Doctrine Analysis
Doctrine Analysis — Acts 1–28 (Spanish)
English → Spanish | Acts Curriculum | Language Package Extension
Curriculum: Acts 1–28
Core passage: Acts 2:1–41
Baseline dependency: This analysis extends, and must be read alongside, the Romans Language Package (translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, doctrine_risk_registry.json) and the Acts extensions in analysis/08_core_glossary.md and assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json. Doctrine names, risk tiers, and review routing below are identical to assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json — this document restates them in full-book chapter-by-chapter matrix form for Phase 1 sign-off and Phase 2 routing reference.
Risk tiers and routing (unchanged from baseline convention):
- Critical → Human theologian review, every occurrence
- High → Human theologian review
- Medium → Native speaker review
- Low → Automated review (none assigned at the doctrine level in Acts; all 32 doctrines below carry Medium or higher risk)
Part A — Doctrine Matrix (Full Book, by Doctrine)
| # | Doctrine | Supporting Passages (Acts) | Risk | Translation Risk Summary | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Holy Spirit and Pentecost | 1:5, 1:8; 2:1–4; 2:16–18; 2:33 | Critical | ”Pentecostés” is both the historical founding event and the name of a massive contemporary movement; must isolate the one-time inaugurating event from later denominational “second blessing” doctrine. | Human theologian |
| 2 | Spirit-Filling and the Question of Subsequence | 2:4; 4:8, 4:31; 8:14–17; 10:44–46; 19:1–6 | High | ”Lleno(s) del Espíritu Santo” recurs with no fixed sequence relative to conversion; must not silently affirm or foreclose the Pentecostal “bautismo en el Espíritu como experiencia posterior” debate. | Human theologian |
| 3 | Tongues as Known Human Languages | 2:4; 2:6–11 | High | Pentecost’s tongues are confirmed real, known human languages; must be distinguished from later glossolalia practice without adjudicating continuationist/cessationist debate. | Human theologian |
| 4 | The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles | 2:39; 10:1–48; 11:1–18; 15:1–29 | Critical | Central narrative arc dismantling the Jew/Gentile boundary; “no distinction” carries live social weight in Latin America’s own regional/racial hierarchies. | Human theologian |
| 5 | Clean/Unclean: Dismantling Ritual Purity Boundaries | 10:9–16; 10:28; 11:2–9 | High | Requires OT (Leviticus 11) background scaffolding; the risk is comprehension-gap, not a rival Spanish concept. | Human theologian |
| 6 | Repentance and Baptism | 2:38; 3:19; 8:36–38; 16:30–33; 19:1–5 | Critical | Highest-density verse-doctrine pairing in the curriculum; must preserve Acts’ repentance/faith-then-baptism sequence and decisive forgiveness without polemicizing against confession or resolving the infant-baptism debate. | Human theologian |
| 7 | Forgiveness of Sins as Decisive Release | 2:38; 5:31; 10:43; 13:38; 26:18 | High | Must convey full, decisive release, not a gradual sacramentally-mediated cumulative process. | Human theologian |
| 8 | The Church as Community | 2:41–47; 4:32–35; 5:11 | Medium | Voluntary, Spirit-produced, visible community; avoid reducing to invisible private affiliation or inflating into a binding communal-property mandate. | Native speaker review |
| 9 | Church Governance: Elders and Overseers | 14:23; 15:2–23; 20:17, 20:28; 21:18 | Critical | Highest institutional-collision risk in the curriculum: modern “obispo” ≠ NT ἐπίσκοπος (plural, congregational elder). Mandatory clarifying note every occurrence. | Human theologian |
| 10 | Apostolic Authority and Miracles | 2:43; 3:6–16; 4:29–30; 5:12; 14:3 | High | ”Milagros, prodigios y señales” risk assimilation into the folk-Catholic patron-intercessor miracle economy (ex-votos, milagritos); must be tied explicitly to authenticating the message about Christ. | Human theologian |
| 11 | The Authority of the Name of Jesus | 3:6, 3:16; 4:7, 4:10, 4:12; 16:18; 19:13–17 | High | Exclusive salvific/healing authority (“no hay otro nombre”); must not dilute into one effective invoked name among others (saints, spirits) in regional folk practice. | Human theologian |
| 12 | The Laying On of Hands | 6:6; 8:17–19; 9:12, 9:17; 13:3; 19:6 | High | Catholic tradition ties the gesture to fixed sacramental grace (Confirmation, Holy Orders); Acts uses it for varied, non-uniform functions. | Human theologian |
| 13 | Persecution and Bold Witness | 4:13, 4:29–31; 7:54–60; 8:1–3; 12:1–5; 14:19–20; 20:19–24 | High | ”Denuedo”/“testigo” must convey Spirit-empowered, legally-grounded confidence, not natural courage or disrespectful defiance; “testigo” risks stray association with “Testigos de Jehová.” | Human theologian |
| 14 | Stephen’s Martyrdom and the Son of Man Vision | 7:54–60 | Critical | ”El Hijo del Hombre” is an exalted divine self-designation (Daniel 7), not a generic human reference. | Human theologian |
| 15 | Conversion of Paul | 9:1–22; 22:3–21; 26:9–23 | Critical | Christ’s personal identification with his persecuted church and Saul’s sovereign, dramatic reorientation must not flatten into generic “conversion” interchangeable with switching confessional affiliation. | Human theologian |
| 16 | ”The Way” as Christian Self-Designation | 9:2; 19:9, 19:23; 22:4; 24:14, 24:22 | High | Specific historical proper title, easily confused with generic New Age “camino espiritual” usage. | Human theologian |
| 17 | Sorcery, Magic, and Counterfeit Spiritual Power | 8:9–24; 13:6–11; 19:19 | Critical | Highest syncretism-collision risk in the curriculum given active curanderismo, Santería, Espiritismo; the Spirit’s freely-given power must never be softened into incidental biographical detail. | Human theologian |
| 18 | Confrontation with a Divinatory Spirit | 16:16–18 | Critical | Direct spiritual conflict decisively won in Jesus’ name; must not be presented as morally neutral folk practice, given active mediumistic practice in the Caribbean/Latin America. | Human theologian |
| 19 | Confrontation with Pagan Deity Worship | 14:8–18; 17:16–31; 19:23–41 | High | Three episodes confronting entrenched pagan religious-economic systems; Paul’s diagnostic (not affirming) “dios desconocido” must not be read as validating religious equivalence; relevant to saint/Marian/orisha syncretism already flagged in the baseline. | Human theologian |
| 20 | Justification apart from the Law | 13:38–39; 15:1–11; 15:24–29 | Critical | Explicit statement/resolution anticipating Romans/Galatians; must never drift toward “justicia infundida” or a generic law-vs-grace platitude divorced from the circumcision controversy’s concrete history. | Human theologian |
| 21 | Election and Divine Appointment | 1:24–26; 9:15; 13:48 | High | Must avoid both fatalistic “destino/suerte” framing and an overcorrected purely-human-decision rendering that erases sovereign grace. | Human theologian |
| 22 | The Great Commission Fulfilled | 1:8; 13:1–3; 28:23, 28:30–31 | Medium | The narrative arc (Jerusalem to Rome) and closing “sin impedimento” must retain full rhetorical force as unstoppable ongoing advance. | Native speaker review |
| 23 | Mission to the Gentiles | 2:39; 13:46–48; 22:21; 26:17–18 | High | ”Todos los que están lejos” must stay genuinely open-ended, geographically and ethnically; “misión” carries a mild colonial-mission-system association warranting a contextual note. | Human theologian |
| 24 | The Ascension of Christ | 1:9–11 | High | Literal, bodily, historical event grounding Christ’s heavenly session; must not blend with Espiritismo-adjacent notions of a spirit’s ongoing detached presence. | Human theologian |
| 25 | The Resurrection of Christ (in Acts) | 1:22; 2:24, 2:31–32; 4:2, 4:33; 13:30–37 | Critical | First full narrative demonstration (not just doctrinal statement) in this curriculum’s arc; Espiritismo/Santería reincarnation-adjacent framework applies with equal or greater force since preached as historical fact before skeptical audiences. | Human theologian |
| 26 | The Sonship and Deity of Christ | 2:36; 3:15; 5:31; 9:20 | Critical | ”Dios le ha hecho Señor y Mesías” risks an adoptionist misreading (Jesus becoming divine) if not taught as vindication/enthronement of an eternally divine person alongside “Autor de la vida” and “Hijo de Dios.” | Human theologian |
| 27 | The Lordship of Christ | 2:21, 2:36; 9:5–6; 10:36; 16:31 | Critical | The universal salvation-invocation formula (“todo aquel que invoque…”) must retain its unqualified scope and not drift toward devotional invocation of a saint/the Virgin as a substitute for direct address to the Lord. | Human theologian |
| 28 | God’s Impartiality and the Unity of Jews and Gentiles | 10:34–35; 11:17–18; 15:8–9 | High | ”Sin distinción” must be preserved without ethnic, social, or class qualification, echoing Latin America’s own regional/racial hierarchies. | Human theologian |
| 29 | The Providence of God | 2:23; 17:26; 27:22–25 | Medium | Must avoid fatalistic “destino/suerte” drift while preserving human moral responsibility (2:23). | Native speaker review |
| 30 | The Kingdom of God (in Acts) | 1:3, 1:6; 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 28:31 | Medium | The disciples’ corrected nationalistic-political expectation (1:6) reinforces that “reino de Dios” is not a political/territorial kingdom. | Native speaker review |
| 31 | Fulfillment of Prophecy | 2:16–20; 3:18–25; 13:27, 13:40–41 | Medium | ”Los últimos días” is inaugurated at Pentecost, not only a future countdown as popular apocalyptic media suggests; “Día del Señor” risks conflation with the liturgical “Sunday.” | Native speaker review |
| 32 | Evangelism and Bold Proclamation | 8:4, 8:25, 8:35, 8:40; 10:36; 14:7, 14:21; 17:18 | Medium | ”Evangelización” can carry a defensive, proselytism-perceived charge in Catholic-majority contexts; prefer proclamation/witness framing. | Native speaker review |
Risk tier totals (must match assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json exactly): Critical 12 · High 14 · Medium 6 · Low 0 · Total 32. 26 doctrines require human theologian review; 6 require native speaker review; 0 are automated-only at the doctrine level (individual low-risk lexical terms remain in the Part B term glossary, 08_core_glossary.md).
Part B — Chapter-by-Chapter Coverage Confirmation (Acts 1–28)
Every chapter is reviewed below. Chapters that introduce no new doctrine beyond what an earlier chapter already carries are explicitly marked “continues” rather than omitted, per the full-book coverage mandate.
| Chapter | Active Doctrines (by # above) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 (Pentecost, promised), 24 (Ascension), 21 (Election — casting lots), 30 (Kingdom) | Sets up the whole book’s Spirit/mission/kingdom trajectory; corrects nationalistic kingdom expectation (1:6). |
| 2 | 1, 2, 3 (Pentecost cluster); 6, 7 (Repentance/Baptism); 26, 27 (Sonship/Lordship); 31 (Prophecy fulfilled); 8 (Church as community, 2:41–47) | Core passage. Highest doctrinal density in the book. |
| 3 | 10, 11 (Apostolic authority/Name of Jesus); 26 (Author of life); 31 (prophecy) | Peter’s temple healing and sermon; continues Christology cluster with new title “Autor de la vida.” |
| 4 | 10, 11, 13 (persecution/boldness begins) | First Sanhedrin confrontation; “no hay otro nombre” (4:12) is the sharpest exclusivity statement yet. |
| 5 | 13 (persecution continues); 1 (Spirit’s personhood, Ananias/Sapphira — lying to the Holy Spirit reinforces Spirit’s deity, cross-referenced under doctrine 1) | Introduces the gravity of the Spirit as a divine Person who can be lied to/tested (5:3–4, 5:9). |
| 6 | 8, 12 (Church as community; laying on of hands, 6:6); introduces Hellenists/Hebrews distinction (background to doctrine 4) | Diaconal service arrangement; sets up Stephen’s ministry. |
| 7 | 14 (Stephen’s martyrdom / Son of Man); 13 (persecution) | First Christian martyrdom; climactic Christological vision. |
| 8 | 13 (persecution scatters the church); 17 (Sorcery — Simon Magus); 4, 23 (Gentile/eschatological inclusion — the Ethiopian eunuch); 32 (evangelism, Philip) | Gospel crosses first major social boundary (eunuch) and first confrontation with purchasable spiritual power (Simon). |
| 9 | 15, 16 (Conversion of Paul; “the Way”) | Foundational conversion narrative (first of three tellings). |
| 10 | 4, 5, 28 (Gentile inclusion, clean/unclean, God’s impartiality) | Cornelius narrative; the book’s central turning point. |
| 11 | 4, 28 (continues); 8 (church at Antioch; “cristiano” coined, 11:26) | Jerusalem church’s validation of Gentile inclusion. |
| 12 | 13 (persecution — Herod, James, Peter’s escape) | Continues persecution theme; Herod’s death (12:23) as divine judgment, tangential to doctrine 26 (God’s honor not shared with a human ruler). |
| 13 | 20, 21 (Justification apart from the Law preview at 13:38–39; election at 13:48); 17 (sorcery — Elymas); 23 (mission to Gentiles begins, Cyprus/Antioch of Pisidia); 31 (prophecy fulfilled in sermon) | First missionary journey begins; Paul’s first major sermon parallels Peter’s Pentecost sermon structurally. |
| 14 | 19 (pagan deity confrontation, Lystra); 13 (persecution/stoning); 9 (elders appointed, 14:23) | Establishes the pattern of appointing elders in every new church. |
| 15 | 20, 28 (Jerusalem Council: justification apart from the law; God’s impartiality) | The book’s doctrinal hinge chapter; resolves the circumcision controversy. |
| 16 | 18 (divination spirit, Philippi); 6 (baptism, Lydia/jailer) | Sharpest occult confrontation in the book (spirit of divination). |
| 17 | 19 (pagan deity confrontation, Athens); 25 (resurrection preached to a Gentile philosophical audience) | Areopagus speech; diagnostic, non-syncretistic use of “dios desconocido.” |
| 18 | 23 (mission continues, Corinth); 32 (evangelism, Apollos) | Continues established doctrines; no new doctrine introduced. |
| 19 | 17 (sorcery — magic scrolls burned); 19 (pagan deity confrontation, Artemis of Ephesus); 3 (tongues, Ephesian disciples) | Third major occult/pagan confrontation episode. |
| 20 | 9 (elders/overseers, Miletus address, 20:17–28); 13 (boldness, “no rehuí”) | Paul’s pastoral charge; the single highest institutional-collision passage in the curriculum. |
| 21 | 4 (Jewish-Gentile tension continues, purification vow); 13 (persecution begins — arrest in Jerusalem) | Continues established doctrines; no new doctrine introduced. |
| 22 | 15, 16 (Paul’s conversion retold before the Jerusalem crowd) | Second telling of the conversion narrative. |
| 23 | 25 (resurrection debate, Pharisees vs. Sadducees); 29 (providence — the Lord’s reassurance) | Continues established doctrines; no new doctrine introduced. |
| 24 | 6, 7 (repentance/forgiveness themes in Paul’s defense); 20 (righteousness/faith before Felix) | Continues established doctrines; no new doctrine introduced. |
| 25 | 13 (persecution/legal process continues) | Continues established doctrines; no new doctrine introduced. |
| 26 | 15, 16, 21, 25 (Paul’s conversion retold a third time; election “appointed”; resurrection defended before Agrippa) | Fullest theological retelling of Paul’s conversion; ties conversion to universal Gentile mission (26:17–18). |
| 27 | 29 (providence — shipwreck) | Continues established doctrine; no new doctrine introduced. |
| 28 | 10 (miracle at Malta); 30, 22 (kingdom of God preached “unhindered” in Rome) | Deliberate closing statement; the book’s final doctrinal note is the unstoppable advance of the gospel. |
Coverage confirmation: All 28 chapters have been reviewed. Chapters 18, 21, 23, 24, 25, and 27 introduce no doctrine beyond what an earlier chapter already establishes and are explicitly noted above as “continues” / “no new doctrine introduced,” per the full-book coverage mandate — they are not silently omitted.
This document must be loaded alongside assets/doctrine_risk_registry.json and analysis/08_core_glossary.md before Phase 2 segment translation. Any discrepancy between this matrix and the JSON registry must be resolved in favor of the JSON registry, and this document corrected to match.
Critical Risk Doctrines
The Holy Spirit and Pentecost
Spanish name: el Espíritu Santo y Pentecostés
Key terms: Pentecost, filled with the Holy Spirit, tongues of fire, poured out my Spirit
Review routing: Human theologian
Acts 2 is the historical founding event of the term ‘Pentecostés,’ now also the name of the massive Latin American Pentecostal/Charismatic movement. Learners must distinguish the one-time inaugurating event recorded here from later denominational doctrines built on it (e.g., a repeatable ‘second blessing’ subsequent to conversion), a distinction the text itself does not draw.
The Gospel to Jews and Gentiles
Spanish name: el evangelio a judíos y gentiles
Key terms: Gentiles, no distinction, God shows no partiality, clean/unclean
Review routing: Human theologian
The book’s central narrative arc dismantles the Mosaic purity/table-fellowship boundary between Jew and Gentile. In Latin American contexts with their own regional and racial hierarchies around indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, the ‘no distinction’ claim carries live social as well as doctrinal weight; must be preserved with full, unqualified force in every occurrence.
Repentance and Baptism
Spanish name: el arrepentimiento y el bautismo
Key terms: repent, be baptized, for the forgiveness of your sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit
Review routing: Human theologian
This is the single most theologically dense verse-doctrine pairing in the curriculum. In Catholic-majority Spanish-speaking contexts, ‘arrepentimiento’ and ‘perdón de pecados’ are closely tied to the repeatable sacrament of confession/penance, and ‘bautismo’ is near-universally administered to infants prior to any personal repentance. Acts’ own sequence — repentance/faith preceding baptism, with decisive, complete forgiveness and the Spirit’s gift granted at conversion — must be preserved without polemicizing against confession or resolving the separate infant-baptism debate through translation choice.
Church Governance: Elders and Overseers
Spanish name: el gobierno de la iglesia: ancianos y obispos
Key terms: elders, overseers, bishops, shepherd the church
Review routing: Human theologian
Modern Spanish ‘obispo’ denotes the monarchical, diocesan Catholic (and Orthodox/Anglican) bishop, a single office with regional authority in an apostolic-succession hierarchy. Acts 20:17-28 identifies ‘ἐπίσκοπος’ with the plural, local, congregation-level ‘anciano’ (elder) two verses apart. This is the highest institutional-collision risk in the Acts curriculum: without a mandatory clarifying teaching note wherever ‘obispo’ occurs, learners will read the later, historically-developed monarchical-episcopal office back into this text.
Stephen’s Martyrdom and the Son of Man Vision
Spanish name: el martirio de Esteban y la visión del Hijo del Hombre
Key terms: Son of Man, stoned, received his spirit
Review routing: Human theologian
Stephen’s vision of ‘el Hijo del Hombre’ at God’s right hand (Daniel 7 background) is an exalted, divine self-designation of Christ, not a generic reference to a human being; must reinforce, not dilute, Christ’s deity and lordship at the moment of the church’s first martyrdom.
Conversion of Paul
Spanish name: la conversión de Pablo
Key terms: why do you persecute me, Lord, what do you want me to do, scales fell from his eyes, the Way
Review routing: Human theologian
Christ’s personal identification with his persecuted church (‘why do you persecute ME’) and Saul’s decisive reorientation must be preserved as a singular, dramatic, sovereign act of grace, not softened into a generic ‘religious conversion’ narrative interchangeable with the Spanish cultural default of switching confessional affiliation (‘se convirtió al catolicismo/evangelismo’).
Sorcery, Magic, and Counterfeit Spiritual Power
Spanish name: la hechicería y el poder espiritual falsificado
Key terms: sorcerer, the gift of God cannot be bought, magic arts
Review routing: Human theologian
The single highest syncretism-collision risk in the whole Acts curriculum: regions with active curanderismo, Santería, and Espiritismo have a living cultural category of ‘magos,’ ‘hechiceros,’ and ‘brujos’ claiming spiritual power through purchasable or manipulable means. Acts explicitly and repeatedly contrasts this counterfeit power with the freely-given, unpurchasable gift of the Holy Spirit; this contrast must never be softened into incidental biographical detail.
Confrontation with a Divinatory Spirit
Spanish name: la confrontación con un espíritu de adivinación
Key terms: spirit of divination, cast out in the name of Jesus
Review routing: Human theologian
A direct textual confrontation between the Holy Spirit’s power and a hostile occult divinatory spirit, of paramount relevance given active mediumistic and divinatory practice across the Spanish-speaking Caribbean and Latin America; must be taught as a real spiritual conflict decisively won in Jesus’ name, not a morally neutral or culturally respectable folk practice.
Justification apart from the Law
Spanish name: la justificación aparte de la ley
Key terms: justified, circumcision, the yoke, grace
Review routing: Human theologian
Acts 13:39 and the Jerusalem Council (ch. 15) are the book’s explicit statement and historical resolution of this doctrine, anticipating Romans and Galatians. Must never be rendered toward ‘justicia infundida’ or a gradual purification process; the circumcision controversy must be preserved as the concrete historical occasion, not abstracted into a generic ‘law vs. grace’ platitude.
The Resurrection of Christ
Spanish name: la resurrección de Cristo
Key terms: God raised him up, loosed the pangs of death, witnesses of his resurrection
Review routing: Human theologian
Acts 2 provides the first full narrative demonstration (not merely doctrinal statement) of Christ’s bodily resurrection in this curriculum’s arc. The Caribbean/Afro-Caribbean Espiritismo and Santería reincarnation-adjacent framework, already flagged in the baseline, applies with equal or greater force here since this is preached repeatedly as historical fact before named, skeptical audiences (13:30-37; 17:31-32).
The Sonship and Deity of Christ
Spanish name: la filiación divina y la divinidad de Cristo
Key terms: Son of God, Lord and Christ, Author of life
Review routing: Human theologian
‘Dios le ha hecho Señor y Mesías’ (2:36) risks an adoptionist misreading if ‘hizo’ (‘made’) is understood as the moment Jesus became divine or Lord for the first time, rather than the public vindication and enthronement of an eternally divine person; must be taught alongside ‘Autor de la vida’ (3:15, 5:31) and ‘Hijo de Dios’ (9:20) as mutually reinforcing full deity, not honorary status.
The Lordship of Christ
Spanish name: el señorío de Cristo
Key terms: Jesus is Lord, calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, Lord, what do you want me to do
Review routing: Human theologian
Acts 2:21’s salvation-invocation formula (‘todo aquel que invoque el nombre del Señor será salvo’) must retain the universal ‘todo aquel’ without qualification and must not let ‘invocar el nombre’ drift toward devotional invocation of a saint or the Virgin as a functional substitute for direct address to the Lord himself.
High Risk Doctrines
Spirit-Filling and the Question of Subsequence
Spanish name: la llenura del Espíritu y la cuestión de la posterioridad
Key terms: filled with the Holy Spirit, received the Holy Spirit, the Spirit fell upon them
Review routing: Human theologian
‘Lleno(s) del Espíritu Santo’ recurs at varied narrative moments without a fixed sequence relative to conversion; Spanish-speaking Pentecostal/Charismatic teaching frequently frames ‘el bautismo en el Espíritu’ as a distinct, subsequent experience marked by tongues. This curriculum must present Acts’ own varied pattern accurately without either affirming or foreclosing that later doctrinal debate.
Tongues as Known Human Languages
Spanish name: las lenguas como idiomas humanos conocidos
Key terms: other tongues, each in his own language, dialect
Review routing: Human theologian
The Pentecost miracle is explicitly real, known human languages (confirmed by hearers’ own native dialects), while contemporary Spanish-speaking Pentecostal practice of ‘hablar en lenguas’ is frequently private, non-linguistic utterance (cf. 1 Corinthians 14 debates). ‘Hablar en otras lenguas’ must be taught as historically distinct from that later practice, without adjudicating the wider continuationist/cessationist debate.
Clean and Unclean: The Dismantling of Ritual Purity Boundaries
Spanish name: lo limpio y lo impuro: la caída de las barreras rituales
Key terms: clean, unclean, common, vision of the sheet
Review routing: Human theologian
Peter’s vision requires Old Testament dietary-law background (Leviticus 11) unfamiliar to most modern Spanish-speaking readers regardless of confessional background; the comprehension gap itself, not a rival Spanish concept, is the translation risk, requiring explanatory scaffolding in every occurrence.
Forgiveness of Sins as Decisive Release
Spanish name: el perdón de pecados como liberación decisiva
Key terms: forgiveness of sins, remission, cleansed
Review routing: Human theologian
‘Perdón/remisión de pecados’ in Latin American Catholic catechesis is commonly framed as mediated through confession and absolution, with sins after baptism potentially requiring purgatorial satisfaction; Acts presents a full, decisive release granted through repentance and faith, not a gradual, cumulative, sacramentally-administered process.
Apostolic Authority and Miracles
Spanish name: la autoridad apostólica y los milagros
Key terms: signs and wonders, in the name of Jesus, apostles
Review routing: Human theologian
‘Milagros, prodigios y señales’ in Latin American folk Catholic and Pentecostal piety is closely tied to a devotional economy of saintly, Marian, or shrine-based intercession (ex-votos, milagritos). Acts’ miracles specifically authenticate the apostolic message about the crucified and risen Christ; this must be taught explicitly rather than assimilated into a general patron-intercessor miracle framework.
The Authority of the Name of Jesus
Spanish name: la autoridad del nombre de Jesús
Key terms: in the name of Jesus Christ, no other name
Review routing: Human theologian
‘El nombre’ functions as shorthand for Christ’s own authority and person, the exclusive basis of healing and salvation (4:12, ‘no hay otro nombre’); must retain its exclusive force and not be diluted into one effective name for power alongside other invoked names (saints, spirits) present in regional folk-religious practice.
The Laying On of Hands
Spanish name: la imposición de manos
Key terms: laid hands on him, received the Holy Spirit
Review routing: Human theologian
In Catholic tradition, ‘la imposición de manos’ is closely tied to fixed sacramental grace in Confirmation and Holy Orders; Acts uses the gesture across multiple, varied functions (healing, receiving the Spirit, commissioning) without establishing one fixed sacramental theology. Teach the range explicitly rather than assuming a single sacramental referent.
Persecution and Bold Witness
Spanish name: la persecución y el testimonio con denuedo
Key terms: boldness, witness, persecute, did not shrink back
Review routing: Human theologian
‘Denuedo’ and ‘testigo’ must together convey Spirit-empowered, legally-grounded, eyewitness confidence under real threat — not natural courage, social assertiveness, or disrespectful defiance of authority. ‘Testigo’ also risks unintended association in the wider culture with ‘Testigos de Jehová,’ warranting a brief disambiguating note rather than lexical substitution.
‘The Way’ as Christian Self-Designation
Spanish name: ‘el Camino’ como autodesignación cristiana
Key terms: the Way, followers of the Way
Review routing: Human theologian
‘El Camino’ is a specific historical proper title for the early Christian movement, easily confused in contemporary Spanish-speaking wellness/spirituality culture with generic New Age ‘camino espiritual’ language describing any personal spiritual journey without reference to Christ; must be preserved as the text’s own proper self-designation.
Confrontation with Pagan Deity Worship
Spanish name: la confrontación con la adoración de deidades paganas
Key terms: Zeus and Hermes, Artemis of the Ephesians, idols, unknown god
Review routing: Human theologian
Three separate narrative episodes of the gospel confronting entrenched pagan religious-economic systems (Lystra, Athens, Ephesus); directly relevant to the wider Latin American context of syncretism with folk-Catholic saint veneration and Afro-diasporic deity systems (e.g., Santería’s orishas) already flagged in the baseline. Paul and Barnabas’s emphatic refusal of divine honors, and Paul’s diagnostic (not affirming) use of ‘dios desconocido,’ must be preserved with full rhetorical force without extending into a blanket editorial verdict on any specific community’s devotional practice.
Election and Divine Appointment
Spanish name: la elección y la disposición divina
Key terms: appointed to eternal life, chosen instrument, the lot fell
Review routing: Human theologian
God’s sovereign, personal choice (13:48’s ‘dispuestos para vida eterna,’ 9:15’s ‘instrumento escogido’) must avoid both the fatalistic vernacular framing of ‘destino/suerte’ common in everyday Hispanic speech, and an overcorrected rendering that reduces the text to a purely human decision, erasing its sovereign-grace emphasis.
Mission to the Gentiles
Spanish name: la misión a los gentiles
Key terms: sent to the Gentiles, light for the Gentiles, all who are far off
Review routing: Human theologian
‘Todos los que están lejos’ (2:39) and the repeated Gentile-mission commissioning language must be preserved as genuinely open-ended, geographically and ethnically, since the book’s own unfolding logic reveals it includes Gentiles alongside diaspora Jews; ‘misión’ itself carries a mild historical association with the Spanish colonial mission system in the Americas warranting a brief contextual note.
The Ascension of Christ
Spanish name: la ascensión de Cristo
Key terms: taken up, a cloud took him, will come again in the same way
Review routing: Human theologian
Must be taught as a literal, bodily, historical event grounding Christ’s heavenly exaltation and session (cf. 2:33), not a symbolic or purely spiritual departure that could blend with Espiritismo-adjacent notions of a spirit’s ongoing detached presence apart from the body.
God’s Impartiality and the Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Spanish name: la imparcialidad de Dios y la unidad de judíos y gentiles
Key terms: no distinction, one new body of believers, olive branch grafted in (thematic)
Review routing: Human theologian
The Jerusalem Council’s resolution that God ‘made no distinction between us and them’ (15:9) must be preserved without ethnic, social, or class qualification, echoing the same live social significance in Latin America’s regional and racial hierarchies that the baseline already documents for Romans.
Medium Risk Doctrines
The Church as Community
Spanish name: la iglesia como comunidad
Key terms: added to their number, fellowship, one accord, all things in common
Review routing: Native speaker review
‘Se añadieron’ and ‘todo en común’ describe a visible, countable, voluntary community; must be taught as the early Jerusalem church’s Spirit-produced generosity and unity specific to its circumstances, not silently reduced to private invisible affiliation, nor inflated into a universally binding communal-property mandate.
The Great Commission Fulfilled
Spanish name: el cumplimiento de la Gran Comisión
Key terms: to the ends of the earth, unhindered, preaching the kingdom of God
Review routing: Native speaker review
The book’s narrative arc (Jerusalem to Rome) and its deliberate closing word ‘sin impedimento’ must be preserved with full rhetorical weight as the gospel’s unstoppable advance continuing beyond the narrative’s own ending, not flattened into a neutral historical-procedural summary.
The Providence of God
Spanish name: la providencia de Dios
Key terms: determined plan and foreknowledge, he determined the boundaries, an angel stood by me
Review routing: Native speaker review
God’s personal, purposive governance over the crucifixion, the nations, and Paul’s shipwreck must avoid drifting toward the fatalistic vernacular framing of ‘destino/suerte’ common in everyday Hispanic speech, while preserving human moral responsibility (2:23, ‘vosotros… matasteis’).
The Kingdom of God
Spanish name: el reino de Dios
Key terms: kingdom of God, restore the kingdom to Israel
Review routing: Native speaker review
The disciples’ mistaken nationalistic-political expectation (1:6), which Jesus corrects, is a built-in teaching opportunity reinforcing the baseline’s caution that ‘reino de Dios’ must not be read as a political, territorial, or nationalist kingdom.
Fulfillment of Prophecy
Spanish name: el cumplimiento de la profecía
Key terms: this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel, in the last days, day of the Lord
Review routing: Native speaker review
Popular Hispanic apocalyptic culture, heavily shaped by sensationalist ‘end times’ media, often reads ‘los últimos días’ as an exclusively future countdown phrase; Peter’s use in Acts 2 is inaugurated eschatology beginning at Pentecost, not only a future event. ‘Día del Señor’ also risks conflation with the Catholic liturgical ‘Día del Señor’ (Sunday) rather than the OT eschatological Day of Judgment.
Evangelism and Bold Proclamation
Spanish name: la evangelización y la proclamación con denuedo
Key terms: preached the gospel, evangelize, spoke the word of God boldly
Review routing: Native speaker review
In historically Catholic Latin American and Iberian contexts, ‘evangelización’ can carry a defensive charge (Protestant evangelism perceived as proselytism away from the Catholic Church); use language of proclamation and witness rather than confrontational framing, consistent with the baseline’s caution on this term.
Referenced passages