Search the encyclopedia

Search the Bible

1000 articles found for “the two spies”

• Book of the Covenant

  [Bible]

  The Book of the Covenant is the book that Moses read aloud to the people in Exodus 24:7. In scholarship and in the church, the name is commonly applied to the collection of laws in Exodus 20:22–23:33.

• 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.

• The First and the Last

  [Bible]

  "The First and the Last" is a biblical title expressing that God alone exists before the beginning of all things and after their end. In the Old Testament book of Isaiah it appears as the LORD's self-declaration, and in the New Testament book of Revelation it is used as a title of Christ.

• The Door of the Sheep

  [Bible]

  "The door of the sheep" is the expression Jesus uses in John 10, where he compares himself to the door of a sheepfold, saying, "I am the door of the sheep." It is commonly read to mean that salvation and life are reached through him.

• Immortality of the Soul

  [Doctrine & Theology]

  The immortality of the soul is the belief that, although a person dies and the body decays, the soul does not perish but continues to exist. Many denominations teach it together with belief in the resurrection, though views differ on its basis and on how it should be expressed.

• Healing of the Demon-Possessed Boy

  [Bible]

  The healing of the demon-possessed boy is a miracle in which Jesus, after coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration, cast a demon out of a boy whom his disciples had been unable to heal. The account appears in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

• Distribution of the Bread and the Cup

  [Worship & Rites]

  The distribution of the bread and the cup is the part of the Lord's Supper in which the bread and cup, after the prayer of thanksgiving, are given to the communicants. In Korean Protestant churches, the practice is known as bunbyeong-bunjan, a term combining the distribution of the bread and the distribution of the cup.

• Peter's Vision of the Sheet

  [Bible]

  The vision the apostle Peter received while praying in Joppa, in which a great sheet containing unclean animals was let down from heaven (Acts 10). It led to the acceptance of the Gentile Cornelius.

• Church of the Holy Sepulchre

  [History]

  The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church in the Old City of Jerusalem, built on the site traditionally identified as Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, and as the tomb in which he was buried. First built under Constantine the Great in the fourth century, it is now administered jointly by several denominations.

• 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.

• Feast of the Holy Innocents

  [Feasts & Seasons]

  The Feast of the Holy Innocents is a commemoration in the church calendar honoring the victims of Herod's killing of the young boys of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16-18). The Western church observes it on December 28.

• The Fear of the Lord

  [Bible]

  The fear of the Lord is a central Old Testament expression for an attitude of reverence and awe toward God. It is presented especially in the wisdom literature, including Proverbs, Psalms, and Job, as the foundation of wisdom and knowledge.

• Threefold Division of the Law

  [Doctrine & Theology]

  The threefold division of the law is a theological framework that divides the Old Testament law into moral, ceremonial, and civil (judicial) law in order to explain which parts remain binding on Christians.

• Collection for the Church in Jerusalem

  [Bible]

  The collection for the church in Jerusalem was a relief effort in which the apostle Paul gathered offerings from Gentile churches in Macedonia, Achaia, and elsewhere to deliver to the poor saints of the Jerusalem church.

• The Stone the Builders Rejected

  [Bible]

  An expression from Psalm 118:22 declaring that a stone rejected by people has become the head of the corner. The New Testament applies the verse to the rejection and exaltation of Jesus Christ.

• Institutes of the Christian Religion

  [Doctrine & Theology]

  The Institutes of the Christian Religion is a systematic work of Protestant theology by the Reformer John Calvin. First published in 1536, it was revised several times before the final edition was completed in 1559. It is regarded as a foundational text of Reformed and Presbyterian theology.

• Presentation of the Lord

  [Feasts & Seasons]

  The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is a feast of the church year that commemorates the presentation of the infant Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem forty days after his birth. Western churches usually observe it on February 2.

• Gospel of the Hebrews

  [History]

  The Gospel of the Hebrews is a New Testament apocryphal gospel said to have been read among Christians of Jewish origin around the second century. No copy survives, and the work is known only from a few passages quoted by the Church Fathers.

• The Floating Axe Head

  [Bible]

  The floating axe head is a miracle recorded in 2 Kings 6:1-7, in which Elisha caused a borrowed iron axe head that had fallen into the Jordan River to float to the surface after he threw a stick into the water.

• The Five Visions of Amos

  [Bible]

  The Five Visions of Amos is the collective name for five scenes that God showed the prophet Amos, recorded in Amos 7:1–9:4 in the Old Testament: the locusts, the fire, the plumb line, the basket of summer fruit, and the Lord standing beside the altar.