Semantic Analysis
1 John — Semantic Analysis (Koine Greek → Sanskrit)
PRD Phase 1, Step 1
Curriculum: 1 John
Core passage: 1 John 4:7–21
Destination language: Sanskrit (Devanagari)
Governing authority: This analysis extends, and never contradicts, the baseline Romans Language Package (translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, doctrine_risk_registry.json, 12_ai_translation_requirements.md). Every term already fixed by that baseline is reused exactly below and marked “[REUSED — Romans TM].” All other terms are new coinages for this curriculum, chosen by the same method the baseline models: prefer the least philosophically-encumbered available classical term, name the specific rival doctrine/school it could be confused with, and require an explicit redefinition note wherever the risk is Critical or High.
A companion note on 1 John’s register: unlike Romans’ argumentative prose, 1 John is short, repetitive, and creedal — the same handful of load-bearing terms (ἀγάπη, φῶς, μένω, γεννάω, γινώσκω/οἶδα, κόσμος) recur dozens of times. Getting these few terms right matters more than in almost any other NT book, because repetition means a wrong choice compounds rather than staying isolated.
PART A — CORE PASSAGE: 1 John 4:7–21 (Verse-by-Verse)
v.7 — “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”
- ἀγαπητοί (agapētoi) — lit. “beloved ones” (verbal adjective of ἀγαπάω). Semantic range: term of affectionate address, common in epistolary openings. English variants: “beloved,” “dear friends,” “dear ones.” Theological meaning: marks the reader as already an object of God’s own love, not mere rhetorical flattery. Sanskrit: प्रियाः (priyāḥ, “dear ones”). Risk: Low.
- ἀγαπάω (agapaō) / ἀγάπη (agapē) — lit. “to love” / “love.” Semantic range: distinguished in Koine from ἔρως (desiring/erotic love, absent from NT vocabulary), φιλία (friendship-affection), and στοργή (natural family affection); ἀγάπη denotes willed, self-giving, other-directed benevolence, capable of being commanded and directed toward both friend and enemy. English variants: “love,” “charity” (KJV). Contextual theological meaning: in 4:7–21 this is not one virtue among many but is identified with God’s own essential nature (v.8, v.16) and the definitive evidence of new birth. Sanskrit: प्रेम (prema). Risk: Critical. Alternatives rejected: भक्तिः (bhaktiḥ) — already rejected in the Romans baseline as naming an entire theorized soteriological path (bhakti-mārga, Gītā 9–12), not a general disposition; कामः (kāmaḥ) — one of the four puruṣārthas, explicitly desire/erotic love, systematized in its own literature (Kāmasūtra) and radically wrong register; स्नेहः (snehaḥ) — mundane affection, too weak to bear “God is love.” प्रेम is retained despite real weight: in Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava theology (Rūpa Gosvāmī’s Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, building on the Bhāgavata Purāṇa) prema is the fully ripened, highest stage of a graded bhakti taxonomy (bhāva → rati → prema) further classified by rasa-relationship type (dāsya, sakhya, vātsalya, mādhurya). Every occurrence of प्रेम for ἀγάπη must carry a note: this is God’s own uncaused, universally-directed, self-giving nature and the corresponding love commanded of believers toward one another — not the devotee’s cultivated, aesthetically-graded emotional attainment within a rasa taxonomy.
- γεννάω (gennaō), perfect passive “has been born” — lit. “to beget/bring forth”; passive “to be born.” Semantic range: of a father begetting, or (passive) of a child’s birth; metaphorically, spiritual origination from God. English variants: “born,” “begotten,” “brought forth.” Contextual theological meaning: new, God-caused spiritual birth, source of the capacity to love. Sanskrit: परमेश्वरात् जातः (parameśvarāt jātaḥ), “born from God.” Risk: Critical. Alternatives rejected: पुनर्जन्मना जातः — activates the fully theorized Sāṃkhya-Yoga/Vedānta transmigration mechanism (karmāśaya, liṅga-śarīra) already forbidden for “resurrection” in the Romans baseline; the collision is even sharper here because γεννάω ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ is a repeating refrain (2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,4,18), multiplying any wrong impression. द्विजः (dvijaḥ, “twice-born”) — the specific dharmaśāstra/saṃskāra term for a member of the three “twice-born” varṇas who has undergone upanayana, a ritual, caste-restricted, male-only “second birth.” Using dvija-adjacent vocabulary here would import a hierarchy 1 John’s universal new birth by grace explicitly excludes. Mandatory note required at first occurrence per document.
- γινώσκω (ginōskō) — lit. “to know,” relational/experiential knowing (contrast οἶδα, factual knowing, also frequent in 1 John — see Chapter 2 below). Semantic range: to come to know, recognize, have personal acquaintance with. English variants: “know,” “understand,” “perceive.” Contextual theological meaning: ongoing relational knowledge of God evidenced by love, not a completed cognitive achievement. Sanskrit: जानाति (jānāti), from ज्ञानम् (jñānam). Risk: Critical. See full discussion under Chapter 2 (this is the term’s first occurrence in the core passage); ज्ञानम्/जानाति directly names the central term of Advaita Vedānta’s jñāna-mārga, in which “knowing” Brahman is not evidence of a relationship but the liberating realization itself.
v.8 — “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
- ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν — “God is love.” This is the chapter’s central ontological predication, structurally parallel to 1:5’s “God is light” (see Chapter 1). Contextual theological meaning: love is not merely something God does but what God essentially is — grounding, not merely motivating, the command to love. No new lexical items; reuse सर्वेश्वरः [REUSED — Romans TM] for “God” and प्रेम for “love” (established above). Risk: Critical — this predication must be rendered with the identical copula construction used for 1:5’s “God is light” so the two parallel claims remain visibly parallel in Sanskrit as they are in Greek (सर्वेश्वरः प्रेमास्ति / सर्वेश्वरः ज्योतिः अस्ति).
v.9 — “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”
- φανερόω (phaneroō) — lit. “to make visible/manifest.” Semantic range: to disclose what was hidden, to reveal openly. English variants: “manifested,” “revealed,” “shown.” Contextual theological meaning: God’s love, otherwise invisible, becomes an observable historical event in the sending of the Son — directly tied to the Incarnation doctrine. Sanskrit: प्रकटीकृतः (prakaṭīkṛtaḥ), “made manifest/openly shown.” Risk: Medium. Note: प्रकट is a plain manifestation-verb; avoid प्रकाश root here as a noun-title (see Chapter 1’s discussion of प्रकाश vs. ज्योतिः for “light,” where प्रकाश carries Kashmir Śaiva prakāśa-vimarśa baggage) — as a common verb of disclosure in this verse the risk is low, but reviewers should not let it drift into being used as a rival rendering of “light.”
- μονογενής (monogenēs) — lit. “only one of its kind,” “one and only,” traditionally “only-begotten.” Semantic range: unique, without sibling or duplicate; used of an only child (Luke 7:12) and, Christologically, of the Son’s unique relation to the Father. English variants: “only,” “only-begotten,” “one and only.” Contextual theological meaning: the Son sent is not one of many sons, nor one instance of a repeatable divine act, but utterly unique. Sanskrit: एकजातः (ekajātaḥ), “uniquely/only born.” Risk: Critical. Alternatives rejected: अद्वितीयः (advitīyaḥ), “without a second” — the exact phrase of Chāndogya Upaniṣad 6.2.1, ekam eva advitīyam (“one only, without a second”), the Upaniṣad’s classic description of non-dual Brahman; using it here would pull “only Son” toward a claim about metaphysical non-duality rather than unique personal Sonship. अंशः (aṃśaḥ) — already rejected under the Romans baseline’s “son_of_god” entry as the term for a partial divine portion used of avatāras. एकजातः must be paired at first occurrence with the same Bhagavad Gītā 4:7–8 contrast note required for देहधारणम् (see Incarnation doctrine below).
- ἀποστέλλω (apostellō) — lit. “to send out/off with a commission.” Semantic range: to dispatch with delegated authority and purpose, sharing a root with ἀπόστολος. English variants: “sent,” “dispatched.” Contextual theological meaning: the Father’s deliberate sending of the Son is an act of authoritative commissioning, not a passive descent. Sanskrit: प्रैषीत् / प्रेषितवान् (praiṣīt / preṣitavān), verb forms of the same √preṣ root already fixed for “apostle” = प्रेषितः [REUSED — Romans TM root]. Risk: Medium (consistency benefit: the Father’s sending of the Son and the Son’s/church’s sending of apostles share one Sanskrit root, preserving the Greek’s own wordplay).
- κόσμος (kosmos) — lit. “order, arrangement,” extended to “the ordered world,” and in Johannine usage frequently “the world-system in rebellion against God.” Semantic range: (1) the physical universe; (2) humanity generally; (3) the organized system of human life alienated from God (the dominant Johannine sense). English variants: “world,” “the world,” “earth.” Contextual theological meaning: the Son was sent into this alienated system, not merely into neutral physical space. Sanskrit: जगत् (jagat). Risk: Critical. Alternatives rejected: संसारः (saṃsāraḥ) — the precise technical term for the cycle of rebirth/transmigration itself; using it for “world” would silently import reincarnation metaphysics into every one of 1 John’s ~23 uses of κόσμος. जगत् avoids that specific mechanism, but reviewers must still flag its own established Advaita association: jagat mithyā (“the world is [ultimately, from the absolute standpoint] unreal”), a core Śaṅkara Advaita formula. 1 John’s κόσμος is the opposite metaphysical claim — a real, morally fallen order opposed to God, not an unreal appearance superimposed on Brahman. Mandatory contrastive note required at first occurrence per document.
- ζάω (zaō) — lit. “to live.” Semantic range: to be alive, physically or spiritually. English variants: “live,” “have life.” Contextual theological meaning: life made possible only “through him” (διὰ αὐτοῦ) — life as a gift mediated by Christ, not an inherent or self-attained state. Sanskrit: जीवामः (jīvāmaḥ), “we might live,” from जीवनम् (jīvanam), the same root used in the fixed rendering for “eternal life” (see Chapter 5 below). Risk: Medium.
v.10 — “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
- ἱλασμός (hilasmos) — lit. “propitiation, means of appeasing/atoning.” Semantic range: in LXX/NT usage, a sacrificial act that deals with sin and averts God’s judgment; distinct from ἀπολύτρωσις (ransom) though overlapping. English variants: “propitiation,” “atoning sacrifice,” “atonement.” Contextual theological meaning: the Son himself, sent by the Father, is the means by which sin is dealt with — a personal, once-for-all, other-initiated offering. Sanskrit: पापार्थं बलिदानम् (pāpārthaṃ balidānam), “an offering on account of sin.” Risk: Critical. Alternatives rejected: प्रायश्चित्तम् (prāyaścittam) — the dharmaśāstra technical term for ritual penance, already flagged as a live risk under the Romans “sin” entry; crucially, prāyaścitta is an act the guilty party performs upon themselves, exactly reversing 1 John’s structure (God himself provides the offering for us). यज्ञः (yajñaḥ) — the general Vedic sacrifice term, bound to Mīmāṃsā’s apūrva doctrine, whereby a correctly performed ritual automatically generates an unseen efficacious potency; Christ’s propitiation is a unique historical act accepted by God’s own initiative, not a repeatable ritual mechanism yielding automatic result through correct performance. Mandatory note required at every occurrence, cross-referenced to Romans 3:25 (ἱλαστήριον, the same doctrinal family, flagged there as atonement/propitiation language requiring theologian review).
v.11 — “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
- ὀφείλω (opheilō) — lit. “to owe, be indebted, be obligated.” Semantic range: financial debt, moral obligation, duty arising from a prior benefit received. English variants: “ought,” “should,” “are obligated.” Contextual theological meaning: the obligation to love is responsive — it exists because love was already received, not an independent duty owed prior to or apart from grace. Sanskrit: ऋणम् अस्मान् बाधते / simply कर्तव्यम् (kartavyam), “[it] is a duty.” Risk: Medium. Note: कर्तव्य carries a mild echo of Gītā svadharma/kartavya-karma vocabulary (duty performed as one’s proper station); translators should ensure the surrounding clause makes clear this “ought” is grace-derived gratitude, not independent dharmic obligation owed regardless of what one has received.
v.12 — “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”
- μένω (menō) — lit. “to remain, stay, dwell, continue.” Semantic range: to stay in a place; to persist in a state or relationship; to abide/remain (the single most repeated verb in 1 John — over 20 occurrences). English variants: “abide,” “remain,” “dwell,” “continue.” Contextual theological meaning: mutual, ongoing, relational indwelling between God and the believer — the epistle’s central image of assurance. Sanskrit: निवसति / निवासः (nivasati / nivāsaḥ), “dwells / dwelling.” Risk: High. Alternatives rejected: स्थितः / स्थितिः (sthitaḥ / sthitiḥ) — the exact term of Bhagavad Gītā 2:54–72’s sthitaprajña, “one of steady wisdom,” a self-achieved, yogically stabilized state of consciousness that has transcended the dualities (dvandva) through disciplined detachment. Using स्थिति for “abide” would recast mutual relational indwelling with a personal God as a private, self-attained psychological steadiness. निवास (ordinary “dwelling/residing,” used of a guest or resident in a house) avoids this specific collision and better preserves the relational, two-way, hospitality-flavored sense of μένω. Mandatory note recommended given the term’s sheer frequency in this book.
- τελειόω (teleioō) — lit. “to complete, finish, bring to its intended end/maturity.” Semantic range: to perfect, complete, accomplish fully. English variants: “perfected,” “made complete,” “brought to maturity.” Contextual theological meaning: love reaching its full, intended expression in the community of believers, not sinless moral perfection of the individual. Sanskrit: पूर्णा भवति (pūrṇā bhavati), “becomes complete/full,” from पूर्णः (pūrṇaḥ). Risk: Medium. Alternatives rejected: सिद्धः/सिद्धिः (siddhaḥ/siddhiḥ) — already flagged in the Romans baseline (“spiritual_gifts” entry) as naming the eight classical yogic supernatural attainments (aṣṭasiddhi, Yoga Sūtra 3), earned through disciplined practice; using सिद्ध for “perfected” here would risk the same earned-attainment reading. पूर्ण (“full, complete, whole”) carries a lighter echo of the Īśa Upaniṣad invocation (“pūrṇam idaḥ pūrṇam adaḥ,” describing Brahman’s plenitude) but is far less systematized than siddhi and is preferred.
v.13 — “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.”
- γινώσκω — reuse from v.7 (जानाति). Risk: Critical, per above.
- μένω — reuse from v.12 (निवसति). Risk: High, per above.
- πνεῦμα (pneuma), “his Spirit” — here explicitly the Holy Spirit given to believers (contrast the tested spirits of 4:1, see Chapter 4 below). Sanskrit: पवित्र आत्मा [REUSED — Romans TM], with the mandatory personhood note required by the baseline (Spirit as distinct, given, third Person of the Trinity — never the reader’s own ātman). Risk: Critical.
v.14 — “And we have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”
- θεάομαι (theaomai) — lit. “to behold, gaze upon, observe.” Semantic range: to see with attention, often implying eyewitness credibility (root of “theater”). English variants: “seen,” “beheld,” “observed.” Contextual theological meaning: apostolic eyewitness testimony grounding the claim that follows — an appeal to historical, not merely spiritual, perception. Sanskrit: दृष्टवन्तः (dṣṭavantaḥ), “we have seen.” Risk: Low.
- μαρτυρέω (martyreō) / μαρτυρία (martyria) — lit. “to bear witness / testimony.” Semantic range: legal or eyewitness testimony offered as reliable evidence. English variants: “testify,” “bear witness,” “witness.” Contextual theological meaning: authoritative, first-hand apostolic proclamation, foundational to 1 John’s whole opening claim (1:1–3) and recurring through chapter 5. Sanskrit: साक्ष्यं दत्तवन्तः (sākṣyaṃ dattavantaḥ), “have given testimony,” from साक्ष्यम् (sākṣyam). Risk: High. Note: साक्ष्य (testimony, the action-noun) is comparatively safe, but reviewers should be aware of the related agent-noun साक्षिन् (sākṣin), a major Sāṃkhya/Vedānta technical term for the ātman as silent, uninvolved “witness-consciousness” underlying all experience (sākṣi-caitanya). साक्ष्यम् (the abstract noun “testimony/evidence,” not the agent-noun) is preferred and should not be allowed to drift toward सक्षिन्-based phrasing that could suggest God as impersonal witnessing-consciousness rather than the personal subject of a historical, verifiable claim.
- σωτήρ (sōtēr) — lit. “savior, deliverer, rescuer.” Semantic range: one who rescues from danger, death, or destruction; a royal/imperial honorific in the Hellenistic world, repurposed by the NT for Christ’s unique saving role. English variants: “Savior,” “Deliverer.” Contextual theological meaning: Christ as the personal agent of the त्राणम् [REUSED — Romans TM] rescue already fixed in the baseline. Sanskrit: त्राता (trātā), built on the same √trā root as त्राणम्. Risk: Critical. This root-consistency intentionally avoids मोक्षदाता/मुक्तिदाता (“giver of mokṣa/mukti”), which would reintroduce exactly the forbidden liberation-theology the baseline’s “salvation” entry excludes.
- κόσμος — reuse from v.9 (जगत्). Risk: Critical, per above.
v.15 — “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.”
- ὁμολογέω (homologeō) — lit. “to say the same thing, agree, acknowledge openly.” Semantic range: to confess publicly, admit, declare in agreement with a stated truth; used both of confessing sin (1:9) and confessing Christ (2:23; 4:2–3,15). English variants: “confess,” “acknowledge,” “declare.” Contextual theological meaning: a public, verbal alignment of one’s own speech with revealed truth about Christ’s identity — directly linked to the curriculum doctrine “Testing the Spirits” (4:2–3) and to assurance (5:1). Sanskrit: स्वीकरोति / स्वीकरणम् (svīkaroti / svīkaraṇam), “acknowledges / acknowledgment.” Risk: High. Note: distinguish from dharmaśāstra prāyaścitta procedures, which prescribe specific ritual confession-and-penance formulas for particular impurity-events; here it is a simple, sincere, verbal acknowledgment trusting God’s own prior promise (cf. 1:9), not a step within a ritual purification sequence.
- υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ — reuse परमेश्वरस्य पुत्रः [REUSED — Romans TM]. Risk: Critical, per baseline “son_of_god” entry.
- μένω — reuse (निवसति). Risk: High.
v.16 — “So we know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
- γινώσκω / πιστεύω (pisteuō) — “know and believe,” a doubled epistemic-relational pairing. πιστεύω, lit. “to believe, trust, place faith in.” Semantic range and theological meaning: personal trust placed in a specific truth-claim about God, not generic religious credence. Sanskrit: विश्वसामः (viśvasāmaḥ), from विश्वासः [REUSED — Romans TM]. Risk: High, per baseline “faith” entry (avoid श्रद्धा/भक्तिः).
- ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν — restated from v.8; render identically: सर्वेश्वरः प्रेमास्ति. Risk: Critical.
v.17 — “By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.”
- τελειόω — reuse (पूर्णा भवति). Risk: Medium.
- παρρησία (parrēsia) — lit. “freedom/boldness of speech,” from πᾶν + ῥῆσις (“all-speech,” speaking everything openly). Semantic range: candor, confidence, fearless openness, originally a civic-political term for a citizen’s right to speak freely in the assembly. English variants: “confidence,” “boldness,” “assurance.” Contextual theological meaning: the believer’s confident approach to God, grounded in Christ’s finished work, not in self-assessed merit. Sanskrit: निर्भीकता (nirbhīkatā), “fearlessness/confidence.” Risk: Medium.
- ἡμέρα κρίσεως (hēmera kriseōs) — lit. “day of judgment/decision,” from κρίσις, “a separating, discerning, deciding” (root of “crisis,” “critic”). Semantic range: the eschatological day on which God renders final, authoritative verdict. English variants: “day of judgment,” “judgment day.” Contextual theological meaning: future, certain, forensic reckoning — the day the believer can face with confidence rather than dread. Sanskrit: निर्णयदिनम् (nirṇayadinam), “day of [definitive] verdict,” deliberately reusing the निर्णय root already fixed in the Romans baseline for “justification” = धर्मीति निर्णयः, where निर्णय names the Mīmāṃsā/Nyāya method’s definitively ascertained conclusion (siddhānta) reached after weighing pūrvapakṣa and uttarapakṣa. Risk: High. Alternatives rejected: any न्याय-based compound (e.g., न्यायदिनम्) — न्यायः is the proper name of an entire darśana (already excluded for “righteousness” in the baseline) and must never be used as a plain word for “judgment.” The निर्णय-root choice deliberately preserves consistency with “justification” rather than introducing a fresh, unrelated term for a closely related forensic idea.
- κόσμος — reuse (जगत्). Risk: Critical.
v.18 — “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”
- φόβος (phobos) — lit. “fear, terror, dread.” Semantic range: emotional dread, reverential awe (a distinct NT sense, e.g. “fear of the Lord,” not relevant here), or here specifically dread of punishment. English variants: “fear,” “dread,” “terror.” Contextual theological meaning: the anxious dread that assurance of God’s love displaces — not reverence, but servile terror. Sanskrit: भयम् (bhayam). Risk: Medium. Note for reviewers: classical liberation theology is centrally motivated by saṃsāra-bhaya, fear of continued transmigration; 1 John’s φόβος is fear of divine judgment/punishment removed by assurance of a personal God’s settled love, a related but structurally different anxiety worth distinguishing in teaching notes.
- κόλασις (kolasis) — lit. “punishment, chastisement,” originally of pruning/checking growth. Semantic range: penal correction or retributive punishment. English variants: “punishment,” “torment,” “chastisement.” Contextual theological meaning: the punitive consequence that perfected love removes the dread of. Sanskrit: दण्डः (daṇḍaḥ). Risk: Medium. Note: दण्ड is the developed dharmaśāstra/arthaśāstra category of the king’s rod of punishment upholding social-ritual dharma order (daṇḍanīti, systematized in Kauṭilya’s Arthaśāstra and the Manusmṛti), a this-worldly socio-legal category. Here κόλασις is specifically eschatological, divine, and final; the surrounding clause should make that scope explicit rather than relying on दण्ड alone to convey it.
- τελειόω — reuse (पूर्णा भवति). Risk: Medium.
v.19 — “We love because he first loved us.”
- No new terms; reuse ἀγαπάω → प्रेम-root verb forms established above. Risk: Critical (per v.7), simply restated. Note for reviewers: the causal priority (“he first loved us”) must be preserved grammatically — grace precedes and produces the response, not the reverse.
v.20 — “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.”
- μισέω (miseō) — lit. “to hate, detest.” Semantic range: settled hostility or aversion, the direct antonym of ἀγαπάω in Johannine ethical dualism (cf. 2:9–11; 3:15; 4:20). English variants: “hate,” “detest.” Contextual theological meaning: hatred of a brother is treated as flatly incompatible with love of God, not a lesser moral failing alongside it. Sanskrit: द्वेषः (dveṣaḥ). Risk: Medium/High. Note: द्वेष is one of Patañjali’s five kleśas (afflictions) enumerated at Yoga Sūtra 2.3 (avidyā, asmitā, rāga, dveṣa, abhiniveśa) — a technical category naming an impersonal psychological affliction to be dissolved through yogic discipline (kriyā-yoga) rather than a morally culpable relational sin committed against a brother before a personal God who holds one accountable. द्वेष remains the best available lexical choice but requires a note distinguishing culpable interpersonal hatred from the kleśa-category.
- ψεύστης (pseustēs) — lit. “liar.” Semantic range: one who speaks falsehood, especially as a settled character trait (contrast a single false statement). English variants: “liar.” Contextual theological meaning: a claim to love God that is contradicted by hatred of a brother is not merely mistaken but a lie — connects to the “truth/lie” polarity structuring the whole epistle (1:6; 2:4,22; 4:20). Sanskrit: मृषावादी (mṣāvādī) / असत्यवादी (asatyavādī). Risk: Low/Medium.
- ἀδελφός (adelphos) — lit. “brother,” from the same womb. Semantic range: biological brother; by extension, fellow member of a covenant/faith community. English variants: “brother,” “brethren,” “fellow believer.” Contextual theological meaning: the curriculum’s own named doctrine — “Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth” (3:10–17; 4:7–21) rests entirely on this term’s extended sense. Sanskrit: भ्राता (bhrātā), extended by context to fellow believers. Risk: Medium. Note: unlike biological brotherhood in a dharmaśāstra society (which carries specific varṇa/jāti/gotra inheritance and ritual-obligation implications), this “brotherhood” is a new spiritual family constituted by faith in Christ, cutting across those categories — directly continuous with the Romans baseline’s “unity_of_jews_and_gentiles” doctrine (no distinction; one new family).
v.21 — “And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
- ἐντολή (entolē) — lit. “a command, order, injunction given with authority.” Semantic range: a specific directive issued by one in authority to a subordinate; distinguished in this letter from νόμος (the Mosaic Law/Torah body, विधिः [REUSED — Romans TM]) — 1 John’s ἐντολαί are Christ’s/God’s specific directives to believers, not the Sinai covenant’s scriptural-injunction corpus. English variants: “commandment,” “command,” “order.” Contextual theological meaning: love for the brother is not optional counsel but binding command, received “from him” (Christ). Sanskrit: आज्ञा (ājñā), deliberately reusing the root already present in the baseline’s fixed “obedience_of_faith” = विश्वासस्य आज्ञापालनम्. Risk: Medium. Chosen over विधिः precisely to keep 1 John’s Christ-given ἐντολαί distinct from Romans’ Mīmāṃsā-inflected treatment of νόμος as scriptural injunction.
PART B — CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER ANALYSIS OF THE WHOLE BOOK
Chapter 1 — Fellowship with God; God is Light; Confession and Cleansing
| Greek | Translit. | Literal meaning | Semantic range / English variants | Theological meaning in context | Sanskrit rendering | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς | ho logos tēs zōēs | ”the word/account of life” | λόγος: word, speech, account, reasoned discourse, (Johannine) the divine Word; variants: “Word of life,” “message of life” | The apostolic message about, and identified with, the eternal life that was “made manifest” in the incarnate Christ (1:1–2); echoes John’s Gospel Logos-Christology. | वचनम् (vacanam), “utterance/word” | Critical. Reject वाच्/वाक् (vāc) — flagged already in the Romans baseline’s “covenant” entry for activating Vāc theology and Mīmāṃsā’s śabda-brahman (the eternal Veda-sound) doctrine; reject शब्दः (śabdaḥ) — the Nyāya/Mīmāṃsā technical term for verbal testimony as a means of knowledge (śabda-pramāṇa). वचनम् (a plain action-noun, “utterance”) is least encumbered. Ties directly to the Christology/Incarnation doctrines already Critical in the baseline; requires the same Gītā 4:7–8 contrast note as देहधारणम् wherever this term functions Christologically. |
| κοινωνία | koinōnia | ”fellowship, shared participation” | shared partnership, common life; variants: “fellowship,” “communion” | Fellowship with the Father, the Son, and one another — the letter’s stated purpose (1:3). | सहभागिता [REUSED — Romans TM] | High (per baseline “fellowship” entry; reject सत्सङ्गः). |
| φῶς | phōs | ”light” | physical light; metaphorically, moral purity, truth, revelation, divine self-disclosure; variants: “light" | "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1:5) — an ontological claim parallel to 4:8’s “God is love.” | ज्योतिः (jyotiḥ) | Critical. This is one of the sharpest, most specifically citable collisions in the whole package: Bhagavad Gītā 13:17, describing the impersonal Paramātman/Brahman, states jyotiṣām api tad jyotiḥ tamasaḥ param ucyate — “That is the light of lights, said to be beyond darkness” — an almost verbatim structural echo of 1 John 1:5’s “light… no darkness at all.” Rendering φῶς with ज्योतिः without an explicit note risks 1 John 1:5 being heard as a restatement of Gītā 13:17’s impersonal-Absolute claim rather than the personal, moral, relational claim 1 John intends (God’s own holy, self-revealing character, contrasted with human sin in the verses that follow). Alternative considered: प्रकाशः (prakāśaḥ) — rejected as primary term because in Kashmir Śaivism prakāśa (paired with vimarśa) names Śiva-consciousness’s self-luminous nature, a comparably specific technical collision; retained only as a secondary descriptive gloss, never as the fixed term. Mandatory note required at every occurrence, citing Gītā 13:17 explicitly, per the same method the baseline applies to देहधारणम् and Gītā 4:7–8. |
| σκοτία | skotia | ”darkness” | absence of light; metaphorically, sin, ignorance, moral/spiritual alienation from God; variants: “darkness” | The moral-relational opposite of φῶς; “walking in darkness” (1:6) as living in unconfessed sin, opposed to fellowship with God. | अन्धकारः (andhakāraḥ) | High. Alternative rejected: तमः (tamaḥ) — one of the three guṇas (sattva, rajas, tamas) in classical Sāṃkhya-Yoga cosmology, an impersonal material constituent of prakṛti associated with inertia/ignorance. Using तमस् for “darkness” risks 1 John’s morally culpable, relational “walking in darkness” being heard as a description of one’s guṇa-composition — an impersonal metaphysical condition rather than a chosen moral state before a personal God. अन्धकारः (plain physical/moral darkness, without guṇa-theory baggage) is preferred. |
| ἁμαρτία | hamartia | ”sin” | moral transgression, “missing the mark” | Universal human condition requiring confession and cleansing (1:8–10). | पापम् [REUSED — Romans TM] | High (per baseline; distinguish from prāyaścitta-resolvable ritual impurity). |
| ὁμολογέω | homologeō | ”to confess, acknowledge” | see full treatment at 4:15 above | ”If we confess our sins…” (1:9) — the epistle’s foundational promise of forgiveness. | स्वीकरणम् / स्वीकरोति (svīkaraṇam / svīkaroti) | High. See full note at core-passage v.15. |
| ἀφίημι / ἀφέσις | aphiēmi / aphesis | ”to send away, release” / “release, forgiveness” | to forgive a debt, release from obligation; variants: “forgive,” “forgiveness” | God’s faithful, promised response to confession (1:9), grounded in Christ’s atoning work, not in ritual merit. | क्षमा (kṣamā) | High. Distinguish from the fuller forensic धर्मीति निर्णयः [REUSED — Romans TM] (“justification”): forgiveness (removal of guilt) is part of, but not identical to, the positive declared-righteous status justification names. Not to be confused with dharmaśāstra prāyaścitta’s prescribed ritual remedies for specific impurity-events. |
| καθαρίζω | katharizō | ”to cleanse, purify” | ritual or moral purification; variants: “cleanse,” “purify" | "The blood of Jesus… cleanses us from all sin” (1:7); “cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1:9) — moral cleansing through Christ’s blood. | शोधनम् / शुद्धिः-रूपेण शोधयति (śodhanam) | High. Directly parallels the risk already flagged in the Romans baseline’s “sanctification” entry: दharmaśāstra literature prescribes śuddhi rites for specific ritual-impurity events (post-funerary, post-menstrual, etc.); 1 John’s cleansing is a moral, once-accomplished (yet continually applied) cleansing from sin’s guilt through Christ’s blood, not a repeatable ritual purification procedure. |
| αἷμα (Ἰησοῦ) | haima (Iēsou) | “blood (of Jesus)“ | literal blood; sacrificial/atoning blood in OT and NT usage | The efficient means of cleansing from sin (1:7), continuing OT sacrificial-blood theology. | रक्तम् (raktam) | Medium/High. Note for cultural sensitivity: blood-offering imagery is a live, contested category in the destination culture (e.g., animal sacrifice to certain Devī/Śākta deities in some regional traditions); reviewers should ensure “the blood of Jesus” is taught as a unique, once-for-all, substitutionary atoning event completed in history, not assimilated to ongoing ritual blood-offering practice. |
| δίκαιος / ἀδικία | dikaios / adikia | ”righteous” / “unrighteousness” | moral rightness / wrongdoing | ”He is faithful and just… to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1:9); “if we say we have no sin” (1:8,10). | धार्मिकः [REUSED — root of Romans TM’s धार्मिकता] / अधार्मिकता | Critical (per baseline “righteousness” entry; mandatory redefinition every occurrence). |
| περιπατέω | peripateō | ”to walk about” | metaphor for habitual conduct/manner of life; variants: “walk,” “live,” “conduct oneself" | "Walking in the light” vs. “walking in darkness” (1:6–7) as the letter’s governing behavioral metaphor. | आचरणम् (ācaraṇam) | Low/Medium. Not tied to a single named school’s technical apparatus, though आचार appears broadly in dharmaśāstra “conduct” literature (sadācāra); the risk is mild and general rather than a specific doctrinal collision. |
Chapter 2 — Advocate and Propitiation; New Commandment; Antichrist; Anointing; Children of God
| Greek | Translit. | Literal meaning | Range / variants | Theological meaning | Sanskrit | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| παράκλητος | paraklētos | ”one called alongside,” advocate | legal advocate, intercessor, helper; variants: “advocate,” “helper" | "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (2:1) — Christ’s ongoing intercessory role for sinning believers. | मध्यस्थः (madhyasthaḥ) | High. Reuses the root of the baseline’s “intercession” = मध्यस्थता, now personified as a title for Christ. Distinguish from any human priestly-intermediary figure (e.g., a purohita performing ritual mediation, or guru-mediated access to the divine); Christ is sole, unique, personal Advocate, not one mediating figure among available ritual or devotional intermediaries. |
| ἱλασμός | hilasmos | ”propitiation” | see full treatment at core-passage v.10 | ”He is the propitiation for our sins… for the whole world” (2:2). | पापार्थं बलिदानम् (pāpārthaṃ balidānam) | Critical. See v.10 above; same mandatory note applies. |
| ἐντολή (καινή / παλαιά) | entolē (kainē/palaia) | “commandment (new/old)“ | authoritative directive | The “old” commandment (already known) restated as “new” in light of Christ and the dawning light (2:7–8). | आज्ञा (नूतना/पुराणा) (ājñā) | Medium. See core-passage v.21. |
| κόσμος | kosmos | ”world” | see full treatment at core-passage v.9 | ”Do not love the world…” (2:15–17) — the world-system as a rival object of love to God. | जगत् (jagat) | Critical. Same note as above. |
| ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός / τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν; ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου | epithymia tēs sarkos / tōn ophthalmōn; alazoneia tou biou | ”desire of the flesh / of the eyes”; “arrogant boasting of life” | craving, lust, appetite; ostentatious pride in possessions/status | The triad summarizing “everything in the world” opposed to love of the Father (2:16). | देहेच्छा, नेत्रेच्छा, जीवनदर्पः (deheccā, netrecchā, jīvanadarpaḥ) | Medium. Fairly plain descriptive compounds; no single named classical school claims this triad, though it invites loose comparison with the Gītā’s warnings against kāma and ahaṃkāra (ego/pride) — worth a light contrastive note but not a blocking risk. |
| ἀντίχριστος | antichristos | ”against-Christ, antichrist” | one who opposes and counterfeits Christ; specifically, in 1 John, one who denies the Father-Son relationship and Christ’s incarnation (2:22; 4:3) | A specific, identifiable heresy/spirit denying the Incarnation and Messiahship of Jesus — not a generic “false teacher.” | अन्तिख्रीष्टः (antikhrīṣṭaḥ) | High. Coined by prefixing “anti-” to the established transliteration ख्रीष्टः (per the Requirements document’s transliteration table), following the same transliteration-preservation logic already used for मसीहः. Must be explicitly defined as one who denies the incarnation/Messianic identity of Jesus specifically (2:22–23; 4:3), not merely any theological opponent. |
| χρῖσμα | chrisma | ”anointing” | the act, or substance, of anointing; here, the Spirit’s teaching gift given to every believer (2:20, 2:27) | Every believer, not a special class, has received the Spirit’s anointing and need for no other teacher for the essentials of the gospel. | अभिषेकः (abhiṣekaḥ) | Critical. This is one of the sharpest culturally live collisions in the package: abhiṣeka is the standard term for the ritual bathing/anointing of a consecrated temple deity-image (mūrti-abhiṣeka) and for royal consecration (rājyābhiṣeka) — both central, concrete, and highly visible devotional/political practices in the destination culture. Retained (for its direct etymological link to Χριστός/anointed) only with a mandatory note at every occurrence: this is the Holy Spirit’s internal, permanent, universally-given teaching presence in every believer, not a repeatable external ritual ceremony performed upon an image or a status conferred by royal/priestly consecration. |
| τέκνον (θεοῦ) | teknon (theou) | “child (of God)“ | offspring, in contrast to υἱός/υἱοθεσία’s legal-son emphasis | 1 John’s preferred term for believers (2:12,28 and throughout 3), emphasizing organic new-birth relationship rather than Romans’ legal adoption-and-inheritance emphasis. | परमेश्वरस्य सन्तानः (parameśvarasya santānaḥ) | High. See full treatment under Chapter 3 below; distinct from, though related to, the baseline’s “adoption” = पुत्रत्वेन स्वीकरणम्. |
| ἐπαγγελία | epangelia | ”promise” | a stated pledge, guarantee | ”This is the promise that he made to us — eternal life” (2:25). | प्रतिज्ञा (pratijñā) | Medium. Note: प्रतिज्ञा is also the name of the first of five members (pratijñā, hetu, udāharaṇa, upanaya, nigamana) of the classical Nyāya syllogism — the initial thesis-statement to be proven. The echo is mild but worth noting for scholarly readers; no stronger alternative avoids all technical vocabulary entirely. |
Chapter 3 — Children of God vs. Children of the Devil; New Birth; Love in Deed and Truth
| Greek | Translit. | Literal meaning | Range / variants | Theological meaning | Sanskrit | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| τέκνα θεοῦ / τέκνα διαβόλου | tekna theou / tekna diabolou | ”children of God / children of the devil” | familial-origin metaphor | The letter’s central ethical-diagnostic category: one’s spiritual parentage is revealed by whether one practices righteousness/love or sin/hatred (3:1,10). | परमेश्वरस्य सन्तानः / अपवादकस्य सन्तानः | High. See Chapter 2 note; also flag possible collision with Purāṇic “divine offspring” narratives (heroes described as literal sons of a deva, e.g. Karṇa as son of Sūrya) — 1 John’s “children of God” is a moral-spiritual status available universally by new birth, not a mythic biological/semi-divine parentage narrative restricted to specific heroic figures. |
| γεννάω (ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ) | gennaō (ek tou theou) | “born (of God)“ | see full treatment at core-passage v.7 | ”No one born of God makes a practice of sinning” (3:9) — new birth as the root of transformed practice. | परमेश्वरात् जातः (parameśvarāt jātaḥ) | Critical. See v.7 above; reject पुनर्जन्म, द्विजः. |
| ἀνομία | anomia | ”lawlessness” | absence of, or rebellion against, law | ”Sin is lawlessness” (3:4) — sin defined relative to God’s revealed will, not cosmic/social duty. | विधिलङ्घनम् (vidhilaṅghanam), “transgression of the [divine] injunction” | Medium. Built on the baseline’s विधिः [REUSED — Romans TM] (“law”); must mean transgression of God’s revealed commands, not violation of dharma/varṇāśrama social-ritual duty broadly. |
| Κάϊν | Kain | ”Cain” (proper name) | — | Cited as the negative type of hatred/fratricide opposed to brotherly love (3:12). | काइनः (kāinaḥ) | Low (proper name; transliterate per established convention). |
| ψυχή (τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν) | psychē (tithēmi tēn psychēn) | “life/soul” (“lay down [one’s] life”) | life-principle, animating self, or simply “life” in a Semitic idiom | Christ’s self-sacrificial death as the model for costly, active love (3:16). | प्राणत्यागः (prāṇatyāgaḥ), “giving up of vital breath/life” | Medium. प्राण (vital breath/life-force, one of the Upaniṣadic pañca-kośa categories) is used here in its ordinary, non-technical sense of “physical life,” a natural and common Sanskrit idiom for self-sacrifice; deliberately avoids आत्मा, which must be reserved per the baseline’s strictest rule for the Holy Spirit and never used loosely for “soul/life” elsewhere in this document. |
| σπλάγχνα | splanchna | ”inward parts, bowels” (seat of compassion in ancient physiology) | compassion, pity, tender mercy | ”Whoever… closes his heart against [a needy brother]…” (3:17) — refusal of practical compassion as evidence against indwelling love. | करुणा (karuṇā) | Low/Medium. करुणा is a general, widely shared compassion-term (also a key Buddhist virtue, one of the four brahmavihāras) but not tied to a single exclusive soteriological mechanism in the way प्रेम/भक्ति are; acceptable with light awareness of its Buddhist prominence. |
| παρρησία | parrēsia | ”confidence” | see full treatment at core-passage v.17 | ”We have confidence before God” (3:21) when the conscience does not condemn. | निर्भीकता (nirbhīkatā) | Medium. |
| πνεῦμα (ἔδωκεν ἡμῖν) | pneuma (edōken hēmin) | “Spirit (he has given us)“ | the Holy Spirit as given, indwelling gift | ”By this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us” (3:24) — assurance grounded in the Spirit’s indwelling presence. | पवित्र आत्मा [REUSED — Romans TM] | Critical, with mandatory personhood note. |
Chapter 4 — Testing the Spirits (4:1–6); [4:7–21 treated fully in Part A above]
| Greek | Translit. | Literal meaning | Range / variants | Theological meaning | Sanskrit | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα | dokimazete ta pneumata | ”test/examine the spirits” | δοκιμάζω: to test the genuineness of (metal, coin) by assay; πνεῦμα here = a prophetic/spiritual influence, not necessarily the Holy Spirit | The command to discern which prophetic utterances/spiritual influences are truly from God (4:1). | आत्मिकप्रेरणाः परीक्षध्वम् (ātmikapreraṇāḥ parīkṣadhvam), “examine the spiritual promptings/inspirations” | Critical — special methodological note. This verse creates a rendering challenge unique to 1 John within this Language Package: Greek πνεῦμα here denotes tested, possibly false spiritual influences, structurally parallel to (but referentially distinct from) “the Spirit of God” in the very next clause (4:2) and “his Spirit” elsewhere (3:24; 4:13). The baseline’s strictest rule reserves पवित्र आत्मा exclusively for the Holy Spirit, third Person of the Trinity, precisely to avoid any ātman-Brahman identity reading. To keep that reservation absolute, this Language Package renders the tested, plural “spirits” of 4:1 with the adjectival compound आत्मिक- (“spiritual,” already established safely in the baseline’s “spiritual_gifts” = आत्मिकं वरदानम्) + a plain noun (प्रेरणा, “prompting/inspiration”), never with the bare noun आत्मा. “The Spirit of God” (τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ, 4:2) retains पवित्र आत्मा with its mandatory note; “the spirit of the antichrist” / “spirit of error” (4:3,6, πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης) must be rendered descriptively (e.g., वञ्चकभावः, “deceptive disposition”) rather than with any आत्मा-based parallel construction, so that आत्मा never appears attached to a false or demonic referent. |
| πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης | pneuma tēs planēs | ”spirit of error/deception” | πλάνη: wandering, deception, error | The counterfeit spiritual influence opposed to “the Spirit of truth” (4:6). | वञ्चकभावः (vañcakabhāvaḥ) | Critical. See note directly above; deliberately avoids आत्मा. |
| ψευδοπροφήτης | pseudoprophētēs | ”false prophet” | one who falsely claims prophetic authority | ”Many false prophets have gone out into the world” (4:1). | मिथ्याभविष्यद्वक्ता (mithyābhaviṣyadvaktā) | Medium. Built on the baseline’s भविष्यद्वक्ता [REUSED — Romans TM] (“prophet”) with the negating qualifier मिथ्या (“false”); no new risk beyond the underlying term’s already-assessed Low baseline risk. |
| νικάω | nikaō | ”to conquer, overcome, be victorious” | victory, triumph | ”You have overcome them [the false prophets/antichrist spirit], for he who is in you is greater” (4:4) — introduces the “overcoming the world” theme resumed in ch.5. | जयति / विजयः (jayati / vijayaḥ) | Medium. Plain victory-vocabulary; not tied to a single named darśana, though it may lightly evoke the Bhagavad Gītā’s battlefield setting — a general martial register acceptable without a blocking risk. |
| κόσμος | kosmos | ”world” | see above | Reused throughout 4:1–6, 9, 14, 17 (see core passage). | जगत् (jagat) | Critical, per above. |
(1 John 4:7–21: see Part A above for full verse-by-verse treatment.)
Chapter 5 — Overcoming the World; Testimony; Eternal Life; Sin unto Death; Idols
| Greek | Translit. | Literal meaning | Range / variants | Theological meaning | Sanskrit | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| νικᾶν τὸν κόσμον | nikan ton kosmon | ”to overcome the world” | see 4:4 above | ”Whoever is born of God overcomes the world… this is the victory… our faith” (5:4–5) — the climactic statement tying new birth, faith, and victory together. | जगतः जयः (jagataḥ jayaḥ) | Critical — combines two already-Critical terms (जगत्, and by extension विश्वासः as the means of victory in 5:5); ensure both established renderings are used exactly, not paraphrased for stylistic variation. |
| πίστις | pistis | ”faith” | see baseline | ”This is the victory… our faith” (5:4) — faith as the specific instrument of victory. | विश्वासः [REUSED — Romans TM] | High. |
| μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω | martyria / martyreō | ”testimony/witness” | see core-passage v.14 above | The threefold witness — Spirit, water, and blood (5:6–8) — and God’s own testimony about his Son (5:9–11). | साक्ष्यम् (sākṣyam) | High. See note at v.14; avoid drift toward साक्षिन्-based (witness-consciousness) phrasing. |
| ὕδωρ | hydōr | ”water” | literal water; here symbolic of Christ’s baptism and/or the water at the cross (Jn 19:34) | One of the three witnesses to Christ’s identity (5:6,8). | जलम् (jalam) | Low. |
| αἷμα | haima | ”blood” | see Chapter 1 above | The blood-witness, echoing atoning-blood theology already established. | रक्तम् (raktam) | Medium/High, per Chapter 1 note. |
| ζωὴ αἰώνιος | zōē aiōnios | ”eternal life” | ζωή: life (contrast βίος, mere biological existence); αἰώνιος: age-long, everlasting, without end | ”God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (5:11); the letter’s climactic gift, received now and unending. | अनन्तं जीवनम् (anantaṃ jīvanam), “unending/infinite life” | Critical. Alternatives rejected: मोक्षः, मुक्तिः, निर्वाणम् — already globally forbidden per the Romans baseline for “salvation,” and equally inapplicable here since “eternal life” in 1 John is relational (knowing the Father and the Son, cf. Jn 17:3) rather than liberation from saṃsāra. अमृतत्वम् (amṛtatvam), “immortality” — the specific Upaniṣadic goal-term (e.g., Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.4.7, “sa mṛtyum atyatrata sa amṛtatvaṃ jagāma,” attained through Self-knowledge dissolving the ātman-Brahman distinction) — rejected for the same reason ज्ञानम् requires a note under “know” below: it names a self-realized state, not a relationally given gift from a personal God. अनन्तं जीवनम् (a plain descriptive compound, “unending life”) is preferred as least encumbered, but still requires the mandatory note given how central this term is to 1 John’s closing argument (5:11–13,20). |
| γινώσκω / εἰδέναι (οἶδα) | ginōskō / eidenai (oida) | “to know” (relational) / “to know” (factual/certain) | see core-passage v.7; note 1 John’s heavy, repeated use of οἶδα (“we know that…”) for confident, settled epistemic certainty, distinct from but overlapping with γινώσκω’s relational sense | Chapter 5’s repeated “we know” refrains (5:13,15,18,19,20) ground the letter’s whole purpose statement (5:13) in confident, God-given certainty. | जानाति / जानीमः (jānāti / jānīmaḥ) | Critical. Both Greek verbs, despite their distinct nuances, are likely to collapse into the same Sanskrit root (√jñā); translators should be aware that this flattens a distinction preserved in Greek and should not let the frequency of “we know” (οἶδα) statements be mistaken by a philosophically-trained Sanskrit reader for a repeated claim to jñāna-mārga liberating gnosis. Mandatory note required at every occurrence, distinguishing relational/confident covenantal knowledge (of a distinct, personal God, evidenced by obedience and love) from Advaita Vedānta’s jñāna-mārga, in which “knowing” Brahman (via realization of the mahāvākyas — tat tvam asi, ayam ātmā brahma, ahaṃ brahmāsmi) is not evidence of a relationship but the self-effected dissolution of the very knower/known distinction. This is the same category of risk the baseline assigns to पवित्र आत्मा as “the single highest-stakes term,” and ज्ञानम्/जानाति used this pervasively in 1 John warrants comparable vigilance. |
| ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον / οὐ πρὸς θάνατον | hamartia pros thanaton / ou pros thanaton | ”sin unto death” / “not unto death” | a specific, debated category of sin | ”There is sin that leads to death… there is sin not leading to death” (5:16–17) — a notoriously difficult exegetical distinction even in English-language interpretation. | मृत्युजनकं पापम् / अमृत्युजनकं पापम् | Medium. The difficulty here is primarily exegetical (What sort of sin/death is meant? Physical? Spiritual? Apostasy?) rather than a specific Sanskrit-doctrinal collision; still requires careful translator notes regardless of destination language, and should be flagged for theologian review on exegetical rather than lexical grounds. |
| εἴδωλον | eidōlon | ”idol, image” | an image or representation of a deity, treated as an object of worship | ”Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (5:21) — the epistle’s closing exhortation. | मिथ्यादेवप्रतिमा (mithyādevapratimā), “image of a false god” | Critical — highest cultural-sensitivity flag in this entire glossary. प्रतिमा/मूर्ति (pratimā/mūrti) is the standard, revered, and doctrinally central term for a consecrated deity-image in the destination culture’s dominant devotional practice (mūrti-pūjā), not an inherently pejorative word as “idol” is in biblical usage. A bare मूर्तिः or प्रतिमा for εἴδωλον risks reading as a blanket condemnation of image-veneration as such, a direct and highly sensitive collision with majority devotional practice rather than 1 John’s narrower target: worship of false gods as rivals to the one true God (सर्वेश्वरः) in place of him. The compound मिथ्यादेवप्रतिमा (“image of a false god”) is recommended to keep the qualifier explicit and load-bearing, but this term requires escalation to human theologian review and explicit pastoral/cultural-sensitivity guidance beyond the standard Critical-tier review, given the destination culture’s dominant tradition is the very one most directly implicated. |
| ὁ πονηρός | ho ponēros | ”the evil one” | a title for Satan/the devil | ”The whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (5:19). | दुष्टः (duṣṭaḥ) | Medium. See devil/Satan family below. |
Cross-Book Notes for Phase 2
- Frequency amplifies risk. ἀγάπη/ἀγαπάω (~50+ occurrences), μένω (~24), γινώσκω/οἶδα (~30+), and κόσμος (~23) so dominate 1 John’s vocabulary that any Critical-risk choice among them is functionally a whole-book decision, not a single-verse one. Phase 2 segment translators must treat these four terms with the same rigor on their 40th occurrence as their 1st.
- New terms requiring translation-memory registration before Phase 2 begins, none of which are present in the Romans baseline: love (प्रेम), light (ज्योतिः), darkness (अन्धकारः), world (जगत्), word/word of life (वचनम्), advocate (मध्यस्थः, personified), propitiation (पापार्थं बलिदानम्), born of God / new birth (परमेश्वरात् जातः), children of God (परमेश्वरस्य सन्तानः), antichrist (अन्तिख्रीष्टः), anointing (अभिषेकः), abide (निवासः), truth (सत्यम्, newly load-bearing though present implicitly in Romans), know/knowledge (ज्ञानम्/जानाति, newly load-bearing), eternal life (अनन्तं जीवनम्), idols (मिथ्यादेवप्रतिमा), Savior (त्राता), only Son (एकजातः), day of judgment (निर्णयदिनम्), confess (स्वीकरणम्), forgive (क्षमा), cleanse (शोधनम्), devil/evil one (अपवादकः/शैतानः/दुष्टः).
- No chapter is without load-bearing vocabulary. Every chapter (1–5) introduces or substantially deploys at least one Critical or High risk term; there is no “reviewed, no new terms” chapter to report for this book.
See analysis/08_core_glossary.md for the consolidated glossary table of every term above, cross-referenced by risk tier and doctrine.