Concepts in scripture and Christian theology Flashcards
A Being in Communion
The Trinitarian God:
A sharing of the divine community
Creation:
The fact that God is Creator and we are creatures impacts the way we view
our relationship with God and creation (trinity and creation)
Because we live in a world created by God, there is
an order to the universe, including a moral order. (creation and moral order)
Closely related to a moral order is the idea of a fundamental
natural law for which all people are obligated (creation and natural law)
3 clear ethical principles can be derived from the image of God.
a. Humans occupy a unique place in God’s creation.
b. Human life has special value.
c. There is a fundamental equality among human beings.
our failure to relate well to God, others, and creation
sin
the destruction of community
sin
the effects of sin are (4)
theological, sociological, ecological, and personal
Because of our sin, we are now unfit for God’s presence.
Theological effects
Sin brings conflict and division among people and societies.
Sociological effects
Rather than being stewards, we exploit creation for our own selfish greed.
Ecological effects
We exist in a state of inner conflict and division because we are not fulfilling the purpose for which we were created.
Personal effects
Ethical living in the NT is
a response to what God has done for us in Jesus Christ
we live in the tension of _____ and _______
already
not yet
In several of his epistles Paul explicitly avoids two extremes.:
legalism
lawlessness
The church is important for the ethical task because, as we saw in our discussion of virtue,
community is crucial for the development of virtue
Without the work of the Holy Spirit, Christian ethics eventually degenerates into
“boot-strap theology”
God’s intent for us is to be ———— and to be ——–
1) authentically human (to live as we were created to live),
2) in community with God and one-another.
As Christians, our goal is to
become more and more like Jesus Christ
At least two things can be said about virtue. Virtues must be understood—-and virtues are a ——
a. Virtues must be understood in light of scripture and the life of Christ.
b. Virtues are gifts of God’s grace
an endowment given to us by God that gives us competence to engage in moral discernment. It is a “reliable belief-producing mechanism” that we are created with, much like similar mechanisms such as memory or sense perception.
conscience
For the Christian, conscience, like ————-, is a God-given capacity and a reliable medium for moral knowledge
memory and perception
