Glossary

Adoption

God’s act of receiving those united to Christ as his children, granting relationship, inheritance, access, and the Spirit’s witness.

Affection

A responsive inclination of desire, delight, grief, admiration, or aversion. Holy affections are shaped by truth and directed toward God and goodness.

Assurance

Confidence that one belongs to Christ, grounded first in God’s promise and Christ’s work, and confirmed by the Spirit and fruit of grace.

Atonement

Christ’s saving work, especially his death, by which he bears sin, satisfies divine justice, reconciles enemies, and secures redemption.

Communion with God

Relational fellowship with the Father, through the Son, by the Holy Spirit, expressed in faith, prayer, worship, obedience, and enjoyment.

Conviction

The Spirit’s truthful exposure of sin and need, ordinarily specific and leading toward confession, Christ, and change.

Covenant

A solemn, divinely established relationship with promises and obligations. Biblical covenants structure God’s redemptive dealings and culminate in the new covenant in Christ.

Discipleship

Following Jesus as Lord and learner, being formed by his word and Spirit within the church into obedient, reproducing faith.

Faith

Receiving, resting on, and trusting Jesus Christ and God’s promise in him. Saving faith is living and becomes fruitful through love.

Fear of God

Reverent awe, submission, and moral seriousness before the holy God. For believers it is filial rather than condemning terror.

Glorification

God’s final transformation of believers at resurrection into perfected holiness and embodied likeness to Christ.

Grace

God’s free, undeserved favor and effective saving action toward sinners in Christ.

Idolatry

Treating a created person, thing, experience, or ideal as ultimate, seeking from it what belongs to God.

Justification

God’s legal declaration that the sinner is righteous in Christ, received through faith apart from works.

Legalism

Using law, rules, performance, or religious identity to establish righteousness, control God, or rank oneself above others.

Means of grace

God-appointed practices through which he ordinarily strengthens faith and forms believers, especially the word, prayer, gathered church, and the ordinances. Evangelicals differ over terminology and sacramental detail.

Meditation

Sustained, prayerful attention to Scripture and God’s works in order to understand, remember, believe, worship, and obey.

Mortification

Spirit-enabled putting to death of sinful practices and desires on the basis of union with Christ.

Regeneration

The Holy Spirit’s sovereign work of giving new spiritual life, often called new birth.

Repentance

Grace-enabled turning from sin to God through confession, faith, changed direction, and appropriate restitution.

Sanctification

God’s progressive work, in which believers actively participate by the Spirit, conforming them to Christ in holiness.

Spiritual disciplines

Intentional biblical practices such as Scripture, prayer, fasting, worship, fellowship, giving, and service. They are means, not merit.

Union with Christ

The Spirit-created bond by which believers share in Christ and receive the benefits of his death, resurrection, righteousness, life, and inheritance.

Worship

The whole-person and corporate response of reverence, praise, trust, obedience, and offering to God’s glory and grace.