Austin Bible Church
Adam: The Hebrew word meaning “man.” The first human created by God.
Adam’s Original Sin: Disobedience to God's mandate in the Garden of Eden. Adam ate the forbidden fruit resulting in spiritual death. Consequently, Adam's corrupt nature and spiritual death were passed to all mankind.
Age of Accountability: The point at which a person becomes conscious of God and able to understand the Gospel.
Ambassador for Christ: The believer as a personal representative for the Lord Jesus Christ on earth.
Amillennialism: An erroneous theological belief which denies the existence of a Millennium either before or after the Second Advent of Christ.
Angel: From the Greek word meaning “messenger.” Spirit-beings created by God and superior in power and intellect to mankind. Messengers to mankind.
Angelic Conflict: Unseen conflict in which the forces of Satan are warring against the forces of God.
Angelology: The doctrine of angels. The branch of theology having to do with angels.
Anthropology: The doctrine of man. The scientific study of the origin, the behavior, and the physical, social, and cultural development of human beings. That part of Christian teaching concerning the genesis, nature, and future of human beings.
Anthropomorphism: Attributing human motivation, characteristics, or behavior to inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena. Ascribing some human physical characteristics to God which He does not actually possess such as “eyes of God,” “hand of God,” “arm of the Lord,” etc. Designed to explain God's policies, thoughts, acts, and decisions in terms of human language so that man can have a frame of reference. This is the language of accommodation to express the divine essence and capabilities to man in man's vocabulary and language.
Anthropopathism: Attributing human feelings, passions and thoughts to things not human such as inanimate objects, animals, or natural phenomena. Ascribing human feelings or emotions to God such as repenting, grieving, hating, anger, etc. Designed to explain God's policies, thoughts, acts, and decisions in terms of human language so that man can have a frame of reference. This is the language of accommodation to express the divine attitude to man in man's vocabulary and language.
Anti-Semitism: Hostility or prejudice in thought or action against Jews or Judaism. This includes discrimination against Jews.
Area of Weakness: The area of the sin nature which tempts the believer to personal sin. Temptation becomes sin only when the volition acquiesces to temptation.
Area of Strength: The area of the sin nature which generates human good or dead works. (See Human Good)
Arrogance: Thinking only of yourself. Thinking you are better than anyone else. Satan's original sin.
Attributes of God: The nature or essential being of the person of God. The individual qualities or characteristics which are intrinsic to the essence of God (see Essence of God).
Baptism: Identification with.
Baptism of the Holy Spirit: A ministry of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation whereby the Church Age believer is placed into union with Christ, making that person a member of the Body of Christ.
Believe: To accept as truth what God tells us. Faith in action.
Believer: A person who has received Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
Bible: The inerrant written Word of God. The mind of Christ.
Bible Doctrine: Information from God, including the Gospel for the unbeliever; instructions, directions, mandates, and principles for the believer's life derived from Scriptures. What God wants us to know and think. The Word of God. The mind of Christ.
Bibliology: Doctrine of the Bible.
Biological Life: Consists of cell tissue, genetic makeup, and the functions necessary to sustain living material. Biological life is physical and mortal and does not include a soul, which is immaterial and immortal. Biological life is not human life.
Canon: The 66 books of the Bible recognized as genuine and inspired by God.
Carnality: The state of being out of fellowship with God because of unconfessed sin in the life. In carnality, the believer loses the filling of the Holy Spirit and the sin nature controls the soul. The sin nature controls the soul of the believer who “grieves” and “quenches” the Holy Spirit (Antonym: spirituality)
Categories: Classification of biblical doctrine according to its subject matter.
Chaos: The condition of disorder and destruction that existed on the earth after Satan's judgment.
Chain-sinning: The result of allowing a past grievance or sin to generate further sins. As one or more sins build on previous sins, a destructive sequence unfolds.
Christology: That branch of theology which concerns the Person and work of Jesus Christ, particularly as revealed in the Old Testament.
Christophany: An appearance of the deity of Christ in bodily form before His incarnation.
Codex 1, 2, and 3: The three codes of the Mosaic Law. Codex #1 is the “Magna Carta of human freedom” as seen in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:1-21. The Ten Commandments include morality only because morality sets up boundaries of human freedom. Codex #2 demonstrates the maximum use of human freedom in personally believing in Jesus Christ. This portion of the Mosaic Law includes Scripture relating to Christ and His time here in the earth as in Exodus 25-31. Codex #3 presents the Laws of Divine Establishment and how they bless a national entity as presented in Exodus 21-25.
Common Grace: General blessings from God to all mankind including the benefits of the natural bounties which sustain all life on earth, the restraint of sin by the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit's function as a human spirit (lost at the fall of Adam) so the spiritual information of the Gospel is comprehensible to the unbeliever.
Confess: The mandate to every believer to simply name, cite, admit, or acknowledge sins in privacy to God the Father (1 John 1:9).
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, NASB)
Confession of sin: The method of restoring the believer's fellowship with God by naming all known sins privately to God the Father through application of 1 John 1:9. The means of going completely and absolutely from carnality to spirituality by recovering the filling of the Holy Spirit (see Spirituality). Confession of sin is the only entrance point into the spiritual life.
Cosmos Diabolicus: Satan's world system.
Creationism: The theological view that God creates each human soul directly; distinguishes between the origin of man’s soul and the origin of his body.
Crucifixion: A Roman form of capital punishment which by the time of Christ, the hands and feet were bound or nailed to a cross-beam. Jesus Christ died physically on the Cross following His substitutionary spiritual death for all of the sins of mankind (see Unlimited Atonement).
Cycles of Discipline: The Cycles of Discipline are national judgment from God in five progressively intense stages for disobedience to God’s Word. God’s justice must judge nations with punitive measures against apostasy, reversionism, and evil. The five cycles of discipline are described in Leviticus 26:14-46.
First Cycle of Discipline: Loss of health, decline of agricultural prosperity, terror, fear and death in combat, loss of personal freedoms due to negative volition toward Bible doctrine. Lev. 26:14-17.
“'But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up. 'I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you.” (Leviticus 26:14-17, NASB)
Second Cycle of Discipline: Economic recession and depression, increased personal and individual discipline for continued negative attitude in spite of the first warning. Lev. 26:18-20.
“'If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 'I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. 'Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.” (Leviticus 26:18-20, NASB)
Third Cycle of Discipline: Violence and breakdown of law and order; cities broken up. There will be increased internal violence. Lev. 26:21-22.
“'If then, you act with hostility against Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins. 'I will let loose among you the beasts of the field, which will bereave you of your children and destroy your cattle and reduce your number so that your roads lie deserted.” (Leviticus 26:21-22, NASB)
Fourth Cycle of Discipline: Military conquest and foreign occupation, scarcity of food (reduced to one-tenth of the normal supply), the breaking up of families. Lev. 26:23-26. See also Deut. 28:15-48, where the listing of the five cycles is not progressive, but is specified as part of the same curse.
“'And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act with hostility against Me, then I will act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins. 'I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands. 'When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will bring back your bread in rationed amounts, so that you will eat and not be satisfied.” (Leviticus 26:23-26, NASB)
Fifth Cycle of Discipline: Destruction of a nation due to maximum rejection of biblical principles. Lev. 26:27-46; Deut. 28:49-57.
"'Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins." (Leviticus 26:27-28, NASB)
"'Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat. 'I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you." (Leviticus 26:29-30, NASB)
"'I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas. 'I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it." (Leviticus 26:31-32, NASB)
"'But you will perish among the nations, and your enemies' land will consume you. 'So those of you who may be left will rot away because of their iniquity in the lands of your enemies; and also because of the iniquities of their forefathers they will rot away with them." (Leviticus 26:38-39, NASB)
Deity: The character or nature of God. Jesus Christ true humanity and undiminished deity. See Hypostatic Union.
Demonology: The doctrine of demons (fallen angels).
Devil: From the Greek word meaning “accuser, adversary.” Satan, the enemy of God, elect angels, and all believers. First known as Lucifer.
Dialectic materialism: The basic doctrine of Communism.
Dichotomous: Composed of only two parts - body and soul. All people are born dichotomous. Believers become trichotomous by God the Holy Spirit’s imputation of a human spirit at salvation. All unbelievers remain dichotomous.
Dispensations: A period of time in which God specifies a way of life for believers and reveals to unbelievers through revelation and activity which He authorizes, that man is incapable of having fellowship with God. The divine outline of history or the divine interpretation of human history. The dispensations of human history and the future of mankind include the Age of the Gentiles, the Age of the Jews, the Church Age, the Tribulation, and the Millennium.
Divine Decree: God's eternal, holy, wise, and sovereign purpose comprehending simultaneously in eternity past all things that ever were or will be in their causes, conditions, successions, relations, and determining their certain future existence.
Divine Essence: Characteristics or attributes of the Godhead. What God is like.
Divine Establishment: Principles set up by God for the protection, orderly function, survival and perpetuation of the human race during the period of the Angelic Conflict.
Divine Good: Good Christian service or deeds performed by a believer using God's grace resources and who is filled with the Holy Spirit when doing so. This is the opposite of human good.
Divine Institutions: Principles set up by God under the Laws of Divine Establishment for the perpetuation of the human race. They are: 1) Volition which is the free will basis of freedom, 2) Marriage which is the stabilizer of the human race, 3) Family which is the basis for an orderly society, and 4) Nationalism which is the basis for privacy, protection of rights, and freedom.
Divine Judgment: God's punishment for those who disobey Him.
Doctrine: The teaching of God’s Word categorically.
Ecclesiology: The doctrine of the Church. The Church is the organized local church and universal church as the Body of Christ.
Edification Complex of the Soul - Immaterial “structure” in the soul of a mature believer. The foundation is doctrine stored in the right lobe of the soul. Composed of five “floors”: grace orientation; relaxed mental attitude; mastery of the details of life; capacity to love God, your right man or right woman and your friends; inner happiness. From the Bible doctrine in the Edification Complex of the Soul, the believer can apply doctrine to life’s situations.
Efficacious Grace: A specific ministry of the Holy Spirit whereby the faith of a spiritually dead person is acknowledged and made effective for salvation. Without the work of the Holy Spirit, the volition of an unbeliever could never result in eternal life.
Elect Angel: Spirit-beings who obeyed God and refused to follow Satan.
Elohim: Plural Hebrew word meaning unity of the Trinity; all three persons of the Trinity.
Emotional Revolt of the Soul: The principle whereby the emotional response to the old sin nature controls the essence of the soul, contrary to the divine order whereby the heart or right lobe should control the soul. This results in wide emotional swings and misery heaped on misery.
Eschatology: The branch of theology concerned with the end of the world or of humankind. The study of all Scriptures which were predictive when written and the completion of the plan of the ages. The doctrine of “last things.”
Essence of God: The nature or essential being of the person of God. The individual qualities or characteristics which are intrinsic to the essence of God. Same as Attributes of God.
Eternal: Having no beginning or ending.
Eternal Life: The attribute of God that describes His absolute existence outside the boundaries of time. An everlasting relationship with God reserved in heaven for every person the moment they express faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior.
Eternal Security: Based on God’s character, believers in union with Christ cannot lose their salvation.
Eve: From the Hebrew word meaning “Mother of all Living.” The woman God made from Adam's rib.
Exegesis: The grammatical, etymological interpretation of Scripture from its original languages.
Exodus: God's deliverance of Israel from their slavery in Egypt to their new home in the Promised Land.
Expiation: The cancellation of the debt for the penalty of sin because of Christ’s work on the Cross. The penalty of sin is spiritual death or the separation from God.
Faith: A non-meritorious system of perception based on confidence and trust in the authority and veracity of God. Confident belief in the truth. Belief and trust in God.
Faith-Rest: Mixing the promises of God with faith which is believing God and His Word as seen in Hebrews 4:1-2. This problem-solving capability is used more correctly and consistently as the believer approaches spiritual maturity.
“Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.” (Hebrews 4:1-2, NASB)
Fallen Angel: Spirit-beings who disobeyed God and followed Satan. Same as demons.
Fifth Cycle of Discipline: Destruction of a nation by God due to maximum rejection of biblical principles. Lev. 26:27-46. See Cycles of Discipline.
Filling of the Holy Spirit: The absolute status of being in fellowship with God commanded to every Church Age believer for the purpose of divine empowerment for the Christian life. The opportunity to use the enabling power of God the Holy Spirit to execute the Christian life. This condition may be lost through sinning, but is recovered through privately naming or acknowledging sins to God the Father. See Confession of Sin.
Format Soul: The home for the immaterial soul, which is imparted by God at birth. This format for the soul derives from the genes of both parents and develops as biological life in the cranial area of the fetus.
Garden of Eden: The perfect place created by God where Adam and Eve before they sinned.
Gnosticism: False teaching which tries to reconcile Bible doctrine, philosophy, heathenism and Judaism. It claims all matter is evil (Plato).
God-Consciousness: Recognition of the existence of a supreme being.
God the Father: First Person of the Trinity; designed the plan of salvation for all mankind and a personal destiny for every believer; the Person to whom we pray.
God the Holy Spirit: Third Person of the Trinity; enables us to learn Bible doctrine, live the Christian way of life, and please God.
God the Son: Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, who became the unique God-Man, the Savior, who died on the Cross as a substitute for everyone so those who believe in Him can live forever with God.
Grace: What God has done and will do for man because Christ died for them. Grace is undeserved and unmerited. God's unearned, undeserved love toward all human beings. The title of God's plan for mankind. A free gift. Mankind through his own work can never accomplish or achieve the notice or favor of God.
Grace Apparatus for Perception (GAP): The divine provision for spiritual growth whereby every believer can understand every doctrine, regardless of education or human IQ.
Hamartiology: A theological term for the study or doctrine of sin.
Hardening of the Heart: The development of “scar tissue” of the soul. Negative volition toward God or Bible doctrine results in hardening of the heart toward God and doctrine. Promiscuity, drug addiction, alcoholism, or any other frantic search for happiness hardens the heart which means that no meaningful soul activity with other people is possible. A stage of reversionism in which the believer becomes entrenched in some form of negative volition through reactor factors in the soul, leading to a frantic search for happiness and emotional revolt in the soul. This opens a vacuum into the soul (Eph. 4:17), which fills the left (perceptive) lobe with doctrines of demons and/or evil and results in the blackout of doctrine in the left lobe. This leads to hardness of the heart (Eph. 4:18) and therefore to total lack of soul capacity toward God. See Scar Tissue of the Soul.
“So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;” (Ephesians 4:17-18, NASB)
Heart: The dominant or right lobe of the mentality of the soul where believed (epignosis) Bible doctrine is stored for application. It is where the conscience, norms and standards and viewpoint reside. See Right Lobe.
Heathen: Anyone who does not believe in Jesus Christ for salvation.
Heathenism: Unbelief or rejection either at the point of God consciousness or upon hearing the Gospel.
Heaven: The home of God and of all believers in eternity; the place of perfect happiness.
Heavens: The sun, moon, and stars; the galaxies and all of the universe.
Hermeneutics: The science of interpretation of the Bible and the methods of that interpretation. Biblical hermeneutics follow the I.C.E. principles of interpretation – Isagogics, Categories, Exegesis.
Homo Sapiens: The Latin word for mankind.
Human Good: Good deeds produced under the control of the sin nature. The believer with unconfessed sin in their life is not spiritual but carnal (soul is controlled by the sin nature). The good deeds of a carnal Christian are indistinguishable from good deeds performed by an unbeliever and have no spiritual value. This is the opposite of divine good.
Humanity: The character and nature of man. Jesus Christ is perfect and true humanity with no sin nature.
Human Life: The union of soul life and biological life at the moment the fetus emerges from the womb when God imparts the first “breath of life.”
Human Spirit: The invisible part of the believer gained at salvation designed by God to allow the believer to understand Bible doctrine taught via the power of the Holy Spirit. This spiritually understood information is then transferred by the Holy Spirit to the left lobe of the soul as gnosis or understood knowledge. The human spirit is also the home for eternal life imputed to the believer by God the Father at salvation.
Hypostatic Union: A distinctly theological term applicable exclusively to Jesus Christ in whom two distinct and independent natures, divine and human, are united. In the person of Jesus Christ are two natures inseparably united without mixture or loss of separate identity and without loss or transfer of properties or attributes. The union is both personal and eternal.
“ICE” Teaching: Includes isagogics, categories, and exegesis. The fundamental requirement for correct teaching of the Word of God or “rightly dividing the Word of Truth.”
Image of God: The immaterial, invisible essence of mankind. The pattern God used to create mankind was Himself. Our essence includes volition, emotion, self-consciousness, conscience, and mentality.
Immanence: A theological term used to describe God as ubiquitous and pervasive in His creation, in history, in all the affairs of mankind.
Immediate Creation: The direct creative act of God apart from intermediate agents or means. Adam was created immediately by God as is the soul of every human being.
Immutability: One of the attributes of God that describes His inability to change. He is not susceptible to or capable of change. He is absolute, unalterable stability.
Immutable: Unchangeable
Impeccability: Christ was sinless on earth because He had no sin nature or imputed sin and he had never committed any acts of personal sin.
Imputation: The judicial act of crediting a debit or credit to someone's account. The condemnation of Adam's original sin is given to each person at birth. The act of God the Father whereby He credits His very own perfect absolute righteousness to the believer in Christ. God's eternal life is also credited to each person at the moment of faith in Jesus Christ.
Impute: To assign or credit something to someone.
Incarnation: God becoming flesh and taking the form of man. The time Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, lived on the earth in hypostatic union. (see Hypostatic Union).
Indwelling of the Holy Spirit: A permanent status acquired at the moment of salvation by every Church Age believer which transforms the believer’s human body into a temple for the simultaneous indwelling of the deity of Jesus Christ. See Shekinah Glory.
Inspiration: God so supernaturally directed the writers of Scripture that without waiving their human intelligence, literary style, or personal feelings, or any other human factor, His complete and coherent message to man was recorded with perfect accuracy, the very words of the original Scripture bearing the authority of divine authorship.
Integrity of God: The combination of the divine attributes of righteousness and justice to form God's holiness. The totality of divine perfection.
Isagogics: The interpretation of the Bible in its historical setting.
Israel: The Old Testament nation, God's chosen people, the Jews.
Jehovah: A title of God derived from the sacred Tetragrammaton (four letters). Refers to all three members of the Trinity.
Jesus Christ: The Son of God; the Second Person of the Trinity's name after the Incarnation.
Jews: God's chosen people. A race of people descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Justice: The attribute of God that describes His infinite fairness in blessing, reward, judgment, and condemnation.
Justification: The judicial act of God whereby He imputes His perfect righteousness to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ and declares them righteous.
Kenosis: Jesus Christ voluntarily restricted the independent use of His relative divine attributes in compliance with the Father's plan for His incarnation. The word “kenosis” is derived from the Greek word κενόω (kenoō) found in Philippians 2:7 translated “emptied” and means to empty oneself or to deprive oneself of a proper function. The Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily took on Himself the form of true humanity in order to redeem mankind from sin, in order to propitiate God the Father, and to reconcile mankind to God. Therefore, during the incarnation, Jesus Christ did not even once exercise the independent use of His own divine attributes either to benefit Himself, to provide for Himself, or to glorify Himself.
“but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:7, NASB)
Lake of Fire: The final abode for all unbelievers and fallen angels who remain eternally condemned and separated from God in a place of eternal burning and punishment originally created for Satan and the fallen angels. This is the final destination of all unbelievers who are sentenced by the Lord Jesus Christ at the Last Judgment. Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:1-15.
“"Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;” (Matthew 25:41, NASB)
Last Judgment: The unbeliever's separation from God for all eternity. Also called the Second Death. Rev. 20:11.
“Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.” (Revelation 20:11, NASB)
Laws of Divine Establishment: Principles set up by God for the protection, orderly function, survival and perpetuation of the human race during the period of the Angelic Conflict. The laws of divine establishment define freedom in terms of privacy, property and authority. The laws of divine establishment provide the freedom in a nation to fulfill God's plan. These freedoms are designed for believers and unbelievers to function under many different types of government. Divine establishment laws depend on authority orientation and directly affects freedom, civilization, authority, evangelism, spiritual growth, and perpetuation of the human race.
Legalism: Any attempt to win God's favor or to gain salvation or spirituality by human merit or effort.
Logistical Grace: God's complete provision of every physical and spiritual need for every believer regardless of their spiritual status. Logistical grace keeps the believer alive, provides access to Bible doctrine, and enables him to grow spiritually in the devil's world.
Love: God's attitude of esteem and regard toward Himself and His concern, mercy, and benevolence toward His created beings.
Love Categories: love toward God, love between a man and woman, and love toward friends.
Lucifer: From the Hebrew word meaning “bright, morning star.” The angel who guarded the throne of God. The name of Satan before he sinned.
Mediate Creation: The indirect creative act of God through intermediate agents or means. All biological life since the original creation of Adam has been formed mediately through human procreation.
Mediator: One who is equal with both parties of a mediation and therefore acts as a go-between.
Messiah: Literally means “the Anointed One” in Hebrew, parallel to “Christ” in Greek, indicating Jesus' offices of prophet, priest, and king to Israel.
Millennium: The last 1,000 literal years of human history in which the Lord Jesus Christ will reign and produce perfect environment on the earth immediately following the Tribulation and His Second Advent.
Modus Operandi: Latin word meaning method of operation.
Mosaic Law: A legal system that established policy for ethical, spiritual and civil life within the Old Testament nation of Israel.
Moses: The man God chose to lead the Jews out of slavery in Egypt and to whom He gave the Ten Commandments and the Law. The human author of the first five books of the Old Testament.
Mount Sinai: The mountain where God spoke to the nation Israel and gave Moses the Ten Commandments.
Mystery: Bible doctrine hidden from those living prior to the Church Age (Old Testament believers) but now revealed through the Canon of Scripture (the New Testament of the Bible).
Necromancy: The practice of attempting communicating with the spirits of the dead in order to seek information or to predict the future.
Neshamah: Hebrew word נשׁמה (neshâmâh) translated the “breath of life” from God which imparts the human soul to the mediately formed human body at birth. Gen. 2:7.
“Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7, NASB)
New Testament: The second part of the Bible from Matthew to Revelation. God's message after Jesus Christ was born.
Old Sin Nature: The flawed character possessed by every human being which tempts us to sin. The old sin nature is the source of temptation to commit personal sins and depends on human good production to gain acceptance from God. This always results in contributing to the evil of Satan’s world system. The old sin nature is also the center of corruption and rebellion against God.
The old sin nature is an integral part of every human being which resides in the cell structure of the human body as seen in Romans 6:6, Romans 7:5, and Romans 7:18. The old sin nature was acquired originally by Adam at his fall and is transmitted only by the male sperm that fertilizes the female ovum. Gen. 5:3. The result is both spiritual death and total depravity of all humanity and the sovereignty of the sin nature over human life. Rom. 6:12. Jesus Christ was unique humanity because He was born as a result of the Holy Spirit fertilizing Mary (virgin pregnancy leading to the virgin birth). Because no male human contributed any chromosomes, the old sin nature was not passed on. Therefore, Jesus Christ was born without an old sin nature.
“knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;” (Romans 6:6, NASB)
“For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.” (Romans 7:5, NASB)
“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.” (Romans 7:18, NASB)
“When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.” (Genesis 5:3, NASB)
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,” (Romans 6:12, NASB)
The old sin nature is composed of an area of strength which produces human good, an area of weakness which produces personal sins, trends toward legalism or antinomianism, and lust patterns. The old sin nature is also called the “old self” in Ephesians 4:22, the “flesh” in Romans 8:3-4, and the principle of “sin” in Romans 7:8-20. Same as Sin Nature.
“that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,” (Ephesians 4:22, NASB)
“For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:3-4, NASB)
Old Testament: The first part of the Bible from Genesis to Malachi. God’s message to mankind before the First Advent of Jesus Christ.
Omnipotence: Having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force. All powerful. One of God's attributes of unlimited power and authority to accomplish anything He wills.
Omnipresence: God's presence everywhere in the universe simultaneously. One of God's attributes of eternal and simultaneous presence in every place. He is not subject to the limitations of space and time. See Immanence and Transcendence.
Omniscience: Total knowledge. One of God's attributes of infinite and eternal knowledge of all things past, present, and future which either have happened, could happen, or will happen including all of the possible alternatives.
Parable: A short, fictitious narrative which illustrates a principle of Bible doctrine.
Phallic Cult: A system of religion which involved idolatry and fornication in the worship of Baal and the other members of the Canaanitic pantheon. Exod. 34:12-16; Lev. 18; 1 Kings 14:15; 2 Chron. 33:3; Jer. 17:2.
“"Watch yourself that you make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. "But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and cut down their Asherim” (Exodus 34:12-13, NASB)
“"For the LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; and He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they have made their Asherim, provoking the LORD to anger.” (1 Kings 14:15, NASB)
“For he rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down; he also erected altars for the Baals and made Asherim, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them.” (2 Chronicles 33:3, NASB)
“As they remember their children, So they remember their altars and their Asherim By green trees on the high hills.” (Jeremiah 17:2, NASB)
Physical Death: For the unbeliever, when the soul separates from the physical body. For the believer, when the soul and human spirit separate from the physical body.
Pneumatology: The doctrine of the person and work of the Holy Spirit.
Positional Truth: The doctrine that every believer is placed into union with Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation resulting in every believer being “in Christ.”
Prodigal: A reckless and extravagantly wasteful person.
Progress of Revelation: God’s revelation of Himself to man has been gradual through time and is now completed in the Bible.
Propitiation: To be satisfied. An aspect of the saving work of God through the substitutionary spiritual death of Jesus Christ on the Cross whereby the justice and righteousness of God were satisfied concerning the sins of mankind. God the Father was propitiated by the work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.
Rapture: The resurrection, rendezvous, or meeting of all dead and living Church Age believers from the earth at the end of the present age, the Church Age. All Church Age believers will physically meet the Lord in the air and receive their resurrection bodies. These believers constitute the Bride of Christ as stated in 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17. The Rapture will signal the end of the Church Age and the beginning of the Tribulation.
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:14-17, NASB)
Reconciliation: The sum total of all that Christ did on the Cross in removing the insurmountable barrier and natural antagonism between God and sinful man. God is propitiated, man is reconciled. This is the manward side of the Cross. Reconciliation removes the barrier between God’s perfect righteousness and man’s personal sin, the penalty of sin, man's position in Adam, man’s physical birth, and man's relative righteousness. Rom. 5:11.
“And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (Romans 5:11, NASB)
Redemption: The saving work of Jesus Christ on the Cross whereby all humanity is bought from the slave market of sin in which they were born and delivered to the freedom of grace. Jesus Christ paid the ransom by His blood, which represents His substitutionary spiritual death on the Cross. 1 Peter 1:18-19. Redemption is realized when a person is born again by faith alone in Christ alone.
“knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.” (1 Peter 1:18-19, NASB)
Regeneration: The theological term for spiritual birth or being “born again” at the point of salvation. The imputation of eternal life at the moment anyone believes in Jesus Christ for eternal salvation. A regenerate person passes from spiritual death to spiritual life.
Relative Righteousness: Man's standards are adequate only in comparison or relative to other humans, but are totally inadequate when compared to God's absolute or perfect standards.
Religion: Man, by his own efforts, trying to gain salvation or the approbation of God. Religion is the Devil’s “ace trump.”
Repentance: A complete change of mental attitude.
Resurrection: A theological term that means to be physically raised from the dead and to receive an immortal body just like that received by Jesus Christ upon His resurrection. Resurrection is in contrast to resuscitation where a dead person is restored alive to his mortal body, but subsequently dies again.
Restoration: God the Holy Spirit's act of remaking the earth after Lucifer sinned and it became desolate and uninhabitable. The Holy Spirit restored earth into a perfect environment for the human race.
Revelation: God's message to mankind about Himself and His plan for believers.
Reversionism: Continual prolonged carnality of the believer. This is a recession from any stage of spiritual growth and is characterized by negative volition toward Bible doctrine, emotional revolt of the soul, apostasy, and scar tissue of the soul.
Righteousness: The attribute of God that describes the absolute perfection of His character and Person.
Right Lobe: The dominant lobe of the mentality of the soul designated by the Greek word kardia (usually translated “heart”), in contrast to the left or perceptive lobe - nous which is a staging area only for knowledge. The right lobe has five areas. The first is the frame of reference with its memory center which is the final storage place for all knowledge and is the basis for learning new knowledge. The second is the conscience where your norms and standards reside. The third area is your vocabulary in which categories are formed. The fourth area is viewpoint where we use vocabulary, conscience, and your frame of reference which leads to a viewpoint of life on any given subject. The fifth area of the soul is a “launching pad” for application of Bible doctrine to your life.
Royal Family of God: A biblical term derived from the term “sons of God” and describes the familial relationship between God and the believer. Every believer is related to the kingly lineage of Jesus Christ through the new birth. Same as the Church and the Body of Christ.
Sanctification: A state of being set apart unto God. The English terms saint, sanctify, and holy are derived from the same Greek root.
Satan: From the Hebrew word meaning “accuser.” The enemy of God, the elect angels, and all Christians. The leader of the fallen angels.
Scar Tissue: The concept of “hardening of the heart.” Negative volition toward God or Bible doctrine puts scar tissue on the soul whereby the heart becomes “hardened” toward God and doctrine. Promiscuity, drug addiction. alcoholism, or any other frantic search for happiness puts scar tissue on the soul which means that no meaningful soul activity with other people is possible.
Scar tissue is a stage of reversionism in which the believer becomes entrenched in some form of negative volition through reactor factors in the soul, leading to a frantic search for happiness and emotional revolt in the soul. This opens a vacuum into the soul (Ephesians 4:17), which fills the left (perceptive) lobe with doctrines of demons and/or evil and results in the blackout of doctrine in the left lobe. This leads to the accumulation of scar tissue on the right lobe or hardness of the heart (Ephesians. 4:18) and therefore to total lack of soul capacity toward God.
“So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;” (Ephesians 4:17-18, NASB)
Second Advent: The doctrine that Jesus Christ, who died, was resurrected and ascended to the Father in the third heaven, will one day again personally return to this earth in power and glory. His return will signal the end of the Tribulation and the beginning of the Millennium.
Second Death: The entrance of all unbelievers and fallen angels into the Lake of Fire at the end of the Great White Throne Judgement immediately following the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ on the Earth. All of those found in God's Book of Life (believers in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior) are promised by God that the second death has no claim on them.
Seminal Presence in Adam: Seminal presence in Adam means we were all present with Adam because we are all genetically derived from him. We are his seed. Therefore, the entire human race was present when Adam sinned, which resulted in depravity of the nature of mankind. We all share Adam's corrupt nature.
Senatus Populusque Romanus: Latin for “The Senate and People of Rome.” Abbreviated as SPQR.
Serpent: The beautiful creature in the garden of Eden that Satan used to convince Eve to disobey God.
Shekinah Glory: As the visible manifestation of God’s glory, the Second Person of the Trinity who dwelt with Israel in the sacred Tabernacle or Temple. His presence in the Holy of Holies was demonstrated by a brilliant cloud in the daytime above the Tabernacle and a pillar of fire at nighttime.
Sin: Any mental, verbal, or overt activity that violates the perfect righteousness of God. To think, say, or do what God says is wrong whether you know it is wrong or whether you were unaware of what God says is wrong. To break one of God's rules, to say no to God, or to disobey God in any way.
Sin Nature: The flawed character possessed by every human being which tempts us to sin. The sin nature is the source of temptation to commit personal sins and depends on human good production to gain acceptance from God. This always results in contributing to the evil of Satan’s world system. The sin nature is also the center of corruption and rebellion against God.
The sin nature is an integral part of every human being which resides in the cell structure of the human body as seen in Romans 6:6, Romans 7:5, and Romans 7:18. The old sin nature was acquired originally by Adam at his fall and is transmitted only by the male sperm that fertilizes the female ovum. Gen. 5:3. The result is both spiritual death and total depravity of all humanity and the sovereignty of the sin nature over human life. Rom. 6:12. Jesus Christ was unique humanity because He was born as a result of the Holy Spirit fertilizing Mary (virgin pregnancy leading to the virgin birth). Because no male human contributed any chromosomes, the sin nature was not passed on. Therefore, Jesus Christ was born without a sin nature.
“knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;” (Romans 6:6, NASB)
“For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.” (Romans 7:5, NASB)
“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.” (Romans 7:18, NASB)
“When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.” (Genesis 5:3, NASB)
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts,” (Romans 6:12, NASB)
The sin nature is composed of an area of strength which produces human good, an area of weakness which produces personal sins, trends toward legalism or antinomianism, and lust patterns. The sin nature is also called the “old self” in Ephesians 4:22, the “flesh” in Romans 8:3-4, and the principle of “sin” in Romans 7:8-20. Same as Old Sin Nature.
“that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,” (Ephesians 4:22, NASB)
“For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:3-4, NASB)
Slave Market of Sin: The spiritually dead human race born in bondage to sin.
Son of God: The second person of the Trinity. A title for the deity of Jesus Christ who took on the form of a perfect sinless man and died on the Cross for the sins of mankind.
Soteriology: A Theological term for the entire saving work of Jesus Christ. The doctrine of the Plan of Salvation.
Soul: The real you that is invisible and never dies. The ability to recognize yourself, to think, to feel, to know right from wrong and to choose to do right or wrong The immaterial part of man containing self-consciousness, sub-consciousness, mentality, (left and right lobe), volition, conscience and emotion. Also included is a frame of reference with memory center and a viewpoint.
Soul Life: The life created by God and imparted immediately to the fetus at birth.
Sovereignty: One of God’s attributes that describes His supreme authority and rule over all He creates.
Spark of Life: That immediate impartation by God of soul life into the newly born child; “the breath of life” breathed into the “nostrils” that generates human life. Gen. 2:7.
“Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7, NASB)
Spiritual Death: Separation from God. The inability to have a relationship with God. Eph. 2:1. Because of Adam's original sin, every human being is born separated from God because of God the Father’s imputation of the penalty of Adam's original sin to the genetically formed sin nature, thus making every human being except Jesus Christ, incapable of satisfying His perfect righteousness. Only through faith in Christ can a person be born again and receive God’s very own righteousness thereby becoming spiritually alive.
“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,” (Ephesians 2:1, NASB)
To provide salvation, Christ suffered the unique spiritual death of the Cross, where the Father imputed all the personal sins of the human race to Him and judged them. He was judged for our personal sins on the Cross: “He (God the Father) made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us.” 2 Cor. 5:21. Of the rest of the human race, as we are born condemned, the natural progeny of fallen Adam: “the wages of sin (Adam's original sin) is death (divine condemnation, not physical death).” Rom. 6:23; Rom. 5:12; Gen. 2:17.
“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB)
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23, NASB)
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned—” (Romans 5:12, NASB)
“but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."” (Genesis 2:17, NASB)
Spiritual Maturity: The advanced stage of spiritual growth in which the believer lives the normal Christian life. This is the place of maximum use of God's grace resources in adversity or prosperity and where the believer receives maximum blessing. It is characterized by occupation with Christ, capacities for freedom, life, love, happiness, prosperity, and adversity. It is also characterized by God's blessings in promotion, wealth, success, social life, marriage. etc. The mature believer enjoys both temporal and spiritual blessings and, whether under prosperity or adversity, utilizes grace to the maximum through their knowledge of Bible doctrine and continued intake of the Word of God. Spiritual maturity is attainable by believers in every dispensation.
Spirituality: The state of a believer who is in fellowship with God through the use of confession of sin which always results in the filling of the Holy Spirit. Spirituality is an absolute. One cannot ever be partially spiritual. Either you are entirely filled with the Holy Spirit or you are completely controlled by the Old Sin Nature (carnality).
Strategic Victory of the Cross: A military term applied to the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The first phase of the strategic victory was the death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and session of Jesus Christ as the Victor in the Angelic Conflict. The second phase of the strategic victory will be the Second Advent of Jesus Christ, the overthrow of Satan and crowning of the King. The believer is identified with the strategic victory of Jesus Christ through positional truth at the point of salvation. The Church is identified with the second stage of the strategic victory by her return with Christ in resurrection bodies at the end of the Tribulation to begin the Millennial reign of Jesus Christ here on earth.
Taboo: A prohibition arbitrarily imposed by a religious or social group. Taboos are not the basis for assessing sin.
Tactical Victory: A military term for the victory the mature believer attains at the point of spiritual maturity.
Temptation: To try to persuade someone to do wrong.
Talmud: Title derived from the Hebrew LAMAD and means to teach. The collected written opinions of the Rabbis regarding tradition, civil and spiritual laws of Judaism and was recorded from 400 BC to 500 AD.
Tetragrammaton: Literally means “four letters” and refers to the word JHWH, translated Jehovah or Yahweh. This proper name for God or Lord in the Old Testament is used when referring to either one or all members of the Trinity.
Theology: The doctrine or study of God.
Theophany: A manifestation or appearance of Christ in bodily form prior to His Incarnation. He is also called the Angel of Jehovah.
Traducianism: The theological view that the human soul is transmitted through human procreation.
Transcendence: A theological term used to describe God as independent of and beyond the spatial limits of the created universe. No particular place can contain Him.
Trichotomous: The believer is composed of three parts: body, soul, and human spirit.
Tribulation: A period of seven literal years on this earth beginning with the Rapture of the Church (the end of the Church Age) and ending with the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. The Tribulation will complete the Jewish Age which was interrupted by the Church Age.
Trinity: The doctrine describing God as one in essence but three coequal, co-infinite, and coeternal persons - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Unlimited Atonement: Jesus Christ’s universal payment for the sins of the entire human race on the Cross.
Unpardonable Sin: The sin of the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only sin to be judged at the Last Judgment or Great White Throne Judgment.
Veracity: One of the attributes of God that describes Him as absolute truth.
Vicarious: Substitutionary. Christ died spiritually as a substitute for all of mankind.
Volition: Free will. The ability to choose yes or no. The decision-maker of the soul.
Witnessing: Fulfilling the divine commandment for believers to communicate to unbelievers on a personal basis the Gospel of Jesus Christ and resulting salvation.
Woman: From the Hebrew word meaning “out of man.” The name Adam’s wife before the Fall.
Word of God: The Bible. God's written message to everyone. The mind of Christ.
Worldliness: A mental attitude that excludes the person of Jesus Christ.