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Fivefold Ministry
[Doctrine & Theology]The fivefold ministry is a collective term for the five offices named in Ephesians 4:11: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. Denominations and theological traditions differ on whether these offices continue today.
Psalm 78
[Bible]Psalm 78 is a didactic psalm (maschil) of Asaph that retraces Israel's history from the Exodus to the accession of David. It contrasts God's faithfulness with the people's repeated disobedience and urges that these things be passed on to the next generation.
New Testament Quotations of the Old Testament
[Bible]The practice by which New Testament writers reproduce or borrow the words of the Old Testament to explain Jesus Christ and the church, and the passages in which they do so. These quotations are treated as a key resource for understanding the relationship between the Old and New Testaments.
Jeremiah 51
[Bible]Jeremiah 51 continues the prophecy of chapter 50 announcing the fall of Babylon. At the close of the chapter, Jeremiah gives Seraiah a book containing these words and instructs him to read it in Babylon and then cast it into the Euphrates River.
Acts 2:1–4
[Bible Verses]This passage recounts how the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples gathered on the day of Pentecost with a sound like a rushing wind and with tongues as of fire, and how they began to speak in other languages. The event is commemorated as the beginning of the church. What these tongues were, and whether the same experience continues today, are major points of disagreement among denominations.
Isaiah 9:6
[Bible Verses]Isaiah 9:6 is the prophecy that "unto us a child is born," whose name "shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." It is one of the best-known Christmas texts. Interpretations differ, both between Christianity and Judaism and between mainstream denominations and certain other groups, over whom these titles refer to and what they mean.
Matthew 26:26–28
[Bible Verses]Matthew 26:26–28 records the words Jesus spoke at the Last Supper when he broke bread and said, "Take, eat; this is my body," and then gave the cup, saying, "For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." These are the words of institution of the Lord's Supper, and no passage has divided the church more deeply over the meaning of Communion.
Exodus 24:8
[Bible Verses]The verse in which Moses, at Mount Sinai, sprinkles the blood of the sacrifices on the people and declares it "the blood of the covenant," completing the ratification of the covenant between God and Israel. Because Jesus' words instituting the Lord's Supper and the Epistle to the Hebrews take up this expression, these passages are frequently read together.
Genesis 10:6
[Bible Verses]Genesis 10:6 lists the four sons of Ham, the son of Noah: Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. The verse is frequently discussed for two reasons: the question of which regions and peoples these names designate, and the past misuse of the so-called "curse of Ham" to justify racial discrimination.
Former Prophets
[Bible]The Former Prophets is the collective name for Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, the books that stand at the beginning of the Prophets division of the Hebrew Bible. Christian Bibles usually classify these books as historical books.
Philistine Pentapolis
[Bible]The Philistine Pentapolis is the collective name for the five cities that the Philistines established on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Canaan: Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. During the period of the judges and the early monarchy, these cities were the centers of the Philistine power that opposed Israel.
Genesis 22:2
[Bible Verses]Genesis 22:2 records God's command to Abraham to offer his beloved only son Isaac as a burnt offering in the land of Moriah. The verse is read as the height of faith and obedience, and it has long been debated for the ethical implications of God commanding the sacrifice of a human being.
Mark 2:27–28
[Bible Verses]In a dispute over the Sabbath, Jesus declares that "the sabbath was made for man" and identifies himself as Lord of the Sabbath. The passage is frequently cited in discussions of the purpose of the Sabbath commandment, Lord's Day observance, and interdenominational debates over Sabbath keeping.
Isaiah 8:8–10
[Bible Verses]A passage in which Isaiah likens the Assyrian invasion to a flood and foretells the crisis coming upon Judah. He then declares that the plans of the nations seeking to attack Judah will fail, because "God is with us" (Immanuel).
John 10:27–29
[Bible Verses]A passage in which Jesus says that he gives eternal life to his sheep and that no one can pluck them out of his hand or his Father's hand. It is frequently cited in discussions among denominations concerning the perseverance of the saints and the assurance of salvation.
Daniel 9:1-3
[Bible Verses]In this passage Daniel reads Jeremiah's prophecy of the "seventy years" and resolves to seek God with fasting and prayer. It is often cited as a model of moving from the reading of Scripture to prayer, and it raises questions about the identity of Darius and how the seventy years should be reckoned.
Stoning
[Bible]Stoning is a method of execution in which an offender is put to death by a group of people throwing stones. The Old Testament law prescribed it for a number of grave offenses, and in the New Testament it appears in the account of the woman taken in adultery and in the martyrdom of Stephen.
Dispensationalism
[Doctrine & Theology]Dispensationalism is a theological system that reads biblical history as a series of "dispensations" (economies) through which God deals with humanity, and that distinguishes between Israel and the church. It originated in nineteenth-century Britain and has also significantly shaped the understanding of the end times in Korean churches.
Eucharistic Controversy
[Controversies]The Eucharistic controversy is the debate over how Christ is present in the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. The four principal views are transubstantiation, consubstantiation, spiritual presence, and memorialism; during the Reformation, Protestants themselves were divided on the question.
Church Growth in Korea
[History]The rapid increase in the number of Protestant church members and churches in South Korea during the industrialization and urbanization of the 1960s through the 1980s. The term also covers the slowdown and stagnation of that growth from the 1990s onward.