Core Glossary
Core Glossary — Philemon (English → Russian)
This glossary records every load-bearing theological/cultural term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, covering the entire book of Philemon. Terms marked [TM-REUSE] already exist in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json/bible_term_registry.json and MUST be rendered exactly as recorded there; this glossary does not alter those entries, only cites them for cross-reference. New terms proposed here are candidates for addition to translation memory in Phase 1 Step subsequent to this one (doctrine risk registry construction).
| # | English Term | Greek Original | Transliteration | Russian Rendering | Risk Tier | Baseline TM Reuse | Verses | Notes / Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | prisoner | δέσμιος | desmios | узник | Medium | New | 1:1, 9, 10, 13, 23(cf.) | Positive Russian resonance with “узник совести” (prisoner of conscience, Soviet dissident memory); calibrate so resonance matches “of Christ Jesus,” not generic political martyrdom. |
| 2 | brother | ἀδελφός | adelphos | брат | Medium | New | throughout | Full doctrinal weight (equal-status kinship) activated at v.16; casual/colloquial Russian use of “брат” as address risks dulling its force. |
| 3 | beloved | ἀγαπητός | agapētos | возлюбленный | Low | New | 1:1, 16 | Standard, established devotional register; no significant risk. |
| 4 | fellow worker | συνεργός | synergos | сотрудник | Medium | New | 1:1, 24 | Modern Russian сотрудник defaults to “employee/staff” register; consider “сотрудник в деле Евангелия” to prevent flattening into professional cooperation. |
| 5 | sister | ἀδελφή | adelphē | сестра | Medium | New | 1:2 | Apphia’s direct, named address as a moral agent (not merely folded into Philemon’s household) must not be smoothed over in exposition. |
| 6 | fellow soldier | συστρατιώτης | systratiōtēs | сподвижник | Medium | New | 1:2 | Positive WWII “comrades-in-arms” resonance is largely an asset; guard against importing secular nationalist-militaristic overtones. |
| 7 | church (house church) | ἐκκλησία (κατ᾽ οἶκόν) | ekklēsia (kat’ oikon) | церковь (домашняя церковь) | High | [TM-REUSE: церковь] | 1:2 | Direct reinforcement of baseline’s church-as-gathered-people corrective; flag for deliberate teaching use. |
| 8 | grace | χάρις | charis | благодать | Critical | [TM-REUSE] | 1:3, 25 | Baseline Critical risk notes apply unmodified; forms grace-inclusio with v.22’s χαρίζομαι. |
| 9 | peace | εἰρήνη | eirēnē | мир | Medium | [TM-REUSE] | 1:3 | Baseline Medium risk notes apply unmodified. |
| 10 | thanksgiving / I thank | εὐχαριστῶ | eucharistō | благодарю | Low | [TM-REUSE: благодарение root] | 1:4 | Standard; baseline Low risk applies. |
| 11 | remembrance | μνεία | mneia | воспоминание | Low | New | 1:4 | No significant risk. |
| 12 | prayer | προσευχή | proseuchē | молитва | Low | New | 1:4, 22 | Ordinary prayer term; distinct from the technical ходатайство intercession vocabulary of Romans 8. |
| 13 | faith | πίστις | pistis | вера | High | [TM-REUSE] | 1:5, 6 | Baseline High risk notes apply unmodified (Orthodox “faith = church membership” default). |
| 14 | love | ἀγάπη | agapē | любовь | Medium | New | 1:5, 7, 9 | Not a distinct baseline entry; secularized Russian usage (romantic/family love) can flatten covenantal, volitional force. |
| 15 | saints | ἅγιοι | hagioi | святые | High | [TM-REUSE] | 1:5, 7 | Baseline High risk notes apply unmodified (canonized-elite default reading). |
| 16 | fellowship/partnership (of faith) | κοινωνία (τῆς πίστεως) | koinōnia (tēs pisteōs) | общение (веры) | Medium | [TM-REUSE: общение] | 1:6 | Structurally anticipates κοινωνόν at v.17; teaching text should draw the connection explicitly. |
| 17 | knowledge | ἐπίγνωσις | epignōsis | познание | Low | New | 1:6 | No significant risk. |
| 18 | good (deed) | ἀγαθόν | agathon | доброе (дело) | Low | New | 1:6, 14 | No significant risk. |
| 19 | joy | χαρά | chara | радость | Low | New | 1:7 | No significant risk. |
| 20 | comfort/encouragement | παράκλησις | paraklēsis | утешение | Low | New | 1:7 | Noun form of παρακαλέω word-family; consistent with baseline’s context-sensitive treatment. |
| 21 | heart(s) / inward affections | σπλάγχνα | splanchna | сердце | High | New | 1:7, 12, 20 | Literal “bowels/inward parts”; Synodal’s “heart” domesticates a far more visceral image; forms an inclusio across vv.7, 12, 20 requiring consistent rendering. |
| 22 | refresh / give rest | ἀναπαύω | anapauō | успокоить | Medium | New | 1:7, 20 | Forms inclusio with σπλάγχνα occurrences; must be rendered consistently at both ends. |
| 23 | boldness/confidence | παρρησία | parrēsia | дерзновение | Medium | New | 1:8 | Elevated/liturgical register risks sounding churchy rather than plain “confident authority.” |
| 24 | command | ἐπιτάσσω | epitassō | приказывать | Low | New | 1:8 | Unambiguous; no competing sense. |
| 25 | appeal / entreat | παρακαλέω | parakaleō | прошу / умолять | Medium | [TM-REUSE root: увещевать, entreaty-context branch] | 1:9, 10 | Baseline specifies entreaty-context rendering (просить/умолять), not увещевать; critical to preserve the appeal-not-command rhetoric. |
| 26 | elder / (ambassador, textual variant) | πρεσβύτης (πρεσβευτής v.l.) | presbytēs (presbeutēs) | старец | High | New | 1:9 | старец carries strong independent Orthodox monastic-elder connotation (e.g., Optina elders); must be distinguished from ordinary “old man” sense via translator note. |
| 27 | child (spiritual son) | τέκνον | teknon | сын | Medium | New | 1:10 | Must not be conflated with baseline’s adoption/father doctrine entries; distinct spiritual-fatherhood metaphor. |
| 28 | beget / became father to | γεννάω | gennaō | родил | Medium | New | 1:10 | Ordinarily biological; requires context to signal spiritual metaphor. |
| 29 | Onesimus (proper name, “useful”) | Ὀνήσιμος | Onēsimos | Онисим | High (exposition) | New | 1:10 | Name-meaning pun (with ἄχρηστος/εὔχρηστος/ὀναίμην) invisible in transliteration; mandatory translator note wherever taught. |
| 30 | useless | ἄχρηστος | achrēstos | негодный | High | New | 1:11 | Must pair with εὔχρηστος; loses force without the Ὀνήσιμος wordplay note. |
| 31 | useful | εὔχρηστος | euchrēstos | полезный / годный | High | New | 1:11 | Paired antonym to ἄχρηστος; central to Slavery-and-Gospel doctrine’s transformation motif. |
| 32 | send back | ἀναπέμπω | anapempō | возвращаю | Low | New | 1:12 | Plain, unambiguous. |
| 33 | wish/desire | βούλομαι | boulomai | хотел | Low | New | 1:13 | No significant risk. |
| 34 | keep/retain | κατέχω | katechō | удержать | Low | New | 1:13 | No significant risk. |
| 35 | serve/minister | διακονέω | diakoneō | служить | Low | New | 1:13 | Standard, unambiguous. |
| 36 | gospel | εὐαγγέλιον | euangelion | Евангелие | High (occurrence-specific) | [TM-REUSE] | 1:13 | Baseline mandates Евангелие; existing Synodal text of this verse uses “благовествование” — flag the discrepancy explicitly in teaching text so learners are not confused. |
| 37 | consent/mind | γνώμη | gnōmē | согласие | Medium | New | 1:14 | Risk of sounding like formal/legal permission rather than relational willing agreement. |
| 38 | compulsion/necessity | ἀνάγκη | anagkē | принуждение / вынужденно | High | New | 1:14 | Central to Grace-Motivated Obedience doctrine; must never soften toward neutral “obligation”; sensitive given Soviet-era compulsory “voluntary” civic culture. Recommend theologian/native-speaker review. |
| 39 | voluntary | ἑκούσιον | hekousion | добровольно(е) | High | New | 1:14 | Paired antonym to ἀνάγκη; both together carry the letter’s central doctrinal contrast. |
| 40 | separate(d) | χωρίζω | chōrizō | отлучился | Medium | New | 1:15 | Implicit providential claim; must not read as impersonal судьба/случай (fate/chance), per baseline providence guardrails. |
| 41 | forever / permanently | αἰώνιος | aiōnios | навсегда | Medium | New | 1:15 | Contextual “permanently,” distinct from doctrinal “eternal” (вечный) used of eternal life elsewhere; translator note required. |
| 42 | slave/bondservant | δοῦλος | doulos | раб | Critical | New | 1:16 | Collides with (a) devotional “раб Божий” positive usage, (b) Russian serfdom (крепостное право) historical paradigm distinct from Greco-Roman slavery, (c) doctrine of Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power requiring the term’s harshness be fully felt. Human theologian review required. |
| 43 | beloved brother | ἀδελφὸς ἀγαπητός | adelphos agapētos | брат возлюбленный | High | New (combines #2, #3) | 1:16 | Risk of being heard as polite spiritual courtesy rather than Paul’s radical claim of equal familial standing overturning master-slave hierarchy. |
| 44 | flesh (natural relation) | σάρξ | sarx | плоть | Medium | New | 1:16 | Must be distinguished from the distinct “sinful flesh” sense used in Romans 7–8 within the same curriculum family. |
| 45 | Lord | κύριος | kyrios | Господь | Medium (context-specific) | [TM-REUSE] | 1:16 | Clarify referent is Christ, not Philemon’s social role as master (κύριος also used of slave-masters elsewhere in the NT, though not of Philemon in this letter). |
| 46 | partner | κοινωνός | koinōnos | сотоварищ (or Synodal’s “имеешь общение со мною”) | High | New (related to [TM-REUSE: общение]) | 1:17 | Synodal’s verbal paraphrase softens a concrete, near-legal equal-standing request; avoid “партнёр” (commercial register) and “соучастник” (criminal-accomplice connotation). |
| 47 | receive/welcome | προσλαμβάνω | proslambanō | принять / прими | Medium | New | 1:17 | Ensure the verb’s decisive, public force is not diluted into vague tolerance. |
| 48 | wrong (verb) | ἀδικέω | adikeō | обидел | Medium | New | 1:18 | обидел can sound mild in everyday Russian; clarify the material/legal seriousness of the wrongdoing in exposition. |
| 49 | owe | ὀφείλω | opheilō | должен | Medium | New | 1:18 | Standard debt vocabulary; keep consistent with ἀποτίνω/προσοφείλω. |
| 50 | charge to account | ἐλλογάω | ellogaō | вмени / зачти на мой счёт (Synodal: считай это на мне) | Critical | New (conceptually resonant with [TM-REUSE: вменённая праведность]) | 1:18 | Richest single theological term in the letter; commercial-imputation metaphor conceptually parallels Romans 4’s imputed righteousness (different Greek word, shared logic). Human theologian review required; teach as illustration, not equation, of substitutionary imputation. |
| 51 | repay in full | ἀποτίνω | apotinō | заплачу / уплачу | High | New | 1:19 | Must retain full financial-legal seriousness (a personal, binding, signed guarantee); do not soften into vague goodwill. |
| 52 | owe besides | προσοφείλω | prosopheilō | ты мне ещё более должен | Medium | New | 1:19 | Rare compound (only NT occurrence); preserve escalating “on top of” nuance. |
| 53 | may I have benefit/joy | ὀναίμην | onaimēn | дай мне воспользоваться от тебя | Medium | New | 1:20 | Deliberate echo of Ὀνήσιμος’s name-meaning; cross-reference translator note from #29. |
| 54 | having confidence | πεποιθώς | pepoithōs | надеясь / будучи уверен | Low-Medium | New | 1:21 | Settled trust in Philemon’s character, not mere polite hope. |
| 55 | obedience | ὑπακοή | hypakoē | послушание | High | New (interpretive frame from [TM-REUSE: послушание вере]) | 1:21 | Central term for Grace-Motivated Obedience doctrine; must be distinguished from legalistic compliance, monastic-vow послушание (note старец link at v.9), and Soviet-era civic compulsory-obedience associations. Recommend joint theologian and native-speaker review. |
| 56 | guest room / hospitality | ξενία | xenia | помещение / гостеприимство | Low-Medium | New | 1:22 | Russian hospitality culture (гостеприимство) is a positive resonance and teaching asset. |
| 57 | be granted/given (as a grace-gift) | χαρίζομαι | charizomai | я буду дарован вам | Medium-High | New (shares conceptual root with [TM-REUSE: благодать]) | 1:22 | Wordplay linking opening (v.3) and closing (v.25) grace benediction to Paul’s own hoped-for release; flag for deliberate exposition; do not confuse with the noun благодать itself. |
| 58 | fellow prisoner (of war) | συναιχμάλωτος | synaichmalōtos | узник вместе со мною / сопленник | Medium-High | New | 1:23 | Literal “war-captive” image carries a somber, specific Russian historical resonance (Soviet POWs and postwar filtration-camp suspicion); native speaker review recommended. |
| 59 | fellow worker(s) | συνεργός | synergos | сотрудники | Medium | New (=#4) | 1:24 | Same risk as #4; job-title flattening risk in modern Russian register. |
| 60 | grace (closing benediction) | χάρις | charis | благодать | Critical | [TM-REUSE] | 1:25 | Forms grace-inclusio with v.3; must render identically to v.3 for consistency. |
| 61 | spirit (human, “your spirit”) | πνεῦμα | pneuma | дух | Medium | [TM-REUSE guardrail, inverse application] | 1:25 | Refers to the recipients’ human spirit, not the Holy Spirit; clarify so learners do not mistakenly apply baseline’s “дух alone ≠ Holy Spirit” caution in the wrong direction. |
Risk Summary
| Risk Tier | Count | Terms Requiring Human Theologian Review |
|---|---|---|
| Critical | 3 | δοῦλος (#42), ἐλλογάω (#50), χάρις (#8, #60 — carried from baseline) |
| High | 12 | #7, #13, #15, #21, #26, #29, #30, #31, #38, #39, #43, #46, #51, #55 (14 total High-tier entries; several share doctrinal grounding) |
| Medium | 27 | See individual entries above |
| Low | 15 | See individual entries above |
Note on Critical/High tier concentration: Philemon’s highest risks cluster tightly around three doctrines: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power (δοῦλος, ἄχρηστος/εὔχρηστος, ἀδελφὸς ἀγαπητός), Forgiveness and Reconciliation / Intercession (ἐλλογάω, ἀποτίνω, ἀδικέω, ὀφείλω), and Grace-Motivated Obedience (ἀνάγκη, ἑκούσιον, ὑπακοή, γνώμη). This mirrors the baseline Romans registry’s own finding that Russian’s primary risk axis is East-West theological divergence and post-Soviet cultural/historical association, not confusion with a rival non-Christian religious framework — Philemon adds specifically Russian historical-memory risks (serfdom, Gulag/dissident imagery, POW filtration camps, Soviet compulsory “voluntary” participation) not present in the Romans baseline, which the doctrine risk registry (Phase 1, next step) should formalize.
Critical Risk Terms
Grace
Approved rendering: благодать
Transliteration: blagodat’
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: милость, дар, везение, удача
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. In Philemon this term forms a grace-inclusio across 1:3 (opening benediction), 1:22 (χαρίζομαι wordplay, see granted_as_gift below), and 1:25 (closing benediction); all three occurrences of the noun благодать itself (1:3, 1:25) must render identically. The related verb form at 1:22 shares the root conceptually but is NOT the same TM-listed word and must not be merged with or substituted for благодать.
Imputed Righteousness
Approved rendering: вменённая праведность
Transliteration: vmenyonnaya pravednost’
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: заслуженная праведность, дарованная святость (too vague)
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. Conceptually resonant with ἐλλογάω at Philemon 1:18 (see charge_to_account, below): Paul’s offer to have Onesimus’s debt formally charged to his own account uses different Greek vocabulary but shares the underlying substitutionary-imputation logic. Teach explicitly as illustration/analogy, never as formal doctrinal equation — Paul is making a personal financial pledge, not performing systematic theology.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Святой Дух
Transliteration: Svyatoy Dukh
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: дух (never use alone for the Holy Spirit), энергия
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. Provides the necessary CONTRASTIVE reference point for Philemon 1:25’s ‘дух’ (see spirit, below): that occurrence refers to the recipients’ own human spirit, not the Holy Spirit, and correctly uses ‘дух’ alone precisely BECAUSE the Holy Spirit is not in view — the inverse of the baseline’s usual caution, which must be stated explicitly so learners do not misapply the guardrail in the wrong direction.
Slave
Approved rendering: раб
Transliteration: rab
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Rejected alternatives: слуга (softens the term, collapsing the force of the status-change described in the letter), крепостной (imports the wrong Russian historical-legal paradigm — hereditary, land-tied serfdom — in place of Greco-Roman household slavery)
Original: δοῦλος
Category: Slavery and Social Status
New term (1:16). CRITICAL: three distinct collision points require explicit handling: (1) modern devotional Russian uses ‘раб Божий’ as an extremely common, positive self-designation, risking раб sounding devotionally elevated rather than describing a harsh legal-social status Paul asks Philemon to look beyond; (2) Russian historical memory of крепостное право (serfdom, abolished 1861) supplies a different slavery paradigm than first-century Greco-Roman household slavery; (3) the term’s harshness must be fully felt, not softened, or Paul’s rhetorical ‘more than a slave’ loses its force. Human theologian review required; teaching text must define first-century slavery on its own terms.
Charge To Account
Approved rendering: вмени на мой счёт
Transliteration: vmeni na moy schyot
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Rejected alternatives: считай это на мне (Synodal’s flatter rendering — acceptable as an alternative but loses the deliberate echo of вменить)
Original: ἐλλογάω
Category: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
New term (1:18). CRITICAL: the letter’s single richest theological term (ἐλλογάω, a rare commercial/bookkeeping term used elsewhere in the NT only at Romans 5:13). Deliberately echoes the verb root вменить used in the baseline’s вменённая праведность (see imputed_righteousness, above) to surface the conceptual resonance with Romans 4’s substitutionary imputation for teaching purposes. Must be taught as illustration, not equation — Paul is making a personal financial offer, not performing a formal soteriological doctrine. Human theologian review required.
High Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: Евангелие
Transliteration: Yevangeliye
Doctrine: Gospel
Rejected alternatives: благая весть (informal gloss only), хорошая новость, благовествование (Synodal’s own verbal-noun rendering at Phlm 1:13 — retain only in direct Scripture quotation, never in teaching prose)
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package (baseline risk: Medium); elevated to High for this book because the established Synodal Russian text of Philemon 1:13 renders εὐαγγέλιον as ‘благовествование’, not ‘Евангелие’. Teaching prose must use Евангелие per the hard rule to reuse baseline terms exactly; wherever Scripture is quoted verbatim from the Synodal text, a translator note is required explaining the two are synonymous so learners are not confused by the vocabulary shift between lesson prose and quoted Scripture.
Faith
Approved rendering: вера
Transliteration: vera
Doctrine: Faith
Rejected alternatives: доверие, убеждение
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. Philemon 1:5-6 pairs faith with love (ἀγάπη) as twin grounds for Paul’s thanksgiving; exposition must keep both active/directed (toward Christ, toward the saints) rather than passive cultural-identity markers, per baseline’s Orthodox-default caution.
Saints
Approved rendering: святые
Transliteration: svyatyye
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: праведники
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. Philemon 1:5, 1:7 address Philemon’s own household congregation corporately; this is a valuable concrete corrective illustration against the canonized-elite default reading and should be flagged for deliberate teaching use.
Church
Approved rendering: церковь
Transliteration: tserkov’
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: храм, собрание (acceptable for local congregation emphasis)
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. Philemon 1:2’s ‘the church in your house’ (see house_church below) is a direct, concrete reinforcement of the baseline’s church-as-gathered-people corrective and should be used deliberately as a teaching asset, not smoothed into ‘your congregation’ without the household nuance.
Lord
Approved rendering: Господь
Transliteration: Gospod’
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: хозяин, владыка (reserve for liturgical/poetic register only)
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. Philemon 1:16’s ‘ἐν κυρίῳ’ (in the Lord) refers to Christ; Philemon’s own presupposed status as Onesimus’s human master (also κύριος in Greco-Roman usage) is never directly applied to Philemon in this letter. Clarify this distinction explicitly so readers do not conflate ‘the Lord’ with ‘the master’ in a letter precisely about a human master-slave relationship.
Christ
Approved rendering: Христос
Transliteration: Khristos
Doctrine: Messianic Promise
Rejected alternatives: Спаситель мира (as a stand-alone substitute)
Inherited/adapted from the Romans baseline ‘messiah’ entry (Мессия), unmodified in substance. In Philemon, ‘Христос’ functions overwhelmingly as part of the compound proper name ‘Christ Jesus’ and in the prepositional phrases ‘in Christ’ / ‘in the Lord’ (1:8, 1:16, 1:20, 1:23); ordinary usage has worn the title’s messianic-fulfillment meaning smooth, so a brief reminder that Христос is a title (Anointed One), not merely Jesus’ surname, is advisable on first occurrence.
Obedience Of Faith
Approved rendering: послушание вере
Transliteration: poslushaniye vere
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith
Rejected alternatives: религиозный долг, соблюдение обрядов
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. Serves as the required interpretive cross-reference frame for ὑπακοή at Philemon 1:21 (see obedience, below): the obedience Paul anticipates flows from Philemon’s own love/faith already commended in 1:5-7, not from apostolic command, which Paul has explicitly declined to issue (1:8-9).
Providence
Approved rendering: промысел Божий
Transliteration: promysel Bozhiy
Doctrine: Providence
Rejected alternatives: судьба, случай, карма (never use)
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. Serves as the required interpretive frame for χωρίζω’s passive construction at Philemon 1:15 (see separated, below), where Paul gently implies a providential hand in Onesimus’s flight without naming God explicitly. Must never sound like impersonal судьба/случай, while also not overclaiming a formal doctrinal statement where Paul himself is deliberately indirect.
House Church
Approved rendering: домашняя церковь
Transliteration: domashnyaya tserkov’
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: собрание в доме (loses the deliberate reinforcement of церковь itself, which is the term most in need of correction)
New compound term built on [TM-REUSE: церковь]. Philemon 1:2’s ‘the church in your house’ is a valuable, concrete teaching asset directly reinforcing that церковь means gathered people, not a building or the Orthodox institution by default. Flag for deliberate use in exposition; note also the historical parallel with underground Soviet-era house churches (persecuted Baptists/Evangelicals), which can carry either a positive (valid apostolic-era precedent) or negative (‘sectarian’) connotation depending on framing — frame as apostolic-era normal practice.
Heart
Approved rendering: сердце
Transliteration: serdtse
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Rejected alternatives: внутренности / утроба (literal anatomical calque; rejected as grotesque in Bible register)
Original: σπλάγχνα
Category: Relational Affection
New term. Literally ‘inward parts/bowels’ (σπλάγχνα) — the seat of deep emotion. Forms an inclusio across 1:7 (the saints’ hearts refreshed through Philemon), 1:12 (Paul’s own inmost self, identified with Onesimus), and 1:20 (Paul’s closing request) requiring CONSISTENT rendering at all three occurrences. Synodal’s ‘сердце’ domesticates a far more visceral Greek image; expository text should restore some intensity (‘самое дорогое во мне,’ ‘часть меня самого’) so the phrase does not read as a mild sentimental cliché.
Elder
Approved rendering: старец
Transliteration: starets
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Rejected alternatives: человек в летах (too colloquial/undignified for Bible register), я, старик (too colloquial)
Original: πρεσβύτης (v.l. πρεσβευτής)
Category: Intercession and Appeal
New term (1:9; Greek πρεσβύτης, with a well-attested textual variant πρεσβευτής, ‘ambassador’). старец carries a very strong independent Russian connotation of a venerated Orthodox monastic elder/spiritual father (e.g., the Optina elders, familiar from Dostoevsky), which could cause readers to hear Paul claiming a specific spiritual-authority office rather than simply describing his age/frailty. A translator note distinguishing the ordinary ‘old man’ sense from the loaded monastic title is MANDATORY. The ‘ambassador’ variant reading should be noted as a teaching aside only, not adopted in-text.
Onesimus
Approved rendering: Онисим
Transliteration: Onisim
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Rejected alternatives: Полезный (calque-translation of the name’s meaning — rejected; proper names are transliterated, not translated, per NT convention)
Original: Ὀνήσιμος
Category: Slavery and Social Status
New term (1:10). Proper name meaning ‘useful, profitable, beneficial’ — the letter’s central wordplay, activated at 1:11 (see useless/useful, below) and echoed at 1:20 (see benefit_joy, below). The pun is entirely invisible in transliterated Russian; a translator/teaching note explaining the Greek meaning of ‘Онисим’ is MANDATORY wherever verses 11 and 20 are taught, or the letter’s central irony — ‘once useless, now useful’ — is lost entirely.
Useless
Approved rendering: негодный
Transliteration: negodnyy
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Original: ἄχρηστος
Category: Slavery and Social Status
New term (1:11). Onesimus’s former status; a pun on chrēstos (‘useful’ — itself resembling Christos in Greek pronunciation). Must be paired explicitly with useful (below) in exposition; without the accompanying wordplay note (see onesimus, above), the sentence reads as generic moral commentary rather than a name-pun-driven argument central to the transformation doctrine.
Useful
Approved rendering: полезный
Transliteration: poleznyy
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Rejected alternatives: годный (acceptable Synodal-register alternative)
Original: εὔχρηστος
Category: Slavery and Social Status
New term (1:11). Onesimus’s new status ‘to you and to me,’ picturing the gospel’s transforming power over social value and relationship. Same wordplay-loss risk as useless; recommend a bracketed translator note on first occurrence: ‘[игра слов: имя Онисим означает “полезный”]’.
Compulsion
Approved rendering: принуждение
Transliteration: prinuzhdeniye
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Original: ἀνάγκη
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
New term (1:14, Synodal: ‘не вынужденное’). Must never be softened toward a neutral ‘obligation’ reading. Directly collides with the well-known existing Russian idiom «добровольно-принудительно» (‘voluntarily-compulsorily’) describing Soviet-era coerced ‘volunteering’ (mandatory unpaid labor, forced rally attendance); the paired antonym is voluntary (below). Recommend theologian/native-speaker review.
Voluntary
Approved rendering: добровольно
Transliteration: dobrovol’no
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Original: ἑκούσιον
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
New term (1:14). Paired directly with compulsion (above); both terms together carry the doctrinal weight of Grace-Motivated Obedience and must be rendered as an unmistakable antithetical pair. Active teaching correction is required distinguishing Paul’s genuine, uncoerced voluntariness from the Soviet idiom «добровольно-принудительно»‘s performative, coerced ‘voluntariness’ — the two are structurally opposite despite the surface resemblance.
Beloved Brother
Approved rendering: брат возлюбленный
Transliteration: brat vozlyublennyy
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Original: ἀδελφὸς ἀγαπητός
Category: Christian Brotherhood
New compound term (1:16, Synodal word order). The positive term set directly against slave (above); the core claim that the gospel reconstitutes a slave-owner relationship as equal kinship. Risk of being heard as polite spiritual courtesy rather than Paul’s radical claim of equal familial standing; exposition must make explicit that this equal status has practical, not merely sentimental, implications.
Partner
Approved rendering: сотоварищ
Transliteration: sotovarishch
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Rejected alternatives: партнёр (commercial-business register, too transactional), соучастник (criminal-accomplice connotation, actively harmful here)
Original: κοινωνός
Category: Church
New term (1:17). Synodal paraphrases κοινωνός as ‘имеешь общение со мною,’ softening a concrete, near-legal equal-standing request (κοινωνός is a status one HAS, not merely a relational verb). сотоварищ is the least-bad available noun; supplement with explicit expository periphrasis: ‘прими его так, как принял бы меня самого — как имеющего равное со мной право быть принятым в твой дом.‘
Repay
Approved rendering: заплачу
Transliteration: zaplachu
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: ἀποτίνω
Category: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
New term (1:19, Synodal). Paul’s personal, financial, legally binding pledge, written in his own hand. Must be rendered with full financial-legal seriousness (a signed, binding personal guarantee), not softened into a vague expression of goodwill, or the concrete substitutionary picture is lost.
Obedience
Approved rendering: послушание
Transliteration: poslushaniye
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Original: ὑπακοή
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
New term (1:21). Must be sharply distinguished from legalistic, command-compliance obedience; the baseline’s obedience_of_faith entry (see above) provides the needed interpretive frame and should be cross-referenced explicitly. послушание carries strong Russian Orthodox monastic vow-of-obedience-to-an-elder associations (directly echoing the старец occurrence two verses earlier at 1:9, see elder, above) and Soviet-era civic-compliance associations; both risk recasting Philemon’s free, love-motivated response as either monastic submission or state-style compliance. Recommend joint theologian and native-speaker review.
Granted As Gift
Approved rendering: я буду дарован вам
Transliteration: ya budu darovan vam
Doctrine: Grace
Original: χαρίζομαι
Category: Salvation
New term (1:22, Synodal), from дарить/даровать, sharing a root-concept with благодать (see grace, above) without being formally the same TM-listed word. Paul frames his own hoped-for release from prison as itself an act of grace, echoing the letter’s opening (1:3) and closing (1:25) benedictions. Flag for deliberate use in exposition as a wordplay bookend; caution that ‘дарован’ not be confused with the noun благодать itself.
Fellow Prisoner
Approved rendering: узник вместе со мною
Transliteration: uznik vmeste so mnoyu
Doctrine: Suffering for the Gospel
Rejected alternatives: сотоварищ по плену (more literal ‘war-captive’ alternative — usable with caution, see notes)
Original: συναιχμάλωτος
Category: Intercession and Appeal
New term (1:23, Epaphras). The literal ‘prisoner of war’ image (συναιχμάλωτος) carries a specific and painful Russian historical resonance — Soviet servicemen captured by Nazi Germany were frequently treated with suspicion and subjected to postwar filtration-camp investigation, a distinct and somber 20th-century association. Native speaker review recommended to confirm this historical undertone does not inadvertently color Epaphras’s positive, honorable designation as a companion in gospel suffering.
Medium Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: мир
Transliteration: mir
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: спокойствие, покой
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. Standard Pauline salutation pairing with χάρις at 1:3; no Philemon-specific complication beyond baseline’s dual-meaning caution (world/political peace vs. relational peace with God).
Father
Approved rendering: Отец
Transliteration: Otets
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: батюшка (reserve exclusively for addressing an Orthodox priest)
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. Appears in Philemon 1:3’s salutation (‘God our Father’), standard usage, no additional Philemon-specific risk beyond baseline.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Иисус
Transliteration: Iisus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Исус (Old Believer spelling, avoid)
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. Used throughout Philemon as part of ‘Christ Jesus’ / ‘the Lord Jesus Christ’; standard modern spelling Иисус required, never Исус.
God
Approved rendering: Бог
Transliteration: Bog
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Всевышний (acceptable poetic synonym only)
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. Appears in the salutation (1:3) and throughout; no additional Philemon-specific risk beyond baseline’s registerial-flattening caution.
Exhort
Approved rendering: увещевать
Transliteration: uveshchevat’
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Inherited from Romans package (baseline risk: Low), elevated to Medium for Philemon-specific application: baseline specifies увещевать/ободрять for edification contexts but просить/умолять for entreaty contexts. Philemon’s core appeal (1:9-10) is an unambiguous entreaty context, so увещевать must NOT be substituted for прошу/умоляю there, or Paul’s deliberate command-avoidance rhetoric (see appeal, below) collapses.
Prisoner
Approved rendering: узник
Transliteration: uznik
Doctrine: Suffering for the Gospel
Rejected alternatives: заключённый (neutral/legal register, lacks ‘for Christ’ resonance), невольник (archaic, rare in modern usage)
Original: δέσμιος
Category: Intercession and Appeal
New term. Strongly evokes ‘узник совести’ (prisoner of conscience) — Soviet-era dissident/Gulag memory (Solzhenitsyn et al.) — which helpfully dignifies Paul’s self-designation as noble suffering for a cause, but must stay calibrated to Paul’s specific claim (‘of Christ Jesus,’ 1:1, 1:9) and not be overstated into generic political martyrdom imagery. Occurs at 1:1, 1:9, 1:10, 1:13.
Brother
Approved rendering: брат
Transliteration: brat
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Rejected alternatives: братик (diminutive, inappropriately casual for the theological claim in view)
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church
New term. Establishes the family-language register from the letter’s outset (1:1, of Timothy) that carries the letter’s central Brotherhood argument, fully activated at 1:16. Casual, ubiquitous use of ‘брат’ as an everyday form of address in ordinary Russian speech risks dulling its force; exposition should note Paul’s use is a substantive theological claim, not a greeting convention.
Fellow Worker
Approved rendering: сотрудник
Transliteration: sotrudnik
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship and Partnership
Rejected alternatives: коллега (too secular/professional), помощник (implies subordinate rather than co-equal partner)
Original: συνεργός
Category: Church
New term. Modern Russian сотрудник defaults to ‘employee/staff member’ (job-title register), risking flattening shared gospel labor into bland professional cooperation. Occurs 1:1 (Philemon) and 1:24 (Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, Luke). Consider the fuller ‘сотрудник в деле Евангелия’ where clarity requires it.
Sister
Approved rendering: сестра
Transliteration: sestra
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Original: ἀδελφή
Category: Church
New term. Apphia (1:2, traditionally understood as Philemon’s wife) is named as a direct co-recipient of the letter in her own right; ensure her direct address as a moral agent is not smoothed over in exposition as merely incidental to Philemon’s household.
Fellow Soldier
Approved rendering: сподвижник
Transliteration: spodvizhnik
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship and Partnership
Rejected alternatives: сослуживец (too bureaucratic/civil-service register)
Original: συστρατιώτης
Category: Church
New term (1:2, Archippus). Carries a positive Russian resonance with historic and Soviet-era ‘comrades-in-arms’ language (WWII/‘Great Patriotic War’ memory), largely an asset for conveying costly shared struggle, but must not import secular nationalist-militaristic overtones foreign to Paul’s spiritual meaning.
Love
Approved rendering: любовь
Transliteration: lyubov’
Doctrine: Faith as Personal Trust in Christ
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Faith
New term (1:5, 1:7, 1:9). Not a distinct baseline TM entry. Secularized Russian usage (romantic/family love) risks flattening the volitional, covenantal force Paul intends, both as a quality commended in Philemon (1:5, 7) and as the stated ground of Paul’s own appeal (1:9, contrasted there with ἐπιτάσσω/command). Exposition should clarify this is committed, other-directed love, not sentiment alone.
Fellowship Of Faith
Approved rendering: общение веры
Transliteration: obshcheniye very
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship and Partnership
Original: κοινωνία τῆς πίστεως
Category: Church
New compound term built on [TM-REUSE: общение] + [TM-REUSE: вера]. Philemon 1:6’s κοινωνία τῆς πίστεως (‘the fellowship of your faith’) structurally anticipates the concrete equal-standing request κοινωνόν at 1:17 (see partner, below); teaching text should draw this connection explicitly.
Refresh
Approved rendering: успокоить
Transliteration: uspokoit’
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: ἀναπαύω
Category: Relational Affection
New term. Forms an inclusio with the heart/σπλάγχνα occurrences at 1:7 (ἀναπέπαυται, ‘have been refreshed’) and 1:20 (Paul’s request, ‘refresh my heart’); must be rendered consistently (‘успокоены’/‘успокой’) at both ends so Russian readers can perceive the structural link.
Boldness
Approved rendering: дерзновение
Transliteration: derznoveniye
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Original: παρρησία
Category: Intercession and Appeal
New term (1:8). The apostolic authority Paul possesses but deliberately declines to exercise as a command. Carries an elevated, liturgical register (cf. Hebrews 4:16’s ‘boldness before God’) that may read as churchy rather than the everyday ‘confident authority’ sense intended; gloss plainly on first use.
Appeal
Approved rendering: прошу
Transliteration: proshu
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Rejected alternatives: увещевать (reserved for the edification-register branch per the exhort entry above; substituting it here collapses the deliberate command-avoidance rhetoric central to the letter’s argument)
Original: παρακαλέω
Category: Intercession and Appeal
New term (1:9, 1:10). Paul’s chosen register throughout the letter — entreaty, not command — is the linguistic enactment of the letter’s central intercessory move. умоляю is an acceptable intensified variant in the same entreaty register.
Child
Approved rendering: сын
Transliteration: syn
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Rejected alternatives: дитя (acceptable literal alternative where register requires)
Original: τέκνον
Category: Slavery and Social Status
New term (1:10). Paul’s spiritual child/convert, Onesimus, whom he ‘begot’ through the gospel during imprisonment. Must not be conflated with the baseline’s adoption/father doctrine entries (God’s fatherhood, believer’s adoption as God’s child); this is Paul’s own spiritual-fatherhood metaphor for a convert, a related but distinct category requiring its own brief gloss.
Beget
Approved rendering: родил
Transliteration: rodil
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Original: γεννάω
Category: Slavery and Social Status
New term (1:10). Ordinarily used of biological birth; requires context to signal the spiritual metaphor of Onesimus’s conversion and avoid a literal-paternity misreading.
Consent
Approved rendering: согласие
Transliteration: soglasiye
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Original: γνώμη
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
New term (1:14). Paul insists Philemon’s own free decision, not apostolic pressure, must produce the outcome. Risk of sounding like formal/legal permission (contractual consent) rather than relational, willing agreement of the heart; exposition should clarify the relational sense.
Separated
Approved rendering: отлучился
Transliteration: otluchilsya
Doctrine: Providence in Personal Circumstances
Original: χωρίζω (ἐχωρίσθη)
Category: Providence
New term (1:15, Synodal). The passive voice implies a providential hand behind Onesimus’s flight and eventual conversion; must be handled per the providence guardrail (see providence, above) — never allowed to sound like impersonal судьба/случай — with a light touch since Paul himself is deliberately indirect (‘perhaps,’ τάχα) about naming Onesimus’s fault.
Forever
Approved rendering: навсегда
Transliteration: navsegda
Doctrine: Providence in Personal Circumstances
Rejected alternatives: вечный (reserve for the doctrinally weighted ‘eternal life’ sense used elsewhere in the NT)
Original: αἰώνιος
Category: Providence
New term (1:15, contextual Synodal rendering of αἰώνιος, contrasted with ‘for a season’). A translator note should distinguish this everyday ‘permanently’ sense from the doctrinal ‘eternal’ sense so learners do not import unrelated eschatological content into this verse.
Flesh
Approved rendering: плоть
Transliteration: plot’
Doctrine: Christian Brotherhood across Social Status
Original: σάρξ
Category: Christian Brotherhood
New term (1:16, ‘по плоти’). Ordinary earthly/social relations, contrasted with ‘in the Lord.’ Must be clearly distinguished from the distinct ‘sinful human nature’ sense of σάρξ used in Romans 7-8 within the same curriculum family; a brief note preventing cross-contamination between the two senses is advisable.
Receive
Approved rendering: принять
Transliteration: prinyat’
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: προσλαμβάνω
Category: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
New term (1:17). The concrete action requested: full, visible, social reception of Onesimus as Paul’s equal. Ensure the verb’s decisive, public force is not diluted into a vague sentiment of tolerance.
Wrong
Approved rendering: обидел
Transliteration: obidel
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: ἀδικέω
Category: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
New term (1:18, Synodal). Paul acknowledges real, specific wrongdoing rather than minimizing it. обидел can sound mild in everyday Russian (‘hurt someone’s feelings’); the legal/material seriousness of the wrongdoing (likely theft and/or flight, breach of a master’s trust) should be clarified in exposition so the debt that follows is not read as trivial.
Owe
Approved rendering: должен
Transliteration: dolzhen
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: ὀφείλω
Category: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
New term (1:18). Frames Onesimus’s wrong in explicitly economic terms, setting up Paul’s substitutionary offer (see charge_to_account and repay, below). Keep consistent with those terms within the same passage.
Owe Besides
Approved rendering: ты мне ещё более должен
Transliteration: ty mne yeshchyo boleye dolzhen
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: προσοφείλω
Category: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
New term (1:19, Synodal: ‘ты и самим собою мне должен’). A rare compound (προσοφείλω, only NT occurrence) reminding Philemon he owes Paul an even greater debt. The ‘on top of/besides’ nuance should be preserved so the verse reads as an escalation, not a repetition, of the debt language already used.
Benefit Joy
Approved rendering: дай мне воспользоваться от тебя
Transliteration: day mne vospol’zovat’sya ot tebya
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Original: ὀναίμην
Category: Slavery and Social Status
New term (1:20, Synodal). A deliberate final echo of Onesimus’s own name (ὀναίμην shares a root with ὀνίνημι/Ὀνήσιμος), closing the letter’s central wordplay. The name-echo is untranslatable directly; cross-reference the mandatory translator note used at onesimus (1:11) so learners recognize this as the pun’s deliberate closing bookend.
Confidence
Approved rendering: будучи уверен
Transliteration: buduchi uveren
Doctrine: Confidence in the Believer’s Character
Original: πεποιθώς
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
New term (1:21). Paul’s settled confidence rests on Philemon’s demonstrated character, not on the force of Paul’s own request. Standard vocabulary; ensure it does not read as mere polite hope but as settled trust grounded in Philemon’s character, already praised in 1:5-7.
Guest Room
Approved rendering: гостеприимство
Transliteration: gostepriimstvo
Doctrine: Hospitality and Practical Love
Rejected alternatives: помещение (Synodal, plainer/more clinical alternative)
Original: ξενία
Category: Hospitality
New term (1:22). Paul’s confident expectation of release tied directly to Philemon’s household and hospitality. Russian hospitality culture (гостеприимство) is a strong, largely positive cultural resonance and can be leveraged as a teaching asset.
Spirit
Approved rendering: дух
Transliteration: dukh
Doctrine: Grace
Original: πνεῦμα
Category: God
New term (1:25, ‘with your spirit,’ plural ὑμῶν). Refers to the human spirit/inner person of the recipients, NOT the Holy Spirit — see the inverse-guardrail note at holy_spirit, above. Standard Pauline closing formula; clarify explicitly so learners familiar with the baseline’s ‘дух alone ≠ Holy Spirit’ caution do not mistakenly read this as an incomplete reference to the Holy Spirit.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: общение
Transliteration: obshcheniye
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: дружба, коллектив (avoid Soviet-collective connotation)
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. Philemon 1:6’s ‘общение веры твоей’ (κοινωνία τῆς πίστεως) structurally anticipates the concrete equal-standing request κοινωνόν at 1:17 (see partner below); teaching text must draw this connection explicitly or the letter’s rhetorical build collapses into two unrelated word choices.
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: благодарение
Transliteration: blagodareniye
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστῶ
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package, unmodified. Philemon 1:4 uses the verb form благодарю; standard, no significant risk, shared root with Orthodox liturgical Евхаристия.
Beloved
Approved rendering: возлюбленный
Transliteration: vozlyublennyy
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship and Partnership
Rejected alternatives: дорогой (too casual/secular)
Original: ἀγαπητός
Category: Church
New term. Standard, established devotional register (1:1, 1:16); frames the entire appeal within existing affection, not merely official standing. No significant risk.
Remembrance
Approved rendering: упоминание
Transliteration: upominaniye
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Original: μνεία
Category: Faith
New term (1:4). Grounds the letter’s appeal in ongoing, specific intercessory prayer for Philemon, not a one-off request. No significant risk.
Prayer
Approved rendering: молитва
Transliteration: molitva
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Rejected alternatives: ходатайство (reserved for Romans 8’s technical Christ/Spirit intercession vocabulary; do not substitute here)
Original: προσευχή
Category: Faith
New term (1:4, 1:22). General prayer term, distinct from baseline’s technical ходатайство intercession vocabulary (Romans 8:26-27). No significant risk on its own.
Knowledge
Approved rendering: познание
Transliteration: poznaniye
Doctrine: Faith as Personal Trust in Christ
Rejected alternatives: знание (too generic; misses the deeper, experiential nuance of ἐπίγνωσις)
Original: ἐπίγνωσις
Category: Faith
New term (1:6). Deeper, experiential recognition/knowledge of every good thing for Christ’s sake. No significant risk.
Good Deed
Approved rendering: доброе
Transliteration: dobroye
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Original: ἀγαθόν
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
New term (1:6, 1:14). A specific good/beneficial act; the ‘good’ in view at 1:14 is grounded in voluntary, grace-shaped action, connecting thematically to the compulsion/voluntary contrast (see compulsion and voluntary, below).
Joy
Approved rendering: радость
Transliteration: radost’
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship and Partnership
Original: χαρά
Category: Relational Affection
New term (1:7). Gladness Paul expresses over Philemon’s love and the refreshment it has brought to the saints. No significant risk.
Comfort
Approved rendering: утешение
Transliteration: uteshenie
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship and Partnership
Original: παράκλησις
Category: Relational Affection
New term (1:7). Noun form of the παρακαλέω word-family (see appeal, below); consistent with baseline’s context-sensitive treatment of this word-family.
Command
Approved rendering: приказывать
Transliteration: prikazyvat’
Doctrine: Intercession and Appeal on Behalf of Another
Original: ἐπιτάσσω
Category: Intercession and Appeal
New term (1:8). Unambiguous command-verb, the mode of address Paul explicitly sets aside in favor of appeal (see appeal, below). No competing sense.
Send Back
Approved rendering: возвращаю
Transliteration: vozvrashchayu
Doctrine: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Original: ἀναπέμπω
Category: Forgiveness and Reconciliation
New term (1:12). Paul’s voluntary return of Onesimus to Philemon rather than harboring him; plain, unambiguous, models costly, law-respecting reconciliation.
Wish
Approved rendering: хотел
Transliteration: khotel
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Original: βούλομαι
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
New term (1:13). Paul’s personal desire, subordinated to Philemon’s free consent (see consent, below).
Keep Retain
Approved rendering: удержать
Transliteration: uderzhat’
Doctrine: Grace-Motivated Obedience
Original: κατέχω
Category: Grace-Motivated Obedience
New term (1:13). The option Paul had to keep Onesimus’s service for himself but declined to exercise unilaterally, modeling the letter’s consent-based ethic applied to Paul himself.
Serve
Approved rendering: служить
Transliteration: sluzhit’
Doctrine: Slavery and the Gospel’s Transforming Power
Original: διακονέω
Category: Slavery and Social Status
New term (1:13). Onesimus’s potential role assisting Paul’s gospel ministry, dignifying a former slave’s labor as gospel service.
Referenced passages