In moving with the inspiration of God, we often forget to check the spelling of certain Christian words.
Nothing can be more stressful than preparing a piece of writing you know will be read by dozens of people. While we Christian writers tediously share the words that God gives us, sometimes we need to use a dictionary to ensure those words are correct. There are just some words in the Christian faith that we often don’t think twice to check how they’re written or spelled. As a Christian editor, some words cause more problems than others. In this article, I’ll be sharing correct usage for eleven words related to the Christian faith, as according to The Christian Writer’s Manual of Style.
11 Words Every Christian Writer Should Know
Jesus
This one should be obvious, but in case it’s not, the name of our Lord and Savior is capitalized.
Bible
Some argue that the word Bible simply means book, according to its Greek origins. In today’s times, though, the word Bible has come to refer to the book of Scriptures for the Christian faith. When used in that context, the word Bible is capitalized. You can even place the word Holy (capitalized as well, of course!) before it for some razzle dazzle.
Satan
How to write the term Satan is a source of confusion for a lot of Christian writers. At its core, Satan represents “adversary” or “opponent.” However, context is important: If the word is used in the context of the Christian faith (as it often is), it may surprise you to know that this word is capitalized as a proper noun.
godly
When talking about anything that reflects the attributes of God, we call it godly. However, this term is always written in lowercase form, except in the obvious case of being used to start a sentence.
biblical
This can be confusing; while the word Bible is capitalized, the word biblical is not. Biblical refers to anything related to or contained in the Bible.
The Gospels
Most Bible readers know that there are four Gospels in the New Testament — Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. When you write about the Gospels collectively, that is, in reference to all four books, the term Gospels is capitalized.
Similarly, if you are referring to a specific Gospel written by a specific person, this is also capitalized. An example of this would be the Gospel of John. But when gospel is used to mention the gospel of the good news, gospel is written in lowercase form.
God-given
Sentences that include God-given followed by a noun are common in Christian writing. In those instances, the phrase God-given acts as a compound modifier placed before the noun it is modifying, or describing. An example of this might be written as “God-given talent” or “God-given authority.” Additionally, God is always capitalized when referring to the Christian faith.
The apostles or apostle
Another common mishap I see is when one is making a reference to one of the apostles or the collective group of apostles. No matter how the word is used, or even if it is written before the name of an apostle as a title, apostle is always lowercase.
Scripture, Scriptures, and verse
Scripture and Scriptures when discussing the Bible, the Word of God, are capitalized, but if the term verse is being used, that word is not capitalized.
Old Testament/New Testament
The Christian Bible consists of both the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT). Both are written as proper nouns, which means they carry appropriate capitalization.
lordship of Christ
While Lord, when talking about Jesus, is capitalized, lordship is not. Lordship means yielding to Christ as Lord and allowing his supreme rulership in our lives. It is the act of being lord; therefore, it is written as lowercase whenever used.
As an editor who works with Christian authors, I encounter a lot of writing mistakes when certain biblical terms are used. It’s my duty to help writers sharpen their skills by providing correct information according to established guidelines. If you’d like more assistance in this area, please feel free to contact me and I’d be happy to help. Happy writing!
Featured photo by Agence Olloweb on Unsplash