Search the encyclopedia
1000 articles found for “and Tubal-cain”
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.
Intermediate State
[Doctrine & Theology]The intermediate state is a doctrine of Christian eschatology concerning the condition of a person from death until the resurrection of the body at the Second Coming of Christ.
Meribah
[Bible]Meribah is a Hebrew place name meaning "strife." It is the place where the Israelites in the wilderness quarreled with Moses because they had no water and where God brought water out of a rock. It appears in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20.
Burning Bush
[Bible]The burning bush is the event in Exodus 3 in which God appeared to Moses at Mount Horeb in a flame of fire within a bush that was not consumed, called him, and commissioned him to lead Israel out of Egypt.
Threefold Office of Christ
[Doctrine & Theology]The threefold office of Christ is the doctrine that Jesus Christ accomplishes salvation by holding together the three offices of prophet, priest, and king. It was systematized in the Reformed confessions.
Evangelical Counsels
[Doctrine & Theology]In Catholic theology, the evangelical counsels are three ways of life: poverty, chastity, and obedience. Unlike the commandments, which bind all believers, they are regarded as recommended for voluntary adoption by those seeking a more perfect life.
Retribution
[Doctrine & Theology]Retribution is the idea that good deeds bring good results and evil deeds bring bad results. The concept originated as a Buddhist term, and in Christianity it arises in discussions of the biblical teaching on divine recompense and of the problem of suffering.
New Creation
[Doctrine & Theology]New creation is the biblical teaching that God, through Christ, makes people new and will renew the whole of heaven and earth at the last day.
Four Horsemen
[Bible]The Four Horsemen are the four figures, riding a white horse, a red horse, a black horse, and a pale horse, who appear in succession in Revelation 6 as the Lamb opens the first four of the seven seals.
Massah
[Bible]Massah is the name given to the place at Rephidim where, after the Exodus, the Israelites quarreled with Moses over the lack of water and put the LORD to the test. It is named together with Meribah, and the name Massah means "testing."
Active Obedience
[Doctrine & Theology]Active obedience is a theological term for the obedience by which Jesus Christ perfectly kept the law of God throughout His entire life. It is used chiefly in Reformed accounts of justification, where it is paired with passive obedience, which refers to His suffering on the cross.
Reprobation
[Doctrine & Theology]Reprobation is the Reformed doctrine of predestination holding that God decreed from eternity not to choose certain people for salvation but to leave them in their sin. It is the counterpart of election.
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.
Sackcloth
[Bible]Sackcloth is a coarse fabric, or a garment made from it, that people in the Bible wrapped around their bodies or wore to express grief, repentance, and humility. It frequently appears together with putting ashes on the head and fasting.
Double Predestination
[Doctrine & Theology]Double predestination is the doctrine that God decreed from eternity to elect some people to salvation and to leave others to perdition. It is taught chiefly in the Calvinist tradition and is not accepted by denominations in the Wesleyan tradition.
Monastic Vows
[Organization & Polity]Monastic vows are the public promise, made before God by a person entering a religious community, to live according to the community's rule. They most commonly consist of three vows: poverty, chastity, and obedience.
Problem of Evil
[Doctrine & Theology]The problem of evil is the theological and philosophical question of why evil and suffering exist in the world if God is omnipotent and perfectly good.
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.
Cheap Grace
[Doctrine & Theology]Cheap grace is a term for grace that involves no repentance, obedience, or transformation of life. It became widely known through the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who contrasted it with "costly grace" in The Cost of Discipleship.
Mediator
[Doctrine & Theology]A mediator is one who stands between two estranged parties and restores the relationship between them. Protestants confess Jesus Christ as the one Mediator between God and humanity.