A Concise Dictionary of Theological Terms

Christopher W. Morgan, Robert A. Peterson

• Publisher: B&H Academic
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781535982238
• eBook ISBN: 9781535982245
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

With more than 700 definitions for theological words and phrases from "Abrahamic covenant" to "Zwinglian view of the Lord's Supper, " A Concise Dictionary of Theological Terms helps readers master the foundational language of the Christian faith. Unique in its format, grouping related words together to promote overall comprehension, this is an essential resource for Christians who want to understand unfamiliar terms or gain more in-depth knowledge of key theological concepts.

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calling—God’s summoning people to him in salvation. Often, calling is God’s means of bringing people to salvation (Rom 8:30; 9:23–24; 2 Thess 2:13–14). Sometimes calling refers to the sharing and hearing of the gospel and its invitation and promises (external or gospel call). Such calling includes the gospel: we are lost and cannot rescue ourselves, Christ died and arose to rescue sinners, and we must trust him to be rescued. It includes an invitation, summoning people to trust Jesus’s death and resurrection for deliverance. It includes promises: the forgiveness of sins and eternal life to believers. Many biblical texts issue the gospel call (e.g., Acts 16:31; Rom 10:9). Sometimes calling also refers to God’s summoning people to him so that they trust in Christ (internal call). Examples include 2 Tim 1:9: “He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began” (cf. John 6:44; Rom 8:30). See also application of salvation; gospel.

Calvin, John (1509–1564)—French theologian and pastor in Geneva who was a leader in the Protestant Reformation. In addition to his famous systematic theology, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin wrote commentaries on most of the books of the Bible. He founded a school that trained many students, including missionaries to France, who planted hundreds of churches. His influence continues through his example of exposi­tory preaching and the theology that bears his name (Calvinism), which stresses God’s glory and sovereignty. See also Arminianism; Arminius, James; Calvinism; glory of God; Knox, John; preaching; Reformation; sovereignty of God; Zwingli, Ulrich.

Calvinism—theological system stemming from John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion and the Reformed branch of the Reformation. The Synod of Dort (1618–19) further defined Calvinism in response to Arminian protests. The Synod’s conclusions were later summarized as the five points of Calvinism with the acronym TULIP. T stands for total depravity, the view that all parts of humans are scarred by sin so that we cannot save ourselves. U stands for unconditional election, God’s choice of people for salvation based on his own purpose and grace, not foreseen faith. L stands for limited atonement, which holds that Christ died to save his chosen ones from their sins. I stands for irresistible grace, which means that God successfully overcomes his people’s opposition to the gospel. P stands for perseverance of the saints, which means both that God keeps believers saved and that they continue to believe the gospel. The five points of Calvinism are also called the doctrines of grace. See also Arminianism; Arminius, James; atonement; Calvin, John; election; grace of God; perseverance; preservation; sovereignty of God; total depravity.

canon—word meaning “measuring stick” and referring to the authoritative sixty-six books of Scripture, the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven of the New. These books function as the standard for what Christians believe and how they live. See also Scripture; Scripture, attributes.

Carey, William (1761–1834)—British Baptist missionary, translator, social reformer, and father of modern missions. After rejection by non-Baptist missionaries in West Bengal, India, he joined Baptist missionaries in Serampore, India. Carey founded schools and translated the Bible into many languages. He opposed sati, the practice of Indian widows’ throwing themselves onto their husbands’ funeral pyres. His essay, “An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens,” sparked the founding of the Baptist Missionary Society. See also gospel; Great Commission; mission.

Carmichael, Amy (1867–1951)—did not allow debilitating neuralgia, which brings stabbing or burning pain, to keep her from a life-changing ministry of mercy. While listening to a message from Hudson Taylor, founder of China Inland Mission, Carmichael was called to missions. Serving with an Anglican ministry in Bangalore, India, she rescued little girls from Hindu temple prostitution and began the Dohnavur Fellowship. When too infirm to continue, Carmichael wrote many inspirational books. Her example inspired others to become missionaries. See also Great Commission; mission.

Catholicism—See Roman Catholicism.

catholicity (universality) of the church—See church, attributes.

cessationism—See charismatic gifts.

Chalcedonian Creed—See Council of Chalcedon.

charismatic gifts—extraordinary spiritual gifts, specifically word of wisdom, word of knowledge, healing, miracles, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in tongues, and interpretation of tongues (1 Cor 12:8–10). Also called sign gifts because they indicate God’s special presence. They characterized the early church, and the Charismatic movement of the mid-twentieth century eagerly sought them. Evangelicals are divided as to whether the charismatic gifts continue today. Continuationists hold that they do, while cessationists limit these gifts to the apostolic age—the time before the completion of the New Testament. See also baptism of the Holy Spirit; Holy Spirit’s filling; Holy Spirit’s gifts; Holy Spirit’s ministries; Pentecostalism; speaking in tongues.

Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy—the written product of a convention of evangelical scholars from many traditions in Chicago in 1978. The statement affirmed that Scripture is wholly truthful (without error) in its original manuscripts (autographs). It affirmed that inerrancy is the historic view of the church. In a format of affirmations and denials, the statement set forth a nuanced view of inerrancy and defended the doctrine against attacks. See also Henry, Carl F. H.; inerrancy; Scripture, attributes.

children of God—See adoption; church, pictures.

Christ as high priest—See Christ’s saving work, biblical images.

Christ as image of God—title of the God-man Jesus Christ, who is the image of God in which Adam and Eve were first created. As the perfect image, Christ in his incarnation reveals the invisible God (Col 1:15); he does this in character, words, and deeds. When preachers proclaim the gospel of Christ, they reveal God’s image (2 Cor 4:4). The incarnate Christ is a perfect example of what human beings are to be. Paul also teaches that Christ is our final goal and that God will conform believers into Christ’s image. God’s children will share the glory of the firstborn Son (Rom 8:29). The image bearers of Adam will be the image bearers of the second Adam when God clothes them with immortality in the resurrection (1 Cor 15:49). See also Christ’s incarnation; gospel; image of God (imago Dei); resurrection; Second Coming.

Christlikeness—See virtues, Christian.

Christological heresies—See Christ’s deity, denials; Christ’s humanity, denials.

Christology—in Christian theology, the study of the doctrine of Christ, including his person and work.

Christophany—an Old Testament appearance of the Second Person of the Trinity. Many suggest that Isaiah saw a Christophany when he saw the Lord seated on a high throne in the temple (Isa 6:1, 5 in light of John 12:41). And some point to the appearance of the fourth man in the fiery furnace as a Christophany (Dan 3:25). These are to be distinguished from the incarnation, for in Christophanies, the Son did not become a man but only appeared temporarily. The Son’s incarnation is permanent; he is the God-man forevermore. See also Christ’s incarnation.

Christ as peacemaker—See Christ’s saving work, biblical images; reconciliation with others.

Christ as Redeemer—See Christ’s saving work, biblical images.

Christ, return of—See Second Coming.

Christ’s deity—Jesus’s status as God. This is an essential truth, for salvation depends on Jesus’s being God (and man). Scripture proclaims that Jesus is God in many ways. First, it identifies him with God. It applies to Old Testament passages that refer to “Yahweh” (translated in capital letters as “LORD”): Mal 3:1 in Mark 1:2, for example. The New Testament interchanges Jesus and God; God’s love (Rom 8:39) is Christ’s (Rom 8:35; Eph 3:19). The New Testament also calls Jesus “God” (John 1:1; 20:28; Rom 9:5; Titus 2:13; Heb 1:8; 2 Pet 1:1). Second, Jesus performs works that only God performs: creation (John 1:3; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2), providence (Col 1:16; Heb 1:3), judgment (John 5:22–23; 2 Thess 1:7–8), and salvation (Acts 4:12; Heb 9:11–12). Third, Jesus saves us in union with him (Eph 2:4–5; 1 Cor 15:22). Fourth, Jesus brings the age to come (Matt 12:28; 1 Cor 15:22–25). Fifth, Jesus receives devotion due to God alone: worship (Heb 1:6), doxology (Heb 13:20–21; 2 Pet 3:18), hymns (Eph 5:18–19), and prayer (John 14:14; Rev 22:20). See also Athanasius; Christ’s deity, denials; Christ’s exercise of attributes; Christ’s states of humiliation and exaltation; Council of Nicaea; homoousios; Nicene Creed.

Christ’s deity, denials—Doctrines that deny Christ’s deity include Ebionism, adoptionism, and Arianism. Ebionism was a Jewish mono­theistic denial that Christ is God. It held that at Jesus’s baptism, the Christ descended upon him in the form of a dove. Near the end of Jesus’s life, the Christ left him. Adoptionism (or Dynamic Monarchianism) shared similarities to Ebionism. It held that God gave the Holy Spirit to the man Jesus of Nazareth at his baptism and adopted him as his son. Thus elevated to divine sonship, Jesus performed supernatural works. Arianism arose within the church, for Arius (d. 336), for whom the heresy is named, was an elder in the church in Alexandria. Emphasizing God’s uniqueness and transcendence, he denied the full deity of Christ. Instead, he held that Christ (the Word, the Son) was God’s first and highest creature. He said the Father worked and works through the Word, but unlike God, the Word had a beginning. The Son is different in essence from the Father. In 325, the Council of Nicaea rightly condemned Arianism as a heresy by affirming Christ’s deity. More recently, the kenosis doctrine has questioned Christ’s deity. It is misleadingly named after the Greek word used to describe Jesus’s “emptying” himself (Phil 2:7), where the “emptying” is not literal but metaphorical, as the next words show: “he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity.” The kenosis error claims that in becoming a man, Jesus relinquished certain divine attributes. The church rightly rejects this view and upholds the full deity of Christ according to Scripture. Jesus retained all of his divine qualities but used them only in obedience to his Father. See also Athanasius; Christ’s deity; Christ’s unity; Council of Nicaea; Gnosticism; homoousios; Nicene Creed; subordinationism.

Christ’s example—See Christ as image of God; Christ’s obedience; virtues, Christian.

Christ’s exercise of attributes—the Son’s use of his divine attributes while on earth. The Son of God became a genuine human being in the incarnation and retained all of his divine attributes. He did not relinquish them but gave up their independent exercise, instead using his divine powers on earth only in obedience to the Father’s will. See also Christ’s deity; Christ’s humanity; Christ’s incarnation; Christ’s obedience.

Christ’s humanity—Jesus’s status as a genuine human being. This is an essential truth, for salvation depends on Jesus’s authentic humanity (and deity). The Bible teaches Jesus’s humanity in many ways. First, the eternal Son of God became a human being, the Son of Man (John 1:14; Heb 2:14). Second, Jesus had human needs; for example, he was tired (John 4:6), hungry (Matt 4:2; 21:18), and thirsty (19:28). Third, Jesus displayed human emotions, such as intense grief (Matt 26:38). Fourth, Jesus had human experiences, such as birth (Luke 2:6–7), growth (2:52), and death (John 19:18, 30, 33). Fifth, Jesus had a human relationship with his Father, honoring (John 8:49) and obeying him (12:49). Sixth, Jesus was “made perfect,” as learning obedience through suffering perfectly qualified him experientially to redeem all who trust him as Savior (Heb 5:8–9). See also Christ’s humanity, denials; Christ’s incarnation; Christ’s obedience; Christ’s states of humiliation and exaltation.

Christ’s humanity, denials—rejections of the biblical teaching that Christ is truly and fully human. Two such historical denials are Docetism and Apollinarianism, the former blatant and the latter more subtle. Greek philosophy held to gradations of reality, with spirit as the highest and matter less real. Ethical gradations paralleled these ontological ones so that spirit was good and matter bad. Greeks, then, thought it impossible for God to become a human being. Docetism (from the Greek dokeō, “I think, seem, appear”) taught that Christ only appeared to be human. Apollinarianism, named after Apollinarius (fourth century AD), denied the completeness of Christ’s humanity. It held that Jesus had a human body but not a human soul, “the Word” taking the place of a soul. In 381 the Council of Constantinople I condemned this heresy. While rejecting these errors, it is sometimes hard for us, who rightly affirm Christ’s deity, to affirm his humanity as strongly. There are two crucial points. First, our salvation depends on Jesus’s deity and his humanity. Jesus’s humanness enabled him to die in the place of his fellow human beings to rescue them from their sins. Second, we confess mystery in the person of Christ. We cannot fully understand how he is God and man in one person. See also Christ’s humanity; Christ’s incarnation; Christ’s unity; Council of Chalcedon; Gnosticism.

Christ’s incarnation—the miracle of the eternal Son of God becoming a man. Scripture teaches the preexistence of the Son, for he existed before his incarnation. For all eternity the Son shared fellowship with the Father and Holy Spirit. In the incarnation he became a man: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). His existence as a man began with his conception in Mary’s womb by the Spirit. As a result, the Son, who was always God, took to himself genuine humanity and henceforth was God and man in one person. Jesus’s sinlessness reminds us that sinful humanity is not normal but is a result of the fall. The union between the natures of Christ is a personal (or hypostatic) union. The basis of this union is not Jesus’s humanity, which began in Bethlehem. Rather, its basis is the person of the eternal Son, who became a man of flesh while not ceasing to be God (Luke 1:31–35; Phil 2:7; Heb 2:14). See also Christophany; Christ’s humanity; Christ’s saving work; Christ’s saving work, historical views; Gnosticism; Mary; subordinationism.

Christ’s names and titles—designations of Christ that typically speak of his deity, humanity, identity, and mission. Representative examples include the following: He is the eternal Son of God (John 20:31), different from but equal to the Father and Holy Spirit. He is the Alpha and Omega (Rev 22:13), the First and the Last (2:8)—Old Testament titles for God. All will bow before him and confess that he is Lord (Phil 2:11), another Old Testament title used hundreds of times of God. God told both Joseph and Mary to name the baby “Jesus” (Matt 1:21; Luke 1:31), “the Lord saves,” because he would save his people from their sins. He became incarnate as the Son of Man, an Old Testament title that speaks of both his deity ...

Table of contents

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction to A Concise Dictionary of Theological Terms
• A Abrahamic covenant—autographs
• B banishment—Bultmann, Rudolf
• C calling—curse
• D Davidic covenant—dynamic theory of inspiration
• E Eareckson Tada, Joni—extreme unction
• F faith—fundamentalism
• G Gehenna—Gutiérrez, Gustavo
• H hamartiology—hypostatic union
• I idealism—Israel
• J Jesus—Justin Martyr
• K Kant, Immanuel—Knox, John
• L lake of fire—Lutheran view of Lord’s Supper
• M Mary—mysticism
• N natural headship—nominalism
• O obedience—Owen, John
• P Padilla, René—Puritanism
• R Radical Reformation—Roman Catholicism
• S Sabbath—systematic theology
• T temple of the Spirit—type, typology
• U unchangeableness of God—unpardonable sin
• V Vatican I—vision of God
• W walking in the Spirit—wrath of God
• Y Yahweh—young earth creationism
• Z Zwingli, Ulrich—Zwinglian view of the Lord’s Supper