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Hebrews 4:9–11
[Bible Verses]This passage declares that a "rest" still remains for the people of God and urges believers to labor to enter that rest. It is frequently cited in discussions of whether this rest is present or belongs to the last day, and of how it relates to the Sabbath commandment.
Matthew 5:39
[Bible Verses]Matthew 5:39 is the verse in which Jesus teaches his hearers not to resist an evil person and, if someone strikes them on the right cheek, to turn the other also. It stands at the center of interpretive debates that extend beyond the prohibition of personal retaliation to questions of war, violence, and military service.
Missionary Sending by the Korean Church
[History]Missionary sending by the Korean church refers to the history of Korean Protestant churches and mission organizations sending missionaries to other regions and countries. Its beginning is commonly dated to the 1907 mission to Jeju Island. As of the end of 2024, there were 21,621 Korean long-term missionaries serving in 171 countries.
John 8:7
[Bible Verses]John 8:7 is the verse in which Jesus says to those about to stone a woman taken in adultery, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." It is a classic text on mercy and forgiveness, but it raises a textual problem: the entire story is absent from the oldest manuscripts.
Deuteronomy 28:1–2
[Bible Verses]A promise that all blessings will come upon those who diligently hearken to the voice of God and observe to do His commandments. These verses open a chapter that lists at length the blessings that follow obedience and the curses that follow disobedience. Their use as a basis for prosperity theology has drawn both criticism and rebuttal.
Genesis 3:16
[Bible Verses]Genesis 3:16 records God's words to the woman after the Fall, in which He increases her pain in childbirth and declares that her husband "shall rule over thee." In discussions of the relationship between men and women, interpreters disagree over whether the verse establishes an order ordained by God or describes a distortion produced by sin.
Psalm 137:1–6
[Bible Verses]A lament in which Judeans carried captive to Babylon long for Zion (Jerusalem), refuse to sing, and vow never to forget Jerusalem. The passage is frequently cited in discussions of keeping faith in a foreign land.
Proverbs 11:24–25
[Bible Verses]A couplet in Proverbs teaching that those who give generously end up with more, while those who hold on too tightly fall into want. It is often quoted in sermons encouraging almsgiving and offerings, and interpreters differ over whether it promises material reward or offers a general observation drawn from wisdom.
Luke 13:23–24
[Bible Verses]Luke 13:23–24 is a passage in which Jesus, asked, "Are there few that be saved?", does not answer with a number but replies, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate." It is frequently cited in discussions of how the grace of salvation relates to human effort.
Sexual Violence in the Church
[Controversies]Sexual violence in the church is sexual violence that occurs within communities of faith such as churches and mission organizations. Views differ on what procedures the church should use to handle such cases and on whether a pastor who has committed abuse may return to ministry.
Healing of the Blind Man at Bethsaida
[Bible]The healing of the blind man at Bethsaida is a miracle in which Jesus spat on the eyes of a blind man at Bethsaida and laid his hands on him twice, restoring his sight in stages. Of the four Gospels, it appears only in Mark 8:22–26.
Shittim Wood
[Bible]Shittim wood is the wood used in the Old Testament to build the tabernacle and its furnishings; the name renders the Hebrew shittim. Today it is generally identified as a species of acacia growing in the wilderness.
Zacchaeus
[People]Zacchaeus was a chief tax collector of Jericho who appears in Luke 19. He climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see Jesus and, after Jesus called him, welcomed him into his home. He then declared that he would give half of his goods to the poor and repay fourfold anything he had taken by fraud.
Babylonian Captivity
[Bible]The Babylonian Captivity was the period in the early sixth century BC when the Kingdom of Judah fell to the Neo-Babylonian Empire and its king and people were carried off to Babylon in a series of deportations and settled there. It is also called the Babylonian Exile.
Field of Zophim
[Bible]The field of Zophim is a field at the top of Pisgah mentioned in Numbers 23. It was the second place to which Balak, king of Moab, brought Balaam to curse Israel, and there, too, Balaam pronounced a blessing instead of a curse.
Valley of Rephaim
[Bible]The Valley of Rephaim was a valley southwest of Jerusalem that formed part of the boundary between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. It is known as the place where David twice defeated the Philistine army encamped there.
Mount of Corruption
[Bible]The Mount of Corruption is a mountain east of Jerusalem mentioned in 2 Kings 23:13. Solomon built high places for foreign gods there, and Josiah later defiled and removed them. It is commonly identified with the southern part of the Mount of Olives.
Mount Horeb
[Bible]Mount Horeb is the mountain the Old Testament calls "the mountain of God." There Moses received God's call from the flame of the burning bush, Israel received the covenant, and Elijah met God. It is generally understood to be the same mountain as Mount Sinai.
Chaldea
[Bible]Chaldea is a biblical term for a region in southern Mesopotamia and for the people who lived there. Scripture uses it for Abraham's homeland, "Ur of the Chaldees"; for the Babylonian Empire that destroyed Judah; and for a class of learned men and astrologers in the book of Daniel.
Fruit of the Spirit
[Bible]The fruit of the Spirit refers to the nine virtues—love, joy, peace, and others—that Paul lists in Galatians 5:22–23 as the character displayed by those who live by the Spirit.