Intro to Theology
Monophysitism (Eutychianism)
1 person and 1 nature (a new mixed nature, neither full divine or fully human)
Know the basic definitions of the 3 inadequate views of the person of Christ which were mentioned
1. Apollinarianism Fully divine, partially human (only in body, not in mind or spirit) 2. Nestorianism 2 persons and 2 natures 3. Monophysitism (Eutychianism) 1 person and 1 nature (a new mixed nature, neither full divine or fully human)
Know the 3 uses of the concept of "election" in the NT
1. As a comfort 2. As a reason to praise God 3. As an encouragement to evangelism
Implications of Pantheism
1. Changing 2. Partially evil 3. No basis for human personhood & individuality
Know the 3 truths we know from scripture in response to the question, "Could Jesus have sinned?"
1. Christ never sinned 2. Jesus was truly tempted with real temptations 3. God cannot be tempted
Know the 2 aspects of Christ's work in the atonement
1. Christ's ACTIVE obedience: Obedience for us 2. Christ's PASSIVE Obedience: SUFFERING for us
Know the 2 basic evidences of the deity of Christ
1. Direct Scriptural Evidence 2. Evidence of Jesus possessing the attributes of God
Know the 4 proper responses to common grace
1. Don't reject the good things that unbelievers do as totally evil 2. Be more thankful every day for the countless blessings we all enjoy! 3. Don't confuse it with Saving Grace - continue to proclaim the Gospel (special grace mission) 4. Be faithful in the Common Grace Mission, just as God is: "Do good to all people as you have the opportunity"
Know the 3 minimum elements necessary within the external gospel call
1. Explanation of the facts concerning salvation 2. Invitation to respond to Christ personally in repentance and faith 3. A promise of forgiveness and eternal life
Know the 2 reasons why Jesus' full humanity was necessary
1. For representative obedience 2. For being a substitutionary sacrifice
Three Kinds of Revelation
1. General Revelation (Nature) 2. Special Revelation (Text Revelation & Event Revelation) 3.
Know God's 2 motivations in the providing the atonement
1. God's love motivated the atonement 2. God's justice motivated the atonement
Two Basic Evidences of God
1. Humanity's Inner Sense of God 2. Evidence in Scripture and Nature
Know the 3 elements of the doctrinal significance of the resurrection
1. Insures our present regeneration 2. Insures our present justification 3. Insures our future resurrection
3 elements which true, saving faith must include
1. Knowledge alone is not enough 2. Knowledge and approval is not enough 3. Knowledge and approval must be combined with a personal decision to depend upon Jesus to save me
Three Things for Which the Bible isNecessary
1. Maintaining Spiritual Life 2. Certain Knowledge of God's Will 3. Knowledge of the Gospel & Salvation
4 Reasons for Studying Systematic Theology
1. More carefully organized by topics 2. More detailed 3. More accurate 4. More comprhensive
Know the 3 elements of the ethical significance of the resurrection
1. Motivates steadfastness in the Lord's work 2. Focuses us to aim for our heavenly reward 3. Obligates us to fight sin
Dr. Wind's Reasons to Study Systematic Theology
1. NOT as an end in itself 2. To obey Jesus 3. God's unified yet diverse written word demands it 4. To receive benefits
Implications of Dualism
1. No clear sense that the forces of good will ever decisively win or evil ever be completely removed 2. The physical world in this view is typically more associated with the forces of evil 3. God is NOT ruler over his creation 4. Creation was NOT originally "very good"
Know the 3 reasons why Jesus' full divinity was necessary
1. Only an infinite God could bear the penalty for the sins of man 2. Only God himself is able to save mankind 3. Only God himself could be a mediator between God and humanity
Know the names of the 5 main theories of the atonement
1. Penal Substitutionary Atonement (Anselm - doctrine of sin/Incarnation - satisfaction theory - appeasement of God's offended dignity alone, not also of God's justice) 2. Ransom to Satan Theory (Christus Victor - Classic View [Origen/Augustine]) 3. Moral Influence Theory (Peter Abelard/Horace Bushnell) 4. Example Theory (Socinians/Unitarians) 5. Governmental Theory (Hugo Grotius)
Know the 4 aspects of Christ's suffering on the cross
1. Physical pain and death 2. Spiritual pain from bearing sin 3. Abandonment by his friends and his Heavenly Father 4. Bearing the wrath of God
Six Questions that Lead People to Misunderstand and Disagree about the Bible
1. Questions concerning our hearts 2. Questions concerning the proper rules of interpretation (hermeneutics) 3. Questions concerning the proper process of interpretation (exegesis) 4. Questions concerning mistaken interpretive conclusions (doctrine) 5. Questions not addressed clearly, directly, or exhaustively by Scripture. 6. Questions concerning our ability to know
Know the 4 aspects of common grace
1. Rooted in God's work of creation (and the Son's work as the agent of creation in the past and sovereign rulership in the present) 2. Results in general provision, preservation & restraint of evil 3. Received by all people (and all creation), believers and unbelievers 3. Administered through the Noahic Fallen Creation Covenant
Know the 4 aspects of special grace
1. Rooted in God's work of salvation (and Christ' work as the agent of salvation) 2. Results in eternal salvation 3. Received by believers 4. Administered through the New Covenant (and the Abrahamic, Mosaic & Davidic Covenants previously)
Know the 4 elements of the doctrinal significance of the ascension
1. Rulership of Christ from the heavenly throne 2. Foreshadows our future meeting of him in the air (1 Thess 4:17) 3. Assures us of our eternal him with Christ 4. Allows us to be seated partially with him on his throne now and fully with him in the future
7 Reasons Trinity is Important
1. The Atonement is at stake 2. Justification by faith alone is threatened 3. Worshipping and praying to Jesus is questionable 4. Giving Christ credit for salvation is dubious 5. God's relational personhood is dependent upon creation rather than eternal 6. The unity of the universe in its diversity is in doubt 7. The doctrine of the clarity and sufficiency of Scripture is questioned
Current Challenges of Inerrancy
1. The Bible is only authoritative for "faith and practice." 2. The term inerrancy is a poor term. 3. We have no inerrant manuscripts; therefore, talk about an inerrant Bible is misleading. 4. The biblical writers "accommodated" their messages in minor details to the false ideas current in their day and affirmed and taught those ideas in an incidental way. 5. There are some clear errors in the Bible.
7 Major Doctrinal Issues
1. The Word of God 2. God 3. Humanity 4. Christ 5. The Application of Redemption 6. The Church 7. The Future
Know the 3 reasons why the virgin birth of Christ is an important doctrine
1. The virgin birth shows that salvation must ultimately come from the Lord 2. The virgin birth makes possible the uniting of full deity and full humanity in one person 3. The virgin birth makes possible Christ's true humanity without inherited corruption (and guilt?).
Know the 4 reasons for common grace
1. To redeem those who will be saved 2. To demonstrate God's goodness and mercy 3. To demonstrate God's justice 4. To demonstrate God's glory
Three Ways God is Shown to be Unchangeable in Scriptures
1. Unchangeable purposes 2. Unchangeable promises 3. Unchangeable being
Four Practical Applications of the Sufficiency of Scripture
1. We can search the Bible for answers and find answers (sola scriptura), even if not an answer or as complete an answer as we might like to every question. 2. We must NOT add to Scripture, including more rules and revelation 3. We must NOT consider other sources of authority as equal to Scripture 4. We must be content with Scripture
3 Key Questions to Answer in Interpreting Genesis 1
1. What is the Literary Form? 2. What is the Timetable? 3. What is God's Mechanism of Creation?
Four Statements, "The Bible can be inerrant and still..."
1. speak in the ordinary language of everyday speech. 2. use various literary forms with their own particular rules of meaning 3. include loose or free quotations 4. use unusual grammatical constructions
Know the 3 elements that demonstrated Christ's full humanity
1.Jesus' Virgin Birth Demonstrates the Full Humanity of Christ 2. Jesus' human weakness and limitations demonstrate his full humanity 3. Jesus' real temptation (yet without sin) demonstrated his full humanity
Nestorianism
2 persons and 2 natures
Dualism
2 ultimate forces in the universe in an eternal conflict that presents them as evenly matched
Arminian Regeneration
Arminians place regeneration AFTER faith/repentance since they interpret the human choice of Christ rather than Christ's work in the human as the decisive and pre-eminent work. Regeneration is then one of God's responses to human faith. (a RESPONSIVE work of God)
Know the best response, according to Prof. Wind, to the question, "Did Jesus give up some of his divine attributes while on earth?"
Christ remains fully God but willingly forgoes the use for a time of certain roles, status, and privileges that are his as God
Inerrant
Completely trustworthy and without error
Tri-Theism
Denial that there is only one God (Plurality without true Unity)
Arianism
Emphasis on God's Oneness by denying the full divinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit
Know the 2 aspects of the Gospel Call
External call and effective call
Apollinarianism
Fully divine, partially human (only in body, not in mind or spirit)
Omnipresence
God does not have size or spatial dimensions, and is present at every point in space with his whole being, yet God acts differently in different places
Independence
God does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the rest of creation glorify him and bring him joy
Trinity
God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God
Omniscience
God fully knows himself and all things actual and possible in one simple and eternal act
Eternity
God has no beginning, end, or succession of moments in his own being, and he sees all time equally vividly, yet God sees events in time and acts in time
Regeneration
God in which he imparts new spiritual life to us; being born again.
Deism
God involved in the initial creation of the universe. Since creation, God now uninvolved in creation, which instead merely runs according to its original design
Transcendence
God is before, over, and beyond his creation
Unity
God is not divided into parts, yet we see different attributes of God emphasized at different times
Unchangeableness
God is unchanging in his being, perfections, purposes, and promises, yet God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations
Imanence
God is within and throughout all of his creation and always actively sustaining and ruling over all of his creation, guiding it according to his purposes, both revealed and hidden
Know the sense in which the atonement WAS and was NOT necessary
God was under no outer constraint or obligation to save sinners. In his freedom, God could have allowed all sinners to receive the just penalty of their sins. In this sense, the atonement was NOT necessary. In order for God to save sinners, the atonement WAS necessary since there is no other possible remedy which justly punishes human sin even while extending mercy to those same sinners.
Beauty
God's beauty is that attribute of God whereby he is the sum of all desirable qualities
Blessedness
God's blessedness means that God delights fully in himself and in all that reflects his character
Holiness
God's holiness means that he is separated from sin and devoted to seeking his own honor
Invisibility
God's invisibility means that God's total essence, all of his spiritual being, will never be able to be seen by us, yet God still shows himself to us through visible, created things
Jealousy
God's jealousy means that God continually seeks to protect his own honor
Love
God's love means that God eternally gives of himself to others
Omnipotence
God's omnipotence means that God is able to do all his holy will
Perfections
God's perfection means that God completely possesses all excellent qualities and lacks no part of any qualities that would be desirable for him
Righteousness/Justice
God's righteousness means that God always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the final standard of what is right
Spirituality
God's spirituality means that God exists as a being that is not made of any matter, has no parts or dimensions, is unable to be perceived by our bodily senses, and is more excellent than any other kind of existence
Faithfulness
God's truthfulness means that he is the true God, and that all his knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth
Truthfulness
God's truthfulness means that he is the true God, and that all his knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth
Will
God's will is that attribute of God whereby he approves and determines to bring about every action necessary for the existence and activity of himself and all creation
Wisdom
God's wisdom means that God always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals
Wrath
God's wrath means that he intensely hates all sin
Know the Other Evidence that Undergirds our Confidence in Scripture
Historically accurate, internally consistent, prophetic fulfillment, influence on history, changed loves, beauty and depth
Know the 4 different serious problems possessed by each sinner
I deserve to die as a penalty for my sin I deserve to bear God's wrath against my sin I am relationally separated from God by my sin I am in bondage to sin and the power of Satan
Ways to Organize the Attributes of God
Incommunicable and Communicable Natural (non-moral) and moral Greatness and goodness God's being, mental attributes, moral attributes
Calvinist Regeneration
Irresistible Grace - Not that we receive God's grace against our will but that God works in us to cause us to see the desirableness of what he offers us and willingly choose to receive it
Five Obstacles to Sharing Knowledge Clearly
Language; Culture; Time; Human finitude; Human fallen-ness
Conversion
Our willing response to the gospel call, in which we sincerely repent of sins and place our trust in Christ for salvation
Know Christ's threefold office
PROPHET: In a sense, Christ, the eternal Word of the Father, has always been Prophet, though especially within space-time history, the Word of God speaks the Word of God to sinful humanity PRIEST: Christ's priesthood, includes both his active and passive obedience KING: Christ is God and has always therefore been a member of the Triune Kingship, even though the creation (their realm) over which they rule has not always existed
Know the 2 elements of election, according to Grudem
Predestination (+) and Reprobation (-)
Know the 4 different ways Christ meets through his death a sinner's 4 serious
Sacrifice: He pays my sin penalty for me Propitiation: He bears God's wrath for me Reconciliation: He reunites me in relationship to God Redemption: He frees me from slavery to sin and Satan
Sufficiency of Scripture
Scripture contained all the words of God he intended for his people to haveat each stage of redemptive history, and thatit now contains everything we need God to tell us for salvation,for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly
Communicable Attributes
Sharable by God's creatures
Actions the Exhibit Personhood of the Holy Spirit
Teaching, Interceding, Searching, Knowing, Distributing, Forbidding, Speaking, Evaluating, and Being Grieved by Sin
Goodness
The goodness of God means that God is the final standard of good, and that all that God is and does is worthy of approval
Know Grudem's definition of common grace
The grace of God By which he gives people innumerable blessings That are not part of salvation.
Materialism
The material universe is all there is; no spiritual realm exists.
Know the definition of reprobation
The sovereign decision of God before creation to pass over some persons, in sorrow deciding not to save them, and to punish them for their sins, and thereby to manifest his justice.
Pantheism
The universe IS God
Modalism
There is one person who appears to us in three different forms (or "modes") at different times
Imperfect Analogies Used to Communicate the Trinity
Three leaf clover Three forms of water Three roles of one man Three parts of an egg Three branches of US government
Incomprehensibility
Unable to be FULLY or EXHAUSTIVELY understood
Incommunicable Attributes
Unsharable by God's creatures: Independence Unchangeableness Eternity Omnipresence Unity
Biblical Authority
all the words in Scripture are God's words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God
Infallible
not capable of making mistakes or failing to achieve purposes
Systematic Theology
study that answers the question, 'What does the whole Bible teach us today?' about any given topic."
Necessity of Scripture
the Bible is necessary for knowledge of the gospel, for maintaining spiritual life, and for certain knowledge of God's will, but is not necessary for knowing that God exists or for knowing something about God's character and moral laws
Clarity of Scriptures
the Bible is written in such a way that its teachings are able to be understood by all who will read it seeking God's help and being willing to follow it
Doctrine
what the whole Bible teaches us today about some particular topic. . . . a doctrine is simply the result of doing systematic theology with regard to one particular topic."