Historic Christian Belief

General Revelation (inward)

God making himself known in human beings

conscience (inward revelation)

moral faculty which judges my actions toward others (fallible)

Judicial sentiment (inward revelation)

moral faculty which judges the acts of others toward me (double standard for ourselves verses others)

the moral law

the human idea of decent behavior (or what is fair) which is universally agreed

Sensus Divinitatis

sense of divinity

General Revelation (outward)

God making himself known in creation "All truth is God's truth"

Common grace

grace given to all humans

Implications of General Revelation

1. All persons have some knowledge of God

2. Truth is possible outside Special Revelation

3. God is still just in condemning all humanity since none is completely without opportunity

4. World religions phenomena exemplifies the point of General Revelation

Intuition Theory

Inspiration as a high degree of insight

Illumination Theory

inspiration as an influence of the Holy Spirit upon the biblical aauthors in increasing spiritual perceptivity but no special communication of the truth

Dynamic Theory

Emphasis on the combination of divine and human elements in the process of inspiration (process)

Verbal Theory

Holy Spirit chose words and concepts for human writers (product)

Dictation Theory

God dictated the Bible to the writers

theology

study of God

Plenary Inspiration

All scripture is inspired by God

Verbal Inspiration

The words are inspired by God

Partial Inspiration Theory

It distinguishes the words of biblical authors and the Word of God / Only the statements concerning spiritual matters are inspired and true / matter of history and science may be false

Absolute Inerrancy

every detail and data entry in the Bible can be verified to be historically and scientifically accurate

Full Inerrancy

The Bible is completely true being free from all falsehood or deceit, but the references to scientific and historical data are not necessarily exact but rather general references or approximations

Limited Inerrancy

The Bible is only true in matters of faith and practice—not science and history.

Inerrancy of purpose

the Bible inerrantly accomplishes its purpose of bringing people to Christ. It does not present facts.

Rejection of inerrancy

The Bible is human work and naturally contains errors.

Doctrinal Approach

Maintains inerrancy based on the doctrine of inspiration, not on the phenomena

harmonistic approach

Attempts to harmonize conflicting passages and suggests solutions

Moderate Harmonization Approach

attempts to harmonize but doesn't force it if data is not available

Inerrancy

The fact that the books of Scripture are free from error regarding the spiritual and religious truth God wishes to reveal through them for the sake of our salvation.

Allegorical Interpretation

understanding the Bible as a symbolic or metaphorical document

literal interpretation

takes into account what the author intended to convey

(literal) grammatical-historical method

Method of biblical interpretation that seeks to find the basic "plain sense" meaning of a Bible passage by applying standard rules of grammar and syntax, seeking to determine what the text says grammatically and what it meant historically. It strives to discover the author's original intention by careful use of the rules of context, genre, language, and biblical consistency.

Historical Critical Method

contextualizing a text by treating it as a human product written at a particular time, in a particular place, for a specific audience, and with a specific purpose

Three views on authority

1. Bible is sole authority

2. The Holy Spirit is sole authority

3. The combination of the Bible and the Holy Spirit is sole authority

God exercises his authority through...

1. the Church (Roman Catholic)

2. a direct act of revelation (neoorthodox)

3. delegating it to the Bible (evangelical)

Confidence of the divine origin of the Bible comes from...

1. the Church (Roman Catholic)

2. human reason (rationalist)

3. the internal work of the Holy Spirit (evangelical)

Historical Authority

The Bible teaches us what occurred and what the people were commanded in biblical times.

Normative Authority

the ability of the Scripture to determine correct Christian doctrine and practice apart from human opinions and philosophies.

Canon views

Protestant: Canon is closed and was chosen because it was the word of God

Roman Catholic: Canon is open and was chosen by the Church

Apostolicity

This quality refers to the fact the Church was founded on the Apostles and remains so, guarding and handing on the apostolic teaching, and continuing to be taught, sanctified, and guided by successors of the Apostles.

Orthodoxy

authorized or generally accepted theory, doctrine, or practice

Universality

perception of a writing as "God-breathed" on the part of an overwhelming majority of believers

Council of Carthage

Convened in AD 397, the question of what books were to be included in the canon of the Bible was settled.

Dead Sea Scrolls

(Old Testament) a collection of written scrolls (containing nearly all of the Old Testament) found in a cave near the Dead Sea in the late 1940s

Cosmological Argument

Thomas Aquinas, everything was caused by the previous, at some point there has to be an infinite thing (God) that caused everything.

Teleological Argument

the argument for the existence of God from the evidence of order, and hence design, in nature.

Ontological Argument

the argument that God, being defined as most great or perfect, must exist, since a God who exists is greater than a God who does not.

Moral argument for the existence of God

"The argument that maintains that morality, to be more than merely relative and contingent, must come from and be guaranteed by a supreme being, God",

Elohim

The Hebrew word for God as Creator

El Shaddai

God Almighty

El Elyon

God most high

El Olam

Eternal God

Yahweh (YHWH)

The LORD

Adonai

A name for God meaning "Lord" or "master," which the Israelites used out of respect for the sacredness of the name YHWH.

Theos

Greek for God (Elohim)

Kurios

Greek word for "Lord" (Adonai)

Refers to both God and Jesus

Pater (Abba)

daddy

Jehovah

mispronunciation of Yahweh

Incommunicable Attributes of God

Those attributes that God cannot "share" or "communicate" with his creation.

-Infinity, eternity, independence

Communicable attributes of God

Attributes of God that God shares or communicates with us

-knowledge/wisdom, truthfulness/faithfulness, love, mercy

omnipotent

almighty, having unlimited power or authority

omniscient

knowing everything; having unlimited awareness or understanding

omnipresent

present in all places at all times

Omnitemporal

existing at all times; eternal

Social Trinity

Defining Trinity as a community of persons

Factors of the Trinity

Unity of God; Deity of Jesus; Presence of God within his people (the indwelling of the Spirit)

Trinity Orthodoxy

1. There is one God

2. God is three persons

3. Each person is fully God

Definition of the Trinity

God eternally exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God, and there is one God.

Modalism

the doctrine that the persons of the Trinity represent only three modes or aspects of the divine revelation, not distinct and coexisting persons in the divine nature.

Arianism

A heresy denying that Jesus is truly God

Tritheism

the doctrine of or belief in the three persons of the Trinity as three distinct gods.

Justin Martyr (100-165)

illustrated the relationship of the Son with the Father to the fire igniting another fire

Irenaeus

talked about the economic Trinity and was first to talk about the eternal generation of the Son by the Father (Son is eternal as Father is eternal. Son is begotten of God but also eternal)

Tertullian

was the first to apply the Latin word trinitas to God and to develop the formula of one substance and three persons. said "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church"

Origen

used the word hypostases to refer to the three persons. Origen also taught that the Son and the Holy Spirit are inferior to the Father. wrote the first book of systematic theology in the early church. reinterpreted Christian doctrine through the philosophy of Neoplatonism

Athanasius

affirmed the eternal generation of the Son (against modalism), referred to both the Son and Spirit as homoousios and consubstantial with the Father (against Arianism)

Cappadocian Fathers (Basil the Great, Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus)

introduced the concept of perichoresis (Father, Son, Spirit mutually indwelling one another)

Augustine

laid the groundwork for the Social Trinity model

Purpose of creation

Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.

Cause of creation

1. To display his glory

2. God's benevolence

3. God acting for himself and for others' sake are one and the same thing

Greek Philosophy

1. God and matter: two eternal, self-existent principles

2. matter is intrinsically evil

Pantheism

God is equal to all that is (God and the world are of the same essence)

Dialectical Materialism (Marx)

1. matter is eternal, and there is no God

2. all historical development results from the struggle of opposites

3. Communism, or classless society, is the goal of history

Atheistic Evolutionism (Darwinism)

no purpose or goal in history. Everything happens by chance

Literary Framework Theory

An "old earth" theory of creation that views the six days of Genesis 1 not as a chronological sequence of events, but as a literary "framework" that the author uses to teach about God's creative activity.

Gap Theory

A theory that millions or billions of years could fit between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2.

Theistic Evolution

the idea that God used evolution to make everything in the world

Progressive Creationism

the belief that the physical universe is old and that at certain points in time God created certain organisms

Young Earth Creationism

Creation was completed in six literal days

angel

"messengers"

Thomas Aquinas

discussed angels extensively earning him the title "Angel Doctor" placed angels in a hierarchical order which influenced his view of the church hierarchy (not biblically based). (Roman Catholic Church) Italian theologian and Doctor of the Church who is remembered for his attempt to reconcile faith and reason in a comprehensive theology

Theophany

An appearance or manifestation of God to humans

Satan

"adversary"

Providence

God's fore-knowledge, beneficent care and governance (personal involvement)

Fatalism

Impersonal forces control our destiny. Focuses on the end not the process

Deism

Emphasis on the role of natural law. Governing philosophy is dualism.

Preservation

God maintains the existence and properties of all created things (our breath, the universe, etc.)

Concurrence

God cooperates with created things in every action, directing their distinctive properties to cause them to act as they do (no chance event, includes nature, even evil/Satan is not outside God's providence)

Government

God governs all things to fulfill his purpose

General Providence

God sustaining universe in a general way. Use of natural laws and moral law. Similar to general revelation in that it is given to all human beings (common grace).

Special Providence

God's extraordinary intervention in the life of people

Permissive Providence

God permits evil/choices but does not ordain them (John Wesley)

Directive Providence

God ordains everything (John Calvin)