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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.
The Burnt Offering on Mount Moriah
[Bible]The event recorded in Genesis 22 in which Abraham, at God's command, prepared to offer his son Isaac as a burnt offering on a mountain in the land of Moriah, until God stopped him and provided a ram in Isaac's place.
Parable of the Mustard Seed
[Bible]The Parable of the Mustard Seed is a parable of Jesus that likens the kingdom of God to a tiny mustard seed that grows large enough for birds to lodge in its branches. It appears in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
Parable of the Lost Coin
[Bible]The Parable of the Lost Coin is a parable of Jesus found in Luke 15:8-10. It tells of a woman who loses one silver coin, finds it, and rejoices with her neighbors, and it speaks of the joy before God when one sinner repents.
Parable of the Unjust Judge
[Bible]A parable of Jesus recorded in Luke 18:1–8. Even an unjust judge grants the plea of a persistent widow, and God will all the more avenge his elect. The parable teaches that believers ought always to pray and not lose heart.
Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
[Bible]A parable that Jesus tells in Matthew 18 in answer to Peter's question about forgiveness. A king forgives a servant a debt of ten thousand talents, but the servant refuses to forgive a fellow servant's debt of a hundred denarii and is punished. The parable teaches the relationship between the forgiveness received from God and the forgiveness extended to one's neighbor.
Sermon on the Plain
[Bible]The Sermon on the Plain is the teaching recorded in Luke 6:17–49, which Jesus delivered to his disciples and the crowds after he chose the twelve disciples, came down from the mountain, and stood on a level place. Much of its content overlaps with the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew.
The Nations
[Bible]In the Bible, "the nations" refers collectively to the peoples and countries outside Israel. The term is closely tied to the biblical theme that God's salvation extends to all peoples.
Water from the Rock
[Bible]The water from the rock refers to the events in which God, through Moses, brought water out of a rock when the Israelites in the wilderness complained because they had no water to drink. The events are recorded in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20.