“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 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.

Why do people cry? The Bible mentions human tears more than 500 times.

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.”...

Are the days of the creation literal 24-hour days or extended ages of time? Exodus 20:8-11 provides the answer.

The term “grace” occurs about 155 times in the New Testament. The word relates to the Greek term chairo, meaning “to rejoice,” and grace itself comes to mean favor, gratification, or gratitude — d...

Was the church of Christ established on the day of Pentecost? Or was it established at some earlier time in human history?

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...

The Lord expects his disciples to demonstrate a loving disposition, while, at the same time, defending the truth vigorously. All of us to some extent, have made errors in both of these areas. And sometimes, we do more harm than good when attempting to defend truth with incorrect reasoning. This is part three in a three-part series, “Defending the Faith with a Broken Sword.”

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 hum...

This phrase appears eight times in the New Testament. It is the ancient term for what modern society calls “Sunday.” The significance of this day is readily apparent in the following cases: 
• It w...

The Greek word paradeisos derives from the Persian term pairidaeza, which meant an enclosure, a royal park, a garden with a wall. In the Greek Old Testament (LXX) the term is employed of the Garden...

Psalm 3 is a morning song of David during a difficult time in the king’s life. It is brief, but brimming with instruction and comfort.

“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...

Retribution will be the dispensing of the “wrath of God,” as an expression of divine justice, upon those who have persisted in wicked rebellion against their Maker. The expression “wrath of God” is...

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...

We are living in a time when the “work ethic” is suffering enormously. More and more people want to do less and less for higher pay.

Some people despise their accelerating agedness. Growing old ought to be the most rewarding time of one’s life. Perhaps these thoughts will help you.

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 ...

The arrival of Christianity provided refreshing encouragement of love of fellow man to a time that was marked by the lack of philanthropy.