Search the encyclopedia
100 articles found for “Evil spirits”
Mark 7:21–23
[Bible Verses]In this passage, Jesus explains to his disciples that what defiles a person is not food entering from outside but evil coming from the heart, and he lists twelve evils. It is frequently cited in discussions of the origin of sin and of purity laws.
Job 28:28
[Bible Verses]Job 28:28 is the final verse of the "Hymn to Wisdom" in Job 28. It declares that God makes known to humanity the wisdom that people cannot find for themselves, identifying it as "the fear of the Lord" and "to depart from evil." It is frequently cited alongside the wisdom motto of Proverbs.
Garden of Eden
[Bible]The Garden of Eden is the garden in which, according to Genesis 2–3, God placed the first human being he created. It contained the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and it is the setting of the account of humanity's fall.
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
[Bible Verses]In this passage Moses, making a covenant on the plains of Moab, sets before Israel life and good, death and evil, and urges the people to choose life. It forms the conclusion of the sermons in Deuteronomy and is often cited in discussions of human choice and responsibility.
Eating of the Forbidden Fruit
[Bible]The eating of the forbidden fruit is the event recorded in Genesis 3 in which Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God had forbidden, and were driven out of the Garden of Eden. Christianity understands it as the beginning of the fall of humanity.
Abyss
[Bible]The Abyss (Korean mujeogaeng, 無底坑, "bottomless pit") is a New Testament term for a deep place in which demons and evil powers are confined or from which they ascend, or for the realm of the dead.
Karmic Retribution (Inkwa Eungbo)
[Doctrine & Theology]Karmic retribution, expressed in Korean as *inkwa eungbo* ("cause, effect, and requital"), is the idea that good deeds bring good results and evil deeds bring bad results. Originally a Buddhist term, it is used in Christianity when discussing the biblical teaching on divine recompense and the problem of suffering.
Leaven
[Bible]Leaven is fermented dough used to make dough rise. In the Old Testament it appears in the regulations for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and for offerings. In the New Testament it serves as an image both of the kingdom of God and of evil teaching and sin.
Exorcism
[Christian Life]Exorcism is the casting out, in the name of Jesus Christ and through prayer, of demons believed to enter people and do them harm. In Korean churches it is also commonly called chuksa (逐邪, "driving out evil").
Three Uses of the Law
[Doctrine & Theology]The three uses of the law is a teaching of Reformation theology that organizes the work of God's law into three functions: restraining evil in society, bringing people to recognize their sin, and guiding the life of the believer.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
[People]Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646–1716) was a German philosopher and mathematician. A Lutheran lay scholar, he wrote the *Theodicy*, a treatment of the problem of evil and suffering, and thereby popularized the term "theodicy."
Alexander the Coppersmith
[People]Alexander the coppersmith is a metalworker mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:14-15. He is recorded as having done Paul "much evil" and as having strongly opposed his teaching.
Leviathan
[Bible]Leviathan is a great sea creature mentioned in Job, Psalms, and Isaiah. The name serves as a symbol of a power beyond human control or of the chaos and evil that stand against God.
Psalm 52
[Bible]Psalm 52 is a psalm of David that contrasts the downfall of the mighty man, who boasts in evil schemes and trusts in his wealth, with the thanksgiving of the psalmist, who trusts in the mercy of God.
Proverbs 2
[Bible]Proverbs 2 is a father's instruction teaching that whoever seeks wisdom as silver and hidden treasure will come to understand the fear of the LORD and will be protected from the way of evil men and from the strange woman.
James 4
[Bible]James 4 traces the root of quarrels to lusts and to friendship with the world, and it urges readers to submit to God and humble themselves. It goes on to warn against speaking evil of a brother and against boasting about tomorrow without regard for the will of God.
Jonah 4:2
[Bible Verses]In this verse Jonah, angered that Nineveh has been spared, reveals to God why he had fled. The verse is frequently discussed for its irony, since Jonah uses the confession of God's grace from Exodus 34 as grounds for complaint, and for its statement that God "repentest thee of the evil."
Belial
[Bible]Belial is a Hebrew word in the Old Testament meaning "worthlessness" or "wickedness," used mainly in the expression "son (or man) of Belial" to describe a base or wicked person. In the New Testament it appears once, in 2 Corinthians 6:15, as a name for the power of evil opposed to Christ, that is, Satan.
Numbers 13
[Bible]Numbers 13 recounts how Moses sent twelve men, a leader from each tribe, to spy out the land of Canaan for forty days. Caleb urged the people to take the land, but the other spies brought up an evil report of it.
The Fall
[Doctrine & Theology]The Fall is the Christian doctrine concerning the event in which the first humans, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God's command, bringing sin and death upon the human race, and concerning the condition into which humanity entered as a result.