T220 Test 1

Question 1

Revelation

Answer 1

God, out of his goodness and love, shows us who he is (consensus)

Question 2

General Revelation

Answer 2

God shows himself to us in creation and in the voice of our conscience (consensus)

Question 3

Special Revelation

Answer 3

God shows himself to us in particular events and histories, namely, those of Israel and Jesus Christ (consensus)

Question 4

Natural Theology

Answer 4

A theology developed solely from general revelation, apart from God’s special revelation in Israel and Christ (diversity)

Question 5

Ongoing Continuity

Answer 5

between general and special revelation (diversity): Special revelation presupposes the truth that can be known from nature, conscience, and so on

Question 6

Revealed (unveiled) continuity

Answer 6

between general and special revelation (diversity): Humanity can only see God’s revelation in creation after they accept God’s revelation in Christ

Question 7

Inspiration

Answer 7

The work of the Holy Spirit in bringing Scripture into existence through its human authors (consensus)

Question 8

Illumination

Answer 8

The work of the Holy Spirit in causing readers of Scripture to understand and accept its teaching (Consensus)

Question 9

Dictation theory of inspiration

Answer 9

The view that the Holy Spirit dictated the Bible word-
for-word to its human authors, bypassing their distinctive personalities and histories (diversity)

Question 10

Weak Inspiration

Answer 10

The view that the Holy Spirit inspired the feelings or ideas of the human authors of the biblical text, not the words themselves (diversity)

Question 11

Plenery Verbal inspiration

Answer 11

The view that all (plenary) words (verbal) of Scripture are the intentioned result of the Holy Spirit’s work (diversity)

Question 12

Canon

Answer 12

The particular books that make up the Christian Bible (44-45). There is dispute between Protestants, Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, however, about the precise extent of the canon; the latter include “deuterocanonical” or secondary books (consensus)

Question 13

Marcionsim

Answer 13

The rejection of particular biblical books, including the whole Old Testament, as part of God’s revelation in Scripture (aberrant)

Question 14

Montanism

Answer 14

The view that revelation continues now that is as important as the revelation of God in Jesus Christ (aberrant)

Question 15

Inerrancy

Answer 15

The view that Scripture does not contain errors in any of its statements, including on historical, geographical, archaeological, scientific or other matters (diversity)

Question 16

Infallibility

Answer 16

The view that God ensures Scripture will not fail in the purpose for which it was given, namely, to lead humanity to salvation (consensus)

Question 17

Idolatry

Answer 17

The worship of false gods (aberrant)

Question 18

Trinity

Answer 18

The one, true God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is not simply one, ‘unity,’ but a threefold unity: Trinity (consensus)

Question 19

One God

Answer 19

Also termed ‘monotheism,’ the belief that there is one and only one God (consensus)

Question 20

Subordinationism

Answer 20

The view that the Son and the Spirit are less than God (aberrant)

Question 21

Adoptionsim

Answer 21

The view that Jesus becomes the Son of God at some point, such as his baptism by John, rather than being eternally the Son of God (aberrant)

Question 22

Modalism

Answer 22

The view that the three, Father, Son and Spirit, are three ‘modes’ of God that are ultimately identical. They are like three different masks of God rather than the three being eternally God (aberrant)

Question 23

Patripassionism

Answer 23

The idea that God the Father (Latn, pater) suffered (Latn, passus est) on the cross, rather than the Son alone. (aberrant)

Question 24

Arianism

Answer 24

The teaching that the Son is not himself fully God: he is very much like God (homoiousios) but ultimately created by God (aberrant)

Question 25

Nicene Trinitarian Doctrine

Answer 25

The collective teaching of the Church at a council in 325A.D. that the Son is fully God in every way. The Son is homoousios (Greek, “of the same being”) in relation to the Father, not merely very much like him (consensus)

Question 26

Tritheism

Answer 26

A belief in three gods (aberrant)

Question 27

Relations

Answer 27

In the context of the Trinity, ‘relations’ refers to what the Father, Son and Spirit are: to be the Father is to be the Son’s Father, to be the Son is to be the Father’s Son, and to be the Spirit is to be breathed out by the Father and the Son (consensus)

Question 28

Perichoresis

Answer 28

The idea that each of the three Persons of the Trinity are “in” each other: the Father is “in” the Son and vice versa, and so on (consensus)

Question 29

Persons

Answer 29

Similar to the term ‘relations,’ the term ‘Persons’ is used to talk about what Father, Son and Spirit are. To call the Father a “Person” is not the same as saying “I am a person,” but in a unique way indicates the personal, relational nature of Father, Son and Spirit (consensus)

Question 30

Doctrine of Appropriations

Answer 30

Because there is only one God, the acts of God are ‘indivisible.’ That means the Son does not act without the Spirit, nor the Spirit without the Father, and so on. Nevertheless, we can ‘appropriate’ certain acts of God to certain of the Persons. For example, we appropriate the work of redemption to the Son (consensus)

Question 31

Creator-Creature Distinction

Answer 31

God is not a thing in the universe (consensus)

Question 32

Immanence

Answer 32

God is deeply present to everything he has made and continues to uphold its existence (consensus)

Question 33

Creation out of nothing

Answer 33

God created everything that is out of nothing, rather than out of something. By implication, God did not use some eternal material or some part of himself to create (consensus)

Question 34

Scientism and materialism

Answer 34

The beliefs that only what is observable is real, and that only what is material exists, respectively (aberrant)

Question 35

Deism

Answer 35

The belief that God created the world but then had no further involvement with it (aberrant)

Question 36

Pantheism

Answer 36

The view that God and the world are identical (aberrant)

Question 37

Panentheism

Answer 37

The view that the world is somehow “in” God; God and creation are entangled and inseparable (aberrant)

Question 38

Creaturely dependence and divine sufficiency

Answer 38

Creation relies for its existence entirely on God, whereas God does not need creation for his existence or fulfillment; he is self-sufficient. God creates simply out of love and loves what he has made (consensus)

Question 39

Gnosticism

Answer 39

An ancient Christian heresy that supposes its members have hidden “knowledge” (Greek, gnosis) that leads them to salvation. Gnostic groups generally thought of the material world as an evil to be escaped (aberrant)

Question 40

Hierarchical dualism

Answer 40

The view, shared by Gnosticism with others, that what is spiritual is better than what is material, and that therefore the material world is to be rejected and escaped (aberrant)

Question 41

Holism

Answer 41

The view that everything God made is good and, therefore, each individual thing God made is valuable and to be treated as such (consensus)

Question 42

Theodicy

Answer 42

An attempted explanation of the existence of evil that exonerates God of blame (93). Not all Christians agree that this should be attempted. (diversity)

Question 43

Fatalism

Answer 43

The view that, since God is in control of the world, none of our thoughts or actions is really meaningful. Whatever will be will be (aberrant)