Semantic Analysis

07 Semantic Analysis — English → Vietnamese

1 Corinthians 1–16 | Core Passage: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Method note: This analysis extends, and must never contradict, the Romans baseline translation_memory.json, bible_term_registry.json, and doctrine_risk_registry.json. Every term already established in that baseline is marked [BASELINE REUSE] and its recorded Vietnamese rendering is repeated verbatim — no alternative renderings are proposed for those terms. Only terms newly load-bearing in 1 Corinthians receive new risk assessments. Risk tiers (Critical/High/Medium/Low) follow the baseline’s risk_definitions.

PART A — CORE PASSAGE: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (Verse-by-Verse)

This passage is Paul’s earliest written summary of the apostolic gospel tradition and the historical resurrection appearances. It anchors the curriculum’s first doctrine, The Resurrection of Christ and Believers, and is Critical-risk throughout because of the direct availability of a competing Vietnamese Buddhist framework (rebirth/reincarnation) for “death,” “rising,” and “sleep” language.

Verse 1 — “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel (εὐαγγέλιον) I preached to you, which you received (παρελάβετε), in which you stand (ἑστήκατε)”

gospel — Greek: εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion). [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: Tin Lành. Risk: High (per baseline). Contextual meaning here: not a general religious message but the specific, fixed, historically anchored proclamation summarized in vv.3-5. No new risk beyond baseline.
received — Greek: παρελάβετε (parelabete), from παραλαμβάνω (paralambanō). Literal meaning: “to take/receive alongside,” i.e., to receive something handed to one. Semantic range: receive a physical object; receive instruction/tradition passed down authoritatively. English variants: “received,” “were given,” “took hold of.” Contextual theological meaning: the Corinthians received the gospel as a fixed apostolic deposit, not a teaching they devised. Vietnamese rendering: đã nhận lấy (or in context “đã nhận”). Risk: High. Rationale: Vietnamese ancestor veneration (thờ cúng tổ tiên) and Confucian tradition place enormous weight on “nhận lãnh gia truyền” (receiving a family inheritance/tradition) that is transmitted and adapted generation to generation. The apostolic gospel, by contrast, is a fixed, unrepeatable, historically verifiable deposit about a specific past event (Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, appearances), not an evolving family or cultural inheritance. Every occurrence should be taught with this distinction.
stand — Greek: ἑστήκατε (hestēkate), from ἵστημι (histēmi). Literal meaning: “to stand, to have taken a stand and remain there.” Semantic range: physical standing; firm, settled position; perseverance. Contextual theological meaning: continuing, present-tense reliance on the gospel already received. Vietnamese rendering: đang vững vàng trong đó / đứng vững. Risk: Low.

Verse 2 — “and by which you are being saved (σῴζεσθε), if you hold fast (κατέχετε) to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain (εἰκῇ ἐπιστεύσατε)”

saved — Greek: σῴζεσθε (sōzesthe), from σώζω (sōzō). [BASELINE REUSE — doctrine: salvation] Vietnamese: được cứu (verb form of sự cứu rỗi). Risk: Critical (per baseline). Contextual meaning: the present-tense, ongoing experience of the salvation secured through the resurrection gospel; must never be rendered with sự giải thoát (Buddhist liberation from the cycle of rebirth).
hold fast — Greek: κατέχετε (katechete), from κατέχω (katechō). Literal meaning: “to hold down/firmly, to retain.” Semantic range: to retain possession; to hold firmly to a teaching; to restrain. Contextual theological meaning: perseverance in the content of the gospel, not merely an initial acceptance. Vietnamese rendering: giữ vững. Risk: Low.
believed in vain — Greek: εἰκῇ ἐπιστεύσατε (eikē episteusate). Literal meaning: “believed without cause/purpose, to no effect.” Contextual theological meaning: warns that faith detached from the historical facts of vv.3-5 (especially the resurrection) is empty. Vietnamese rendering: tin một cách vô ích. Risk: Medium — must not be softened, since it directly supports the doctrine that the resurrection is factually, not merely symbolically, necessary for saving faith.

Verse 3 — “For I delivered (παρέδωκα) to you as of first importance (ἐν πρώτοις) what I also received (παρέλαβον): that Christ died (Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν) for our sins (ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν) in accordance with the Scriptures (κατὰ τὰς γραφάς)”

delivered / received — Greek: παρέδωκα (paradidōmi, “I handed down/delivered”) and παρέλαβον (paralambanō, “I received”), a fixed rabbinic tradition-transmission word-pair. Contextual theological meaning: Paul presents himself as a link in a chain of authoritative transmission that goes back to the original eyewitnesses and ultimately to Christ himself — not an innovator. Vietnamese rendering: đã truyền lại (delivered) / đã nhận lấy (received). Risk: High. Rationale: as in v.1, the semantic field of “truyền lại” (to hand down) overlaps heavily with Vietnamese ancestral-tradition and Confucian sage-tradition transmission language (cf. baseline’s “inspiration_of_scripture” doctrine note on Confucian classics transmitted through sage tradition). Teaching must make clear this is the transmission of a fixed set of historical facts about Christ, not a living, adaptable cultural inheritance.
first importance — Greek: ἐν πρώτοις (en prōtois). Literal meaning: “among the first things.” Contextual theological meaning: marks vv.3-5 as the core, non-negotiable content of the gospel. Vietnamese rendering: là điều quan trọng hàng đầu. Risk: Low.
Christ died for our sins — ties directly to sin [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: tội lỗi. Risk: Medium (per baseline). The preposition ὑπὲρ (hyper, “for/on behalf of”) marks substitutionary, vicarious death. Vietnamese rendering: vì / thay cho. Risk: Medium — must preserve substitution, not mere example or sympathy.
according to the Scriptures — Greek: κατὰ τὰς γραφάς (kata tas graphas), from γραφή (graphē, “writing,” i.e., the OT Scriptures). Contextual theological meaning: Christ’s death fulfills prophetic Scripture, not chance. Ties to baseline doctrine fulfillment_of_prophecy. Vietnamese rendering: theo như Kinh Thánh đã chép. Risk: Medium (per baseline doctrine risk registry) — must retain linear, one-time historical fulfillment, not the cyclical time-frame of Buddhist cosmology.

Verse 4 — “that he was buried (ἐτάφη), that he was raised (ἐγήγερται) on the third day (τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῃ) in accordance with the Scriptures”

buried — Greek: ἐτάφη (etaphē), from θάπτω (thaptō). Literal meaning: “was entombed.” Contextual theological meaning: establishes the reality and finality of Christ’s physical death — a true corpse, truly interred. Vietnamese rendering: đã bị chôn. Risk: Low.
raised — Greek: ἐγήγερται (egēgertai), perfect passive of ἐγείρω (egeirō, “to raise up”). [BASELINE REUSE — doctrine: resurrection_of_christ] Vietnamese: đã sống lại (verb form of sự sống lại). Risk: Critical (per baseline). The perfect tense underscores a completed action with continuing effect — Christ remains risen. Must never be rendered with terms suggesting sự đầu thai or luân hồi (reincarnation into a new cycle of existence). This same body that was buried was raised bodily, once, permanently.
third day — Greek: τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῃ. Contextual theological meaning: a specific, historically datable event, fulfilling Scripture (cf. Jonah/Hosea typology), not a mythic or cyclical time marker. Vietnamese rendering: ngày thứ ba. Risk: Low.

Verse 5 — “and that he appeared (ὤφθη) to Cephas (Κηφᾷ), then to the twelve (τοῖς δώδεκα)”

appeared — Greek: ὤφθη (ōphthē), passive of ὁράω (horaō, “to see”). Literal meaning: “was seen, presented himself to be seen.” Semantic range: ordinary visual perception; also used of divine/theophanic appearances in the LXX. Contextual theological meaning: this is bodily, objective, eyewitness-verifiable appearance, not a vision, dream, or spiritual impression only. Vietnamese rendering: đã hiện ra. Risk: High. Rationale: must be taught as objective, bodily encounter with the risen Christ, distinguished from the kind of spirit-visitation or ancestor-appearance phenomena reported in Vietnamese folk religious experience (e.g., a deceased relative’s spirit “hiện về” in a dream or at a shrine). The distinction is not primarily lexical (hiện ra is the correct, natural verb) but catechetical: this appearance is of a bodily risen person, not a disembodied spirit.
Cephas — Κηφᾷ, Aramaic for Peter. Vietnamese: Sê-pha or, by established Vietnamese Protestant convention, cross-referenced with Phi-e-rơ (Peter) elsewhere in the NT. Risk: Low — proper name; use established Vietnamese Bible form.
the twelve — τοῖς δώδεκα. Vietnamese: mười hai sứ đồ (contextually expanded) or mười hai người. Risk: Low; ties to apostle [BASELINE REUSE], Vietnamese: sứ đồ.

Verse 6 — “Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep (ἐκοιμήθησαν)”

fallen asleep — Greek: ἐκοιμήθησαν (ekoimēthēsan), from κοιμάομαι (koimaomai, “to sleep”). Literal meaning: “to fall asleep.” Semantic range: ordinary sleep; a common NT euphemism for the death of believers, implying a temporary state pending bodily resurrection. English variants: “fallen asleep,” “died,” “are dead.” Contextual theological meaning: death for the believer is not annihilation, reincarnation, or an unconscious void, but a temporary state awaiting bodily resurrection at Christ’s return (cf. 15:51-52). Vietnamese rendering: đã ngủ (established Vietnamese Bible euphemism, e.g., used elsewhere for believers’ death). Risk: Medium. Rationale: “ngủ” (sleep) is the correct, established euphemism and carries low risk of confusion with Buddhist rebirth by itself, but the doctrinal payload — that the “sleeping” one will be bodily raised, not reborn into a new existence — must be made explicit in surrounding teaching, since Vietnamese hearers may otherwise supply their own cultural framework (the deceased “resting” before eventual rebirth) by default.

Verse 7 — “Then he appeared to James (Ἰακώβῳ), then to all the apostles (τοῖς ἀποστόλοις πᾶσιν)”

James — Ἰακώβῳ. Vietnamese established form: Gia-cơ. Risk: Low; proper name.
all the apostles — τοῖς ἀποστόλοις πᾶσιν. [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: các sứ đồ. Risk: Medium (per baseline). Contextual meaning: the wider circle of apostolic eyewitnesses beyond the Twelve.

Verse 8 — “Last of all (ἔσχατον), as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me”

last of all — Greek: ἔσχατον (eschaton), adverbial use of ἔσχατος (“last”). Contextual theological meaning: closes the formal list of resurrection witnesses and marks Paul’s own apostleship as grounded in the same objective, bodily appearance, though received last and unexpectedly. Vietnamese rendering: rốt lại. Risk: Low.

Verse 9 — “For I am the least of the apostles (ἐλάχιστος τῶν ἀποστόλων), unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted (ἐδίωξα) the church of God (τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ)”

least of the apostles — ἐλάχιστος τῶν ἀποστόλων. Contextual theological meaning: Paul’s apostleship [BASELINE REUSE, doctrine: apostleship] rests entirely on grace, not merit — critical for the doctrine of grace that follows in v.10. Vietnamese rendering: hèn mọn hơn hết trong các sứ đồ. Risk: Low.
persecuted — Greek: ἐδίωξα (ediōxa), from διώκω (diōkō, “to pursue, persecute”). Vietnamese rendering: đã bắt bớ. Risk: Low.
church of God — τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ. [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: Hội Thánh của Đức Chúa Trời. Risk: Medium (per baseline). Contextual meaning: the actual historical community of believers Paul once persecuted, grounding the reality of his conversion.

Verse 10 — “But by the grace of God (χάριτι θεοῦ) I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain (οὐ κενὴ). On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me”

grace of God — Greek: χάριτι θεοῦ (chariti theou), from χάρις (charis). [BASELINE REUSE — doctrine: grace] Vietnamese: ân điển của Đức Chúa Trời. Risk: High (per baseline). Contextual theological meaning: this verse is a model case for the baseline’s grace-versus-merit distinction: Paul explicitly denies that his subsequent hard labor is the source of his standing (“not I, but the grace of God”) — the labor is grace’s result, not its cause. Must never be rendered in a way that implies Paul earned or accumulated ân điển through his labor, which would collapse the term toward công đức (Buddhist accumulated merit) or ơn nghĩa (Confucian reciprocal-debt favor), both explicitly forbidden by the baseline.
not in vain — οὐ κενή (ou kenē), “not empty/without effect.” Vietnamese rendering: không phải là vô ích. Risk: Low.
worked harder — περισσότερον … ἐκοπίασα, from κοπιάω (“to labor to the point of weariness”). Vietnamese rendering: làm việc nhiều hơn. Risk: Low; note the labor is presented as grace’s fruit, reinforcing the grace note above.

Verse 11 — “Whether then it was I or they, so we preach (κηρύσσομεν), and so you believed (ἐπιστεύσατε)”

preach — Greek: κηρύσσομεν (kēryssomen), from κηρύσσω (kēryssō, “to herald, proclaim as a herald”). Literal meaning: to make a public, authoritative announcement, as a herald announcing a king’s decree. Semantic range: public proclamation; authoritative announcement of good news; occasionally general “announce.” English variants: “preach,” “proclaim,” “announce,” “herald.” Contextual theological meaning: the resurrection gospel is proclaimed with the same content and authority regardless of which apostle preaches it — unity of apostolic testimony. Vietnamese rendering: giảng (established Vietnamese Protestant preaching term). Risk: Medium. Rationale: “giảng” is well-established for Christian gospel proclamation (as in “giảng Tin Lành,” “giảng đạo”) and carries low collision risk, but should be distinguished in teaching from “giảng đạo” as used generically for any religious teacher’s discourse (Buddhist monks also “giảng đạo/giảng pháp”); context should make clear this specific herald-proclamation concerns the historical resurrection facts of vv.3-8.
believed — ἐπιστεύσατε. [BASELINE REUSE — doctrine: faith] Vietnamese: anh em đã tin (verb form of đức tin). Risk: Medium (per baseline).

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

Chapter 1 — Christian Unity versus Factionalism; The Cross as Wisdom and Power (introduced)

called — κλητός/κέκλησθε. [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: được kêu gọi. Risk: Medium. Used for Paul’s apostolic calling (1:1) and the Corinthians’ calling to salvation/fellowship (1:2, 9), consistent with the baseline’s context-sensitivity note.
saints — ἅγιοι (1:2, “with all who call on the name of the Lord… in every place”). [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: các thánh đồ. Risk: High.
grace — χάρις (1:3-4). [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: ân điển. Risk: High.
fellowship — κοινωνία (1:9, “fellowship of his Son”). [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: sự thông công. Risk: Low.
division / schism — Greek: σχίσμα (schisma, 1:10). Literal meaning: “a tear, split, rip” (from cloth-tearing imagery). Semantic range: a literal tear; factional division within a group. English variants: “division,” “schism,” “quarreling.” Contextual theological meaning: the concrete, named sin structuring the whole first section of the letter — allegiance to human leaders (Paul, Apollos, Cephas, Christ-faction) fracturing the one body. Vietnamese rendering: sự chia rẽ. Risk: Medium-High. Rationale: Vietnamese church life, like the Corinthian church, is vulnerable to factional loyalty around individual pastors, denominational lineage, or regional/ethnic congregational identity; the term must be taught with its full doctrinal weight (a wound in the one body of Christ) and not softened into ordinary “disagreement.”
strife / quarreling — Greek: ἔρις (eris, 1:11). Literal meaning: “contention, rivalry.” Vietnamese rendering: sự tranh cạnh. Risk: Low-Medium.
wisdom — Greek: σοφία (sophia, 1:17, 19-24, 30). Literal meaning: “skill, wisdom, learning.” Semantic range: practical skill; philosophical wisdom; in the LXX and NT, God’s own wisdom as an attribute and as embodied in Christ. English variants: “wisdom,” “cleverness,” “learning.” Contextual theological meaning: contrasts merely human, rhetorical, or philosophical wisdom (which Paul rejects as a basis for the gospel) with the cross as God’s true wisdom. Vietnamese rendering: sự khôn ngoan. Risk: High. Rationale: “khôn ngoan” is the correct, established term, but there is a real risk of conflation with the Buddhist concept of trí tuệ (transcendent wisdom/insight attained through practice and enlightenment) — teaching must make explicit that biblical σοφία in this passage is revealed, given wisdom centered in a historical crucified/risen person, not insight self-attained through meditative or ascetic practice.
foolishness — Greek: μωρία (mōria, 1:18, 21, 23). Literal meaning: “folly, stupidity.” Vietnamese rendering: sự dại dột (or established variant sự rồ dại). Risk: Medium — the paradox (what the world calls foolish is in fact God’s wisdom) must be preserved, not smoothed over.
cross — Greek: σταυρός (stauros, 1:17-18). Literal meaning: “an upright stake,” specifically the Roman execution instrument. Semantic range: a literal wooden execution stake; metonym for Christ’s crucifixion and its saving significance; metaphor for self-denial (elsewhere in NT). English variants: “cross,” “crucifixion.” Contextual theological meaning: the specific, historical, shameful instrument of Christ’s death, now proclaimed as the very locus of God’s power and wisdom. Vietnamese rendering: thập tự giá (established Vietnamese Protestant term). Risk: High. Rationale: the term itself carries low direct syncretism risk in Vietnamese religious vocabulary, but teaching must guard against two drifts: (1) treating “thập tự giá” as a decorative religious symbol/amulet (paralleling amulets and talismans in Vietnamese folk practice) rather than the historical event of atoning death; (2) losing Paul’s deliberate paradox that this shameful death — not a triumphant religious symbol — is the content of the gospel.
power of God — δύναμις θεοῦ (1:18, 24). [BASELINE REUSE — doctrine: power_of_god] Vietnamese: quyền năng của Đức Chúa Trời. Risk: Medium.
boast — Greek: καυχάομαι (kauchaomai, 1:29, 31). Literal meaning: “to boast, take pride in.” Vietnamese rendering: khoe mình. Risk: Low.
election / chosen — Greek: ἐξελέξατο (exelexato, 1:27-28, “God chose”), verb form of the noun ἐκλογή underlying the baseline’s election entry. [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: đã lựa chọn (verb form of sự lựa chọn). Risk: Medium. Contextual meaning: God’s sovereign choice of the lowly and despised to shame the wise and strong; must not be rendered as số mệnh (fixed fate).
righteousness, sanctification, redemption — 1:30, “Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, righteousness (δικαιοσύνη) and sanctification (ἁγιασμός) and redemption (ἀπολύτρωσις).” [BASELINE REUSE for righteousness and sanctification] Vietnamese: sự công bình, sự nên thánh. Risk: High and Medium respectively (per baseline). redemption is a new term for this curriculum: Greek ἀπολύτρωσις (apolytrōsis), literal meaning “a buying back, ransoming, releasing upon payment of a price.” Vietnamese rendering: sự chuộc lại (or sự cứu chuộc, an established compound already implicit in Vietnamese Bible usage, e.g., 1 Cor 6:20’s “mua chuộc”). Risk: High — must be taught as liberation purchased at a price (Christ’s death) and given to the believer, not as merit accumulated or a debt of obligation incurred toward the one who paid it (guard against ơn nghĩa framing, per baseline’s grace note).

Chapter 2 — The Cross as Wisdom and Power (continued)

wisdom, foolishness, cross — continue from ch.1; no new risk beyond above.
mystery — Greek: μυστήριον (mystērion, 2:1, 7). Literal meaning: “a secret thing, something hidden until revealed.” Semantic range: a secret known only to initiates in Greco-Roman mystery religions; in Paul, God’s redemptive plan, previously hidden, now disclosed in the gospel. English variants: “mystery,” “secret.” Contextual theological meaning: God’s wisdom, hidden for ages, now revealed in the crucified and risen Christ — not an esoteric truth reserved for a spiritual elite. Vietnamese rendering: sự mầu nhiệm. Risk: Medium. Rationale: must be distinguished from esoteric occult “secret knowledge” traditions or Buddhist esoteric (Mật tông) transmission concepts in which truth is progressively revealed only to advanced initiates; in Paul, the mystery is openly proclaimed to all who believe, not restricted.
spiritual — Greek: πνευματικός (pneumatikos, 2:13, 15). Literal meaning: “pertaining to the Spirit/spirit.” Semantic range: pertaining to the Holy Spirit; pertaining to the human spirit; “spiritually minded” as opposed to merely natural. English variants: “spiritual,” “Spirit-given,” “spiritually discerned.” Contextual theological meaning: the Spirit-taught believer who can rightly evaluate spiritual truth, contrasted with the “natural person” below. Vietnamese rendering: thuộc linh (already established via baseline’s spiritual_gifts, ân tứ thuộc linh). Risk: Medium.
natural person — Greek: ψυχικός (psychikos, 2:14). Literal meaning: “pertaining to the ψυχή (soul/natural life),” i.e., a person operating only by ordinary human capacities, without the Spirit. Semantic range: distinct from πνευματικός (Spirit-indwelt) and from σαρκικός (dominated by sinful flesh, ch.3) — though the three overlap in effect. English variants: “natural man/person,” “unspiritual person,” “person without the Spirit.” Contextual theological meaning: such a person cannot receive or evaluate the things of the Spirit of God. Vietnamese rendering: context-sensitive — as a description of a person (2:14), the established Vietnamese Bible idiom is người có tánh xác thịt (“a person of fleshly disposition”); as a description of the resurrection body (15:44, below), the established idiom is thân thể huyết khí (“a body of blood-and-breath,” i.e., a natural, mortal body). Risk: High. Rationale: Vietnamese lacks a lexical item that isolates ψυχικός (“soul-based, without the Spirit”) from σαρκικός (“flesh-dominated, sinful”) the way Greek does; both are conventionally rendered via “xác thịt” family language. Translators and teachers must supply the distinction contextually — ψυχικός in 2:14 concerns spiritual incapacity apart from the Spirit (a neutral, pre-conversion state), while σαρκικός in 3:1-3 concerns sinful, Spirit-quenching behavior in believers who should know better.

Chapter 3 — Christian Unity versus Factionalism (continued)

carnal / fleshly — Greek: σαρκικός (sarkikos, 3:1, 3). Literal meaning: “pertaining to σάρξ (flesh).” Contextual theological meaning: believers behaving according to sinful human nature rather than the Spirit, evidenced precisely by the factionalism of ch.1-3. Vietnamese rendering: tánh xác thịt / thuộc về xác thịt. Risk: Medium (see cross-reference note under ch.2 above regarding overlap with ψυχικός).
temple of God — Greek: ναός θεοῦ (naos theou, 3:16-17). Literal meaning: ναός = the inner sanctuary/shrine (distinct from the broader temple precinct, ἱερόν). Semantic range: the sanctuary building; by extension, any place or body understood as God’s dwelling. English variants: “temple,” “sanctuary.” Contextual theological meaning: the corporate church (and, in 6:19, the individual believer’s body) is the place where God’s Spirit dwells, replacing the Jerusalem temple as the locus of God’s presence. Vietnamese rendering: đền thờ của Đức Chúa Trời. Risk: High. Rationale: the baseline flags đền alone as referring to a folk-temple to a deified hero or spirit; the full phrase đền thờ của Đức Chúa Trời avoids that specific collision by (a) using the compound đền thờ (already established for the literal Jerusalem sanctuary in Vietnamese Bible usage, distinct from bare đền) and (b) always attaching the divine name. Every occurrence should still be taught explicitly: this is God’s indwelling presence among his people/in the believer, not an ancestor shrine or spirit shrine.
stewards / builders — general terms; low risk (κτίσσω/οἰκοδομέω imagery of builders, foundation). No dedicated glossary entry required beyond οἰκονόμος below (ch.4).

Chapter 4 — Christian Unity versus Factionalism (continued)

stewards of the mysteries of God — Greek: οἰκονόμος (oikonomos, 4:1-2). Literal meaning: “manager of a household, steward.” Semantic range: a household manager entrusted with an owner’s resources; by extension, one entrusted with responsibility for another’s affairs. Contextual theological meaning: apostles/ministers are entrusted managers of God’s revealed truth, accountable to the true Master, not independent authorities to be factionally followed. Vietnamese rendering: người quản gia. Risk: Low-Medium.
servant — Greek: ὑπηρέτης (hypēretēs, 4:1). Literal meaning: “under-rower, assistant.” Vietnamese rendering: đầy tớ. Risk: Low.
kingdom of God — 4:20. [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: Nước Đức Chúa Trời. Risk: Medium.

Chapter 5 — Church Discipline and Holiness

sexual immorality — Greek: πορνεία (porneia, 5:1). Literal meaning: originally “prostitution,” broadened to sexual sin generally. Semantic range: prostitution; fornication; any sexual immorality; metaphorically, spiritual unfaithfulness (idolatry) in the OT prophetic tradition. English variants: “sexual immorality,” “fornication,” “unchastity.” Contextual theological meaning: a specific, named case of incestuous immorality tolerated by the church, requiring discipline. Vietnamese rendering: sự gian dâm (established Vietnamese Bible term). Risk: High. Rationale: must retain full moral gravity as sin against a holy God and against the body (cf. ch.6), not be softened toward a private lifestyle-choice framing more common in contemporary secular discourse, nor toward mere social shame/loss-of-face (a powerful but distinct category in Vietnamese honor culture) as the primary concern.
leaven — Greek: ζύμη (zymē, 5:6-8). Literal meaning: “yeast, leaven.” Semantic range: literal fermenting agent; figuratively, a corrupting influence that spreads through a whole community. Contextual theological meaning: draws on Passover typology — Christ is the Passover lamb (5:7), and the church must be a community “unleavened” by tolerated sin. Vietnamese rendering: men. Risk: Medium — the OT Passover background (unfamiliar to most Vietnamese readers) must be supplied in teaching for the metaphor to land.
unleavened — Greek: ἄζυμος (azymos, 5:7-8). Vietnamese rendering: không men. Risk: Low.
hand over to Satan — Greek: παραδίδωμι (paradidōmi, 5:5 — note the same root verb rendered “delivered” in the tradition-formula of 15:3, here used in a disciplinary sense: “to hand over/consign”). Contextual theological meaning: formal church discipline removing an unrepentant sinner from the protective fellowship of the church, for the ultimate purpose of restoration. Vietnamese rendering: giao (kẻ đó) cho Sa-tan. Risk: Medium-High — must be taught as a redemptive, restorative act of the gathered church under Christ’s authority, not an act of vindictive cursing or an appeal to occult power. Note the polysemy: the same Greek verb serves both the technical tradition-transmission sense (15:3) and this disciplinary sense — translators must not force a single Vietnamese word to cover both.
Satan — Greek: Σατανᾶς (Satanas), a transliterated Hebrew loanword meaning “adversary.” Vietnamese rendering: Sa-tan (established transliteration). Risk: Medium. Rationale: unlike δαιμόνιον (demon, ch.10, a class-noun), Σατανᾶς names a single, personal, chief adversary of God; Vietnamese hearers should not default to treating “Sa-tan” as merely one spirit among the many classes of ma (ghosts) or thần (local spirits) in the folk-religious cosmology, but as the singular personal enemy opposed to God’s kingdom.

Chapter 6 — Church Discipline and Holiness (continued)

bought / purchased — Greek: ἀγοράζω (agorazō, 6:20). Literal meaning: “to buy in the marketplace (ἀγορά).” Contextual theological meaning: believers belong to God because Christ paid a price (his own blood) to purchase them; grounds the ethical appeal to glorify God “in your body.” Vietnamese rendering: được mua chuộc bằng giá cao (established Vietnamese Bible idiom, combining “mua” [buy] and “chuộc” [redeem/ransom]). Risk: High. Rationale: must be taught as a costly act of grace establishing loving ownership and belonging, not as a commercial transaction creating an ongoing debt-repayment obligation on the believer’s part (guard against ơn nghĩa framing, per baseline’s grace doctrine note) — the price paid frees the believer to belong to God, it does not put the believer in God’s debt.
temple of the Holy Spirit — ναὸς τοῦ Ἁγίου Πνεύματος (6:19). Combines temple (ch.3 above) with [BASELINE REUSE] Holy Spirit, Vietnamese: Đức Thánh Linh. Risk: Critical (per baseline for Holy Spirit) / High (per ch.3 temple note). Contextual meaning: extends the temple metaphor to the individual believer’s physical body.
justification / justified — Greek: ἐδικαιώθητε (edikaiōthēte, 6:11, “you were justified”), from δικαιόω, the verb form underlying the baseline’s justification noun. [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: được xưng công bình. Risk: High (per baseline).
sanctified — Greek: ἡγιάσθητε (hēgiasthēte, 6:11), verb form of [BASELINE REUSE] sanctification. Vietnamese: được nên thánh. Risk: Medium.

Chapter 7 — Marriage and Singleness

marriage — Greek: γάμος (gamos, 7:9, 38-39; verb γαμέω “to marry” is more frequent through the chapter). Literal meaning: “wedding, marriage.” Contextual theological meaning: marriage is good and God-given, but not obligatory; both marriage and singleness are legitimate callings. Vietnamese rendering: sự cưới gả (established Vietnamese Bible idiom for the act of marrying) / hôn nhân (the modern doctrinal-summary term). Risk: Medium. Rationale: because Vietnamese family structure places heavy Confucian weight on marriage as filial duty (continuing the family line, honoring parents’ wishes), teaching must make clear Paul treats marriage as a matter of gifting and calling before God, not primarily a family-lineage obligation.
virgin / unmarried — Greek: παρθένος (parthenos, 7:25, 28, 34, 36-38); ἄγαμος (agamos, “unmarried,” 7:8, 11, 32-34). Literal meaning: “virgin” / “one without a spouse.” Contextual theological meaning: singleness devoted to undivided service to the Lord is presented as equally valid, and in some respects advantageous, to marriage — a striking contrast to surrounding honor-shame cultures (ancient and modern Vietnamese alike) where an unmarried adult, especially a woman, may carry social stigma. Vietnamese rendering: kẻ đồng trinh (virgin) / người chưa cưới gả (unmarried). Risk: Medium-High. Rationale: must be taught pastorally to counter the strong Vietnamese cultural expectation that an unmarried adult’s life is incomplete or dishonorable to the family; Paul’s teaching dignifies singleness as a calling, not a deficiency.
separate / divorce — Greek: χωρίζω (chōrizō, 7:10-11, 15). Literal meaning: “to separate, divide.” Vietnamese rendering: phân rẽ. Risk: Medium.
sanctified, called — 7:14 (“the unbelieving spouse is sanctified”), 7:15, 17-24 (“called” — reused repeatedly for one’s state/calling in life). [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: được nên thánh, được kêu gọi. Risk: Medium/High per baseline. Note the distinctive Pauline usage here: “calling” extends to one’s social/marital state at conversion (7:20, “remain in the calling in which you were called”) — a further context-sensitive nuance beyond the three baseline senses (apostleship, sainthood, effectual calling to salvation), requiring explicit teaching that this everyday-life sense does not compete with or dilute the soteriological sense.

Chapter 8 — Christian Liberty and Idol Meat

idol meat — Greek: εἰδωλόθυτον (eidōlothyton, 8:1, 4, 7, 10). Literal meaning: “that which has been sacrificed to an idol” (compound of εἴδωλον + θύω). Contextual theological meaning: meat left over from pagan temple sacrifices, later sold in the marketplace or served at social meals — a live, concrete first-century Corinthian issue. Vietnamese rendering: của cúng các hình tượng (established Vietnamese Bible idiom). Risk: Critical. Rationale: this is a direct, high-frequency collision term. “Cúng” is the precise verb Vietnamese uses for ritually offering food to ancestors (thờ cúng tổ tiên), to local tutelary spirits (thần), and to Buddhist or folk deities at temples/altars — a near-universal practice even among nominally non-religious Vietnamese families. Every occurrence must carry explicit teaching, paralleling Paul’s own pastoral logic: the idol itself has no real power (8:4), but eating “của cúng” in a context that implies participation in idol worship, or that causes a weaker believer to stumble back toward idolatry, is spiritually dangerous — a live, practical issue for Vietnamese believers who may still be invited to family meals involving ancestor-offering food.
idol — Greek: εἴδωλον (eidōlon, 8:4, 7). Literal meaning: “image, likeness,” used in the LXX/NT specifically for a false god’s image. Vietnamese rendering: hình tượng. Risk: High. Rationale: overlaps with the broad Vietnamese category of religious images (Buddhist statues, ancestor tablets, spirit-shrine figures) that are venerated in ordinary devotional life; the term must be anchored to Paul’s specific theological claim that these images represent no real, competing divine power — “there is no God but one” (8:4).
knowledge — Greek: γνῶσις (gnōsis, 8:1, 7, 10-11). Literal meaning: “knowledge.” Contextual theological meaning: correct theological knowledge (that idols are nothing) is not sufficient without love; knowledge without love can “puff up” and harm weaker believers. Vietnamese rendering: sự hiểu biết. Risk: Medium — should be distinguished from the Buddhist concept of liberating insight/wisdom (trí huệ) attained through practice; here it is simply correct doctrinal understanding, valuable but insufficient apart from love.
conscience — Greek: συνείδησις (syneidēsis, 8:7, 10, 12). Literal meaning: “co-knowledge, self-awareness of moral standing.” Contextual theological meaning: the inner faculty by which a believer evaluates their own actions as right or wrong before God; a “weak” conscience can be wounded by another’s careless exercise of liberty. Vietnamese rendering: lương tâm. Risk: Medium.
weak — Greek: ἀσθενής (asthenēs, 8:7, 9-12). Vietnamese rendering: yếu đuối. Risk: Low.
stumbling block — Greek: πρόσκομμα (proskomma, 8:9) / σκάνδαλον (elsewhere in NT, same field). Vietnamese rendering: sự vấp phạm (or dịp vấp phạm). Risk: Medium.
freedom / liberty — Greek: ἐλευθερία (eleutheria, 8:9, “this liberty of yours”). Literal meaning: “freedom.” Contextual theological meaning: the believer’s genuine freedom from bondage to idols must be voluntarily limited out of love for weaker believers. Vietnamese rendering: sự tự do. Risk: Medium — must be taught as freedom exercised in love, not as unlimited personal license.

Chapter 9 — Christian Liberty (Paul’s Apostolic Example)

right / authority — Greek: ἐξουσία (exousia, 9:4-6, 12, 18). Literal meaning: “authority, right, power to act.” Contextual theological meaning: Paul’s legitimate apostolic right to material support, voluntarily foregone for the sake of the gospel’s advance. Vietnamese rendering: quyền. Risk: Medium — distinct from ἐλευθερία (ch.8, general freedom); here specifically a particular entitlement Paul chooses not to exercise.
gospel — reuse from ch.1 (9:12, 14, 16-18, 23). [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: Tin Lành.
reward — Greek: μισθός (misthos, 9:17-18). Literal meaning: “wages, payment.” Vietnamese rendering: phần thưởng. Risk: Medium — must be distinguished from karmic merit-accumulation (công đức); this is a gracious reward for gospel service freely rendered, not a payment earning salvation itself (salvation is already secured by grace per ch.1, 15).
prize — Greek: βραβεῖον (brabeion, 9:24). Literal meaning: “prize awarded at an athletic contest.” Vietnamese rendering: giải thưởng. Risk: Low.
self-control — Greek: ἐγκράτεια (egkrateia, 9:25). Literal meaning: “self-mastery, self-discipline.” Vietnamese rendering: tiết độ. Risk: Low.

Chapter 10 — Christian Liberty and Idol Meat (continued); The Lord’s Supper (anticipated)

Israel — 10:18 (“Israel according to the flesh”). [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: Y-sơ-ra-ên. Risk: Medium.
demons — Greek: δαιμόνιον (daimonion, 10:20-21). Literal meaning: “a lesser divine being, a spirit.” Semantic range: in Greco-Roman religion, a broad category of intermediate spiritual beings, not necessarily evil; in the NT, consistently evil spiritual beings opposed to God. English variants: “demon,” “evil spirit.” Contextual theological meaning: pagan sacrifices are, in reality, offerings to demons, not to nothing — participation in idol feasts is participation with demons. Vietnamese rendering: quỷ / các quỷ. Risk: High. Rationale: Vietnamese folk cosmology recognizes many classes of spiritual beings (ma — ghosts/wandering spirits, thần — tutelary or nature spirits, and quỷ — a term already carrying a strongly negative, malevolent connotation similar to the NT usage). While “quỷ” is the closest and least misleading available term, teaching must make clear that Scripture treats all such spirits invoked through idol worship — however locally categorized as benign, ancestral, or protective — as morally opposed to God, not neutral or beneficial intermediaries. This bears directly on ancestor-offering and spirit-shrine practices still common in Vietnamese family and communal life.
cup of the Lord / table of the Lord — Greek: ποτήριον κυρίου / τράπεζα κυρίου (10:21). Contextual theological meaning: sharing the Lord’s Supper cup and table is an act of exclusive covenant loyalty incompatible with also sharing “the cup of demons” / “the table of demons.” Vietnamese rendering: chén của Chúa / bàn của Chúa. Risk: High. Rationale: directly parallels — and must be sharply distinguished from — the ritual cups and food offerings placed before ancestor altars and spirit shrines in Vietnamese practice; Paul’s exclusivity principle (10:21, “you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons”) applies with particular force to Vietnamese believers navigating family ancestor-veneration meals.
communion / participation — Greek: κοινωνία (koinōnia, 10:16, “is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?”), and the related verb form κοινωνέω implied in “thông với” phrasing. [BASELINE REUSE, extended sense] The baseline records κοινωνία as fellowship, Vietnamese sự thông công, Risk Low, for the general sense of shared Christian life. Here in 10:16 the same Greek word carries the stronger sacramental sense of “sharing/participating in” Christ’s body and blood. Established Vietnamese rendering in this specific verse: thông với (verb, “to have communion/participate with”). Risk: High in this sacramental context (elevated above the baseline’s general Low rating for fellowship) — must be taught as a real, Spirit-given participation in the benefits of Christ’s atoning death, distinguished from ancestor-veneration meals that create or maintain communion with departed family spirits (cf. baseline’s Critical-risk note on intercession/ancestor petition, an analogous collision point).

Chapter 11 — Order in Worship; The Lord’s Supper

head — Greek: κεφαλή (kephalē, 11:3-5, 7-10). Literal meaning: “the physical head.” Semantic range: literal head; metaphorically, “source” or “authority over” in a hierarchical relationship. Contextual theological meaning: establishes a theological ordering (God–Christ–man–woman) grounding the head-covering instructions. Vietnamese rendering: đầu. Risk: High. Rationale: Vietnamese Confucian family and social structure already carries a strong, culturally reinforced hierarchical-headship assumption (patriarchal household authority); teaching on κεφαλή must guard against two opposite errors — collapsing the term into mere Confucian patriarchal authority (obscuring the mutual honor and “in the Lord” qualifications Paul himself supplies, 11:11-12), and, conversely, evacuating it of all meaning to avoid the cultural association. This requires careful, explicit doctrinal framing, not lexical substitution.
head covering — Greek: κατακαλύπτω / ἀκατακάλυπτος (katakalyptō / akatakalyptos, 11:5-7, 13). Literal meaning: “to cover down over” / “uncovered.” Vietnamese rendering: trùm đầu. Risk: Medium — a culturally coded practice; must be taught with attention to its function (honor/propriety signal in the original setting) rather than treated as a timeless universal dress code disconnected from that function.
Lord’s Supper — Greek: κυριακὸν δεῖπνον (kyriakon deipnon, 11:20). Literal meaning: “the Lord’s dinner/supper.” Contextual theological meaning: the church’s shared commemorative meal proclaiming Christ’s death, corrupted at Corinth by social inequality and self-indulgence. Vietnamese rendering: Tiệc Thánh (established Vietnamese Protestant term, “Holy Supper/Communion”; literally “Bữa Tiệc của Chúa” also acceptable descriptively). Risk: High. Rationale: must be sharply distinguished from Vietnamese ancestral memorial meals (giỗ, cúng cơm) — ritual meals honoring and, in traditional belief, feeding the spirits of the deceased on death anniversaries — which share surface features (a shared meal in memory of one who has died) but differ essentially: the Lord’s Supper commemorates Christ’s finished, once-for-all atoning death and proclaims his bodily resurrection and return (11:26), it is not food offered to sustain or honor a departed spirit, and it is received by faith rather than functioning as a ritual obligation owed to the dead.
new covenant — Greek: καινή διαθήκη (kainē diathēkē, 11:25). [BASELINE REUSE for covenant] Vietnamese: giao ước mới (baseline term giao ước + mới). Risk: Medium-High. Contextual meaning: Christ’s blood establishes the new covenant, replacing and fulfilling the Mosaic covenant framework (cf. Romans baseline note on covenant as relational bond, not mere contract).
remembrance — Greek: ἀνάμνησις (anamnēsis, 11:24-25). Literal meaning: “a calling to mind, remembrance.” Vietnamese rendering: sự nhớ đến (verbally, “để nhớ đến ta”). Risk: Medium — active, participatory remembering that proclaims (11:26), not passive nostalgia, and not a ritual act performed for the benefit of the one remembered (contrast ancestor memorial ritual, above).
discern the body — Greek: διακρίνων τὸ σῶμα (diakrinōn to sōma, 11:29), from διακρίνω (diakrinō, “to distinguish, evaluate, discern”). Vietnamese rendering: phân biệt thân thể (của Chúa). Risk: Medium — should be distinguished from folk spiritual-discernment practices (e.g., a spirit-medium “discerning” a spirit’s identity or intentions); here it means rightly recognizing the theological significance of Christ’s body in the Supper and examining oneself accordingly (11:28).
unworthily — Greek: ἀναξίως (anaxiōs, 11:27, 29). Vietnamese rendering: một cách không xứng đáng. Risk: Medium.

Chapter 12 — Spiritual Gifts and the Body of Christ

spiritual gifts — Greek: χαρίσματα (charismata, 12:4, 9, 28, 30-31). [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: ân tứ thuộc linh. Risk: Medium.
Jesus is Lord — 12:3. [BASELINE REUSE — must match Romans 10:9 rendering exactly per baseline’s cross-document consistency rule] Vietnamese: Đức Chúa Giê-xu là Chúa. Risk: Critical.
manifestation of the Spirit — Greek: φανέρωσις τοῦ Πνεύματος (phanerōsis tou Pneumatos, 12:7). Literal meaning: “a making visible, disclosure.” Vietnamese rendering: sự tỏ ra của Đức Thánh Linh. Risk: Low-Medium.
baptism — Greek: βαπτίζω/βάπτισμα (baptizō/baptisma, 12:13, “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body”). Literal meaning: “to dip, immerse.” Vietnamese rendering: phép báp-têm (established transliterated Vietnamese Protestant term). Risk: Medium. Rationale: 12:13 refers to Spirit-baptism (incorporation into Christ’s body), distinct from water baptism as a rite; teaching must keep these senses distinguished, as in broader NT usage.
body of Christ — Greek: σῶμα Χριστοῦ (sōma Christou, 12:27; cf. 12:12-26 the extended body metaphor). Literal meaning: “the body belonging to/constituted by Christ.” Contextual theological meaning: the church as one organic, interdependent whole, united despite (and through) diversity of members and gifts. Vietnamese rendering: thân thể của Đấng Christ. Risk: High. Rationale: ties directly into the baseline doctrine church_as_gods_people; the corporate, organic-unity metaphor must be taught clearly as identity in a living spiritual body, not confused with ancestor-lineage “family body” concepts (clan/lineage solidarity, đại gia đình) that also strongly shape Vietnamese social identity — the church is a new, Spirit-constituted body transcending blood lineage.
member — Greek: μέλος (melos, 12:12, 14, 18-20, 25-27). Literal meaning: “a limb or organ of a body.” Vietnamese rendering: chi thể (established Vietnamese Bible term). Risk: Low-Medium.
teacher — Greek: διδάσκαλος (didaskalos, 12:28-29). Vietnamese rendering: thầy giáo (established Vietnamese Bible term for this ministry office). Risk: Low.
discernment of spirits — Greek: διάκρισις πνευμάτων (diakrisis pneumatōn, 12:10). Literal meaning: “a distinguishing/evaluating of spirits.” Contextual theological meaning: a Spirit-given gift for evaluating whether a spiritual manifestation is truly from the Holy Spirit. Vietnamese rendering: sự phân biệt các thần. Risk: High. Rationale: overlaps conceptually with the role of spirit-mediums (thầy cúng, ông đồng/bà đồng) and diviners in Vietnamese folk religious practice, who likewise claim to identify or communicate with spirits (cf. baseline’s note distinguishing biblical prophet from thầy bói, “fortune-teller”). Teaching must make clear this gift operates within the church, under apostolic/scriptural authority, to test whether a manifestation aligns with the confession “Jesus is Lord” (12:3) — it is not a parallel or comparable practice to folk spirit-consultation.
tongues — Greek: γλῶσσα (glōssa, 12:10, 28, 30). Literal meaning: “tongue” (the organ); by extension, “language.” Semantic range: the physical organ; a human language; in 1 Corinthians specifically, a Spirit-given utterance requiring interpretation. English variants: “tongues,” “languages,” “ecstatic utterance.” Contextual theological meaning: a Spirit-given gift of speech, one among many gifts, whose proper use requires interpretation and order (ch.14) and which Paul deliberately subordinates to love (ch.13) and intelligibility (ch.14). Vietnamese rendering: tiếng lạ (established Vietnamese Protestant/Pentecostal term, literally “strange/unfamiliar tongue/language”). Risk: High. Rationale: this is a significant collision-risk term in the Vietnamese context because of hầu đồng (spirit-mediumship/possession trance practice), in which a medium speaks or acts under the influence of an invoked spirit, sometimes in altered speech. Teaching must draw a clear doctrinal line: biblical “tiếng lạ” is a Spirit-given gift exercised by a self-controlled believer (14:32, “the spirits of prophets are subject to their control”), for the church’s edification, subject to order and interpretation and to Paul’s own explicit limitation of its use — not an involuntary trance state or evidence of possession by an ancestral or nature spirit.

Chapter 13 — Love as the Greater Way

love — Greek: ἀγάπη (agapē, throughout the chapter). Literal meaning: “love.” Semantic range: distinguished in Greek from ἔρως (romantic/sexual desire) and φιλία (friendship-affection); in the NT, ἀγάπη denotes selfless, willed, others-oriented love, supremely modeled in God’s love toward humanity in Christ. English variants: “love,” “charity” (older English usage). Contextual theological meaning: the greatest of the three enduring realities (13:13), without which even the most impressive spiritual gifts (ch.12, 14) are worthless (13:1-3); patient, kind, not self-seeking, enduring. Vietnamese rendering: tình yêu thương (also sự yêu thương). Risk: High. Rationale: Vietnamese has a broad general term for love/affection (yêu, tình yêu) that in ordinary usage most readily evokes romantic love, and a distinct Confucian-inflected vocabulary of familial duty-love bound up with hierarchical obligation (hiếu, đạo nghĩa) as well as the Buddhist concept of compassion (từ bi, lòng thương xót) oriented toward relieving suffering through detachment. Biblical ἀγάπη must be taught as a distinct category: a willed, self-giving, covenantal love modeled on God’s own character (cf. Romans baseline’s grace doctrine), neither romantic desire, nor hierarchical filial duty, nor detached compassion, but active, patient, others-centered love within real relationships, most clearly defined by the qualities listed in 13:4-7.
hope — Greek: ἐλπίς (elpis, 13:13). Literal meaning: “expectation, hope.” [Establishes for whole curriculum; consistent with Romans baseline usage though not previously a standalone glossary entry] Vietnamese rendering: sự trông cậy (established Vietnamese Bible term). Risk: Medium. Rationale: must be distinguished from a vague wish or from fatalistic hope in an uncertain, impersonal fortune (số phận/số trời, already flagged as risk categories in the Romans baseline for “calling” and “providence”); biblical hope is confident expectation grounded in God’s character and promises.
faith — 13:13. [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: đức tin. Risk: Medium.

Chapter 14 — Order in Worship; Spiritual Gifts (continued)

tongues, interpretation, prophecy — continue from ch.12-13. Interpretation is new: Greek ἑρμηνεία (hermēneia, 14:26, cf. verb διερμηνεύω throughout the chapter). Literal meaning: “interpretation, translation.” Contextual theological meaning: the Spirit-given ability to make an utterance in tongues intelligible to the gathered church, without which tongues may not be exercised in public worship (14:27-28). Vietnamese rendering: sự thông giải. Risk: Medium.
edification / build up — Greek: οἰκοδομή (oikodomē, 14:3, 5, 12, 26). Literal meaning: “a building up, construction.” Contextual theological meaning: the governing purpose of all exercise of spiritual gifts in public worship — everything should build up the church, not merely display individual gifting. Vietnamese rendering: sự gây dựng (established Vietnamese Bible term; consistent with baseline doctrine mutual_edification, Low risk). Risk: Low.
order — Greek: τάξις (taxis, 14:40, “let all things be done decently and in order”). Literal meaning: “arrangement, order, sequence.” Vietnamese rendering: thứ tự. Risk: Low.
prophecy, prophet — 14:1, 3-5, 22-25, 29-32, 37. [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: lời tiên tri, tiên tri. Risk: Low (per baseline).
law — 14:21, 34 (citing OT and referencing “the Law”). [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: luật pháp. Risk: Medium.
Note: 14:34-35’s instruction regarding women’s speech in the assembly introduces significant interpretive and pastoral complexity beyond the scope of terminology; flagged here for Phase 2 human theologian review as culturally and hermeneutically sensitive, though it introduces no new load-bearing theological vocabulary beyond terms already covered above (order, church, prophecy).

Chapter 15 (vv.12-58) — The Resurrection of Christ and Believers (continued from core passage)

Verses 1-11 receive full verse-by-verse treatment in Part A above. The remainder of the chapter extends the same doctrine to believers generally and introduces several new load-bearing terms:

resurrection of the dead — Greek: ἀνάστασις νεκρῶν (anastasis nekrōn, 15:12-13, 21, 42). [BASELINE REUSE for resurrection] Vietnamese: sự sống lại của kẻ chết (baseline term sự sống lại + “of the dead”). Risk: Critical. Contextual extension: the baseline entry addresses specifically Christ’s resurrection (Romans 1:4, 6:4-5, 8:11); this chapter extends the identical Vietnamese term and identical doctrinal guard (never đầu thai/luân hồi) to the future bodily resurrection of all believers, which is the chapter’s central argument (if Christ was not raised, believers have no hope; because Christ was raised, believers will be raised bodily too).
firstfruits — Greek: ἀπαρχή (aparchē, 15:20, 23). Literal meaning: “the first portion of a harvest.” Semantic range: literal first agricultural yield; OT sacrificial offering of the first portion to God; metaphorically, a pledge/guarantee of the fuller harvest to come. Contextual theological meaning: Christ’s resurrection is the “firstfruits” guaranteeing believers’ own future resurrection — the same kind of harvest, not a symbolic token only. Vietnamese rendering: trái đầu mùa (established Vietnamese Bible term). Risk: Medium-High. Rationale: Vietnamese agricultural and ancestral ritual practice includes offering the first portion of a harvest at family altars and spirit shrines to secure ongoing blessing or favor from ancestors/spirits; teaching must clarify that Christ’s resurrection as “firstfruits” is a guarantee of a future certain event (believers’ own bodily resurrection), not a votive offering made to appease or petition a spiritual power.
last Adam — Greek: ἔσχατος Ἀδάμ (eschatos Adam, 15:45; cf. 15:21-22, “in Adam… in Christ”). Contextual theological meaning: Christ as the second/last Adam, the head of a new humanity, reversing the death introduced by the first Adam. Vietnamese rendering: A-đam sau hết (Adam, established transliterated proper name; “sau hết” = “last”). Risk: Medium-High — requires OT background teaching (the baseline’s general note that Israel/covenant background is often unfamiliar applies here too); the corporate/federal headship concept (one man’s action determining the destiny of all united to him) has no ready Vietnamese cultural parallel and must be taught explicitly.
natural body / spiritual body — Greek: σῶμα ψυχικόν / σῶμα πνευματικόν (sōma psychikon / sōma pneumatikon, 15:44). See ch.2 note on ψυχικός. Contextual theological meaning: the resurrection body is a real, transformed, Spirit-empowered body — not a disembodied spirit-existence and not a new body in a fresh incarnation cycle. Vietnamese rendering: thân thể huyết khí (natural body, established idiom, literally “body of blood-and-breath”) / thân thể thiêng liêng (spiritual body). Risk: Critical. Rationale: this pairing is the chapter’s key defense against exactly the kind of category error the baseline is most concerned to prevent — Vietnamese Buddhist cosmology has a rich vocabulary for the soul/spirit’s passage between successive bodies across rebirths; teaching must make unmistakably clear that Paul describes one and the same person receiving a transformed, imperishable version of their own body at a single, future, bodily resurrection — not a sequence of successive incarnations in new bodies.
perishable / imperishable — Greek: φθαρτός / ἄφθαρτος (phthartos / aphthartos, 15:42, 50, 53-54). Literal meaning: “subject to decay” / “not subject to decay.” Vietnamese rendering: hư nát / không hay hư nát. Risk: Medium.
immortality — Greek: ἀθανασία (athanasia, 15:53-54). Literal meaning: “deathlessness.” Vietnamese rendering: sự không hề chết (preferred) rather than sự bất tử. Risk: High. Rationale: “bất tử” (immortal) is closely associated in Vietnamese folk and Daoist-influenced tradition with tiên (immortals/transcendent beings) who attain deathlessness through cultivation, alchemy, or spiritual practice — a self-achieved state. Biblical ἀθανασία in this passage is a gift bestowed by God at the resurrection, not a state self-cultivated through discipline or practice; the more descriptive Vietnamese phrase sự không hề chết (“the state of never dying [again]”) is preferred to reduce this association, though sự bất tử may still appear in some Vietnamese Bible editions and should be flagged for a clarifying teaching note wherever it is used.
victory — Greek: νίκος (nikos, 15:54-55, 57). Literal meaning: “victory.” Vietnamese rendering: sự thắng. Risk: Low.
sting — Greek: κέντρον (kentron, 15:55-56). Literal meaning: “a goad, sting (as of a scorpion).” Vietnamese rendering: nọc. Risk: Low.
changed / transformed — Greek: ἀλλάσσω / ἀλλαγησόμεθα (allassō, 15:51-52, “we shall be changed”). Literal meaning: “to change, alter.” Vietnamese rendering: biến đổi. Risk: Medium-High. Rationale: avoid the alternative rendering biến hóa, which in Vietnamese Buddhist and folk usage denotes a deity’s or spirit’s supernatural shape-shifting or transformation into a different form/being (biến hóa thần thông) — a concept of fluid, repeatable transformation into a different kind of existence. Biến đổi more neutrally conveys “change/transformation” without that shape-shifting connotation and should be preferred to keep this a single, final, once-for-all transformation of the same body, not a metamorphosis into a different being.
trumpet — Greek: σάλπιγξ (salpinx, 15:52). Vietnamese rendering: kèn. Risk: Low.

Chapter 16 — Closing Instructions (Christian Fellowship and Order, continued)

collection — Greek: λογία (logia, 16:1-2). Literal meaning: “a collection (of money).” Contextual theological meaning: the practical outworking of Christian fellowship and generosity across congregations (cf. baseline’s fellowship doctrine). Vietnamese rendering: sự góp tiền. Risk: Low.
saints — 16:1, 15 (“the saints… service of the saints”). [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: các thánh đồ. Risk: High (per baseline) — confirms cross-book consistency of this established rendering.
Maranatha — Greek transliteration of Aramaic מרנא תא (Marana tha, 16:22), meaning “Our Lord, come!” Contextual theological meaning: an early liturgical invocation for Christ’s return, preserved untranslated as with Abba in the Romans baseline. Vietnamese rendering: Ma-ra-na-tha (transliterated, following the baseline’s precedent for retaining Abba in transliterated form). Risk: Medium.
anathema — Greek: ἀνάθεμα (anathema, 16:22, “let him be anathema/accursed”). Literal meaning: “a thing set apart/devoted [to destruction]; a curse.” Contextual theological meaning: a solemn formula of exclusion from God’s favor and the believing community, pronounced on anyone who does not love the Lord. Vietnamese rendering: A-na-them (transliterated) or descriptively bị Đức Chúa Trời rủa sả. Risk: Medium-High. Rationale: must be distinguished from folk curse/hex practices (bùa, ngải, lời nguyền/trù ẻo) invoked through occult ritual means in Vietnamese folk religion; this is a solemn, authoritative declaration of exclusion from God’s covenant blessing pronounced by the apostle under divine authority concerning the gospel itself (cf. Galatians 1:8-9 for the same term), not a magical curse-formula that itself causes harm through ritual power.
holy kiss — Greek: φίλημα ἅγιον (philēma hagion, 16:20). Literal meaning: “a holy/consecrated kiss.” Vietnamese rendering: cái hôn thánh (established Vietnamese Bible idiom). Risk: Low — a first-century greeting custom; teaching should note it functions as a cultural expression of Christian familial affection and equality, to be understood by its function (warm, holy greeting among believers) rather than by cultural literalism, since a kiss is not the customary Vietnamese greeting gesture.
grace — 16:23, closing benediction. [BASELINE REUSE] Vietnamese: ân điển. Risk: High.

Summary Coverage Note

All sixteen chapters of 1 Corinthians have been reviewed. Chapters without dedicated new-term subsections beyond those listed above (none occur in this book — every chapter contributes at least one load-bearing term) are explicitly accounted for. Where a term recurs across chapters (e.g., saints, grace, resurrection, called), its baseline or first-introduced entry governs; later occurrences are cross-referenced rather than re-defined, per the Theological Consistency Rules in the baseline 12_ai_translation_requirements.md.

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