Christ-centered biblical teaching for readers, teachers, and churches.
Many biblical and theological terms are used often but understood poorly. This glossary exists to define important words clearly, biblically, and usefully.
Adoption is God’s act of granting those in Christ the recognized standing, legitimacy, inheritance, and full rights of sons within His household. It emphasizes accepted status and heirship, while the new birth emphasizes the new life given within.
Atonement is the saving work of Jesus Christ by which the division and disorder caused by sin are overcome: guilt is removed, justice is honored, peace is made, and what was estranged is brought into right unity under God.
Church translates ekklesia, meaning assembly or congregation. The church is a gathered people called by God through the gospel and ordered under Christ for worship, teaching, fellowship, discipline, and witness. Since believers may exist outside congregational fellowship by absence, disorder, or discipline, the church is not simply identical with all believers everywhere.
A covenant is a binding relational order established by God, defined by His promises, terms, and faithfulness. Through covenant, God declares how His people stand before Him and how they are to live with Him. The biblical covenants find their fulfillment in the New Covenant through Jesus Christ.
Election is God’s choosing of Christ as the appointed Redeemer, so that those who are in Him share in His chosen standing and purpose. Believers are elect in Christ, called to holiness, service, and participation in God’s plan.
Faith is trusting reliance upon God as He has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. It is not mere belief, but a trust that brings behavior into alignment with one’s profession.
The gospel is God’s authoritative good news concerning His Son, Jesus Christ: that Christ died for our sins, was buried, rose again, and saves all who trust in Him. It is the announcement of what God has done, not advice about what man must achieve.
Grace is unearned favor expressed in generous giving. God shows grace by saving the undeserving through Christ; believers show grace through kindness, forgiveness, generosity, and words that become gifts to others.
To be in Christ is to stand within the reality of the One in whom God’s saving purpose is fulfilled. Those who trust in Him share in what He has secured, for He is the true ground, standing, and end of redemption. It is participation in His completion, not striving for our own.
Justification is God’s act of bringing the sinner into right standing—placing him upon the level ground of Christ’s righteousness in the presence of God—received by faith.
Peace is the inward settledness that flows from being made right with God and yielding control to His wise rule. It is the fruit of rest, grows through humility, and may fluctuate in feeling while Christ’s finished work remains unchanged.
Predestination is God’s determination beforehand of what those in Christ are appointed to become and to do. Scripture speaks of adoption, conformity to Christ, inheritance, and works prepared in advance.
Regeneration, or the new birth, is the beginning of new life produced by God through His Word and Spirit. Like seed planted in the heart, this life is meant to grow, endure, and be brought to maturity in fruitfulness.
Repentance is the turning of a person from sin and falsehood to God in truth. It is not mere sorrow for wrong, but a change of mind so real that it changes direction.
Rest is the condition that exists when the work upon which obligation depends has been completed. In Christ, rest is entered through His finished work, not achieved through our striving.
Truth is reality as it is, and as God has revealed it. It does not change to fit preference, desire, majority opinion, or denial.
These definitions are intentionally concise. Fuller articles and deeper studies will be added over time.
This page will continue to grow as more terms are refined and added.