Definitions

Introduction

Our theology is influenced to a large extent by the definitions we assign to words. When we say that we believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God and the ultimate authority, our beliefs are inevitably influenced by the definitions assigned to the words written therein. You change the definitions, and the Bible suddenly means something entirely different.

The Greek language is like a set of Legos – it consists of a set of building blocks that can be assembled to build complex structures. In fact, lego is the Greek word meaning to speak intelligently. In the Greek language you have root words that are assigned definitions, but they can be accessorized with modifiers, prefixes and suffixes that act upon the root words to modify their definitions, sometimes dramatically.

Rather than accept the conventional definitions of the English words that shape our prevailing theology, I have gone back to the Greek constructs and assigned definitions that make better sense of what is written in the Bible. I would like to share some of those definitions, why I believe these definitions to be accurate, and why the conventional definitions miss the mark.

Truth

The Greek word for truth is αληθεια, (altheia), Strong’s number G225. This is a form of G227, alethes, which has G2990 as its root, and G1 for a prefix. The prefix, alpha, is a negative particle, which serves to negate the root word. It is interesting that truth is defined as a negative of another word, presumably false, since the opposite of true is false, isn’t it?

To make sense of this, my first conjecture was that truth contained nothing false, truth was the absence of anything false. That made sense. However, what still puzzled me was John 1:17, where grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Truth is absolute and independent of time. What was true after Jesus came must have been true before he came.

I opened my mind to the consider the possibility that the root, G2990, did not mean false, that the opposite of truth was not false. I should look at where G2990, lanthanō, was used in the Bible. Could it be that truth does not mean truth? We don’t know what truth is until we know what it is not.

Lanthanō is found in Luke 8:47, where the woman touched the border of his garment. And when the woman saw that she was not hid (lanthanum)… Lanthanō means to be hidden. Truth is the opposite of hidden; it means to be unhidden, or revealed.

This definition now makes sense in John 1:9 where Jesus is the true light. When you bring something to light, you expose it. Light allows you to see something. The mysteries in the Old Testament had been hidden for ages and generations. Jesus came to shine light on those mysteries, to reveal them. Jesus was the truth because he exposed the Father: if you had seen Jesus, you have seen the Father.

Jesus was the light of the world because he was the express image of God. We are the light of the world because we are conformed to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29). If you have seen me, you have seen Jesus, to the extent that we keep his commandments.

^{John 15:9}As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.

Jesus has loved us as the Father loved him.

^{1 John 4:8}He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

When Jesus loves you, you experience the love of the Father. And since God is love, you experience the Father, you see God. Jesus is the light of the world because he reveals God by his love for those who are in the world.

^{John 15:12}Love one another as I have loved you.

We are the light of the world because we continue in his love, loving one another as we have been loved by him, revealing God to one another.

The love wherein we love one another is divine love. That love is divine because it is done by the Holy Spirit, working in us: his strength, our resources, his purpose, credited to our account.

Sin and Righteousness

The Greek word for sin is αμαρτια, hamartia. This word also begins with alpha, a negative particle. We do not understand what sin is until we know what it is not.

The conventional definition of sin is to miss the mark. This is not helpful because we do not know what the mark is.

I would argue that the opposite of sin is righteousness, but I have not established the definition of righteousness. Perhaps, if I was able to understand what sin is, that understanding may shed light on the definition of righteousness.

I suggest we look at the root word, the part being negated, see where it is used in the Bible, and let that inform us as to the definition of sin. The root is G3313, meros. Thayer’s definition of this word is: one of the constituent parts of a whole. At first impression, this seems less than helpful.

^{Luke 15:12}And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.

Again, this seems to be less than useful. Keep looking.

^{John 13:8}Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

The corollary to this is that if Jesus does wash Peter, he will have a “part with me”. The whole that we are to be a constituent part of is God with us. Both sin and righteousness involve action. When we perform an action with God, it is righteousness; when we act apart from God, it is unrighteousness, or sin.

We now have a working definition for both righteousness and sin. Righteousness is when we act with God; God working in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Sin is when we act apart from God, doing what seems right in our own eyes.

^{Romans 8:2}For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. ³For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: ⁴That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

In verse 4, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us by the Spirit working in us. The law being fulfilled is not the law of sin and death, but the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. There is no righteousness in the law of sin and death.

Death and Life

The conventional definition of death is separation from God; the definition of life is union with God. Sin is associated with death because it is action apart from God, the definition of death. When Jesus was asked what the great commandment of the law was, the law being referred to was the law of sin and death, the law of Moses. The great commandment is not our commandment.

^{John 15:10}If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

Jesus made a distinction between his Father’s commandments and his own commandments. The Father’s commandments were the law of sin and death. Look at the language of the great commandment:

^{Mark 12:30}And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

This commandment is all you: all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength.

What is missing? The Spirit! This is the law of sin and death. But the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. The great commandment is not our commandment.

Justification

The verb translated “to justify” clearly means “to declare righteous.” This definition is problematic, in that it is not clear at what point a person is declared righteous. Consider the parable of the talents. Two servants were justified, one was not. At what point were the two servants justified? When were they declared righteous? If one cannot discern when they were declared righteous, I challenge whether one can discern when anyone is “declared righteous.” If one cannot tell when a person has been declared righteous, where is the security that is promised to be eternal?

Once again, let us go to the Greek for a clue. The Greek word for justify is δικαιωσει, dikaioo. This word is contained in the Greek word for righteousness, δικαιοσυνη. The suffix in this word, sune, means together with. Righteousness and justify share the same root word. The Abarim website describes justify to mean: to acknowledge the righteousness of someone. A close but clearer definition is to render someone righteous. One is rendered righteous when righteousness is added to their account. When their account contains righteousness, they are justified. When the Lord returns to judge, they will be justified or condemned by the content of their account.

The answer to when the servants were justified (in the parable of the talents) is when the servant gained a talent. This, of course, flies in the face of the dogma that ones actions have nothing to do with salvation, with being justified. Ouch.

The next question is: how does a servant go about gaining a talent? That depends on what the talents were that were given, since they were to be used to gain a talent. The answer goes back to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

^{John 15:12}Love one another as I have loved you.

I suggest that the talent given was the love with which we are loved by Jesus, the divine love where the Holy Spirit is involved. To gain a talent, one needs to obey the command, to love one another as one has been loved, again, with the strength of the Spirit. This is the righteousness of Christ, since it was performed by the Spirit of Christ.

The keeping of the new commandment is called bearing fruit. That is why the first fruit is critical. It is the first fruit that secures the talent given. When a talent is not gained, the talent given is forfeited. The gift of the talent given is conditioned on gaining a talent. In a sense, the talent given is the conditional love of God. The talent gained is also a gift, but this one is unconditional, the unconditional love of God.

Dispensation

^{Ephesians 1:10}That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; [even] in him:

The Greek word for dispensation is οικονομιαν, oikonomia. Here is the definition of this Greek word as offered on Abarim website.

“The noun οικονομια (oikonomia), the office and administration of the house-manager; the affairs of the house.”

I believe that the house manager is the Holy Spirit. Someone has to manage the entries in everyone’s account. He is the one that indwells believers. I believe that he is the one who manages everyone’s account, making entries for sin, purging sin, writing the laws upon the heart, recording when the righteousness of the law is fulfilled. He does this for the believer, but also makes entries for sin for the sinner.

Ephesians 1:10 talks about gathering together all things in Christ. He has access to the tables of the heart and is able to, with a query, gather together all things into a report. The tables of the heart comprise a divine database, of which the Holy Spirit is the administrator.

This is why the Pharisees believed that only God could forgive sins, because to purge sins from someone’s account, one would have two have administrative rights to the table of their heart. Only God has administrative rights.

Imputation

According to Wayne Grudem in his book, Systematic Theology, impute means “To think of as belonging to someone, and therefore to cause it to belong to that person. God “thinks of” Adam’s sin as belonging to us, and it therefore belongs to us, and in justification he thinks of Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us and so relates to us on this basis.”

^{Romans 4:5}But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. ⁶Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,

The Greek word for impute is λογιζεται, logizomai. In these two verses the Greek word is used twice: once it is translated as counted and once as imputeth. The authorized definition of impute is to consider, but in verse 5 it is more like accredited. Impute means to make an entry in the logon, the log, one’s account.

Impute is an action taken by the administrative manager, the Holy Spirit. It means to make an entry in the log, the account.

Impute means to attribute the works of someone else to you. That which is attributed is Jesus working in you. You did not do the work, yet, because it was done in you with your resources, it is attributed to you.

^{Romans 7:16}Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

What about imputed sin? If someone else’s sin is attributed to me, whose sin is it? In the same way that I did not perform the righteousness, even though it was done in me, it was not me that sinned, but sin that dwells in me. Sin is the fruit of the seed of Adam; righteousness is the fruit of the seed of Christ.

Repentance

^{Hebrews 6:1}Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

The Greek word is μετανοιας, metanoia. Abarim defines this word as:

“The noun μετανοια (metanoia), meaning an intellectual upgrade; a change of the intellectual mind, a transition from one system of formal thought to another one. As mentioned above, the traditional translation of repentance (from the Latin re-, again, and poena, penalty), implies guilt, regret and punishment, whereas our noun speaks merely of a transition between mental formats — precisely the way the similar word metamorphosis speaks of a transition between morphs or physical forms — preferably from a simpler to a more complex one, or from an inferior to a superior one, or from a strictly theoretical one to an applicable one, which (staying with the metamorphosis parallel) might actually be capable of fruition and reproduction.”

The last sentence in this definition provides a good clue. Being capable of fruition and reproduction. The Hebrews 6 verse speaks of repentance from dead works. It is my belief that faith without works is dead, and works without faith are dead works.

What makes dead works dead? Death is separation from God. Dead works are works done separate from God. If there are dead works, there are also live works. Life is union with God. Live works, good works, are works that we work together with God.

^{Romans 8:28}And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.

All things that we do together with God are good. All things that we do apart from God are sin.

Repentance means to stop working apart from God, and entering into the Sabbath rest. I have been enjoying the BEMA Podcast. They note that during the description of creation, at the end of the description of every day there was night and day, except for the seventh day, the day of rest. When you enter into the Sabbath rest the day does not end.

Doing things apart from God is sin, and how is it possible that we do nothing apart from God? Will he brush my teeth with me? The good news is that sins are no longer imputed when you are not under the law (of sin and death) so stop troubling yourself over the minutia.

The question is, how do you get him to do everything with him? There are many strategies for this.

^{Matthew 18:20}For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

One strategy is to use the buddy system, and when you do, just make sure he knows you are gathered in his name. You can voice your intentions in prayer, “Lord, here we are, gathered in your name. We offer our resources to you an instruments of righteousness to be used for your purposes.”

I am busy with the Spirit right now, even though I am not working with anyone else at the moment. I had requested that he awaken me when he wants to work together. It is 3:47AM and here we are, the Spirit and I, sharing with anyone who happens across my website. I pray that he will be with you as you read these words that we prepared together just for you.

Grace

Grace is defined as divine love. Jesus said that he would love us as the Father loved him. He commanded us to love one another as he has loved us. His love for us is given by the Holy Spirit. When we love one another as he has loved us, it is also transacted by the Holy Spirit. That love is divine love. That divine love is grace.

Faith

^{Hebrews 11:1}Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith has two components: substance of things hoped for, and evidence of things not seen. Hope without evidence is incomplete faith.

^{James 2:18}But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. ESV

You have faith? Show me the evidence! Without the evidence, faith is incomplete. Incomplete faith is dead. If you are living by faith, there will be evidence. Show me the evidence.

Anything I do apart from God does not qualify as evidence of faith because it is not evidence of things not seen. It is the work of God in you that completes your faith.

^{Hebrews 12:2}looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus is the founder of our faith because he is the basis of our hope. Jesus is also the perfecter of our faith because he works in us to do of his good pleasure.