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Liberalism

In the sphere of religion, in particular, the present time is a time of conflict; the great redemptive religion which has always been known as Christianity is battling against a totally diverse type of religious belief, which is only the more destructive of the Christian faith because it makes use of traditional Christian terminology. This modern non-redemptive religion is called "liberalism."... [This] movement is so various in its manifestations that one may almost despair of finding any common name which will apply to all its forms. But manifold as are the forms in which the movement appears, the root of the movement is one; the many varieties of modern liberal religion are rooted in naturalism-that is, in the denial of any entrance of the creative power of God (as distinguished from the ordinary course of nature) in connection with the origin of Christianity.

 

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The Mandate to Proclaim the Gospel to All

Moreover, the promise of the gospel is that whosoever believes in Christ crucified shall not perish, but have eternal life. This promise, together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be declared and published to all nations, and to all persons promiscuously and without distinction, to whom God out of His good pleasure sends the gospel.

 

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Means of Grace

The term "means of grace" is sometimes used in a very general sense to denote whatsoever may minister to the spiritual welfare of believers, such as the Church, the preaching of the Word, the sacraments, the Sabbath prayer, etc. It is generally employed in a more restricted sense, however, as a designation of the Word of God and the sacraments. Strictly speaking, only these two can be regarded as means of grace. When we speak of the Word we think very specifically of the Word of God as it is contained in Scripture and as it is preached to the Church, It is the Word of God's grace, and as such the most important means of grace.

The sacraments cannot exist as a means of grace and are not complete without the Word. The Word and the sacraments agree in that both have God for their author and Christ as their central content, and in their appropriation by faith.

 

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Of the Means of Redemption Through the Declaration of Justice and Mercy of God in Christ

We believe that God, who is perfectly merciful and just, sent His Son to assume that nature in which the disobedience was committed, to make satisfaction in the same, and to bear the punishment of sin by His most bitter passion and death. God therefore manifested His justice against His Son when He laid our iniquities upon Him, and poured forth His mercy and goodness on us, who were guilty and worthy of damnation, out of mere and perfect love, giving His Son unto death for us, and raising Him for our justification, that through Him we might obtain immortality and life eternal.

 

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The Mission of the Church

Like our own lives, the church is gospel-driven. Every new-covenant command is grounded in the gospel. We love God because he first loved us (1 John 4:10, 19). We choose Christ because he chose us (John 15:16; Eph. 1:4-5, 11; 2 Thess. 2:13). We are called to holiness because we are already declared to be holy in Christ, clothed in his righteousness (Col. 1:22; 3:12; 1 Cor. 1:30). Because we have been crucified, buried, and raised with Christ, we are no longer under the tyranny of sin and are therefore to offer up ourselves in body and soul to righteousness (Rom. 6:1-14). In view of "the mercies of God," we are called to "present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice" (Rom. 12:1).

Similarly, in our corporate calling as the church, we are always responding to a state of affairs that God has spoken into being, rather than creating that reality ourselves. The church's mission is grounded in God's mission, which he fulfilled objectively in his Son and whose subjective effect he is bringing about in the world through his Spirit. Because the Father sent the Son and then the Spirit, we are sent into all the world with the gospel. So being mission-driven is really the same as being gospel-driven. As believers and as churches, we are motivated by the mission of the Triune God, as the Father, the Son, and the Spirit save us and send us with that saving message to our neighbors.

 

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Monergism

We believe that God, who is perfectly merciful and just, sent His Son to assume that nature in which the disobedience was committed, to make satisfaction in the same, and to bear the punishment of sin by His most bitter passion and death. God therefore manifested His justice against His Son when He laid our iniquities upon Him, and poured forth His mercy and goodness on us, who were guilty and worthy of damnation, out of mere and perfect love, giving His Son unto death for us, and raising Him for our justification, that through Him we might obtain immortality and life eternal.

 

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Moralism

In the sphere of religion, in particular, the present time is a time of conflict; the great redemptive religion which has always been known as Christianity is battling against a totally diverse type of religious belief, which is only the more destructive of the Christian faith because it makes use of traditional Christian terminology. This modern non-redemptive religion is called "liberalism."... [This] movement is so various in its manifestations that one may almost despair of finding any common name which will apply to all its forms. But manifold as are the forms in which the movement appears, the root of the movement is one; the many varieties of modern liberal religion are rooted in naturalism-that is, in the denial of any entrance of the creative power of God (as distinguished from the ordinary course of nature) in connection with the origin of Christianity.

 

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Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

When Christian Smith and his fellow researchers with the National Study of Youth and Religion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill took a close look at the religious beliefs held by American teenagers, they found that the faith held and described by most adolescents came down to something the researchers identified as "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism."

As described by Smith and his team, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism consists of beliefs like these: 1. "A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth." 2. "God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions." 3. "The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself." 4. "God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem." 5. "Good people go to heaven when they die."

That, in sum, is the creed to which much adolescent faith can be reduced. After conducting more than 3,000 interviews with American adolescents, the researchers reported that, when it came to the most crucial questions of faith and beliefs, many adolescents responded with a shrug and "whatever."

 

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Mormonism

Mormonism. The Mormons, as they are usually known, represent one of the most successful of the new religious movements of the nineteenth century. Today they are divided into two main groups, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, organized from Salt Lake City, Utah, and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Independence, Missouri. In addition to these major groups a number of smaller "fundamentalist" groups exist.

Mormonism has a dual foundation. The first is the claim of Joseph Smith to have received golden plates upon which ancient scriptures are alleged to have been written. Smith claimed to have translated these plates and subsequently published them in 1830 as Book of Mormon. The second foundation is Smith's claim to have had an encounter with the living Jesus and subsequently to receive continuing revelations from God. The substance of these continuing revelations is to be found in the Mormon publication Doctrine and Covenants, while an account of Joseph Smith's encounter with Jesus and the discovery of Book of Mormon is to be found in Pearl of Great Price. Pearl of Great Price also contains the text of two Egyptian papyri that Joseph Smith claimed to have translated plus his translation of certain portions of the Bible. Together Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price form the basis of the Mormon continuing revelation. Since the death of Smith these revelations have been supplemented by what the church claims to be further revelations given to its leaders.

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Narcissism

Narcissism describes the character trait of self love. The word is derived from a Greek myth. Narcissus was a handsome Greek youth who rejected the desperate advances of the nymph Echo. As punishment, he was doomed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Unable to consummate his love, Narcissus pined away and changed into the flower that bears his name, the narcissus.

In terms of the self, narcissism refers to any aspect of the complex state of self-esteem, and includes such things as overweening pride, arrogance, and sensivity to insult. A contemporary workable definition of narcissism is a cognitive, affective, and motivational preoccupation with the self.

A relationship can be thought of as narissistic if the individuality of the other is ignored and the focus in one way or another is on the person himself rather than the other person.

 

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Natural Law

Natural law refers to the basic moral obligations that God makes known to all people through his natural revelation, even apart from Scripture. This law is made manifest in creation itself and is perceived through the testimony of conscience. All human beings know this law of God, though as sinners they also actively suppress its truth. See for instance passages such as Romans 1:19-20, 32; 2:14-15.

 

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The Need for Apologetics

Christians who believe but don't know why are often insecure and comfortable only around other Christians. Defensiveness can quickly surface when challenges arise on issues of faith, morality, and truth because of a lack of information regarding the rational grounds for Christianity. At its worst this can lead to either a fortress mentality or a belligerent faith, precisely the opposite of the Great Commission Jesus gave in Matthew 28:19-20. The charge of the Christian is not to withdraw from the world and lead an insular life. Rather, we are to be engaged in the culture, to be salt and light.

The solution to this problem is for believers to become informed in doctrine, the history of their faith, philosophy, logiv, and other disciplines as they relate to Christianity. They need to know the facts, arguments, and theology and understand how to employ them in a way that will effectively engage the culture. In short, the answer is Christian apologetics.

 

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The New Perspective on Paul

The scholars at the forefront of this movement -- E.P. Sanders, James D.G. Dunn, N.T. Wright, and others -- have been pioneering a new approach to the letters of the first-century apostle to the Gentiles, Paul of Tarsus.

At its core is the recognition that Judaism is not a religion of self-righteousness whereby humankind seeks to merit salvation before God. Paul's argument with the Judaizers was not about Christian grace versus Jewish legalism. His argument was rather about the status of Gentiles in the church. Paul's doctrine of justification, therefore, had far more to do with Jewish-Gentile issues than with questions of the individual's status before God.

 

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The Objectivity of Faith

To believe in something without first seriously reflecting on it or looking into it is not an act of faith, it is an act of foolishness. It is not, as some have held, a virtue to believe something without evidence or reason. The person who says, "You just have to have faith," is really just proclaiming he has no idea what faith is. The whole point of Christianity is not that we have faith-that is no different from any other religion or worldview. If just having faith were the goal, all would be saved since everyone believes something. No, faith itself is not the object. In fact, what differentiates religions is the object of each faith. The content of faith ultimately is what matters. And the content of a faith is what must be investigated and then embraced or rejected.

Paul argued based on facts that could be investigated by anyone who was interested. He recognized that if Christianity was true, it must be rooted in facts. Paul saw the contact point in the historical, physical, temporal aspects of the life of Jesus. Jesus was a real person who did and said certain things in certain places at certain times. Witnesses to Jesus' life and teaching could be found and questioned regarding these things.

Jesus' reality—His historicity—is the foundation of Christianity. Without it, there is no Christianity. Paul was so sure of this foundation that he went so far as to point out the most vulnerable claim of the Christian faith [in 1 Corinthians 15:12-19].

If Jesus did not live, do, and say the things claimed by the apostles, then Christianity is false. If there is a better explanation for the resurrection, then Christians are simply wasting their time.

By pointing out this vulnerability, Paul was really pointing out the strength of Christianity. So convinced was he of the historicity and verifiability of the resurrection, the event that confirmed the claims of Jesus, that he pointed out how to prove it false—almost as a challenge. Christian claims can be investigated and tested. This challenge has no parallel in other religions. No other sacred text shows how to destroy its own claims.

The church fathers showed they understood the importance of Jesus' historicity when they crafted the Nicene Creed, the universally accepted creed of the church. The creed says, "For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried." Why mention Pontius Pilate? What doctrine is based on him? The answer is: none; there is no doctrine based on Pilate. He is mentioned to remind us that these were real events happening to a real person at a particular point in history.

 

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The Obligations of Church Members

We believe, since this holy assembly and congregation is the assembly of the redeemed and there is no salvation outside of it, that no one ought to withdraw from it, content to be by himself, no matter what his status or standing may be. But all and everyone are obliged to join it and unite with it, maintaining the unity of the church. They must submit themselves to its instruction and discipline, bend their necks under the yoke of Jesus Christ, and serve the edification of the brothers and sisters, according to the talents which God has given them as members of the same body.

To observe this more effectively, it is the duty of all believers, according to the Word of God, to separate from those who do not belong to the church and to join this assembly wherever God has established it. They should do so even though the rulers and edicts of princes were against it, and death or physical punishment might follow.

All therefore who draw away from the church or fail to join it act contrary to the ordinance of God. s.

 

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The Offices of Christ

The fact that Christ was anointed to a threefold office finds its explanation in the fact that man was originally intended for this threefold office and work. As created by God, he was prophet, priest, and king, and as such was endowed with knowledge and understanding, with righteousness and holiness, and with dominion over the lower creation. Sin affected the entire life of man and manifested itself not only as ignorance, blindness, error, and untruthfulness; but also as unrighteousness, guilt, and moral pollution; and in addition to that as misery, death, and destruction. Hence it was necessary that Christ, as our Mediator, should be prophet, priest, and king. As Prophet He represents God with man; as Priest He represents man in the presence of God, and as King He exercises dominion and restores the original dominion of man.

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The Ordo Salutis

Literally, the order of salvation. It refers to the logical order as to how the Spirit applies the benefits of Christ to individuals.

 

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Original Sin

6.2 - Our first parents, by this sin, fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and we in them whereby death came upon all: all becoming dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.

6.3 - They being the root, and by God's appointment, standing in the room and stead of all mankind, the guilt of the sin was imputed, and corrupted nature conveyed, to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation, being now conceived in sin, and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, the subjects of death, and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, unless the Lord Jesus set them free.

6.4 - From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.

 

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Parables

Broadly speaking, "parables" encompass a variety of types of discourse which are used to give insight into the Kingdom of God that was inaugurated with the work of Christ. Some of these types that are broadly considered "parables" are similes (Matt 10:16) and metaphors (Matt 5:13; 12:34; John 14:9). What are quite often read as "parables" such as Mark 4:26-29 and 30-32 can be more accurately called "similitudes" because they are extended similes or metaphors with no character or story plot.

A helpful way to restrict the term is to limit "parable" (Greek: parabole) to "story-parables." These are recognizable stories with characters and plots used to expressly teach hearers/readers about the Kingdom of God, its King, and its citizens. Popular examples of true parables are those of the "Prodigal Son" and "The Good Samaritan." These "story-parables" are usually more difficult to understand and exegete (interpret).

 

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Pelagianism

The term designates both the teachings of Pelagius, a fourth-century Christian monk, and any teaching that minimizes the role of divine grace in salvation. It was Pelagius' views on the Christian life, his moral rigorism, his high regard for the law, and his emphasis on discipline and the human will that laid the foundation for the controversy that gave birth to what has come to be known as Pelagianism.

Pelagius was offended when he read in Augustine's Confessions that humans must necessarily and inevitably sin even after baptism. Augustine's phrase "Give what you command and command what you will" seem to him to undermine the moral law and the quest for perfection, because it placed responsibility for righteousness on God rather than on the human will.

Pelagius did not, as is often thought, deny the necessity of grace. Grace was to be understood as the revelation of God's purposes and will, the wisdom by which humans are stirred to seek a life of righteousness.... Pelagius saw no opposition between the laws of the old covenant and the gospel. He saw grace as a precept and example, a view that led him to overestimate human capability and thus to invite criticism.

 

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The Pentecostal Movement

The Pentecostal movement is one of the more spectacular religious phenomena of the twentieth century. Born as the century began it now claims several million Americans and millions more overseas.

The unique Pentecostal experience begins in the conscious search for the gift of speaking in tongues as a sign of having been blessed with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That baptism may be defined as the dwelling of the Holy Spirit in the individual believer. from the initial experience of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, the believer may expect to also manifest other gifts of the Holy Spirit as originally manifested in the New Testament church (I Cor. 12:4-11). Those gifts include healing, prophecy, wisdom (knowledge unattainable by natural means), and discernment of spirits (seeing nonphysical beings such as angels and demons).

 

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Perspicuity of Scripture

Over against the position of the Roman Catholic Church, the reformers stressed the perspicuity of Scripture. They did not intend to deny that there are mysteries in the Bible which transcend human reason, but freely admitted this. Neither did they claim such clarity for Scripture that the interpreter can well dispense with scientific exegesis...Moreover, they did not even assert that the way of salvation is so clearly revealed in Scripture that every man, whether he be enlightened by the Holy Spirit or not, and whether or not he be deeply interested in the way of salvation, can easily understand it. Their contention was simply that the knowledge necessary unto salvation, though not equally clear on every page of Scripture, is yet conveyed to man throughout the Bible in such a simple and comprehensible form that one who is earnestly seeking salvation can, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, by reading and studying the Bible, easily obtain for himself the necessary knowledge, and does not need the aid and guidance of the Church and of a separate priesthood. Naturally, they did not mean to minimize the importance of the interpretations of the Church in the preaching of the Word. They pointed out that Scripture itself testifies to its perspicuity, where it is declared to be a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path. The prophets and the apostles, and even Jesus Himself, address their messages to all the people and never treat them as minors who are not able to understand the truth…Because of its perspicuity, the Bible can even be said to be self-interpretive.

 

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Pluralism vs. Inclusivism vs. Exclusivism

Pluralism: All religions lead to heaven.

Inclusivism: Salvation is found only in Jesus Christ, but you don't have to hear that Gospel and believe in Jesus Christ in order to be saved by him.

Exclusivism: There is no salvation apart from faith in Jesus Christ. (see John 14:6; Acts 4:12)

 

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Popular Postmodernism as Most-Modernism

Most often postmodernism is simply a code word for something new, a supposed break with the past (modernity) and the dawn of a radically new era. Of course, a more modern description of an era could hardly be found, as academic postmodernists will be the first to point out. On a host of points (notions of tradition, language, the critique of autonomy, progress, presence and absence, and so on), thinkers actually classed as postmodern have a lot to teach us about what popularizers of postmodernism fail to recognize is little more than "most-modernism."

There is just too much of the modern in the post­modern to be able to speak in sweeping terms of a major paradigm shift in culture. Postmodernism-or whatever one wishes to designate our brief moment in history-is the culture in which Sesame Street is considered educational; sexy is the term of approbation for everything from jeans to doctoral theses; watching sitcoms together at dinner is called family time; abortion is con­sidered choice; films sell products; and a barrage of images and sound bites selected for their entertainment and commercial value is called news. This general trend in culture translates into hipper-than-thou clubs passing for youth ministry, informal chats passing for sermons, and brazen marketing passing for evangelism, where busyness equals holiness, and expository preaching is considered too intellectual. This trend can account in part for homes in which disciplined habits both of domestic culture and instruction in Christian faith and practice give way to niche marketing and churches becoming theaters of the absurd.

This take on postmodernism is hardly new. Marxist intellectual Alex Callinicos' illuminating analysis of postmodernism concludes that it is little more than the result of the self-obsessed "flower children" of the revolu­tionary '60s now taking their place in the professional "new middle class." In other words, postmodernism and boomer go hand in hand. Fellow Marxist Terry Eagleton adds, "Radicals, for example, are traditionalists, just as conservatives are; it is simply that they adhere to different traditions." This appraisal fits perfectly with what I see in my experience of contemporary evangelicalism. Postmodernism is the new code word for mission, a new way of enforcing not just change but particular changes that have particular ideological assumptions. One can even detect a note of fatalism in chal­lenges that verge on bullying: "Get with it or get left behind." This is just the way things are now, so we had better adapt. Sweeping endorsements or sweeping denouncements make for light work.

 

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Pragmatism

Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition founded by three American philosophers: Charles Sanders Peirce, William James and John Dewey. Starting from Alexander Bain's definition of belief as a rule or habit of action, Peirce argued that the function of inquiry is not to represent reality, but rather to enable us to act more effectively.

James and Dewey both wanted to reconcile philosophy with Darwin by making human beings' pursuit of the true and the good continuous with the activities of the lower animals - cultural evolution with biological evolution.

All three of the founding pragmatists combined a naturalistic, Darwinian view of human beings with a deep distrust of the problems which philosophy had inherited from Descartes, Hume, and Kant. They hoped to save philosophy from metaphysical idealism, but also to save moral and religious ideals from empiricist or positivist skepticism. Their naturalism has been combined with an anti-foundationalist, holist account of meaning by subsequent philosophers of language.

 

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The Preached Word

The true preaching of the Word is the most important mark of the Church. While it is independent of the sacraments, these are not independent of it. The true preaching of the Word is the great means for maintaining the Church and for enabling her to be the mother of the faithful. That this is one of the characteristics of the true Church is evident from such passages as John 8:21, 32, 47; 14:23; 1 John 4:1-3; 2 John 9. Ascribing this mark to the Church does not mean that the teaching of the Word in a Church must be perfect before it can be regarded as a true Church...But there is a limit beyond which a Church cannot go in the misrepresentation or denial of the truth, without losing her true character and becoming a false Church. This is what happens when fundamental articles of faith are publicly denied, and the doctrine and life are no more under the control of the Word of God.

 

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Preaching

"Preaching is the Ellis Island of God's kingdom, the port of entry for 'strangers and aliens' through which we must constantly pass again and again throughout our lives. We come in with our own scripts, our own storied selves, and instead of editing them here and there, God rewrites them entirely in the light of his own plot....The point is not to find a place for God in our story but to receive the good news that God has found a place for us in his. There is a seat for us at the table of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, even though we didn't even belong in the same neighborhood."

 

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Preaching of the Reformation

Protesting against a special sacrificing priesthood, sacramentalism, and papal teaching authority, the Reformers asserted the primacy of the word of God as present in Scripture, sermon, and sacraments. Early Reformers designated themselves simply "the preachers." The preaching of the word was proposed as the instrument through which justification comes about and the Holy Spirit is given. The Reformed tradition especially extolled praching as the primary function of the ministry.

The high value set on preaching as characteristic of the Reformation was exemplified by Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin. A close alliance between the biblical word and the preached word was observed through the expository sermon, closely following the scriptural text. The original esteem for preaching the word has never been lost in Protestantism.

 

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Preaching: The Sacramental Word

Question: Since then we are made partakers of Christ and all his benefits by faith only, whence does this faith proceed?

Answer: From the Holy Ghost, who works faith in our hearts by the preaching of the gospel, and confirms it by the use of the sacraments.

 

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Presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper

Roman Catholicism
The Roman church has a doctrine of transubstantiation: in the supper the substance in the elements of bread and wine are changed in the substance of the body and blood of Christ while the accidents--i.e. appearance, taste, touch and smell--remain the same. The Council of Trent added the veneration of the consecrated elements is adoration, the same worship that is given to God. This has been called the doctrine of consubstantiation, that Christ is in, with, and under the elements.

Lutheran
Luther rejected transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the Mass, he still believed that Christ is bodily present in the Lord's Supper and that his body is received by all who partake of the elements. While he acknowledged the mystery, he was certain of the fact of Christ's real corporeal presence inasmuch as he has said when he instituted the Supper, "This is my body."

Zwinglianism
Zwingli thought the doctrine of physical eating is absurd and repugnant to common sense. Moreover God does not ask us to believe that which is contrary to sense experience. The word "is" in the institution means "signifies," or "represents," and must be interpreted figuratively.

Reformed
Calvin's view of the Lord's Supper appears to be a mediate position between the views of Luther and Zwingli, but is in fact an independent position. Calvin held that there is a real reception of the body and blood of Christ in the Supper, only in a Spiritual manner. Calvin held, with Zwingli, that after the ascension Christ retained a real body, which is located in heaven. With Luther Calvin believed that the elements in the Supper are signs that exhibit the fact that Christ is truly present.

 

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The Preservation of the Word of God

By giving His Word to the Church, God constituted the Church the keeper of the precious deposit of the truth. While hostile forces are pitted against it and the power of error is everywhere apparent, the Church must see to it that the truth does not perish from the earth, that the inspired volume in which it is embodied is to be kept pure and unmutilated, in order that its purpose may not be defeated, and that it be handed on faithfully from generation to generation. It has the great and responsible task of maintaining and defending the truth against all the forces of unbelief and error (1 Tim. 1:3, 4; 2 Tim. 1:13; Tit. 1:9-11).

 

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Propitiation

Propitiation properly signifies the turning away of wrath by an offering.

... While God's wrath is not mentioned as frequently in the NT as the Old, it is there. Man's sin receives its due reward, not because of some impersonal retribution, but because God's wrath is directed against it (Rom 1:18, 24, 26, 28)....The paradox of the OT is repeated in the New that God himself provides the means of removing his own wrath. The love of the Father is shown in that he "sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4:10). The purpose of Christ's becoming "a merciful and faithful high priest" was "to make propitiation for the sins of the people" (Heb 2:17). His propitiation is adequate for all (1 John 2:2).

The consistent Bible view is that the sin of man has incurred the wrath of God. That wrath is adverted only by Christ's atoning offering. From this standpoint his saving work is properly called propitiation.

 

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The Prosperity Gospel

Prosperity Gospel: An offshoot of Pentecostalism, the prosperity gospel is characterized by the teaching that believers can "declare," "speak," or "claim" their blessings (material, physical, and spiritual well-being) into existence. It is also known as "positive confession," or more derisively as "name-it-claim-it." Key leaders in the movement include Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts, Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagin, Joyce Meyer, T. D. Jakes, Benny Hinn, and Paul and Jan Crouch.

 

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Protestantism

"Protestantism" generally covers the range of Christian churches that owe their origins, directly or indirectly, to the Reformation of the 16th century. At the second Diet of Speyer (1529) the representatives of the Reformers "protested" in favor of the liberty of individuals to choose their own religion according to their conscience. Their opponents described them as "Protestants," while they preferred to call themselves "evangelicals."

Despite its numerous components, and its pluralism, Protestantism may be characterized by reference to certain widely share convictions. Priority is given to salvation, and to justification by faith alone. Believers are justified before God not by their works or their merit, but by grace alone. The Bible provides the exclusive standard for the Christian life, and derives is meaning from its central figure, Jesus Christ, the sole mediator between God and human beings. Faith consists, not in acceptance of a doctrine, but in a living and personal relationship with God. The church is a community of believers who have committed themselves to listening to the word of God and to celebrating the sacraments together. Only baptism and the Lord's Supper are recognized as sacraments since they were established by Jesus Christ himself.

 

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Psalms of Lament

What characterizes these psalms, with very few exceptions (notably Psalm 88), is the confidence that the situation can be changed if God wills to intervene.... The psalmists are not like Greek tragedians who portray a no-exit situation of fate or necessity; rather, they raise a cry out of the depths in the confidence that God has the power to lift a person out of the "miry bog" and to set one's feet upon a rock (Ps. 40:1-3). Hence the laments are really expressions of praise, offered in a minor key in the confidence that Yhwh is faithful and in anticipation of a new lease on life.

 

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Qur'an

The Qur'an (or Koran) is the sacred scripture of Islam, regarded by Muslims as the infallible word of God, revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

The book, first compiled in its authoritative form in the 7th century, consists of 114 chapters (surahs) of varying length, written in Arabic. The earliest surahs call for moral and religious obedience in light of the coming Day of Judgment; the ones written later provide directives for the creation of a social structure that will support the moral life called for by God. The Qur'an also provides detailed accounts of the joys of paradise and the terrors of hell. Muslims believe that the God who spoke to Muhammad is the God worshiped by Jews and Christians but that the revelations received by those religions are incomplete. Emphasis on the stern justice of God is tempered by frequent references to his mercy and compassion. The Qur'an demands absolute submission (islam) to God and his word, and it serves as the primary source of Islamic law. It is regarded as immutable in both form and content; traditionally translation was forbidden. The translations available today are regarded as paraphrases to facilitate understanding of the actual scripture.

 

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The Rapture

The rapture conveys the idea of the transporting of believers from earth to heaven at Christ’s second coming. When used by dispensational writers, the term refers to Christ’s secret coming with all believers are suddenly removed from the earth before the great tribulation. Those who believe this sudden, secret event takes place seven years before Christ’s bodily return hold to a premillennial, pretribulational view of the rapture. This is the position taken by dispensationalists.

Many Protestants have historically seen this even as one aspect of the general resurrection at the end of the age…. Those who place this event at the visible return of Christ to the earth hold to a postribulational view of the rapture. Historic premillennialism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism are all committed to this view.

 

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Recovery of the Original Greek New Testament Text

When we speak of the original text, we are referring to the "published" text-that is, the text in its final edited form as released for circulation in the Christian community. For some books of the New Testament, there is little difference between the original composition and the published text. After the author wrote or dictated his work, he (or an associate) made the final editorial corrections and then released it for distribution.... This autograph is the original published text.

Some scholars think it is impossible to recover the original text of the Greek New Testament because they have not been able to reconstruct the early history of textual transmission.... Other modem scholars are less pessimistic, but are still quite guarded in affirming the possibility. We are optimistic because we have many early manuscripts of excellent quality and because our view of the early period of textual transmission has been getting clearer and clearer. We believe it is possible to recover the original text of the Greek New Testament.

When we speak of recovering the text of the New Testament, we are referring to individual books of the New Testament/ not to the entire volume per se, because each book or group of books (such as the Pauline Epistles) had its own unique history of textual transmission.... Each of the books of the New Testament has had its own textual history and has been preserved with varying degrees of accuracy. Nonetheless, all of the books were altered from their original state due to the process of manual copying decade after decade, century after century. The text of each book needs to be recovered.

 

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Redemptive-Historical Typology

Old Testament events, offices, and institutions (hereafter OTEOI) are invested by God with spiritual significance as integral steps in his history-long project to reverse sin and its effects... these OTEOI point beyond themselves, symbolizing the comprehensive, eschatological salvation that is God's purpose for history and that has been inaugurated by Christ in his first coming and that will be consummated by Christ in his second coming.

To understand how any OTEOI preaches Christ and finds its fulfillment in him, we first must grasp its symbolic depth in its own place in redemptive history. Then we need to consider how the OTEOI's original symbolic depth (the aspect of redemption to which it pointed in shadow-form) finds final and complete fulfillment in Christ. Finally, we must identify and articulate how its message applies to ourselves and our listeners.

The apostles' proclamation of Christ as the fulfillment of all God's promises provides abundant direction for the grateful outworking of this good news in personal discipline, family life, church life, and public life in the marketplace-and, if necessary, in a prison, like Paul.

 

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The Reformation

In modern historiography the term Reformation is customarily applied to a series of religious protests and reforms that swept Europe during the sixteenth century. To speak of the Reformation, then, is not to speak of a single, coherent movement with a single leader and a unified program. At the same time, the term encompasses more than a disparate collection of movements unrelated to one another and sharing few or no common characteristics. Collectively, these parallel movements sought to reform the Western church in ways that went well beyond previous reform movements within Western Christendom in both degree and kind. Using scripture as their primary authority and the early church as a model ... these movements rejected the authority of the papacy and, to varying degrees, much of traditional belief and practice that had grown up within Medieval Catholicism. They also attempted to reestablish the church ... in accord with their often varying understandings of scripture and early Christianity.

 

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Reformed

The Reformed confession is the only reasonable basis for a stable definition of the Reformed theology, piety, and practice. To embrace the Reformed confession is to embrace God's Word as confessed by the Reformed Churches in public, ecclesiastical, and authoritative documents. It is to confess a biblical, evangelical, vital, churchly, manifestation of the catholic faith. It begins with God's Word, it is devoted to God's free, life-giving grace in Christ as administered in Christ's church in the pure preaching of the gospel, the pure administration of the sacraments, and the administration of church discipline.

 

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Religion

Religion is concerned with man's relation to God, and man has no right to determine the nature of this relation. It is God's prerogative to specify how man should be related to Him, and He does this in His divine Word. The word "religion" is in all probability derived from the Latin word relegere, meaning to re-read, to repeat, to observe carefully, and frequently served to designate a constant and diligent observance of all that pertained to the worship of the gods.

In the light of Scripture we learn to understand that the word "religion" denotes a relation in which man stands to God. The characteristic element in religion has been found in piety, fear, faith, a feeling of dependence, and so on. But these are all affections which are also felt with reference to man. The really characteristic thing in this, that in religion man is conscious of the absolute majesty and infinite power of God, and of his own utter insignificance and absolute helplessness. This does not mean, however, that religion is merely a matter of the emotions, nor that it is a necessity simply imposed upon him. Man's relation to God in religion is a conscious and voluntary one, and instead of enslaving him leads him into the enjoyment of the highest liberty. Religion may be defined as a conscious and voluntary spiritual relation to God, which e:rpresses itself in life as a whole and particularly in certain ads of worship. God Himself determines the adoration, worship, and service that is acceptable to Him. All will-worship, contrary to the Word of God, is absolutely forbidden.