Theology: Views Flashcards
Creation
Main Views:
- Literal 24 Hour Days
- Framework Hypothesis: Genesis 1 is a literary account not intending to give chronology or duration of the creation account, but verifying historical happenings nonetheless.
- Unspecified Length Days: The point is not duration but to see God’s historical work of creation and see it as a pattern for our work and rest.
Affirm:
- Creation account is historically true
- God created all things ex nihilo
- Adam and Eve were real, historical people
Theonomy
Belief - Civil government is under God and must enforce the penal sanctions of the OT civil laws.
WCF 19.4 - “He gave judicial laws, which expired together with the state of that people, not obliging any other, further than the general equity thereof require.”
Ephesians 2:15 - “by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,”
Misconceptions:
- Theonomy does not advocate forced conversions
- Does not propose justification by law
- Not solely interested in the Mosaic Law
Conclusions:
- Your view must accord with WCF 19.4
- Not a rule of orthodoxy
- Not a heresy
Federal Vision
Election & Covenant -
- Election refers to those who are in covenant union with Christ; visible church
- Monolithic view of the “Covenant”
- “Covenant objectivity” means every baptized person is in an objective covenant relationship with God and in union with Christ
- Reject the concept of merit under the covenant of works
Justification & Union with Christ -
- Justification and sanctification are synonymous
- Denies imputed righteousness of Christ; saved by being “in Christ” not by receiving anything “from Christ”
- Baptism effectually and savingly unites us to Christ and therefore justifies
Perseverance, Apostasy, & Assurance -
- All who have been baptized are part of the “elect of God” unless they are cut off
- Good standing in the covenant community occurs through “covenant keeping”
Dangers -
- Confusion between sign of baptism and “thing signified”
- Denies validity of covenant of works
- Denies imputed righteousness of Christ
- No differentiation between communicant and non-communicant members; visible and invisible church
- No assurance of salvation
New Perspective on Paul
Five Points of NPP -
- 2nd Temple Judaism did not teach justification by works
- Justification is not by the imputed righteousness of Christ
- “Works of the law” refer primarily to Jewish boundary markers (Sabbath, circumcision, and food laws)
- Paul’s mission to the Gentiles is the context for his teaching on justification
- Not united on justification; distinction between initial justification and final justification
Dangers -
- Spirit filled works as part of our justification
- Denial of imputed righteousness of Christ
- Robs Christians of assurance of salvation
Declarations about Federal Vision/NPP
Contrary to the Standards/Scripture -
- Not accepting the bi-covenantal structure of Scripture
- The view that an individual is “elect” by virtue of his membership in the visible church and that this “election” includes justification, adoption, and sanctification
- The view that Christ does not as our representative head who perfectly obeyed the law
- The view that Christ’s “merits” are not imputed to believers
- The view that water baptism effects a “covenantal union” with Christ
- The view that one can be united to Christ but not receive all the benefits of Christ’s mediation
- The view that justification is in any way based on works and not received through faith alone
Divorce/Remarriage
WCF 24.6 - “Divorce is permissible only for adultery or willful desertion”
Matthew 5:32 - “But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
1 Corinthians 7:15 - “But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace.”
1 Corinthians 7:39 - “A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.”
Main Views -
- No grounds: Not legitimate divorces at all; only death dissolves the marriage bond
- Limited grounds: The Bible neither condones or commands divorces, but rather permits and regulates divorce due to sin (adultery and separation of an unbelieving spouse; Matthew 5:32 & 1 Corinthians 7:15)
- Broader grounds: Some agree that there are sins other than fornication that constitute a break in the marital bond
Conclusions -
- The Church should not go beyond Scripture when dealing with divorce/remarriage
- Scripture does allow for divorce, though not encouraging it
- The innocent party may remarry, only in the Lord
- A man who has divorced on biblical grounds may serve as an officer
- Those divorced unbiblically shall either remain unmarried or reconcile (1 Corinthians 7:11)
- Every case is unique and must be evaluated individually in light of Scripture
Charismatic gifts
(BCO 7-1) - “Under the New Testament, our Lord at first collected His people out of different nations, and united them to the household of faith by the ministry of extraordinary officers who received extraordinary gifts of the Spirit and who were agents by whom God completed His revelation to His Church. Such officers and gifts related to new revelation have no successors since God completed His revelation at the conclusion of the Apostolic Age.”
Belief -
- Every believer is granted spiritual gifts for the building up of the Church (1 Corinthians 12:7)
- Some spiritual gifts have ceased such as: apostle, tongues, and miracles
- Any view of tongues that sees it as continued revelation is contrary to Scripture
- Miracles were signs given by God to confirm the truth of the speaker as indeed speaking from God; Revelation has ceased, therefore these revelatory signs have also ceased
Human sexuality
Twelve Statements -
- Marriage is between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:18)
- All people are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26)
- All mankind share in the guilt of Adam’s first sin (Romans 5:12)
- Our fallen desires are sinful (Romans 6:11-12)
- Temptation arising from within is rightly called sin
- Sanctification is a process
- Christ suffered part of temptation, where we also have the sinning part
- To juxtapose identities rooted in sinful desires alongside the term “Christian” is inconsistent with biblical language and undermines the spiritual reality that we are new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)
- Wise to avoid the term “gay Christian” as a way of referring to our identity in Christ
- Not in support of “spiritual friendships”
- Believers live a life of repentance and hope of forgiveness
Role of women
- God created male and female after His likeness (Genesis 1:26)
- Though fallen, man and women have complementary gifts used for mutual help (Genesis 2:18)
- God has poured out His Spirit on both men and women (Joel 2:28)
- The gifts given to women should be actively and appropriately used in accordance with Scripture (1 Corinthians 12:7)
Civil disobedience
Christians are obligated to obey the civil authorities unless they call them to disobey God.
Acts 5:29 - “we must obey God rather than men”
- Examples: Hebrew midwives, Rahab, Daniel, and the Apostles
- Christians engaging in civil disobedience must maintain a generally high respect for the civil law and the magistrate
- Christians must recognize that other believers may disagree with their acts and thus should act with humility
- Christians must act with prayer and remember that their true enemy is evil
Confessional subscription
Views -
Strict Subscription - Subscription to the whole system of doctrine as contained in the WCF, and catechisms
Good Faith Subscription - Exceptions are allowed as long as they do not strike at the vitals of religion
Loose Subscription - The Confession teaches the “essential and necessary” doctrines but allows for varying beliefs concerning a range of topics
Regulative principle
We are only free to do in worship what the Bible commands.
WCF 21.1 - “the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will.”
Parts of Worship:
- Elements: the parts of worship that God explicitly commands to be done in worship
- Circumstances: things that are logistically necessary but morally neutral (time, pews or chairs, location)
- Expressions: how the elements of worship are to be done (songs to sing, what prayers to pray, what passages to teach)
- Drama and video should not be done in public worship
Baptism/re-baptism
WCF 28.7 - “the sacrament of Baptism is but once administered to any person.”
Ephesians 4:5 - “one Lord, one faith, one baptism”
- “If baptism comes from within a Christians tradition where the Trinity is understood and Jesus is accepted as the One who came in the flesh and where He is designated as Savior”
Conclusions -
- The efficacy of Baptism depends upon the work of the Holy Spirit, not the one who administers it
- Baptism is valid if: administered in the Triune name of God, with water, unto those who profess faith in Christ or children of professing parents, and administered by a lawfully ordained minister
- Efficacy of Baptism is from God; validity is determined by the Church
Examples of Valid Baptisms:
- Infants baptized whose parents apostatize
- Believer who believes he was unregenerate at his baptism
Exceptions:
- Cult baptisms are not to be recognized; difference between contrived imitations and Roman distortions
Paedo-communion
The requirements for partaking of the Lord’s Supper are “examining oneself and discerning the body” (1 Corinthians 11:27-29)
WLC 177 - Wherein do the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s supper differ?
- “…the Lord’s Supper is to be administered often, in the elements of bread and wine, to represent and exhibit Christ as spiritual nourishment to the soul, …, and that only to such as are of years and ability to examine themselves.”
- Baptism is passive; Lord’s Supper is active
- Participation in the Lord’s Supper requires an understanding of the meaning of union with Christ in His death and resurrection
Fencing the table
(BCO 58-4) - After the sermon:
- The Lord’s Supper is an ordinance of Christ
- Reading of the words of institution (1 Corinthians 11:27-29)
- Observed in remembrance of Christ
- Invitation to all who profess faith in Christ and are communicants in good standing in any evangelical church to participate OR those who have been approved by the Session
- Give a special invitation to non-communicants to refrain from partaking of the Lord’s Supper
Conclusions -
- The table is the Lord’s, but He has given the keys to the officers of the church
- Those admitted to the Lord’s Supper must recognize and submit to the order of the church
- The Lord’s Supper should be extended to all members in good standing of other denominations that maintain the gospel
