Search the encyclopedia
101 articles found for “Original Sin”
2 Corinthians 6:14
[Bible Verses]2 Corinthians 6:14 is the verse that reads, "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers." It is widely cited in discussions of marriage between believers and unbelievers; in Korean churches it is the verse most often invoked on that subject. Interpreters also note that its original context concerns separation from idolatry.
Higher Criticism
[Doctrine & Theology]Higher criticism is an approach to biblical study that uses historical and literary methods to investigate the authorship, date of composition, sources, and editorial process of each book of the Bible. It is distinguished from textual criticism, which compares manuscripts to reconstruct the original text.
Hebrews 6:4–6
[Bible Verses]A warning that those who were once enlightened and made partakers of the Holy Ghost cannot be renewed again unto repentance if they fall away. It is a key text in the debate between Calvinism and Arminianism over whether a true believer can lose salvation.
Gentile
[Bible]In the Bible, "Gentile" refers to a people or nation other than Israel (the Jews), or to a person belonging to such a people. In the New Testament, the inclusion of Gentiles in the people of God through faith is a major theme.
Sign
[Bible]A sign is a mark that reveals God's will or shows in advance what is to come. In the Old Testament the term refers to signs of the covenant and to the symbolic acts of the prophets; in the New Testament it extends to the signs performed by Jesus and to the signs of the end times.
Psalm 37:4–5
[Bible Verses]Psalm 37:4–5 exhorts the reader to delight in the LORD and to commit one's way to him. The passage is frequently cited as a promise that God will grant the desires of the heart, and interpreters differ on how that promise should be understood.
Peter
[People]Peter, originally named Simon, was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ. A fisherman from Galilee, he became a leader of the early church in Jerusalem, and the New Testament books of 1 Peter and 2 Peter bear his name.
Joshua (Son of Nun)
[People]Joshua was the Old Testament leader who succeeded Moses and led the people of Israel across the Jordan River into the land of Canaan. The son of Nun of the tribe of Ephraim, he is the central figure of the Book of Joshua.
Zedekiah
[People]Zedekiah was the last king of the Kingdom of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, placed him on the throne, but Zedekiah rebelled against him. When Jerusalem fell, he was blinded and carried off to Babylon.
Caesar Augustus
[People]Caesar Augustus was the first emperor of the Roman Empire. Luke 2:1 records his decree that all the world should be taxed, which forms the background to the birth of Jesus.
Majority Text
[Bible]The Majority Text is a textual-criticism term for a reconstructed text of the Greek New Testament that follows the common readings of the medieval Byzantine manuscripts, which make up the numerical majority of extant Greek New Testament manuscripts.
Biblical Inerrancy
[Doctrine & Theology]Biblical inerrancy is the doctrine that, because the Bible was written under the inspiration of God, its teaching is without error. It is often discussed together with verbal inspiration, the view that inspiration extends to every individual word.
Ju Gi-cheol
[People]Ju Gi-cheol (1897–1944) was a Korean Presbyterian minister during the Japanese colonial period. While serving as senior pastor of Sanjeonghyeon Church in Pyongyang, he steadfastly refused to take part in Shinto shrine worship. He was imprisoned for his refusal and died a martyr in Pyongyang Prison.
Abraham
[People]Abraham is the ancestor of the people of Israel described in the Book of Genesis. He left his homeland in response to God's call, and Christians often call him "the father of faith."
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
[People]Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were young men of Judah taken captive to Babylon and the three companions of Daniel. They refused to bow down to King Nebuchadnezzar's golden image, were thrown into a fiery furnace, and came out alive.
Psalm 111:10
[Bible Verses]The final verse of Psalm 111, which declares that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. Together with Proverbs 9:10 and Job 28:28, it is frequently cited as a representative expression of biblical wisdom thought.
Demon
[Bible]In the Bible, demons are evil spiritual beings that oppose God, torment people, and work behind idolatry and false teaching. They appear especially often in the New Testament Gospels.
Mesopotamia
[Bible]Mesopotamia is the region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and the homeland of Abraham. It is mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments.
Textus Receptus
[Bible]The Textus Receptus (Latin for "received text") is the name given to the printed editions of the Greek New Testament produced during the Reformation era of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It served as the basis for the New Testament in the King James Version and other early Protestant translations.
Textual Criticism
[Doctrine & Theology]Textual criticism is the discipline of comparing and examining biblical manuscripts, which differ slightly from one another, in order to recover the form closest to the text as originally written. It is foundational to Bible translation and exegesis.