Passage

Romans 15

• Doctrine

  Christ-Centered Ministry

  Ministry done in Christ's name and by his power for his glory, not humanitarian service performed to accumulate merit (công đức).

  ROM.15.17-21

• Doctrine

  Christian Fellowship

  Shared participation in Christ; minimal doctrinal risk.

  ROM.15.24

• Glossary Term

  Church

  The gathered people of God ('holy assembly').

  ROM.15.26

• Doctrine

  Church as God's People

  A new-covenant community, not a folk temple (đền) organized around a deified hero or local spirit.

  ROM.15.26

• Glossary Term

  Covenant

  A relational, binding bond initiated by God; needs context to carry more weight than an ordinary negotiated agreement.

  ROM.15.12

• Glossary Term

  David

  Established Vietnamese Bible proper-name form.

  ROM.15.12

• Doctrine

  Davidic Covenant

  Requires OT background teaching; no directly competing folk concept, so risk is primarily unfamiliarity rather than syncretism.

  ROM.15.12

• Doctrine

  Evangelism

  Use language of witness and proclamation; sensitive where family ancestor-veneration obligations make conversion feel like abandoning family duty.

  ROM.15.20

• Glossary Term

  Exhort

  Context-sensitive: use khuyên nài for entreaty and khích lệ for building up in encouragement.

  ROM.15.2

• Glossary Term

  Fellowship

  Shared participation in Christ; standard, well-established term.

  ROM.15.24

• Doctrine

  Fulfillment of Prophecy

  Linear, one-time historical fulfillment (OT to NT), not the cyclical time-frame of Buddhist cosmology.

  ROM.15.8-12

• Glossary Term

  Gentiles

  Non-Jews; established Bible term for the theological category of other nations.

  ROM.15.7-12

• Doctrine

  Gospel

  Well established as both the theological term and the common Vietnamese name for Protestantism; must still be anchored to the specific proclamation of salvation through Christ.

  ROM.15.19-20

• Glossary Term

  Gospel

  Established Vietnamese Protestant Bible term ('good news'); so established that 'Tin Lành' is itself the common Vietnamese name for Protestantism generally.

  ROM.15.19-20

• Glossary Term

  Holy

  Set apart for God and morally pure; standard, well-established term.

  ROM.15.16

• Glossary Term

  Holy Spirit

  CRITICAL: Never use bare thần linh (the broad Vietnamese folk-religious category of spirits and local deities, including tutelary land spirits and ancestor spirits).

  ROM.15.16

• Doctrine

  Inspiration of Scripture

  Distinguish God-breathed Scripture, given through chosen human authors, from Buddhist sutras transmitted through enlightened teachers' insight, and from Confucian classics transmitted through sage tradition.

  ROM.15.4

• Glossary Term

  Intercession

  CRITICAL: Never model this on cầu xin tổ tiên (petitioning deceased ancestors for blessing and protection at the family altar), a central and frequent practice in Vietnamese ancestor veneration (thờ cúng tổ tiên).

  ROM.15.30-32

• Glossary Term

  Israel

  Proper name; established Vietnamese Bible form.

  ROM.15.7-12

• Doctrine

  Kingdom Mission

  God's reign advancing through gospel proclamation; not a political or ancestral-lineage project.

  ROM.15.12, ROM.15.18-21

• Glossary Term

  Kingdom Of God

  God's sovereign reign; standard, well-established term.

  ROM.15.12, ROM.15.18-21

• Glossary Term

  Law

  Mosaic Law; standard, well-established term with no significant unwanted folk-religious connotation.

  ROM.15.8-12

• Glossary Term

  Messiah

  Transliterated term; the unique, exclusively fulfilled OT promise.

  ROM.15.8-12

• Doctrine

  Messianic Promise

  Vietnamese religious tradition has no rival messianic figure; teaching should connect this term to its OT roots rather than guard against a competing concept.

  ROM.15.8-12

• Glossary Term

  Mission

  Proclamation-focused rendering; kept descriptive rather than borrowing institutional religious-propagation language.

  ROM.15.15-24

• Doctrine

  Mission to the Nations

  Kept proclamation-focused rather than borrowing institutional religious-propagation language.

  ROM.15.15-24

• Doctrine

  Mutual Edification

  Building one another up in faith; minimal doctrinal risk.

  ROM.15.2

• Doctrine

  Prayer and Intercession

  CRITICAL: Never modeled on cầu xin tổ tiên (petitioning deceased ancestors for blessing at the family altar), a central and frequent Vietnamese practice.

  ROM.15.30-32

• Glossary Term

  Prophecy

  God-inspired declaration; standard, well-established term.

  ROM.15.8-12

• Glossary Term

  Prophet

  God's spokesperson; do not confuse with thầy bói (a fortune-teller), a figure still consulted in Vietnamese folk practice.

  ROM.15.4

• Doctrine

  Sanctification

  The Spirit's ongoing work of making believers holy; well-established term with comparatively low syncretism risk.

  ROM.15.16

• Glossary Term

  Sanctification

  The Spirit's ongoing work of making believers holy; standard, well-established term.

  ROM.15.16

• Glossary Term

  Seed Of David

  Romans 1:3; conveys physical lineage and fulfillment of the Davidic covenant promise.

  ROM.15.12

• Doctrine

  Separation unto God's Service

  Must not be confused with entering monastic Buddhist life (xuất gia) as the primary model of devoted service; biblical separation is devoted service to God within ordinary life.

  ROM.15.16

• Doctrine

  Unity of Jews and Gentiles

  Requires OT/NT background teaching; comparatively low direct cultural-analogue risk in the Vietnamese context.

  ROM.15.7-12