Passage

Romans 3

• Doctrine

  Grace

  Unmerited favor, not a blessing earned through correct ritual observance toward Mwari or the ancestors.

  ROM.3.24

• Glossary Term

  Grace

  Well-established Shona Bible term for unmerited favor.

  ROM.3.24

• Doctrine

  Humanity's Sinfulness

  Moral transgression before a personal God; distinguish from ritual impurity or an offense against ancestral spirits requiring appeasement.

  ROM.3.23

• Glossary Term

  Imputed Righteousness

  Righteousness credited by faith (Romans 4:3), not earned; must not be rendered as moral achievement or ritual merit accumulated toward Mwari or the ancestors.

  ROM.3.21-26

• Glossary Term

  Israel

  Proper name; the covenant people, central to Romans 9-11's argument.

  ROM.3.9-20

• Glossary Term

  Justification

  Literally 'to be declared righteous.' Must be kept distinct from a general sense of moral improvement; this is a forensic, declared status.

  ROM.3.21-26

• Doctrine

  Justification by Faith

  A forensic declaration of right standing, credited by faith, not earned through moral conduct or ritual correctness.

  ROM.3.21-26

• Glossary Term

  Sin

  Moral transgression before a personal God; distinguish from ritual impurity or an offense against ancestral spirits requiring appeasement rites.

  ROM.3.23

• Doctrine

  The Law

  The Mosaic Law specifically; must not be rendered with a term for customary law (tsika) or ancestral taboo (zviera), which carry distinct enforcement logic in Shona culture.

  ROM.3.19-20

• Doctrine

  Universal Need for Salvation

  Both Jew and Gentile stand equally in need of salvation; Romans 9-11's argument about Israel requires care not to be read as ethnic favoritism or its opposite.

  ROM.3.9-20