Passage
Romans 9
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Glossary Term
Abba
For a very large share of contemporary English-speaking readers, 'Abba' is most immediately associated with the Swedish pop group ABBA, not the Aramaic term of filial intimacy Paul preserves in Romans 8:15.
ROM.9.4
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Glossary Term
Adoption
A rare case of a positive secular drift: increased public awareness and celebration of adoption (including high-profile celebrity adoptions and adoption-awareness advocacy) in contemporary culture generally supports, rather than undermines, Romans 8:15-17's sense of full, permanent, loving family inclusion.
ROM.9.4
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Doctrine
Adoption into God's Family
A rare positive secular drift: increased public awareness and celebration of adoption in contemporary culture generally supports rather than undermines Romans 8:15-17's sense of full, permanent, loving inclusion.
ROM.9.4
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Glossary Term
Called
Context-sensitive: in 1:1 = called to apostleship; in 1:7 = called to be saints; in 8:28-30 = effectual calling to salvation.
ROM.9.11-12
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Glossary Term
Calling
Modern self-actualization culture has repurposed 'calling' as career vocation ('teaching is my calling') discovered through introspection, which risks reducing God's initiative in Romans' calling language to an individualist project of finding one's own purpose.
ROM.9.11-12
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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.9.5
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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.9.5
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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.9.5
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Doctrine
Deity of Christ
Popular post-Christian 'historical Jesus' narratives widely present Jesus as merely a wise moral teacher or social reformer, quietly denying his deity even while retaining reverent language about him; this common secular reduction should be directly named and addressed.
ROM.9.5
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Doctrine
Divine Calling
Contemporary self-actualization culture has repurposed 'calling' as career vocation discovered through introspection, risking a subtle reversal of agency: God calls; the person does not self-select a calling through personal reflection.
ROM.9.11-12
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Doctrine
Effectual Calling
CRITICAL: 'election,' the key term for this doctrine, has been almost totally captured by its political-voting sense in contemporary English; readers encountering Romans 9's election language without explicit signposting are highly likely to import a political-campaign frame that has nothing to do with God's sovereign, prior, unilateral choice.
ROM.9.11-12
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Glossary Term
Election
CRITICAL FALSE-FRIEND DRIFT: in essentially all contemporary English usage outside specifically theological contexts, 'election' means a political vote.
ROM.9.11-12
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Glossary Term
Father
Minor denominational note: in Catholic usage 'Father' is also the standard form of address for a priest, which could create ambiguity in mixed-denomination reading groups; also worth noting that for readers with painful or absent human father figures, 'Father' as a name for God may carry unintended negative emotional weight requiring pastoral sensitivity, not just doctrinal explanation.
ROM.9.4
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Glossary Term
Glory
'Glory' survives mainly in nostalgic ('glory days') or explicitly self-seeking, even pejorative ('glory hound,' 'hogging the glory') secular usage — nearly inverted from God's self-existent, radiant, worship-worthy glory in Romans 1:23 and 9:5, which must be actively distinguished from these connotations.
ROM.9.5
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Glossary Term
God
Contemporary spiritual-but-not-religious culture often substitutes deliberately vague or impersonal alternatives ('a higher power,' 'the universe') for a personal, specific, self-revealing God; Romans' God is not a placeholder concept but the specific God who raised Jesus from the dead (1:4) and is personally engaged with creation (1:19-20).
ROM.9.5
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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.9.5
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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.9.5
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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.9.5