Bible Glossary

Abraham (originally Abram) is the founding figure of Israel. God called him to leave his homeland with the promise of land, descendants and blessing for all peoples. Jews, Christians and Muslims all trace religious heritage to him.

• Study Genesis 12:1

Acts (short for Acts of the Apostles) is the sequel to Luke’s Gospel. It traces the church spreading from Jerusalem outward after Jesus’ resurrection, with a special focus on Peter and Paul.

Apocalyptic literature uses visions, symbols and dramatic images (beasts, numbers, cosmic battles) to speak about God’s judgment and renewal. Daniel and Revelation are the clearest biblical examples; the language is symbolic, not literal weather forecasting.

In the New Testament, ‘apostle’ refers especially to the twelve disciples Jesus chose, and to Paul. More broadly it can describe anyone sent as a representative with a message.

Baptism is a Christian rite that uses water as a sign of cleansing, dying and rising with Christ, and belonging to God’s people. Different traditions practise it differently (infants or believers; pouring or immersion) but all see it as deeply significant.

‘Canon’ comes from a word for measuring rod. Different Christian traditions recognise slightly different canons — Protestants count 66 books, Catholics and Orthodox include additional books (sometimes called Deuterocanonical or Apocrypha).

• How the Bible came to us — Session 11

In the Bible, a covenant is a serious relationship between God and people, often with promises, responsibilities and signs. Major biblical covenants include those with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and the ‘new covenant’ in Christ.

Creation describes God bringing the universe into being and ordering it. Genesis 1–2 sets the foundational story; Psalms and prophets return to it; the New Testament speaks of Christ’s role in creation and the promise of a renewed creation.

Disciples in the Gospels were people who learned from and walked with Jesus, especially the twelve. The word is also used more broadly for any committed follower of Jesus.

Most of the New Testament after Acts consists of letters (epistles) written to early Christian communities or individuals. They were written for real situations and read aloud in gatherings.

The Babylonian exile (sixth century BC) saw many Israelites taken from Judah to Babylon. The experience shaped much of the Old Testament, especially the prophets and psalms. Themes of exile and return run throughout the Bible.

• Session 6: Exile, return and hope

‘Gospel’ first means the good news about who Jesus is and what he has done. It also names the four New Testament books — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — that tell his life, teaching, death and resurrection.

Grace describes God’s generous love that cannot be earned. The New Testament especially emphasises that salvation comes by grace through faith, not by religious performance.

The Holy Spirit is, in Christian belief, God present and at work — empowering, comforting, guiding and transforming. The Spirit is central to the New Testament from Pentecost onward.

Genesis describes humanity as made in God’s image. This is widely understood as a calling and a status: every person carries dignity, and humans are entrusted with caring responsibility for creation.

• Study Genesis 1:26

‘Israel’ refers both to the descendants of Jacob (renamed Israel) and to the land they came to inhabit. In Scripture it can mean a people, a nation, a kingdom — and, in some New Testament uses, the wider people of God.

Jesus of Nazareth was a first-century Jewish teacher whose life, teaching, death and resurrection are recounted in the four Gospels. Christians worship him as Saviour and Lord; the Bible’s entire story is shaped around him.

The ‘kingdom of God’ (or ‘kingdom of heaven’) is Jesus’ central message. It is God’s reign breaking into the world through Jesus — already at work, and still to be completed. It’s about a way of life, not a geographic state.

‘Law’ (Hebrew torah) refers to God’s teaching given through Moses, particularly the Ten Commandments and the wider instructions in Exodus through Deuteronomy. It includes moral, civil and ceremonial guidance.

‘Messiah’ (Hebrew) and ‘Christ’ (Greek) both mean ‘anointed one’. In Jewish hope, the Messiah was the promised king. The New Testament announces that Jesus is this Messiah, though in surprising ways.

The New Testament includes the four Gospels, Acts, the letters of Paul and others, and Revelation. Originally written in Greek between roughly AD 50 and AD 100.

The Old Testament tells the story of creation, Israel, the law, the kings, the prophets and the wisdom tradition. Most was written in Hebrew (with some Aramaic) over many centuries before Christ.

Parables are vivid, everyday stories — often surprising — designed to provoke thought rather than spell out simple lessons. Jesus used them constantly.

Passover commemorates the night God ‘passed over’ Israelite homes in Egypt during the final plague, and the exodus that followed. Jesus’ last supper was a Passover meal, giving the event lasting significance for Christians too.

Prophets in the Bible weren’t mainly fortune-tellers; they spoke God’s word into their own time — calling people to justice and faithfulness, comforting the broken, and looking ahead in hope.

The book of Psalms is a collection of 150 prayers and songs, including praise, lament, confession, thanksgiving and reflection. Psalms has been used in worship across Jewish and Christian history.

‘Redemption’ comes from the world of buying back what had been lost or sold (a person, a property). The Bible uses it for God’s rescue of Israel from Egypt and, in the New Testament, for Christ’s rescue of people through the cross.

Repentance is not simply feeling sorry; it’s turning to God and away from a way of life that doesn’t fit him. The New Testament treats it as good news, not a heavy weight.

Christians believe Jesus rose bodily from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. The Bible also speaks of a future resurrection of all people. Resurrection is central to Christian hope — not just life after death, but renewed life.

The Sabbath is a day set apart for rest and worship, grounded in God resting at creation and in Israel’s release from slavery. Jewish Sabbath is Saturday; most Christians mark Sunday as a parallel day of rest and worship.

Sacrifices in the Old Testament expressed gratitude, marked covenant relationship and dealt with sin. The New Testament reads Jesus’ death as the ultimate sacrifice that brings these patterns to fulfilment.

‘Salvation’ in the Bible is wider than ‘going to heaven when you die’. It includes rescue from sin and death, healing of brokenness, and being brought into right relationship with God and others — now and in the future.

The Septuagint (often abbreviated LXX) is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, made roughly from the third to first centuries BC. It was widely used in the first century — including by many New Testament writers.

‘Sin’ in the Bible is more than rule-breaking — it’s a way of being out of step with God, others, ourselves and creation. The Bible takes it seriously and offers a deep response in the work of Christ.

The temple was the place where, in the Old Testament, God’s presence dwelt among his people. Solomon built the first; it was rebuilt after the exile; destroyed in AD 70. The New Testament reapplies temple imagery to Christ, to believers and to the church.

Torah (Hebrew for ‘instruction’) refers to Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. It is foundational to Jewish life and to the rest of the Bible.

The Vulgate is a Latin translation of the Bible, completed in the late fourth and early fifth centuries AD largely by Jerome. It shaped Western Christianity for over a thousand years.

Wisdom in the Bible is practical: knowing how life works under God. ‘Wisdom literature’ includes Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes and parts of the Psalms.