Semantic Analysis

Semantic Analysis: Ephesians (Koine Greek → Spanish)

Purpose and Method

This document analyzes the entire book of Ephesians in the original Koine Greek, chapter 1 through chapter 6, with the core passage (Ephesians 2:1-10) receiving verse-by-verse treatment. For every load-bearing term the following fields are recorded: original word, transliteration, literal meaning, semantic range, English variants (as attested across major English versions), contextual theological meaning in Ephesians, and destination-language (Spanish) rendering risk.

Any term already established in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json is flagged [BASELINE REUSE] and its recorded Spanish rendering is reused exactly, per the hard rule that established renderings must never be altered. New terms introduced by Ephesians are analyzed fresh and proposed for addition to the Language Package in 08_core_glossary.md.

Greek text follows the standard critical (NA28-type) text tradition reflected in modern editions; no textual-critical claims beyond what is needed for translation are made here.

PART 1 — CORE PASSAGE: Ephesians 2:1-10 (Verse-by-Verse)

Ephesians 2:1

Greek: Καὶ ὑμᾶς ὄντας νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν καὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ὑμῶν

νεκρός (nekros) — “dead”

Transliteration: nekros
Literal meaning: physically dead, lifeless, a corpse
Semantic range: literal death; metaphorical death (spiritual deadness, separation from the source of life)
English variants: “dead” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: total spiritual incapacity before God prior to regeneration — not merely weakened or sick, but without spiritual life at all. Sets up the “dead → alive” reversal that structures the whole passage (v.1 dead, v.5 made alive).
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Muerto(s)” is the natural and only real option and carries no false-cognate risk. The risk is catechetical: without explicit teaching, “muerto en pecado” can be softened toward “gravemente enfermo espiritualmente” (spiritually very sick but still capable of some cooperation), which would undercut the passage’s argument that resurrection-life must be given entirely from outside the person (v.5). Must be taught as total incapacity, not diminished capacity.

παράπτωμα (paraptōma) — “trespass”

Transliteration: paraptōma
Literal meaning: a false step, a stumbling, a fall beside the path
Semantic range: sin as a specific transgression/misstep, distinguishable from ἁμαρτία’s broader “missing the mark”
English variants: “trespasses” (KJV/ESV), “transgressions” (NASB), “sins” (NIV, collapsing the distinction)
Contextual theological meaning: paired with ἁμαρτία to give a full picture — specific missteps and the general condition of sin — describing the totality of the sinner’s plight before grace.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. Reina-Valera 1960 renders “delitos,” which in modern Spanish reads as a civil/criminal legal offense (“delito” = crime), risking a legalistic rather than relational-theological register. Recommend “transgresiones” as the primary rendering (clearer, avoids the criminal-code connotation) while noting “delitos” as the attested RV1960 alternative for cross-reference purposes.

ἁμαρτία (hamartia) — “sin” [BASELINE REUSE: pecado, Medium risk in Romans]

Note: Ephesians 2:1 pairs παράπτωμα and ἁμαρτία; reuse “pecado” exactly per baseline. In this passage the doctrinal weight is elevated by the “dead in” construction — sin is not a behavior modifiable through effort but the very condition of death itself.

Ephesians 2:2

Greek: ἐν αἷς ποτὲ περιεπατήσατε κατὰ τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, κατὰ τὸν ἄρχοντα τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ ἀέρος, τοῦ πνεύματος τοῦ νῦν ἐνεργοῦντος ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς τῆς ἀπειθείας

περιπατέω (peripateō) — “walked”

Transliteration: peripateō
Literal meaning: to walk about, to go on foot
Semantic range: literal ambulation; metaphorically, one’s habitual conduct or way of life (a Hebraic/Pauline idiom — cf. “walk in the way of the Lord”)
English variants: “walked” (KJV/ESV), “lived” (NIV), “used to live” (NASB)
Contextual theological meaning: describes the former, pre-conversion lifestyle as a whole pattern of life, not isolated acts. This same verb reappears programmatically at 4:1, 4:17, 5:2, 5:8, 5:15 — Ephesians structures ethics around “walking,” making consistent rendering essential.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Andar” (or “vivir” in some contexts) is standard, but a literal “caminasteis” can read oddly if not clearly marked as idiomatic. Recommend consistent use of “andabais”/“andar” throughout the book to preserve the recurring “walk” motif across chapters 2, 4, and 5 — flag for cross-document consistency (see 12_ai_translation_requirements equivalent for this curriculum).

αἰών τοῦ κόσμου τούτου (aiōn tou kosmou toutou) — “age of this world”

Transliteration: aiōn tou kosmou toutou
Literal meaning: the age/course of this world-order
Semantic range: a temporal epoch; by extension, the dominant value-system and spirit of an era
English variants: “the course of this world” (KJV/ESV), “the ways of this world” (NIV)
Contextual theological meaning: names the present, fallen world-order in contrast to God’s kingdom purposes; not the physical world (κόσμος alone) but its corrupted governing spirit.
Spanish rendering risk: Low. “El curso de este mundo” / “la corriente de este mundo” is standard and unambiguous.

ἄρχων τῆς ἐξουσίας τοῦ ἀέρος (archōn tēs exousias tou aeros) — “prince/ruler of the power of the air”

Transliteration: archōn tēs exousias tou aeros
Literal meaning: the ruler of the authority/domain of the air
Semantic range: a title for Satan as head of a cosmic order of hostile spiritual authority occupying the space “between” heaven and earth
English variants: “prince of the power of the air” (KJV/ESV), “ruler of the kingdom of the air” (NIV)
Contextual theological meaning: identifies a personal, malevolent spiritual being actively at work in unbelief — foundational for Ephesians’ later spiritual warfare teaching (ch. 6).
Spanish rendering risk: High. “El príncipe de la potestad del aire” is the standard rendering, but in regions with active Espiritismo, Santería, and other Afro-Caribbean or indigenous spirit-hierarchy frameworks (see baseline notes on Caribbean syncretism risk), language about spiritual “rulers of the air” can be absorbed into an existing cosmology of ambient spirits, airs, and “malos aires” (a recognized folk-illness category in Latin American folk medicine — “mal aire”). Must be taught explicitly as the singular person of Satan, not one ambient spiritual force among many, and distinguished from “mal aire” folk illness categories.

πνεῦμα τοῦ νῦν ἐνεργοῦντος (pneuma tou nyn energountos) — “the spirit now at work”

Transliteration: pneuma… energountos
Literal meaning: the spirit currently operating/energizing
Semantic range: πνεῦμα here denotes a governing spiritual disposition/power, not the Holy Spirit; ἐνεργέω = to work effectively, to produce an effect
Contextual theological meaning: the same energizing verb (ἐνεργέω) Paul uses of God’s power in 1:19-20 and 3:20 is here applied to Satan’s counterfeit operation — a deliberate contrast between two “workings.”
Spanish rendering risk: High. See the extended note on ἐνέργεια/ἐνεργέω under Chapter 1 below; avoid the false cognate “energía,” which carries strong New Age and folk-healing connotations in contemporary Spanish (chakras, “energía espiritual,” “limpias energéticas”). Use “obra/opera” or “poder que actúa,” never “energía.”

υἱοὶ τῆς ἀπειθείας (huioi tēs apeitheias) — “sons of disobedience”

Transliteration: huioi tēs apeitheias
Literal meaning: sons characterized by disobedience/unpersuadability
Semantic range: a Hebraic idiom denoting essential character, not literal parentage — “those characterized by disobedience”
English variants: “children of disobedience” (KJV/ESV), “those who are disobedient” (NIV, de-idiomized)
Contextual theological meaning: describes unbelief as active, willful resistance to God, not passive ignorance.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Hijos de desobediencia” preserves the Hebraic idiom but can sound unnatural; a paraphrase like “los desobedientes” loses the “sons/children of ___” idiom pattern that recurs at 2:3 (τέκνα … ὀργῆς) and 5:6. Recommend preserving the idiom consistently as “hijos de desobediencia” for cross-reference cohesion with 5:6.

Ephesians 2:3

Greek: ἐν οἷς καὶ ἡμεῖς πάντες ἀνεστράφημέν ποτε ἐν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις τῆς σαρκὸς ἡμῶν, ποιοῦντες τὰ θελήματα τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ τῶν διανοιῶν, καὶ ἤμεθα τέκνα φύσει ὀργῆς ὡς καὶ οἱ λοιποί

σάρξ (sarx) — “flesh”

Transliteration: sarx
Literal meaning: physical flesh/body tissue
Semantic range: the physical body (neutral); human weakness; in Pauline theology, the corrupted, sin-oriented disposition of unredeemed human nature
English variants: “flesh” (KJV/ESV/NASB), “sinful nature” (NIV)
Contextual theological meaning: here denotes the corrupted moral orientation of fallen humanity, not the physical body as such — Paul is not condemning embodiment (cf. the goodness of Christ’s own fleshly incarnation, a term already flagged Critical in the Romans baseline).
Spanish rendering risk: High. “Carne” is the standard and necessary rendering, but must be carefully distinguished from (a) dietary “carne” (meat) in casual usage and (b) any suggestion that the physical body itself is evil — a docetic-adjacent misunderstanding the baseline’s “humanity_of_christ” doctrine entry already guards against from the opposite direction. Teach explicitly: “carne” = the old, sin-bent orientation, not the body itself.

ἐπιθυμία (epithymia) — “desires/lusts”

Transliteration: epithymia
Literal meaning: a strong desire, craving
Semantic range: neutral longing (Phil. 1:23) or, predominantly in vice contexts, sinful, disordered desire
English variants: “lusts” (KJV), “desires” (ESV/NIV), “cravings” (NASB, marginal)
Contextual theological meaning: the disordered appetites that drove the former “walk”; comprehensive, not limited to sexual sin.
Spanish rendering risk: Low-Medium. “Deseos (de la carne)” is standard; risk is narrowing “deseos” to sexual desire alone in casual register, when the term is comprehensive. A brief teaching gloss is sufficient; no lexical substitute needed.

τέκνα φύσει ὀργῆς (tekna physei orgēs) — “children of wrath by nature”

Transliteration: tekna physei orgēs
Literal meaning: children, by nature, of wrath
Semantic range: φύσις = inherent nature/condition from birth, not acquired; ὀργή = settled, righteous anger/judicial wrath (not a passing emotional outburst)
English variants: “children of wrath” (KJV/ESV), “objects of wrath” (NIV, de-idiomized)
Contextual theological meaning: teaches an inherited, universal condition of liability to God’s just judgment prior to any personal choice — foundational to the doctrine of original sin/universal human accountability, already flagged High in the Romans baseline registry.
Spanish rendering risk: High. “Hijos de ira por naturaleza” is the standard rendering and should be retained. The theological risk is catechetical: in much folk Catholic teaching, the guilt dimension of original sin is popularly understood as removed at infant baptism, which can lead learners to assume this verse describes only the unbaptized, or to treat “por naturaleza” as merely inherited weakness rather than actual liability to wrath. Must be taught with care alongside the doctrine of universal accountability (cf. Romans 3:23, already Critical in the baseline).

ὀργή (orgē) — “wrath” — see extended entry under Ephesians 2:4/related below.

Ephesians 2:4

Greek: ὁ δὲ θεὸς πλούσιος ὢν ἐν ἐλέει, διὰ τὴν πολλὴν ἀγάπην αὐτοῦ ἣν ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς

ἔλεος (eleos) — “mercy”

Transliteration: eleos
Literal meaning: compassion shown toward one in distress or need; pity that acts
Semantic range: God’s compassionate response to human misery, distinct from χάρις (grace, favor toward the undeserving as such) though overlapping
English variants: “mercy” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: “rich in mercy” grounds salvation in God’s own compassionate character rather than any change in the sinner’s condition (note the emphatic “but God,” ὁ δὲ θεός, marking the reversal).
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Misericordia” is the standard, correct rendering. New risk not present in the Romans baseline: in much of Latin America, “misericordia” carries a strong, specific devotional association with the Divine Mercy devotion (Sister Faustina Kowalska, widely promoted in Catholic parishes, “Domingo de la Divina Misericordia,” the Chaplet of Divine Mercy). This association is not doctrinally hostile to Ephesians’ use, but risks narrowing the term to a specific devotional practice rather than God’s comprehensive saving compassion described in Ephesians 2. Teach the term on its own biblical terms.

ἀγάπη (agapē) — “love”

Transliteration: agapē
Literal meaning: love, especially selfless, deliberate, other-directed love
Semantic range: distinguished in Koine usage from φιλία (friendship-affection) and ἔρως (romantic/desiring love); in NT usage, God’s self-giving covenantal love and the love believers are called to show
English variants: “love” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: “the great love with which he loved us” (πολλὴν ἀγάπην… ἠγάπησεν) — love as the motive cause of the resurrection-with-Christ described in vv.5-6.
Spanish rendering risk: Low. “Amor” is the standard, unambiguous rendering with no false-cognate risk; the theological weight (God’s initiating, sacrificial love, not human romantic affection) should be taught, not encoded lexically.

Ephesians 2:5

Greek: καὶ ὄντας ἡμᾶς νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν συνεζωοποίησεν τῷ Χριστῷ — χάριτί ἐστε σεσωσμένοι

συζωοποιέω (syzōopoieō) — “made alive together with”

Transliteration: syzōopoieō
Literal meaning: to make alive jointly/together with (σύν + ζωοποιέω)
Semantic range: a compound found rarely outside Paul (cf. Col. 2:13); denotes union with another in the act of being given life
English variants: “made us alive together with Christ” (ESV/NASB), “made us alive with Christ” (NIV/KJV, losing the “together” nuance)
Contextual theological meaning: salvation is not merely a subjective change but union with the historical, bodily resurrection of Christ (already flagged Critical in the Romans baseline registry) — believers are made alive precisely in and with him, not by a separate act.
Spanish rendering risk: High. Reina-Valera renders “juntamente con Cristo” following the compound; the “juntamente con” (“together with”) element must not be dropped, or the passage collapses into a generic “God gave me new life” reading disconnected from union with Christ’s own resurrection — a distinctly weaker doctrine than Ephesians teaches. Preserve “nos dio vida juntamente con Cristo.”

χάριτί ἐστε σεσωσμένοι (chariti este sesōsmenoi) — “by grace you have been saved”

Transliteration: chariti este sesōsmenoi
Literal meaning: by grace/favor you are [in a state of having been] saved
Grammatical note: perfect passive periphrastic (ἐστε + perfect passive participle σεσωσμένοι) — denotes a past completed action with a continuing, settled present result. This is not a process still underway; it is a finished act whose effect endures.
English variants: “you have been saved” (ESV/NASB), “you are saved” (KJV, ambiguous on tense), “it is by grace you have been saved” (NIV)
Contextual theological meaning: parenthetical thesis-statement of the whole passage, restated fully in vv.8-9. The perfect tense is doctrinally load-bearing: salvation received by grace is a completed, secure state, not an ongoing project whose outcome remains uncertain.
Spanish rendering risk: Critical. This is the single highest-stakes grammatical/theological rendering choice in the core passage. The Romans baseline’s “salvation” entry (Critical) already flags that Latin American folk Catholic piety commonly treats salvación as “a lifelong, uncertain outcome secured through sacraments, penance, and the intercession of saints and the Virgin.” A rendering such as “están siendo salvos” (a durative/ongoing framing) or “se van salvando” would actively reinforce that uncertain-process framing and contradict the Greek perfect tense. Must render as “por gracia sois salvos” (RV1960) or “habéis sido salvados por gracia” — a completed act with abiding effect. Flag every occurrence of this construction (repeated in 2:8) for mandatory theologian review.

Ephesians 2:6

Greek: καὶ συνήγειρεν καὶ συνεκάθισεν ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ

συνεγείρω (synegeirō) — “raised up together with”

Transliteration: synegeirō
Literal meaning: to raise up jointly/together with
Semantic range: as with συζωοποιέω, a compound expressing union with Christ in a specific saving act — here specifically resurrection
English variants: “raised us up with him” (ESV/NIV), “raised us up together” (KJV/NASB)
Contextual theological meaning: believers are described as already, in a real spiritual sense, sharing in Christ’s own resurrection — an “already” dimension of union with Christ that undergirds the “not yet” hope developed elsewhere in Paul.
Spanish rendering risk: High. Directly connects to the Romans baseline’s Critical “resurrection” entry; the “juntamente con él” element must be retained, and in Caribbean/Afro-Caribbean contexts the same caution against reincarnation/spirit-return readings (already flagged in the baseline for ἀνάστασις generally) applies with equal force here, since this is union with that same bodily, historical, once-for-all resurrection.

συγκαθίζω (synkathizō) — “seated together with”

Transliteration: synkathizō
Literal meaning: to seat jointly/together with
Semantic range: a rare compound (elsewhere only Luke 22:55) denoting shared enthronement/position of honor and rest
English variants: “seated us with him” (ESV/NIV), “made us sit together” (KJV)
Contextual theological meaning: believers share, in Christ, in his position of triumphant authority — an important foundation for the spiritual warfare teaching of chapter 6, where believers resist cosmic powers from a position of already-secured victory in Christ, not from a position of struggle for victory.
Spanish rendering risk: High. Must preserve “juntamente” (together with); a flattened “nos sentó en los cielos” without the union-with-Christ framing loses the connection to chapter 6’s spiritual warfare theology, which depends on believers standing in Christ’s already-won position.

ἐπουράνιος (epouranios) — “heavenly places”

Transliteration: epouranios
Literal meaning: pertaining to the heavens/heavenly realm
Semantic range: the spiritual, heavenly sphere where Christ reigns (1:20; 2:6) and where hostile spiritual powers also operate (3:10; 6:12) — a contested spiritual realm, not simply “paradise”
English variants: “heavenly places” (ESV/KJV/NASB), “heavenly realms” (NIV)
Contextual theological meaning: establishes the cosmic, spiritual-realm setting that Ephesians returns to repeatedly, culminating in the armor-of-God passage.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Lugares celestiales” is standard and adequate; ensure the same phrase is used consistently in 1:3, 1:20, 2:6, 3:10, and 6:12 so that learners connect this passage’s positional truth to the later spiritual warfare teaching.

Ephesians 2:7

Greek: ἵνα ἐνδείξηται ἐν τοῖς αἰῶσιν τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις τὸ ὑπερβάλλον πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ ἐν χρηστότητι ἐφ᾿ ἡμᾶς ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ

ὑπερβάλλον πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος (hyperballon ploutos tēs charitos) — “surpassing riches of his grace”

Transliteration: hyperballon ploutos tēs charitos
Literal meaning: the exceeding/overflowing wealth of grace
Semantic range: ὑπερβάλλω = to throw beyond, to surpass/exceed; πλοῦτος = wealth, abundance
English variants: “immeasurable riches of his grace” (ESV), “surpassing riches” (NASB), “incomparable riches” (NIV)
Contextual theological meaning: grace (χάρις) [BASELINE REUSE: gracia, High/Critical in Romans] is here quantified as an inexhaustible, ongoing display across future ages — grace is not a one-time transaction but an eternal exhibit of God’s character.
Spanish rendering risk: High. Reuse “gracia” exactly per baseline; the compound phrase should render as “las sobreabundantes riquezas de su gracia.” Risk is ensuring “riquezas” (riches) is not read as a merely material-prosperity promise (a live risk given the prevalence of prosperity-gospel teaching in parts of Latin American Evangelicalism) — this is a metaphor for the immeasurable scope of grace, not a wealth promise.

χρηστότης (chrēstotēs) — “kindness”

Transliteration: chrēstotēs
Literal meaning: goodness, kindness, benevolence
Semantic range: moral goodness expressed practically toward others
English variants: “kindness” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: the manner in which God’s grace is displayed — grace expressed as personal kindness, not cold legal transaction.
Spanish rendering risk: Low. “Bondad” is standard and safe.

Ephesians 2:8

Greek: τῇ γὰρ χάριτί ἐστε σεσωσμένοι διὰ πίστεως· καὶ τοῦτο οὐκ ἐξ ὑμῶν, θεοῦ τὸ δῶρον

χάριτί ἐστε σεσωσμένοι — repeats the v.5 construction; same Critical rendering rules apply (perfect tense, completed-and-abiding salvation).
πίστις (pistis) — “faith” [BASELINE REUSE: fe, High risk in Romans] — reused exactly; note that διὰ πίστεως (“through faith”) names faith as the means of receiving grace, not a meritorious cause of it — faith itself is the empty hand that receives, not a work that earns.

δῶρον (dōron) — “gift”

Transliteration: dōron
Literal meaning: a gift, a present, an offering
Semantic range: in secular Greek, can denote a gift given to a superior (including a votive/temple offering); in this context, unambiguously something given freely by God to the recipient, with no reciprocal obligation implied
English variants: “gift” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: climactic term of the passage — salvation, faith, and the entire preceding sequence are summarized as God’s δῶρον, decisively excluding human contribution (“not of yourselves”).
Spanish rendering risk: Critical. “Don” or “regalo” are both viable; “don” is preferred for register consistency with “dones espirituales” already established in the Romans baseline. The acute risk is cultural: in popular Catholic piety, “ofrendas,” “promesas,” and votive gifts given to God or a saint in exchange for favors received are a live devotional pattern (e.g., the “manda” or “promesa” tradition across Latin America). Ephesians 2:8 describes the reverse direction entirely — God’s free gift to the sinner, not a votive offering given by the sinner to secure favor. This reversal of direction must be taught explicitly, or “don de Dios” risks being absorbed into an existing devotional category that runs precisely opposite to the text’s meaning.

Ephesians 2:9

Greek: οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων, ἵνα μή τις καυχήσηται

ἔργα (erga) — “works”

Transliteration: erga
Literal meaning: deeds, actions, works
Semantic range: human activity generally; in Pauline soteriology, specifically actions offered as the basis for a claim on God’s favor
English variants: “works” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: the direct negation paired with δῶρον (v.8) and χάρις — this is the same grace-versus-works antithesis already flagged as a Critical/High doctrinal fault line in the Romans baseline (see “grace” doctrine entry, citing Romans 4:4-5 and 11:5-6). Ephesians 2:8-9 is, alongside those Romans texts, one of the two or three most important grace-works antithesis passages in the entire New Testament for this specific doctrinal fault line.
Spanish rendering risk: Critical. “Obras” is the standard, correct rendering; the risk is entirely catechetical, inherited directly from the Romans baseline’s “justification” and “grace” entries: the Council of Trent (Session VI) explicitly affirms meritorious human cooperation in a way this verse, on its plain forensic reading, excludes. Every occurrence of ἔργα in this soteriological sense (2:9; contrast with 2:10’s ἔργα ἀγαθά) must be flagged for mandatory theologian review per the existing baseline escalation rule for “any segment where grace is being contrasted with works/merit.”

καυχάομαι (kauchaomai) — “boast”

Transliteration: kauchaomai
Literal meaning: to boast, to glory in, to take pride in
Semantic range: can be used positively (boasting in the Lord, cf. 1 Cor. 1:31) or negatively (self-congratulation)
English variants: “boast” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: the purpose clause (ἵνα μή τις καυχήσηται, “so that no one may boast”) makes explicit why works are excluded from the basis of salvation — to remove any ground for self-congratulation before God.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Gloriarse” (RV1960) or “jactarse” (more contemporary) both work; ensure the negative, self-congratulatory sense is clear rather than the positive “boasting in the Lord” sense used elsewhere in Paul.

Ephesians 2:10

Greek: αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐσμεν ποίημα, κτισθέντες ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς, οἷς προητοίμασεν ὁ θεὸς ἵνα ἐν αὐτοῖς περιπατήσωμεν

ποίημα (poiēma) — “workmanship”

Transliteration: poiēma
Literal meaning: that which is made; a work, a product, a piece of craftsmanship (root of English “poem”)
Semantic range: any made thing, from a poem to a physical object; here applied metaphorically to the believer as God’s own handiwork
English variants: “workmanship” (KJV/ESV/NASB), “handiwork” (NIV)
Contextual theological meaning: directly answers v.9 — believers are not the makers of their own salvation but the made result of God’s creative work; this reframes v.9’s exclusion of works as the necessary consequence of being an object, not the agent, of salvation’s origin.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Hechura” (RV1960: “somos hechura suya”) is the standard rendering and should be preferred over a more generic “obra” (which would collide confusingly with ἔργα, “works,” in the same two verses). “Hechura” preserves the crafted-object metaphor distinctly from “obras.” Risk: without explanation, “hechura” can read as a passive, almost fatalistic image; must be taught as purposeful, skilled creation for a specific end (ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς), not inert passivity.

κτίζω (ktizō) — “created”

Transliteration: ktizō
Literal meaning: to create, to found, to bring into being
Semantic range: divine creative activity (Genesis-echoing) applied here to the “new creation” of the believer in Christ
English variants: “created” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: salvation is a creative, not merely reformative, act — parallel to the “new humanity” (καινὸς ἄνθρωπος) language of 2:15 and 4:24.
Spanish rendering risk: Low. “Creados” is standard and unambiguous.

ἔργα ἀγαθά (erga agatha) — “good works”

Transliteration: erga agatha
Literal meaning: good deeds/works
Semantic range: identical lexeme to v.9’s ἔργα, now qualified positively and repositioned
English variants: “good works” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: this is the doctrinally decisive turn of the whole passage: the same word excluded as the ground of salvation in v.9 (οὐκ ἐξ ἔργων) is reintroduced in v.10 as the fruit and purpose of salvation (ἐπὶ ἔργοις ἀγαθοῖς — “for good works,” i.e., created unto them, not by them). Getting the direction of this causal arrow right is the single most important doctrinal task in the entire core passage.
Spanish rendering risk: Critical. “Buenas obras” is the standard, correct rendering, but the preposition ἐπί (“for,” “unto,” “with a view to”) must never be rendered in a way that reintroduces works as a condition or cause of salvation (e.g., a mistranslation drifting toward “por buenas obras” — “by/through good works” — would directly reverse the passage’s argument and align it with the Tridentine merit-cooperation framework the baseline’s “grace,” “justification,” and “imputed_righteousness” entries explicitly guard against). Recommend “creados… para buenas obras” or “a fin de hacer buenas obras” to keep the purpose/result sense unambiguous. Flag every occurrence for mandatory theologian review.

προετοιμάζω (proetoimazō) — “prepared beforehand”

Transliteration: proetoimazō
Literal meaning: to prepare in advance
Semantic range: intentional prior planning, not improvisation
English variants: “prepared beforehand” (ESV/NASB), “prepared in advance” (NIV), “before ordained” (KJV)
Contextual theological meaning: connects the good works believers walk in to God’s sovereign, prior planning — an echo of the election/predestination language of chapter 1 (προορίζω), reinforcing that even the believer’s good works fall within God’s sovereign design, not human initiative.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Preparó de antemano” is standard; teach the connection to chapter 1’s predestination language so learners see the passage’s coherence with 1:4-5, 1:11.

περιπατέω (peripateō) — “walk” — repeats the term from 2:2, now redirected: the same capacity for a total, patterned way of life once directed toward death (2:2-3) is now directed, by God’s prior preparation, toward good works (2:10). See rendering guidance under 2:2 above; consistency of “andar” across both occurrences is essential to preserve this deliberate before/after contrast.

PART 2 — CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER STUDY OF THE WHOLE BOOK

Chapter 1 (1:1-23)

ἅγιοι (hagioi) — “saints” [BASELINE REUSE: santos, Critical risk in Romans]

Ephesians 1:1 opens exactly as Romans 1:7 does — “to the saints” (τοῖς ἁγίοις) — addressed to all believers at Ephesus. Reuse “santos” exactly, with the same mandatory clarifying note used throughout the Romans curriculum: every believer is called santo; this is not the canonized/venerated sense dominant in popular Catholic piety.

προορίζω (proorizō) — “predestined”

Transliteration: proorizō
Literal meaning: to determine/mark out beforehand
Semantic range: a specific, deliberate prior decision, distinct from generic foreknowledge (προγινώσκω)
English variants: “predestined” (ESV/NASB/NIV), “predestinated” (KJV)
Contextual theological meaning: God’s sovereign choice of believers “before the foundation of the world” (1:4) “to adoption as sons” (1:5) — grounds salvation entirely outside of human initiative, tightly paired with ἐκλέγομαι (“he chose us,” 1:4).
Spanish rendering risk: High. “Predestinar/predestinación” is the standard rendering with no false-cognate risk, but carries the same risk the baseline already flags for “election”: drift toward the fatalistic vernacular “destino” or “suerte” common in everyday Hispanic speech. In addition, Ephesians 1 pairs predestination tightly with adoption and inheritance — teach as a Father’s deliberate, loving, familial choice, not an impersonal cosmic mechanism.

ἐκλέγομαι / ἐκλογή (eklegomai / eklogē) — “chose / election” [BASELINE REUSE: elección, High risk in Romans] — reuse exactly; Ephesians 1:4 (“he chose us in him before the foundation of the world”) is a direct parallel to Romans 9-11’s election language and must render consistently.

υἱοθεσία (huiothesia) — “adoption” [BASELINE REUSE: adopción, Medium risk in Romans] — reuse exactly; Ephesians 1:5 grounds adoption explicitly in predestination, strengthening the doctrinal link between election and adoption more explicitly than Romans does. Teach both together.

ἀπολύτρωσις (apolytrōsis) — “redemption”

Transliteration: apolytrōsis
Literal meaning: a releasing by payment of a ransom price
Semantic range: liberation from slavery/captivity, specifically through a price paid (λύτρον); in NT usage, liberation from sin’s bondage through Christ’s blood (1:7)
English variants: “redemption” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: names the price-paid dimension of salvation — Christ’s blood as the ransom securing “the forgiveness of our trespasses.”
Spanish rendering risk: High. “Redención” is standard and shared across Catholic and Protestant Spanish Bibles, so there is no lexical rival. The risk is catechetical: “redención” must be tied explicitly to Christ’s blood as a completed, sufficient payment (1:7), not folded into an ongoing framework of penance, indulgences, or additional “payment” through religious works — the same fault line the baseline documents for “salvation” and “grace.”

ἄφεσις (τῶν παραπτωμάτων) (aphesis) — “forgiveness (of trespasses)”

Transliteration: aphesis
Literal meaning: a sending away, a release, a letting go
Semantic range: release from debt, imprisonment, or guilt
English variants: “forgiveness” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: the content/result of redemption (1:7) — trespasses are not merely overlooked but released, on the basis of Christ’s blood alone.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium-High. “Perdón” is standard; ensure the passage’s grounding of forgiveness in Christ’s finished, once-for-all sacrifice (“por su sangre”) is not implicitly re-routed through the sacrament of confession as the mechanism by which forgiveness is received in this text — Ephesians 1:7 grounds forgiveness in Christ’s blood and grace directly.

μυστήριον (mystērion) — “mystery”

Transliteration: mystērion
Literal meaning: a secret, something hidden and only known to initiates
Semantic range: in the Greco-Roman mystery religions, secret cultic knowledge revealed only to initiates through ritual; in Paul, a previously hidden truth in God’s plan, now fully disclosed in the gospel to all who believe — the opposite of an esoteric secret restricted to an elite
English variants: “mystery” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: Ephesians 1:9 introduces God’s “mystery of his will” — the plan to unite all things in Christ — a theme that becomes the structural center of the letter (3:3-9; 5:32; 6:19). This is arguably the single most theologically load-bearing new term Ephesians introduces beyond the Romans baseline.
Spanish rendering risk: Critical. “Misterio” is the only viable rendering and is lexically unavoidable, but it is a serious collision risk in the Spanish-speaking Catholic-majority context: “misterio” is the standard term for (a) the Mysteries of the Rosary (misterios gozosos, dolorosos, gloriosos, luminosos), (b) the sacraments collectively, sometimes called “los sacros misterios,” and (c) the Eucharistic mystery proclaimed at Mass (“Éste es el Misterio de la fe”). Ephesians’ μυστήριον means something different and specific: a previously hidden truth about Jew-Gentile unity in Christ (3:3-6) and Christ’s union with the church (5:32), now fully revealed and understandable, not a ritual to be devotionally contemplated or a truth that remains partially veiled. Every occurrence requires an explicit teaching note distinguishing Ephesians’ “revealed mystery” from the devotional “misterios” of popular piety. Flag for mandatory theologian review at every occurrence (1:9; 3:3-9; 5:32; 6:19).

πλήρωμα (plērōma) — “fullness”

Transliteration: plērōma
Literal meaning: that which fills, fullness, completeness
Semantic range: a full measure or completed total; used of Christ filling the church (1:23) and of the church as his “fullness”
English variants: “fullness” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: 1:23 describes the church as “his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” — an extraordinarily high statement of the church’s identity in union with Christ.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium-High. “Plenitud” is standard. Minor but real risk: the term πλήρωμα became a technical term in later Gnostic systems (the “Pleroma” of the divine fullness in Valentinian and other Gnostic cosmologies), which occasionally resurfaces in esoteric/theosophical movements with some presence in Latin America. This is a low-prevalence but non-zero risk; a brief clarifying note distinguishing the church’s derived, gift-given fullness in Christ from any speculative cosmological “Pleroma” is prudent, especially in urban/educated contexts where esoteric spirituality has more reach.

ἐνέργεια / ἐνεργέω (energeia / energeō) — “working / to work effectively”

Transliteration: energeia / energeō
Literal meaning: effective operation, active power at work
Semantic range: the exertion of power that produces a visible effect (root of English “energy,” but with a narrower, more active/causal sense in Koine Greek than the modern English or Spanish loanword)
English variants: “working” (ESV), “power” (NIV), “operation” (KJV)
Contextual theological meaning: 1:19-20 uses this word cluster to describe the resurrection-power of God at work in believers — “the working of his great might” (κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ κράτους τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ) — the same power that raised Christ from the dead (linking directly to the baseline’s Critical “resurrection” doctrine). Recurs at 3:7, 3:20, 4:16, and negatively at 2:2 (Satan’s “energizing” of disobedience).
Spanish rendering risk: High. This is a genuinely new syncretism risk not present in the Romans baseline, since ἐνέργεια/ἐνεργέω did not appear as a distinct load-bearing term there. Never render as “energía” — this loanword has become deeply embedded in contemporary Spanish-language New Age, folk-healing, and Afro-diasporic devotional vocabulary (chakras, “limpias energéticas,” “energía positiva/negativa,” “mala energía”), all of which describe an impersonal, transferable force very different from the personal divine power Ephesians describes. Render with “poder que actúa,” “poder eficaz,” or “la obra/operación de su poder,” never “energía.” Flag for native speaker review at every occurrence (1:19; 2:2; 3:7; 3:20; 4:16).

κεφαλή (kephalē) — “head”

Transliteration: kephalē
Literal meaning: the physical head of a body
Semantic range: literal head; metaphorically, source, authority, or preeminence within a body/organizational structure
English variants: “head” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: 1:22 establishes Christ as “head over all things for the church,” his body — the foundational metaphor for the letter’s ecclesiology, later extended to the husband-wife relationship in chapter 5.
Spanish rendering risk: High. “Cabeza” is the standard, necessary rendering. Flagged High here (rather than only in ch. 5) because the term’s doctrinal weight begins in Christology/ecclesiology before it is ever applied to marriage; establishing it correctly here (Christ’s headship as loving, self-giving, life-giving authority, cf. 1:22-23 and 5:23-25) sets the necessary interpretive frame before the household-codes application in chapter 5, where cultural risk is highest.

σῶμα (sōma) — “body” (of Christ, ecclesiological) — introduced here at 1:22-23 (“his body”); full analysis under Chapter 4 below, where the term becomes doctrinally central.

ἐκκλησία (ekklēsia) — “church” [BASELINE REUSE: iglesia, Medium risk in Romans] — reuse exactly; Ephesians intensifies this term’s theological weight well beyond Romans, since Ephesians’ ecclesiology (the church as Christ’s body, temple, and bride) is far more developed. The baseline’s caution against the capitalized institutional-hierarchical sense remains fully applicable.

Chapter 2 (2:11-22) — beyond the core passage (2:1-10)

περιτομή / ἀκροβυστία (peritomē / akrobystia) — “circumcision / uncircumcision”

Literal meaning: the physical rite of circumcision / its absence
Semantic range: literal ritual marker; by metonymy, “the Circumcision” = Jews, “the Uncircumcision” = Gentiles
Contextual theological meaning: 2:11 uses this as shorthand for the Jew-Gentile distinction the passage is about to dissolve in Christ.
Spanish rendering risk: Low-Medium. “Circuncisión/incircuncisión” are standard theological-historical terms; the primary need is background teaching (Old Testament covenant sign) rather than lexical risk.

μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ (mesotoichon tou phragmou) — “dividing wall of partition”

Transliteration: mesotoichon tou phragmou
Literal meaning: the middle wall of the fence/barrier
Semantic range: likely evokes the Jerusalem temple’s barrier separating the Court of the Gentiles from the inner courts
Contextual theological meaning: 2:14 — Christ “has broken down” this wall, unifying Jew and Gentile access to God.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “La pared intermedia de separación” (RV1960) is standard; requires Old Testament temple-background teaching for learners unfamiliar with Second Temple architecture, but carries no doctrinal collision risk itself.

καινὸς ἄνθρωπος (kainos anthrōpos) — “new man” / “one new humanity”

Transliteration: kainos anthrōpos
Literal meaning: a new man/human being
Semantic range: καινός = new in kind/quality (not merely new in time, νέος); ἄνθρωπος = human being, generic
English variants: “one new man” (KJV/ESV/NASB), “one new humanity” (NIV, NRSV)
Contextual theological meaning: 2:15 — Christ creates “one new humanity” out of two previously hostile groups (Jew and Gentile), not by absorbing one into the other but by forming a genuinely new corporate reality. This is one of the nine core doctrines named for this curriculum (“Unity of Jews and Gentiles in One New Humanity”) and is distinct from — though related to — the individual “new self” of 4:24, which uses the same Greek phrase for a different (individual, ethical) referent.
Spanish rendering risk: High. Recommend “una nueva humanidad” (favoring the corporate, unmistakably plural-referent sense the doctrine name requires) over the more literal, RV1960-style “un nuevo hombre,” which in Spanish reads far more naturally as referring to a single individual man than the Greek’s corporate sense does. If “un nuevo hombre” is retained for RV-tradition consistency, it must carry an explicit clarifying note every time distinguishing this corporate new-humanity sense (2:15) from the individual “new self” sense reused at 4:24 — using identical Spanish wording for two different theological referents is itself a translation risk requiring active management.

συμπολῖται (sympolitai) — “fellow citizens”

Transliteration: sympolitai
Literal meaning: co-citizens, fellow members of a πόλις (city-state)
Semantic range: full civic membership and its rights, not resident-alien or second-class status
Contextual theological meaning: 2:19 — Gentile believers are no longer “strangers and aliens” but full “fellow citizens with the saints” [BASELINE REUSE: santos] — reinforcing full inclusion, not conditional tolerance.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Conciudadanos” is standard and clear.

οἰκεῖοι τοῦ θεοῦ (oikeioi tou theou) — “members of the household of God”

Transliteration: oikeioi tou theou
Literal meaning: those belonging to a household
Contextual theological meaning: 2:19 — familial, not merely civic, belonging; complements “fellow citizens” with domestic intimacy.
Spanish rendering risk: Low-Medium. “De la familia de Dios” / “miembros de la casa de Dios” both work well.

ἀκρογωνιαῖος (akrogōniaios) — “cornerstone”

Transliteration: akrogōniaios
Literal meaning: the corner-founding stone
Semantic range: the foundational stone determining the alignment of an entire building
Contextual theological meaning: 2:20 — Christ as the cornerstone of the church’s foundation, with apostles and prophets as the foundation built upon that reference point.
Spanish rendering risk: Low-Medium. “Piedra angular” is the standard, well-established Spanish Christian term with no significant risk.

ναός (naos) — “temple”

Transliteration: naos
Literal meaning: the inner sanctuary of a temple (distinct from ἱερόν, the wider temple precinct)
Semantic range: the specific dwelling place of deity within a temple complex
Contextual theological meaning: 2:21-22 — the church corporately, and each believer’s life, is God’s dwelling place “in the Spirit” — not a building.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Templo” is standard, but given the strength of physical shrine/basilica devotional culture across the Spanish-speaking Catholic world (national basilicas, pilgrimage temples to the Virgin under various titles), the metaphorical, non-building sense (“ustedes mismos, el pueblo de Dios, son el templo”) requires explicit clarification so it is not heard as elevating a physical church building’s sanctity, but the corporate people of God as God’s dwelling place.

Chapter 3 (3:1-21)

μυστήριον (mystērion) — “mystery” — see full analysis under Chapter 1. Chapter 3 is the letter’s most extended exposition of this term (3:3, 3:4, 3:6, 3:9), specifically defining its content: “that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (3:6). This is the single clearest place in the book to anchor the corrective teaching note against the “misterio” = Rosary/sacrament association.

οἰκονομία (oikonomia) — “stewardship / administration / plan”

Transliteration: oikonomia
Literal meaning: household management, administration
Semantic range: the management of a household or estate; by extension, God’s ordered plan or administration of his purposes in history
English variants: “stewardship” (ESV), “administration” (NIV), “dispensation” (KJV)
Contextual theological meaning: 3:2, 3:9 — Paul’s stewardship of revealing this mystery, and God’s own administration of his eternal plan.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. Recommend “administración” or “plan” rather than a transliterated “dispensación,” which in much contemporary Evangelical usage has become a technical term tied to Dispensationalist theological systems (distinct historical “dispensations” of salvation history) — a narrower, system-specific framework not implied by Paul’s general usage here. Avoid importing that technical baggage.

ἀρχαὶ καὶ ἐξουσίαι (archai kai exousiai) — “rulers and authorities”

Transliteration: archai kai exousiai
Literal meaning: rulers/principalities and authorities/powers
Semantic range: a fixed pairing in Paul (also Eph. 1:21; 6:12; Col. 1:16; 2:15) denoting an ordered hierarchy of spiritual/angelic beings, some now hostile
English variants: “rulers and authorities” (ESV/NIV), “principalities and powers” (KJV)
Contextual theological meaning: 3:10 — the church’s very existence as a unified Jew-Gentile body is a display of God’s wisdom “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” — a genuinely cosmic audience for the church’s unity, tying directly into the spiritual warfare theme developed fully in chapter 6.
Spanish rendering risk: High. “Principados y potestades” is the standard rendering and should be retained for continuity with chapter 6. As with the “prince of the power of the air” (2:2) and the armor-of-God passage (ch. 6), this cosmic-powers language risks being absorbed into existing folk-religious spirit hierarchies (Santería’s orishas, Espiritismo’s guiding/ancestral spirits, various indigenous cosmologies with layered spirit-lords) prevalent in parts of Latin America and the Caribbean. Must be taught as referring to a real but subordinate, created spiritual order under Christ’s authority (1:21-22), not one spiritual hierarchy among several equally valid systems of spirit-mediation.

παρρησία (parrēsia) — “boldness / confident access”

Transliteration: parrēsia
Literal meaning: freedom of speech, openness, boldness
Semantic range: confident, unhindered access, especially before an authority
Contextual theological meaning: 3:12 — “boldness and access” (προσαγωγή) into God’s presence “through faith in him” — direct, unmediated confidence before God grounded in Christ.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Confianza” / “libertad” for παρρησία, and “acceso” for προσαγωγή; teach as direct access to God through Christ alone, resonant with (though not identical to) the baseline’s Critical caution on “intercession” — this text describes the believer’s own confident access, complementing rather than replacing the Spirit’s and Christ’s intercession already flagged Critical in the Romans baseline.

ἔσω ἄνθρωπος (esō anthrōpos) — “inner man”

Transliteration: esō anthrōpos
Literal meaning: the inward/inner human being
Semantic range: the inward, spiritual dimension of a person, as distinct from outward, physical existence
Contextual theological meaning: 3:16 — prayer for strengthening “in the inner man” through the Spirit; anthropological term important for the letter’s spiritual formation vocabulary.
Spanish rendering risk: Low-Medium. “El hombre interior” / “el ser interior” is standard.

Chapter 4 (4:1-32)

κλῆσις (klēsis) — “calling” [BASELINE REUSE: llamado, High risk in Romans] — reuse exactly; 4:1 (“the calling to which you have been called”) reprises Romans’ effectual-calling doctrine and must use the same term, with the same caution against “vocación” in its narrow priestly/religious-life sense.

ἑνότης (henotēs) — “unity”

Transliteration: henotēs
Literal meaning: oneness, unity
Semantic range: singular, undivided state (occurs in the NT only in Ephesians: 4:3, 4:13)
English variants: “unity” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: 4:3 — “the unity of the Spirit” to be maintained; 4:13 — “the unity of the faith” as a goal of ministry gifts. This term names, directly, one of the nine core doctrines of this curriculum (alongside the “one new humanity” of ch. 2).
Spanish rendering risk: High. “Unidad” is standard and safe lexically, but the doctrine it names — visible, maintained unity across ethnic, cultural, and denominational lines — carries real social weight in Latin American contexts where regional, racial (particularly around indigenous and Afro-descendant communities), and denominational (Catholic/Evangelical/Pentecostal) divisions are socially significant, not merely doctrinal, echoing the baseline’s existing note on “unity_of_jews_and_gentiles.” Teach with contemporary application, not only ancient Jew-Gentile background.

ἓν σῶμα, ἓν πνεῦμα, μία ἐλπίς, εἷς κύριος, μία πίστις, ἓν βάπτισμα, εἷς θεὸς καὶ πατήρ (“one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father”) — 4:4-6, the letter’s great unity creed.

Most terms here reuse baseline entries exactly: πνεῦμα [Espíritu Santo], κύριος [Señor, Critical], πίστις [fe, High], θεός [Dios, Critical], πατήρ [Padre, Critical].

βάπτισμα (baptisma) — “baptism”

Transliteration: baptisma
Literal meaning: an immersion, a dipping; the rite of baptism
Semantic range: John’s baptism, Christian baptism, metaphorical “baptism” (Spirit-baptism, suffering-baptism) — context determines sense
English variants: “baptism” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: 4:5 names “one baptism” as a unifying mark of the one body — assuming a single, shared, theologically significant rite.
Spanish rendering risk: High. “Bautismo” is the standard, unavoidable rendering, but this term sits on a real doctrinal fault line in the Spanish-speaking world directly analogous to the justification fault line already documented in the Romans baseline: Catholic sacramental theology teaches baptism (typically infant baptism) as effecting baptismal regeneration and removing the guilt of original sin; much (though not all) of Evangelical/Protestant Spanish-speaking tradition teaches baptism (typically believer’s/adult baptism) as a symbolic ordinance testifying to a salvation already received by faith. Ephesians 4:5 does not itself resolve this debate, but naming “bautismo” as a unifying mark of Christian identity requires an explicit teaching note that this curriculum is not adjudicating the mode/timing/efficacy debate, while still preserving the text’s own emphasis on baptism’s unifying significance. Flag for theologian review given the doctrinal sensitivity.

χάρισμα / δόμα (charisma / doma) — “gift” [BASELINE REUSE: dones espirituales, Medium risk in Romans] — 4:7-11 describes gifted leaders given to the church (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors/shepherds, teachers) as an expression of this broader gift-giving; reuse “dones” terminology, extending it explicitly to leadership offices, not only individual-member enablements as in Romans 12.

ποιμήν (poimēn) — “pastor / shepherd”

Transliteration: poimēn
Literal meaning: a shepherd, one who tends sheep
Semantic range: literal shepherding; metaphorically, pastoral spiritual leadership and care
English variants: “pastors” (most versions), “shepherds” (ESV/NIV footnote)
Contextual theological meaning: 4:11 — one of the five gifted offices listed for equipping the saints; the only NT occurrence of this noun applied to a church office (elsewhere the related verb is used, e.g., Acts 20:28, 1 Pet. 5:2).
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Pastor” is the standard and dominant term across contemporary Spanish-speaking Evangelical/Protestant church life, where it functions as the primary title for local congregational leadership — distinct from the Catholic ordained priesthood (“sacerdote,” “cura,” “padre”). This is not primarily a mistranslation risk but a cross-tradition ecclesiology-education point: learners from a Catholic background may look for a “sacerdote” equivalent in this list and should be taught that Ephesians 4:11 describes gift-based functional roles, not a sacramental priestly office.

εὐαγγελιστής (euangelistēs) — “evangelist”

Transliteration: euangelistēs
Literal meaning: one who proclaims the εὐαγγέλιον (gospel) [BASELINE REUSE: evangelio, High risk in Romans]
Contextual theological meaning: 4:11 — a gift-role of proclaiming the gospel, distinct from the settled pastoral-teaching office.
Spanish rendering risk: Low-Medium. “Evangelista” is standard; minor risk that in casual Spanish usage “los evangelistas” most readily evokes the four Gospel authors (Mateo, Marcos, Lucas, Juan) rather than this ongoing spiritual gift/office — a brief clarifying note resolves this.

παλαιὸς ἄνθρωπος / καινὸς (νέος) ἄνθρωπος (palaios anthrōpos / kainos anthrōpos) — “old self / new self”

Transliteration: palaios anthrōpos / kainos (also νέος at 4:24 in some manuscripts) anthrōpos
Literal meaning: old human being / new human being
Semantic range: here (4:22-24), unlike 2:15, an individual, ethical-transformation referent — “put off” the old self’s corrupted way of life, “put on” the new self created after God’s likeness
English variants: “old self / new self” (ESV/NIV), “old man / new man” (KJV/NASB)
Contextual theological meaning: the clothing metaphor (ἀποθέσθαι, “put off,” like removing a garment; ἐνδύσασθαι, “put on,” like dressing) anticipates the armor-of-God clothing imagery of chapter 6, tying ethical transformation to the letter’s spiritual warfare theme.
Spanish rendering risk: High. Recommend “el viejo hombre” / “el nuevo hombre” (individual, ethical sense) while flagging explicitly, in a translator note at every occurrence, the distinction from the corporate “una nueva humanidad” of 2:15 — since both may naturally be rendered with overlapping Spanish vocabulary (“hombre nuevo”), and conflating the individual ethical renewal of ch. 4 with the corporate Jew-Gentile unity of ch. 2 would blur two related but distinct doctrines. Consistent, deliberate lexical differentiation (e.g., reserving “una nueva humanidad” strictly for 2:15 and “el nuevo hombre/el nuevo yo interior” for 4:24) is recommended and must be fixed in translation memory before Phase 2 begins.

σῶμα Χριστοῦ (sōma Christou) — “body of Christ”

Transliteration: sōma Christou
Literal meaning: the body of Christ
Semantic range: introduced already at 1:23; developed fully in 4:12, 4:16 as the organic, interdependent, growing unity of the church, each member contributing to the whole’s growth
English variants: “body of Christ” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: the central ecclesiological metaphor of Ephesians, naming one of the nine core doctrines of this curriculum directly (“The Church as the Body of Christ”). The church is not an institution or voluntary association but a living organism united to Christ as its head (κεφαλή, already flagged High in ch. 1).
Spanish rendering risk: Critical. “Cuerpo de Cristo” is the only viable rendering, but this is arguably the single highest-stakes new collision risk in the entire curriculum: in the Catholic Mass, celebrated across the entire Spanish-speaking world, the minister says to every communicant, at every celebration, “El Cuerpo de Cristo” (“The Body of Christ”) as the Eucharistic host is administered, and the communicant responds “Amén” — affirming belief in the Real Presence of Christ’s literal body in the consecrated host (transubstantiation). Ephesians’ ecclesiological “cuerpo de Cristo” — the church as a living, interdependent community united to Christ — uses the identical Spanish phrase for an entirely different referent (the corporate church, not the Eucharistic elements). Without an explicit, repeated teaching note distinguishing “el cuerpo de Cristo” as the church (Ephesians’ sense) from “el Cuerpo de Cristo” as the consecrated Host (the Eucharistic sense every Catholic-background learner has heard hundreds of times), profound confusion is likely. This must be flagged for mandatory theologian review at every occurrence (1:23; 4:12; 4:16; 5:23, 30) and included in the curriculum’s introductory doctrinal orientation, not left to inference.

οἰκοδομή (oikodomē) — “building up / edification” [related to baseline “mutual_edification” doctrine, Low risk in Romans] — reused conceptually; 4:12, 4:16, 4:29 all use this “building up” language extensively; Ephesians intensifies this Romans-Low-risk doctrine considerably by tying it structurally to the body-of-Christ metaphor, but the lexical risk itself remains Low.

ἀγάπη ἐν ἀληθεία / ἀληθεύω (agapē; alētheuō) — “love; speaking truth” — 4:15, “speaking the truth in love” — low risk, standard vocabulary.

Chapter 5 (5:1-33)

μιμηταὶ τοῦ θεοῦ (mimētai tou theou) — “imitators of God”

Transliteration: mimētai
Literal meaning: imitators, mimics
Contextual theological meaning: 5:1 — believers called to imitate God’s own character, specifically his love, as just displayed in Christ.
Spanish rendering risk: Low. “Imitadores de Dios” is standard.

προσφορὰ καὶ θυσία (prosphora kai thysia) — “offering and sacrifice”

Transliteration: prosphora kai thysia
Literal meaning: an offering presented; a sacrifice, especially a cultic/sacrificial offering
Semantic range: OT sacrificial-system vocabulary applied to Christ’s self-giving death
Contextual theological meaning: 5:2 — Christ “gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” — atonement language (cf. the Romans requirements document’s existing escalation trigger for “atonement/propitiation language,” Romans 3:25).
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Ofrenda y sacrificio” is standard; ensure this is taught as Christ’s own once-for-all self-offering, not a template for ongoing human sacrificial offerings or a validation of votive-offering piety (cf. the δῶρον note at Eph. 2:8 above, which addresses the same underlying direction-of-offering risk).

πορνεία, ἀκαθαρσία, πλεονεξία (porneia, akatharsia, pleonexia) — “sexual immorality, impurity, greed”

Standard vice-list vocabulary (5:3, 5:5); “inmoralidad sexual, impureza, avaricia” are standard renderings.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. πλεονεξία (“greed/covetousness”) specifically is identified as a form of idolatry (5:5) — teach this connection explicitly, since “avaricia” in casual Spanish usage can be heard as a minor character flaw rather than the idolatry Paul names it.

φῶς / σκότος (phōs / skotos) — “light / darkness”

Standard dualistic ethical-spiritual metaphor (5:8-14): believers were darkness, are now light “in the Lord.”
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Luz/tinieblas” are standard, safe renderings with deep biblical pedigree; the note here is precautionary rather than a lexical objection — regions with active Espiritismo and Santería also employ light/darkness spirit categorization (e.g., “espíritus de luz” versus malevolent or unenlightened spirits), so a brief clarifying note that Ephesians’ light/darkness is an ethical-spiritual state defined relationally by union with Christ (“luz en el Señor,” 5:8), not a taxonomy of spirit-types, is prudent.

πληρόω ἐν πνεύματι (plēroō en pneumati) — “be filled with the Spirit”

Transliteration: plēroō en pneumati
Literal meaning: be filled/completed by the Spirit
Semantic range: a present passive imperative — an ongoing, repeated command, not a one-time completed event
English variants: “be filled with the Spirit” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: 5:18 — contrasted with drunkenness; the command grounds the household-code section that follows (5:21ff.) and the spiritual warfare section that follows in chapter 6, making Spirit-filling foundational to both ethical relationships and spiritual battle-readiness.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium-High. “Sed llenos del Espíritu” / “sean llenos del Espíritu” is standard. This phrase carries strong, differing associations across the Spanish-speaking Christian landscape: Pentecostal and Charismatic traditions (both Protestant Pentecostalism and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, both with very large followings across Latin America) commonly associate this phrase with a specific, often datable experience (sometimes tied to speaking in tongues); other traditions read it as ongoing, non-experiential, character-focused sanctification. This curriculum should preserve the Greek’s genuinely repeated/ongoing imperative sense (“continue being filled,” not a single past event) without adjudicating the broader charismatic-versus-continuationist-versus-cessationist debate, flagging the passage for native speaker review given its live pastoral sensitivity across denominational lines represented among likely learners.

ὑποτάσσω (hypotassō) — “submit”

Transliteration: hypotassō
Literal meaning: to arrange under, to place in submission/subordination
Semantic range: military/social ordering term; voluntary, willing submission within an ordered relationship (contrast with a coerced subjugation)
English variants: “submit” (all major versions)
Contextual theological meaning: 5:21 introduces mutual submission (“submitting to one another”) before 5:22 applies it specifically to wives and husbands, modeled explicitly on Christ’s own self-giving headship (5:23-25) — the husband’s “headship” is immediately redefined by sacrificial love, not authority for its own sake.
Spanish rendering risk: High. “Someterse” / “sujetarse” (RV1960) are standard renderings with no lexical alternative needed, but this term carries acute real-world pastoral risk in the Spanish-speaking world given documented patterns of domestic authority and, in some contexts, domestic violence associated with rigid or coercive readings of headship-submission language. The text’s own framing — mutual submission (5:21) as the header for the specific instruction, and Christ’s self-sacrificial love as the explicit model for headship (5:25, “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her”) — must never be dropped or minimized in translation or teaching notes. Flag for mandatory theologian review; this term requires the same level of doctrinal care as the Critical soteriological terms, given the direct, practical, safety-relevant stakes of its application.

κεφαλή (kephalē) — “head” [see full analysis under Chapter 1] — reapplied here (5:23) to the husband as “head of the wife as Christ is head of the church” — must carry forward the loving, self-giving definition of headship established in Christology (1:22-23) rather than a culturally supplied definition of headship as unilateral authority. High risk, consistent with the ch. 1 entry.

φόβος (phobos) — “respect / reverence” (of a wife for her husband, 5:33)

Transliteration: phobos
Literal meaning: fear
Semantic range: terror/dread (negative sense); reverential awe/respect (positive relational sense, as used of appropriate reverence toward God and, here, toward one’s spouse)
English variants: “respect” (ESV/NIV), “reverence” (NASB), “fear” (KJV, literal but potentially misleading in English too)
Contextual theological meaning: 5:33 closes the marriage instruction calling wives to “respect” their husbands — a reverential esteem, not literal fear or dread.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium-High. Render as “respeto”, never a literal “temor,” which in a marital context could be misread as endorsing fear of one’s spouse — precisely the opposite of the passage’s pastoral intent and a serious real-world risk given the same domestic-safety concerns noted above for ὑποτάσσω. Flag for native speaker review.

μυστήριον μέγα (mystērion mega) — “great mystery” [see full μυστήριον analysis under Chapter 1] — 5:32 applies the mystery-language specifically to marriage as a living picture of Christ and the church; reinforces the letter’s consistent use of μυστήριον for a now-revealed truth, here specifically that human marriage points beyond itself to Christ’s union with his people.

Chapter 6 (6:1-24)

ὑπακούω (hypakouō) — “obey”

Transliteration: hypakouō
Literal meaning: to listen under, to obey
Semantic range: distinct from ὑποτάσσω (voluntary submission within an ordered relationship); ὑπακούω denotes direct compliance with instruction
Contextual theological meaning: 6:1 — children instructed to obey parents “in the Lord,” grounded in the Exodus 20/Deuteronomy 5 commandment quoted in 6:2-3.
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “Obedecer” is standard; the distinction from “sujetarse/someterse” (ὑποτάσσω, used of wives in ch. 5 and of slaves’ disposition in ch. 6) should be maintained rather than collapsed into a single Spanish verb, since Ephesians itself uses distinct Greek terms for these related-but-different relational postures.

τιμάω (timaō) — “honor”

Transliteration: timaō
Literal meaning: to honor, to value highly
Contextual theological meaning: 6:2 — direct quotation of the fifth commandment; “the first commandment with a promise” (6:2b).
Spanish rendering risk: Low. “Honrar” is standard.

δοῦλος (doulos) — “bondservant / slave”

Transliteration: doulos
Literal meaning: a slave, one owned by and legally bound to a master
Semantic range: in the Greco-Roman world, a legal-economic status ranging from harsh forced labor to, in some cases, positions of significant household trust and responsibility; distinct from, though related to, the metaphorical “slave of Christ” (δοῦλος Χριστοῦ) self-designation Paul uses elsewhere
English variants: “slaves” (ESV/NIV, historically precise), “servants” (KJV/older translations, softened), “bondservants” (NASB)
Contextual theological meaning: 6:5-8 addresses the real, historically-situated institution of Greco-Roman household slavery, instructing enslaved believers to serve “as to the Lord,” and 6:9 correspondingly instructs masters — the text neither fully endorses nor directly abolishes the institution but relativizes it under Christ’s lordship (6:9, “he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven”).
Spanish rendering risk: High. Recommend “esclavos” for historical accuracy (following the trend in contemporary scholarly Spanish translations) over the softening “siervos” found in some older traditions, since obscuring the term’s real historical referent can mislead learners about the actual social conditions addressed and risks either (a) implying the text more comfortably endorses modern labor relations than it does, or (b) implying it more comfortably endorses chattel slavery than the text’s own qualifications allow. A mandatory teaching note distinguishing first-century Greco-Roman household slavery (a complex, non-racialized institution with paths to manumission) from the transatlantic chattel slavery that shaped much of Latin American and Caribbean history is essential — this is a passage where historical-cultural distance from the modern reader’s own regional history of slavery must be actively managed, not assumed.

κύριος (kyrios) — “master” (of a slave, human referent)

Transliteration: kyrios
Literal meaning: identical Greek word used elsewhere in this same book for the divine “Lord” (Christ) [BASELINE REUSE: Señor, Critical risk in Romans]
Semantic range: here (6:5, 6:9) denotes a human slave-owner/master, not Christ
Contextual theological meaning: the same word is used with deliberate rhetorical effect in 6:9 (“knowing that he who is both their Master [κύριος] and yours is in heaven”) — a wordplay contrasting human and divine κύριος that is lost if the Spanish rendering does not distinguish the two referents typographically.
Spanish rendering risk: High. This is a mechanical/orthographic risk distinct from a lexical-meaning risk: because the baseline rightly reserves capitalized “Señor” exclusively for the exclusive, supreme lordship of Christ (a Critical-risk convention that must never be diluted), the human referent here must be rendered with lowercase “amo” or lowercase “señor” to avoid implying that human slave-masters share Christ’s unique divine lordship, while still preserving 6:9’s rhetorical link between the two uses of κύριος (best achieved by a translator’s note rather than by identical capitalized wording). Flag for theologian review to ensure this capitalization convention is applied consistently.

πανοπλία τοῦ θεοῦ (panoplia tou theou) — “whole armor of God”

Transliteration: panoplia tou theou
Literal meaning: full/complete armor (πᾶν + ὅπλα, “all + weapons/arms”) belonging to God
Semantic range: a Roman legionary’s complete equipment; here, entirely metaphorical spiritual equipment supplied by God, not manufactured by the believer
English variants: “whole armor of God” (ESV/KJV), “full armor of God” (NIV/NASB)
Contextual theological meaning: 6:11-17 — believers are armed by God, in God’s own strength (6:10), against “the schemes of the devil” and the “rulers… authorities… cosmic powers… spiritual forces of evil” already named in 3:10 and echoed here at 6:12 — the letter’s climactic statement of one of its nine core doctrines, “Spiritual Warfare and the Armor of God.”
Spanish rendering risk: High. “Toda la armadura de Dios” is standard and should be retained. Two distinct risk vectors require care: (1) in regions of Latin America marked by real armed violence (gang conflict, cartel violence, historical civil conflict), military metaphor can carry unintended resonances requiring careful framing as defensive, spiritual, and already-won-in-Christ (cf. 2:6’s “seated with him”) rather than literal aggression or self-defense theology; (2) the individual pieces of armor reuse several already-Critical/High baseline terms (see below) and must render those consistently rather than improvising new vocabulary for the sake of poetic variety.

θώραξ τῆς δικαιοσύνης (thōrax tēs dikaiosynēs) — “breastplate of righteousness” [reuses BASELINE: justicia, Critical risk in Romans] — 6:14; “coraza de justicia.” Note the contextual nuance: here δικαιοσύνη functions in a more ethical/practical register (righteous, godly living as protective integrity) than the strictly forensic “declared righteous” sense central to Romans 3-5, but the underlying term must remain “justicia” for lexical consistency; teach the nuance rather than substituting vocabulary. Flag High.

θυρεὸς τῆς πίστεως (thyreos tēs pisteōs) — “shield of faith” [reuses BASELINE: fe, High risk in Romans] — 6:16; “escudo de la fe.” Faith here functions as the means of quenching the enemy’s “flaming arrows” — consistent with faith’s baseline sense as trust in a specific object (God/Christ), not generic religious confidence.

περικεφαλαία τοῦ σωτηρίου (perikephalaia tou sōtēriou) — “helmet of salvation” [reuses BASELINE: salvación, Critical risk in Romans] — 6:17; “el yelmo de la salvación” (or “casco”). The same Critical cautions against a merit-and-mediation framework for salvation apply fully here.

μάχαιρα τοῦ πνεύματος, ῥῆμα θεοῦ (machaira tou pneumatos, rhēma theou) — “sword of the Spirit, the word of God”

Contextual theological meaning: 6:17 — the only offensive weapon in the list, identified as Scripture (“the word of God”), connecting to the Romans baseline’s “inspiration_of_scripture” doctrine (Medium risk).
Spanish rendering risk: Medium. “La espada del Espíritu, que es la palabra de Dios” is standard; ensure “Espíritu” is capitalized (Espíritu Santo, per baseline) and consistent with the rest of the book.

μεθοδεία τοῦ διαβόλου (methodeia tou diabolou) — “schemes/wiles of the devil”

Transliteration: methodeia tou diabolou
Literal meaning: crafty methods, schemes (root of English “method,” but with a deliberately negative, deceptive connotation here)
Semantic range: cunning, systematic deception
Contextual theological meaning: 6:11 — the purpose of the armor is explicitly defensive, “that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” — a real, personal adversary, not an abstract impersonal evil.
Spanish rendering risk: High. “Las asechanzas/artimañas del diablo” is standard. As with 2:2’s “prince of the power of the air” and 3:10’s “rulers and authorities,” this risks being absorbed into existing folk-magic protective frameworks widespread in Latin America and the Caribbean (protective amulets, “limpias,” santos/objects invoked for spiritual protection, Santería and curanderismo practices addressing malevolent spiritual attack). Teach explicitly that the armor of God (prayer, truth, righteousness, faith, the gospel, Scripture) is the sufficient and exclusive means of spiritual protection in Ephesians’ own framework — not one protective option to be combined with folk-protective practices.

προσευχή καὶ δέησις (proseuchē kai deēsis) — “prayer and supplication” [connects to BASELINE: intercesión, Critical risk in Romans] — 6:18 instructs believers to pray “at all times… for all the saints” [BASELINE REUSE: santos]. The same Critical caution applies: this is the believer’s own direct praying for other believers, not a model of saint- or Marian-intercession; and “santos” here again requires the corporate-believer clarifying note. Flag for mandatory theologian review, consistent with baseline escalation rules for both “intercesión” and “santos.”

Summary of New Terms Requiring Language Package Addition

The following terms are newly introduced by Ephesians and are not present in the Romans baseline translation_memory.json/bible_term_registry.json. All are proposed for formal addition in 08_core_glossary.md, with risk tiers assigned using the identical Critical/High/Medium/Low framework the baseline establishes:

Critical: mystery (misterio); body of Christ, ecclesiological (cuerpo de Cristo); the perfect-tense “saved by grace” construction (salvos por gracia); good works as fruit not ground of salvation (buenas obras); gift of salvation (don/regalo de Dios)

High: predestined (predestinar); redemption (redención); prince of the power of the air (príncipe de la potestad del aire); flesh (carne, in this ethical sense); children of wrath (hijos de ira); wrath (ira); made/raised/seated together with Christ (juntamente con Cristo); head (cabeza); one new humanity (una nueva humanidad); rulers and authorities (principados y potestades); working/energy of God (poder que actúa, never energía); unity (unidad); baptism (bautismo); old self/new self (el viejo/nuevo hombre, individual sense); submit (someterse); slave/bondservant (esclavo); master, human referent (amo/señor, lowercase); armor of God (armadura de Dios); schemes of the devil (asechanzas del diablo); breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, helmet of salvation (inherit Critical/High status from underlying baseline terms)

Medium: mercy (misericordia); fullness (plenitud); forgiveness (perdón); dividing wall (pared de separación); fellow citizens (conciudadanos); temple, metaphorical (templo); stewardship/administration (administración); inner man (hombre interior); pastor/shepherd (pastor); evangelist (evangelista); offering and sacrifice (ofrenda y sacrificio); light/darkness (luz/tinieblas); filled with the Spirit (llenos del Espíritu); respect (respeto, 5:33); obey (obedecer); guarantee/seal deposit (garantía/arras); seal (sellar); heavenly places (lugares celestiales); workmanship (hechura); dead (in sin) (muerto); transgression (transgresión)

Low: cornerstone (piedra angular); kindness (bondad); love (amor); boast (gloriarse); prepared beforehand (preparar de antemano); honor (honrar); belt of truth (cinto de la verdad)

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