Christian Beliefs and Convictions Exam #2

Son of Man (119-120)

The Son of Man is the one who has been "given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed" (Dan. 7:14). Jesus the "Son of Man" is Jesus the "Son of God," who is so intimate with the Father, so beloved by the Father, that we know Him to be "the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being" (Heb. 1:13).

Immutability (122)

God's unchanging nature, i.e. He doesn't change

Impassibility (124)

God's nature is not subject to the passions or suffering, i.e., Augustinian view point. This is not saying that God doesn't have emotions, rather that God does not have emotions that "disturb the mind."

Apollinarianism (126)

Named for Apollinaris of Laodicea, suggests that Jesus must have been less than fully human.

Eutychianism (127)

Named for Eutyches, presents a Jesus whose humanity has been undone by God, that "Christ is of two natures before the Incarnation, of only one afterwards."

Monophysitism (127)

The incarnate Jesus only has one nature (physis).

Monothelitism (ppt 16)

Christ had no human will

Incarnation (128)

Divinity unites with humanity while allowing it to be truly human. Divinity cherishes humanity.

Nestorian (128)

Named after Nestorius, saw that Jesus is divine and human, but he wanted to keep the two natures separate, insisting that certain actions were from Jesus' "divine" nature, while others were from His "human" nature.

Theotokos (129)

"The one who gave birth to God"

Council of Chalcedon (130)

Worked through the questions raised by the christological heresies, and it resulted in a doctrinal statement defining boundaries for Christian speech about and understanding of the identity of Jesus, affirming that Jesus has two natures, a fully divine nature and a fully human nature, and that those two natures are truly united in one person.

Person (131)

Names both the Second Person of the Trinity and the historical person Jesus of Nazareth, God in the flesh.

Two natures (131)

Affirming that Jesus is both divine and human.

Hypostatic union (133)

The unity of the divine and human natures in the person Jesus, which can only be applied to the incarnation.

Communication of Attributes (133)

Shows us how to think about the things that are appropriate to God and the things that are appropriate to humanity when we meet those attributes in the incarnate Jesus.

Iconography (135)

Due to the incarnation of Jesus, God becoming flesh and giving us a physical example of Himself, God can therefore be represented. As John of Damascus says, "I worship Him clothed in the flesh, not as if it were a garment... That flesh is divine, and endures."

Particularity (137)

Used in theology to point to the goodness of a God whose love extends to specifics.

Soteriology (141)

The Doctrine of Atonement, attending to the interconnections between who Jesus is and what He has done, especially. in the cross and resurrection, to bring about salvation.

Contrition (145)

The step on the way of salvation when we feel sorry for our sin, when we wish that it could be made right.

Repentance (145)

We turn away from sin and toward God.

Justification (145)

God's work in justifying sinners---forgiving our sin and making us right with God.

Indulgences (146)

Catholic Church granted these for "a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven." One is thus understood to cover punishment for sins---punishment that would have to be paid by the individual. This punishment is to be covered by the merits of Christ and of the saints, held. in treasury and administered by the Catholic Church.

Imputed righteousness (147)

God imputes Christ's righteousness to us; the righteousness of Christ is imputed, reckoned, or credited to us and becomes the legal basis for our acquittal.

Sanctification (150)

God's work in making us godly, holy, and like Christ and it is a gift of grace.

Works righteousness (151)

Legalism, a doomed Pelagianism. in which we attempt to be our own saviors.

Antinomianism (151)

Acting as if God's law had nothing to say to the Christian life, as if it didn't matter how we lived.

Calvinist (153)

Focuses on the priority and sovereignty of God's grace by emphasizing God as the sole agent of salvation.

Arminian (153)

Focuses on God's loving desire to be in saving relationship with humanity and connects to God's opening up space for human agency alongside divine grace, in salvation.

Prevenient grace (154)

A gift of grace from God that comes before us, preceding anything we do.

Monergistic (156)

Calvinistic soteriology, meaning that God is the only actor in salvation.

Synergistic (156)

Arminian soteriology, meaning that God works together with human beings in the process of salvation

Atonement (158)

The way Christ's work bridges the separation between humans and God, opening up the possibility that we may again be reconciled to, or made one with, God.

Deification (158)

"Christ, indeed, assumed humanity, that we might become God." Atonement involves a double movement" 1) God comes to us, in incarnate unity with us, in order to 2) bring us to God, in unity with the divine life.

Christus Victor (159)

The idea of the Atonement as a Divine conflict and victory; Christ---Christus Victor (Christ the Victor)---fights against and triumphs over the evil powers of the world, the 'tyrants' under which mankind is in bondage and suffering, and in Him God reconciles the world to Himself.

Substitute (160)

Christ's role in taking our place to pay the price of sin.

Satisfaction (160)

Posits that Christ's death on the cross functioned as a gift to God on behalf of humanity to restore the order of justice subverted by sin.

Forensic (160)

Shifting the metaphor from the feudal context to the court of law, God as judge, us as the guilty defendants with Christ taking the punishment on our behalf.

Moral example (161)

The perfect love of Christ, which becomes a moral example for us who are witnesses of the love. Abelard suggests that in seeing the love of Christ, especially on the cross, we are moved by love to love in turn.

Sacraments (161)

Baptism and communion, recognized by the whole church, commanded by Jesus, are central, formative, and communal practices often defined as "outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace."

Pneumatology (167)

Greek pneuma = "breath" or "spirit"

The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

Filioque (171)

"and from the Son", phrase that was added to the Nicene Creed by the Western Church to affirm the full divinity of both Spirit and Son in their eternal relationship to each other, and it fits with a tendency to see the three persons of the Trinity in mutuality and coequality

Proceeds (171)

A signpost for the eternal relatedness of Father and Spirit (Think of Begotten, but with the Spirit)

Anthropomorphize (173)

Forming God into our own image instead of remembering that it is the other way around

Holiness (178)

Divine righteousness, the standard of goodness and justice and truthfulness.

Cessationism (182)

The belief that the special gifts of the Spirit ended with the New Testament age (they cease to appear)

Continuationism (182)

Recognizing that such spiritual gifts are available in every age (they continue to appear)

Ecclesiology (193)

The Doctrine of the Church

Marks of the Church (195-199)

"One, holy, catholic, and apostolic."

Catholic (198)

(Lowercase c, distinguished from the uppercase C used for Roman Catholicism), implies both universality and wholeness

Apostolic (199)

Authority and truth, the same church as that of the apostles (the eye-witnesses of Jesus Christ in the flesh)

Donatist Controversy (201)

The Dotanists wanted a pure church and demanded holiness from their leaders. They objected to the possibility that people who had betrayed the church might be able to repent and be reinstated. The Dotanists thus formed a separatist church.

Constantinianism (203)

Used to point to church collusion with and corruption by the state, to the bride trading Christ's love for worldly power and wealth

Sacrament (207)

A visible sign of spiritual grace, connecting visible, material creation and the grace of the Spirit. They share three features: they are tangible, they are communal, and God has made gracious promises about them. Outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace.

Mixed Body (201)

The church is full of both the wheat and the tares of Jesus's parable

Sacramental (207)

Things are are like a sacrament, but aren't community-oriented or promises of God

Eucharist (208)

Another word for communion, from the Greek word for giving thanks

Priesthood of all believers (208)

Protestant theology that limits sacraments to church practices that truly belong to all Christians

Consubstantiation (209)

Christ is truly present in and with the bread, affirming that Christ's body is present with (-con) the substance of the bread.

Real substance (209)

Christ's genuine presence in communion, which can be seen as a further affirmation of justification by grace

Ordinances (209)

Something done in obedience, with our participation. in baptism and the supper as obedient responses to grave that has already been given, not as means of grace in and of themselves.