What most Christians do not understand is the trouble a new person may have with just it’s vocabulary. One might say Christianity is a language all it’s own. So just to make it easier for the newbe’s here’s some vocabulary words.
Christian Vocabulary
Apostle- Sent out one, specifically chosen by Christ. There were 2 main categories and as many as 5. Those who were with Jesus from the time of John the Baptizer and witnessed his resurrection. (Acts 1:21-26) Another were seeing the risen Christ as in the case of Paul and others who were sent out as church missionaries.
Antinomianism - see heresy section
Baptism - Baptism is an ordinance of the Lord Jesus, obligatory upon every believer, wherein he is immersed in (or sprinkled with) water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, as a sign of his fellowship with the death and resurrection of Christ, of remission of sins, and of his giving himself up to God, to live and walk in newness of life. It is prerequisite to church fellowship, and to participation in the Lord's Supper.
Church- Who owns the Church 2 Thess 2:7 It is called the church of Christ Mt.16:16 , church of God 1 Cor. 1:2, body Eph. 1:23 Assembly of Christ. There is the church universal body but rather to a plurality of local churches--Rom. 16:16 No matter where anyone is in the world, those who confess Jesus as Lord, God the Son and Savior, become part of the Church, which is an invisible living organism of which Christ is the head. The true church is built on the confession of who Jesus is,Mt.16:16-18 .
Covenants- A covenant is an agreement between 2 parties, one is God the other man. There are two different types of agreements in scripture. Conditional and unconditional.
Conditional – base on man keeping the agreement by cooperation. If you will I will.
Unconditional.—Is based on Gods promise by him fulfilling his part. I will even if you disobey
Covenants in sequential order (most recognize there are only two basic covenants, the mosaic and the New covenant)
Edenic covenant conditional Gen.2:15-17 resulted in spiritual death.
Adamic covenant-conditional Gen.3:14-21 resulted in physical death.
Noahic covenant-Unconditional Gen.9:1-19 still in effect resulted in worldwide flood.rainbow as the seal or token.
Abrahamic covenant- Uncondional Gen.12:1-3 to Abraham for Israel seal of the covenant Gen.15:1-21 circumcision as seal Gen.17:1-29.
Mosaic covenant-Conditional Ex.19:3-8 Between God and Israel only. Sign and seal of Cov. Ex.24:1-11 Sabbath as the seal.
Land covenant-Unconditional Deut.29:10-15 30:11-20 God gave to Israel the title deed to the land, still in effect.
Davidic covenant-Unconditional 2 Sam.7:4-17 seed of David. 1 Chron. 17 : 10-1,4 still in effect.
New covenant – Jer.31:31 - Karnei Diatheke the last will and testament. based on the blood of Christ .The revelation of the holiness of God in the righteous son who empowers those who receive him to become sons of God Jn.1:12 Heb.8:7 Gal.3:19 'until the seed should come' which is Christ.
Decree- Gods eternal purpose according to the council of his will, whereby for his own glory he foreordained what is to come to pass. Some things God proposes to do others he decrees. Permitting them to be done he affects good and permits evil. So he is in control of both yet he is not the author of evil.
Disciple- a learner or follower of Christ (not always a believer) Jn.6, Jesus wanted saved disciples, to pick up their cross and follow in his footsteps.
Doctrine- The teachings of scripture 1 Tim.4:13-16 2 Tim.3:16 (fundamentals, practices of )
Effacacious- Gods sovereign work to effectively call people to salvation through the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
Eisogesis-Reading into a text what isn’t there. Interpreting it by different rules than a consistent understanding from the Bible. Using a presupposition to arrive at the meaning, by ignoring the language and culture it was used in.
Exegesis- to draw out extracting what is in the text the way it was written. Finding the true meaning and explain the passages of scripture from their context
Expiation - This term does not occur in AV, but it is found in some modern translations in place of ‘propitiation’, e.g. 1 Jn. 4:10, RSV. Objection is made to ‘propitiation’ on the ground that it means the appeasement of an angry God, an idea
not found in Scripture. Therefore expiation is substituted for it. But the matter is not so simple. Expiation properly has a thing as its object. We may expiate a crime, or a sin. Propitiation is a personal word. We propitiate a person rather than a sin (though we should not overlook the fact that in the Bible ‘propitiate’ is occasionally found with sin as the object, the meaning being ‘to make propitiation with respect to sin’). If we are to think of our relationship to God as basically personal we cannot afford to dispense with the concept of propitiation. Those who advocate the use of expiation must face questions like: Why should sin be expiated? What are the consequences if no expiation takes place? Is the hand of God in those consequences? Expiation is a valuable word only if we can confidently answer ‘No’ to the last question. If sin is a thing, and can be dealt with as a thing, blotted out, cast from us, and the like, then we may properly talk of expiation. But if sin affects man’s relationship with God, if the relationship with God is the primary thing, then it is difficult to see how expiation is adequate. Once we bring in the category of the personal we need some such term as propitiation.
It seems, then, that, despite the confident claims of some, expiation is not the solution to our difficulties. The ideas expressed in the words usually translated *’PROPITIATION’ are not adequately safeguarded by the use of the term ‘expiation’.
Fall of Man- God originally created man in His own image, and free from sin; but, through the temptation of Satan, he transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original holiness and righteousness; whereby his posterity inherit a nature corrupt and wholly opposed to God and His law, are under condemnation, and as soon as they are capable of moral action, become actual transgressors.
Faith - Saving faith is the belief, on God's authority, of whatsoever is revealed in His Word concerning Christ; accepting and resting upon Him alone for justification and eternal life. It is brought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, and is accompanied by all other saving graces, and leads to a life of holiness.
figurative language- the moon turns to blood (meaning red). look for the literal meaning first before attempting to interpret it as symbolic.
Glorification- to become like Jesus at either the rapture of the Church, or at preceding resurrections. (to become immortal and incorruptible in a permanent state)Rom.8:17; Phil.3:20-21; 1 Cor.15:42-44,49-54
God-There is but one God, the Maker, Preserver and Ruler of all things, having in and of himself, all perfections, and being infinite in them all; and to Him all creatures owe the highest love, reverence and obedience.
The Gospel-means good news referring to the message of reconciliation to God for those who are sinners. Rom.10 1 Cor.15:1-4
Grace- The undeserved favor bestowed upon sinners, a gift from God giving us Christ’s riches which we do not deserve nor can earn. Eph.2:8-10
The Great Tribulation-The time Jesus warned of as Jacobs trouble Jer.30:7, the ending of the age. Book of Revelation 6-19 and part of Mt.24and 25.70th week of Daniel Dan.9:27,day of the Lord.1 Thess.5:2.
Hermeneutics-The science of interpreting the written word, to find what the text actually meant. What God originally meant it to say. Eliminating what it never could have meant. This includes the whole field of interpretation. The use of tools such as a different bibles (word for word translations and paraphrase), bible dictionaries, interlinear, Greek word pictures and tenses, Concordance,etc.
Hyperbole- Ps.119:20 My soul is crushed with longing. Luke 14:26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple." An exaggeration or overstatement not to be taken literally but used to express another meaning.
Hypostatic union- The dual nature of Christ being both 100%God and 100% man dwelling together as one person. Jn.1:14,18 Phil.2:6-8, Isa.9:6 Heb.4, Col.2:9
Idiom- an expression of language or dialect of a people that is not understood outside its culture. A special terminology.
Impute- To place on ones account Christ's righteousness in exchange for our sin.
Incarnation-God becoming flesh the eternal Son who is God (the word) becoming the son of man through the virgin conception. Mt.1:21-23;Isa.7:14
Inerrant- the teaching of the Scriptures which are free without error, in doctrine, historicity, geographical and science, etc. God breathed C. Hodge- the language expressed the thought God intended to convey with infallible accuracy so that the words as well as the thoughts are Gods revelation to us.
Inspiration-The activity of the Holy Spirit which superintended the writers of scripture to convey what God has said. Using their personalities and styles. Theopneustos-God breathed. 2 Tim.3:16 God's authoritative self-revelation through man.
The Judgment - God hath appointed a day, wherein he will judge the world by Jesus Christ, when every one shall receive according to his deeds; the wicked shall go into everlasting punishment; the righteous, into everlasting life.
Justice- Getting what you deserve from Gods hands, a righteous perfect judgement, rewards and punishments. 2Cor.5:10; Rev.20:11-12
Justification- a legal declaration giving one right standing before God pronouncing a sinner righteous because of Christ's merit,(not making them righteous)Ro.5:1,18 Isa.53:11 Rom.4:5
Kenosis- The voluntary emptying of Christ by him taking on an additional nature while not setting aside his divine nature and attributes became a servant obedient to the Father. Phil.2:5-8; Jn.1:14
Law of Moses- Considered a unit of 613 laws. civil, ceremonial, moral all interconnected. Its purpose was to reveal God's holiness; The law was made to increase sin Rom. 7:9-11. 1 Cor.15: the strength of sin is the law." To expose the sinfulness of man and to make man sin more Rom. 5:20. It brought wrath Rom.4:15 , To reveal the Messiah and bring one to faith in him to be saved. (Gal.3:23 -25, Rom.8:1-4). The law was temporary = Gal 3:19 .
Liberty of Conscience - God alone is Lord of the conscience; and He hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are in anything contrary to His word, or not contained in it. Civil magistrates being ordained of God, subjection in all lawful thing commanded by them ought to be yielded by us in the Lord, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.
Lord's Day - Is a Christian institution for regular observance, and should be employed in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private, resting from worldly employments and amusements, works of necessity and mercy only excepted.
Lord's Supper - It is an ordinance of Jesus Christ, to be administered with the elements of bread and wine, and to be observed by his churches till the end of the world. It is in no sense a sacrifice, but is designed to commemorate his death, to confirm the faith and other graces of Christians, and to be a bond, pledge and renewal of their communion with him, and of their church fellowship.
Man- A direct creation of God. Made in his image to express God nature and bring glory to his creator. Specifically to have a relationship with God as a child to its parent.Created in holiness knowing only what is good until the fall, then gained knowledge of what is contrary to God.
Masoretic text- Before 1947 the oldest Hebrew manuscript was the Masoretic dating to 900 AD. The Dead sea scrolls were found at least one piece preserved from every OT book except Esther dating back to 100B.C. In Isaiah only one word was changed.
Mediator- Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is the divinely appointed mediator between God and man. Having taken upon Himself human nature, yet without sin, He perfectly fulfilled the Law, suffered and died upon the cross for the salvation of sinners. He was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended to His Father, at whose hand He ever liveth to make intercession for His people. He is the only Mediator, the Prophet, Priest and King of the Church, and Sovereign of the Universe.
Mercy-Is withheld punishment for judgement,Gods mercy provides the need for sinful man in Jesus sacrifice.
Metaphor- Jn.6:48 I am the bread of life or eat my body and drink my blood- a figure of speech in which one object is liked to another by speaking of it as if it were the other but in fact is not.
Mid-tribulation- a mid 70th week rapture. The church will be taken out before the great tribulation occurs which is when the antichrist goes into the temple and declares himself God approximately 1,260 days before Christ comes back.
Millennialism
Millennium- A literal 1,000 years of Christ reigning on earth.(Gr. Chiliasm=1,000 years, mentioned 6 times) The church was pre millennial the first three centuries of the church. His return was considered imminent.
Amillennialism- Teaches there is no literal millennium before or after Christ returns to earth. Uses a allegorical or symbolic approach to prophecy. (major proponents are Covenant theologians)
Dispensational pre-millennialism- The 2nd coming occurs in two stages first the rapture of the church then after 7 years Christ returns with his church to rule on earth. Uses a literal interpretation of prophecy.( used by pretribualtionists)
Historic pre-millennialism-The rapture and the 2nd coming are simultaneous events as Christ returns to earth, before the millennium.
Post milleniallism-Christ returns after the millennium, there is no distinction between the rapture and 2nd coming, it one event.
Motif- The underlying theme or the main element in a literary work.(held by many covenant theologians and reconstructionists)Parable- A figure of speech in a story setting to illustrate a moral or spiritual or heavenly truth. Taken from the peoples everyday experiences. Mt.13 The disciples asked why do you speak in parables. It has been to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given . The principle is (Isa. 6:9-10) to reveal to those who are soft in heart seeking truth , they will continue to be given more . For those who are hard of heart it is hidden until they repent. In Mk.4:13 Jesus explains In understanding this first parable of the sower is the key to understanding them all.
Original Sin-This is a term used to describe the effect of Adam's sin on his descendants (Rom. 5:12-23). Specifically, it is our inheritance of a sinful nature from Adam. The sinful nature originated with Adam and is passed down from parent to child. We are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3).