When you’re engaged in serious Bible study, you will invariably end up running into theology. The Bible is not simply putting forth names, places, and events in artful storytelling. It’s teaching truths to believe—truths about God, about us, and about God’s solution for the human condition and human destiny. That’s theology, the study of God and what He’s about. So don’t panic if you end up thinking about doctrine. That’s supposed to happen.
I say it that way since lots of Christians I know recoil at theology, either because they think it’s impractical and boring, or it scares them. Having had a lot of experience in the formal study (and teaching) of theology, that’s understandable. Theologians use a lot of terms that are long and unfamiliar. But despite the confusing nature of many such terms, they’re important to know, since you won’t be able to avoid them in academic reading in theology. And you need to look up words in books you don’t know. To avoid that is to remain ignorant, which isn’t a virtue in Bible study (or anything else).
There are two convenient solutions to this problem. One is to have some good theology books with indexes. At the very least you can see if the index has that word that stopped you cold. You might get a nice definition on one of the pages to which the index directs you. Using Bible software, of course, makes this basically effortless.
The problem with this solution is that your theology books may not have the term you’re looking for in the index (presuming there is one). And even then, you may not get a short, clear definition. Enter the second solution: get a succinct theological dictionary. I’m not talking about a reference work that has long articles on topics. I’m talking about a dictionary that defines terms in a couple of sentences.
There are a couple of options that fit this description. My favorite, and the one I think is the best, is Millard Erickson’s Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology. The book is exactly what the title claims. It has hundreds of theological terms defined in short, understandable sentences. With this tool in hand, you never need fear reading a theology book. It should be part of every Bible student’s arsenal.