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The Hebrew term yom, with its Greek equivalent, hemera, typically signifies a unit of time determined by the full rotation of the Earth upon its axis. That is its meaning in Genesis 1, concerning the "days" of the creation week. Exodus 20:11 makes this clear, as its meaning is the same as the Sab...
The Greek expression for "lord" is kurios. One must look at the context to observe the sense conveyed in a particular setting. "Lord" may be used as a mere title of respect, or it can suggest one who is deity. (a) Kurios is sometimes used in the sense of one who is owner or master of a thing, i.e...
Paul wrote this epistle to a church he had established on his second missionary campaign (Acts 18:1-11). It deals with problems within that local congregation, such as division (1:10ff), carnality (3:1ff), immorality (5:1ff), and litigation (6:1ff). It also responds to a series of questions sent ...
Woman was fashioned from flesh and bone taken from the side of man (Gen. 2:21-24). Male and female qualities were designed by God (Mt. 19:4); these characteristics are not accidental developments of an imagined "evolutionary" process. The Hebrew term for "woman" is ishsha, thought to derive from ...
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...
The most common word in the Greek New Testament that conveys the idea of "forgiveness" is aphesis, a compound term meaning "to send away from." Forgiveness is a divine response to human sin, flowing from the loving and merciful disposition of God (Jn. 3:16; Eph. 2:4). Forgiveness is possible beca...
The name "Jesus" means "savior." "Christ" means "anointed." These names suggest that this noble person was "anointed" of God (Acts 10:38) to be prophet, priest, and king, and indeed, the Savior of the world (Matthew 1:21). The following facts about Jesus are paramount: • He existed eternally as t...
The term "tradition" renders a Greek word that suggests the idea of "instruction that has been handed down." It takes on two senses in Scripture. (a) "Tradition" may be instruction that is divinely originated. Paul commended the Corinthians for holding to the "traditions" he had delivered unto th...
Repentance has a variety of uses in the Scriptures. (a) One form of "repentance" is simply a feeling of remorse. It was in this sense that Judas "repented" (Mt. 27:3) just before he hanged himself and perished eternally (Jn. 17:12). (b) Valid repentance is a "change of mind" that results in a cha...
The English "angel" is an anglicized form of the Greekaggelos(pronounced angelos). The term signifies a "messenger." The wordAggelosis used in several ways in the Scriptures. • It commonly denotes a heavenly order of created beings (Psa. 148:2, 5), who are by nature "spirit beings." These creatur...
References to "worship" are common in both the O.T. and the N.T. The Hebrew term shachah (about 100 times) refers to "bowing" before an object of religious devotion. Similarly, proskuneo (59 times) in the N.T. means to prostrate oneself, do obeisance. Worship can be offered to the true God (Gen. ...
The noun "baptism" and the corresponding verb "baptize" come directly from Greek into English with only slight spelling changes. The word literally denotes to immerse, dip, or submerge. When used metaphorically, it suggests being overwhelmed. It takes several senses in the New Testament, dependin...
The original words that are rendered by the English "tempt" are employed in two broad senses in the Scriptures, depending upon the context in which they are found. First, the concept may be that of putting something to the "test" to determine its character. David did not want to use Saul's armor ...
The term "heaven" is used in different ways in the Bible. The expression may refer to the atmospheric region just above the earth where the birds fly, the rain forms, and the wind blows (Gen. 1:10; 7:11; Dan. 8:8). The outer space region that houses the stars, the sun, and the planets is also des...
The Greek word for "heart" is kardia (as in the English word "cardiac"). Although "heart" literally refers to the blood-pumping organ in a person's body, the term is rarely used to refer to the physical organ in the Bible (see 2 Sam. 18:14). "Heart" is therefore used mainly figuratively in the Sc...
The English word "atonement" derives from an Anglo-Saxon term that practically signifies "a making at one." Though the English term "atonement" is common to the Old Testament, it is found only once in the New Testament (Rom. 5:11 KJV). There, the original term (katallage) is better rendered as "r...
Justice may be viewed from two vantage points. Divine justice is that which is between God and man. Human justice exists between men. Divine Justice Divine justice has to do with the harmony between the absolutely holy nature of God, and his dealings with sinful creatures. God is a being of utter...
Faith is the willingness to trust and obey God without ever having seen him. It is not a gullible "leap in the dark," as existential "faith" postulates. Instead, it rests on evidence that allows us to maintain a prima facie (self-evident) case for belief. Faith involves believing the truth, not m...
A "redeemer" is one who is qualified to effect "redemption" on behalf of one in need of the same. The term "redeem" means "to buy out of," (Grk. exagorazo -- ek "out of" and agorazo, "buy"), as in the case of a slave who is bought out of the state of bondage. When Jehovah delivered his people fro...
Demons (not "devils" KJV) were evil spirits (Mt. 12:43-45) that were permitted to inhabit the bodies of some people during the days of Christ and his apostles. Almost certainly, this was to allow the Savior and his men the opportunity to demonstrate the superiority of God's power over Satan (see ...