Key Biblical Terms in Samoan Scripture

Words that carry theology

Translation always makes choices. When the Samoan Bible renders the Hebrew 'hesed' and the Greek 'agape' with the single word 'alofa', it binds covenant loyalty and self-giving love into one term that Samoans already used for family obligation. Learning these words is not vocabulary study; it is learning how Samoan Christianity thinks.

The core twelve

Alofa — love, compassion, covenant loyalty (Ioane 3:16). Alofa tunoa — grace, love given without cause or payment (Efeso 2:8). Agaga — spirit or breath, used of the Holy Spirit, le Agaga Pa'ia (Ioane 14:26). Fa'atuatua — faith, from 'tua' (back), the act of leaning your back against something trustworthy (Eperu 11:1).

Fa'amagalo — to forgive, from 'magalo' (sweet, no longer bitter), so forgiveness is making sweet what had turned bitter (Efeso 4:32). Filemu — peace, wholeness, the Samoan carrier of shalom (Ioane 14:27). Fa'amoemoe — hope, from 'moe' (to rest), so hope is resting your expectation somewhere (Roma 15:13).

Fa'amaoni — faithfulness, from 'moni' (true) (1 Korinito 4:2). Onosa'i — patient endurance (Kalatia 5:22). Loto maualalo — humility, a heart set low (Filipi 2:3). Afioga — the honorific word for speech, used of God's word (Salamo 119:105). Auaunaga — service or ministry, the work of an auauna, a servant (Mareko 10:45).

How to study one word well

Take one term a week. Read every cross-reference listed for it in the Word of the Day cards on this site. Notice which English words are used at each occurrence — sometimes 'love', sometimes 'mercy', sometimes 'kindness'. The spread of English words shows you the actual range of the Samoan term.

Then use the word in a sentence of your own, spoken aloud to a family member. Vocabulary that stays on the page does not survive into the next generation.