Glossary

apocalyptic (from Greek apokalypsis, “revelation”): a distinctive type of ancient Jewish and Christian literature that uses symbols and strange imagery to describe end-times events or heavenly realities. Prominent biblical examples of apocalypses are the books of Daniel and Revelation.

Aramaic: a Semitic language related to Hebrew, adopted by Jews after their exile in Babylon and spoken by most Jews in first-century Palestine.

brothers: a term used by Christians to refer to fellow Christians and by Jews to refer to fellow Jews. In most contexts its meaning is inclusive of both men and women.

Christ (Greek Christos): see Messiah.

Christology: doctrine or understanding of the identity and mission of Jesus Christ.

covenant: a sacred kinship bond between God and his people, which God established with Abraham and later with his descendants, the people of Israel, through Moses (Acts 3:25). Through his passion and resurrection, Jesus established the new and eternal covenant that fulfills the old (see Jer 31:31–33; Mark 14:24).

Diaspora: the “scattering” of Jews outside their homeland of Palestine, which began with the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles. By the first century AD, there were communities of Diaspora Jews in most cities throughout the Roman Empire.

divine passive: the use of the passive form of a verb to imply that God is the subject of the action, as in Acts 13:49.

ecclesiology: doctrine or understanding of the Church.

eisegesis: reading into a text a meaning that is not actually there but originates from the interpreter’s own ideas or biases.

eschatological: having to do with the last things: God’s decisive intervention in history to bring the former age to an end and inaugurate the new and final age of salvation history. For the New Testament, the end has already begun with Jesus’ passion and resurrection. See sidebar, p. 52.

Gentile: a person of non-Jewish descent. Much of Acts is concerned with God’s extension of the blessings of salvation to the Gentiles.

Gnosticism: a common early Christian heresy claiming that matter is evil and that salvation comes through gnōsis (knowledge).

God-fearer: a Gentile who believed in the one God of Israel and adopted some Jewish practices but without actually becoming a Jewish convert, like Cornelius in Acts 10 and Lydia in Acts 16. Also called a worshiper of God.

Hellenists: Jews who had lived outside of Palestine in Hellenistic cultures and who spoke Greek, some of whom had immigrated back to Palestine.

inclusio: a literary technique in which similar material or phrasing is placed at the beginning and end of a section, forming a frame around it.

intertestamental writings: Jewish writings composed between the periods of the Old and New Testaments (roughly 400 BC to AD 50).

Jerusalem Council: a gathering of the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, narrated in Acts 15, to decide a question of major importance for the future of the Church: do Gentile Christian converts need to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses?

Judaizers: early Christians who held that Gentile converts need to keep the law of Moses to be saved, including having the males circumcised. The early Church rejected this claim at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.

kerygma: the core or essential content of the good news preached by Christians, which has intrinsic power to awaken faith in the hearers.

Messiah (from Hebrew mashiakh, “anointed one”): the anointed descendant of King David promised by God, who would come to restore the kingdom of Israel and for whom Jews waited with expectant hope. The Christian proclamation is that Jesus is the Messiah.

monotheism: the belief that there is only one God—the foundational doctrine of both Judaism and Christianity.

Nazirite vow: a form of consecration to God for Israelite laypeople that included abstention from alcohol and from cutting one’s hair. See sidebar, p. 286.

parousia: Jesus’ promised return in glory at the end of the world (Acts 1:11).

presbyter (Greek presbyteros, “elder”): church leaders, often mentioned in Acts, who were appointed by apostles to lead local churches. This term gradually came to be understood as signifying a share in Christ’s priestly ministry; hence it is the origin of the English word “priest.”

prophet like Moses: a future wonder-working prophet and leader promised by God in Deut 18:15; the early Church proclaimed that Jesus is that prophet (see Acts 3:22–23).

rhetoric: the art of persuasive speech or writing, a highly prized skill in the ancient world.

Sadducees: members of the Jewish priestly aristocracy, who were often among the early Christians’ fiercest opponents. They accepted only the Torah as Scripture and denied the resurrection of the dead, reward or punishment after death, and the existence of angels and demons. See sidebar p. 337.

Sanhedrin: the supreme judicial council of the Jewish people, consisting of seventy members, including elders, priests, and scribes, plus the high priest as chair.

Septuagint (abbreviated LXX): a translation of the Hebrew Bible made around 250 BC by Jews in Alexandria, Egypt.

synoptic (Greek for “seeing together”): a term referring to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke because they contain very similar material.

theophany (Greek for “divine appearance”): a perceptible manifestation of God’s holy presence, which causes human awe, fear, and trembling.

type: a biblical person, thing, or event at an earlier stage of salvation history prefiguring the way God accomplishes his future purposes, especially the culmination of his plan in Jesus Christ.

Way: the earliest name for Christianity, alluding to the fact that following Jesus is a whole way of life. See Acts 9:2.

worshiper of God: see God-fearer.