Christian Terms

The mind is a powerful tool in the hands of the evil one. In the same way, the mind is a powerful tool in which God uses for your freedom. The Bible says it is by the transformation of the renewing your mind into this new truth that you will experience a life of peace and joy.

What is truth of your existence before you met Christ?

You were a slave. A slave to sin. Born into bondage. Born into a prison. A prison you can not smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind. A prison to keep your true self, your spirit in separation from its Creator.

As you look at this profound new spirit world in which you have entered if you are a new Christian, you will need to learn some new terms that the Bible uses. It is in clear communication and a working knowledge of why Scriptures says the things it says that freedom is discovered.

You may have heard various different ways these following words have been used. Please, look these new definitions over and come to understand them.

PURPOSE OF LIFE - The true purpose of man is to glorify his or her Creator and enjoy Him forever. You have been made to bring glory to God, this is your major purpose. So if you are a father or mother you must ask, "How can I bring glory to God through this task?' If you are a carpenter or a welder, a housewife or a doctor you must ask, "How can I bring glory to God through this task?"

SIN - The expression of man’s struggle with the meaning of his existence while missing life from God. It is all the varieties of ways man deals with and expresses his alienation from his Creator as he encounters the inescapable issue of meaning. Sin is not just bad behaviour, sin is total Independence from our Creator. Sin is everything we do outside of God. We are born into sin.

The opposite of is not good behavior. The opposite of sin is faith. Sin is independence, faith is dependence upon the Lord. Sin is more ruthless than “missing the mark”. It is the absolute madness of attempting to make some sense out of an existence in which there can be no lasting significance or meaning.

SINNER (UNSAVED) - A person who is attempting to put their life together without coming into relationship with God the Father. This person is living independent from his or her Creator. They may be doing acceptable behaviour or inappropriate behaviour but the key will be that it is independent behaviour from the Lord. They will not say they have put their trust in Jesus.

SAINT - A person who is set apart by the Lord to do His will. This person was rebirthed at the core of who he or she is to their Creator. They have clearly made a commitment of dependence upon their Creator for true life. A saint still does behaviours that are independent of God’s will sometimes but remains a person who God has chosen to live out His life through him.

A saint is one who lives in Christ. His deepest personhood finds identity and meaning only in loving and abiding in Christ. His inner man can not sin (be independent of God) because it is sealed by the Spirit and forever kept in Christ. This inner man is totally righteous, it loves to keep the Law of God for it is divine in nature.

CHRISTIAN - A Christian is not simply a person who gets forgiveness, who gets to go to heaven, who gets the Holy Spirit, who gets a new nature. A Christian is a person who has become someone he was not before. A Christian, in terms of his deepest identity, is a saint, a child born of God, a divine masterpiece, a child of the light, a citizen of heaven. Becoming a Christian is not just getting something, no matter how wonderful that something may be. It is becoming someone!

HYPOCRITE - (ACTOR)
Satan’s definition - “one who acts different than he feels.”
God’s definition - “Pretending to be what one is not.” Jesus called the religious leaders of His day hypocrite.

FLESH - various shades of meanings from literal “Flesh and bones” to the idea of the body and soul with their independence from God. In the majority of passages [in Scripture] it stands for the impulses, thoughts, desires and the like belonging to the outward man. We are to crucify the flesh with its (not our) desires and passions.

SPIRIT CONTROLLED - the Biblical phrases are,” led by the Spirit”, “walk by the Spirit” and “filled by the Spirit”. The term "Spirit controlled is not good because it leaves a person with the idea that his truest identity must be controlled by the Spirit because he is still in rebellion to God. A believer is not in rebellion to God in their inner man because they are a new creation.

OLD MAN and NEW MAN - The old man is the unregenerate (Un Born again) man; the new man is the regenerated (Born again) man created in Christ Jesus unto good works. It is no more feasible to call a believer a new man and an old man, than it is to call him a regenerate and unregenerate man. And neither is it warranted to speak of the believer as having in him the old man and the new man. - John Murray

The old man ceased to exist at our regeneration, when it was “put off”. We are never exhorted to “put off” the “old man”. An exhortation to “put off the old man” would be tantamount to an exhortation to become regenerate. - W.H. Griffith Thomas

MIRACLES - Acts of goodness accomplished through faith by the power of the Spirit. Jesus did not do His miracles as God but as man under the leading and power of the Holy Spirit.

BODY, SOUL, SPIRIT - These three parts are interrelated, but are definitely separate. The BODY is the physical part of man. It is made to relate to the earth. It's man's earthsuit. It only works on earth. The SOUL is the mind, will and emotions. The SPIRIT is the real you. Your spirit is either separated from God or connected to Him. It is one or the other.

You want to begin thinking of yourself in a new light. Don’t think of yourself as just a physical being. Think of yourself as a spirit being who possesses a soul and lives in a body. You are a spirit being that must present your body to the Lord and be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

HOLINESS - Even if you know your identity and know the words of the Lord this still does not produce holiness. No matter how intensely you focus on these facts, even if you get excited by them, this still will not produce holiness. Resurrection life does not flow from an educated brain and an active will; it flows from God.

Only knowledge plus the will plus Spirit power will bring Holiness to reality in performance.

You should familiarize yourself with these terms because they are used throughout the Christian experience.