Core Glossary
Core Glossary
English → Spanish | 1 Thessalonians 1–5 | Term-by-Term Glossary
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, covering every chapter of 1 Thessalonians. Terms already established in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json are marked Reused and carry their baseline rendering and risk tier unchanged. Terms new to this curriculum are marked New, with a risk tier assigned using the same Critical/High/Medium/Low framework as the baseline, and a grounded reason for every Critical/High assignment.
Table A — Terms Reused Exactly from the Baseline Romans Language Package
| Term (English) | Greek | Spanish (baseline rendering — reused exactly) | Risk (baseline) | Occurrences in 1 Thessalonians | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gospel | εὐαγγέλιον | evangelio | High | 1:5; 2:2,4,8,9; 3:2 | No deviation; reinforces baseline’s “authoritative proclamation, not generic good news” note. |
| Faith | πίστις | fe | High | 1:3,8; 3:2,5,6,7,10; 4:14; 5:8 | Frequent in this book; must remain “fe” throughout, including in the ch.5 armor metaphor. |
| Grace | χάρις | gracia | High | 1:1; 5:28 | Standard epistolary opening/closing greeting formula. |
| Salvation | σωτηρία | salvación | Critical | 5:8,9 | 5:9 (“not appointed to wrath but to obtain salvation”) is a key Day-of-the-Lord assurance verse; preserve baseline’s forensic, decisive-reconciliation framing. |
| Lord | κύριος | Señor | Critical | throughout (over 20x) | Every occurrence, including the emphatic “the Lord himself” of 4:16, must render exclusive, supreme lordship. |
| Son of God | υἱὸς θεοῦ | Hijo de Dios | Critical | 1:10 (“his Son”) | Full-phrase weight retained even in the abbreviated “su Hijo” form; unique eternal Sonship, not the corporate “hijos de Dios” sense. |
| Election | ἐκλογή | elección | High | 1:4 | Reused without deviation. |
| Peace | εἰρήνη | paz | Medium | 1:1; 5:3,23 | 5:3’s “peace and safety” (false security before judgment) is a distinct ironic use — flag in teaching notes as the counterfeit peace the Day of the Lord exposes, contrasted with the relational peace of 1:1/5:23. |
| Sanctification | ἁγιασμός / ἁγιάζω | santificación / santificar | High | 4:3,4,7; 5:23 | Central doctrine of this curriculum; reused exactly, extended with new companion term ἁγιωσύνη (see Table B). |
| Saints | ἅγιοι | santos | Critical | 3:13 | ”With all his saints” at the Parousia — see Table B entry for the intensified risk this specific combination creates. |
| Holy (adj.) | ἅγιος | santo | Medium | 4:8 (“Holy Spirit”); 5:26 (“holy kiss”) | Reused without deviation. |
| Holy Spirit | πνεῦμα ἅγιον | Espíritu Santo | Critical | 1:5,6; 4:8; 5:19 | Must remain the personal third Person of the Trinity; 5:19’s “do not quench the Spirit” especially requires this personal framing. |
| Church | ἐκκλησία | iglesia | Medium | 1:1; 2:14 | Lowercase, gathered-community sense; reused without deviation. |
| Gentiles | ἔθνη | gentiles | Medium | 2:14,16; 4:5 | Reused; “paganos” remains rejected. |
| Glory | δόξα | gloria | High | 2:12,20 | Reused without deviation. |
| Thanksgiving | εὐχαριστία / εὐχαριστέω | acción de gracias / dar gracias | Low | 1:2; 2:13; 3:9; 5:18 | Frequent in this epistle; reused throughout. |
| Exhort/Comfort | παρακαλέω | exhortar (Romans default) — contextual override to consolar/animar required | Low (Romans) / Medium in this book | 2:12; 3:2,7; 4:1,10,18; 5:11,14 | See Table B note: this book uses παρακαλέω predominantly in its comfort/encouragement sense (esp. 4:18, 5:11), not the exhort-to-duty sense favored in Romans. Flag every occurrence for contextual judgment rather than defaulting to “exhortar.” |
| Jesus | Ἰησοῦς | Jesús | Critical | throughout | Reused without deviation. |
| God | θεός | Dios | Critical | throughout | Reused without deviation. |
| Father | πατήρ | Padre | Critical | 1:1,3; 3:11,13 | Reused without deviation. |
| Prophecy | προφητεία | profecía | Low | 5:20 | Reused without deviation. |
Table B — New Terms Introduced by 1 Thessalonians
| Term (English) | Greek / Transliteration | Spanish rendering | Doctrine (of the five curriculum doctrines, where applicable) | Risk | Grounded reason | Primary occurrences |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coming / Parousia | παρουσία / parousia | venida (gloss: “venida del Señor” / “segunda venida” for teaching use) | The Return of Christ | Critical | Technical Hellenistic term for a king’s/dignitary’s ceremonial arrival; must denote a visible, personal, bodily, royal event, not a symbolic or purely spiritual “presence.” Reina-Valera precedent (“venida”) must be followed for consistency with the destination language’s existing Bible-translation tradition. All four occurrences (2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23) must render identically. | 2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23 |
| Caught up / Rapture | ἁρπάζω (fut. pass. ἁρπαγησόμεθα) | arrebatados (verb: “seremos arrebatados”); noun form if required: arrebatamiento — never “rapto” | The Return of Christ; Resurrection of Believers | Critical | Single highest-risk lexical item in the book. Spanish “rapto” primarily denotes kidnapping/abduction and, in some registers, forced or sexual seizure, which would import a violent/criminal connotation into a passage whose tone is comfort (v.18). This must be a standing forbidden-substitution entry: NEVER render as “el rapto”; always use the verb “arrebatar” or the attested evangelical-Spanish noun “arrebatamiento.” | 4:17 |
| Day of the Lord | ἡμέρα κυρίου | el día del Señor (with mandatory disambiguating teaching note) | The Day of the Lord | Critical | Direct collision with the everyday Catholic/Protestant Spanish usage of “el día del Señor” for Sunday, the weekly day of worship/rest. Without an explicit disambiguating note at every occurrence, learners will default to the liturgical-calendar meaning rather than the eschatological day of judgment/consummation Paul describes. | 5:2 |
| Resurrection (of believers, verb forms) | ἀνίστημι / ἐγείρω (ἀνέστη, ἀναστήσονται, ἤγειρεν) | resucitar / resucitarán (aligned with baseline noun “resurrección”) | Resurrection of Believers | Critical | Extends the baseline’s existing Critical safeguard on Christ’s own resurrection to the resurrection of believers, one of this curriculum’s five named doctrines. Must never suggest reincarnation, a spirit’s return, or a merely visionary rising — a live risk in Caribbean/Afro-Caribbean contexts shaped by Espiritismo and Santería, as already documented in the baseline for Christ’s resurrection. | 1:10; 4:14,16 |
| Sleep (euphemism for death) | κοιμάομαι (κοιμωμένων, κοιμηθέντας) | dormir / los que duermen / los que han muerto | Hope in Grief; Resurrection of Believers | High | Spanish shares this euphemism (“el sueño eterno,” “descanse en paz”), which is a genuine bridge, but risks: (1) collapsing into an emptied funerary cliché that loses resurrection hope; (2) being misread by some hearers as support for literal soul-sleep doctrine. Requires a teaching note in every occurrence clarifying the euphemism describes bodily rest pending a real future resurrection, not a claim about the soul’s consciousness. | 4:13,14,15 |
| Hope | ἐλπίς | esperanza | Hope in Grief | High | Central term of a named curriculum doctrine. Everyday Spanish “esperanza” doubles for uncertain wishing and can carry a fatalistic folk-Catholic shade regarding the afterlife (dependent on merit, purgatory, uncertain outcome). Biblical ἐλπίς is certain expectation grounded in the already-accomplished resurrection of Christ, not a hopeful guess. | 1:3; 2:19; 4:13; 5:8 |
| Wrath | ὀργή | ira | The Day of the Lord | High | Must not be softened into general “trouble” or “difficulty”; this is God’s righteous judgment against which believers are assured deliverance (5:9), directly tied to the Day of the Lord doctrine. Consistency required between 1:10 and 5:9. | 1:10; 5:9 |
| Holiness (as character/state) | ἁγιωσύνη | santidad | Sanctification | High | Distinct Greek lemma from ἁγιασμός (“santificación,” already High in the baseline). Ἁγιωσύνη names the resulting holy character/state rather than the ongoing process; conflating the two Greek words under one undifferentiated Spanish term blurs a distinction Paul is making between process (ch.4) and resulting state (ch.3). Must be taught alongside, and distinguished from, “santificación.” | 3:13 |
| Meeting (the Lord) | ἀπάντησις | encuentro (“al encuentro del Señor”) | The Return of Christ | High | Technical Hellenistic term for a city’s delegation formally and ceremonially receiving/escorting a visiting dignitary or king. A flat, generic “reunión” or “encuentro casual” loses the royal-reception, triumphal-procession imagery that gives 4:17 its force and links it back to παρουσία in 4:15. | 4:17 |
| The dead in Christ | οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ | los muertos en Cristo | Resurrection of Believers | High | The qualifying phrase “en Cristo” must never be dropped; it specifies believers united to Christ, not humanity generally, and must not be generalized into a universal resurrection claim beyond the text. | 4:16 |
| Always with the Lord | πάντοτε σὺν κυρίῳ | siempre… con el Señor | Hope in Grief; The Return of Christ | High | Pastoral climax of the core passage; must retain both permanence (“siempre”) and personal relational presence (“con el Señor”), not be flattened into a generic promise of “heaven” or afterlife reward. | 4:17 |
| Word of God | λόγος θεοῦ | palabra de Dios | (Inspiration of Scripture — baseline doctrine, extended) | Medium | Connects to the baseline’s existing “Inspiration of Scripture” doctrine (Medium in Romans); teaching material should link rather than treat as an isolated new doctrine. | 2:13 |
| Love | ἀγάπη | amor | Sanctification (fruit of); general Christian ethics | Medium | Everyday Spanish “amor” defaults to romantic/emotional love; must be anchored as selfless, active, covenantal love. Avoid the older Catholic-tradition gloss “caridad,” which has drifted toward almsgiving in modern usage. | 1:3; 3:6,12; 4:9; 5:8,13 |
| Joy | χαρά | gozo | Hope in Grief | Medium | Preferred over “alegría” to match established Bible-register vocabulary; must convey joy that coexists with affliction, not mere circumstantial happiness. | 1:6; 2:19,20; 3:9; 5:16 |
| Affliction / Tribulation | θλῖψις | aflicción / tribulación | The Day of the Lord (contextually distinguished) | Medium | General suffering-for-the-faith sense in this book; must be distinguished in teaching notes from any capitalized end-times “Gran Tribulación” technical scheme, which this word does not denote here. | 1:6; 3:3,7 |
| Archangel | ἀρχάγγελος | arcángel | The Return of Christ | Medium | Catholic-majority Spanish-speaking contexts hold significant popular devotion to archangels (especially San Miguel Arcángel) as intercessory figures. This verse’s archangel is a herald of the Lord’s authority, not an object of veneration; avoid framing that invites devotional focus onto the archangel rather than onto Christ himself. | 4:16 |
| Sexual immorality | πορνεία | inmoralidad sexual | Sanctification | Medium | Must remain concrete and specific, not softened into vague “impureza”; sanctification in this passage is anchored in explicit sexual ethics. | 4:3 |
| Vessel (body/wife, disputed) | σκεῦος | cuerpo (with translator note flagging “esposa” as an attested alternative reading) | Sanctification | Medium | Genuine translation-choice ambiguity (not a syncretism risk); flag for native-speaker/theologian review rather than resolving silently. | 4:4 |
| Lustful passion | ἐπιθυμία | pasión de concupiscencia / deseo desordenado | Sanctification | Medium | Must convey specifically disordered sexual desire, not neutral “desire” in general. | 4:5 |
| Brotherly love | φιλαδελφία | amor fraternal | (Christian Fellowship — baseline doctrine, extended) | Medium | Distinguish from general ἀγάπη; names love specifically within the believing community. | 4:9 |
| Full assurance | πληροφορία | plena certidumbre | Faith; Hope in Grief | Medium | Must convey doctrinally-grounded certainty, not mere emotional intensity. | 1:5 |
| Sons/children of light or day | υἱοὶ φωτός / υἱοὶ ἡμέρας | hijos de luz / hijos del día | The Day of the Lord | Medium | Standard biblical idiom; ensure “hijos” carries the same inclusive corporate sense as elsewhere (cf. baseline “adopción”), not a narrow biological reading. | 5:5 |
| Sober / watchful | νήφω / γρηγορέω | sobrios / alerta, velar | The Day of the Lord | Medium | Ensure both the literal (not intoxicated) and metaphorical (spiritually vigilant) senses present in the passage’s wordplay are retained. | 5:6,8,10 |
| Church leaders (“those who lead”) | προΐστημι | los que dirigen / presiden entre vosotros | Church as God’s People (baseline doctrine, extended) | Medium | Early, non-technical designation; avoid vocabulary importing later institutional-clerical categories not present in this term. | 5:12 |
| Quench the Spirit | σβέννυμι (μὴ σβέννυτε) | no apaguéis (al Espíritu) | Sanctification (Spirit’s work) | Medium | Must retain “Espíritu” as the same personal Holy Spirit of the baseline (Critical), not an impersonal “spirit” of morale or enthusiasm. | 5:19 |
| Destruction | ὄλεθρος | destrucción / ruina | The Day of the Lord | Medium | Preserve sudden, total, real judgment; do not soften to “dificultad” or generic “consequences.” | 5:3 |
| Crown of boasting | στέφανος καυχήσεως | corona de que nos gloriamos | The Return of Christ | Medium | Relational joy-image tied to the Parousia; must not become a detached literal reward-object. | 2:19 |
| Tempter / Satan (title) | ὁ πειράζων | el tentador | (Spiritual opposition — supporting theme) | Medium | Ensure clear personal referent (Satan), not a vague abstraction of “temptation.” | 3:5 |
| Satan | Σατανᾶς | Satanás | (Spiritual opposition — supporting theme) | Medium | Standard and unambiguous; ensure teaching presents a personal spiritual adversary, not a folkloric figure emptied of real opposition to the gospel. | 2:18 |
| Spirit, soul, and body | πνεῦμα καὶ ψυχὴ καὶ σῶμα | espíritu, alma y cuerpo | Sanctification | Medium | Emphasizes whole-person scope of sanctification; teaching notes should avoid forcing a resolution of the trichotomy/dichotomy anthropology debate. | 5:23 |
| Blameless | ἄμεμπτος / ἀμέμπτως | irreprensible(s) | Sanctification; The Return of Christ | Low | Standard; moral integrity before God, not absolute sinless perfection. | 3:13; 5:23 |
| Idols | εἴδωλα | ídolos | (Conversion / turning to God — supporting theme) | Low | Standard; useful hook for discussing modern equivalents without renaming the term. | 1:9 |
| Imitators / Example | μιμητής / τύπος | imitadores / ejemplo, modelo | (Discipleship — supporting theme) | Low | Standard vocabulary. | 1:6-7 |
| Shout of command | κέλευσμα | voz de mando | The Return of Christ | Low | Royal/military command imagery; avoid rendering as a cry of alarm. | 4:16 |
| Trumpet of God | σάλπιγξ | trompeta (de Dios) | The Return of Christ | Low | Standard image; no significant collision risk. | 4:16 |
| Clouds | νεφέλη | nubes | The Return of Christ | Low | Standard; may carry an OT theophany background worth a brief teaching note. | 4:17 |
| Thief in the night (idiom) | κλέπτης ἐν νυκτί | como ladrón en la noche | The Day of the Lord | Low | Standard idiom, well attested in Spanish Bible tradition. | 5:2 |
| Birth pangs (idiom) | ὠδίν | dolores de parto | The Day of the Lord | Low | Standard, vivid image; no significant collision risk. | 5:3 |
| Boldness | παρρησία | con toda libertad / con valentía | (Apostolic ministry — supporting theme) | Low | Standard. | 2:2 |
| Admonish | νουθετέω | amonestar | Mutual Edification (baseline doctrine, extended) | Low | Standard. | 5:14 |
| Be patient | μακροθυμέω | ser paciente | Mutual Edification (baseline doctrine, extended) | Low | Standard. | 5:14 |
| Establish/strengthen | στηρίζω | afirmar / fortalecer | (Pastoral care — supporting theme) | Low | Standard. | 3:2,13 |
| Live quietly | ἡσυχάζω | vivir tranquilamente | Sanctification (practical expression) | Low | Standard. | 4:11 |
| Holy kiss | φίλημα ἅγιον | beso santo | Christian Fellowship (baseline doctrine, extended) | Low | First-century greeting convention, not a technical liturgical rite; brief cultural note sufficient. | 5:26 |
| God tests hearts | δοκιμάζω τὰς καρδίας | probar los corazones | (Divine omniscience — supporting theme) | Low | Standard. | 2:4 |
Doctrine-to-Term Cross-Reference (Five Curriculum Doctrines)
| Doctrine | Primary Greek terms | Spanish renderings | Highest risk tier reached |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Return of Christ | παρουσία, ἀπάντησις, κέλευσμα, φωνὴ ἀρχαγγέλου, σάλπιγξ, νεφέλαι, στέφανος καυχήσεως | venida, encuentro, voz de mando, voz de arcángel, trompeta, nubes, corona | Critical (venida) |
| Resurrection of Believers | ἀνίστημι, ἐγείρω, κοιμάομαι, οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ | resucitar(án), dormir/los que duermen, los muertos en Cristo | Critical |
| Sanctification | ἁγιασμός, ἁγιάζω, ἁγιωσύνη, πορνεία, ἐπιθυμία, σκεῦος, πνεῦμα-ψυχή-σῶμα | santificación, santificar, santidad, inmoralidad sexual, pasión de concupiscencia, cuerpo, espíritu-alma-cuerpo | High (santificación; santidad) |
| Hope in Grief | ἐλπίς, λυπέω, κοιμάομαι, πάντοτε σὺν κυρίῳ, χαρά | esperanza, entristecerse, dormir/los que duermen, siempre con el Señor, gozo | Critical (via resurrection/sleep overlap); High (esperanza) |
| The Day of the Lord | ἡμέρα κυρίου, ὀργή, ὄλεθρος, κλέπτης ἐν νυκτί, ὠδίν, υἱοὶ φωτός | el día del Señor, ira, destrucción, como ladrón en la noche, dolores de parto, hijos de luz | Critical (el día del Señor) |
This glossary must be loaded alongside the baseline translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json before any Phase 2 translation of 1 Thessalonians. New terms marked “New” above must be added to translation memory as new entries (not overwrites) before segment translation begins, per the baseline’s Translation Memory Load and Enforcement Instructions.
Critical Risk Terms
Salvation
Approved rendering: salvación
Transliteration: sōtēria
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: salvarse por buenas obras, merecer el cielo mediante sacramentos y penitencia
Original: σωτηρία
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. 5:8-9 (‘helmet, the hope of salvation’; ‘not appointed to wrath but to obtain salvation’) is a key Day-of-the-Lord assurance passage; must preserve the decisive, forensic reconciliation sense, not a lifelong uncertain outcome secured through sacraments, penance, or saintly/Marian intercession.
Lord
Approved rendering: Señor
Transliteration: kyrios
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: Señor mío (devotional-only, without lordship claim over the whole of life)
Original: κύριος
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs over 20 times in this short book, including the emphatic ‘el Señor mismo’ (4:16). Every occurrence must convey exclusive, supreme lordship, never a devotional title emptied of authority.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Hijo de Dios
Transliteration: huios theou
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ
Rejected alternatives: hijo de Dios en el sentido genérico aplicado a todo creyente
Original: υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. 1:10 (‘to wait for his Son from heaven’) ties the Son’s unique origin to the doctrine of Christ’s Return; render ‘su Hijo’ while preserving the full unique-Sonship weight, not the corporate ‘hijos de Dios’ sense.
Saints
Approved rendering: santos
Transliteration: hagioi
Doctrine: Sainthood
Rejected alternatives: los santos (canonizados, objeto de veneración e intercesión)
Original: ἅγιοι
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package, with INTENSIFIED risk in this book. 3:13’s ‘con todos sus santos’ at the Parousia is especially susceptible to the Catholic devotional lens of already-glorified canonized saints escorting Christ in procession, reinforcing rather than correcting the risk the baseline warns against. A translator note restating ‘todo creyente es llamado santo’ is mandatory at this occurrence.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Espíritu Santo
Transliteration: pneuma hagion
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit’s Work in the Church
Rejected alternatives: una fuerza impersonal, un espíritu guía o ancestral
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs 1:5,6; 4:8; 5:19 (‘no apaguéis al Espíritu’). Must remain the personal third Person of the Trinity, explicitly distinguished from ancestral or ‘guide’ spirits invoked in Espiritismo and Santería, and from an impersonal ‘spirit’ of morale or enthusiasm — a risk heightened by 5:19’s ‘quench’ warning, which could otherwise be misread as merely suppressing group energy.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Jesús
Transliteration: Iēsous
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package. Standard throughout.
God
Approved rendering: Dios
Transliteration: theos
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Standard throughout.
Father
Approved rendering: Padre
Transliteration: patēr
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. Appears in 1:1,3; 3:11,13; standard, unambiguous.
Parousia
Approved rendering: venida
Transliteration: parousia
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: llegada (flatly generic, bus/train register), presencia (drifts toward a static, merely spiritual presence), parusía (unrecognizable transliteration, breaks with Reina-Valera precedent)
Original: παρουσία
Category: Eschatology
NEW term, central to this curriculum. Technical Hellenistic term for a king’s/dignitary’s ceremonial arrival into a city; render ‘venida,’ following Reina-Valera precedent (RV1960/RVA2015). Must occur identically at all four occurrences in this book (2:19; 3:13; 4:15; 5:23). Pair with an explicit qualifier at first occurrence per lesson unit (‘la venida del Señor’); ‘segunda venida’ is an acceptable catechetical gloss for teaching headers only, never inside translated Scripture text. Must denote a visible, personal, bodily, royal event, not a symbolic or purely spiritual ‘presence.‘
Rapture
Approved rendering: arrebatar (seremos arrebatados) / arrebatamiento — NEVER ‘rapto’
Transliteration: harpazō / harpagēsometha
Doctrine: Rapture and Reunion with Christ
Rejected alternatives: el rapto (de la iglesia) — FORBIDDEN: overwhelmingly denotes kidnapping/abduction in general Spanish usage, and in some legal/colloquial registers connotes forced or sexual seizure
Original: ἁρπάζω (fut. pass. ἁρπαγησόμεθα)
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. Single highest-risk lexical item in the book. Use the verb ‘seremos arrebatados’ at the text level (RV1960/RVA2015 precedent). Where a technical noun is unavoidable in teaching material, use the attested evangelical-Spanish noun ‘arrebatamiento (de la iglesia)’; NEVER the bare noun ‘rapto,’ which would import a violent/criminal connotation into a passage whose entire purpose is pastoral comfort (v.18). Standing forbidden-substitution entry.
Day Of The Lord
Approved rendering: el día del Señor
Transliteration: hēmera kyriou
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: el día del juicio final / el día final (would sacrifice textual fidelity to the Hebrew/Greek prophetic idiom and cross-reference consistency with the OT ‘Day of the LORD’ tradition)
Original: ἡμέρα κυρίου
Category: Eschatology
NEW term, central to this curriculum’s named doctrine. MAJOR COLLISION RISK: in both Catholic and Protestant popular Spanish usage, ‘el día del Señor’ is the standard designation for Sunday, the weekly day of worship/rest (cf. catechesis on the Third/Fourth Commandment, ‘guardar el día del Señor’). Do not paraphrase away from the literal rendering; instead, a disambiguating teaching note is MANDATORY, not optional, at every occurrence (5:2), explicitly naming and setting aside the Sunday-worship association before teaching the eschatological sense.
Resurrection Of Believers
Approved rendering: resucitarán
Transliteration: anistēmi (anastēsontai)
Doctrine: Resurrection of Believers
Rejected alternatives: levantarse, despertar (as primary verbs — read as merely waking from ordinary sleep, not a decisive act of God reversing death)
Original: ἀνίστημι (ἀναστήσονται)
Category: Eschatology
NEW term extending the baseline’s Critical safeguard on Christ’s resurrection to this curriculum’s named doctrine (4:16). Must align exactly with ‘resucitar’ used for Christ’s resurrection (1:10; 4:14), and must never suggest reincarnation, a spirit’s return, or a merely visionary rising — a live risk in Caribbean and Afro-Caribbean contexts shaped by Espiritismo and Santería. Enforce lexical consistency across noun (‘resurrección’) and verb (‘resucitar/resucitarán’) forms within the same lesson unit.
High Risk Terms
Gospel
Approved rendering: evangelio
Transliteration: euangelion
Doctrine: Gospel Proclamation
Rejected alternatives: buenas nuevas (only as a descriptive gloss, never the standalone technical term)
Original: εὐαγγέλιον
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Occurs 1:5; 2:2,4,8,9; 3:2. Must continue to convey an authoritative announcement of salvation through the crucified and risen Christ, not a generic inspirational message or one persuasive option among competing religious claims.
Faith
Approved rendering: fe
Transliteration: pistis
Doctrine: Faith as Personal Trust
Rejected alternatives: devoción religiosa general, creencia cultural heredada
Original: πίστις
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Frequent in this book (1:3,8; 3:2,5,6,7,10; 4:14; 5:8, including the ‘breastplate of faith and love’ armor image). Must remain personal trust in Christ, not inherited cultural religiosity (‘nací cristiano’) or devotional loyalty to a saint or the Virgin.
Grace
Approved rendering: gracia
Transliteration: charis
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: favor merecido, recompensa por buenas obras
Original: χάρις
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. Appears in the epistolary greeting/closing formula (1:1; 5:28); must not be reframed as merit-cooperative or sacramentally infused favor.
Election
Approved rendering: elección
Transliteration: eklogē
Doctrine: Divine Election
Rejected alternatives: destino, suerte
Original: ἐκλογή
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. 1:4 (‘knowing your election’) traces the Thessalonians’ salvation to God’s sovereign initiative; avoid the fatalistic vernacular framing of ‘destino’ or ‘suerte.‘
Sanctification
Approved rendering: santificación
Transliteration: hagiasmos / hagiazō
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: purificación penitencial, vía purgativa, pureza (as a general substitute)
Original: ἁγιασμός / ἁγιάζω
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Central to this curriculum’s named doctrine ‘Sanctification’ (4:3,4,7; 5:23), grounded concretely here in sexual ethics. Must not collapse into a penitential/merit-based framework. Must be taught distinct from the new companion term ‘holiness_state’ (ἁγιωσύνη, 3:13, rendered ‘santidad’), which names the resulting character rather than the ongoing process.
Glory
Approved rendering: gloria
Transliteration: doxa
Doctrine: Deity of Christ
Original: δόξα
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package. 2:12,20 use the standard sense; no deviation.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: resurrección / resucitar / resucitó
Transliteration: anistēmi / egeirō / anastasis
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ
Rejected alternatives: reencarnación
Original: ἀνίστημι / ἐγείρω
Category: Eschatology
Inherited from Romans package. Applies to 1:10 (‘a quien resucitó de los muertos’) and 4:14 (‘Jesús murió y resucitó’). ἐγείρω and ἀνίστημι are used interchangeably in this book for Christ’s resurrection and must both map consistently to ‘resucitar,’ never to vocabulary evoking reincarnation, a spirit’s return, or a merely visionary experience. Extended in this curriculum to ground the new doctrine ‘Resurrection of Believers’ — see the ‘resurrection_of_believers’ entry below.
Sleep Euphemism
Approved rendering: dormir / los que duermen / los que han muerto
Transliteration: koimaomai
Doctrine: Hope in Grief
Original: κοιμάομαι (κοιμωμένων, κοιμηθέντας)
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. Spanish shares this euphemism (‘el sueño eterno,’ ‘descanse en paz’), a genuine bridge, but two risks: (1) folk usage can flatten it into a purely sentimental funerary cliché emptied of resurrection hope; (2) some hearers may misread it as a doctrinal claim about the soul’s consciousness (literal soul-sleep) rather than a euphemism whose entire point is that this sleep ends at Christ’s return. Mandatory teaching note at every occurrence (4:13,14,15).
Hope
Approved rendering: esperanza
Transliteration: elpis
Doctrine: Hope in Grief
Original: ἐλπίς
Category: Faith
NEW term, central to the named doctrine ‘Hope in Grief.’ No second Spanish word exists to separate everyday uncertain wishing from biblical certain expectation; the entire theological weight must therefore be carried by a mandatory teaching note at every doctrinal occurrence (1:3; 2:19; 4:13; 5:8) contrasting certain expectation grounded in Christ’s accomplished resurrection with (a) the everyday sense of a hopeful guess and (b) the folk-Catholic afterlife framework (purgatory, ongoing merit, novenarios, misas de difuntos) that treats the deceased’s standing as unresolved.
Wrath
Approved rendering: ira
Transliteration: orgē
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: dificultad, consecuencias (softening euphemisms)
Original: ὀργή
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. Must not be softened into general ‘trouble’ or ‘dificultad’; this is God’s real, coming judgment, and believers’ assurance of deliverance from it (5:9) directly answers the fear implicit in ch.4’s grief. Consistency required between 1:10 (‘la ira venidera’) and 5:9.
Holiness State
Approved rendering: santidad
Transliteration: hagiōsynē
Doctrine: Holiness as Character
Rejected alternatives: pureza (skews toward ritual or sexual purity narrowly, missing the holistic sense)
Original: ἁγιωσύνη
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. Distinct Greek lemma from ἁγιασμός (‘santificación’). Spanish’s santo/santidad/santificación word family cannot lexically separate process from state the way Greek does; this fixed pairing (santidad = state, santificación = process) must be taught alongside a mandatory note making the distinction explicit at 3:13, since the words themselves cannot carry it.
Meeting
Approved rendering: encuentro (salir al encuentro del Señor)
Transliteration: apantēsis
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Rejected alternatives: una reunión, un encuentro casual (loses the technical royal-reception background)
Original: ἀπάντησις
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. Technical Hellenistic term for a delegation formally and ceremonially receiving/escorting a visiting dignitary or king back into the city. Retain the fuller phrase ‘salir al encuentro del Señor,’ never a bare ‘encuentro’; require a mandatory teaching note explaining the royal-reception, triumphal-procession background linking 4:17 back to ‘venida’ in 4:15.
Dead In Christ
Approved rendering: los muertos en Cristo
Transliteration: hoi nekroi en Christō
Doctrine: Resurrection of Believers
Original: οἱ νεκροὶ ἐν Χριστῷ
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. The qualifying phrase ‘en Cristo’ must never be dropped; doing so would generalize this specific promise about believers into a universal resurrection claim beyond what 4:16 asserts.
Always With The Lord
Approved rendering: siempre estaremos con el Señor
Transliteration: pantote syn kyriō esometha
Doctrine: Hope in Grief
Rejected alternatives: una promesa genérica de ‘el cielo’ o ‘la vida eterna’ (loses the relational ‘con el Señor’ emphasis)
Original: πάντοτε σὺν κυρίῳ ἐσόμεθα
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. Pastoral climax of the core passage (4:17) and the direct answer to the Thessalonians’ grief. Must retain both permanence (‘siempre’) and personal relational presence (‘con el Señor’).
Medium Risk Terms
Peace
Approved rendering: paz
Transliteration: eirēnē
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: tranquilidad emocional
Original: εἰρήνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package. 1:1 and 5:23 use the relational sense; 5:3’s ironic ‘paz y seguridad’ (false security exposed by the Day of the Lord) is a distinct, deliberately counterfeit use and must be flagged in teaching notes as contrasted with, not equated to, genuine peace with God.
Holy
Approved rendering: santo
Transliteration: hagios
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: puro en sentido ritual
Original: ἅγιος
Category: Sanctification
Inherited from Romans package. Appears in ‘Espíritu Santo’ (4:8) and ‘beso santo’ (5:26); no deviation.
Church
Approved rendering: iglesia
Transliteration: ekklēsia
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: la Iglesia (institución jerárquica en sentido católico-institucional)
Original: ἐκκλησία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. 1:1 and 2:14 use the lowercase, gathered-community sense; no deviation.
Gentiles
Approved rendering: gentiles
Transliteration: ethnē
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Rejected alternatives: paganos (pejorative in modern Spanish)
Original: ἔθνη
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package. Appears in 2:14,16 and 4:5 (‘los gentiles que no conocen a Dios,’ describing a moral pattern, not an ethnic slur); ‘paganos’ remains rejected.
Exhort
Approved rendering: consolar / animar (contextual; ‘exhortar’ only where a duty sense clearly governs)
Transliteration: parakaleō
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Rejected alternatives: exhortar (as a mechanical default in every occurrence)
Original: παρακαλέω
Category: Faith
Inherited lemma from Romans package but with a CONTEXTUAL OVERRIDE for this book, elevated from Low to Medium risk. In Romans the term leans toward ‘exhort/urge’ (duty register); in 1 Thessalonians (2:12; 3:2,7; 4:1,10,18; 5:11,14) the dominant sense in key occurrences — especially 4:18 and 5:11 — is pastoral comfort/consolation, matching 4:13’s stated purpose. Flag every occurrence for translator judgment rather than defaulting mechanically to ‘exhortar’; reserve ‘exhortar’ for occurrences where a duty sense clearly governs (e.g. 5:14’s admonition clauses).
Word Of God
Approved rendering: palabra de Dios
Transliteration: logos theou
Doctrine: Gospel Proclamation
Original: λόγος θεοῦ
Category: Church
NEW term. 2:13: the message received ‘no como palabra de hombres, sino… como la palabra de Dios.’ Connects to the baseline’s existing ‘Inspiration of Scripture’ doctrine (Medium in Romans); teaching material should link rather than treat as an isolated new doctrine.
Love
Approved rendering: amor
Transliteration: agapē
Doctrine: Brotherly Love and Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: caridad (drifted in modern Spanish toward almsgiving/charity work rather than the New Testament’s relational love)
Original: ἀγάπη
Category: Faith
NEW term. Everyday Spanish ‘amor’ defaults to romantic/emotional love; must be anchored in teaching notes as self-giving, active, covenantal love (1:3’s ‘labor de amor’; 5:8’s armor image).
Joy
Approved rendering: gozo
Transliteration: chara
Doctrine: Hope in Grief
Rejected alternatives: alegría (does not match established Bible-register vocabulary as consistently)
Original: χαρά
Category: Faith
NEW term. 1:6 (‘recibieron la palabra con gozo’ amid affliction); 2:19-20; 3:9; 5:16. Must be distinguished from happiness dependent on favorable circumstances.
Affliction
Approved rendering: aflicción / tribulación
Transliteration: thlipsis
Doctrine: Suffering for the Faith
Original: θλῖψις
Category: Church
NEW term. 1:6; 3:3,7. Must be distinguished in teaching notes from any capitalized end-times ‘Gran Tribulación’ technical scheme; the word itself does not carry that technical freight in this book.
Archangel
Approved rendering: arcángel
Transliteration: archangelos
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Original: ἀρχάγγελος
Category: Spiritual Beings
NEW term. 4:16. In Catholic-majority Spanish-speaking contexts, archangels (especially San Miguel Arcángel) are objects of significant popular devotion and intercessory petition. This verse’s archangel is a herald of the Lord’s authority, not an object of veneration; avoid any framing that invites devotional focus onto the archangel rather than onto the descending Lord.
Sexual Immorality
Approved rendering: inmoralidad sexual
Transliteration: porneia
Doctrine: Sexual Purity
Rejected alternatives: impureza (vague, loses the passage’s explicit ethical content)
Original: πορνεία
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. 4:3. Must remain concrete and specific.
Vessel
Approved rendering: cuerpo
Transliteration: skeuos
Doctrine: Sexual Purity
Rejected alternatives: esposa (historically attested alternative reading — flag, do not silently resolve)
Original: σκεῦος
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. 4:4. A long-disputed phrase: either one’s own body, or one’s own wife. Render ‘su propio cuerpo’ (the majority modern rendering) while flagging in a translator note that ‘esposa’ is an attested alternative; flag for native speaker/theologian review per the baseline’s ambiguity-handling protocol rather than resolving silently.
Lustful Passion
Approved rendering: pasión de concupiscencia / deseo desordenado
Transliteration: epithymia
Doctrine: Sexual Purity
Original: ἐπιθυμία
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. 4:5. Must convey specifically disordered sexual desire, not neutral ‘desire’ in general.
Brotherly Love
Approved rendering: amor fraternal
Transliteration: philadelphia
Doctrine: Brotherly Love and Fellowship
Rejected alternatives: comunión de los santos (specific Catholic liturgical formula)
Original: φιλαδελφία
Category: Church
NEW term. 4:9. Distinguish from general ἀγάπη (‘amor’); names love specifically within the believing community.
Full Assurance
Approved rendering: plena certidumbre
Transliteration: plērophoria
Doctrine: Assurance and Perseverance of Faith
Original: πληροφορία
Category: Faith
NEW term. 1:5. Must convey doctrinally-grounded certainty, not mere emotional intensity without doctrinal content.
Sons Of Light
Approved rendering: hijos de luz / hijos del día
Transliteration: huioi phōtos / huioi hēmeras
Doctrine: Watchfulness and Sobriety
Original: υἱοὶ φωτός / υἱοὶ ἡμέρας
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. 5:5. Ensure ‘hijos’ carries the same inclusive corporate sense used elsewhere (cf. baseline ‘adopción,’ ‘hijos de Dios’), not a narrow biological reading.
Sober Watchful
Approved rendering: sobrios / alerta, velar
Transliteration: nēphō / grēgoreō
Doctrine: Watchfulness and Sobriety
Original: νήφω / γρηγορέω
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. 5:6-8,10. Ensure both the literal (not intoxicated) and metaphorical (spiritually alert) senses present in the passage’s wordplay are retained.
Church Leaders
Approved rendering: los que dirigen / presiden entre vosotros
Transliteration: proistēmi
Doctrine: Church Leadership and Order
Rejected alternatives: obispo, sacerdote (imports later institutional-clerical categories not present in this early term)
Original: προΐστημι
Category: Church
NEW term. 5:12. Early, non-technical designation; avoid vocabulary importing later institutional-Catholic clerical categories.
Quench The Spirit
Approved rendering: no apaguéis (al Espíritu)
Transliteration: sbennymi
Doctrine: The Holy Spirit’s Work in the Church
Original: σβέννυμι (μὴ σβέννυτε)
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. 5:19. Must retain ‘Espíritu’ as the same personal Espíritu Santo of the baseline (Critical), not an impersonal ‘spirit’ of morale or enthusiasm.
Destruction
Approved rendering: destrucción / ruina
Transliteration: olethros
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Rejected alternatives: dificultad, consecuencias (softening euphemisms)
Original: ὄλεθρος
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. 5:3. Preserve the sense of sudden, total, real judgment.
Crown Of Boasting
Approved rendering: corona de que nos gloriamos
Transliteration: stephanos kauchēseōs
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Original: στέφανος καυχήσεως
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. 2:19. Relational joy-image tied to the Parousia; must not become a detached literal reward-object.
Tempter
Approved rendering: el tentador
Transliteration: ho peirazōn
Doctrine: Spiritual Opposition
Original: ὁ πειράζων
Category: Spiritual Beings
NEW term. 3:5. Ensure a clear personal referent (Satan), not a vague abstraction of temptation in general.
Satan
Approved rendering: Satanás
Transliteration: Satanas
Doctrine: Spiritual Opposition
Original: Σατανᾶς
Category: Spiritual Beings
NEW term. 2:18. Standard and unambiguous; risk is catechetical only — ensure Satan is taught as a personal spiritual adversary, not a folkloric or comic figure emptied of real opposition to the gospel.
Spirit Soul Body
Approved rendering: espíritu, alma y cuerpo
Transliteration: pneuma kai psychē kai sōma
Doctrine: Whole-Person Sanctification
Original: πνεῦμα καὶ ψυχὴ καὶ σῶμα
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. 5:23. Emphasizes whole-person scope of sanctification; teaching notes should not force resolution of the trichotomy/dichotomy anthropology debate.
Low Risk Terms
Thanksgiving
Approved rendering: acción de gracias / dar gracias
Transliteration: eucharistia / eucharisteō
Doctrine: Thanksgiving
Original: εὐχαριστία / εὐχαριστέω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package. Frequent in this epistle (1:2; 2:13; 3:9; 5:18); standard vocabulary, minimal risk.
Prophecy
Approved rendering: profecía
Transliteration: prophēteia
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy
Rejected alternatives: horóscopo, predicción esotérica
Original: προφητεία
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package. 5:20 (‘no desprecien las profecías’); standard, unambiguous.
Blameless
Approved rendering: irreprensible(s)
Transliteration: amemptos / amemptōs
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἄμεμπτος / ἀμέμπτως
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. 3:13; 5:23. Standard; moral integrity before God, not absolute sinless perfection.
Idols
Approved rendering: ídolos
Transliteration: eidōla
Doctrine: Turning from Idols
Original: εἴδωλα
Category: Conversion
NEW term. 1:9. Standard; useful teaching hook for modern equivalents without renaming the term.
Imitators
Approved rendering: imitadores / ejemplo, modelo
Transliteration: mimētai / typos
Doctrine: Apostolic Ministry Integrity
Original: μιμηταί / τύπος
Category: Church
NEW term. 1:6-7. Standard vocabulary, minimal risk.
Shout Of Command
Approved rendering: voz de mando
Transliteration: keleusma
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Original: κέλευσμα
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. 4:16. Royal/military command imagery; avoid rendering as a scream of alarm.
Trumpet Of God
Approved rendering: trompeta de Dios
Transliteration: salpinx theou
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Original: σάλπιγξ θεοῦ
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. 4:16. Standard image; no significant collision risk.
Clouds
Approved rendering: nubes
Transliteration: nephelai
Doctrine: The Return of Christ
Original: νεφέλαι
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. 4:17. Standard; may benefit from a brief teaching note on the OT theophany background (Exodus 13:21; Daniel 7:13).
Thief In The Night
Approved rendering: como ladrón en la noche
Transliteration: kleptēs en nykti
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Original: κλέπτης ἐν νυκτί
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. 5:2. Standard idiom, well attested across Spanish Bible tradition.
Birth Pangs
Approved rendering: dolores de parto
Transliteration: ōdin
Doctrine: The Day of the Lord
Original: ὠδίν
Category: Eschatology
NEW term. 5:3. Standard, vivid image; no significant collision risk.
Boldness
Approved rendering: con toda libertad / con valentía
Transliteration: parrēsia
Doctrine: Apostolic Ministry Integrity
Original: παρρησία
Category: Church
NEW term. 2:2. Standard.
Admonish
Approved rendering: amonestar
Transliteration: noutheteō
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Original: νουθετέω
Category: Church
NEW term. 5:14. Standard.
Patient
Approved rendering: ser paciente
Transliteration: makrothymeō
Doctrine: Mutual Edification
Original: μακροθυμέω
Category: Church
NEW term. 5:14. Standard.
Establish Strengthen
Approved rendering: afirmar / fortalecer
Transliteration: stērizō
Doctrine: Assurance and Perseverance of Faith
Original: στηρίζω
Category: Church
NEW term. 3:2,13. Standard.
Live Quietly
Approved rendering: vivir tranquilamente
Transliteration: hēsychazō
Doctrine: Sanctification
Original: ἡσυχάζω
Category: Sanctification
NEW term. 4:11. Standard.
Holy Kiss
Approved rendering: beso santo
Transliteration: philēma hagion
Doctrine: Brotherly Love and Fellowship
Original: φίλημα ἅγιον
Category: Church
NEW term. 5:26. First-century Mediterranean greeting convention, not a technical liturgical rite; a brief cultural note suffices.
Test Hearts
Approved rendering: probar los corazones
Transliteration: dokimazō tas kardias
Doctrine: Apostolic Ministry Integrity
Original: δοκιμάζω τὰς καρδίας
Category: God
NEW term. 2:4. Standard.