I am currently taking ThM at Westminster Theological College and Seminary Cambodia and the first subject for this fall semester has just concluded although not fully over since we are still working on our papers. Grateful that by God's grace I have just accomplished the first part which is answering the following 20 Theological questions. I hope that one way or another, these will also help you if these are some things that would be of your interest.
Please note that the main textbook in this class was Michael Horton's "Pilgrim Theology". So without further ado, here are the questions and answers.
1. What is Verbal-Plenary
Inspiration?
This is about the Word or the Bible
being “inspired” of God-breathed. “Inspiration means that God supernaturally
guided the authors of the Bible to write the exact message that He wanted to
communicate to humanity. Now “Verbal” means that every word of Scripture is
God-breathed while “Plenary” means “complete or full”. Hence all parts of the
Scripture are equally of divine origin and equally authoritative.
2. How does magisterial
authority differ from ministerial authority?
Magisterial authority, i.e. the magisterium of the Roman catholic
church, refers to the special teaching authority of the church even outside the
Scripture. This authority resides within the Pope and Catholic bishops. Such
teaching covers the attribute of the
church especially the pope being infallible. Catholicism hold to magisterium
because they say that it is vital since without it, humanity cannot correctly
understand God’s revelation. In contrast, Ministerial authority is preaching
the Word and administering the sacraments having Jesus Christ as the source of
such authority and not the church.
3. What is Homoousia?
What triggered the church to formulate Homoousia?
Homoousia is the belief that the
Son and the Father are of one substance. It was formulated at the Nicene Creed
in AD 325. Gnosticism and heretical teachings like Arianism, Apollinarism,
Origen's and so forth about the Trinity were rampant for many years. The Nicene
Creed formulated not the unity of the Godhead but rather the coeternity of the
Son with the Father, which is now part of the doctrinal teachings of many
mainstream Christians.
4. What is Trichotomy and
Dichotomy? Why did John Calvin seldom mention Trichotomy?
Trichotomy is the belief that we are composed of the body, soul and
spirit while dichotomy believes that soul and spirit are relatively the same. Dichotomists believe that soul and spirit are two different terms but
refer to only one entity of humanity. Calvin holds dichotomous anthropology.
According to his writings, it seems that he believes that although Scripture
speak of the soul and the spirit separately at times, it just explains that
either soul or spirit is more comprehensively the incorporeal part of the human
being, hence it seems to be identical.
5. Why does the book
reject Dualism? Can Monism correct the error of Dualism?
Radical dualism is about having
human divine soul being trapped in the physical/bodily prison house. Monism
does not correct the error since it is also denying the distinction between the
body and soul. As per the book, “Biblical duality-in-unity recognizes a
distinction without denying the unity of the human person.
6. How does Pelagianism
differ from Augustine/Calvin?
Pelagianism, coined after Pelagius, taught that human will was
capable of spiritual good without God’s grace. Hence, it almost sounds
like humanism on another note Augustine
was among the church fathers who criticized this school of thought. For him,
Jesus did not come to give us a “self-help” gospel, as what Pelagius teaches.
And Calvin on the other hand emphasizes that we are saves by God’s grace and
not by our works, which are mere evidence of salvation.
7. What
is the difference between the Covenant of Work (or law) and the Covenant of Grace?
The Covenant of Grace
is traced from God’s unconditional promise of salvation to Adam and Eve going
down to the next generations of faith from Seth to Noah and to Abraham and
Sarah all the way to the New covenant, as inaugurated by Christ’s work on the cross.
God said “I will be your God and you will be my people..”
The Covenant of Work or Covenant of Creation is simply the conditional covenant
between God and humanity in Adam. In Adam’s disobedience, humanity will die
like him. Hence, work is needed. Both covenants (COG and COW) have to be
understood in order to understand the Old Testament.
8. What
is the active and passive obedience? Why was it necessary to divide the
Christ’s obedience into two?
Active Obedience is Jesus Christ’s
fulfillment of the law on behalf of His people. On the other hand, Passive
Obedience is Jesus Christ’s suffering the penalty of sin and death on behalf of
His people. The book states that the division is necessary because Christ’s
fulfillment of all righteousness
(active) is imputed to the believers, which their sins are imputed to Christ in
His death (passive).
9. What is the difference
between Kingdom of Grace and Kingdom of Glory, and how are they relate to
Christ’s humiliation and exaltation?
Christ is the King of grace as He
took the sufferings that were actually meant for us to carry. This was Christ’s
season of humiliation. On the other hand, Christ is the King of Glory as He has
risen to glorification proving that He has conquered death. This has marked
Christ’s exaltation and that He will come again for His millennial reign.
10. How does Arminianism
differ from Calvinism (using 5 points to explain the differences)?
Arminianism holds that sinners can do good and respond to God while
Calvinism holds that Man is unable to respond to God. The goodness that come
after being saved is an evidence and not as something to manipulate God’s
decision for man.
Armianism holds that God elects on basis of the foreseen faith while
Calvinism holds that God elects according to His good pleasure. God being an
omniscient God knows what is ahead and He does things according to His pleasure
since He is the sole sovereign creator who knows what is righteous and what is
just so He permits things to happen and nothing escapes from His hands.
Arminianism holds that Christ died for all while Calvinism holds
that Christ died for the elect. The New Testament speaks a lot about the conditional
nature of salvation as John 3:16 for example, where it says that only those who
believe will receive eternal life. God’s work on the cross is sufficient (for
all) yet it is efficient (for those who believe/elect).
Arminianism holds that Man can resist God while Calvinism holds
irresistible election. Since God already knows who will be saved since He is
not bound by time, when He says one is saved, that person is saved indeed and
he cannot resist that.
Arminianism holds that Believer may lose salvation while Calvinism
holds that the elect can never lose salvation. When a believer is truly
salvation, that is if he/she receives Christ genuinely in his/her heart, they
he/she is an elect and will never lose salvation.
11. What are the
characteristics of believers’ union with Christ?
Being the elect, who share in Christ’s eternity, the believers
undergo union with Christ. In the process from justification and
sanctification, to glorification, the elect experience changes which lead to
the likeness of Christ. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is manifested as: Love,
Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and
Self-control.
12. What is the New
Perspective on Paul?
The “New Perspective on Paul” is an attempt to redefine and sort of
deny some key biblical doctrines that are the foundation of the Christian
faith. One of the lead proponents of this new perspective is N.T. Wright, a
Bible scholar from the Anglican Church. He and other scholars introduced
different interpretation of the Pauline theology such as regarding the doctrine
of justification. These scholars say that Paul was not speaking of personal and
individual justification wherein a guilty sinner is declared righteous on the
basis of faith in Christ and succeeding that is the imputation of God’s
righteousness, instead, they say that Paul was speaking of how one could tell
if a person was “a member of the covenant family.
13. What are three uses of
the law? Briefly explain each use.
The first use is to give knowledge about sin. The law gives a
reflection of God’s righteousness and the unrighteousness of human. Hence, it
teaches how humans were in the beginning, when created in His image. The second
use is for civil use. The law itself cannot change the heart but it gives
warning for the offenders as backed by the civil code for the punishment
against particular offenses. The third use is to guide the believers. The law
directs God’s children to undergo regeneration into the good works that God has
planned for them.
14. What is Eternal
Security? How can a believer be assured of their salvation?
The Scripture says that whoever believes in the Lord Jesus Christ
will have eternal life. Hence, if a believer genuinely receives Jesus Christ in
his/her life, then he/she receives that eternal security. Salvation will never
be lost. An important note is that eternal security or blessed assurance is a
result of God keeping us and not us maintaining our own salvation. Receiving
Christ should be genuine and true in order that eternal security is assured.
15. Why do the church
baptize only once?
Genuine baptism is done only once in a person’s life since baptism
in the Holy Spirit happens once as well. If a person is baptized more than
once, then the previous baptism/s has/ve never been genuine. Jesus gave us an
example that before He went to fasting and later to ministry-proper, He was
baptized only once. He rendered it as one of the two ordinances for all
believers hence it has to be taken seriously.
16. What are
Transubstantiation and consubstantiation?
In Roman catholic eucharist, the
bread and wine materially changes and become the body and blood of Jesus Christ
while both objects remain as they are. This is Transubstantiation. On the other
hand, Consubstantiation describes the real presence of Christ in the eucharist.
It holds that during the sacrament, the total substance of the body and blood
of Christ are spiritually present along with the total substance of the bread
and wine. Lutherans hold to Consubstantiation.
17. How do the Roman
Church, the New Apostolic Movement and the Reformed theology understand “we
believe in the apostolic church”?
The Roman Catholic church identify itself as an apostolic church by
being office bearers tracing the pope's ordination to the early Church
apostles. The New Apostolic Movement (NAM) on the other hand identify itself as
apostolic through the charismatic ministry of revelation and prophecy, to the
point of extreme display of the gifts such as tongues, healing, and prosperity.
An Apostolic church is generally referring to being a Church moving forward to
do Jesus’ great commission, which is proclaiming the Gospel to all the earth. This
is how Reformed and Lutheran traditions identify themselves with.
18. What is the difference
between the Normative Principle of Worship and the Regulative Principle of
Worship?
The regulative principle of worship maintains that Scripture provides
specific guidelines for how corporate worship services are to be done. Doing beyond
such guidelines is not encouraged. Some regulative principles is specific use
of musical instruments or not using them at all. On the other hand, the normative principle provides greater freedom in
worship as the church can do anything as long as it is not expressly forbidden
by Scripture. can be used in corporate worship. The regulative principle is
common in Reformed churches, while the normative principle is usually happening
in modern evangelicalism. For whatever the worship style is, it is still the
Lord who tests the heart of the worshipper.
19. How do amillennialism,
premillennialism and postmillennialism understand “thousand years”?
Amillennialism maintains that there will not be a literal 1,000-year
reign of Christ in contrast with what Premillenialism and Postmillenialism
believe. The most widely accepted view is premillennialism as it holds that
Christ’s second coming will occur prior to His millennial kingdom which will
take place literally for 1,000-year reign. The less-widely accepted view is
postmillennialism that maintains that Christ will return after Christians, not
Christ Himself, have established the kingdom on this earth, again literally for
1,000-year reign. Amillenialists believe that Jesus is already sitting on the
throne of David. The reason why Amillenialists do not interepret the millennial
literally is because for them, unfulfilled prophecy is to be interpreted
spiritually, or non-literally as symbolic, figurative, spiritual language and
so forth.
20. What is Apokatastasis?
Aposkatastasis is Origen’s theory of Universal restoration. It held
that all spirits, even including Lucifer, will be saved. Barth’s doctrine of
election and reconciliation suggests an agreement to such teaching. Some
Arminians also agree since Arminianism was once known as “hyphothetical
universalism”. Nonetheless, Christ’s work is sufficient for the whole world but
efficient for the elect alone.
