Theological Words

Eight words that carry the Bible's theology — agape, chesed, logos, hilastērion, berith, shalom, emunah, doxa — each a door into its full workbench page.

Words with the weight of glory in them.

Summary

Eight words carry much of the Bible's own theology: four Hebrew, four Greek. Each one on this page is a door into that word's full study.

The Hebrew four: chesed (loyal-love), berith (covenant), shalom (wholeness), emunah (faithfulness).
The Greek four: agape (love), logos (the Word), doxa (glory), hilasterion (mercy seat).
Between the testaments stands the Septuagint, which re-minted Greek words to carry Hebrew freight.
Five of the eight are direct Septuagint substitutions, drawn as chords on the diagram.
Every word links to its own workbench page with occurrences, forms, and commentary.

The point

Between the Testaments stands a translation — the Septuagint re-minted Greek words to carry Hebrew freight, so Isaiah’s throne vision becomes John’s “he saw his glory” (John 12:41).

The five dashed chords are the exact Septuagint substitutions this page names: every word opens its own workbench.

Why these eight

Some words in Scripture do more work than whole chapters elsewhere. Chesed, the covenant loyal-love of "his lovingkindness endureth for ever" (Ps 136:1). Berith, covenant itself, the architecture of the whole Bible. Shalom, wholeness, not mere absence of war. Emunah, the firmness behind "the just shall live by his faith" (Hab 2:4, KJV). And on the Greek side: agape, the love of 1 Corinthians 13 and "God is love" (1 John 4:8); logos, the Word who "became flesh" (John 1:14); doxa, the glory the Septuagint re-minted from a word that once meant only "opinion"; hilastērion, the mercy seat itself, applied to Christ at Romans 3:25.

This page is a hub, not a lexicon: each word gets its anchor texts, its Hebrew-to-Greek bridge where the Septuagint built one, and one door into its full workbench page, occurrences, morphology, and the tools, all rendered live from the data floor.

Framework summary drawn from the LXX-bridges atlas brief (lens 10) and the ASV and KJV texts (PD); full sourcing in the 2026-07-22 research brief.

The Septuagint bridges

Between the Testaments stands a translation, and its lexical choices became the New Testament's vocabulary. The LXX chose diathēkē, a unilateral disposition, a will, over synthēkē, a bilateral pact, to render berith; Hebrews 9:15–17 builds its "testament" argument on exactly that choice, and Jeremiah's diathēkē kainē ("new covenant", Jer 31:31 LXX) is the phrase Hebrews 8:8 inherits. It loaded eirēnē, classical Greek for the mere absence of war, with shalom's wholeness, the freight behind Romans 5:1 and John 14:27.

It re-minted doxa from "opinion" into the bearer of kavod, the weight of glory, so Isaiah's throne vision (Isa 6:3) can become John's "he saw his glory" (John 12:41). It habitually gave chesed as eleos, mercy, the word that rings through Mary's and Zacharias's songs (Luke 1:50, 54, 72). And it named the ark's lid, the kappōreth, hilastērion, a word that then appears exactly twice in the New Testament: Hebrews 9:5, the literal mercy seat, and Romans 3:25, Christ himself.

Source: MannaFest's research brief (LXX bridges), rows 2, 5, 8, 9, 28, with the sources those rows carry (Swete's LXX; Jobes & Silva and McLay, cite-only).

Follow a thread

Word hub

One hub, eight doors

The pointEight words carry the Bible’s own theology — and every spoke below is a door to that word’s live workbench.

One hub, eight doors. Script renders as display glyph (the R5 hero-glyph exception); every label opens the word’s workbench page, where occurrence counts render live from the floor.

The eight words, as a ledgerThe receipts

Word	Floor gloss (Strong’s)	The bridge	Anchor text
ἀγάπηagápē · G26	love: affection or benevolence	“God is love” (1 John 4:8); the encomium of 1 Corinthians 13.	1 John 4:8
חֵסֵדchêçêd · H2617	kindness: covenant loyal-love	LXX renders it eleos, “mercy”: the word of the Magnificat and Benedictus (Luke 1:50, 54, 72).	Psalm 136:1
λόγοςlógos · G3056	something said: including the thought	“In the beginning was the Word… and the Word was made flesh” (John 1:1, 14).	John 1:1
ἱλαστήριονhilastḗrion · G2435	an expiatory place or thing: the lid of the Ark	The LXX's word for the mercy seat (kappōreth); twice in the NT: Heb 9:5 and Rom 3:25.	Romans 3:25
בְּרִיתbᵉrîyth · H1285	a compact: covenant	LXX chose diathēkē (a will) over synthēkē (a pact): the choice Heb 9:15–17 builds on; Jer 31:31 → Heb 8:8.	Jeremiah 31:31
שָׁלוֹםshâlôwm · H7965	safe: well, whole, at peace	The LXX loaded eirēnē (classical “absence of war”) with shalom's wholeness: Rom 5:1; John 14:27.	Isaiah 9:6
אֱמוּנָהʼĕmûwnâh · H530	firmness: steadfastness, faithfulness	Hab 2:4 “the just shall live by his faith”: quoted at Rom 1:17, Gal 3:11, Heb 10:38.	Habakkuk 2:4
δόξαdóxa · G1391	glory: as very apparent	Re-minted by the LXX from “opinion” to carry kavod, weight/glory: Isa 6:3 becomes John 12:41.	John 1:14

Glosses from the Strong’s lexicon floor (PD, via STEPBible CC BY); bridge notes from the LXX-bridges and same-root atlas briefs (lenses 10, 05); scripture KJV (PD). Counts live on the workbenches, never hardcoded here.

Three platforms where the words stand togetherThe texts

It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed… they are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Lamentations 3:22–23KJV

Chesed and emunah in one breath: loyal-love and faithfulness, the covenant-character pair.

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory…) full of grace and truth.

John 1:14KJV

Logos and doxa in a single verse: the Word made flesh, and the glory beheld.

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:8KJV

Agape predicated of God himself: the word 1 Corinthians 13 walks through member by member.

Method caution

◈How not to do word studiescontested · three named traps, attributed

The root fallacy

A word’s etymology is not its meaning. The hub above gives histories and bridges because they are illuminating data — never because a root can settle what a verse says.

James Barr· The Semantics of Biblical Language (1961)

Illegitimate totality transfer

Importing a word’s entire semantic range into one occurrence. The atlas brief applies this caution by name to shalom: the New Testament context, not the Hebrew range, sets each occurrence’s meaning.

D. A. Carson· Exegetical Fallacies (2nd ed. 1996)

The John 21 trap

The agapaō/phileōalternation of John 21:15–17 is flagged in the site’s same-word research brief as an observation “many overclaim” — this hub names the trap rather than trading on it. The workbench gives the data; context sets the meaning.

“The just shall live by his faith”One line, quoted three times

“The just shall live by his faith” (Hab 2:4 — emunah)

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17)
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. (Galatians 3:11)
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. (Hebrews 10:38)
One Hebrew word, three New Testament load-bearing walls — the dikaios/pistis chain of the same-root brief, every target quoted in full so the reader triages without a click.

Two doors from hereGo deeper

Berith's architecture

The CovenantsThe word berith names the structure: the covenant architecture of the whole Bible has its own page.

Hilastērion's home

The Sacrificial SystemThe mercy-seat word lives at the altar: the five offerings and the Hebrews lens on all of them.

Open a workbench: chesed (H2617) →

Where it leads

Featured studies3

Built on the same Scripture8

On Going deeper17

The whole shelf: Numbers, Letters & Hidden Design →