Systematic Final - Bo Evans

What does Barth mean by the "humanity of God"?

"It is precisely God's deity, which rightly understood, includes his humanity."

homoiousios

"of a similar nature"

solus Christus

- "Christ alone" - one of the five "solae" that summarize the Protestant Reformers' basic belief that salvation is obtained through the atoning work of Christ alone, apart from individual works, and that Christ is the only mediator between God and man. It holds that salvation cannot be obtained without Christ.

oeconomia

- "Good Handling" or "Divine Economy" - all the works by which God reveals himself and communicates his life.

regula fidei

- "Rule of faith" - the name given to the ultimate authority or standard in religious belief. - Such as the Word of God as contained in Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience.

extra Calvinisticum

- "The Calvinistic Extra." - The Lutherans believed in the ubiquity (omnipresence) of Christ's human body and nature, whereas the Calvinists have believed the historic view that Christ's human body-and-soul is not infinite or omnipresent, but is only now at the right hand of the Father. - Calvinists hold to the principle Finitum non Capax Infiniti, or the finite is not capable of the infinite (the finite human nature of Christ is not capable of containing His infinite divine nature in its entirety). - Thus, ever since the Incarnation, there is still infinite deity beyond Christ's human nature. - The beyond is "extra" or outside, infinite.

privatio boni

- "The absence of good" - is a theological doctrine that evil, unlike good, is insubstantial, so that thinking of it as an entity is misleading. - Instead, evil is rather the absence or lack ("privation") of good. - popular with medievalists

munus triplex

- "The threefold office" - this notion of Jesus Christ is a Christian doctrine based upon the teachings of the Old Testament of which Christians hold different views. - The doctrine states that Jesus Christ performed three functions in his earthly ministry - - those of prophet (Deuteronomy 18:14-22), - priest (Psalm 110:1-4), - and king (Psalm 2) - In the Old Testament, the appointment of someone to any of these three positions could be sanctioned by anointing him by pouring oil over his head. Thus the term messiah, meaning "anointed one", is associated with the concept of the threefold office. While the office of king is that most frequently with the Messiah, the role of Jesus as priest, which involves intercession before God, is also prominent in the New Testament.

praedicatio Verbi Dei Verbum Dei est

- "The word of the proclamation is the word of God"

theologia

- "Theology" - Faith Seeking Understanding

cor incurvatus ad se

- "bent to the heart"

essentia

- "essence"

sola fide

- "faith alone" - also known as justification by faith alone, is a Christian theological doctrine commonly held to distinguish many Protestant churches from the Catholic Church, as well as the Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches. - The doctrine of sola fide asserts God's pardon for guilty sinners is granted to and received through faith alone, excluding all "works". - All mankind, it is asserted, is fallen and sinful, under the curse of God, and incapable of saving itself from God's wrath and curse. - But God, on the basis of the life, death, and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ alone (solus Christus), grants sinners judicial pardon, or justification, which is received solely through faith. - Christ's righteousness, according to the followers of sola fide, is imputed (or attributed) by God to the believing sinner (as opposed to infused or imparted), so that the divine verdict and pardon of the believing sinner is based not upon anything in the sinner, but upon Jesus Christ and his righteousness alone, which are received through faith alone. - Justification by faith alone is distinguished from the other graces of salvation.

fides quaerens intellectum

- "faith seeking understanding" or "faith seeking intelligence". - It is the theological method stressed by Augustine (354-430) and Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033 - 1109) in which one begins with belief in faith and on the basis of that faith moves on to further understanding of Christian truth. - It articulates the close relationship between faith and human reason. This is the key to Anselm's theological thought and philosophical thinking. He would understand all things in faith. It means to understand intellectually what we already believe. - Chronologically, faith precedes understanding, like when small children first trust their parents and believe what they state, and just later on, when they grow up, they want to examine and understand the reality by themselves. - But, logically, intellect precedes faith, because we trust other people, at least in principle, only provisionally, but our aim is a direct personal knowledge.

liberum arbitrium

- "free will" - whatever it is that enables human beings to act freely.

revelatio generalis

- "general revelation" - refers to knowledge about God and spiritual matters, discovered through natural means, such as observation of nature (the physical universe), philosophy and reasoning. - Christian theologians use the term to describe knowledge of God purported to be plainly available to all mankind. General revelation is usually understood to pertain to outward temporal events that are experienced within the world or the physical universe.

testimonium internum Spiritus Sancti

- "internal testimony of the holy spirit" - Scripture has divine qualities characteristic of its author, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells believers. Believers respond to what the Holy Spirit wrote, because God knows what God wrote. That's how the argument goes. The Holy Spirit was not only at work in the origination of the Bible, but God also is at work within the people who receive the Bible.

via negativa

- "negative way" - is a theological approach that describes God by negation, speaking of God only in terms of what He is not (apophasis) rather than presuming to describe what God is.

ordo salutis

- "order of salvation" - refers to a series of conceptual steps within the Christian doctrine of salvation. - "a technical term of Protestant dogmatics to designate the consecutive steps in the work of the Holy Spirit in the appropriation of salvation." - Although there is within Christian theology a certain sense in which the phases of salvation are sequential, some elements are understood to occur progressively and others instantaneously. - Furthermore, some steps within the "order of salvation" are regarded as objective, performed solely by God, while others are considered subjective, involving humanity.

extra ecclesia non sit salus

- "outside the church there is no salvation" - this phrase is often used as shorthand for the doctrine that the Church is necessary for salvation. - It is a dogma in the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox churches in reference to their own communions. - It is also held by many historic Protestant Churches. - However, Protestants, Catholics and the Orthodox each have a unique ecclesiological understanding of what constitutes the Church. - The theological basis for this doctrine is founded on the beliefs that (1) Jesus Christ personally established the one Church; and (2) the Church serves as the means by which the graces won by Christ are communicated to believers.

extra muros ecclesiae

- "outside the church" - perhaps outside a particular church tradition there lies salvation

revelatio specialis

- "special revelation" - refers to the belief that knowledge of God and of spiritual matters can be discovered through supernatural means, such as miracles or the scriptures, a disclosure of God's truth through means other than through man's reason.

substantia

- "substance" - latin form of οὐσία

ecclesia semper reformata

- "the church is always reforming"

via eminentiae

- "the way of eminence" - is a theological approach that describes God by addition, speaking of God only in terms of what God is rather than presuming to describe God by what God is not.

opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa

- "the works of the Trinity on the outside are indivisible" - That means that anything God does in the world, all three persons do.

facere quod in se est

- "to do that which is in ones self" - "to do ones very best" - According to the nominalistic theology of the late Middle Ages, by doing the best that is within one's power, it was possible to love God above all else and this to earn the infusion of divine grace.

ontological

- (Christus Victor) - Dominant in the East, Athanasius, classical view, God becomes human in order that humans may become divinized, it's all about the life!, in the incarnation God does something that changes our situation, victory over death, constitutes a victory over evils forces, Jesus definitely descends into hell to defeat evil and bring out captives. Human life has been victimized by sin, Jesus overcomes these powers. - The victory that Christ has one is our victory too! There is a certain level of vicariousness. Assurance that there will be victory in Christ for all days. The entire course of Jesus' life has saving significance. - The denial that God would somehow be appeased by the death of Jesus. Jesus is a rabbi that teaches! The teaches of Jesus are salvific, they will save your life! Jesus shows what it means to be human = we participate in the life of God.

Arian controversy

- A heresy forwarded from about the year 315 concerned with the relationship between Father and Son in the Trinity and with the Incarnation. - Arius argued the the Son (Logos) is not fully God, is created by God, however, is always with God, meaning the Logos is a sort of characteristic of God.

posse non peccare

- Able not to sin. - Adam's state before the Fall, and in another way also ours after we are saved.

posse peccare

- Able to sin

secundum verbum Dei

- According to the word of God

analogia entis

- Analogy of Being. The heresy that says that God and Man both share the same kind of being, differing in quantity but not in quality. Basically pantheistic.

inspiration/illumination

- As distinguished from divine revelation to and by a prophet, inspiration is that charismatic divine influence upon the writers of the OT and NT whereby God becomes the author of these books in a special sense and the books become the infallible word of God. - This charismatic divine influence instigates and guides the composition of these books in all their aspects, internal and external, so that they contain what God Himself wishes to say by their means - the genuine expression, free of all error, of the doctrine and being of the Church, which rests upon the apostolic preaching; so that these books are at once the word of the inspired human author and an embodiment of the faith of the primitive Church normative for all time coming, and in both respects are the Word of God.

Ordination exam style question

- Be pastoral. - Simply explain the doctrine in question, but also affirm the ways your churchgoer is correct, and politely correct the ways in which they're wrong. - Attempt to explain every part of the dilemma. Don't skip over any theological thought.

anhypostasis

- Christ took human nature, but he did not take a man. - He took the form of a servant (Philippians 2:7), but not a servant. - He did not even take an existing human genotype or embryo. He created the genotype in union with himself, and its "personality" developed only in union with the Son of God. - He is a divine person who, without 'adopting' an existing human person took our human nature and entered upon the whole range of human experiences.

What does it mean to say God is Creator?

- Creatio ex nihilo, creation from nothing. - God created and now sustains, our duty is to cooperate with God is this sustaining. - the world doesn't begin with us, it begins with God! God creates out of nothing!

What is theology?

- Faith seeking understanding. We presume that something of divine nature has happened to us. - Restlessness is at the heart of true religion. - not all revelation is true. - one is never the protagonist. - What is the task?

homoousios

- From Greek ὁμοούσιος meaning "of the same nature." - the Father and the Logos in the divine Trinity are of the same nature or "substance." The Trinitarian and Christocentric controversies of the 3rd and 4th centuries established that Christ is of one nature with the Father and of one substance with us by reason of the two natures in him. - The Greek theologians conceive of the divine nature to be absolutely simple: it cannot be divided by generation and is communicated without division.

aseity (aseitas)

- God exists of Godself (a se), in Godself, and through Godself, grounded in no other, and that, accordingly, existence and essence are identical in God; He enjoys plentitude of Being. - Thomists understand God's being as pure act, pure Being as the basic reality prior to the duality of essence and existence. Non-Thomists understand God's Being as essenece which is simultaneously reality because of God's perfection.

supralapsarian

- God first elected some and rejected others before He ordained the Fall.

What does Niebuhr mean by the deity of God? How does God's revelation transform our moral lives?

- God's deity reveals the nature of a God that reveals Himself in time and history (divine self-disclosure). (I thou relationship). - In this revelation we encounter a God that pressures humanity to behave in imperative ways (laws). - Goodness, truth, true selves, and justice are ultimately God's, and we fail at imagining this. - Through revelation, moral/divine laws are known objectively by God and given to humans. - It makes the moral law even more imperative than it was before our encounter with the revelation. Is is no longer just society's "ought" that we fell, but it is the "ought" of God's nature! - Through revelation we can engage in a more thoughtful discussion on moral law. For instance, MLK saw racism as sin. Calvin saw thou shalt not steal as a requirement that all people should have the basic necessities. Today we might add abortion to "thou shalt not kill." - Revelation transforms the law from an imperative to an indicative, from an "ought" that is outside of us to an "is" that lives within us. To put it another way, revelation enables us not only to discern the "ought" but to live it out practically.

Theotokos

- Greek: Θεοτόκος - "Mother of God"/"God-bearer" - is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. - Theologically, the term "Mother of God" should not be taken to imply that Mary is the source of the existence of the divine person of Jesus, who existed with the Father from all eternity, or of her Son's divinity. Within the Orthodox and Catholic tradition, Mother of God has not been understood, nor been intended to be understood, as referring to Mary as Mother of God from eternity — that is, as Mother of God the Father — but only with reference to the birth of Jesus, that is, the Incarnation. To make it explicit, it is sometimes translated "Mother of God Incarnate."

ousia

- Greek: οὐσία - Meaning: Being/Essence/Nature/Substance - This has significance in attempting to describe the Trinity, the Father's relationship to Jesus Christ, and Jesus' duality of human and God.

hypostasis

- Greek: ὑπόστασις - Meaning: The underlying state or underlying substance and is the fundamental reality that supports all else. - hypostasis is used to denote "being" or "substantive reality" and is not always distinguished in meaning from ousia.

What does MLK Jr. mean when he says the church is too often a "taillight" rather than a "headlight"?

- His fellow clergymen wanted him to move slower in his call for civil rights, hence they were like a taillight, asking him to slow down. - The church is instead called to be on the active forefront of love and justice.

enhypostasis

- His humanity is not only impersonal (anhypostasis), but it's also in-personal (that's what enhypostasis means), in that its personhood is in the personhood of the eternal second person of the Trinity. The fully divine Son is the person who took full humanity and remains the "one person" of the God-man. - "The import of enhypostasis is that the human nature of Christ, although not itself an individual, is individualized as the human nature of the Son of God. It does not, for a single instant, exist as anhypostasis or non-personal"

satisfaction

- Jesus Christ suffered crucifixion as a substitute for human sin, satisfying God's just wrath against humankind's transgression due to Christ's infinite merit. - Should be distinguished from penal substitution (Forensic). Both are forms of satisfaction theory in that they speak of how Christ's death was satisfactory, but penal substitution and Anselmian satisfaction offer different understandings of how Christ's death was satisfactory. - Anselm speaks of human sin as defrauding God of the honor he is due. Christ's death, the ultimate act of obedience, brings God great honor. As it was beyond the call of duty for Christ, it is more honor than he was obliged to give. Christ's surplus can therefore repay our deficit. Hence Christ's death is substitutionary; he pays the honor to the Father instead of us paying. - Penal substitution differs in that it sees Christ's death not as repaying God for lost honor but rather paying the penalty of death that had always been the moral consequence for sin (e.g., Genesis 2:17; Romans 6:23). - The key difference here is that for Anselm, satisfaction is an alternative to punishment, "The honor taken away must be repaid, or punishment must follow." By Christ satisfying our debt of honor to God, we avoid punishment. In Calvinist Penal Substitution, it is the punishment which satisfies the demands of justice. - Another distinction must be made between penal substitution (Christ punished instead of us) and substitutionary atonement (Christ suffers for us). Both affirm the substitutionary and vicarious nature of the atonement, but penal substitution offers a specific explanation as to what the suffering is for: punishment. - Augustine teaches substitutionary atonement. However, the specific interpretation differed as to what this suffering for sinners meant. The early Church Fathers, including Athanasius and Augustine, taught that through Christ's suffering in humanity's place, he overcame and liberated us from death and the devil. Thus while the idea of substitutionary atonement is present in nearly all atonement theories, the specific idea of satisfaction and penal substitution are later developments in the Latin church.

Martin Luther on justification, church, and sacraments.

- Justification by faith alone through Christ alone. - Priesthood of all believers. - Consubstantiation. The elements are not literally transformed, but the substance of the bread and wine coexists with the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist.

What is justification and sanctification? What the relationship between the two? What does Christian "perfection" mean?

- Justification is the act of God by which he declares us to be just or righteous or perfect because by faith alone we have been united to Jesus Christ who is perfect who is just who is righteous so justification is a legal standing before God. - Owing to a spiritual union with Jesus which is owing to faith alone you don't work yourself into or perform your way into this standing with God he declares you to be justified because of your union with Christ and that happens by faith alone. - Sanctification is the act of God by which he through his spirit and his word is conforming you little by little or in big steps into the image of his son so we are really becoming in our behavior righteous really overcoming imperfections in our sanctification - Another way to say it would be this the power by which you daily strive to overcome the imperfections in your life - Because of Christ we believe in him and what he did on the cross and his perfect life we believe in him and by that faith God unites us to Christ his perfection is counted as ours so we have now been perfected in Christ and the evidence that we stand perfected in Christ is that we we hate our sin and we daily by faith in his promises strive to overcome the imperfections that exist so so my my exhortation would simply be please don't get these backward the whole world gets it all backwards other religions get it all backwards where our works and our efforts to overcome our imperfections might make us pleasing to God you never can get there that way God reckons us as acceptable makes us his children counts us as righteous and because of that righteousness we then spend a lifetime becoming what we already are - "distinction without separation" - (no hierarchy, interwoven, inseparable!, simultaneous!, what salvation hinges upon, mutually inclusive) - faith is exercise of will not intellect (aquinas), - God's honor is undermined when we say justification by works - Sanctification means transformation by faith of our entire being by the holy spirit - works is self-righteous - sanctification is an effect of faith - faith is our gratuitous response to God this response is out of love and gratitude - faith is always ongoing - faith is initiated by God - Justification can be complete but sanctification is always ongoing - sanctification is related to how we live, justification relates to the reason for our salvation - Christian perfection is the idea of the ultimate goal of sanctification.

imago Dei

- Known from revelation (Gen 1:26), which describes the unique relationship between God and humankind. Human, that is, according to biblical anthropology, the whole man, composed of soul and body, as man and woman, is created in the image of God as God's partner and ruler of the world. This at once differentiates humans from all the rest of creation, especially living creatures, which are created each "after his own kind." - Man still remains the image of God after original sin, because he can still be called and God still calls him. But *the* image of God is Jesus Christ, because as the son of God he portrays Faith and as the incarnate God he makes God visible; thus the splendor of the Father's glory lies upon him. - By the Holy Spirit he who believes in the Son also shares in his glory and thus becomes the image of the transfigured Lord even in this world (2 Cor. 3:18) - how much more so after the resurrection of the flesh (1 Cor. 15:49).

communicatio idiomatum

- Latin: "communication of properties". This is a Christological concept about the interaction of deity and humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. It maintains that in view of the unity of Christ's person, his human and divine attributes and experiences might properly be referred to his other nature so that the theologian may speak of "the suffering of God".

MLK Jr. and Niebuhr both speak of moral law. Compare and contrast. Are they allies?

- Laws not grounded in God's law is illegitimate/unjust - "An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in natural law/God's law." - MLK - Through revelation, moral/divine laws are known objectively by God and given to humans. - It makes the moral law even more imperative than it was before our encounter with the revelation. Is is no longer just soceity's "ought" that we fell, but it is the "ought" of God's nature! - Through revelation we can engage in a more thoughtful discussion on moral law. For instance, MLK saw racism as sin. Calvin saw thou shalt not steal as a requirement that all people should have the basic necessities. Today we might add abortion to "thou shalt not kill." - Revelation transforms the law from an imperative to an indicative, from an "ought" that is outside of us to an "is" that lives within us. To put it another way, revelation enables us not only to discern the "ought" but to live it out practically. - Yes they are allies on the idea of instruction/law and the source grounded in God's being.

persona/prosopon

- Meaning "person", draws attention to those human characteristics which are the necessary condition to his/her relationship to God. - To be a true person, therefore, is to possess oneself as a subject on conscious, free relation to reality as a whole and its infinite ground and source, God. - Humankind is a personal being who can only act in a concrete body, in history here and now, in dialogue with another Thou, constantly exposed with his fellow to painful experience of the world through his own deeds. - We need not labor the point that this ontological constitution of humankind explains his eternal validity, his responsibility, his dialogical relationship with God, his vocation to a supernatural destiny, his dignity and immortality, the absolute character of moral values.

creatio ex nihilo

- Means "creation out of nothing" - Biblical scholars and theologians within the Christian tradition such as Augustine (354-430), John Calvin (1509-1564), John Wesley (1703-1791), and Matthew Henry (1662-1714) cite Genesis 1:1 in support of the idea of Divine creation out of nothing.

sensus divinitatis

- Means "sense of divinity" - Is a term first used by John Calvin to describe a hypothetical human sense. - Instead of knowledge of the environment (as with, for example, smell or sight), the sensus divinitatis is alleged to give humans a knowledge of God. - In Calvin's view, there is no reasonable non-belief of God. - There exists in the human mind and indeed by natural instinct, some sense of Deity, we hold to be beyond dispute, since God himself, to prevent any man from pretending ignorance, has endued all men with some idea of his Godhead - This is not a doctrine which is first learned at school, but one as to which every man is, from the womb, his own master; one which nature herself allows no individual to forget.

non posse non peccare

- Not able not to sin. - Total inability to obey God or resist sinning. Unregenerate Man.

non posse peccare

- Not able to sin. - In one sense, God alone is unable to sin, being intrinsically holy. In another sense, the saved will be unable to sin when they are perfected in Heaven (Heb. 12:23; Eph. 1:4).

What are the three classical approaches to the "work of Christ" in salvation? What does Anselm think? Do I agree?

- Ontological (Dramatic, Christus Victor): dominant in the East, Athanasius, classical view, God becomes human in order that humans may become divinized, it's all about the life!, in the incarnation God does something that changes our situation, victory over death, constitutes a victory over evils forces, Jesus definitely descends into hell to defeat evil and bring out captives. Human life has been victimized by sin, Jesus overcomes these powers. The victory that Christ has one is our victory too! There is a certain level of vicariousness. Assurance that there will be victory in Christ for all days. The entire course of Jesus' life has saving significance. Recapitulation, Jesus perfects what Adam did not do, he mends the downfall. The denial that God would somehow be appeased by the death of Jesus. Jesus is a rabbi that teaches! The teaches of Jesus are salvific, they will save your life! Jesus shows what it means to be human = we participate in the life of God. BUT God is not satisfied. - Forensic: tends to be the default one in the West, Biblicists say NO!, theologians say YES!, Anselm, it's all about the death of Jesus, Jesus gives his life as a ransom Mark 10:45, the ransom was paid to the devil, the humanity of Jesus was the bait, and the devil took the bait which trapped devil, all evils require a ransom, a price is always paid in evil see 9/11, medieval view "satisfaction", God does not simply possess a predisposition of forgiveness, God is owed complete obedience, the failure to render God complete obedience violates God's honor. Someone has to pay a price! Humanity has to pay, but only God could pay it because it is infinite! The best way to remember this: - 1 the honor of God is violated by human sin, and the violation is infinite - 2 therefore, there needs to be a punishment/satisfaction - 3 human beings cannot make the payment by further obedience - 4 the human being must make the satisfaction, but can't because it's infinite, therefore we need a Godhuman - 5 this payment must be done through suffering, because it serves as satisfaction it's gratuitous - 6 an infinite death requires an infinite sacrifice. - a major problem with Anselm's view is that it doesn't include anything about the resurrection and how salvation happens. A price has to be paid. - Moral Influence (Jesus as Exemplary): Abelard, liberal, new life/resurrection, doesn't like Anselm's view at all, makes no sense that in order for God to be for us Jesus has to die, what happens on the cross is the outgoing love of God and this elicits a response. What changes us is love! Jesus the son changes us to rekindle our hearts to go to God. this is a subjective experience. - I like Anselm and his focus on the death of Christ, but I think it lacks a proper cultic atonement theory. Jesus is the spotless lamb, a sacrifice. This was practiced from the beginning of Genesis. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice to end all sacrifices.

prologomenon

- Prolegomena simply means "prefatory remarks". The Prolegomena of a systematic theology refers to the methodological questions generally found in the opening sections, dealing with the nature and task of theology and perhaps with the nature and focal point of revelation. - Systematic theology is a structured full encompassing synthesis of historical, philosophical, apologetical, and exegetical out workings from man of the Bible with all other documents pertaining to the God of the Bible, and all His works in a scientifically organized manner to create a harmonization of truthful concise thought. - The outcome of the systematic theology process must be out from the believer's faith to discover the truth of God. Only through faith in the truth which he seeks will God bestow the desired knowledge and wisdom on to him. - Theology must begin with a central idea from which a thesis is derived that shall be the focus of all research and create a theme in the resources chosen in relation to it. All the information gathered then is examined and sorted into importance of aiding in development of the thesis, and must be set alongside Scripture and compared for any discrepancies. Any sources that do not mesh with biblical teaching are to be excluded, but all main supportive sources along with verses of Scripture can be collected and compiled. For a thorough use of Scripture, cultural and historical background resources should be used to gain a greater understanding of context. By weighing the positive and negative arguments in comparison to Scripture the developed thesis can be found to be true or false, and concluded on in accordance to the test of application.

sola scriptura

- Scripture Alone. - This was the fundamental point in dispute in the Protestant Reformation. It is taught in 2 Tim. 3:16-17; I Cor.4:6; Acts 17:11; Isa.8:20, etc.

forensic

- Tends to be the default one in the West, Biblicists say NO!, theologians say YES!, - It's all about the death of Jesus, Jesus gives his life as a ransom Mark 10:45, the ransom was paid to the devil, the humanity of Jesus was the bait, and the devil took the bait which trapped devil, all evils require a ransom, a price is always paid in evil see 9/11, medieval view "satisfaction", - God does not simply possess a predisposition of forgiveness, God is owed complete obedience, the failure to render God complete obedience violates God's honor. Someone has to pay a price! Humanity has to pay, but only God could pay it because it is infinite! The best way to remember this: - 1 the honor of God is violated by human sin, and the violation is infinite - 2 therefore, there needs to be a punishment/satisfaction - 3 human beings cannot make the payment by further obedience - 4 the human being must make the satisfaction, but can't because it's infinite, therefore we need a Godhuman - 5 this payment must be done through suffering, because it serves as satisfaction it's gratuitous - 6 an infinite death requires an infinite sacrifice, a major problem with Anselm's view is that it doesn't include anything about the resurrection and how salvation happens. - A price has to be paid.

analogia fidei

- The "analogy of faith" was a key principle of interpretation taught by the Reformers which which teaches that Scripture should interpret Scripture. - This principle is stated in the Westminster Confession (1.9) in this manner: "The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly." - Occuring in Romans 12:6, in which Karl Barth understands as an comparison of "similarity but greater dissimilarity" between "human decision in faith" and the "decision of God's grace". The meaning is, that the utterances of the "prophet" were not to fluctuate according to his own impulses or independent thoughts, but were to be in accordance with the truth revealed to him as a believer. - Following the Reformation, this phrase was used to mean that all Scripture was to be interpreted with reference to all other Scripture. In other words, no single text or expression of Scripture was to be isolated or interpreted in a way contrary to its general teaching.

perichoresis (circumincessio)

- The Greek περιχώρησις is equivalent to the Latin "circumincessio"; both mean penetration. In Trinitarian theology it is necessary being-in-one-another of the three divine Persons of the Trinity because of the single divine essence, the eternal procession of the Son from the Father and of the Spirit from the Father and through the Son, and the fact that the three Persons are distinguished solely by the relations of opposition between them. - On a similar note, the hypostatic union of the divine and human natures in Christ is considered a sort of perichoresis. Care must of course be taken not to think of perichoresis in spatial terms.

What is the church?

- The church should never preach about itself. - The church is a means of grace. - The church is a gift. - Whenever a church is born it is solely by the grace of God! - There can never be a church without our effort! - The church lives solely by grace, no merit or effort on our own! - Yet, the church lives solely by sanctification - Protestants tend to see the church as an event. - There is an eventfulness to God! And the word! And the church! - Exegesis is not everything! - Barth: the church is a provisional representation for what God intends for all people. 3 ways to examine the church - - People of God: a reformed idea. Ecclesia = gathering. To say that the church is the people of God is to claim a sense of continuity from Israel, but to say that the church supersedes Israel is BAD. Scripture says "Israel and the nations" nations mean all people. In Isaiah all nations flow into Zion. superseding Israel leads to evil. Election is God choosing all people - Barth. Living as the people of God requires faith thereby justification. - Body of Christ: "up-building." 1 Corinthians 12. Includes sanctification and hope. An incarnate reality! - Fellowship of the Holy Spirit: the whole church has claim to this. Love = vocation. - The work of Christ = salvation. Salvation is the living out of these realities. Not just a eschatological reality! - This is all about who we are and what's going on in us! - "One holy apostolic church" - oneness, continuity of the preaching of the Gospel.

finitum non capax infiniti

- This Latin dictum means "the finite cannot comprehend the infinite."

vivificatio

- To vivify is to give life to something or someone. - The term vivification implies adding life, quality, or energy to something. - The word is not frequently mentioned outside of theology. - It was used by John Calvin in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, and his meaning is the one most commonly used today. - This "vivification" is the strengthening and empowerment of the Holy Spirit to live a righteous and godly life. - It is the God-led growth of a Christian's spiritual and moral character.

Niebuhr says revelation/theology is a "permanent revolution." Culp says theology is "always reforming, and always resisting." What does this mean?

- We never totally have it! - Revelation is continuous, - Never condensed to a single person or event. - Culp hates idolatry.

quid sit Deus/qualis sit Deus

- What is God? - What are the attributes of God?

Ubiquity

- a Protestant belief that held that body of Christ was everywhere, including the Eucharist. - Lutherans love this

traducianism

- a doctrine about the origin of the soul (or synonymously, "spirit"), holding that this immaterial aspect is transmitted through natural generation along with the body, the material aspect of human beings. - That is, an individual's soul is derived from the souls of the individual's parents. - This implies that only the soul of Adam was created directly by God (with Eve's substance, material and immaterial, being taken from out of Adam).

marks of the church

- also known as the Attributes of the Church, is a term describing four distinctive adjectives - "one, holy, catholic and apostolic" - of traditional Christian ecclesiology as expressed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed completed at the First Council of Constantinople in AD 381: "[I believe] in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church." - This ecumenical creed is today recited in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church (both Latin and Eastern Rites), the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Church of the East, the Moravian Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Methodist Churches, the Anglican Communion, the Reformed Churches, and other Christian denominations.

conscientia

- awareness/knowledge - is the actual ethical judgement made and it leads to a particular course of action based upon these principles. - Overall conscience is being able to both distinguish right from wrong and to make decisions when a person is confronted with different moral situations. - For Aquinas it is always right to apply your moral principles to each situation as best you can. - However he does not mean that if you follow your conscience you are always right because if your principles are wrong your conscience will be wrong too. - Aquinas says conscience is reasoning used correctly to find out what God sees is good. - It is not just a voice inside us.

Explain the theological significance of baptism and the Lord's Supper

- baptism is the sacrament of initiation into the Christian community. Commanded by Christ (Matthew 28:19) and practiced in all Christian churches, baptism takes the form of a public confession of faith and immersion in, and pouring on, or sprinkling with water in the name of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This rich symbolism of baptism includes washing away of sin, dying and rising to new life in Christ, being born to new life by the Spirit, and being welcomed as a child of God into the family of faith. Disagreement continues among the churches whether only those able to make a free and responsible confession of faith should be baptized (Baptist churches), or whether the children of believing parents may also be baptized (RC, EO, and many other protestants). - The Lord's Supper is the central sacrament of the Christian church. While the churches differ in their theology and practice of the Lord's Supper, there are important points of convergence. In the breaking and eating of the bread and pouring and drinking of the cup with thanksgiving to God, Christ's saving life, death, and resurrection are remembered and proclaimed; his real presence and grace for the forgiveness of sins and the renewal of life are received and celebrated; and the church is strengthened for its mission in the world in the confident hope of Christ's coming again and of the consummation of his saving work. Each of the different names by which this sacrament is known brings out some aspects of its rich meaning. "Lord's Supper" emphasizes that Jesus Christ is the host who invites all to his table and gives himself to all who put their trust in him. "Communion" expresses the fact that in this meal we are repeatedly given new life in communion with God and each other through Christ in the power of the Spirit. The name "eucharist" (thanksgiving) declares that in this celebration the church gives thanks in the Spirit to God for God's sacrificial love and great goodness to us in Jesus Christ.

filioque

- describes the Holy Spirit as proceeding from both the Father and the Son, (and not from the Father only). In the Nicene Creed it is translated by the English phrase "and from the Son": - I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceedeth from the Father (and the Son!). - Who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified.

duplex cognitio Dei

- double cognition

hypostatic union

- from the Greek: ὑπόστασις -sediment/foundation/substance/subsistence - a Christological term to describe the union of Christ's humanity and divinity in one hypostasis, or individual existence.

What's the relationship between the Spirit and human experience? What does Emerson say? What does the Azusa street revival say?

- human beings are spiritual creatures. - "the definition spiritual should be, that which is its own evidence." - The spirit is equipped with powers, and carries with it ideals. But ideals also coexist with skepticism and unbelief. - Emerson is spiritual but not religious. - Azusa street revival shows how apocalyptic communities find radical hope. Interracial reconciliation. We ought to seek new creation, we need bifocal vision of today and eschatology. - Azusa street movement of 1906 was a rejection to orthodoxy (right thinking), what the real problem was is orthopraxy (right practice).

credo ut intelligam

- is Latin for "I believe so that I may understand" - this concepts relates faith and reason.

concupiscentia

- is an ardent, usually sensual, longing.

ex opere operato/ex opere operanto

- meaning "from the work worked" - referring to sacraments deriving their power from Christ's work (ex opere operato Christi) rather than the role of humans. - The phrase is commonly misunderstood to mean that sacraments work automatically and independently of the faith of the recipient. - However, in order to receive sacraments fruitfully, it is believed necessary for the recipient to have faith. - In modern usage, the phrase often refers to the idea that sacraments are efficacious in and of themselves rather than depending on the attitude either of the minister or the recipient. - For example, Confirmation might be held to bestow the Holy Spirit regardless of the attitude of both the bishop and the person being confirmed.

exaltation

- most often refers to the lofty position of God and of Jesus Christ, but sometimes the term is applied to human beings, especially to Israel and it's king. - The Exaltation of God and God's Name. In the Old Testament the Lord alone is the One who deserves to be exalted (Isaiah 2:11 Isaiah 2:17). His power is beyond that of all others (Job 36:22) and he is exalted over all the nations and above the heavens (Psalm 46:10 ; 57:5 ; 113:4). Sometimes God's exaltation is demonstrated by his mighty Acts on behalf of his people. When the Lord overthrew Pharaoh's chariots and soldiers in the Red Sea, his right hand "was majestic with power" (Exodus 15:1 Exodus 15:6 ). No king or god could stand before the God of Israel (Exodus 15:11). On such triumphal occasions the Lord's right hand is said to be lifted high (Psalm 118:16 ; Isa 26:11) as he takes action against the enemy (Isa 33:10 ). God's powerful help leads people to praise him and to exalt his name, for he alone deserves the glory (Psalm 148:13 ; Isa 24:15 ; 25:1). Since the Lord is King, the psalmist calls on humankind to exalt him and worship at the sanctuary (Psalms 99:5 Psalms 99:9).

iustitia originalis

- original righteousness with God

mortificatio

- refers in to the experience of Sanctification, the objective work of God between justification and glorification. - Literally it means the 'putting to death' of sin in a believer's life. (Colossians 3:5) - - Reformed theologian J.I. Packer describes it in the following way: "The Christian is committed to a lifelong fight against the world, the flesh and the devil. Mortification is his assault on the second." - Christians believe that this internal work against sin is empowered by the Holy Spirit and so therefore is also part of regeneration.

How do I understand the Holy Spirit as affirmed in the Apostles Creed?

- the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. - The trinity is koinonia, eternal fellowship. - This means that God exists in communion. - This is good news! Humanity ought to live in communion as the Trinity perfectly does.

fides qua creditur

- the act of believing - the faith by which it is believed

fides quae creditur

- the act of believing to the matters of doctrine

autographs/autopistos

- the author of the text

sensus literalis

- the literal sense - the plain, straightforward meaning of the biblical text, as standing.

donum superadditum

- the notion of some sort of "superadded grace" given to Adam, in addition to his natural powers, and which grace he lost by the Fall.

adiaphora

- the opinion that certain doctrines or practices in morals or religion are matters of indifference because they are neither commanded nor forbidden in the Bible.

humiliation

- the rejection and suffering that Jesus received and accepted. - Within this is included his incarnation, suffering, death, burial, and descent into hell.

What does it mean to say God is Redeemer?

- two separate ideas "redemption" and "salvation." - In the New Testament, these concepts are primarily eschatological. - We wait for salvation. - We hope for redemption. - To be sure, these eschatological concepts can have an impact on us in the present. - But the future-oriented content is primary. - Also, we speak of Christ as "redeemer." - But redemption is as much the work of the Spirit as the work of Christ. - the habit in the American church is to confuse these future-oriented terms with the concept of "reconciliation," which for Paul at least was definitely something we have received in the present. - Someone says, "I have been saved." - Technically, in Paul's terms, they really mean, "I have accepted the reconciliation that is mine in Jesus Christ, and I am waiting for my redemption and salvation."

creationism

- which holds that all souls are created directly by God (with Eve's substance, material and immaterial, being taken from out of Adam).

Word-man Christology

1 "Word-man" type 2 two natures, divine nature and human nature 3 complete humanity in Christ. Christ has human mind and soul 4 Two natures are united, but not mixed. Hence, two natures can be distinguished in the union. Each nature is complete and independent. - Antiochene: Theodore

Word-flesh Christology

1 one nature, divine nature 2 incomplete humanity in Christ. 3 Christ did not have human mind or soul - This is the Alexandria-heresy: Arians, Apollinarianism

Who is God?

Bonhoeffer: God is supremely revealed in Jesus Christ. Niebuhr: God is revealed through revelation, which is more than just Jesus Christ. Cone: God is primarily in the lives of the oppressed. The liberator of sin, the reconciler of humanity. Liberation is a theological category. The cross is an extension of this liberation quality. - The ultimate reality that is for us.

Who is Jesus Christ for us today? Compare and contrast Bonhoeffer and Cone.

Compare: - A separation of the Christ of history and the Christ of today is anti-Christian. - Jesus Christ was and is fully God and fully human. - Jesus Christ is risen today, as he was yesterday. - Both are in oppressive contexts (segregation and Nazi Germany) - Christ was and is. Contrast: - Cone thinks more specifically at the black situation in the U.S. Jesus = liberator. - Bonhoeffer wants almost exclusively to dismantle anything that diminishes Christ's Godfulness or humanness. - Bonhoeffer was more concerned with councils and the substance of Jesus, Cone is more concerned with the function of the councils.

Deus absconditus

God is concealed

Deus revelatus

God is revealed

Different approaches to the Trinity.

In the East: - The Father eternally "begets" the Son. - The Spirit eternally "proceeds" from the Father - The divine unity derives from God the Father, who is the arche, or foundation of the triune life In the West: - Theologians begin with the unity and move to explain the three-ness - Father, Son, and Spirit are united. - It is in relationship-one to the other-that the three are distinguished.

recapitulation

Jesus perfects what Adam did not do, he mends the downfall.

What do people say about the person of Christ? Especially the seven ecumenical councils.

Nicaea 325: Claims that Jesus Christ, as of the same substance with God the Father. Homo ousias. Not homoi "like God." Constantinople 381: The council condemned Apollinarism, the teaching that there was no human mind or soul in Christ. The council claimed that Jesus has a human mind, there are some limitations. Ephesus 431: Nestorianism, the idea of two separate persons in Christ, is condemned. Proclaimed the Virgin Mary as the Theotokos (God-Bearer). Chalcedon 451: Jesus is fully divine and fully human. Jesus is actually God and actually human. Jesus is not a sinner. The union cannot be divided between confusion, division, or contrast. Christ is acknowledged in two natures, which come together into one person and one hypostasis. Constantinople 553: Affirmed again the hypostatic union. One nature of Jesus. Jesus is a coincidence of God and humanity. Constantinople 681: Repudiated monothelitism (Jesus has two natures, but only one will), a doctrine that won widespread support when formulated in 638; the Council affirmed that Christ had both human and divine wills. Nicaea 787: In 753, Emperor Constantine V declared that images of Jesus misrepresented him and that images of Mary and the saints were idols. The Second Council of Nicaea, 24 years later, restored the veneration of icons and ended the first iconoclasm.

Relationship of power and goodness of God? Theodicy? Does the holocaust question the goodness/power of God? What about the distribution of evil? (Niebuhr)

Philsophical dilemma: - God is good - God is omnipotent - Evil exists It doesn't seem logical that all three can exist simultaneously.

Is God male?

Scripture uses masculine pronouns, but it is irresponsible to claim that God is exclusively male. Especially in the OT, there are many symbols that attribute feminine qualities to God. God is uber gender! 27 So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

three uses of the law

The Formula of Concord distinguished three uses, or purposes, in the Law in Article VI. It states: "The Law was given to men for three reasons ..." 1. that "thereby outward discipline might be maintained against wild, disobedient men (and that wild and intractable men might be restrained, as though by certain bars)" 2. that "men thereby may be led to the knowledge of their sins" 3. that "after they are regenerate ... they might ... have a fixed rule according to which they are to regulate and direct their whole life" or 1. Curb - Through fear of punishment, the Law keeps the sinful nature of both Christians and non-Christians under check. This does not stop sin, since the sin is already committed when the heart desires to do what is wrong, yet it does stop the open outbreak of sin that will do even further damage. 2. Mirror - The Law serves as a perfect reflection of what God created the human heart and life to be. It shows anyone who compares his/her life to God's requirement for perfection that he/she is sinful. 3. Guide - This use of the law that applies only to Christians. The law becomes the believer's helper. Empowered by the gospel truth of forgiveness and righteousness in Christ, the believer's new self eagerly desires to live to please the Triune God.

infralapsarian

a Calvinist holding the view that God's election of only some to everlasting life was not originally part of the divine plan, but a consequence of the Fall of Man.