Glossary Terms 101-120: Called by the Gospel, An Intro to the New Testament

Question 1

Priesthood of all believers

Answer 1

derived from 1 Peter to counter the belief that some Christians hold superior standing before God by virtue of their service as priests or as people dedicated a religious life apart from society and family; affirms that all Christians function in a priestly way in whatever service they offer.

Question 2

Prison Epistles

Answer 2

the four letters of Paul in which he identifies himself as a prisoner (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon).

Question 3

Prophecy

Answer 3

normally misunderstood simply in terms of predicting the future, the biblical term means to speak God’s word and will about the past, present, or the future; emphasis is on God’s work in the past and on applying his will to the present situation.

Question 4

Propitiation

Answer 4

the gift of and place where Jesus by his death on the cross appeases the wrath of God.

Question 5

Proselyte

Answer 5

a Gentile who has undergone ritual of conversion to become a Jew including circumcision.

Question 6

Pseudepigrapha

Answer 6

works ascribed to important biblical figures of the past, such as Enoch, Noah, Moses, or Isaiah, but not written by them; writings were composed during a period from 200 B.C to A.D. 200, but not part of the Bible or the Apocrypha.

Question 7

Pseudonymity

Answer 7

an ancient practice where an author adopts the figure of some famous person of the past (e.g. Enoch, Noah) and writes an account of events which happened to that person.

Question 8

Q source

Answer 8

a supposed document containing sayings of Jesus that was used as a source by the writers of Matthew and Luke. The Q refers to the German word Quelle meaning “source.”

Question 9

Rabbi

Answer 9

a “teacher” in the Jewish religious tradition, at times itinerant, not associated in antiquity with a synagogue.

Question 10

Rapture

Answer 10

to “grasp” or “seize”; a technical term which some Christians use to assert that Jesus will secretly return and rapture up believers.

Question 11

Realized eschatology

Answer 11

Johannine emphasis on the present experience of the promises of God to be fulfilled at the end of time.

Question 12

Redeem

Answer 12

to “purchase” or “buy back”; a metaphor from the language of commerce and, particularly, slavery.

Question 13

Religio licita

Answer 13

literally, “legal religion”; denotes religions officially recognized by the Roman Empire that could be openly practiced; Julius Caesar made Judaism a religio licita.

Question 14

Roman citizen

Answer 14

a special status in the Empire enjoyed by citizens of Rome and others to whom it was granted or by whom it was purchased.

Question 15

Sabbath

Answer 15

the sixth day; from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday.

Question 16

Sadducee

Answer 16

Jewish sect controlling the priesthood and accepting only the Torah as authoritative.

Question 17

Samaritan

Answer 17

from the central hill country between Judea and Galilee; on the margins of Judaism with its own temple and version of the Pentateuch.

Question 18

Sanctification

Answer 18

related to the word for “holiness”; in a narrow sense describes what God does to make us holy in Christ; in a broader sense describes the ways in which believers are called to live in response to’ God’s action.

Question 19

Sanhedrin

Answer 19

a occasional gathering’ of Judean elites affirming decisions in capital cases.

Question 20

Second Temple period

Answer 20

broadly from the dedication of the second temple (514 B.C.) to its destruction (A.D. 70); often the focus is on the later portion of time from Hasmonean independence (142 B.C.) to the temple’s destruction.