Dispensationalism is a system that divides history into seven dispensations, each corresponding to one day of creation week. C.I. Scofield popularized the theory in his Reference Bible (1909). Thes...

Divorce may be defined as the legal dissolution of a marriage covenant.

Under the Mosaic regime, divorce could be obtained for a variety of reasons (Dt. 24:1; Mt. 19:8). But this looseness was me...

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 wa...

“Jehovah” is a name for God that is found in the American Standard Version (1901) of the Old Testament. The word is actually a hybrid term, composed of four Hebrew consonants, YHWH, and vowel sound...

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...

Ezekiel was a prophet during the Babylonian captivity; his ministry lasted more than twenty years. Jeremiah had foretold that the captivity would last seventy years (Jer. 25:11), but false prophets...

Gambling may be defined as the willingness to take a risk (a wager) motivated by the desire to get something for nothing. 

Gambling, an ancient vice condemned in virtually all societies, is driven...

Existentialism is the name of a philosophical movement that began in Germany just before World War II. It attempts to probe the meaning of “human existence” apart from divine revelation and its res...

Expediency is sometimes defined as the method by which a determined goal is achieved, regardless of the moral consequences. This is not the biblical concept of expediency.

In Bible parlance, a me...

The book of Ezra documents Israel’s first two returns from Babylonian captivity. The narrative covers approximately eighty years, from Cyrus’s edict to Ezra’s arrival in Jerusalem. 

Zerubbabel led...

Faithfulness conveys integrity, steadfastness, truth, and dependability, among other qualities. Two important emphases of this quality are highlighted in the Bible. 
• God is faithful in all things...

This expression generally refers to the apostasy of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, which introduced the human family to heartache, disease, and ultimately death (Gen. 2:17; 3:16ff; Rom. 5:12)....

“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...

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 Flood, recorded in Genesis 6-8, was the most widespread disaster ever to affect this planet. Waters from the atmosphere above and from chasms beneath the earth inundated the entire globe (Gen. ...

Form Criticism is a modern approach to the Bible that originated in a liberal theological context. It holds, for example, that the Gospel accounts are mythological. The “scholarly critic,” therefor...

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, flowi...

The Greek term porne is a comprehensive term, covering every form of illicit sexual activity by human beings. Note the following passages that help us understand this word.

Single people who wish ...

Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. It was an exceedingly wicked city, but Jehovah loved even these alien Gentiles. Accordingly, he sent Jonah, a prophet from northern Palestine, to proclaim u...

A genealogy is a record of the names of a person’s ancestors or descendants.

Several genealogical lists are recorded in the Bible, for example, in Genesis, Chronicles, Matthew, and Luke. These ar...