Passage
Romans 15
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Doctrine
Christ-Centered Ministry
Contemporary culture's broad approval of generic humanitarian service can lead readers to flatten 'ministry' into secular philanthropy or nonprofit work, losing Paul's specifically Christ-centered, gospel-proclaiming sense.
ROM.15.17-21
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Doctrine
Christian Fellowship
In contemporary English, 'a fellowship' is more likely encountered as an academic or professional grant/appointment (e.g.
ROM.15.24
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Glossary Term
Church
CRITICAL: in the contemporary post-Christian West, 'church' increasingly carries negative or purely institutional connotations — declining attendance, high-profile clergy-abuse scandals, and a large and growing share of the population identifying as religiously unaffiliated ('nones') mean many readers' primary association with 'church' is an institution in decline or under scrutiny, not Romans' living, Spirit-indwelt people of God.
ROM.15.26
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Doctrine
Church as God's People
CRITICAL: in the contemporary post-Christian West, 'church' increasingly carries negative or purely institutional connotations given declining attendance, high-profile clergy-abuse scandals, and a large and growing religiously-unaffiliated population; 'going to church' is often understood as a passive cultural habit rather than active participation in Christ's body.
ROM.15.26
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Glossary Term
Covenant
Most contemporary English speakers now encounter 'covenant' chiefly in real estate law ('restrictive covenants' in property deeds) or contract law ('a covenant not to compete'), a technical legal-document sense that crowds out the relational, promissory, personal bond Romans and the wider Old Testament narrative intend.
ROM.15.12
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Glossary Term
David
Standard proper name; comparatively stable, though most contemporary readers' independent knowledge of David likely comes from the David-and-Goliath narrative alone rather than the covenant promise Romans 1:3 depends on, so that background should still be supplied.
ROM.15.12
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Doctrine
Davidic Covenant
Most readers' independent knowledge of David likely comes from the David-and-Goliath narrative alone; the specific covenant promise behind Romans 1:3 should be supplied, not assumed known.
ROM.15.12
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Doctrine
Evangelism
In contemporary Western secular culture, 'evangelize/evangelism' often carries a negative, pushy, or intrusive connotation (door-to-door solicitation, high-profile televangelist scandals), quite different from Paul's own costly, sacrificial sense of proclamation; use language of witness and proclamation while being aware of this negative cultural coding.
ROM.15.20
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Glossary Term
Exhort
OBSOLESCENCE RISK: 'exhort' and 'exhortation' are rare, formal, almost archaic-sounding words in ordinary contemporary speech; readers will likely need the word glossed (encourage, urge strongly) but are unlikely to actively misread it, since it has no competing secular meaning to interfere.
ROM.15.2
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Glossary Term
Fellowship
In contemporary English, 'a fellowship' is more likely to be encountered as an academic or professional grant/appointment than as shared Christian communal life, which can flatten Romans' relational, participatory sense into something closer to institutional membership or a funded program.
ROM.15.24
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Doctrine
Fulfillment of Prophecy
The secular idiom 'a self-fulfilling prophecy' (a belief that causes its own fulfillment through behavior) is unrelated to, and could be confused alongside, God-inspired predictive prophecy fulfilled in Christ.
ROM.15.8-12
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Glossary Term
Gentiles
'Gentiles' is a low-frequency, almost archaic word in ordinary contemporary English outside Bible reading; many readers only vaguely know it means 'non-Jewish people' without grasping the specific rhetorical and covenantal stakes Paul assigns it.
ROM.15.7-12
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Doctrine
Gospel
Comparatively stable; the idiom 'gospel truth' reinforces rather than undermines authoritative connotation.
ROM.15.19-20
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Glossary Term
Gospel
Comparatively stable: the idiom 'gospel truth' (meaning absolute, unquestionable truth) actually reinforces rather than undermines the word's authoritative connotation.
ROM.15.19-20
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Glossary Term
Holy
'Holy' survives mainly in negative idiom ('holier-than-thou') or as a content-free exclamation ('holy cow!'), both of which drain the word of its 'set apart for God' meaning; must be actively re-taught rather than assumed familiar.
ROM.15.16
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Glossary Term
Holy Spirit
Contemporary 'spiritual but not religious' and wellness-culture language ('good vibes,' 'positive energy,' 'the universe's energy') offers vague, impersonal substitutes for what Romans 8 presents as a specific, personal divine Person who intercedes, indwells, and gives life; this personal, Trinitarian sense must be actively taught, not assumed retained by loose cultural familiarity with 'spirit' language.
ROM.15.16
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Doctrine
Inspiration of Scripture
Contemporary secular and academic culture widely treats the Bible as a purely human, historically-conditioned literary artifact; this live 'Scripture as human product vs.
ROM.15.4
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Glossary Term
Intercession
A relatively rare, formal word in ordinary contemporary speech (obsolescence risk rather than false-friend risk); most common surviving usage is 'intercessory prayer' in explicitly religious contexts, which is actually a mild asset for this specific doctrine.
ROM.15.30-32
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Glossary Term
Israel
Standard proper name; note the modern nation-state of Israel is a live, politically contested contemporary topic in English-language media and public discourse, so context should clarify when the biblical covenant people, not contemporary geopolitics, is meant.
ROM.15.7-12
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Doctrine
Kingdom Mission
For readers, especially younger ones, whose primary cultural exposure to 'kingdoms' is fantasy fiction, film, and games, 'kingdom' may evoke an imagined fictional realm rather than God's actual present-and-coming sovereign reign.
ROM.15.12, ROM.15.18-21
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Glossary Term
Kingdom Of God
For readers, especially younger ones, whose primary cultural exposure to 'kingdoms' is fantasy fiction, film, and games, 'kingdom' may evoke an imagined fictional realm rather than God's actual present-and-coming sovereign reign; this curriculum should stress the kingdom of God's real, historical, and ongoing nature.
ROM.15.12, ROM.15.18-21
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Glossary Term
Law
Contemporary Western readers live in a highly legalistic, litigious culture where 'the law' primarily evokes civil and criminal law and the legal profession; this is a partial asset for Paul's legal-metaphor argument in Romans 2-7 but requires care to keep readers from assuming only contemporary secular legal categories are in view, and to avoid caricaturing 'law vs.
ROM.15.8-12
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Glossary Term
Messiah
'A messiah complex' is a common pop-psychology term of mild clinical mockery for main-character grandiosity, an association this curriculum should be aware could color the word negatively for some readers; the term's specific, positive, Jewish-messianic-fulfillment sense in Romans 9:5 should be actively restated.
ROM.15.8-12
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Doctrine
Messianic Promise
'A messiah complex' is a common mild pop-psychology pejorative for grandiosity; this curriculum should restate the term's specific, positive, Jewish-messianic-fulfillment sense rather than assume it is unaffected by this association.
ROM.15.8-12
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Glossary Term
Mission
Contemporary English speakers most often encounter 'mission' in corporate or organizational branding ('our mission statement,' 'mission-driven company'), a secularized strategic-goal sense quite different from Paul's specific sense of gospel proclamation to the unreached.
ROM.15.15-24
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Doctrine
Mission to the Nations
Contemporary English speakers most often encounter 'mission' in corporate branding ('our mission statement'), a secularized strategic-goal sense quite different from Paul's specific sense of gospel proclamation to the unreached.
ROM.15.15-24
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Doctrine
Mutual Edification
'Edify/edification' is rare and slightly archaic in ordinary speech (obsolescence risk) but has no significant competing meaning, so it is unlikely to be actively misunderstood once glossed.
ROM.15.2
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Doctrine
Prayer and Intercession
'Intercession' is a relatively rare, formal word in ordinary speech (obsolescence risk); its most common surviving usage, 'intercessory prayer,' is actually a mild asset for this specific doctrine since it has no strong competing secular meaning.
ROM.15.30-32
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Glossary Term
Prophecy
'A self-fulfilling prophecy' is a well-known secular psychological idiom describing a belief that causes its own fulfillment through behavior, unrelated to and potentially confusing alongside God-inspired predictive prophecy in the biblical sense.
ROM.15.8-12
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Glossary Term
Prophet
Secular usage applies 'prophet' loosely to any confident public forecaster ('a tech prophet,' 'a prophet of doom'), diluting the specific sense of one who speaks God's own revealed word rather than making an educated guess about the future.
ROM.15.4
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Doctrine
Sanctification
Obsolescence risk rather than false-friend risk: 'sanctification' is essentially unused in ordinary contemporary English outside religious contexts, so most readers have no ready-made wrong definition to unlearn, only a gap to fill.
ROM.15.16
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Glossary Term
Sanctification
OBSOLESCENCE RISK rather than false-friend risk: 'sanctification' is essentially unused in ordinary contemporary English outside specifically religious contexts, so most readers will have no ready-made (mis)definition to unlearn, but will need the concept built from scratch.
ROM.15.16
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Glossary Term
Seed Of David
Romans 1:3; 'seed' in the sense of 'offspring/lineage' is archaic in ordinary modern English (where 'seed' otherwise means a plant seed or, colloquially, a starting input, as in 'seed money' or 'seed an idea'); 'descendant of David' is an acceptable plain-language gloss, but the older King James-influenced phrase 'seed of David' is worth retaining alongside it given its familiarity in English hymnody and older translations.
ROM.15.12
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Doctrine
Separation unto God's Service
Contemporary egalitarian culture can hear 'set apart' as exclusionary or elitist; the curriculum should clarify this is devotion to God's purposes, not a claim of superior status.
ROM.15.16
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Doctrine
Unity of Jews and Gentiles
Contemporary post-Holocaust theological caution about supersessionism (the idea that the church simply replaces Israel) means Romans 9-11's argument should be presented with care and precision, consistent with Paul's own insistence on God's continuing faithfulness to Israel (11:1-2, 28-29).
ROM.15.7-12