Peter addressed this letter to “the elect,” i.e., Christians, who are dispersed in Asia Minor. The main theme of the epistle is explicitly stated. He urges the brethren to “stand fast” in the "grac...

This is one of the titles of a church official who oversees a local congregation of Christ’s church in the company of fellow bishops (always a plurality of men).

“Bishop” translates the Greek ter...

While the term “unity” is rare in the English Bible (Psa. 133:1; Eph. 4:3; 4:13), the idea prevails profusely in a variety of contexts. (a) Unity is that oneness that obtains perfectly among the me...

“Fellowship” translates the Greek koinonia, meaning “participation, association, sharing.” Fellowship exists on two levels — the vertical (the Christian’s relationship with God) and the horizontal...

The idea of “intercession” is expressed in both Testaments of the Bible. The Greek verb entunchano suggests the concept of making an appeal to someone with reference to another person. It can mean ...

There are three basic words in the Greek N.T. that convey the idea of “ministering” in one way or another. (a) Diakonos, occurs about thirty times in the N.T. Generally it simply means “to serve.” ...

Biblical chronology has to do with the relationship of the events recorded in Scripture to specific dates. Some events are a bit ambiguous in terms of date. Others are more precise. 

While the Bib...

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 th...

This English term is related to the Latin conscientia, literally, “to know together” or “joint knowledge.” It corresponds to the Greek suneidesis (found thirty times in the New Testament), which es...

The Book of Galatians was one of Paul’s letters to several churches in Galatia, written about A.D. 48. A Jewish element in these churches taught that one must be obedient to the law of Moses and th...

The southern kingdom of Judah had sunk deep into apostasy. The prophet Jeremiah was raised up to offer them God’s final invitation for repentance. When that failed, the prophet was commissioned to ...

Literally speaking, the “tongue” is an organ of taste and speech within the mouth. By metaphorical extension, it is used in literature for a human language. In the N.T., the gift of being able to "...

Peter’s second letter is a caustic warning regarding false teachers who are promoting “destructive heresies” (2:1). The false teaching concerns the nature of Christ, sensual indulgence, the coming ...

The English word “bible” means “scroll” or “book” and refers to the sixty-six documents that comprise the book of Scripture — thirty-nine Old Testament documents and twenty-seven New Testament boo...

The title “Christ” was applied to Jesus of Nazareth because he fulfilled Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah. 

The prophets previewed Jesus as the Messiah (Psa. 2:1ff; Dan. 9:25-27)....

Adultery is sexual intimacy between a married person and someone other than their lawful mate. The act begins in the mind (Mt. 5:28; Mk. 7:21) and ultimately manifests in physical union (cf. Jn. 8:...

The term “tradition” renders a Greek word that suggests the idea of “instruction that has been handed down.” It takes on two senses in Scripture. (a) “Tradition” may be instruction that is divinely...

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 ...

The Greek word for “heart” is kardia (as in the English word “cardiac”). Although “heart” literally refers to the blood-pumping organ in a person’s body, the term is rarely used to refer to the phy...

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...