explore these questions related to definitions

John makes this pretty easy for us; the living water is the Holy Spirit. This is further confirmed by God’s own testimony. Therefore, it would be more accurate to ask “Who is the living water?” instead of [more]

Determining how church is defined in the Bible could be done a few different ways. If we were to simply look up the word “church” in our modern dictionaries we would get something like, “a building [more]

Defining salvation according to the Bible is yet another instance in which simply getting out a dictionary or “going to the Greek” is useless.  Knowing the Greek word for “salvation” (“soteria” – rescue or safety either physically or morally, deliverance, [more]

The sinner’s prayer is something frequently referred to by preachers today. Joel Osteen asks those who are not saved to pray with him at the close of every sermon. The prayer is asking Jesus to “come into their [more]

The “Root of David” is a proper name used in Scripture, in particular in the book of Revelation. As is typical in Bible books of prophecy, a highly figurative and visual term is used to describe something…but what? [more]

The Holy Spirit can be a difficult topic to study. As a topic, it probably ranks as one of the most critical in applying a disciplined, Scripture interprets Scripture approach without Scripture weighting. The promise of the [more]

The apostle John records Jesus telling the apostles that they would be guided into “all truth” . A casual reading of this might lead some to conclude that the apostles literally received all truth. It is, after all, what the [more]

Jesus’ mission is something that can be confused with His actions. What Jesus came to this world to do (Jesus’ mission) and what he did (Jesus’ activities) are not necessarily the same thing. For example, one of the things [more]

The apostles were wondering about this exact question in the upper room. John 16:18 records that “they were saying, ‘What does he mean by a little while? We do not know what he is talking about.'” Some people today [more]

God has relied on messengers throughout history, but tracking the messengers of God through Scripture reveals some interesting things about God’s character and His word.

God hasn’t always used messengers. There are several examples in early Bible history of God speaking [more]

In today’s religious vernacular, a preacher is a pastor.  In fact, the word pastor is used almost exclusively as a title in religious organizations.  Most dictionaries would list synonyms for “preacher” to be “pastor” or “minister”.  Effectively, in the religious [more]

Defining the day of the Lord is an increasingly important exercise when it comes to eschatological, or ‘end times’, Bible study. Many have hijacked this term or expression and imposed either partial or completely inaccurate definitions on it. For [more]

Being able to receive wisdom from God – the creator of the universe – would be a treasure! But what is it and how would one receive wisdom from God? The apostle James focuses some on this topic in his [more]

Dual fulfillment in prophecy is something that Wikipedia defines as a, “mainly Christian idea that some prophecies in the Bible have both a short-term and long-term fulfillment.” That’s an adequate definition, but requires one important qualification. It’s [more]

Water baptism has something to do with water, right? Some believe water baptism is just getting wet (“sprinkling”) while other Christians insist one isn’t baptized unless the individual is completely submerged in water. In fact, [more]

The first resurrection in Revelation is peculiar indeed. Of course, the Bible makes mention of many resurrections at different times, not the least of which is the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. However, only once is the [more]

Jesus makes a statement about the hot and cold of Laodicea that apparently does not sit well with some. Dr. Chip Bennett is lead “pastor” for Grace Community Church in Sarasota, FL. In a recent [more]

The second death in Revelation is mentioned four times in the Bible and only in the book Revelation. One of these gives a fairly explicit definition. It states that the second death is “the lake [more]

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God.” This somewhat obscure statement occurs in Ephesians regarding the Holy Spirit. Understanding that this passage also speaks to something that the Holy Spirit does for the Christian today (e.g. [more]

Invitations to ‘call on the name of the Lord’ are often extended by preachers and especially, it seems, by tele-evangelists. This may be at the end of their sermon when they invite the audience to recite a prayer, often referred [more]

Godly love is a lot like Godly fear or Godly joy; there’s definitely more than meets the eye when measuring “love”, and the Christian’s demonstration of Godly love, according to Scripture. There may not be a more important [more]

Working through how “works” are defined in Scripture isn’t for the faint of heart. Where one comes down on works defined has led some to question the very inspiration of the Bible. After all, Paul said, “one is justified by [more]

Jesus teaches that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a sin that is unforgivable. The “unforgivable” aspect to this can be alarming and troubling. Undoubtedly, there’s no Christian that would want to be guilty of blasphemy against the Holy [more]

Some believe that God’s word and the Holy Spirit are the same things. Proponents of this idea often reject the idea of a literal indwelling of the Holy Spirit. For example, Paul says to Christians in Rome that “God’s love has [more]

Fear is a strong emotion with a fairly negative connotation. It’s generally not a good thing. Psychology Today gives advice about how to overcome fear. Therefore, “fear God” could leave the secular thinker with a negative [more]