Abide – to stay, to remain, to endure, to persevere, to live in. When we abide in Jesus, he abides in us, and we can be fruitful Christians.
Adoption – sonship. Our position with God, we are now heirs to his kingdom.
Apologetics – the practice of defending religious beliefs through reasoned argumentation and discourse.
Atonement – the covering of or payment for sin, appeasement, and reconciliation to God.
Atonement – the covering of or payment for sin, appeasement, and reconciliation to God.
Baptism – a public confession of faith, allegiance, and submission to the Lord Jesus Christ by those who have accepted Christ. It is ceremonial; there is no salvation in baptism. Infant baptism is ineffective.
Born Again – The regeneration or rebirth of one’s spirit. An act of God applied to those who have come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. The only way to enter the Kingdom of God
Christ – the Messiah. The anointed one or the chosen one (by God).
Confession – to admit to God your sin and ask for forgiveness. Here are the three steps to confession:
- Acknowledge your sin to God—this is to agree with God that you have sinned. Ignoring your sin leaves it unforgiven and deadens your conscience, so that soon it becomes a way of life. Stay in the Word and pray for God to illuminate your sin so you will know. It is easy to live in sin when ignorant or apathetic.
- Repent of your sin – this is to change your path and sin no more. To ask for forgiveness and then continue in sin is to dishonor God with hypocrisy.
- Thank God for his forgiveness of your sin – be consistently and sincerely grateful to God for his inexhaustible and fresh mercy every morning! Lamentations 3:22-23
Also, know that we can take our sins directly to God because of what Jesus did on the cross. Mark 15:38. We do not need an earthly intermediary to approach God and receive mercy for our sins.
Conscience – an inner feeling or sensitivity that guides one’s behavior, being right or wrong. God uses a conscience that is alive and active to guide and direct. A conscience that is dead allows us to sin and defy God without care. A seared conscience by profane living allows one to follow the path to Hell happily.
Covenant – an alliance, pledge, or agreement.
Darkness – Darkness is death. Darkness is lies, ignorance, immorality, and evil.
The Day of the Lord typically refers in Scripture to a time in history marked by God’s direct, dramatic intervention in the world. It is not a day but a span of time during which God personally intervenes in history, directly or indirectly, to accomplish some specific aspect of his plan. It contrasts with “the day of man,” in which affairs appear to be proceeding without divine intervention.
The eschatological “day of the Lord,” prophesied in the Old Testament, begins after the Rapture of the church and ends with the destruction of heaven and earth, encompassing the Tribulation, the Millennium, and the White Throne Judgment. It contains both judgment (in the Tribulation) and blessing (in the Millennium). Just as the Jews counted the nighttime as the first part of each day, and the daytime as the second part, the “day of the Lord” will begin with a “dark” period (the Tribulation) followed by a “light” period (the Millennium). People living on the earth when the day of the Lord begins (i.e., unbelievers, since Christians will be with the Lord in Heaven immediately following the Rapture) will not expect it.
Discernment – The skill to separate divine truth from error, or truth from half-truths.
Doctrine – a particular principle, position, or policy taught or advocated. What we believe.
Elect – Those chosen by God before the beginning of time. This election becomes a reality in salvation, through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. It is those who have been drawn to God and have accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior. The Elect are the saved souls.
Evangelical – a believer who is faithful in sharing and promoting the good news about salvation through Jesus Christ. A believer who holds to the inspiration, inerrancy, and authority of scripture, the Trinity, the deity of Christ, and salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
Exhort – strongly encourage someone to do something.
Faith is complete confidence, trust, and assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Faith is believing in the word of God and the resulting submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Living in faith is obeying the word of God.
Fear of God – For the believer – awe (fear, even paralysis, plus overwhelming possibility), respect, reverence, and obedience to our Father, who has total authority and power over everything. For those who do not believe, it is the fear of God’s judgment, condemnation, and wrath to come.
Forgiveness – the removal of our guilt for our sinful nature and sins committed up to the point of salvation. To accomplish this, Jesus went to the cross in our place and bore our sins. This is the mercy of God, to not dispense the punishment we deserve – because Jesus instead endured it. In addition to the dismissal of our sin penalty, by the grace of God, the righteousness of Jesus Christ has been imputed to us.
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5:21
There are two distinct types of forgiveness:
- Judicial Forgiveness – all trespasses forgiven and declared righteousness forever. This brings us salvation by faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
- Parental Forgiveness – daily forgiveness for our sinful missteps in the world. Not to bring us salvation but to better our intimacy and favor with God. We must confess our sins every day and repent. This is a way of life, one that involves striving to be obedient and relying on God’s mercy in our human frailty.
Fruit– exhibiting righteousness, winning souls for Christ by spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, loving your fellow men, and living in obedience to the commands of God. Bearing fruit is how we are known as the sons and daughters of God, and it is the basis of an excellent testimony.
Gentile – a person who is not a Jew.
Glory or to glorify – to give weight, meaning, importance, and significance. This is the opposite of trivial or unimportant.
Gospel of Jesus Christ – this is the good news of God’s plan for humanity, offering salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
Grace – the free and undeserved favor of God. The demonstration of benevolence and goodness toward those who do not deserve it. It is the opposite of Karma, which is getting what you deserve.
Hardened Heart – A will that is resolute in pursuing one’s desires and not those of God. When God hardens hearts, their determination to follow their will is strengthened.
Hell – a place of eternal torment for those who have not been redeemed, whose sin remains unforgiven. Hell is where the unrighteous suffer the agony of fire without being consumed; it is separation from God; it is dark loneliness; it is never-ending remorse and regret.
Holy – set apart for God. To be sanctified is to be made more holy.
Hope – firm, confident expectation that the good news of Jesus Christ is true and the certain conviction that God will keep his promises.
Humility – putting others ahead of yourself. The lack of arrogance and pride. This is the most Chris-like attribute to possess.
Jesus – the Son of God, the word of God, the savior of mankind, the first in everything, the Messiah, the Christ. The Lamb of God, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the eternal God, the reason for everything. Our Redeemer (he purchased us from the penalty of sin by his blood). The Alpha and Omega, the Lion of Judah, the suffering servant, the one who will smite the nations, rule them with an iron rod, and tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of the Almighty God.
Jew – a person in the Jewish faith who has lineage back to Abraham.
Justification – declared righteous in the sight of God.
Kingdom of God – Where God rules. The sphere of God’s influence, where man happily serves in obedient humility.
Law – the commandments and rules that are impossible to keep. The straight line that illuminates how crooked man is. The righteousness that man cannot attain without Christ.
Legalism – the flawed belief that adherence to rules, rituals, or laws of organized religion can attain salvation. Jesus berated the Jews for their legalism.
Light – Light is life. Light is truth, understanding, morality, and righteousness. God is light.
Logos – the rational principle that governs and develops the universe, the mind of God. The divine word or reason incarnate in Jesus Christ.
Lord – someone who has power and authority over another; a master or ruler.
Love – Toward others, love is benevolence and putting the good of others above yourself. Toward God, love is commitment, devotion, adoration, and obedience to his will; if you love God, you will keep his commandments. John 4:15
Lust -an immoral, illicit, unrighteous, or unholy desire or appetite.
Man, Mankind – this refers to all persons of the human race, male and female.
Mercy – the release from the penalty or punishment that you deserve. This is forgiveness.
Messiah – the savior or liberator of a group of people. The long-awaited promised King and deliverer of the Jewish people.
Moral – the principles or rules of proper conduct or the distinction between right and wrong; ethical. The Christian-Judeo precepts established what is right or wrong many centuries ago.
Overcome – to triumph, conquer, or vanquish. To overcome the world is to defeat Satan, a feat only possible by faith in Jesus Christ.
Penitent – feeling or showing sorrow and regret for having done wrong; repentant.
Perdition – a state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinful and unrepentant person passes after death.
Profane – characterized by irreverence or contempt for God or sacred principles or things; irreligious. Not devoted to holy or religious purposes; unconsecrated; secular (opposed to sacred). unholy; heathen; pagan.
Propitiation is a two-part act that involves appeasing the wrath of an offended person and reconciling him.
Rapture – the removal of believers, living and dead, from the earth. It is the end of the Church Age and the beginning of the seven years of Tribulation, the Day of the Lord.
Reconciled – the restoration of our relationship with God, restored to harmony with him. Once an enemy, now a friend to God.
Redeem, Redeemer, Redemption – to redeem is to buy back, or to recover by payment or other satisfaction, to atone, to expiate (to make amends for, extinguish guilt). Man is condemned, waiting for judgment to final damnation. His only hope is to be redeemed, to have the price that he owes God be paid by someone else. An unrighteous man is incapable of propitiation but can be redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
Regeneration – a spiritual rebirth, a supernatural work of God by the Holy Spirit that gives spiritual life to those spiritually dead in their sin. This enables belief in Christ, being new creatures.
Repentance – a fundamental change of heart, mind, and direction; a turning away from sin and turning towards God.
Reprobate – morally depraved, wicked, that which is rejected on account of its own worthlessness.
Rest, to enter God’s rest – to live a life of faithful obedience and live in a state of peace, contentment, and assurance in God’s promises. No more self-effort, trying to appease God with works, instead resting in the completed work of Jesus Christ. To be settled and fixed – rooted and grounded in the doctrine of the word of God. Rest is your eternal salvation and the conviction that God has everything under control.
Righteousness – morally correct, the state of moral perfection God requires to enter Heaven.
Saint – a person who believes in Jesus Christ and has made him the Lord of their life. All Christians are saints. Not only a select group of dead Christians appointed by man as saints.
Salvation – the deliverance, by the grace of God, from the penalty of sin; saved from the wrath of God.
Sacrifice – to give up something of value to realize something of greater value. This includes atonement or propitiation that is pleasing to God. The sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf served as the propitiation for the world’s sins – for those who believe.
Sanctification – to be set apart, reserved for God’s purpose. God is guiding us toward maturity, helping us to become more like Jesus Christ.
Sin – disobeying the law of God and rebelling against him. Break one law, and you are as guilty as if you broke them all. The penalty for sin is death; only in Christ can we be saved from that eternal damnation.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 1 John 2:15-17
The lust of the flesh is the desire to do something apart from the will of God (adultery and fornication). The lust of the eyes is the desire to have something outside the will of God (coveting, envy, greed). The boastful pride of life is the desire to be something apart from the will of God (arrogance, self-reliance, self-centeredness). Sin is not bad because it is forbidden; sin is forbidden because it is bad.
Soul – The personal self, the seat of the mind, emotions, and will. Your soul is your living being.
Spirit – The aspect of a person that is conscious of and connected with God. Our spirit, when alive, is capable of knowing, communicating with, and responding to God. Our spirit is dead until it is made alive by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Temptation – From your flesh or Satan, to keep you from being like God’s son, drives you away from God, brings out the worst in you, destroys your faith, not from outside of your control, to follow your fleshly desires. This is common. God won’t let you be tempted beyond your ability to resist, and God will give you a way to escape.
Theology – the study of divine things or religious truth; divinity. An attempt to understand God as he is revealed in the Bible.
Trials and Testing – from God, to conform you to the image of God’s Son, to bring you closer to God, bring out the best in you, show where you are deficient, and make you stronger in your faith, always circumstantial – outside of your control.
Tribulation – grievous trouble; severe trial or suffering; affliction.
Truth – Reality revealed in the word of God. The way things are, as presented in the scriptures. The church is to represent the truth and uphold it in its daily life. We are to walk in the truth in a world of lies and liars.
Vain, Vanity – a) Having or showing an excessively high opinion of one’s appearance, abilities, or worth – arrogance, narcissism, hubris. b) producing no result; useless, worthless, pointless, futile. There is nothing good about Vanity!
Wrath – strong, stern, or fierce anger; deeply resentful indignation; ire. Vengeance or punishment is the consequence of anger. The wrath of God is something to be avoided at all costs!
Wisdom – the soundness of what we do, and our decisions are based upon our knowledge, experience, and good judgment.
Word – the word of God – the revelation of God to humanity. John calls Jesus Christ the Word, the fullest revelation of God to mankind.
Works – the deeds of a person. Good works are those deeds in obedience to God. Righteous action. Righteous behavior is obedience to god’s word that manifests God’s nature. There is no salvation in works; we are justified and reconciled to God (saved from the penalty of our sins) by faith alone. We are not saved by our good works but are saved to do good works.
World – There are three meanings of the world. There is the created world, including the land, oceans, sky, and all the critters. There is a world that God loved so much that he gave his son; this is the world of people. Then there is the world that God hates, and that also hates us. That is the world system of evil that Satan leads.
Worship – acknowledging and thanking God for all he is and all he does. It is a recitation of God’s attributes, characteristics, and nature, a recitation of God’s acts, what he has done, is doing, and has promised to do, and a responding or corresponding attitude of gratitude. It is then to exalt God for who He is and what He has done, and to express thanks, especially as those truths about his nature and his work relate to us.
John 3:36 