Core Glossary | tri-bible.ai Library

Core Glossary

translation_memory.json is the enforced glossary for every Phase 2 translation in this curriculum. This document summarizes its shape and the principles behind it; see the Glossary Risk Groups for the full per-term entries.

Composition

The glossary currently holds 47 terms spanning all four risk tiers, drawn from the doctrines identified in Doctrine Analysis and grounded in the cultural risks identified in Culture Analysis. Every term entry records:

The approved Swedish translation (and a transliteration/pronunciation field, mostly mirroring the translation since Swedish uses Latin script)
The doctrine risk tier (Critical/High/Medium/Low)
Explicitly rejected alternatives, with reasons
Notes explaining any non-obvious translation choice

Governing principles

Doctrinal precision over readability shortcuts — where Svenska Folkbibeln preserves sharper Reformation-era vocabulary than Bibel 2000’s more dynamic-equivalence choices, this glossary follows the more precise rendering (e.g. tillräknad rättfärdighet).
Active reinforcement over silent assumption — every High-risk term in this glossary is High-risk because its doctrinal sense has eroded relative to a dominant secular sense (tro, synd, frälsning, kallelse), not because a rival tradition claims the word; the notes field flags this so translators reinforce meaning rather than assume it.
Version-controlled and append-only in Phase 2 — if a new term is discovered during document translation, it is added to translation memory and the version number incremented, never silently improvised per-document.

Relationship to the Doctrine Risk Registry

Every glossary term’s doctrine field links back to an entry in doctrine_risk_registry.json, so a term’s risk tier is always traceable to the specific doctrine it protects — the glossary enforces vocabulary, the doctrine registry explains why that vocabulary matters.

Critical Risk Terms

Imputed Righteousness

Approved rendering: tillräknad rättfärdighet
Transliteration: tillräknad rättfärdighet
Doctrine: Justification by Faith
Rejected alternatives: förtjänad rättfärdighet

CRITICAL: ‘tillräkna’ (to impute/reckon/credit) is the precise Lutheran dogmatic verb, parallel to German ‘zurechnen’, central to Romans 4’s forensic argument.

Justification

Approved rendering: rättfärdiggörelse
Transliteration: rättfärdiggörelse
Doctrine: Salvation

CRITICAL: formally remains Svenska kyrkan’s (Church of Sweden) confessional Lutheran doctrine, but widespread secularization and folk-church (‘folkkyrka’) culture mean most nominal members have little catechetical grounding in what this term actually means.

Righteousness

Approved rendering: rättfärdighet
Transliteration: rättfärdighet
Doctrine: Salvation
Rejected alternatives: dygd

CRITICAL: shared Lutheran Reformation-era doctrinal core; a right standing given and credited through faith, not human moral virtue (‘dygd’).

Son Of God

Approved rendering: Guds Son
Transliteration: Guds Son
Doctrine: Sonship of Christ

CRITICAL: full phrase required, conveying eternal, unique Sonship.

High Risk Terms

Church

Approved rendering: församling
Transliteration: församling
Doctrine: Church as God’s People
Rejected alternatives: kyrka (institution-default)

HIGH RISK: Svenska kyrkan (the historic state/folk church) uses ‘kyrka’ institutionally; Free churches (Frikyrkor — Pentecostal, Baptist, and Missionsförbundet-descended traditions, historically important minority movements that broke from the state church over exactly this ecclesiology in the 19th-century väckelserörelsen) prefer ‘församling’ to signal a gathered-believers ecclesiology distinct from Svenska kyrkan’s territorial parish model.

Election

Approved rendering: utkorelse
Transliteration: utkorelse
Doctrine: Effectual Calling
Rejected alternatives: val (everyday political-election word, explicitly avoided)

Swedish Lutheran tradition, unlike Dutch/German Reformed tradition, tends toward a more pastoral, comfort-oriented emphasis on election rather than a fully systematized double-predestination decree. ‘Utkorelse’ is the formal theological term, distinct from everyday ‘val’ (election/vote, as in riksdagsval), which somewhat insulates it from the democratic-choice flattening risk seen in French, Dutch, and Italian.

Faith

Approved rendering: tro
Transliteration: tro
Doctrine: Faith

HIGH RISK, distinctly Swedish: ‘tro’ is also the ordinary verb for ‘to think/suppose’ used constantly in non-religious speech (‘jag tror att…’), risking a much stronger flattening toward mere opinion than in most cognate languages in this batch.

God

Approved rendering: Gud
Transliteration: Gud
Doctrine: Deity of Christ

HIGH RISK: Sweden is frequently cited as one of the most secular societies on earth by international surveys, despite most Swedes historically remaining nominal Svenska kyrkan members by default; ‘Gud’ is often encountered as cultural-heritage vocabulary (Christmas, weddings, funerals) rather than a live personal claim for a large share of readers.

Grace

Approved rendering: nåd
Transliteration: nåd
Doctrine: Grace
Rejected alternatives: välvilja

Lutheran ‘nåd allena’ (sola gratia) is doctrinally central. Note: conservative critics of the more dynamic-equivalence Bibel 2000 translation have specifically argued it sometimes smooths over sharp Reformation-era vocabulary; the more literal Svenska Folkbibeln is preferred for this term’s precision.

Law

Approved rendering: lag
Transliteration: lag
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy

‘Lag och evangelium’ (law and gospel) is a cornerstone Lutheran homiletic dialectic, central to Swedish Lutheran preaching tradition just as in German.

Obedience Of Faith

Approved rendering: trons lydnad
Transliteration: trons lydnad
Doctrine: Obedience of Faith

Romans 1:5, 16:26. Must be guarded against reintroducing works-righteousness; obedience is fruit of faith, not its precondition, per Lutheran sola fide.

Salvation

Approved rendering: frälsning
Transliteration: frälsning
Doctrine: Salvation

HIGH RISK, distinctly Swedish: ‘frälsning’ is strongly and almost exclusively associated in contemporary secular usage with the Frälsningsarmén (Salvation Army) as a charity brand, and with older revivalist (‘väckelserörelse’) preaching style, risking a dated/institutional reading rather than a live personal category for secular or lightly-churched readers.

Sin

Approved rendering: synd
Transliteration: synd
Doctrine: Universal Human Accountability

HIGH RISK, distinctly Swedish: colloquial ‘synd’ overwhelmingly means ‘a pity/shame’ (‘så synd!’, ‘det är synd om honom’) in everyday speech, arguably the dominant sense entirely, an even sharper version of the pan-Germanic sin-word-drift-to-pity pattern than in German or Dutch.

Medium Risk Terms

Abba

Approved rendering: Abba
Transliteration: Abba
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family

Aramaic term of intimacy preserved as ‘Abba! Fader!’ across Swedish Bible translations (Romans 8:15).

Adoption

Approved rendering: barnaskap
Transliteration: barnaskap
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: adoption (bare, legal-procedural)

The classic theological term (used in the 1917 Bible translation) for huiothesia; bare modern ‘adoption’ now defaults to the legal-procedural process, risking loss of the full-son-status resonance.

Called

Approved rendering: kallad
Transliteration: kallad
Doctrine: Divine Calling

Context-sensitive: in 1:1 = called to apostleship; in 1:7 = called to be saints; in 8:28-30 = effectual calling to salvation.

Calling

Approved rendering: kallelse
Transliteration: kallelse
Doctrine: Divine Calling

‘Kallelse’ is the ordinary, very much alive Swedish word for career/life calling, a common positive self-actualization concept in modern Swedish culture (‘hitta sin kallelse’), risking a humanistic reading over God’s sovereign initiative.

Covenant

Approved rendering: förbund
Transliteration: förbund
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant

Relational covenant bond, established biblical Swedish usage.

Father

Approved rendering: Fader
Transliteration: Fader
Doctrine: Adoption into God’s Family
Rejected alternatives: pappa (too casual)

‘Fader’ is the elevated liturgical register (Fader vår, the Lord’s Prayer) preserved in Bible translation, distinct from ordinary modern ‘pappa’.

Fellowship

Approved rendering: gemenskap
Transliteration: gemenskap
Doctrine: Christian Fellowship

‘De heligas gemenskap’ (communion of saints, from the Apostles’ Creed/trosbekännelsen) is the classic phrase; ‘gemenskap’ is also the ordinary secular word for community, requiring context to keep the koinonia sense specific.

Gentiles

Approved rendering: hedningar
Transliteration: hedningar
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles

Carries a pejorative ‘uncivilized/irreligious’ secular connotation, similar to German ‘Heiden’ and Dutch ‘heidenen’.

Glory

Approved rendering: härlighet
Transliteration: härlighet
Doctrine: Deity of Christ

God’s radiant presence and honor.

Holy Spirit

Approved rendering: den helige Ande
Transliteration: den helige Ande
Doctrine: Sanctification

The personal third Person of the Trinity; no competing deity-concept risk in Swedish culture.

Holy

Approved rendering: helig
Transliteration: helig
Doctrine: Sanctification
Rejected alternatives: ren

Set apart for God and morally pure; ‘ren’ alone loses the set-apart sense.

Incarnation

Approved rendering: människoblivande
Transliteration: människoblivande
Doctrine: Incarnation

Native compound (becoming human) preferred in catechetical/preaching register over the Latinate ‘inkarnation’, more common in academic/ecumenical register. A register choice, not a doctrinal contradiction.

Intercession

Approved rendering: förbön
Transliteration: förbön
Doctrine: Prayer and Intercession

Standard liturgical term used broadly across Svenska kyrkan and Free church worship alike.

Israel

Approved rendering: Israel
Transliteration: Israel
Doctrine: Unity of Jews and Gentiles

Swedish mainstream media and public discourse have historically leaned more critical of Israeli state policy than some other Western countries; reviewers should keep biblical Israel distinct from either direction of contemporary political framing.

Kingdom Of God

Approved rendering: Guds rike
Transliteration: Guds rike
Doctrine: Kingdom Mission

God’s sovereign reign; distinguish from any political kingdom association.

Lord

Approved rendering: Herre
Transliteration: Herre
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ

Romans 10:9 ‘Jesus är Herre.’ ‘Herre’ is fairly archaic/elevated register in contemporary spoken Swedish, unlike German ‘Herr’, which somewhat protects it from everyday-title flattening but can feel distant or old-fashioned to a secular reader unfamiliar with religious register.

Messiah

Approved rendering: Messias
Transliteration: Messias
Doctrine: Messianic Promise

The Anointed One fulfilling OT promise.

Mission

Approved rendering: mission
Transliteration: mission
Doctrine: Mission to the Nations

Sweden has a substantial historical missionary-sending tradition (Svenska Missionsförbundet, missionaries to Congo, China) still culturally remembered, alongside some contemporary theological self-reflection on this history.

Power Of God

Approved rendering: Guds kraft
Transliteration: Guds kraft
Doctrine: Power of God for Salvation

Sovereign, saving capability.

Providence

Approved rendering: försyn
Transliteration: försyn
Doctrine: Providence

Also carries Enlightenment/deist philosophical usage in Swedish, similar to German ‘Vorsehung’ and French ‘providence’; must render Romans 8:28’s providence as personal and purposive, not deist.

Resurrection

Approved rendering: uppståndelse
Transliteration: uppståndelse
Doctrine: Resurrection of Christ

Bodily, historical, once-for-all event; no competing reincarnation folk-concept in Swedish culture.

Saints

Approved rendering: de heliga
Transliteration: de heliga
Doctrine: Sainthood

Sweden’s Lutheran heritage means less intense saint-veneration culture than Catholic countries, but Sweden’s own pre-Reformation saint (Sankta Birgitta, St. Bridget of Sweden) is still culturally present, so the canonized-saint association is not entirely absent even here.

Sanctification

Approved rendering: helgelse
Transliteration: helgelse
Doctrine: Sanctification

The Spirit’s ongoing work of making believers holy.

Seed Of David

Approved rendering: ättling till David
Transliteration: ättling till David
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant
Rejected alternatives: av Davids säd (archaic/clinical register)

The 1917 translation’s literal ‘av Davids säd’ is now archaic; modern ‘säd’ primarily denotes grain/crop or clinical seed. Bibel 2000 and Svenska Folkbibeln both prefer ‘ättling till David’ (descendant of David) — a pattern shared across most cognate languages in this batch.

Spiritual Gifts

Approved rendering: nådegåvor
Transliteration: nådegåvor
Doctrine: Spiritual Gifts

‘Nådegåvor’ (grace-gifts) ties the gifts explicitly to grace, the precise Lutheran/Reformed rendering.

Low Risk Terms

Apostle

Approved rendering: apostel
Transliteration: apostel
Doctrine: Apostleship

Stable, shared term across all Swedish Bible traditions.

David

Approved rendering: David
Transliteration: David
Doctrine: Davidic Covenant

Standard proper name form across all Swedish traditions.

Exhort

Approved rendering: förmana
Transliteration: förmana
Doctrine: Mutual Edification

Context-sensitive: ‘förmana’ leans toward admonish/warn; use ‘uppmuntra’ (encourage) for the building-up sense.

Gospel

Approved rendering: evangelium
Transliteration: evangelium
Doctrine: Gospel

Shared, stable term across Bibel 2000 and Svenska Folkbibeln.

Jesus

Approved rendering: Jesus
Transliteration: Jesus
Doctrine: Lordship of Christ

Stable across all Swedish traditions.

Peace

Approved rendering: frid
Transliteration: frid
Doctrine: Peace with God
Rejected alternatives: fred (political/absence-of-war peace)

Swedish usefully distinguishes theological/solemn ‘frid’ (used in blessing formulas, ‘Herrens frid’) from ordinary political ‘fred’ (absence of war) — a built-in lexical asset reducing ambiguity here relative to most languages in this batch.

Prophecy

Approved rendering: profetia
Transliteration: profetia
Doctrine: Fulfillment of Prophecy

God-inspired declaration.

Prophet

Approved rendering: profet
Transliteration: profet
Doctrine: Inspiration of Scripture

God’s spokesperson.

Thanksgiving

Approved rendering: tacksägelse
Transliteration: tacksägelse
Doctrine: Thanksgiving

Standard term. No significant risk.