CONTROVERSY

kon'-tro-ver-si (ribh, "strife," "contention"; homologoumenos, "confessedly," "without controversy"): Used frequently of disputes among men (as Deuteronomy 17:8) and then transferred to the justice of God as directed against the sins of men. Thus we read of Yahweh's controversy with the nations (Jeremiah 25:31); with the inhabitants of the land (Hosea 4:1); with His people (Micah 6:2). "Without controversy" (1 Timothy 3:16), a positive rather than a negative expression, "by common consent," or better, "as unanimously confessed," introducing a quotation from a hymn or rhythmical confession of the early church.

H. E. Jacobs

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.