Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Andrew Robert Fausset (1821–1910), rector of St. Cuthbert's in York and one of the three authors of the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown commentary, published his Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopaedia in 1878. It has been known ever since as Fausset's Bible Dictionary.

The word "expository" in the title is the key to the book. Fausset was a commentator, and he wrote his dictionary the way he wrote his commentary: every article is built on the Scripture passages, the Hebrew and Greek words are brought in (in English letters) where they settle a question, and the doctrinal entries take positions. The opening of his entry on faith:

Heb 11:1, "the substance of things hoped for (i.e., it substantiates God's promises, the fulfillment of which we hope, it makes them present realities), the evidence (elengchos, the 'convincing proof' or 'demonstration') of things not seen." Faith accepts the truths revealed on the testimony of God (not merely on their intrinsic reasonableness), that testimony being to us given in Holy Scripture. Where sight is, there faith ceases (Joh 20:29; 1Pe 1:8). We are justified (i.e. counted just before God) judicially by God (Ro 8:33), meritoriously by Christ (Isa 53:11; Ro 5:19), mediately or instrumentally by faith (Ro 5:1), evidentially by works.

The article goes on to James 2 and the example of Abraham. The SwordSearcher module has 4,001 entries. The articles on the books of the Bible, on the great doctrines, and on prophecy are long, and Fausset's evangelical and premillennial convictions are plain in them. Because he packs so many references into every paragraph, the dictionary reads like a topical commentary in SwordSearcher, where every one of those references is a link.

For a quick definition, Easton is faster; for what Scripture teaches about a subject, Fausset is usually the better of the two. The entries are indexed by verse, so the Verse Guide and Bible margin show which articles discuss the passage you are reading.