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...

A survey in USA Today reports the most popular questions people would like to ask God. Most of these questions have already been answered within the pages of his Holy Book.

This term is found only a few times in the English Bible. In four cases it renders the Greek threskeia, which basically means holy service, the exercise of devotion to a transcendent Being or being...

Death is a term that, in one sense or another, suggests the idea of separation.

Physical death is that state of the body which is separated from the “spirit” or “soul” (Gen. 25:8; 35:18; Jas. 2:2...

The English Bible uses the word “abomination” to reflect about a dozen terms in the original languages of both Testaments. The prevailing idea behind the words is a divine revulsion at transgressio...

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...

The names “Jesus Christ” mean “savior” and “anointed,” suggesting that this noble person was “anointed” of God (Acts 10:38) to be prophet, priest, and king, and indeed, the Savior of the world (Mt....

The English “angel” is an anglicized form of the Greek aggelos (pronounced angelos). The term signifies a “messenger.”

The word Aggelos is used in several ways in the Scriptures. 
• It commonly d...

The Scriptures emphatically teach that the Second Person of the Godhead, the Word (Jn. 1:1), actually became a flesh and blood human being (Jn. 1:14; Heb. 2:14). One partakes of the spirit of antic...

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 ve...

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...

Are Bible classes, commonly called “Sunday school classes,” in harmony with the holy scriptures? Some contend they are not, and they have divided the church over this issue. Take a fresh look at this subject with a biblically based, common sense approach.

Two Greek words express the idea of immortality — athanasia (no death), and aphtharsia (no corruption). In the absolute sense, only God possesses immortality, i.e., an underived and unending exist...

“Materialism” is commonly used in two different senses. (a) Philosophical materialism is the idea that nothing exists except that which is material in nature (i.e., composed of matter). There is, t...

Before Jesus was born, the angel informed Mary: “the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God” (Lk. 1:35). The descriptive reveals something of the unique essence of Christ. The ...

John Calvin was a tremendously influential person in Protestant history. But his Institutes reveals his philosophy towards the Holy Scriptures. Is this philosophy worthy of emulation?

Christ once warned against giving that which is holy to dogs, and casting pearls before swine. But how many heed his admonition?

The term “body” is used in Scripture in both literal and figurative sense.

Literal user of the body
In a literal sense, the term “body” in Scripture refers to the physical “tabernacle” in which t...

The Greek term for “man” is anthropos. Plato suggested that the word reflects the idea of an “upward looking” one, hinting, perhaps, that man finds no rest upon this planet. He is ever searching fo...

The term Catholic originates with a Greek word, katholikos, which means “general” or “universal.” The expression is not found in the Scriptures but has been employed in various senses in church his...