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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; ...
The Bible is filled with affirmations of our Creator's generosity. Every good and perfect gift is from him (Jas. 1:17). Surely our gratitude must be lavishly expressed for his graciousness. God has given us life itself (Acts 17:25; 1 Tim. 6:13). Human life, therefore, is sacred. Jehovah gives us ...
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...
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 term "brother" is from the Greek adelphos. It technically signifies "from the same womb." The word is used in different senses in the New Testament. • It is employed literally to identify siblings of the same parents (Acts 12:2). • It can denote those of the same nation (Acts 2:29; 9:17; 22:5...
Righteous is the state or quality of being right. (a) Only Deity is righteous in the absolute sense (Rom. 3:10). To speak of the righteousness of God is to affirm his absolute morality, and the expectation he entertains for purity in those fashioned in his image (Gen. 17:1; 1 Pet. 1:15). God will...
This English term is a rendition of the Greek zoopoieo, "to make alive." It is found about a dozen times in the N.T. and is rendered by such expressions as "quicken," "give life," and "make alive." Consider these facts: (a) The power to "make alive" is always attributed either to God (Jn. 5:21; R...
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 ...
Life may be viewed under two categories -- physical life and spiritual life. (a) All biological organisms are characterized by physical "life." A living creature has independent movement, processes food and oxygen, reproduces, etc. Life is a mystery that science cannot explain. It is a "gift" fro...
Prayer is a mode of communication between a human being and deity. Prayer is almost a human "instinct," reflecting man's innate need for contact with his Maker (Acts 17:27). It has been said that when one realizes that he is "lost," he cannot help praying. While that may well be true, the Bible p...
Each year, the ancient Hebrews would offer the "firstfruits" of their crops to God as a token of their thanksgiving for the bounty to come (Lev 2:12, 23; 23:17, 39). In his initial letter to the saints at Corinth, Paul draws on this circumstance and refers to Jesus as the "firstfruits" of those w...
The most common Greek word representing this idea is apollumi. The term can suggest the idea of an object that is estranged from its owner. A shepherd loses his sheep, a woman loses a coin, a Father loses a son (Lk. 15:4, 9, 32). When men, by their sins, wander away from their Creator, they are "...
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 ...
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...
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...
