Historic Christian Belief

Inward General Revelation

Conscience and Judicial sentiment

Conscience

Moral faculty which judges my actions towards others

Judicial sentiment

moral faculty which judges the act of others towards me

Moral Law

Conscience and Judicial sentiment

decent behavior is universally agreed upon

Outward General Revelation

God through creation

Verbal inspiration theory

(Word) every word of scripture is inspired by God. (exact word from God)

every word is fully divine and fully human

emphasizes end product

Plenary

Full, not parts but all

Intuition theory

Inspiration as high degree of insight, the Bible is no different from other religious texts

Illumination theory

inspiration as an influence of HS upon bible authors, not different from other Christian writings

dynamic theory

combination of divine and human authors, HS directs the thoughts that the writer should have. The author uses their own words and language though

verbal theory

each word is the exact word that God wants to be used. Every word is fully divine and fully human

dictation theory

God dictated the bible to the writers (can't be true, God is the word, the word is flesh)

also does not account for different language use and writing styles

Allegorical

a system of interpretation which sees virtually everything in the bible as allegory (stories with a deeper meaning/moral)

Literal interpretation

(common sense) tries to find the authors intended meaning (grammatical-historical)

• Lucian and Antiochean schools

• Luther: writer’s words and context should determine interpretation

Historical-Critical

Biblical scholarship under the influence of enlightenment philosophy (miracles=myth)

Cosmological

argument from the observable universe

• everything needs a mover so God is the first mover

• first efficient cause

• necessary being

• most perfect being

teleological

there is complex design in creation so there must be an intelligent purpose

ontological

cause to effect, God is a being than which nothing greater can be imagined

Moral

God is our source of our sense of right and wrong

3 Factors of trinity

Unity of God, Deity of Jesus, Presences of God within his people

Modalism

1 God in 3 different modes

all three persons seen in Jesus’ baptism so it’s wrong

Arianism

son and spirit are inferior to the father because they were god's first creation

tritheism

god is 3 persons because there are 3 gods

Tritheism in creation

father spoke words - son carried out - spirit maintains

Tritheism in redemption

father planned - son obeyed/accomplished - spirit regenerates

Man's highest end is to __ God and fully __ him forever

Glorify, enjoy

Alternative worldviews

Greek philosophy, pantheism, dialectical materialism, atheistic evolution

Greek philosophy

God and matter: two eternal, self-ecistent principles

Pantheism

God is equal to all that is

Dialectical Materialism

matter is eternal, and there is no god. (communism or classless society is the goal of history)

Atheistic evolution

no purpose or goal in history, everything happened by chance

Christian views on creation

Literal framework hypothesis, Gap theory, Theistic evolution

Literal framework hypothesis

days of creation should be viewed as logical rather than chronological structuring (arranged in 2 groups of 3 days)

Gap theory

gap where satan come and ruined the earth and god had to come and fix it again

theistic evolution (fully gifted theory)

creation from nothing

Providence

Foresight

General providence

Natural law is central to general providence

Special Providence

God's personal and all-inclusive governance

Permissive will

God doesn't direct every human act, rather commands all things to assist in working out his salvation (wesley)

directive will

God decrees all to happen

Imago Dei

We are similar but not identical (physical, mental, moral)

Significance of Imago Dei

The culmination of creation. (all humans have dignity and respect)

3 Views of man's makeup

Monism, dichotomy, trichotomy

Monism

Man is 1 element. Man as matter without soul. (Ximmaterial lives on after deathX)

Dichotomy

(most accepted view) man is 2 elements, body and soul/spirit

trichotomy

man is 3 elements. body, soul, spirit. (spirit comes alive when you are a christian)

Original sin Realism

we are all corrupt, but not guilty

Original sin federalism

all people are guilty as well as corrupt

Self-determination

the will is free in the sense that it is at liberty to do as it pleases (inclined towards evil)

indetermination

the will is free and not inclined towards good or evil

6 heresies reguarding Christ

Ebionism, docetism, arianism, apollinarianism, nestorianism, eutchianism

Ebionism

Jesus was not God. Christ descended upon the man Jesus at birth and left him at death

Docetism

Jesus was not human (matter is evil, God can't be evil) must be an illusion

Arianism

Jesus was not fully God. God the father created god the son as a lesser god

Apollonarianism

Jesus was not fully human

Nestorianism

Jesus was two distinct persons

Eutychianism

Jesus had one blended nature

Theories of atonement

ransom to satan theory, christur victor view, latin view, the reformed view, moral influence theory, example theory, governmental theory

Ransom to Satan

Adam and eve sold humanity to satan during the fall, Jesus was the ransom sent by god

Christus Victor view

Christ's life recapitulated all the stages of human life

The latin view

Christ became man to keep the law perfect, then die a voluntary death (mankind owes a debt to god)

Reformed view

Christ bore a penalty for sin, sin needs to be punished for God to be just, Christ is our substitution

Moral influence theory

Christ death is a way of god showing his love for us by identifying with our sufferings

Example theory

Christ suffered to leave us an example. Provision of perfect trust and obedience

Governmental theory

Christ died to demonstrate the fact that God's laws had been broken and penalty would be required (demonstration of seriousness)

Objective theories

insist that the work of Christ was needed in order to overcome objective barrier or hindrance that prevented reconciliation between god and humanity

Subjective theories

Reject the notion God had to remove any barrier between him and humanity to forgive us

General atonement

Christ died that all persons MIGHT be saved. They must believe

Particular atonement

Christ's death purchased the salvation of those who God predestined, or the elect

Single elder

Pastor-deacon board-congregation

plural elder

elder board - congregation

corporate board

church board - pastor - congregation (rare)

4 views function of sacraments

Convey grace, strengthen faith, enhance unity and commitment, reassure us of God's promise

3 firms

episcopalian, presbyterian, congregational

Marks of the church

unity, holiness, universality, apostolicity of the church

Episcopalian

three levels of leadership, bishop, priests, and deacons

presbyterian

general assembly - presbytery - session - congregation

Congregational

Single elder, plural elder, corporate board, pure democracy, no government

4 millennial views

amillennialism, postmillennialism, dispensational premillennialism, historic premillennialism

amillennialism

no thousand year reign on earth between his second coming and final judgment. Interpreted symbolically

historic premillennialism

thousand year reign of christ between his return to earth and the final judgement

Elohim

God

El Elohim

used in Gen 1, emphasizes supreme greatness of the one true God

El Shaddai

God almighty (between time of Abraham and Moses)

El Elyon

God most high, transcendent God

El Olam

the everlasting God, found only in Genesis 21:33

Yahweh

God of the Covenant, I am who I am

revealed to Moses

Adonai

Lord, implies God’s authority or sovereign rule

Theos

LXX translation of Elohim, generic term for deity

Kurios

LXX translation of YHWH, translated to Lord

Pater

Father, emphasis on God’s relationship with believers

Abba

pappa or daddy

Communicable traits of God

traits that God shares with others in analogy not essence

• knowledge, wisdom

• truthfulness

• goodness

• mercy

• love

Incommunicable traits of God

traits that God does not share with others

• infinity

• independence

• eternity

• immutability

homoousios

of the same substance, used in regard to the trinity

• used by council of nicaea

Inerrancy

doctrine that the Bible holds no errors

Absolute inerrancy

Bible intends to provide exact scientific and historical data

Full inerrancy

the Bible is completely free from all falsehood, scientific and historical data is general though not exact

Limited inerrancy

Bible is inerrant in doctrinal references, but not in science or history

Inerrancy of purpose

The Bible inerrantly brings people to Christ