Search the encyclopedia
1000 articles found for “the two spies”
Angel of the Lord
[Bible]The Angel of the Lord is an Old Testament term for a being sent by God who appears to people and delivers his word. Because the angel sometimes speaks as though he were God himself, interpreters disagree about the angel's identity.
Court of the Gentiles
[Bible]The Court of the Gentiles was the large outermost court of the Jerusalem temple as enlarged by Herod, a space that non-Jews were also permitted to enter. It is commonly understood to be the site where Jesus cleansed the temple.
Tradition of the Elders
[Bible]The "tradition of the elders" is a New Testament expression for the regulations, handed down from generation to generation outside the Law of Moses, that the Pharisees and scribes observed. It appears in the dispute over handwashing in Matthew 15 and Mark 7.
Parable of the Net
[Bible]The Parable of the Net is a parable in Matthew 13:47-50 in which Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven to a net that gathers fish of every kind. It teaches about judgment, declaring that at the end of the world the angels will separate the wicked from among the just.
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.
Works of the Flesh
[Bible]The works of the flesh are a catalog of sins that the apostle Paul lists in Galatians 5:19–21 in contrast to the fruit of the Spirit. The list includes sexual immorality, idolatry, strife, and drunkenness, among other items, and closes with "and such like." The New Korean Revised Version renders it as fifteen items.
Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
[Bible]The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple is the event in which Joseph and Mary brought the infant Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem and presented him to God after the period of purification prescribed by the Law had passed. It is recorded in Luke 2.
Symbolic Actions of the Prophets
[Bible]The symbolic actions of the prophets are acts by which Old Testament prophets conveyed God's message visibly, not only in words but through gestures, objects, and their own lives.
Parables of the Kingdom
[Bible]The parables of the kingdom are the parables in which Jesus described the reign of God with the words "The kingdom of heaven is like unto…"; in the narrower sense, the term refers to the seven parables of Matthew 13.
Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
[Bible]The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree is a parable of Jesus found in Luke 13:6–9. In it, the owner of a vineyard wants to cut down a fig tree that has borne no fruit for three years, but the vinedresser asks him to leave it one more year. The parable calls for repentance and illustrates the patience of God.
Parable of the Friend at Midnight
[Bible]The Parable of the Friend at Midnight is a parable of Jesus recorded in Luke 11:5–8. It teaches about prayer through the story of a man who receives a guest at midnight and asks his neighbor for bread.
Healing of the Centurion's Servant
[Bible]The healing of the centurion's servant is a miracle in which Jesus, at Capernaum, healed the sick servant of a Roman army centurion by his word alone. Recorded in Matthew 8 and Luke 7, the account is known for Jesus' commendation of a Gentile's faith.
Healing of the Man with a Withered Hand
[Bible]The healing of the man with a withered hand is a miracle in which Jesus, on the Sabbath, healed a man in a synagogue whose hand was withered. The account appears in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, where it gives rise to a controversy over the Sabbath and prompts a plot to kill Jesus.
Consecration of the Priests
[Bible]The consecration of the priests was the seven-day ceremony in which Moses installed Aaron and his sons as priests of Israel. The command for it is recorded in Exodus 29, and its performance in Leviticus 8.
Parable of the Growing Seed
[Bible]The Parable of the Growing Seed is a parable of Jesus found only in Mark 4:26–29. It describes the kingdom of God through the image of seed sown in the ground that grows, without the sower knowing how, until the harvest.
Healing of the Royal Official's Son
[Bible]The healing of the royal official's son is the miracle in which Jesus, while at Cana in Galilee, healed by his word alone the son of a royal official in Capernaum. It is recorded in John 4:46-54, and the Gospel of John calls it the "second miracle" or sign that Jesus performed after coming into Galilee.
Anointing of the Sick
[Worship & Rites]The Anointing of the Sick is one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church, a rite in which a priest prays over a gravely ill or frail elderly person and anoints him or her with consecrated oil. Protestant churches do not recognize it as a sacrament.
Resurrection of the Body
[Doctrine & Theology]The resurrection of the body is the Christian doctrine that on the last day the bodies of the dead will be raised and reunited with their souls. It is one of the articles confessed in the Apostles' Creed.
Parable of the Great Banquet
[Bible]The Parable of the Great Banquet is a parable of Jesus recorded in Luke 14:15–24. When the invited guests make excuses and fail to come, the host calls in the poor and people from the roadsides to fill his banquet.
Bride of the Lamb
[Bible]The Bride of the Lamb is an expression in the Book of Revelation for the bride who is married to the Lamb, Jesus Christ. It is commonly read as a symbol of God's redeemed people, that is, the church.