Semantic Analysis

07 Semantic Analysis — Gospel of John (Koine Greek → Vietnamese)

Methodology and Scope

This document analyzes the entire Gospel of John, chapters 1–21, in the original Koine Greek, for every load-bearing theological term. The core passage, John 3:1-21 (the Nicodemus discourse — the theological anchor for this curriculum’s doctrines of the New Birth, Eternal Life, and God’s Love for the World), receives verse-by-verse treatment. Every other chapter receives a chapter-level treatment of its load-bearing terms using the same analytical fields:

Original (Greek word, or phrase)
Transliteration
Literal meaning
Semantic range
English variants (as rendered across major English versions)
Contextual theological meaning (as used in this Johannine context)
Destination-language (Vietnamese) rendering and risk

Governing rule: Any term already fixed in the baseline Romans translation_memory.json / bible_term_registry.json MUST be reused exactly as recorded there (e.g., Đức Chúa Trời for God, Đức Chúa Giê-xu for Jesus, Đức Thánh Linh for Holy Spirit, sự cứu rỗi for salvation, sự sống lại for resurrection, ân điển for grace, đức tin for faith, sự công bình for righteousness, Chúa for Lord, Con Đức Chúa Trời for Son of God, Ngôi Lời trở nên xác thịt for the Incarnation event, Đấng Mê-si-a for Messiah, các thánh đồ for saints, sự làm con nuôi for adoption, tội lỗi for sin, dân ngoại for Gentiles, sự vinh hiển for glory, Y-sơ-ra-ên for Israel, Đa-vít for David). This analysis does not re-derive those terms; it flags each reuse and focuses new analysis on terms John introduces that Romans does not.

A note on John’s distinctive vocabulary: John’s Gospel is built on a smaller set of theologically dense words (λόγος, ζωή, φῶς, σκοτία, κόσμος, πιστεύω, μαρτυρέω, μένω, δόξα) repeated and interwoven across all 21 chapters far more than Paul’s varied Romans vocabulary. Because of this, many “new” terms below are introduced in chapter 1 and then simply reappear — the chapter treatments after chapter 1 flag re-occurrences and any new semantic weight added, rather than re-deriving the term from scratch.

PART 1 — CORE PASSAGE: John 3:1-21 (Verse-by-Verse)

John 3:1

Context: Introduces Nicodemus.

Pharisee — Gr. Φαρισαῖος (Pharisaios). Literal: “separated one.” Semantic range: a member of a Jewish sect emphasizing strict Torah observance and oral tradition. English variants: “Pharisee.” Contextual meaning: identifies Nicodemus’s religious status — a respected teacher, not a fringe figure, which heightens the irony that he does not understand the new birth. Vietnamese: người Pha-ri-si (transliterated, established Bible term). Risk: Low — well-established loanword, no folk-religious collision.
ruler of the Jews — Gr. ἄρχων τῶν Ἰουδαίων (archōn tōn Ioudaiōn). Literal: “a ruler/leading man of the Jews.” Semantic range: a member of the Sanhedrin or a recognized authority figure. English variants: “a ruler of the Jews,” “a leader of the Jews.” Contextual meaning: Nicodemus holds high religious authority, making his coming “by night” and his ignorance of the new birth theologically pointed. Vietnamese: một người trong những người cai trị dân Giu-đa. Risk: Medium — “người Giu-đa” (rather than a blanket “người Do Thái”) should be used consistently through John to avoid the false impression that John indicts an entire ethnicity rather than specific leadership groups; flag for consistent handling across all “the Jews” occurrences in John (see Chapter-by-Chapter note under ch. 5, 7-9, 18-19).
night — Gr. νυκτός (nyktos). Literal: “of night.” Semantic range: literal darkness of nighttime; in John’s symbolic vocabulary, associated with spiritual darkness/unbelief (cf. 3:19-20; 13:30). Contextual meaning: Nicodemus’s approach “by night” foreshadows the light/darkness theme of vv. 19-21. Vietnamese: ban đêm. Risk: Low — but translators should be alerted to the literary echo forward to v.19-20’s sự tối tăm (darkness), so the same word family is available for the reader to connect.

John 3:2

Rabbi — Gr. Ῥαββί (Rhabbi), from Hebrew/Aramaic. Literal: “my great one/my teacher.” Semantic range: honorific address for a Jewish teacher of the Law. English variants: “Rabbi,” “Teacher.” Contextual meaning: Nicodemus addresses Jesus with the highest form of scholarly respect, yet still fails to grasp Jesus’ identity. Vietnamese: Thầy (or transliterated Ra-bi in footnote). Risk: Low.
signs — Gr. σημεῖα (sēmeia), plural of σημεῖον (sēmeion). Literal: “signs, marks.” Semantic range: miraculous acts that point beyond themselves to a deeper truth about the doer’s identity (distinct from mere wonders). English variants: “signs,” “miracles,” “miraculous signs.” Contextual meaning: Nicodemus’s confession that “no one can do these signs…unless God is with him” sets up the deity claims to follow. Vietnamese: dấu lạ (established Johannine term; see ch. 2 below). Risk: Medium — must not be rendered as “phép lạ” alone (generic wonder-working, closer to folk-magic feats), which loses the “pointer/attestation” sense central to John’s theology of signs.

John 3:3

Truly, truly (Amen, amen) — Gr. Ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω σοι (amēn amēn legō soi). Literal: “Truly, truly, I say to you.” Semantic range: a solemn double asseveration unique to Jesus’ speech in John (25 occurrences), marking an authoritative, weighty pronouncement. Contextual meaning: signals that what follows is a foundational, non-negotiable truth. Vietnamese: Quả thật, quả thật, ta nói cùng ngươi (established Vietnamese Bible idiom). Risk: Low, but flag for consistency — this formula recurs across John and should be rendered identically every time.
born again / born from above — Gr. γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν (gennēthē anōthen). Literal: γεννάω = “to beget, to give birth to”; ἄνωθεν = “from above” or “again/anew” (the term is deliberately ambiguous in Greek, exploited by Nicodemus’s literal misreading in v.4). Semantic range: (1) a fresh, second birth; (2) a birth originating from heaven/God, not human effort. English variants: “born again,” “born anew,” “born from above.” Contextual meaning: the New Birth — a spiritual re-creation by God, not a moral improvement or ritual purification of the old self. Vietnamese: được sinh lại. Risk: CRITICAL. Do NOT render with “tái sinh,” the standard Vietnamese Buddhist term for rebirth within the cycle of saṃsāra (reincarnation into a new bodily existence determined by karma). “Được sinh lại” — using the ordinary domestic verb for giving birth (“sinh”) plus “lại” (“again”) — keeps the concept anchored in an ordinary human birth metaphor applied to a spiritual reality worked by God, avoiding any suggestion of a karmic cycle of successive lives. This is the doctrinal anchor term for “The New Birth and Regeneration by the Spirit.”
see — Gr. ἰδεῖν (idein), aorist infinitive of ὁράω. Literal: “to see, perceive.” Semantic range: physical sight; also, as here, spiritual perception/entrance into an experience. Contextual meaning: without the new birth, a person cannot even perceive, let alone enter, God’s kingdom. Vietnamese: thấy. Risk: Low.
kingdom of God — Gr. βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ (basileia tou theou). Reused from Romans baseline: Nước Đức Chúa Trời. Risk: Medium (per baseline) — here specifically the entry point (via new birth) rather than the mission emphasis found in Romans; note this nuance for translators.

John 3:4

born — Gr. γεννηθῆναι (gennēthēnai), same root as v.3. Contextual meaning: Nicodemus deliberately (or genuinely) hears ἄνωθεν as “again” in a literal, biological sense — “can a man enter his mother’s womb a second time?” — illustrating the necessity of Jesus’ clarification in vv.5-8. Vietnamese: sinh ra. Risk: Low, but the wordplay ἄνωθεν = “again”/“from above” cannot be reproduced in Vietnamese; a translator’s note should flag that Nicodemus’s confusion in the Greek trades on a double meaning not visible in “được sinh lại.”

John 3:5

born of water and the Spirit — Gr. γεννηθῇ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος (gennēthē ex hydatos kai pneumatos). Literal: “begotten out of water and spirit.” Semantic range: debated — possibly a reference to (a) John’s baptism of repentance plus Spirit-birth, (b) physical birth (“water” = amniotic fluid) plus spiritual birth, or (c) a single event of Spirit-wrought cleansing and regeneration echoing Ezekiel 36:25-27. Contextual meaning: entrance into the kingdom requires a birth that is God’s own supernatural work, symbolized by/accompanied by water. Vietnamese: được sinh bởi nước và Thánh Linh. Risk: High — must not be taught as if water itself regenerates (a mechanical, ritual view close to folk notions of purificatory water rites); the water points to cleansing accomplished by the Spirit, not an independent saving agent. Flag for human theologian review wherever this verse is taught.
Spirit (πνεῦμα) here — see full treatment at v.8 below (wordplay with “wind”).

John 3:6

flesh — Gr. σάρξ (sarx). Literal: “flesh, meat.” Semantic range: in John, ranges from ordinary physical body (1:14, “the Word became flesh”) to human nature considered apart from the Spirit’s regenerating work, as here. English variants: “flesh,” “human nature,” “physical.” Contextual meaning: what is born of human generation remains merely human and cannot produce spiritual life; only the Spirit can beget spiritual life. Vietnamese: xác thịt. Risk: High — this is the same lexeme used in the Incarnation phrase reused from Romans baseline (“Ngôi Lời trở nên xác thịt”), so translators must clearly differentiate: in John 1:14 xác thịt describes the Word taking on true humanity (a positive, essential doctrinal claim); in John 3:6 xác thịt describes fallen human nature’s inability to generate spiritual life (a negative, limiting claim). A single Vietnamese word carries both senses — context must do the disambiguating work; flag for teaching note.
Spirit begets spirit — Gr. τὸ πνεῦμα (to pneuma). Contextual meaning: the Spirit’s work produces a spiritual, God-originated life, categorically different from biological life. Vietnamese: Thánh Linh. Risk: High — reuse of Đức Thánh Linh baseline term; ensure the shortened “Thánh Linh” here is understood as referring to the same divine Person, not a lesser or generic “spirit.”

John 3:7

marvel not — Gr. μὴ θαυμάσῃς (mē thaumasēs). Literal: “do not wonder/be astonished.” Contextual meaning: Jesus anticipates and addresses Nicodemus’s incredulity directly. Vietnamese: đừng lấy làm lạ. Risk: Low.
must be born again — Gr. δεῖ ὑμᾶς γεννηθῆναι ἄνωθεν (dei hymas gennēthēnai anōthen). δεῖ = “it is necessary, one must.” Contextual meaning: the new birth is not optional or one path among several — it is the sole, necessary condition for entering God’s kingdom. Vietnamese: các ngươi phải được sinh lại. Risk: CRITICAL — the necessity (phải, “must”) must be preserved without softening into a suggestion (“nên,” “should”) that would turn an absolute requirement into good advice.

John 3:8

wind / Spirit — Gr. τὸ πνεῦμα ὅπου θέλει πνεῖ (to pneuma hopou thelei pnei). πνεῦμα (pneuma) is the single Greek word for both “wind” and “spirit”; πνέω (pneō) means “to blow.” Literal: “the wind/spirit blows where it wishes.” Semantic range: the deliberate ambiguity lets Jesus use the natural, sensible phenomenon of wind (invisible, uncontrollable, perceptible only by its effects) as an analogy for the Spirit’s regenerating work. Contextual meaning: the Spirit’s new-birth work is sovereign, invisible in its source, and perceptible only in its effect (the changed person). Vietnamese: gió (wind) / Thánh Linh (Spirit). Risk: High — Vietnamese has no single word covering both “wind” and “spirit” as Greek πνεῦμα does, so the wordplay is untranslatable directly; a translator’s note is required to explain that the Greek text uses one word for both, so that the analogy’s force (sovereign, invisible, evidenced by effect) is taught explicitly rather than assumed to be visible in the Vietnamese text itself.

John 3:9

How can these things be? — Gr. Πῶς δύναται ταῦτα γενέσθαι; (pōs dynatai tauta genesthai). Contextual meaning: Nicodemus’s continued incomprehension, driving the discourse toward Jesus’ fuller revelation in vv.10-15. Vietnamese: Điều đó làm sao có được? Risk: Low.

John 3:10

teacher of Israel — Gr. ὁ διδάσκαλος τοῦ Ἰσραήλ (ho didaskalos tou Israēl). Israel reused from Romans baseline: Y-sơ-ra-ên. Contextual meaning: Jesus’ gentle rebuke — Israel’s own recognized teacher should have known these things from the Old Testament (cf. Ezekiel 36; Jeremiah 31). Vietnamese: thầy trong dân Y-sơ-ra-ên. Risk: Low.

John 3:11

we speak / we know / we have seen — Gr. λαλοῦμεν, οἴδαμεν, ἑωράκαμεν (laloumen, oidamen, heōrakamen). Contextual meaning: Jesus speaks with the authority of firsthand, eyewitness, divine knowledge, not secondhand report. Vietnamese: chúng ta nói / chúng ta biết / chúng ta đã thấy. Risk: Medium — the plural “we” (echoing the Trinity or Jesus with the prophetic tradition) should not be flattened into a generic royal “we.”
testify / witness — Gr. μαρτυροῦμεν (martyroumen), from μαρτυρέω (martyreō), “to bear witness, testify.” Semantic range: formal, often legal, testimony to a truth one has directly observed. English variants: “testify,” “bear witness,” “witness.” Contextual meaning: a major Johannine theme (cf. John the Baptist’s witness in ch.1, the Spirit’s witness in ch.15-16) — truth about Jesus is established by reliable testimony, not speculation. Vietnamese: làm chứng. Risk: Medium — established, low-collision Vietnamese Bible term, but must be distinguished from Vietnamese folk practices of oracular or mediumistic “witnessing” (spirit communication); should be taught as legal/eyewitness testimony.
receive — Gr. λαμβάνετε (lambanete). Contextual meaning: Nicodemus (and “you” plural, representing unbelieving Israel) fails to accept the testimony offered. Vietnamese: nhận lấy. Risk: Low.

John 3:12

earthly things / heavenly things — Gr. τὰ ἐπίγεια… τὰ ἐπουράνια (ta epigeia… ta epourania). Literal: “the things upon the earth… the things above the heaven.” Contextual meaning: if Nicodemus cannot grasp the earthly analogy of birth/wind, he certainly cannot grasp the greater heavenly realities (Christ’s pre-existence and descent, vv.13-14) apart from faith. Vietnamese: những sự thuộc về đất… những sự thuộc về trời. Risk: Low.
believe — Gr. πιστεύετε (pisteuete), from πιστεύω (pisteuō). Semantic range: to believe, trust, have faith in; used ~98 times in John, its most theologically weighted verb. English variants: “believe,” “trust,” “have faith.” Contextual meaning: not mere intellectual assent but personal, trusting reliance — the verbal counterpart of Romans’ đức tin (faith). Vietnamese: tin. Risk: High — must always be anchored to its object (tin nơi Ngài / tin Con Đức Chúa Trời), never left as generic “belief” that could be read as bare intellectual opinion or mere religious sentiment; ties directly to the baseline “faith” entry (đức tin), Medium risk there, but John’s near-constant repetition of the verb form raises the stakes for consistency across a 21-chapter book — flag High for cross-document consistency requirements.

John 3:13

ascended into heaven… descended — Gr. ἀναβέβηκεν εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταβάς (anabebēken eis ton ouranon ei mē ho ek tou ouranou katabas). Literal: “has gone up into heaven except the one who came down out of heaven.” Semantic range: a claim of unique heavenly origin and return. Contextual meaning: Christ’s pre-existence and heavenly origin — he alone has direct, firsthand knowledge of heavenly things because he came from there. Vietnamese: lên trời… từ trời xuống. Risk: CRITICAL — this is a direct assertion of Christ’s pre-existence (a named curriculum doctrine); must not be rendered so as to sound like a prophet’s visionary ascent (a category Vietnamese readers may know from folk-religious or Daoist immortal-ascension stories) rather than an eternal Person’s movement between his eternal heavenly existence and earthly incarnation. Flag for human theologian review with an explicit teaching note tying back to John 1:1-14.
Son of Man — Gr. ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (ho huios tou anthrōpou). Literal: “the son of the man.” Semantic range: Jesus’ favored self-designation (used ~13 times in John), rooted in Daniel 7:13-14’s exalted, divine-authority figure, while also affirming genuine humanity. English variants: “Son of Man,” “the Human One.” Contextual meaning: combines Christ’s true humanity with his unique divine authority and destiny (to be lifted up, v.14; to judge, 5:27; to be glorified, 12:23). Vietnamese: Con người (established Vietnamese Bible title, capitalized as a title). Risk: High — must not be read as a mere modest self-reference (“a son of man” = “a human being,” lowercase generic); capitalization and consistent titular use are required throughout John to preserve the Danielic, exalted sense.

John 3:14

Moses lifted up the serpent — Gr. ὕψωσεν Μωϋσῆς τὸν ὄφιν (hypsōsen Mōusēs ton ophin), from ὑψόω (hypsoō), “to lift up, raise high, exalt.” Contextual meaning: recalls Numbers 21:4-9 — the bronze serpent raised on a pole so that anyone bitten by the plague of serpents who looked at it would live. This is deliberately chosen OT typology for the cross. Vietnamese: Môi-se treo con rắn lên. Risk: Medium — established typological reference, low direct cultural collision, but requires OT background teaching (per baseline’s low-OT-literacy assumption for first-generation believers).
Son of Man must be lifted up — Gr. δεῖ ὑψωθῆναι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου (dei hypsōthēnai ton huion tou anthrōpou). Semantic range: ὑψόω carries a double meaning in John — physical lifting up (on the cross) and exaltation/glorification (12:32-33 makes this double sense explicit: “lifted up” = the manner of his death). Contextual meaning: the necessity (δεῖ) and dual meaning together assert that Christ’s crucifixion IS his exaltation/glorification — suffering and glory are one act, not two. Vietnamese: Con người cũng phải bị treo lên như vậy. Risk: CRITICAL — this term is the semantic hinge of Christ’s Substitutionary Death doctrine intersecting with his glorification; a Vietnamese rendering that only conveys “raised up/exalted” (bị tôn cao) without also conveying the physical, shameful act of crucifixion (bị treo lên, “hung up”) would erase the substitutionary, sacrificial dimension. Recommend consistently using “bị treo lên” (hung up, echoing the serpent-on-a-pole and the cross) with a teaching note on the double meaning, rather than a purely honorific “được tôn cao” alone.

John 3:15

whoever believes… eternal life — Gr. πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων ἐν αὐτῷ ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον (pas ho pisteuōn en autō echē zōēn aiōnion). ζωὴ αἰώνιος (zōē aiōnios): ζωή = “life” (as opposed to βίος, mere biological existence); αἰώνιος = “eternal, everlasting, of the age (to come).” Semantic range: not only unending duration but a qualitatively different, God-given life belonging to the age to come, entered now by faith. English variants: “eternal life,” “everlasting life,” “life of the age to come.” Contextual meaning: the promised outcome of faith in Christ, central to this curriculum’s “Eternal Life through Faith in Christ” doctrine. Vietnamese: sự sống đời đời. Risk: CRITICAL. Must be clearly distinguished from any notion of an endlessly repeating cycle of lives (luân hồi) or from an impersonal, self-attained state of non-being (Buddhist Nirvana/giải thoát, already flagged Critical in the baseline “salvation” entry). Eternal life in John is a present possession (note the present tense ἔχῃ, “may have,” not merely a future hope), a personal relationship with God through Christ (cf. 17:3), received as a gift — not an escape from personal existence or a state earned through successive lives of merit.

John 3:16

This is the thesis verse of the passage and among the most quoted verses in Scripture; its rendering must be identical across every document in this curriculum.

For God so loved the world — Gr. Οὕτως γὰρ ἠγάπησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον (houtōs gar ēgapēsen ho theos ton kosmon). ἀγαπάω (agapaō): to love with a deliberate, valuing, self-giving love (distinct from ἔρος, romantic love, and often distinguished from φιλέω, affectionate/friendship love, though the two overlap in John — see ch.21 note below). κόσμος (kosmos): “world” — the created order, and more specifically here, fallen humanity in its rebellion against God. Semantic range of κόσμος across John: the physical creation (1:10), humanity generally (3:16-17), and the system organized in opposition to God (15:18-19; 17:14). Contextual meaning: God’s love is directed toward the world in its fallen, hostile state — not toward a world that has first become lovable. Vietnamese: Vì Đức Chúa Trời yêu thương thế gian. Risk: HIGH. “Thế gian” (the mundane, transient world) already carries strong connotations in Vietnamese Buddhist thought as something to be renounced or seen through (vô thường, impermanence) on the path to liberation. John 3:16 asserts the opposite relational posture: God actively, deliberately loves this very thế gian rather than teaching detachment from it. This contrast should be made explicit in teaching notes: the Christian response to “the world” is not renunciation but the receiving of God’s rescuing love for it, followed by holy engagement with it (cf. 17:15, “not that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one”).
gave — Gr. ἔδωκεν (edōken), aorist of δίδωμι, “to give.” Contextual meaning: a definite, completed, historical act of giving — the incarnation and the cross together constitute the gift. Vietnamese: đã ban. Risk: Medium.
his only Son / only begotten Son — Gr. τὸν υἱὸν τὸν μονογενῆ (ton huion ton monogenē). μονογενής (monogenēs): literal “only one of its kind, one-and-only,” historically rendered “only begotten” (KJV) though the root sense is uniqueness of kind/relationship rather than a biological begetting process. Semantic range in John (used at 1:14, 1:18, 3:16, 3:18): the Son’s unique, unrepeatable relationship to the Father — there is no other of his kind. English variants: “only begotten Son,” “one and only Son,” “his only Son.” Contextual meaning: a direct assertion of Christ’s unique deity and eternal Sonship — not one exalted being among many, not an adopted or honorary son. Vietnamese: Con một (established Bản Dịch Truyền Thống rendering — reused consistently at 1:14, 1:18, 3:16, 3:18). Risk: CRITICAL. “Con một” (“only/one child”) must be taught with the full weight of μονογενής: this is the sole, eternal, uniquely-begotten Son, not merely “an only child” in the ordinary human sense, and absolutely not one of several divine sons/avatars/incarnations as found in some folk-religious or syncretistic frameworks. Ties directly to the “Sonship of Christ” and “Deity of Christ” Critical-risk doctrines already established in the Romans baseline registry (Con Đức Chúa Trời).
whoever believes should not perish — Gr. ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται (hina pas ho pisteuōn eis auton mē apolētai), from ἀπόλλυμι (apollymi), “to destroy, to lose, to perish.” Semantic range: ruin, destruction, being lost — the opposite outcome to receiving eternal life, not annihilation of being but a personal ruin under God’s judgment. English variants: “perish,” “be lost,” “be destroyed.” Contextual meaning: the sober alternative outcome for unbelief, held in the same verse as the offer of eternal life. Vietnamese: chẳng bị hư mất. Risk: High — “hư mất” (ruined, lost, spoiled) must not be softened into a merely temporal or reversible setback; it names the eternal opposite of sự sống đời đời.
eternal life — see v.15 above; reused identically.

John 3:17

God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world — Gr. οὐ γὰρ ἀπέστειλεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν υἱὸν εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἵνα κρίνῃ τὸν κόσμον (ou gar apesteilen ho theos ton huion eis ton kosmon hina krinē ton kosmon). ἀποστέλλω (apostellō): “to send with a commission/purpose” (root of “apostle,” already in Romans baseline as sứ đồ). κρίνω (krinō): “to judge, decide, condemn” — a legal/forensic verb. Contextual meaning: distinguishes the primary purpose of the Son’s first coming (rescue, not verdict) from the reality that judgment nonetheless results from a person’s response to him (v.18-19). Vietnamese: Đức Chúa Trời đã sai Con Ngài đến thế gian, chẳng để đoán xét thế gian. Risk: High — “đoán xét” (to judge/condemn) must be kept distinct in this verse from its use in v.18-19 as the result of unbelief; translators should preserve the contrast between purpose (not to condemn) and consequence (yet unbelief brings condemnation already).
saved — Gr. σωθῇ (sōthē), from σῴζω (sōzō), root of σωτηρία, “salvation.” Reused from Romans baseline concept: sự cứu rỗi / verb form. Vietnamese: được cứu. Risk: CRITICAL (per baseline salvation entry) — never sự giải thoát.

John 3:18

is not condemned / is condemned already — Gr. ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν οὐ κρίνεται· ὁ δὲ μὴ πιστεύων ἤδη κέκριται (ho pisteuōn eis auton ou krinetai; ho de mē pisteuōn ēdē kekritai). κρίνεται/κέκριται, present/perfect passive of κρίνω. Contextual meaning: belief and unbelief have an immediate, present-tense legal status before God — condemnation for the unbeliever is not merely a future event but a present reality, “already.” Vietnamese: không bị đoán xét… đã bị đoán xét rồi. Risk: High — the perfect tense (“already” — a settled, present state, not merely a future certainty) must be preserved; softening to a future-only warning weakens the doctrine of present accountability central to “Judgment and Belief/Unbelief.”
name of the only Son of God — reuses Con một and Con Đức Chúa Trời (baseline). Contextual meaning: unbelief is defined specifically as failure to believe in this particular, named Son — not generic irreligion. Risk: High (compounding the Critical risk of Con một/Con Đức Chúa Trời above).

John 3:19

this is the judgment — Gr. αὕτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ κρίσις (hautē de estin hē krisis). κρίσις (krisis): the noun form of κρίνω — “judgment, verdict, crisis-point of decision.” Contextual meaning: names the precise nature of judgment — it is a self-selected verdict revealed by one’s response to the light. Vietnamese: sự đoán xét. Risk: High.
light has come into the world — Gr. τὸ φῶς ἐλήλυθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον (to phōs elēlythen eis ton kosmon). φῶς (phōs): “light” — used from 1:4-9 onward as a title/description for Christ himself (the true light) and for the moral/spiritual illumination and revelation he brings. English variants: “light,” “the Light.” Contextual meaning: Christ’s incarnate presence is itself the arrival of divine revelation and moral exposure into a dark world. Vietnamese: sự sáng đã đến thế gian. Risk: High — “sự sáng” is the established Vietnamese Bible term (paralleling “sự tối tăm” for darkness); ensure capitalized/titular use where φῶς refers to Christ himself (e.g., 1:9; 8:12; 9:5) versus lowercase generic use where it refers to moral illumination in general, as loosely here.
loved darkness rather than the light — Gr. ἠγάπησαν… τὸ σκότος μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ φῶς (ēgapēsan… to skotos mallon ē to phōs). σκότος (skotos)/σκοτία (skotia): “darkness” — moral and spiritual blindness/opposition to God, not merely absence of light. Contextual meaning: unbelief is not neutral ignorance but an active, willful preference. Vietnamese: yêu sự tối tăm hơn sự sáng. Risk: Medium.
works were evil — Gr. ἦν πονηρὰ αὐτῶν τὰ ἔργα (ēn ponēra autōn ta erga). πονηρός (ponēros): “evil, wicked, malicious” (the stronger of the NT’s two main “evil” words). ἔργα (erga): “works, deeds.” Contextual meaning: the moral cause behind the preference for darkness. Vietnamese: việc làm của họ là xấu. Risk: Low.

John 3:20

hates the light… does not come to the light — Gr. μισεῖ τὸ φῶς καὶ οὐκ ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ φῶς (misei to phōs kai ouk erchetai pros to phōs). Contextual meaning: continues the willful-rejection theme. Vietnamese: ghét sự sáng, chẳng đến cùng sự sáng. Risk: Low.
lest his works should be exposed — Gr. ἵνα μὴ ἐλεγχθῇ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ (hina mē elegchthē ta erga autou), from ἐλέγχω (elegchō), “to expose, convict, bring to light, reprove.” Semantic range: a legal/moral term for bringing hidden wrongdoing into visible, undeniable light — the same root reappears at 16:8, where the Spirit “convicts” (ἐλέγξει) the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment. Contextual meaning: the fear that motivates avoidance of the light is exposure of guilt. Vietnamese: kẻo công việc của mình phải bị bày tỏ ra. Risk: Medium — recommend consistent root-family rendering with 16:8’s “cáo trách” (convict) so that a Vietnamese reader can trace the conceptual link between avoiding exposure here and the Spirit’s convicting work later in the book; flag for translator cross-reference note.

John 3:21

does the truth — Gr. ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἀλήθειαν (ho poiōn tēn alētheian). ἀλήθεια (alētheia): “truth” — in John, not merely factual accuracy but reality as disclosed by God, ultimately embodied in Christ himself (14:6). Semantic range: truthfulness, reality, genuineness, moral/spiritual integrity. English variants: “truth,” “what is true,” “the truth.” Contextual meaning: “doing the truth” is a Hebraic idiom for living in covenant faithfulness and integrity — action consistent with God’s revealed reality. Vietnamese: làm theo lẽ thật. Risk: High — the established Bible-tradition term “lẽ thật” (rather than the more generic factual “sự thật”) must be used consistently across John (esp. 1:14, 1:17, 4:23-24, 8:32, 14:6, 17:17) since “lẽ thật” carries the moral-spiritual, revelational weight John intends, while “sự thật” risks reducing it to bare factual correctness.
comes to the light — parallel to v.20; contrasted response. Vietnamese: đến nơi sự sáng. Risk: Low.
clearly seen… done in God — Gr. φανερωθῇ… ἐν θεῷ ἐστιν εἰργασμένα (phanerōthē… en theō estin eirgasmena), from φανερόω (phaneroō), “to make visible, manifest.” Contextual meaning: the believer’s works, done “in God” (i.e., in dependence on and union with him — an early hint of the “in Christ”/abiding theology fully developed in ch.15), can be openly displayed without shame because their source is God’s own work in the believer, not self-generated merit. Vietnamese: được tỏ ra… là làm trong Đức Chúa Trời. Risk: High — “làm trong Đức Chúa Trời” must not be read as self-effort validated by religious performance (which could slide toward a merit-accumulation frame, công đức, already forbidden in the Romans baseline for “grace”); the phrase names God as the enabling source of the good work, not the believer’s independent achievement.

PART 2 — CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER ANALYSIS (Full Book, John 1–21)

Chapter 1 — The Word Made Flesh; the Witness of John the Baptist; the First Disciples

Word — Gr. Λόγος (Logos), 1:1,14. Literal: “word, speech, reasoned discourse, account.” Semantic range: in Greek philosophy, the rational principle ordering the universe; in the LXX/Jewish background, God’s creative and revelatory speech (Genesis 1; Psalm 33:6). Contextual meaning: John identifies this Λόγος as a distinct, eternal, personal divine Being — “the Word was God” (1:1) and “the Word became flesh” (1:14) — establishing Christ’s full deity and pre-existence before any narrative event. Vietnamese: Ngôi Lời (established Vietnamese Protestant Bible term for the personal, divine Logos). Risk: CRITICAL — this is the foundational term for “The Deity and Pre-existence of Christ,” the curriculum’s first named doctrine. Ngôi Lời must never be softened to a merely functional “lời của Đức Chúa Trời” (God’s message/word as content) in 1:1-3,14, where the text asserts personal, eternal, divine identity, not just a message God speaks. Flag every occurrence for human theologian review.
the Word became flesh — Gr. ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο, 1:14. Reused from Romans baseline Incarnation entry: Ngôi Lời trở nên xác thịt. Risk: CRITICAL (per baseline) — never bare hóa thân.
life — Gr. ζωή (zōē), 1:4. See core-passage treatment above (v.15). Vietnamese: sự sống. Risk: High — introduced here as an attribute residing in the Word himself (“in him was life”), establishing that Christ is the source of life, not merely a life-giving teacher.
light — Gr. φῶς (phōs), 1:4-9. See core-passage treatment (v.19). Vietnamese: sự sáng. Risk: High.
darkness — Gr. σκοτία (skotia), 1:5. Vietnamese: sự tối tăm. Risk: Medium. Contextual note: “the darkness has not overcome/comprehended it” (κατέλαβεν) introduces the light-vs-darkness conflict resolved definitively at the cross/resurrection.
world — Gr. κόσμος (kosmos), 1:9-10. See core-passage treatment (v.16). Vietnamese: thế gian. Risk: High.
his own… did not receive him — Gr. οἱ ἴδιοι… οὐ παρέλαβον, 1:11. Contextual meaning: Israel’s covenant rejection of her own Messiah, introducing the “Judgment and Belief/Unbelief” theme structurally at the outset of the book. Vietnamese: dân mình… chẳng nhận lấy Ngài. Risk: Medium.
children of God / born of God — Gr. τέκνα θεοῦ… ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν, 1:12-13. τέκνον (teknon): “child” (emphasizing birth-relationship, distinct from υἱός, “son,” used of the unique Sonship of Christ). Semantic range: those who receive Christ are given the right/authority (ἐξουσία) to become God’s children, a status originating not from bloodline, human will, or human effort (“not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man”) but from God himself. Contextual meaning: directly anticipates the New Birth teaching of chapter 3; believers become God’s children by a divine act of birth, paralleling but distinguished from Christ’s unique divine Sonship. Vietnamese: con cái Đức Chúa Trời… được Đức Chúa Trời sinh ra. Risk: HIGH — must be clearly distinguished from Con một/Con Đức Chúa Trời (Christ’s unique, eternal Sonship); believers are made τέκνα (“children,” a derived, granted status) never υἱός/Con in the unique sense reserved for Christ. Also flag: this status is explicitly said NOT to derive from “the will of the flesh” (natural human descent) — a direct rebuttal of any framing where becoming a child of God could be inherited by bloodline or family religious status, relevant to the strongly lineage-conscious Vietnamese context (ancestral lineage, family religious identity).
grace and truth — Gr. χάριτος καὶ ἀληθείας (charitos kai alētheias), 1:14,17. Grace reused from Romans baseline: ân điển. Truth — Gr. ἀλήθεια; see core-passage treatment (v.21). Vietnamese: ân điển và lẽ thật. Risk: High — the pairing echoes God’s OT self-revelation to Moses (Exodus 34:6, “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”); teach as a unit, not as two disconnected qualities.
only begotten / only Son — Gr. μονογενής, 1:14,18. See core-passage treatment (v.16). Risk: CRITICAL.
grace upon grace — Gr. χάριν ἀντὶ χάριτος, 1:16. Contextual meaning: an ever-renewing, overflowing supply of unearned favor. Vietnamese: ơn đầy thêm ơn / ân điển chồng trên ân điển. Risk: High — must preserve the sense of successive, gratuitous gift rather than an accumulating store the believer builds up (which would drift toward the forbidden công đức framing).
Lamb of God — Gr. ὁ ἀμνὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, 1:29,36. ἀμνός (amnos): “lamb,” specifically the sacrificial animal of Israel’s cult (Passover lamb, Isaiah 53:7’s “lamb led to slaughter”). Semantic range: an innocent, substitute sacrificial victim. Contextual meaning: John the Baptist’s identification of Jesus as the one who “takes away the sin of the world” through sacrificial substitution — the earliest and clearest statement in the book of Christ’s Substitutionary Death doctrine. Vietnamese: Chiên Con của Đức Chúa Trời. Risk: HIGH — requires OT sacrificial/Passover background teaching (low direct cultural collision in Vietnam, but low OT literacy among first-generation believers per baseline audience assumptions); must be clearly taught as a one-time, sufficient, substitutionary sacrifice, not an ongoing ritual offering repeated for continued merit.
Son of God — Gr. ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, 1:34,49. Reused from Romans baseline: Con Đức Chúa Trời. Risk: CRITICAL (per baseline).
Rabbi, Messiah/Christ, Son of Man — 1:38,41,45,51. Messiah reused: Đấng Mê-si-a. Christ (title) — Đấng Christ per baseline transliteration standards. Son of Man — Gr. υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, 1:51 (first occurrence; see full treatment at 3:13-14 above). Risk: High (Son of Man), Risk: High (Messiah, per baseline).
disciple(s) — Gr. μαθητής/μαθηταί (mathētēs/mathētai), 1:35ff. Literal: “learner, pupil.” Semantic range: one who follows and learns from a teacher, in first-century Judaism often living in close community with a rabbi. Contextual meaning: introduces the community of committed followers who witness and later testify to Christ’s identity. Vietnamese: môn đồ (established Vietnamese Bible term). Risk: Low — distinguish, if needed, from “đệ tử” (a term more associated with Buddhist/martial-arts master-disciple relationships); môn đồ is the standard, safe Bible-tradition choice.

Chapter 2 — The Wedding at Cana; the Temple Cleansing

sign — Gr. σημεῖον (sēmeion), 2:11 (the first of seven/eight signs structuring John’s first half). See core-passage note (3:2) for full definition. Vietnamese: dấu lạ. Risk: Medium — flag consistent use across all Johannine signs (2:11 water to wine; 4:54 healing the official’s son; 5:1-9 healing at Bethesda; 6:1-14 feeding the 5,000; 6:16-21 walking on water; 9:1-7 healing the blind man; 11:1-44 raising Lazarus).
hour — Gr. ὥρα (hōra), 2:4 (“My hour has not yet come”). Literal: “hour, time.” Semantic range: an ordinary time-unit, but in John’s theological vocabulary (2:4; 7:30; 8:20; 12:23,27; 13:1; 17:1) a fixed, divinely appointed moment — specifically, the hour of Christ’s death, resurrection, and glorification. Vietnamese: giờ. Risk: Medium — must be flagged wherever it carries this technical, appointed sense (esp. 12:23; 13:1; 17:1) versus ordinary clock-time elsewhere, so translators do not flatten the theological freight of “the hour.”
temple — Gr. ἱερόν (hieron, the whole temple precinct) and ναός (naos, the sanctuary building itself, used metaphorically of Jesus’ body in 2:21). Contextual meaning: 2:19-21, “destroy this temple (ναόν)… he was speaking of the temple of his body,” directly linking the temple-cleansing to Christ’s death and resurrection, and to himself as the locus of God’s presence replacing the physical temple. Vietnamese: đền thờ (both precinct and body-as-temple usage). Risk: Medium — must not use “chùa” (Buddhist temple) or “đền” (folk-deity shrine, forbidden in Romans baseline for “church”); đền thờ is the established, safe Bible term, but the wordplay (physical temple → Christ’s body) needs a translator’s note since Vietnamese does not have two distinct words tracking ἱερόν/ναός.

Chapter 3 — see Part 1 (Core Passage, John 3:1-21) above. Verses 22-36 (John the Baptist’s continued witness) add:

bridegroom / friend of the bridegroom — Gr. νυμφίος… ὁ φίλος τοῦ νυμφίου, 3:29. Contextual meaning: John the Baptist’s self-understanding as the joyful best man, not the groom — a model of pointing away from oneself to Christ. Vietnamese: chàng rể… bạn của chàng rể. Risk: Low.
wrath of God — Gr. ἡ ὀργὴ τοῦ θεοῦ, 3:36. Contextual meaning: the negative counterpart to “eternal life” for the one who “does not obey” (ἀπειθῶν, disbelieving/disobeying) the Son — ties belief/unbelief directly to divine judgment, reinforcing vv.16-21. Vietnamese: cơn thịnh nộ của Đức Chúa Trời. Risk: High — must not be softened into impersonal misfortune or bad karma; this is the personal God’s settled judicial displeasure.

Chapter 4 — The Samaritan Woman; the Official’s Son

living water — Gr. ὕδωρ ζῶν (hydōr zōn), 4:10-14. Literal: “living/flowing water” (a common idiom for fresh spring water, here given deeper meaning). Contextual meaning: Christ offers water that “will never thirst again,” becoming “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” — a further development of the ζωή (life) theme, now imaged as internally indwelling and self-renewing. Vietnamese: nước sống. Risk: Medium — should be linked by translator’s note to sự sống đời đời (eternal life) so readers see this as the same Johannine life-theme, not a separate concept.
worship — Gr. προσκυνέω (proskyneō), 4:20-24. Literal: “to bow down, prostrate oneself in homage.” Semantic range: reverent, submissive homage to a deity. Contextual meaning: “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth” — worship is redefined away from a fixed geographic location (Jerusalem or Samaria) to an inward, Spirit-enabled reality centered on the Father as revealed through the Son. Vietnamese: thờ phượng. Risk: Medium — “thờ phượng” (Bible-tradition term) must be distinguished from “thờ cúng” (the term for ancestor veneration/offerings at the family altar, already flagged Critical in the Romans baseline “intercession” entry); confusing the two would collapse Christian worship of God into a practice of ancestral ritual offering.
Messiah/Christ — 4:25-26,29. Reused: Đấng Mê-si-a / Đấng Christ. Risk: High (per baseline).
Savior of the world — Gr. ὁ σωτὴρ τοῦ κόσμου (ho sōtēr tou kosmou), 4:42. σωτήρ (sōtēr): “savior, deliverer, rescuer” — the personal agent-noun behind σωτηρία (“salvation,” already Critical in the Romans baseline). Contextual meaning: the Samaritan villagers’ climactic confession that Jesus is not merely Israel’s Messiah but the world’s rescuer, extending the salvation-scope theme launched in 3:16-17. Vietnamese: Cứu Chúa của thế gian. Risk: HIGH — “Cứu Chúa” should be used consistently wherever σωτήρ appears (cf. 4:42 is its only Johannine occurrence, but the concept recurs); must not be diluted into a generic “người giải cứu” (rescuer in a purely this-worldly, humanitarian sense) — this is the same rescuing Lordship already anchored in the baseline’s sự cứu rỗi and Chúa entries.

Chapter 5 — Healing at Bethesda; Christ’s Equality with the Father

Son of Man — 5:27. Reused; see 3:13-14. Contextual addition: here explicitly given “authority to execute judgment” — ties Son of Man title to eschatological judgment authority.
resurrection of life / resurrection of judgment — Gr. ἀνάστασιν ζωῆς… ἀνάστασιν κρίσεως (anastasin zōēs… anastasin kriseōs), 5:29. ἀνάστασις reused from Romans baseline: sự sống lại. Contextual meaning: a final, bodily resurrection awaits all people, but with two opposite outcomes determined by present response to the Son (v.24, “has already passed from death to life”). Vietnamese: sự sống lại để được sự sống… sự sống lại để bị đoán xét. Risk: CRITICAL (per baseline resurrection entry) — never đầu thai/luân hồi; this is a single, once-for-all, universal, bodily resurrection event with two possible destinies, categorically different from repeated cycles of rebirth.
equal with God — Gr. ἴσον ἑαυτὸν ποιῶν τῷ θεῷ (ison heauton poiōn tō theō), 5:18. Contextual meaning: the Jewish leaders’ (correct) perception that Jesus’ claim to call God “my Father” in a unique sense amounted to a claim of full equality with God — advancing the Deity of Christ doctrine through the narrative’s own opposition. Vietnamese: tự cho mình bằng Đức Chúa Trời. Risk: CRITICAL — must clearly convey ontological equality (same divine nature), not merely a close or favored relationship; ties directly to Con Đức Chúa Trời and the Unity of Father/Son doctrine (see ch.10).
honor the Son as they honor the Father — 5:23. Vietnamese: tôn kính Con cũng như tôn kính Cha. Risk: High — reinforces exclusive divine honor due the Son equally with the Father, relevant to Vietnamese contexts where “honor” (tôn kính/hiếu kính) is heavily invested in filial and ancestral categories; must be taught as worship-level honor, not filial-piety-level honor.

Chapter 6 — The Bread of Life Discourse

I am the bread of life — Gr. Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς (egō eimi ho artos tēs zōēs), 6:35,48,51. The first of John’s seven great “I am” (“Ἐγώ εἰμι”) self-declarations with a predicate (see the summary table below). ἄρτος (artos): “bread,” staple food; τῆς ζωῆς: “of life,” genitive of source/description. Contextual meaning: as physical bread sustains physical life, Christ himself, received by faith (v.35, “believes in me”), sustains and grants eternal life — developing the manna/wilderness typology (v.31-33) into a Christ-centered fulfillment. Vietnamese: Ta là bánh của sự sống. Risk: HIGH — must not be reduced to a metaphor for generic spiritual nourishment/teaching (as a sage’s wisdom might “feed” disciples); this is a claim of personal, exclusive, life-giving sufficiency, paired with the “Ἐγώ εἰμι” formula that (per 8:58 below) carries divine self-identification weight.
eat my flesh, drink my blood — Gr. φάγῃ … τὴν σάρκα… πίῃ … τὸ αἷμα, 6:53-56. Contextual meaning: figurative language for total, personal appropriation of Christ’s sacrificial death by faith (anticipating, though not identical with, the Lord’s Supper); offensive to the original hearers (v.60), driving many away (v.66). Vietnamese: ăn thịt… uống huyết. Risk: High — flag for careful teaching; must not be taught as literal cannibalism nor conflated with ancestor-offering food rituals (offerings of food set before ancestral altars); the sense is spiritual appropriation of Christ’s substitutionary death by faith.
Holy One of God — Gr. ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ, 6:69. Holy reused from Romans baseline: thánh. Contextual meaning: Peter’s confession of Christ’s unique divine holiness/identity, an early climax of belief amid mass unbelief (v.60-66). Vietnamese: Đấng Thánh của Đức Chúa Trời. Risk: High.
devil — Gr. διάβολος (diabolos), 6:70. Literal: “slanderer, accuser.” Contextual meaning: applied to Judas, introducing the betrayal theme, and reappearing at 8:44 and 13:2,27. Vietnamese: ma quỉ (established Bible term). Risk: High — must be distinguished from folk-religious “quỷ” categories tied to ancestor-spirit or nature-spirit belief; this is the singular personal adversary of God, not one spirit among many in a populated spirit-world.

Chapter 7 — Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles

living water / the Spirit not yet given — Gr. ὕδατος ζῶντος, 7:38-39; explicitly glossed by the narrator as τὸ πνεῦμα, “for the Spirit was not yet [given]” (7:39). Reused terms; new theological note: this verse explicitly links the “living water” image (ch.4) to the Holy Spirit’s future outpouring, and marks a redemptive-historical timeline (Spirit given only after Christ’s glorification) directly relevant to the Holy Spirit as Counselor doctrine developed fully in chs.14-16. Risk: Medium — flag as a forward cross-reference note for translators handling chs.14-16.
the Jews were divided because of him — 7:43. Ongoing “the Jews”/belief-unbelief theme; see the note under 3:1 above regarding consistent, non-blanket handling of Ἰουδαῖοι.

Chapter 8 — Light of the World; Truth and Freedom; “Before Abraham Was, I Am”

I am the light of the world — Gr. Ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου, 8:12. Second of the seven “I am” statements. Reused terms (φῶς, κόσμος); risk: HIGH — same weight as ch.1’s light/darkness theme, now spoken by Christ of himself directly, with the added self-identification formula (see below).
the truth will set you free — Gr. ἡ ἀλήθεια ἐλευθερώσει ὑμᾶς, 8:32. Contextual meaning: knowing/abiding in Christ’s word/truth produces freedom, contrasted with slavery to sin (v.34, δοῦλος τῆς ἁμαρτίας, “slave of sin” — sin reused from Romans baseline: tội lỗi). Vietnamese: lẽ thật sẽ buông tha các ngươi (established Bible idiom, lit. “will release you”). Risk: High — must not be read as intellectual enlightenment alone (a concept close to Buddhist “giác ngộ,” enlightenment/awakening) but as liberation from bondage to sin achieved specifically through Christ’s word and person (v.36, “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” — reinforcing that freedom is Christ-given, not self-attained insight).
before Abraham was, I am — Gr. πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί (prin Abraam genesthai egō eimi), 8:58. The most theologically loaded “Ἐγώ εἰμι,” lacking a predicate noun altogether — an absolute self-identification widely recognized as echoing God’s self-naming to Moses (Exodus 3:14 LXX, ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν, “I AM WHO I AM”). Contextual meaning: an explicit claim to timeless, eternal existence and identity with the God of Israel — the hearers’ response (attempting to stone him for blasphemy, v.59) confirms this was understood as a direct deity claim. Vietnamese: Trước khi có Áp-ra-ham, đã có ta. Risk: CRITICAL — the most important single verse in John for the Deity and Pre-existence of Christ doctrine. Vietnamese “đã có ta” (lit. “I already existed/was”) must not be flattened to a merely comparative claim (“I existed before Abraham,” implying only priority in time) — the underlying Greek grammar (present tense ἐγὼ εἰμί used of past-relative time) asserts timeless, non-contingent existence. Requires a mandatory human theologian teaching note connecting to Exodus 3:14 and to Ta là in ch.6,8,10,11,14,15 (see summary table below). Flag every occurrence for theologian review.
children of Abraham / children of the devil — 8:33-44. Contextual meaning: physical Abrahamic descent is contrasted with spiritual paternity determined by whose “works” one imitates — a pointed rebuttal of lineage-based spiritual status, again relevant to lineage-conscious Vietnamese family/ancestor frameworks (see ch.1 note on τέκνα θεοῦ). Vietnamese: con cháu Áp-ra-ham… con của ma quỉ. Risk: High.

No major new theological terms; reuses sign (dấu lạ), sin (tội lỗi), light (sự sáng), worship (thờ phượng), Son of Man (Con người, v.35), and synagogue — Gr. συναγωγή (synagōgē), “gathering, assembly,” 9:22. Vietnamese: nhà hội (established Bible term for the Jewish local assembly/meeting place). Risk: Low — must be distinguished from Hội Thánh (Church, the Romans baseline term for the new-covenant assembly); nhà hội names the pre-Christian Jewish institution from which some believers, per this chapter, were expelled (ἀποσυνάγωγον, cast out of the synagogue) — a real social cost of confessing Christ, worth a cultural-sensitivity note regarding the analogous cost some Vietnamese converts face in being excluded from family ancestor-rites participation.
works of God — 9:3-4. Contextual meaning: the man’s blindness exists “that the works of God might be displayed in him” — providence theme, reused from Romans baseline: sự quan phòng của Đức Chúa Trời conceptually. Risk: Medium.

Chapter 10 — The Good Shepherd; Unity of the Father and the Son

I am the door / I am the good shepherd — Gr. Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ θύρα (10:9); Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός (10:11,14). Third and fourth of the seven “I am” statements. θύρα (thyra): “door, gate” — the sole legitimate entry point for the sheep, contrasted with “thieves and robbers.” ποιμὴν ὁ καλός: ποιμήν, “shepherd”; καλός, “good” in the sense of noble, excellent, fitting its purpose completely (distinct from merely morally good, ἀγαθός). Contextual meaning: Christ as the exclusive access point to God (θύρα) and as the shepherd who “lays down his life for the sheep” (v.11,15,17-18) — directly connecting shepherd imagery to Christ’s Substitutionary Death. Vietnamese: Ta là cái cửa. Ta là người chăn hiền lành. Risk: HIGH for both — “cửa” (door/gate) must retain the sense of sole legitimate access (not one gate among several); “người chăn hiền lành” (lit. “the gentle/kind shepherd”) must retain the “lays down his life” substitutionary sense from context, not merely a caretaking or pastoral-kindness sense.
lay down his life — Gr. τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ τίθησιν, 10:11,15,17-18. ψυχή (psychē): “soul, life, self.” Contextual meaning: Christ’s death is voluntary, self-given, and purposeful (“I lay it down of my own accord,” v.18) — reinforcing substitutionary, not merely martyrological, death. Vietnamese: phó sự sống mình. Risk: High.
one flock, one shepherd — 10:16. Contextual meaning: anticipates Gentile inclusion (“other sheep that are not of this fold”) — parallels the Romans baseline’s Unity of Jews and Gentiles doctrine. Vietnamese: một bầy, một người chăn. Risk: Medium.
I and the Father are one — Gr. ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν (egō kai ho patēr hen esmen), 10:30. ἕν (hen), neuter “one,” denotes unity of essence/nature (not ἕνας/masculine “one person” — the grammar itself signals unity of being while distinct persons remain, “I AND the Father”). Contextual meaning: the central biblical text for the “Unity of the Father and the Son” curriculum doctrine — a claim of essential oneness that the hearers again correctly perceive as a deity claim (v.31-33, attempting to stone him for blasphemy: “you, being a man, make yourself God”). Vietnamese: Ta và Cha là một. Risk: CRITICAL. Must be taught carefully to avoid two opposite errors: (1) reducing “one” to mere agreement or shared purpose (a weaker unity any two allied people could claim) — undermining the deity claim; (2) collapsing the distinction of Persons into a single undifferentiated being (modalism) — undermining Trinitarian personal distinction. Flag every occurrence for mandatory human theologian review; this term anchors a named curriculum doctrine and has zero acceptable margin for imprecision.
blasphemy — Gr. βλασφημίαν, 10:33. Vietnamese: lộng ngôn. Risk: Medium.
works — 10:37-38 (“believe the works” as evidence of unity with the Father). Reused; risk: Medium.

Chapter 11 — The Raising of Lazarus

I am the resurrection and the life — Gr. Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή, 11:25. Fifth of the seven “I am” statements. ἀνάστασις reused: sự sống lại. ζωή reused: sự sống. Contextual meaning: Christ does not merely predict or perform a future resurrection — he claims to BE the resurrection and the life in his own person, such that “whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.” The subsequent raising of Lazarus (11:38-44) is an enacted sign validating the claim. Vietnamese: Ta là sự sống lại và sự sống. Risk: CRITICAL — reinforces the resurrection doctrine’s Critical status from the Romans baseline while adding a distinctively Johannine personal claim (Christ himself IS resurrection-life, not merely its agent or predictor); must never be rendered in any way that suggests a cyclical or repeatable event (again ruling out đầu thai/luân hồi vocabulary at every point of contact).
groaned in his spirit… wept — Gr. ἐνεβριμήσατο τῷ πνεύματι… ἐδάκρυσεν, 11:33,35. Contextual meaning: displays Christ’s genuine human emotion and grief, reinforcing his true humanity (cf. Humanity of Christ doctrine established already in the Romans baseline framework) even as he is about to exercise divine resurrection power. Vietnamese: đau lòng… khóc. Risk: Medium — culturally significant given Vietnamese funeral/mourning customs (public grief, ancestor commemoration); note that Jesus’ grief here models genuine sorrow at death that is not inconsistent with his power over death, a pastorally useful point for a culture with deep bereavement rituals.
glory of God — 11:4,40. Reused from Romans baseline: sự vinh hiển. Contextual meaning: Lazarus’s sickness and raising serve to display God’s glory through the Son, an important providence/purpose theme. Risk: Medium.

Chapter 12 — The Triumphal Entry; the Hour Has Come; a Grain of Wheat

the hour has come — 12:23. Reused (see ch.2); now activated — the appointed hour of the cross/glorification formally arrives, structurally dividing the book (chs.1-11 = “before the hour”; chs.13-21 = “the hour itself”). Risk: Medium — flag as a major structural marker for translators/curriculum designers.
grain of wheat — Gr. ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σίτου, 12:24. Contextual meaning: “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” — an agricultural image for Christ’s death producing multiplied spiritual life, connecting Substitutionary Death to fruitfulness/mission themes developed further in ch.15. Vietnamese: một hột giống lúa mì. Risk: Low, but flag conceptual link forward to “abide/bear fruit” in ch.15.
if I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself — 12:32-33, explicitly glossing ὑψωθῆναι (see 3:14 above) as referring to the manner of his death (“he said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die”). Risk: CRITICAL (compounding 3:14’s Critical flag) — this verse is the Johannine narrator’s own explicit interpretive key confirming that “lifted up” = crucifixion, not merely honor/exaltation in the abstract; essential cross-reference for translating 3:14 and 8:28 correctly.
the ruler of this world — Gr. ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, 12:31. Contextual meaning: Satan’s (temporary, judged) authority over the fallen world-system, “cast out” through the cross. Vietnamese: chúa của thế gian này. Risk: High — must not be confused with the title “Chúa” (Lord) reserved for Christ; recommend disambiguating with “kẻ cai trị thế gian này” rather than “chúa” to avoid any visual/lexical overlap with the exclusive Lordship title established in the Romans baseline.

Chapter 13 — The Footwashing; the New Commandment; the Announcement of Betrayal

new commandment — Gr. ἐντολὴ καινή, 13:34. Contextual meaning: “love one another as I have loved you” — the standard by which disciples are recognized (v.35), grounding Christian ethics in Christ’s own self-giving love (agapē) rather than reciprocal social obligation. Vietnamese: điều răn mới. Risk: Medium — should be distinguished from Confucian-influenced reciprocal-obligation ethics (a favor/duty framework already flagged in the Romans baseline’s rejection of ơn nghĩa for “grace”); love here is modeled on Christ’s self-giving example, not a debt to be repaid in kind.
glorify / glorified — Gr. δοξάζω/ἐδοξάσθη (doxazō/edoxasthē), 13:31-32. δόξα reused from Romans baseline: sự vinh hiển; verb form — làm sáng danh / được tôn vinh. Contextual meaning: Judas’s departure to betray Jesus is the trigger for Jesus’ declaration that “now is the Son of Man glorified” — again linking the cross (an act of apparent shame) directly to glory, continuing the pattern from 3:14 and 12:23-32. Risk: High.

Chapter 14 — The Father’s House; “I Am the Way”; the Promise of the Counselor

I am the way, and the truth, and the life — Gr. Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή, 14:6. Sixth of the seven “I am” statements. ὁδός (hodos): “road, way, path” — here, the exclusive means of access to the Father (“no one comes to the Father except through me”). ἀλήθεια, ζωή reused above. Contextual meaning: perhaps the single most explicit statement in John of Christ’s exclusivity as the sole mediator of salvation. Vietnamese: Ta là đường đi, lẽ thật, và sự sống. Risk: CRITICAL — the exclusivity clause (“no one comes to the Father except through me,” v.6b) must never be softened into “a way” (một con đường) among several possible ways; Vietnamese religious pluralism (multiple paths up the same mountain being a common folk-Buddhist/syncretistic metaphor) makes this a high-stakes point of potential softening. Mandatory human theologian review for every occurrence and its surrounding context.
Counselor / Advocate / Comforter (Paraclete) — Gr. παράκλητος (paraklētos), 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7. Literal: from παρακαλέω (“to call alongside”), a “one called alongside to help” — in secular Greek usage, a legal advocate/advisor who stands with the accused in court. Semantic range: advocate, counselor, helper, comforter, intercessor. English variants: “Comforter” (KJV), “Counselor” (NIV/ESV), “Advocate” (NRSV), “Helper” (NASB). Contextual meaning: John 14:16 names the Holy Spirit “another Paraclete” (ἄλλον παράκλητον) — implying Jesus himself has been the first Paraclete during his earthly ministry, and the Spirit continues that same personal, advocating, comforting, teaching role after Christ’s departure (14:26, teaching and reminding; 15:26, testifying about Christ; 16:7-11, convicting the world; 16:13-15, guiding into truth and glorifying Christ). This is the central biblical text for the curriculum’s “The Holy Spirit as Counselor” doctrine. Vietnamese: Đấng An Ủi (established Vietnamese Protestant usage, sometimes rendered Đấng Yên Ủi in the older 1926 Bản Dịch Truyền Thống spelling; both refer to the same term and may be used interchangeably per house style, with Đấng An Ủi recommended for the modern-register target audience). Risk: CRITICAL — the Holy Spirit as Paraclete must be taught as a distinct, personal, divine Advocate continuing Christ’s own ministry — not as an impersonal comforting presence, and emphatically not modeled on Vietnamese folk-religious categories of consulted spirits, mediums, or ancestor-spirits sought for comfort/guidance at the family altar (the same collision risk already flagged Critical for “intercession” and for bare “thần linh” in the Romans baseline). Every occurrence of παράκλητος across chs.14-16 requires mandatory human theologian review with an explicit distinguishing teaching note.
Spirit of truth — Gr. τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς ἀληθείας, 14:17; 15:26; 16:13. Reused terms (Thánh Linh, lẽ thật) combined. Vietnamese: Thần Lẽ Thật (or, more fully, Đức Thánh Linh, Đấng dẫn vào mọi lẽ thật). Risk: High — reinforces that the Spirit’s ministry centers on truth (about Christ), distinct from spontaneous private revelation disconnected from Christ’s own teaching (v.26, “he will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you”).
peace — Gr. εἰρήνη, 14:27. Reused from Romans baseline: sự bình an. Contextual meaning: “not as the world gives” — a peace grounded in Christ’s presence and promise, distinct from circumstantial calm. Risk: Medium (per baseline).

Chapter 15 — The True Vine; Abiding; Love and the World’s Hatred

I am the true vine — Gr. Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή, 15:1,5. Seventh (final) of the seven “I am” statements. ἄμπελος (ampelos): “grapevine.” ἀληθινή (alēthinē): “true, genuine, real” (as opposed to counterfeit/imperfect) — echoes OT imagery of Israel as God’s (often unfaithful) vine (Isaiah 5; Psalm 80; Jeremiah 2:21), now fulfilled/replaced by Christ as the one truly fruitful vine. Vietnamese: Ta là cây nho thật. Risk: High — “thật” (true/genuine) must retain the contrast with OT Israel’s failed vine typology (a background point requiring OT teaching for first-generation believers per baseline audience assumptions), not merely mean “real” as opposed to imaginary.
abide / remain — Gr. μένω (menō), used 11 times in 15:1-10 alone (and pervasively across John, e.g., 6:56; 14:10,17; 1 John). Literal: “to remain, stay, dwell, abide, continue.” Semantic range: continuing personal, intimate, life-sustaining union — not mere physical proximity or occasional contact. Contextual meaning: the central verb of Johannine union-with-Christ theology — “abide in me, and I in you” (v.4) — fruitfulness (spiritual life and effectiveness) is entirely contingent on this abiding relationship, not on independent effort (“apart from me you can do nothing,” v.5). Vietnamese: cứ ở trong (established Vietnamese Bible rendering). Risk: HIGH — must be consistently rendered across all 11 uses in this chapter and its other Johannine occurrences (esp. 6:56; 14:10,17,23) so the reader can trace this single Greek verb’s unifying theological role; risk of inconsistent rendering (e.g., varying between “ở lại,” “cứ ở,” “còn ở”) diluting a deliberately repetitive Greek stylistic and theological device.
friends, not servants — Gr. οὐκέτι λέγω ὑμᾶς δούλους… ὑμᾶς εἴρηκα φίλους, 15:15. Contextual meaning: redefines the disciple-master relationship from servile obedience/status (δοῦλος, “slave/servant” — an unequal, dutiful relationship) to intimate friendship characterized by shared knowledge (“for the servant does not know what his master is doing”). Vietnamese: không gọi các ngươi là đầy tớ nữa… ta gọi các ngươi là bạn hữu. Risk: High — directly relevant to Vietnamese Confucian-shaped hierarchical relational categories (much like the baseline’s caution on adoption/fatherhood against đạo hiếu hierarchy); this friendship does not erase Christ’s Lordship (he remains “Chúa”) but adds a dimension of intimacy alongside authority.
chosen / appointed — Gr. ἐξελεξάμην (exelexamēn), from ἐκλέγομαι, 15:16,19. Reused conceptually from Romans baseline “election”: sự lựa chọn. Contextual meaning: “you did not choose me, but I chose you” — reinforces the sovereign, initiating nature of divine calling; disciples’ fruitfulness and mission originate in Christ’s prior choice, not their own religious initiative. Risk: Medium (per baseline).
the world will hate you — 15:18-19. Reused (κόσμος: thế gian). Contextual meaning: an expected consequence of belonging to Christ rather than to the world-system; relevant pastoral preparation for believers who may face family/social rejection tied to abandoning ancestor-veneration practices upon conversion (cf. baseline’s “evangelism” doctrine note on this same sensitivity). Risk: Medium.

Chapter 16 — The Spirit’s Ministry; Sorrow Turned to Joy; Christ’s Victory

convict — Gr. ἐλέγξει (elegxei, future of ἐλέγχω), 16:8. See core-passage cross-reference at 3:20. Contextual meaning: the Spirit’s specific work “concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment” once Christ has departed — one of the fullest single statements of the Paraclete’s ministry, directly completing the “Holy Spirit as Counselor” doctrine’s biblical basis begun in ch.14. Vietnamese: cáo trách (established Vietnamese Bible term). Risk: High — must be consistently linked (translator’s note) back to ch.3:20’s ἐλεγχθῇ so the reader sees the conceptual arc: what sinners fear (exposure/conviction) in ch.3 becomes the Spirit’s ongoing gracious/convicting ministry in ch.16.
sorrow will turn into joy — 16:20-22 (labor/childbirth analogy). Vietnamese: sự buồn rầu… sẽ đổi thành sự vui mừng. Risk: Low, though note the birth-pain analogy sits interestingly alongside the “born again” theme of ch.3 — a literary echo, not a doctrinal risk per se.
I have overcome the world — Gr. ἐγὼ νενίκηκα τὸν κόσμον (egō nenikēka ton kosmon), 16:33. νικάω (nikaō): “to conquer, overcome, be victorious.” Contextual meaning: Christ’s assurance of ultimate triumph over the hostile world-system, grounding the disciples’ peace amid coming tribulation — connects to the Romans-baseline-adjacent Assurance theme (though a distinct Johannine articulation). Vietnamese: ta đã thắng thế gian rồi. Risk: Medium.

Chapter 17 — The High Priestly Prayer

glorify — 17:1,5. Reused (see ch.13). Contextual meaning: Jesus prays for the Father to glorify him with “the glory I had with you before the world existed” (v.5) — an explicit pre-existence and pre-temporal-glory claim, reinforcing the Deity/Pre-existence doctrine at the book’s structural climax (the prayer immediately preceding the passion). Risk: CRITICAL (compounding the pre-existence flag from 1:1 and 8:58) — “before the world existed” (πρὸ τοῦ τὸν κόσμον εἶναι) must be rendered with unambiguous eternal pre-temporal force: trước khi có thế gian.
eternal life defined — 17:3, “this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” Reused (sự sống đời đời). Contextual meaning: John’s own explicit definition of eternal life — not primarily unending duration but relational, personal knowledge of the true God through Christ. Risk: CRITICAL — this verse should function as the controlling definition for every other occurrence of sự sống đời đời in the curriculum; flag for cross-document consistency per the Theological Consistency Rules already established in the Romans baseline instruction set.
sanctify — Gr. ἁγίασον (hagiason, imperative of ἁγιάζω), 17:17,19. Reused conceptually from Romans baseline sanctification: sự nên thánh. Contextual meaning: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” — sanctification here is explicitly Word-mediated, and Christ sanctifies himself (v.19) on the disciples’ behalf, connecting sanctification to the cross. Vietnamese: biệt riêng ra thánh / làm cho nên thánh. Risk: High (per baseline Medium, elevated here due to direct linkage to Christ’s self-sanctifying sacrificial act).
that they may be one — Gr. ἵνα ὦσιν ἕν (hina ōsin hen), 17:11,21-23. Same ἕν (neuter “one”) construction as 10:30’s “I and the Father are one,” now extended as a prayer for believers’ unity “just as” (καθὼς) the Father-Son unity — believers’ unity is patterned on, and made possible by participation in, the Father-Son unity itself. Vietnamese: hiệp làm một. Risk: CRITICAL — this passage directly links the “Unity of the Father and the Son” doctrine to the unity of the church; the analogy (καθὼς, “just as”) must not be lost, since it grounds ecclesial unity in a theological reality, not merely in interpersonal goodwill or the Confucian social-harmony ideal familiar in Vietnamese culture (a natural but insufficient parallel that could substitute a social-harmony reading for the intended participatory-in-Christ reading). Mandatory human theologian review.
sent — Gr. ἀπέστειλας (apesteilas), used repeatedly (17:3,8,18,21,23,25). Reused (ἀποστέλλω root, cf. baseline “apostle” sứ đồ and Romans “mission” công cuộc truyền giáo). Contextual meaning: the Son’s sending by the Father becomes the pattern for the disciples’ own sending into the world (“as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world,” v.18) — directly grounding the Mission to the Nations theme. Risk: Medium.

Chapter 18 — The Arrest; Peter’s Denial; Jesus before Pilate

kingdom is not of this world — Gr. ἡ βασιλεία ἡ ἐμὴ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, 18:36. Reused (Nước Đức Chúa Trời concept; κόσμος: thế gian). Contextual meaning: distinguishes Christ’s kingship from a political/territorial claim, directly addressing Pilate’s charge and the Kingdom of God doctrine’s established baseline caution against political/nationalist misreadings. Risk: Medium (per baseline kingdom_of_god entry).
What is truth? — Gr. Τί ἐστιν ἀλήθεια; 18:38. Pilate’s dismissive question, dramatically ironic given that Truth himself (14:6) stands before him. Reused (ἀλήθεια: lẽ thật). Risk: Medium — a rich teaching moment; no new lexical risk but flag for homiletical/teaching notes.
King of the Jews — Gr. ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων, 18:33,39; 19:19,21. Reused Ἰουδαῖοι handling note (see 3:1). Vietnamese: Vua dân Giu-đa. Risk: Medium.
Passover — Gr. πάσχα (pascha), 18:28,39 (and throughout John: 2:13,23; 6:4; 11:55; 13:1; 19:14). Literal transliteration of Hebrew Pesach. Semantic range: the annual Jewish feast commemorating the Exodus deliverance, in which a lamb was sacrificed and eaten. Contextual meaning: John structures his entire Gospel around successive Passovers, and deliberately times Jesus’ death to coincide with the Passover lamb’s sacrifice (19:14, Jesus condemned “about the sixth hour” as the Passover lambs were being prepared) — reinforcing the Lamb of God typology from 1:29. Vietnamese: Lễ Vượt Qua (established Vietnamese Bible term). Risk: Medium — requires OT/Exodus background teaching; low direct cultural collision but essential for the Substitutionary Death doctrine’s typological grounding.

Chapter 19 — The Crucifixion

King of the Jews (inscription) — 19:19-22. Reused; see ch.18.
It is finished — Gr. τετέλεσται (tetelestai, perfect passive of τελέω, “to complete, finish, accomplish”), 19:30. Semantic range: the perfect tense denotes a completed action with continuing effect/result — “it stands finished,” not merely “it has stopped.” Contextual meaning: Christ’s own declaration that the redemptive work assigned to him (cf. 17:4, “I have accomplished the work you gave me to do”) is fully, completely, and permanently accomplished at the moment of his death — the definitive statement of the sufficiency and finality of the atonement. Vietnamese: được trọn rồi (established Bản Dịch Truyền Thống rendering, lit. “has been made complete”). Risk: CRITICAL — this is the capstone term for “Christ’s Substitutionary Death” doctrine; must never be rendered so as to suggest an ongoing, repeatable, or incomplete work needing supplementation (e.g., by additional merit, ritual, or ongoing sacrifice) — directly reinforcing the Romans baseline’s insistence (in the grace/imputed_righteousness entries) that salvation rests on a finished, credited work, not accumulated human effort (công đức). Mandatory human theologian review.
blood and water — Gr. αἷμα καὶ ὕδωρ, 19:34. Contextual meaning: physical confirmation of genuine death (countering early docetic denials of Christ’s true humanity/physical death), and often read typologically alongside the “water and Spirit” of 3:5 and “living water” of ch.4/7. Vietnamese: huyết và nước. Risk: Medium — flag as reinforcing the Humanity of Christ doctrine (his death was a real, physical death, not an illusion or temporary manifestation — echoing the baseline’s Incarnation cautions against hóa thân).
Scripture fulfilled — 19:24,28,36-37 (citing Psalm 22:18; Psalm 69:21; Exodus 12:46/Numbers 9:12; Zechariah 12:10). Reused conceptually from Romans baseline “fulfillment of prophecy.” Risk: Medium (per baseline).

Chapter 20 — The Resurrection; Appearances to Mary, the Disciples, and Thomas

My Lord and my God — Gr. Ὁ Κύριός μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου (ho Kyrios mou kai ho Theos mou), 20:28. Both terms reused from Romans baseline: Chúa, Đức Chúa Trời. Contextual meaning: Thomas’s confession is the climactic, explicit, personal worship-confession of Christ’s full deity in the entire Gospel, immediately following the bodily, physically verifiable resurrection (Thomas touches the wounds, v.27) — deity and bodily resurrection are joined in a single confession. Vietnamese: Lạy Chúa tôi và Đức Chúa Trời tôi! Risk: CRITICAL — must be rendered as unqualified worship addressed directly to the risen Christ (not as a surprised exclamation using “Chúa”/“Trời” as a mere interjection, the way colloquial Vietnamese sometimes uses “Trời ơi!” as an emotional outburst — precisely the collapse into impersonal exclamation the Romans baseline warns against under its “god” entry). Mandatory human theologian review; this verse and 1:1 form the two structural bookends of the Deity of Christ doctrine across the whole Gospel.
receive the Holy Spirit… forgive sins — Gr. λάβετε Πνεῦμα Ἅγιον… ἀφέωνται (labete Pneuma Hagion… apheōntai), 20:22-23. Holy Spirit reused: Đức Thánh Linh. Contextual meaning: the risen Christ commissions the disciples with Spirit-empowered authority to proclaim forgiveness — connects Resurrection, Holy Spirit, and the ongoing mission/forgiveness themes. Risk: High — must not be taught as human authority to forgive sins independently of Christ’s finished work (19:30) or the Spirit’s application of it; this is declarative/proclamatory authority grounded in the gospel, not a sacerdotal power exercised apart from Christ’s own atoning work.
believe without seeing — 20:29 (“blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed”). Reused (πιστεύω: tin). Risk: Medium — key verse for the faith doctrine’s application to all future readers, including the curriculum’s own audience.
that you may believe… and have life in his name — 20:31, the Gospel’s own stated purpose statement. Reused (πιστεύω, ζωή, ὄνομα). Vietnamese: để anh em tin… mà được sự sống trong danh Ngài. Risk: HIGH — this verse functions as John’s own thesis statement (parallel in importance to Romans 1:16-17 in the Romans baseline’s Theological Consistency Rules); its rendering must be identical and carefully fixed across every document using this curriculum, per the same consistency principle already established for Romans 1:16-17, 8:28, and 10:9-10.

Chapter 21 — The Restoration of Peter; the Great Catch

love (agapaō vs. phileō) — Gr. ἀγαπᾷς με (agapas me, 21:15,16) / φιλεῖς με (phileis me, 21:17); Peter answers each time with φιλῶ σε (philō se). Semantic range: ἀγαπάω (see 3:16 above) and φιλέω (“to love as a friend, have affection for”) overlap substantially in Koine usage (both used elsewhere in John for the Father’s love for the Son, e.g., 3:35 ἀγαπᾷ, 5:20 φιλεῖ), so most modern commentators treat the alternation as stylistic variation for emphasis rather than a sharp technical distinction — though the exchange’s rhetorical and pastoral force (Jesus meeting Peter’s diminished self-confidence after his triple denial) is independent of how sharply the two verbs differ. Vietnamese: yêu / yêu mến — Vietnamese lacks two distinct verbs paralleling ἀγαπάω/φιλέω, so the lexical variation of the Greek dialogue cannot be reproduced without paraphrase. Risk: Medium (translation-technique flag, not a doctrinal collision) — recommend a translator’s note explaining that the Greek text uses two related-but-distinct love-verbs across this exchange, so that any English-derived commentary referencing “agape vs. phileo” in this passage does not mislead Vietnamese readers into expecting a visible lexical distinction in their own Bible text.
feed my sheep / tend my lambs — Gr. βόσκε τὰ ἀρνία μου… ποίμαινε τὰ πρόβατά μου, 21:15-17. Contextual meaning: pastoral commissioning of Peter, continuing the Good Shepherd theme (ch.10) now delegated to Peter as an under-shepherd — a foundational text for the Church as God’s People doctrine (Romans baseline) applied to Johannine shepherd imagery. Vietnamese: hãy chăn chiên con ta… hãy chăn chiên ta. Risk: Medium.
follow me — Gr. ἀκολούθει μοι, 21:19,22. Reused (ch.1’s disciple-call verb). Risk: Low.
testimony… these things are written — 21:24; 20:30-31. Reused (μαρτυρέω: làm chứng). Closing authorial claim to eyewitness testimony underlying the whole book — reinforces the reliability of the “witness” theme launched in ch.1 (John the Baptist) and carried through the entire Gospel. Risk: Low.

Summary Cross-Reference: The Seven “I Am” (Ἐγώ εἰμι) Statements

#	Reference	Greek predicate	Vietnamese	Doctrine link
1	6:35,48,51	ὁ ἄρτος τῆς ζωῆς	Ta là bánh của sự sống	Eternal Life through Faith
2	8:12; 9:5	τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου	Ta là sự sáng của thế gian	Judgment and Belief/Unbelief
3	10:9	ἡ θύρα	Ta là cái cửa	Eternal Life / exclusivity of access
4	10:11,14	ὁ ποιμὴν ὁ καλός	Ta là người chăn hiền lành	Substitutionary Death
5	11:25	ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή	Ta là sự sống lại và sự sống	Resurrection / Eternal Life
6	14:6	ἡ ὁδὸς καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια καὶ ἡ ζωή	Ta là đường đi, lẽ thật, và sự sống	Deity of Christ / exclusivity of salvation
7	15:1,5	ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀληθινή	Ta là cây nho thật	Union with Christ / fruitfulness

Plus the absolute, predicate-less “Ἐγώ εἰμι” claims (deity self-identification, echoing Exodus 3:14): 8:58 (“before Abraham was, I am”); 8:24,28; 13:19; and the triple ἐγώ εἰμι at the arrest (18:5-8, where soldiers fall back). All flagged CRITICAL — Deity and Pre-existence of Christ — mandatory human theologian review at every occurrence.

This document feeds directly into analysis/08_core_glossary.md. All Critical- and High-risk terms identified above must be loaded into the Phase 2 translation memory and doctrine risk registry extensions for the John curriculum before any segment translation begins.

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