Bible Characters

Timothy, a native of Lystra, was reared well, and both his mother and grandmother taught him the Scriptures from his infancy.  Thus Timothy's open heart was ready to accept the gospel of Christ when Paul came through Lystra on his first or second...

It is surprising that someone who is mentioned as rarely in the Scriptures as Luke would have such a vital role in the writing thereof.  His name is mentioned only three times, yet he wrote two of the most important accounts in the Bible—carefully...

It must be admitted that Paul was one of the unlikeliest individuals ever to become a Christian missionary.  He was born a Jew with Roman citizenship, and was a Pharisee both by birth and theological choice.  Paul was trained by Gamaliel, one of...

The apostle Paul so eclipsed his Christian contemporaries that Barnabas is little more than a name to most of us.  The first thing the Bible tells us about him is that he was a Levite from Cyprus who sold a field he owned and brought the money and...

The intoxicating excitement of Christ's resurrection had long since passed.  The Master had left his loyal band of followers to carry on without Him. Soon persecution arose against the bold apostles of this Messiah.  When the apostle Peter was...

The apostle Paul so eclipsed his Christian contemporaries that Barnabas is little more than a name to most of us.  The first thing the Bible tells us about him is that he was a Levite from Cyprus who sold a field he owned and brought the money and...

There is no record of Mary Magdalene's parentage, marital status, or age.  The term Magdalene denotes her hometown, Magdala, a Galilean coast city.  The Bible reports that Christ delivered Mary from seven demons and thus won her lifelong love and...

Jesus loved Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus.  Their home in Bethany seemed to be one of the few places Jesus could go and truly relax.  Mary and Martha are often contrasted—Mary as the devout learner and Martha, the bustling, morose...

Pontius Pilate was appointed the fifth Roman prefect over Judea during the reign of Tiberius.  He served in that capacity between AD 26-36.  Pilate was known to be a tough leader, as relentless as he was cold-blooded.   He may have met...

The life of Judas Iscariot is one shrouded in deep mystery.  Scripture offers little light to cut through the mist.  In fact, in any honest treatment of him, the questions should probably outnumber the answers. Even Judas' surname is...

John, the son of Zebedee, seemed to realize early on that the humble carpenter of Nazareth was no mere mortal at all. After Jesus called John to leave his fishing nets and become a 'fisher of men, John never once looked back. Especially in his younger...

Matthew is best known for the gospel bearing his name.  In his fine account Matthew emphasized the many Old Testament messianic predictions which were fulfilled in Christ's life.  Also, reflecting an accountant's background, he carefully arranged...

Many have read the few gospel references to the apostle Thomas and branded him a brooding pessimist. Instead it may be that Thomas was more of a common sense realist. His was a practical mind confronting mystical truth. He was a person of common sense wrestling with uncommon knowledge.

If we were given the responsibility of selecting the twelve disciples of Christ, I wonder how we would proceed.  Very possibly, we would screen thousands of applicants and carefully select only the highest achievers—rare administrative geniuses,...

When Jesus was still an infant, Mary and Joseph took him to the Temple. Mary was there to make a purification offering as instructed by God’s Law following the birth of each child. As Mary and Joseph walked into the Temple court, an old man named Simeon hurried over, obviously beside himself.

An eccentric recluse wandered the Judean wilderness, subsisting on grasshoppers and wild honey.  Dressed only in camel hide and leather strap, at first glance he appeared wild and, perhaps, unbalanced.  It was not until he opened his mouth to...

He was born the son of simple peasants. Though he seemed to know all mankind, he never traveled very far from his hometown. Though he possessed obvious wisdom, he never achieved high academic degrees, or gave an exam, or wrote a book.

When they were young newlyweds, Zacharias and Elizabeth dreamed of a home filled with the sounds of children. But the years passed and Elizabeth did not conceive. Finally the couple came to the deadening realization that it would always just be the two of them.

No one had ever paid unusual attention to young Mary.  She was born in a poor family from the insignificant town of Nazareth. She didn’t appear to stand out from her peers and would probably not have been voted ‘most likely to succeed.’ Eventually,...

Joseph was a quiet man—reserved, gentle, and soft-spoken.  He was betrothed to a young woman from Nazareth named Mary.  To his horror, during the engagement period he learned that Mary had become pregnant.  Knowing he had not violated her,...