Biblical Dictionary

The divine condescension by which God adapts revelation to human cognitive and linguistic capacity.

The eschatological view that the 'thousand years' of Revelation 20 is a symbolic period representing the present church age.

The hermeneutical principle that Scripture interprets Scripture, and that obscure passages are to be read in light of clearer ones.

The view that the moral law has no binding authority over the believer under grace.

A collection of Jewish writings included in the Septuagint and Vulgate but excluded from the Hebrew canon and the Protestant Old Testament.

The original manuscripts of the biblical books as first composed by their human authors under divine inspiration.

The post-fall covenant in which God promises salvation through Christ to all who believe, administered through successive historical economies.

Roman Catholic designation for the books of the Apocrypha, regarded as a second tier of canonical Scripture.

The critical explanation or interpretation of a biblical text, drawing out its meaning from the text itself.

The doctrine that Adam acted as the legal representative of all humanity in the covenant of works, and Christ as the representative of the elect in the covenant of grace.

The theory and methodology of biblical interpretation; the principles governing how texts are to be understood.

The doctrine that in the one person of Jesus Christ, two complete natures — divine and human — are united without confusion, change, division, or separation.

The doctrine that Scripture, in its original autographs, is without error in all that it affirms.

The forensic act of God by which sinners are declared righteous on the basis of Christ's imputed righteousness, received through faith alone.

The common dialect of Greek spoken throughout the Hellenistic world from c. 300 BC to AD 300, in which the New Testament was written.

The primary or most authoritative passage in Scripture for establishing a particular doctrine.

The authoritative Hebrew text of the Old Testament as preserved and vocalized by the Masoretes (c. AD 500–1000).

The mutual indwelling and interpenetration of the three persons of the Trinity, expressing their perfect unity in distinction.

The atoning work of Christ by which the wrath of God against sin is appeased and divine favour is restored.

The 'fuller sense' of Scripture — a deeper meaning intended by God but not fully conscious to the human author.

The ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, produced in Alexandria from the 3rd century BC onward.

The Reformation principle that Scripture alone is the supreme, sufficient, and final authority for Christian faith and practice.

Greek title meaning 'God-bearer' or 'Mother of God', affirmed at the Council of Ephesus (431) to protect the unity of Christ's person.

The interpretive method that identifies persons, events, and institutions in the Old Testament as divinely intended prefigurations of New Testament realities.