Theological Terms

The Nature of God and Scripture

• Theology: The study of God and religious belief.
• Soteriology: The study of salvation.
• Christology: The study of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
• Pneumatology: The study of the Holy Spirit.
• Bibliology: The study of the Bible, its nature, and its authority.

The Five Points of Calvinism (TULIP)

• Total Depravity: As defined above.
• Unconditional Election: The doctrine that God, before the creation of the world, chose specific individuals for salvation based on His sovereign will, not on any foreseen merit or faith on their part.
• Limited Atonement: The belief that Christ’s atoning death was intended to save only the elect, not all of humanity.
• Irresistible Grace: The teaching that when God extends His saving grace to a person, that individual will inevitably respond in faith.
• Perseverance of the Saints: The doctrine that those who are genuinely saved will be kept by God’s power and will persevere in their faith until the end.

Covenant Theology

• Covenant of Works: The pre-fall agreement between God and Adam, promising life for perfect obedience and death for disobedience.
• Covenant of Grace: The post-fall agreement in which God provides salvation for humanity through faith in Jesus Christ.
• Covenant of Redemption: The eternal pact among the persons of the Trinity for the salvation of the elect.
• Federal Headship: The concept that Adam acted as the representative “head” for all humanity, and his sin is therefore imputed to all his descendants.

Ecclesiology (The Church)

• Ecclesiology: The study of the church, its nature, and its function.
• Marks of the Church: The defining characteristics of a true church, typically identified as the preaching of the Word, the administration of the sacraments, and church discipline.
• Sacraments: Sacred rites instituted by Christ, typically baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
• Paedobaptism: The practice of baptizing infants.
• Confessionalism: The practice of a church or denomination officially subscribing to a detailed statement of faith or confession.
• Presbyterianism: A system of church governance by elders.

Eschatology (End Times)

• Eschatology: The study of the end times and final events in history.
• Amillennialism: The belief that the thousand-year reign of Christ mentioned in Revelation is a symbolic or spiritual reality, not a literal future earthly kingdom.
• Postmillennialism: The view that Christ’s second coming will occur after a long period of peace and prosperity, brought about by the spread of the gospel.
• Premillennialism: The belief that Christ will return to earth before a literal thousand-year reign.

Key Theological Concepts

• Sola Fide: Latin for “by faith alone,” the Protestant doctrine that salvation is received through faith alone, without works.
• Sola Scriptura: Latin for “by Scripture alone,” the principle that the Bible is the sole infallible rule of faith and practice.
• Soli Deo Gloria: Latin for “glory to God alone,” a central tenet of the Reformation emphasizing that all of life should be lived for God’s glory.
• Imputation: The crediting of sin or righteousness to an individual’s account. In Reformed theology, Adam’s sin is imputed to humanity, and Christ’s righteousness is imputed to believers.
• Justification: God’s declaration that a sinner is righteous in His sight, based on the imputed righteousness of Christ.
• Sanctification: The ongoing process by which believers are made more like Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit.
• Regeneration: The supernatural act of God in which He imparts new spiritual life to a person; also known as being “born again.”
• Supralapsarianism: A theological view on predestination that God’s decree to elect and reprobate preceded His decree to permit the fall of humanity.
• Infralapsarianism: The view that God’s decree to permit the fall of humanity preceded His decree to elect and reprobate.
• Common Grace: The grace of God given to all humanity, both believers and non-believers, such as rain, sun, and moral conscience.
• Effectual Calling: The Holy Spirit’s inward call that brings a person to saving faith.
• Election: God’s eternal choice of certain persons for salvation.
• Predestination: The divine foreordination of all that will happen, especially with regard to salvation.
• Providence: God’s sustaining care and control over all of creation and history.
• Foreknowledge: God’s knowing of all things before they happen.
• The Law-Gospel Distinction: The theological concept distinguishing between God’s commands (the Law) and His saving grace through Christ (the Gospel).
• Reprobation: God’s eternal decree to pass over the non-elect and justly punish them for their sins.
• Cessationism: The belief that the miraculous spiritual gifts of the New Testament (e.g., speaking in tongues, prophecy) have ceased.
• Continuationalism: The belief that the miraculous spiritual gifts of the New Testament continue to operate today.
• Creationism: The belief that God created the universe in six literal, 24-hour days.
• Theistic Evolution: The belief that God used the process of evolution to bring about His creation.
• Atonement: The act of reconciliation between God and humanity through the death of Christ.
• Adoption: The act of God whereby He makes believers His children by grace.
• Covenant: An agreement between God and humanity.
• The Image of God (Imago Dei): The theological concept that humans are created in the likeness and image of God, reflecting His nature in some way.
• Vocation: The belief that all work, not just ministry, is a divine calling and a means to glorify God.
• The Noetic Effects of Sin: The corrupting influence of sin on the human mind, which affects a person’s ability to reason, know, and understand truth.
• Natural Revelation: The knowledge of God that is available to all humanity through creation and conscience.
• Special Revelation: The specific, direct revelation of God given through the Bible and Jesus Christ.
• Foreordination: God’s sovereign plan and decree concerning all events and actions. This term is often used interchangeably with predestination.
• Anthropology: The study of humanity, specifically in relation to its creation, fall, and redemption.
• Hamartiology: The study of sin.
• Antinomianism: The belief that Christians are freed from the obligation to observe moral law because they are saved by grace alone. This is often viewed as a perversion of the doctrine of sola fide.
• Concupiscence is the desire of the lower, sensual appetite of a person that rebels against the will and reason. It is the “tinder” or “fuel” for temptation, a constant struggle within the human heart that can lead to sinful acts. Seen as the lingering effect of original sin.
• Asceticism is a lifestyle defined by rigorous self-discipline and abstinence from worldly pleasures to achieve a higher state of being, such as spiritual enlightenment, inner peace, or a closer connection with the divine.
• Theophany: A manifestation or appearance of a deity to a human.
• Ecclesiastical: Relating to the Christian church or its clergy.

Theological Systems

• Calvinism: A Protestant theological system that emphasizes the sovereignty of God and divine predestination, as articulated in the TULIP doctrines.
• Arminianism: A system of belief that emphasizes human free will in salvation, God’s conditional election, and the possibility of apostasy.
• Lutheranism: The theological system stemming from Martin Luther’s reforms, emphasizing justification by faith alone (sola fide) and the importance of grace.
• Dispensationalism: A theological framework that interprets biblical history as a series of distinct time periods or “dispensations” in which God works with humanity in different ways.
• Covenant Theology: A system that views God’s relationship with humanity as a series of formal covenants, primarily the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace.
• Molinism: A theological system that attempts to reconcile divine providence with human free will by proposing God’s “middle knowledge”—His knowledge of what any free creature would do in any given circumstance.
• Theonomy: A post-Reformation movement that argues for the application of Old Testament law to modern civil government.
• Hyper-Calvinism: An extreme form of Calvinism that denies the universal gospel call to all people and the duty of the non-elect to repent and believe.
• Materialism: The philosophical belief that only physical matter and energy exist and that all phenomena, including consciousness, are the result of material interactions. It stands in direct opposition to spiritual and theological realities.
• Idealism: A philosophical system that posits that reality is fundamentally mental, spiritual, or consciousness-based, and that the physical world is a manifestation of ideas.
• Deism: The belief in a creator God who does not intervene in the world or interact with humanity after creation.
• Gnosticism: An ancient religious movement that taught that the material world is evil and that salvation is achieved through secret knowledge (gnosis) from a divine source.
• Scholasticism: A medieval philosophical and theological system that used reason and logic to understand and systematize Christian doctrine. Thomas Aquinas is a key figure.
• Existentialism: A philosophical system that emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and choice, often in the absence of a fixed, universal meaning.
• Platonism: A philosophical system based on Plato’s teachings, which posits that a realm of eternal Forms or Ideas is more real than the physical world. This has influenced Christian theology, particularly in early church history.
• Secularism: The principle of separating religious institutions from government and public life, often promoting a worldview without reliance on religious belief.
• Theism: The belief in a transcendent God who is separate from and created the universe but also actively intervenes in it. This is the classical view of God in Christianity and other monotheistic religions.
• Pantheism: The belief that God is synonymous with the universe. The universe itself is seen as divine, and God is not a separate, personal being. The Greek root words mean “all is God.”
• Panentheism: The belief that God is in everything and includes the universe, but is not limited to it. God is greater than the universe, and the universe exists within God. This contrasts with pantheism, which sees God as the universe.
• Animism: The belief that all natural objects, places, and creatures possess a distinct spiritual essence or soul. This system sees a spiritual reality in the physical world, often without a single, supreme God.
• Pandeism: A philosophical hybrid of deism and pantheism. It holds that God created the universe and then became the universe, ceasing to be a separate, transcendent entity.
• Theosophist is a follower of Theosophy, a religious philosophy that blends elements of different beliefs, including Buddhism, Hinduism, and other mystical traditions. Theosophists seek to understand divine wisdom through spiritual insight and study of various religions.