Identity – is used here to mean who someone is or something is according to God. His view of everything is the only view that counts because He knows the truth and purpose of everything that He created – included humans.

Bi-part or Tri-part human beings – These terms refer to a long-standing debate among Christians as to how God views all humans. Are we two-part beings (body and soul) or three-part beings (body, soul and spirit)? This not just an academic curiosity but has major importance to understanding mankind’s fundamental identity and, consequently, our corresponding relationship with God. He tells us Genesis 1:26 that He made man in His image and likeness and John 4:24 states that “God is Spirit.” So we are spirit beings in His image and 1 Corinthians 6:17 tells us we can now become “one spirit with the Father.”  His revelation in Hebrews 4:12 gives additional clarity to this very important question. Analogously, this verse equates our soul (mind, will, emotions and conscience) with “joints” – two bones, joined together in our physical body – like a knee or finger joint, for example.

However the human “spirit” is described analogously as “marrow” that is in our bones and, in fact, “manufactures” our bones. So from that clear distinction, we can deduce that all humans are “spirit beings that have a soul and live in a physical body.” This revelation of our true identity helps us understand what happened to mankind, through Adam, when he sinned. We all lost the spirit-to-Spirit connection he originally enjoyed with God. He became “spiritually separated” from (or spiritually “dead” to) God and, likewise, we are all born with that same fallen condition – in Adam.

The Inner man – Outer Man – Paul referred to a person’s body and soul as the “outer man” as opposed to his or her true, core self – a spirit-being, the “inner man,” Ephesians 3:16 and 2 Corinthians 4:16

In Adam – The Bible clearly states the Adam and Eve were mankind’s first parents, created by God from the dust of the earth into which He breathed the breath of life. God regarded Adam as mankind’s legal Representative. When he chose to disobey God’s warnings not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, he became spiritually separated – “dead to God”-  and became evil by nature. Unfortunately, that spiritual condition was passed down through all of Adam’s offspring to us today – and is summarized in the phrase “in Adam.” That is why Jesus told Nicodemus that “you must be born again” – spiritually – to see and enter God’s Kingdom – Heaven. The only other alternative to “being reborn of God” – rebirth – is forever existing “dead to God” in the kingdom of Hell. There are only two Kingdoms!

Mankind’s Fallen Condition – this refers to being in the same spiritual “condition” as Adam after his “Fall” from sinless perfection to being separated from God spiritually.

In Christ – In God’s Big Picture, the only other spiritual condition possible for mankind from being first born in Adam is to be reborn of God to become spiritually “alive in Christ.” This gift of “being saved” forever, was made possible when the sinless Jesus Christ was crucified 1) for the payment and forgiveness of the all sins of the whole world and 2) making possible our rebirth by an exchange our evil spirit-self with His righteous human nature – the Divine Exchange – by our being crucified with Him by faith, Galatians 2:20 and 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. By receiving His offer, our old, in Adam spirit-nature dies and is gone and we are regenerated (re-begun) as a New Creation spirit-being in Christ. Your soul and body are not yet perfected, but the new spirit-you is perfect and seated in the heavenlies in Christ by believing and receiving what Jesus did for you by His Grace and mercy, Hebrews 10:15 and Ephesians 2:6. 

New Creation – used in 2 Corinthians 5:17 to describe the replacement of the old Adam spirit-self with a brand new, reborn spirit-self – in Christ, the new inner man – that never existed before.

The Unseen Realm/Kingdom of God –  is the non-material realm of the God of the Bible, also known as Heaven. But also, the Kingdom of God is wherever the King is and if you are reborn of God, the Kingdom has come into your new-spirit self, 1 Corinthians 6:19.

The Unseen Kingdom of Darkness – is the non-material realm of Hell, created for Lucifer, who became Satan when he and one/third of heaven’s angels rebelled and were cast out of Heaven. It is also now the destination of all in Adam humans who reject Jesus’ offer of salvation through rebirth. 

Seen Realm – is the material Universe that is subject to interactions from both God and fallen angels known as demons.

Covenants – are very serious agreements made between two or more parties which, if broken by one side, the other side has a right to punish and even kill the other party. They are usually made by a blood oath, signifying the seriousness of the agreement. There are five main covenants in the Bible.  (link)

Mosaic Law Covenant – is the fourth main covenant in the Bible that God made with the Israelites through Moses. When individuals or the group kept the 613 laws they agreed to, God blessed them. When they violated the terms, they were punished and sometimes even killed, according to the covenant’s terms. It was a “works-based covenant” which was given primarily to show mankind’s need for Jesus. It was nailed to the Cross so Christians are under God’s New Covenant of total Grace – not the Mosaic Law, Ephesians 2:15, Colossians 2:14 and Hebrews 8:13.

Curse of the Law – the “Law” Tree in the Garden and the Mosaic Law are good in themselves but not good for us because we fail to live perfectly – even as Adam failed – at being “obedient” to any “standard.” Since we can’t live perfectly, we need a Savior – Jesus – to give us His “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption” – through rebirth, 1 Corinthians 1:30.

God’s Grace – is often defined as God’s gift of unmerited, underserved, and unearned favor. Another way to express it is: God’s Righteousness At Christ’s Expense. His Grace is not “cheap” because it cost Jesus His excruciating death and separation from His Father so that God could become our new Father. “Where sin abounds, grace super-abounds much more,” Romans 5:20. 

Righteousness / Justification – means to be in right-standing or in right relationship with God Himself. Adam was righteous in God’s sight until he sinned. Abraham was “imputed” the gift of righteousness by grace just by believing God’s promise to him – even though he was still in Adam. This was in anticipation of what Jesus would accomplish on Calvary to make those reborn in Him receive the His gift of “imparted righteousness” by grace through faith in His Finished Work on Calvary.

Under the Mosaic Covenant, righteousness was earned or lost based on their obedience to the Law. It was replaced for Christians with the New Covenant, based totally on grace. God still uses the Law as a tutor to bring in Adam sinners to Christ for rebirth, Galatians 3:24.

Justified by Faith – receiving God’s gift of perfection/justification spiritually can only come by believing and receiving God’s offer of His perfection through rebirth – by faith in what Jesus did for us.

Sanctification – is the process of being made perfect and whole instantly in one’s inner man through rebirth. However, one’s “outer self,” – one’s soul and body – are not made perfect and holy instantly at rebirth. To experience Jesus’ promise of living an “abundant life” on earth, one’s soul – the mind, will, emotions and conscience – needs to be progressively “transformed” over time by “the renewing of your mind” to learn to walk according to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, not according to the former mind-sets, habits, thought patterns, feelings, appetites etc. formed from living as an in Adam sinner, trained to live according to the “lusts of the body, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16), and following the cravings of the world system and the devil’s promptings and temptations.

The soul will never be fully sanctified before death. The sanctification of the body takes place after death as well, when we get a new body, compatible with heaven. So the Bible can say we are “holy and sanctified,” speaking of our new, reborn spirit-self, yet we are “being sanctified,” referring to our soul, and we “will be sanctified” when we get a brand new physical body after death.

The Four Gospels – These four books are written by four men who give inspired accounts of Jesus’ life on earth – mainly pre-cross. He came under the Law Covenant of Moses to 1) fulfill all the requirements of Law for Jewish believers. (Gentiles were never given the Mosaic Law Covenant by God).

Then, through His sacrificial death, Jesus fulfilled and then abolished the Law for Jewish believers, 2 Corinthians 3:13, Hebrews 8:13 & 10:9. Then it was abolished and nailed to the Cross, Ephesians 2:14-16 and Colossians 2:13-15. Now, He gives to all those reborn by God a New Covenant – with the (higher) “Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:2.

The Cross of Christ on Calvary – the most important event in human history as this dividing line for humanity –  from God’s viewpoint. Jesus’ perfect sacrifice made Heaven available again for all those in Adam through rebirth. See CHART. 

Post Cross – the term used here to describe all the benefits and blessings that Jesus made possible after His resurrection and ascension for all reborn saints in Christ when the New Covenant benefits became manifest at Pentecost.

Born Again/New Birth/reborn of God –The only way to become a “child of God” and, thereby,  qualify for heaven forever, John 3:1-19 and Romans 10:9-13.

New Covenant   The last of the Bible’s 5 Main Covenants. Hebrews 8:7-13 and 10:16:18 gives some of the promises and benefits of this New Covenant. For example, God has chosen to no longer “remember” or be mindful of the sins of the whole world because Jesus totally satisfied God’s just demands for the required punishment for mankind’s sin debt. That is total Grace! And, from His viewpoint, God reconciled us to Himself because of Jesus’ sacrifice. All that remains is for each in Adam sinner to choose to be reconciled to God by believing and receiving what Jesus made possible for YOU to be reborn of God, Romans 10:9-13.

Finished Work of the Divine Exchange – When Jesus said “It is finished,” He was referring to the fact that He had accomplished what Father God sent Him on earth to do for all humanity – to offer salvation through being reborn of God by His grace through faith in what Jesus has done, well described in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.

Galatianism – this is the heresy of trying to mix the Mosaic Covenant of Law with the free offer of grace in the New Covenant in order to try to be justified  by our “doing” vs faith in Jesus “doing” at Calvary – His Finished Work.

Judaizers – These were Jews who believed in Jesus as the Messiah but also still believed that they had to observe the Mosaic Law to be saved or sanctified or to “please God.” Paul condemned this as heresy in the book he wrote to the Galatians.

The Fifth Gospel – The Whole Gospel of Total Grace – Jesus’ Gospel revealed primarily to Paul in his visit to heaven (2 Corinthians 12:1-6) and recorded in his 13 books. He describes in detail what Jesus accomplished on Calvary and beyond for all mankind. He referred to this “Fifth Gospel” as the Gospel of Christ (Romans 1:16) and as “my Gospel” 3 times in his books, including in Romans 2:16, 16:26, 2 Timothy 2:8. He did this to distinguish them from any other Gospel which, if different, would be “no gospel at all,” according to Galatians 1:9.     

It is distinct from the Four Gospels in many ways because the revelation centers on what Jesus accomplished at Calvary on our behalf and what that means for the human race – such is how to be “born again” and what that means. Jesus talked to Nicodemus about it in John’s Gospel but rebirth was not possible for any human until Jesus made it possible at Calvary.           

Furthermore, Peter regarded Paul’s revelations from Jesus as “the scriptures,” putting them on a par with the Old Testament – a necessary part of the Bible, 2 Peter 3:15-16. Peter says that some of Paul’s writings are ”hard to understand.” Why? Because Jesus revealed some of the mysteries – the deep things of God – about the Unseen Realm and about who His reborn children are in His sight because they are in Christ spiritually. See 1 Corinthians 4:1, Ephesians 1:9, 3:3-4 & 9, Ephesians 6:19, Colossians 1:25-26.

Radical Gospel of Grace – the term “radical” doesn’t refer to “extreme” in a negative sense but to the understanding that Jesus’ Gospel revealed to Paul was not based on – or rooted in – the Mosaic Law of the previous covenant but that “root” (radis in Latin) was replaced with the gift of total Grace in the New Covenant. – the (higher) “law” of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:2.

The Higher Law – This is the new ”law” that replaced the Mosaic Law (given only to the Jews), as stated in Romans 8:2. This new “law” has three aspects: faith in God’s love for you and me and in what He has done for us through Jesus and the freedom that brings by being His cherished children through spiritual rebirth.

Total Grace – All the benefits from God in the New Covenant are completely a Free unearned, undeserved Gift from God – earned for us by Jesus’ Finished Work on Calvary, 2 Corinthians 5:21.

Reformation #2 – Luther is credited with sparking a “reformation” of some key erroneous doctrines of the Catholicism of his day. But he did not reform some things such as replacing a focus on the obsolete Mosaic Law with the New Covenant “Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus” given to all believers – as Jesus revealed to Paul in Romans 8:2. This is a fundamental departure from Luther’s and Calvin’s doctrine of mixing Jesus with Moses – Galatianism – which is corrected by today’s “Grace Movement” – the Second Reformation now sweeping the world. That is what this Blog site is championing – the revelation of Jesus’ Finished Work of His Divine Exchange with all reborn saints in Him.

Elephant of mixture – In my book I use this phrase to denote that the “elephant in the room,” which everyone knows is there (but is ignored as a “problem”), is the Mosaic Law of righteousness by “works” which is NOT to be mixed with the New Covenant of total Grace.

Butterfly life – the radical transformation (a change of “roots”) of one’s old spirit-self to a brand new spirit-self that happens when an in Adam person is born again, 2 Corinthians 5:17. It is mirrored somewhat in the metamorphosis (complete change) of a caterpillar to a butterfly.

Gospel of Salvation – The Grace Gospel – see “Whole Gospel of Total Grace”

Progressive Revelation – the way God gradually revealed Himself and His plans and purposes for mankind from Genesis through to the Book of Revelation.  

Resurrected and Ascended – We know from scripture that Jesus was crucified, died and was buried, then He arose from the grave and later, ascended to heaven to sit at the right hand of Father-God. We now also know, through the Fifth Gospel, which Jesus revealed directly to Paul, that the same process happens spiritually, by grace through faith, to every in Adam person who becomes ”saved” by being reborn of God through agreeing with Romans 10:9-13. By doing so, one’s core being – the spirit-self that is dead to God in Adam – is made alive as a New creation, who never existed before, and is now spiritually compatible –“one spirit” with God in Christ. Paul referred to this transformation happening in one’s “inner man,” now seated in the heavenlies, Ephesians 2:6. Wow!