Foundations of Christian Thought - Exam 3

Church

the community of true believers for all time

• Jesus announces

• Spirit increases

• Moses gathered

• Hebrews links

Body/Bride of Christ

the Bible’s metaphorical way of describing the church

The Purposes of the Church

• Provide a ministry to believers (nurture)

• Provide a ministry to unbelievers (gospel + acts of mercy)

• Keep purposes in balance

Traditional Marks of the Church

• Preaching of the Word

• Right administration of the sacraments

• Discipline

Trunk and Roots of Church

• Roman Catholicism

• Eastern Orthodoxy (separated from Catholicism in 1054 AD)

Closer Branches of Church

• Lutheran (separated from Catholicism in 1517 AD)

• Reformed churches

• Anabaptist churches

• Anglican churches

Middle Branches of Church

• Presbyterian churches (perpetuate Reformed)

• Baptist churches (from Reformed)

• Wesleyan and Methodist churches (from Anglican)

• Episcopal churches (from Anglican)

Reformed and Presbyterian Tradition

• Local church government of elders

• Predestination to salvation

Anglican and Episcopal Tradition

• Historical liturgy

• Middle way of worship and government

Wesleyan Tradition

• Sanctification

• Women in ministry

Baptist Tradition

• Local government

• Primitive worship

• Believer baptism

Means of Grace

an activity within the fellowship of the church that God uses to give more grace to Christians

Sacrament

an outward sign of an inward grace

Two Components of Sacraments

• Sign (signa)

• Thing signified (res)

According to Protestantism, how is a sacrament made effective?

By things signified and the faith of the recipient, not through the mediating person

Basis for Baptism

baptismal commandment in Matthew 28:19-20

Historical Antecedents of Christian Baptism

• Circumcision

• Cleansing for ritual purity

Significance of Baptism

• Washing

• Rebirth

• Death

Modes of Baptism

• Sprinkling

• Pouring

• Immersion

Arguments for Believer Baptism

• Baptism ought to be understood for its effectiveness

• The Acts formula: first believe, then be baptized

Arguments for Paedobaptism

• NT passages may imply baptism of children and household servants

• Baptism corresponds to the OT sign of entrance into the covenant community

Basis for Communion

• Gospel accounts

• 1 Corinthians 11

Historical Antecedents of Communion

Agape feasts

Significance of Communion

• Christ’s death is celebrated and symbolized

• Ongoing participation in the covenant

• Unity of believers

• Spiritual nourishment and anticipation of future blessings

Transubstantiation

changed to be the physical body and blood of Christ (Catholic)

Consubstantiation

Christ is “physically present” with the sacrament (Lutheran)

Sign and Seal

spiritual working where Christ binds Himself to the sacrament (Reformed)

Memorial

in remembrance only (Anabaptist)

Genre of Eschatology

Apocalyptic

• visions

• angels

• future

• persecution

• hope

• symbols

Death

• Death is a consequence of sin

• Death is the final outcome of living in a fallen world

• Death is not a direct punishment for a Christian’s sins

• God used death to complete our sanctification

Where do believers go when they die?

• The souls of believers go immediately into God’s presence (Abraham’s Bosom, Paradise)

• Our rewards are not yet full until judgment

• Notion of an Intermediate State

Where do non-believers go when they die?

• The souls of unbelievers go immediately into punishment

• Unbelievers will fully experience eternal punishment after judgment

• Immediate experience of OT non-believers is not clearly stated but systematically probable

• Post-mortem evangelism lacks biblical evidence

Alternative Views of Believers’ Afterlife

• Purgatory (Catholic)

• Limbo (Catholic expired)

• Soul Sleep (Adventist)

• Annihilationism (Adventist expanded)

Heaven

the place where God most fully makes known his presence to bless

Characteristics of Heaven

• “Dwelling” place of God

• Excellence

• Fulfilling

• Eternal

• Real

• Christological

Hell

a place of eternal conscious punishment for the wicked

Characteristics of Hell

• Tormenting

• Eternal

• Conscious

• Punitive

Order of End Times Events

• Tribulation

• Return of Christ

• Millennium Established

• “Little Season”

• Judgment

• Eternal Hereafter

Tribulation for the Church and the World

• Increase in apostasy

• Rise of Antichrist

• Time of great tribulation (7 or 3 ½ years in length)

• Armageddon

Parousia

Final return of Jesus Christ

Interpretive Themes of Last Times

• Futurist

• Preterist

• Idealist

• Dispensationalism

Futurist

• premillennial

• has yet to occur

Preterist

• potentially any millennialism

• has already occured

Idealist

• amillennialism, postmillenialism

• not chronological points on a timeline

Dispensationalism

Division of biblical history into periods of salvation

• Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, church, millennium

• Means of salvation vary by dispensation

• David promise of land and throne postponed beyond church age

• Rapture removes church for final Jewish work by God

• Evangelical political commitment to Israel

• premillennial

Millennial Views

• Premillennial

• Postmillennial

• Amillennial

Premillennial

Christ returns before the millennium

Postmillennial

Christ returns after the millennium

Amillennial

spiritual, non-literal understanding of the millennium; Christ is currently reigning through the church

Characteristics of the Millennium

• Christ reigns with the saints

• No description of location of throne

• Freedom from Satanic influence

• Satan unleashed afterward

Characteristics of Resurrection Bodies

• Imperishable

• Raised in glory

• Raised in power

• Spiritual

• Continuous

Psalm 133:1

church in unity

Matthew 16:13-19

keys to the kingdom given to Peter

Luke 16:31-46

The Rich Man and Lazarus; intermediate state

Revelation 20

millennium