Bible Doctrine

Question 1

Define amilennial

Answer 1

The rejection of the belief that Christ will visibly return to reign for a thousand years

This goes against AG doctrine.

Question 2

Define apocrypha

Answer 2

Books written between the time of Malachi and the birth of Jesus - The Jews did not include these books in the Hebrew Bible and the Protestant reformers rejected these books as not being inspired by God.

Question 3

Define Arianism

Answer 3

A 3rd century heresy denying the divinity of Christ

Question 4

Define autograph in a biblical context

Answer 4

The original handwritten manuscripts of scripture

None of these are known to exist in the world today as they were likely worn out and destroyed over the years, but we do have access to early manuscripts copied close to the time of the originals.

Question 5

Define Calvinism

Answer 5

The belief taught by John Calvin that God, in his absolute sovereignty, pre-chose who will be saved and who will not.

The Assemblies of God does not agree with this doctrine.

Question 6

Define deism

Answer 6

Belief in the existence of a supreme being

Question 7

Define immutable

Answer 7

Unchanging / unable to be changed

Question 8

Define incarnation

Answer 8

The act by which the son of God became a man without giving up his deity

Question 9

Define postmillennial

Answer 9

The teaching that the millennial reign of Christ refers to the age of the church where Christ is ruling, but not physically present

The Assemblies of God does not agree with this doctrine.

Question 10

Define premillennial

Answer 10

The teaching that Christ will visibly return at the end of the church age and establish a literal thousand year reign physically on Earth

Question 11

Define reconciliation

Answer 11

The bringing of people back to God in restored relationship

Question 12

Define redemption

Answer 12

Christ paying the penalty for our sins by his blood

Question 13

Define sabellianism

Answer 13

a belief taught by Sabellius around the 3rd century that denied the doctrine of the trinity and instead taught that God is one person who simply revealed himself in three different forms at different times.

The Assemblies of God does not agree with this teaching.

Question 14

Define sanctification

Answer 14

the work of the Holy Spirit to separate believers from sin and dedicate them to the worship and service of God

There is an initial act of sanctification that happens at conversion and an ongoing work that continues throughout the lives of believers as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit in putting our sinful desires to death.

Question 15

Define vicarious

Answer 15

for the benefit of another

Question 16

Does the doctrine of divine inspiration mean that God only speaks through the Bible?

Answer 16

No, not necessarily. God’s word is his primary revelation to man and any revelation outside of the Bible should be verified through the Bible (see Acts 17:11), but God can speak through other means.

God makes himself known through his creation (see Romans 1:20).

God makes himself known through the human conscience (see Romans 2:14-15).

^ These are known as general revelation.

God may also speak through others by his Spirit or through dreams and visions, but these should always be verified through scripture.

Question 17

Describe briefly the doctrine of divine inspiration. Be able to give clear biblical evidence on the inspiration and reliability of both the Old and New Testaments.

Answer 17

Paul wrote to Timothy that all scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and Peter described that the Biblical authors wrote as they were led by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21).

Jesus confirmed the inspiration of the Old Testament when he said that scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35) and will never pass away (Matthew 5:17-18).

Peter referred to Paul’s letters and “other scriptures” in 2 Peter 3:15-16. The fact that he said “other scriptures” suggests that he viewed at least Paul’s writings as equal with scripture.

Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would remind the apostles of everything he had taught (John 14:26) and then they, through their writings passed that same teaching on to us.

If all scripture is from God, then this implies that the words of scripture are perfect, infallible, and reliable.

Question 18

Define plenary inspiration

Answer 18

The belief that scripture contains the very words of God, not just vague ideas (see Romans 3:2).

Question 19

How does the Bible argue the existence of God?

Answer 19

The Bible never makes a case for the existence of God. This is simply accepted as common knowledge. Genesis 1:1 opens the Bible with the words, “In the beginning, God…” and Psalm 14:1 says that one has to be a fool to say that there is no God.

To support these claims, common arguments for God’s existence are the cosmological argument (The universe is not eternal and requires an eternal cause), the teleological argument (The complexity of the universe argues for intelligent design), and the moral argument (Morality cannot exist without a perfect standard).

Question 20

What is the significance and meaning of the Hebrew word, “Yahweh”,

Answer 20

This is the holy and personal name of God.

In Exodus 3 at the story of the burning bush, God assigns Moses the role of leading the Israelite people out of slavery in Egypt. In verse 13, Moses asks God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?

God gives Moses the name, “Ehyeh”, which in Hebrew means, “I am” or “I will be” (v. 14). This name indicates that God is the one who always is and always will be. His existence does not depend on anyone or anything else. He is the eternally self-existent one.

Imagine how this would sound though if the people of Israel asked Moses who sent him and he said these words to them. Moses can’t reply “I am” or “I will be”. Only God can say those words. So in verse 15, God gives Moses a different version that he should use and that is the name, “Yahweh”.

This name means “He will be” or “He is”. This is the personal name of God that he would become known by throughout scripture. This Hebrew word appears over 6,000 times throughout the Old Testament.

Over the centuries, the Israelites wanted to learn to honor this name as holy and not just casually say it aloud so when they would read the Hebrew scrolls and come to this name, instead of saying “Yahweh”, they would instead say the name “Adonai”, which means “Lord”.

This practice has been carried on for centuries so when the Bible translators began translating the Bible into English, instead of writing this sacred name of God, they would write “LORD” in all capital letters.

Question 21

What does it mean that God is transcendent and immanent?

Answer 21

God is above / beyond / greater than the universe that he created, but he is also actively involved in the universe.

Question 22

Explain the different roles of Jesus as prophet, priest, and king.

Answer 22

The term “prophet” refers to one who speaks for God. The New Testament portrays Jesus as a preacher and teacher (see Matthew 9:35). Prophecy is often misunderstood today as having the ability to predict the future. While there are several accounts in scripture of prophets speaking of what was/is to come, this is only because of what God revealed to / spoke through them. Prophets were simply mouths for God to use for whatever he wanted to say.

The term “priest” refers to one who intercedes between people and God (see Hebrews 10:11-14). As the great high priest, Jesus did not need to make sacrifice for his own sins because he never sinned. Instead, he offered himself as the perfect sacrifice by which singers can be saved.

The term “king” refers to a master and ruler. Jesus is worthy of this highest role because of who he is and what he has done.

Question 23

Explain the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s free will.

Answer 23

The 16th century reformer John Calvin taught that God’s absolute sovereignty demanded absolute predestination of who should be saved and who should be lost. The problem with this belief is that God is also sovereign over himself and is therefore able to give humanity free will. God knows each individual’s choices before he even creates them, but his choice to create them does not violate free will, but gives humans the right to live those choices out.

While God is sovereignly in control, this does not imply that God’s will is always done on Earth. The clearest example of this is how God wants all people to be saved (Ezekiel 33:11, 1 Timothy 2:4), but this does not mean that all will be saved (Matthew 7:13).

Question 24

Why do believers still sin after being delivered from sin?

Answer 24

It’s a good question, a question that even the great apostle Paul couldn’t fully answer. In Romans 7:15, Paul wrote, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do”.

In essence, the answer is this: While we have been redeemed, we are still creatures of choice and sometimes, we choose wrongly. As believers though, we now have access to the inner work of the Holy Spirit to help us desire God and kill desire for sin (Romans 6:1-2).

Question 25

What are the human conditions for salvation and what is the outward evidence of salvation?

Answer 25

Salvation is not something that can be earned from God. It is a free gift (Ephesians 2:8-9) that is given when the sinner is convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit and the word of God (John 6:44, 16:8-11, Romans 10:17) and as a result, turns from sin in repentance (Acts 3:19) and turns to God in faith (Hebrews 11:6).

A truly saved person’s life should demonstrate a truly changed heart by seeking to honor God and flee from sin.

Question 26

What does the Greek word, ekklesia mean?

Answer 26

The word “ekklesia” is often translated as “church”, but a more accurate interpretation could be “gathering” or “assembly” (See Acts 19:32, 39, & 41).

An English dictionary defines “assembly” as a group of people gathered together for a common purpose. This is what church is meant to be: a gathering together of freed citizens.

Question 27

What are the three facets of sanctification?

Answer 27

1. Positional holiness - For a believer to live a holy life, it starts with them being declared holy by God. No one can live a holy life while they are still dead in their sins. A life of being made holy starts with God seeing us as holy, not as we are in and of ourselves, but covered by Christ’s righteousness (see Philippians 3:7-9 & Hebrews 10:14).
2. Actual holiness - This is the goal of the Christian life, to become more and more like God in holiness. This is an ongoing process that lasts a lifetime (see Philippians 3:12-14). This is accomplished through a daily renewal of consecration and dedication to seeking to honor God in all that we do and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, putting to death what is not of God (Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:7-14). While, on this side of eternity, we will never reach a point where we are not able to sin, we do have the Holy Spirit who makes us able not to sin.
3. Final holiness - Also known as the doctrine of glorification, this is accomplished at the second coming of Christ when we are finally delivered from our fallen sinful nature and reunited with God (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, Ephesians 4:13)