…the truth”), disclosed once in the incarnate Christ, not an abstract divine attribute approached through meditative repetition of the Name. “Doing the truth” (ποιῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν, a Hebraic idiom for living faithfully/authentically) should be rendered plainly: ਸਚਾਈ ਅਨੁਸਾਰ ਚੱਲਣਾ or ਸਚਾਈ ਕਰਨਾ.
φανερόω (phaneroō, “to make manifest/visible”) — Punjabi: ਪ੍ਰਗਟ ਹੋਣਾ. Risk: Low.
ἐν θεῷ…εἰργασμένα (“having been carried out in God”) — perfect passive, stressing these works are God’s own accomplishment in the believer, not self-generated righteousness — an early echo of the grace-versus-merit theme central to both Paul (already governed by baseline) and John. Flag for consistency with the baseline’s grace note.

PART B — WHOLE-BOOK CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER STUDY

Chapter 1 — The Word, Pre-existence, Incarnation, and the Call of the First Disciples

λόγος (logos, “Word”) — Lit. “word, speech, reason, account.” Semantic range in Greek philosophy: the rational principle ordering the universe; in the LXX, God’s creative, active speech (Genesis 1; Psalm 33:6). English variants: “Word,” “the Word.” Contextual theological meaning: John 1:1-18 identifies Jesus as the eternal, pre-existent, personal λόγος — “in the beginning” (ἐν ἀρχῇ, echoing Genesis 1:1), “with God,” and “was God” (θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος). Punjabi rendering: ਬਚਨ (bachan, “word/utterance,” already the established Punjabi Christian idiom for “the Word of God” referring to Scripture). Risk: CRITICAL — REJECT ਸ਼ਬਦ as the primary rendering, despite it being the most literal cognate: in Sikh theology, ਸ਼ਬਦ (Shabad) names the divine utterance embodied in the hymns of the Guru Granth Sahib, capped by the formal doctrine “ਸ਼ਬਦ ਗੁਰੂ” (the Shabad is the Guru) — using ਸ਼ਬਦ for John’s λόγος would risk assimilating Christ’s unique, personal, eternal identity into the closed scriptural-Guru transmission structure the baseline already excludes for holy_spirit and glory. Also REJECT ਕਲਾਮ (the Perso-Arabic/Urdu term used in Islamic and Punjabi-Muslim Shahmukhi contexts for divine speech, parallel to the already-rejected ਈਸਾ for “Jesus” in the baseline) — not used in this Gurmukhi-script mainstream Christian curriculum. This is arguably THE single highest-stakes new lexical decision this Language Package makes for John’s Gospel, since it governs the Gospel’s entire Christological opening.
ἐν ἀρχῇ (en archē, “in the beginning”) — deliberately echoes Genesis 1:1 (LXX: Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός). Punjabi: ਆਦ ਵਿੱਚ, matching the established Punjabi Old Testament rendering of Genesis 1:1 (ਉਤਪਤ 1:1) so the deliberate intertextual echo is preserved for the Punjabi reader. Risk: Medium (translation-consistency risk, not doctrinal-collision risk).
θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος (“the Word was God”) — Greek grammatical note: θεός here is anarthrous (no definite article) but functions as a qualitative predicate nominative — “the Word was [fully, essentially] God,” not “the Word was a god” (a rendering associated with certain non-Trinitarian groups and firmly rejected by the historic Christian tradition this curriculum follows). Punjabi: ਸ਼ਬਦ ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਸੀ. Risk: CRITICAL — the definite, established god term (ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ) must be used without qualification or softening (e.g., never “ਇੱਕ ਦੇਵਤਾ,” “a god/deity,” which would suggest one deity among many, an idea perfectly at home in the Hindu devotional landscape of Punjab but fatal to the doctrine here).
σάρξ (sarx) — “the Word became flesh” (ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, 1:14) — this is the incarnation doctrine already defined as Critical in the baseline, rendered ਦੇਹਧਾਰਨ (established). Risk: Critical, per baseline — REJECT ਅਵਤਾਰ, and note the baseline’s required “theological bridge” explanation (a unique, once-for-all act of divine self-disclosure, not a repeatable avatar-descent, and not incompatible with Waheguru’s formlessness/ਨਿਰੰਕਾਰ) is directly and urgently triggered by this verse, the clearest incarnational statement in the New Testament.
χάρις καὶ ἀλήθεια (charis kai alētheia, “grace and truth”) — established grace (ਕਿਰਪਾ) paired with truth (ਸਚਾਈ, see John 3:21 above). Risk: High (compounding both terms’ individual risk profiles) — 1:14, 1:17 explicitly contrast Moses/Law with Christ’s grace and truth; must preserve the contrast per the baseline’s grace-versus-merit preservation rule.
μονογενής (monogenēs) — see John 3:16 above; occurs already at 1:14, 1:18. Punjabi: ਇਕਲੌਤਾ (in construct with ਪੁੱਤਰ, “Son,” or at 1:18 with a fuller construction “ਇਕਲੌਤਾ ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ” / “ਇਕਲੌਤਾ ਪੁੱਤਰ” depending on manuscript tradition — flag textual variant for theologian review at 1:18, μονογενὴς θεός vs μονογενὴς υἱός).
μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω (martyria/martyreō) — John the Baptist’s role is defined entirely in these terms (1:7-8, 15, 19, 32, 34). See John 3:11 above for full entry; establishes “witness/testimony” as a major structural category from the Gospel’s very first paragraph.
τέκνα θεοῦ (tekna theou, “children of God”) — Lit. “children of God.” Distinct Greek word from υἱοθεσία (“adoption,” Paul’s legal-status metaphor, already established in the baseline as ਦੱਤਕ ਪੁੱਤਰਤਾ). John’s τέκνα emphasizes organic, birth-based new identity (“born…of God,” 1:13) rather than Paul’s forensic adoption metaphor — complementary truths, different registers. English variants: “children of God,” “God’s children.” Punjabi: ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦੇ ਬੱਚੇ (new term; do NOT substitute ਦੱਤਕ ਪੁੱਤਰਤਾ, which belongs specifically to the Pauline legal-adoption metaphor). Risk: High — a translator’s note distinguishing these two related-but-distinct biblical metaphors (birth/new nature vs. adoption/legal status) is recommended so the curriculum’s cross-book vocabulary stays coherent.
ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (amnos tou theou, “Lamb of God”) — John the Baptist’s declaration (1:29, 36). Lit. “lamb.” Semantic range: draws on OT sacrificial and Passover imagery (Exodus 12; Isaiah 53:7). English variants: “Lamb of God.” Contextual theological meaning: identifies Jesus as the sacrificial substitute who “takes away the sin of the world” — foundational to the Substitutionary Death doctrine. Punjabi: ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦਾ ਲੇਲਾ (Parmeshar da lela). Risk: Critical — requires the same category of OT-background bridging note the baseline attaches to seed_of_david: Punjab’s Sikh and Hindu traditions have no equivalent substitutionary-sacrifice concept, and without the Passover/Isaiah 53 background this title will not communicate its intended meaning.
Ῥαββί / διδάσκαλος — first occurrence at 1:38 (“Rabbi (which means Teacher)”). See John 3:2 above for the full Critical-risk analysis; note 1:38 is where the Gospel itself glosses the term for a non-Jewish audience, giving translators a built-in opportunity to supply the ਰੱਬੀ/ਉਸਤਾਦ pairing naturally.
Μεσσίας (Messias) / Χριστός (Christos) — 1:41 explicitly glosses “Messiah” as “Christ.” Established: ਮਸੀਹ (Masih). Risk: Critical, per baseline.
βασιλεὺς τοῦ Ἰσραήλ (“King of Israel”) — Nathanael’s confession, 1:49. Punjabi: ਇਸਰਾਏਲ ਦਾ ਰਾਜਾ. Risk: Medium — ties Davidic/messianic kingship expectation to Jesus; connects to established kingdom_of_god cautions about political-sovereignty misreadings.

Chapter 2 — First Sign at Cana; Temple Cleansing

σημεῖον (sēmeion, “sign”) — see full entry at John 3:2 above; 2:11 explicitly calls the Cana miracle “the first of his signs” (ἀρχὴν τῶν σημείων), establishing John’s programmatic use of the term from this point forward. No new fields beyond the ch. 3 entry; recurs at 2:11, 2:18, 2:23.
ἱερόν (hieron) / ναός (naos, “temple”) — ἱερόν: the whole temple precinct/complex; ναός: the sanctuary building itself, used by Jesus at 2:19-21 in a deliberate double-meaning (“destroy this temple…he was speaking about the temple of his body”). Punjabi: ਹੈਕਲ (haikal, the established Punjabi Bible term for the Jerusalem Temple). Risk: Medium — REJECT ਮੰਦਰ, per the baseline’s existing rejection of ਮੰਦਰ for church (Hindu temple association); ਹੈਕਲ avoids this collision. 2:21’s body-as-temple metaphor should be flagged for translator note, since the wordplay (physical building / Christ’s body) depends on the same Punjabi word covering both referents naturally, which ਹੈਕਲ does not automatically do — a brief clarifying phrase is recommended.
ζῆλος (zēlos, “zeal”) — 2:17, quoting Psalm 69:9 (“zeal for your house will consume me”). Punjabi: ਅਣਖ or ਸਰਗਰਮੀ. Risk: Low.

Chapter 3 (verses 22-36) — Remainder of the Chapter Beyond the Core Passage

ὁ φίλος τοῦ νυμφίου (“the friend of the bridegroom”) — John the Baptist’s self-description, 3:29. Punjabi: ਲਾੜੇ ਦਾ ਮਿੱਤਰ. Risk: Low; a culturally resonant image (the “best man” figure at a Punjabi wedding) requiring no vocabulary adjustment.
ἐκεῖνον δεῖ αὐξάνειν, ἐμὲ δὲ ἐλαττοῦσθαι (“he must increase, but I must decrease”) — 3:30. Punjabi: ਉਸ ਨੂੰ ਵਧਣਾ ਹੈ, ਅਤੇ ਮੈਨੂੰ ਘਟਣਾ ਹੈ. Risk: Low, though theologically significant as a model of humble, Christ-centered ministry (cf. the baseline’s christ_centered_ministry doctrine, extended here from Paul’s writings to John the Baptist’s own witness).
ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ (orgē tou theou, “the wrath of God”) — 3:36, the chapter’s closing warning. Lit. “settled anger, retributive indignation” — a judicial, not capricious or emotional, response to persistent unbelief. English variants: “wrath,” “anger,” “judgment.” Punjabi: ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦਾ ਗੁੱਸਾ (Parmeshar da gussa). Risk: High (new term for translation memory) — must be carefully framed as God’s righteous, judicial response to unbelief, not an impersonal karmic consequence (a plausible but incorrect assimilation available in both Hindu and Sikh frameworks of moral cause-and-effect) nor a fickle deity’s temper. Directly completes the belief/unbelief-and-judgment thought begun in 3:18-21.

Chapter 4 — The Samaritan Woman; Living Water; Worship in Spirit and Truth

Σαμαρίτης / Σαμαρῖται (Samaritēs, “Samaritan(s)”) — Punjabi: ਸਾਮਰੀ. Risk: Medium — requires a cultural-historical background note (centuries of Jewish-Samaritan religious and ethnic hostility, 4:9) for a Punjabi audience with no independent knowledge of this history; without it, the scandal of Jesus’s conversation with this woman, central to the Gospel’s Universal Scope of the Gospel doctrine, will not register.
ὕδωρ ζῶν (hydōr zōn, “living water”) — Lit. “living/flowing water” (a common idiom for fresh spring water, as opposed to stagnant cistern water), used by Jesus metaphorically for Spirit-given life (4:10-14; cf. 7:37-39). Punjabi: ਜੀਵਨ ਦਾ ਪਾਣੀ (jivan da pani). Risk: Medium — connects directly to eternal_life; ensure consistency with that term’s Critical-risk gloss requirements where the passage is doctrinally load-bearing.
προσκυνέω (proskyneō, “worship”) — Lit. “to bow down, prostrate oneself before.” 4:20-24, “true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” English variants: “worship,” “adore.” Punjabi: ਉਪਾਸਨਾ (upasana). Risk: High (new term for translation memory) — REJECT ਭਗਤੀ as the primary rendering: ਭਗਤੀ names a specific devotional path/practice (bhakti-marga) for approaching or uniting with the divine, common across Hindu and Sikh tradition, and risks framing “worship in spirit and truth” as one devotional technique among others rather than as the Spirit-enabled, truth-grounded response of faith John intends. ਉਪਾਸਨਾ is the more neutral, appropriate choice. Also reuses ਸਚਾਈ (truth, see John 3:21) and ਆਤਮਾ (Spirit) here in combination — flag for the same Truth/Sat-Naam caution given above.
σωτηρία ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων (“salvation is from the Jews”) — 4:22. Established salvation/israel terms apply; note this affirms rather than undermines Jewish covenantal particularity even while the passage’s larger point is God’s universal reach beyond ethnic Israel — flag for theologian review given the doctrinal delicacy of holding both truths together.

Chapter 5 — Healing at Bethesda; Equality with the Father; Two Resurrections

σάββατον (sabbaton, “Sabbath”) — Punjabi: ਸਬਤ (transliteration, established in Punjabi Bible usage generally). Risk: Low, though the Sabbath-controversy context (5:9-18) requires background explanation of Jewish Sabbath law for a Punjabi audience.
ἴσος τῷ θεῷ (“equal with God”) — 5:18: “making himself equal with God” (ἴσον ἑαυτὸν ποιῶν τῷ θεῷ) — the Jewish leaders’ own hostile-but-accurate perception of Jesus’s claim, confirming from the narrative’s opponents themselves that Jesus’s language was understood as a direct deity-claim. Punjabi: ਆਪਣੇ ਆਪ ਨੂੰ ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦੇ ਬਰਾਬਰ ਬਣਾਉਣਾ. Risk: Critical — a key textual anchor for the Deity of Christ doctrine; must be rendered plainly, without softening “equal” toward a lesser sense such as “God-like” or “favored by God.”
ἀνάστασις ζωῆς / ἀνάστασις κρίσεως (“resurrection of life” / “resurrection of judgment”) — 5:28-29. Reuses established resurrection (ਪੁਨਰ-ਉਥਾਨ, Critical per baseline — never ਪੁਨਰ-ਜਨਮ/ਆਵਾਗਵਣ). Punjabi: ਜੀਵਨ ਦਾ ਪੁਨਰ-ਉਥਾਨ / ਨਿਆਂ ਦਾ ਪੁਨਰ-ਉਥਾਨ. Risk: Critical, per baseline resurrection entry — note this is the Gospel’s clearest statement of a final, general, bodily resurrection to either life or judgment, doctrinally distinct from (and should be explicitly contrasted with, in translator notes) any cyclical rebirth framework.
μαρτυρία (martyria) — ch. 5 develops a fourfold structure of testimony to Christ (John the Baptist, Jesus’s works, the Father, the Scriptures, 5:31-47). See John 3:11 above; no new fields, but flag this chapter as the passage where the term’s full theological weight is displayed.

Chapter 6 — Bread of Life Discourse (First “I Am” Statement)

ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς (“I am the bread of life”) — 6:35, 6:48, 6:51 — the first of the seven formal “I am + predicate” statements (see consolidated table below). Punjabi: ਮੈਂ ਜੀਵਨ ਦੀ ਰੋਟੀ ਹਾਂ. Risk: High — the “I am” (ἐγώ εἰμι) construction itself is Critical wherever it echoes the divine self-naming of Exodus 3:14 (see John 8:58 below); here, in predicated form, the risk is somewhat lower but the term should still be flagged for consistent handling across all seven occurrences.
φάγητε τὴν σάρκα…πίητε τὸ αἷμα (“eat the flesh…drink the blood”) — 6:53-56. Here John deliberately uses the more graphic σάρξ (flesh/meat) rather than the σῶμα (“body”) of the Synoptic Last Supper accounts. Punjabi: ਮਾਸ ਖਾਣਾ, ਲਹੂ ਪੀਣਾ (using ਮਾਸ, meat/literal flesh, here — deliberately distinct from the ਸਰੀਰ used for the “flesh vs. Spirit” contrast in John 3:6, since the register here is graphically sacramental rather than a nature-of-origin contrast). Risk: High — this language is culturally jarring even in its original setting (6:60-66 records disciples turning away over it) and carries added difficulty in a Punjabi context shaped by widespread vegetarian sensibility and by Sikh/Hindu ritual-purity concerns around blood; requires strong explanatory framing (symbolic, sacramental participation in Christ’s substitutionary death, not literal cannibalism) rather than any softening of the vocabulary itself.
ἑλκύω (helkyō, “to draw, drag”) — 6:44, “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” Lit. “to drag, pull forcibly” (used elsewhere in the NT of hauling in a net, John 21:6,11). Punjabi: ਖਿੱਚਣਾ (khichna). Risk: High — connects directly to the already-High-risk election/calling doctrines in the baseline; must convey God’s sovereign initiative in drawing a person to faith without suggesting coercion against the will, and must not be rendered with any word suggesting impersonal ਕਿਸਮਤ (fate).
ῥήματα ζωῆς αἰωνίου (“words of eternal life”) — Peter’s confession, 6:68. Reuses established/derived terms; flag as a key confessional statement paralleling John 3:15-16’s eternal life doctrine.

Chapter 7 — Feast of Tabernacles; Rivers of Living Water

σκηνοπηγία (skēnopēgia, “Feast of Tabernacles/Booths”) — Punjabi: ਡੇਰਿਆਂ ਦਾ ਪਰਬ (or transliterated as needed). Risk: Low-Medium; requires OT festival background (Leviticus 23:33-43) for a Punjabi audience.
ποταμοὶ…ὕδατος ζῶντος (“rivers of living water”) — 7:38-39, explicitly glossed by the narrator as referring to the (not-yet-given) Holy Spirit. Reuses living water (John 4) and holy_spirit (established, ਪਵਿੱਤਰ ਆਤਮਾ). Risk: Critical, inheriting the Holy Spirit entry’s baseline risk profile; note the “not yet” (οὔπω) timing detail (7:39) is theologically significant (the Spirit’s post-glorification coming, developed fully in chs. 14-16) and should be preserved.

Chapter 8 — “I Am the Light of the World”; Truth and Freedom; “Before Abraham Was, I Am”

ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου (“I am the light of the world”) — 8:12 (second “I am” statement). Reuses ਚਾਨਣ (John 3:19 above; never ਜੋਤ) and established kosmos/ਸੰਸਾਰ cautions. Risk: Critical, per those entries.
ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐλευθερώσει ὑμᾶς (“the truth will set you free”) — 8:32. ἐλευθερόω (eleutheroō, “to set free, liberate”) — Punjabi: ਆਜ਼ਾਦ ਕਰਨਾ (azad karna, a Perso-Arabic-derived word thoroughly naturalized in everyday Punjabi, also carrying strong positive resonance from Punjab’s own political history of freedom movements). Risk: Medium — a positive linguistic fit overall (unlike several other terms in this analysis), but flag to ensure “freedom” here is understood as freedom from sin’s bondage (8:34, “everyone who sins is a slave to sin”), not merely political or social liberation — a distinction worth making explicit given the term’s strong secular-political connotations in Punjab.
δοῦλος τῆς ἁμαρτίας (“slave of sin”) — 8:34. Reuses established sin (ਪਾਪ). Punjabi: ਪਾਪ ਦਾ ਗੁਲਾਮ. Risk: Medium.
πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί (“before Abraham was, I am”) — 8:58, the absolute (non-predicated) “I am,” directly invoking the divine self-revelation of Exodus 3:14 (LXX: ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν, “I AM WHO I AM”). Punjabi: ਅਬਰਾਹਾਮ ਦੇ ਹੋਣ ਤੋਂ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਮੈਂ ਹਾਂ. Risk: CRITICAL — this is arguably the single boldest deity-claim in the Gospel outside the prologue; the crowd’s own reaction (picking up stones to stone him for blasphemy, 8:59) confirms they understood it as a claim to be YHWH himself. The Punjabi ਮੈਂ ਹਾਂ must be rendered exactly and without qualification every time this absolute construction recurs (also 13:19, 18:5-6, 18:8), and must be flagged for mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence per the escalation rules already established in the baseline for deity-of-Christ material.

ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου (9:5) — repeats 8:12; no new terms.
προσκυνέω (proskyneō, “worship”) — 9:38, the healed man “worshipped him [Jesus].” Reuses the ch. 4 entry (ਉਪਾਸਨਾ). Risk: Critical here specifically, since this is a case of worship being directed TO Jesus and accepted by him without correction — a significant deity-of-Christ data point that should be flagged distinctly from the general worship-of-God usage in ch. 4.

Chapter 10 — Good Shepherd; “I and the Father Are One”

ἡ θύρα τῶν προβάτων (“I am the door of the sheep”) — 10:7, 9 (third “I am” statement). Punjabi: ਮੈਂ ਭੇਡਾਂ ਦਾ ਦਰਵਾਜ਼ਾ ਹਾਂ. Risk: Medium.
ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός (“the good shepherd”) — 10:11, 14 (fourth “I am” statement). Lit. “the beautiful/noble/good shepherd.” Punjabi: ਚੰਗਾ ਅਯਾਲੀ (changa ayali). Risk: Medium; a culturally accessible image in an agrarian Punjabi context, low collision risk.
τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν μου (“I lay down my life”) — 10:11, 15, 17-18. Explicitly voluntary and self-authorized (“I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again,” 10:18) — directly supports the Substitutionary Death doctrine and guards against any reading of Jesus’s death as a tragic accident or externally imposed fate. Punjabi: ਮੈਂ ਆਪਣੀ ਜਾਨ ਦਿੰਦਾ ਹਾਂ. Risk: High.
ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν (“I and the Father are one”) — 10:30. Punjabi: ਮੈਂ ਅਤੇ ਪਿਤਾ ਇੱਕ ਹਾਂ. Risk: CRITICAL — the primary textual anchor for the Unity of the Father and the Son doctrine explicitly named in this curriculum. The Jewish leaders’ immediate accusation of blasphemy (“you, being a man, make yourself God,” 10:33) again confirms the claim’s force; this verse and its surrounding context require mandatory theologian review and must never be softened toward mere moral/purpose unity alone, though that dimension is also present and may be noted alongside the stronger ontological claim.

Chapter 11 — Lazarus Raised; “I Am the Resurrection and the Life”; Caiaphas’s Prophecy

ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή (“I am the resurrection and the life”) — 11:25 (fifth “I am” statement). Reuses established resurrection (ਪੁਨਰ-ਉਥਾਨ, Critical) plus life/ਜੀਵਨ. Punjabi: ਮੈਂ ਪੁਨਰ-ਉਥਾਨ ਅਤੇ ਜੀਵਨ ਹਾਂ. Risk: Critical, per baseline resurrection entry — this verse should carry the same term-distinction note (ਪੁਨਰ-ਉਥਾਨ vs. ਪੁਨਰ-ਜਨਮ/ਆਵਾਗਵਣ) the baseline already requires for resurrection passages.
ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς (“Jesus wept”) — 11:35. No translation risk; theologically significant for the doctrine of Christ’s genuine humanity and compassion (complementing the Deity of Christ material elsewhere), worth a note for teaching purposes though not a vocabulary risk.
σὺ εἶ ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (“You are the Christ, the Son of God”) — Martha’s confession, 11:27. Combines established messiah (ਮਸੀਹ) and son_of_god (ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦਾ ਪੁੱਤਰ) — both Critical per baseline; this verse is a direct thematic parallel to the Gospel’s stated purpose (20:31) and should render identically in both places.
συμφέρει…ἵνα εἷς ἄνθρωπος ἀποθάνῃ ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ (“it is expedient that one man should die for the people”) — Caiaphas’s unwitting prophecy, 11:49-52, explicitly interpreted by John as a genuine (if unintended) prophecy of Christ’s substitutionary death “for the nation, and not for the nation only.” ὑπέρ (hyper, “on behalf of, for the sake of”) — the key substitutionary preposition. Punjabi: ਲੋਕਾਂ ਦੀ ਖ਼ਾਤਰ or ਲੋਕਾਂ ਦੇ ਬਦਲੇ. Risk: High — the substitutionary force of ὑπέρ (a stand-in death FOR others) should be preserved and not diluted into a merely exemplary or coincidental death.

Chapter 12 — Triumphal Entry; the Grain of Wheat; “Lifted Up” Again; the Ruler of This World

ἐὰν μὴ ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σίτου πεσὼν εἰς τὴν γῆν ἀποθάνῃ (“unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies”) — 12:24. Punjabi: ਜੇ ਕਣਕ ਦਾ ਦਾਣਾ ਧਰਤੀ ਵਿੱਚ ਡਿੱਗ ਕੇ ਨਾ ਮਰੇ. Risk: Low-Medium; an agriculturally resonant metaphor for death-leading-to-life directly relevant to Punjab’s own farming context — a positive natural fit, though it should be clearly tied to Christ’s own death, not generalized into a vague nature-cycle principle resembling seasonal/cyclical renewal (a caution parallel to the ਸੰਸਾਰ/samsara concern above).
ὑψωθῶ ἐκ τῆς γῆς (“when I am lifted up from the earth”) — 12:32-34, explicitly repeating and clarifying 3:14’s ὑψόω (see above) — the narrator glosses it directly: “he said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.” Same Critical entry as John 3:14 applies.
ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου (“the ruler of this world”) — 12:31, referring to Satan. Punjabi: ਇਸ ਸੰਸਾਰ ਦਾ ਹਾਕਮ. Risk: Medium — must be framed clearly as a defeated, subordinate usurper (12:31, “now will the ruler of this world be cast out”) rather than implying a rival, co-equal cosmic power — guards against any dualistic (good-god/evil-god) misreading that could resonate with certain folk-religious frameworks in Punjab.

Chapter 13 — Foot Washing; the New Commandment; Betrayal Predicted

ἐντολὴ καινή (“a new commandment”) — 13:34, “love one another as I have loved you.” Punjabi: ਨਵਾਂ ਹੁਕਮ (nava hukam). Risk: Medium — ਹੁਕਮ is the standard, widely used Punjabi word for “command/order” in both religious and everyday registers and is an acceptable rendering here; however, translators should be aware of ਹੁਕਮ’s much more specific and heavily loaded technical sense in Sikh doctrine (submission to Waheguru’s impersonal Divine Order, already discussed in the baseline’s providence entry). In THIS context — an ethical command from Christ to his disciples — the everyday sense is appropriate and the doctrinal collision risk is low, but the term should not be casually re-used in providence-related passages where the baseline’s existing caution governs.
νίπτω τοὺς πόδας (“wash the feet”) — 13:1-17. Punjabi: ਪੈਰ ਧੋਣਾ. Risk: Low; the servant-leadership lesson is culturally clear.

Chapter 14 — “The Way, the Truth, and the Life”; the First Paraclete Promise

ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή (“I am the way, and the truth, and the life”) — 14:6 (sixth “I am” statement, and the Gospel’s most explicit exclusivity claim: “no one comes to the Father except through me”). Punjabi: ਮੈਂ ਰਾਹ, ਸਚਾਈ ਅਤੇ ਜੀਵਨ ਹਾਂ. Risk: CRITICAL — combines the already-High-risk ਸਚਾਈ (truth) and Critical ਜੀਵਨ/eternal-life vocabulary with an unqualified exclusivity claim that stands in direct tension with the pluralistic religious landscape of Punjab (where many paths to the divine, ਬਹੁਤ ਰਾਹ, is a commonly held assumption across Sikh, Hindu, and folk-religious frameworks). Per the baseline’s doctrinal preservation rule, this exclusivity must NOT be softened, qualified, or made to sound like “a way” among others; it must be flagged for mandatory human theologian review and handled with the same interpretive care the baseline gives to Romans 10:9’s Lordship confession.
παράκλητος (paraklētos, “Counselor/Advocate/Helper/Comforter”) — 14:16, 14:26 (first two of five Paraclete references: also 15:26, 16:7, and implicitly 16:13). Lit. “one called alongside” (para-, alongside + kaleō, to call) — a term drawn from Greek legal usage for a advocate/legal counsel called to one’s aid, but expanded by John to include the senses of comforter, teacher, and witness. English variants: “Counselor,” “Advocate,” “Helper,” “Comforter.” Contextual theological meaning: directly names the Bible_Doctrines item “The Holy Spirit as Counselor” — the Spirit’s personal, ongoing presence with believers after Christ’s departure, continuing and applying Christ’s own work. Punjabi: ਸਹਾਇਕ (sahayak, “helper/aid”). Risk: CRITICAL — no single Punjabi word captures the full legal-advocate-plus-comforter-plus-teacher range of παράκλητος; ਸਹਾਇਕ was chosen as the most natural, non-liturgically-loaded option, but a mandatory translator’s note is required at each occurrence explaining the fuller Greek semantic range (advocate who pleads one’s case, comforter who consoles, teacher who instructs) so that no single narrower English/Punjabi gloss is mistaken for the term’s full content. This term must also be kept distinct from the baseline’s intercession (ਵਿਚੋਲਗੀ) — the Paraclete is a person continuously present, not merely an act of mediating prayer.
ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοὶ κἀγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρί (“the Father is in me and I am in the Father”) — 14:10-11, 20. Reinforces the Unity of Father and Son doctrine alongside John 10:30; no new vocabulary, but flag for the same Critical review routing.
εἰρήνη (eirēnē, “peace”) — 14:27, “Peace I leave with you.” Established, reused from Romans TM: ਸ਼ਾਂਤੀ. Risk: Medium, per baseline — note this is relational, Christ-given peace distinct from the world’s peace (14:27b), reinforcing rather than contradicting the baseline’s caution against confusing it with meditative ਸਹਿਜ.

Chapter 15 — “I Am the True Vine”; Abiding; the Spirit of Truth Again

ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή (“I am the true vine”) — 15:1, 5 (seventh and final formal “I am” statement). Punjabi: ਮੈਂ ਸੱਚੀ ਅੰਗੂਰ ਦੀ ਵੇਲ ਹਾਂ. Risk: Medium; reuses ਸਚਾਈ-family vocabulary (ਸੱਚੀ, “true”) in an agricultural metaphor, low collision risk on its own.
μένω (menō, “abide, remain”) — 15:4-10, used 11 times in this chapter alone, the chapter’s key relational-theological term. Lit. “to stay, remain, dwell, continue.” English variants: “abide,” “remain,” “continue in.” Punjabi: ਬਣੇ ਰਹਿਣਾ (bane rehna, “continue being/remain”). Risk: High (new term for translation memory) — this is the chapter’s load-bearing relational-union concept (paralleling Paul’s “in Christ” language, already flagged as High in the baseline’s christian_identity_in_christ doctrine); translators should keep ਬਣੇ ਰਹਿਣਾ consistent across all 11 occurrences in this chapter to preserve the passage’s rhetorical structure.
τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας (“the Spirit of truth”) — 15:26, third Paraclete reference. Combines established holy_spirit (ਪਵਿੱਤਰ ਆਤਮਾ) with ਸਚਾਈ; Punjabi: ਸਚਾਈ ਦਾ ਆਤਮਾ. Risk: Critical, inheriting both terms’ risk profiles.
μείζονα ταύτης ἀγάπην οὐδεὶς ἔχει, ἵνα τις τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ θῇ ὑπὲρ τῶν φίλων αὐτοῦ (“greater love has no one than this…”) — 15:13. Reuses love (ਪਿਆਰ) and the substitutionary ὑπέρ construction from ch. 11; a key statement undergirding the Substitutionary Death doctrine as an act of love, not merely legal necessity.

Chapter 16 — Further Paraclete Teaching; the Spirit’s Convicting Work; Overcoming the World

ἐλέγξει…περὶ ἁμαρτίας καὶ περὶ δικαιοσύνης καὶ περὶ κρίσεως (“he will convict…concerning sin and righteousness and judgment”) — 16:8-11, fourth Paraclete reference, describing the Spirit’s convicting ministry toward the world. Reuses the ἐλέγχω root from John 3:20; here the object is threefold: sin (established ਪਾਪ), righteousness (established ਧਾਰਮਿਕਤਾ — CRITICAL, never ਧਰਮ, per baseline), and judgment/κρίσις (ਨਿਆਂ, see John 3:17). Punjabi verb for “convict” here: ਕਾਇਲ ਕਰਨਾ (kail karna, “to convince/bring to conviction”) is recommended over the more purely legal ਦੋਸ਼ੀ ਠਹਿਰਾਉਣਾ (“condemn”) used at 3:18, since the Spirit’s work here is to bring inner conviction rather than to pronounce a final legal verdict. Risk: Critical, since it directly invokes the already-Critical ਧਾਰਮਿਕਤਾ term in a new grammatical role (the Spirit convicting the world concerning righteousness, specifically because Christ has gone to the Father, 16:10) — requires careful theological unpacking distinct from the justification-by-faith sense of ਧਾਰਮਿਕਤਾ already governed by the baseline.
ὁδηγήσει ὑμᾶς εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν ἀλήθειαν (“he will guide you into all the truth”) — 16:13, fifth Paraclete reference. No new vocabulary beyond ਸਚਾਈ and ਸਹਾਇਕ already covered.
ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον (“I have overcome the world”) — 16:33. νικάω (nikaō, “to conquer, overcome, be victorious”) — Punjabi: ਜਿੱਤ ਲੈਣਾ (jit lena). Reuses kosmos/ਸੰਸਾਰ (with its samsara-adjacent caution, see John 3:16). Risk: High — this is a triumphant declaration directly relevant to the Assurance of Salvation doctrine (already Critical/High in the baseline); should be preserved with its full force (“I HAVE overcome,” a completed past act with ongoing significance, not a future hope only).

Chapter 17 — The High Priestly Prayer

αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ αἰώνιος ζωή, ἵνα γινώσκωσίν σε τὸν μόνον ἀληθινὸν θεὸν καὶ ὃν ἀπέστειλας Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν (“this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent”) — 17:3. This is the Gospel’s own explicit theological DEFINITION of eternal_life (see John 3:15 above): not merely unending existence but relational, personal KNOWLEDGE of God through Christ. γινώσκω (ginōskō, “to know”) here implies intimate, experiential, relational knowledge (cf. Hebrew yada), not merely intellectual information. Punjabi: ਜਾਣਨਾ (janna). Risk: Critical — this verse should be treated as the primary cross-reference and definitional anchor for every other occurrence of ਸਦੀਵੀ ਜੀਵਨ in the whole Gospel and should be highlighted in every lesson dealing with the Eternal Life doctrine.
ἁγίασον αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ἀληθείᾳ (“sanctify them in the truth”) — 17:17. Reuses established sanctification (ਪਵਿੱਤਰੀਕਰਨ) combined with ਸਚਾਈ; “your word is truth” (ὁ λόγος ὁ σὸς ἀλήθειά ἐστιν) ties ਬਚਨ (Scripture/Word) and ਸਚਾਈ together — flag for note connecting this to the ch. 1 Logos entry (a related but distinct use of λόγος here meaning God’s spoken/written word rather than the personal pre-existent Word).
ἵνα πάντες ἓν ὦσιν (“that they may all be one”) — 17:11, 17:21-22. Extends the Father-Son unity of 10:30 and 14:10-11 to believers’ unity with one another, grounded in and modeled on the divine unity. Punjabi: ਸਾਰੇ ਇੱਕ ਹੋਣ, new term ਏਕਤਾ (ekta, “unity/oneness”) for the abstract noun. Risk: High — must be carefully distinguished from any suggestion of impersonal metaphysical merging/absorption (a concern relevant given Hindu/Sikh concepts of the soul’s eventual merger with the divine, e.g., the Sikh mukti concept already flagged in the baseline as “merger with Waheguru”); believers’ unity in John 17 is relational and communal, modeled on Trinitarian relationship, not ontological absorption into an undifferentiated divine unity.

Chapter 18 — Arrest and Trial; “My Kingdom Is Not of This World”

ἐγώ εἰμι (18:5-6, 8) — the absolute “I am” recurs at Jesus’s arrest; note the guards “drew back and fell to the ground” at 18:6, a detail many interpreters connect to the same divine-name force noted at 8:58. Same Critical entry applies; flag for theologian review.
ἡ βασιλεία ἡ ἐμὴ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου (“my kingdom is not of this world”) — 18:36. Reuses established kingdom_of_god (ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ ਦਾ ਰਾਜ) with an explicit, textually-supplied clarification that directly reinforces the baseline’s existing caution about Khalsa-Raj political-sovereignty misreadings. Punjabi: ਮੇਰਾ ਰਾਜ ਇਸ ਸੰਸਾਰ ਦਾ ਨਹੀਂ ਹੈ. Risk: High, per baseline kingdom_of_god entry — this verse should be used as the primary proof-text anchoring that caution whenever the doctrine is taught.
τί ἐστιν ἀλήθεια; (“What is truth?”) — Pilate’s question, 18:38, left rhetorically unanswered by the narrative (though answered definitively by 14:6) — worth a teaching note rather than a vocabulary risk.

Chapter 19 — Crucifixion; “It Is Finished”; Blood and Water

τετέλεσται (“it is finished”) — 19:30. τελέω (teleō, “to complete, finish, accomplish, bring to its intended goal”) — not merely “it has ended” but “it has been completed/accomplished,” a declaration of the successful completion of the redemptive task, not resignation or defeat. Punjabi: ਪੂਰਾ ਹੋਇਆ (pura hoya, “it has been fulfilled/completed”). Risk: CRITICAL — this is the climactic declaration of the Substitutionary Death doctrine; must be rendered with the sense of triumphant completion, not mere cessation (a weaker Punjabi verb suggesting only “it stopped” would badly undertranslate the theological weight here).
αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ (“blood and water”) — 19:34, from the pierced side. Punjabi: ਲਹੂ ਅਤੇ ਪਾਣੀ. Risk: Medium; the narrator’s emphatic eyewitness insistence (19:35) underscores the historical, bodily reality of Christ’s death against any docetic (merely-apparent-death) reading — connects to the Humanity of Christ doctrine already flagged as High in the baseline.

Chapter 20 — Resurrection Appearances; Thomas’s Confession; the Gospel’s Purpose Statement

εἶδεν καὶ ἐπίστευσεν (“he saw and believed”) — 20:8, the beloved disciple at the empty tomb. Reuses believe/ਨਿਹਚਾ ਕਰਨਾ.
λάβετε πνεῦμα ἅγιον (“receive the Holy Spirit”) — 20:22. Reuses established holy_spirit (ਪਵਿੱਤਰ ਆਤਮਾ, Critical). Flag for theologian review regarding its relationship to the later Pentecost account (Acts 2) — a question of biblical-theological sequencing appropriate for a translator/teacher’s note rather than a vocabulary risk per se.
ὁ κύριός μου καὶ ὁ θεός μου (“My Lord and my God!”) — 20:28, Thomas’s confession, the Gospel’s climactic Christological statement, deliberately forming an inclusio with 1:1’s “the Word was God.” Combines established lord (ਪ੍ਰਭੂ, Critical) and god (ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ, Critical). Punjabi: ਮੇਰਾ ਪ੍ਰਭੂ ਅਤੇ ਮੇਰਾ ਪਰਮੇਸ਼ੁਰ. Risk: CRITICAL — must render both titles fully and without qualification; this verse, alongside John 1:1 and Romans 10:9 (already governed by the baseline), forms the curriculum’s core triad of explicit deity-of-Christ confessional texts and should be flagged for mandatory theologian review and cross-document consistency.
ταῦτα δὲ γέγραπται ἵνα πιστεύσητε ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ ἵνα πιστεύοντες ζωὴν ἔχητε ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ (“these are written so that you may believe…and that by believing you may have life in his name”) — 20:31, the Gospel’s own explicitly stated purpose. Combines messiah, son_of_god, believe, and life/eternal_life — effectively the summary statement of nearly every doctrine in this curriculum’s scope. Risk: Critical; recommend this verse be used as the curriculum’s own capstone cross-reference text.

Chapter 21 — Epilogue: the Catch of Fish; Peter’s Restoration

ἀγαπάω / φιλέω (agapaō/phileō, both meaning “to love”) — 21:15-17, Jesus’s threefold questioning of Peter deliberately alternates between these two Greek verbs (traditionally understood to carry somewhat different shades — ἀγαπάω, sacrificial/willed love; φιλέω, warm affection/friendship-love — though the extent of the distinction is debated among scholars). Punjabi has a single natural verb, ਪਿਆਰ ਕਰਨਾ, for both, so this nuance (whatever its precise force) is unavoidably flattened in translation. Risk: Medium — a translator’s note explaining that the Greek uses two different verbs here, with the dialogue’s emotional and restorative force independent of exactly which nuance is intended, is recommended so the passage’s literary structure is not mistaken for a simple, meaningless repetition.
βόσκε τὰ ἀρνία μου / ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου (“feed my lambs” / “tend my sheep”) — 21:15-17. Reuses the Good Shepherd imagery from ch. 10 (ਅਯਾਲੀ, ਭੇਡਾਂ) extended now to Peter’s own pastoral commissioning. Punjabi: ਮੇਰੇ ਲੇਲਿਆਂ ਨੂੰ ਚਾਰਾ ਦੇਹ / ਮੇਰੀਆਂ ਭੇਡਾਂ ਦੀ ਦੇਖਭਾਲ ਕਰ. Risk: Low-Medium; a pastoral commissioning image consistent with the Good Shepherd doctrine established in ch. 10.
ἀκολούθει μοι (“follow me”) — 21:19, 22. Punjabi: ਮੇਰੇ ਮਗਰ ਚੱਲ. Risk: Low, standard discipleship-call language consistent throughout the Gospel (cf. ch. 1).

Consolidated Table: The Seven “I Am” (ἐγώ εἰμι) Statements

#	Reference	Greek predicate	Punjabi rendering	Risk
1	John 6:35, 48, 51	ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς	ਮੈਂ ਜੀਵਨ ਦੀ ਰੋਟੀ ਹਾਂ	High
2	John 8:12; 9:5	τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου	ਮੈਂ ਸੰਸਾਰ ਦਾ ਚਾਨਣ ਹਾਂ	Critical
3	John 10:7, 9	ἡ θύρα (τῶν προβάτων)	ਮੈਂ (ਭੇਡਾਂ ਦਾ) ਦਰਵਾਜ਼ਾ ਹਾਂ	Medium
4	John 10:11, 14	ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός	ਮੈਂ ਚੰਗਾ ਅਯਾਲੀ ਹਾਂ	Medium
5	John 11:25	ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή	ਮੈਂ ਪੁਨਰ-ਉਥਾਨ ਅਤੇ ਜੀਵਨ ਹਾਂ	Critical
6	John 14:6	ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή	ਮੈਂ ਰਾਹ, ਸਚਾਈ ਅਤੇ ਜੀਵਨ ਹਾਂ	Critical
7	John 15:1, 5	ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή	ਮੈਂ ਸੱਚੀ ਅੰਗੂਰ ਦੀ ਵੇਲ ਹਾਂ	Medium

Plus the absolute ἐγώ εἰμι (no predicate, invoking Exodus 3:14): John 8:58; 13:19; 18:5-6, 8 — Punjabi ਮੈਂ ਹਾਂ, Risk: Critical throughout, mandatory theologian review at every occurrence.

This document covers John chapters 1–21 in full. No chapter was found to introduce zero new theological vocabulary; the density of Johannine theological language is such that every chapter contributes at least one load-bearing term requiring explicit translation-risk analysis. See 08_core_glossary.md for the consolidated, per-term glossary table drawing on this analysis.

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