Sin

The imagery of a “lamb” is taken from the Old Testament to convey certain thoughts about the Messiah.

John the Baptizer introduced Jesus as the “lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (...

John’s first epistle is a defense against the “gnostic” doctrine that alleged that Jesus Christ was not a real, flesh-and-blood human being. This sect claimed a special “knowledge” received directl...

Homosexual activity is sexual intimacy between two persons of the same gender. This form of sexual conduct is uniformly condemned in the Bible. (a) It stands outside the divinely prescribed realm o...

“Holy” comes from the Greek hagios, which conveys the idea of something being set apart from other things. The Bible applies the word to various persons and objects.

• God stands utterly apart fro...

By virtue of man’s transgression, death and all its attendant evils, including illness, have become a part of the human experience. It is not surprising, therefore, that “healing” is a biblical the...

Animals operate largely on instinct, an inherited pattern of behavior. Human beings are different. We are made in the very image of God himself (Gen. 1:26-27). We possess volition (i.e., the power ...

The most common word in the Greek New Testament that conveys the idea of “forgiveness” is aphesis, a compound term meaning “to send away from.”

Forgiveness is a divine response to human sin, flowi...

This expression generally refers to the apostasy of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, which introduced the human family to heartache, disease, and ultimately death (Gen. 2:17; 3:16ff; Rom. 5:12)....

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...

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...

The creation was the act of an omnipotent God, speaking into existence, from no previous materials, the entire Universe and everything within it. This concept is unique to Judeo-Christian theology....

The expression “Great Commission” is commonly used to refer to a special directive Christ gave in a post-resurrection appearance before he ascended back into heaven. 

The “commission” is found in ...

This word derives from a Latin term meaning “unmarried.”

In the divine scheme of things, the ideal is for human beings to marry (Gen. 2:18; 1 Tim. 5:14). Sometimes, however, it is not advisable t...

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 ...

This word comes directly from the Greek blasphemeo, which is believed to derive from blapto (to injure) and pheme (speech), hence injurious speech.

Scripture speaks of those who blaspheme God (Ro...

The English word “atonement” derives from an Anglo-Saxon term that practically signifies “a making at one.” Though the English term “atonement” is common to the Old Testament, it is found only once...

Apostasy is an English term based on the Greek apotasia. Originally, it meant to desert one’s post; it was used for political revolt.

In the Old Testament, the word implies a turning away from Go...

Though this word is not found in most English translations of the New Testament, the thought is there in the Greek text. It is an anglicized form of the original term antitupos. The term is rendere...

The Holy Spirit was promised by Christ to his apostles for their special work.

Scholarly sources may be helpful, but good Bible students recognize any human source can be biased or flawed. God’s Word is the ultimate standard of faith and practice.