Terms as the textbook defines them. The simple line is for memory. The textbook line is the author’s wording.
- biblical theology
- Reading the Bible across time, letting each writer speak for himself.
- Textbook: An approach in which the theologian approaches Scripture diachronically, that is, across time, seeking to discover how God has progressively revealed himself and His plan throughout sacred history, allowing each biblical author to speak for himself.
- Appears in chapters 1
- charismatic
- To do with the Spirit's gifts being shown in the church.
- Textbook: Having to do with the manifestation of spiritual gifts.
- Appears in chapters 6, 8
- Christ's atoning work
- Jesus dying on the cross to buy back the human race.
- Textbook: Jesus' work of dying on the cross to redeem mankind.
- Appears in chapters 10
- command of faith
- Speaking a direct command in faith, as Jesus and the apostles did when healing.
- Textbook: A healing method used by Jesus and the apostles whereby they commanded the recipient to do something or else commanded demons or sickness to leave.
- Appears in chapters 6, 8
- confirmatory miracles
- Miracles that prove the gospel message is true.
- Textbook: Miracles which confirm the truth of the gospel.
- Appears in chapters 14
- divine attributes
- God's own qualities: all-powerful, all-knowing, present everywhere.
- Textbook: The natural characteristics of God including His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence.
- Appears in chapters 7
- empowerment-witness motif
- The repeated pattern of Acts: the Spirit gives power, and power produces witness.
- Textbook: Luke's pattern, drawn from the first half of Acts 1:8: you will receive power, and as a result, you will be my witnesses. A motif is a pattern of words, concepts, or events repeated throughout a work.
- Appears in chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12
- faith shift
- The change of mind about the gospel that happens when someone sees a miracle.
- Textbook: The change of attitude toward the gospel that takes place in one's mind when he or she sees a miracle.
- Appears in chapters 3
- genre
- A kind or type.
- Textbook: A kind or type.
- Appears in chapters 1
- God-fearer
- A non-Jew who believed in God and followed Jewish teaching but was not circumcised.
- Textbook: A Gentile who has accepted God and the teachings of Judaism but who has not been circumcised.
- Appears in chapters 7, 9, 10, 11
- hermeneutical issues
- The problems we run into when working out what a Bible passage means.
- Textbook: Problems that a student may encounter when trying to understand the meaning of Bible passages.
- Appears in chapters 1
- historical narrative
- A true story told as history. Acts belongs to this type of writing.
- Textbook: The literary genre to which Acts belongs. As historical narrative, Acts tells the true, Spirit-inspired story of the beginning of the church.
- Appears in chapters 1
- hyperbole
- A deliberate exaggeration, not meant literally.
- Textbook: An exaggeration used for dramatic effect, not meant to be taken literally.
- Appears in chapters 3
- incarnation
- God becoming a man in Jesus Christ.
- Textbook: God's act of becoming a man in the Person of Jesus Christ.
- Appears in chapters 7, 10
- incarnational missionary ministry
- Missionary work that gets close to the people it reaches, as Jesus did.
- Textbook: Missionary ministry that, like Jesus in His incarnation, seeks to identify very closely with those being reached.
- Appears in chapters 10
- initial evidence
- The teaching that everyone baptized in the Spirit will speak in tongues.
- Textbook: The teaching that everyone who is baptized in the Holy Spirit will speak in tongues as the Spirit enables them.
- Appears in chapters 1
- initiation
- A ceremony that brings someone into a group.
- Textbook: A rite or ceremony through which a person is admitted into a group.
- itinerant
- Always travelling from place to place.
- Textbook: Traveling about from place to place.
- Appears in chapters 6
- literary
- To do with books and writings.
- Textbook: A term used to describe books or writings.
- Appears in chapters 1, 2, 14
- literary genre
- A type of writing. Each type has its own rules of interpretation.
- Textbook: A certain category of literature such as narrative, history, poetry, letters, etc. Each genre has its own unique rules of interpretation.
- Appears in chapters 1
- literary patron
- Someone who paid for a writer's work in the ancient world.
- Textbook: In ancient times, one who sponsored another person so he would be able to write.
- Appears in chapters 1, 2
- Luke's pneumatology
- What Luke in particular teaches about the Holy Spirit.
- Textbook: Luke's unique teaching concerning the person and work of the Holy Spirit as found in the Gospel of Luke and Acts.
- manifestation
- Something made visible, such as God's presence and power.
- Textbook: A visible display of something, including God's presence and power.
- Appears in chapters 3, 4, 8, 10, 12, 14
- mediator
- Someone who stands between two enemies to bring them together.
- Textbook: One who stands between two hostile parties seeking to reconcile them.
- Appears in chapters 3
- mentoring
- Training through a close working relationship.
- Textbook: Training characterized by a close working relationship between the trainer and trainee.
- Appears in chapters 12
- metaphor
- A picture in words, where one thing stands for another.
- Textbook: A figure of speech in which one thing stands for another thing.
- Appears in chapters 2, 3, 4
- missio Dei
- Latin for the mission of God.
- Textbook: Latin, meaning the "mission of God." God's mission is to call unto himself a people out of every nation, tongue, and tribe of people on earth.
- Appears in chapters 1, 13
- missiologist
- Someone who studies missions and applies it in the field.
- Textbook: A person who studies the biblical and philosophical foundations of missions and then seeks to apply that understanding to the actual practice of missions in the field.
- Appears in chapters 1
- mission
- God's own purpose: to call a people to himself out of every nation.
- Textbook: God's mission or purpose, sometimes called the missio Dei. God's mission is to bless all the peoples of the earth through the seed of Abraham, that is, through Jesus Christ.
- Appears in chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
- missional witness
- Witness aimed at bringing people to God through Christ.
- Textbook: Witness that is aimed at bringing people into a relationship with God through Christ.
- Appears in chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13
- missions
- Everything the church does to carry out God's mission.
- Textbook: All the church does to fulfill the mission or purpose of God. This would include such things as giving, going, and praying for missionaries.
- Appears in chapters 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13
- narrative theology
- An orderly way of interpreting the story parts of the Bible.
- Textbook: An orderly approach to interpreting the historical portions of Scripture, using an understanding of the literary principles and rules an author employs in composing historical narratives.
- Appears in chapters 1
- normative doctrine
- A teaching that applies to everyone, in every time.
- Textbook: A teaching that applies equally to all people of all times.
- Appears in chapters 1
- omni-cultural
- Including every culture.
- Textbook: Comprising all cultures.
- Appears in chapters 6
- pneumatic
- To do with the Holy Spirit.
- Textbook: Having to do with the Holy Spirit.
- predictive prophecy
- Prophecy that tells what will happen.
- Textbook: Prophecy that foretells future events.
- Appears in chapters 7
- proselytes
- Non-Jews who fully converted to the Jewish faith, including circumcision.
- Textbook: Gentile converts who had committed themselves to the teachings of the Jewish faith, underwent circumcision, and worshiped in the Jewish temple or synagogue.
- Appears in chapters 7, 8, 9
- providential dealings
- God stepping into people's affairs to work out His purpose.
- Textbook: God's deliberate intervention in the affairs of people to bring about His own divine purpose.
- Appears in chapters 4
- qualitative
- To do with quality or value.
- Textbook: Having to do with the quality or value of things.
- Appears in chapters 6
- quantitative
- To do with numbers.
- Textbook: Having to do with numbers of things.
- Appears in chapters 6
- reciprocal blessing
- The blessing that comes back to the person who serves others.
- Textbook: A blessing which comes to one who is involved in ministering to others.
- Appears in chapters 5
- sect
- A smaller religious group inside a larger one, with slightly different beliefs.
- Textbook: A religious group with slightly different beliefs from those of a larger group to which it belongs.
- Appears in chapters 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13
- spontaneous multiplication
- Churches multiplying on their own, without outside help or big programmes.
- Textbook: A situation in which churches are multiplied in a region without the need for external intervention or elaborate programs.
- Appears in chapters 9, 12
- subsequence
- The teaching that Spirit baptism comes after, and is separate from, being born again.
- Textbook: The teaching that the baptism in the Holy Spirit is an experience separate from and following the new birth.
- Appears in chapters 1
- theological
- To do with the study of God and God's dealings with people.
- Textbook: Relates to religious doctrines and matters of divinity including the study of God and the relations between God and humanity and the universe.
- Appears in chapters 1
- transfer of the Spirit
- God moving His Spirit from one person's ministry onto another's.
- Textbook: God's act of taking His Spirit who rests on the life and ministry of one person and placing Him on the life and ministry of another.
- Appears in chapters 4
- vicarious death
- Jesus dying in the place of everyone else.
- Textbook: Jesus' act of dying on the cross in the place of all people.
- Appears in chapters 7
- worldview
- The basic assumptions a person or culture uses to make sense of life.
- Textbook: The basic assumptions of life out of which a person or a culture interprets the events of life.
- Appears in chapters 14