Studied by 40 people
Agape Feast
a gathering for a common meal in which the Lords Supper was shared.
Antilegomena
“being spoken against” refers to the new testament books whose place in the canon of the New Testament was questioned by some in the early church.
Apocrypha
“hidden”; fourteen book in the Septuagint but not in the Hebrew Bible; accepted as authoritative by most Christians except Protestants.
Aramaic
the native language of Most people in the Jesus’ time in the Jewish homelands, derived from Hebrew.
Baptism
a ritual washing of purification in Jewish circles; in Christianity, a rite by which a person is joined with Jesus Christ and enters the Christian community.
Canon
from the Greek work for a reed used as a measuring stick; refers to the authoritative collection of texts in the Old/and or New Testament
Christ
Greek word for an “anointed one”;translates the Hebrew “Messiah”
Deacon
from Greek diakonos, Translated “minister” or servant; term later referred to specific church official, but the role and functions are fairly undefined in New Testament times.
Denarius
the standard coin of the Roman Empire; the wage paid to a common laborer for a day’s work.
Diaspora
greek word that means “scattering”; refers to the Jews who were scattered through the Roman Empire prior to and during the time of the New Testament.
Epistle
related to the Latin word for “letter”; a term used for New Testament letters.
Eschatology
“study of last things”;deals with events surrounding the return of Christ, the final Judgement, and the end of the world.
Essene
holiness sect of Judaism who withdrew from social life during the Second Temple period out of frustration with Hasmonean squabbles over the priesthood; teachings are represented in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Gentile
a non-Israelite or non-Jew; refers to all people not decsecned from the 12 tribes of Jacob/Israel.
Gnosticism
heretical view which came to full flowering in the second and third centuries A.D.; taught that salvation come by curing a secret knowledge(gnosis in greek); views physical matter as evil; resulted either in ascetic withdrawal from the world or an overnight indulgences in it.
God-Fearer
a gentile or non-Jew drawn t the monotheism and/or ethical teachings judaism but who did not convert to Judaism.
Hellenistic
a word which refers to Greek culture including languages, law, art, religion, games, and drama; spread around the Mediterranean world by the conquest of Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C. by and large adopted throughout the Roman Empire.
Hermeneutics
a greek world for interpretation and translation; functions as a technical term for principles used to understand and apply a text.
Homolegoumena
twenty New Testament writings constantly affirmed as biblical through the process of canonization.
Immanuel
a name for Jesus from the birth narrative in Mathew (1:23) meaning “God is with us”; may also come in English as Emanuel
Incarnation
“enfleshment”; term to describe God becoming human in the person of Jesus
Judiazers
term for those who impose the Old Testament or jewish laws on old testament believers; term is pejorative and unfortunate, since the majority of New Testament Christians were Jewish.
Justification
a legal or forensic term for being declared as righteous; being put in a right relationship with God; a favorite metaphor of Saint Paul.
Koine
the Greek word for common; refers to the style of Greek that was used throughout the Roman Empire in the first Century; New Testament is written in this form of greek.
Messiah
derives from Hebrew for “anointed one” a designation for a kingly in the line of David; used for the Kingly deliverer expected by the Jewish people; equivalent to the Greek Christos
Mishnah
the oral Law commenting the torah that was put into writing around AD200
Parable
stories told by Jesus using common metaphors to describe what “the kingdom of God is like”
“Pax Romana”
“the peace of Rome”; used to describe the stability, law and order of the Roman Empire from the time when Augustus(Octavian) secured control of the Empire in 31 B.C.
Pastoral Epistles
1 Timothy, Titus, and 2 Timothy
Pentateuch
the first five books of the Hebrew Bible(Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Number, Deuteronomy); see torah
Predestination
term the New Testament uses to assure believers that God had chosen them before time began.
Prison Epistles
the four letters of Paul in which he identifies himself as a prisoner(Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon)
Prophecy
normally misunderstood simply in terms of predicting the future, the biblical term means to speak Gods word and will about the past, present, or the future; emphasis is on Gods work in the past and on applying his will in the present situation
Propitiation
the gift of and place where Jesus by his death on the cross appeases the wrath of God.
Q Source
a supposed document containing sayings of Jesu that was never used as a source of the writte’s of Matthew and Luke. The Q refers to the German word Quelle meaning “source”.
Rabbi
a “teacher” in the Jewish religious tradition, at times itinerant, not associated in antiquity with a synagogue.
Redeem
to “purchase” or “buy back”; a metaphor from the language of commerce and particularly, slavery.
Sabbath
the sixth day; from sundown Friday to sundown on Saturday.
Sadducee
Jewish sect controlling the priesthood and accepting only the Torah as authoritative.
Samaritan
from the central hill country between Judea and Galilee; on the margins of Judaism with its own temple and versions of the Pentateuch.
Sanctification
related to the word for “holiness”; in a narrow sense describes what God does to make us holy in Christ'; in a broader sense describes the ways in which believers are called to live in response to Gods action.
Sanhedrin
an occasional gathering of Judean elites affirming decisions in capital cases.
Septuagint
the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible done in Egypt c. 200 B.C. supposedly by seventy scholars; it was in the Bible of early gentile Christianity.
Synoptic
literally “with one perspective”; used to describe the common story line and is oft-times verbal agreement in the first three gospels
Textual Criticism
the study that deals with discrepancies between copies of the New Testament texts.
Torah
Hebrew word for the five Books of Moses, Genesis through Deuteronomy at the beginning of the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible; from the Hebrew word for “instruction” or “revelation” and often mistranslated as “law”
Transmission
the process by which the texts of the New Testament were copied and handed down from generation to generation.
Variant Reading
a reading which defers from another copy of the same text.
Yahweh
the personal name by which the God of the Old Testament identifies himself; explicitly revealed to Moses at the burning bush.
Zealots
political revolutionaries opposed to Hellenization and Roman occupation; led the revolt against Rome
