REL 352- Christian Beliefs and History

Son of God

A title often used of Jesus to designate him as the heavenly, eternal Son who is equal in nature to God himself

Sacrifice

Christ's death on the cross viewed from the standpoint that he paid the penalty that we deserved

Active Obedience

Christ's perfect obedience to God during his entire earthly life, which earned the righteousness that God credits to those who place their faith in Christ.

What is the Image of God?

His people

Total inability

Mans' total lack of spiritual good and inability to do good before God.

Incarnation

The act of God the Son whereby he took to himself a human nature

Kenosis Theory

The erroneous theory that Christ gave up some of his divine attributes while he was on earth as a man

Incorruptible

The nature of our future resurrection bodies, which will be like Christ's resurrection body and therefore will not wear out, grow old, or be subject to any kind of sickness or disease

Repentance

a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience of Christ.

Order of Salvation

a list of events in which God applies salvation to us, arranged in the specific order in which they occur in our lives

Raised in Glory

a phrase describing our future resurrection bodies, which will exhibit a beauty and radiance appropriate to the position of exaltaiton and rule over creation that God will give us, bearing some similarity to Christ's glorified bod

Raised in Power

a phrase describing our future resurrection bodies, which will exhibit the fullness of strength and power that God intended human beings to have in their bodies when he created them

Born of Water

a phrase used by Jesus in John 3:5 that refers to the spiritual cleansing from sin that accompanies God's work of regeneration

Sanctification

a progressive work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and like Christ in our actual lives

Resurrection

a rising from the dead into a new kind of life not subject to sickness, aging, deterioration, or death.

Propitiation

a sacrifice that bears God's wrath to the end and in so doing changes God's wrath toward us into favor

Regeneration

a secret act of God in which he imparts new spiritual life to us; sometimes called "being born again."

Fatalism

a system in which human choices and human decisions make no real difference because things will turn out as they have been previously ordained. This is in contrast to the biblical doctrines of providence and election, in which people make real choices that have real consequences and for which they are held accountable.

Election

an act of God before creation in which he chose some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure.

Effective (internal) Calling

an act of God the Father, speaking through the human proclamation of the gospel, in which he summons people to himself in such a way that they respond in saving grace.

Adoption

an act of God whereby he makes us members of his family

Trust

an aspect of biblical faith or belief in which we not only know and agree with facts about Jesus, but we also place personal trust in him as a living person.

Justification

an instantaneous legal act of God in which he (1) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness as belonging to us, and (2) declares us to be righteous in his sight.

Eutychianism

another term for monophysitism, named after the fifth-century monk Eutyches.

Born of the Spirit

another term for regeneration that indicates the special role played by the Holy Spirit in imparting new spiritual life to us

Eternal Security

another term for the perseverance of the saints. However, this term can be misunderstood to mean that all who have once made a profession of faith are "eternally secure" in their salvation when they may not have been genuinely converted at all.

sin

any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature

Forensic

having to do with legal proceedings used to describe justification as being a legal declaration of God that in itself does not change our internal nature or character.

Purgatory

in RC doctrine, the place where the souls of believers go to be further purified from sin until they are ready to be admitted into heaven

Belief

in contemporary culture, this term usually refers to the acceptance of the truth of something, such as facts about Christ, with no necessary element of trust in Christ as a person. In the NT, this term often includes sense of a personal trust in or reliance on Christ

Lord

in the New Testament, a translation of the Greek word kyrios which is usually, but not always, used to refer to Christ. In the Greek translation of the OT, this word is used to translate the Hebrew yhwh, the personal name of the omnipotent God.

God

in the New Testament, a translation of the Greek work theos, which is usually, but not always, used to refer to God the Father

Temporary blessings

influences of the Holy Spirit and the church that make unbelievers look or sound like genuine believers when in fact they are not.

Conversion

our willing response to the gospel call, in which we sincerely repent of sins and place our trust in Christ for salvation

Passive obedience

refers to Christ's sufferings for us in which he took the penalty due for our sins and as a result died for our sins.

Likeness

refers to something that is similar but not identical to the things it represents

Foreknowledge

relative to the doctrine of election, the personal, relational knowledge by which God thought of certain people in a saving relationship to himself before creation. This is to be distinguished from the mere knowledge of facts about a person

Infused Rightwoulsness

righteousness that God actually puts into us and that changes us internally. The RCC understands justification to be based on such an infusion, which differs from Protestantism's view that justification is a legal declaration by God based on imputed righteousness.

Body of Christ

scriptural metaphor for the church. This image is used for two different metaphors in the NT, one to stress the interdependence of the members of the body and one to stress Christ's headship of the church.

Born Again

scriptural term referring to God's work of regeneration by which he imparts new spiritual life to us

Predestination

sometimes used as another term for "election." However, in reformed theology generally, predestination is a broader term that includes not only election (for believers) but also reprobation (for nonbelievers).

Session

the "sitting down" of Christ at God's right hand after his ascension, indicating that his work of redemption was complete and that he had received authority over the universe

Primogeniture

the Old Testament practice in which the firstborn in any generation in a human family has leadership in the family for that generation

Redemption

the act of buying back sinners out of their bondage to sin and to Satan through the payment of a ransom

Irresistible Grace

the action of God whereby he effectively calls people and also gives them regeneration, both of which guarantee that we will respond in saving faith. This term is subject to misunderstanding since it seems to imply that people do not make a voluntary, willing choice in responding to the gospel

Virgin Birth

the biblical teaching that Jesus was conceived in the womb by his mother Mary by a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit and without a human father

Common Grace

the common grace of God by which he gives people innumerable blessings that are not part of salvation

Assurance of Salvation

the confidence we may have based on certain evidences in our lives that we are truly born again and will persevere as Christians until the end of our lives

Impeccability

the doctrine that Christ was not able to sin

Perseverance of the Saints

the doctrine that all those who are truly born again will be kept by God's power and will persevere as Christians until the end have been truly born again

Soul Sleep

the erroneous doctrine that believers go into a state of unconscious existence when they die and that they return to consciousness when Christ returns and raises them to eternal life.

Arianism

the erroneous doctrine that denies the full deity of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirt

Ransom to Satan Theory

the erroneous view that in the atonement Christ paid a ransom to Satan to redeem us out of his kingdom.

Monophysitism

the fifth-century heresy that held that Christ had only one nature, which was a mixture of divine and human natures

Nestorianism

the fifth-century heresy that taught that there were two separate persons in Christ, a human person and a divine person

Pelagius

the fifth-century monk who taught that every person has the ability to obey God's commands and take the first and most important steps toward salvation on his/her own.

Glorification

the final step in the application of redemption. It will happen when Christ returns and raises from the dead the bodies of all believers for all time who have died, and reunites them with their souls, and changes the bodies of all believers who remain alive, thereby giving all believers at the same time perfect resurrection bodies like his own

First Fruits

the first portion of a ripening harvest. In describing Christ in his resurrection the "first fruits," the bible indicates that our resurrection bodies will be like his when God raises us from the dead

Apollinarianism

the fourth-century heresy that held that Christ had a human body but not a human mind or spirit, and that the mind and spirit of Christ were from the divine nature of the Son of God

External (general) Calling

the general gospel invitation offered to all people that comes through human proclamation of the gospel; this can be rejected by people

The Gospel (general/external) Call

the general gospel invitation to all people that comes through human proclamation

Saving Grace

the grace of God that brings people to salvation; also known as special grace

Inherited (original) Sin

the guilt and the tendency to sin that all people inherit because of Adam's sin. Inherited sin includes both inherited guilt and inherited corruption.

Docetism

the heretical teaching that Jesus was not really a man, but only seemed to be one.

Inherited (original) guilt

the idea that God counts all people guilty because of Adam's sin

Determinism

the idea that acts, events, and decisions are the inevitable result of some condition of decision prior to them that is independent of the human will

Dualism

the idea that both God and the material universe (or some evil force) have eternally existed side by side as two ultimate forces in the universe

Distortion of Role

the idea that in the punishments God gave to Adam and Eve after their sin, he did not introduce new roles or functions, but simply introduced pain and distortion into the functions they previously had

Equal in personhood

the idea that men and women are both created in God's image and therefore are equally important and valuable to God.

Difference in role

the idea that men and women have been given by God different primary functions in the family and the church

Spirit

the immaterial part of man; used interchangeably with soul

Soul

the immaterial part of man; used interchangeably with spirit

Image of God

the nature of man such that he is like GOd and represents God.

reconciliation

the removal of enmity and the restoration of fellowship between two parties; in the atonement, we were reconciled to God.

Ascension

the rising of Jesus from the earth into heaven forty days after his resurrection.

Inherited (original) Corruption

the sinful nature, or the tendency to sin, which all people inherit because of Adam's sin (often referred to as "original pollution"). This idea entails that (1) in our nature we totally lack spiritual good before God, and (2) in our actions we are totally unable to do spiritual good before GOd.

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

Sinless perfection

the state of being totally free from sin. Some erroneously hold that such a state is possible in this life.

Chalcedonian definition

the statement produced by the Council of Chalcedon in A.D. 451, which has been regarded by most branches of Christianity as the orthodox definition of the biblical teaching on the person of Christ.

Son of Man

the term by which Jesus referred to himself most often, which had an OT background, especially in the heavenly figure who was given eternal rule over the world in the vision in Daniel 7:13

Death

the termination of our bodily life brought about by the entrance of sin in to the world

Governmental Theory

the theory that Christ's death was not a payment for our sins but God's demonstration of the fact that, since he is the moral governor of the universe, some kind of penalty must be paid whenever his laws are broken

Moral influence theory

the theory that Christ's death was not a payment for our sins but simply a demonstration of how much God loved human beings, because it showed how God identified with their sufferings, even to the point of death. The atonement becomes, then, an example designed to draw from us a grateful response.

Total depravity

the traditional term for the doctrine total inability

Spiritual Body

the type of body we will receive at our future resurrection, which will not be "immaterial" but rather suited to and responsive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit

the unpardonable sin

the unusually malicious, willful rejection and slander against the Holy Spirit's work attesting to Christ, and attributing that work to Satan

Penal Substitution

the view of the atonement that hold that Christ in his death bore the just penalty for our sins, and did so as a substitute for us.

Egalitarian

the view that all functions and roles in the family and in the church are open to men and women alike. Specifically, egalitarianism holds that there is no unique leadership role the husband in marriage and that no governing or teaching roles in the church are reserved for men.

Example Theory

the view that in the atonement Christ did not bear the penalty of GOd for our sins but that he simply provided us with an example of how we should trust and obey God perfectly, even if this leads to death

Monism

the view that man is made of only one element, the physical body, and that his body is the person

Trichotomy

the view that man is made up of three parts: body, soul, and spirit

Dichotomy

the view that man is made up of two parts- body and soul/ spirit

Complementarian

the view that men and women are equal in value before God but have different roles in marriage and the church; specifically, that there is unique leadership role for the husband in marriage and that some governing and teaching roles in the church are reserved for men.

Perfectionism

the view that sinless perfection, or freedom from conscious isn, is possible in this life for the Christian

Consequent absolute necessity

the view that the atonement was not absolutely necessary, but as a "consequence" of God's decision to save some human beings, the atonement was absolutely necessary, because there was no other way God could save any sinners except through the death and resurrection of his Son.

Atonement

the work Christ did in his life and death to earn our salvation

Vicarious Atonement

the work of Christ did in his life to earn our salvation by standing in our place as or "vicar" or representative

Impute

to think of as belonging to someone and therefore to cause it to belong to that person. God "thinks of" Adam's sin as belonging to us, and it therefore belongs to us. In justification, God "thinks of" Christ's righteousness as belonging to us, and on that basis he declares that it belongs to us, and therefore it does.

Saving faith

trust in Jesus Christ as a living person for forgiveness of sins and for eternal life with God.

Faith

trust or dependence on God based on the fact that we take him at his word and believe what he has said.