Opus 2026-012: Why No Glossary?

How come the Bible doesn’t come with an accompanying dictionary or glossary?  How come there’s no place you can turn to to look up what God means by such words as grace, righteousness, holiness, perfection, purity, and the list goes on.  So much of the disagreement that happens in different denominations comes down to how we define some of these words.

And those are just the biblical words.  What about the words that we throw around that are not in the Bible, such as trinity or rapture.

Take the simple word “faith”. And the Greek the word is pistis or pistos.  Just what does that mean?  Based on context, faithfulness is just as good a translation as faith and yet the latter word is almost universally used, even when it forces things.  Is it just a coincidence that usage backs up a certain theological position?  Which brings up the question of which came first the theological position or the definition of the word?

So much depends on how we define certain words and concepts.  Take the first point in the TULIP acronym of Calvinism.  The statement is total depravity.  If you leave it at that, I have no trouble with the concept.  It is synonymous with original sin or the carnal nature.  This has been a part of the human condition ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the garden.  I wish it was as simple as that.  Some people get so extreme in this idea of total depravity that they will deny there is any non-evil action that a person can take on their own initiative.  I said nom-evil rather than good because they would also have such a wide definition of good that they would say that a pagan could not possibly love his child without the intervention of God’s grace.  Others would widen the scope to say that parental love is possible, community service is possible, in fact, many good things are possible, but not repentance from sin.

We would even disagree on our definition of sin.  There are those who claim that we sin every day in word thought and deed even after we are saved.  How they can say that after having read,

(1Jn 2:1 KJV)  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

I don’t know, but they still say it.  It’s because their definition of sin includes every mistake, weakness, or misunderstanding that takes place in your life.  Others would define sin as willingly disobeying, the known will of God.  Since the Bible doesn’t have a glossary, we continue to attend different churches.

I hope you are aware enough not to point out that your Bible has a dictionary or a glossary at the back.  Those are the work of men who have a definite theological position.  I have what is called a Hebrew Greek Key Study Bible.  I find it very helpful.  It gives the Strong numbers for certain words in the Old and New Testaments and makes it easier to look things up, but even there you have to be careful because the theological slant of the editor is evident in the explanations in the back.

Fortunately, we serve God who is aware of all of our limitations and is gracious enough to work with us on that basis.  He sends his Holy Spirit to lead us.  We may not have perfect hearing, but we can have a heart that is willing to be lead.

I still wish we had a glossary.

homo unius libri