religiousTerms

Glossary of Religious Terms

The following definitions of words and phrases give their meaning as used by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Team. They are offered for the convenience of the news media covering meetings conducted by Team members, to avoid possible confusion with terms used in various religions.

Abase - to live in poverty
Abound - to live in prosperity
Admonition - instruction
Affliction - pain in the body or soul
Ambassador - one who is appointed to interpret the mind of his ruler to those in a foreign land
Apostle - an appointed, or special messenger
Assurance - disappearance of all doubts; sureness
Atonement - an act that brings enemies together as friends
Beget - to cause to be born
Begotten - caused to be born
Believe - to trust; to rely upon
Beseech - to plead strongly
Bestowed - given to one as a gift
Blessed - happy; highly favored with God
Born again - given spiritual life by God
Book of Life - God's list of believers
Carnal - that which is controlled by physical desires
Charity - love
Christ - the Anointed Son of God
Commendeth - makes a public demonstration; reveals
Commitment - entrusting; giving over one's life to God
Condemnation - verdict of guilt
Confess - to admit openly; to acknowledge agreement with God's Word
Constrain - to control or compel
Conversation - way of living
Comforter - one who imparts strength through consolation
Corruptible - perishable; that which can be made rotten or spoiled
Damnation - judgment
Delude - to mislead
Destroyer - one who wrecks that which is built
Destruction - ruin
Devil - a fallen personality who is against God, good, and Christians; sometimes called Satan- a deceiver and tempter
Discernment - ability to see into a problem, to understand why things differ
Disciples - those who follow so they can learn
Doctrine - a teaching
Edify - to build up; to strengthen
Elect (noun) - those chosen by God
Enmity - positive hatred against another
Evil one - same as devil
Exceeding abundantly - far beyond and above
Expiation - the compensation or satisfaction that fully makes right a wrong relationship
Faint - to lose heart; to weaken; to give up
Faith - confidence in something or someone (especially Christ himself); trust
Fear of God - striking awe before a God to whom one is responsible
Fellowship - enjoyment of something with another person
Flesh - the self that wants one's own desires rather than God's
Forbearance - putting up with the faults of others
Foreigner - one whose citizenship is elsewhere
Fornication - sex outside marriage
Glory of God - all God's attributes displayed in their perfection
Gospel - the good news of how Christ, by His death and resurrection, took away our sin and offers us the gift of eternal life
Grace - the undeserved favor of God
Heart - the real self; the inner man with his affections
Holiness - God-like state of being a complete person, blameless in character, pure in personality
Holy Ghost - the Holy Spirit; the third person of the One God who exists in three equal persons
Impute - to credit one person with something that belongs to another
Imperishable - something that cannot be ruined or changed for the worse
Iniquity - something that does not meet requirements; a condition of not being right
Inner man - the unseen part of a person that lives on after the body is dead; innermost being or self
Inspiration - God's act of imparting something to one's mind
Intercession - prayer or pleading on behalf of another
Jesus - the given name of Him who came into the world to save sinners. The name means “Savior,” the promised Messiah.
Joint-heirs - those to whom it is given to share equally an inheritance or estate
Judge - to decide on the basis of the knowledge we have
Justified - declared and regarded as being in right relationship with God
Law - the demand and expectation of God
Lord - the title of One who is the highest and final authority
Lord Jesus Christ - this phrase speaks of the three-fold nature of the Savior- as man (Jesus); as God (Christ); and as sovereign (Lord)
Manifest - to show openly, to put on display
Meekness - the gentle spirit that accepts the will and right of God as his own
Messiah - God's appointed One, set apart to deliver His people
Ministry - act of supplying in service the needs of others
Nurture - the discipline that regulates character
Ordained - set apart for a special reason or purpose
Overcome - to prevail; conquer; win out; master
Pastor - a minister who nourishes his people with God's Word
Peradventure - perhaps, once in a while
Perdition - state or place of everlasting misery and loss
Perfection - making a person grow up or be complete; maturing
Perish - to be separated from God
Perverse - morally twisted out of the right shape
Pilgrims - those who temporarily travel through a foreign or strange land
Powers - those who can cause things to take place; authorities
Pre-eminence - state of being first in order, having no other equal
Prevent - to go ahead of (early English); precede
Principalities - those who are in power and exercise rule
Prophet - one who speaks on behalf of God by inspiration
Prophetic - having to do with prophecy; that is, the announcement to persons of things they cannot learn by any other way
Propitiation - act of making the right place and terms so that people who are enemies can get together and both be satisfied
Purify - to make absolutely clean
Quick - living
Quicken - to make something come to life
Reconcile - to bring together as friends those who were separated as enemies
Redemption - the releasing or deliverance of something at a cost which makes that thing the possession of the purchaser
Regenerate - to make over or to make new again
Remission - forgiveness, the removing of a debt
Repent - to turn about in thinking and acting
Reproof - conviction of sin; exposing of error
Revelation - taking away blindness so that the truth can be seen
Reverence - a special regard for another which shows honor, responsibility and willingness to be subject to him, especially to God
Righteousness - doing all that is called for in the law; quality of being right or just
Saint - a person cleansed from sin and set apart for God
Salvation - state of being rescued; made safe
Sanctify - to cleanse from sin and dedicate to God
Satan - same as devil
Saved - rescued, made safe, taken out of danger, delivered, found and kept
Savor - a certain flavor, a distinctive quality
Sin - violation of God's law by failure to fulfill his requirements
Sojourners - those living temporarily in any place
Soul - the person or unseen one who lives in the body but can also survive the death of the body
Strait - narrow; confined; restricted
Suffer - (Biblical English) to allow or permit
Supplication - asking with great desire
Unbelievers - those who refuse to put their confidence and faith in the Savior and trust Him to take away their sins
Verily - honestly, truly
Wickedness - the practice of ways that are displeasing to God and harmful to man
Witness - one who tells what he has seen or experienced
World - the world system, usually as in the control of evil and wicked powers, together with their ungodly ways
Wrath - strong anger; rage; indignation