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...

Discipline is actually a process of training that begins at the point of one's conversion and continues throughout one's life. It includes teaching, example, exhortation, admonition, etc. (2 Tim. 3...

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...

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...

Drunkenness involves the ingestion of a mind-altering substance for purely pleasurable purposes. This vice is repeatedly condemned in the Scriptures (Prov. 23:29ff; Eph. 5:18; 1 Cor. 5:11; 6:10; Ga...

The Greek term pascha has been mistranslated as "Easter" in the King James Version of the Bible (Acts 12:4). The term is consistently rendered "passover" elsewhere in the New Testament (see Mt. 26:...

This profound work analyzes the avenues men commonly explore to pursue temporal happiness. Written by Solomon (1:1) likely in his advanced years, it affirms that earthly goals such as wealth, power...

The Greek term presbuteros is rendered "elder." It can refer simply to an older person (cf. Acts 2:17; Heb. 11:2) or take on a technical sense—an officer in the church, equivalent to a bishop or pa...

From the Greek word eschatos ("last") comes "eschatology," a study of "last things" (e.g., the second coming of Christ, the resurrection of the dead, the judgment day, the end of the world, heaven,...

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...

Ethics concerns the system or code by which attitudes or actions are determined to be right or wrong. Only two sources can serve as the basis for ethical conduct: ethical conduct is either regulate...

The term "evangelist" is an Anglicized form of the Greek euanglistes, derived from eu ("well") and angelos ("messenger").  An evangelist is someone who proclaims the good news, serving as a gospel...

The ancient Greeks taught a rudimentary form of the theory of evolution. It was popularized in modern times by the publication of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species (1859). The evolutionary t...

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...

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...

The name of the second book of the Old Testament means "departure" or "going out." It contains Moses' record of Israel's departure from Egyptian bondage and the nation's separation unto God as a ho...

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...

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...