“Look at the Book” is Bible Gateway’s series of short blog posts and infographics introducing you to the books of the Bible. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians contains the famous “love chapter” (1 Cor. 13) often read at weddings, though Paul intends that love to be for all people (not just between couples).
Scroll to the bottom if you’d prefer to see (and save) this article as an infographic. You’ll also find a handy 30-day reading guide. Or, for a challenge, you can do it in one week using the 7-day reading guide below.
Summary
The theme of the letter revolves around the problems of faith, hope, and love and stresses the need for believers in Christ to continually develop holy character.
Category: Epistle
Theme: Conduct
Timeline: Written around AD 55
Key Verse
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” — 1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)
Sin and Righteousness
Although the major thrust of this epistle is corrective of behavior rather than of doctrine, Paul gives teaching on many doctrines that directly relate to the matters of sin and righteousness. Wrong living always stems from wrong belief. God’s plan for marriage and the family, proper worship, the church, and the Lord’s Supper are among the topics Paul addresses.
Paul wrote this letter to the church in Corinth, a thriving city in Greece, in response to information he received about divisions and deteriorating spiritual conditions in the church.
Access the rest of the series. Browse Bible studies for each book of the Bible. Or right-click on the infographic below to download and save the image for your reference.
The book of Judges is the seventh book in the Bible and the second of the historical books that follow the Torah/Pentateuch. It recounts the period after the Israelites, led by Joshua, conquer and lay claim to the land God had promised them as slaves in Egypt. It opens with the death of Joshua … and things quickly go downhill from there.
Most of Judges is based on the stories of 12 (kind of 12.5) leaders, known as “judges.” Unlike courtroom judges of today, the title of “judge” (from the Hebrew shofet) had a much broader meaning then. They were something like clan chieftains: military leaders who served as the head of the tribe and the central decision-maker, but lacked the organizational power structure of a king or queen.
The Book of Judges: Structure, Summary, and Dates
The general structure of Judges is a repeated cycle of sin, punishment, and deliverance, which gradually worsens as the book goes on. In each case, the Israelites abandon their God, ignore his statutes, and lose his protection. One of Israel’s local enemies then rises up to oppress them until they repent and request deliverance, whereupon God relents and calls a leader to unite and protect them. That typically lasts until the leader’s death, when the cycle begins again. (This pattern is described directly in the book itself, Jdg. 2:11-23.)
The first few judges are overall devout, honorable leaders obedient to the Lord, and their efforts are largely successful at establishing long-lasting peace in the land. After Deborah, though, their quality begins to decline, starting with the doubting and vengeful Gideon and ending with the mighty yet narcissistic and irascible Samson. And it gets even worse after his death: no more leaders emerge, and in the last five chapters of the book, the Israelites descend into brutal violence, chaos, and civil war.
The dating of the book of Judges is notoriously difficult. Dates in the ancient world were typically based on kings’ reigns, and as Judges so frequently reminds us, “In those days there was no king in Israel” (Jdg. 17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25). It’s generally believed to have happened roughly between 1400-1000 BC, but probably wasn’t written down until much later — likely during the events of 2 Kings.
The 12 Judges of Israel
Here is a brief overview of each leader in the book of judges.
Ehud, who the text specifies as being left-handed, is most known for assassinating King Eglon of Moab by hiding a short sword in his pants and requesting a private audience with the king. He then buries the entire foot-and-a-half-long blade and hilt in the obese King Eglon’s stomach.
Moab’s defeat is followed by 80 years of peace for Israel — by far the longest armistice in the book.
Little is known about Shamgar, who exists in the Bible mostly as a footnote to Ehud, other than that he “also” rescued Israel. His claim to fame is striking down 600 Philistines with an animal prod.
Deborah was a prophetess and the only female judge. Upon rising to power, she instructs her general Barak to lead her army against Canaan, who had been oppressing Israel for 20 years under King Jabin and his General Sisera. Barak refuses to go without Deborah by his side, a request which she readily obliges. Together with 10,000 men they defeat Sisera’s army, which includes 900 iron chariots (we are not told how many men), leaving none alive.
Sisera himself escapes, however, and hides in the tent of Jael, a woman whose house is neutral in the conflict. While he sleeps, she drives a tent peg through his skull with a hammer.
His great general thus defeated, King Jabin is considerably weakened and soon defeated by the Israelites.
Gideon initially doubts God’s call and requests a sign, which the Lord provides. The Lord then asks Gideon to destroy the altars to Baal and the Asherah poles the Israelites have been using for worship. When the people discover his actions the next day, they call for Gideon’s execution — but his father Joash says Baal could argue his own case against Gideon, earning Gideon the epithet Jerubbaal, “let Baal argue with him.”
Gideon, still unconvinced, requests another sign (or two) before battle with Midian: first that there would be dew only on his fleece and not on the ground, and then only on the ground and not on his fleece. Both times God accepts and provides the requested sign.
Once Gideon is finally ready, though, God tells Gideon he has too many men, which might cause them to take credit for their own salvation. At God’s request, Gideon announces that anyone who wants may go home; 22,000 do so, which leaves 10,000 remaining. God decides that is still too many, so he narrows them down to just 300. With that number they attack at night and rout the entire Midianite army.
Here’s where it starts to get grisly. The people of Succoth and Penuel refuse to provide sustenance for Gideon’s army while they chase the Midianite generals Zebah and Zalmunna across the Jordan River. So after he catch them, Gideon returns and beats their leaders, destroys the tower of Penuel, and slaughters the local residents.
Finally, in a misguided effort to represent the Lord, Gideon has a golden idol built for his people to worship.
Abimelech is often excluded from the list of judges due to his especially ignoble and short-lived reign, but he does occupy an entire chapter of the narrative and conform to the book’s overall pattern of societal degradation.
After his death, Gideon’s son Abimelech convinces the people of Shechem to follow him, and then kills all 70 of his brothers except for Jotham, the youngest, who is in hiding.
Jotham emerges to proclaim a powerful fable (Jdg. 9:7-15) about trees begging for a king. The olive tree, fig tree, and vine refuse — only the thornbush agrees to become king, as it has no better work to do. Jotham prophesies according to the fable that Abimelech and Shechem will destroy each other. He then flees to another city.
Three years later, God stirs up Shechem to betray Abimelech as punishment for his fratricide, so Abimelech captures and razes the city, putting its residents to the sword.
He then continues on to Thebez, where all the inhabitants are hiding inside a tower. Abimelech attempts to storm the tower, but a woman drops a millstone on his head, fracturing his skull. Embarrassed to be slain by a woman, he asks his squire to stab him with his sword instead.
Thus God’s vengeance is paid on Abimelech and Shechem and Jotham’s prophecy was fulfilled.
Enemies: Philistines, Ammonites, Ephraimites (18 years of oppression)
Proposed dates: 1078-1072 BC
After the death of Jair, when the Israelites turn once again to idolatry and immorality, God states that he is done rescuing Israel because of their unfaithfulness. But in the end he can’t stand to see them suffer.
Jephthah was the son of a prostitute by the leader of Gilead, who was initially driven out by his half-brothers. But they beg him to return and lead them after the Ammonites attack, as he had become a mighty warrior.
Jephthah first attempts to reason with the Ammonites, asking them to preserve the borders of the lands given to Israel by the Lord and to Ammon by their god, Chemosh. But they refuse (possibly because Chemosh was Moab’s god, not theirs — oops).
So Jephthah vows that if the Lord gives him victory he will sacrifice the first thing that comes out of his house when he returns. The Lord, of course, obliges — but when Jephthah returns home victorious, it is his young daughter who emerges. She asks for two months to wander the hills crying over her fate, after which he does indeed sacrifice her.
Later, the Ephraimites also attack, but Jephthah defeats them and kills 42,000 of them.
Samson is the most famous of the judges and receives the lengthiest treatment, even including a neatly constructed birth narrative that will serve as a “Chekhov’s gun” for his eventual death. A messenger of the Lord commands his mother that he will be a Nazirite from birth to death — which means, among other things, his hair cannot be cut. Ever.
Samson’s Philistine Wife
When Samson comes of age, he falls in love with and marries a Philistine woman, against his parents’ wishes. On the way to meet her he accomplishes his first feat of strength, killing a lion with his bare hands. Later, he eats honey from its corpse.
At his wedding feast Samson makes a bet with the locals, asking them to decipher a riddle about his encounters with the lion. If they can’t solve it in seven days, he wins. Stumped, the people convince his new wife to make him tell her the answer. When he discovers this treachery, Samson kills 30 Philistines in anger and goes home without his wife.
Later, he returns to find that his wife’s father, thinking Samson had abandoned her, married her to another man. (This was considered a legal and just practice at the time.) In a rage, Samson catches 30 foxes, ties torches to their tails, and sets them loose in the Philistines’ grain fields and vineyards, burning them to the ground. In retaliation, the Philistines burn his wife and her father.
Again Samson flees back to his home, only to be imprisoned by the people of Judah in order to turn him in to their Philistine rulers. But when he sees the Philistines, his ropes melt away instantly. Grabbing a nearby donkey’s jawbone, Samson kills 1,000 men. After this battle, the Philistines defeated, Samson leads Israel for 20 years.
Samson and Delilah
Eventually, Samson falls in love with a woman named Delilah. Echoing the story of his first wife, the Philistines convince Delilah to find the secret of Samson’s strength. Three times she asks and three times he lies to her. But on the fourth he tells her the truth: as a Nazirite, his hair has never seen a razor. If his head is shaved, his strength will leave him and he will become as weak as anyone else.
So as Samson slumbers in her lap, Delilah has a man shave his head. When he awakens with the strength of a normal man he is quickly captured, his eyes are gouged out, and he is brought in chains to work the mill in a prison in Gaza. But his hair starts growing back….
As humiliation, Samson is made to perform in front of a crowd of Philistines and their rulers in the temple of their god Dagon. Afterwards, as he stands between the temple’s two great pillars, he prays to God for his strength to return to exact one last act of revenge against the Philistines. God grants his prayer, and he tears down the temple atop himself, killing “more people in his death than he did during his life” (Jdg. 16:30 CEB).
Judges’ Epilogue: What Came Next?
No other judges arose after the death of Samson. Instead there were various episodes of petty conflict between people, towns, and tribes as the Israelites descended into greater and greater chaos, cruelty, and anarchy. In many of these stories the Lord barely features. They are punctuated by the refrain, “in those days there was no king in Israel…” (Jdg. 17:6, 18:1, 19:1, 21:25).
It isn’t until 1 Samuel 8 that things have become bad enough for Israel that they finally demand a king from God to keep them in order. God, through Samuel, issues a warning: this king will take their children, livestock, and fields; impose taxes on all their production; and treat them like slaves. Yet the people insist, and God agrees.
This will work out well for them… for a while. (And then — very, very badly.)
How Is Ruth Connected to the Book of Judges?
In Christian Bibles Ruth appears between Judges and 1 Samuel, interrupting the flow of the narrative. Why?
Ruth takes place during the time of judges (Ruth 1:1) but it’s impossible to get any better sense of when during that roughly 400-year period its events unfolded.
On the surface, Ruth tells a sweet story about a young Moabite woman and her Israelite mother-in-law Naomi, both of whom are widowed and decide to travel back to Israel from Moab. Ruth vows to accompany Naomi, join her people, and worship her God. When they arrive, Ruth meets an Israelite man named Boaz; they fall in love, get married, and live happily ever after.
But this little book is doing some deceptively heavy lifting. It’s a critical counterpoint to some of the events in Joshua and Judges, a demonstration of how even amid the societal degradation of that era, people could achieve peace and happiness by setting aside their differences and living devout, ethical lives.
More than that, it is extremely significant that Ruth is a Moabite — a people who Joshua and Judges portray as mortal enemies of the Israelites, ordained by God for destruction. Yet Ruth is also a direct ancestor of David, and through him, of Jesus Christ.
It’s a classic example of the Bible’s commentary on itself, a reminder that what the Israelite people believe to be their divine mandate is not always what God truly intends.
Learn More About Judges With Bible Gateway Plus
The book of Judges is a fascinating look at the sad decline of a promising society into utter moral decay and self-destruction. (It’s also, as someone at seminary once told me, “the most metal book in the Bible.”)
It’s an often overlooked but important chapter in the history of Israel, as it lays the groundwork for both the Davidic monarchy and its downfall. And it’s a testament to God’s unfailing covenantal devotion to his people despite their — our — constant turning away.
This post barely scratches the surface of everything there is to glean from this amazing story. Get the full picture with a free trial of Bible Gateway Plus, where you can peruse dozens of Study Bibles, commentaries, encyclopedias, maps, and other resources to fully understand the characters, culture, and history of Judges.
Here’s your daily Bible Gateway verse calendar for the month of April! Click each link below to read the verse in your preferred translation — or download the image (or PDF) of all verse references.
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It was a wet, gray Saturday in January — the sort of winter day I’ve grown accustomed to in Portland. We were driving up to Mount Hood where, in less than an hour, the drizzle would turn into a magical snow globe, perfect for sledding. My sons Hank and Simon, five and three years old at the time, had dozed off in the back seat.
Felix sat next to me in the passenger’s seat.
I met Felix while volunteering at an organization serving dinner to the houseless and hungry. He was in the rehabilitation program, nearing the end of his first year of sobriety. One thing led to another, and through serving side by side Felix and I grew into friends.
I’d swung by the sober house to pick him up and now, stuck in traffic on our way out of the city, Felix and I were talking the way you do on a road trip — meandering conversation about anything and everything, letting the dialogue wander.
“Tell me about your kids. I’ve never heard you talk about your kids,” I said, filling a lull in the banter.
Felix is the father of two, both in their early twenties, a son and a daughter. He hadn’t seen either of them in over a decade but had occasionally told me stories of when they were Hank and Simon’s age — when he was still in their lives. That was before a string of prison sentences exceeding two decades, a bout with drug use, and a long absence that their relationship had never recovered from.
So I asked about them — their names, where they lived, what they were doing. And he just got quiet. Eventually I looked over, and he was softly weeping, this hulking giant of a man wiping tears from his weathered cheeks. He kept opening his mouth in an attempt to respond, but the emotion wouldn’t allow him to get a word out.
Felix had served three separate prison sentences. He’d used and sold drugs. He had a thousand nights he couldn’t remember. And then he met Jesus, and we’d celebrated God’s forgiveness together! But this — the dad he wished he’d been and still couldn’t forgive himself for not being — this was the untouchable place in him, the shame he kept covered, the one wound he’d convinced himself God’s grace couldn’t reach.
The Holy Spirit Is Inseparable From Our Suffering
The New Testament is unflinchingly honest about both the power of God and the suffering of this world. The book of Acts tells plenty of stories of supernatural power, God’s indwelling presence working in ordinary people in miraculous ways. But it’s equally chock-full of suffering, confusion, and pain.
If you tell the story of the Holy Spirit apart from the world of suffering, you rip the story from its context and turn a gritty, real-life hope into a fairy tale — a hollow fable that’s entertaining in peace but powerless in chaos. This creates a false division between the heart of God and the power of God, a misconception that God is more present in a dimly lit auditorium full of inspired people than in a car stuck in traffic on a road trip.
That won’t do because the truth is that every last one of us is Felix in that passenger seat, a living mixture of redemption worth celebrating and persistent patterns of chaos. We have all been rescued by a God of perfect love, and the plotlines of our redemption stories are breathtaking. But we all have unfinished storylines where pain is more apparent than renewal and suffering is more profound than rescue.
When the biblical authors use the metaphor of water to introduce us to the person of the Holy Spirit, they draw together what we are ever-tempted to separate: unflinching honesty about the suffering of this world and unwavering hope in a Redeemer who gets his work done in the darkest places.
God Heals Through Our Wounds
Felix sat there, weeping and speechless in the passenger seat. His past mistakes loomed with a shadow where he kept his deepest wound hidden from everyone. Even God. Even himself.
Felix knows about chaos. He knows — personally and intimately — the agony of addiction, the exhausting search for today’s fix, the dehumanizing robbery of true life in the name of a numb escape. All of it. But he also knows about the Spirit whose waters flow into dead places and bring life.
Felix has become like a father to my children, particularly my youngest. Amos runs to him every Sunday morning at church and won’t leave his arms. Each time I see Felix — one hand raised in worship, the other cradling my two-year-old little boy — I become tearful thinking of that Saturday stuck in traffic. I see the Spirit slowly but profoundly healing Felix’s deepest wounds, hovering over his personal chaos, exposing his shame not to condemn but to restore.
Felix also serves as the head chef of Night Strike, Portland’s largest ministry serving the houseless, hungry, and addicted. He learned to cook in prison, where he was assigned kitchen duty, and now cooks for hundreds of self-imprisoned, wounded individuals every Thursday evening. Felix came to Jesus to drink of living water, and streams of living water now flow from within him. Because from his wounds, God is healing others.
And, of course, Felix is still waiting. He’s waiting on the day he lives in the redeemed city. Waiting for the God who will swallow up all his deepest desires in God’s consuming presence. Waiting on the chaos to subside once and for all. He’s waiting. But in the meantime? Felix has planted himself in the place where his wounds bleed hope to those similarly wounded.
You, Too, Can Be a Healer
God’s not in search of a remarkable few who have it figured out. There aren’t any spells to master. By the Spirit, the powerfully healed become power healers.
By Jesus’ wounds we are healed. And by our wounds we join in the healing of the world. The Holy Spirit’s healing presence means that the addicted can become a safe harbor for others to find freedom. The depressed can be filled with incomprehensible joy and then give it away. The insecure can become courageous, inviting people into the very life they previously hid. The quick-tempered can be flooded with self-control, so that their transformation heals those they’ve wronged. The chronically anxious can become a non-anxious presence in their high-strung workplace, pouring living water into the Dead Sea.
It goes on and on in every variety imaginable. Our deepest wounds, healed and redeemed by the Holy Spirit, become the sources of living water flowing with teeming life into the broken places in our world.
Christians today are hungry for authentic spiritual experiences, yet all too often they don’t have the knowledge of or relationship with the Holy Spirit that is the key to a fully alive spirituality. In The Familiar Stranger, pastor and author Tyler Staton draws on Scripture, tradition, and spiritual practices to help you step into a genuine relationship with the Holy Spirit.
The Familiar Stranger will challenge, inform, and encourage believers from every background to become more deeply acquainted with the Person and work of the Holy Spirit — and experience his transformative, life-giving power in their lives.
“Look at the Book” is Bible Gateway’s series of short blog posts and infographics introducing you to the books of the Bible. With Romans, we move into a new Biblical genre: the epistle. It’s the first letter in the Bible, but not the first one Paul wrote.
Scroll to the bottom if you’d prefer to see (and save) this article as an infographic. You’ll also find a handy 30-day reading guide. Or, for a challenge, you can do it in one week using the 7-day reading guide below.
Summary
A letter from Paul to a church he did not found and hadn’t visited to provide an overview of his theology. Widely regarded as his greatest letter.
Category: Epistle
Theme: Righteousness
Timeline: Written from Corinth, toward the end of Paul’s 3rd missionary journey, c. AD 57
Key Verse
“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed — a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “‘The righteous will live by faith.’” — Romans 1:17 (NIV)
Unlike some of Paul’s other epistles, his purpose for writing was not to correct wrong theology or rebuke ungodly living. The Roman church was doctrinally sound, but was in need of the rich doctrinal and practical instruction this letter provides.
Paul’s primary purpose in writing Romans was to teach the great truths of the gospel of grace to believers who had never received apostolic instruction.
Access the rest of the series. Browse Bible studies for each book of the Bible. Or right-click on the infographic below to download and save the image for your reference.
I have been a lover of the book of Psalms for more than 40 years. I read them, study them, memorize them, pray them. I’ve been a Christian therapist for almost the same amount of time. Over the years, my calling and career have grown into a ministry with global reach — which has given us a unique look into the mental health of the church and of the world in general. And I’m concerned with what I see.
On the one hand, mental health resources have never been more widely available. The number of mental health professionals (therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers) are at an all-time high, as are community centers, campus services and even grade-school mental health programs. The developments in science, like neurofeedback and psychopharmacological drugs to assist mental health, are also at their most advanced point in history.
And yet, every mental health professional will tell you we are not anywhere near meeting the need. The scale of our global mental health crisis is overwhelming even all these resources.
I do not know a single therapist that has an opening; everyone has long waiting lists. When you read statistics like the fact that nearly one in every two young adults report a struggle with anxiety, I feel that data is not a reflection on their personal weakness. (Many of you reading this can empathize.) I believe the tsunami of anxiety and depression are a kind of canary-in-the-coal-mine, an alarm.
In the last 30 years anxiety disorders have risen 50 percent among adults. Currently, 45.3 percent of young adults have symptoms of an anxiety disorder. These are folks living in the unprecedented safety and comfort of America; I wonder what would the data be in places around the world experiencing civil war, earthquakes, political collapse? Humanity is feeling the intensity of the hour, and the need for a true place of emotional, mental, and spiritual refuge.
While I believe in the important place of therapy and other medical responses to this, there is a spiritual angle too, which must not be forgotten. I am convinced that the resources of Jesus Christ, the Scriptures, and the church have been and will always be God‘s answer for human need.
Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him. For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. (Ps. 91:1-4, NLT)
The refuge being described here is unlike any other refuge in the world, because it is situated within God himself — the all powerful, unchanging, almighty Trinity!
Now today, we are all children of the Enlightenment, living in the era of the Internet, so we need to remind ourselves that the refuge being described here is real, substantive, actual, and not just a comforting thought. The shelter being offered in Psalm 91 is the presence of God. As the great English preacher Charles Spurgeon said in his commentary on the psalm in his book The Treasury of David,
“No shelter can be imagined at all comparable to the protection of Jehovah’s own shadow. The Almighty himself is where his shadow is, and hence those who dwell in his secret place are shielded by himself.”
If we could lead people into an actual daily experience of this, I wonder how much those anxiety rates would plummet? When the soul feels safe, our bodies respond; our cortisol levels drop and we begin to experience the peace that has felt so elusive.
If you make the Lord your refuge, if you make the Most High your shelter, no evil will conquer you; no plague will come near your home. For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you up with their hands so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone. (Ps. 91:9-12, NLT)
So then, we are faced with a question: How can we make this our own personal experience? How can we help others into it? I believe this requires a fresh way of thinking about and teaching Psalm 91.
Not Merely Poetic Assurance
First off, we need to say very clearly that being safe and feeling safe are not the same thing. People with a fear of heights feel a surge of anxiety as they peer out the glass windows of a 17th story office building, but they are perfectly safe. There is zero chance of them falling. The child in its mother’s arms might leap in fear at the bark of a dog, but she is perfectly safe.
Psalm 91 is a truth we embrace before it is an existential experience we enjoy. That is very important to grasp.
Next, there is a critical “If” located in the psalm, right there in verse nine: “If you make the Lord your refuge.” Psalm 91 is something we choose not only to believe, but to participate in. This is the same “if” of John 15, when Jesus lays out a condition for life in him:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (Jn. 15:5, NIV)
If you remain in me. People take a very naïve view towards the refuge of God, and abiding in Christ (which are the same thing). I think most of us assume it’s just something that happens because we are Christians. Not at all. It is something we choose.
We choose to believe it, regardless of what our feelings might be doing in the moment.
We choose to move towards it, when we love God, draw near to him, and practice his presence.
We choose to stay within the refuge when we keep his commands.
But there is more.
We Are After Experience, Not Just Inspiration
One of the great failures of Christian discipleship in this hour has been the over-emphasis on the delivery of left-brain rational content, and a lack of mentoring into experiential union with Christ. If you read the saints of ages past, they speak of intimacy with Christ as if he were their best friend (the very thing Jesus himself spoke of throughout John 15, and in many, many other places).
Listen to these words by the French noblewoman Jeanne Guyon (who was imprisoned for her faith):
“I have found it easy to obtain the presence of God. He desires to be more present to us than we desire to seek Him. He desires to give Himself to us far more readily than we desire to receive Him … this is easier and more natural than breathing.”
“Easier than breathing” — wouldn’t that be lovely? But this isn’t just a spiritual dream. We can come to know this for ourselves. This experience of God’s presence and refuge is entirely available to you. The humble friar Brother Lawrence wrote the famous little book The Practice of the Presence of God in the 1600s. Listen to his daily reality:
“I cannot imagine how religious persons can live satisfied without the practice of the presence of God. For my part I keep myself retired with Him in the depth of the center of my soul as much as I can; and while I am so with Him I fear nothing; but the least turning from Him is insupportable.
“There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God; those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it.“
Notice he said, “practice it.” This is so important. Intimacy with Jesus, coming into awareness of his presence and moving more deeply into it — is something we practice, just like riding a bike or playing an instrument. This is how we come into the experience of Psalm 91. And then, having learned the practice for ourselves, we can disciple others into it.
A Few Simple Steps
Let me suggest a few simple steps to guide you:
You do have to create sacred space, free from all distraction (hard to do in this hour when we are tied to our phones). Try ten minutes to begin with. Get into a quiet place.
Use simple, soft instrumental music without lyrics. I like the offerings of William Augusto. (If you need your phone for music, put it on airplane mode.)
Begin with simply loving Jesus: I love you Jesus. I love you, Lord. I love you. Not just once, but over and over.
Holy Spirit, help me into the shelter of the Most High. Help me into the secret place of God’s presence. I choose to believe you are before I feel it. Thank you that you are. Now help me, Holy Spirit, to tune in. Help me experience the presence of God with me, in me, surrounding me.
And then you just linger, loving Jesus.
Your soul is made for union with Jesus Christ, and it will gravitate towards him. And just like anything else you’ve learned in your life, you will grow better at it over time. Ten minutes becomes twenty, then thirty, and the intimacy deepens.
Then the “secret place” of Psalm 91 will become home for us, something we are able to access anytime, anywhere. Imagine how that would transform the spiritual dimension of our mental health and holistic wellbeing. Imagine with me what it would feel like if that became experiential reality for each of us. Imagine what that would mean for the world!
Learn more about finding refuge, strength, and wonder through everyday encounters with God in John’s new book and video Bible study, Experience Jesus. Really. Watch Session 1 below:
My parents tell me I was a curious child — always asking questions, challenging assumptions, and refusing to accept simple answers. I vividly remember the frustration of asking, “Why do I have to go to bed if I’m not tired?” only to hear the dreaded response, “Because I said so.” That answer so vexed my young soul that I swore I would never use it on my own children.
Of course, as I grew, I realized that not everything in life is open for debate. Some things simply are. But my curiosity never faded — it just shifted toward deeper questions. How do we know there’s a God? How do we know Jesus really existed? How can believing in the right thing lead to eternal salvation? These weren’t just abstract thoughts; they were questions that shaped my understanding of faith.
For a while, I drifted into what I now call “practical atheism” — not outright denying God’s existence, but simply living as if He didn’t matter. I figured God could do His thing, and I would do mine. But everything changed when I got married. Loving my wife in a selfless way opened my eyes to the reality that life isn’t just about me. And when we had our first child, my entire worldview shifted.
I’ll never forget looking into my newborn daughter’s eyes and realizing, this is unconditional love. A love that would do anything to protect, guide, and nurture — not because of anything she had done, but because of whose she was: mine. That realization hit me in a new way: This must be how God loves us. It isn’t about performance or perfection. It’s about our identity, about belonging to Him.
Even after my faith was renewed, the questions persisted. If faith in Jesus is the only path to salvation, what about those who lived before Him? Can someone believe in Jesus, receive salvation, and then live however they want? How does God look at us and not remember all the sinful things we’ve done?
What I’ve come to love about Christianity — and about the book of Galatians in particular — is that God never asks us to check our intellect at the door. He invites us to wrestle with Him, to seek, to question, and to grow. In fact, the name Israel means “one who wrestles with God” (Gen. 32:28). And in Isaiah 1:18, God invites us, “Come now, let us reason together” (ESV).
Galatians: A Book for Thinkers
Galatians is not just another book of the Bible — it is a fiery, passionate defense of the gospel, written by a man who had everything to lose by preaching it. The Apostle Paul, with unshakable conviction, addresses some of the most fundamental questions of the Christian faith, questions that continue to shape our understanding of the gospel today.
In this letter, Paul boldly asserts his authority as an apostle, defending both his calling and the message he received directly from Christ. He confronts the pressing issue of how we are made right with God, making it clear that salvation comes by faith alone, not by works of the Law. He exposes the dangers of false gospels and clarifies the true gospel of Christ. Paul also wrestles with the role of the Law, explaining its purpose and how it relates to believers under the New Covenant. He challenges distinctions between Jews and Gentiles in the Church, emphasizing unity in Christ. And perhaps most powerfully, he unveils the meaning of true freedom in Christ — freedom that releases us from bondage to the Law while calling us to live lives of love and service as we walk by the Spirit.
These are not just ancient theological issues — they are real, pressing questions that Christians wrestle with today. Even among well-meaning believers, confusion often arises over the relationship between faith, works, and the Law. You’ve probably heard statements like, “We should follow the Old Testament Law because Jesus followed it,” or “Salvation is by faith, but you still need to live a certain way to prove it.” Others claim, “Christians should obey the Ten Commandments, but not all the other Old Testament laws.”
These kinds of statements reveal a deep need to understand the message of Galatians. Paul’s letter cuts through the confusion, making it clear how the gospel transforms our relationship to the Law and what it truly means to live by faith. The same struggles faced by the early church still challenge us today, and Galatians provides the answers we need to walk in the freedom and grace of Christ, revealing a gospel that is just as radical today as it was 2,000 years ago.
God Welcomes Our Questions
Early in my faith, I remember coming across Jesus’ interaction with the father of the boy with an unclean spirit. Jesus told him, “All things are possible for one who believes,” and the father immediately cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:23-24 ESV). This passage hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks. We can believe and still struggle with doubts?
What I love about Galatians is that it shows us God is not afraid of our questions. He doesn’t command our blind faith and simply declare, “Believe because I said so.” Instead, in His great mercy and love, God provides us with reason, history, and evidence. Paul builds a logical, scriptural case for why the gospel of Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises and why the works of the Law the false teachers demanded could not justify anyone. Galatians reminds us that the Christian faith is not about rule-keeping and moralism — it’s about relationship. We are not saved because we followed the Law perfectly. We are saved because of what Christ has done for us. And that changes everything.
If you’ve ever wrestled with questions about faith, grace, the Law, or salvation, Galatians is for you. This book is a battle cry for freedom in Christ, a call to reject legalism and embrace the unshakable grace of God. Paul wisely pairs this declaration of liberty with a warning against the abuse of such freedom. “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another” (Gal. 5:13 ESV). Jesus did not bring us freedom to sin, but freedom from sin.
So, I invite you to dig into Galatians — not just as a theological study but as a personal journey. Let it challenge you. Let it refine you. Let it remind you that you are not defined by your performance but by your identity in Christ. Because, at the end of the day, God’s love for us isn’t based on what we do. It’s based on whose we are — His.
Take a fascinating verse-by-verse walk through Galatians with Professor R.L. Solberg in his book, The Law, the Christ, the Promise.
In the face of modern challenges to faith, The Law, the Christ, the Promise is an essential guide for believers seeking a firmer grasp on Christian truths. This concise yet profound Bible study dissects the Apostle Paul’s message to the Galatians, addressing false teachings and bringing to light the significance of justification, righteousness, and God’s promise through Christ. It’s a pivotal read for anyone looking to deepen their grasp on the gospel and defending it today.
“Look at the Book” is Bible Gateway’s series of short blog posts and infographics introducing you to the books of the Bible. The book of Acts is a direct sequel to the Gospel of Luke, written by the same author and picking up directly where the gospel left off.
Scroll to the bottom if you’d prefer to see (and save) this article as an infographic. You’ll also find a handy 30-day reading guide. Or, for a challenge, you can do it in one week using the 7-day reading guide below.
Summary
Beginning with Jesus’s ascension, through the birth of the church on the Day of Pentecost, to Paul’s preaching at Rome, Acts chronicles the spread of the gospel and the growth of the church.
Category: History
Theme: Church
Timeline: Written together with the Gospel of Luke around 60 AD
Key Verse
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” — Acts 1:8 (NIV)
Paul’s Missions
Paul’s three missionary journeys in Acts:
Twelve stops, nine cities, from around 46-48 AD
Nineteen stops, 19 cities, from around 49-52 AD
Twenty-six stops, 23 cities, from around 53-58 AD
These events serve as a kind of microcosm of Paul’s entire ministry: stiff opposition from most Jews and joyous acceptance of the gospel message by many Gentiles.
Paul’s joyful perseverance in the face of extreme persecution is testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life.
Access the rest of the series. Browse Bible studies for each book of the Bible. Or right-click on the infographic below to download and save the image for your reference.
True to their nature, demons in the Bible are a tricky category — much harder to pin down than angels. Angels, despite having many types or kinds throughout the Bible, are mostly referred to as malakh in the Hebrew Old Testament and angelos in the Greek New Testament — both literally meaning “messenger.” Demons, though, can refer to many different beings in the Bible.
As a rule, demons in the Old Testament are more varied, ambiguous, and frightening than demons in the New Testament. While the latter are not to be trifled with — they can cause all sorts of harm to people — the former often appear to be much more ancient and cosmically powerful. But there are exceptions.
This article will explore the many types of demons and associated evil beings, and where they can be found in Scripture.
Demonology: A Brief Biblical and Historical Background
Christian demonology developed gradually and comes from combing through and combining a variety of Biblical and extrabiblical sources.
Terms for ‘Demons’ in the Bible
The English word “demon” comes from the Greek daimon, which appears in the New Testament more than 80 times. The two words sound very similar, but their meanings are quite different. The Greek word originally had a broad application: it can mean any divine or spiritual being, good or bad. In the New Testament context, though, they are usually bad.
On the other hand, there is no single word for “demon” in Hebrew, so they do not appear as such in the Old Testament. When you see “demons” in the Old Testament, they could be any of a variety of Hebrew terms, such as shedim, elohim (a word that’s, confusingly, also used for God), or se’irim.
Because of this diversity in their terminology, the Bible is not clear on the overlaps and differences between classes and categories like demons, fallen angels, pagan deities, and other strange, frightening, and sometimes evil entities. Many such figures are named in the Bible (and its adjacent literature), but it seldom specifies their origin or purpose in God’s design.
Ambiguous Purpose
It’s also not clear which of these spiritual beings operate on their own, or in service to Satan, or are themselves manifestations of Satan. Sometimes they even seem to operate under the command — or at least approval — of God!
All of these ambiguities meant that Christians had to do a lot of guesswork in the centuries after Jesus, piecing together the puzzle of what demons are and how they came to be — especially when it comes to their leader, Satan. Not all of their conclusions are actually found in the Bible, but for the most part they were very careful not to contradict it. Still, there remains much we don’t know (and perhaps aren’t meant to).
As for what we do know — it’s usually not hard to discern which spirits are evil (key word, usually: the devil is known as the “Prince of Lies” for a reason). Let’s take a look at each of them now.
Demons and ‘Unclean Spirits’ in the New Testament
Let’s get these out of the way first, because they’re the most straightforward.
Demons in the New Testament refer almost always to malign spirits who take possession of unwitting human beings (and occasionally animals) sometimes causing physical or mental afflictions and other times urging them toward immoral behavior. They are also often referred to as “unclean spirits” (cf. Mark 1:21-28, 5:1-13, Acts 5:16).
But despite their prevalence in the New Testament, we never learn where they come from, nor do we receive any physical descriptions of them. It’s likely that they are invisible, at least to those without divine sight. It’s worth mentioning, though, that many of the church fathers believed them to have been connected to the Nephilim, the giants or fallen angels mentioned in Genesis 6:1-4 — perhaps as their disembodied spirits.
The other kind of demon that crops up a few times in the New Testament, mostly in Paul’s letters and Revelation, appears to be of a higher order — perhaps fallen angels or pagan gods, whom we will look at below. These demons receive sacrifices (1 Cor. 10:20), offer teachings (1 Tim. 4:1), and are worshiped as alternatives to the Lord (Rev. 9:20).
Demons, Fallen Angels, and Other Semi-Divine Beings in the Old Testament
The Hebrew of the Old Testament lacks a single, specific word for demons — but it certainly does not lack for evil creatures! Some of these beings appear to be fallen angels (or descended from them), while others are specific entities with proper names who appear to be in a class of their own. A few even seem to be in the service of God.
Nephilim
The Nephilim are a class of angel mentioned briefly in Genesis 6:1-4 and Numbers 13:33, who descended (or fell) and coupled with human women, spawning a race of fearsome giants. Though referred to as “sons of God” and “heroes of old,” they soon took on a more sinister character. They are a central focus of the extracanonical (though highly influential) book of Enoch.
Shedim and Se’irim
The shedim and se’irim are the two types of being in the Old Testament that come closest to what we now think of as demons. Neither appears frequently, but they left a strong impression on the ancient Israelites.
Shedim appear only twice, in Deuteronomy 32:17 and Psalm 106:37, where they are associated with foreign deities who demanded child sacrifice. Their physical appearance isn’t mentioned, but in other ancient texts they are described as winged, sometimes serpentine spirits.
The appearance of the se’irim on the other hand is much clearer: the word is associated with male goats and “hairiness,” and is often translated “goat demon.” Because of this, they are often associated with the goat-legged satyrs of Greek mythology — and are probably where the later depiction of Satan as a goat-legged figure originated. They are usually seen as a much lower form of demon, though. They appear in only four passages: Leviticus 17:6-7; 2 Chronicles 11:14-15; Isaiah 13:21; and Isaiah 34:14.
Lilith
Did you read Isaiah 34:14? It’s also the only mention of Lilith, known as the “Mother of Demons” — though only in later, Medieval thought. In fact, the word in Isaiah is disputed: it could refer to Lilith, or simply a “creature of the night.”
Despite the ambiguity, a dense mythology developed around Lilith in the Middle Ages (long after the Bible was written), describing her as Adam’s disobedient first wife and a consort of witches and succubae.
Azazel
Like Lilith, Azazel is mentioned only once in the Bible (Lev. 16:6-10) and it is similarly disputed whether the passage in question refers to a named demon/fallen angel (as in the ESV, NRSVue, NABRE, CEB, and NLT) or simply to the Hebrew word for “scapegoat” (as in the Septuagint, Vulgate, KJV, NIV, and NASB).
The Hebrew meaning is unclear, but early church fathers interpreted it through the influential extracanonical book of 1 Enoch, which identifies Azazel as one of the fallen angels who fathered the Nephilim. According to this legend, Azazel later gave various gifts (such as weapons and cosmetics) to humanity, before being defeated and chained to a rock by the archangel Raphael.
Prince of Persia (and Other ‘Princes’)
The Prince of Persia is another spiritual or divine being — perhaps a fallen angel — who appears only once in the Bible, though in more detail than Lilith or Azazel, in Daniel 10.
In this chapter, Daniel describes a vision in which an unidentified angel (traditionally associated with the archangel Gabriel) delivers an apocalyptic message about the “end of days” (Dn. 10:13). But first, the angel says he was delayed 21 days in conflict with the “prince of the kingdom of Persia” before “Michael, one of the chief princes” came to his aid. Afterwards, Gabriel will have to return to fight against the prince of Persia, and then the prince of Greece, along with Michael, “your prince” (Dn. 10:20-21).
This passage has led many commentators to believe that there are perhaps angelic or spiritual beings watching over every nation — some evil (e.g., the princes of Persia and Greece) and some good (e.g., Michael). It’s also likely that the angels, principalities, and powers that Paul refers to in Romans 8:38-39 are these very princes.
Mavet (Mot)
Mot — spelled mavet or maveth in Hebrew — was the Canaanite god of death. In Hebrew the word (which appears over 100 times in the Old Testament) usually just means “death,” and that’s nearly always how it’s translated into English.
But there are some places — such as Job 28:22, Psalm 49:14, Isaiah 28:15, and Habakkuk 2:5 — where it seems to become more personified. Is that simply poetical, metaphorical language? Or does it suggest Mot is a demonic entity of some kind? We can’t be sure.
Early Christians debated about whether pagan gods: a) didn’t exist; b) did exist, yet were impotent; or c) did exist, and were malevolent. The score was never really settled, and the conversation continues to this day.
Abaddon
Like Mot, the word abaddon is a Hebrew word with a general meaning — in this case, “destruction.” Unlike Mot, it only occurs six times in the Hebrew Bible, and is understood to be a proper noun — either as a place or an angel. Abaddon is closely associated with Sheol, the place of the dead — and with Mot: they appear side-by-side in Job 28:22. (See also Job 26:6, 31:12; Psalm 88:11; Proverbs 15:11, 27:20).
Abaddon also appears in the New Testament under the Greek name Apollyon (Rev. 9:11), where he guards a bottomless pit (probably Sheol, though it’s not named in the passage) from which smoke and horrifying locusts emerge to scourge the people who do not have “the seal of God on their foreheads” (Rev. 9:4).
Destroying Angels: Are They Good or Evil?
Many of the creatures on this list are pretty squarely evil, while a few (such as Mavet and Abaddon) are somewhat ambiguous as to whether they are demonic foes or divine agents of vengeance.
Destroying angels, though, are a special case: also known as “destroyers,” “death bringers,” “messengers of death,” and sometimes simply “the angel of the Lord,” they are fearsome and (as the name implies) destructive. Yet they operate under God’s control to deliver his retribution.
In 2 Samuel 24, the Lord asks David to conduct a census. Yet after he has done so, David comes to believe he has sinned, and the Lord sends pestilence upon Israel in punishment. God’s angel is then about to destroy Jerusalem, when God relents and tells him to stop. David then sees what must have been a terrible and astonishing sight, the angel with sword outstretched over Jerusalem. David repents and asks God to punish only him rather than his people.
This story is retold in 2 Chronicles 21, yet curiously, here it is Satan that asks David to conduct the census. But it is still God who sends (and recalls) the destroying angel.
The angel of the Lord slaughters 185,000 Assyrians when King Sennacherib launches an invasion against Hezekiah (2 Kings 19:35).
The Bible (specifically the Old Testament) mentions quite a few pagan deities (elohim) worshiped by neighboring peoples of the Israelites — and all too often, by the Israelites themselves.
As I said above (while discussing Mawet/Mot, the Canaanite god of death), it’s not altogether clear — either in the Bible or from rabbinical and church authorities — whether these deities should be seen as real demonic entities or impotent idols. But either way, they did often distract the ancient Israelites from true worship of the Lord, and sometimes led to abhorrent practices such as child sacrifice.
Here are some of the more prominent pagan gods mentioned in Scripture:
Baal/Ba’al: “Ba’al” is a word that simply means “Lord” in some ancient Semitic languages, so it can and does refer to a lot of different gods in the Bible — especially in the books of Judges, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, and Jeremiah. (For example: Numbers 25:3; Judges 2:11; 1 Kings 16:31-32, 18:16-40; 2 Kings 10:18-29; Jeremiah 19:5; Hosea 11:2)
Baal-Zebub/Beelzebub/Beelzebul: The most famous of the Baals, a Philistine god whose name means “Lord of the Flies”; later associated with Satan. (2 Kings 1, Matt. 12:22-32, Mark 3:20-30, Luke 11:14-23)
Molek/Molech/Moloch: An ancient god to whom some cultures (like the Ammonites) sacrificed children, often by fire. (Lev. 20:2-5; 1Kg. 11:4-8; Isa. 57:9; Jer. 32:35)
Ashtoreth/Astarte: A major goddess in ancient Semitic cultures, particularly the Phoenicians, associated with fertility, love, and war. (Jdg. 10:6, 1Sm. 12:10, 1Kg. 11:5)
Dagon: An agricultural god of the Philistines, often depicted as half-man, half-fish. (Jdg. 16:23, 1Sm. 5)
Chaos Monsters and Dragons
Not demons exactly, chaos monsters were common figures in Near Eastern mythology who represented the forces of nature or supernature that even the gods could not control. The God of the Bible can, of course, control them (in fact, Genesis 1:21 might refer to him creating them — or just to large sea creatures like whales and sharks). But they are often depicted as being in opposition to him.
Dragons, on the other hand, can represent several different possible creatures, depending on the translation. In some versions, such as the KJV, NRSVue, and NABRE, the word “dragon” often translates the Hebrew word tannîn (e.g., Psalm 74:13). Other times you might see it rendered “sea monster,” “serpent,” or even just “snake” (e.g., Deut. 32:33).
In the book of Revelation, where the word translates the Greek drakon, the translation is much more consistent. Here, it clearly depicts a fearsome being that has come to be associated with Satan himself (see Rev. 12). The question is: which Old Testament “dragons” should be, too?
Satan, Prince of Demons
Satan is of course the leader (or prince) of the demons. He goes by many, many different names, and indeed many of the other entities in this article are frequently associated with him, either as servants, aspects, or epithets.
In other words, exactly who Satan is and how he is connected to the many other angelic, demonic, spiritual, and divine entities mentioned in the Bible is very unclear and a topic of ongoing discussion. Again, that’s partly the point: he’s not known as the “Father of Lies” for nothing.
We don’t have space here for the full picture of how the different understandings of Satan in and out of the Bible developed. But here are a few important aspects to be aware of.
The Adversary/Accuser
Like Mavet and Abaddon, the word “satan” is not actually a proper name but simply a Hebrew word meaning “adversary” or “accuser.” Yet also like Mavet and Abaddon, it became increasingly associated with a very particular Adversary in ancient Israel.
In the Old Testament the word appears many times in both meanings — mostly as a general term in the historical books and as a name in Job and the prophets.
The other most common name of Satan in the Bible is the Devil, a translation of the Greek word diabolos meaning — surprise — “accuser” or “slanderer.” So in other words, while the Hebrew word for “accuser” had become the proper name Satan, Satan was also still referred to by the Greek word for “accuser.”
You can also find diabolos in its more general meaning of “slanderer” or “false accuser” in a few places, namely 1 Tim. 3:11, 2 Tim. 3:3, and Titus 2:3.
Other Names Associated With Satan
Many other names and entities in (and outside) the Bible have come to be associated with Satan, though in many cases the Bible itself isn’t explicit about the connection. Here are some of them — you can look up the verses and do your own research using Bible Gateway Plus or your favorite Study Bible.
The Serpent (Gen. 3:1-15) is often believed to be Satan based on his manipulative dishonesty and references to “that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” in Rev. 12:9 (RSV, ESV, NRSVue).
Belial (Jdg. 19:22, 1 Sam. 2:12, 2 Cor. 6:15), a Hebrew word meaning “wicked or worthless,” later became used as a proper name in the same manner as we have seen in other examples above.
Taking a long look into the wild, phantasmagoric world of the Bible’s demonology, as we’ve done in this article, can feel like an adventure into a fantasy world. Indeed, angelic and demonic imagery has been mined for many incredible works of fiction — including an excellent Christian board game.
It’s an open question and point of ongoing discussion (for thousands of years) how literally Christians should take all of these demonic creatures. But regardless of whether Lilith, Azazel, and Mavet are real beings or symbolic representations, they speak of the indisputably real evil that Christians (and all people) must contend with in the world. In general, it’s good to be aware of these forces — but not to spend too much time looking into them. Instead, let them be a reminder to put on your spiritual armor every day and turn your gaze to the saving light of Christ through Scripture and prayer.
Hungry for more?Try Bible Gateway Plus free and find dozens of resources to deepen your knowledge and engagement with the Bible — and equip you to combat the forces of darkness — all for less than a pack of highlighters.
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