Abba Aramaic word for “father” used by Jesus (Mark 14:36), Paul (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6), and other early Christians to refer to God the Father.
allegory, allegorical A literary device by which one understands certain aspects of a story symbolically.
amanuensis A trained scribe who would write dictated letters at the direction of others.
Am ha-Eretz “The people of the land,” the poor, rural, less-educated Jewish people during Jesus’s day.
amillennialism The eschatological view that the thousand-year reign (Rev. 20:1–8) is a symbol for the current period of the church.
amphibology Communication that is double in meaning, whereby a phrase simultaneously means more than one thing.
annotations A list of short notes that explain phrases or verses in an isolated manner.
antichrists Those who have turned away from the truth of the gospel and now oppose Christ and his people (1 John 2:18; 2 John 7).
apocalypse A literary genre in which poetic and allegorical images and metaphors are used not for the purpose of straightforward teaching but rather to describe the paradox of God’s work in the world, separating hearers into two groups: those who understand and those who do not.
Apocrypha Fourteen or fifteen books (depending on how portions are calculated) in Greek that were produced during the Second Temple period. The Apocrypha consists of additions to some of the Hebrew books (additional parts of Esther and Daniel); some prayers and psalms; instructions in wise living; enjoyable novellas like Susanna, Tobit, and Judith; and the four large histories of the Maccabean period (1–4 Maccabees).
apocryphal Gospels Noncanonical stories or collections of sayings about Jesus that often differ qualitatively from the four canonical Gospels.
apophatic theology Theology focusing on the unknowability of God.
apostasy The rejection or abandonment of one’s faith.
apostle A word meaning “messenger” or “one who is sent,” normally used as a title for certain early church leaders, especially Jesus’s twelve disciples and Paul.
Apostles’ Creed A statement of faith, used by many churches of the Western tradition, first introduced in the eighth century.
Apostolic Fathers The Christian leaders of the generation after the original apostles. Their writings include letters from Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, and Polycarp, as well as the Didache, which gives instructions about early Christian practice, and the popular Shepherd of Hermas, which includes visions, instructions, and allegorical parables.
archangel An angel with some level of authority over other angels.
Areopagus A rock outcrop that sits just below the Acropolis in Athens, where the council of the Areopagus met in order to govern the city and to discuss philosophical ideas (education, morality, foreign cults, etc.) and where Paul preached to philosophers (Acts 17:16–34).
Arianism An early heresy, beginning with Arius in the fourth century, that denies the divinity of Christ by understanding him to be the highest created being. Arianism was condemned by the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 but continued to thrive until the Council of Constantinople in 381.
armor of God Paul’s image, based on the Roman soldier’s armor, to express the gifts given to Christians to combat the spiritual forces of darkness: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the sandals of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. 6:13–17).
ascension The story of Jesus ascending into the clouds in front of his disciples as his last time physically on earth (Luke 24:50–53; John 20:17; Acts 1:6–11; Rom. 8:34; Col. 3:1; 1 Pet. 3:22).
asceticism The practice of strict religious devotion, often self-renunciation of worldly pleasures.
atonement A sacrifice made for sin that restores the at-one-ness between the holy God and sinner.
Beloved Disciple The referent for the author of John’s Gospel (John 13:23; 18:15–16; 20:4, 8), likely either John’s own self-abasing, even somewhat humorous, self-reference or an affectionate name given to him by his own disciples.
bios A Greek and Latin genre of literature centering on one person and his or her actions, with everyone and everything in the story relating back to that one person. The genre of the Gospels grew out of bios into its own genre, setting Jesus’s teachings and actions into a broader, comprehensive story of the whole world, both human and divine, a story that points forward to its completion.
body of Christ A Pauline metaphor used to express the unity and diversity of the different parts of the church that make up one unified whole (1 Cor. 12:12–26).
canon A word meaning “rule” or “standard” that delineates authoritative texts. In Christianity, “canon” refers to the sixty-six books of the Bible as separate, distinct books worthy of heeding closely as uniquely authoritative.
canon tables Beginning at least with Eusebius, a cross-reference system for reading the Gospel stories in dialogue with one another as part of the Fourfold Gospel Book.
Captivity (or Prison) Letters Pauline Letters written while Paul was in prison: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon (2 Timothy, one of the Pastoral Epistles, could be part of the list as well, as it was clearly written from prison).
cataphatic theology Theology focusing on affirmations about God.
catechism A summary of Christian doctrine used to instruct Christians, often made up of questions and answers.
centurion A class designation for an important captain of one hundred soldiers (Luke 7:1–10; Acts 10:1; 27:1).
cessationism The belief that miraculous signs, like those experienced in Acts, were reserved for the apostolic age, a period in salvation history in which God worked amazing feats that served as signposts for the inauguration of the age of the Spirit.
Christ From the Greek word for “anointed” (christos), the title used to describe Jesus as set apart by God to be his good king over his people.
Christology The study of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
church fathers Prominent theologians and preachers of the first few centuries of the church.
church-historical view The view of Revelation that understands it to address events throughout history, up to and including the present day.
circumcision In Judaism, the removing of the foreskin of the penis, symbolizing the covenant between Yahweh and Israel (Gen. 17:9–14).
circumcision party Some of Paul’s opponents in Galatia who insisted that all believers become circumcised, whether Jewish or gentile, and refused to have fellowship with uncircumcised gentiles, even though they all believed in Christ.
codex Any number of sliced manuscripts sewn or glued together in a stack. This is the earliest form of what now would be called a “book,” and Christians were some of its earliest adopters.
Colossian heresy A range of spiritual and religious practices that seem to combine Jewish and pagan elements, either a religion or philosophy unique to Colossae or simply a mishmash of religious and spiritual practices that existed in Colossae at the time.
continuationism The belief that miraculous signs, like those experienced in Acts, continue into the present age without compromising the salvation-historical importance of the signs recorded in Acts.
conversion narrative An autobiographical story of how someone came to see the world differently.
covenant A relationship between two parties that has spelled-out expectations.
critical edition A reconstructed text that scholars put together based on ancient manuscripts, providing a text that a committee has decided is most likely original. These editions also often include textual variants, as well as notes indicating how confident the scholars are on variants and their reasoning for textual decisions.
cruciformity A way of living, thinking, and relating that is shaped by Christ’s cross (1 Cor. 1:18).
curse of the law The condemnation that falls on all who rely on the works of the law, because everyone fails to keep the law (Gal. 3:10–11).
Cynicism A Greek philosophy that rejected conventional desires but found virtue in a simple, independent lifestyle.
day of the Lord The Old Testament expectation of God’s future intervention into human history for judgment and salvation (e.g., Isa. 2:1–4:6; Jer. 46:10; Ezek. 30:2–3), understood by Christians to anticipate future fulfillment in Jesus’s judgment of the world.
deacons/deaconesses Those responsible for helping with the practical service needs of the church.
Dead Sea Scrolls A wide collection of writings that came from a community of Jews who had separated themselves from the rest of Judaism. This diverse library of some eight hundred writings includes copies of the biblical texts, commentaries and paraphrases on the Bible, pseudepigraphal writings, devotional material, and instructions about the community’s life together.
definite atonement See limited atonement.
deification The state in which believers somehow become like God, though not divine themselves, in sharing fellowship with him in a profound sense.
deliberate sin The conscious, intentional, and permanent rejection of Christ (Heb. 10:26).
disciple A person who follows and learns from Jesus, or more specifically, one of Jesus’s original twelve disciples.
discipleship The path of life on which one follows Jesus’s own ultimate example of humility, righteous suffering, and love.
discourse A block of teaching, of which Matthew uses five in conjunction with narrative sections to structure his Gospel.
dissimulatio A pretend argument being used to teach a lesson.
Docetism An early heresy in which it was claimed that Jesus only appeared to be a human.
Donatists Followers of an early heresy, similar to Novatianism, beginning in the fourth century that held a rigorous, purist view of the church, denying the validity of the sacraments as administered by those who had denied Christ by giving in to persecution.
doxology A written or spoken expression of praise to God.
ecclesiology The study of the church itself along with its structure.
elders Those who are responsible for overseeing the church in general, including the preaching of the Word. See also pastors; shepherds.
elect Chosen and set apart for a special covenantal relationship with God, like Israel under the Mosaic covenant.
elements of the world In Greek, stoicheia, referring to weak and worthless cultural forces or entities that exist in any culture. God has sent Christ to redeem his people from out of their bondage (Gal. 4:3–9).
encyclical A letter written to be copied and sent to various audiences.
Epicureanism A Greek philosophy that rejected determinism in favor of free will, finding virtue in living in the present and pursuing pleasure in the form of mental peace and freedom from anxiety.
eschatology The study of the end times.
Essenes A priestly Jewish group who focused on asceticism (typically including celibacy) and the rejection of the current priesthood as fraudulent.
exegesis The study of a biblical text with the intent to understand its meaning.
expiation The removal of guilt from the sinner through a sacrifice, such as the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:20–22).
faith More than simply a belief in a certain propositional truth, for Christians it is a relational disposition of trust and confidence in God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.
Feast of Booths The Jewish festival in which Jews celebrated the harvest and remembered the booths/tents they lived in after their escape from Egypt.
Feast of Dedication/Lights The Jewish festival (today called Hanukkah) in which Jews celebrated their recapturing of the temple during the Maccabean period.
Feast of Pentecost The Jewish harvest Feast of Weeks (Exod. 34:22; Num. 28:26; Deut. 16:10), held on the fiftieth day of Passover, during which the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles, causing them to preach in the languages of those gathered for the festival (Acts 2:1–41).
filioque clause The clause meaning “and the Son” (Latin, filioque), added to the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed referring to the Spirit’s being sent by both the Father and the Son. The clause was affirmed by the Western church but rejected by the Eastern church, serving as a key part of the major split between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches in the eleventh century.
flat characters Literary characters who do not develop but rather serve as types or stock figures who play a set role.
form criticism Beginning in Old Testament studies in the early twentieth century, form criticism seeks to identify the different types of literature within the Gospels (parables, wisdom sayings, miracle stories, etc.) and speculate on what must have been happening in the church that would lead people to value and retell these stories.
four letters to the Corinthians If Paul’s four letters to the Corinthians are labeled A, B, C, D, then B = 1 Corinthians and D = 2 Corinthians, while A and C are lost.
fruit of the Spirit The characteristics of a believer’s life when walking by the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal. 5:22–23).
futurist view The view of Revelation that understands it to predict the imminent end of time and inauguration of a millennial age.
Gemara Later expansions and sayings of the Mishnah.
gematria An ancient practice of finding connections between numbers and names, where the numeric value of words is calculated, seeing symbolic significance in the connection.
General Letters The seven letters of the New Testament, sometimes called Catholic (i.e., universal), that are addressed to Christians in general rather than to a specific church: James; 1–2 Peter; 1–3 John; Jude.
genre The category of a certain piece of literature. In the New Testament, books often fall into the genres of Gospel, historical narrative, letter, and apocalypse.
gentile A person who is not Jewish.
Gnosticism An early and varying heresy normally centering on a stark duality between the evil physical world and the good spiritual world, as well as presenting salvation as being found only through special “knowledge” (gnōsis).
God-fearers Gentiles who were attracted to Judaism, perhaps participating in some aspects of Judaism without fully converting.
Golgotha An Aramaic word meaning “skull.” The hill where Jesus was crucified outside Jerusalem.
gospel A word meaning “good news,” referring to the good news of the message of Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. It also refers to each of the four first books of the New Testament (the Gospels) and their genre. The genre of the Gospels grew out of the Greek and Latin genre of bios into its own genre, setting Jesus’s teachings and actions into a broader, comprehensive story of the whole world, both human and divine, a story that points forward to its completion.
Great Commission The story told in Matthew 28:18–20 of Jesus authorizing his disciples to make disciples of all the nations of the world, baptize them, and teach them to obey him.
Hades In Greek thought, the name for the realm of the dead. In the New Testament, Hades often is synonymous with hell.
haggadah A Hebrew term meaning “story” or “telling.” One of the two forms of Midrash, it also appears in the Passover Haggadah, the liturgy meant to set forth the order and meaning of the Passover meal.
halakah A Hebrew term meaning “the way.” One of the two forms of Midrash. It is the collection of traditions about how to apply the Pentateuch to religious life and daily conduct.
Hasmonean dynasty The dynasty of the Maccabee family following the Jewish revolt against the Syrians in 167 BC.
head coverings In the Mediterranean region, women’s hair often was an object of lust, so married women were expected to cover their hair. This was especially the case for Jewish women, while wealthy Roman women sometimes would want to show off their expensive hairstyles. In 1 Corinthians 11:1–16, Paul encourages women to cover their hair in worship, a cultural application symbolizing godly attitudes and relationships.
Hebrew Scriptures See Jewish Scriptures.
Hellenization Alexander the Great’s campaign to spread throughout the world the superiority of Greek language, culture, and philosophy.
heresy False teaching that deviates from official doctrine.
Herodian dynasty The dynasty of Herod the Great and his family from 37 BC until the destruction of the temple in AD 70.
Herodians Jewish people who supported the Herodian dynasty and were therefore part of the Roman imperial establishment.
high priest The highest-ranking priest of Israel, from the line of Aaron.
High Priestly Prayer Jesus’s prayer in John 17:1–26, at the end of the Upper Room Discourse, in which he asks his Father to protect his disciples and to create among them a unity mirroring the unity of the Father and Son.
historical-critical method An academic discipline that focuses on the historical setting of documents (author, date, location, audience, etc.).
honor-shame culture The dominant relational culture in Jesus’s day. Honor is like a currency that gives people status in society (much like money does in modern Western societies). Honor is granted according to what the society values and often promotes a more group-oriented society. Conversely, one receives shame by not conforming to the established standards of good and bad. Jesus’s teaching often pushed against aspects of the honor-shame culture. The first become last (Matt. 19:30), the persecuted and ridiculed are honored (Matt. 5:10–12), the lame and blind and poor are welcomed and lifted up (Luke 14:15–24).
hypocrisy External behavioral righteousness lacking a heart connected to God. It is the opposite of Jesus’s “greater righteousness” (Matt. 5:17–20, 48)—the call to inward purity and wholeness between outer behavior and the heart.
idealist view The view of Revelation that understands it to address timeless spiritual truths about the nature and purposes of God.
imperial guard An elite group of Roman soldiers (also called praetorian guard).
incarnation The doctrine that God became human, assuming a human nature, in the person of Jesus Christ, upon his conception.
inspiration The doctrine that Scripture, while authored by humans, consists of God’s own words given to teach, rebuke, correct, and train (2 Tim. 3:16).
Jerusalem Council An early church meeting between messengers from the church in Antioch (Paul, Barnabas) and Jerusalem (James), as well as the apostles (Peter), in which they decided what should be required of gentile converts, concluding that gentiles should not be burdened with the law of Moses but should abstain from certain things that might cause Jewish believers to stumble (Acts 15:1–35).
Jesus traditions Oral traditions about Jesus, widespread before they were utilized in the writing of the Gospels.
Jewish Scriptures A term used today by Jewish people and many scholars to describe their canonical sacred writings.
Josephus (AD 37–100) A Jewish general who surrendered to the Romans in AD 70 and ended up living in Rome, where he wrote several important works, including the lengthy History of the Jewish War, and from whom much of our information about Second Temple Judaism comes.
justification God’s declaration of a person to be righteous and thus in right relationship with him, achieved by the sacrifice of Jesus, which is received by faith (Rom. 3:21–26; 4:1–8).
kenosis From a Greek word translated as “emptied,” this term refers to Jesus’s self-emptying in his incarnation (Phil. 2:7). Some have understood it to mean that Jesus gave up his divinity when he became human, but the early church rejected this understanding, asserting that Jesus gave up his divine privileges in order to become human but never stopped being fully God.
kingdom of God The space and time of God’s absolute, just, and good rule over the whole world, where he is present as King, where justice and peace rule, and where evil, pain, and death are vanquished.
kingdom of heaven Matthew’s unique phrase that means the same thing as “the kingdom of God” in terms of its referent—God’s now and future reign—but is different in terms of connotations. Matthew likes to describe God’s reign as “of heaven,” because this evokes the idea of the strong contrast between the kingdoms of this world and God’s heavenly kingdom yet to come.
Koine Greek A simplified hybrid of several dialects of Greek in which the New Testament was written. During Jesus’s day Koine was the common (Greek, koinē) form of Greek spoken throughout the whole Mediterranean world and into the Middle East, because it allowed governance and trade to occur throughout the Roman Empire.
last days The period between Jesus’s ascension and his eventual return (2 Tim. 3:1).
Last (or Lord’s) Supper The Passover meal that Jesus ate with his disciples before he was betrayed. During the meal, Jesus established a ceremony to remember his body and blood through bread and wine. The church would continue this observation as the Lord’s Supper after his death and resurrection (Matt. 26:27–28; 1 Cor. 11:17–32).
law of Christ Paul’s play on the term “law” that refers to love in action (Gal. 6:2), as Jesus sums up the entire law of Moses in loving God and loving one’s neighbor (Matt. 22:34–40).
lawyers A Jewish professional class of experts in the law, closely associated with the scribes.
lectionaries Books of biblical readings to be used in worship services, written in many different styles and languages, mostly from the eleventh to the thirteenth century.
Levitical priesthood The commission of male members of the tribe of Levi between the ages of twenty-five and fifty to serve God in the tent of meeting (the tabernacle) as priests reserved for that task (Num. 8:24–25).
limited atonement The view that Jesus died sacrificially not for everyone but only for the elect.
literary criticism Beginning in the late twentieth century, literary criticism focuses on the Gospels as pieces of literature rather than on how they were written (form, source, and redaction criticisms), including methods of interpreting Gospel stories, character analysis, and plot/structure analysis.
liturgy A form, structure, or script by which Christian worship may be performed.
Lord’s Prayer The two-part prayer that Jesus uses as an anchoring model, orienting the believer in how to relate to God our Father and others in the daily life of faith (Matt. 6:9–13; Luke 11:2–4).
Lord’s Supper See Last (or Lord’s) Supper.
Maccabees The nickname, meaning “hammers,” given to Judas and his rebel followers who revolted successfully against the Syrians in 167 BC. His family, the Hasmonean dynasty, continued to rule until Roman occupation in 63 BC.
magi Astrologers or wise men from the East who came to worship Jesus as the king of the Jews (Matt. 2:1–12).
Magnificat Mary’s lyrical response in Luke 1:46–55 to Elizabeth’s prophetic blessing, a song of praise rich with theological tones and foreshadowing. The Magnificat developed as a very important part of Christian worship, used in many parts of the church’s various liturgies.
majuscules Manuscripts written entirely in capital letters, especially from the fourth to the eighth century.
Manichaeism An ancient religion beginning in the third century that required a strict asceticism based on dualistic cosmology and interpreted the resurrection as only a freedom from sin, not as bodily in nature.
man of lawlessness A mysterious figure in 2 Thessalonians 2 whom Paul depicts as occupying God’s temple and exalting himself above God (cf. Isa. 14:12–14; Ezek. 28:2; Dan. 6:7). He often is equated with the “antichrist” mentioned in 1 and 2 John, but in those contexts that term refers to people who have left the community of believers.
manuscripts Ancient documents of the Bible or part of the Bible handwritten on some type of paper or leather.
Marcionism An early heresy, beginning in the second century with Marcion, that creates a duality between the evil physical world and the good spiritual world (similar to Gnosticism) and also differentiates between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. Marcion created his own canon, denying the entire Old Testament, using his own Gospel (similar to Luke’s Gospel), and using only Pauline Epistles.
martyrs Christians who are put to death because of their witness to the truth of Jesus Christ as God’s Messiah, through whom salvation comes.
Messiah From the Hebrew word for “anointed” (meshiah), the title used to describe Jesus as set apart by God to be his good king over his people.
Midrash From a Hebrew word meaning “to seek answers.” Midrash seeks to answer contemporary theological and practical questions by investigating the Scriptures. It consists of two categories: halakah, which inquires about laws and religious practices, and haggadah, which interprets biblical narratives.
millennium The thousand-year reign of Christ (Rev. 20:1–8), variously interpreted and represented by the views amillennialism, premillennialism, and postmillennialism.
mimesis A term referring to a literary work or an aspect of a literary work imitating another (e.g., Luke’s presentation of Jesus imitating the Old Testament presentation of Israel).
minuscules Manuscripts, usually on parchment, written in a small cursive style of Greek letters. We have thousands of minuscules, most dating from the eleventh to thirteenth century.
Mishnah From a Hebrew word meaning “to study by repetition/review.” The Mishnah is a written collection of oral teachings of various rabbis.
Modalism An early heresy in which the three persons of the Trinity are not three distinct persons but rather are three modes by which God reveals himself.
monasticism An ascetic way of life beginning as early as the late third century that centers on renouncing worldly and external pleasures for whole-life devotion to the spiritual life.
Monophysitism An early Christian heresy that understood Christ to have only one nature—divine—rejecting the Council of Chalcedon.
monotheism A religious belief that there is only one true and superior god.
New Perspective on Paul A view popularized by scholars such as E. P. Sanders, J. D. G. Dunn, and N. T. Wright that critiques the typical Protestant approach to Paul’s view of Judaism. For these scholars, Judaism was not a “salvation by works” religion but rather relied on God’s grace. The problem with law-keeping Jews in Paul’s day was that the law identified them as God’s people, which was a source of pride and boasting. Therefore, Paul’s critique of such Jews is more about how to identify the people of God: they are identified by faith in Christ and by having the Spirit, not by keeping the law of Moses.
New Testament The term used by Christians starting in the early third century to refer to the writings of the apostles, deriving from the promise of the new covenant that Christians understand to be fulfilled in Jesus.
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed The AD 381 revision of the original AD 325 Nicene Creed, affirming orthodox, trinitarian theology.
Nicene Creed An early Christian statement of belief written at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325, laying out the orthodox understanding of the relationship between God the Father and God the Son.
Novatianists Followers of an early heresy, similar to Donatism, taught by Novatian beginning in the third century that held a rigorous, purist view of the church, denying communion for anyone who had denied Christ or offered a pagan ritual sacrifice.
Old Testament The term used by Christians starting in the early third century to refer to the sacred Jewish writings in comparison with the writings of the apostles.
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha A collection of stories and prophecies that are ascribed to famous people from biblical times, such as Enoch, Solomon, and Abraham.
orthodox doctrine Correct and right teaching or belief.
orthopraxy Correct and right living.
overseers Men who live exemplary Christian lives, both within the Christian community and outside it, and hold the responsibility of teaching the congregation.
Palestine Also known as Roman Judea, the region roughly between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River where most of Jesus’s ministry took place.
papyrus An early form of paper made from a reed plant. Some of the earliest portions of the New Testament are written on papyri, some as early as the second century AD.
parables Stories—often allegories, proverbs, short pithy sayings, similes, and metaphors—used by Jesus (and other teachers) to convey truth and, in the Gospels, to separate hearers into those who understand and those who do not.
paraenesis Writing meant to exhort hearers toward growth in virtue and character.
participation with Christ The doctrine that Christians are connected to Christ through faith and share not only in his righteousness and resurrection but also in his sufferings and death.
Passover The annual Jewish festival celebrating the sparing of Israel’s children on the night before the exodus of Israel from Egypt. Passover also begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Pastoral Letters Paul’s letters to individual church leaders rather than churches themselves: 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus.
pastors Those who are responsible for overseeing the church in general, including the preaching of the Word. See also elders; shepherds.
patriarchs The three main ancestors of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
patron-client relationships An institution vital to the culture and community of the Roman Empire. Patrons often were wealthier members of society who might provide money, grain, employment, land, or social advancement for their clients. In exchange, the socially and financially lesser client was obligated to express gratitude and to publicize the favor of the patron and thereby contribute to his reputation.
Pentateuch The five books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
pericope A self-contained literary unit, normally a story from one of the four Gospels.
pesher An ancient Jewish commentary on parts of the Old Testament, many of which were discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Pharisees The Jewish conservatives of Jesus’s day who focused on the strict study and practice of God’s commandments in the Torah and the rabbinic traditions that developed along those lines. Their name derives from the idea of being “separate” from others, and their focus was on purity or ritual cleanness. Their roots are from the Maccabean period, with its fervor for rediscovering and defending traditional Judaism.
Philo (20 BC–AD 50) A highly educated Jewish philosopher in Alexandria, Egypt, which was the intellectual capital of the world at that time. Philo integrated the Greek philosophical system and methods of interpreting texts with Jewish thought and study of the Old Testament. His extensive writings were influential not only for Jews but also for many early Christian theologians.
physiognomy The Greco-Roman cultural practice of judging someone’s character based on their physical features.
postmillennialism The eschatological view that the thousand years (Rev. 20:1–8) either literally or figuratively refers to a period before the return of Christ in which all the nations will be converted.
predestination The doctrine that events are predetermined by God.
premillennialism The eschatological view that the thousand years (Rev. 20:1–8) is a period beginning with the return of Christ, but the period can be taken either as a literal thousand years or as an undefined era.
preterist view The view of Revelation that understands it to primarily address its own day, with almost no future reference at all.
proconsul The governor of a Roman province.
prophets People filled with the Spirit who spoke words of direction and encouragement (Judg. 3:10; 1 Sam. 10:10; Acts 15:32; 21:10; 1 Cor. 14:29–32; Eph. 3:5).
propitiation The redirection of God’s wrath away from the sinner toward a sacrificial animal.
pseudonymous The term used to describe literary works written under a false name, often taking the name of a famous historical figure.
Q From the German word Quelle, meaning “source,” this is the name given to a hypothetical collection of Jesus’s sayings that supposedly circulated before the writing of the Synoptic Gospels and explains the shared material between Matthew and Luke that does not also occur in Mark.
rabbi A teacher of Jewish law. These teachers became a fixture within Judaism during the Second Temple period as their sayings and interpretations were memorized and written down.
ransom theory of atonement The theory that understands Jesus’s death as a payment that satisfies the debt that humanity owes due to sin, and that Jesus’s death frees and breaks the bonds of humanity’s enslavement.
rapture The term used for the event described 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 that some understand as believers being taken from the world, leaving unbelievers behind, in the end times. However, the text gives no support to the “left behind” idea, and instead pictures the return of Christ and the coming together of the resurrected dead, believers who are still living, and Christ himself.
reception history Rooted in a greater awareness of each interpreter’s situatedness in his or her own culture, reception history seeks to understand how the New Testament was read in the past, especially before the modern era.
redaction criticism Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, redaction criticism seeks to understand the editorial activity of the Gospel writers, from which one may understand their theology more clearly.
redemption The purchase or buying back of something. In the New Testament, it often is associated with God’s salvation, or purchase, of his people through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
resurrection The act of being brought from death to life. In the New Testament, Jesus’s resurrection from the dead assures Christians that they too will be resurrected from the dead into eternal life upon Jesus’s return (1 Cor. 15).
righteousness Holistic moral uprightness, marked by right relationships of faithfulness and love. Christians become righteous through faith in Jesus Christ.
Roman citizenship A status of political and legal privilege, available only to free people (not slaves). Citizenship was given if both parents were Roman citizens, but also could be granted by generals and emperors. Male Roman citizens were given several privileges and protections that were defined by the Roman state, while Roman women experienced a more limited range of privileges.
Roman emperor The supreme ruler of the Roman Empire.
round characters Literary characters who are multifaceted and develop throughout the course of a story.
sacrifice The offering of a crop or an animal to express worship toward a god.
Sadducees Jewish people usually from the families that controlled the priesthood and political power going back to the later generations of the Hasmonean dynasty. This group typically was wealthy, controlled taxes and temple activities, and was in political relationship with the Roman government. They were followers of Moses and honored the Torah as binding, but not other writings such as the Prophets or other beliefs that had developed in the Second Temple period, such as the bodily resurrection and angels. As those in control of wealth and power, they had little interest in the hope for a messiah to come and overthrow the government to establish a new kingdom.
sage A teacher of wisdom.
salvation The act of God by which he saves humans from their sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Samaritans Samaria was the area north of Judea and south of Galilee in ancient Israel but was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BC. There were centuries of conflict and hatred between the Samaritans, who considered themselves Jews, and the other Jewish people of the surrounding areas. The Samaritans had their own version of the Pentateuch, along with their own temple on Mount Gerizim. By Jesus’s time the Jews avoided the Samaritans completely (John 4:9), even traveling long distances to avoid going through their region.
Sanhedrin The top Jewish council that decided matters of Jewish law. In Jesus’s day it was made up of seventy-one members from the high priests, elders, and scribes.
scribes A Jewish professional class who taught, copied, and interpreted the law.
Scripture(s) A term used by Jewish people in both pre-Christian times and early Christianity to describe the Jewish sacred writings, before the New Testament was finalized. Now it is used by many Christians to refer to the Christian Bible as a whole.
scrolls Rolled pieces of parchment containing writing.
Second Temple period The period from 515 BC to AD 70 (or AD 135), from the Jews’ return from exile to the destruction of the temple, which provides the complex background to Jesus and early Christianity.
Septuagint The Greek version of the Old Testament produced in the last three centuries BC. Based on the tradition that it was translated from Hebrew to Greek by seventy (or seventy-two) scholars, the title is abbreviated as “LXX” (the Roman numeral for seventy).
seven signs in John The seven miraculous signs of Jesus pointing to his being sent by God with divine power on earth, as recorded in John’s Gospel: changing water into wine (2:1–11), healing of the nobleman’s son (4:46b–54), healing of the lame man (5:2–47), feeding of the five thousand (6:1–15), walking on water (6:16–21), healing of the man born blind (9:1–41), and raising of Lazarus (11:1–44).
Shema The confession from Deuteronomy 6:4 that “the Lord our God is one,” which Jesus reiterates as the greatest biblical command (Matt. 22:35–40; Mark 12:28–31; Luke 10:25–28).
shepherds Those who are responsible for overseeing the church in general, including the preaching of the Word. See also elders; pastors.
sin Failure to follow God’s moral law or will. Because of sin, humans are separated from God and condemned to eternal punishment, unless they receive his salvation through Jesus Christ.
Son of David The descendant of the great king of Israel, David; Jesus took on this title to indicate that he was the final fulfillment of God’s promise to David to restore his kingdom.
Son of God A messianic title used for Jesus throughout the New Testament. He is the unique, beloved Son of God, who is not created but who shares the divine identity; who is the final and true arbiter of God’s knowledge and wisdom in the world; who is the Messiah, the fulfillment of all the promises, hopes, and images of God’s saving work in the world; and who exists in a unique father-son relationship with the God of Israel.
Son of Man Jesus’s self-designation that alludes to Daniel 7, portraying himself as God’s anointed king sent to reign forever.
source criticism Source criticism seeks to understand the order in which the Gospels were written and how they relate to one another literarily.
spiritual gifts Gifts or abilities given by the Holy Spirit for the benefit of the whole church and not necessarily miraculous in nature (though some are).
spiritual warfare The Christian battle against the spiritual forces of darkness (Eph. 6:10–12).
Stoicism A Greek philosophy that found virtue in accepting fate and mastering one’s passions so that one might live in accordance with the logical ordering of the universe.
substitutionary atonement The doctrine that Christ takes on himself through his death the legal penalty that has been rightly declared over sinful humanity.
super-apostles Outwardly impressive and skilled teachers (2 Cor. 11:5; 12:11) who taught a different Jesus and gospel from what Paul taught (2 Cor. 11:4).
symbolic world The system of values, habits, and beliefs that operates at a conscious and subconscious level.
synagogue The local place where Jews gather to worship, pray, and study the Hebrew Bible.
Synoptic Gospels The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. These are the three canonical Gospels that have a clear literary relationship, often containing stories and sayings that overlap significantly, and likely depending on one another’s writing at some level.
systematic theology The study of biblical teaching on a range of different topics that seeks a coherent account of them.
tabernacle A portable tent that acted as the most important place of worship for Israel before the temple in Jerusalem because it housed the ark of the covenant, where God’s presence rested among the Israelites.
Talmuds Written collections of various rabbinical teachings and sayings, called the Mishnah, with later expansions and sayings, called the Gemara.
Targums Translations of the Hebrew Scriptures into Aramaic, the language commonly used in Palestine and probably what Jesus spoke.
teachers In the church, those who are skilled in explaining the Scriptures, like Apollos (Acts 18:24–28).
tetramorph A combination into one image of the Four Symbols of the Evangelists: Matthew (human), Mark (lion), Luke (ox), and John (eagle).
textual criticism The study of ancient texts that seeks to establish the most reliable version of their content and wording.
third heaven The highest segment of the heavenly realms, according to Paul’s cosmology, which he references in recounting his out-of-body experience (2 Cor. 12:1–5).
thorn in the flesh A personal physical ailment, moral weakness, or spiritual problem that Paul understands to be a “messenger of Satan” that torments him. He asks God to remove it from him. When God does not, Paul learns that his own weaknesses and sufferings allow Christ’s power to shine (2 Cor. 12:7b–10).
Torah A Hebrew term meaning “covenantal instructions,” referring to the law of Moses. It is also often used as a synonym for “Pentateuch.”
transfiguration The event in which Jesus takes Peter, James, and John onto a mountain, becomes radiant, speaks with Moses and Elijah, and is declared the Son of God (Matt. 17:1–8; Mark 9:2–8; Luke 9:28–36).
Trinity The term used of God in the doctrine that God is both one and three, existing as one God in three persons: Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
triumphal procession For Romans, a victory march led by a conquering general or emperor with the defeated leaders brought behind, bound and sometimes naked, to be mocked and abused by the crowd and often executed at the end. Paul applied this image to Christ, using it to depict true apostleship: the triumph of Christ over the formerly unbelieving Paul will lead to his mockery, abuse, and ultimately to his execution.
union with Christ Paul’s theology of being joined to Christ (“in Christ,” “with Christ,” “through Christ,” etc.), best understood through four images: (1) union refers to a profound spiritual connection to Christ through mutual indwelling by the Spirit; (2) participation refers to sharing in the key events of Christ’s narrative, such as his suffering, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and glorification; (3) identification refers to shifting our allegiance from Adam and the realm of sin and death to Christ and his realm of righteousness and peace; (4) incorporation refers to being members together in a corporate entity shaped by Christ.
universalism The belief that all people will ultimately go to heaven even if they don’t repent and believe in Jesus.
Upper Room Discourse Jesus’s teaching of his disciples the core truths of the Christian faith during the Passover meal (John 13–17), centering on sacrificial love and relational unity.
vellum A lambskin or calfskin that has been treated so that it can be used as a fine writing surface.
Vulgate The late fourth-century Latin translation of the Bible made by Jerome, which became the official Bible used by the Roman Catholic Church.
wisdom literature Ancient or biblical literature generally focused on moral living, virtue, and the meaning of life, like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.
works of the law Works, like circumcision, done by Jews both to obey the law and to serve as identity markers showing covenant membership in Israel. Paul emphasizes in Galatians that only by faith in Christ, not by works of the law (whether human performance or identity), can someone be made right with God.
wormwood A bitter herb that can poison water and is associated with the exodus plagues.
Zealots A Jewish group that focused on Jewish political independence from their Roman oppressors, often engineering assassinations, kidnappings, and Robin Hood–like attacks and thefts on Roman caravans.