An Annotated Glossary of Biblical Christianity

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[  Some entries are included for edification purposes though they do not represent a Biblical Christian viewpoint (e.g. Evolutionary Theory, Atheism, Antinomianism, Pantheism, etc.). The text of the definition will usually indicate such as non-Biblical.

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Please see Acknowledgements at the end of this Glossary. 

 

Abiding in Christ    Essential agreement with the teachings and commandments of Christ (1 John 2:24) that is maintained by resisting temptation to sin (1 John 2:1). "Abiding in Christ" is synonymous with "fellowship with Christ." The Christian is either (a) in carnality, resulting from personal sin, or (b) in fellowship with God, resulting from personal, private, confession of sin directly to God as a part of our priestly ministry. Thus, confession of personal sin—an admission of personal responsibility—is the basis for our restoration to fellowship with God and the filling by means of the Holy Spirit. Subsequently, the believer has the ability to be spiritually self-sustaining—to maintain fellowship with God. (Psalm 32:5; 1 John 1:9; Luke 15:18).

Abiding is both necessary and indispensable for spiritual growth and fruit production. (John 15:1-10). In fellowship with God, the believer's task is to mature, to grow in the knowledge of Biblical truth, and to handle the blessings and trials of life in occupation with Christ. Abiding in Christ is not a result of a pious life, acts of penance, asking for forgiveness, feeling sorry for sin, or any other emotion, feeling, or work. (see Sanctification and Spiritual (2))

Abrahamic Covenant – An unconditional covenant between God, as party of the first part, in favor of Abraham and his progeny, as the parties of the second part. This is a grace covenant from God, promising a progeny (Genesis 12:2), real estate for the Jewish race (Genesis 12:1; Genesis 13:14-15), a king from among Abraham’s progeny (Genesis 17:6), and a heritage of blessing (Genesis 12:3).  See Covenants to Israel.

Abraham's Bosom See Hades

Accommodation  The adaptation of eternal truth to the human frame of reference through verbal plenary inspiration, using figures of speech and other human language terms. God knew, at the time of the writing of the books of the Bible, all the scientific knowledge which would be accumulated throughout all time. However, He did not force the writers of the Scriptures to eliminate their contemporary idiomatic phraseology. For example: "The four corners of the earth .." (Revelation 7:1). God knew the earth was round (Isaiah 40:22; Job 26:10) but did not force John to change his vocabulary. Thus, God accommodated (or adapted) human language to divine revelation. God's use of anthropopathisms and anthropomorphisms is another example of the principle of accommodation. A modern example of accommodation is our use of the term sunrise. Sunrise is observational, but not scientific.  Many similar phrases occur in Scripture. The understanding of this principle serves as an important preservation of the integrity of God’s word.

Adam's Original Sin  See Fall of Man.

Adoption   In the Bible, adoption has more than one meaning.  It has the more usual meaning of placing one into the position of a legal child, as in the case of Esther's adoption (Esther 2:7;