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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 ...
Literally speaking, the "tongue" is an organ of taste and speech within the mouth. By metaphorical extension, it is used in literature for a human language. In the N.T., the gift of being able to "speak in tongues" was one of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit (Mk. 16:17; 1 Cor. 12:10). There ...
The doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus is one of the lines of evidence establishing the Lord's identity as the Son of God. The angel Gabriel said to Mary, a "virgin" (Lk. 1:27): "The holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God" (1:35). Proofs for the historicity of the virgin b...
A priest is one who offers sacrifice and ministers in services pertaining thereto (cf. Heb. 5:1). This term implies recognition of sin and the need for atonement, in some fashion or another. (a) The term is used of pagan priests who sacrificed to false gods (Acts 14:13). (b) In the earliest age o...
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 Christian commitment is biblically designated as a "calling." The divine calling (Eph. 4:1) is not a direct communication from God or his Holy Spirit, as some today allege. No one on earth knows anything about Jesus Christ and his way of redemption except what they have learned either directl...
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...
"Fellowship" translates the Greek koinonia, meaning "participation, association, sharing." Fellowship exists on two levels -- the vertical (the Christian's relationship with God) and the horizontal (the sharing among children of God). The Bible emphasizes the wonderful "communion" that Christians...
The concept of eternal life is outlined in an abbreviated form in the Old Testament (cf. Dan. 12:2). However, it comes into full bloom in the New Testament revelation. Life and immortality are brought to light through the gospel (2 Tim. 1:10). Many believe that eternal life, as the glorious promi...
Blood is a prominent theme in the Bible. Because blood is the life stream of a person (Lev. 17:11), it becomes the biblical representation of life. Because of sin, man has forfeited the right to live (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 6:23; Eph. 2:1). To satisfy the justice of God, a blood-offering was required (H...
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...
Two principal Greek words are employed in the N.T. to represent the idea of "fighting" and "war." Polemeo (18 times) means to "fight" or "make war." Strateuomai (7 times) is to "carry out a military engagement, to be a soldier." "War" is used in both literal and figurative senses in the Scripture...
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...
Sanctified suggests "having been separated from (something), set apart." The term is used in a variety of ways in the Bible. (a) Both God the Father and Christ the Son are to be sanctified (Num. 20:12; 27:14; 1 Pet. 3:15), which means they are to be set apart as unique and authoritative Sovereign...
The word "Trinity" does not occur in the Scriptures. The term combines the dual concepts of "three" and "unity," and thus it does convey a biblical idea, namely that the Godhead is composed of three distinct personalities that share one, identical essence, the nature of deity. God is "one" as to ...
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. ...
During the period between the first and second Jewish returns from Babylonian captivity (536 and 457 B.C.), many Hebrews remained in Persia. At that time, a dreadful plot to exterminate the Jews was instigated by a Persian official named Haman. Esther, a beautiful Jewess, was raised up by God to ...
The word "exegesis" means "to lead out." It is a part of the larger science of interpretation known as "hermeneutics." A form of the original word appears in John 1:18, where the apostle affirmed that Jesus came to "declare" (exegeomai) the Father, i.e., to make him known, to explain him, to serv...
The third book of the N.T., the Gospel of Luke, was intended as a defense of the historical data regarding Jesus -- especially on behalf of the Greeks. Authored by Luke, a Gentile physician (Col. 4:14), it places considerable emphasis on Heaven's interest in the Gentiles. It also stresses the hum...
This expression is found only one time in the N.T. While on the island of Patmos, the apostle John was "in the spirit on the Lord's day" (Rev. 1:10). But the adjective, kuriakos, "the Lord's," is also used of the communion supper (1 Cor. 11:20). The term means "belonging to the Lord." The writers...
