Christianese

Have you ever heard words/phrases come from Christians that you don't understand?  Honestly, I can't stand "Christianese" because there are words/phrases only Christians are going to understand - and even some of them don't understand what they mean either!  So, I'm going to try to help you understand what these words/phrases really mean (and hopefully I'll get some insight on them too, lol).



First, this word isn't necessarily "Christianese," but it's a word most people don't use anymore, and that word is "sin."  What does sin mean?

According to the dictionary it means "an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law."

So what does this mean?  You may be saying, "I'm a good person, I have good morals, so I don't sin right?"  Or you may be saying "Morals are subjective."  Let me ask you this, do your morals align with God's Law?

1) No killing/hating
2) No infidelity/lust
3) No idolatry
4) Keeping the Sabbath (the Sabbath was a day of rest)
5) No coveting/jealousy
6) No lying
7) No stealing
8) Honor your parents
9) Don't use God's name in vain (which means making an oath under his name ("I swear to God...."))
10) Only worship God (the one true God)


I don't know about you but I've broken literally all of these (and many on a daily basis).  If you've broken even ONE of these, then you have sinned.  Thankfully, God sent his Son, Jesus, to take our punishment for us (the punishment was death and hell).  He suffered and died for us so we can be with God, even after we've sinned.  Isn't that incredible?!



Okay, on to the REAL Christianese.


I've heard this phrase many times.  I grew up in the church (though didn't start following Christ until I was 14), and I've heard so many times to ask Jesus to "come into your heart."  It always confused me, and to this day it still confuses me.  I'm like "How does someone live IN my heart?"  I mean, our heart's job is to pump blood through our bodies right?  So how does one live IN our hearts?  Of course, that's just me taking things literal though.  God doesn't LITERALLY live in your heart.  When you trust that Jesus died for you, came back to life on the third day, and you need him to rescue you from Satan (the devil/Accuser/Adversary).  Which brings to another phrase: what does it mean to be "saved?"

I'm not sure if this is really "Christianese" but I thought I'd explain it anyway.  We are prisoners of ourselves.  Doesn't make much sense right?  So basically, we are in these prison cells, but they're not like normal prisons.  They're comfortable, we get to do whatever we want while we're in them, and that's what our real focus is.  What's good for me?  What we don't realize though, is two things:  First, there is an executioner; and while your cells may be comfortable, when it's time to be executed it's going to be very painful.  He doesn't care about you, in fact he's happy to kill you in the most painful way possible!  All alone and torment,  After all, you're in prison because you rebelled against the King!  There is a second person though.  The King's Son.  He was executed in your place and went through the punishment that was meant for you!  Because of that, your cell doors are open and you can walk right out!  Your sentencing has been changed!  Instead of being a prisoner you're free!  But there's a catch - you have to actually walk out of your cell and be adopted by the King.  Yep, you read that correctly, you - a rebel of the King, He wants to adopt you as His child!  Unfortunately though, many people would rather stay in their prison cells.  They're comfortable where they are and don't think they'll really be executed.  Through Jesus, we are saved from not just Satan, but from ourselves as well.  But we have to go to him, not stay as we are.  He loves us, but he loves us enough to not want us to be prisoners.  He wants to adopt us as his children, and live life abundantly (John 10:10).

So, to be saved you need a Savior - Jesus is that Savior. Put your trust in him.

What about some other Christianese?

"Washed in the blood" is another one.  What does this mean?  Well, this could get a little complicated.  So when Adam and Eve committed the first sin (disobeyed God's command on not eating from the tree of knowledge), there had to be blood sacrifices.  These weren't human sacrifices.  These were sacrifices by animals such as sheep.  The high priest would make these sacrifices so God could forgive the people.  This was all to represent what was to come - the ultimate sacrifice.  God sent his Son, Jesus, to be the ultimate sacrifice for us.  Since Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice, there is no need for more sacrifices!  We are cleansed of our sins through Jesus' sacrifice.

Repentance.  What does this mean?  When we sin, we are turning away from God.  So how do we get back with him?  By repenting.  In other words, turn from your sin - don't do it again, and be obedient to God.

Born again is another one too.  What does this mean?  You know, Nicodemus (a Pharisee - leaders of the Law) wondered this as well.  It's too long of a passage though so you can go to BibleGateway.com to read it.  It's John 3:1-21.  In summary though, it's not a physical rebirth - it's a spiritual one.  It's being reborn through Christ - a new creation.

Lord.  Jesus is a leader - a good one too.  He's not some power-hungry politician or military leader.  He's a King, and a humble one for that.  He came down from heaven and was born as an innocent, little baby.  He had a humble upbringing - his family wasn't wealthy or royal.  He was poor and even homeless you could say.  ("Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."  Matthew 8:20)

Word, or rather, reading the Word.  This means Scripture, short for God's Word.  Scripture is considered to be the Word of God.

Baptism.  Baptism is a public way of saying you belong to Christ.  Jesus was buried, then came back to life.  So baptism going down in the water represents dying to yourself, then you go up out of the water to represent your new life with Christ.


Foundation.  This comes from the parable Jesus told about the person who built their house on sand, and the person who built their house on rock.  It's you identity in Christ.

Err, those are all the terms I can think of, of either "Christianese" or terms you may not know that come from Scripture.  If I think of more I'll add them here.





O LORD, I give my life to you.  I trust in you, my God!

Psalm 25:1