WORD STUDIES

ABSENT

"Absent from the body" (2 Cor. 5:8).
   In Matthew 15:9 the Lord is recorded to have said to some of His hearers, "In vain they do worship Me, teaching for

 doctrines the commandments of men". In Mark 7:9,13 He said, "Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may

 keep your own tradition . . . making the word of God of none effect through your tradition".
   Whenever we hear a portion of Scripture persistently misquoted, we can be sure that traditional belief is obscuring the

 vision, and distorting the Scriptures. The passage before us is a case in point. Over and over again it is quoted as though

 it read:
    "Absent from the body is To BE present with the Lord"; whereas, instead of making an assertion, the Apostle expressed

a choice between two alternatives, saying:
   "We are confident, I say, and willing RATHER to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord". [MORE]

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ADAM

 The name of "the first man" (1 Cor. 15:45), who, according to the chronology of the Bible, was created 4004 B.C.

 by God, subsequent to the overthrow of the world (Gen. 1:2), (see OVERTHROW).
    Commentators and lexicographers with a few exceptions since the days of Josephus explain the word "Adam"

 as being derived from the Hebrew Adamah "the ground" (Gen. 2:7). In the first place we must remember that while

the name Adam does not occur in the English Bible until Genesis 2;19, the Hebrew word has already occurred nine

times, namely in Genesis 1:26,27, 2:5,7,8,15,16,18 where it is translated "man" or "the man". The beasts were also

formed out of the "ground" the adamah (Gen. 1:25, 2:19) yet no beasts appear to have been given a name that

associated them with their earthy origin. When we consider the first occurrence of the word "Adam", namely, in

Genesis 1:26, we have the following context:
    "And God said, Let us make man in our IMAGE, after our LIKENESS . . . so God created man in His own image"

 (Gen. 1:26,27).  [More]

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COVENANT
Israel are associated with a covenant, old and new. Believing Gentiles during the Acts were blessed with faithful

Abraham, but by nature and in the flesh the Gentiles were strangers from the covenant of promise, and in the

teaching of the Prison Epistles, no covenant of any description is known. The English word "covenant" obviously

 means "to come together", and is derived from the Latin con "with", venio "to come", and is cognate with such

words as "convention" and "convenient" where the basic idea of "coming together" either of persons, or the fitness

 and aptness of circumstances underlies the meaning and usage of such words. A testament differs from a covenant,

 in that there is no necessary agreement between the person who makes his will and the legatee, who may be unconscious

 of the contents of the will. A testament has no force while the testator lives. It can only come into operation after the

death of the testator. The word "testament" does not occur in the writings of "The Law, the Prophets and the Psalms"

commonly called "The Old Testament". The word thus translated is the Greek diatheke, a word employed by the LXX

to translate the Hebrew berith "covenant".  [More]

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DEATH   D. B. Moore
Long ago, the Psalmist asked the question: What is man? Ps 8:1-5. Many people still ponder this question. Some

even find the answer and refuse to believe it because it is contrary to traditional teaching. Shall we accept the ideas

of tradition? No! We will search and see, and believe the Word of God that is forever settled in heaven.
   The question concerning man is found in the Genesis section of Psalms (see CB), and we read the Scriptural answer

in Gen. 2, The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and

 man became a living soul. God formed man of the dust of the ground, but he was not yet a living soul. He became a

living soul, just as Lot's wife became a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:26). She was not a pillar of salt until she was disobedient

 and looked back. Man was not a living soul until he received the breath of life.
Note that Gen. 2:7 does not say that man has a soul, but rather that he is a soul. [More]

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DEPART

"Having a desire to depart" (Phil. 1:21-23).
  The passage of Scripture quoted above has been interpreted in a variety of ways, the original being confessedly difficult

to express. Most interpretations can be placed under one of two heads. The one given by those whose orthodox views lead

 them to this passage as a proof text to show that "we may infer that he had no knowledge nor expectation of a middle state

of insensibility between death and the resurrection" (Dr. Macknight). In other words, that upon the death of the believer he

 is at once taken to be "with Christ" apart from resurrection. The other that the Scriptural term "sleep" aptly describes the state

between death and resurrection, and that there is no "hope" of being "with Christ" until the resurrection takes place.
   The crux of the controversy is the meaning of the word translated "depart", the orthodox seeing in it the entry of Paul into the

 intermediate state, the other interpreters the return of the Lord. [More]

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DISPENSATION
The Word dispensation is the translation of the Greek oikonomia, a word that has become well known in the anglicized

form ECONOMY. Crabb discriminates between economy and management thus:
       "Economy has a more comprehensive meaning than management: for it includes the system and science of legislation

 as well as that of domestic arrangements, as the economy of agriculture . . . political, civil, or religious economy."
       It is a secondary and derived meaning of the word, that uses it as a synonym of frugality, for a truly economical use

of money, sometimes may mean very lavish spending. We can speak of the "economy of nature", and by so doing refer

to the operations of nature in generation, nutrition, preservation and distribution of plants and animals. Macaulay writing

of David Hume said: "David Hume, undoubtedly one of the most profound political economists of his time."  [More]

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THE EPIPHANY

 The next event to take place in God's prophetic scheme of things is the "appearing" of the Lord Jesus Christ. For

two-thousand years Christ has been veiled, or as Paul says, "hid in God" (Co1.3:3). The world sees no evidence of

Him. During the Dispensation of Grace He has not audibly spoken. His voice has not been heard. He has not been

active in righting wrongs. He has not been ruling and reigning in the earth. He has not been ruling in the kingdom

of men and nor establishing thrones or throwing them down. Rulers, governors, presidents, tyrants, kings, and

 dictators are the results of the actions of men, not of God. [MORE]

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 GENTILE 

The English word Gentile comes from the Latin, and means one belonging to the same class or clan (gens). Gens in

 Latin indicates the race and surname, and in Roman law a Gentile indicated a member of the same gens. The Scriptural

standpoint, however, is that of the Hebrew, and the word Gentile in the Bible refers to the non-Jewish nations of the

 earth. The Greek word translated Gentile is ethnos, and this has given rise to a number of words in English such as

ethnology, the science which treats of the various races of mankind. Ethnos is probably derived from ethos, "custom,

 manners, etc., and means a people bound together by similar habits, manners and customs". Those of our readers who

 may use Dr. Bullinger's Greek Lexicon, should be apprised of a slip in the explanatory note under the word Gentile. It

 reads: "In the O.T. those who were not of Israel (this of course is true) and in the N.T. those who are neither of Israel

nor of the Church, see 1 Cor. 10:32." [More]

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GIANTS

 The question of who and what were the "giants" mentioned in the O.T. is wider than the limited scope of this analysis,

 but one set of references found in Deuteronomy 1-3 has a bearing, by analogy, upon the warfare of the church and its

 spiritual foes in high places. The first three chapters of Deuteronomy deal with events just before and just after the forty

 years in the wilderness. The material is abundant, and our purpose is best served by selecting that which illuminates

 principles rather than by giving an exposition of the book in detail. [More]

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IMMORTALITY

Some Christian teachers say that the immortality of the soul is so self-evident a truth that there was no need for the Bible

 either to teach it or to deal with its denial, for it must be admitted by all, whatever their persuasion, that the doctrine of

the immortality of the soul is entirely absent from the Scriptures. First, Christian teachers have assumed that man possesses

a soul, instead of "being" a soul, then they assume that this "never dying" part of man must necessarily live on somewhere,

 and consequently there must be a never-ending "hell" for all who are unsaved; and finally, the door is thereby opened for

the deceitful teaching of spiritism, which by its own confession needs nothing more than the acceptance of the doctrine of

the immortality of the soul, for it to function. We leave the Scriptural doctrine of the soul for an article under that title, and

concentrate here on the meaning of the term "immortality". The word does not occur in the O.T. and in the N.T. it is represented

by three Greek words. [More]

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ISRAEL
Including Scriptural testimony that the nation of  Israel was never "lost" and that the "Jews" are 
a people composed of the twelve tribes.
 The name Israel was originally given to Jacob at Peniel (Gen. 32:28), and according to Dr. Young it means "ruling with God".

 Others have given the meaning as "contending with God" and "God commands, orders or rules". We believe the name was

bestowed as an honour, and it became the patronymic of the twelve tribes (Gen. 35:10,11). We believe that the statement

 "The LOST Ten Tribes" is unscriptural, and the theory known as "British-Israel" false and mischievous. The following

testimony, "wholly scriptural", should be enough for all who exercise the Berean spirit.  [More]

LO-AMMI  "Not My people" 

Under the heading PEOPLE it is de monstrated from Scripture that Israel alone, with one exceptional case, are called

"People"; the nations of the earth are never so called except in the plural-"peoples". To one nation only has the title

 "My people" ever been given and that is Israel. The exception is found in Titus 2:14, where the church is spoken of

as a peculiar people-but that title is used while Israel themselves are "lo-ammi", not My people. At Acts twenty-eight

Israel pass off the scene and the parenthetical dispensation of the Mystery begins.  [More]

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NEW

When the Saviour said, "I am the door of the sheep" (John 10:7), He followed that figure with another, saying, "I am the

good Shepherd: the good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep" (John 10:11). By this door, if any man "enter in" he

shall be saved. Again He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (John 14:6).

In Hebrews 10:20 this "way" is spoken of as "new" and "living". The true meaning of John 14:6 is, "I am the True and Living

Way" even as Hebrews 10:20 reveals Him as "the New and Living Way".

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PARADISE

Contrary to popular teaching, Paradise has nothing to do with heaven. It is the name given to "a garden planted with

trees". The word has come through the Greek from the ancient Sanscrit. Socrates says that the king of Persia, wherever

he is, takes particular care "to have gardens and enclosures, which are called paradises, full of everything beautiful and

 good that the earth can produce". The original Persian word pardes occurs in Nehemiah 2:8; Ecclesiastes 2:5 and Song

 of Solomon 4:13. The LXX almost constantly renders the Hebrew gan "garden" when it relates to the garden of Eden by

 paradeisos. Such is the language and testimony of Holy Writ. We have to go to Josephus and to Rabbinical tradition to

discover that Paradise is a place. for the intermediate state "and that under the earth there will be rewards or punishment",

 although even Josephus in the opening of his Antiquities uses the word "paradise" for the Garden of Eden.  [More]

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PEOPLE

 Of the thirteen words translated "people", one Hebrew, and one Greek are of importance in the teaching of Dispensational

Truth: Am in the Hebrew and Laos in the Greek. The word am occurs in Genesis 11:5,6 and 14:16, but with the third reference,

 namely in Genesis 17:14, it takes on a distinctive meaning that persists right throughout the O.T. Where we read "people" in

 Genesis 17:16 it should be translated "peoples", balancing "nations", and with one or two notable exceptions the rule holds

good that "people" in the singular refers to Israel, and "peoples" in the plural to the Gentile nations. The blessing given to

Jacob speaks of a multitude of people (Gen. 28:3,4), and this promise is recalled when he blessed Joseph's sons (Gen. 48:3,4).

In verse 4 we should note that the word is plural, "peoples". In Genesis 49:10 the obedience (not "gathering", see same word

 in Proverbs 30:17) of the peoples, refers to "the obedience of all nations", a "secret" hushed until the time for its revelation in

 the days of Paul (Rom. 16:25-27).  [More]

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THE PRIZE   By Charles Welch
The Greek word translated "prize" is brabeion, and occurs in two passages.
1 Cor. 9:24  Run all, but one receiveth the prize.
Phil. 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize. (According to a mark, I press toward the prize, literally.)
    The word prize is derived from brabeus, the judge at a public game who assigns the prize. Brabeuo, to preside

 at the games, occurs in Colossians 3:15 where it is translated "rule" and katabrabeuo also found in Colossians

(2:18), means "to defraud or deprive of a prize, to so manage affairs that the umpire shall pronounce against the

contestant". In Colossians the thought is not so much that of being cheated of the reward, but of failing to attain

unto the required standard. The atmosphere of 1 Corinthians 9:24 and of Philippians 3:14 is that of the arena,

and the race course. In the article entitled the CROWN, we have shown that "prize" and "crown" are related,

as genus and species.
   Philippians 3:10-14 reveals a series of steps toward the goal in view. [More]

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SLEEP
If it is to be truly profitable, all true ministry must be "a word in season", and it is not possible nor expedient to at1 to teach

 all the truth, or witness to every doctrine, time.
    The fact that within a week we have received more inquiry concerning the teaching of Scripture regarding death as a sleep,

leads us to see that it would be a word in seas devote some of our limited space to a consideration a1 subject. In the first

place let us turn to John 11:14, "Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead" (Lazaros apethanen).  Greek verb here translated

"is dead" is from apothnesko. John 11:21 and 41 well show, the word thnesko means "to "The addition of the prefix apo

intensifies the cone representing the actions of the simple verb as consummates finished, to die out, to expire, to become

 quite dead" (Dr. E.W. Bullinger's Lexicon). In John 8:52 we read: "Abraham is dead." (Abraham apethanen). Here, therefore,

is fact one. Lazarus was literally and completely dead as was Abraham. [More]