Semantic Analysis

Semantic Analysis: 1 Corinthians (Full Book) — English → Sanskrit

Methodology Note

This analysis follows the risk-tier conventions, script, register, and citation format of the baseline Romans Language Package. Every term already recorded in the baseline translation_memory.json is reused exactly as recorded (e.g. σωτηρία → त्राणम्, ἀγγέλιον-compounds → सुसमाचारः, κύριος → प्रभुः, θεός → सर्वेश्वरः, πνεῦμα ἅγιον → पवित्र आत्मा). Such reuse is marked “[Romans TM]” and not re-argued in full; only 1 Corinthians-specific contextual notes are added where the term’s use here differs materially from Romans. All newly load-bearing terms specific to 1 Corinthians are analyzed in full, using the same seven fields required by the PRD: original word, transliteration, literal meaning, semantic range, English variants, contextual theological meaning, and destination-language rendering + risk.

Sanskrit’s categorical situation, per the baseline: there are no first-language speakers; every candidate rendering is a citable technical term within a developed darśana (Vedānta, Sāṅkhya-Yoga, Mīmāṃsā, Nyāya) or Purāṇic/Tantric theology, or a live ritual category (mūrti-pūjā, prasāda, śrāddha, dīkṣā). 1 Corinthians is unusually dense in exactly this kind of collision, because its subject matter — meat offered to images, communal ritual meals, ecstatic speech, bodily resurrection, marriage/renunciation, wisdom versus folly — maps with unusual precision onto live Hindu ritual and philosophical categories (mūrti-pūjā and naivedya/prasāda; dīkṣā; jñāna-mārga; brahmacarya-āśrama; sūkṣma-śarīra; karma-bīja). Each such collision is flagged explicitly below.

CORE PASSAGE: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 — Verse-by-Verse Analysis

15:1 — Γνωρίζω δὲ ὑμῖν, ἀδελφοί, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὃ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν, ὃ καὶ παρελάβετε, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἑστήκατε

εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion) — lit. “good message/announcement.” Semantic range: a formal, authoritative proclamation of victory or good news, later the technical Christian term for the saving message of Christ. English variants: “gospel,” “good news.” Contextual meaning: the fixed, received body of apostolic proclamation about Christ, now being recalled as the basis for the resurrection argument. Sanskrit: सुसमाचारः [Romans TM]. Risk: High (reused, no new risk).
παρελάβετε (parelabete, from παραλαμβάνω) — lit. “you received/took alongside.” Semantic range: to receive a handed-down tradition, formally and intact (a technical verb, paired with παραδίδωμι “I delivered,” v.3). English variants: “received,” “accepted.” Contextual meaning: Paul frames the resurrection kerygma as a fixed deposit of tradition received by the Corinthians, not his private opinion. Sanskrit: प्राप्तवन्तः (prāptavantaḥ, “you have received/obtained”). Risk: High. Notes: The receive/deliver technical pairing (παραλαμβάνω/παραδίδωμι) functions structurally like a transmission-of-tradition claim — precisely the shape of guru-śiṣya-paramparā, the lineage-transmission doctrine central to nearly every classical Indian school (already noted for “apostle” in the Romans baseline). This must be explicitly distinguished: Paul’s “received” tradition is a fixed, closed, historically-anchored eyewitness deposit (vv.3-8 name specific, checkable witnesses, some still living), not an open, ever-reinterpreted oral lineage. Do NOT render with सम्प्रदायेन प्राप्तम् (see v.3 below).
ἑστήκατε (hestēkate, from ἵστημι) — lit. “you have stood, you stand firm.” Semantic range: to stand in a fixed position, to persevere. English variants: “stand,” “stand firm.” Sanskrit: स्थिरं तिष्ठथ (sthiraṃ tiṣṭhatha). Risk: Low.

15:2 — διʼ οὗ καὶ σώζεσθε, τίνι λόγῳ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν εἰ κατέχετε, ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ ἐπιστεύσατε

σώζεσθε (sōzesthe, present passive of σώζω) — lit. “you are being saved/rescued.” Semantic range: rescue from danger, deliverance, wholeness. English variants: “saved,” “are being saved.” Contextual meaning: present, ongoing salvation grounded in continued holding to the gospel. Sanskrit: त्रायध्वे (trāyadhve), verbal form of त्राणम् [Romans TM root]. Risk: Critical (never मुच्यध्वे/मोक्षं गच्छथ — see baseline salvation entry; मोक्ष/मुक्ति are never permitted).
κατέχετε (katechete) — lit. “you hold fast/possess firmly.” Semantic range: to retain, hold down, keep control of. English variants: “hold fast,” “hold firmly.” Sanskrit: धारयथ (dhārayatha). Risk: Low.
ἐπιστεύσατε (episteusate, from πιστεύω) — lit. “you believed/trusted.” Cognate of πίστις. Sanskrit: अविश्वसत (aviśvasata), verb of विश्वासः [Romans TM]. Risk: High (reused).

15:3 — παρέδωκα γὰρ ὑμῖν ἐν πρώτοις, ὃ καὶ παρέλαβον, ὅτι Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν κατὰ τὰς γραφάς

παρέδωκα (paredōka, from παραδίδωμι) — lit. “I handed over/delivered.” Semantic range: to transmit formally, to hand down as a fixed deposit; also used of betrayal (handing over to authorities) elsewhere in the NT — the same verb, different sense. English variants: “delivered,” “passed on,” “handed down.” Sanskrit: निवेदितवान् (niveditavān, “I have set forth/presented”) or समर्पितवान् (samarpitavān). Risk: High. Notes: CRITICAL avoidance — do NOT render with सम्प्रदायः/सम्प्रदायेन. सम्प्रदाय is the precise technical Sanskrit term for a named theological lineage-tradition (e.g., the four Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas: Śrī, Brahmā, Rudra, Kumāra), each claiming an unbroken chain of authoritative reinterpretation from a founding teacher. Paul’s “delivered” tradition is closed apostolic eyewitness testimony fixed at one point in history, not an ongoing sampradāya of reinterpretation. Use a plain verb, not the technical noun.
ἐν πρώτοις — “among the first things / as of first importance.” Sanskrit: प्रथमतः (prathamataḥ). Risk: Low.
Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν — “Christ died for/on behalf of our sins.” ὑπέρ (hyper) — lit. “over, on behalf of, for the sake of.” Semantic range: substitutionary, vicarious benefit. English variants: “for,” “on behalf of,” “for the sake of.” Contextual theological meaning: substitutionary atonement — Christ’s death bears the penalty due to others. Sanskrit: अस्मत्पापार्थम् (asmatpāpārtham, “for the sake of our sins”) / अस्मत्पापनिमित्तम् मृतः (mṛtaḥ). Risk: Critical. Notes: Vicarious, transferable satisfaction for another’s guilt has no clean classical Sanskrit parallel — orthodox karma-mīmāṃsā generally treats karmaphala as strictly non-transferable to another agent (each self bears its own accumulated karma). This is a genuine and productive point of contrast, not merely a translation problem, and should be flagged for explicit theological explanation rather than assumed comprehension. (Bhakti traditions’ śaraṇāgati/prapatti — surrender resulting in the deity’s removal of karma — offers a partial devotional analogy but is not identical and should not be cited as equivalence without qualification.)
κατὰ τὰς γραφάς (“according to the Scriptures”) — γραφή (graphē), lit. “a writing.” Sanskrit: शास्त्रम् / पवित्रशास्त्रानुसारम् (pavitraśāstrānusāram, “according to the holy scripture”). Risk: High. Notes: invokes the Romans baseline’s Critical “inspiration_of_scripture” doctrine — the Veda’s apauruṣeya (non-authored, eternally existent) status is structurally opposite to Scripture as the record of a personal God’s historically situated speech through human authors. Must not be rendered with a term suggesting eternal, uncreated textual status.

15:4 — καὶ ὅτι ἐτάφη, καὶ ὅτι ἐγήγερται τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ κατὰ τὰς γραφάς

ἐτάφη (etaphē, from θάπτω) — lit. “he was buried/entombed.” Sanskrit: श्मशाने स्थापितः (śmaśāne sthāpitaḥ, “placed in the burial ground”) or निखातः (nikhātaḥ, “buried/interred”). Risk: Medium. Notes: Avoid समाधिस्थः/समाधौ स्थापितः — समाधि is Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra eighth and culminating limb (aṣṭāṅga-yoga), a state of absorptive meditative union, and must never be used for “burial place.” Note also the cultural friction: the dominant Hindu funerary practice is cremation (dahana-saṃskāra), not burial (samādhi as tomb-word is in fact borrowed in some vernaculars precisely from tomb of a saint, adding to the risk of confusion). This is a point requiring a brief cultural note rather than doctrinal correction.
ἐγήγερται (egēgertai, perfect passive of ἐγείρω) — lit. “he has been raised (and remains risen).” Semantic range: to rouse, raise up, cause to stand; perfect tense signals a completed act with continuing effect. English variants: “was raised,” “has been raised,” “is risen.” Sanskrit: पुनरुत्थितः अस्ति [Romans TM root पुनरुत्थानम्]. Risk: Critical. Notes: NEVER पुनर्जन्म. The perfect tense is theologically load-bearing — Christ’s resurrection is a permanent, completed state, not a transitional stage before a further rebirth; this must be preserved by a Sanskrit perfect/resultative construction (अस्ति + past participle), not a simple past that could be read as a completed, closed event followed by an implied further cycle.
τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ (“on the third day”) — Sanskrit: तृतीये दिने (tṛtīye dine). Risk: Low.

15:5 — καὶ ὅτι ὤφθη Κηφᾷ, εἶτα τοῖς δώδεκα

ὤφθη (ōphthē, aorist passive of ὁράω) — lit. “he was seen / he appeared.” Semantic range: to be seen, to become visible to; used throughout vv.5-8 as the technical verb for a verified post-resurrection appearance. English variants: “appeared,” “was seen by,” “showed himself to.” Contextual meaning: an objective, externally verifiable event witnessed by named individuals and groups, offered as evidentiary support. Sanskrit: दृष्टः (dṛṣṭaḥ, “was seen”) — e.g. कैफायाः दृष्टः (kaiphāyāḥ dṛṣṭaḥ, “was seen by Cephas”). Risk: High. Notes: Do not render with the noun दर्शनम् (darśana). दर्शनम् is the central Hindu devotional category of visually beholding and being beheld by a deity or guru (temple darśana, mūrti-darśana) — a ritual-visual communion category, and also the technical name for a “philosophical school” (the six darśanas). Using दर्शनम् here would recast Christ’s bodily post-resurrection appearances as ritual theophanic darśana experiences rather than plain, verifiable historical sightings by named witnesses. Use the plain finite verb दृष्टः, never the noun.
Κηφᾷ (Kēphā) — Peter’s Aramaic name, “Cephas/Rock.” Sanskrit: transliterated कैफाः (kaiphāḥ), cross-referenced to पेतरः (petaraḥ) elsewhere. Risk: Low (proper name).
τοῖς δώδεκα (“the Twelve”) — Sanskrit: द्वादश (प्रेषिताः) [reuses प्रेषितः, Romans TM]. Risk: Medium (apostleship doctrine, per Romans baseline).

15:6 — ἔπειτα ὤφθη ἐπάνω πεντακοσίοις ἀδελφοῖς ἐφάπαξ, ἐξ ὧν οἱ πλείονες μένουσιν ἕως ἄρτι, τινὲς δὲ ἐκοιμήθησαν

ἐφάπαξ (ephapax) — lit. “at once, on one occasion, once for all.” Semantic range: a single, unrepeated, decisive occurrence (cf. Hebrews’ use for Christ’s sacrifice). English variants: “at once,” “on one occasion,” “once for all.” Sanskrit: एकवारम् (ekavāram) / सकृत् (sakṛt). Risk: Medium. Notes: reinforces the “once-for-all,” non-repeatable character central to the incarnation/resurrection Critical doctrines already established in the Romans baseline (contra periodic/repeatable divine descent).
ἐκοιμήθησαν (ekoimēthēsan, from κοιμάομαι) — lit. “they fell asleep.” Semantic range: euphemism for death among believers, implying a temporary state pending resurrection, not annihilation or immediate rebirth. English variants: “fallen asleep,” “died.” Sanskrit: निद्रितवन्तः (nidritavantaḥ) / प्रसुप्ताः (prasuptāḥ). Risk: Medium. Notes: must be explicitly anchored to bodily resurrection hope (Christ’s return “wakes” the sleeping dead, v.51-52), not to a cycle in which “waking” means transmigrating into a new body — the sleep metaphor must not silently absorb reincarnation associations.

15:7 — ἔπειτα ὤφθη Ἰακώβῳ, εἶτα τοῖς ἀποστόλοις πᾶσιν

Ἰακώβῳ — James, the Lord’s brother. Proper name. Sanskrit: याकोबः (yākobaḥ). Risk: Low.
τοῖς ἀποστόλοις πᾶσιν — “all the apostles.” Sanskrit: सर्वेभ्यः प्रेषितेभ्यः [Romans TM]. Risk: Medium.

15:8 — ἔσχατον δὲ πάντων ὥσπερ τῷ ἐκτρώματι ὤφθη κἀμοί

ἔκτρωμα (ektrōma) — lit. “a miscarried/prematurely-born, aborted fetus.” Semantic range: a stark, self-abasing term for something untimely and unworthy of life; used by Paul as an image of shocking unworthiness. English variants: “one born untimely,” “one abnormally born,” “the least.” Contextual meaning: Paul’s self-designation of radical unworthiness to have seen the risen Christ at all, given his prior persecution of the church. Sanskrit: अकालजातः (akālajātaḥ, “one born at the wrong time”) or गर्भस्रावजातः (garbhasrāvajātaḥ). Risk: Medium. Notes: purely a rhetorical self-abasement image; no direct doctrinal collision, but translators should avoid euphemizing it into a milder “least of these,” since the starkness is deliberate.

15:9 — Ἐγὼ γάρ εἰμι ὁ ἐλάχιστος τῶν ἀποστόλων, ὃς οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς καλεῖσθαι ἀπόστολος, διότι ἐδίωξα τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ

ἐλάχιστος (“least”) — Sanskrit: लघुतमः (laghutamaḥ) / सर्वेभ्यः न्यूनतमः. Risk: Low.
καλεῖσθαι ἀπόστολος — “to be called an apostle.” Sanskrit: reuses आहूतः/प्रेषितः [Romans TM]. Risk: Medium.
ἐδίωξα (ediōxa, from διώκω) — “I persecuted.” Sanskrit: उपद्रुतवान् (upadrutavān) / ताडितवान् (tāḍitavān). Risk: Low.
τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ — “the church of God.” Sanskrit: सर्वेश्वरस्य मण्डली [Romans TM]. Risk: Medium.

15:10 — χάριτι δὲ θεοῦ εἰμι ὅ εἰμι· καὶ ἡ χάρις αὐτοῦ ἡ εἰς ἐμὲ οὐ κενὴ ἐγενήθη, ἀλλὰ περισσότερον αὐτῶν πάντων ἐκοπίασα, οὐκ ἐγὼ δὲ ἀλλὰ ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ [ἡ] σὺν ἐμοί

χάριτι θεοῦ (“by the grace of God”) — Sanskrit: सर्वेश्वरस्य अनुग्रहेण [Romans TM]. Risk: High (reused).
κενή (kenē, from κενός) — lit. “empty, void.” Semantic range: without effect, in vain, without substance. English variants: “in vain,” “without effect,” “empty.” Contextual theological meaning: God’s grace toward Paul was not merely nominal but produced real, effortful fruit — grace and effortful labor are not opposed, though the labor itself is credited to grace, not self-merit. Sanskrit: निष्फला (niṣphalā, “fruitless”) / व्यर्था (vyarthā, “purposeless”). Risk: High. Notes: this verse is a flashpoint for the grace/karmaphala distinction mandated by the baseline (Romans rule: “grace ≠ merit or ritual exchange… ensure the contrast against karmaphala is preserved”). Care is needed: Paul says he “labored” (ἐκοπίασα) more than others, yet insists the labor itself was “not I, but the grace of God with me” — this must not be smoothed into a karma-style claim that diligent effort produces its own automatic result (karmaphala); the labor is itself grace’s effect, not grace’s precondition.
ἐκοπίασα (ekopiasa, from κοπιάω) — “I labored/toiled.” Sanskrit: श्रमम् अकरवम् (śramam akaravam). Risk: Low.

15:11 — εἴτε οὖν ἐγὼ εἴτε ἐκεῖνοι, οὕτως κηρύσσομεν καὶ οὕτως ἐπιστεύσατε

κηρύσσομεν (kēryssomen, from κηρύσσω) — lit. “we herald/proclaim (as a herald announcing a king’s decree).” Semantic range: authoritative public proclamation, not private teaching or philosophical instruction. English variants: “preach,” “proclaim,” “herald.” Sanskrit: प्रचारयामः (pracārayāmaḥ) [cf. Romans TM सुसमाचारप्रचारः]. Risk: Medium.
ἐπιστεύσατε — see v.2 above. Sanskrit: विश्वासः-verb [Romans TM]. Risk: High.

CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER SEMANTIC ANALYSIS: 1 Corinthians 1-16

Chapter 1 — Divisions, the Cross, and Worldly Wisdom

σχίσμα (schisma) — lit. “a tear, a split” (from σχίζω, “to split”; source of English “schism”). Semantic range: factional division within a body that should be unified. English variants: “division,” “schism,” “quarrel.” Contextual meaning: the Corinthians’ party-loyalty factionalism (1:10-12) undermining the unity of the church. Sanskrit: भेदः (bhedaḥ) / विभेदः (vibhedaḥ). Risk: Medium-High. Notes: भेद is also a live philosophical term (bheda-abheda debates in Vedānta concern the ontological status of difference between self and Brahman); here it is used non-technically for social/factional division and should be paired with मण्डलीभेदः (church-division) for clarity to avoid drifting into that metaphysical register.
ἔρις (eris) — “strife, quarreling, contentiousness.” Sanskrit: कलहः (kalahaḥ) / विवादः (vivādaḥ). Risk: Low.
σοφία (sophia) — lit. “wisdom, skill.” Semantic range: in Greek philosophy, theoretical and practical wisdom; in 1 Corinthians 1-2, contrasted sharply with the “foolishness” of the cross as God’s own higher wisdom that confounds human wisdom. English variants: “wisdom.” Contextual theological meaning: not a body of speculative knowledge attained through reasoning, but God’s saving action in the crucified Christ, hidden from and foolish to worldly reasoning. Sanskrit: प्रज्ञा (prajñā). Risk: High. Notes: प्रज्ञा is a heavily theorized term in its own right — in Vedānta’s Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad it names the third state of consciousness (prājña, the cognizer in deep dreamless sleep, one of the four states along with viśva, taijasa, turīya), and in Buddhist thought it names liberating insight (prajñā-pāramitā). Alternatives rejected: ज्ञानम् (too close to the separately-flagged γνῶσις below; also implicated in jñāna-mārga), विद्या (Upaniṣadic para-vidyā/apara-vidyā distinction between saving and worldly knowledge, arguably even more loaded). प्रज्ञा is retained as least-bad but requires mandatory redefinition at first occurrence: “God’s wisdom revealed in the crucified Christ, foolishness to human reasoning, not an intellectual attainment reached through disciplined contemplation.”
μωρία (mōria) — “foolishness, folly.” Sanskrit: मौर्ख्यम् (maurkhyam) / मूर्खत्वम् (mūrkhatvam). Risk: Low-Medium.
σταυρός (stauros) — lit. “an upright stake, a cross” (the Roman execution instrument). Semantic range: literal execution device; by metonymy, Christ’s atoning death and the entire message centered on it (“the word of the cross,” 1:18). English variants: “cross.” Sanskrit: क्रूशः (krūśaḥ, established transliteration-based coinage per the Serampore Sanskrit NT tradition). Risk: Medium. Notes: लो risk as an object-word (unfamiliar foreign object, no rival technical meaning), but the doctrine attached to it (“the cross as wisdom and power,” this curriculum’s own doctrine heading) is High/Critical — see σοφία above and δύναμις below.
δύναμις (θεοῦ) — “power (of God).” Sanskrit: सामर्थ्यम् [Romans TM]. Risk: High (reused; never शक्तिः, per baseline “power_of_god” entry — here explicitly contrasted with σοφία in the same verses, 1:18, 1:24, so the two Critical/High terms co-occur and must both be handled per their individual notes).
καύχημα / καυχάομαι (kauchēma/kauchaomai) — “boast(ing).” Sanskrit: गर्वः (garvaḥ) / श्लाघा (ślāghā). Risk: Medium. Notes: avoid अहंकारः — a precise Sāṅkhya technical term for the ego-principle (ahaṅkāra, the third evolute of prakṭti in the Sāṅkhya tattva scheme), which would import an unrelated metaphysical category into a straightforward ethical exhortation against self-glorying.
κλητός (called) — reuse आहूतः [Romans TM]. Risk High (reused; applies here to the calling of “the foolish, the weak, the low” 1:26-28 — an inversion-of-status theme worth flagging for translators as directly challenging any varṇa-linked hierarchy of spiritual worthiness, consistent with the baseline’s “universal_scope_of_gospel” doctrine).
κοινωνία (fellowship) — reuse सहभागिता [Romans TM]. Risk Low (reused, 1:9).

Chapter 2 — The Spirit’s Wisdom vs Human Wisdom; Natural and Spiritual Persons

πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ / πνεῦμα ἅγιον — reuse पवित्र आत्मा [Romans TM]. Risk: Critical (reused; 2:10-14 is a dense passage on the Spirit “searching the depths of God” and being given “not the spirit of the world” — every occurrence requires the mandatory personhood note per the baseline’s Holy Spirit rule).
ψυχικὸς ἄνθρωπος (psychikos anthrōpos) — lit. “soul-ish/natural person” (from ψυχή, “soul, life-breath”). Semantic range: the unregenerate person, operating by natural human faculties alone, unable to receive/discern spiritual truth (2:14). English variants: “natural man,” “unspiritual person,” “person without the Spirit.” Sanskrit: प्राकृतः पुरुषः (prākṛtaḥ puruṣaḥ, “the natural/ordinary person”). Risk: Critical. Notes: this is the first occurrence of the ψυχικός/πνευματικός contrast that recurs at 3:1 and is doctrinally central at 15:44-46 (see Chapter 15 below); analyzed jointly there. प्राकृत here functions adjectivally in its ordinary sense (“natural, ordinary”), but shares a root with प्रकृति, Sāṅkhya’s technical term for primal, non-conscious matter-principle (paired with puruṣa, “spirit/self,” in Sāṅkhya-Yoga dualism) — an unavoidable resonance requiring explicit redefinition every time: “unregenerate, without the Spirit’s discernment,” not a claim about Sāṅkhya’s prakṛti-puruṣa metaphysical dualism.
πνευματικός (pneumatikos, “spiritual”) — Sanskrit: आत्मिकः (ātmikaḥ) [cf. Romans TM आत्मिकं वरदानम्]. Risk: Critical. Notes: built on आत्मन्, requiring the same Holy Spirit personhood caution as पवित्र आत्मा itself — “spiritual person” here means “indwelt and taught by the Holy Spirit,” never “one who has realized identity between the individual self and the universal Self/Brahman.”

Chapter 3 — Immaturity, Building Metaphors, and the Temple of God

σαρκικός (sarkikos, “fleshly, carnal”) — distinct from the incarnational “flesh” of the Romans baseline (σάρξ in the sense of Christ’s assumed human nature); here an ethical category for immature, sin-dominated conduct. Sanskrit: शारीरिकः (śārīrikaḥ) / मांसलः (māṃsalaḥ). Risk: Medium. Notes: translators must keep this usage distinct from any future rendering of the incarnational “according to the flesh” (κατὰ σάρκα, cf. Romans 1:3 seed_of_david entry), which is doctrinally positive/neutral, not ethically negative.
ναός θεοῦ (naos theou, “temple of God”) — 3:16-17, applied to the church community (this recurs individually at 6:19 applied to the believer’s body). Lit. ναός: “dwelling-place/shrine,” the inner sanctuary housing a deity’s presence (distinct from ἱερόν, the wider temple precinct). Semantic range: sacred indwelling-place. English variants: “temple,” “sanctuary,” “God’s dwelling.” Contextual theological meaning: God’s Spirit dwells within the gathered church (and, at 6:19, within the individual believer’s body) — a claim about indwelling presence, not architecture. Sanskrit: मन्दिरम् (mandiram). Risk: High. Notes: this deliberately revisits a term the Romans baseline rejected for “church” as an assembly (“never मन्दिरम्… image-centered”). Here the metaphor is different — not “the church is a building” but “God’s Spirit dwells within you as in a temple” — and मन्दिरम् is the most natural available term for that indwelling-sanctuary sense. However, मन्दिरम् in ordinary Hindu usage houses a mūrti (consecrated image) of a deity; every occurrence must carry an explicit note: “God’s own Spirit dwells within the believer/community directly, not through a consecrated image or ritual object requiring priestly mediation to activate the divine presence.” Do not let this metaphor imply that a physical building, still less a physical church building, is meant.

Chapter 4 — Stewardship and Apostolic Fatherhood

ὑπηρέτης / οἰκονόμος (“servant” / “steward, household manager”) — Sanskrit: सेवकः (sevakaḥ) / भाण्डागारिकः (bhāṇḍāgārikaḥ, “manager of resources”). Risk: Low.
πατήρ (father, of Paul’s spiritual fatherhood over the Corinthians, 4:15) — reuse पिता [Romans TM]. Risk: Medium in this specific application: translators must keep Paul’s derivative, ministerial fatherhood (“I became your father through the gospel”) grammatically and contextually distinct from God the Father’s unique, ultimate Fatherhood (see Romans baseline “father” entry, Critical). A qualifying phrase (e.g. सुसमाचारेण पिता इव, “as a father through the gospel”) is recommended rather than bare पिता when the referent is Paul.

Chapter 5 — Church Discipline, Immorality, and the Passover Image

πορνεία (porneia, “sexual immorality”) — Sanskrit: व्यभिचारः (vyabhicāraḥ) / परस्त्रीगमनम् (parastrīgamanam, for the specific incest case in view, 5:1). Risk: Medium-High. Notes: reuses the “sin” (पापम्) doctrinal frame [Romans TM]; the specific concern here is moral transgression before a holy, personal God requiring corporate discipline, not ritual impurity resolvable by prāyaścitta-style penance (cf. baseline “sin” entry’s caution).
παραδοῦναι τῷ Σατανᾷ (“to hand over to Satan,” 5:5) — Sanskrit: शैतानाय समर्पणम् (śaitānāya samarpaṇam). Risk: High. Notes: a distinctive act of formal church discipline (temporary exclusion from the community for the offender’s ultimate restoration), theologically unlike any classical Sanskrit category of ritual excommunication or caste-expulsion (jāti-cyuti/out-casting under dharmaśāstra); must be explained as remedial and reconciliatory in purpose, not punitive expulsion from a social order.
ζύμη / ἄζυμος (“leaven” / “unleavened,” 5:6-8) — lit. “yeast/leavening agent” / “without leaven.” Semantic range: drawn from Passover imagery (unleavened bread, Exodus 12); metaphor for corrupting influence needing to be purged versus purity. English variants: “leaven,” “yeast,” “unleavened.” Contextual theological meaning: Christ as the Passover lamb, sacrificed once; the church must purge corrupting sin as Israel purged leaven before Passover. Sanskrit: किण्वम् (kiṇvam, “leaven/ferment”) / अकिण्वितम् (akiṇvitam, “unleavened”). Risk: High. Notes: requires explicit Old Testament Passover background explanation for any Sanskrit-literate reader, parallel to the baseline’s treatment of “seed_of_david” — there is no native Sanskrit ritual-calendar equivalent, and simply translating the words without the Exodus 12 background will leave the metaphor opaque or, worse, invite assimilation to unrelated purificatory food-taboo categories in dharmaśāstra.

Chapter 6 — Lawsuits, Bodily Holiness, and Redemption (“Bought With a Price”)

κρίνεσθαι (litigation among believers, 6:1-8) — Sanskrit: विचारः/न्यायालयगमनम् (nyāyālayagamanam, “going to a court of law”). Risk: Low. Notes: distinguish this ordinary legal sense sharply from the technical compound धर्मीति निर्णयः reserved exclusively for the Critical soteriological doctrine of justification [Romans TM] — do not reuse निर्णयः-based vocabulary for ordinary civil judgment without this distinction flagged.
σῶμα ναὸς τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος (“body is a temple of the Holy Spirit,” 6:19) — reuses and reinforces the Chapter 3 मन्दिरम् note, now applied to the individual believer’s own body. Risk: High (as above), with the additional note that this grounds the sexual-ethics argument of the chapter: bodily holiness matters because the Spirit indwells the individual body, not because of ritual body-purity codes.
ἠγοράσθητε τιμῆς (“you were bought with a price,” 6:20; also 7:23) — ἀγοράζω lit. “to buy in the marketplace (ἀγορά).” Semantic range: commercial purchase, redemption from slavery (a slave-market image). English variants: “bought,” “purchased,” “redeemed.” Contextual theological meaning: believers belong to Christ because he paid a costly price (his own death) to redeem them from slavery to sin — not a commercial transaction that believers can leverage or repeat, but a completed act of costly ownership. Sanskrit: मूल्येन क्रीतः (mūlyena krītaḥ, “bought at a price”). Risk: High. Notes: care is required that this not be heard as one more transactional ritual exchange (echoing the baseline’s caution against प्रसाद’s offering-and-return structure); the price is paid entirely by Christ, unilaterally, not exchanged by the believer for a benefit.

Chapter 7 — Marriage, Singleness, and the Gift of Continence

γάμος (“marriage”) — Sanskrit: विवाहः (vivāhaḥ). Risk: Medium.
ἄγαμος (“unmarried, single”) — Sanskrit: अविवाहित्वम् (avivāhitvam, “the unmarried state”). Risk: High. Notes: CRITICAL CAUTION — do NOT render Paul’s commendation of singleness “for the sake of the kingdom” using ब्रह्मचर्यम् (brahmacarya). Brahmacarya is a specific, formally-defined life-stage (āśrama) within the four-stage varṇāśrama-dharma system, carrying its own vows, disciplines, and social status, and is properly the first life-stage (preceding marriage), not a permanently chosen alternative to it as Paul describes. Using ब्रह्मचर्यम् would misrepresent Paul’s teaching as endorsing a specific Hindu āśrama category with its attendant social-ritual expectations. Use the descriptive अविवाहित्वम् instead.
χάρισμα (gift, here of one’s marital/celibate state, 7:7) — reuse आत्मिकं वरदानम् concept [Romans TM], but note contextual broadening: here χάρισμα names a Spirit-given disposition of life-circumstance (marriage or celibacy), not a ministry-enablement in the Chapter 12 sense. Risk: Medium, flagged for translators to keep the two senses distinguishable by context, not vocabulary.
ἐγκράτεια (self-control, implied at 7:9 “if they cannot control themselves”) — Sanskrit: आत्मसंयमः (ātmasaṃyamaḥ). Risk: Medium. Notes: resonates with, but must be distinguished from, the yogic disciplines of संयम (saṃyama, Patañjali’s technical term for the combined practice of concentration-meditation-absorption in Yoga Sūtra 3.4) and the general ascetic tapas tradition; here it names ordinary self-governance within marriage, not a systematic yogic discipline aimed at supernatural attainment (siddhi).
παρθένος (“virgin”) — Sanskrit: कुमारी (kumārī). Risk: Low.
κλῆσις (“calling,” 7:20, of one’s life-station) — reuse आह्वानम् [Romans TM], contextually extended here to mean “the situation in which one was called,” a distinct nuance from calling-to-salvation. Risk: Medium, flagged for contextual disambiguation.

Chapter 8 — Idol Meat, Knowledge, Conscience, and the Confession of One God

εἴδωλον (eidōlon, “idol”) — lit. “an image, likeness, phantom” (from εἶδος, “form, appearance” — originally neutral, “that which is seen,” acquiring the pejorative sense “unreal image, false god”). Semantic range: a physical cult image; by extension, the false deity it purportedly represents, which Paul insists “is nothing” (8:4). English variants: “idol,” “image.” Contextual theological meaning: idols have no real existence as gods; there is only one true God (8:4-6). Sanskrit: प्रतिमा (pratimā) / देवप्रतिमा (devapratimā). Risk: Critical. Notes: this is among the most consequential renderings in the entire book. Alternatives considered: मूर्तिः (mūrti) and विग्रहः (vigraha) are the standard, positively-valenced Hindu terms for a consecrated devotional image understood in Āgamic/Purāṇic theology as a genuine support for divine presence (pratiṣṭhā, consecration, invites the deity’s real presence into the image) — using either would flatly contradict Paul’s polemical claim that “an idol is nothing” and would risk being read as a direct doctrinal attack on mūrti-pūjā practice itself rather than on the pagan cult-image practice Paul addresses. प्रतिमा/देवप्रतिमा is retained as the least devotionally-loaded available option, but every occurrence must carry an explicit note: Paul’s argument is that the idol itself has no independent reality — it is not a live theological engagement with the Hindu doctrine of divine presence in a consecrated mūrti, and this text should not be deployed polemically against that distinct question without careful, separate theological framing.
εἰδωλόθυτον (eidōlothyton, “food sacrificed to idols”) — Sanskrit: देवप्रतिमाभ्यः निवेदितं मांसम् (devapratimābhyaḥ niveditaṃ māṃsam, “meat presented/offered to deity-images”). Risk: Critical. Notes: THE single highest ritual-collision point in the letter. The structure Paul describes — food ritually presented to an image, then eaten by worshippers — is functionally identical to the Hindu practice of naivedya/prasāda (food offered to a mūrti and then distributed to and consumed by devotees as sanctified), already flagged as Critical in the Romans baseline’s “grace” entry for its different but related transactional-ritual structure. Here the collision is even more direct: this is the very case Paul discusses. Translators must not let Paul’s permissive conclusion (“eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience,” 10:25) be read as endorsing the practice of prasāda-consumption as spiritually neutral in a Hindu ritual context; Paul’s argument turns specifically on the idol’s unreality, a premise that cannot be assumed to transfer to a reader’s live devotional context without explicit theological mediation.
γνῶσις (gnōsis, “knowledge”) — see also 13:2, 13:8. Sanskrit: ज्ञानम् (jñānam). Risk: High. Notes: shares the σοφία caution above; “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (8:1) directly subordinates γνῶσις to ἀγάπη — a structurally different priority than jñāna-mārga’s soteriology, in which jñāna (liberating knowledge of the Self) is itself the highest and sufficient means of liberation. Must be redefined at first occurrence: intellectual knowledge of theological facts, valuable but subordinate to love, not itself a path to liberation.
συνείδησις (syneidēsis, “conscience”) — lit. “co-knowledge, knowing-together-with (oneself).” Semantic range: the inner faculty by which a person judges their own actions as right or wrong. English variants: “conscience.” Contextual theological meaning: the “weak” believer’s conscience, still sensitive to the idol’s supposed reality, must be protected from being led into sin by the “strong” believer’s liberty (8:7-12). Sanskrit: अन्तःकरणम् (antaḥkaraṇam, “the inner instrument”). Risk: High. Notes: अन्तःकरणम् is itself a precisely theorized Sāṅkhya-Yoga and Vedāntic term naming the composite inner-instrument complex (manas, buddhi, ahaṅkāra, and sometimes citta) through which cognition occurs — not primarily a moral faculty of guilt/innocence in the biblical sense. Requires mandatory redefinition at first occurrence, comparable to the baseline’s treatment of “holy” (पवित्रम्): “the faculty of moral self-judgment before God, weak or strong depending on maturity of understanding,” not the Sāṅkhya psychological-cognitive apparatus per se.
εἷς θεός… εἷς κύριος (“one God… one Lord,” 8:6) — reuse सर्वेश्वरः + प्रभुः exactly [Romans TM]. Risk: Critical. Notes: this verse is the single most direct monotheistic confession in the letter, explicitly contrasted with “many so-called gods and many lords” (8:5) — a virtually verbatim description of the Hindu devotional landscape of many devas and iṣṭa-devatās. This is precisely the confrontation the Romans baseline’s सर्वेश्वरः (“Lord of all,” chosen over देवः, भगवान्, bare ईश्वरः) was designed to meet; this verse should be treated as the paradigm proof-text for why सर्वेश्वरः/प्रभुः, not देवः/भगवान्/ईश्वरः, must be used throughout.

Chapter 9 — Apostolic Rights and the Athletic Image

ἀγών / στέφανος (“contest” / “crown,” 9:24-25, athletic imagery from the nearby Isthmian Games) — Sanskrit: स्पर्धा (spardhā, “contest”) / मुकुटम् (mukuṭam, “crown, wreath”). Risk: Low-Medium.
στέφανος ἄφθαρτος (“imperishable crown,” 9:25) — Sanskrit: अविनाशी मुकुटम् (avinaśī mukuṭam). Risk: Medium. Notes: see the extended ἄφθαρτος discussion at Chapter 15 below — do NOT use अक्षर for “imperishable” (see there).
ὑπωπιάζω (“to discipline like a boxer, to strike under the eye,” 9:27, of self-discipline) — Sanskrit: शरीरं दमयामि (śarīraṃ damayāmi, “I discipline/subdue the body”). Risk: Medium. Notes: mild resonance with ascetic tapas (bodily austerity for spiritual attainment) traditions; here the discipline is in service of gospel ministry endurance, not merit-accumulation or siddhi-attainment, and should be distinguished if elaborated.

Chapter 10 — Israel’s Wilderness Warning, Baptism, and Idol Feasts

τύπος (typos, “type, example, pattern,” 10:6, 10:11) — lit. “an impression left by a stamp.” Semantic range: a prefigurative historical pattern intended as instructive warning/example. English variants: “example,” “type,” “warning.” Sanskrit: दृष्टान्तः (dṛṣṭāntaḥ) / प्रतीकम् (pratīkam). Risk: Medium. Notes: requires OT background explanation (Exodus wilderness narrative) comparable to “seed_of_david” in the baseline; linear historical typology, not cyclical yuga-recurrence.
βαπτίζω / ἐβαπτίσθησαν (“baptized,” 10:2, “baptized into Moses”) — Sanskrit: बप्तिस्मः (baptismaḥ, transliteration) / verb बप्तिस्मितः (baptismitaḥ). Risk: High. Notes: CRITICAL AVOIDANCE — do not render with दीक्षा (dīkṣā). Dīkṣā is the precise, fully-theorized technical term for formal guru-mediated ritual initiation (in Tantric, Vedic, and Vaiṣṇava traditions alike), typically involving mantra-transmission from a qualified guru and admission to a specific practice-lineage — a rich but incompatible doctrine of how ritual efficacy and religious status are conferred. Follow Serampore-tradition precedent of transliteration (as with “Amen,” “Hallelujah” in the baseline) rather than risk this collision.
δαιμόνιον (daimonion, “demon,” 10:20-21, “table of the Lord” vs “table of demons”) — lit. “a lesser divine being, a spirit” (originally morally neutral in classical Greek, negatively marked in Jewish/Christian usage). Semantic range: a malevolent spiritual being behind pagan idol-worship. English variants: “demon,” “evil spirit.” Sanskrit: पिशाचः (piśācaḥ). Risk: High. Notes: Alternatives rejected: असुरः (asuraḥ) — names a specific cosmological category locked into deva-asura mythological warfare narratives across Vedic and Purāṇic literature, some asuras being devotees or tragic heroic figures, not a clean equivalent to NT “demon”; राक्षसः (rākṣasaḥ) — a specific epic/Purāṇic monstrous-being category (e.g. Rāvaṇa) with its own narrative baggage. पिशाचः, a classical but comparatively less systematized category of malevolent flesh-eating spirit, is retained as least-encumbered, but the passage’s underlying claim — that pagan sacrificial worship is, unknown to the worshippers, actually offered to malevolent spiritual beings behind the idols — has no fully clean Sanskrit vessel and should be flagged for explicit theological framing at every occurrence.
τράπεζα κυρίου / τράπεζα δαιμονίων (“table of the Lord” / “table of demons,” 10:21) — Sanskrit: प्रभोः भोजनपीठम् / पिशाचानां भोजनपीठम्. Risk: Medium.

Chapter 11 — The Lord’s Supper and Order in Worship

κυριακὸν δεῖπνον (“the Lord’s Supper,” 11:20) — Sanskrit: प्रभुभोजनम् (prabhubhojanam). Risk: Critical. Notes: the central sacramental term of the chapter; must be kept terminologically distinct from ordinary “table of the Lord” language in Chapter 10 (which is polemical/typological) versus this chapter’s institutional/liturgical sense (the actual church ordinance).
τοῦτό μού ἐστιν τὸ σῶμα… τοῦτο ποιεῖτε εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ἀνάμνησιν (“this is my body… do this in remembrance of me,” 11:24-25) — σῶμα καὶ αἷμα (“body and blood”) — Sanskrit: शरीरम् (śarīram) / रक्तम् (raktam). Risk: Critical. ἀνάμνησις (anamnēsis, “remembrance, memorial”) — lit. “a calling back to mind.” Sanskrit: स्मरणम् (smaraṇam). Risk: High. Notes: do NOT render with श्राद्ध (śrāddha) or any of its cognates — śrāddha is the precise, fully-elaborated Hindu ancestral memorial-rite category (ritual offerings, specifically piṇḍa-offerings of rice-balls, to deceased ancestors on fixed calendrical occasions to secure their wellbeing in the afterlife). The Lord’s Supper’s remembrance is a corporate proclamation of a completed, once-for-all atoning death and its ongoing significance for the living community, not a ritual benefiting or affecting the deceased’s postmortem state — a categorically different structure that must not be assimilated to śrāddha even by loose lexical proximity.
καινὴ διαθήκη (“new covenant,” 11:25) — reuse संविद् root [Romans TM] → नवसंविद् (navasaṃvid). Risk: High (reused compound; note the “new” qualifier requires explicit framing against the “old”/Mosaic covenant background, an OT-dependent contrast with no native Sanskrit covenant-renewal category).
κεφαλή (kephalē, “head,” 11:3, of headship/authority relations) — lit. “the physical head.” Semantic range: literal head; metaphorically, source, authority, or preeminence. English variants: “head,” “authority over.” Contextual theological meaning: an ordered relation of Christ, man, and woman invoked to ground a worship-practice instruction (head coverings). Sanskrit: शिरः (śiraḥ, literal) / शिरस्त्वम् (śirastvam, coined abstract “headship”). Risk: High. Notes: flagged per the baseline AI-instructions’ caution regarding “segments about government/authority” requiring scholar-level sensitivity; translators must avoid importing an unrelated technical hierarchy (e.g., varṇa ranking) onto this relational metaphor, and should render it as a relational-order image, not an ontological ranking of worth.
κάλυμμα / ἀκατακάλυπτος (“covering” / “uncovered,” of head coverings in worship, 11:4-15) — Sanskrit: आवरणम् (āvaraṇam) / अनावृतः (anāvṛtaḥ). Risk: Medium. Notes: cultural-context sensitive; flagged per baseline for “honor/shame dynamics” review category rather than doctrinal Critical/High status.
εἰκὼν καὶ δόξα (θεοῦ) (“image and glory of God,” 11:7) — δόξα reuse महिमा [Romans TM]. For εἰκών here (distinct from the idol-context of εἴδωλον, Chapter 8), Sanskrit: प्रतिरूपम् (pratirūpam, “likeness, form”). Risk: Medium. Notes: deliberately NOT प्रतिमा here, to avoid collision with the “idol” rendering established in Chapter 8 — the same English word “image” appears in two theologically opposite senses (humanity made in God’s true likeness, vs. a false cult-image) and must be lexically disambiguated in Sanskrit even though English uses one word for both.
διακρίνων τὸ σῶμα (“discerning the body,” 11:29) — Sanskrit: शरीरस्य विवेचनम् (śarīrasya vivecanam). Risk: Medium.

Chapter 12 — Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ

χαρίσματα (spiritual gifts) — reuse आत्मिकं वरदानम् [Romans TM]. Risk: Medium (reused; here treated systematically as a doctrine, per the Romans baseline entry, with the additional list of specific gifts below).
σῶμα Χριστοῦ / μέλη (“body of Christ” / “members,” 12:12-27) — lit. σῶμα: “body”; μέλη: “limbs, members, body-parts.” Semantic range: a corporate-unity metaphor in which diverse individuals function as differentiated, interdependent parts of a single organism. English variants: “body of Christ,” “members,” “parts of the body.” Contextual theological meaning: unity-in-diversity of the church, with no member dispensable or superior. Sanskrit: ख्रीष्टस्य शरीरम् (khrīṣṭasya śarīram) / अङ्गानि (aṅgāni, “limbs/members”). Risk: Critical. Notes: this metaphor requires unusually careful handling because it closely echoes the Puruṣasūkta (Ṛgveda 10.90.11-12), the Vedic hymn in which the four varṇas are said to emerge from different parts of a cosmic Puruṣa’s body (brāhmaṇas from the mouth, kṣatriyas from the arms, vaiśyas from the thighs, śūdras from the feet) — a foundational mythic charter for social hierarchy ranked by bodily origin. Paul’s body-metaphor moves in the opposite direction: it argues for the equal indispensability and honor of every member regardless of function or apparent lowliness (12:22-24), explicitly to dissolve, not ground, a status hierarchy. Every occurrence should carry a note making this contrast explicit, since a Sanskrit-literate reader trained in the Puruṣasūkta will likely hear the body-metaphor’s hierarchical resonance by default.
ἴασις (“healing,” 12:9,28) — Sanskrit: आरोग्यम् (ārogyam). Risk: Low.
ἐνεργήματα δυνάμεων (“workings of miracles/powers,” 12:10) — reuse सामर्थ्यम् root [Romans TM] → सामर्थ्यकर्माणि (sāmarthyakarmāṇi). Risk: Medium.
διάκρισις πνευμάτων (“distinguishing/discerning of spirits,” 12:10) — Sanskrit: आत्मनां विवेकः (ātmanāṃ vivekaḥ) or भेदज्ञानम् (bhedajñānam, “discriminating knowledge”). Risk: High. Notes: extremely delicate — the plural “spirits” (πνεύματα) here denotes various spiritual influences, some genuine and some false, and must be sharply distinguished by context from पवित्र आत्मा (the singular, personal Holy Spirit). Recommend a periphrastic gloss (e.g., “which utterances/impulses come from a true or false आत्मिक source”) rather than bare आत्मानाम् in the plural, to avoid the appearance of multiple “holy spirits.”
γλῶσσαι (“tongues,” 12:10,28,30) — Sanskrit: भाषाः (bhāṣāḥ) / जिह्वाभाषा (jihvābhāṣā, “tongue-speech”). Risk: High. Notes: ecstatic Spirit-given speech risks assimilation to two distinct classical categories: (1) Vedic Vāc theology (already flagged in the Romans baseline’s “covenant” entry) — speech as a cosmic principle, and Mīmāṃsā’s doctrine of the eternal, uncreated sound-form of the Veda (śabda-brahman); (2) mantra-recitation, understood in some traditions as requiring precise phonetic performance for ritual efficacy regardless of the speaker’s comprehension. Must be framed as intelligible-but-untaught human or angelic language given by the Spirit for a sign/edification purpose (per 14:1-25), not as eternal cosmic sound or ritually-efficacious mantra-utterance.
ἑρμηνεία (“interpretation [of tongues],” 12:10,30) — Sanskrit: अर्थकथनम् (arthakathanam) / भाषान्तरम् (bhāṣāntaram). Risk: Low.

Chapter 13 — Love as the Greater Way

ἀγάπη (agapē, “love”) — lit. from ἀγαπάω, denoting a love of deliberate will and self-giving commitment rather than emotion or desire. Semantic range: God’s own self-giving love, and the love commanded of believers toward God and one another; distinguished in Koine usage from ἔρως (desiring/erotic love) and φιλία (affectionate friendship-love), though 1 Corinthians 13 does not itself use those contrast-terms. English variants: “love,” “charity” (older translations). Contextual theological meaning: the greatest of the theological virtues (13:13), without which even spiritual gifts and heroic sacrifice are worthless (13:1-3); patient, kind, self-forgetting, enduring. Sanskrit: प्रेम (prema). Risk: Critical. Notes: प्रेम is not a neutral, untheorized word in Sanskrit religious literature — it is the central technical term of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava bhakti theology (especially as systematized by Rūpa Gosvāmī and the Caitanya tradition), where prema-bhakti is the culminating devotional state, analyzed through an elaborate rasa (aesthetic-devotional “flavor”) theory culminating in mādhurya-rasa, the erotic love of Rādhā for Kṛṣṇa, taken as the highest paradigm of divine-human love. Rendering ἀγάπη as प्रेम therefore risks a devotionally-trained reader hearing 1 Corinthians 13 through this rasa-theological lattice — reading Paul’s deliberately unemotional, will-and-action-centered description (“love is patient, love is kind… does not envy… bears all things”) as describing a devotional aesthetic-emotional state rather than a self-giving, willed disposition demonstrated in conduct. Alternatives considered: प्रीतिः (prīti, “affection, fondness” — less rasa-loaded but weaker and less commonly established) and स्नेहः (snehaḥ, “affection,” literally “oiliness/adhesion” — a natural-affection term, e.g. parental love, generally not applied to God-ward devotion at the same theological register). प्रेम is retained because of its established use in existing Christian Sanskrit literature and its semantic breadth, but it is designated Critical and must carry an explicit note at first occurrence distinguishing agapē as willed, active, self-giving love demonstrated in concrete action, from prema-bhakti’s aesthetic-emotional rasa framework.
αἴνιγμα (“riddle, enigma,” 13:12, “we see… in a mirror, dimly / ἐν αἰνίγματι”) — ἔσοπτρον (“mirror”). Sanskrit: दर्पणे रहस्यरूपेण (darpaṇe rahasyarūpeṇa, “in a mirror, in riddling form”). Risk: Medium. Notes: caution flagged because “seeing dimly, as in a mirror” could be assimilated to māyā doctrine — the Advaitic teaching that the phenomenal world is an illusory or provisionally-real reflection obscuring ultimate reality (Brahman) — whereas Paul’s point is purely epistemic limitation (partial knowledge now, complete knowledge later, 13:12b), not an ontological claim that present experience is illusory. Should not be rendered with माया or its cognates.

Chapter 14 — Order in Worship: Tongues, Prophecy, and Edification

γλῶσσαι, προφητεία — reuse Chapter 12 term and Romans-baseline “prophecy” (भविष्यवाणी) [Romans TM]. Risk: High/Low respectively (per prior entries), with the added note that this chapter’s comparative argument (prophecy edifies the church; uninterpreted tongues do not) should be preserved structurally in translation, not flattened.
οἰκοδομή (“building up, edification,” 14:3,4,5,12,26) — Sanskrit: उन्नतिः (unnatiḥ) / निर्माणम् (nirmāṇam). Risk: Low. Notes: aligns with the Romans baseline’s “mutual_edification” doctrine.
ἀκαταστασία (“disorder, confusion,” 14:33, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace”) — Sanskrit: अव्यवस्था (avyavasthā). Risk: Low. Paired with εἰρήνη (peace) reuse शान्तिः [Romans TM].
γυναῖκες… σιγάτωσαν (the women’s-silence instruction, 14:34-35) — no new theological term, but flagged for the same authority/order sensitivity as κεφαλή (Chapter 11); translators should apply the AI-instructions’ “government/authority” and “honor/shame” review flags here, alongside the headship vocabulary already established.

Chapter 15 — The Resurrection (continued beyond the core passage, vv.12-58)

(Verses 1-11 receive full verse-by-verse treatment above; the remainder of the chapter’s load-bearing terms follow.)

κενή (ἡ πίστις) (“faith would be in vain,” 15:14,17) — reuse κενός note from v.10 above. Sanskrit: विश्वासः निष्फलः स्यात्. Risk: High.
ἀπαρχή (“firstfruits,” 15:20,23, “Christ the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep”) — lit. “the first portion (of a harvest or offering).” Semantic range: the first and representative installment of a larger harvest, guaranteeing the rest will follow. English variants: “firstfruits.” Contextual theological meaning: Christ’s resurrection is not an isolated event but the guaranteeing first-installment of the general resurrection of all believers. Sanskrit: प्रथमफलम् (prathamaphalam). Risk: High. Notes: this image parallels the Vedic sacrificial category of agrayajña/agra-yāga (offering of the first portion of a harvest to the gods, e.g. the āgrayaṇa rite prescribed in Brāhmaṇa literature) — structurally similar as a “first portion representing/consecrating the whole,” but doctrinally different in direction: Paul’s firstfruits guarantees a future harvest of the same kind (bodily resurrection), not a ritual offering that secures divine favor for the offerer. Flag for explicit clarification rather than assumed transfer of the Vedic ritual sense.
σῶμα ψυχικόν / σῶμα πνευματικόν (“natural body” / “spiritual body,” 15:44-46) — the doctrinally central pair of the chapter, continuing the ψυχικός/πνευματικός distinction introduced at 2:14. Sanskrit: प्राकृतं शरीरम् (prākṛtaṃ śarīram, “natural body”) / आत्मिकं शरीरम् (ātmikaṃ śarīram, “spiritual body”). Risk: Critical. Notes: THE central resurrection-body term requiring the most extensive translator note in the chapter. Two distinct collisions must both be guarded against simultaneously: (1) प्राकृतं (from prakṛti) risks importing Sāṅkhya-Yoga’s dualistic prakṛti/puruṣa metaphysics (matter-principle vs. conscious self) into what is simply “the ordinary, mortal, Adam-derived body”; (2) आत्मिकं शरीरम् (“spiritual body”) must NOT be read as implying that the resurrection body becomes identical with, or a direct manifestation of, ātman/Brahman per Advaita’s mahāvākyas (see baseline Holy Spirit entry) — it means “a body transformed and empowered by the Holy Spirit, imperishable,” not “a body of pure undifferentiated Self.” Additionally — and this is the single most important resurrection-specific caution in this whole Language Package beyond the baseline’s own — this pairing must be kept absolutely distinct from the Sāṅkhya-Yoga/Vedāntic doctrine of the liṅga-śarīra/sūkṣma-śarīra (“subtle body”), the vehicle of karmic impressions (vāsanā) that migrates from body to body across transmigration (already flagged Critical under “resurrection” in the Romans baseline). Paul describes a single transformation of one body into an imperishable form at one definitive future moment, never a repeatedly-reincarnating subtle vehicle.
φθαρτόν / ἄφθαρτον (“perishable” / “imperishable,” 15:42,50,53-54) — Sanskrit: विनाशी (vinaśī) / अविनाशी (avinaśī). Risk: High. Notes: CRITICAL AVOIDANCE — do not use अक्षरम् (akṣaram) for “imperishable.” अक्षर is a precise technical term in Bhagavad Gītā 8.3, 8.21 and the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad for the imperishable Absolute (akṣara-brahma) or the syllable Oṃ; using it here would assimilate the resurrection body to a Vedāntic Absolute-category rather than describing a transformed, still-creaturely, still-embodied human body.
σπείρεται (“it is sown,” 15:36-38,42-44, the seed analogy for death and resurrection) — Sanskrit: बीजम् उप्यते (bījam upyate, “the seed is sown”). Risk: Medium-High. Notes: the seed/bīja image is doctrinally fruitful (Paul uses it positively, as Christ likely intends from John 12:24) but requires care: bīja (“seed”) is also the precise technical term in Yoga and Sāṅkhya psychology for the latent karmic seed (karma-bīja, vāsanā-bīja) that germinates into future births — the very mechanism of transmigration the Romans baseline flags as incompatible with resurrection. Paul’s seed dies and rises as the same organism transformed, not as a karmic residue germinating a new, different embodiment; this distinction should be made explicit at this verse.
ὑποταγήσεται (“will be subjected,” 15:28, of the Son’s subjection to the Father “so that God may be all in all”) — Sanskrit: वशं गमिष्यति (vaśaṃ gamiṣyati) / अधीनः भविष्यति (adhīnaḥ bhaviṣyati). Risk: Critical. Notes: this is a Christologically sensitive verse requiring the same care as the baseline’s “lord” and “deity_of_christ” entries: the Son’s voluntary functional subjection in the consummated kingdom must not be rendered in a way suggesting ontological inferiority or a lesser, Īśvara-as-māyā-conditioned-manifestation status relative to an ultimate impersonal Absolute (the very Advaitic subordination risk the baseline’s प्रभुः/सर्वेश्वरः choices were designed to avoid). Flag for mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence, per the escalation rules already established for Deity of Christ and Sonship of Christ.
μυστήριον (“mystery,” 15:51) — Sanskrit: रहस्यम् (rahasyam). Risk: Medium. Notes: cf. Upaniṣadic self-designation as secret teaching (upa-ni-ṣad, “sitting near for secret instruction”); comparatively lower risk than other terms since रहस्य is not tied to one dominant school, but still worth a contextual note that this “mystery” is a truth now openly revealed to all believers, not an esoteric teaching restricted to qualified initiates.
νῖκος (“victory,” 15:54-57, quoting Hosea/Isaiah, “death is swallowed up in victory… where, O death, is your victory?”) — Sanskrit: जयः (jayaḥ). Risk: Low.
κόπος (“labor,” 15:58, “your labor is not in vain”) — reuse κενός-contrast note from v.10. Sanskrit: श्रमः (śramaḥ). Risk: Low.

Chapter 16 — Collection, Greetings, and Closing

Chapter 16 introduces no major new doctrinal-risk vocabulary beyond what has already been analyzed; it is administrative and relies on established terms (grace अनुग्रहः [Romans TM], church मण्डली [Romans TM], the Lord प्रभुः [Romans TM]). Two items merit note:

λογία (“collection [for the saints],” 16:1-2) — Sanskrit: सङ्ग्रहः (saṅgrahaḥ, “collection, gathering [of funds]”). Risk: Low.
Μαρανα θα (“Maranatha,” Aramaic, “Our Lord, come!” 16:22) — Sanskrit: transliterated मारान् अथा (mārāna athā), retained per the baseline’s precedent of preserving अब्बा (Abba) in transliteration rather than reducing it to a plain Sanskrit equivalent. Risk: Medium. Notes: an early liturgical acclamation; preserve as transliteration to retain its historic, cross-linguistic liturgical character.
φίλημα ἅγιον (“a holy kiss,” 16:20) — Sanskrit: पवित्रं चुम्बनम् (pavitraṃ cumbanam). Risk: Low (cultural-practice note only; flag for translator awareness that a literal kiss-greeting instruction may need a culturally adapted explanatory note for the scholarly/liturgical audience, not a doctrinal caution).

This document should be read together with analysis/08_core_glossary.md, which consolidates every term above (new and reused) into a single per-term reference table with risk tiers, rejected alternatives, and first-occurrence citations.

Library content is free and openly licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — share and adapt it for non-commercial use, with attribution to tri-bible.ai.