Theological Systems (Done) Flashcards
Calvinism
Founded by John Calvin
Institutes of the Christian Religion first published in 1536
Recruited by William Farel in July 1536 to pastor in Geneva Switzerland
TULIP confirmed at Synod of Dort (1618-1619) in response to Arminian retorts to Calvinist theology
Total Depravity
Romans 3:9-18“None is righteous, no, not one:…”
Man’s total lack of spiritual good and inability to do good before God
Unconditional Election
Ephesians 1:5“In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ,”
An act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure
Limited Atonement
John 10:14-15“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.”
The Reformed view that Christ’s death actually paid for the sins of those whom he knew would ultimately be saved. “Sufficient for all, effective for some.”
Irresistible Grace
1 Peter 1:3“…he has caused us to be born again…”
The grace that the Holy Spirit extends in the effective call of God cannot be thwarted or refused by man.
Perseverance of the Saints
John 10:28“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
Salvation cannot by lost, those who appear to fall away after salvation were never truly saved.
Dispensationalism
- Began in 19th century with Darby (also put forth by Scofield)
- Israel and the church are two separate groups in God’s overall plan (especially in the eschaton)
- Pretribulational rapture of the church (1 Thess 4:16-17)
- Future literal fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning Israel
- Dividing of biblical history into seven periods or “dispensations” of God’s ways of relating to his people
- Insistence on interpreting biblical prophecies “literally where possible”
Liberalism
- Does not recognize the Bible as the authoritative and inerrant word of God
- Therefore all manner of heresy and wrong beliefs spring from the only remaining authority – man’s sense of God and morality
- Schleiermacher (1768-1834): father of modern liberalism; basis of religion found in experience; pantheistic tendencies; whereas ethics is a way of acting and science a way of knowing, by contrast, religion is a way of being.
Roman Catholicism
Matt 16:18“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
- Scripture plus church tradition
- Authority of the pope and the church. Pope is infallible (Vatican 1)
- Apocrypha is part of the Bible
- Prayer to Mary (as mediator). Immaculate conception (Mary also sinless)
- Sacraments are necessary for salvation (faith plus works)
- Purgatory is a place of suffering/Prayers for the dead
- Sacraments: Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation, Reconciliation, Anointing of the sick, Marriage, Holy orders.
Pentecostalism
Acts 19:6“And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying.”
Roots in the Pentecost revival in the US in 1901
Doctrinal positions:
- baptism in HS is ordinarily an event subsequent to conversion
- baptism in HS is made evident by the sign of speaking in tongues
- all the spiritual gifts mentioned in the NT are to be sought and used today
Arminianism
- Opposition to Reformed/Calvinist theology
- Emphasis on human free will (to choose)
Deut. 30:19“Therefore choose life”
- Conditional Election (Rom. 8:29 - For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son)
- Universal Atonement (1 John 2:2 - He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world)
- Resistible Grace (Acts 7:51 - You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.)
- Fall from Grace - The teaching that a person can fall from grace and lose their salvation. (Heb. 6:4-6 - For it is impossible…. to restore them again to repentance)
