Search the encyclopedia
192 articles found for “Epher”
Apollos
[People]Apollos was a first-century Christian teacher who appears in the Acts of the Apostles and the Pauline Epistles of the New Testament. A Jew from Alexandria, he was eloquent and well versed in the Scriptures, and he ministered in Ephesus and Corinth.
1 Corinthians 15:30–32
[Bible Verses]A passage in which Paul argues that if there is no resurrection, his life of facing death every day is in vain. "I die daily" is widely quoted as an expression of self-denial, while the meaning of his statement that he "fought with beasts at Ephesus" is disputed.
Seven Churches of Asia
[Bible]The seven churches of Asia are the seven churches in the Roman province of Asia to which Christ sent letters in Revelation 2–3. They are the churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
[Bible]The gifts of the Holy Spirit are the various abilities and ministries that the Holy Spirit distributes to believers for building up the church. Lists of them appear in 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, Ephesians 4, and elsewhere.
Shibboleth
[Bible]Shibboleth is the Hebrew word that, according to Judges 12, the Gileadites required people to pronounce at the fords of the Jordan in order to identify Ephraimites. The Ephraimites pronounced it "Sibboleth" and thereby revealed who they were.
Hittites
[Bible]The Hittites were one of the peoples of the land of Canaan mentioned in the Old Testament. Ephron, who sold Abraham the field containing the cave of Machpelah, and Uriah, one of David's mighty men, were Hittites.
Cave of Machpelah
[Bible]The Cave of Machpelah was the cave in a field before Mamre, near Hebron, that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite in order to bury his wife Sarah. It became the burial place of the patriarchs and their wives.
Asenath
[People]Asenath was an Egyptian woman in Genesis, the daughter of Potipherah, priest of On. Pharaoh gave her to Joseph as his wife, and she became the mother of Manasseh and Ephraim.
Breastplate
[Bible]A breastplate is a piece of armor that protects the chest in battle. In the New Testament, the term renders the Greek *thōrax*; representative uses include "the breastplate of righteousness" in Ephesians and "the breastplate of faith and love" in 1 Thessalonians.
Jonathan (Grandson of Moses)
[People]Jonathan was a Levite of the period of the judges who is introduced in Judges 18:30 as "the son of Gershom" and the grandson of Moses. He became the priest of the household of Micah the Ephraimite and later went with the tribe of Dan, serving as priest at their idolatrous shrine.
Sceva
[People]Sceva was a Jewish priest (or high priest) mentioned in Acts 19. He is known for an incident in Ephesus in which his seven sons tried, and failed, to cast out evil spirits by invoking the name of Jesus whom Paul preached.
Micah's Idol
[Bible]Micah's idol refers to an episode recorded in Judges 17–18. Micah, an Ephraimite, made an idol for his household and established a private priesthood. The tribe of Dan later seized both and installed them at its new settlement, Dan.
Potipherah
[People]Potipherah is a priest of On in Egypt mentioned in Genesis. He was the father of Asenath, the wife of Joseph, and the maternal grandfather of Manasseh and Ephraim.
Abdon
[People]Abdon was a judge of Israel mentioned in Judges 12. The son of Hillel the Pirathonite from the land of Ephraim, he judged Israel for eight years. Scripture records that his forty sons and thirty grandsons rode on seventy donkey colts.
Achaicus
[People]Achaicus was a believer in the church at Corinth, mentioned only once, in 1 Corinthians 16:17. With Stephanas and Fortunatus, he visited Paul in Ephesus and brought him encouragement.
Fortunatus
[People]Fortunatus was a believer from the church at Corinth who is mentioned only once, in 1 Corinthians 16:17. Together with Stephanas and Achaicus, he visited Paul at Ephesus.
Cyril of Alexandria
[People]Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376–444) was a fifth-century bishop of Alexandria and Church Father who opposed Nestorius at the Council of Ephesus in 431 and led the development of a Christology emphasizing the one person of Christ.
Theotokos
[Doctrine & Theology]Theotokos is a Greek term meaning "the one who gave birth to God." It is a title for Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was formally affirmed by the Council of Ephesus in 431.
Baal-hazor
[Bible]Baal-hazor is the place where Absalom, son of David, held a sheep-shearing feast and had his half-brother Amnon killed. It is described in 2 Samuel 13:23 as "beside Ephraim."
Genesis 23
[Bible]Genesis 23 recounts the death of Sarah at the age of 127 in Hebron and Abraham's purchase of the field and cave of Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite for four hundred shekels of silver, where he then buried Sarah.