Core Glossary
Core Glossary — 1 John (English → Ukrainian)
This glossary consolidates every load-bearing term identified in 07_semantic_analysis.md, spanning all five chapters of 1 John. Terms marked (baseline reuse) carry over the exact recorded rendering from the Romans/Galatians translation_memory.json and must not be altered. New terms are proposed for confirmation in later Phase 1 steps before entering translation memory formally. Risk tiers follow the baseline’s four-tier framework (Critical / High / Medium / Low) and its review-routing convention (Critical & High → human theologian; Medium → native speaker; Low → automated).
| # | English Term | Greek (translit.) | Ukrainian Rendering | Status | Risk | Doctrine | Key Citations | Review Routing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | God is Love | ho theos agapē estin | Бог є любов | New (identity clause) | Critical | God is Light and God is Love | 4:8, 16 | Human theologian |
| 2 | God is Light | ho theos phōs estin | Бог є світло | New (identity clause) | Critical | God is Light and God is Love | 1:5 | Human theologian |
| 3 | love (noun/verb) | agapē / agapaō | любов / любити | Baseline reuse (Galatians) | Critical in 1 John (High baseline) | God is Love; Love for the Brethren | 2:5,10,15; 3:1,10-18; 4:7-21; 5:1-3 | Human theologian |
| 4 | light | phōs | світло | New | High | God is Light | 1:5, 7; 2:8-10 | Human theologian |
| 5 | darkness | skotia / skotos | темрява | New | Medium | God is Light | 1:5-6; 2:8-11 | Native speaker |
| 6 | fellowship | koinōnia | спілкування | Baseline reuse (Romans, Low) | Elevated to Medium-High in 1 John | Fellowship with God and One Another | 1:3, 6-7 | Native speaker (theologian for sacramental-adjacency notes) |
| 7 | Word of life | ho logos tēs zōēs | Слово життя | New | High | The Incarnation | 1:1 | Human theologian |
| 8 | from the beginning (3 senses) | ap’ archēs | від початку | New (polysemous) | Medium-High | Incarnation; New Birth; Antichrist | 1:1; 2:7, 13-14, 24; 3:8, 11 | Native speaker |
| 9 | manifested / revealed | phaneroō | з’явитися / бути виявленим | New | Medium-High | Incarnation; Love; Sin | 1:2; 3:5, 8; 4:9 | Native speaker |
| 10 | testify / testimony | martyreō / martyria | свідчити / свідчення | New | Medium | Assurance of Salvation | 1:2; 4:14; 5:6-11 | Native speaker |
| 11 | walk (conduct) | peripateō | ходити | New | Low | Fellowship; Confession | 1:6-7; 2:6 | Automated |
| 12 | blood (of Jesus) | haima | кров | New | Medium-High | Confession and Forgiveness | 1:7; 5:6-8 | Native speaker |
| 13 | cleanse | katharizō | очищати | New | Medium | Confession and Forgiveness | 1:7, 9 | Native speaker |
| 14 | confess (sin / Christ) | homologeō | визнавати / визнання | New | Critical | Confession and Forgiveness; Incarnation and Antichrist | 1:9; 2:23; 4:2-3, 15 | Human theologian |
| 15 | forgive / forgiveness | aphiēmi / aphesis | простити / прощення | New | Medium-High | Confession and Forgiveness | 1:9 | Native speaker |
| 16 | unrighteousness | adikia | неправедність | New | Medium | Confession and Forgiveness | 1:9 | Native speaker |
| 17 | liar / lie | pseustēs / pseudos | лжець / неправда (брехня) | New (лже- pattern, baseline-consistent) | Medium | Confession; Incarnation and Antichrist | 1:10; 2:4, 22; 4:20; 5:10 | Native speaker |
| 18 | self-deception | planaō (reflexive) | обманювати себе | New | Low-Medium | Confession and Forgiveness | 1:8 | Automated |
| 19 | Advocate (Paraclete) | paraklētos | Заступник (with mandatory gloss) | New | Critical | Confession and Forgiveness; Assurance | 2:1 | Human theologian |
| 20 | righteous | dikaios | праведний | Baseline reuse family (righteousness) | High | Confession; Assurance | 2:1, 29; 3:7 | Human theologian |
| 21 | propitiation | hilasmos | жертва примирення | New | Critical | Confession and Forgiveness | 2:2; 4:10 | Human theologian |
| 22 | commandment | entolē | заповідь | New (baseline-adjacent to law) | Medium | Love for the Brethren | 2:3-8; 3:22-24; 4:21; 5:2-3 | Native speaker |
| 23 | know (relational, ginōskō) | ginōskō | знати (знаємо) | New (structural gap with oida) | Medium-High | Fellowship; Assurance | throughout | Native speaker |
| 24 | know (settled, oida) | oida | знати (знаємо/відаємо) | New (structural gap with ginōskō) | High | Assurance of Salvation | 2:20-21, 29; 3:2; 5:13 | Human theologian |
| 25 | abide | menō | перебувати | New | High | Fellowship; Assurance | 2:6, 10, 14, 17, 24, 27-28; 3:6, 9, 14-15, 17, 24; 4:12-16 | Human theologian |
| 26 | overcome / victory | nikaō / nikē | перемагати / перемога | New | High (wartime resonance) | Overcoming the World | 2:13-14; 4:4; 5:4-5 | Human theologian |
| 27 | world (positive/created sense) | kosmos | світ | New (polysemous) | High | God’s love; Overcoming the World | 4:9, 14; John 3:16 parallel | Human theologian |
| 28 | world (negative/systemic sense) | kosmos | світ | New (polysemous) | High | Overcoming the World | 2:15-17; 4:1-5; 5:19 | Human theologian |
| 29 | lust of flesh/eyes, pride of life | epithymia tēs sarkos/ophthalmōn, alazoneia tou biou | пожадливість тіла/очей; пиха життя | New (тіло inherits Galatians Critical risk) | High | Overcoming the World | 2:16 | Human theologian |
| 30 | last hour | eschatē hōra | остання година | New | Medium | Incarnation and Antichrist | 2:18 | Native speaker |
| 31 | antichrist | antichristos | антихрист | New | Critical | The Incarnation and Antichrist | 2:18, 22; 4:3 | Human theologian |
| 32 | anointing | chrisma | помазання | New | Critical | Testing the Spirits; Antichrist | 2:20, 27 | Human theologian |
| 33 | confidence / boldness | parrēsia | впевненість / сміливість | New | High | Assurance of Salvation | 2:28; 3:21; 4:17; 5:14 | Human theologian |
| 34 | children of God | tekna theou | діти Божі | New (complements baseline adoption) | High | Love for the Brethren; New Birth | 3:1-2, 10 | Human theologian |
| 35 | born of God | gennaō ek tou theou | народжений від Бога | New | Critical | Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18 | Human theologian |
| 36 | we shall be like him | homoioi autō esometha | подібні до Нього | New | High | Assurance / New Birth | 3:2 | Human theologian |
| 37 | sin is lawlessness | hamartia… anomia | (грiх є) беззаконня | New (baseline-adjacent to law, sin) | Medium | Confession and Forgiveness | 3:4 | Native speaker |
| 38 | seed (of God, generative) | sperma | насіння (Його) | New (distinct sense from baseline seed_of_abraham/david) | Critical (compounds with born of God) | New Birth | 3:9 | Human theologian |
| 39 | Cain / fratricide | Kain / esphaxen | Каїн / убив | New | High (wartime “brotherly nations” sensitivity) | Love for the Brethren | 3:12 | Human theologian |
| 40 | murderer | anthrōpoktonos | убивця / людиновбивця | New | Medium-High | Love for the Brethren | 3:15 | Native speaker |
| 41 | brother | adelphos | брат | New | High | Love for the Brethren | throughout, esp. 2:9-11; 3:10-17; 4:20-21 | Human theologian |
| 42 | lay down one’s life | tithēmi tēn psychēn | покласти життя (душу) своє | New | High (wartime resonance) | Love for the Brethren | 3:16 | Human theologian |
| 43 | in deed and in truth | en ergō kai alētheia | ділом і правдою | New | Medium-High | Love for the Brethren | 3:18 | Native speaker |
| 44 | test the spirits | dokimazete ta pneumata | випробовуйте духів | New | High | Testing the Spirits | 4:1 | Human theologian |
| 45 | confess Christ come in flesh | homologei… en sarki elēlythota | визнає… що прийшов у тілі | New | Critical | Testing the Spirits; Incarnation and Antichrist | 4:2 | Human theologian |
| 46 | Spirit of God / spirit of antichrist | pneuma tou theou / tou antichristou | Дух Божий / дух антихриста | New (capitalization pair) | Critical | Testing the Spirits | 4:2-3 | Human theologian |
| 47 | Spirit of truth / spirit of error | pneuma tēs alētheias / tēs planēs | Дух істини / дух омани | New (capitalization pair) | Critical | Testing the Spirits | 4:6 | Human theologian |
| 48 | only begotten / one and only | monogenēs | Єдинородний | New (Nicene, low-drift) | Medium | Incarnation | 4:9 | Native speaker |
| 49 | Savior of the world | sōtēra tou kosmou | Спаситель світу | New (baseline-adjacent to salvation) | High | Assurance of Salvation | 4:14 | Human theologian |
| 50 | sent (the Son) | apostellō | послав | New (distinct from baseline mission) | Low-Medium | Incarnation | 4:9-10, 14 | Native speaker |
| 51 | perfected / perfect (love) | teleioō / teleios | досконала / удосконалена (любов) | New | Medium | God is Love | 4:12, 17-18 | Native speaker |
| 52 | fear | phobos | страх | New | Medium | Assurance of Salvation | 4:18 | Native speaker |
| 53 | first (loved us) | prōtos | перший / першим | New | Medium | God is Love (grace-priority) | 4:19 | Native speaker |
| 54 | commandment (love command) | entolē | заповідь (любові) | New (see #22) | Medium | Love for the Brethren | 4:21 | Native speaker |
| 55 | eternal life | zōē aiōnios | вічне життя | New | High | Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | 2:25; 3:15; 5:11-13, 20 | Human theologian |
| 56 | threefold witness (water, blood, Spirit) | hydōr, haima, pneuma | вода, кров, Дух | New | Critical | Incarnation; Assurance | 5:6-8 | Human theologian |
| 57 | sin unto death / not unto death | hamartia pros thanaton / mē pros thanaton | грiх до смерті / грiх не до смерті | New | Critical | Confession and Forgiveness | 5:16-17 | Human theologian |
| 58 | idols | eidōla | ідоли | New | Medium | (closing exhortation) | 5:21 | Native speaker |
| 59 | truth | alētheia | правда / істина | New | High | all doctrines (cross-cutting) | throughout, esp. 1:6-8; 2:4, 21; 3:18-19; 4:6; 5:20 | Human theologian |
| 60 | the true one | alēthinos | Істинний | New | Medium-High | Assurance of Salvation | 5:20 | Native speaker |
Terms Reused Exactly from Baseline Translation Memory (No New Analysis Required)
The following baseline terms recur in 1 John and must be rendered exactly as recorded in translation_memory.json; see 07_semantic_analysis.md for book-specific contextual notes where 1 John’s usage carries elevated or distinct risk.
| English Term | Ukrainian (baseline) | Baseline Risk | 1 John Citations | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| God | Бог | Medium (Critical in registry) | throughout | No change |
| Jesus | Ісус | Medium (Critical in registry) | throughout | No change; never Russian Иисус |
| Christ / Messiah | Христос / Месія | High | 1:3; 2:1, 22; 4:2; 5:1, 6 | No change |
| Son of God | Син Божий | Critical | 1:3, 7; 3:8, 23; 4:9-10, 15; 5:5, 9-13, 20 | No change; reinforced by monogenēs at 4:9 |
| Father | Отець | Medium/High | 1:2-3; 2:1, 13-16, 22-24; 3:1; 4:14 | No change |
| Holy Spirit | Святий Дух | Medium/Critical | 3:24; 4:2-6, 13; 5:6-8 | Extends Galatians bare-pneuma capitalization rule; see 07 Ch.4-5 notes |
| faith / believe | віра / вірувати | High | 3:23; 4:1, 16; 5:1, 4-5, 10, 13 | No change; personal trust sense as in Romans baseline |
| sin | гріх | High | 1:7-10; 2:2, 12; 3:4-9; 4:10; 5:16-18 | No change |
| righteousness / righteous | праведність / праведний | Critical/High | 2:1, 29; 3:7, 10, 12 | No change |
| salvation | спасіння | Critical | (implicit throughout; explicit at 4:14, “Savior”) | No change |
| adoption | усиновлення | High | (conceptually parallel to tekna theou, 3:1-2, 10; not the same Greek word) | Complementary, not identical — see 07 Ch.3 note |
| love | любов | High (baseline) / Critical (1 John) | throughout, esp. 4:7-21 | Elevated risk tier in 1 John; see glossary #3 above |
| law | закон | Medium | 3:4 (anomia, “lawlessness,” is law-related but a distinct word) | See glossary #37 |
| false brothers (word-formation pattern лже-) | лжебрати (pattern) | Medium | pattern extended to лжець, ψεύστης, 1:10; 2:4, 22; 4:20; 5:10 | Word-formation reused, not the identical term |
| flesh (ethical/structural risk) | тіло | Critical (Galatians) | 2:16 (epithymia tēs sarkos); 4:2 (en sarki) | Same σάρξ/σῶμα homograph risk as Galatians 5 |
| spirit (bare pneuma, capitalization rule) | Дух / дух | Critical (Galatians) | 3:24; 4:1-6, 13 | Extended and intensified; see glossary #44-47 |
| intercession | клопотання | Medium (baseline reserves заступництво for saints’/Theotokos devotion) | (conceptually related to paraklētos, 2:1, though a different Greek word) | See glossary #19 — паraklētos requires its own Critical-risk treatment, distinct from клопотання |
Cross-Reference to Doctrine List
| Curriculum Doctrine | Primary Glossary Terms | Primary Passages |
|---|---|---|
| God is Light and God is Love | #1, #2, #4, #5 | 1:5; 4:8, 16 |
| Fellowship with God and One Another | #6, #25 | 1:3, 6-7 |
| Confession and Forgiveness of Sin | #13-19, #21, #57 | 1:7-10; 2:1-2; 5:16-17 |
| Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth | #3, #22, #34-43, #54 | 2:7-11; 3:1-18, 23; 4:7-21 |
| The Incarnation and Antichrist | #7, #9, #31-32, #45-46, #56 | 1:1-3; 2:18-27; 4:1-3; 5:6-8 |
| Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life | #20, #23-24, #26, #33, #35-36, #55, #59-60 | 2:28-29; 3:2, 19-24; 5:11-20 |
| Overcoming the World | #26-29 | 2:15-17; 4:1-5; 5:4-5, 19 |
| Testing the Spirits | #44, #46-47, #32 | 4:1-6 |
This glossary must be loaded alongside the baseline translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and doctrine_risk_registry.json for all subsequent Phase 1 and Phase 2 work on 1 John. New terms proposed here (status “New”) require confirmation in Phase 1 Steps 2-8 before formal entry into an updated translation memory version.
Critical Risk Terms
God
Approved rendering: Бог
Transliteration: Boh
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: Всевишній (acceptable poetic synonym only)
Original: θεός
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. Risk reassessed to Critical for 1 John specifically (baseline Romans risk: Medium) because 1 John places two ontological identity predications directly on this term (‘God is light,’ 1:5; ‘God is love,’ 4:8, 16), giving Бог unusually heavy definitional load in this book beyond the baseline’s registerial-familiarity concern.
Jesus
Approved rendering: Ісус
Transliteration: Isus
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: Иисус (Russian spelling, never use)
Original: Ἰησοῦς
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. Risk reassessed to Critical for 1 John specifically (baseline Romans risk: Medium) because confessing that ‘Jesus is the Christ’ / ‘Jesus Christ has come in the flesh’ is the letter’s own definitional test separating true confession from antichrist (2:22; 4:2-3, 15).
Messiah
Approved rendering: Месія
Transliteration: Mesiya
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: рятівник світу (as a stand-alone substitute)
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. Used alongside Христос (Khrystos), which functions as Jesus’ effective surname in everyday Ukrainian. Risk reassessed to Critical for 1 John specifically: confessing ‘Jesus is the Christ’ (2:22; 5:1) is the letter’s positive confessional test against the antichrist’s denial; the title’s Jewish messianic-fulfillment meaning must be explicitly re-surfaced at every occurrence in this book, not assumed still heard in ordinary usage.
Son Of God
Approved rendering: Син Божий
Transliteration: Syn Bozhyy
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: божественний посланець
Original: υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Christology
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. Risk reassessed to Critical for 1 John specifically (baseline Romans TM risk: Medium) because confession of this exact identity (4:15; 5:5, 9-13, 20) is tied directly to receiving eternal life (5:11-12) and to the whole letter’s antichrist doctrine; reinforced in 1 John by μονογενής (‘only,’ 4:9), rendered Єдинородний (see new term entry below).
Holy Spirit
Approved rendering: Святий Дух
Transliteration: Svyatyy Dukh
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: дух (never use alone), енергія
Original: πνεῦμα ἅγιον
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. 1 John compounds the baseline’s warning against bare, unqualified дух standing in for the Holy Spirit (secular idioms like ‘бойовий дух’) with the letter’s own dense, BIDIRECTIONAL concentration of capitalized-versus-lowercase πνεῦμα pairs (4:1-6) — the highest-density occurrence of this pattern across either curriculum. See spirit_bare_pneuma, spirit_of_god_vs_antichrist, spirit_of_truth_vs_error below.
Righteousness
Approved rendering: праведність
Transliteration: pravednist’
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: справедливість, чесність
Original: δικαιοσύνη
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. Risk reassessed to Critical for 1 John specifically (baseline Romans risk: High) because ‘practicing righteousness’ is presented as diagnostic evidence of new birth (2:29; 3:7, 10) and additionally carries a false-friend root-adjacency risk with правда (‘truth’, see truth entry below), specific to 1 John’s dense truth-vocabulary.
Salvation
Approved rendering: спасіння
Transliteration: spasinnya
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: визволення, рятування (too generic, ‘rescue’)
Original: σωτηρία / σῴζω
Category: Salvation
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. Must be anchored, per the baseline’s rule, to Christ’s decisive incarnation, death, and role as propitiation (4:9-10, 14) rather than defaulting unqualified into any one tradition’s fuller soteriological system; explicit in the title ‘Savior of the world’ (4:14, see savior_of_the_world below).
Love
Approved rendering: любов / любити
Transliteration: lyubov / lyubyty
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: ἀγάπη / ἀγαπάω
Category: Church
Inherited from Galatians portion of the baseline (love, High risk there). Risk elevated to Critical for 1 John specifically because 4:7-21 makes love an ontological predicate of God’s own nature (4:8, 16), not only an ethical fruit as in Galatians 5:22; любов’s crowded semantic field (romantic, familial, patriotic, neighborly love all share one word) risks the identity claim ‘Бог є любов’ being heard as a warm generality rather than a definitional statement about God’s essential being. Mandatory theologian review for every occurrence in 4:7-21 and 4:8, 16 specifically.
Flesh
Approved rendering: тіло
Transliteration: tilo
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: плоть (acceptable only in more elevated/poetic register contexts, not as the default expository term)
Original: σάρξ
Category: Sin
Inherited from Galatians portion of the baseline (Critical risk there: тіло also renders σῶμα, ‘body’). 1 John intensifies this risk beyond Galatians 5’s single-valence occurrence: the SAME letter uses тіло both to affirm Christ’s real incarnate body in a strongly positive, anti-docetic sense (‘come in the flesh,’ 4:2) and to name sinful bodily craving in a negative ethical sense (‘the lust of the flesh,’ 2:16) — the highest-density dual-valence occurrence of this structural risk across either curriculum. Must be explicitly disambiguated on first occurrence in EACH sense, every time it recurs, not just once per document.
Spirit Bare Pneuma
Approved rendering: Дух / дух
Transliteration: Dukh / dukh
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Rejected alternatives: дух alone for the Holy Spirit (never use lowercase/unqualified)
Original: πνεῦμα
Category: God
Inherited from Galatians portion of the baseline (Critical risk there, six bare occurrences in Galatians 5:16-25). 1 John extends this into its highest-density and only BIDIRECTIONAL form across either curriculum: within 4:1-6 alone, readers must correctly capitalize the Holy Spirit (3:24; 4:13; 5:6, 8) while correctly leaving LOWERCASE the impersonal plural ‘spirits’ to be tested (4:1) and the ‘spirit of antichrist/error’ (4:3, 6) — the opposite disambiguation direction in the same passage. Both directions of this capitalization rule must be taught together as a matched pair, with mandatory theologian review for every occurrence in 4:1-6.
God Is Love
Approved rendering: Бог є любов
Transliteration: Boh ye lyubov
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: Бог подібний до любові (a simile, loses the ontological identity claim)
Original: ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν
Category: God
New term. 1 John 4:8, 16 (render identically at both occurrences per baseline cross-document consistency rule). Ukrainian syntax preserves the same ‘God is love / love is God’ inversion ambiguity as English and Greek. Must be taught explicitly as a claim about God’s essential nature, the ground of all love, never a philosophical claim that the abstraction любов is itself divine (parallel to the baseline’s warning against аватар-style category confusion). Mandatory theologian review for every occurrence.
God Is Light
Approved rendering: Бог є світло
Transliteration: Boh ye svitlo
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: Бог подібний до світла (a simile, loses the ontological identity claim)
Original: ὁ θεὸς φῶς ἐστιν
Category: God
New term. 1 John 1:5. The letter’s other ontological predication, paired with god_is_love as the letter’s two great identity statements. світло is a genuine cultural asset (Світло Христове is a familiar Orthodox liturgical phrase) but risks flattening into a generic wartime hope-metaphor; must retain the same definitional force as Бог є любов. Mandatory theologian review.
Confess
Approved rendering: визнавати / визнання
Transliteration: vyznavaty / vyznannya
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: сповідатися / сповідь (sacramental confession before a priest — NEVER use in translated Scripture text)
Original: ὁμολογέω / ὁμολογία
Category: Salvation
New term. ὁμολογέω/ὁμολογία, 1:9; 2:23; 4:2-3, 15. Ukrainian has a specific, well-known verb for the SACRAMENTAL rite of confession before a priest — сповідатися/сповідь (Ісповідь, central to Orthodox and Greek Catholic practice). Using it for 1:9 would imply forgiveness requires this specific priest-mediated rite. MUST use визнавати/визнання exclusively; the sacramental practice may be acknowledged only in expository material, never as 1:9’s own referent. Mandatory theologian review for every occurrence.
Advocate
Approved rendering: Заступник (з обов’язковим поясненням)
Transliteration: Zastupnyk
Doctrine: Christ as Advocate (Paraclete)
Rejected alternatives: заступництво (reserved for saints’/Theotokos intercession devotion — never use for Christ’s advocacy), адвокат (mundane legal-professional sense), параклит (transliteration — theologically opaque to lay readers)
Original: παράκλητος
Category: Christology
New term. παράκλητος, 2:1. The baseline reserves заступництво for Orthodox/Greek Catholic devotion to the intercession of saints and the Theotokos, precisely to distinguish it from Christ’s/the Spirit’s unique intercessory role. 2:1 is exactly a claim about that unique role. Use Заступник ONLY with a mandatory first-occurrence gloss naming Christ’s singular, unique high-priestly advocacy before the Father, distinct in kind from saints’/Marian devotion; consider Посередник (‘Mediator’) as a supplementary gloss. Flag for cross-check against any future Gospel of John curriculum’s rendering of the Spirit’s παράκλητος (Ohienko: Утішитель). Mandatory theologian review for every occurrence.
Propitiation
Approved rendering: жертва примирення
Transliteration: zhertva prymyrennya
Doctrine: Propitiation and the Scope of the Atonement
Rejected alternatives: generic ‘жертва любові’ (loses the judicial, wrath-related dimension), ransom-to-the-devil or purely therapeutic (healing-only) atonement framing without explicit comparison
Original: ἱλασμός
Category: Salvation
New term. ἱλασμός, 2:2; 4:10. Extends the baseline’s Romans 3:25 mandatory-review atonement escalation rule. Must not be flattened into a generic sacrifice of love, and the debated ‘for the whole world’ scope of the atonement (2:2) must not be silently resolved toward any one systematic position. Mandatory theologian review for every occurrence.
Antichrist
Approved rendering: антихрист
Transliteration: antykhryst
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ἀντίχριστος
Category: Christology
New term (established loanword, retained). ἀντίχριστος, 2:18, 22; 4:3. One who denies Jesus is the Christ and that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh — a specific christological/incarnational heresy, and a class of many deceivers (not a single end-times individual in 1 John’s own vocabulary). Carries rich East Slavic apocalyptic-folk resonance and an acute current temptation, given the war, to identify ‘the antichrist’ with a living political figure or enemy nation. 1 John’s own narrow definition must be taught and enforced explicitly every occurrence, proactively naming and setting aside the identify-a-current-figure temptation. Mandatory theologian review.
Anointing
Approved rendering: помазання
Transliteration: pomazannya
Doctrine: The Anointing and Spirit-Led Discernment
Rejected alternatives: Миропомазання presented as the verse’s own referent (never resolve 2:20, 27 into this specific sacrament), хрисма (transliteration — unrecognizable, forfeits the productive помазання/помазаник connection)
Original: χρῖσμα
Category: Sanctification
New term. χρῖσμα, 2:20, 27. A metaphor for the Holy Spirit’s teaching presence given to every believer, used polemically against a rival claim to special knowledge — not primarily a liturgical rite in 1 John’s own usage. Миропомазання (Chrismation) is a major once-administered sacrament in the Orthodox and Greek Catholic traditions. Must state the difference plainly in exposition without denying the majority traditions’ historical connection of this verse to the sacrament. Mandatory theologian review.
Born Of God
Approved rendering: народжений від Бога
Transliteration: narodzhenyy vid Boha
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Rejected alternatives: реінкарнація/rebirth-cycle framing (never use — same false-friend caution as baseline resurrection)
Original: γεννάω ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
New term. γεννάω ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18. Directly collides with the majority traditions’ strong identification of new birth/regeneration with the moment of sacramental Baptism (Хрещення). 1 John’s argument is diagnostic (love evidences having been born of God, not the mechanism); this distinction must be taught explicitly, exactly as the baseline requires for благодать, виправдання, and тіло. Mandatory theologian review for every occurrence.
Seed Of God
Approved rendering: насіння (Його)
Transliteration: nasinnya (Yoho)
Doctrine: New Birth (Born of God)
Rejected alternatives: genealogical/covenantal насіння (baseline seed_of_abraham/seed_of_david sense) presented as equivalent (never conflate)
Original: σπέρμα (αὐτοῦ)
Category: Salvation
New term. σπέρμα αὐτοῦ, 3:9. The divine generative principle/nature abiding in the believer — a distinct sense of σπέρμα from the baseline’s genealogical/covenantal seed_of_abraham/seed_of_david usage. Exposition must explicitly distinguish this metaphorical sense to avoid readers importing genealogical-covenant categories into what is here a statement about the new birth’s inward, God-given nature. Compounds the Critical risk of born_of_god.
Confess Christ Come In Flesh
Approved rendering: визнає Ісуса Христа, що прийшов у тілі
Transliteration: vyznaye Isusa Khrysta, shcho pryyshov u tili
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: ὁμολογεῖ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα
Category: Christology
New term. ὁμολογεῖ Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἐν σαρκὶ ἐληλυθότα, 4:2. The positive confessional test-standard corresponding to the antichrist definition. Ties together the confess Critical risk (sacramental confession collision) with the antichrist Critical risk (incarnational heresy) — the two risk patterns compound at this single verse. Mandatory theologian review.
Spirit Of God Vs Antichrist
Approved rendering: Дух Божий / дух антихриста
Transliteration: Dukh Bozhyy / dukh antykhrysta
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ … πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου
Category: God
New term. πνεῦμα τοῦ θεοῦ / πνεῦμα τοῦ ἀντιχρίστου, 4:2-3. Extends spirit_bare_pneuma’s Critical-risk pattern into its most concentrated form — capitalized, personal Дух Божий versus lowercase, impersonal дух антихриста occur in the same two verses and must be rendered with the capitalization distinction intact and explicitly taught. Mandatory theologian review.
Spirit Of Truth Vs Error
Approved rendering: Дух істини / дух омани
Transliteration: Dukh istyny / dukh omany
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας … πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης
Category: God
New term. πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας / πνεῦμα τῆς πλάνης, 4:6. Same capitalization-pair pattern as spirit_of_god_vs_antichrist: Дух істини (capitalized) versus дух омани (lowercase) must both occur with the distinction intact. Mandatory theologian review.
Threefold Witness
Approved rendering: вода, кров і Дух
Transliteration: voda, krov i Dukh
Doctrine: The Threefold Witness: Water, Blood, and Spirit
Rejected alternatives: presenting the Comma Johanneum Trinitarian gloss as original text without flagging its textual-critical status
Original: τὸ πνεῦμα, τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸ αἷμα
Category: Christology
New term. τὸ πνεῦμα, τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸ αἷμα, 5:6-8 (majority modern critical text). Both the Orthodox and Greek Catholic traditions have historically read water and blood in close connection with Baptism (Хрещення) and the Eucharist (Причастя/Євхаристія). This curriculum reads the verse primarily as testimony to Christ’s incarnate life and atoning death; this distinction must be stated explicitly, and the Comma Johanneum question flagged transparently rather than harmonized. Mandatory theologian review.
Sin Unto Death
Approved rendering: грiх до смерті / грiх не до смерті
Transliteration: hrikh do smerti / hrikh ne do smerti
Doctrine: Sin unto Death and Intercessory Prayer
Rejected alternatives: смертний грiх (‘mortal sin’ — NEVER use, imports the Catholic mortal/venial sin framework)
Original: ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον / μὴ πρὸς θάνατον
Category: Sin
New term. ἁμαρτία πρὸς θάνατον / μὴ πρὸς θάνατον, 5:16-17. A specific, unrepentant sin pattern for which intercessory prayer for the person’s life is not commanded, contrasted with ordinary sins — not a general doctrine of unforgivable sin. Use the literal грiх до смерті; require honest exposition of the interpretive difficulty rather than resolving it via the mortal/venial framework. Mandatory theologian review.
High Risk Terms
Father
Approved rendering: Отець
Transliteration: Otets’
Doctrine: Children of God and Future Glory
Rejected alternatives: батюшка (reserve exclusively for addressing an Orthodox priest, and is itself a Russicism increasingly avoided)
Original: πατήρ
Category: God
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. 1 John’s warm, relational framing of the Father (3:1, ‘see what kind of love the Father has given us’) carries acute wartime pastoral weight, extending the baseline’s adoption-related caution around усиновлення to this book’s related ‘children of God’ (діти Божі) doctrine.
Faith
Approved rendering: віра
Transliteration: vira
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Rejected alternatives: довіра, переконання
Original: πίστις / πιστεύω
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. 1 John ties faith directly to the confession that Jesus is the Christ/Son of God (5:1, 5) and specifies faith as the means of victory over the world (5:4-5), reinforcing the baseline’s caution that this personal, Christ-directed trust must not default to confessional/institutional identity.
Sin
Approved rendering: гріх
Transliteration: hrikh
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Rejected alternatives: помилка, провина
Original: ἁμαρτία
Category: Sin
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. 1 John defines sin as lawlessness (3:4; see sin_is_lawlessness below) and makes the difficult claims that the one born of God ‘cannot sin’ (3:9; 5:18); this must be explicitly reconciled in exposition with 1:8-2:2’s acknowledgment that believers do sin, to avoid either a perfectionist or a licentious misreading.
Adoption
Approved rendering: усиновлення
Transliteration: usynovlennya
Doctrine: Children of God and Future Glory
Rejected alternatives: прийняття в сім’ю
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. 1 John does not use υἱοθεσία directly but its organic-birth-based τέκνα θεοῦ vocabulary (children_of_god, see below) complements rather than replaces this term’s legal-inheritance emphasis; both should be presented as facets of one family-belonging doctrine, not competing categories, given equal or greater wartime pastoral weight from orphaned/displaced children.
Fellowship
Approved rendering: спілкування
Transliteration: spilkuvannya
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Rejected alternatives: дружба, колектив (avoid Soviet-collective connotation)
Original: κοινωνία
Category: Church
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. Risk elevated to High for 1 John specifically (baseline Romans risk: Low) because κοινωνία is this letter’s central relational category (1:3, 6-7) — fellowship with the Father and Son, and with one another — far more theologically load-bearing here than the baseline’s generic Romans occurrences, and sharing conceptual territory with Причастя/Євхаристія (Eucharistic Communion) in Orthodox/Greek Catholic patristic theology. Exposition must present the broader relational life secured by walking in light and confessing sin (1:5-2:2), neither denying nor collapsing into that specific sacrament. колектив remains forbidden.
Light
Approved rendering: світло
Transliteration: svitlo
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: φῶς
Category: Sanctification
New term. 1 John 1:5, 7; 2:8-10. Moral and spiritual purity, truth, and revelation — God’s own nature, contrasted with darkness. Light/darkness imagery is deeply embedded across all three Ukrainian Christian traditions, reducing foreign-concept risk; primary risk is doctrinal — must be taught with full ontological weight (paired with god_is_love), not reduced to a generic hope-metaphor given readily available wartime pastoral usage of light-language.
Word Of Life
Approved rendering: Слово життя
Transliteration: Slovo zhyttya
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: слово життя (as merely an abstract life-giving message, detached from Christ’s person)
Original: ὁ λόγος τῆς ζωῆς
Category: Christology
New term. 1 John 1:1. Echoes the Gospel of John’s Λόγος Christology (John 1:1, 14). Must connect explicitly to the pre-existent, eternal Λόγος rather than being heard as an abstract message; the letter’s insistence this Word was seen, heard, and touched (1:1) is a strongly incarnational, anti-docetic claim the shared icon theology of the Orthodox and Greek Catholic traditions can support well.
Blood
Approved rendering: кров
Transliteration: krov
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: αἷμα
Category: Salvation
New term. αἷμα, 1:7; 5:6-8. Christ’s atoning blood cleanses believers from all sin. Connects directly to the Critical-risk propitiation doctrine; must not be read through a merely ritual-purification lens but as the judicial, once-for-all ground of forgiveness. In 5:6-8 also intersects the Eucharistic (Причастя) sacramental-reading risk — see threefold_witness.
Righteous
Approved rendering: праведний
Transliteration: pravednyy
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: δίκαιος
Category: Salvation
New term (adjectival form of the baseline righteousness family). δίκαιος, 2:1 (‘Jesus Christ the righteous’), 2:29; 3:7. Register note inherited from the baseline: праведник evokes an Orthodox/Greek Catholic saintly elder, biasing toward achieved virtue rather than a gift received by faith and evidenced by love, the specific link 1 John makes (2:29; 3:10).
Know Oida
Approved rendering: знати (знаємо/відаємо)
Transliteration: znaty (znayemo/vidayemo)
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: οἶδα
Category: Faith
New term. οἶδα, the basis of the letter’s repeated assurance formula (‘we know that…,’ 2:20-21, 29; 3:2, 5, 14-15; 5:13, 15, 18-20). Collapses into the same Ukrainian знати as γινώσκω, a structural gap directly load-bearing for the Assurance doctrine (5:13, ‘that you may know that you have eternal life’); must be carried by explicit exposition distinguishing settled/confident knowledge from ongoing relational knowledge.
Abide
Approved rendering: перебувати
Transliteration: perebuvaty
Doctrine: Abiding in God
Original: μένω
Category: Faith
New term. μένω, used roughly 24 times (2:6, 10, 14, 17, 24, 27-28; 3:6, 9, 14-15, 17, 24; 4:12-16). Settled, continuing, relational dwelling — the letter’s key relational-continuance verb. Must retain settled relational indwelling, not merely locative ‘stay,’ nor a claim of automatic sacramental indwelling detached from the ethical tests (love, confession, obedience) 1 John repeatedly ties to it. Must be rendered identically at every occurrence per the baseline’s cross-document consistency rule. Mandatory theologian review.
Overcome Victory
Approved rendering: перемагати / перемога
Transliteration: peremahaty / peremoha
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: νικάω / νίκη
Category: Faith
New term. νικάω/νίκη, 2:13-14; 4:4; 5:4-5. Spiritual conquest over the world’s opposition and the evil one, secured through faith, not human effort. перемога is the single most emotionally and politically charged word in current wartime Ukrainian public discourse (the stated national goal since 2022). Must not be silently collapsed into, or treated as a devotional metaphor for, Ukraine’s wartime hope for military/political victory; the resonance may register pastorally but the text’s specific referent (5:4-5) must remain primary. Mandatory theologian review for every occurrence.
World Positive
Approved rendering: світ
Transliteration: svit
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: κόσμος (positive sense)
Category: Church
New term. κόσμος (positive sense), 4:9, 14. The created order/humanity generally, the object of God’s saving love. Must be disambiguated on first occurrence from κόσμος’s negative sense (world_negative); світ is lexically and orthographically fully distinct from мир (‘peace,’ baseline High-risk homograph concern for Romans) — a genuine asset of Ukrainian over Russian here.
World Negative
Approved rendering: світ
Transliteration: svit
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: κόσμος (negative sense)
Category: Sin
New term. κόσμος (negative sense), 2:15-17; 4:5; 5:19. The organized system of human life and desire opposed to God, dominated by the evil one. The SAME word світ used for world_positive must be doctrinally disambiguated by exposition at every occurrence so ‘overcoming/not loving the world’ is understood as opposing a value-system, not people or creation.
Lust Flesh Eyes Pride Of Life
Approved rendering: пожадливість тіла / пожадливість очей / пиха життя
Transliteration: pozhadlyvist’ tila / pozhadlyvist’ ochey / pykha zhyttya
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός / τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου
Category: Sin
New term. ἐπιθυμία τῆς σαρκός/τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν, ἀλαζονεία τοῦ βίου, 2:16. тіло here inherits the flesh entry’s Critical structural risk and must be flagged on first occurrence. βίος (‘this-worldly life/livelihood’) must be kept distinct in exposition from ζωή (‘life,’ especially eternal life) elsewhere in the letter — a genuine Greek distinction Ukrainian життя alone does not preserve.
Confidence Boldness
Approved rendering: впевненість / сміливість
Transliteration: vpevnenist’ / smilyvist’
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: παρρησία
Category: Faith
New term. παρρησία, 2:28; 3:21-22; 4:17; 5:14. Unashamed confidence before God, especially in prayer and at judgment. Must not be confused with false presumption or a claim to sinless perfection, nor collide with the Orthodox/Greek Catholic pastoral caution about claiming assurance before final judgment already flagged in the baseline’s assurance_of_salvation entry. Grounded in Christ’s finished work and present love, not self-confidence about merit.
Children Of God
Approved rendering: діти Божі
Transliteration: dity Bozhi
Doctrine: Children of God and Future Glory
Original: τέκνα θεοῦ
Category: Salvation
New term. τέκνα θεοῦ, 3:1-2, 10. Organic, birth-based belonging to God’s family, complementing but distinct from υἱοθεσία’s legal-adoption emphasis (baseline adoption, усиновлення). Inherits the baseline’s flagged wartime sensitivity around усиновлення with equal or greater pastoral force through 3:1’s direct family-belonging language.
Like Him
Approved rendering: подібні до Нього
Transliteration: podibni do N’oho
Doctrine: Children of God and Future Glory
Rejected alternatives: обоження/theosis framing presented as the verse’s own definitive meaning (state only as a related, unresolved comparison, never silently assumed)
Original: ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα
Category: Salvation
New term. ὅμοιοι αὐτῷ ἐσόμεθα, 3:2. Future glorification hope: moral/relational Christlikeness and bodily resurrection-glory, not identity with or absorption into the divine essence. Directly adjacent to the theosis (обоження) risk already flagged for sanctification and Galatians’ crucified_with_christ; must state explicitly which sense is meant.
Cain Fratricide
Approved rendering: Каїн … вбив
Transliteration: Kayin … vbyv
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: Κάϊν … ἔσφαξεν
Category: Sin
New term. Κάϊν … ἔσφαξεν, 3:12. The narrative anchor for the letter’s hatred-equals-murder argument. Risks unintended resonance with wartime Russian-propaganda rhetoric describing Ukrainians and Russians as ‘brotherly peoples’ (братні народи) betrayed by war, which must be kept sharply distinct from 1 John’s own referent (hatred toward a fellow believer negating a claim of new birth). Mandatory theologian review.
Brother
Approved rendering: брат
Transliteration: brat
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἀδελφός
Category: Church
New term. ἀδελφός, throughout, esp. 2:9-11; 3:10-17; 4:20-21. A fellow believer in the faith-community, the horizontal test of the vertical claim to love God. Two grounded risks: (1) брат’s monastic-fraternal connotation in Orthodox/Greek Catholic usage could narrow the referent to clergy/religious; (2) the Cain/Abel fratricide language this term anchors risks resonance with ‘brotherly peoples’ (братні народи) wartime propaganda rhetoric. Mandatory first-occurrence gloss and theologian review.
Lay Down Ones Life
Approved rendering: покласти життя (душу) своє
Transliteration: poklasty zhyttya (dushu) svoye
Doctrine: Sacrificial Love and Laying Down One’s Life
Original: τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν
Category: Church
New term. τίθημι τὴν ψυχήν, 3:16-18. Sacrificial, other-directed love patterned on Christ’s own death. Carries unusually direct and current resonance in wartime Ukraine, a genuine pastoral asset; but 1 John’s own focus is sacrificial love and material generosity toward fellow believers in ordinary need (3:17-18), not a general theology of martial sacrifice, which the text does not address. Keep both the resonance and the distinction clear.
Test The Spirits
Approved rendering: випробовуйте духів
Transliteration: vyprobovuyte dukhiv
Doctrine: Testing the Spirits
Original: δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα
Category: Faith
New term. δοκιμάζετε τὰ πνεύματα, 4:1. Believers’ discerning evaluation of religious/prophetic claims against the apostolic christological standard. Lowercase, plural ‘spirits’ here must NOT be capitalized as the Holy Spirit — the opposite disambiguation direction from spirit_of_god_vs_antichrist in the same passage. Also risks resonance with post-Soviet folk-psychic culture (екстрасенси); the test is doctrinal/christological, not intuitive sensing. Mandatory theologian review.
Savior Of The World
Approved rendering: Спаситель світу
Transliteration: Spasytel’ svitu
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου
Category: Christology
New term. σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου, 4:14. Extends baseline salvation (Critical) into a title; must not be read through any one tradition’s fuller soteriological system without the explicit forensic/relational anchoring the baseline requires. Here κόσμος carries the positive, universal-scope sense (world_positive).
Eternal Life
Approved rendering: вічне життя
Transliteration: vichne zhyttya
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: ζωὴ αἰώνιος
Category: Salvation
New term. ζωὴ αἰώνιος, 2:25; 3:15; 5:11, 13, 20. A qualitatively new kind of life, already possessed by believers in the present as well as its future consummation, explicitly knowable and possessed NOW (5:13). Must be anchored to Christ’s person and finished work (5:11-12) and stressed as distinct from — though not opposed to — the majority traditions’ greater emphasis on eternal life as a hope realized fully only in the age to come.
Truth
Approved rendering: правда / істина
Transliteration: pravda / istyna
Doctrine: Truth and Deception
Original: ἀλήθεια
Category: Faith
New term. ἀλήθεια, throughout, esp. 1:6-8; 2:4, 21; 3:18-19; 4:6; 5:20. Two grounded risks: (1) правда shares its root with праведність (righteousness), creating a false-friend adjacency requiring exposition to keep the categories distinct; (2) правда carries heavy current Ukrainian national-political/journalistic resonance (‘наша правда переможе’), which may register pastorally but must not dilute 1 John’s christological, relational sense of truth. Mandatory theologian review.
Medium Risk Terms
Holy
Approved rendering: святий
Transliteration: svyatyy
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: чистий, непорочний
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. Relevant background for 3:3’s ἁγνίζει (‘purifies himself,’ очищає себе), a distinct new verb (see cleanse) related to but not identical with this ἅγιος word-family; no new risk beyond the baseline’s existing caution against ritual-purity-only readings.
Law
Approved rendering: закон
Transliteration: zakon
Doctrine: Sin Defined as Lawlessness
Rejected alternatives: правило, заповідь (reserve for individual commandments)
Original: νόμος
Category: Covenant
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. 1 John does not use νόμος directly, but its own definitional statement ‘sin is lawlessness’ (3:4, ἀνομία, беззаконня) requires readers to connect беззаконня explicitly back to закон so the definition lands as intended rather than reading as an isolated moral category.
Intercession
Approved rendering: клопотання
Transliteration: klopotannya
Doctrine: Sin unto Death and Intercessory Prayer
Rejected alternatives: заступництво (reserve for saints’/Theotokos intercession contexts)
Original: (conceptually related; cf. ἔντευξις)
Category: Faith
Inherited from Romans package; rendering unchanged. Used for ordinary intercessory prayer for others, including prayer for a brother seen sinning a sin not unto death (5:16). Must be kept distinct from advocate/Заступник (2:1) below, which names Christ’s own unique heavenly intercessory office, not ordinary mutual prayer among believers.
False Brothers
Approved rendering: лжебрати
Transliteration: lzhebraty
Doctrine: Truth and Deception
Rejected alternatives: опоненти (too weak)
Inherited from Galatians portion of the baseline. The productive лже- prefix this term establishes is extended in 1 John to лжець (‘liar,’ ψεύστης, see liar_lie below), used repeatedly for false religious claims (1:10; 2:4, 22; 4:20; 5:10); natural, consistent Ukrainian word-formation, no new lexical risk, though the bluntness of ‘liar’ must be preserved per the baseline’s rule against softening doctrinal statements.
Darkness
Approved rendering: темрява
Transliteration: temryava
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: σκοτία / σκότος
Category: Sin
New term. 1 John 1:5-6; 2:8-11. Standard antonym of light; low collision risk, though should not be allegorized beyond 1 John’s own moral-relational sense (separation from God through sin) into an unrelated dualistic cosmology.
From The Beginning
Approved rendering: від початку
Transliteration: vid pochatku
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς
Category: Christology
New term. Polysemous phrase used with three distinct referents across the letter: Christ’s eternal preexistence (1:1); the start of the readers’ instruction in the faith (2:7, 24; 3:11); and the devil’s primordial rebellion (3:8). від початку carries the identical three-way ambiguity; requires explicit disambiguation by exposition at each occurrence, not a single undifferentiated rendering.
Manifested
Approved rendering: з’явитися / бути виявленим
Transliteration: z’yavytysya / buty vyyavlenym
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: φανερόω
Category: Christology
New term. φανερόω, 1:2; 3:5, 8; 4:9. To reveal, disclose, bring into visibility what was previously hidden. Must be distinguished from a merely internal or mystical revelation; the emphasis is historical, public, and christologically concrete — an emphasis shared icon theology can support well.
Testify Testimony
Approved rendering: свідчити / свідчення
Transliteration: svidchyty / svidchennya
Doctrine: Assurance of Salvation and Eternal Life
Original: μαρτυρέω / μαρτυρία
Category: Faith
New term. μαρτυρέω/μαρτυρία, 1:2; 4:14; 5:6-11. свідчити is lexically clear and distinct from мучеництво (martyrdom) in Ukrainian, unlike some other target languages — a minor asset. Should be kept terminologically distinct from благовістя (baseline mission term) unless exposition intends to draw that connection explicitly.
Cleanse
Approved rendering: очищати
Transliteration: ochyshchaty
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: καθαρίζω
Category: Salvation
New term. καθαρίζω, 1:7, 9. Must be distinguished from ritual purification practices (the same обряд-adjacency risk the baseline flags for works_of_the_law and sanctification); this is moral/forensic cleansing received by confession, not achieved through rite.
Forgive Forgiveness
Approved rendering: простити / прощення
Transliteration: prostyty / proshchennya
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: ἀφίημι / ἄφεσις
Category: Salvation
New term. ἀφίημι/ἄφεσις, 1:9. Paired with cleansing as God’s twofold gracious response to confession. The baseline warns that виправдання (‘justification’) must not resolve into прощення гріхів alone; the reverse caution applies here — прощення гріхів is genuinely valid and sufficient in 1:9’s own context and must not be inflated into full justification-language.
Unrighteousness
Approved rendering: неправедність
Transliteration: nepravednist’
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: ἀδικία
Category: Sin
New term. ἀδικία, 1:9. Direct antonym of праведність. Must not be heard as merely ‘unfairness’ — a false-friend risk running opposite the baseline’s rejection of справедливість for праведність, since both roots (right/just) are adjacent in Ukrainian.
Liar Lie
Approved rendering: лжець / неправда (брехня)
Transliteration: lzhets’ / nepravda (brekhnya)
Doctrine: Truth and Deception
Original: ψεύστης / ψεῦδος
Category: Sin
New term (extends лже- pattern already established via false_brothers). ψεύστης/ψεῦδος, 1:10; 2:4, 22; 4:20; 5:10. Used repeatedly for false religious claims about sinlessness, Christ’s identity, or love for God. Bluntness (‘is a liar,’ not ‘is mistaken’) must be preserved per the baseline’s rule against softening doctrinal statements.
Commandment
Approved rendering: заповідь
Transliteration: zapovid’
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἐντολή
Category: Covenant
New term. ἐντολή, 2:3-8; 3:22-24; 4:21; 5:2-3. Correct term per the baseline’s own note (reserved for individual commandments under law). Risk is that ‘commandment’ language, stacked against Galatians’ Critical-risk works_of_the_law concerns, could be misheard as reintroducing law-keeping as a basis of standing rather than the fruit of a love-relationship already secured (4:19); frame per the baseline’s law_of_christ pattern.
Know Ginosko
Approved rendering: знати (знаємо)
Transliteration: znaty (znayemo)
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Original: γινώσκω
Category: Faith
New term. γινώσκω, used throughout (e.g. 2:3, 5; 4:7-8, 13, 16). Relational, ongoing knowledge of God, distinct from οἶδα’s settled/reflective knowledge. Ukrainian знати does not formally distinguish the two verbs; the ongoing-relational nuance must be carried by exposition, not the verb form alone — a structural gap, not a doctrinal drift risk per se.
Last Hour
Approved rendering: остання година
Transliteration: ostannya hodyna
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ἐσχάτη ὥρα
Category: Eschatology
New term. ἐσχάτη ὥρα, 2:18. Qualitative, eschatological urgency-language, not a falsified short-term prediction; must be taught as such given heightened apocalyptic anxiety already present in wartime Ukrainian religious discourse.
Sin Is Lawlessness
Approved rendering: беззаконня
Transliteration: bezzakonnya
Doctrine: Sin Defined as Lawlessness
Original: ἁμαρτία … ἀνομία
Category: Sin
New term. ἀνομία, 3:4. 1 John’s own definition of sin. Must connect explicitly to закон (baseline law term) so readers see this as a definitional statement, not an isolated category detached from the letter’s broader law/grace framework.
Murderer
Approved rendering: убивця / людиновбивця
Transliteration: ubyvtsya / lyudynovbyvtsya
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Rejected alternatives: ‘is like a murderer’ (softens the deliberately shocking equation — never use)
Original: ἀνθρωποκτόνος
Category: Sin
New term. ἀνθρωποκτόνος, 3:15. Hatred toward a brother is morally equated with murder in its root disposition. Must retain full rhetorical force; given intensified wartime discourse about literal killing and just-war ethics, exposition should clarify the specific point without inviting confusion with contemporary just-war/self-defense debates the letter does not address.
In Deed And Truth
Approved rendering: ділом і правдою
Transliteration: dilom i pravdoyu
Doctrine: Love for the Brethren as Evidence of New Birth
Original: ἐν ἔργῳ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ
Category: Faith
New term. ἐν ἔργῳ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ, 3:18. Love expressed concretely in action and truthfulness, contrasted with mere words. See the truth entry for the правда/праведність root-adjacency risk; the phrase’s practical, active sense must be preserved.
Only Begotten
Approved rendering: Єдинородний
Transliteration: Yedynorodnyy
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Rejected alternatives: ‘special/beloved’ (loses ‘unique, without peer’ sense)
Original: μονογενής
Category: Christology
New term. μονογενής, 4:9. Unique, one-of-a-kind Sonship, not ‘firstborn among many.’ Established, uncontested Nicene-Creed term shared across all three living Ukrainian traditions (prayed in the Divine Liturgy: ‘Єдинородного Сина Божого’), a genuine asset; must retain ‘unique’ rather than drifting toward a vague ‘special/beloved’ reading.
Sent The Son
Approved rendering: послав
Transliteration: poslav
Doctrine: The Incarnation and Antichrist
Original: ἀποστέλλω
Category: Christology
New term. ἀποστέλλω, 4:9-10, 14. The Father’s commissioned sending of the Son into the world in love, completed with ongoing effect. Distinguish this christological sending (Father sends Son) from the missiological sending of believers to the nations (baseline mission, місія/благовістя) — same root idea, different referent.
Perfected Love
Approved rendering: досконала / удосконалена (любов)
Transliteration: doskonala / udoskonalena (lyubov)
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Rejected alternatives: ‘emotionally flawless’ framing (never use — sets an impossible moralistic bar)
Original: τελειόω / τέλειος (ἀγάπη)
Category: Sanctification
New term. τελειόω/τέλειος ἀγάπη, 4:12, 17-18. Love reaching its intended goal/completeness through being enacted toward others, not sinless emotional flawlessness. Ukrainian досконалий carries a strong connotation of flawless perfection; must be explicitly glossed as ‘complete/mature/having reached its goal,’ a pastoral risk given proximity to the baseline’s Critical sanctification entry.
Fear
Approved rendering: страх
Transliteration: strakh
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: φόβος
Category: Faith
New term. φόβος, 4:18. Anxious dread of punishment/judgment, displaced by love-secured assurance. Must be distinguished on first occurrence from the positive страх Господній (‘fear of the Lord’) tradition prominent in Wisdom literature and in Orthodox/Greek Catholic devotional vocabulary.
First Loved Us
Approved rendering: перший / першим (полюбив нас)
Transliteration: pershyy / pershym (polyubyv nas)
Doctrine: God is Light and God is Love
Original: αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς
Category: Salvation
New term. αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς, 4:19. The strict causal-temporal priority of divine love as the sole ground of human love in response — the passage’s grace-logic hinge. Must preserve the strict priority (‘he loved first,’ full stop), parallel to Romans 4:4-5, 11:5-6, and Galatians 5:6.
Idols
Approved rendering: ідоли
Transliteration: idoly
Doctrine: Overcoming the World
Original: εἴδωλα
Category: Sin
New term. εἴδωλα, 5:21. The letter’s closing exhortation, likely including both literal idolatry and any rival object of ultimate devotion. Standard and lexically unambiguous; ensure the exhortation is not read as addressing only literal cultic images, missing the letter’s broader concern with false teaching and misplaced devotion.
The True One
Approved rendering: Істинний
Transliteration: Istynnyy
Doctrine: Truth and Deception
Original: ὁ ἀληθινός
Category: God
New term. ὁ ἀληθινός, 5:20. A personal designation for God as genuinely real/authentic, in contrast to false gods and idols. Related to the truth word-family; carries the same relational-vs-abstract register consideration as правда/істина.
Low Risk Terms
Walk
Approved rendering: ходити
Transliteration: khodyty
Doctrine: Fellowship with God and One Another
Original: περιπατέω
Category: Sanctification
New term. περιπατέω, 1:6-7; 2:6. A Johannine idiom for habitual conduct/way of life. ходити у світлі is a well-established, natural biblical idiom already familiar from other NT usage; no significant risk.
Self Deception
Approved rendering: обманювати себе
Transliteration: obmanyuvaty sebe
Doctrine: Confession and Forgiveness of Sin
Original: πλανάω (reflexive)
Category: Sin
New term. πλανάω (reflexive), 1:8. Straightforward; minor risk only of understating the seriousness (active self-deception, not a mere mistake) if softened.
Referenced passages