Brotherly Love

Corrupt Definition: 1: Preserving one’s own image in the eyes of others to the neglect of God’s reputation. 2: Boasting in human magnanimity despite covenant violations (1 Cor. 5:6). 3: Sweetness devoid of truth, confrontation or any sense of urgent obligation to save a soul from death—see also Modern Parenting.

Biblical Definition: 1: Recognizing God as love—the sole legitimate source for all other expressions (1 John 4:7-8). 2: Prizing another’s urgent needs above one’s own image or the wish to be liked (Prov. 27:6; James 5:20; Gal. 1:10; 6:1; Prov. 29:25; 28:23). 3: Willingness to lose friends to be a friend (Ps. 141:5; Prov. 27:6; John 6:67-68). 4: Going beyond words and platitudes to actually impart truth, grace and aid to a brother (Matt. 26:49; Eph. 4:15; 1 John 3:18). 5: Keeping and expressing God’s Word as the perfection of love towards others, showing patience and kindness without envy or boasting (1 Cor. 2:5; Phil. 1:9; 1 John 2:5). 6: Hopes all things, believes all things, endures all things—never fails (1 Cor. 13:7-8). 7: Relentless in pursuit of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-20; Gal. 6:1; James 5:20).

Divine Love

Corrupt Definition: 1: Undying affection, sweetness and acceptance outside of covenant, devoid of divine jealousy. 2: Unconditional adoration and welcoming affirmation, especially of covenant-breaking, adulterous actions. 3: Erasing covenant boundaries to celebrate the profane while dissolving the sacred. 4: Disciplining only those He hates and scourging everyone He rejects.

Biblical Definition: 1: Extending mercy and grace as the sole exit from bondage (Rom. 5:8; 1 John 4:19). 2: Forfeiting life and rights to ransom from fear and death (Phil. 2:5-8; 2 Cor. 5:21; 8:9). 3: Offering covenant as the sole, abiding context that sustains love (Hos. 2:19-20; Matt. 26:28; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:27; Ex. 34:12, 14). 4: Insisting that obedience is the best evidence of loving devotion (John 14:15, 21; 1 John 2:5). 5: Never coercing another’s choice but allowing the rich young ruler to walk away sad (Mark 10:21-22). 6: Transforming through discipline as proof of acceptance (Deut. 8:3-5; Ps. 94:12; Prov. 3:11-12; Heb. 5:8; 12:3-6; Rev. 3:19).

Doctrine

Corrupt Definition: 1: Detached propositional truths about God, especially useful as tools to compete with other Christians. 2: Teachings of men that act as spiritual ammo in an unholy war between brothers.

Biblical Definition: 1: Beliefs and practices that restore Christ’s spiritual life in the church (Titus 2:1-10; John 14:6; 5:40; Eph. 4:20; 1 Tim. 6:3). 2: The branches of wisdom’s tree no longer severed but integrated and producing life (Prov. 3:18; 11:30). 3: That living form into which we were delivered, liberating us from the slavery of sin and empowering obedience from the heart (Rom. 6:17).

Election

Corrupt Definition: 1: God’s inexplicable assignment of unborn babies to either eternal bliss in heaven or unending torment in hell. 2: An understanding of God’s omnipotence that reduces humankind to a race of automatons, manipulated by a god whose will is arbitrary and unknowable.

Biblical Definition: 1: Twofold—(a) referring to irrevocable talents God gives people or persons for a special function or calling; (b) the eternal destiny, established before time, that is corporate, not individual, always referring to the community of Christ or antichrist. Scripture is replete with examples of individuals who transcend their corporate destiny and enter the “called” of God: i.e., Rahab, Ruth, Obed-Edom, Namaan, the woman of Tyre, the Roman centurion. 2: Divine calling extended to anyone humbly responding to God’s prevenient grace. 3: The corporate design of Christ’s Body—predestined from the foundation of the world—to which individuals may conform when prompted by God’s enabling Word (Matt. 22:14; 23:37; James 4:6-7; Eph. 1:4; Rom. 9:19).  4: Made sure by our diligence in conforming to the image of God’s Son (Rom. 8:29; 2 Pet. 1:10-11).

Evangelism

Corrupt Definition: 1: Mass-marketing Jesus and the gospel as an intellectual commodity apart from abiding relationship. 2: A compulsion to birth new babes in Christ with no covenant family context to nurture or mature them, effectively leaving newborns on the street to fend for themselves. 3: Begetting endless spiritual orphans while the family of the church is broken, divided, divorced and sure to fail them. 4: Selling eternal fire insurance for the economy price of mental assent.

Biblical Definition: 1:  Declaring the whole message of a whole life that shines as a light to the nations, a city on a hill that demonstrates the quality of union which proves that God sent Jesus (Acts 5:20; John 17:23; Isa. 60:1-3; 62:1-2). 2: Declaring the gospel as an invitation to die to sin in repentance, bury the old man in baptism, and be filled with new life through the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 15:1-4; 2 Thess. 1:8; 1 Pet. 4:17). 3: Making disciples, teaching them to obey all that Christ has commanded (Matt. 28:19-20). 4: The herald of hope to lost sheep, declaring the gospel of the kingdom—salvation found in Christ’s fitly framed Body (Ps. 107:4-7; Ezek. 34:11-15; Mark 1:15; Luke 12:32; Acts 20:28; Eph. 5:25-27). 5: The very heart of God’s eternal purpose—grafting lost souls into salvation through the covenant of promise (Eph. 2:11-13, 19; Heb. 10:19-25; 1 Pet. 2:24-25). 

Faith

Corrupt Definition: 1: Mere mental assent to facts about Jesus and God that can only be diminished by obedience. 2: Belief that Christ’s “finished work” forbids the believer’s involvement. 3: Unapologetic inconsistency between one’s professed beliefs and one’s lived religion.

Biblical Definition: 1: The energizing for obedience ignited by the Word of His power (Heb. 11:8; Rom. 1:5; 16:26; 10:6). 2: A trusting relationship that manifests spiritual promises in daily life (Rom. 4:12). 3: Receiving the Word of His power unto obedience that overcomes the world (Rom. 10:17; 1 John 5:4). 4: Impetus for action—apart from which faith is dead (James 2:18-24; Mark 2:5; Luke 5:20).

Forgiveness

Corrupt Definition: 1: The Father ignoring our continued rebellion because of Christ’s agony. 2: Legal declaration of righteousness, outside of relationship, for those still enslaved to sin. 3: Absolution from guilt apart from repentance (Luke 17:3). 4: The Father welcoming the prodigal son, though he never returns but remains in the city of sin.

Biblical Definition: 1: Divine mercy extended to contrition, passing over a trespass (Mic. 7:18; Heb. 8:12; Gen. 4:7; Ps. 51:17; James 4:6; Isa. 1:18-20; 43:25; 66:2; Matt. 9:13; Luke 19:10). 2: Accepting into Christ and His righteous identity someone thoroughly dead in repentance, free from the tyranny of the sinful will (Rom. 6:5; Col. 3:3; Rom. 8:1-2; 1 Pet. 2:24; Col. 2:20). 3: The Father running toward the prodigal whose back is to the world, whose face is set on relationship (Gen. 45:14; Luke 15:20). 4: Visceral release from the millstone of transgression and guilt—freedom fueling a devoted life of obedience (2 Sam. 12:13; Ps. 32:5; 103:12; Rom. 7:24; 1 Tim. 1:15-16).

Grace

Corrupt Definition: 1: God’s tolerance of continued sin because of Christ’s pacifying sacrifice. 2: Divine leeway or extra allowance for forbidden behavior. 3: God smiling favorably on unrepentant sinners; in short, grace is treated as a license for sin: “They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality” (Jude 4). 

Biblical Definition: 1: The acceptance one finds in right relationship, based on God’s initiating love, not pedigree or human qualifications (Eph. 2:8)—i.e., “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8). 2: The extra-human divine agency empowering obedience (1 Cor. 15:10). 3: A training agent, teaching us to “say no to ungodliness, deny worldly pleasures and live sensibly and godly in this present age” (Titus 2:11-12). 3: The divine fuel empowering obedience unto life (Heb. 13:9). 4: The actual Spirit of God whom we must not do despite to (Heb. 10:29).

Justification

Corrupt Definition: 1: The belief that Jesus can suffer, submit to God and walk holy in our place, allowing us to cheerfully continue in as much sin as we please—utterly complacent to its consequences. 2: The Father’s choice to pacify His wrath toward our sin with the blood of Christ because we admitted that it happened.

Biblical Definition: 1: The only sinless Man fully reconciled to God, paying the judgment our sins incurred and welcoming us into Himself, provided we die to sin and embrace His Spirit, lordship and holy identity, living a life of ongoing trust in His Word and Spirit (1 Tim. 3:16; 1 John 2:1; 1 Pet. 2:23; Matt. 3:17; 2 Cor. 5:19; Eph. 4:8; Rom. 2:7-8; 6:3, 6; 8:14; John 15:14; Gal. 2:20; 5:16, 24).  2: The Calvary sacrifice that pays and satisfies justice’s demands, allowing us to enter the presence and glory of God through covenant (Matt. 27:51; Rom. 6:23; 9:28; Eph. 2:18; Heb. 10:19-25). 

Legalism

Corrupt Definition: 1: Any belief that takes on visible expression, especially in one’s appearance. 2: Appearance or practice that distinguishes a believer from the condemned world around him. 3: The absurd notion that one must obey (instead of mentally assent to) truth from Scripture or the Spirit. 

Biblical Definition: 1: Minimal requirements that allow the flesh to look religious while avoiding relational dependence that requires trust (Matt. 5:20; 23:23; Luke  11:42; 18:12). 2: Self-made religion that appears spiritual but is less than lethal against the flesh (Col. 2:23; Rom. 8:3). 3: Finishing in the flesh instead of putting to death the flesh and being made perfect by the Spirit (Gal. 3:3; Rom. 8:13). 

Outward Holiness

Corrupt Definition: 1: Repression of freedom in Christ. 2: Being brought under bondage to legal externalism. 3: Attempting to earn our salvation through “good works.” 4: Living by fear and trying to prove or earn what God has already completed in the “finished work of Christ.”

Biblical Definition: 1: The identity marking exclusive covenant with Christ (1 Cor.  6:17; 1 John 2:15; James 1:27; 4:4; Matt. 6:24; John 15:19). 2: Behavior flowing from devotion that inspires one to eschew the table of demons and of the world, recognizing that separation from the world is a prerequisite for union with God. The outside of the cup becoming clean as a result of inner cleansing (Matt. 23:26; Luke 11:39; 1 Pet. 1:15-16). 4: The will of God—learning how to live holy, keeping oneself from impurity out of honor for God and growing awareness of what pleases Him (Col. 1:10; 1 Thess. 4:3-8; 1 Tim. 2:9; 3:15; 1 Pet. 3:3; 1 Cor. 11:15-16).

Repentance

Corrupt Definition: 1: Emotional response to God’s transforming power with unwillingness to crucify one’s will. 2: Feeling remorse for partial recognition of sin and turning one’s head towards God while body and life move in the opposite direction (Luke 9:62). 3: Acknowledging sin’s particular expressions while refusing to perceive its root. 4: Feeling sorry for mistakes made while framing them as the product of hostile circumstances. 5: Self-pitiful sorrow that leads to despair instead of shifting one’s faith to the only worthy God (2 Cor. 7:10). 6. Esau-like regret accompanied by demands and unwillingness to respond with small steps of obedience (Heb. 12:17). 

Biblical Definition: 1: Recognizing the inner, willful nature as the primary culprit of all subsidiary sin (Eph. 2:3; Matt. 15:11; Mark 7:15; 1 Pet. 4:2). 2: Uprooting—not pruning—sin nature’s dead tree (Matt. 3:10; Luke 6:43; 2 Cor. 7:10). 3: A categorical pivot releasing gravitational orbit from self and beginning to orbit around God’s will in the Spirit (2 Tim. 2:4; Phil. 3:9; 2 Cor. 5:9). 4: Dethroning the godhood of one’s own perspective and will—recognition and acceptance of God’s authority coming through those He sends (Rom. 6:11-12, 18-19; 1 Pet. 5:5-7; 2 Pet. 2:19; Rom. 8:5-6). 5: An agonizing crucifixion of our will most analogous to death on a Roman cross (Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23; Eph. 4:20-24; Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20;  5:24; 6:14; Prov. 3:5-6; 14:12; 16:25).

Salvation

Corrupt Definition: 1: Solving a legal—instead of a relational—problem. 2: A moment of mental assent, causing God to declare one righteous and secure in heaven, regardless of one’s brokenness or rebellion here on earth. 3: God’s legal formula that secures a sky palace residence—with an ocean view guaranteed if one commits optional works (bonus go-anywhere golf cart included if one convinces others to divorce fruit from faith—keeping multitudes from the heresy of living out belief).

Biblical Definition: 1: A promise attractive only to those disenfranchised with self and the world, not those attempting to solve the eternity problem outside of union with God. 2. Reconciliation with God, healing brokenness, restoring wholeness for eternal life (John 17:3; Col. 1:22; 2:10; 2 Cor. 5:18-19; Acts 5:20). 3: Returning to a spiritual Eden that harmonizes God with man, people with each other and what we say and what we do with what we think and feel—partially known on earth, fully realized in heaven (John 17:21; Acts 2:1, 42-47; 1 Cor. 1:10; Phil. 2:2; Col. 3:16-17).

Sanctification

Corrupt Definition: 1: The optional process whereby one perfects himself, subsequent to justification. 2: Clearly a human work because it involves improving one’s behavior. 3: A convenient subcategory separated from justification with no salvific implications, allowing for a worldly church. 

Biblical Definition: 1: As much the proprietary work of grace as justification or any other part of salvation (1 Cor. 6:11; 1:30-31; John 13:8; 2 Thess. 2:13). 2: The process whereby the Holy Spirit disciples, cleanses and changes saints into Christ’s image. 3: The unfolding process whereby one is made holy, apart from which “no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).

Sin

Corrupt Definition: 1: The violation of God’s objective, arbitrary moral code. 2: The inescapable condition of brokenness produced by adverse environment. 3: Social taboos that might threaten one’s righteous image in others’ eyes.

Biblical Definition: 1: Rupturing relationship by violating God’s design (Gen. 3:8; John 3:19; Rom. 3:23). 2: Betraying and distorting God’s image (Rom. 1:23; Col. 3:10; Rom. 3:19; Isa. 59:2; Mic. 3:4). 3: Coming short, missing the mark, failing to make the sacrifice due God’s honor and glory (Gen. 4:7; 1 John 3:12; Rom. 3:23; 6:12; Job 11:14-15; Jer. 3:12-13).

Spirit-Filled Church

Corrupt Definition: 1: The haphazard amassing of random individuals who’d like to sing and maybe hear some Scripture. 2: The mutual agreement among Christians to smile and tolerate each other while studiously eschewing all expressions of Christ’s authority, separation from the world and discipleship—anything that would actually achieve Biblical unity. 3: A Kumbaya dynamic that assembles people under the inclusive flip-flopping liberty and the spirit of this age, all the while assuming it’s the Spirit of Christ. 4: “Freedom in Christ” that equals anti-order, anti-design, anti-standards, anti-cohesion. 5: The torpid man-constructed organizations that mirror corporations or the Roman State, consigning all authority to the mind or liturgy. 6: A  support club to bolster the individual’s assurance of spiritual security as he pursues his ambitions in the “real world.” 

Biblical Definition: 1: A divine composition whereby the Lord appoints the members of the Body according to a harmonious design—impossible without individual repentance (Acts 2:37-38; Matt. 18:3; Luke 22:32; Rom. 7:3; 1 Cor. 12:11, 18). 2: A temple where random stones assume a new identity, becoming part of an ordered spiritual house where God dwells by the Spirit (Eph. 4:16; 2:22; 1 Pet. 2:5; Heb. 3:6; 1 Cor. 3:16). 3: The pillar and buttress of truth, the embassy of heaven on earth (1 Tim. 3:15). 4: The sole entity capable of withstanding the authority and onslaught of the world, the flesh and hell (Matt. 16:18). 5: God’s final project for demonstrating to principalities, and a dog-eat-dog world, His ultimate alternative for ordering society through trust, submission, unity, love and wholeness of life under His Headship (Eph. 3:10; 1:23).

Wisdom

Corrupt Definition: 1: Experience in stitching together fragments of Scripture to justify unbiblical themes (2 Pet. 2:18; James 3:13-18). 2: Excessive caution that seeks to make the least of every opportunity to preserve one’s image in others’ eyes. 3: Killing immediacy and all timely response to God’s Word, claiming to preserve “unity” or give sufficient consideration before walking in the light.

Biblical Definition: 1: A comprehensive vision that unites the truths of God relationally, bringing continuity, wholeness and meaning to doctrine and life (Prov. 3:18; 9:1; 24:3; John 10:35). 2: Recognizing urgent need against the backdrop of limited time and grace, and moving decisively to make the most of every opportunity (Matt. 25:2; Eph. 5:15-17; Col. 4:5). 3: Design descending from above that composes members in the Body according to a wise master plan (1 Cor. 3:10; 12:18; Eph. 3:10; Heb. 11:10; James 3:17). 4: Best seen in God’s fine-tuned balance and orchestration of the cosmos (Prov. 8:22-31).