Passage

Romans 6

• Doctrine

  Christian Identity in Christ

  Contemporary Western culture's strong emphasis on individually self-authored identity (built through personal choice, self-expression, and inner authenticity) is a genuinely different framework from Romans' sense of identity given through union with Christ; this contrast is worth naming explicitly rather than assuming compatibility.

  ROM.6.1-11

• Doctrine

  Grace

  CRITICAL: dominant secular senses (physical elegance/poise; a legal/financial 'grace period') carry no theological content, and English-speaking Christian traditions themselves disagree sharply on grace's relationship to works (Reformed 'grace alone' vs.

  ROM.6.1, ROM.6.14-15

• Glossary Term

  Grace

  CRITICAL FALSE-FRIEND DRIFT: 'grace' in ordinary contemporary English overwhelmingly means physical elegance or poise, or, in contracts and billing, a 'grace period' (a delay before a penalty applies) — a completely secularized sense with no theological content.

  ROM.6.1, ROM.6.14-15

• 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.6.19, ROM.6.22

• 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.6.19, ROM.6.22

• Glossary Term

  Resurrection

  Contemporary post-Christian Western culture broadly treats the resurrection as a religious metaphor, myth, or seasonal cultural observance (heavily commercialized as 'Easter,' with imagery unrelated to the biblical event) rather than a claimed historical fact.

  ROM.6.4-5

• Doctrine

  Resurrection of Christ

  Contemporary post-Christian Western culture broadly treats the resurrection as metaphor or myth, and 'Easter' itself has been heavily commercialized (chocolate eggs, an Easter bunny) in ways detached from the historical claim; the historical, bodily nature of the event must be stated plainly.

  ROM.6.4-5

• 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.6.19, ROM.6.22

• 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.6.19, ROM.6.22

• 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.6.22