Too Many Church Words

When we use common English in place of church words some concepts are easier to comprehend.

 

Saved by Grace turns out to be saved by the kindness of God.

 

Saved by Faith is saved by the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

 

Preach the Gospel is preach the Good News. 

 

Baptism of the Holy Spirit is immersed by or in the Holy Spirit.

 

Confessing Jesus before man is acknowledging Jesus before man.

 

Maybe we do not understand the Bible because we prefer to speak a different language than that of the Bible.

 

Many of the terms we use are church words that we have via the King James Version, have no meaning to us other than being special church words. They go along with the idea that religion is the heart; life is of the brain and the two don't mix. Like Latin in the Catholic services for all those years. The ludicrousness of it all. People liked the Latin because although they did not understand what was being said it made them feel like they were in the presence of a special person, the local priest.

 

The gospel is good news for those who believe God exists that he loves us and we have access to him through Jesus. Jesus is not the goal, as many think; Jesus is The Way to the Father. The cache22 is no one can come to Jesus except the Father calls them. Try to explain that one sometime.

 

Holy is the translation of a word that means separateness and withdrawal. It, as applied to God, is associated with His pure loving nature and with people who have a personal relationship with Him.

 

Hope is a translation of words that mean confidence, trust, safety etc. The dictionary definition --- a feeling that what is wanted is likely to happen; desire accompanies by expectation.

 

Confess is to acknowledge.

 

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  We talk about increasing our faith and losing our faith. Nothing magical we increase or decrease our assurance of things hoped for our conviction of things not seen. Most people explain faith as belief which is the mental acceptance that something is true, even though absolute certainty may be absent. We are told that Satan believes. Satan has no faith in God, he knows and has seen God so faith is not necessary nor is it possible. Satan believes that what God has told him God will do but he, Satan, will not change. What an ego.

 

Baptism is immersion. Nothing magical just immersion. Peter wrote that immersion saves us, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we discuss the term do we require the people on Pentecost understand more than they did?  When they were convinced they had killed the Son of God they asked what should they do. A word  discussed last night is repent which means nothing to us today other than just another church word. We change our minds and change our direction all the time, we are repenting.

 

Grace, by analogy, signifies the kindness of God to man; again, nothing magical. When asked what the word means we usually hear unmerited favor. How about if it is just the kindness of God towards man? As with the word church, grace has, overtime, been changed to mean many things that it does not mean. We say grace before we eat?

 

Sanctify is to make holy, to set apart as holy; to consecrate (another word we do not understood used to define a term we do not understand); to make pure from sin; purify.