Bible Word Meanings

Some words on this website may seem new or unfamiliar. We don’t use “Bible words” to sound smart or to confuse people. Rather, they convey precise ideas that other words can’t replace. So this page is a simple glossary to explain Bible word meanings.

Why Learn “Bible Words”?

The simple Gospel of Jesus Christ saves. And I’d rather live a few basic principles well than master the fine points of theology without applying them. However, though God takes us as we are, He doesn’t leave us there. He intends to make us like Christ, to shape us into vessels fit for His use. So we need to learn some new things, and that includes learning what those new things are called.

Every job, hobby and area of knowledge has its own lexicon. People who know those fields use words that the rest of us don’t understand. When the doctor says he’s ordering an MRI, or the mechanic says you need a new head gasket, they’re not trying to be complicated. It’s what those things are called. But if you don’t know what they mean, it helps if they explain. That’s what we do here.

Bible Word List

In this sentence, place your mouse over the word “tooltip”, or tap it on your mobile device. This website uses tooltips to help visitors. They are notes, added to the words listed below, the first time they are used on each page and post.

Tooltips help don’t offer much space, though. So this page provides longer explanations, like a very basic Bible dictionary. Just click the “+” icons to view definitions. Each one includes a link to a complete post about the concept, for more insight.

See “Salvation”.

The world thinks of ghosts as the (often tormented) spirits of people who died, often in unpleasant ways. This idea has been around for a long time, and is even cited in the passage where Jesus comes to the disciples on the water, However, it is appointed for man to die once and then the judgement. People don’t come back or linger as ghosts when they die. And any situations where a supposed ghost is telling somebody something that only that person wouyld have known is actually a demon or fallen angel, which are invisible and around us, probably most or all of the time. Thse would have the opportunity to observe the things which we think are secret between us and another person we can see.

Bearing with a person, in all of his weakness, sin and other defects, in pateince and kindness.

A place where we go after death, and before the heaven and Earth are remade.

See “Holy Spirit”.

The Holy Spirit is given to believers as a deposit to prove we are His before we eventually go to Him. The Holy Spirit is a person–a “He” rather than an “it”. He

See “Humility”.

Meekness. Not a lowly view of self, but rather a refusal to view the world in a prideful way.

God the Son, and the Son of God.

See “Humility”.

Conducting and adorning oneself with care to present godly character which reflects Christ, instead of showing off our own supposed greatness.

Giving something for the good of another, which costs you. The prime sacrifice we see in the Bible is Jesus Christ sacrificing His own glory as God in Heaven to come as a lowly man, live in a sinful world, bear despisement of the people He created, and ultimately suffer and die in our place, all to make a way for us to Him.

(includes getting saved, being saved)

See “Salvation”.

Offense against God. There is sin in ignorance and willfull sin. Both are sin.

The word, spirit, is used in two different ways. The first is in the verse “the spirit of a man”, meaning the sum of a man’s disposition, personality, thoughts. The second way is like good and evil spirits…

The day of final judgement for all people, when Christ will judge the living and the dead. Those who have rebelled and chosen evil will go to everlasting torment. Those who have surrendered to Christ will go to live with Him, not because they earned it, but because they cast their sin on Christ, who already bore their punishment.

A time of great suffering for all people on Earth, which will preceed the judgement.

The Creator of the universe is a tri-une God. This means He is three persons in one: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These are not personalities or mindsets, these are God in one. We see evidence of this throughout the Bible…

When a person comes to Christ, meaning confesses Him as Lord, and Believes that He is the resurrected and Savior, that person is saved. He becomes a child of God, is forgiven of sin, and is given the Holy Spirit to live in Him for the rest of His time on Earth. However, that person still looks much like the old man. So God gradually sanctifies him, meaning helping Him learn and perceive the right road and become more like Christ. It’s like a potter claiming a lump of clay. It belongs to that potter now, but it’s still a lump of clay and needs to be fashoined into something useful that not only gives the lump a good use of its attributes but also reflects the care of the potter.

Jesus Christ is God the Son. Yet he also refers to himself as the Son of man multiple times. He is 100% God, but coming to the world and being born of a woman, He is 100% man too. Calling Himself the Son of Man, meaning mankind, refers to His humanity, lest we only focus on His divinity. This is important in many cases, for instance so that we know we have a high priest who empathizes with uis, because he was temptyed in all ways as we are (as any man is) and yet did not sin.

Want to suggest a missing word? Feel free to contact us with your suggestion. Please include the word, the verse where you see it, and the Bible translation where it’s found. This will help us determine whether it should be added as a synonym or a full entry.

We will add to this page as necessary and update definitions with links as posts are written.