Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 1 John (English–Thai)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing theological term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, across the entire book of 1 John (chapters 1–5). Terms already established in the baseline Romans/Galatians translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json are marked [REUSED] and must be rendered exactly as recorded there. Terms new to 1 John are marked [NEW] and are proposed here for addition to translation memory, risk-tiered using the same Critical/High/Medium/Low framework as the baseline.
Section 1 — Reused Baseline Terms (Render Exactly as Recorded)
| Term | Greek | Thai Rendering | Risk (baseline) | 1 John Occurrences | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | θεός | พระเจ้า | Critical | Throughout | No deviation permitted; never เทวดา/พระพรหม |
| Jesus | Ἰησοῦς | พระเยซู | Critical | 1:3; 2:1, 22; 4:2-3, 15; 5:1, 5-6, 20 | — |
| Christ | Χριστός | พระคริสต์ | Critical | 1:3; 2:1, 22; 4:2; 5:1, 6 | — |
| Son of God | υἱὸς θεοῦ | พระบุตรของพระเจ้า | Critical | 1:3, 7; 3:8, 23; 4:9-10, 15; 5:5, 9-13, 20 | Reserve พระบุตร honorific for Christ only; see “children of God” [NEW] below for the believer-referent distinction |
| Holy Spirit | πνεῦμα ἅγιον | พระวิญญาณบริสุทธิ์ | Critical | 3:24; 4:2, 6, 13; 5:6-8 | Also applies to abbreviated “his Spirit” (τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ) |
| Father | πατήρ | พระบิดา | High | 1:2-3; 2:1, 13-16, 22-24; 3:1; 4:14 | — |
| faith / believe | πίστις / πιστεύω | ความเชื่อ | Medium | 3:23; 4:1, 16; 5:1, 4-5, 10, 13 | Object of faith explicitly Christ throughout — reinforces baseline caution |
| sin | ἁμαρτία | บาป | High | 1:7-10; 2:2, 12; 3:4-9; 4:10; 5:16-17 | Anchor to offense against personal God, not impersonal negative karma |
| righteousness | δικαιοσύνη | ความชอบธรรม | Critical | 2:29; 3:7, 10 | Practice of righteousness is fruit/evidence, never the ground, of new birth |
| fellowship | κοινωνία | การสามัคคีธรรม | Low | 1:3, 6-7 | Extended here to dual fellowship (with God AND with one another) |
| salvation (implied family) | σωτηρία root | ความรอด | Critical | (underlies 4:14’s Savior, 5:11-13) | — |
| revelation (gloss-family) | φανερόω/ἀποκάλυψις root | ทรงสำแดง | Medium-High | 1:2; 3:5, 8; 4:9 | φανερόω is a distinct Greek root from the Galatians baseline’s ἀποκάλυψις but shares the Thai gloss-family |
| resurrection (forbidden-substitution precedent) | ἀνάστασις root | การเป็นขึ้นจากตาย | Critical | (precedent governs “born of God” below) | Establishes the เกิดใหม่ forbidden-substitution rule extended in this book |
| exhort/encourage | παρακαλέω root | หนุนใจ | Low | (register precedent for παράκλητος below) | Distinct word (παράκλητος) but shares root; do not conflate renderings |
Section 2 — New Terms Introduced by 1 John
| Term | Greek (Transliteration) | Thai Rendering | Transliteration | Risk | Doctrine | Rejected Alternatives | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| God is Light | ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν (ho theos phōs estin) | พระเจ้าทรงเป็นความสว่าง | Phra Chao song pen khwam sawang | Critical | God is Light and God is Love | แสงแห่งปัญญา (light of enlightened wisdom) | Anarthrous predicate marks essential nature, not exhaustive definition; must not be read as impersonal cosmic principle |
| God is Love | ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν (ho theos agapē estin) | พระเจ้าทรงเป็นความรัก | Phra Chao song pen khwam rak | Critical | God is Light and God is Love | เมตตา, กรุณา (cultivated Buddhist virtues) as primary gloss | The letter’s central ontological claim; God as personal subject must never be lost |
| love | ἀγάπη (agapē) | ความรัก | khwam rak | Critical | God is Light and God is Love; Love for the Brethren | เมตตา, กรุณา (as primary gloss) | Must be distinguished from romantic love and from cultivated virtue; sourced in God’s own being |
| light | φῶς (phōs) | ความสว่าง | khwam sawang | High | God is Light and God is Love | แสงแห่งปัญญา (light of wisdom/enlightenment) | Moral purity and truthful self-revelation, not attained enlightenment |
| darkness | σκότος / σκοτία (skotos/skotia) | ความมืด | khwam mued | Medium | God is Light and God is Love | — | Moral/relational separation from God, not mere ignorance |
| walk (conduct) | περιπατέω (peripateō) | ดำเนินชีวิต | damnoen chiwit | Low | Fellowship with God and One Another | — | Standard ethical-conduct idiom |
| blood (of Christ) | αἷμα (haima) | พระโลหิต | Phra Lohit | Medium | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | เลือด (ordinary word, insufficiently sacred register) | Distinguish from folk-animist blood-offerings to spirits |
| cleanse | καθαρίζω (katharizō) | ทรงชำระ | song chamra | Medium-High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | รดน้ำมนต์ (ritual holy-water blessing) as functional equivalent | Forensic/relational act by God via Christ’s blood, not ritual or meditative self-purification |
| confess (sin) | ὁμολογέω (homologeō) | สารภาพบาป | sarapap bap | High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | สารภาพต่อพระ (monastic-mediated confession) as the operative model | Confession is directly to God, for God’s forgiveness, not social/ritual restoration |
| forgive | ἀφίημι (aphiēmi) | ทรงโปรดยกบาป | song prot yok bap | High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | ให้อภัย (purely interpersonal grudge-release) as sole sense | Judicial debt-release grounded in Christ’s atoning blood |
| faithful and just (of God) | πιστός καὶ δίκαιος (pistos kai dikaios) | ทรงสัตย์ซื่อและเที่ยงธรรม | song sat sue lae thiang tham | Critical | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | — | Forgiveness flows from God’s own reliable, righteous character, not compensating merit |
| Word of life | ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς (ho logos tēs zōēs) | พระวาทะแห่งชีวิต | Phra Watha haeng chiwit | High | The Incarnation and Antichrist | ถ้อยคำ/ข่าวสาร (generic “message/word,” losing the Christological title) | Must retain the John 1:1 Logos-title link |
| eternal life | ζωὴ αἰώνιος (zōē aiōnios) | ชีวิตนิรันดร์ | chiwit nirandon | Critical | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | นิพพาน (cessation of rebirth/craving) | Relational, personal, already-possessed gift; not self-attained cessation of existence |
| commandment | ἐντολή (entolē) | พระบัญญัติ | Phra Banyat | Medium | Love for the Brethren; Fellowship | ธรรมบัญญัติ (Mosaic Law code, baseline term — distinct referent) | Direct instruction of Christ/God; obedience flows from love received, not merit-building |
| abide | μένω (menō) | ทรงดำรงอยู่ / อยู่ใน | song damrong yu / yu nai | High | Fellowship with God and One Another | ไปเยี่ยม/พักชั่วคราว (temporary visiting) as functional equivalent | Structural keyword of the whole letter (~24 occurrences); settled mutual indwelling, not occasional presence |
| world (dual sense) | κόσμος (kosmos) | โลก | lok | High | Overcoming the World; The Incarnation | — | Context must disambiguate positive (object of God’s love) vs. negative (rebellious world-system) senses |
| lust/desire (disordered) | ἐπιθυμία (epithymia) | ความปรารถนาที่ชั่ว | khwam prarttana thi chua | Critical | Overcoming the World | ตัณหา (Buddhist technical term for craving, root of suffering); กิเลส (defilements) | Must not import a self-effort meditative-discipline framework for addressing desire |
| antichrist | ἀντίχριστος (antichristos) | ปฏิปักษ์ของพระคริสต์ | patipak khong Phra Khrit | Critical | The Incarnation and Antichrist | มารร้าย used interchangeably with “antichrist” (conflates distinct concepts) | Names doctrinal denial of Father/Son and of the Incarnation, present and plural, not only a single future evil figure |
| anointing | χρῖσμα (chrisma) | การทรงเจิม | kan song choem | High | Testing the Spirits | เจิม (secular/ritual blessing of objects); ปลุกเสก (amulet empowerment ritual) as functional equivalent | Holy Spirit’s teaching/discernment-giving indwelling of every believer |
| liar | ψεύστης (pseustēs) | คนมุสา | khon musa | Medium | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin; Testing the Spirits | — | Self-contradictory, spiritually diagnostic falsehood, not mere social exaggeration |
| the last hour | ἐσχάτη ὥρα (eschatē hōra) | วาระสุดท้าย | wara sut thai | Medium | The Incarnation and Antichrist | ช่วงเวลาไม่ดี (astrological “bad time”) | Final eschatological period inaugurated by Christ, not astrological omen |
| children of God (believers) | τέκνα θεοῦ (tekna theou) | บุตรของพระเจ้า (no พระ honorific) | but khong Phra Chao | High | Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | พระบุตรของพระเจ้า applied to believers (honorific overreach) | Must preserve honorific asymmetry vs. Christ’s พระบุตร to keep unique Sonship distinct from believers’ derived sonship |
| lawlessness | ἀνομία (anomia) | การล่วงละเมิดพระบัญญัติของพระเจ้า / ความอธรรม | kan luang lamoet Phra Banyat khong Phra Chao | Medium | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | — | Broader than Mosaic ceremonial violation; sin’s character as rebellion against God’s authority as such |
| God’s seed (abiding) | σπέρμα αὐτοῦ (sperma autou) | เชื้อของพระองค์ | chuea khong Phra-ong | Medium | Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | เชื้อสาย (baseline’s lineage term — distinct referent) | Divine generative principle of new birth, not physical/covenantal lineage |
| devil / evil one | διάβολος / ὁ πονηρός (diabolos / ho ponēros) | มาร / ผู้ชั่วร้าย | man / phu chua rai | High | The Incarnation and Antichrist; Overcoming the World | — | Must be distinguished from the Buddhist tempter-deity Māra within a karmic cosmology; a uniquely fallen, personally rebellious being |
| born of God | γεννηθῆναι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ (gennēthēnai ek tou theou) | บังเกิดจากพระเจ้า | bangkoet chak Phra Chao | Critical | Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth; Overcoming the World | เกิดใหม่ (rebirth/reincarnation — forbidden per baseline precedent) | Third recurrence of the baseline’s เกิดใหม่ forbidden-substitution rule; letter’s central recurring phrase |
| test the spirits | δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα (dokimazete ta pneumata) | จงพิสูจน์วิญญาณทั้งหลาย | chong phisut winyan thang lai | Critical | Testing the Spirits | ร่างทรง-style trance discernment as the operative method | Test is doctrinal-propositional (confession of Christ come in flesh), not experiential-mediumistic |
| spirit of truth / spirit of error | πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας / πλάνης | พระวิญญาณแห่งความจริง / วิญญาณแห่งความผิดพลาด | Phra Winyan haeng khwam jing / winyan haeng khwam phit phlat | High | Testing the Spirits | — | Honorific พระ reserved for the divine Spirit of truth only |
| propitiation | ἱλασμός (hilasmos) | เครื่องบูชาลบล้างบาป | khrueang bucha lopblang bap | Critical | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin; The Incarnation and Antichrist | ปลดเปลื้องกรรม (clearing one’s own karmic debt, forbidden per baseline “redeem”) | Highest folk-religion collision risk in the letter: God’s own initiative to satisfy his own righteousness, not spirit-appeasement offering (เซ่นไหว้/แก้บน) |
| Savior | σωτήρ (sōtēr) | พระผู้ช่วยให้รอด | Phra Phu Chuai Hai Rot | Critical | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | หลุดพ้น-style self-liberation teacher | Rescues by his own action; consistent with baseline ความรอด exclusivity |
| perfected (love) | τελειόω / τελείωσις (teleioō) | บริบูรณ์ / สมบูรณ์ | booribun / sombun | High | God is Light and God is Love; Fellowship | บารมี (accumulated moral perfection across lifetimes — forbidden per baseline “grace”/“glory”) | Love reaching its intended, God-sourced goal through the believer, not a self-accumulated attainment |
| fear / torment | φόβος / κόλασις (phobos / kolasis) | ความกลัว / การลงโทษ | khwam klua / kan long thot | Medium | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | ผลกรรม (impersonal karmic ripening) for “torment” | Servile dread of penal judgment before a personal Judge, displaced by perfected love |
| day of judgment | ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως (hēmera tēs kriseōs) | วันพิพากษา | wan phiphaksa | High | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | พญายม-style karmic weighing of deeds | Personal God’s final assessment of those already secured in Christ, not an impersonal karmic tribunal |
| confidence / boldness | παρρησία (parrēsia) | ความมั่นใจ | khwam manjai | Medium-High | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life; Fellowship | ความหวังว่าจะโชคดี (hope for good fortune) | Settled confidence grounded in completed standing in Christ, not uncertain merit balance |
| overcome the world | νικᾶν τὸν κόσμον (nikan ton kosmon) | มีชัยชนะเหนือโลก | mi chaichana nuea lok | Critical | Overcoming the World | เอาชนะกิเลสด้วยตนเอง (self-attained detachment via meditative discipline) | Fourth recurrence of the self-attainment-vs-given-gift inversion risk (after grace, salvation, freedom); grounded in birth from God and faith, not self-effort |
| advocate | παράκλητος (paraklētos) | ผู้ช่วยเหลือ | phu chuai leua | High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | เส้นสาย-style influence-broker (patron-client favor-trading) | Righteous, atoning-sacrifice-grounded intercession, not leveraged personal influence |
| testimony / witness (testify) | μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω (martyria / martyreō) | คำพยาน / เป็นพยาน | kham phayan / pen phayan | Medium | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life; The Incarnation and Antichrist | คำบอกเล่าของร่างทรง (a spirit-medium’s trance report) | Eyewitness, forensic, publicly verifiable testimony |
| water and blood (as witnesses) | ὕδωρ καὶ αἷμα (hydōr kai haima) | น้ำและพระโลหิต | nam lae Phra Lohit | Medium-High | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | รดน้ำมนต์ (ritual holy-water blessing) without historical anchoring | Tied to specific historical events (Jesus’ baptism and crucifixion); requires explanatory note |
| sin unto death / not unto death | ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον | บาปที่นำไปสู่ความตาย / บาปที่ไม่นำไปสู่ความตาย | bap thi nam pai su khwam tai / bap thi mai nam pai su khwam tai | High | Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | ครุกรรม / ลหุกรรม (Buddhist heavy-karma/light-karma severity categories) | Personal, relational category tied to efficacy of intercessory prayer, not an impersonal karmic-severity mechanism |
| idols | εἴδωλα (eidōla) | รูปเคารพ | rup khaorop | Critical | God is Light and God is Love (closing summary application) | (none viable — term itself is standard but requires heavy pastoral framing) | Highest cultural-sensitivity flag in the book: risk of being heard as direct denunciation of Buddha-image veneration (พระพุทธรูป) and spirit-house practice (ศาลพระภูมิ); requires theologian + native-speaker collaborative review and explicit pastoral framing per the analysis document |
Section 3 — Doctrine-to-Term Cross-Reference
| Curriculum Doctrine | Primary New Terms | Primary Reused Terms |
|---|---|---|
| God is Light and God is Love | light, darkness, God is Love, God is Light, love, perfected (love) | — |
| Fellowship with God and One Another | abide, walk, commandment, advocate | fellowship (การสามัคคีธรรม) |
| Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | confess (sin), forgive, cleanse, blood, faithful and just, propitiation, advocate, sin unto death | sin (บาป), righteousness (ความชอบธรรม) |
| Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | born of God, children of God, God’s seed, lawlessness, love | fellowship, righteousness |
| The Incarnation and Antichrist | antichrist, Word of life, devil/evil one, the last hour, spirit of truth/error, propitiation | Son of God, Jesus, Christ |
| Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | eternal life, Savior, confidence/boldness, day of judgment, fear/torment, testimony, water and blood | Holy Spirit, faith |
| Overcoming the World | overcome the world, world, lust/desire, born of God | faith |
| Testing the Spirits | test the spirits, anointing, spirit of truth/spirit of error | Holy Spirit |
This glossary extends the baseline Romans/Galatians Language Package for Thai and must be loaded alongside translation_memory.json and bible_term_registry.json before any Phase 2 translation of 1 John materials. All [NEW] entries above require formal addition to translation_memory.json (with version increment) and bible_term_registry.json, and Critical/High entries require human theologian review flagging per the baseline AI requirements document’s escalation rules, before Phase 2 segment translation begins.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: พระเจ้า
Transliteration: Phra Chao
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: เทวดา, พระพรหม
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans baseline package exactly; never เทวดา or พระพรหม. 1 John’s repeated ‘God is…’ ontological statements (light, love) require the personal subject to remain explicit throughout.
Jesus
Approved rendering: พระเยซู
Transliteration: Phra Yesu
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans baseline package exactly. Standard Thai Bible form.
Christ
Approved rendering: พระคริสต์
Transliteration: Phra Khrit
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: Χριστός
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans/Galatians baseline package exactly. Central to the letter’s confession test (4:2-3, 15; 5:1).
Son Of God
Approved rendering: พระบุตรของพระเจ้า
Transliteration: Phra But khong Phra Chao
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: เทพบุตร, อวตารของพระเจ้า
Original: υἱὸς θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans baseline package exactly. In 1 John the พระ honorific must be reserved for Christ’s unique, co-equal Sonship only; believers’ derived sonship uses the unprefixed บุตร (see children_of_god). Collapsing this asymmetry either overstates believers’ status or understates Christ’s unique deity.
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: พระวิญญาณบริสุทธิ์
Transliteration: Phra Winyan Borisut
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: วิญญาณ, ผี
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans baseline package exactly, including for abbreviated references (‘his Spirit,’ τὸ πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ, 4:13; ‘the Spirit of truth,’ 4:6). Never วิญญาณ alone or ผี.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: ความชอบธรรม
Transliteration: khwam chop tham
Doctrine: Sin as Lawlessness and the Practice of Righteousness
Rejected alternatives: บุญกุศล, ความดี
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans baseline package exactly. ‘Practicing righteousness’ (3:7, 10) is presented as the observable fruit/evidence of new birth, never its ground or means — 1 John’s own logic reinforces rather than complicates the baseline’s caution against ความชอบธรรม as an accumulated moral score.
Salvation
Approved rendering: ความรอด
Transliteration: khwam rot
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: การบรรลุนิพพาน, การหลุดพ้น
Original: σωτηρία
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans baseline package exactly. Underlies the savior title (4:14, พระผู้ช่วยให้รอด) and the eternal_life entry.
Resurrection
Approved rendering: การเป็นขึ้นจากตาย
Transliteration: kan pen khuen chak tai
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: การเกิดใหม่, การกลับชาติมาเกิด
Inherited from Romans baseline package exactly. Establishes the เกิดใหม่ forbidden-substitution precedent that governs ‘born of God’ (see born_of_god) below — 1 John’s usage is this rule’s third distinct recurrence in the pipeline, after resurrection itself and Galatians’ new_creation.
New Creation
Approved rendering: การทรงสร้างใหม่
Transliteration: kan song sang mai
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: การเกิดใหม่
Inherited from the Galatians baseline package exactly. A second precedent (alongside resurrection) for the เกิดใหม่ forbidden-substitution rule, extended a third time in 1 John to ‘born of God’ (see born_of_god).
God Is Light
Approved rendering: พระเจ้าทรงเป็นความสว่าง
Transliteration: Phra Chao song pen khwam sawang
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: แสงแห่งปัญญา
Original: ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν
Category: God
1 John 1:5. Anarthrous predicate marks essential character, not exhaustive definition. Must retain God as personal grammatical subject; must not be read as an impersonal cosmic principle or as แสงแห่งปัญญา, the Buddhist ‘light of wisdom’ attained through insight and mental cultivation.
God Is Love
Approved rendering: พระเจ้าทรงเป็นความรัก
Transliteration: Phra Chao song pen khwam rak
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: เมตตา, กรุณา
Original: ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν
Category: God
1 John 4:8, 16. The single highest-stakes rendering decision in the letter and the core passage’s thesis. Must retain God as personal grammatical subject predicating ความรัก; never read as an impersonal ultimate principle of which God is one expression; เมตตา/กรุณา (cultivated Buddhist virtues developed through discipline) are not viable substitutes for an uncreated attribute of a personal God’s own being.
Love
Approved rendering: ความรัก
Transliteration: khwam rak
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: เมตตา (as primary gloss), กรุณา (as primary gloss)
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Ethics
ความรัก itself carries no inherent error but must be explicitly distinguished from romantic/sentimental love and from เมตตา/กรุณา, cultivated dispositions developed through discipline, rather than an uncreated attribute of a personal God from which a distinct new nature is born (4:7, 19). Pervasive across chs. 3-4; must be rendered identically at every occurrence.
Faithful And Just
Approved rendering: ทรงสัตย์ซื่อและเที่ยงธรรม
Transliteration: song sat sue lae thiang tham
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: πιστός καὶ δίκαιος
Category: God
1:9. God’s forgiveness is granted because it is consistent with his own reliable, righteous character grounded in Christ’s atoning work, never because sins have been outweighed by compensating merit. Connects explicitly to the baseline’s Critical righteousness family (ความชอบธรรม).
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: ชีวิตนิรันดร์
Transliteration: chiwit nirandon
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: นิพพาน
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
1:2; 2:25; 3:15; 5:11-13, 20. Must not be conflated with นิพพาน (nibbana), the self-attained cessation of craving and rebirth, already forbidden for ‘salvation.’ Eternal life here is relational and already possessed (‘that they know you,’ 5:20; ‘that you may know that you have eternal life,’ 5:13), not an impersonal state attained by the practitioner’s own effort.
Lust Desire
Approved rendering: ความปรารถนาที่ชั่ว
Transliteration: khwam prarttana thi chua
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: ตัณหา, กิเลส
Original: ἐπιθυμία
Category: Ethics
ἐπιθυμία, 2:16 (‘the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life’). ตัณหา is the precise technical Pali-derived term for craving, the Second Noble Truth’s root of suffering, extinguished through disciplined practice — using it would reframe John’s moral-relational category (disordered desire opposed to a personal Father’s will) as the Buddhist self-effort category. Use the plain, non-technical ความปรารถนาที่ชั่ว/ความอยาก.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: ปฏิปักษ์ของพระคริสต์
Transliteration: patipak khong Phra Khrit
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: มารร้าย (used interchangeably with ‘antichrist’)
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Christology
2:18, 22; 4:3. Names anyone/anything that denies the Father-Son relationship (2:22) or Christ’s real incarnation (4:3) — a present, plural, ongoing category (2:18), not merely a single future evil figure, and not merely ‘a very evil person’ in loose colloquial Thai usage. Must be kept distinct from มาร (the devil, a separate cosmic-being category, see devil_evil_one).
Born Of God
Approved rendering: บังเกิดจากพระเจ้า
Transliteration: bangkoet chak Phra Chao
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: เกิดใหม่
Original: γεννηθῆναι / γεγέννηται ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
γεγέννηται/γεννηθῆναι ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ — the letter’s central recurring phrase (2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18, at least six occurrences). Must never use เกิดใหม่, the baseline’s forbidden substitution for resurrection/new creation, which reads as rebirth/reincarnation within samsara. Reuses the บังเกิด root established for the Incarnation. Third recurrence of this exact forbidden-substitution risk in the pipeline.
Test The Spirits
Approved rendering: จงพิสูจน์วิญญาณทั้งหลาย
Transliteration: chong phisut winyan thang lai
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: ร่างทรง-style trance discernment as the operative method
Original: δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα
Category: Discernment
δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα, 4:1. Thai folk-animist religion includes an active practice of discerning spirits through trance-based spirit-mediums (ร่างทรง). The biblical test is doctrinal-propositional (confession that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, 4:2-3), not experiential-mediumistic; this distinction must be taught explicitly.
Propitiation
Approved rendering: เครื่องบูชาลบล้างบาป
Transliteration: khrueang bucha lopblang bap
Doctrine: Christ’s Advocacy and Propitiation for Sin
Rejected alternatives: ปลดเปลื้องกรรม
Original: ἱλασμός
Category: Salvation
ἱλασμός, 2:2; 4:10. Among the single highest folk-religion collision risks in the letter: เครื่องบูชา is precisely the vocabulary of Thai spirit-appeasement offerings (เซ่นไหว้) and votive-vow discharge (แก้บน). Every occurrence requires teaching that God himself initiates and provides this offering, that it is once-for-all rather than repeatable, and that it satisfies God’s own righteous character rather than pacifying an arbitrary power. Never ปลดเปลื้องกรรม, already forbidden in the baseline for ‘redeem.‘
Savior
Approved rendering: พระผู้ช่วยให้รอด
Transliteration: Phra Phu Chuai Hai Rot
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: หลุดพ้น-style self-liberation teacher
Original: σωτήρ
Category: Salvation
σωτήρ, 4:14 (‘Savior of the world’). Must retain the exclusivity already established for ความรอด — this Savior rescues by his own action, never by teaching a path of self-attained liberation.
Overcome The World
Approved rendering: มีชัยชนะเหนือโลก
Transliteration: mi chaichana nuea lok
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: เอาชนะกิเลสด้วยตนเอง
Original: νικᾷ τὸν κόσμον
Category: Salvation
νικᾷ τὸν κόσμον, 4:4; 5:4-5. Grounded explicitly in birth from God and faith, not self-effort. Thai Buddhism’s fluent vocabulary for self-attained overcoming of desire/attachment (เอาชนะกิเลส) would invert agency; this is the fourth recurrence of the self-attainment-vs-given-gift risk after grace, salvation, and freedom.
Idols
Approved rendering: รูปเคารพ
Transliteration: rup khaorop
Doctrine: Idolatry and Ultimate Trust in the True God
Original: εἴδωλα
Category: Idolatry
εἴδωλα, 5:21, the letter’s closing verse. The single highest cultural-sensitivity flag in the book: Thailand’s religious landscape is saturated with reverenced Buddha images (พระพุทธรูป) and spirit-house shrines (ศาลพระภูมิ) that devout Thai Buddhists regard as legitimate devotional/merit-making objects, not pejorative idols. No viable alternative rendering exists; requires theologian + native-speaker collaborative review with explicit pastoral framing distinguishing this warning from a decontextualized attack on a neighbor’s religious objects.
High Risk Terms
Father
Approved rendering: พระบิดา
Transliteration: Phra Bida
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: พ่อขุน
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans baseline package exactly. God as personal, relational Father, source of believers’ adoption as children of God (3:1).
Sin
Approved rendering: บาป
Transliteration: bap
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: อกุศลกรรม
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans baseline package exactly. Must remain anchored to offense against a personal God, not impersonal negative karma, especially given 1 John’s confession-and-cleansing pattern (1:9) which could otherwise be read as a private, self-managed moral ledger.
Light
Approved rendering: ความสว่าง
Transliteration: khwam sawang
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: แสงแห่งปัญญา
Original: φῶς
Category: God
1:5, 7. Must be anchored to moral purity and truthful self-revelation, not confused with the Buddhist metaphor of an attained ‘light of wisdom.‘
Cleanse
Approved rendering: ทรงชำระ
Transliteration: song chamra
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: รดน้ำมนต์ (as functional equivalent)
Original: καθαρίζω
Category: Sanctification
1:7, 9. Reuses the ชำระ root from the baseline’s sanctification entry. Must be kept distinct from ritual holy-water blessing (รดน้ำมนต์) or self-directed meditative purification; this is God’s own forensic/relational act via Christ’s blood, received through confession.
Confess Sin
Approved rendering: สารภาพบาป
Transliteration: sarapap bap
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: สารภาพต่อพระ (monastic-mediated confession model)
Original: ὁμολογέω (τὰς ἁμαρτίας)
Category: Sin
1:9. สารภาพ doubles as vocabulary for Thai Buddhist monastic confession (pāṭimokkha recitation, or admitting a fault to a monk). Must be explicitly anchored to direct confession to God himself for his forgiveness through Christ’s blood, not a ritually mediated or reputation-restoring social admission.
Forgive
Approved rendering: ทรงโปรดยกบาป
Transliteration: song prot yok bap
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: ให้อภัย (as sole/primary sense)
Original: ἀφίημι
Category: Salvation
1:9. Must not collapse into the secular Thai sense of ให้อภัย as purely interpersonal grudge-release for social harmony; this is a judicial release of a debt before God, grounded in Christ’s atoning blood.
Word Of Life
Approved rendering: พระวาทะแห่งชีวิต
Transliteration: Phra Watha haeng chiwit
Doctrine: Eyewitness Testimony to the Word of Life
Rejected alternatives: ถ้อยคำ, ข่าวสาร
Original: ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
1:1. Must reuse the established Thai rendering of λόγος as a Christological title (พระวาทะ, per John 1:1) rather than a generic ‘message,’ keeping visible the intertextual link to the baseline’s Critical incarnation doctrine and the letter’s rebuttal of docetic denial.
Abide
Approved rendering: ทรงดำรงอยู่ / อยู่ใน
Transliteration: song damrong yu / yu nai
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: ไปเยี่ยม / พักชั่วคราว (temporary visiting)
Original: μένω
Category: Church
μένω, ~24 occurrences (2:6, 24, 27-28; 3:6, 9, 14-15, 17, 24; 4:12-13, 15-16). 1 John’s structural keyword; must be rendered consistently across the whole letter as settled, permanent mutual indwelling, never flattened into occasional or emotional ‘staying with.‘
World
Approved rendering: โลก
Transliteration: lok
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: κόσμος
Category: Ethics
κόσμος, dual sense: created order/object of God’s love (4:9, 14) vs. rebellious world-system (2:15-17; 5:4-5, 19). Thai โลก covers both senses as the Greek does; the risk is interpretive, not lexical — teaching materials must disambiguate which sense is active at every occurrence.
Anointing
Approved rendering: การทรงเจิม
Transliteration: kan song choem
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: เจิม (ritual object/vehicle blessing), ปลุกเสก (amulet empowerment ritual)
Original: χρῖσμα
Category: Sanctification
χρῖσμα, 2:20, 27. Must be anchored to the Holy Spirit’s teaching/discernment-giving indwelling of every believer, not a one-time ritual act performed by a specialist upon an object — paralleling the baseline’s caution against ฤทธิ์อำนาจลึกลับ for ‘spiritual gifts.‘
Children Of God
Approved rendering: บุตรของพระเจ้า
Transliteration: but khong Phra Chao
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: พระบุตรของพระเจ้า applied to believers (honorific overreach)
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
τέκνα θεοῦ, 3:1-2, 10; 5:2, 19. Rendered WITHOUT the พระ honorific reserved for Christ’s unique Sonship (see son_of_god). This honorific asymmetry is itself doctrinally load-bearing and must be enforced at every occurrence, not only at first introduction.
Devil Evil One
Approved rendering: มาร / ผู้ชั่วร้าย
Transliteration: man / phu chua rai
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: διάβολος / ὁ πονηρός
Category: Anthropology
διάβολος / ὁ πονηρός, 3:8, 10; 5:18-19. มาร is the standard Thai Bible rendering but is identical to Māra, the Buddhist tempter-deity, generally understood as one deva-class being among many within a karmic cosmology. No better lexical option exists; requires a standing clarifying note that the biblical devil is a uniquely fallen, personally rebellious being in irreconcilable opposition to a personal Creator, not one striving being among many. Kept distinct from antichrist (a doctrinal-denial category, not a cosmic being).
Spirit Of Truth Error
Approved rendering: พระวิญญาณแห่งความจริง / วิญญาณแห่งความผิดพลาด
Transliteration: Phra Winyan haeng khwam jing / winyan haeng khwam phit phlat
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας / τῆς πλάνης
Category: Discernment
4:6. The honorific พระ must be reserved for the divine Spirit of truth only; the spirit of error must not receive it, and must not collapse into the folk category of a malevolent ผี (ghost) but be understood as a deceiving doctrinal influence.
Perfected Love
Approved rendering: บริบูรณ์ / สมบูรณ์
Transliteration: booribun / sombun
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: บารมี
Original: τετελειωμένη / τελεία (ἀγάπη)
Category: Sanctification
τετελειωμένη / τελεία ἀγάπη, 4:12, 17-18. Must not use vocabulary suggestive of บารมี, accumulated moral perfection attributed to great monks and, ceremonially, to the Thai monarchy, already forbidden Critical for ‘grace’/‘glory.’ Love reaches its intended goal through the believer, but the completing agency and source remain God’s, not a merit ledger the believer builds.
Day Of Judgment
Approved rendering: วันพิพากษา
Transliteration: wan phiphaksa
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: พญายม-style karmic weighing of deeds
Original: ἡμέρα τῆς κρίσεως
Category: Eschatology
4:17. Distinguish from the Thai Buddhist folk-cosmological figure พญายม (Phraya Yom), judge of the dead who weighs accumulated karma to determine rebirth realm; this is a personal God’s final assessment of those already secured in Christ, not an impersonal karmic tribunal.
Advocate
Approved rendering: ผู้ช่วยเหลือ
Transliteration: phu chuai leua
Doctrine: Christ’s Advocacy and Propitiation for Sin
Rejected alternatives: เส้นสาย-style influence-broker
Original: παράκλητος
Category: Salvation
παράκλητος, 2:1. Must be distinguished from the pervasive Thai patron-client pattern of a เส้นสาย (‘connections’ broker) who intervenes with a powerful figure through personal influence or favor-trading; Christ’s advocacy rests on his own righteous, atoning-sacrifice-grounded intercession.
Sin Unto Death
Approved rendering: บาปที่นำไปสู่ความตาย / บาปที่ไม่นำไปสู่ความตาย
Transliteration: bap thi nam pai su khwam tai / bap thi mai nam pai su khwam tai
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: ครุกรรม / ลหุกรรม
Original: ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον / μὴ πρὸς θάνατον
Category: Sin
ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον / μὴ πρὸς θάνατον, 5:16-17. Thai Buddhism distinguishes ครุกรรม (‘heavy karma’) from ลหุกรรม (‘light karma’) by severity of impersonal consequence; this passage’s category is personal and relational, tied to the efficacy of intercessory prayer before a personal God, not a karmic-severity mechanism. This vocabulary must be avoided entirely.
Medium Risk Terms
Faith
Approved rendering: ความเชื่อ
Transliteration: khwam cheua
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Rejected alternatives: ศรัทธา
Original: πίστις / πιστεύω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans baseline package exactly. 1 John repeatedly and explicitly names the object as Christ / the Son of God (5:1, 5, 10, 13), reinforcing rather than complicating the baseline’s caution against a generic-belief reading.
Revelation
Approved rendering: การทรงสำแดง
Transliteration: kan song samdaeng
Doctrine: Eyewitness Testimony to the Word of Life
Rejected alternatives: นิมิตของหมอดู
Inherited from the Galatians baseline package exactly (there rendering ἀποκάλυψις). 1 John’s φανερόω (‘manifested,’ a distinct Greek root) reuses this same Thai gloss-family for consistency; see manifested entry below.
Darkness
Approved rendering: ความมืด
Transliteration: khwam mued
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: σκότος / σκοτία
Category: Sin
1:5-6. Moral/relational separation from God, not mere intellectual ignorance.
Blood Of Christ
Approved rendering: พระโลหิต
Transliteration: Phra Lohit
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: เลือด
Original: αἷμα
Category: Salvation
1:7. Sacred-register term distinct from ordinary เลือด. Must be distinguished from Thai folk-animist blood offerings to spirits — Christ’s blood cleanses once for all, not as a repeated appeasement offering.
Commandment
Approved rendering: พระบัญญัติ
Transliteration: Phra Banyat
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Ethics
2:3-8; 3:23; 4:21. Distinguish from ธรรมบัญญัติ, the baseline’s specific term for the Mosaic Law/Torah; พระบัญญัติ here names a specific command of Christ/God (chiefly to love one another), obeyed as a response to love already received, not merit-building precept observance.
Liar
Approved rendering: คนมุสา
Transliteration: khon musa
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: ψεύστης
Category: Sin
1:6, 10; 2:4, 22; 4:20. A self-contradictory, spiritually diagnostic falsehood, not mere social exaggeration; risk lies in under-translating the term’s force.
Last Hour
Approved rendering: วาระสุดท้าย
Transliteration: wara sut thai
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: ช่วงเวลาไม่ดี (astrological ‘bad time’)
Original: ἐσχάτη ὥρα
Category: Eschatology
2:18. The final eschatological period inaugurated by Christ’s first coming, signaled by antichrists’ appearance; not a generic astrological omen.
Lawlessness
Approved rendering: การล่วงละเมิดพระบัญญัติของพระเจ้า
Transliteration: kan luang lamoet Phra Banyat khong Phra Chao
Doctrine: Sin as Lawlessness and the Practice of Righteousness
Original: ἀνομία
Category: Sin
ἀνομία, 3:4. Broader than violation of the Mosaic legal code specifically (the baseline’s ธรรมบัญญัติ concern); names sin’s universal character as rebellion against God’s moral authority as such.
Gods Seed
Approved rendering: เชื้อของพระองค์
Transliteration: chuea khong Phra-ong
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: เชื้อสาย (baseline lineage term — distinct referent)
Original: σπέρμα αὐτοῦ
Category: Sanctification
σπέρμα αὐτοῦ, 3:9. Related in construction to the baseline’s เชื้อสาย pattern (seed of David/Abraham) but a distinct referent: the divine generative principle of new birth, not physical/covenantal lineage. Translators must not over-identify the two.
Fear Torment
Approved rendering: ความกลัว / การลงโทษ
Transliteration: khwam klua / kan long thot
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: ผลกรรม
Original: φόβος / κόλασις
Category: Eschatology
φόβος / κόλασις, 4:18. Servile dread of penal judgment before a personal God, displaced by perfected love; not impersonal negative karmic ripening (ผลกรรม), already flagged in the Galatians baseline in a related context.
Testimony Witness
Approved rendering: คำพยาน / เป็นพยาน
Transliteration: kham phayan / pen phayan
Doctrine: Eyewitness Testimony to the Word of Life
Rejected alternatives: คำบอกเล่าของร่างทรง
Original: μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω
Category: Faith
μαρτυρία / μαρτυρέω, 1:1-3; 4:14; 5:6-11. Eyewitness, forensic, publicly verifiable testimony; must be distinguished from a spirit-medium’s privately revealed trance report.
Know God
Approved rendering: รู้จักพระเจ้า
Transliteration: ru chak Phra Chao
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Original: γινώσκω (τὸν θεόν)
Category: Faith
γινώσκω (τὸν θεόν), 2:3-4; 4:7-8. Experiential, relational knowledge evidenced by love and obedience; must not be flattened to mere cognitive ‘knowing about.‘
Sent
Approved rendering: ทรงส่ง
Transliteration: song song
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ἀποστέλλω
Category: Christology
ἀποστέλλω, 4:9-10, 14. Must keep the Father as explicit grammatical subject/sender to preserve the Trinitarian sending pattern also present in Romans 8:3 and Galatians 4:4.
Obligation To Love
Approved rendering: เราจึงควรจะ / เรามีหน้าที่
Transliteration: rao jueng khuan ja / rao mi na thi
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ὀφείλομεν
Category: Ethics
ὀφείλομεν, 4:11. Must avoid phrasing suggesting a debt owed to accumulate spiritual credit; the obligation is relational gratitude-response to love already received, not merit repayment.
Heart Condemns
Approved rendering: ใจกล่าวโทษ
Transliteration: jai klao thot
Doctrine: Sin as Lawlessness and the Practice of Righteousness
Original: καταγινώσκω
Category: Anthropology
καταγινώσκω, 3:20-21. The pastoral point (God is greater than an accusing conscience) must be preserved without collapsing into either false assurance or scrupulous self-doubt.
Low Risk Terms
Fellowship
Approved rendering: การสามัคคีธรรม
Transliteration: kan samakkhi tham
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: มิตรภาพ
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans baseline package exactly. Extended in 1 John into a dual structure — fellowship with the Father and Son (1:3) AND fellowship with one another (1:7) — both directions must be rendered with equal weight.
Exhort
Approved rendering: หนุนใจ
Transliteration: nun jai
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Inherited from Romans baseline package exactly. Shares a root register with παράκλητος (advocate, 2:1) but must not be conflated with it; see advocate entry below.
Walk
Approved rendering: ดำเนินชีวิต
Transliteration: damnoen chiwit
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Ethics
1:6-7; 2:6, 11. Standard ethical-conduct idiom; no significant Thai-culture collision.
Little Children
Approved rendering: บุตรที่รัก / ลูกทั้งหลาย
Transliteration: but thi rak / luk thang lai
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Original: τεκνία / παιδία
Category: Church
τεκνία / παιδία, 2:1, 12-14, 18, 28. Stylistic and pastoral, not doctrinally load-bearing; should remain warm and affectionate in register per the baseline’s tone guidance for relational passages.
Medium-High Risk Terms
Confidence Boldness
Approved rendering: ความมั่นใจ
Transliteration: khwam manjai
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: ความหวังว่าจะโชคดี
Original: παρρησία
Category: Salvation
παρρησία, 2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14. Settled confidence grounded in a completed relational/legal standing in Christ, not an uncertain, still-accumulating merit balance or a hope for good fortune.
Water And Blood
Approved rendering: น้ำและพระโลหิต
Transliteration: nam lae Phra Lohit
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: รดน้ำมนต์ (without historical anchoring)
Original: τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα
Category: Salvation
τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ τὸ αἷμα, 5:6-8. Tied to the specific historical events of Jesus’ baptism and crucifixion; the ‘water’ element risks being read through the lens of ritual holy-water blessing absent an explanatory note anchoring it to a historical event.
Manifested
Approved rendering: ทรงสำแดง
Transliteration: song samdaeng
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: นิมิตของหมอดู
Original: φανερόω
Category: Christology
φανερόω, 1:2; 3:5, 8; 4:9. Reuses the ทรงสำแดง gloss-family established in the Galatians baseline for the distinct root ἀποκάλυψις (see revelation entry); reinforces that God’s self-disclosure is his own initiative, not a fortune-teller’s vision.
Referenced passages