Thanksgiving is a biblical word that is an essential part of a Christian’s vocabulary. We understand thanksgiving as the act of giving thanks for something received, but the Bible goes further than this simple definition. The biblical meaning of the word “thanksgiving” is not something you say in response to some good that was done …
It is quite soothing when we think about the fact that God adopted us into His family and that we are His children. Biblical adoption is the divine act of God whereby He makes believers members of His heavenly family and gives them all the spiritual privileges in Christ becoming joint heirs with Him. The …
Intercession is biblical word that is sometimes used today. We understand the word to basically mean, the act of interceding between two or more parties. If a person attacks another person and you jump in and try to talk down the aggressor, you would be interceding on behalf of the victim. When we look at …
On October 31st 1517, the Catholic Monk Martin Luther nailed 95 Theses to the Whittenburg Church door in Germany. This kicked off a fire storm of revolution and change that has impacted the world like nothing else. Every Bible believing church is a product of the Reformation. One of the hinges on which the Reformation …
Sola Scriptura: The Formal Principle of the Reformation Read More »
The difference between Christianity and every religion that has ever existed is this: The religions of world base themselves on human achievement, the Gospel of Jesus Christ bases itself on divine accomplishment. That is to say that Christianity is God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. God sent Christ to save His …
The word “liberty” is a wonderful word. It comes from the Greek word “eleutheria,” which means “the state of being free.” The word liberty is important to our western world and American culture. Men and women in America love the idea that we are free. We have freedom of speech, freedom press, freedom of religion …
The noun “forbearance” occurs only two times in the New Testament (Romans 2:4 and 3:25). The word has the sense of holding back, delaying, or showing tolerance. It is a beautiful word that teaches us that God delays His righteous wrath against sin. We all are born sinners and deserving of God’s wrath, and so …
The English words translated “foreknow” and “foreknowledge” are from the Greek verb “proginosko” and the noun “prognosis.” The verb proginosko is used five times in the New Testament (Romans 8:29, 11:2; Acts 26:5; 1 Peter 1:20; 2 Peter 3:17), while the noun prognosis is found twice (Acts 2:23; 1 Peter 1:2). These words are compound …
Redemption is an important word in the Bible and an important concept for Christians. It is related to the word ransom. Today when we think of a ransom we think of somebody being kidnapped and the perpetrators asking for a ransom price that must be paid if the person is to be returned safety. We …
The English word propitiation comes from a group of Greek words that are used in the New Testament eight times. The noun in Greek is used two times in 1 John and is the word “hilasmos,” which means “satisfaction,” but can be translated generically as “atoning sacrifice” as the NIV translates it. 1 John 2:2 …