Is Philosophy Necessary in Christian Theology?

 

Reading the recent American philosophy was a bit overwhelming and at certain point and degree releases a tingling sensation to the ear because of the twisted understanding of truth. But I must admit, most of their arguments are quite convincing. Nonetheless, the truth evidenced in the Word of God can impossibly be overcome by any secular philosophy at all.

Philosophy may be overwhelming at times indeed that is why I used to stay away from it even back in my early years of being a Christian. But over time I realized that philosophy can be very useful for our theology for as long as it furthers a pursuit of truth.

As the writer of Ecclesiastes said in Ecclesiastes 12:13 that the whole duty of man is to obey God, we are to deal with the many different worldly philosophies without losing our connection to the Divine wisdom of God. I believe that all necessary questions or existential inquiries pertaining to God, eternity, and the godly life are addressed in the Word of God, the Bible. Paul in his accounts implied that he has knowledge of the Greek writings and other philosophies as he was able to deal with arguments with the stoics and epicureans in the book of Acts. Hence it should be normal for Christians to study and use philosophy for apologetic and evangelistic purposes. And as for me, it would also be part of that helmet of salvation in Ephesians 6, which will protect us from being gullible to the worldly philosophies that will draw us away from the truth of God.

Although we can say that faith and reason are in conflict most of the time and that faith is implicitly irrational or anti-intellectual, it does not mean that we are to devalue philosophy at all. The Bible presents us the truth about faith and God and further the Gospel as being grounded in reality and founded upon the history of God's people as recorded by eyewitnesses of extraordinary and divine events.  

We always need to balance things whether in our understanding of the divine realm and matters about it along with the physical. We can never understand the things of the Spirit of God without His special revelation, which is His Word. His wisdom does not come from our natural state of mind for our human reason is fallen. We need God who gives wisdom as a gift to us. Reason that does not come from God is deadly. Hence we need God’s wisdom and not the pride of human reason. As Proverbs 9:10 says, the beginning of all wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Holy Fear- rooted in love- not the idea of fear that this world teaches).

God is the ultimate source of wisdom and we are to ask this gift from Him so that we can think rationally. That way, we are able to say that we have the "mind of Christ".

Philosophy is neutral. It can be used to argue, boast, and be prideful about wisdom. But on the other hand, it can be a beautiful tool that can lead us to enlightening, mature, and healthy arguments that lead all to the knowledge of God. So us, Christian theists, should take philosophy positively and Biblically in accordance to the will of God.

 

 

Who Will Go To Heaven

Looking at these beliefts, we can see five major categories regarding how to get to heaven. 1- Most believe that hard work and wisdom will lead to ultimate fulfillment, whether that is unity with god (Hinduism, Buddhism, and Baha’i) or freedom and independence (Scientology, Jainism). 2- Others, like Unitarianism and Wicca, teach the afterlife is whatever you want it to be, and salvation is a non-issue because the sin nature doesn’t exist. 3- A few believe either the afterlife doesn’t exist or it’s too unknowable to consider. 4- Derivatives of the worship of the Christian-Judeo God generally hold that faith in God and/or Jesus and the accomplishment of various deeds, including baptism or door-to-door evangelism, will ensure the worshiper will go to heaven. 5- Only Christianity teaches that salvation is a free gift of God through faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8–9), and no amount of work or effort is necessary or possible to get to heaven. based on the article by gotquestions.org

https://www.gotquestions.org/how-to-get-to-heaven.html

For us Christians, we believe there is heaven but we are not sure of how it looks like but we have this blessed hope and assurance that it exists. And heaven for us is a realm or Kingdom of God, and since it is His Kingdom, He owns it. If He owns it, He will get to decide who will enter right? we are not the ones to decide. Now God who is a holy God in His holy place will always maintain holiness in His Kingdom. That is the reality of God and we cannot change. He is immutable. If he adjusts to be unholy like us then He is not God anymore.. And all of us humans are unholy and not good enough to enter heaven. none of us.. even the level of Mother Theresa will not enter heaven, because no person in this world has that truly clean slate. Maybe a small sin will not justify us, all of us have records be it a very small sin or big sin. That is why throughout history especially recorded in the Old Testament, no one has ever perfected the law except when Jesus came. God Himself went down on earth to save us because we cannot save ourselves. We cannot give ourselves the ticket to heaven. It is only by the righteousness of Jesus Christ that we can get accepted in heaven. Not by our own good works but by Jesus Himself alone. We are hidden in the glory of Jesus when we enter heaven. This is the mystery of what #joycepring was actually asserting in her interview and we as Christians should humbly present this to the world. That Jesus is the only way to heaven not in an arrogant way but in way that they will understand the love of Christ for them no matter what they have done in their lives. Because if we accept Christ in our lives, it means we are resigning to His will and so we will no longer live according to the flesh but in Spirit. Yes we will still have struggles, we will still sin, but we will have conviction, we will not remain in sin but rather we will repent and turn back to God and ask for guidance so we will be taken away from that path to sin.. and yes, if we don't have Jesus, we will go to hell. There is no other way but Him. Heaven is owned by God. He gets to decide who will enter. And His decision relies on the condition of Holiness that we can only find in Jesus.

No copyright infringement intended for the photos from this post as these are just intended to educate our students in the World Religions Class. Blog: http://www.lanilaneocbina.online/ FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/ChibiLanilane youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LanilaneOcbina Instagram & Tiktok: lanilaneocbina

Do We Worship The Same God?

 

The Idea of God in the Church

The account about Paul at Athens makes me think about the worshippers in the Christian context where there is always a strong possibility of being  in a church and congregation that worships different versions of Jesus Christ. I once asked my brothers and sisters in the church: “are we worshipping the same Jesus when we sing, pray, and hear the Word during Sunday services? Do we have the same Christ in mind?” And the realizations were surprising. The worshippers of the God if the Bible really need to grow in the knowledge of God or else, many will end up worshipping a different “god”, leading to idolatry, which God Himself condemns. Some of them unknowingly see Jesus as a genie who grants wishes. Some see Jesus as a Santa Claus who rewards nice boys and girls. Some see Jesus as their ATM who would release cash whenever they need and want it. All these  can be really dangerous as these reflect superficial knowledge of God that leads to worship of material things and not God at all.

God is the Creator of all good things, the High Priest who sacrificed Himself as the Lamb to cover all sings once and for all, He is the Messiah and Judge who will come again to judge the living and the dead, He is the God who commissioned us to do a task until His Parousia.

Being a Christian is much more than asking presents and rewards daily from the Lord.

Paul’s Encounter with the Critical Thinkers

Paul’s encounter with the Epicureans and Stoics in Athens makes me think also about the circumstance where we meet unbelievers or even God-seekers or God-fearers. Paul’s strategy was reckoning with homophily conditions as the entry point. The critical thinkers have their own “gods” in mind and Paul saw that there was an “unknown god” and made it as his entry point to introduce the true Gospel of Christ.

People worship the unknown god even though they do not know him and thought it was fine. But God wants us to know Him and so Paul used it to teach about the one true God. Paul tried to reconcile the mystery and he did it with authority and boldness because he knows for sure that what he is preaching is the truth of God.

In our ministry context, we also need to look for the homophilous patterns to relate to the non-Christians and then later redirect them to the one true God. There is always an entry point as the “unknown god” used by Paul. We need the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit as what Paul experienced all throughout his missionary journeys.

Week 7

Digest, Oct. 5-Oct 12, 2022

Lanilane Ocbina

WCTS, ThM program

 

 

How Important is Theology for Every Believer?

Some years ago, when I found myself passionate so much for Jesus, I just got extreme in my philosophies. I believed and thought to myself, “I do not want to be a theologian, I want to be a person of God..” This perhaps was not just because of my heart burning for Jesus but because of some arrogant theologians that I met along the way. Nonetheless, as time went by, the Lord taught me that as His follower, as His child, I have to grow in His knowledge. And that a person of God is also a sound theologian.

With sound theology, our faith will not be easily shaken. With the Biblical understanding of God, we are sure that we will also not feed the flock with poisonous philosophies. Hence, as a commissioner of God, we are to be ready to defend our faith because there is a flock under our care to be protected.

Jesus asked Peter three times if he truly loves Him, and everytime Peter says yes, Jesus would tell him to feed and take care of the flock. Thus, if we truly love the Lord, we are to make sure that we know God and His Word well. Apologetics and our grasp of Christian history and facts should be sturdy then.

Apologetics is important and we can only be effective in it if our philosophy about God is truly Biblical. Christian History and facts are important also especially when we go to places where there are many “stoics” and “epicureans” who will shaken our faith or the faith of those who are under our care.

Both apologetics and evidences (history) are God’s tools to save us from false teaching and actually, to save us from ourselves as well. On my end, I still find myself in crisis of some sort at times. I have questions about God and His mysterious dealings in the world from time to time. But the Word of God tells us so much that all these crises do not take so long to linger and that God remains to be God as the absolute authority and Creator designer of all things.

God is eternal, infinite, unchanging holy and so forth. He is not created by anything / anyone but He is the Creator Himself. He is not bond by anything that any of our language could speak, not any third party at all. He exists outside all of these, be it time, language and so forth.

God is absolute. He is God. He cannot be explained fully because if He can be, He is not God anymore. No one is capable of knowing it all about Him but we are called to know Him anyway. We are to understand all that we can about Him and not all that there is because the infinite God forever have the mystery that only Him can decide whether it shall be revealed fully to us or not.

Week 6

Digest, Sept.28-Oct.4, 2022

Lanilane Ocbina

WCTS, ThM program

 

Maintaining the Eschatological Perspective

As children of God, we are recipients of God’s saving grace hence we are to act as those who are not just under the common grace. God’s salvation for us has to lead us to the original cultural mandate of God which is to subdue the earth and we are to stick to the Great commission of Christ. The problem in our Church today is the tendency to get stuck in the present temporal issues rather than kingdom purposes of significance for both time and eternity. Most Christians forget to think eschatologically and miss the fact that apart from the common grace, there is also the common curse, and that there is an idea of the catastrophic.

The Antithesis drives us to focus and maintain our journey to win more souls for Christ. This is not because we have the power to determine who are the elect but because we are made to be obedient to the Lord and do as He instructs us to do. It is only God who knows who will be saved and who will be the reprobate and our role is to live the cultural mandate and Great commission of Christ. Having this in mind, we need to understand this and take by heart because it will be dangerous to go forth and win souls and then share to them a different Gospel.

Being a missionary, I met a lot of frontliners in the battlefield who are so bold as driven by Christ’s Great Commission. Most of them inspire me but it hurts me though when some of them criticize theologians because for them, there is an urgency for the harvest and theologians just waste time figuring out and solving many errors when the great problem is actually how to bring more souls to Christ. To me, there should be a balance because missionaries, theologians, and others are all parts of the body of Christ and have important roles to work on. And actually, missionaries really need to be theologians themselves as well because in the battlefield, there will be so many false teachings and errors that will lead to the corruption of their teachings as they share the Gospel to communities. Hence there should be the clarity of revelation as per the Reformed Apologetics is concerned and theologians have an important role in this matter.

Missionary theologians will not be easily swayed by some teachings especially things like the dualism of the Romanists, which apparently introduces a different god. The Scripture teaches us that man was totally disposed to God in the Garden of Eden in the book of Genesis and is not having two different natures as in the RC’s teachings of concupiscence. 

The testimony of the Holy Spirit is of prime importance when we serve in the missionfield. It is then always important to base all understanding and teachings on the Scripture which exhibits fully as clear evidence of truth . Anything that is apart from this form of God’s special revelation will lead anyone astray no matter how good the theology of a minister sounds.

  

Week 5

Digest, Sept.21-27, 2022

Lanilane Ocbina

WCTS, ThM program

 

 

Roman Catholic Theology of Concupiscence

Reckoning with the Roman Catholic theology about the state of man in the garden of Eden, I can't help but think of the yin-yang principle of the "wise" Chinese men. The concupiscence, having the body and soul or the inclination to higher rational spirit and to lower physical appetite, seems to make sense as it still happens to us even today although the thought or perspective may be quite dangerous. Some people who are not deeply rooted in the Word of God can easily be taken away by this theology since it sounds easy to chew. As it may sound Pelagian, some would see ourselves like Adam who has our own battle and own share of that concupiscence. However the Scripture does not teach us this at all. We are not on our own like how Adam was in the Garden of Eden.

It is not true that the sin of Adam was just of Adam. When Adam sinned, sin was imputed to all humankind. We are all totally depraved and that we all need God's grace so we can be brought back to the perfect eternal fellowship with Him as He originally intended in the Garden of Eden.

God has made a way for us by accommodating Himself to us so we can understand His language. He condescended to reveal it in Scripture.

All throughout the Bible, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, He communicated His redemptive plan to us in a way that we understand His revelation of grace. How His covenant of works progressed to His covenant of grace is amazing and how His contextualized manner of explaining Himself and His intention for us is overwhelming. God simply became man so He can speak to man without changing ontologically nor economically as the Triune God.

God's redemptive work was for all, whether the regenerate or the unregenerate. As Van Til said that God is revealed at all, that is revealed in nature[1]. The common grace is not very common for some though. Some believers (or some unbelievers) will mistakenly see it as the saving grace that leads to the view of universalism. But the Bible reiterates that there will be judgment in the end, there will be the saved and the unsaved, the elect and the reprobate.

On another note, I feel sad about some believers who become arrogant and prideful about being in a position of an elect when actually, such gift should lead us to humility and passion for God, leading us even more to doing His will, which is to love, to obey His Great Commission, to become light and salt in this world. I feel sad about seeing Christians who were drawn in a system that is hyper-theological (if you will) where the Sunday school level believers would feel so small about.

I pray that as God has contextualized through the so-called condescension, we as His children will do the same to others. That we adjust to a language that they will learn the truth about God but of course without distorting the whole message of the Gospel. I pray that as the Lord Jesus incarnate blessed us, we will also bless the world with the incarnational ministry that God has entrusted to us.

 

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[1] C. Van Til, Nature and Scripture (Reading assignment, page 2).

 

Week 4

Digest, Sept.14-20, 2022

Lanilane Ocbina

WCTS, ThM program

 

Do I Agree With Barth?

I must say that I agree with Barth in two points: (1) Jesus being the Geschichte in whom the life of all humankind is realized and that (2) Jesus Christ and His work of reconciliation of God and man envelops the entire history of the world and every man. However, when Barth says that Jesus is distinct from God (the Father) I surely disagree because Jesus is the Word.. He is God Himself in flesh.

Jesus was not an agent who came from on high on behalf of a superior God that is outside Him. I believe in the triune God who was, who is, and is to come. Jesus was the electing Christ with an absolute decree and not as what Barth says that Christ is the electing God and the elected man.

The subordination within the trinity is not ontological but economic, as Jesus the Son is not inferior to God the Father nor any distinct from the God the Holy Spirit. The subsistence, aseity and immutability of the trinity are incommunicable attributes of the triune God that would explain such economic or relational subordination of the three Persons.

I must admit that reading the different perspectives of theologians make me think more critical and also lead to some levels of confusion because in some ways, their positions at a certain degree make sense to me. But getting into their teachings, like that of Barth, is like going into a tunnel and the farther you go into it, the more you realize that you are being led into a bad destination.

I believe there is no perfect theology but there is always a sound theology. I would say that we should just go with the sound one but do not worship it. Worshipping God is always the goal not the theology.

  

Week 3

Digest, Sept.6-13, 2022

Lanilane Ocbina

WCTS, ThM program

 

The Knowledge of God is of Prime Importance in our Christian Walk

 

With all the different perspectives about God, I always remember the Apostle Paul’s constant reminder in his writings where he would always stress the great need  to grow in the Knowledge of God. This is because knowing God more in the deepest and truest sense will protect the early Church and even us today from the non-Christian philosophies that will seriously shaken our view of history, facts, the Law, the Bible per se and so forth.

The Knowledge of God is such a critical matter in every Christian’s life that will determine his destination of faith. As God’s children, we are taken by Him out from the world of misinterpretation and now placed in His world of truth. Plainly we can see that in His truth, we are truly set free.

I am raised in a place dominated by Romanism and so my worldview was initially shaped in this context of clericalism and all the distortion and offense to the person of Christ. When I met Christ in my early twenties, I have met different kinds of Christians who have views that could have shaken my faith early on. Some of them were Arminians and some were hyper Calvinists. There have been different kinds of worshippers along the path from Pentecostals to Baptists and Fundamentalists. It has also been a common thing to encounter Christians who get confused with the theology of Saving Grace and theology of Common Grace. Sadly, some would emphasize common grace in their own theology leading to universalism.

There were times that I get frustrated with all the various views that seem overwhelming. God and His absolute truth can be taken too much at times that even the teachings about the Trinity basically cracks my brain giving me a feeling of not recovering again but the Lord is good because He constantly reminds us that we are not to depend on our own understanding but in Him alone.

I agree with Van Til when he said that we are dealing with an inexhaustible God and that what we have is an approximation to the fullness of truth as it exists in God. We cannot understand God fully and totally because once we do, He is not God anymore. He is a great God and there is an unimaginable amount of knowledge of Him and relative to that, we all have our limited brains and time on earth to know it all.

I personally am thankful for the Bible, the Scriptures, to which God’s thumbmark is manifested through It’s authority, perspicuity, necessity, and sufficiency for His people, His children.

Week 2

Digest, Aug 29-Sept.5, 2022

Lanilane Ocbina

WCTS, ThM program

 

God Can Use Anyone For His Glory.. It's His Call

Cornelius Van Til  was said to be the theologian who was unlikely to accomplish something as great as being the main person behind the reformed Christian Apologetics. But God is a great God who can use anyone for His glory. God , as G. Bahnsen said, “is in a habit of utilizing unlikely candidates to mount great victories for His Kingdom…” (p.7) A supposed to be common man who wanted to be a farmer, Van Til made by God a great Christian apologist of our time.

Van Til’s proposed having transcendental, presuppositional method of argumentation as we reason with non-believers with the goal of reducing  non-Christin worldview. (p. 11) With the advancement of knowledge today, many people tend to not believe in God perhaps due to the power rendered by science or on the other hand, confusion over the many religions that emerge from all corners of the world. People get so detached from God and become more engaged to the pleasures and ever fast and advancing knowledge of this world.

As I would interpret Van Til’s approach, I thought that he was proposing that we try to look through the lenses of the unbelievers so that we will know how and where to start, even so, why to start. This is to recalibrate their thoughts in order to change gear from disbelief to belief in God. Moreso, we are to be prepared to call the pragmatists to conform to God’s plan instead of their belief that the universe is over or created God.

As the Greek word “Apologia” is defined as one’s defense of self against accusations (in the court), I’d say that we Christians are always in the position of being accused of having a foolish religion or belief. In this case, I remember how Paul always reminded (and prayed about it) that the churches are to grow in the “knowledge of God”, which we need in our defense of faith.

As I was reading, I thought of some Christians who do apologetics and sound like they are defending God before unbelievers. This I thought is foolishness because God never needs a lawyer out of us. He is God and He can defend Himself. Hence, in light of Van Til’s intentions as reformed Christian apologetics is concerned, we ought to be ready to defend our faith and be able to win others for Christ as well, not as superheroes who are able to defend God.

Our focus is to reinforce our helmet of salvation and be able to provide one for our accuser/s as much as possible. We are worshipping the one true God and we are to be able to present epistemological evidences that will present our faith in Him that cannot be shaken.

Week 1

Digest, Aug 23-30, 2022

Lanilane Ocbina

WCTS, ThM program

 

20 Theological Questions Answered Under Reformed Lenses

 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.