Content on 2 Peter 1:3
58 results
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Catholic
The term Catholic originates with a Greek word, katholikos, which means "general" or "universal." The expression is not found in the Scriptures but has been employed in various senses in church history. Justin Martyr (Dialog lxxxi) used the term for the general or universal resurrection of the de...
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Last Days
Certain religionists, especially those who subscribe to the dogma of DISPENSATIONALISM (see), maintain that the "signs" of Matthew 24:1-34 indicate that the return of Christ is very near; they constantly harp that we "are living in the last days." First, the "signs" of Matthew 24:1ff are related ...
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Predestination
"Predestination" is the idea that God determined something beforehand. The noun itself does not appear in the Bible, but the verb behind it does. The Greek term is proorizo (pro — "before" and horizo — "to mark out, to set a boundary"). It is found six times in the New Testament (Acts 4:28; Roman...
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Holy
"Holy" comes from the Greek hagios, which conveys the idea of something being set apart from other things. The Bible applies the word to various persons and objects. • God stands utterly apart from sinful man; thus, he is absolutely holy (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 4:8), as is Christ (Hebrews 7:26) a...
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Conscience
This English term is related to the Latin conscientia, literally, "to know together" or "joint knowledge." It corresponds to the Greek suneidesis (found thirty times in the New Testament), which essentially has the same meaning. The conscience is an inward faculty, unique to human beings, that ei...
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Lamb Of God
The imagery of a "lamb" is taken from the Old Testament to convey certain thoughts about the Messiah. John the Baptizer introduced Jesus as the "lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The Passover lamb of the Old Testament was clearly a "type" (see) of Christ (1 Corinthians...
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Antitype
Though this word is not found in most English translations of the New Testament, the thought is there in the Greek text. It is an anglicized form of the original term antitupos. The term is rendered "like-figure" (1 Pet. 3:21) and "figure" (Heb. 9:24). Literally, a tupos was a mark, or impression...
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Resurrection, Christ’s
The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the very foundation of Christianity. If the Lord was not raised, the religion of Christ is a hoax (cf. 1 Cor. 15:4; 14-19). The Savior's resurrection was foretold by the prophets (Psa. 16:8ff), and promised by Jesus himself (Jn. 2:19-22; Mt. 12:39...
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Agnostic
The word "agnostic" does not appear in the English Bible. The term derives, however, from Greek roots suggesting the idea "not known." When Paul visited Athens, he noted that the pagans there had erected an altar to an "unknown" (agnostos) god (Acts 17:23). The apostle used that inscription as th...
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Christian
"Christian" is the name given to the disciples of Christ in Antioch of Syria following the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas (Acts 11:26). The verb chrematizo ("called") in this passage suggests a divinely given name. Some think that "called" may also be a technical term that hints th...
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Propitiation
There are three kindred words in the Greek N.T. that represent the idea of "propitiation." Two are nouns -- hilasmos (1 Jn. 2:2; 4:10) and hilasterion (Rom. 3:25; Heb. 9:5), and the third is the verb hilaskomai (Lk. 18:13; Heb. 2:17). The terms are designed to provide an explanation as to how God...
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Deacon
The Greek word diakonos comes into the English language as "deacon." The term basically means to serve. It is used of ordinary servants in a secular sense (Jn. 2:5, 9) or of those who serve generally in the cause of Christ (rendered "minister" in 1 Cor. 3:5; 2 Cor. 3:6; Eph. 3:7). It can even be ...
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Dispensation
The Greek word oikonomia is rendered "dispensation" several times in the New Testament (see 1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 1:10; 3:2, 9; Col. 1:25). Sometimes the word suggests the idea of managing a household and is rendered as "stewardship" (Lk. 16:2, 3, 4; 1 Cor. 9:17). On other occasions, the word implies...
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Works
The term "works" is a perfectly noble word; yet, in the minds of some, there is a distorted view of this biblical term. Especially has the Protestant world reacted negatively to Catholicism's "works system" -- an ideology contrary to the divine plan of redemption. This reaction, however, is itsel...
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Discipline, Church
Discipline is actually a process of training that begins at the point of one's conversion and continues throughout one's life. It includes teaching, example, exhortation, admonition, etc. (2 Timothy 3:16–17). The most extreme and ultimate form of church discipline, however, is the withdrawal of f...
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Father
God is often referred to as a "Father" (107 times in the Gospel of John alone). The Scriptures use the term in several ways: God is the Father of all men in the sense that he is the Creator of humanity (cf. Mal. 2:10; Ezek. 18:4; Lk. 3:38; Acts 17:28). He is the Father of Jesus Christ (Mt. 3:17; ...
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Sin
More than a dozen words are used in the Greek N.T. to represent various aspects of "sin" (e.g., bad, evil, transgression, iniquity, trespass, godless, unrighteous, etc.). The most frequently employed word is hamartia (173 times), which provides the picture of "missing the mark." The word is used ...
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Antichrist
The Greek term antikristos is found five times in the New Testament -- all references being in John's writings (1 Jn. 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 Jn. 7). The meaning is "against Christ." John warns that many (1 Jn. 2:18; 2 Jn. 2:7) of these false teachers existed in his day (see "even now" -- 1 Jn. 2:18; 4:...
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Eschatology
From the Greek word eschatos ("last") comes "eschatology," a study of "last things" (e.g., the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the judgment day, the end of the world, heaven, and hell). Eschatology has to do with the consummation of God's redemptive scheme. The following el...
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Man
The Greek term for "man" is anthropos. Plato suggested that the word reflects the idea of an "upward looking" one, hinting, perhaps, that man finds no rest upon this planet. He is ever searching for his Maker. The term "man" is used generically -- for human kind. "Let us make man in our image mal...
