The book of Ephesians was a letter written by Paul from Rome while he was in prison (AD 60-62). The book develops the theme of “God’s eternal purpose” (3:10-11). It reveals that even before the wor...

The Book of Daniel records the life and prophetic visions of the prophet Daniel. 

As a young man, he was taken into Babylonian captivity in 605 B.C., during the first deportation under King Nebuch...

Paul commended Timothy for making “the good confession” before many witnesses (1 Tim. 6:12). 
The word “confession” comes from the Greek homologia, which means “to say the same thing.” It implies a...

The book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Pentateuch. The title signifies “second law.” 

Moses penned this document near the end of the era of wilderness wandering. Its design is to rehears...

The Greek word diakonos comes into the English language as “deacon.”

The term basically means to serve. It is used of ordinary servants in a secular sense (Jn. 2:5, 9) or of those who serve gener...

The idea of being born in sin or inheriting ancestral sin at birth is not a biblical concept. The most commonly misapplied passage relating to the notion that children are “born in sin” is Psalm 51...

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...

This theory attempts to reconcile the six days of creation activity (Gen. 1) with the billions of years required by evolutionary chronology. However, there is overwhelming evidence that the “days” ...

Deism is a religious and philosophical theory that acknowledges the existence of a Supreme Being responsible for creating the universe. However, this philosophy asserts that the transcendent Being ...

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...

The term devil means one who slanders or accuses (cf. Rev. 12:9-10). This word is used thirty-three times in the New Testament of the arch-enemy of man, Satan (Mt. 13:28).

Since only the deity is...

The Greek word oikonomia is rendered “dispensation” several times in the New Testament (see 1 Cor. 9:17; Eph. 1:10; 3:2, 9; Col. 1:25). Sometimes the word suggests the idea of managing a household ...

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...

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...

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 s...