| A guide to biblical terms and concepts |
As generally understood by the Churches of Christ |
As generally understood by evangelical Christianity |
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| Baptism |
(Water) baptism is necessary because it is the means by which the believer receives the forgiveness of sins and thus salvation. |
When we come to trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. Acts 11:15-17; 1 Cor. 12:13
As new believers we are then baptized in water, which bears testimony to our true, actual, or Holy Spirit baptism. Acts 10:47-48
Thus like the elements used in the Lord's Supper, water baptism is a sign or symbol to the spiritual reality. |
| A Believer/ Christian |
A person who has obeyed God's requirements for salvation (i.e. hear, believe, repent, confess, and be "water" baptized), and who lives and worships according to the pattern and teachings given in the New Testament. |
A Christian is a sinner who has been saved by grace through faith and trust in the person of Jesus Christ. Good works demonstrated in the life of the believer do not save, but rather are the result of their salvation, not the cause of it. In other words, the work of salvation has been accomplished at the cross by Christ. Thus believers work from salvation, not for it. |
| The Church of Christ |
A religious movement that rejects or minimizes the doctrine of the fall and the teaching that man has an inherent predisposition to sin and to do evil.
Believes that we can receive the redeeming work of Christ through our positive response to the moral and religious requirements of the New Testament. |
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| Evangelical Christianity |
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Historically refers to Protestant (Christian) churches that believe:
a) In the supreme authority of the scripture in doctrinal matters of the church.
b) That salvation of the believer is by faith in the person of Jesus Christ alone. |
| Faith/ belief |
One of the '5 steps of salvation'; To accept as true the facts of the Christian faith; To believe as true that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. |
Trust, belief, or conviction; To place trust or reliance upon; "Believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." Acts 16:31 |
| The Fall of Man |
The fall of man is the story of how sin was first introduced into the world through Adam and Eve.
Note: The fall of Adam did not adversely affect man's moral and religious abilities to prevent him from saving himself by being obedient to God's commands for salvation. |
Because of the fall of Adam, man is a sinner by nature and has a prior inclination or predispositon to sin and to do evil.
Man therefore lacks the moral and religious ability to save himself by the principle of keeping commands and laws. Thus his only hope for salvation is trusting in what Jesus has already accomplished for us at the cross, versus what we in our fallen humanity are unable to do for ourselves. |
| Forgiveness |
Jesus Christ died the cross, abolishing the Old Testiment and bringing in the New Testiment. A person can now obey the requirements of the New Testament to receive the forgiveness of sins. |
God forgives the believing sinner on the basis that on the cross Jesus Christ took upon Himself all of God's wrath and anger for our sin. In other words, God punished Jesus (our substitute) so that He would not have to punish us. |
| Justice, Grace, and Mercy |
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Justice is getting what is earned or deserved. Because God is holy and just, He must punish our sin- i.e. Justice.
Mercy is not getting what is earned or deserved. Since 'the wages of sin is death' and 'the soul that sins shall die', God punished Jesus as our substitute so that He would not have to punish us.
Grace is getting what is not earned or deserved. Eternal life is a gift, not by the economy of works. Rather it is God's free gift to us, brought to us by Christ, and received by faith. |
| Justification |
To be made righteous.
"Just-as-if-we-had-never sinned." |
To show, to be declared, or to be deemed, as righteous.
Biblical justification is the process of how an unjust person is ultimately shown, declared, or deemed as righteous. God is both "just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." Rom 3:26 |
| Justification by faith alone |
A doctrine rejected by the Church of Christ and understood to mean 'salvation by merely believing the facts of the Christian faith' or in other words, "easy believe-ism." |
Being deemed or declared as righteous by believing that Jesus Christ (our substitute) received in His body ALL of God's wrath, anger, and righteous indignation for OUR sin, that He died on the cross, paid the penalty for our sin, and that God raised Him from the dead. |
| The New Testament Pattern or "Patternism" |
A Church of Christ doctrine which takes an Old Testament approach to salvation (i.e. doing the right thing, the right way, for the right reason) and applies it to the New Testament- in other words, 'New Testament Law keeping.' |
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The Purpose of the Old Testament Law (and the rational behind the Church of Christ doctrine of "Patternism") |
As God gave the Israelites the Old Testament Law so the people could know what they had to do to please God and go to heaven, so God has given us the New Testament.
Sometimes called 'following the gospel', 'meeting God's conditions of pardon', 'the 5 step plan of salvation', patternism is a doctrine teaching that salvation is by New Testament Law-keeping. |
The purpose of the Law was never meant to save anyone, but rather to show us that we are sinners in need of a Savior.
In other words, the Law's ministry was to magnify our sin to such a degree that we would despair of ever trying to save ourselves by our own works or goodness and say, 'God, if this is your standard for righteousness and holiness, I can not do it. Please have mercy on me and forgive me through Jesus Christ.' (Gal. 3:21, 22, & 24) |
| The Purpose of works |
Simply believing (as true) or having faith is not in itself a sufficient condition for salvation.
A person must also cooperate with the necessary moral and religious requirements of the New Testament. |
Good works and obedience are only the practical result of the believer's new spiritual birth, which occurs the moment a person places faith in the Saviot for salvation.
Thus being born-again, the believer's good works do not save, but are rather are the practical result of new spiritual birth and salvation. (Eph. 2:8-10) |
| Regeneration |
Since the Church of Christ generally or traditionally does not believe in the dynamics of the fall, it may be difficult for them to understand the need for new spiritual birth and regeneration.
In other words, the natural man only needs to receive the forgiveness of sin by being obedient to the New Testiment command of being (water) baptized, thus attaining or obtaining innocence. |
New spiritual birth, to be born from above, or being born again.
Living the Christian life is not simply a matter of making the natural man become obedient to the right moral and religious commands of the New Testament. Rather God gives New birth and new spiritual life to those who place faith and trust in Jesus Christ. |
| Repentance |
To sorrow for wrong doing, to seek forgiveness, to make resolution to not to repeat the offence.
"Turning from sin" or "self-reformation" |
Biblical repentance means a post-thought, after-thought, conversion, or a change of mind.
It literally means if you were going to do one thing and then changed your mind, you would have then repented.
Anyone who has stopped trusting in themselves and in their own moral goodness or religious obedience and trusts in Jesus Christ alone to take them to heaven, has repented and has "changed their mind" about what they once believed. |
| The righteousness that is required for salvation |
That righteousness which is obtained by 'doing the right thing, the right way, for the right reason.'
"works" righteousness (Rom. 10:5) |
The gift of perfect righteousness that is given (credited, imputed) to us by God, brought to us by Christ, and is received by faith in Him.
"faith" righteousness (Rom. 10:1-12; Phil. 3:1-9) |
| Salvation by faith in Jesus Christ |
When a person's belief in God and the Bible causes them to be obedient to the moral and religious requirements of the New Testament, they will have been 'saved by faith.' |
It is YOU believing the promise that Jesus Christ came, died on the cross, paid the full penalty for YOUR sin, that He was buried, and that God raised Him from the dead. (1 Cor. 15:3, 4, & 11; Galatians 2:15, 16)
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