The Talmud is an encyclopedia of Jewish cultural tradition that was designed to supplement the Hebrew Old Testament. It evolved over a era from about 450 B.C. to A.D. 500. The Talmud (from a Hebrew...

The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew (with certain minor portions in Aramaic), while the New Testament was penned in Koine Greek. None of the original documents (called autographs) of...

Paul’s second letter to the saints in Thessalonica was written not long after the first one, while the apostle was still at Corinth (Acts 18:11). This epistle seeks to correct an erroneous impressi...

This is Paul’s last letter before his execution. It was written during his final Roman imprisonment. The epistle summons Timothy to Paul’s side. It is intended to help Timothy understand the events...

Titus was a Gentile co-worker of Paul’s whom the apostle had left on the island of Crete to “set in order” certain matters and to work toward the ordination of elders within the local congregations...

“Translation” is the process of bringing the message of the Scriptures from the original languages — Hebrew, Aramaic (O.T.), and Greek (N.T.) — into the various languages and dialects of the nati...

This word signifies “change in substance,” and it reflects the Roman Catholic doctrine that in the communion service, when the priest pronounces the words, “this is my body” and “this is my blood,”...

The word “Trinity” does not occur in the Scriptures. The term combines the dual concepts of “three,” and “unity,” and thus it does represent a biblical idea, namely that the Godhead is composed of ...

The common word for “walk” in the New Testament is peripateo. It means to walk around or, in a figurative sense, “to conduct oneself” in a certain way. It was the common Jewish idiom for how one li...

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:...

Infallibility means “without error.”

In theology, it signifies the belief that the Scriptures, in their original form (the autographs), were without error. Furthermore, the divine documents were ...

The “church” is a body of baptized believers, called by the gospel from the “world” into a special fellowship with Christ. 

We must acknowledge, however, that the church exists in the modern world...

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)....

“Extreme Unction” is one of the so-called “sacraments” of the Roman Catholic Church. It is the action of a priest in applying oil to someone who is at the point of death. The priest reads prayers a...

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...

Critics are fond of claiming that the Bible cannot be the word of God because, supposedly, it contains multiple contradictions. Such allegations reveal that these critics are oblivious to the natur...

“Confession” means “to say the same thing.” 

In connection with our salvation, confession is the personal acknowledgment of the transgressions in our lives that God has spoken of and condemned thr...

Amos was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel in those days before the fall of Samaria, the capital city (722/21 B.C.). He cries out against the idolatry and wickedness of his people. He war...

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...

This phrase appears in Galatians 4:4, where Paul describes Christ’s birth and earthly ministry as occurring when “the fulness of time” had arrived. The expression highlights how, over the centuries...