While Christians are used to a certain established set of terms, I have chosen to speak using the correct terminology. Here are the terms I use:
- Yahweh: The one and only God of creation introduced Himself to Moses as Yahweh. As a loving God who wants us to know Him, He expects us to use His name. Rather than use the generic term "God," which could refer to any number of false gods, it is preferable that we use His name so that others know precisely Who we are speaking of. Christians are not superstitious like the Jews, so there is no reason we should not be using His name.
- Covenant: "Old Testament" and "New Testament" are misleading and confusing. You will not find the word "testament" anywhere in the Old Covenant Scriptures, and in the New Covenant Scriptures the Greek word diatheke (διαθήκη), sometimes translated as "testament" and sometimes as "covenant," correctly and accurately means "covenant" and should always be translated as "covenant."
- Congregation: In the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish scholars used the word ekklesia (ἐκκλησία), which correctly means "congregation, assembly, or gathering." William Tyndale correctly rendered this word "congregation" in his translation of the New Covenant Scriptures.
- Church: The word "church" is derived from the Greek kuriakon (κυριακόν), which means "belonging to the Lord." Over time, the word "church" came to refer to "God’s house," meaning a place. William Tyndale used "church" when speaking of pagan places of worship, and so I will continue to use it only when referring to organized religious institutions.
- gentile: This word in both Hebrew and Greek refers to the "nations," to "heathen." It should never be capitalized because it is not a kingdom, an ethnicity, or a "race." It refers to all non-Israelite people and nations.
- preacher: The "pastor" is not in the Bible (as a title, position, or otherwise). The only time you find the word "pastor" in Scripture is in Ephesians 4:11, where the Greek is poimen, translated as "shepherd" in every other instance of the word. The word "pastor" was first introduced by Martin Luther as a replacement for 'priest.' The Christian has no need of a priest (other than Jesus, our Head and High Priest) because under the New Covenant, which is "not like the [previous] covenant" (Jer. 31:32; Heb. 8:9), "they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, and everyone his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all will know me, from the least to the greatest of them" (Jer. 31:34; Heb. 8:11). Our structure is not to mirror that of Moses because the entire Old Covenant unit (Law, Covenant, Priesthood) has been fulfilled in Jesus and done away with (2 Cor. 3:11; Heb. 8:6-13). Our structure should look like 1 Corinthians 14:26: "When you come together, each one of you has..." Our Head works through each of us, His members of His Body, in order to edify one another. Everyone has something to share. The Body does not consist of one mouth and many ears. 'Preacher' is a more accurate term for these people, despite the fact that preaching is for the lost only. The Greek word euaggelizo means "to evangelize." (The other word translated "preach" is kerusso, which means "to proclaim.") Believers have no need of being evangelized. "Preaching" is not for the Body of Christ!
This list may be added to over time. While my earlier writings do not adhere to these terms (as my adoption of them is fairly recent), as I slowly edit them they eventually will in order to be entirely consistent.