The word “dogma” is not found in the English Bible, but it is in the Greek New Testament. 
• In classical Greek, the term had a range of meanings from opinion to a legal edict. Luke refers to a cen...

Several Hebrew words are rendered by the English “wine,” the most common of which are yayin (134 times) and tirosh (33 times). The basic term for “wine” in the Greek New Testament is oinos (33 time...

Church leaders bear a most serious responsibility before God. Unfortunately, some professing Christians take advantage of good leaders and “church hop” from place to place to avoid faithful oversight.

In the N.T. (cf. Heb. 7:6, 9), this term derives from the Greek, dekatos, meaning “tenth.” (a) In the Patriarchal period of history, it appears to have been the practice that godly men gave a tenth...

The adjective “spiritual” has several senses. (a) It may refer to a being that is “spirit” in nature, e.g., angels (Eph. 6:12). (b) Spiritual may denote that which is from God, thus is lofty in its...

Would you like greater strength in confronting temptation? We can learn from the Master, who never yielded, and we ought to appreciate the sufferings he endured for us. Let us study together the temptations of Christ.

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,...

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 m...

A “mediator” is a “go-between” (from mesos, “middle” and eimi “to go”). Ideally, the role of a mediator is to work for the reconciliation of parties that have become estranged. (a) Moses was a medi...

Justification may be defined as the divine process by which God acquits the sinner and reckons him as righteous. The noun dikaiosis (“justification”) is used but twice in the N.T. (Rom. 4:25; 5:18)...

This word derives from the Latin term rapio, “to snatch.” The corresponding Greek expression is harpazo, signifying “caught up” (cf. 2 Cor. 12:2, 4) or “caught away” (Acts 8:39). At the time of Chr...

“Gospel” derives from the Greek euangelion, literally “good tidings” (see Lk. 2:10, where it is fully translated). The gospel is mentioned more than 75 times in the New Testament. It is the good ne...

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” (...

In the Old Testament, this term denoted the firstborn offspring of humans or animals. The firstborn was accorded a place of special prominence (cf. Gen. 48:13-18; Dt. 21:15-17; 2 Chron. 21:3). 

Th...

The Greek word is huiothesia, from huios, “son,” and tithemi, “to set, put, or place.” 

The word suggests the idea of putting one into the position of a son. It is used five times in the New Testa...

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 Tim. 3...

Marriage is a covenant between a man and woman, whereby they pledge to belong to one another in a life-long union. There are several elements relative to this institution that are important to unde...

The Fundamentalist Mormon Church has been in the news of late, with the raid on the Texas Temple and the rescue of women and children from their peril. News outlets have repeatedly stated that this “Fundamentalist” movement bears no relationship to the Mormon Church in Salt Lake City. That is a serious misconception.

The earthly life of Terry Schiavo has ended, but the controversy that surrounded this case is far from over. How does one assess these tragic life-and-death situations which are fraught with difficult ethical questions? Ponder this issue with us in this week’s Penpoints.

An in-depth study of the interesting encounter between Jesus and an unnamed Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well recorded in John chapter four.