GLOSSARY OF SCHOLARLY BIBLE TERMS

For the average Christian, it is hard enough trying to remember what basic theological terms like salvation, propitiation, and sanctification mean when they are explained from the pulpit. But some of you may decide that you might like to delve a little deeper into the Scripture utilizing the many scholarly resources that are available. That was my decision years ago, and it has proved to be a productive move for me personally and in teaching adult Bible classes.

But I soon found out that a major barrier to my understanding was that I really couldn't comprehend some of the abstruse terms that Bible scholars love to throw around or even some of the abbreviations found in the notes to good study Bibles. And I will admit that I am now throwing around many of those same terms around myself in my blogs, often without taking the time to define them. So I hope that the short alphabetized listing below may be of some aid to you in your future studies.

Amillennialism: One of the earliest views of the biblical prophecies and that view historically embraced by the Roman Catholic church and those Protestant denominations that arose directly from Catholicism. It teaches that many of the prophecies were fulfilled literally or figuratively by the first coming of Christ, the establishment of the Church, and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple. It treats the Book of Revelation as describing events beginning with Christ's first coming and culminating with His Second Coming and the Great Judgment.

Amanuensis: A fancy word for a secretary or scribe who took dictation from an author and may have even polished up the wording and shaped the whole work into a rhetorically accepted format. The use of Silvanus (also known as Silas) as the amanuensis for the composition of I Peter but not for II Peter easily explains the stylistic differences between those two writings.

Ancient Authorities: These are often cited in textual footnotes in study Bibles as being responsible for possible alternative readings of a passage. However, the term does not at all refer to actual people, but instead to early handwritten copies of the passage that differ somewhat in wording from the accepted reading.

Apocalyptic: A term used to denote the type of literature found in both the OT (Daniel, Zechariah) and the NT (Book of Revelation) and characterized by sometimes bizarre imagery used to symbolically describe future events.

Apocrypha: Writings of the OT period which are accepted by Roman Catholics as being part of the biblical canon but rejected by most Protestant denominations.

Aramaic: A language closely related to Hebrew. It was one of the most commonly spoken languages during the time of the New Testament.

Authorized Text: The standard Greek texts published between 1516 and 1633 and used as the basis for the King James Version of the New Testament. It was based on the majority reading of the early manuscripts available at the time. It is also sometimes called the Received Text, or Textus Receptus.

Autograph: The original handwritten manuscript of a document, whether written by the author himself or by his secretary at his dictation. Unfortunately, we do not possess any autographs for Scriptural writings.

B.C.E.: The present politically correct version of B.C. It stands for “Before the Common Era.” It certainly does not stand for “Before the Common Error” as one irate person tried to tell me.

Chiasm, or Chiasmus: An extremely pervasive literary technique present throughout the OT and NT in which ideas or words are presented in the form of a mirror image, i.e. the first half is basically repeated in the second half of a passage in reverse order. Example:

    a. Their delight is in

            b. the law of the LORD,

            b'. and on his law

    a'. they meditate day and night.

Cognate Languages: These are closely related languages such as, for example, Spanish and Portuguese. Often scholars resort to looking at cognate languages of Hebrew to help explain obscure words.

Consonantal Text: Hebrew was originally written with consonants only. The vowels were only added much later. Thus, some translation difficulties can be resolved by considering that perhaps different vowels were originally intended.

Cycles, Parallel: This, along with chiasm (see entry) is the most common literary form of repetition found in the Bible. The first example in the Bible is found in Genesis 1 where the domains of sky, water, and land are created in that order (1:1-10) concluded with mention of vegetation (1:12-13). This is followed by the population of sky, water, and land in the same order (1:14-28) again concluding with the provision of vegetation for food (1:29-31). This sort of parallelism also appears quite often in individual verses of Hebrew poetry.

Dispensationalism, or Dispensational Premillennialism: One of the major schools of thought attempting to explain the order of future events in the Last Days. It originated with the Plymouth Brethren in the 1800's and rapidly spread in popularity through the Scofield Bible notes. It has many unique features setting it apart from other branches of eschatology including a “secret coming” of Christ to rapture believers from the earth prior to a Great Tribulation. Its extremely literal approach to Scripture and a strictly chronological reading of Revelation lead to a very complex scheme of future events.

Epistles, General: Those NT letters not specifically addressed to any one church.

Epistles, Pastoral: Those NT letters addressed to individual leaders of congregations.

Eisegesis: Reading into a biblical text what you want or expect to see there.

Eschatology: The theological field of study centered on events of the Last Days.

Exegesis: The actual interpretation of a biblical text to bring out its true meaning.

Form Criticism: A school of Bible criticism that attempts to categorize biblical writings into systemized types and then compares any supposed example of that type with the “ideal” type, looking for deviations from the norm that might indicate an intrusion by another later author.

Former Prophets: The Jewish designation of the books that Christians would generally call the Historical Books.

hapax legomenon: A technical term denoting a Hebrew or Greek word appearing only once in the Bible. The meaning of these words is sometimes hard to determine.

hendiadys: A technical term for the biblical phenomenon of coupling together two words with “and” in which they are to be considered as one phrase, not two. An example might be the phrase “in love and righteousness,” which may have the more correct meaning of “in loving righteousness or “in righteous love.” An English example is “good and ready,” with a meaning much different that the sum of its parts.

Hermeneutics: The study and establishment of procedures by which the Bible can be rightly understood.

Historical Premillennialism: One of the earliest attempts at systemizing the biblical teachings on the Last Days. It differs from Amillenialism in proposing an interim earthly kingdom prior to the Last Judgment, and from Dispensationalism in generally teaching that believers will have to suffer through part or all of the Tribulation. In addition, this view is much more open-minded on the various details of these events.

inclusio or inclusion: A literary technique in which the boundaries of a passage or book are marked by repeating the same key word or phrase at the start and end, often in reverse order. Example:

       Grace...and peace (Ephesians 1:2)----------Peace...and grace (Ephesians 6:23-24)

Jehovah: A non-existent word that arose from the Jewish fear of pronouncing the actual name of God, which consisted of the four consonants YHWH. Wherever in the Bible that word appeared, the scribes would insert the vowels for adonai (i.e. Lord) instead to remind the reader to pronounce that word instead. Thus, YaHoWaH was latinized and eventually morphed into the word “Jehovah.” Some of the early Hebrew manuscripts supplied the original vowels to yield Yahweh.

Johannine: An adjective referring to the writings attributed to the Apostle John.

Latter Prophets: The Jewish designation for the books that Christians would call the Major and Minor Prophets.

LORD vs. Lord: Both are designations for God. “Lord” describes God the Father or Jesus Christ as the master of our lives. LORD always designates the Holy name of the Almighty God revealed to Abraham, i.e. Yahweh (also known as YHWH or Jehovah – see entry).

LXX: The abbreviated designation for the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament widely circulated during the time of the New Testament and probably more commonly read than the Hebrew Bible. The abbreviation comes from the legend that it was written by seventy (or seventy-two) Hebrew scholars at the request of an Egyptian ruler who wanted to be able to read the Bible in his own language.

ms.: The abbreviation for an ancient handwritten document, such as a copy of a portion of the Bible. The plural is mss.

MT: The abbreviation for Masoretic Text, the standard Hebrew text of the OT as compiled by early Jewish scholars called the Masoretes.

Paraclete: Another designation for the Holy Spirit.

Pauline: An adjective referring to the writings attributed to the Apostle Paul.

Pentateuch: The first five books of the Old Testament, also called the Five Books of Moses.

Petrine: An adjective referring to the writings attributed to the Apostle Peter.

Plural of Majesty: Some Hebrew words have the plural suffix -im but refer to a singular item instead. For example, the Hebrew for Mount Ararat uses the plural form of “mount,” designating a whole mountain range instead. One of the most common OT words for God is Elohim, either an allusion to God's greatness or perhaps to the Trinity. English examples of this grammatical usage include “trousers,” “glasses,” “binoculars,” or “scissors.” In each case, a single object has a plural ending since it consists of more than one necessary part.

Postmillennialism: A largely abandoned view of the future still espoused by some in liberal mainstream denominations. It paints a very rosy picture of the unhampered spread of the Gospel throughout the whole world, leading eventually to a sort of heaven on earth, at which time God will come down and bless mankind's achievement.

Preterism: A view of the prophetic writings of the OT and NT which feels that all of the prophecies were fulfilled by either the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 or the fall of Rome. Full preterists therefore do not believe in a future coming of Christ, the concept of a new heaven and earth, or the Last Judgment. No major Christian denomination holds to this view. Amillenialism (see entry) has sometimes been labeled as partial preterism since it teaches that some of the OT and NT prophecies were indeed fulfilled by the coming of Christ or refer to the fall of Jerusalem, but by no means all.

Pseudepigrapha: Jewish and Christian religious writings falsely attributed to noted OT and NT characters. None of these is considered to be part of the canon of the Bible.

Q: (1) An abbreviation for the Dead Sea scrolls found at Qumran.

     (2) An abbreviation for a hypothetical document felt by some to contain quotations from Jesus that were incorporated into the Synoptic Gospels.

selah: A Hebrew word of unknown meaning appearing in some of the Psalms.

Source Criticism: A school of biblical criticism that attempts to discover the original sources behind any particular book of the Bible by looking for supposed dislocations in the text, duplications, or internal contradictions as clues to the existence of multiple authorship. Various hypothetical dates are then ascribed to each source. From there, unfortunately, the often natural next step is to discount any “later” additions as of little or no historical worth.

Superscription: A note found in the Bible before the numbered portion of text. For example, the superscription to Psalm 28 reads “Of David.”

Synoptics: The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, which share much common wording compared to John's Gospel.

Syriac, abbreviated as Syr. or Ar. (for Aramaic, see entry): An early translation of the Bible into the Aramaic language.

Tetragrammaton: The four consonants YHWH that constitute the personal name of God Almighty.

Textual: This adjective appears in phrases such as Textual Criticism, Textual Variations, Textual Uncertainties, etc. It refers to the original wording in the biblical writings and the attempts to recapture it through study of the various ancient manuscripts we have available.

Textus Receptus: See “Authorized Text.”

Twelve, Book of the: Another way of referring to the Minor Prophets.

Vulgate, abbreviated as Vg.: The Latin translation of the Bible completed largely by St. Jerome, who was commissioned to produce it by Pope Damascus in A.D. 382.

Way, The: An early designation for Christianity.

Writings, The: The third division of the Hebrew Bible consisting mainly of books Christians would call the Wisdom Literature and Poetry.