Dictionary Entries: F

• Antioch Church — The church in Antioch of Syria was one of the most important early Christian congregations in Acts, becoming a major center for Ge
• Fable — In the New Testament, fable usually refers to false stories or invented teachings that turn people away from God’s truth. It is us
• Face — In Scripture, “face” can mean a person’s literal countenance, but it often functions symbolically for presence, favor, attention,
• Fadus — Cuspius Fadus was a Roman official who governed Judea in the mid-first century AD. He is a historical background figure, not a the
• Fainting — In Scripture, fainting usually refers either to physical weakness or to losing heart under trouble. It can describe bodily collaps
• Fair Havens — Fair Havens was a harbor on the south coast of Crete where Paul’s ship stopped during the voyage to Rome. It is a biblical place-n
• Faith — Faith is trusting in Christ and relying on God's promise rather than on yourself.
• Faith and reason — The relationship between trusting God and using the mind to understand truth. In biblical perspective, reason is a God-given gift
• Faith healing — Faith healing is the claim or practice of seeking healing through trust in God rather than through ordinary means alone.
• faith under trial — Faith under trial is persevering trust in God while enduring suffering, testing, or delay.
• Faith-Reason — Faith and reason refers to the relationship between trusting divine revelation and rightly using rational thought.
• faithfulness — Faithfulness means steadfast reliability, loyalty, and constancy in keeping what is true and right.
• fall — The fall is humanity's turning from God in Adam, bringing sin, corruption, and death into human life.
• Fall of Jericho — Israel’s conquest of Jericho under Joshua, when the Lord caused the city’s walls to fall after Israel obeyed his command. The even
• Fall of Jerusalem — The historical destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, usually meaning the Babylonian conquest in 586 BC and sometimes the Roman
• Fall of Nineveh — The overthrow of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, as foretold by the prophets and presented in Scripture as an act of divine judgmen
• Fall of Samaria and Israel — Assyria’s conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel and capture of Samaria in the eighth century BC, understood in Scripture as c
• Fallacy — A fallacy is an error or defect in reasoning that makes an argument invalid, weak, or misleading. It may appear persuasive while f
• Fallacy of Composition — The fallacy of composition is the mistake of assuming that what is true of the parts must also be true of the whole. It is a commo
• Fallen Angels and Demons — Evil spiritual beings in rebellion against God, commonly associated with Satan’s kingdom. Scripture presents them as real personal
• False Christs — False christs are people who falsely claim to be the Messiah or who present themselves as Christ-like saviors in deception. Jesus
• False Prophets — False prophets are people who claim to speak for God but deliver messages contrary to his truth. Scripture warns that they may app
• false signs — Deceptive signs or wonders that appear impressive but are used to support error, idolatry, or opposition to God.
• False Teachers — False teachers are people who present teaching contrary to God’s truth and who mislead others in matters of faith and conduct. Scr
• False witness — False witness is speaking or testifying untruthfully about another person or matter, especially where truth is required for justic
• Family — The basic human community of related persons, ordinarily centered on marriage, parents, children, and kinship ties. In Scripture,
• Family of Jesus — The earthly relatives of Jesus, especially Mary, Joseph, and the brothers and sisters named in the Gospels.
• family worship — Family worship is the regular practice of prayer, Scripture, and praise in the household.
• Famine — A famine is a severe shortage of food affecting a people, land, or region. In Scripture, famines are real historical crises that c
• Fan — A winnowing fan is an agricultural tool used to toss threshed grain into the air so the wind can carry away the chaff. In Scriptur
• Farewell Discourse — The name commonly given to Jesus’ extended final teaching to His disciples on the night before His crucifixion, especially John 13
• Farthing — A farthing is a very small coin named in older English Bible translations to express a trivial sum.
• fasting — Fasting is voluntary abstinence, usually from food, undertaken for prayer, repentance, dependence, or focused seeking of God.
• Fasting practices — Voluntary abstinence from food for a time, often joined to prayer, repentance, mourning, or urgent seeking of God. In Scripture, f
• Fat — In Scripture, fat may refer to the literal bodily substance of humans or animals, the richest or choicest portion of food, or figu
• Fatalism — Fatalism is the belief that events are fixed in advance so that human choices and efforts cannot finally change what will happen.
• Father — Father is a relational term for a male parent, ancestor, or source of care and authority. In Scripture, it also names God as Fathe
• Father of Publius healed — The healing of Publius’s father by Paul on Malta after prayer and the laying on of hands (Acts 28:7–8).
• fatherhood — Fatherhood is the God-given responsibility of a father to love, provide for, guide, and discipline his household faithfully.
• Fatherhood of God — Fatherhood of God refers to God's relation as Father within the Trinity and toward His people.
• Fathers — A biblical phrase for ancestors or forefathers, especially the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and sometimes earlier covenan
• Fatling — A fatling is a well-fed animal prepared for a special meal or sacrificial use.
• Fayum Papyri — The Fayum Papyri are manuscript finds from Egypt that preserve literary and documentary texts, including some biblical material.
• fear — Fear is a response to danger or loss that Scripture directs either toward sinful anxiety or toward wise reverence before God.
• Fear of Man — Fear of man is the sinful fear of human opinion, approval, rejection, or harm that leads a person to compromise obedience to God.
• Fear of the Lord — The fear of the Lord is reverent awe, submission, and worship before God that is the beginning of wisdom.
• Feast — A feast is a set time of eating, worship, and rejoicing before the Lord. In Scripture it can refer either to Israel’s appointed sa
• Feast of Booths — The Feast of Booths was one of Israel’s major annual festivals, celebrated after the harvest and marked by living in temporary she
• Feast of Firstfruits — A Mosaic feast in which Israel presented the first sheaf of the harvest to the Lord, acknowledging His provision and consecrating
• Feast of Purim — A Jewish feast instituted to remember God’s deliverance of the Jews in Esther’s day from Haman’s plot to destroy them.
• Feast of Tabernacles / Booths — An annual Old Testament feast in which Israel lived in temporary shelters to remember the Lord’s care in the wilderness and to rej
• Feast of Trumpets — An appointed holy day in Israel observed on the first day of the seventh month, marked by trumpet blasts, sacred assembly, rest fr
• Feast of Unleavened Bread — Israel’s seven-day festival, observed in immediate connection with Passover, during which leaven was removed and unleavened bread
• Feasting and hospitality — In Scripture, feasting and hospitality are ordinary but meaningful practices of shared meals, welcome, generosity, and covenant fe
• Feather — A bird’s plumage used in Scripture mainly as a poetic image of shelter, care, and protective covering.
• FEATHERS — A biblical image drawn from birds that can suggest shelter, tenderness, and protective care, especially in poetic language about G
• Federal headship — Federal headship is a representative-head doctrine in which a covenantal head acts on behalf of those bound to him, especially in
• Feeding of the Five Thousand — The miracle in which Jesus fed a large crowd with five loaves and two fish, revealing His compassion, power, and provision.
• Feeding of the Four Thousand — The miracle in which Jesus multiplied seven loaves and a few small fish to feed a large crowd, leaving food left over.
• Feelings — Feelings are a person’s subjective emotional responses, such as joy, fear, love, anger, or sorrow. They are real aspects of human
• Felix — Felix was the Roman governor of Judea before whom Paul appeared in custody. Acts portrays him as hearing Paul’s case, being convic
• Fellowship — Fellowship is the shared participation believers have in Christ and in one another through the Spirit.
• fellowship with the Spirit — Fellowship with the Spirit means sharing in the Spirit's presence, help, and holy communion.
• Female Servant — A female servant in the Bible is a woman serving within a household or under another person's authority. Depending on context, the
• Fencing the table — Pastoral instruction before the Lord’s Supper that warns participants to examine themselves and partake reverently and in faith.
• Fenugreek — Fenugreek is an aromatic herb and spice of the ancient Near East, useful for food and medicine, but it is not a major theological
• Fervor — Fervor is earnest, wholehearted zeal in devotion to God. In Scripture, it is commendable when it is guided by truth, love, and obe
• Festival — In Scripture, a festival is a set time of worship, remembrance, and rejoicing appointed especially for Israel. Biblical festivals
• Festival offerings — Festival offerings were the sacrifices and gifts presented to God during Israel’s appointed feasts. They expressed worship, thanks
• Fictive kinship — Fictive kinship is the social-world label for treating non-biological members of a community as family through shared identity, lo
• Fideism — Fideism is the view that religious belief depends primarily on faith rather than on rational proof. In stronger forms, it distrust
• fidelity — Fidelity is steadfast faithfulness in covenant, relationship, and entrusted responsibility.
• Field — A field is a tract of land used for farming, grazing, or other ordinary purposes; in some passages it also functions as a symbol o
• Fiery Serpents — The serpents God sent among Israel in the wilderness as judgment for their unbelief and grumbling; the phrase is tied to Numbers 2
• Fig — A fig is a common biblical tree and fruit that appears in everyday life and as a symbol of blessing, peace, fruitfulness, or judgm
• Fig cultivation — The growing, tending, and harvesting of fig trees in the lands of the Bible. Scripture treats figs as ordinary food and livelihood
• FIG-LEAVES — Fig leaves are the leaves Adam and Eve used to make coverings for themselves after they sinned. They can symbolize human attempts
• FIG-TREE — A biblical image that can represent fruitfulness, peace, security, or, in context, barrenness and judgment.
• Figs — Figs are a common biblical fruit and fig trees often appear in Scripture as signs of ordinary life, peace, fruitfulness, barrennes
• Figural reading — Figural reading is the interpretive practice of reading persons, events, or patterns in Scripture in relation to later scriptural
• Figures of Speech — Figures of speech are nonliteral or stylized ways of speaking, such as metaphor, simile, hyperbole, irony, and personification, us
• Filioque controversy — A historic Trinitarian dispute over whether the Nicene Creed should say that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone or fro
• filling — Filling refers to the Spirit's active influence and empowerment in a believer's life.
• Filling of the Spirit — The Holy Spirit’s empowering and governing work in a believer’s life for holiness, worship, witness, and service.
• Filthiness — Moral uncleanness, impurity, or defilement in thought, speech, or conduct.
• Final Judgment — Final judgment is God's last and just verdict on every person and every work.
• Final restoration in new creation — God’s final renewal of all things at Christ’s return, when sin, death, and the curse are removed and the redeemed live in the new
• final state — The final state is the ultimate condition of people and creation after the last judgment.
• Fine Linen — Fine linen is a costly, high-quality fabric in Scripture associated with beauty, wealth, priestly service, and, in some contexts,
• Finger — A common biblical word for a human finger, and in key passages a figurative expression for God’s direct power and action.
• Finger of God — “Finger of God” is a biblical expression for God’s direct power and action. It highlights that what is being done comes from God h
• Fire — A broad biblical symbol that can denote God’s presence, holiness, judgment, purification, testing, or power, depending on context.
• Fire from heaven on Carmel — The event in 1 Kings 18 when the LORD answered Elijah by sending fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice on Mount Carmel, public
• Fire Offering — A sacrifice presented to the Lord and burned on the altar, wholly or in part, as an act of Old Testament worship.
• Firmament — The firmament is the expanse God made in creation to divide the waters, often rendered “expanse,” “sky,” or “heavens” in modern tr
• First and Last — A divine title that emphasizes God’s eternal existence, sovereign rule, and unique supremacy. In Revelation, it is also applied to
• firstborn — Firstborn usually refers to the first son born in a family, often with special inheritance rights and covenant significance in Scr
• Firstfruits — Firstfruits are the first portion of a harvest or increase offered to God in acknowledgment that the whole belongs to him. In the
• Fish — Fish are ordinary creatures in Scripture, often associated with creation, food, fishing, and several notable biblical events and m
• Fishermen — People whose livelihood came from catching fish. In the Gospels, several of Jesus’ first disciples were fishermen, and Jesus used
• Fishing — Fishing was a common livelihood in biblical times and a familiar setting in Scripture, especially in the Gospels. It is also used
• Five — Five is a common biblical number used in ordinary counting and measurements. Scripture does not assign it one fixed theological me
• Flag — Not a standard Bible-dictionary headword; likely a modern English label overlapping with banner, standard, or ensign, but the inte
• Flat roofs and their use — A common feature of ancient Near Eastern homes, the flat roof served as usable living space for rest, prayer, storage, announcemen
• Flax — A cultivated plant whose fibers were processed into linen and, in some contexts, used for wicks or other household purposes. In Sc
• Flax cultivation — The growing and processing of flax in the biblical world, especially for making linen and related textiles. This is a cultural and
• flesh — The flesh in Scripture often means fallen human nature as oriented away from God's Spirit.
• Flesh, Works of — The sinful attitudes and actions that flow from fallen human nature rather than from the Holy Spirit, especially as described by P
• Flight into Egypt — The Flight into Egypt was Joseph and Mary’s journey with the infant Jesus to Egypt after an angel warned Joseph that Herod sought
• Flight to Egypt — Joseph and Mary took the child Jesus to Egypt after an angel warned Joseph in a dream that Herod sought the child’s life. Matthew
• Flint — Flint is a very hard stone used in Scripture both literally and figuratively, especially for cutting tools and images of firmness
• Flood — Flood is the worldwide judgment in Noah's day and the beginning of a renewed post-flood order.
• Flour — Fine ground grain used for bread, cakes, household provision, hospitality, and grain offerings in Israel’s worship.
• Flourishing — Flourishing is a state of well-being in which a person lives and functions according to his or her proper good and purpose. In Chr
• Flower — A biblical image of beauty, transience, and the fading nature of human life; also a reminder of God’s care for creation.
• Flute — A flute is a wind instrument mentioned in Scripture in contexts of celebration, lament, and ordinary music-making. It belongs to t
• Flute / pipe — A flute or pipe is a wind instrument mentioned in Scripture, usually in settings of music, celebration, mourning, or public ceremo
• Fly — A fly is a small insect mentioned in Scripture, often in contexts of plague, corruption, nuisance, or judgment.
• Foam — A biblical image used for what is unsettled, shameful, or visibly agitated; it is not a distinct doctrine or theological category.
• Folk religions — Traditional, community-shaped religious beliefs and practices rooted in local culture, ancestral custom, ritual, and beliefs about
• Folly — In Scripture, folly is not mere lack of intelligence but morally and spiritually deficient thinking and living that rejects God's
• Food — Food in Scripture is a good gift from God for sustaining life, expressing thanksgiving, and shaping fellowship, holiness, fasting,
• Food laws — Food laws are biblical regulations about what God’s people could and could not eat, especially under the Mosaic covenant. In the N
• Fool — In the Bible, a fool is not merely someone lacking intelligence but someone who rejects God's wisdom and lives in moral and spirit
• Footstool — A biblical image of royal supremacy and submission. Scripture uses “footstool” for God’s sovereign rule, the earth under His autho
• Forbearance — Forbearance is patient restraint toward those who provoke, offend, or deserve immediate correction. In Scripture it is closely tie
• Forbidden Fruit — "Forbidden fruit" is the common name for the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which God commanded Adam and E
• FOREHEAD — The forehead is a literal body part that also functions in Scripture as a symbol of visible identity, allegiance, consecration, or
• Foreign rulers — Foreign rulers are the kings, emperors, governors, and other authorities of nations outside Israel who appear in Scripture. The Bi
• FOREIGNER — A person from another people or land living among or interacting with Israel; Scripture distinguishes such people from native Isra
• Foreigner and Sojourner — People living among others without native-born status; in Scripture, this language also pictures believers as temporary residents
• Foreknowledge — Foreknowledge is prior knowledge of what will happen before it happens. In Scripture, especially when predicated of God, it can me
• Foreordination — Foreordination is God’s prior determination and ordering of events according to his wise, sovereign purpose. In Christian theology
• Forerunner and Herald — A combined phrase for the biblical idea of one who goes ahead to announce another’s coming and prepare the way.
• Forest — A forest is a wooded area or thicket mentioned in Scripture as part of the land’s geography and as a setting for travel, battle, r
• Forgiveness — Forgiveness is God's gracious release of the repentant sinner from guilt through Christ.
• Form — A broad biblical and theological word that can mean outward appearance, visible shape, or the manner/status in which something exi
• form criticism — Form criticism is a method that classifies biblical units by literary type and often seeks to reconstruct the oral or preliterary
• fornication — Fornication is sexual immorality outside the marriage covenant and is forbidden by God.
• Forsaking — Forsaking means abandoning, leaving, or turning away from a person, covenant, duty, or way of life. In Scripture it can describe c
• Fortifications — Fortifications are defensive structures such as walls, towers, gates, ramparts, and strongholds used to protect cities and strateg
• Fortitude — God-given courage and steadfastness that enables believers to endure trials, resist fear, and keep obeying God.
• Fortress — A fortress is a fortified place of safety. In Scripture, it is often used figuratively for God as the strong refuge and defender o
• Forty — In Scripture, forty often marks a significant period of testing, judgment, waiting, or preparation. The number may carry thematic
• Foundation — In Scripture, foundation is a figure for what is basic, supporting, and essential. It can refer literally to a building base, or s
• Foundation and Headship — A Christological and ecclesiological theme teaching that Jesus Christ is the church’s only saving foundation and its authoritative
• Foundationalism — Foundationalism is an epistemological theory that holds that some beliefs are properly basic and that other beliefs are justified
• Fountain — A fountain is a spring or flowing source of water; in Scripture it also serves as an image of life, cleansing, blessing, and spiri
• Four — Four is a common biblical number used literally and sometimes symbolically to suggest the earth, the created order, or wide-rangin
• Four Gospels — The Four Gospels are the four canonical New Testament books—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—that bear inspired witness to Jesus Chri
• Four-room house — A common Iron Age house plan in ancient Israel, used in biblical background study to illustrate everyday domestic life rather than
• Fox — A fox is a real animal used in Scripture as an image of damage, ruin, or shrewdness depending on context.
• Fragrance — In Scripture, fragrance often symbolizes what is pleasing or acceptable before God, especially in connection with sacrifices, wors
• FRANINCENSE — A fragrant resin used in the ancient world for incense, offerings, perfume, and royal tribute.
• Frankincense — A costly aromatic resin used in the ancient world for incense, perfume, and worship; in Scripture it appears in Israel’s offerings
• Fraud — Fraud is deliberate deception for wrongful gain. Scripture consistently condemns dishonest dealings, false weights, and schemes th
• free agency — Free agency means that human beings can make real moral choices for which they are responsible before God.
• Free Grace — Free Grace is an evangelical view that strongly emphasizes salvation as a free gift received by faith apart from works.
• Free Will — The human capacity to make real choices and act with moral responsibility before God. In Christian theology, the term is usually d
• Free Will / Freedom — Biblical freedom is real human response to God, not independent autonomy from Him.
• freedom — Freedom in biblical theology is the condition of being released from sin's mastery to live rightly before God.
• Freedom and bondage in marriage — Freedom and bondage in marriage is a theological term describing some aspect of sin's ruin, bondage, or brokenness.
• Freedom of God — God’s freedom is his sovereign liberty to act according to his own wise, holy, and righteous will, without external compulsion or
• Freewill offerings — Voluntary offerings brought to the Lord beyond what was specifically required by law, expressing gratitude, devotion, or generosit
• Freudianism — Freudianism is the psychoanalytic system associated with Sigmund Freud, emphasizing unconscious drives, inner conflict, and the fo
• Friend — A friend is someone bound by affection, loyalty, trust, and helpful presence. Scripture commends faithful friendship and warns aga
• Friendship — Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection, loyalty, trust, and care. Scripture presents faithful friendship as a good gift
• Fringe — The tassels Israelites were commanded to wear on the corners of their garments as a visible reminder to remember and obey the Lord
• Frog — A frog is an amphibian mentioned in Scripture chiefly in the second plague on Egypt and in Revelation’s image of unclean, deceptiv
• Frontlets — Biblical "frontlets" are the forehead-bound sign language in the law of Moses that pictured God’s words being kept continually bef
• Frost — Frozen moisture or dew, mentioned in Scripture as part of the created order under God's providence.
• froward — An archaic Bible-English word meaning stubbornly contrary, crooked, twisted, or perverse in attitude, speech, or conduct.
• Fruit — In Scripture, fruit often refers to the visible results of a person’s life, whether good or bad. In Christian teaching, it commonl
• fruit of the Spirit — The fruit of the Spirit is the Christlike character the Holy Spirit produces in a believer's life.
• Fulfillment of the law — The fulfillment of the law is the New Testament teaching that God’s law reaches its intended goal chiefly in Jesus Christ, and sec
• Fullness of Time — “Fullness of time” refers to the moment God appointed in his redemptive plan for decisive action, especially the sending of his So
• Functionalism — Functionalism is a philosophy of mind that defines mental states by what they do—their causal roles, inputs, outputs, and relation
• Fundamentalism — Fundamentalism is a conservative Protestant movement that arose in strong opposition to modernist theology and biblical skepticism
• Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy — A major Protestant controversy of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries over biblical authority, supernatural Christia
• Funerary inscriptions — Inscriptions placed on tombs, burial markers, or memorial objects, used as archaeological evidence for ancient names, family conne
• Funerary practices — Funerary practices are the customs used to care for the dead and express grief. In the Bible these include burial, mourning, lamen
• Furnace — A furnace is a very hot oven or smelting place used for baking, firing, or refining metals. In Scripture it also serves as an imag
• Future of Israel — The biblical question of how God’s promises to Israel relate to Christ, the church, and the end of the age.
• Noah's Flood — The divinely sent flood in Noah’s day by which God judged human wickedness and preserved Noah, his family, and the animals in the
• Parable of the Friend at Midnight — Jesus’ parable in Luke 11:5–8 about a man who asks a friend for bread at midnight. It teaches persistent, confident prayer and hig