Bible Dictionary

FOUNDATION

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A foundation is the supporting base of a building. Figuratively, Christ is the church’s foundation, while apostles and prophets are associated with its foundational testimony, and repentance is a basic Christian teaching.

Definition

A foundation is the supporting base of a building or structure. Figuratively, it is a basic support, beginning, or underlying principle. The word can describe the foundation of the world, a building, the church, repentance, or a social order that may be destroyed.

Biblical Usage

Christ is called the foundation of the church, while apostles and prophets are associated with the church’s foundation with Christ as cornerstone. Repentance is described as a foundation teaching. The word is also used of the foundations of the world and of buildings, including houses that stand or fall according to their foundation.

Historical Background

Most Hebrew foundation terms are derived from a verb meaning to found. Greek usage distinguishes a term for the foundation of the world from one used for the foundation of a building and its figurative applications.

Related Figures

Jesus Christ

Historical Bible Dictionaries

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>foun-da'-shun:</p><p>In Hebrew the words for "foundation" are mostly derivatives from yacadh, "to found," and in Greek two words are used: one, katabole, of "foundation of the world" (Mr 13:35; 15:34; Lu 11:50; Joh 17:24, etc.); the other, themelios, of the foundation of a building (Lu 6:48,49; 14:29; Ac 16:26, etc.), in which sense it is also used metaphorically in various connections (Christ the foundation of the church, 1Co 3:11; or the apostles and prophets the foundation, with Christ as corner-stone, Eph 2:20; the foundation of repentance, Heb 6:1, etc.). In Ps 11:3, "if the foundations be destroyed," the Hebrew word is shath. In Jer 50:15, the Revised Version (British and American) reads "bulwarks" for "foundations"; conversely in Ps 89:14; 97:2, for the King James Version "habitation," the Revised Version (British and American) reads "foundation," and in Isa 6:4 for the King James Version "posts," reads "foundations."</p><p>James Orr</p>
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