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...

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 ...

The Greek word for "heart" is kardia (as in the English, cardiac). Though "heart" literally refers to the blood pump within man's body cavity, the term rarely refers to the physical organ in the Bi...

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 ...

"Belief" is the noun form of the verb "believe." True belief embraces several important elements.  Despite God's invisibility and inaudibility, our belief in him is not rooted in superstition. Beli...

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:...

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 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...

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...

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...

A number of terms, both in the O.T. and the N.T., suggest the idea of a "path" or "way" of travel. The words come to be employed of a "course of conduct," whether for good (Ex. 18:20; 32:8; Dt. 31:...