Glossary

Both Greek and English have a really helpful grouping of words that help clarify what the Bible means by dikaiosune. dikeo has to do with justice. In English, we talk about being considered “righteous” as being “justified,” or more casually as being declared “right.” Both the English words “just” and “right” have to do with being aligned or straight. Justice is represented by the symbol of a set of scales that are straight across, not leaning one way or the other. Also, in a document, you can have left-aligned, center-aligned, or right-aligned text, or you can have “justified” text, where it’s straight up-and-down both sides. Equity and justice are essential to the concept of dikaiosune. Jesus talks about the straight path. Isaiah talks about the image of a plumb line, a tool used to make sure that walls were straight up-and-down. So, what does it mean to be aligned or straight? (certainly not heterosexual!) In the biblical imagination, someone or a community that is dikaios, that embodies dikaiosune, is aligned with the path traced out by Torah and lived out by Jesus. Alignment with that path is justness. (See the entries for “law” above and “sin” below).

(This word is the antonym of kakos. See the entry for “bad” above.) This translation decision is more of a matter of writing style and an understanding of the psychology of language. (If you’re an especially nerdy type and want to go on a deep dive, I recommend Steven Hayes’ Relational Frame Theory.) While, yes, kalos is always used to describe something positive, the word “good” in English is problematic in that it is both too vague and carries too much assumption of obedience to rules. It’s a judgment about the quality being described, not the quality itself. I have chosen to translate this word based on the specific context with what kind of positive quality in view. The core meaning is connected with “beautiful,” and “appealing” or “admirable” are good ways to think about it. Whereas something that is harmful would be avoided, something that is kalos is something worth getting closer to, paying attention to, and ultimately receiving and sharing it.

(This word is the antonym of poneros. See the entry for “evil” above.) While, yes, agathos is always used to describe something positive, it’s more specific than that. The word “good” in English is problematic in that it is both too vague and carries too much assumption of obedience to rules. It’s a judgment about the quality being described, not the quality itself. I have chosen to translate this word based on the specific context with what kind of positive quality in view. The core meaning is connected with “beneficial to others” or “causing or contributing to people’s well-being.” That can take the form of being someone who acts with kindness or generosity, a food that is healthy and benefits the person who eats it, and anything that provides benefit or enhances well-being for people.

I have actually kept translating this word as “clean” because I have not been satisfied with any alternatives, and I don’t know that any real English equivalents exist. It is, in fact, the Greek word for “clean,” but in the context of the Bible and sacred Hebrew practices, it’s not what most of us have been led to understand. First, it refers to the specific context of religious life. It is not a synonym for “good,” or the opposite of “abhorrent,” or “disgusting,” or “contaminated.” It has to do with being prepared for sacred purposes. The book “Hebrews” discusses the Tabernacle and the priests being cleansed, not because they were sinful beforehand but because they hadn’t been initiated or inaugurated into their sacred roles yet. The ancient Hebrew imagination had a much more expansive view of calling and sacredness than modern Western thought.

It may be surprising to note that I have continued to translate daimonion as “demon.” There isn’t a better alternative. What it has in view is almost certainly not what modern American readers think of when we hear the word “demon,” those ideas are formed by Medieval European folklore, not biblical teachings, but it is talking about something that can’t just be dismissed out of hand.

The word hamartia is traditionally translated “sin,” which only has meaning in a religious context, but the Greek word wasn’t taken from religious vocabulary at all. The actual meaning is an archery term for missing the target; it’s a metaphor. The English word “sin” has too much baggage, too many presuppositions attached, for it to be read with curiosity as a fresh message. It needs to be defined, not just repeated. It is about veering off course, wandering from the appropriate trajectory, stepping from the path. What path is that? The one traced out by Torah (see the entry on “law” above) and lived out by Jesus. Torah is from the verb for shoot, as in an arrow, and we can live in a way that’s aligned with that trajectory (see the entry for “righteousness” above), or we can deviate from that trajectory, take a different path. In fact, while there are numerous ways to behave harmfully that are deviation, there are also ways to behave that aren’t harmful but simply don’t fit with one’s particular sacred calling that are deviation. Even more, there are things described as deviation that are not about behaviors at all but that are about things like having an injury, or a disability, or illness, or even just not being Jewish. Jesus strongly resists those who treat all these kinds of deviation as if they are equal. They deviate from the path toward a world in which all things are well and everyone is cared for and valued. Most of the time, “deviation” is about harmful behavior, but other times it’s not, and how to respond to the various kinds is something worth looking to Jesus to determine.

The English word “blasphemy” has come to mean a very particular type of offense against God. However, the Greek word is not nearly as specific as that. It means to speak against something or someone in a way that is disrespectful and causes it to be viewed with less esteem or more judgmentalism. Words like “disrespect,” “slander,” “defamation,” “belittling,” “insult” and others like these could work. The Greek word blasphemia appears dozens of times in the Bible, and while many instances are about speaking or implying things against God, many are not.

The word “devil” isn’t really a translation. It’s a keeping of the Greek word, filtered through Latin, then French, then English. The word really means something like “slanderer” or, more particularly, “false accuser.” There does seem to be a sense of a particular False Accuser in mind, and it is noteworthy that the work of diminishing someone to the label of bad or wrong or evil or worthless is explicitly the work of the False Accuser, not God, contrary to the doctrine of Total Depravity (if you don’t know what that is, consider yourself fortunate).

Growing up, I heard my pastor define “grace” as “getting what you don’t deserve.” That misses the point, but it’s close enough to seem right. It has nothing to do with deserving or not deserving. It’s not about the recipient at all. Charis is related to the word for “gift.” It is the characteristic of being the kind of person who gives freely, or it can be used of the instances of giving freely. It’s about the generosity of the giver who gives because it reflects their character. It is not meant to be a technical term for the means by which someone goes to Heaven when they die.

(This word is the antonym of agathos. See the entry for “good [2]” below.) The word “evil” has come to mean something along the lines of a malicious and hostile person who seeks their own gain or even takes pleasure in the pain of others. A person who fits that description could possibly be considered to fit the definition of poneros, but that’s not specifically what it means. At its core, it’s about anything that causes hardship, especially oppressive or disastrous hardship. A tornado would fit this description. An occupying army would fit this description. It’s about the hardship caused for people, not the wicked desires that make something poneros. The person or community who makes life harder for others, who treats others as objects for one’s own gain or benefit, is poneros (as an adjective). The effects of that posture to others, the impacts on the other people, could also be called poneros (as a noun).

(This word is the antonym of kalos. See the entry for “good [1]” below.) This translation decision is more of a matter of writing style and an understanding of the psychology of language. (If you’re an especially nerdy type and want to go on a deep dive, I recommend Steven Hayes’ Relational Frame Theory.) While, yes, kakos is always used to describe something negative, the word “bad” in English is problematic in that it is both too vague and carries too much assumption about disobedience to rules. It’s a judgment about the quality being described, not the quality itself. I have chosen to translate this word based on the specific context with what kind of negative quality is in view. Much of the time “harmful” is an appropriate way to translate it, but a number of other ways also get used.

This one is fascinating. It has come to be used as a synonym for Hell (and is sometimes translated that way by people), but it actually refers to a geographical location in Palestine. The Hebrew Ge Hinnom (Valley of Hinnom) was transliterated into Greek as Gehenna. That valley has a horrific history of infant sacrifice, with people burning their own babies alive as an offering to the god Molech, as well as Jeremiah referring to it as a place of slaughter during a foreign invasion, where so many died that the corpses rotted there because there were not enough survivors to bury them. When Jesus talks about the Hinnom Valley, he does seem to be doing so metaphorically—and others did so at the time as well—but it is not about a place of individual, everlasting torment after a person dies. Rather, it’s a symbol of the horrific outcomes that await the community when it follows the values that brought their ancestors to those types of events in the past.

The first thing to note is that this word has several uses unrelated to forgiveness, including “divorce” and “allow.” The core meaning is about creating separation, whether by letting go or sending away. The second thing to note is that when it’s about deviations or shortfalls, it’s never directed toward a person or people in the Bible; it’s always about the deviation or shortfall. What I mean is that it is always “your deviations are let go” and not “I forgive you” or “God forgives you.” It’s about not holding a claim on being owed by the person or people anymore. It’s parallel to debt forgiveness. When a loan is forgiven, the lender doesn’t tell the borrower, “We forgive you.” They communicate that there is no longer any repayment owed.

The word “salvation” is another one that’s not wrong; it’s just so loaded with preconceptions from historical uses of it that it’s more likely to lead away from the text’s meaning than toward it. The basic concept of soterios is preserving or protecting someone’s well-being. It can be used of healing, rescue from imprisonment, protection from assault, liberation from oppression, restoration of resources, and return to health. In most of the contexts in the scriptures, “liberation” and “restoration” work nicely to clarify what is in view. As with other words, it’s not about making sure Heaven is the afterlife destination. There is a much more “this life” focus to it.

The word pneuma in Greek (and the word ruach in Hebrew) means essentially “breath” or “wind.” When it is traditionally translated as “spirit” it is to refer to the life-energy of the breath within a person or animal, which is when I use “life-breath.” It is also used to refer to the animating energy of the breath when someone speaks, including God, and an “evil spirit” is often used when hateful, exclusionary, lying, or harmfully honest speech is being directed at people. Those instances are when I use “spirit-breath.” The “Sacred Life-breath” often refers to how God shows up to communicate loving truth, a presence within and among people that connects them with God, with each other, and with life.

Whether this word is being used for a heavenly being, wind and fire, a burning bush, or humans carrying a message, the word angelos means “messenger.” It refers to someone who speaks for another, communicating something as an intermediary or as an agent. Even when the message is from God to a human, the messenger can be any number of things—people, natural phenomena, dreams, and yes, even heavenly beings. Worth noting is that there is never a specific kind of being named an “angel” in the Bible. Whatever kind of being it is, if it is called an angelos, it’s because it is conveying a message.

This word is not inherently about admitting wrongdoing. It is about speaking together something true. What is spoken may very well be an open acknowledgment of participating in harm, or it may be affirming the trustworthiness of Jesus. It is an affirmation of the truth of something.

This word is often contrasted with “clean” and “holy” but also often has nothing to do with that contrast. It simply means “common” or “ordinary.” In fact, the type of Greek the Bible is written in is called “Koine Greek” because it was the dialect spoken by the common people. When the Bible uses it about a religious context, it serves as the opposite of the Greek word hagios (see the entry for “holy” below). When it is contrasted with “clean” or “holy,” it’s not because it’s inherently bad (or anti-holy) but because it is referring to something or someone not living in alignment with a sacred calling. They’re just following the ordinary path that people usually take when they haven’t answered God’s calling.

The concept of Hell most of us are familiar with has nothing to do with anything in the Bible. While something like purgatory was discussed during the time of Jesus, the concept of an everlasting experience of punishment did not exist until at least a couple centuries after Jesus. Hell as we think of it is based on Medieval European folklore, not biblical teaching. In both Greek culture and biblical thought, the word Hades refers to the place all people go after they die, not only those who deserve punishment. The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible called the Septuagint uses Hades to translate the Hebrew word Sheol, which can be translated as the “grave” or the “pit” or something like the “underworld.” It’s not an evil place or a place for evil people. It’s just where the dead are.

The word doxa can be used in a number of ways, mostly centered around the concept of praise. It’s related to the verb dokeo, which means “to seem” or sometimes more specifically “to esteem.” It has to do with the public recognition of praiseworthiness. In biblical thought, it’s also often connected with presence—the visible recognition of the divine as it is with humanity in a way that highlights how praiseworthy the divine is.

Whereas many of us grew up with repentance being about feeling guilty or ashamed for bad behavior or simply for having a sinful nature inherited from Adam and Eve, expressing that guilt, and then trying to do better, the Greek word metanoia has almost nothing to do with any of that. It is a compound of “change” and “mind.” While it is occasionally used to mean a simple change of mind, like deciding to do a different activity than planned, the scriptures primarily use it to mean a deeper, lasting transformation of how we understand life. It is a transformation of how our mind works. It’s not opposed to an emotional moment spurring on that change, but metanoia is about the ongoing transformation that typically takes years; it doesn’t focus on a single moment.

The word hagios has traditionally been translated as “holy” or “saints” (“holy ones”). For many people, the word “holy” calls to mind being “holier than thou” or a sense of being better than others. It can also seem to mean something like being characterized by obedience to a series of rules. I was taught it meant “set apart,” which is not wrong exactly, but it’s often confused for meaning “separate” or “distant from.” It’s “set apart” in the sense that it is designated for a specific purpose. In religious and spiritual contexts, it’s about being designated for sacred purposes. Priests are hagios. They have been designated for the sacred purposes of carrying out temple duties. In biblical thought, the whole nation of Israel was hagios, designated for the sacred purpose of being a light to all people groups. In fact, in the creation stories, all humans are hagios, designated for the sacred purpose of representing the Creator to each other and the rest of creation. In New Testament thought, people who follow Jesus are hagios, designated for the sacred purpose of representing Christ to the rest of humanity and carrying the triumphant message that all peoples will be praised as worthy.

While “flesh” in the sense of bodily cravings (usually thought to be primarily about sex) is the most talked about use of this word, it’s not the way it’s used the majority of instances. It can be used that way in some contexts; however, it’s almost always referring to hostility and aggression when it does so, not sex. Sarx is also used to discuss things like family connections (much like talking about people being your “flesh and blood”), being physical instead of ideological, and simply referring to the body without any kind of negative judgment about it.

This word is traditionally translated as “trespass” or “transgression.” It very literally means something like “fall to the side.” It is used as another metaphor about following the path, or in this case, not following the path (see entries above about “law,” “righteousness,” and “sin”). It can be used with debt-metaphor language for harmful behavior, and in those instances, “shortfall” is used in this translation. In places when it seems to be about straying from the path by avoiding specific ways of following the instructions about how to live, “sidestep” is used.

The word anastasis literally means physically “getting up” and can be referring to standing from a lying or seated position. The English word “resurrection” comes from the Latin resurgere, “to rise again.” You’ll notice the shared root between the words “resurrect” and “erect,” “resurrection” and “insurrection” (also called an “uprising”). Standing up is the shared root idea. The Bible uses two words interchangeably, with anastasis being the more common noun to use and egeiro being the more common verb to use. The word egeiro can also mean “get up” physically and often refers more to waking up or becoming alert. The choice of “reawakening” rather than merely “rising up again” (while that would work well, especially as paired with the revolution ideas about following Jesus rather than Caesar) is based on the metaphorical language commonly used at the time, wherein “falling asleep” was a euphemism for dying, much like our culture uses “passing away.” Since dying was called “falling asleep,” it makes good literary sense to pair it with “reawakening” when coming into a new life.

The English word “Satan” is not a translation (and it’s not exactly a name either). It’s taking the letters of the Greek Satanas, which is also not a translation but taking the letters from the Hebrew word Shatan. In fact, in Hebrew, it is always Ha Shatan, “the Satan.” Ha Shatan seems to be a title, or maybe a personified concept, rather than the name of a being. It carries the meaning of someone who is against another, trying to sabotage their efforts and their wellbeing, and against someone as a plaintiff in court. An enemy, but also someone accusing another of wrongdoing, whether truly or falsely. It’s not just about pointing out something bad, but actively moving to cause hardship. In fact, in the Hebrew Bible, Ha Shatan was not the archnemesis of God but a participant in the council of celestial beings and always served the role of causing hardship in order to test the faithfulness of a person or community. The story in the book of Job is a clear example of this role.

This word has a few different meanings. The first is very literal: “sky.” The others are metaphorical. It is used to represent the divine presence or, as in Matthew, as a sort of replacement for mentioning God directly. Another metaphorical usage is to represent social hierarchy, specifically those of high status, power, and influence. Paul especially uses a language of tiers to discuss social status differences, and he includes God and Christ in the highest tiers (the “highest heavens”), and others like Caesar and kings would be included in “the heavens” as well in that framework. He also has “the air,” which is referring to the part of the sky, or atmosphere, close to the ground. It would be people like governors or magistrates, priests, and others with more authority and status than the average person but less than those in “the heavens.” Notably, it’s not about a location in another plane of existence or about a destination for after you die. That’s not to say life doesn’t continue beyond my death, but this word isn’t about that.

The Greek word was used to mean “law” in many contexts, but the context of the Bible is unique, and it is used to refer primarily to the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The Hebrew name for these books is Torah. According to Wilda C. Gafney in Womanist Midrash: A Reintroduction to the Women of the Torah and the Throne (2017), “The Torah is instruction, revelation, and sometimes law. Torah (with a capital T) is the first five books of the Scriptures and all that is in them: story, song, genealogy, geography, legal material, and lessons from the ancestors. Torah (with a little t) is instruction and jurisprudence. So, while there is torah in Torah, not all Torah is torah, and there is torah outside of the five books of the Torah! Toroth (plural of torah) can be found in any of the many genres of Torah. […] The Torah is a locus of divine revelation (and divine self-revelation). The word torah comes from the verb y-r-h, ‘to throw’ (e.g., ‘to cast lots’) or ‘to shoot’ (arrows). With regard to torah, y-r-h also means ‘to throw’ rain or instruction from the heavens; […] In a mystical sense, Torah can be seen as an embodiment of divine Wisdom and for some as the Word of God (with a capital W)” (p. 17). By translating nomos as “law,” it is siding with the Roman idea of how leadership and citizenship works, but the biblical view on these things has nothing to do with the Roman view. De-Judaizing the scriptures has been part of a long history of antisemitism, of the church trying to distance itself from its Jewish roots. Not only do we lose the Jewish context, but we lose the imagery in place. As discussed by Dr. Gafney in the above quote, the noun torah is referring to instruction thrown down from the heavens. Maybe even more relevant for the imagery Jesus and the rest of the New Testament writers use is that it’s being thrown from the heavens traces the path toward the target the people of God are supposed to be pursuing. It traces the path to follow toward New Creation, toward Jubilee, toward the Age to Come.

The word “gospel” is left over in English from Old English (which is a language before English, not just King James style English) godspel, a compound of god (“God”) and spel (“story”). While that’s not unrelated, it’s not a direct translation from the Greek. The often used “good news” is a closer translation. Perhaps “good announcement” or “good message” might be even closer. Rather than any of those options, I have chosen to translate it as “triumphant message.” Another option I considered is “news of victory.” The reason is that it wasn’t just two words for “good” and “news” that happened to get used together, but rather, it was a term for a specific kind of event or announcement in the ancient world. It was used for the announcement that was made when a ruler or general returned victorious from the field of battle. A herald or messenger would travel ahead of the ruler and their army, enter the city in advance and announce the triumphant return of their leader. Then, the people would leave the city to meet the victorious leader on the road and escort them inside the city in a celebratory procession. The story of the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday is an enactment of this practice.

This word is complex. It is traditionally translated as “faith” or “belief” or “faithfulness” based on context. The first two have become too misconstrued to be useful anymore. The heart of the word is a reciprocal relationship between trust and faithfulness. It can lean on the sense of a bond of trust toward a person or way of being that a person teaches in some places, and it can lean on the trusting response to that person or that way of being that emulates it. Trust leads to faithfulness and faithfulness leads to trust. There is a committedness involved that chooses to be faithful because of trusting the source of encouragement to stick to the path even when hoped-for outcomes are still in the distant future.

I have actually kept translating this word as “unclean” because I have not been satisfied with any alternatives, and I don’t know that any real English equivalents exist. It is, in fact, the Greek word for “not clean,” but in the context of the Bible and sacred Hebrew practices, it’s not what most of us have been led to understand. It is not a synonym for “bad,” or synonyms for “abhorrent,” or “disgusting,” or “contaminated.” It has to do with being unprepared for sacred purposes. It especially seems to be used about ways of speaking toward or about people that are judgmental and pejorative, and about ways of treating people that are harmful. Those are not aligned with the calling and sacred purposes of God’s people. (See entry on “clean” above.)