 Hello and welcome back to the second episode of how to rightly divide the word of truth. And in this episode I'm going to be looking at how to define biblical words and concepts. And the reason why this matters is that how we define and handle words in the Bible can have massive implications on doctrine and salvation. So one very good example is the definition of repentance. What does that mean? One person might say well repentance only means a change of mind from unbelief towards belief in the Gospel. Another person might say well no it's much more than that it means to turn from all of your sins in a complete transformation of character. I've already done work on repentance and salvation so if you want to check that out that's already available on my channel if you want more information about that issue particularly. So as I did in the previous video I've set up some basic simple rules that you can follow to help you divide the word of God in this manner and so in terms of understanding biblical words and definitions the first rule would be to look at how a word of term is used across the Bible allowing the Bible to be its own dictionary in a sense. Sometimes as well the very first mention helps to define a word or term but not not always the first mention. So picking up from that example on the previous slide about repentance so a verse like Luke 3.3 would say that and he referring to John the Baptist came into all the country about Jordan preaching baptism of repentance for the remission of sins and so when people see the word repentance they often just interpret that as meaning turning from sin that that's what it means so they'll read that verses baptism of turning from sins for the remission of sins but sometimes turning from sin is the context of repentance and Acts 8 is an example as there are examples in Revelation 2 and 3 so in Acts 8 22 it says repent therefore of this thy wickedness so in Acts chapter 8 turning from a sin or some form of wickedness is the context of the repentance but the thing is though not not in every circumstance so for example Acts chapter 19 verse 4 shows that the repentance that John preached is to believe on the coming Christ so the repentance is changing your mind about what you believe not turning from your sins so it said and then Paul and then said Paul John very well baptized with the baptism of repentance saying unto the people that they should believe on him which come after him that is on Christ Jesus so that's the context of repentance it's a different kind of repentance in that particular verse more over in the King James translation at least and some other Reformation-era Bibles there are certain verses where it actually said God repented and this just further proves that repentance doesn't always mean turning from sins it can have other meanings as well modern Bibles have substituted it with other words which does lead to confusion arising about the definition of that word but again I've done a series about repentance for salvation if you want more information so we can see that repentance does indeed mean a change of one's mind or a change of course sometimes that is of sin like in Acts chapter 8 but but not in every context such as in Amos 7 and in Acts 19 so turning from sin is not always the context of repentance there are other things that one can repent of such as unbelief or God may change a course of action from something he was going to do if it's based on how man behaves himself another example of letting the Bible be its own dictionary and looking at how a word is used is the word reprobate now rather like repentance the word reprobate is not widely used outside of Christian vernacular but even within Christianity it's not a widely used word it's not part of our everyday lingo so in Romans 1 28 it says and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge God gave them over to a reprobate mind and so reading Romans 1 the surrounding context may be unclear as to what exactly a reprobate mind is other than the consequential behaviors that result from someone who's got reprobate mind there are also two other New Testament verses 2nd Timothy 3a and Titus 1 16 which use that word but they may not make it very obvious what what that word means so if you go into the Bible to the first time it's mentioned which is in Jeremiah 6 30 it says reprobate silver shall men call them why because the Lord has rejected them so this is a good verse to define this word men shall be called reprobate well why they call reprobate well it's because the reason being they are rejected by God and that would actually seem to agree with the way that Romans 1 uses that word because it's saying God gave them up God gave them up God gave them over rejected okay and if you read 2nd Timothy 3 8 men of corrupt minds are rejected concerning the faith so using the first appearance in the Bible as the example of how it's used in a defining term we can use the Bible as its own dictionary and then that gives you an idea of what it's talking about when it uses that same word in the New Testament passages rule number 2 is that you can use a conventional dictionary to help you but it should be used with caution remember that many biblical words are seldom used in a non-religious context so such as grace salvation sanctifications and so because of this because those words are predominantly used in Christianity false doctrines or false views of Christianity may have actually redefined what those words mean even in a secular dictionary so if we were just to take some basic definitions of these kind of words grace is God's unmerited favor or resistance as an act of kindness or courtesy or mercy justification means vindication or to have a good acceptable reason for something or behavior or it can also mean morally upright like someone who's just similar to holy in that respect salvation is preservation or deliverance from a danger destruction or difficulty or failure of some kind sanctification means to be set apart for a sacred or religious purpose or use and holy means to be exalted divine or devoted entirely or worthy of devotion perfect in goodness so they're fairly simple definitions of those words without making it remarkably complicated but as I said though do use the dictionary with caution because words have been defined redefined because of religious interpretation particularly of a catholic variety which tends to embellish and complicate what words actually mean and we saw this with repentance so if you look in the Merriam Webster it will say that the first definition is to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life the second definition would be to feel regret or contrition or to change one's mind and we saw actually that makes more sense because of how the bible uses that word in different parts that definition there starts to fall apart when it says that God repented or when the repentance wasn't specifically turning of sin so the first definition in the Merriam Webster has been shaped by religious dogry it's not the natural meaning of the word repent you cannot just take the word repent on its own and then just assume it means all of that unless the surrounding context shows you that that's what it means and again refer to my video about repentance and salvation if you want more information on that topic but this will lead me on to the next rule actually I'll give you two rules in one go here because these kind of tie together so rule three and four don't over embellish or sensationalize what words actually mean and also don't define words by quoting other people's fanciful statements because that that's what a lot of people do with repentance and although I did cover this in a repentance video I'm going to briefly show you this again here because this is actually to do with other things in the bible as well so there's this article here by this Kurt Michelson guy and it's asking this question what does it mean to repent and his his reference verses mark one 15 which in full is repent you and believe the gospel I mean that's not even the full verse but that's the key bit from the verse that he's talking about so he's trying to explain what it means to repent in that verse and immediately he opens the article saying have you ever had trouble explaining what it means to repent of sins so he's already forcing that definition onto it anyway when he doesn't even say that in the verse and then he immediately starts talking about confession etc etc he then goes on to say that he's found a commentary concerning this verse on another website to say how simple and yet profound this explanation really is and I don't know where he's getting the idea that it's simple but basically what he's doing is he's quoting this person to tell you what repentance is when Mark says repent you and believe the gospel I mean Jesus said it but he said it in Mark so this is the quote he called them to repent not only of their former sins and vicious course of life but their bad principles and tenets concerning a temporal kingdom of the messiah concerning merit and free will justification by the works of the law and salvation by their obedience to the ceremonies of it and the tradition of the elders these he exhorts them to change their sentiments about and to relinquish them and give into the gospel scheme which proclaims liberty from the law peace pardon and righteousness by Christ and salvation unto eternal life by the free grift of grace of God now I don't know about you but to just say that's your verse and then you've got that one word and it means all of that that's rather over sensationalized that's rather embellished and what's his justification that that word means all that this article then goes on to quote another person doing the same thing it's just that he just gives a completely different explanation as to what it is that we must lament and forsake all of our sins and blah blah blah blah blah but the thing is though folks you can't get all of that from repent you and believe the gospel that verse does not give you anything of that that kind of claptrap it's not there all we're doing is we're just defining repentance by just quoting other people's fanciful statements and in my repentance video I covered that in quite a bit of detail that how we're just quoting other preachers make these you know complicated statements as to what these words mean repent is not a complicated word it doesn't mean all of that claptrap okay so this is what you need to avoid don't define words by just quoting somebody's very fanciful speech tell you what it means so then when we have a verse that says repent you and believe the gospel this is a very short and simple statement you can't get all of that fanciful definition about repentance from that verse and they didn't even quote any other verses in the Bible they didn't even bother to quote other verses in the bible to show you that that's what it means they're just making a dramatic statement and then quoting other people and then they make dramatic statements and then somebody else makes their own dramatic statement and that's how we're defining words in the bible but that's not how the bible uses words since the basic definition of repentance is just to change one's mind all it really says here is change your mind and believe the gospel this is not a proof text of a dramatic transformation of character if a total transformation of character is what repentance really means you need to be able to demonstrate where the bible passage uses repentance in such a crazy dramatic way I can't find it but if you notice it pop it in the comments so don't over embellish words and don't just quote other people tell you what these words mean they're actually quite simple words that they're not that complicated it's just that people make them complicated the next rule that I want to talk about is to not define biblical words or terms using passages that don't specifically mention such terms unless you can establish a very very clear connection now people often do that with repentance anyway but I'll use a different example so let's let's take the example of being born again all right you ask different people what being born again means and you'll get you'll get all sorts you'll get such a wide variety of answers so one person might say it means that you've completely surrendered your life to christ and turn to having a relationship with him another person might say it means you are a new creation of christ with a you know 2nd Corinthians 517 as the reference verse someone else might say being born again is far more than just believing you need to walk in obedience to God's truth for the carnal mind is an enmity with God Romans 8 7 Jesus said go and sin no more we need to be baptized in water followed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit based on Acts chapter 1 verse 5 and Acts chapter 2 verses 1 to 4 so different people will give their own definition of what being born again means I even asked someone one time show me in the Bible where it says repent of your sins to be saved and they said well here it says be born again but I didn't ask where it said be born again I asked where it said repent of your sins to be saved and so this is she was defining being born again is that and this is what you need to understand how to justify what words really mean in the Bible so if we take these examples here these answers okay well let's take the first one this one this answer sounds like it was made up on the spot by somebody who doesn't know the Bible very well okay nowhere in the Bible does it say surrender your life to christ christ died for us we don't surrender our life to him and even turning to having a relationship and I'm not against relationship but the Bible never actually uses that word it's not a prerequisite for salvation no scriptural support was given for this answer so it should someone's just got a preconceived idea of what it means or they're just regurgitating what somebody else has said the answer on the right you might argue this one has a lot more scriptural support I mean he offered more than the other two to be fair but the problem is that if you go to these passages so if you go to Romans 87 or if you go to Acts one or two none of those scriptural justifications actually mention being born again neither do they offer a clear link between the two concepts so there's no explicit proof here that being born again has to do with any of the things that that he's talking about so you want to say that means born again but they don't say be born again in those passages you're just making that the meaning of being born again even if you can justify it from the Bible right and again people do that with repentance they do it with other words in the Bible as well now you might argue that this one actually is linked to being born again because being born you know implies that there's new life the passage talks about a new life applicable to those in Christ who are no more of flesh but it still doesn't mention being born again so it's not the best proof text and really that answer raises more questions than it solves because if you say what does it mean to be born again oh well it means to be a new creature in Christ well okay what does that mean then that that just extends the question it it doesn't really answer it so let's use the correct passage in the Bible to define what being born again means now if i remember correctly there is one other verse that mentions it other than this passage that's in the next slide but John chapter three gives us the best idea of what it means for a start it's a chapter that actually mentions being born again so it's the best chapter to define what it means so in verse three it says Jesus answered and said on to him that's Nicodemus that's who he's talking to truly truly i say on to you except a man be born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God so enter the kingdom of God is synonymous with heaven or eternal life and as this passage actually shows itself even a man must be born again if he wants to enter into the kingdom he then goes on to emphasize this truly truly i say on to you except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit now so we have then what does it mean to be born again well you've already been born in the flesh or born of water which is synonymous now now people want to make being born of water of baptism but there's no mention of baptism in this chapter so Jesus dividing the flesh from the spirit okay you're already born in the flesh and that's flesh but you need to be born in the spirit that's what it means to be born again well how do i get born again in the spirit well he tells you later in this chapter you go further down to verse 16 for God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life that's the instruction in the chapter that Jesus is talking about being born again we've got nothing else to go you can't then make this all about a dramatic changing character and turning from all of this and going out and doing that because you can't get that from this chapter and this is the chapter that means but mentions being born again so John 3 is the passage that actually uses the phrase so it's the optimal passage to define what it actually means the best definition that you can get from this passage is that a man needs to believe on Jesus Christ for everlasting life and in doing so he will be born in the spirit born again that is its most basic definition okay that's actually really simple that's not complicated at all see how the Bible has kept the definition simple it's only other people's explanations that have made it complicated now that we have this definition we can then make links to other passages where there is a clear connection so where it says be born again while there is another part of the Bible that mentions that that's 1 Peter 1 23 it says being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God that's the born again spirit incorruptible which lives and abides forever so that's perfectly consistent with John chapter 3 Galatians 4 23 also says but he that was born sorry he that was of the bond woman was born after the flesh but he of the free woman was by promise the promise whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life and Galatians 4 talks about he that's born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the spirit so again we see the flesh we see the spirit just as Jesus was talking about in John chapter 3 and when it says enter the kingdom of God so remember that John chapter 3 is defined being born again to enter the kingdom of God as believing on him and having everlasting life while in Matthew 21 31 32 Jesus is talking some chief priests and Pharisees and he says verily I say unto you that the publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of God there it is before you for John came onto you in the way of righteousness and you believed him not but the publicans and harlots believed him no it didn't say they turned from all of their sins they surrendered their life to Christ they went out and did this that and they looked no they believed him because that's how you enter the kingdom of heaven according to John chapter 3 see how it's consistent there and you when you had seen it repented not afterward that you might believe him so now that we know what it means to be born again we can then make the connections to these other verses but we couldn't just go to a verse and make it say that unless we can establish a clear connection and the best way to do that is to start with a passage where it actually mentions that given term now someone might bounce this back to me and say well hold on there so-called no-nonsense Christianity you manipulative little cherry picker Jesus said we need to be born in the spirit and paul over and again talks about walking in the spirit and not after the flesh and this means obeying him so being born again obviously does mean walking in the spirit so in John 3 we have born of water we have born of spirit so be born of the spirit you then go in Romans 8 and it talks about those who walk not after the flesh but walk after the spirit it goes on to say they after the spirit mind the things of the spirit they that are of the flesh mind the things of the flesh and if you go to Galatians paul talks about the works of the flesh and how they manifest in all of these horrible sins over here and that you won't inherit the kingdom of god but then the fruit of the spirit is all of these wonderful things here so he'll say well being born in the spirit means doing all of this stuff here that's of the spirit right well this leads me on to rule number six to answer this point for you so rule number six is when the bible uses analogies or parables or metaphors or idioms try and think about the literal application of such and then whether your interpretation actually makes sense but at the same time though don't do this at the expense of clear teachings okay so i'm going to show you this in practice so based on that hypothetical objection that i showed in uh previous slide so we have this premise Jesus said on to Nicodemus in a conversation about eternal life and entering the kingdom of god you must be born in the spirit okay now paul said this bear any mind he said it to his brethren so that that's those who already have believed okay if you are led of the spirit or live in the spirit then let you also walk in the spirit so you must be born in the spirit to enter the kingdom of god but paul also goes on to say walk in the spirit and do the things of the spirit right well what's the literal application of these metaphors and idioms well being born is a one-time event in the flesh it only happened once so if you equate being born again as a lifetime struggle the analogy of being born falls apart immediately as soon as Jesus says be born again and it's a lifetime thing it wouldn't make sense to be born again he would have to say you have to live in the spirit to enter the kingdom of god but he said you have to be born in the spirit now walking is something that you have to gradually learn to do over a period of time with a caregiver so in the spiritual application that would be our heavenly father but caregiver to help you learn to walk right now even when learning to walk there are other more advanced things that you will need to learn being led or taught by somebody who knows or in the christian application again your heavenly father and sometimes you will fall and make mistakes okay but in conclusion being born is the beginning of the journey so being born again that's the beginning of being in the spirit we must be born in the spirit to enter the kingdom of god so being born in the spirit then we are then led by the spirit for as many as are led by the spirit of god they are the sons of god the bible says if we are led by the spirit if we live in the spirit so if that above is true if you are born again if you have believed on to eternal life let us also walk in the spirit but do not confuse the walking of the spirit with what it actually means to be born in the spirit okay there's a difference between being born and walking and that's why the bible uses these metaphors and analogies more over we have clear proof texts from john three that being born again is synonymous with believing in jesus for our eternal life we don't have clear proof texts that this is the same thing as walking in the spirit and growing in the fruits thereof so the the term being born again only appears in two passages of the bible so don't turn it into something that's far more complex and profound than how jesus actually uses this terminology himself but with all that being said make sure that you don't use a parable or a metaphor or an idiom or an analogy at the expense of clear teaching so for example let's take the parable of the prodigal son well one person might say that the parable of the prodigal son proves that you can lose your salvation because the father said my son was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found someone else will say well no we're saved eternally because jesus said i give on to the eternal life and no man shall ever pluck them out of my hand this proves that you can't lose salvation so one's using a parable to say that you can one's using something else to say that you can't well well who's right here well this is a parable okay parables can be interpreted in different ways more over the very reason jesus spoke in parables was to confound the Pharisees anyway this here is more of a clear statement now although jesus uses a metaphor in this you know about being sheep um us being his sheep and him being the shepherd he's not specifically telling a parable here okay so he's being quite literal about giving them eternal life um and obviously he's not literally holding on to my hand and there's not a hand coming from the sky but that's the application that it's talking about eternal life and it's a very clear teaching a parable is not really a clear teaching if it's at the expense of clear statements like that and not only is jesus' statement about not letting any be plucked from his hand a clear statement even more even among surrounding metaphors the context of the passage john chapter 10 is that jesus is very clearly explaining how somebody can attain eternal life and how jesus takes on the responsibility as a shepherd to hold on to his sheep whereas if you actually read the parable of the prodigal son which coincidentally has preceded an analogy of the shepherd going out to find his sheep similar to to john 10 actually the concepts of giving the story sorry the context of giving the story in luke 15 it's about sinners coming to repentance and rejoicing when it happens it's not specifically dealing with how to be saved or the role that jesus takes on for those who are his so with the parable there's more room for interpretation and it because the parable can be interpreted in different ways and jesus uses it in a slightly different conversation than he does in john 6 and 10 so go with the clear statement first and reexamine what you believe about the parable now rule number seven this is quite similar to the earlier rule about not over a embellishing or sensationalizing words but treat biblical words and terms for abstract ideas as simple words don't treat them as some fancy or overly profound theological or satirological doctrinal positions in your mind you can subconsciously substitute those words with their abstract definitions if it helps you understand the passage so for example mark 115 when it says repent you and believe the gospel if we just assume that repent is a simple word that a child can understand it means change your mind and believe the gospel Ephesians 2a for by grace you're saved through faith and not of yourselves it is the gift of god well grace is god's unmerited favor so by god's unmerited favor are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the free or unmerited gift of god Hebrews 10 10 and 10 14 by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of jesus once and for all then goes on to say for by one offering he has perfected forever then that are sanctified and so sanctified its simple definition is to be set apart so by the will we are which we are set apart from those who's since they're not covered through the offering of the body of jesus christ at once and for all and for by one offering he has perfected forever them that are set apart from those who are not perfected by his offerings you know that the people who are not set apart he's setting us apart from them so simple definitions that's how you can read it in your mind if that helps it make more sense to you and then one more example in Romans 3 so when it talks about being justified being justified freely by his grace well justified means to give a good reason for so being freely given a good reason by his grace that's his unmerited favor through the redemption it is in Christ Jesus whom god has set forth to be a propitiation so that's a sacrificial sin offering of appeasement through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness or his right standing with god for the remission or the forgiveness of sins to declare i say at this time his righteousness or his right standing with god that he might be just and the giver of a good reason the provider of a good reason to him that believes in jesus and then it goes on to say a man is justified or given good reason for his right standing with god by faith so these are simple words that they're not complicated words at all and only read these words this way in your mind if it helps you understand the passage better but the bible should not be rewritten like on this side though because on paper it reads horribly and actually the bible is making it simple by using a simple word to represent a more abstract thought which just makes it much more readable when you can understand these words at their most basic definition and you might wonder well why should i treat them as simple words surely these words represent more complex doctrines and ideas well in Christianity we have certain words to categorize a collection of beliefs or represent doctrinal positions on a range of issues such as trinity transubstantiation consubstantiation pre-med or post-tribulation rapture anti-nominism modellism liturgical arminianism calvinism etc etc now the these terms are predominantly not found in the bible they are words that have been established by man as just a convenient shorthand to explain one's position on an issue without having to go into great detail to explain it and if somebody didn't know what these words mean they'd require a lot of in-depth study or an explanation about what exactly those doctrines mean but but they are fancy terms because we've created those fancy terms to explain certain camps of people's reasoning the thing is though for biblical words and ideas the bible is not written this way so for example in paul's letters he does not start a chapter by saying now let me explain to you the doctrine of justification so that you will not confuse it with the doctrine of salvation or sanctification paul and other writers they just don't write like that instead they make statements in their letters and throw in the word justification or sanctification or salvation with the premise that you already know what these words mean as in any other word in your vocabulary so for example when peter writes in first peter 3 15 he says but sanctify the lord god in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and so he's saying that sanctify the lord well the three chapters into the first epistle of peter he tells us to sanctify the lord god in our hearts but prior to this he hasn't explained to us the doctrine of sanctification moreover there's no other letter that goes into great detail about what sanctification means in the new testament you can only make sense of this statement if you already understand the definition of the verb to sanctify which is to set apart just like how do you know what the word but means how do you know what the word that or lord or god or in what means these are all simple words well guess what this is a simple word as well it's not some profound complicated thing it's a simple word with a simple meaning that peter throws in there and once you read verse 15 you're already expected to know what it means to make any sense of that verse so the danger of treating these words as as complex fancy words or doctrines is that you can easily obfuscate what they actually mean and cause contradictions in doctrine so repentance was sort of one example that we touched on earlier but let's take the word grace so in Ephesians 2 8 and 9 it says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of god not of works lest any man should post so we're saved by grace unmerited favor it's a gift that's why it's not of works but then when you read 2nd Corinthians 9 8 it says and god is able to make all grace abound towards you that you having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work so in Ephesians we say that grace undeserved unmerited favor of god warrants that salvation is free it's a free gift and works play no part of it right yet in 2nd Corinthians we see that god's grace can help us to abound in works yet works are not a part of our salvation because if it were that violates god's grace according to Ephesians 2 so grace should not be treated like some mysterious force that complexly wraps together every time the word is used but rather god's unmerited favor gives his eternal life freely without works but being then already saved freely god gives us unmerited favor also for the purpose of carrying out good works and abounding therein but this should not be confused with salvation which is without works so both of those are the grace of god but not for the same purpose okay and again we saw this earlier with the word repentance it doesn't mean turning from sin and a profound change of lifestyle every time the word is used it means different things in different parts where the word is used because it's a simple word like any other word in the bible so i hope that that helps you if anything you think i've missed or any questions you want to ask or any disagreements pop them in the comments but when i do the next video in this series i want to look at understanding how the bible is structured and the actual purpose for which books or passages in the bible are written so it's understanding more the literature style of different books and the purpose for which different books are written