Below is a list of some of the key concepts in Christianity. When you read the Bible, these themes will come up often. It is important to remember that when you read the Bible it is one story that shares one message throughout the entire story.
Relationship
One thing that makes Christianity different from most other religions is that it is all about relationship with God. Christians believe that God loves us and wants to have relationship with us.
Creation and Fall
In the beginning man and God had perfect relationship. The man, Adam and Eve, chose to sin and disobey God. This resulted in a breaking of this perfect relationship and death for all man.
Sin
God is holy (meaning pure and separate from sin) and cannot be in relationship with those who are tainted by sin. Sin is no small matter, it is huge, it is a massive problem. Sin is what breaks the relationship between man and God. It cannot be forgotten and it cannot be simply erased. It must be punished.
Redemption
One of the punishments of sin was separation from God (a broken relationship). When Jesus came to earth he came as our Redeemer. He died on the cross and took the punishment for our sins upon himself. Jesus fixed the break in the relationship between God and man.
Salvation
Another punishment of sin was death. Jesus, our Saviour, overcame death by rising from dead. By his authority he freed us from death and gave us eternal life. Jesus saved us from eternal death.
The Law
Jesus summarized all the law with two commands: Love God and Love your neighbor. Both relationship with God and relationship with others is important to God.
Community
Having good relationship with other believers is important. All believers are considered as one family. Meeting with other believers on a regular basis for worship, encouraging one another, reading the word, and doing good works is an important part of Christianity.
Heaven & Hell
After death there are two places that man can go. He can go to Heaven and be in relationship with God forever or he can go to hell where he will suffer for his sins and be separated from relationship with God forever.
Church
This is composed of all true believers. While there are buildings of worship called churches where Christians meet, the Church is a unified spiritual body of believers.
The Gospel
In Greek (the language the New Testament was written in) the gospel means the good news. The good news is that Jesus Christ came to save humanity from death and make our relationship with God right again.
God
There is only one God in Christianity. God is three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This concept of God in three persons is called the Trinity.
The Bible
The book of the Christian faith that is composed of 66 books written by 40 different authors over a period of about 2000 years in 3 different languages. It is divided into the Old Testament and the New Testament.
New Testament
Believed to be scripture from God by the Christians. It is composed of 27 books written in Greek between 44 A.D. and 96 A.D. The first book is Matthew and the last book is Revelation.
Old Testament
Believed to be scriptures from God by both the Jews and the Christians. It is composed of 39 books that were written in Hebrew and Aramaic from around 1550 B.C. until around 500 B.C. The first book is Genesis and the last book is Malachi.
Christian
This is someone who proclaims Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior and follows him in faith and obedience.