Passage
Romans 3
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Doctrine
Faith
In everyday Russian religious usage, 'having faith' (вера) often means identifying as Orthodox and participating in its sacraments, rather than personal trust in Christ specifically; Romans' individual, Christ-directed sense must be made explicit, especially in the justification passages.
ROM.3.22-28
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Glossary Term
Faith
вера is the standard, unambiguous term, but in Russian Orthodox usage 'faith' is often assumed to include sacramental participation and church membership (вера = being Orthodox) rather than personal trust in Christ alone.
ROM.3.22-28
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Doctrine
Fulfillment of Prophecy
Linear historical fulfillment (OT to NT) is not in tension with any competing native Russian cosmology, unlike in some other cultures; main risk is treating OT prophecy as generic religious literature rather than a specific, historically anchored promise.
ROM.3.21
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Glossary Term
Gentiles
язычники is the standard Synodal term but in modern Russian carries a stronger sense of 'pagans' (practitioners of a non-monotheistic religion) than the more neutral 'non-Jewish nations' sense Paul intends; use народы (nations/peoples) in mission-scope contexts (see mission) to avoid an unintended slur-adjacent tone.
ROM.3.29-30
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Doctrine
Grace
CRITICAL: Orthodox theology (following Palamas) understands благодать as uncreated divine energies that ontologically transform and deify the believer through sacramental participation, not primarily as unmerited legal pardon apart from works.
ROM.3.24
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Glossary Term
Grace
CRITICAL: благодать is the correct Synodal term, but Russian Orthodox theology (following Palamas) understands it as uncreated divine energies that really transform and deify the believer, not primarily an unmerited legal pardon.
ROM.3.24
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Glossary Term
Israel
Standard proper name; note the modern nation-state of Israel shares the identical Russian name, so context should clarify when the biblical people/covenant referent, not the contemporary state, is meant (relevant given contemporary geopolitical sensitivity).
ROM.3.29-30
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Glossary Term
Law
закон is the standard Synodal term for the Mosaic Law/Torah and also the ordinary word for civil law, which is helpful for Paul's legal-metaphor argument in Romans 2-7 but requires context to keep readers from assuming only Russian/Soviet civil-law categories are in view.
ROM.3.21
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Glossary Term
Prophecy
God-inspired declaration; distinguish from horoscope/astrology-style prediction (гороскоп, предсказание), which remains a widespread cultural practice in secular post-Soviet media.
ROM.3.21
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Glossary Term
Sin
грех is well established, including in secular Russian idiom, but seven decades of state atheism have partly flattened it into a folk-moral or even joking register ('грех жаловаться' = 'it'd be a sin/shame to complain'), and secular readers may hear it as outdated moralism rather than a serious category of guilt before a personal God.
ROM.3.23
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Doctrine
Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Given the historical weight of state and popular antisemitism in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union, Romans 9-11's argument for Jewish-Gentile unity and God's ongoing faithfulness to Israel needs careful, unambiguous translation rather than vague or minimizing paraphrase.
ROM.3.29-30
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Doctrine
Universal Human Accountability
Seven decades of state atheism have partly flattened грех into a folk-moral or even joking register; the weight of universal guilt before a personal God in Romans 1:18-3:20 must be restored explicitly rather than assumed from the vocabulary alone.
ROM.3.23