Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the terms that come up across these topics. Every technical word is also explained in the article where it appears — this page just gathers them in one place. Where a term belongs to one side of a debate, the view that holds it is named, so you always know who is speaking.
A
- Amillennialism
- The view that the “thousand years” of Revelation 20 is symbolic, describing Christ’s present reign from heaven over the whole church age rather than a future earthly kingdom. It is held by most Reformed, Catholic, and Lutheran Christians.Read the topic →See also: Premillennialism, Postmillennialism
- Annihilationism (conditional immortality)
- The view that the finally unsaved are ultimately destroyed and cease to exist, rather than suffering forever. It rests on the idea that immortality is God’s gift to the saved, not something every soul automatically has.Read the topic →See also: Eternal conscious torment, Universal reconciliation
- Apostasy
- A genuine falling away from the faith. The debate in “Once Saved, Always Saved?” is whether a truly saved person can commit it, or whether those who fall away were never truly saved.Read the topic →See also: Perseverance of the saints
B
- Baptismal regeneration
- The teaching that God grants the new birth and forgiveness through baptism itself, making baptism the occasion of salvation. Held by the Churches of Christ and, in a sacramental form, by Catholic, Orthodox, and Lutheran Christians; contrast the view that baptism signifies a salvation already received.Read the topic →See also: Sacrament, Ordinance, Regeneration
C
- Cessationism
- The view that the miraculous “sign” gifts (tongues, prophecy, healing) ceased with the apostolic age, having served to confirm the gospel before Scripture was complete. It is the opposite of continuationism.Read the topic →See also: Continuationism, Sign gifts
- Compatibilism
- The belief that a choice can be genuinely free even if God has ordained it, so long as you act from your own desires without being forced. It is the Reformed account of how God’s sovereignty and human freedom fit together.Read the topic →See also: Libertarian free will
- Conditional election
- The view that God chooses for salvation those He foreknew would freely believe — His choice rests on the person’s foreseen faith. This is the Arminian position; contrast unconditional election.Read the topic →See also: Unconditional election, Foreknowledge, Prevenient grace
- Continuationism
- The view that all the spiritual gifts, including the miraculous ones, continue today. It is the opposite of cessationism.Read the topic →See also: Cessationism, Sign gifts
- Covenant theology
- A framework that reads the Bible as one unfolding “covenant of grace,” so that believers and their children belong together to God’s covenant people across both Testaments. It is the main argument for infant baptism — the children of believers receive the covenant sign, as infants once received circumcision.Read the topic →See also: Paedobaptism (infant baptism), Credobaptism (believer’s baptism)
- Credobaptism (believer’s baptism)
- The view that baptism is only for those who personally profess faith in Christ, not for infants (from the Latin credo, “I believe”). Held by Baptists and most evangelicals; contrast paedobaptism.Read the topic →See also: Paedobaptism (infant baptism), Covenant theology
E
- Eschatology
- The area of theology dealing with “last things”: Christ’s return, the resurrection, final judgment, heaven, and hell. Debates over the rapture and the millennium are eschatology.Read the topic →See also: Rapture, Tribulation, Intermediate state
- Eternal conscious torment
- The traditional view that hell is unending punishment consciously experienced by the lost. It is the historic majority view; contrast annihilationism and universal reconciliation.Read the topic →See also: Annihilationism (conditional immortality), Universal reconciliation
- Explicit vs. inferred
- A distinction this site marks in every topic: what Scripture states plainly (“explicit”) versus what a view concludes by reasoning from the text (“inferred”). That Christ will return is explicit; the precise timing of the rapture is inferred.See also: Proof-text
F
- Foreknowledge
- God’s knowing beforehand. The whole predestination debate can turn on it: does “those He foreknew” (Rom. 8:29) mean the people God chose in advance to love, or the people He foresaw would believe?Read the topic →See also: Conditional election, Unconditional election, Middle knowledge (Molinism)
G
- Glorification
- The final stage of salvation, when God fully and permanently frees the believer from sin and death at the resurrection. It is the last link in Paul’s chain: “those He justified, He also glorified” (Rom. 8:30).Read the topic →See also: Justification, Regeneration
I
- Intermediate state
- The condition of a person between death and the final resurrection. The question in “After Death” is whether believers are consciously with Christ now, or “asleep” until the resurrection.Read the topic →See also: Soul sleep
- Irresistible (effectual) grace
- The Reformed teaching that when God acts to save one of His chosen, that grace certainly brings the person to faith and cannot be finally refused. Contrast the resistible grace of the Arminian view.Read the topic →See also: Prevenient grace, Unconditional election
J
- Justification
- God’s act of declaring a sinner right with Himself, forgiven and accepted, on the basis of Christ — received through faith, not earned. For example, “justified by faith, we have peace with God” (Rom. 5:1).See also: Regeneration, Glorification
L
- Libertarian free will
- The belief that a choice is only truly free if the person could really have chosen otherwise, with nothing — including God’s decree — determining it. It is the view of freedom held by Arminians and Molinists; contrast compatibilism.Read the topic →See also: Compatibilism, Middle knowledge (Molinism)
M
- Middle knowledge (Molinism)
- The proposal that God knows what every person would freely do in any possible situation, and creates the world accordingly — preserving both His sovereignty and real human freedom. It is the heart of the Molinist view of predestination.Read the topic →See also: Libertarian free will, Foreknowledge
O
- Ordinance
- A practice Christ commanded the church to observe — baptism and the Lord’s Supper — understood as an act of obedience that pictures grace rather than conveying it. The word many Baptists and evangelicals prefer to “sacrament.”Read the topic →See also: Sacrament, Baptismal regeneration
P
- Paedobaptism (infant baptism)
- The baptism of the infant children of believers, on the grounds that they belong to God’s covenant community (from the Greek pais, “child”). Practiced by Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches; contrast credobaptism.Read the topic →See also: Credobaptism (believer’s baptism), Covenant theology
- Perseverance of the saints
- The Reformed teaching that everyone God truly saves will be kept by Him and endure in faith to the end. It is the “P” of Calvinism and central to the “Once Saved, Always Saved?” topic.Read the topic →See also: Apostasy, Unconditional election
- Postmillennialism
- The view that the gospel will so succeed through the church age that the world is largely won to Christ (“the millennium”) before He returns.Read the topic →See also: Premillennialism, Amillennialism
- Premillennialism
- The view that Christ returns before a literal thousand-year reign on earth. It is the framework behind most “rapture” timelines (pre-, mid-, and post-tribulation).Read the topic →See also: Amillennialism, Postmillennialism, Tribulation
- Prevenient grace
- The grace God gives beforehand that softens the heart and enables a person to respond to the gospel, without forcing them. It is the Arminian answer to how a spiritually dead sinner can freely believe.Read the topic →See also: Conditional election, Irresistible (effectual) grace, Total depravity
- Proof-text
- A verse quoted to settle a point while ignoring its surrounding context. This site deliberately gives passages in full to avoid proof-texting.See also: Explicit vs. inferred
R
- Rapture
- The catching up of living believers to meet the returning Christ (1 Thess. 4:17). All the debate is over its timing relative to the tribulation, not whether it happens.Read the topic →See also: Tribulation, Premillennialism, Eschatology
- Regeneration
- The new birth: God’s act of making a spiritually dead person alive in Christ (John 3:3). Calvinists hold it precedes and produces faith; others that it accompanies believing.Read the topic →See also: Justification, Total depravity, Baptismal regeneration
S
- Sacrament
- A sacred sign instituted by Christ that not only pictures grace but is a means God uses to convey it — chiefly baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, and Reformed traditions use the term; many Baptists prefer “ordinance,” seeing the sign as obedience rather than a channel of grace.Read the topic →See also: Ordinance, Baptismal regeneration
- Secondary (non-essential) issue
- A doctrine Christians can disagree on without breaking fellowship, as opposed to the essentials of the faith. Every topic on this site is a secondary issue (Rom. 14; Eph. 4:1–3).
- Sign gifts
- The more overtly miraculous spiritual gifts — such as tongues, prophecy, and healing — as distinct from gifts like teaching or service. Whether these continue today is the cessationist–continuationist debate.Read the topic →See also: Cessationism, Continuationism
- Soul sleep
- The view that the dead are unconscious (“asleep”) until the resurrection, rather than consciously present with the Lord. It is one answer in the “After Death” topic.Read the topic →See also: Intermediate state
T
- Total depravity
- The teaching that sin has affected every part of a person, so that no one can turn to God on their own without His grace. It does not mean people are as bad as possible, but that none are good enough to save themselves; it is foundational to the Reformed view.Read the topic →See also: Prevenient grace, Regeneration, Unconditional election
- Tribulation
- A future period of intense trouble before or around Christ’s return. Rapture positions are named for their timing relative to it: pre-, mid-, and post-tribulation.Read the topic →See also: Rapture, Premillennialism
U
- Unconditional election
- The view that God’s choice of whom to save rests on His own mercy alone, not on anything foreseen in the person. This is the Calvinist position; contrast conditional election.Read the topic →See also: Conditional election, Irresistible (effectual) grace, Foreknowledge
- Universal reconciliation
- The hope that God will ultimately save everyone, so that hell, if any, is redemptive rather than final. It is the minority “universalist” view in the hell topic; contrast eternal conscious torment.Read the topic →See also: Eternal conscious torment, Annihilationism (conditional immortality)