Acts 25:9

Front page news on the Sunday paper (Sunday Tribune – South Africa) this week was that a prominent South African politician was made a pastor by a group of independent Charismatic churches this past Saturday. Most of the readers would respond with “so what”. Well, this man was never trained for the ... Read More

Acts XXIV. 22, 23 And when Felix heard these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them and said, When Lysias the tribune shall come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter. And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul, and to let him have liberty, and that he should for... Read More

There is a great need in the body of Christ for consistent reading of the Holy Scriptures in their entirety, book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. In this case we are encouraging a chronological reading of the Scriptures. Most of the confusion is created when certain teachers, groups, or... Read More

Adulterers (3432)(moichos cp study of related word moichalis = adulteress) describes one who is unfaithful to a spouse. Figuratively, moichos describes one who is faithless toward God. Moichos - 3x in NAS - here in Hebrews 13:4 and in... Luke 18:11 The (self-righteous) Pharisee stood and was praying... Read More

Deities (1140)(daimonion from daímon = demon) most often describes demons or evil spirits who have supernatural powers and are neither human nor divine (Mt 7:22). Acts 17:18 refers specifically to to heathen gods. In the context of a Jewish use it more often refers to a demon, evil spirit, devil, or... Read More

Desires (2309)(thelo; see study of derivative thelema; see synonyms boule and boulomai) is a very common NT verb (208x) which primarily refers to exercising of one's will with the underlying sense of to be willing, to desire, to want or to wish (in Jn 15:7 in context of prayer). To apply oneself to ... Read More

Elders (4245) (presbuteros the comparative form of présbus = an old man or an ambassador) (Click Vine's discussion) referred to men who were older or more senior with no negative connotations but rather a sense of venerability. Presbuteros is transliterated into English as “presbyter” (a leader in o... Read More

Grace (5485) (charis from from chairo = to rejoice. English = charity. Beggars need "charity" even as sinners need grace, for we are all spiritual paupers outside of Christ, but "God gives where he finds empty hands"-Augustine [cp Mt 5:3-note]) is a word which defies a simple definition but at its c... Read More

Judge (decide, determine, go to law [sue], try, condemn) (2919) (krino and its cognates [see below] is a root of English words like critic, critical [kritikos] = a decisive point at which judgment is made) primarily signifies to distinguish, to decide between (in the sense of considering two or more... Read More

Perplexed (639)(aporeo/aporeomai - the latter = always used in the middle voice in NT) means literally to be without a way or path (Vine - "a" = negative + "poros" = a way, a transit, a ford, revenue, resource). Thus not to know which way to turn, to be at a loss, to be uncertain, to be "dazed and c... Read More