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Salvation: Mechanical or Relational?  /  Grace: The Most Misunderstood Word in the Bible  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 2
He challenges the idea that *charis* is a theological “super word” by pointing out how strange it would be for pagan Greeks to have a word meaning “the merciful kindness by which God… turns them to Christ… strengthens… kindles virtues”; what do you think this reveals about how easily Christians can smuggle later theology into word meanings, and what safeguards (if any) should govern how we define terms like grace, faith, works, and justification?
Another way to ask: If pagan Greeks used the word *charis*, what does that tell us about how Christians can read later theology into a word? What rules should we use when defining words like grace, faith, works, and justification?

Direct Answer The transcript suggests Christians can “smuggle” later theology into word meanings by starting with a doctrinal system and then reading it back into Greek terms. Bercot’s safeguard is to leave theology aside at first and define words from first-century usage: the Septuagint, the New Testament, and early Christian writings.

Support from Transcript:

  • He quotes a lexicon’s “super word” definition and calls it odd to think pagan Greeks had a term meaning God’s whole salvation program “just sitting there… waiting for the time when Christ would come.”
  • He says to discover meaning “we have to start with a blank slate, and we have to leave theology out of it. Otherwise, we’re going to read our theological preconceptions into the definition.”
  • He identifies key sources for meaning “as it was used by the first century Christians”: (1) Septuagint, (2) New Testament, (3) early Christian writings.
  • He emphasizes checking the whole dataset: he lists “every passage” and warns against cherry-picking, inviting listeners to “see for yourself if what I’m saying matches the evidence.”
  • He presents Luther as a cautionary example of redefining vocabulary 1,500 years later, turning Paul into “the epistle that Luther wrote.”
Discussion Follow-ups How can a church community build habits of defining words by usage and context instead of slogans? What would “blank slate” study look like for a debated term like “works” in Romans?

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