ELEMENT; ELEMENTS

el'-e-ment, (ta stoicheia, "the letters of the alphabet," "the elements out of which all things are formed," "the heavenly bodies," "the fundamental principles of any art or science"):

(1) In 2 Pet 3:10, the constituent parts of the physical universe ("elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat," the American Revised Version, margin "the heavenly bodies").

(2) In Galatians 4:3,1, the Revised Version (British and American) has "rudiments," as in the King James Version margin, and in Colossians 2:8,20, where the reference is to imperfect Jewish ordinances.

See RUDIMENTS .

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