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Theological Dictionary
Welcome to the
"Theological Dictionary".
Theological words and concepts can be a good study resource and learning
tool for our church family.
Check them out and learn about the Biblical truths which are
central to our faith!
active obedience: a term referring
to Christ's perfect obedience to God during His earthly life that earned
the righteousness that God credits to those who
place their faith in Christ. (Matthew 3:15; Romans 5:19;
1 Corinthians 1:30; Philippians 3:9)
adoption: an act of God whereby He
makes us members of His family. (John 1:12; Romans 8:14-17;
Galatians 4:4-7; Ephesians 1:5)
assurance of salvation: the
internal sense we may have based upon certain evidences in our lives
that we
are truly "born again" and will persevere as
Christians until the end of our lives. (John 14:4; Romans 8:15-16;
Galatians 5:22-23; Colossians 1:23; Hebrews
3:14; 2 Peter 1:5-10; 1 John 2:23-24, 4:13)
atonement: the work Christ did in
His life and death to earn our salvation. (Luke 24:25-26; Romans
3:23-
26; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 9:25-26; 1
Peter 2:24)
authority of Scripture: the idea
that all words in Scripture are God's in such a way that to disbelieve
or
disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve
or disobey God. (1 Kings 13:21, 26; Jeremiah 37:2; Matthew
4:4; 2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:20-21)
blood of Christ: a phrase referring
to Christ's death in its saving aspects, since the blood He shed on the
cross was the clear outward evidence that His
life blood was poured out when He died a sacrificial death to pay
for our redemption. (Hebrews 9:14, 10:19; 1
Peter 1:18-19; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5, 12:10-11)
body of Christ: a scriptural
metaphor for the church. This metaphor is used in two different
ways, one to
stress the interdependence of the members of
the body, and one to stress Christ's headship of the church.
(1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Ephesians 1:22-23,
4:15-16; Colossians 2:19)
communion (Lord's Supper) - one of
the two ordinances that Jesus commanded His church to observe.
This is an ordinance to be observed repeatedly
throughout our Christian lives as a sign of continuing in
fellowship with Christ. (Matthew 26:26-29;
Luke 22:14-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)
doctrine: what the whole Bible
teaches us today about some particular topic.
dying with Christ: a phrase that
describes a person's break with his old way of life by virtue of his
being
united with Christ through faith. (Romans
6:11, 7:6; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Galatians 2:20, 5:24, 6:14;
Colossians 2:12)
election: an act of God before
creation in which He chooses some to be saved, not on account of any
account
of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of
His sovereign good pleasure. (Acts 13:48; Romans 8:28-30,
9:11-13; Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12; 2 Timothy 1:9;
1 Peter 1:1-2)
eternity: God has no beginning,
end, or succession of moments in His own being, and He sees all time
equally vividly, yet God see events in time and acts
in time. (Genesis 1:1; Job 36:26; Psalm 90:2;
Isaiah 46:9-10; Galatians 4:4; 2 Peter 3:8;
Revelation 1:8)
evangelism: the proclamation
of the gospel to unbelievers. (Matthew 28:19-20)
general revelation: the knowledge
of God's existence, character, and moral law that comes through
creation to all humanity.
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. (John
5:28-29, 6:39-40; Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:12-58;
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
grace: God's goodness toward those
who deserve only punishment. (Exodus 33:19, 34:6; Psalm 103:8;
119:132; Romans 3:23-24, 11:6; 1 Peter 5:10)
holiness: the doctrine that God is
separated from sin and devoted to seeking His own honor. (Exodus
19:4-6;
Leviticus 19:2; Psalm 24:3, 71:22, 99:9;
Isaiah 6:3; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Hebrews 12:10)
humiliation of Christ: one of the
two “states” of Christ, the other being exaltation.
The state of humiliation
includes four aspects of His work: His
incarnation, suffering, death, and burial.
hypostatic union: the union of
Christ's human and divine natures in one person. (John 1:14)
imminent: a term referring to the
fact that Christ could return and might return at any time, and that we
are to be prepared for Him to come at any day. (Matthew
24:42-44; Mark 13:32-33; Luke 12:40; Philippians
3:20; Titus 2:12-13; James 5:7-9; 2 Peter
3:10; Revelation 22:20)
immutability (unchangeableness):
the doctrine that God is unchanging in His being, perfections,
purposes, and promises, yet He does act and
feel emotions, and He acts and feels differently in response to
different situations. (Psalm 102:25-27;
Isaiah 46:9-11; Malachi 3:6; James 1:17)
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, and in justification He thinks of Christ's
righteousness as belonging to us and so related to
us on this basis. (Romans 4:3-6, 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians
1:30; Philippians 3:9)
independence: the doctrine that God
does not need us or the rest of creation for anything, yet we and the
rest of creation can glorify Him and bring Him
joy. (Job 41:11; Isaiah 43:7; Acts 17:24-25; Revelation 4:11)
inerrancy: the idea that Scripture
in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary
to
fact. (Psalm 12:6; Proverbs 30:5; John 17:17; 2
Timothy 3:16; Titus 1:2)
infallibility:
the idea that Scripture is not able to lead us astray in matters of
faith and practice. (Psalm 12:6,
119:96; Proverbs 30:5; Luke 24:35; Acts
24:14; 2 Timothy 3:16)
intercession: Jesus' ongoing act of
standing in God's presence and making petitions before Him on our
behalf as our great High Priest. (Romans 8:34; 1
Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 7:25)
jealousy: the doctrine that God
continually seeks to protect His own honor. (Exodus 20:5, 34:14;
Deuteronomy 4:24, 5:9; Isaiah 48:11;
Revelation 4:11)
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. (Romans 3:24-26, 4:20-22;
2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 2:16)
mediator: the role that Jesus plays
in coming between God and us, enabling us to come into the presence of
God. (John 14:6; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 4:14-15,
7:23-28, 8:1-6, 9:1-14)
mercy: God's goodness toward those
in misery and distress. (Exodus 34:6; 2 Samuel 24:14; Psalm 103:8;
2 Corinthians 1:3; Hebrews 2:17, 4:16;
James 5:11)
new covenant: the administration of
the covenant of grace established after the death and resurrection of
Christ, a covenant in which Christ's atoning death
covers all of the believer's sins and the Holy Spirit
empowers the believer to fulfill the righteous
demands of the law. (Jeremiah 31:31-34; 2 Corinthians 3:6;
Hebrews 8:6-13; 9:15; 12:24)
new heavens and new earth: a
description of the entirely renewed creation in which believers will
dwell
after the final judgment. (Isaiah 65:17,
66:22; Matthew 25:34; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1-4)
omnipotence: the doctrine that God
is able to do His holy will. (Psalm 24:8, 115:3; Jeremiah 32:17, 27;
Matthew 19:26)
omnipresence: the doctrine that God
does not have size or spatial dimensions and is present at every
point of space with His whole being, yet God acts
differently in different places. (1 Kings 8:27; Psalm 16:11;
139:7-10; Isaiah 66:1; Jeremiah 23:23-24;
Amos 9:1-4)
omniscience: the doctrine that God
fully knows Himself and all things actual and possible in one simple and
eternal act. (Job 37:16; Psalm 139:1-2; Isaiah
46:9-10; 1 Corinthians 2:10-11; 1 John 3:20)
original sin (inherited sin): the
guilt and the tendency to sin that all people inherit because of Adam's
sin.
(Psalm 51:5, 58:3; Romans 5:12-19; Ephesians 2:3)
passive obedience: a term referring
to Christ's sufferings for us in which He took the penalty due for our
sins and as a result died for our sins. (see
atonement, penal substitution, and
propitiation)
penal substitution: the view that
Christ in His death bore the just penalty of God for our sins as a
substitute for us. (Isaiah 53:6, 11-12; 2
Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 2:24)
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
of their lives, and that only those who persevere until the
end have been truly "born again." (John 3:36,
6:38-40, 8:31-32, 10:27-29; Romans 8:29-30; Philippians 1:6;
Hebrews 3:14)
propitiation: a sacrifice that
bears God's wrath to the end and in so doing changes God's wrath toward
us
into favor. (Romans 3:25; Hebrews 2:17; 1
John 2:2, 4:10)
raised with Christ: a phrase that
describes the aspect of union with Christ by which a person receives new
spiritual life and a change in his character and
personality after coming to faith. (Romans 6:4, 11;
2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 2:12; 1
Peter 1:3, 2:24)
reconciliation: the removal of
enmity and the restoration of fellowship between two parties. (2
Corinthians
5:18-19; 1 Timothy 2:5)
redemption: Christ's saving work
viewed as an act of "buying back" sinners out of their bondage to sin
and
to Satan through the payment of a ransom (though the
analogy should not be pressed to specify anyone to
whom a ransom was paid). (Mark 10:45; Romans
6:11,14; Colossians 1:13; 1 John 5:19; Hebrews 2:14-15)
regeneration: a secret act of God
in which He imparts new spiritual life to us; sometimes called "being
born
again." (Ezekiel 36:26-27; John 1:13, 3:5-8;
Ephesians 2:5; Colossians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:23, 25)
repentance: a heartfelt sorrow for
sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk
in obedience to Christ. (Isaiah 55:6-7; Luke
24:46-47; Acts 3:19; 17:30; 2 Corinthians 7:9-10; Hebrews 6:1)
righteousness: the doctrine
that God always acts in accordance with what is right and that He is
Himself the
final standard of what is right. (Deuteronomy
32:4; Job 40:2, 8; Psalm 19:8; Isaiah 45:19; Romans 3:25-26,
9:20-21)
sanctification: a progressive
work of God and man that makes us more and more free from sin and more
like Christ in our actual lives. (Romans
6:11-14, 12:2; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 3:10)
special revelation: God's words
addressed to specific people, including the words of the Bible.
This is to be
distinguished from general revelation, which is
given to all people generally.
total depravity (total inability):
man's total lack of spiritual good and inability to do good before God.
(Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:10-18, 8:8; 1
Corinthians 2:14; Titus 1:15)
veracity (truthfulness): the
doctrine that God is the true God and that all His knowledge and words
are
both true and the final standard of truth. (Job
37:16; Jeremiah 10:10-11; John 17:3; Colossians 3:10;
Titus 1:2)
wisdom: the doctrine that God
always chooses the best goals and the best means to those goals. (Job
9:4,
12:13; Psalm 104:24; Romans 8:28, 11:33,
16:27; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31; Ephesians 3:10)
wrath: as an attribute of God, the
doctrine that God intensely hates all sin. (Zechariah 8:17; John
3:36;
Romans 1:18, 2:5, 5:9; Colossians 3:6; 1
Thessalonians 1:10)
Definitions based out of Systematic
Theology by Wayne Grudem, © 1994.
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