Day of Atonement: A Hebrew holy day. Description of this annual atonement for sin is found in Leviticus 16.
Day of Judgment: The final judgment. Those who have trusted in Christ, whose names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life, will escape the judgment because Christ’s righteous life and substitutionary death are credited to them. All others will be judged according to their own works.
Deacon: A servant of the church. Prerequisites are identified in Acts 6:1-6; 1 Timothy 3:12.
Death: Entered the world because of sin [Genesis 2:17; Romans 5:12-21; 6:23]. Spiritual death is separation from God and life [Genesis 3:24; Ephesians 2:1,5; Colossians 2:13]. Those who believe in Christ are identified with him in his substitutionary death [Romans 6:1-11; Colossians 2:20; 3:1-3].
Deceiver: An alternate name of Satan.
Deism [Deist]: the non-biblical belief that God created the world and initiated its natural processes, but then left it to run itself – essentially God is a ‘hands-off’ God.
Deliverance: a term used to refer to liberation from the forces of evil. In some contemporary Christianity it refers specifically to deliverance from possession or oppression by evil spirits. Error alert: Some contemporary ‘deliverance ministries’ go beyond the Bible in both beliefs and practice.
Demon: an evil spirit.
Demon oppression: external pressure from Satan or from demonic spirits. Error alert: Some Christians blame demons for any thing that goes wrong, and/or for any sin they themselves commit.
Demon possession: occurs when a person is indwelt by demonic spirits; often evident in out-of-character, unusual or unexplainable behaviours and attitudes. Sometimes associated with physical conditions. Error alert: Some teach that Christians can be demon possessed. See above also.
Depravity: An effect of the fall in which we are rendered incapable of real goodness and real faith.
Destroyer: An alternate name of Satan.
Devil: A created heavenly being who rebelled against God and sought to usurp God’s place; sometimes called Satan. Also used to refer to a demon or evil spirit.
Disciple: generally, a person who is learning from another, who may or may not believe what they are learning; specifically, in Christian terms, a person who is learning from and believes in Jesus Christ.
Discipleship, discipling: terms used in some Christian circles to refer to teaching or mentoring people to develop their faith in and obedience to Jesus Christ.
Divine sovereignty: God’s initiative and action, particularly in salvation and sanctification. Thought by some to contradict and deny human responsibility, but biblically compatible with human responsibility.
Dispensationalism: Error alert: The teaching/belief that human history is divided into different ages for each of which God has a different ‘dispensation’ or mode of governance. Some divide the Bible up so that different verses are relevant only for specific dispensations.
Doctrine: a body of teaching about a religious or spiritual topic.
Doctrines of grace : the doctrines rediscovered by the Reformers of the 16th century, including justification by faith, salvation through Christ alone and by grace alone, assurance of salvation.