BIBLICAL THEOLOGY

A Detailed Outline View of an Eschatology that is based upon the Moral

Character of God Section III: An Expanded Dictionary of Terms

Dale Moreau

02/05/2012

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

A DETAILED OUTLINE VIEW OF AN ESCHATOLOGY THAT IS BASED UPON THE MORAL CHARACTER OF GOD ...................................................................................................................................... 3

SECTION III: AN EXPANDED DICTIONARY OF TERMS ................................................................................................. 3

I AN EXPANDED DICTIONARY OF TERMS WHEN SPEAKING OF ESCHATOLOGY. ..................... 3

1. ANNIHILATIONISM OR ANNIHILATIONIST. .......................................................................................................... 3 2. APOCALYPTIC OR APOCALYPSE. ........................................................................................................................ 4 3. APOCRYPHA OR APOCRYPHAL. .......................................................................................................................... 7 4. APOKATASTASIS” OR UNIVERSALISM. ............................................................................................................... 8 5. CHURCH, ELECTION-REDEMPTION, THE. ........................................................................................................... 8 6. COSMIC REDEMPTION. ..................................................................................................................................... 13 7. CONDITIONAL IMMORTALITY OR CONDITIONALISM. ........................................................................................ 15 8. DISPENSATIONAL ESCHATOLOGY, DISPENSATIONALISTS, DISPENSATIONALISM, OR DISPENSATION. ................ 16 9. ETERNAL LIFE. ................................................................................................................................................ 19 11. HEAVEN. ..................................................................................................................................................... 19 12. HELL. .......................................................................................................................................................... 21 13. INTERMEDIATE STATE. ................................................................................................................................ 24 14. JUDGMENT, REALIZED JUDGMENT, AND FUTURE JUDGMENT. ...................................................................... 24 15. KINGDOM OF GOD OR KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, THE. .................................................................................... 26 16. LIFE, DEATH, THANATOLOGY, OR NECROLOGY. .......................................................................................... 30 17. MAN. .......................................................................................................................................................... 35 18. MILLENNIUM OR MILLENNIALISM. .............................................................................................................. 38 19. ORDINANCES, THE. ..................................................................................................................................... 39 20. PAROUSIA. .................................................................................................................................................. 67 21. PROPHET AND PROPHECY. ........................................................................................................................... 69 22. PSHCHOPANNYCHIA” OR SOUL SLEEP. ......................................................................................................... 73 23. PURGATORY. ............................................................................................................................................... 73 24. RADICAL OR THOROUGH-GOING ESCHATOLOGY. ........................................................................................ 73 25. RAPTURE. ................................................................................................................................................... 73 26. REALIZED ESCHATOLOGY. .......................................................................................................................... 74 27. RELIGION. ................................................................................................................................................... 74 28. RENEWED MIND OF MAN IN CHRIST, THE................................................................................................... 75 30. RESUSCITATION. ......................................................................................................................................... 85 31. REVELATION. .............................................................................................................................................. 86 32. SECOND OR ULTIMATE COMING OF CHRIST, THE....................................................................................... 118 33. THEOLOGY. ............................................................................................................................................... 121 34. TRIBULATION. ........................................................................................................................................... 121

II ADDITIONAL, LESS KNOWN, AND OBSCURED THEOLOGICAL AND BIBLICAL TERMS AND DEFINITIONS. ................................................................................................................................................ 121

1. AGES. ............................................................................................................................................................ 121 2. ANTICHRIST. ................................................................................................................................................. 122 3. ANTINOMIANISM. .......................................................................................................................................... 122 4. APOSTASY OR APOSTATE. .............................................................................................................................. 122

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5. ARMAGEDDON. ............................................................................................................................................. 122 6. DAY OF THE LORD, THE. ............................................................................................................................... 123 7. END TIME OR LAST DAYS. .............................................................................................................................. 123 8. FUTURIST. ..................................................................................................................................................... 124 9. GEMATRIA..................................................................................................................................................... 125 10. HERMENEUTICS. ....................................................................................................................................... 125 11. HISTORICIST OR CHRISTIAN HISTORICISM. ................................................................................................ 126 12. TERMINUS ANTE QUEM” AND “TERMINUS POST QUEM. ........................................................................... 127

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A Detailed Outline View of an Eschatology that is based upon the Moral Character of God

Section III: An Expanded Dictionary of Terms

I An expanded dictionary of terms when speaking of eschatology. 1. Annihilationism or annihilationist.

A. Two views:

1). Affirms God will destroy those who do not believe in him, i.e., bring them into non-existence.

2). There are some Annihilationists who believe the wicked will be punished

for their sins in the lake of fire before being annihilated.

B. Annihilationists base the doctrine on: 1). Their exegesis of Scripture though wrongly interpreted.

A). Matthew 10:28

B). Ezekiel 18:4

C). John 11:11

D). 1Thessalonians 4:15

E). 1 Corinthians 15

F). Luke 16:23

2). Some early church writing,

A). Ignatius of Antioch (108 A.D.)

B). Justin Martyr (165 A.D.),

C). Irenaeus (202 A.D.).

D). However, Arnobius (330 A.D.) is often recognized as the first to

defend Annihilationism explicitly.

E). At least one of John Wesley's recorded sermons is often reluctantly understood as implying Annihilationism though the Methodist Church which came from Wesley denies this.

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3). Historical criticism of the doctrine of hell,

A). The concept of God as being too loving to punish his creations

forever.

B). They claim that the popular conceptions of hell stem from:

i. Jewish speculation of the intertestament period belief in an immortal soul which originated in Greek philosophy and influenced Christian theologians, and also graphic and imaginative medieval art and poetry.

ii. Pagan concepts of Hell and death.

C. This view does away with Hell.

2. Apocalyptic or apocalypse.

A. Etymology. 1). Greek word means “to draw back the curtain” – “to open” – “to reveal.”

2). The Latin word for this meaning is “revelatio.”

B. When the curtain that is between time and eternity is drawn back, what is revealed is intensely symbolic and analogical because we are dealing with two different dimensions of existence.

C. Apocalyptic language is a secondary genre of Biblical literature and has its own

symbolic notations. (Hal Lindsey has made apocalyptic notions to be the determinate of all Scripture).

1). The word “apocalyptic” comes from the Greek word “apocalypsis” which

means “unveiling.”

2). In contemporary discussions, “apocalyptic writings” applied more broadly to a group of writings which flourished in the Biblical world between 200 B.C. and 100 A.D.

3). Generally speaking, “apocalyptic language and writings” claim::

A). Divine disclosures which come from a celestial intermediary onto

some prominent person who lived in the past,

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B). Promises of God to intervene within human history to bring an end to times of trouble,

C). And the destruction of all evil.

D. Apocalyptic literature arose from out of a historical milieu which involved a

historical-theological problem that consists of three elements.

1). The emergence of a righteous remnant that remained loyal to the covenant of God and the law over against the prevailing mood of compromise.

2). The problem of evil in which Israel was portrayed as the only nation that

kept the covenant and the law but was undergoing suffering and national abuse.

3). The problem of the cessation or termination of prophecy in a time when

people needed a divine explanation for their historical plight.

E. The genre of apocalyptic literature may be distinguished by the presence of two kinds of certain elements that combine to form an overall religious and philosophical perspective.

1). Eschatological.

A). It affirms a period of time of the future wherein God will break into

this world of time and space to bring about the entire system of creation unto a final consummation.

B). This view was built upon the prophet’s message which was a

foretelling of the future that arose from out of their understanding of the present historical time of the prophets.

C). The prophets who wrote and believed in apocalyptic literature often

spoke of a future time that would be able to break into the present period of time of the prophets (this is not the view of the Scriptures).

2). Dualistic.

A). The dualism of the apocalyptic language and message was historical

and temporal and was not metaphysical.

i. Historical and temporal dualism.

a. The temporal world was evil and included the present world of the prophets who spoke in apocalyptic language.

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b. The world that was yet to come was timeless and perfectly righteous.

ii. Metaphysical dualism.

a. This view was prevalent in Persian thought of the time of

the writings of apocalyptic language but was never a consideration in apocalyptic thinking of Israel.

b. Metaphysical dualism is two equally opposing and separate

entities that are in conflict and tension with one another.

i). One world would be a physical world of evil which lives in tension with a second world that is a domain of goodness.

ii). Whichever of the two worlds was the strongest would

be the world that would win.

c. During Israel’s exile in Persia, the metaphysical dualism of Persian scribes and thinkers opened the door for Israel’s understanding of the Evil One and God.

i). Israel began to understand and develop the concept of

the Devil as being a separate entity from God.

ii). However, the limited dualism of Israel’s concept of God and the Devil never affirmed the Devil of having an upper-hand over God.

d. God was always stronger than was the Devil in Israel’s

thinking.

F. Apocalyptic literature has very distinctive characteristics that are expressed in poetic symbols.

1). The poetic symbols of “visions” in which the author of apocalyptic writings

was translated into the Heavenly realm wherein he was privileged to see the unveiling of the eternal secrets of God.

2). The poetic symbols of “pseudo-anonymity” in which the apocalyptic writers

did not use their own name but attributed their writings to a prominent and well-known historical figure of antiquity.

3). The poetic symbols of personages that were divided between classes of

“heroes and villains.”

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A). There is the villain of evil which is personified in the Devil, His

helpers, and His minions.

B). There was the hero of the Messiah that always overcame evil.

4). The poetic symbols of “good and evil angels.”

A). Angels, archangels, and other good angels were on the side of God.

B). Fallen angels, demons, demon-archangels, and evil spirits were on the side of the Evil One.

5). The poetic symbols of “cosmic drama” in which evil and good shook up the

foundations of all that had been created by God including the worlds of the seen and unseen.

6). The poetic symbols of “animalism” which were used in bizarre fashion.

7). The poetic symbols of “numerology” which contained mystical meanings.

8). The poetic symbols of “predicted woes” that were stereotypes and preceded

the end of the ages.

9). The poetic symbols of “astral influences” in which the heavenly constellations conveyed messages for the present world.

G. Considerations.

1). Apocalyptic language should never be used to interpret historical

documents and historical documents should never be used to interpret apocalyptic language.

2). Those who tend to make apocalyptic language as the crowning rule of all

Scripture fail to see the different layers which make up the Biblical literary genre.

A). Apocalyptic language is secondary to the language of the historical

manifestations of God.

B). Apocalyptic language is never to be interpreted as historical fact.

3. Apocrypha or apocryphal.

A. Greek term – “those having been hidden away” or “to hide something away.”

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B. During the period that was between the 1rst – 4th centuries, the Christian Community used the word “Apocrypha” to refer to “occults that did things in secret” and to “Christian texts that were not canonical.”

1). In the early first century Church, Gnostics used apocryphal language and

literature to hide the real meaning of their heresies (Col., Eph.)

2). This term is used today in reference to modern time “occults that do things in secret” and to “the false writings of Christianity.”

3). Non-Christian groups of modern times have expanded the meaning of

“Apocrypha” to include "esoteric", "spurious", or "of questionable authenticity.”

4. Apokatastasis” or universalism.

A. “Apokatastasis” is the Greek term for the doctrine that is known as universalism.

B. Origen (250 A.D.) used the term “universalism” to mean that everything is going

to be restored including all persons, fallen angels, and Satan himself.

C. Universalism emphasizes the goodness of God in His redemption without mentioning God’s negative wrath.

1). This can lead to God of having a flabby and mushy love when not tempered

by God’s wrath. 2). For a modern expression of “apokatastasis,” or universalism, see E.

Stauffer’s “New Testament Theology, The Final Homecoming.”

5. Church, Election-redemption, The.

A. Introduction. 1). What means has God chosen to bring back all creation to Himself?

A). Answer: Election-redemption in God’s ability to cause man to fall in

love with not only Him but also with His purposes for all creation.

B). The Biblical witness is clear that one cannot love God if one refuses to be transformed by the converting beauty of the divine moral character of Christ into being a partner with God in the refashioning and transformation of all things in Heaven and upon earth that have been rift by sin (Cf. Cosmic Redemption) (Col. 1:30).

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C). The Lordship of Christ is primary in all things in creation and unto salvation and divine transformation.

2). Where is the historical demonstration of election-redemption?

A). Israel of the Old Testament, and

B). The Church of the New Testament.

B. Election-redemption.

1). Biblical materials.

Corpo-rate election-redemp-tion of the nation of Israel.

Corporate election-re-demption of the Gentiles.

Corporate election-redemption of the Body of Christ (the Church).

Election-redemption of individual persons to fulfill God's purposes.

Election-re-demption of Jesus Christ as the Elect One.

Election-redemption does not determine individual salvation.

Man's free will to do good or evil.

Isaiah 45:3. Isaiah 65:8. Isaiah 65:21. Jeremiah 3:6. Acts 13:43. Romans 11:17.

Romans 11:9.

Romans 16:25.

Romans 8:31.

Romans 11:3.

Colossians 3:9. I Thess. 1:2.

Titus 1:1.

Eph. 3:8.

Col. 1:24.

I Tim.

Rom. 8:28.

Rom. 16:25.

2 Thess. 2:13.

Eph. 1:3.

Eph. 3:8.

I Cor. 2:7.

I Peter 1:1, 3.

Rev. 20:4.

Matt. 24:21, 31.

Mark 13:20.

Luke 18:7.

Ex. 7:14. Ex. 8:15. Ex. 8:27. Rom. 9:17. I Sam. 9:15. I Sam. 10:24. I Sam. 13:9. Acts 9:1

John 1:29. Isa. 42:1. I Peter 2:4. I Tim. 4:10. I John 2:1. Rom. 5:8.

Num. 14:1. Num. 16:30. I Sam. 8:7. I Sam. 10:19. Proverbs 1:22. Matt. 23:37. Acts 7:51. 2 Peter 1:10. Heb. 11:5. Rom. 16.25.

Deut. 30:11. Deut. 30:15. John 14:15. John 15:7. Rom. 2:10. I Cor. 9:24. I Tim. 6:12. 2 Tim. 2:21. I John

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3:16.

Gal. 1:9.

I Peter 2:9.

2 Tim. 2:8.

Matt. 10:5.

Matt. 15:22.

Eph. 1: 2.

John 12:46.

Acts 10:34, 43.

Rom 10:11.

I Tim. 2:3.

Rom. 8:32.

Rom. 10:8.

Eph. 3:4.

Rom. 11:26. 5:1.

Individual

faith is required for salvation.

God desires for the re-demption of all mankind.

Rom. 1:18.

Rom. 3:21. Rom. 6:17. Rom. 12:3. John 1:9.

I Tim. 2:3. I Tim. 4: 10. 2 Peter 3:9. John 3:16.

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Acts 10:1. Acts 11:1, 17. Acts 13:42. Mark 16:16. John 20:31. Acts 16:31. Rom. 10:9. I John 3:23. I John 5:13. Isaiah 45:22. Mark 1:15. Acts 17:30. Rev. 22:17. Matt. 11:28. John 7:37. John 3:36. Matt. 9:2, 22, 29. Matt. 15:28. Mark 2:5. Mark 5:34. Mark 10:52.

I John 2:2. I John 4:14. John 3:17. John 4:41. Isaiah 53:6. Ezekiel 33:11. Heb. 2:9. Heb. 10:10. 2 John 1:9.

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Luke 7:50. Luke 8:48. Luke 17:19. Luke 18:42. John 6:39b. Rom. 1:8. 2 Cor. 1:23. I Peter 1:6. Rev. 14:12. I John 5:5. Acts 15:11. Acts 16:31. Rom. 1:16. Rom. 3:21. Rom. 9:33. Rom. 10:9. Gal. 2:16. Gal. 3:22. Eph. 1:13. I Thess. 4:14. 2 Thess. 1:10. Matt. 8: 8.

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Matt. 32:37. Luke 8:12. John 5:40. I Thess. 2:16. Isaiah 59:1. John 3:36. John 8:24. John 14:6. I Tim. 2:5.

2). Historical materials.

A). The majority of the theology of the Church and Election-redemption is in my work, Section IV: Time and Eternity and the Ways of God with Men, p. 81ff.

B). I only mention the Church and Election-redemption in this section of

my work because it cannot be overstated enough of what is in store for the Church in God’s plan to be a partner with Him in bringing back and unifying all things in Heaven and upon earth that have been rift by sin.

6. Cosmic redemption.

A. Definition - All that with which God has created will fulfill its intended function

and purpose except rebellious men and spirits.

B. Biblical materials.

1). Rom. 8:24ff.

2). Col. 1ff;.

3). Rev. 20-22.

C. This view is more accountable to the Biblical understanding of the last days.

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D. The Christian community has been invited by God to participate in the “cosmic reclamation and redemption” of all with which God had made by way of the following four historical events and affirmations.

1). The four historical events and affirmations:

A). By way of God’s affirmation of His purposes for creation through His

creation and formation of all that with which has been made in the beginning by Him,

i. This has been affirmed by the Old Testament writers and

prophets.

ii. This has been affirmed by the New Testament writers, especially by the Apostles Paul and John.

B). By way of Christ’s affirmation of His purposes for creation through

the incarnation,

C). By way of the Holy Spirit’s affirmation of His purposes for creation through Pentecost,

D). And by way of God in Christ and through His Holy Spirit’s

affirmation of the completion of His purposes for creation through the physical second coming of Christ of the latter days.

i. This part of God’s redemptive activity has yet to be realized or

experienced by the Christian Community,

ii. But we can be assured of its reality by way of our experiences that have been validated in and from creation, incarnation, and Pentecost.

iii. Because of the Christian Community’s empirical validation by

God of creation, incarnation, and Pentecost, it is logically appropriate to say “the final eschatological redemption of creation” is a guaranteed reality that has yet to become experientially authenticated by the Christian Community.

a. This follows the logic that says if creation, incarnation and

Pentecost are true and valid, then the “final redemptive act by God for all creation” must also be true and valid regardless of whether or not we have experienced the act..

b. This is “a priori” knowledge (knowledge that is independent

from experience).

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2). God is in the business of making partners who will share in the same eternal

and abundant life that animates God into the creative and redemptive acts that are done by Him for creation.

3). What God has done on behalf of sinful man sends reverberations throughout

His creation of the seen and unseen realms of His kingdom.

4). To be invited by God in the cosmic reclamation and redemption of all which have been made by Him and torn asunder by sin is the crowning jewel of God’s intent and purpose for men and His creation of the seen and unseen worlds.

5). The moral character of God has profound implications for an eschatology

and those who fail to base their theology of God, men, creation, eschatology and a whole host of other disciplines will utterly fall short of defining the Biblical understanding of what God has done and intends to complete for creation.

6). The moral character of God rehabilitates those eschatological views that fail

to deal with ethics in their outlooks of the second coming of Christ and the end of days.

7. Conditional immortality or conditionalism.

A. This is a concept of special salvation in which the gift of immortality is attached to

(conditional upon) belief in Jesus Christ. 1). This is built on the view which sees God’s character of being incapable of

sending rebellious men to Hell because it would negate His character of love and forgiveness.

2). Therefore only the saved will be called by God into Heaven and the damned

are left in a state of death and will not suffer Hell.

3). This view does acknowledge the existence of Hell but it is the realm for rebellious spirits and not for rebellious men.

4). This view has 7 problems:

A). This view creates a dualism or split that is within God’s personality

and impossible to heal,

B). This view is untenable to the Christian faith,

C). This view is incapable of being supported by rational discourse,

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D). This view diminishes the reality of Hell, and,

E). This view diminishes God’s power of being incapable to contain

contradictions of His creation.

F). This view diminishes the moral character of God and His eternal attributes of being incapable of meting out justice to those who have done wrong.

G). This view reduces God from being the capable arbitrator and judge of

what is morally right and wrong to being a loving grandfather whose sense of justice is tolerance and indulgence (see Sigmund Freud’s view of human personality).

B. In other instances it means to live up to the beliefs of one’s world religion.

8. Dispensational eschatology, dispensationalists, dispensationalism, or dispensation.

A. Dispensationalism is rooted in the writings of John Nelson Darby (1800–1882)

and the Brethren Movement.

B. Dispensationalism is the view which sees a sequence of chronologically sequential "dispensations" or periods that are in history in which God relates to human beings in diverse ways and under different Biblical covenants.

1). This view is a form of hermeneutics that is built on covenantal theology and

regulated by six eschatological presuppositions that say:

A). The Bible is a chronological philosophy of history,

B). This is the last age,

C). There is one unambiguous systematic eschatology that is in the Bible,

D). The Bible is therefore to be divided into seven periods of time;

i. And those passages of time which are appropriated for each dispensation must be determined.

ii. For example, the last dispensation was the sixth dispensation,

iii. The final seventh dispensation will be the millennial kingdom,

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iv. And the church period is not a true dispensation but is a parenthesis in which the Old Testament prophets did not see.

E). The ethics of Jesus do not strictly apply to the present age but do

strictly apply to the kingdom age (J. C. I. Scofield).

F). There are two tracks of salvation – the church and Israel.

i. If Israel had accepted Christ, the millennium would have come into being and Christ would have had no need to die on the cross.

ii. Therefore, the next item that is on the agenda is the dawning of

the millennial age and the first act of the kingdom dispensation is the rapture.

2). With the rise of dispensationalism, some popular Protestant leaders and

clergymen have made apocalyptic notations to be the determinate language of the Bible (See Hal Lindsey’s works).

C. Dispensation.

1). Literally an administration, a period or process of management.

2). To Dispensationalists, the term has come to mean an era in which God

administers a redemptive plan in a fashion different from the way He administered redemption in other age.

3). The concept of a dispensation – the arrangement of divisions in Biblical

history – dates back to Irenaeus (2nd century AD – c. 202) in the second century.

4). Other Christian writers and leaders since then, such as Augustine of Hippo

and Joachim of Fiore (1135–1202), have also offered their own dispensation arrangements of history.

5). Many Protestant, Baptist and Calvinist writers, including Herman Witsius

(February 12, 1636 – October 22, 1708), Francis Turretin (17 October 1623–28 September 1687), and Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) also preached and taught dispensation schemes and divisions.

6). Even the Westminster Confession of Faith noted various dispensations in

1646.

7). Within Dispensationalism, dispensations are a series of chronologically successive dispensations of Biblical history.

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8). The number of dispensations held is typically three, four, seven or eight.

9). The three and four dispensation schemes are often referred to as minimalist, as they recognize the commonly held major breaks within Biblical history.

10). The seven and eight dispensation schemes are often closely associated with

the announcement or inauguration of certain Biblical covenants.

11). The variance in number relates to the extent of detail being emphasized by the author or speaker. Below is a table comparing some of the various dispensational schemes:

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9. Eternal life.

A. The conscious ability to respond to God when energized by Christ through His

Spirit and turn life toward that direction. 1). That quality of life which abides in God and with which He bestows onto

that part of His creation which has consciously appropriates His gift of grace through His Son and by His Spirit.

2). Eternal life is primarily a quality of life and divine values that endure

eternally before it is a quantity of life which is measured by units of time.

B. Theological view – Being made into Christlikeness by one’s conscious ability to respond to God through Jesus Christ when energized by His Spirit and turn all of one’s life into that direction.

10. Grace.

A. The Christian Community holds to two functional views.

1). The first view is grace is the way with which love acts to make the unfit to

be fitting and cable of dwelling in God’s presence and serving His world.

2). The second view is grace is the possibility in which things can be different.

B. Grace is not a metaphysical necessity (Roman Catholic view of grace).

11. Heaven.

A. Definition – the realm of the final and formalized condition of the redeemed. 1). Whereas Hell is the realm of the final and formalized unfulfilled state of

those who are there, Heaven is the realm of the final and formalized fulfilled state of those who are there.

2). Whereas Hell is the realm and condition in which one’s moral character

eternally deteriorates, Heaven is the realm and condition in which one’s moral nature continually enlarges in God.

3). Heaven is the dwelling place of God.

4). The Christian community says the highest reward of Heaven is in the

Beatific Vision and is the realm in which the redeemed will be face-to-face with God and enjoy Him forever.

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5). Those who are in Heaven and wait for the end of days in which Jesus Christ will judge all men have some sort of shape or form and consciousness.

B. Biblical materials.

1). Old Testament.

A). The heavens (shamayim) are the dwelling place of God and

emphasize His otherness from His creation.

B). God’s heavenly adobe is perceived to be a sovereign court from which all the good things of life originate.

C). The Rabbis embellished these basic teachings with three heavens.

D). The third heaven was God’s dwelling place from which numerous

blessings came and ten of these blessings were created before the foundation of the world and include the Messiah and Sabbath Rest.

2). New Testament.

A). Jesus comes down from Heaven, ascends back into Heaven, prepares

a place for us in Heaven, and comes a second time from Heaven.

B). In the book of Revelation, the three-fold symbol of Heaven is a walled city (protection), a tabernacle of God (presence), and the Garden of God (tree of life as the provision of God).

C). In apocalyptic literature, the Persian loan word, paradise, is the garden

of God.

D). The richest blessing of heaven is the fellowship and presence of God.

E). Although apocalyptic literature has sought to advance the glory of heaven by gold and jewels, His presence is the chief blessing.

C. Historical materials.

1). Even as with Hell, more so with Heaven, all world religions have some

concept of rewards.

2). Christian theology faced with the problems of grace and justice, stratified Heaven – One such attempt is the Catholic doctrines of limbo (unbaptized babies) and purgatory.

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3). Christian theology rightly maintains the greatest blessing of heaven is the Beatific Vision.

A). The Beatific Vision affirms we shall see God face to face.

B). An additional blessing is the “communion sanctorium,” the

Communion of the Saints, which implies a reunion with our loved ones.

4). There are degrees of rewards in Heaven.

A). God fills us initially only to the capacity of the vessel in which we

take.

B). The rhythm of revelation is every fulfillment has a larger promise and indicates Heaven is a place of continual growth into Godlikeness.

5). The question of the fate of the “heathen” and “new born infants” who die

can only be resolved by three points:

A). God is a just judge who is just by way of His moral character – God can never violate His moral nature.

B). All persons are judged both by the light with which they have and by

their relation with Jesus Christ (a paradox of grace).

C). There are degrees of rewards and punishment in the world to come.

12. Hell.

A. Definition - the realm of the final and formalized condition of persons and spirits who resist God.

1). Hell is the condition in which rebellious men and spirits are in an eternal

unfilled state.

2). The purpose of God for man was to fulfill him with God’s moral character and mature him in Godlikeness so that he can be fit and capable of translating these divine values into the world and bring glory to God. When men and spirits rebel against this divine purpose, their moral characters are formalized into a state of Hell in which their moral natures progressively and eternally deteriorate.

3). The final state of those who resist God is not fully and completely

formalized until the last days when Christ will judge men.

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4). Until the day in which God has completed His work of redemption for creation, men and spirits who resisted His into death must suffer in His presence but without the possibility of fellowship and relationship with Him.

5). Hell is under God’s domain and in His presence.

A). Those who are in Hell live in the presence of God but are unable to

have a relationship with Him.

B). Those who are in Hell and wait for the final judgment of God have some sort of form or shape and consciousness.

C). God hurts the most because of Hell.

D). God is the occasion of pain and eternal deterioration of moral

character for those who are in Hell because His presence is ever before the eyes of rebellious men and spirits but it is impossible for them to have a relationship with Him.

E). The pride which sends a person to Hell is the same pride which keeps

him in Hell for eternity. Once one is in Hell, he is unable to reverse his course. Hell is irreversible.

B. Biblical materials.

1). Old Testament.

A). In the Old Testament one goes to the pit, a shadowy existence where

one cannot worship God.

B). As wickedness increased and the necessity of future judgment is understood, the Valley of Hinnon is used as a physical analogy for the undesirable dead.

C). Gehinnom was the Jerusalem dump where fire was not quenched and

the worm died not.

D). In the inter-testament period, the Latin word Tartarus was adopted in apocalyptic literature (Cf. I Peter).

2). New Testament.

A). In the New Testament Jesus speaks much about Hell.

B). “It is created for the devil and his angels,” and for “goats” who do not

do humane elemental acts of kindness (Matt. 24-25).

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C). In book of Revelation, it is a pit presided over by Abaddon, Appolyon

which mean “destroyer.”

D). Hell is a place where the devil and his angels are ultimately shut away.

E). Hell is where one is outside the presence of God’s fellowship.

F). Exegetical balance leads one to the conclusion that Hell is the counterpart of Heaven, and hence is also eternal.

G). Paul’s phrase for Hell is “wrath of God.”

C. Historical materials.

1). The context of future punishment is implicit in all world religions – the

earliest and most fearful picture of punishment by fire is found in Zoroastrianism which had some cultural influence on inter-testament theology.

A). Christian theology faced with the issues of grace and justice

articulated what is implicit in the New Testament, namely degrees of punishment.

B). Since the rise of humanism and its humanitarian impulses that were

epitomized by the romantic poets (c.f., Keats, “La Belle Dame Sans Merci”) and with behaviorism’s insistence that life is only material, there has been a grand denial of Hell (See Walker, “The Decline of Hell”).

2). However, the 20th with its demonic history is giving some people second

thoughts about Hell.

D. Theological reconstruction. 1). The biblical materials warrant the concept of ultimate justice, and the

pervasive tendency of evil to infect good, requires that evil be contained.

2). There can be no independent entity outside of a sovereign God.

A). Hell is the eternal ulcer that is in God’s stomach.

B). God suffers with and contains Hell.

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C). Hell and all its content of rebellious spirits and men are in God’s presence but they are incapable of having any possibility of fellowship with Him.

D). God’s unconditional love, acceptance and forgiveness, etc., become

wrath to those who are in Hell. Unrequited love is a damning thing.

E). There is nothing worse than being loved by someone with whom you cannot stand.

3). The demonic has brought about such conditions that there are previews of

Hell on earth.

A). These previews of Hell on earth are especially heightened among Christians because they must continue to struggle with the flesh and the spirit.

B). Christians are punished for their sins in this life and they delimit

themselves for the intended condition in the world to come.

4). Hell gets worse because those who are in Hell continually deteriorate in their moral nature.

13. Intermediate state.

A. That condition of a person who dies and goes into the presence of God unto

fellowship or judgment until the resurrection when the final dimension of an eternal body is added.

B. During the intermediate state, a person has consciousness and some kind of form

or shape but it is not yet the final or ultimate form of existence which is an eternal body.

14. Judgment, realized judgment, and future judgment.

A. Comes from the Greek word “krisis” which means “that which validates a thing to

be true or false, productive or non-productive.

B. Realized judgment.

1). One is brought into this life and freighted against God,.

2). This is intensified when one is consciously confronted with God and His acceptance, /love, and/forgiveness.

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3). When one willingly rejects God and his acceptance/love/forgiveness, he continues in his own way and is judged by his unbelief.

4). When one willingly accepts God and His acceptance/love/forgiveness, he

continues in his/her life in Christ and not in his own way and is judged by his belief.

C. Future judgment.

1). It is the condition of those who exists after the resurrection of the dead,

2). And who are weighed accordingly to the standard of Jesus Christ,

3). And are either condemned by their unbelief or are blessed by their belief.

D. Biblical materials.

1). Old Testament.

A). In the Old Testament, judgment is more corporate than it is individual.

B). Judgment is more of an act of this world rather than an act of the

other-world that is beyond time.

C). The instruments of judgment are physical, political powers, adverse circumstances (childlessness), and a person’s loss of significance or being “cut off” from the nation, family, or God.

D). The judge is God according to His revelation.

2). New Testament.

A). In the New Testament, judgment becomes individual, eschatological

and corporate.

B). And various expressions for judgment are:

i. Crisis – “to make a decision”

ii. Bema – judgment seat of a judge.

iii. Separation is included as with sheep and goats (Matt. 24-25).

E. Historical views of judgment.

1). Primarily futuristic.

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2). Often used as a tool to suborn ethical behavior or ecclesiastical obedience.

3). This leads to concepts of purgatory, penance, and indulgencies.

4). The view that judgment occurs only in this life (i.e., “Your get what’s

coming to you in life.”

5). The bifocal view which affirms some acts in this life are judged by the ground rules of this life but nevertheless, there is a future and final judgment.

F. Theological reconstruction.

1). The Biblical materials are clear that the divine God alone is adequate to

make final determinations about His creation.

2). Christians affirm all creation is to be judged.

3). Those who have given up on an eschatological judgment must be asked about the question of ultimate justice and the probing problem of evil – “Why do the innocent suffer and the ungodly prosper?”

4). Those who have a programmed system of eschatology vary in number of

judgments from three to seven – this presupposes an elaborate and not altogether convincing hermeneutic.

5). Christians who believe in salvation by grace have asked if they must face

judgment.

A). Yes! We face it in life when we run afoul of the laws of God in the same way as does everyone else and we face it in God’s eternal world by virtue of “diminished capacity” (See Heaven).

B). Our only consolation in judgment is for our belief in Christ, the

ultimate place of our eternal abode is in the fellowship with Him.

15. Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven, The.

A. The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are phrases of the Bible which speak of the same thing and are interchangeable.

B. The Kingdom of God in the Old Testament is seen in two ways.

1). It is seen favorably when God who is sovereign Lord is King of Israel.

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2). It is viewed suspiciously when Israel as a nomadic society seeks a king such as in pagan countries.

3). Various views of the Kingdom of God arose in the Old Testament.

A). The Kingdom of God is a place, a land which is received as a promise

from God.

B). In times of crisis, Israel must revert to the original insight of the Kingdom as God’s sphere or rule and reign and includes His right to do so.

i. As the nation of Israel dissolved during the inter-testament period

under the pressures of the great powers over Israel, the desire for the restored Kingdom intensified.

ii. The Kingdom of God is associated with the golden age of the

golden age of the Davidic empire.

C. The Kingdom of God in the New Testament.

1). John the Baptist proclaims the Kingdom of God is at hand.

2). Jesus proclaims the Kingdom of God (= the Kingdom of Heaven – Matthew. periphrasis):

A). by the symbol of a renewed Israel, the 12 apostles,

B). by the proclamation of a prophetic requirement, namely radical

obedience,

C). by the declarations that the Kingdom of God is presently in the overthrow of the Kingdom of the Evil One,

D). that the Kingdom of God is present among (within) his disciples,

E). and that the Kingdom is about to break in with great apocalyptic

power.

D. The early church affirms the power of God through Pentecost and the “proclaimer (Jesus) becomes the proclaimed” (Bultmann).

1). There emerges a two-fold ambivalent consensus.

A). In some sense the Kingdom of God is present through Christ and the

Spirit.

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B). Nevertheless, the concluding act is still expected.

2). The highest symbolic expression of this future expectation of the Kingdom

of God is the book of Revelation.

E. The resume of the Kingdom of God. 1). God’s sovereignty – God’s right to rule or reign.

2). The promise of geography as proof of Divine favor.

3). The Davidic Kingdom – a physical and ideal sense.

4). Kingdom of Heaven which breaks upon the earth apocalyptically.

5). Spiritual presence of God in a visible colony of the eternal Kingdom.

6). Final Kingdom is the manifest which takes place at Christ’s ultimate

coming.

F. Historical materials. 1). The Kingdom of God is the institutional church (Roman Catholic Church).

2). Purely future and physical – The Kingdom of God is not present until Christ

returns to set up the physical Kingdom of God (Dispensationalist).

3). The Kingdom of God is present in some sense and is yet to be realized in some sense (G. E. Lodd).

4). The layers of the Kingdom of God throughout History.

A). Theocracy.

i. A form of government in which God is recognized as the

supreme ruler or the physical place where God rules.

ii. This Theocratic concept took place in Israel during the period of time in which the Judges (military leaders) ruled.

iii. Examples are Samson and Debra.

B). When Israel itself was under a monarchy, the nation was understood

to be the Kingdom of God.

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C). God’s providential rule over the entire creation as expressed in the Old Testament – “His kingdom ruleth over all” (Isaiah and Daniel).

D). Roman Catholic model states the Kingdom of God is the institutional

church.

E). A fairly popular and good but weak view is the Kingdom of God is the spiritual rule which began in Jesus Christ when he was on the earth and completed in eternity.

F). The Kingdom of God is related to a physical millennium kingdom –

This view separates and makes a distinction between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven.

G). A proper and Biblically tenable position sees the Kingdom of God

with several aspects to it.

i. One cannot understand the Kingdom of God unless one understands the purpose of God for creation. God purposes for creation is to unite all things in creation which have been torn asunder from God unto Him and this purpose will be accomplished except for rebellious men and spirits in spite of evil.

ii. It is God’ authority over the entire created order.

iii. It is God’s particular redemptive concern for Israel and the

Church.

iv. A functional and more descriptive understanding of the Kingdom of God is it is the realm in which the principles that emanate from the moral character of God become the backdrop for maturing persons so that they can become fit and capable of physically translating these moral and divine principles into the unique and tangible fabric of humanity to change humanity and all it touches unto God’s glory.

v. This concept frees people to be creative and unrestricted to

remake the fabric of society into a wonder to behold.

vi. One chooses to be born into the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ who has come to show us of how to operate out of His kingdom in order to fulfill life to its greatest potential.

G. Theological reconstruction of the Kingdom of God.

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1). One must be aware of the multivalent biblical insights about the Kingdom of God.

2). Then one must ask, “What is the relation of Israel to the Kingdom of God

and what is the relation of the millennial kingdom to the Kingdom of God?”

3). Based on the Old Testament in general and on Romans 9-11 in particular, the Kingdom of God embraces God’s purpose for Israel and his purpose for the Church. When affirming this Christian have taken three positions:

A). There are two ways of salvation – one for Israel and another for the

Church.

B). That the Church has become the new Israel. Those of the new Israel must confirm there election and so must Jews by becoming members of the Church.

C). The position of all who are in the ultimate redemptive relationship

with God will be so through Jesus Christ and this means God is not done with the Jews. However, God’s final way with them whether apocalyptic or historical, will be in Christ.

16. Life, death, thanatology, or necrology.

A. Biblical affirmations.

1). The Biblical materials affirm God had created man to be a holistic organism that had consisted of an animated body, the breath of life, and with what had been commonly referred as the “soul” (Gen 2:7).

A). The Biblical materials affirm man was not created “with a soul” but

was created to “be a living soul.”

B). Man was not created with an immaterial, immortal soul that God implanted into his body but was made “to be soul” with which had energized the body.

C). The body was made to be the “visible” breath of life that came from

God.

2). Summing up the expression "man became a living soul" simply means that as a result of the divine inbreathing, the lifeless body became a living, breathing being, no more, no less.

A). The heart began to beat, the blood to circulate, the brain to think, and

all the vital signs of life were activated.

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B). Simply stated, "a living soul" means "a living being," and not "an

immortal soul."

3). The life of man owes its existence to the holistic dimensions that had been created and animated by God.

A). Man’s life and death are defined by what makes up to be man’s

dimensions of existence.

B). Biblical materials affirm man is animated by three dimensions of existence and by defining them from the biblical norms we can define life and death.

4). The Bible affirms life is more than in having a heartbeat.

A). Life must have the physical sustenance to continue existence but it

also requires purpose and meaning for living.

B). Biblical materials affirm there are varying degrees with what constitutes to be life and death.

B. Theological definitions of life and death.

1). Preliminary considerations.

A). Man is a three dimensional creature.

B). The three dimensions of man are not tri-chotomous.

C). It is meaningful to speak about life and death in each of these three

dimensions of man.

2). Theological definitions of life and death.

A). Definition of life – the ability to respond to God, the self and others from at least two of the three dimensions of man.

B). Definition of death – the incapacity of one to respond to God, the self,

and others from at least two of three dimensions of man.

C). The Apostle John and Paul’s concepts of spiritual life and death.

i. Definitions.

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a. Spiritual life – the ability to respond to the self, others, and God from at least two of the three dimensions of man and to have meaningful purposes in life to do so.

b. Spiritual death – the incapacity to respond to the self, others,

and God from at least two of the three dimensions of man and to be without meaningful purposes in life to do so.

ii. Observations.

a. Can one exist but not to live because he is without

meaningful purpose in life? Yes!

b. Can one exist but really live because he has meaningful purpose in life? Yes!

c. Can one exist but not to live because he has meaningful

purpose in life? Yes!

D). Eschatological view of life and death.

i. Eschatological life – the ability to respond to the self, others, and God from all three dimensions of man.

ii. Eschatological death – the incapacity to respond to the self,

others, and God from all three dimensions of man.

a. To exist and not to be able to respond to the self, others, and God is Hell.

b. The spiritual death which sends one to Hell is the same

death which keeps one in Hell.

C. Thanatology, necrology, or death. 1). Biblical materials.

A). Old Testament.

i. Muth – death.

ii. Gabor – the pit.

iii. To be gathered to one’s fathers – to be gathered to one’s fathers

and to be remembered for heroic acts for God alleviates the pain of death.

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iv. In Genesis 1-3 death is perceived as the result of sin and animal

death and suffering is occasioned because of mankind’s sin which is the cosmic curse.

v. There are shameful deaths due to treachery, and religious death

sentences must happen outside the wall, especially ghastly deaths (Ex. 23) are those upon the tree.

B). New Testament.

i. Thanatos (Latin) – death.

ii. Nekros – (Greek) – death.

iii. Spiritual death is a special theological insight of Paul and John

and means for one to exist but not to live because one is without meaningful purpose in life.

iv. The book of Revelation calls this the first death or this may be

referred to a martyr’s death.

C). The second death is judgment that is confirmed for the wicked.

D). All death in the New Testament must be seen in the light of Christ’s death to which his resurrection provided the only adequate resolution.

E). The “last sting” is a Biblical metaphor that sees death as the final act

of man’s existence which calls life into question.

F). Only Jesus Christ has overcome death and only Jesus Christ is able to banish death in the last days.

2). Because Jesus Christ alone has overcome death, this gives rights to Him

alone for calling those who are dead into life.

3). The Biblical materials point out one is not innately immortal – Unless God calls you from the dead, you are dead.

D. Historical insights about death.

1). Tribal groups have blunted the anxiety of death by corporate immortality.

2). By controlling the penalties and punishments for life after death, certain

forms of the Christian communities heightened the fear of death.

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3). Romanticism and behaviorism have sought to remove any sting of death by making it heroic or by making it an inevitable part of life.

4). Contemporary scientific medical technology has made death to be

ambiguous with the medical titanism (the giants that fought against the God-Tintanic etc.).

5). Basically, there are three beliefs about what happens after death:

annihilation, which holds that nothing happens because there is no reality outside the world of matter; resurrection, the Christian belief that a person’s mortal body is transformed into an immortal one; and reincarnation, which theorizes that death is a passage to cyclical but unending rebirth” (Chandler, Russell (1988), “Understanding the New Age”, p. 262).

E. Theological reconstruction.

1). In the Biblical materials death is both a bane and a blessing, a curse that is

due to sin, and a gateway to God.

2). A theological definition of death:

A). Man is a three dimensional creature and not tri-chotomous - biochemical, psycho-social, and ultimate or spiritual and it is meaningful to speak about death in each of these dimensions.

i. Since life is the ability to respond to God, the self, and others,

death is the opposite of this.

ii. Therefore, death occurs when there is no life at two or these three dimensions.

iii. This does not imply euthanasia when the biochemical process is

still in effect.

iv. It is wrong to sustain life without giving subsistence for one’s minimal survival and for one’s purpose in doing so.

B). The only adequate resolution to total death such as the Scriptures

teach and experience validates is the hope that God will bring the individual back from the beyond death by the special miracle of the resurrection of the body.

\ i. The resurrection of the body is different from the Greek idea of

the soul as being innately immortal.

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ii. This raises the problem of the intermediary state and the options are:

a. The just will be raised, the wicked will be annihilated.

b. Soul sleep – sleep until resurrection.

c. An intermediate form to be completed at the final general

resurrection, which intermediate form is united with God in fellowship or in judgment and is conscious (II Cor. 5:1-5).

17. Man.

A. Question and Answer.

1). Question - What is man?

2). Answer - Man is a tension filled unity that is capable of infinite possibilities

which are both divine and demonic.

B. Greek view of man is a dichotomy or a trichotomy in which man can be divided into three “parts.”

1). Man has a soul and it is innately immortal and evil.

2). Man has a body.

3). Man has reason.

C. Hebrew view of man is a tension filled unity in which the dimensions of man are

not separate from each other but work in unity with each other and sometimes are contradictory with one another.

1). What are the dimensions of man?

A). Bio-chemical dimension is the shape of one’s existence.

B). Socio-psychic dimension is the social and thinking processes which

are required for life to have meaning.

C). Ultimate dimension is the spiritual dimension of man’s existence and is able to relate to spiritual values and realms.

i. The ultimate dimension is not innately immortal.

ii. The ultimate dimension of man can relate to both good and evil.

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a. When energized by God, man can relate to Him..

b. When energized by the Evil One or the principle of sin, man

can relate to them.

c. Man can live in tension with both God and the Evil One or sin.

i). Man has a good impulse and,

ii). Man has an evil impulse.

2). Theological schemes of man from Augustine – this is the normative

position of the Christian Community.

A). Essential man.

i. The age of innocence.

ii. Biblical references – Gen. 1, Gen. 2 – Eden.

iii. Latin term “passé non peccary et mori” which means “man is able to not sin and able to not die.”

iv. Adam and Eve were the representations of essential man.

v. Adam and Eve were not perfect but were innocent.

B). Existential man.

i. The age of responsibility.

ii. This is represented by the Fallen world of Adam and Eve.

iii. Biblical references – Gen. 3, Rev. 19).

iv. Latin term “non passé non peccani et mori” which means “man is

not able to not sin and not able to not die.”

C). Eschatological man.

i. The age of consummation.

ii. Biblical references = Heaven, Garden of Paradise, Rev. 20-22.

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iii. Latin term “non passé peccary et mori” which means “man is not able to sin and is not able to die”

D. Modern ways of grasping what is man.

1). Biological sciences.

A). This discipline seeks to measure life.

B). Euthanasia, abortion, etc., are examples of what happens when the

biological sciences override the psycho-social and ultimate dimensions of man.

2). Social sciences.

A). This discipline seeks to relate life to other forms of life

B). It seeks to understand man in light of some evolutionary model of the

past or an evolutionary model of the future.

C). Refer to C. F. Skinner “Beyond Dignity and Freedom” wherein he claims to be able to weed out sin from man within one generation.

i. Would you trust your children to be raised by the social scientists?

ii. This is the idea of the modern movement that is called

“progressive liberalism.”

3). Psychological sciences.

A). This is the predominate discipline of modern times.

B). This discipline seeks to analyze life.

C). This discipline emphasizes social, mental, and sometimes biochemical reasons for who man is without consideration of man’s ultimate dimension.

D). This view claims if it is successful in the world then it must be

successful in all other areas of life including the Church.

i. This is called the error of “philistinism.”

ii. Just because it is successful in the world does not mean it will be successful in the Church.

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18. Millennium or millennialism.

A. Latin and Greek terms and meanings.

1). Comes from the Latin word “mili” which means “1000.”

2). The Greek term is “chiliasm” which also means “1000” (Rev. 20).

B. The doctrine of “chiliasm” took on a physical form which is not biblically tenable. (Refer to the Munsterites which had nothing to do with Anabaptists as some may believe).

1). The doctrine of “chiliasm” was derived from Plato’s understanding that

matter is eternal and inherently evil.

2). As Christian history developed, the doctrine of “chiliasm” became the basis of much controversy and heresy.

A). Montonist, was a heretic of the third century and projected the idea of

a physical kingdom of 1000 years in which Montonist himself was to be king in the form of the Holy Spirit.

B). The cult< Mormonism< is founded on a combination of Plato’s view

of matter of being eternal and evil and the doctrine of “chiliasm” which believes in a 1000 year reign of Christ and the prophet Joseph Smith over the earth.

C. The Christian Community has understood the “millennium” in two ways:

1). Literally – there will be a literal 1000 year reign of Christ on the earth.

2). Symbolically – “chiliasm” is a term that belongs to the biblical world of

poetic symbols and is not to be taken literally.

D. In deciding with which position to postulate, one must take the “Beatific Vision of Peter” (I Peter 1:12) into account.

1). “The Beatific Vision” is the blessing of God with which He bestows onto

His creation from one generation to the next. 2). The “Beatific Vision” includes God’s purpose for all that has been created

by Him (the purpose of creation is for creation to join with God in bringing creation back to Himself).

3). The “Beatific Vision” includes the purpose of man which is to enjoy God

for eternity so that man becomes fitting and capable of being servants and

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custodians of God’s world in bringing back all creation in Him with whom it had all begun.

E. Terms and references.

1). Rev. 20.

2). Millennium – Latin for 1000.

3). “Chiliasm” is Greek for 1000 but the term usually signifies a physical

kingdom. (cf. Munsterites are known as Chiliasts).

F. Historical views. 1). Post-millennialism – Christ will come again after the millennium and 1000

years of peace will be established by the gospel through the Church.

2). A-millennialism.

A). There is no actual millennium.

B). This theory ordinarily believes the millennium is a symbolic time that is between the first and second coming of Christ.

3). Pre-millennialism – Christ comes before the millennium – usually a

physical and literal 1000 years of Christ’s Kingdom on earth is expected.

4). Historic Pre-millennialism - a system of eschatological belief emphasizing the literal, pre-millennial coming of Christ, but not holding to a rigid Dispensationalism nor to belief in a pre-tribulation rapture.

G. Theological reconstruction. – an alternative view – the millennium is a gift of the

peace that the Messiah brings with Him when He comes again to terminate the age and bring in the eternal order.

1). This is pre-millennial in that it does not happen until Christ comes again.

2). This view is a-millennial in that it is not a physical 1000 year millennium.

19. Ordinances, The.

A. The Lord’s Supper.

1). Terms that are used for the Lord’s Supper are Eucharist (Catholic) and Communion (Protestant).

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2). Biblical materials.

A). Old Testament antecedents of the supper.

i. The Old Testament concept of the supper was in the bond and hospitality that are formed between persons who partake of the host’s meal.

ii. During the Jewish feasts, festival meals were commemorating of

significant events such as is in the Passover.

a. The rules for observance of Passover are given in Exodus 12:1-28, Leviticus 23:4-8, Numbers 9:1-14, Deuteronomy 16:1-8.

b. The festival involves making a sacrifice, although this has

been discarded since the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D.

iii. The Old Testament believed in the Messianic Banquet in which there would be anticipated festivals of food and dance with all Israelites when the Messiah would come.

B). Inter-testament period.

i. The Messianic Banquet was ritualized by the Essenes of the

Qumran Community.

ii. The Essenes celebrated two Messiahs.

a. The kingly Messiah – most Gospel writers designated this concept to Jesus through the lineage of David.

b. The priestly Messiah – Luke designates Jesus as the priestly

Messiah through the lineage of Mary, Jesus’ mother.

C). New Testament.

i. The festivity of the Passover.

a. By the time of the New Testament, the Passover is the historically formed with the people of the Israel.

b. By the time of the New Testament, there were additional

traditions that were added to the Old Testament festivity of the Passover.

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i). A lamb was prepared in ritual form.

ii). Unleavened bread included the ritual of two cups of blessings before partaking of the bread to eat.

iii). Bitter herbs could be replaced with herbs that were

taste-worthy.

iv). There were didactic elements added to the Passover.

v). An imaginary place at the was reserved for the prophets of Israel.

vi). In Luke 22:19, Matthew 26:28 and I Corinthians

11:23-24, two elements stand out.

aa. The unleavened bread and wine are added revisions of the traditional Jewish Passover Supper to symbolize the meaning in the words of Jesus,

And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19; I Cor. 11:24) and “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:28).

ba. The blood and body symbols are drawn directly

from Jer. 31 and Ex. 23.

ca. Roman Catholics believe in Hoc est enim Corpus Meum, Latin for turned into body, meaning the wafer is literally turned into the body of Christ when the priest says these words.

da. The other phrase is Hic est enim Calix Sanguinis

Mei, Latin for turned into blood, meaning the wine is turned into the literal blood of Christ.

ii. There is no easy way to unpack all events that took place during

the last week of Jesus’ life without running into contradictions unless you take the various views of time into account during the writing of the Gospels.

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a. The Romans had the view of time in which 6:00 A.M. was

the first hour of each day.

b. Judaism reckoned sundown as the beginning of a new day.

c. Other groups of the New Testament times used a solar calendar while others used the method of calculation.

d. Matthew 26 parallels with John 12-16 and I Corinthians 11.

iii. The chronology of the Passion Week.

a. Jesus and His disciples began their trip to Jerusalem from

Galilee.

i). They traveled south on the eastern side of the Jordan River.

ii). They traveled through the city of Jericho where

Zaccheus met Jesus.

iii). On Friday they then arrived at Bethany, a little village just east of Jerusalem.

aa. They more than likely stayed with His friend,

Lazarus, and his two sisters, Mary and Martha.

ba. This family not only supported Jesus financially, but their home was His home whenever He was in the area.

iv). The Chief Priests and Pharisees hoped that Jesus

would come to the feast, and had laid plans to arrest Him (Jn. 11:55-12:1). And were apparently offering a reward of 30 pieces of silver for information leading to His arrest.

b. Friday Evening--Six days before the Passover, Mary (sister

of Lazarus) anoints Jesus' feet with costly perfume (John 12:2-11).

c. Saturday—Jesus keeps the Sabbath in the traditional Jewish

fashion with His friends.

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d. Sunday—The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem (Matt. 21; Mk. 11: Lk. 19; Jn. 12).

i). Jesus rides triumphantly into Jerusalem on a donkey

fulfilling an ancient prophecy (Zech. 9:9).

ii). The people welcome Him with "Hosanna" and the words of Psalm 118:25-26.

iii). Jesus, at this moment is officially presenting Himself

to the nation as the Messiah and is representative of God’s love and wrath on Israel for not accepting Jesus to be their Messiah.

iv). This date according to the Jewish calendar was Nisan

10, the day pilgrims presented their paschal lambs for examination.

e. Monday—Cleansing of the Temple (Matt. 21; Mk. 11; Lk

19). i). On this day Jesus returns to Jerusalem (He spends

each night in Bethany).

ii). On the way He curses the fig-tree, a highly symbolic act that curses the nation of Israel for not recognizing Jesus to be their Messiah.

iii). He then enters the Temple and chases out the corrupt

money-changers.

aa. This shows His Messianic authority (My Father's House) and fulfills another prophecy that implies the Messiah will appear there suddenly and take possession of it. (See Mal. 3:1).

ba. This is the day of extravagant faith.

iv). They then return to Bethany.

v). On the way home they see the withered fig-tree.

f. Tuesday—the Day of Controversy and Teaching in Parables.

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i). On this day Jesus personally confronts the authorities and defends His claims to be the Messiah.

aa. The occasion for their questions was in His

violent action the previous day.

ba. Mark's gospel gives the most detailed account (Mk. 11:27- 13:37).

ii). The day ends with Jesus pronouncing a curse on the

city and announcing that the Kingdom will be taken away from the nation (explains the significance of the cursed fig-tree). See Matt. 23).

iii). On the return to Bethany the Disciples are loaded

with questions.

iv). Jesus stops at the Mount of Olives overlooking the temple, and gives the Olivet Discourse. See Matt. 24,25; Lk.21:5ff.

v). The Olivet Discourse is a detailed prophecy largely

about the coming destruction Jerusalem and the temple due to the rejection of Jesus as Messiah by the Jewish authorities.

g. Wednesday—the Silent Day – After an exhausting day of

controversy, Jesus more than likely spends this day resting and visiting with His intimate friends.

h. Thursday—the Day of Preparation and Passover in the

Evening. i). On this day (and perhaps on the previous day)

preparation is made for the Passover.

ii). Judas may have also utilized this time for his betrayal (Matt. 26:1-5; 14-16; 17-19).

iii). The Passover is celebrated on Thursday evening

(Friday by Jewish reckoning) in an upper room.

aa. Tradition has it that it was owned by Mark's parents.

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ba. At the end of the Jewish feast, Jesus institutes the Last Supper (Matt. 14:12-26; Lk. 22:17-23).

iv). The Last Supper is followed by the Upper Room

Discourse (Jn. 13 -17).

v). Sometime in the evening, after the Passover, Jesus and His disciples leave the Upper Room and go to Gethsemane, a place near the Mt. of Olives where it was a custom for Jesus to Pray (Matt. 26:36-460).

vi). Jesus then goes to the Garden at the Brook of Kidron. vii). While in the Garden, Jesus is betrayed by Judas and

arrested by the temple guards (Jn. 18:2-12).

viii). The Trials begin—

aa. Before dawn Jesus is tried twice before Annas and then Caiaphas.

ba. Everything about these trials is illegal.

i. Friday—Trials, Crucifixion, Death and Burial. i). Jesus' third trial is held early in the morning before

the Sanhedrin.

ii). The first three trials were before the religious authorities wherein He is found to be guilty.

iii). Jesus is then taken before Pilate (the fourth trial)

where He is found innocent.

aa. He is subsequently taken to Herod who also finds Him innocent (the fifth), and then back to Pilate who again finds Him innocent (the sixth) but relents under pressure, perhaps fearing an uprising.

ba. He notes on the sign on the cross that His crime

was being the King of the Jews.

ca. He probably did this to avoid trouble with Rome (No king but Caesar).

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iv). About 9:00 A.M. Jesus is crucified on a hill called

The Skull outside the city.

aa. While we cannot know for certain it is likely that this is the site where God commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaac.

ba. At noon, the sky becomes dark, either due to

supernatural darkness or because of an eclipse.

ca. In either case, the darkness is highly symbolic of the Father turning His back on the one He had earlier called My beloved son.

da. During that time the Savior experienced hell for

us--Hell is to be utterly forsaken by God.

v). At 3:00 PM Jesus utters the most important words to believers when he cries with a loud voice: It is finished.

aa. The phrase literally means Paid in full.

ba. The spotless Son of God became sin for us! Isa.

53:5,6.

ca. Jesus gives up His life and fulfills the typology of the Passover Lamb at exactly the time the lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple.

da. The veil is rent in the Temple (Mk. 15:38).

Jesus was on the cross 6 hours.

vi). Jesus is laid in Joseph's tomb before the Sabbath began at sunset, or around 6:00 PM.

j. Saturday—Jesus’ body lies in the tomb and after 6:00 PM

the Sabbath is over and His body is treated with spices (Mk. 16:1).

k. Sunday--Resurrection Day.

i). The Father raises the Son from the dead sometime

early Sunday morning, possibly before dawn.

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ii). In doing so, He 6 fulfills the typology of the

Firstfruits (I Cor. 15:23. M att. 28:1-13).

iii). Through His death believers are justified, that is, the perfect righteousness of the Son is imputed to sinners, and through His resurrection we can be assured that the sacrifice of the Lamb of God was accepted by a Holy God, and therefore, our resurrection is certain.

iv. The Lord’s Supper in the Synoptic Gospels and the Book of John.

a. During Holy Week in all four Gospels, the deepest of the

Jewish symbols of the Passover are recorded. i). The entrance into Jerusalem by Jesus on Palm

Sunday is symbolic of God’s love and wrath for Israel.

ii). The curse of the fig tree by Jesus is the cursing of the

nation of Israel for rejecting their Messiah.

iii). The day of extravagant faith.

iv). The traditional day of rest with the Jewish Community is the day of Jesus’ betrayal by Judas.

v). Maundy (Latin word is Mandamo, the command to

wash feet)) Thursday is the washing of the Disciples’ feet.

vi). Good Friday (Veronica’s scarf) probably from the

Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

vii). Holy Saturday is the day of resurrection.

b. In the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, the last supper is on the day of the Jewish Passover.

c. In the Gospel of John, the last supper is on Passover Eve.

i). On the hour of Christ dying on the cross during

Passover Eve, the Pascal lamb is being slain in Jerusalem by the Jewish priests of the Temple.

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ii). John’s Gospel adds the element of washing the Disciple’s feet by Jesus and is accompanied by Jesus’ farewell discourse.

D). The Book of Acts, I and II Corinthians and I Peter.

i. The fellowship banquets were diminished by the Christian

Community because of the repulsion by Christians of the mystery religions’ gluttonous feasts that were frequent during that period of time.

ii. The Christian Community partook of the agape meal in

opposition with the gluttony of the mystery religions.

iii. In I Corinthians 11, Paul places strictures on the Lord’s Supper in among Christians by admonishing them to not drink unworthily (the stress in this passage is on the adverb unworthily).

3). The icy waters of history in the meaning of the Lord’s Supper.

A). Orthodox view of the Lord’s Supper.

i. Commonly termed the Mystic Supper or Divine Liturgy.

a. This makes Christ's sacrifice to be present and therefore forgiveness of sins is obtained through it.

b. It is also an encounter with the Risen Christ.

ii. During the Eucharist, the Priest calls down the Holy Spirit (in

Greek: epiklesis) upon the gifts (the bread and the wine).

a. They then change into the actual body and blood of Christ.

b. The precise way in which this happens is a divine mystery.

iii. The consecrated elements can only be received by members.

iv. Orthodox policy is to have communion in both kinds (i.e. both the bread and wine are given to those who are present).

v. Easter is celebrated at different times in the Orthodox Church.

vi. Special customs include egg in place of bread and heated wine

and the immersion of infants.

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B). Protestant view of the Lord’s Supper.

i. The Lord’s Supper, like Baptism, is only a symbol of grace and

therefore, the sacrificial nature of the Lord’s Supper is also rejected.

ii. The bread and wine, being symbols, do not change substance.

a. There are however, a wide variety of views held within

Protestantism on this subject.

b. E.g. some Anglicans accept the Catholic view, whereas Baptists deny it.

iii. The elements are usually offered to all Christians who feel able to

partake of them but the vast majority of Protestant churches have communion with both wine/non-alcoholic drink and wafer.

iv. Reformers.

a. Lutherans believe in consubstantiation.

i). The spiritual dimension of the actual presence of

Christ is added to the elements of wine and wafer.

ii). The ubiquity of Christ is emphasized wherein He is actually everywhere through the Spirit.

b. Calvinist – Christ is spiritually present only in the Lord’s

Supper of the partaking of wine and wafer and is not found present anywhere else.

c. Zwinglian view—the Lord’s Supper is a memorial in which

no other act can reproduce.

i). One cannot call it a memorial for to do so, will condemn you to hell.

ii). It is a symbol but the highest symbols of the

Christian and calling it memorial is to claim it is not of God.

d. Baptist customs of observing the Lord’s Supper.

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i). Only observe the Lord’s Supper in the local church group and not by the individual.

aa. Some Baptist churches allow open communion

of the Lord’s Supper but most do not.

ba. The Lord’s Supper is never offered to those who are disciplined by the local church.

ca. The purpose of the Lord’s Supper before the

local church congregation rather than before the individual is set by the example of Jesus who gave the first Supper to the group of His Disciples.

ii). Denominationally, most Baptist churches will allow

another Baptist from another church to participate in the Lord’s Supper.

aa. There are 52 Baptist denominations in North

America.

ba. The Baptist stress those who are not members of the local congregation can partake of the Lord’s Supper because they are of like faith and order.

iii). The Lord’s Supper is offered on the basis of New

Testament belief in Christ and is grounded in the historical movement of free churches who have understood the Supper to be symbolic.

aa. The Lord’s Supper is a memorial and includes

other groups of free churches.

ba. Do you affirm your belief in the Lord’s Supper on the group belief or do you base it on what the individual believes in among the group?

C). Roman Catholic.

i. The position is similar to the Orthodox and the Eucharist is also

known as the Holy sacrifice of the Mass.

ii. As in Orthodoxy, the Priest invokes the Holy Spirit during the Mass.

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a. However, the consecration becomes effective through the Priest, who acts in the person of Christ.

b. The gifts change completely into Christ's body and blood

and this change is termed 'Transubstantiation' i.e. the outward appearance remains the same, but the substance changes.

c. The official theological position is in transubstantiation,

meaning the substance behind the accidents is turned into the body and blood of Christ

iii. As with Orthodoxy, only members of the church may receive.

a. The bread only is given to the congregation, the Priest

receiving the wine.

b. However, it is becoming common for churches to have communion in both kinds.

B. Baptism.

1). Etymology.

A). Baptism is from the Greek noun baptizmo, meaning to dip or immerse.

B). Baptismo is often translated washing and for the majority the rite of admission or adoption, almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition.

C). Baptism has been called a sacrament and an ordinance of Jesus Christ.

D). The Greek word rantizo is the term that means to sprinkle and cannot

be found in the New Testament.

E). A religious ritual in which water is applied to an individual for symbolic purposes of cleansing.

2). Biblical materials

A). Old and Inter-biblical Testaments.

i. In the Old Testament Jewish proselyte baptism began with immersion like in what Naaman the minor prophet did with self-immersion in the river Jordon (II Kings 5:10-18).

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ii. During the Inter-biblical period, there were hundreds of ritual

washings by the Jews that are recorded in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

B). New Testament.

i. There was the performance of baptism with one person on another rather than by self-immersion.

a. Ex. John the Baptizer.

b. Is John’s baptism Christian baptism? No, because John’s

baptism is based on the Old Testament and symbolizes the closing of the Old Testament by the coming of the New Testament in Jesus.

ii. Why was Jesus baptized?

a. The view of Docetism says Jesus’ baptism is to show us

with what to do in the Christian life.

b. The more correct answer has to do with the deeper messianic and Hebrew understanding of God’s bath kol, the Hebrew word that literally means daughter of the voice but is translated to be the voice of God (Mk. 1:11).

i). During the inter-biblical times of 400 years, the

rabbis no longer heard the voice of God through His prophets.

aa. The rabbinical concept of the bath kol was the

way during the inter-biblical period of confirming the will of God since there was no prophet.

ba. The rabbis taught the voice of God (bath kol)

would not appear again until the days of the Messiah when God would announce the Messiah’s coming from His heavenly abode and followed by the appearance of a dove.

ca. Mark’s Gospel speaks greatly of the bath kol or

the voice of God at Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptizer.

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da. Mark 1:11 a voice came out of the heavens would have been a powerful divine affirmation to those familiar with rabbinical Judaism.

ea. You are my beloved Son in whom I am well

pleased is two tiles that come from the Old Testament into a unity unlike what was known by the rabbis.

fa. These two titles unite the royal aspect of the

Messiah (Ps. 2:7) to the Suffering Servant of Isaiah (Isa. 42:1).

ga. The term son in the OT refers to (1) the nation

of Israel; (2) the King of Israel; or (3) the coming Davidic Messianic King.

ha. The baptism of Jesus by John in Mark 1:11 is in

God’s confirmation of Jesus in being the king who suffers for His creation and the kind of messiah in which Jesus is to be, a messiah unlike what the rabbis had taught.

iii. Baptism in the book of Acts was performed upon one’s

confession of faith by saying; I believe Jesus is the Son of God (cf. Oscar Cullmann, Early Christian Confessions).

iv. In Romans 6, baptism to the Apostle Paul represents the symbolic

act of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ by the believer.

3). Preliminary considerations.

A). In some traditions, baptism is also called christening, but for others the word "christening" is reserved for the baptism of infants.

i. The New Testament reports that Jesus himself was baptized.

ii. The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for

the candidate to be immersed totally (submersion) or partially (standing or kneeling in water while water was poured on him or her).

iii. While John the Baptist's use of a deep river for his baptism

suggests immersion, pictorial and archaeological evidence of Christian baptism from the 3rd century onward indicates that a

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normal form was to have the candidate stand in water while water was poured over the upper body.

iv. Other common forms of baptism now in use include pouring

water three times on the forehead.

B). Martyrdom was identified early in Church history as "baptism by blood", enabling martyrs who had not been baptized by water to be saved.

i. Later, the Catholic Church identified a baptism of desire, by

which those preparing for baptism who die before actually receiving the sacrament are considered saved.

ii. As evidenced also in the common Christian practice of infant

baptism, baptism was universally seen by Christians as in some sense necessary for salvation, until Huldrych Zwingli in the 16th century denied its necessity.

C). Today, some Christians, particularly Quakers and the Salvation Army,

do not see baptism as necessary, and do not practice the rite.

i. Among those that do, differences can be found in the manner and mode of baptizing and in the understanding of the significance of the rite. Most Christians baptize "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (following the Great Commission), but some baptize in Jesus' name only.

ii. Most Christians baptize infants; many others hold that only

believer’s baptism is true baptism.

iii. Some insist on submersion or at least partial immersion of the person who is baptized, others consider that any form of washing by water, as long as the water flows on the head, is sufficient.

D). Baptism has also been used to refer to any ceremony, trial, or

experience by which a person is initiated, purified, or given a name.

4). Biblical/theological meaning.

A). Commanded by Christ.

B). Symbolizes death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

C). Symbolizes death, burial and resurrection of the believer in Christ.

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D). Associated with repentance and faith.

i. Is it essential for salvation?

ii. If so, how and why?

E). Part of a composite conversion event.

F). Symbolizes union with Christ.

G). Represents forgiveness of sin.

H). Connected with receiving the Holy Spirit.

I). An act of commitment.

J). Represents entrance into the church.

K). Entrance upon the way of servanthood.

L). Eschatological significance.

5). Historical views.

A). Baptismal regeneration (sacramental view).

i. The Roman Catholic model is two-fold:

a. Ex opera operato, Latin for from the work done or from the work, salvation is worked out for you.

b. Ex opere operantis, Latin for from the action of the doer or

along with faith, the work is working.

ii. The act of baptism brings regeneration.

iii. Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Episcopalian, Lutheran.

iv. Lutheranism: requires faith to be effective.

a. Unconscious faith (infant faith).

b. Vicarious faith (proxy faith) of sponsors.

c. Anticipated faith (the candidate at a later time).

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v. Disciples/Churches of Christ: the event at which God grants new life.

B). Baptism as the sign of the covenant.

i. Reformed, Presbyterians.

ii. Sign of covenant in OT is circumcision.

iii. Sign of covenant in NT is baptism.

iv. Sign and seal: sign of God’s working and seal of God’s promises

to the person.

v. Both are to be given to infants.

vi. Faith = collective faith of the community.

vii. Some tension with idea of election.

C). Baptism as a symbol of salvation.

i. Baptists, Mennonites, Brethren, Pentecostals.

ii. Outward token of what has already taken place inwardly (regeneration).

iii. Public testimony to one’s faith in Christ.

iv. This view practices believer baptismonly.

v. Those who can confess their faith.

vi. Not the same as adult baptism.

D). Anabaptist theology.

i. This is a sign and seal:

a. Not the same as Reformed concept.

b. Sign of what God has already done (new birth).

c. Seal of confirmation and encouragement to candidate (an aid to deepened faith).

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ii. Analogy of a wedding.

a. Sign of a relationship that already exists.

b. Pledge of lifelong commitment.

c. Makes the relationship more “real.”

d. Community support and accountability.

6). Subjects of baptism.

A). Infant baptism vs. believer baptism.

i. Infant baptism.

a. Infant baptism = pedobaptism since children are the product of original sin or if they die without baptism, they will not go into heaven but limbo.

b. Applied to infants who cannot confess their faith.

c. Infant baptism introduced after 2nd century.

i). Became standard under Constantine.

ii). Suitable to church-state system.

iii). Confirmation separated from infant baptism; event at

which person made own commitment.

d. Children of believing adults (Covenant dispute) among many in the Roman Catholic Church.

e. Arguments for infant baptism.

i). Silence of New Testament.

ii). Household baptisms.

iii). New Testament shows missionary situation.

f. The pastoral problem arises from out of the death of

children and with what happens to them after death - the Christian Community has handled this problem in one of three ways.

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i). By baptizing infants. ii). By indicating God has already pre-determined the

status of the infant and no ritual that can be made on the part of man would change that course.

iii). By affirming infants may be described to be sinful

but cannot be described to be a sinner.

aa. The infant is sinful by being born into this world.

ba. But the infant is not a sinner unless he/she is attacked and influenced by the Evil One and willfully and from his/her own volition, he/she exercises the flesh by a conscious act of rebellion against God.

ca. The biblical principle for this affirmation of

infants is found in the corporate responsibility of being sinful and being saved and comes from the rituals of Israel which affirm the act of sin is done consciously by a sinful and responsible person.

ii. Believer baptism = applied only to those who can confess their

faith.

a. Early church: believer baptism, followed by chrismation or confirmation.

b. Believer baptism is the norm in the NT.

i). Repentance, faith, confession, baptism.

ii). Reason why NT associates baptism so closely with

receiving the blessings of salvation.

B). Theology of baptism determines your view about infant baptism or believer baptism.

i. Baptismal regeneration can baptize infants.

ii. Baptism as sign of salvation = believers only.

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iii. Some traditions of the Christian Community see the need for infant and believer baptism.

iv. When is the age of accountability for children?

v. The very mode of immersion makes it illogical and impractical to

baptize infants.

7). The three modes of baptism for infant and believers and the importance of each.

A). Three modes.

i. Immersion (fully submerged in water).

a. From Greek word Baptizo, meaning to dip or plunge under

water.

b. Descriptions in New Testament suggest this.

c. Represents death and resurrection with Christ.

ii. Affusion (pouring).

a. Associated with coming of Holy Spirit.

b. Earliest paintings/pictures show pouring.

iii. Aspersion (sprinkling).

a. Associated with cleansing from sin in the Old Testament

rituals of Israel.

b. Greek word rantizo is to sprinkle and cannot be found in the New Testament.

B). Modes for infant and believer baptism.

i. Believer baptism can be done all 3 ways, although immersion is

most common.

ii. Most common mode for infant baptism is sprinkling, but for Orthodox Churches it is immersion.

C). How important is the mode of each?

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i. Didacheis flexible on mode.

ii. Mode should represent meaning.

iii. Some immersionists argue that mode is essential.

D). How many times for baptism and what directions do you baptism a

person?

i. Most immersionists: baptize once and person is baptized backwards.

ii. Brethren: baptize three times and person is baptized forward

iii. Is it appropriat3e to contextualize baptism?

8). Who is the proper person to administer baptism?

A). Classical protestant view.

i. Baptism is to be administered by an ordained clergyman.

ii. The denomination of Southern Baptists.

a. It is normal for the clergy to baptize a person but is not always necessary and can be administered by a layman.

b. Anyone who is designated by a local congregation can

baptize but authority rests solely in the local congregation.

B). Catholic baptism.

i. Catholic baptism falls into three categories.

a. Baptism by water.

b. Baptism by blood (martyrdom).

c. Baptism by desire.

ii. Anyone may administer baptism if the administrator has the proper substance, proper intentions and proper formula.

9). Southern Baptist view of baptism and church membership.

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A). Baptism is not related to church membership unlike the impetus of the Jesus movement in its practical ecumenicity.

B). Baptism is considered to be an individual matter rather than in being a

corporate activity.

C). There is the closed membership view of the early pioneer days in which only persons who have been baptized in a Southern Baptist church will be received into the membership of another Southern Baptist church.

D). Members are accepted into the Southern Baptist church if they came

from Baptist churches other than Southern Baptist and have a like faith and order of the Southern Baptist tradition.

i. Like faith and order refers to another Baptist church that is not

Southern Baptist.

ii. There are 52 Baptist denominations in North America.

E). There are some churches that are in the Southern Baptist convention and receive anyone who has been baptized in a church that is not of the Southern Baptist Convention (this is a modern concept that is not accepted in traditional Baptist views).

F). In Southern Baptist churches, Baptism is the New Testament symbol

of belief in Christ rather than in a denomination (Mennonites are Baptists who dress in German garb and hold to this position).

10). Rebaptism.

A). Should churches ask people to be rebaptized if baptized by a different type (infant baptism) or a different mode (pouring)?

i. Baptism is an unrepeatable act (Baptism, Eucharist, and

Ministry).

ii. As many times as it takes (ATS student).

B). Depends on what you think is the meaning of baptism or which meaning of baptism takes priority?

C). What is your practice?

C. Theological reconstruction of the ordinances.

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1). The ordinances are the public ritual of the church in which symbolizes confessing Christians’ commitment to Christ to follow in His Discipleship and in remembrance of His sacrificial death on the believer’s half.

2). In the Free Church heritage, the purpose of the ordinances is to portray and

present the Biblical meaning of salvation through symbol.

3). The tensions of observing the ordinances have arisen at several points.

A). As to their meaning;

B). As to their administration; and,

C). As to the relation of the group offering with the individual receiving.

4). We must develop methods and modalities for observing the ordinances that express our heritage without being derisive or seemingly superior.

A). Membership by watch-core associate membership.

B). The frank recognition that there needs to be a thorough explanation of

the church’s traditions in the ordinances to the candidate so that there is no further need to action to insure kosher reception of them by the candidate.

5). Church membership must take into account:

A). A dynamic relationship with God.

B). Awareness of the theological heritage of the church.

C). The fellowship and relational aspects of church membership should

be stressed more than in the organizational ones.

D). As best we can, we need to strive in retaining regenerate church membership.

D. Ordination.

1). Biblical materials.

A). There are at least 20 Biblical words that are translated ordained and

absolutely none of them mean what we define in ordination and Tte core significant references are:

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i. Christ’s ordination as high priest for mankind in the book of Hebrews (Heb. 1 – 5).

ii. Jesus’ selection of His Apostles (Mk. 3:14).

iii. Jesus’ words in John 15:16, I have chosen you and ordained you.

iv. Paul being set apart (I Tim. 2:7).

v. Acts 6.

vi. I Tim. 3, 5.

vii. Titus 1.

2). Related ideas to ordination:

A). The patriarchal blessing of Jacob (Gen. 27:29).

B). The laying of hands upon a person conveys the confidence of the

community.

i. Paul and Barnabas had hands laid upon them.

ii. Paul enjoins Timothy to be cautious in laying hands on servants of God, a symbol of bringing people into the community of believers.

3). Historical materials.

A). The major debate of ordaining has come from the primacy and

perpetuity of Peter in being the rock upon which Christ said He will build His Church (Matt. 16:18).

i. Even if the Roman Catholic view is correct in Peter being the

first Pope, does he have the authority of passing it onward to another?

ii. Roman Catholic view is Peter is historically and Biblically

established in being ordained to be the first pope of the Church.

iii. Radical Protestantism claims the ordination of Peter in being the first pope of the Church is neither Biblical nor historical.

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iv. The modern protestant view is Peter’s authority is in being the first representative of the Apostolic Witness or the message of the Apostles and not in being the first pope of the Church in perpetuity.

B). The meaning of ordination.

i. In the Roman Catholic Church, ordination is an ineradicable

sacrament.

ii. Magisterial Reformers believe ordination is a special blessing that is conveyed in enabling one to preach the Gospel and administer the sacraments.

iii. Radical Protestants believe ordination is in the affirmation of a

believing community in the calling of an individual for special redemptive service.

C). Who are proper candidates for ordination?

i. Roman Catholics believe celibate males only can be ordained.

ii. Generally, Protestants believe males who are married are the best

candidates but this does not exclude single men or even women.

iii. In the Orthodox Church, monks are to be celibate males and pastors are to be married men.

iv. Radical Reformers (Gal., Eph. – All men and women can be

called to special service by God and are to be ordained while Pastoral Epistles speak of males only with being ordained once called by God into special service).

a. In keeping with the Protestant view of the Priesthood of the

Believer, anyone can be ordained if the person is seized by God in His Spirit for special ministry.

b. Once the person, male or female, has made the decision that

each one has been called by God, then each one is ordained by the traditions of the local church.

4). Contemporary problems affecting ordination.

A). Radical pluralism has infected the Christian Community in which the

local congregations have lost their traditions, meaning of service, and

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love of God to the detriment of not only the local church but to the community in which they serve.

B). Civil ordinances.

i. Recognition on the side of the civil laws that affect certain

ecclesiastical functions that may have legal implications and ramifications.

ii. What about the military draft when it has been enacted in this

country?

iii. What about the IRS?

C). Varieties in ministry can be a hindrance to ministry and the rite of ordination.

D). Increasing awareness of minority groups.

5). Theological reconstruction of ordination.

A). The primary election, appointment and call of God are in Jesus Christ.

B). The secondary calling of God is in the call of conversion by being

made into Godlikeness.

C). The third calling of God is in the calling of converted people to special service.

D). The many views of ordination have led to conflict in the local

churches with what proper standard and authority does one use to determine the administrator, candidate and requirements of ordination.

i. Candidates of ordination must be affirmed by the following

marks of the calling in the Christian faith:

a. Candidates of ordination must be affirmed in truly acknowledging and understanding Jesus Christ is the primary election, appointment and call of God before any other calling by the community of faith.

b. Candidates of ordination must be affirmed in being truly

converted to Christ by the community of faith that administers ordination.

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c. Candidates of ordination must also be affirmed in being truly called by God for special service before ordination by the community of faith.

d. Candidates of ordination must be affirmed in being the

stewards of the high calling of God to special service by the community of faith.

e. Candidates must be affirmed in being able to account for the

meaning of the Apostolic Witness and Faith of the Prophets and the Scriptures by the local community of faith.

f. Candidates must be affirmed in being able to understand the

central features of the heritage of the local congregation that sets him/her aside for service through the rite of ordination.

ii. If the practice of licensing is used, these licenses should be

reviewed annually by the local congregation until the time of ordination.

iii. If those who have been ordained desire release from ordination

because God calls them into task which are primarily secular, this release should be granted by the following three entities:

a. By the local church that originally ordained him/her.

b. By the church to which he/she is serving.

c. By the church in which his/her membership resides.

iv. If those who have been ordained bring open shame on the

community of God and are unrepentant, their ordination should be revoked dishonorably.

v. Each local congregation should recognize the ordination of its

ministers by installing each one in the appropriate field to which each is called and not be placed in a field that has nothing to do with each one’s calling by God.

a. A church who installs ministers in places wherein each is

not trained or called is a mockery to God’s calling of them and renders the person to be a tool of the church rather than in being the minister.

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b. The local church has just as much responsibility to God in placing the minister in the calling to which each feels from God as does the minister who is called by God.

E). Appropriate elements of ordination.

i. An interrogation of the candidate prior to the service of

ordination.

ii. A written and verbal record to the church.

iii. A testimony of the one who is being ordained.

iv. A charge to the candidate of ordination by the administrator or ordination.

v. A charge to the candidate of ordination by the local congregation.

vi. An ordination of prayer followed by the laying of hands.

20. Parousia.

A. The Greek word for “presence” or “coming.”

1). Literally it is the essence of the thing which is with us. 2). It is a synonym of “epipheneia” or “appearing.”

B. “Parousia” and “epipheneia” are two words of the New Testament which refer to”

the physical coming of Christ at the end of days.”

C. Karl Barth - (See Barth, “Church Dogmatics,” IV/3, p. 293ff) - believed “parousia” included:

1). Three things:

A). Resurrection Sunday and,

B). The Pentecost (Acts 2) as well, and

C). Therefore that the New Testament “parousia” is not limited to his final return.

2). Though this view of Barth is compelling to the mind and not all

theologically or Biblically wrong, this is not the prevalent view of the early Christian Community’s understanding of the “parousia” which meant the

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actual physical and final return of Christ that will happen during the end of days.

D. Biblical materials.

1). I Cor. 11: 26.

2). Matt. 28: 19-20.

3). Matt. 24 – 25.

4). Mark 13.

5). Luke 24 – Acts 1.

6). Revelation.

E. Historical by-paths.

1). Futuristic, physicalism, eschatological – Christ will come and live on earth

for 1000 years.

2). Realized eschatology – Christ has already come in the Spirit at Pentecost.

3). Tension between present and future in which it is unresolved in the New Testament, according to this view, but Christ is here and is also going to return.

4). Danger of Christological deism wherein He is far off and removed from us

but we can aid in speeding up His coming again.

F. Significance. 1). Ending and beginning on the same note.

2). Relation of promise with fulfillment in which one may ask, when do you

want Jesus to come and the answer is when he wants to come.

G. Purpose of Christ’s second coming is in three views. 1). To establish an earthly kingdom (physical implications).

2). To punish and reward.

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3). To complete what He began (ties redemption to creation) – Nothing which is made by God will fail to fulfill its intended purpose except rebellious men and spirits.

21. Prophet and prophecy.

A. Biblical Materials of the prophet.

1). Old Testament.

A). Etymology of the word “prophet.”

i. Old Testament word is “nabi” which means “seer.”

a. It literally means “one who speaks from an outside source.”

b. The Old Testament also uses it to refer to “one who praises God.”

ii. The Old Testament concept of the “prophet” is equal to the

modern concept of the “counselor.”

B). Old Testament development.

i. The early seer was considered to be a “helper” in the Old Testament (Judges, Duet. I and II Sam).

ii. As Israel developed its concept of prophet, it came to mean “one

who stands beside a nation to aid in the repentance of sin through ritual and the sacrifice of animals.

2). New Testament.

A). Etymology of prophet.

i. New Testament word is “propheetess” or “prophet.”

a. It literally means “one who stands beside.”

b. It also means one who makes a declaration on behalf of

another.

ii. The New Testament concept of the prophet is built upon the pastor.

B). New Testament development of prophet.

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i. In the New Testament there is both a continuity and discontinuity

with the Old Testament concept of prophet.

a. The continuity personalizes the prophet to be one who helps an individual or small group rather than to aid the nation of Israel.

b. The discontinuity is more functional and refers to one who

relied upon the living but unseen Christ to aid an individual rather than to rely on sacrifice or ritual.

ii. The best example of the functions of the “prophet” reside in the

“paraclete” or the Holy Spirit who is a “helper.”

3). One must use the functional definition of the prophet than its etymological meaning.

A). Functionally the word prophet means “one who stands beside or a

helper who is counselor for someone.

B). The New Testament concept of the Holy Spirit (Greek word “paraclete’) is He who aids, interprets for, and energizes one.

4). How is the revelation of God revealed to the prophet?

A). God seizes the cultural norms of the prophet’s particular

circumstances to proclaim and aid the nation or person.

i. Balaam’s ass (Num. 22).

ii. Psychical experiences.

iii. Cultural words and objects.

iv. Rocks.

v. Nature.

B). Ultimately anything can be used to express revelation to the prophet as long as it has been seized by God and so used.

i. The difference that is between the “animist” view of prophet and

the biblical view.

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a. An object that is used for prophetic reasons in the animist view is malevolently disposed against a person.

b. The biblical view of prophet means the object that is used

for prophetic reasons is benevolently disposed in favor of the individual.

ii. God always is the initiator and the one who seizes the object that

is used by the prophet in the Bible.

B. Prophecy literally, it means “message,” “declaration,” or “proclamation.”

1). The Christian community has understood “prophecy” from two points of

view.

A). Predictive prophecy – this is not Biblically tenable.

i. Definition - the foretelling of a coming event or a sequence of coming events.

ii. This is “pre-determined history” and overemphasizes God’s

sovereignty at the expense of man’s freedom.

iii. The weakness of this view is there is no connection that is between the one who prophesizes or predicts future events and the fulfillment of those future historical events.

iv. The fulfillment of those events which have been predicted from

the past are pure coincidence or some sort of prescience.

B). Promise-fulfillment prophecy – this is Biblically tenable.

i. Definition - the revelation of God’s purpose in the day and time of the prophecy and its on-going effect throughout various events that occur in history until it is fulfilled or reaches a state of completion.

ii. The redemptive activity of God is revealed to His servants at any

given point in history and its fulfillment is seen throughout various events that occur in history and will continue until it comes to a completion that brings ultimate fulfillment of God’s redemptive act.

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iii. The promise-fulfillment view of prophecy acknowledges God reveals only a certain amount of His redemptive activity which can be understood by man at the time of His revelation.

iv. As history moves forward, the understanding of God’s

redemptive activity grows and enlarges because God reveals more of His redemptive activity in the historical events of that time.

v. God’s redemptive activity continues to be revealed in greater

depth and understanding as He allows it in the historical events of man and will continue to grow man’s understanding until He brings His redemptive activity to ultimate fulfillment.

vi. The ultimate and final prophetic fulfillment of God’s redemptive

activity in history can only be seen in retrospect and never from the point in time of its prophetic utterance or from its continual movement in historical events.

vii. Until the prophetic utterance reaches its ultimate fulfillment, man

can only partially understand the fulfillment of it at the time in which he lives.

viii. Once the prophetic utterance is fulfilled to completion at some

point in history then man can see the whole gamut of its redemptive activities throughout past history.

ix. If prophecy is the promise-fulfillment of the revelation of God’s

redemptive purpose in some specific historical event with larger revelations of His redemptive activity throughout history, then one can be assured that God will bring His redemptive activity to ultimate fulfillment for man’s fullest understanding.

x. The promise-fulfillment view of prophecy organically relates

historical events to prophetic utterances and God’s redemptive purpose.

xi. The promise-fulfillment view of prophecy has two tenets that are

external or beyond the historical situation and internal or part of the historical situation.

xii. Because the ultimate and final fulfillment of prophetic utterances

are external from, outside of, and beyond the historical situation in which these prophets lived, the study of prophecy is beyond grammatical-historical exegesis. One cannot study prophecy by

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using grammatical-historical exegesis if the prophetic utterances are beyond the historical context in which the prophets lived.

2). Because the prophecies have partial fulfillments which began in the time of

which the prophets lived and continue on-ward throughout additional historical events, a person can study prophecy in limited ways by using grammatical-historical exegesis. One can study prophecy in limited ways by using grammatical-historical exegesis because God’s redemptive activities have occurred in certain historical events of which the prophets lived.

22. Pshchopannychia” or soul sleep.

A. Greek term for “soul sleep” and has to do with the state of the individual between

his death and the resurrection.

B. After a person’s death, he is not immediately caught up into God’s presence or banished from His fellowship but remains in the grave in an unconscious state until the final resurrection.

23. Purgatory.

A. The view of the Roman Catholic Church which says a person remains in a neutral

position that is away from fellowship with and judgment by God after death.

B. This waiting station of purgatory gives another chance for the individual to atone for his sins so that he can go into the presence of God.

24. Radical or thorough-going eschatology.

A. .This view was represented by Albert Schweitzer.

B. Who said Jesus was a radical apocalypticist but Jesus was mistaken

C. Therefore, Jesus’ ethics rather than his eschatology have definitive and lasting

value.

25. Rapture.

A. This word comes from the Latin word “rapturio” which means “to be caught up” or “to be snatched away.”

B. This term, per se., is not used in Scripture;

C. This view states Christ will come again at the end of days, will raise up the

righteous that are in the grave, will snatch up those righteous who are alive, and will return again with all the righteous at a later stage in history.

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D. This is the translation of the idea that is found in I Thessalonians (Parousia – I

Thess. 4:16ff) about Christians who are caught up into Heaven when Christ appears but this idea cannot be supported by a proper exegete of I Thess. 4:16ff.

26. Realized eschatology.

A. This is the 20th century theological teaching which stemmed from the British

school of C. H. Dodd and affirms:

1). That the expectations of the Christian faith are largely, if not completely, already realized.

2). For example, the second coming of Christ happened at Pentecost; Or for the

individual, it occurs at the time of death;

A). In other words, there is no future cosmic agenda in theology.

B). The last days are consummated only in the sense of individual existence.

3). This is actualized when a person realizes right from wrong, i.e., the age of

accountability.

4). This occurs to the individual at death.

5). This occurs to the individual when he consciously appropriates God’s gift of grace.

B. Eschatology is about being engaged in the “process of becoming” rather than

waiting for external and unknown forces of the future to bring about the destruction of sin and evil.

1). This idea comes from “progressive liberalism” of the late 19th century.

2). This view is highly secular and has no basis in Biblical thought or the

Christian Community.

27. Religion.

A. Paul Tillich’s definition of religion – anything which creates ultimate concern.

B. James Luther Adams’ definition of religion - that which is ultimately binding.

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C. My personal definition of religion is that which ultimate binds one to a way of valuing comprehensively, coherently and passionately (Cf. Frederick Ferre, Basic Modern Philosophy of Religion)..

1). Christianity needs a definition of itself that will be its authority for the

Christian Community (Christianity is best defined by the Roman Catholic’s Apostolic Creed, which is biblical accurate and well founded).

2). The major reason for people who join cults, sects and occults is a lack of

authority in their lives.

D. Cult, sect and occult.

1). Cult is that group which takes the major doctrines of a world religion and diminishes their importance.

2). Sect is a group which takes the minor doctrines of a world religion and

acclimates their importance over the major doctrines of that relgion.

3). Occult is a group which does all things in secret, including its practices and teachings.

28. Renewed Mind of Man in Christ, The.

A. The way into true knowledge is to use the conscious mind in unity with the deep

mind that is referred by the Apostle Paul to be the renewed mind of man in Christ (Rom. 12:2; II Cor. 4:16; Eph. 4:23; Col. 3:10; Titus 3:5).

1). In Biblical thought, man is never divided into a compartments or classes such as body, rational mind and soul.

2). Man is looked upon as a whole unit which functions as a whole self that

takes on many dimensions including spiritual, physical, mental, communal, and social and so forth.

A). The wholeness of man points to a deep mind which falls in love with

values and articulates itself through the central-self that functions through the mind, both conscious and unconscious, and then expresses itself outwardly through the body.

i. The deep mind (Biblical word is heart) will place the living

Christ to be the supreme value that is above all else (For a deeper understanding of the use of the word heart in the Bible, read, Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart, 2002, Navpress Publishing Group).

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a. The word heart in the Bible does not stand for emotions as many learned men of theology have suggested (only two instances of heart as referring to emotion are found in I Sam. 1:8 and 2:1).

b. The Biblical word heart refers to and is inseparable from the

mind and the ability to understanding deep spiritual things both demonic and divine (Prov. 23:7, Deut. 9:4, Isa. 10:6, Matt. 9:4, James 1:26).

c. The heart, in the Scripture, gives values to the things with

which the mind understands.

i). Hebrew thought does not express abstract thinking about anything but is always expressed through concrete material things.

ii). Hebrew thought saw the heart as the concrete and

physical heart, the organ in the chest.

iii). But the Hebrew thinkers of the Old and New Testament used the concrete word for heart to express the place where one exercises faith (Lk. 24/25, Rom. 10: 9,10), where the location of the human deliberation is made, and where wisdom is employed.

iv). To the Hebrew mind, when men got scared, the heart

would beat faster and they felt it in their chest and associated it with the idea of what to do to escape fear.

v). When man is calm, the heart beats slower than when

he is excited from fear or depression.

vi). Understanding is said to be the function of the mind (Job 38:36), yet the connection to the heart is undeniable because the heart is where a person desires the difference between right and wrong (I Kings 3:9).

vii). The Biblical concept of heart in modern days has

been too much determined by secular psychology and pietism, a hangover from the nineteenth century.

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viii). The heart, regenerate or apostate, gives basic sets of values to the mind but it does not completely control the mind.

ix). The unregenerate heart, because of common grace,

does not come to full expression in the unbeliever’s mind.

x). The regenerate heart, because of sin, does not come

to full expression in the Christian’s mind.

xi). There is an unqualified and absolute antithesis between the regenerate and unregenerate heart.

xii). There is not an absolute antithesis between the

Christian and non-Christian mind.

xiii). He who in his heart is a Christian belongs to God in principle and yet may have a mind that embraces egregious error and breathes a reprehensible spirit.

xiv). He who in his heart is a non-Christian belongs to

Satan in principle, and yet may have a mind that embraces much of truth and breathes a temperate spirit.

xv). In the case of both the Christian and the non-

Christian, the mind, though for different reasons, can be false to the heart. (Henry Stob, Theological Reflections, Eerdmans, 1981, page 236).

xvi). The heart contains knowledge that is both conscious

and unconscious.

xvii). Basically, the heart is the center of man’s moral character, who he really is from on the inside (Lk. 6:45).

ii. The central-self is made in the image of God that is value

pursuing, and centered in values of God’s moral character, i.e., the central-self is the soul or essence of a person wherewith God’s image is present in Christians.

a. Biblical psychology of man (refer to C. Ryder Smith, The

Doctrine of Man; R. Niebuhr, The Nature and Destiny of Man).

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i). There is no Hebrew word for body but there are

several Hebrew words for body parts, such as heart, mind, etc.

ii). The English word body or form comes from the

Greek word soma and means form that is animated by life.

iii). The Hebrew word nephesh and the Greek word

equivalent psuche is translated as soul, the total life force of living man.

iv). The Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word pneuma

is translated spirit, meaning life force, a person who strives for self-transcendence when energized by God and is able to turn all life toward God’s dimension.

v). The Hebrew word basar and Greek word sarx is best

translated flesh, the capacity to cooperate with the Evil One and order life toward Satan’s direction.

b. The Hebrew word nephesh (used 754 times in the Old

Testament) and the Greek word psuche (used 105 times in the New Testament) for the word soul are equivalents to the modern day term central-self and has many shades of meaning such as:

i). Breath, the breath of life,

ii). The vital force that animates the body and shows

itself in breathing within man and animals,

iii). Life and that in which there is life,

iv). A living being, a living soul, or the soul,

v). The seat of feelings, desires, affections, aversions of the heart – these are selective values with which only nephesh or psuche can partake because it only selects or chooses what is pertinent to man at the time for which those values are called.

vi). The moral being of man that is designed in the image

of God and destined for everlasting life when God Himself calls it forth from the dead.

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c. Nephesh and psuche both mean life in the sense of an

individual, or the life experiences of an individual and is the thing which makes each individual person to be unique and different from everyone else and is made in the image of God.

d. A commonly held and false belief that is among Christians

is in the existence of a human soul,

i). The semantic domain of Biblical soul is based on the Hebrew word nepesh, which presumably means breath or breathing being. aa. This word never means an immortal soul or an

incorporeal part of the human being that can survive death of the body as the spirit of dead.

ba. This word usually designates the person as a whole or its physical life.

ca. In the Septuagint nepesh is mostly translated

from the Greek word psyche and, exceptionally, in the Book of Joshua as empneon, that is breathing being.

ii). In Patristic thought, towards the end of the 2nd

century psyche was understood in more a Greek than a Hebrew way and it was contrasted with the body.

aa. In the 3rd century, with the influence of Origen,

there was the establishing of the doctrine of the inherent immortality of the soul and its divine nature.

ba. Origen also taught the transmigration of the souls and their preexistence, but these views were officially rejected in 553 A.D. in the Fifth Ecumenical Council.

ca. Inherent immortality of the soul was accepted

among western and eastern theologians throughout the middle ages, and after the Reformation, as evidenced by the Westminster Confession.

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iii). That is dwelling within us, forming the core of our entity, and is an immaterial and invisible spirit.

iv). This spirit or ghost enters our flesh in the womb,

exits our flesh at death, and acts as the hub of our consciousness and thought process.

v). It is the fundamental constituent and essence of who

we are, making us to be ourselves, and not someone else.

vi). This belief is Greek thinking and is not Biblically

sound or logical in the light of who God is.

vii). When man dies, there is no immortality of his soul after death, because when he dies, he remains dead only until God calls him forth from death and into life.

e. The central-self is very picky and selective with which

values that it chooses for man at the moment of choice but it must have a value system that is inexhaustible and can constantly challenge it to seek the depths of that value system without reaching a plateau.

i). The moral character of God is the only non-

exhaustive value system and principles that will never grow stale or on which man will never flat-line.

ii). The vitality of man is found in what he loves and for

which he is willing to die.

iii. The mind is suited to examine data, make rational deductions, and use experience to gain knowledge of the truth about reality.

a. However, these actions are not always carried out properly

because the mind often interprets data and experience through preconceived notions of life and faith rather than though objective truth.

b. This contradiction between preconceived notions and

objective truth is evidenced by the fact that two minds may take the same data and come to contrary conclusions concerning that data.

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c. Greek thinkers and philosophers who created theories of the nature or reality, which had little or nothing to say about the real world, vividly demonstrate this contradiction of notion and objective truth because these Greek thinkers found themselves living in a real world that was often contrary to their theories.

d. The mind has the ability to deceive itself and rationalize

away faults and weaknesses.

e. Within the mind is the conscious mind which is the logical self of a person and the unconscious mind which is the emotional side of a person who sometimes allow his emotions to overtake sound thinking and wisdom of the conscious mind.

f. The deep mind, the central-self, the unconscious and

conscious minds and the body are so unified that the individual is all of these things at once.

g. When the deep mind, the central-self, the mind (conscious

and unconscious), and the body function according to each one’s particular uniqueness, they blend into a harmony of unity and wholeness.

iv. The body of man becomes the outward expression of the

combination of the workings of the deep mind, the central-self, the conscious mind and unconscious mind with the value system that is in question.

a. The body (Greek soma) is the corporeal or physical aspect of a human being.

b. Christians have traditionally believed that the body will be resurrected at the end of the age.

c. Rudolf Bultmann states the following:

That soma belongs inseparably, constitutively, to human existence is most clearly evident from the fact that Paul cannot conceive even of a future human existence after death, `when that which is perfect is come' as an existence without soma – in contrast to the view of those in Corinth who deny the resurrection (1 Cor. 15, especially vv. 35ff.). Man does not have a soma; he is a soma.

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d. Flesh (Greek sarx) is rarely considered synonymous with

body but rather is considered the attitude in man toward sinning - the apostle Paul contrasts flesh and spirit in Romans 7-8.

e. In the context of Christian theology, theological

anthropology refers to the study of the human ("anthropology") as it relates to God.

i). It differs from the social science of anthropology,

which primarily deals with the comparative study of the physical and social characteristics of humanity across times and places.

ii). One aspect studies the innate nature or constitution of

the human, known as the nature of humankind.

iii). It is concerned with the relationship between notions such as body, soul and spirit which together form a person, based on their descriptions in the Bible.

iv). There are three traditional views of the human

constitution – trichotomism, dichotomism and monism (in the sense of anthropology).

B). Therefore, the following is how the mind of man thinks and lives:

i. The deep mind or heart of man falls in love with a value system

and accepts it whether or not it is good or bad.

ii. The central-self is awakened by the deep mind and seeks to steer man toward selecting only those values from the deep mind that are worthy of man’s stature or importance in life.

iii. The unconscious mind or man’s seat of emotions is either excited

over the selected value system of the central-self and pushes man to act upon it or it is unexcited and causes man to delay or procrastinate the way with which he is to handle these selected values of the central-self.

iv. The conscious mind or logical-self determines the worthiness of

the selected values that have been accepted by both the deep mind and the central-self and uses the powers of reason and intellect to render judgment upon these selected values of the

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deep mind and central-self and sometimes runs into conflict with the unconscious mind of man’s emotions.

B. A chart of the Biblical view with how the renewed mind of man in Christ reasons

and operates in the external world.

29. Resurrection.

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A. Definition - the new creation of God that is made possible by the death of Christ and who alone has been resurrected.

1). All the dead at the resurrection will be clothed with a body (II Cor. 5, I Cor.

1-10, I Cor. 15).

2). Jesus Christ only is the first fruits of the resurrection.

3). By being the first fruits of the resurrection, Jesus Christ alone has completely undergone death and has been raised up from the grave and never has to die again.

A). There was a day when God in His Son died.

B). All three dimensions of Jesus Christ’s existence (biochemical, socio-

psychic, and ultimate) had ceased to function, and, therefore, He really did undergo death as all men do.

C). It was God the Father who called Christ who was dead from death

unto life.

D). Therefore, Jesus Christ has overcome death and is the only One who is strong enough to banish death in the last days.

B. Biblical materials.

1). Old Testament.

A). In the Old Testament as in other ancient Semitic and middle Eastern

cultures, immortality was hoped for and longed after but had no tangible proof of actuality.

B). Israelites sought corporate immortality within the tribes, some few

heroic persons were remembered for their deeds. C). There are personal “intimations of immortality” in Job and Daniel.

2). New Testament.

A). Greek word Anastasis – to stand up again.

B). There are prefigurings of resurrection in the bringing back to life

miracles of Jesus (e.g., the son of the widow Nain and especially Lazarus).

C). Resurrection is to call out of death into a non-ending existence either

in blessedness or in judgment.

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D). Jesus’ resurrection (see Christoloty notes) is the supreme miracle on

which the Christian community bases its hopes and to which it owes its existence.

E). New Testament Materials – I Cor.. 15, Rev. 1, I Thess. 4 (see

concordance).

C. Historical views. 1). The innate immortality of the soul owes its insights to Greek Philosophy

and denies the unitary view of man.

2). The naturalist’s view of the body denies the multi-dimensional aspect of man’s person and the power and reality of God in bringing the total person through death.

3). Christian burial customs have given rise to a glorification of the physical.

4). One must ask how cremation relates to the paradigm of resurrection.

5). One must also ask how decomposition and the intermingling of physical

elements relates to the necessity of given chemical components in the structuring of the resurrection of the body.

D. Theological reconstruction.

1). Jesus Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection.

2). At His return to change the historical order into the eternal dimension,

Christ brings the resurrection bodies to all who have died and changes the body of those living at that time into resurrection forms.

3). The process is as mysterious as the analogue of the acorn to the oak.

4). It is appropriate to make promises as to the form, growth, appearance, etc.,

of the resurrection bodies of individuals – from the analogues in Scripture and from Jesus’ resurrection appearances, we may affirm an essential identity of person without describing a precise appearance.

30. Resuscitation.

A. Definition - the bringing back of the dead into temporal existence until they die

again.

B. Ex. Lazarus (John 11:14-44).

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31. Revelation.

A. Two Questions and one answer.

1). Questions.

A). How does God speak?

B). How does God make Himself to be known?

2). Answer: Revelation.

B. Definitions.

1). Etymology of the word revelation.

A). From the Greek word apokalyptein and the Latin word revelare,

meaning to reveal or to unveil something which is hidden, like unveiling a curtain to reveal what was hidden behind it.

2). The definition of revelation is God reveals Himself and truths which are

about Him that otherwise would be unknown.

C. Revelation includes the revelatory triad of manifestation, inspiration and illumination.

D. Revelation versus discovery.

1). Truths about revelation.

A). Revelation implies an unveiling that involves divine initiative.

B). Revelation by its very nature is undiscoverable.

C). If it must be revealed, one cannot discover it, and if one discovers it, it was not revealed.

2). Truths about discovery.

A). Discovery is that with which men may do when given their creaturliness and humanity because man is incapable of creating anything from out of nothingness.

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B). Discovery is that with which the human community can do in order to find out about the universe without the special revelation of God.

3). Both revelation and discovery are gifts from God but only revelation is

redemptive.

E. The five presuppositions of the divine revelation of the Scriptures. 1). The five presuppositions.

A). Presupposition 1 - The Bible has an inherent worth that demands considerable attention because it contains ecclesiastical, social, theological, and psychological elements and concerns that cannot be derived from any other sources other than the Bible.

i. The term which is used to describe the uniqueness of the Bible is

inspiration which is part of the doctrine of revelation.

ii. This presupposition must deal with revelation.

B). Presupposition 2 - An adequate concept of revelation presupposes God’s acts that are behind Scripture, God’s guidance with the formulation of Scripture, and God’s preservation of Scripture.

i. This presupposition includes the problem of the canon and

traditions.

ii. The Biblical term for this presupposition is manifestation.

C). Presupposition 3 - One needs to establish the texts, translations and interpretations of the Bible.

i. Textual criticism and the problems of interpretation must be

worked out to establish the meaning of the Written Word.

ii. The concept that is behind this presupposition is hermeneutics.

D). Presupposition 4 – The Christian Community must deal with the Bible from the sciences of textual criticism, linguistic and ideological translations which is the problem of hermeneutics.

i. The Bible has a message for its day and ours and these two

messages must meet and we must be ready and able to communicate this message from what it meant to what it means.

ii. This presupposition has to deal with Biblical theology.

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E). Presupposition 5 – We must affirm God the Spirit acts upon men to

aid in interpreting His Word.

i. The Biblical term for this presupposition is illumination by the Holy Spirit.

ii. The Holy Spirit does aid men with interpreting the Bible.

iii. The fifth presupposition guards against a pietistic avoidance of

criticism and a hyper-critical avoidance of spiritual dynamics.

2). The five presuppositions that are above presuppose there is an established collection of writings that have been canonized or accepted to be sacred writings that came from certain men of certain ages who were inspired by God.

A). We must explore this canon and discover with how it came into

existence.

B). This requires an understanding of Christian history.

F. Definition, Biblical materials and historical viewpoints about manifestation. 1). Definition – those normative acts and words that come from God alone

wherewith He communicates Himself to created beings.

A). Manifestation is God enters the time-space continuum in dramatic acts, impressions, words and confirmations.

B). A formal definition of manifestation is those normative acts and

words that come from God though which He communicates Himself to created beings.

C). To overstress the doctrine of manifestation over and against

inspiration and illumination is to have a dynamic without any continuity or form, which leads to Arid Historicism.

2). Biblical materials.

A). By definition, these materials are pre-biblical.

B). Nevertheless, manifestation, by necessity, is the substance of Biblical

insight.

3). Three Historical viewpoints.

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A). Every manifestation of God was appropriate for every generation.

B). The majority of events that occurred in pre-biblical times are not

normative and may be attributed to other things.

C). Through these acts and their interpretation comes an emerging normative picture of God.

4). Theological reconstruction.

A). Possible vehicles of manifestation.

i. Everything is a possible manifestation of God (William Temple,

Nature, Man and God).

ii. Christ only is a manifestation of God (Karl Barth).

iii. The best view is anything may be a manifestation of God but nothing is until it is seized by God in a revelatory constellation (Paul Tillich).

B). Actual vehicles of manifestation.

i. Inanimate objects such as a bush, the red sea, an axe head, and

rocks.

ii. The animal kingdom such as Balaam’s ass the sacrificial goats and lambs in the Temple.

iii. The phenomena of nature such as storms, clouds and rainbows.

iv. Psychical vehicles such as dreams, visions, prophetic

consciousness.

v. Books such as the oral traditions of the people of Israel (Oral traditions were more reliable than written manuscripts).

vi. The incarnation of Christ is a manifestation.

vii. Acts of the Spirit such as what happened at Pentecost.

viii. Spiritual beings.

C). Characteristics of manifestation.

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i. All manifestations are redemptive in intention.

ii. All manifestations were made in historical events and circumstances.

a. Examples of manifestations that were made in historical

circumstances and events are parables and proverbs.

b. History does not necessarily equal truth.

c. Prove history by the Bible and not the Bible by history because the chronology of history is a modern construct and was never part of the ancient Biblical people or Biblical norms.

iii. All manifestations are ideological and verbal.

iv. All manifestations occur to produce action.

v. All manifestations are personal.

a. The One who stands behind all manifestations is personal.

b. The recipients and interpreters are personal.

G. Definition, Biblical materials and historical viewpoints about inspiration.

1). Definition – the ability with which God gave to certain persons to rightly

apprehend, interpret, record, transmit and preserve the significance of His manifestations.

A). Inspiration is God who guides certain persons to rightly interpret

record and transmit the account of His normative manifestations.

B). A formal definition of inspiration is the ability of God to give certain persons to rightly apprehend, interpret, record, transmit and preserve the significance of His manifestation.

C). To overstress the doctrine of inspiration over and against

manifestation and illumination is to have a record without reality to support it, which leads to the heresy of bibliolatry, the worship of the Bible over and against the God of the Bible.

D). Those who quest for the original manuscripts.

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i. There is no value with speaking of original manuscripts when actually you do not have any because they no longer exist.

ii. Does the desire for the original manuscripts over and against

copies question God’s integrity?

a. Yes, it questions the integrity God because this question assumes the Bible is the producer or creator of truth, especially truth from God who alone is Truth before the Bible was written.

b. One must ask, is it true because it is in the Bible or is it in

the Bible because it is true?

i). It is in the Bible because it is true.

ii). The Bible is the greatest testimony to truth that undergirds all reality of things which are in heaven and upon the earth, and which existed before the Bible was written.

iii). The Bible rightly captures the truth which was before

the foundations of the world and the Bible.

iv). This view relieves the Bible from being accused of making or producing truth because the Bible is founded on those outside truths which only God knows and has revealed to and was rightly recorded in the Bible by certain men who were inspired by God to do so.

2). Biblical materials.

A). Old Testament.

i. The inspiration idea is more implicit than explicit.

ii. Inspiration is fully and abundantly provided in such terms and

expressions as the word of the Lord came unto me, God spoke and said unto me, which give an awareness of a message that came from beyond.

B). New Testament.

i. The New Testament uses the Old Testament with reverence that

speaks of inspired writings.

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ii. Jesus claims to speak what He heard from His Father.

iii. The book of Revelation uses the word behold, which means you

better perk up your ears because God is about to send something very big down the pipeline, a reference to inspiration.

iv. The Apostles claim to report with what they had seen in Jesus.

v. The Apostle Paul claims most of his expressions and authority

had come directly from God.

vi. II Timothy 3:16 and II Peter 1:20-21 are two specific references to inspiration in which inspiration is for certain things.

3). Historical insights of inspiration.

A). Hebraic concepts of inspiration.

i. The Hebrews made distinctions between levels of relevance in

inspired ancient Biblical writings, e.g., the Torah was the most significant of all the sacred texts within Judaism.

ii. The prophets spoke under God’s direction intermittently.

iii. The sacred writings were gathered from among the people and

sanctified by God as part of the sacred books.

iv. The primary question is what to do when confronted by the Word of God and the primary answer is to listen and obey.

v. The question of how the ancient sacred writings became inspired

was never a consideration from among the Hebrews.

B). Greek concepts of inspiration.

i. The Greeks perceived the gods spoke through unusual natural phenomena.

a. The gods spoke, according to the Greeks, through augury,

the exploring of the entails of an animal for divine revelation.

b. The gods also spoke through oracles in which the Sybil – the

one who makes contact with the gods and goddesses of the Greek world – went into trances and produced revelation.

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ii. Revelation from the gods and goddesses to the Sybil was the very

words of the gods and goddesses but often in parabolic or riddles form.

C). The early Church Fathers (100 A.D. – 700 A.D.) whose writings

remain up to this day and time.

i. From among some of the apologists of the Church Fathers, there are expressions about God giving revelation of Scripture to the Biblical authors while in a trance, playing upon them as a musical instrument (lyre).

a. This illustration was primarily an apologetic device of

writing and speech.

b. The apologists of the Church Fathers were concerned with responding to the Greek world with their doubts about the authority of written material.

ii. The early Church Fathers were concerned with three questions.

a. The first question was in reference to the problem of the

canon and they wanted to know which books of the sacred texts were inspired.

b. The second problem was the concern of hermeneutics and

they wanted to know what method should be used to interpret the sacred texts.

c. The third problem was problematic of authority and they

were concerned with who has the right to interpret the holy texts.

iii. Shifting scene to the problem of the canon and the problems of

hermeneutics and proper authority of the Bible.

a. In the fourth through the fifth centuries A.D., the question of whether or not the Scriptures were inspired was never asked but it was assumed to be so.

b. There was a shift to the understanding of the canon - which

books belong in the Bible - and hermeneutics which implies with what authority should be used to determine which writings were inspired by God.

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i). The problem of the canon was settled at the Council of Constance at 391 A.D.

ii). The issue of hermeneutics was settled at the creation

of the magisterium, the official teaching office of the Roman Catholic Community.

D). During the Middle Ages, there were no significant advances with the

problem of inspiration.

E). The Reformation Period of the sixteenth – eighteenth Centuries A.D. (C. 1500 – 1750 A.D.).

i. The reformers had reacted against the Roman Church’s view with

which tradition formulas of the Roman Church had more authority than did the Bible or the Latin Vulgate Bible.

a. The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the

Bible.

b. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 A.D. to make a revision of the old Latin translations.

c. By the 13th century this revision had come to be called the

versio vulgata, that is, the commonly used translation, and ultimately it became the definitive and officially promulgated Latin version of the Bible in the Roman Catholic Church.

ii. The reformers broke from the traditions of the Roman Church

and made Scripture to be supreme but added what had never been added by the Roman Church.

a. The reformers added the Holy Spirit is the guarantor of

Scripture, a break from the Roman Church that claimed to be the guarantor of God on earth.

i). The reformers claimed the Holy Spirit is He who

brought the Scripture into being and bears witness to it as being the Word of God.

ii). The reformers believed the Holy Spirit is the internal

witness to the Scripture’s inspiration and illumination (Internum testimonium Sancti Spiritu).

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b. Catholic assumptions of their authority were challenged by the reformers at the following points:

i). The Bible was given by God through the Holy Spirit

to the people and was not given to the Catholic Church or the Church Fathers to do as they well pleased with it.

ii). The reformers challenged the Roman Church’s

viewpoint of spiritual hermeneutics that was used by the Roman Church to justify and prove anything with which the Church had wanted.

iii). The reformers challenged the Roman Church’s right

to be the only guardians and interpreter of Scripture because the reformers believed the right to interpreting Scripture lay with the Holy Spirit within the people of God and not with the magisterium of the Roman Church.

F). Protestant scholasticism of the seventeenth century A.D.

i. The 17th century was at once the high era of Protestant

systematic orthodoxy and the age when the first signs of its dissolution of the Roman Church had appeared.

ii. The axioms of the Reformation were worked out in a great and

systematic body of doctrine, based on the notion that the Christian faith was best defined by its doctrines.

iii. The theologians defended and the pastors taught Luther’s or

Calvin’s dogmatic systems—relying also upon authoritative sources such as the Formula of Concord (1577 A.D.) in Lutheranism or the conclusions of the Synod of Dort (1618 A.D.) in Calvinism—which were extended and made into a tradition. Protestant ... (100 of 24817 words)

a. In the seventeenth century, protestant scholasticism

endeavored to rationally explain how the Bible had come to be.

b. The most prevalent theory of how the Bible had come to be

the Word of God, by protestant scholasticism, was in a mechanical dictation theory which was similar to Greek oracularism and extended to saying the Hebrew vowels points were inspired.

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G). The Age of Rationalism of the eighteenth – nineteenth centuries A.D.

i. Rationalism is an intellectual movement that began in Europe of

the 18th and 19th century A.D. and began the sciences of history, biblical criticism, technical linguistics and the context of modern philosophy.

ii. The authority of rationalism lain in the human mind of logic and

reason with its exploration of all things.

iii. It was during this period of time in which rationalism was the main tool of professors of major German universities who had approached theology from a strictly rational viewpoint, stripping the Bible of its spiritual and theological insights and treating theology and the Bible as if it were nothing more than any other ancient text.

a. These professors approached theology with a cold

subjectivism and with the strict disciplines of science, mathematics and other empirical data tools, without recognizing the different realities with which each one has.

b. These professors emphasized art, theology and medicine on

the same plane with each other and that led to some disastrous results for all disciplines.

c. Out of rationalism came higher and lower criticism that originally attempted to dissect the Bible with an attempt of showing its errors of science, mathematics, geometry, the arts, and modern philosophies and prove, at least to the rationalist, there was no inspiration of the Bible.

H). From under the pressures of the critical studies of inspiration of the

Bible, the Christian Community of the nineteenth century A.D. reexamined its concept of inspiration and several theories of inspiration arose to combat the rising tide of critical studies.

I). These are all modern theories which grew out of protestant

scholasticism and the German critical studies but brought to America by Dutch Calvinists.

i. Theodore Parker, the father and founder of American

Unitarianism, taught The Intuitive Theory of Inspiration, which was also taken up by James Martineau and F. W. Newman.

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a. This theory says inspiration is a quality of human genius

that is intermittently found in the human community.

b. This theory believes the Bible is inspired on the same level as all other great books, written texts or other works of art by men of great genius of all ages such as is found in the works of Shakespeare or Handel’s Messiah.

c. All great works of art and literature are gifts of God to all

men in order to enrich and bless the human race.

d. This position is held by liberals on the far left of the theological spectrum, i.e.. those who are classified as rationalists.

e. Its proponents hold that what marks the Bible off from other

works of literature is the high degree of religious insight, something akin to artistic ability, of the authors of Scripture.

f. This insight was not a supernatural gift of the Holy Spirit,

but rather a natural permanent possession of the various individuals.

g. The net effect of this position is to make the scriptural

authors as qualitative no different than Plato, Buddha, Mohammed etc.

h. The Bible thus becomes the spiritual experiences of the

Jewish people.

ii. A. H. Strong taught The Dynamic Theory of Inspiration.

a. This theory says the thoughts of God are recorded in the Bible but the words that interpreted those words were written by frail and sinful men.

b. Inspiration is not simply a natural but is a supernatural fact,

and it is the immediate work of a personal God in the soul of man.

c. It holds that inspiration belongs not only to the men who

wrote the Scriptures but to the Scriptures in which they wrote, so that these Scriptures, when taken together, constitute a sufficient record of divine revelation.

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d. The Scriptures contain a human as well as a divine element, so that while they present a body of divinely revealed truth, this truth is shaped into human molds and adapted to human intelligence.

e. In short it is not natural, partial, nor mechanical, but is

supernatural, plenary and dynamic (A. H. Strong, Systematic Theology, p. 211.).

iii. B. B. Warfield taught The Verbal Theory of Inspiration or The

Mechanical Dictation Theory of Inspiration.

a. This theory teaches the very words (verbal) of the Bible were chosen directly by the Holy Spirit and therefore the Bible is fully (Latin: plenus = full) inspired in all its parts.

b. The problem with this theory is it can only apply to the

original manuscripts or autographed sacred texts.

i). Which words of the original manuscript were inspired?

ii). Where are the original or autographed works of the

Bible to verify this theory’s claim?

c. Scripture to Warfield is breathed out by God so that inspiration extends not just to thoughts of the Biblical writers but to the very words that are used and written.

i). By claiming the words themselves are inspired

implies human writers are not also authors.

ii). In Warfield’s theory God is active while man is inactive in the inspiration of the Bible, making the writers to be mere secretaries and contribute nothing to the Bible.

iv. Neo-evangelicals came up with The Plenary Theory of

Inspiration (a.k.a., The Verbal Plenary Theory of Inspiration) which is a step upward from and a new twist to The Verbal Theory of Inspiration.

a. This theory teaches the full work of God was involved in the

choice of each and every word of the Bible.

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b. The Theory of Plenary Inspiration considers that God inspired the writings of various authors (as distinct from the authors themselves).

i). Within the inspiration process of their writings God

was able to take the creative abilities of these authors and inspire them to produce the perfect Word of God (Psalm 19:7).

ii). The result of this process was that we now have a

Bible that often exposes the heart, emotions, and trials of its authors.

iii). We find this throughout the Psalms of David and the

epistles of Paul.

iv). Within this theory, the inspiration of God’s Word is more concerned about conveying the mind of God through the literary expression of its authors, than it is about the mechanical dictating of precise words.

v. The Infallible Theory of Inspiration came from mathematical

models of truth and has long been part of the Christian Creeds.

a. The word Infallible from within the Christian Community has always conveyed the meaning of normative authority; and only in modern times since the 1800’s has the word been taken from its original meaning to mean something which is foreign to its implication, meaning and nature.

b. The word infallible is used on the same footing as inerrant

within the modern Christian Community and this form of the word is not normative with its true meaning.

c. The entire Bible is inspired by God but there are varying

levels and degrees of relevancy in Scripture.

i). Christus est Rex Et Dominus Scriptuae is Latin for Christ is King and Lord of the Scripture.

ii). Are there varying levels of relevancy in the Bible?

Yes!

iii). Does that mean there are varying levels of inspiration in the Bible? No!

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iv). Do varying levels of relevancy in Scripture equal to varying levels of inspiration. Yes and No, depending upon its importance with the redemptive purposes of God within the Church Universal and the Church Local.

v). All Scripture is inspired by God but not all Scripture

is relevant.

d. The inadequate modern concept of The Infallibility and Inerrant view of Inspiration states infallible.

i). When applying the adjective inerrant to Scripture,

Protestants presumably mean one, two, or three of the following things:

aa. An inerrant autograph written by a biblical

author;

ba. An inerrant copy of a manuscript descending from an autograph;

ca. An inerrant translation based on one (or more

manuscripts) descending from an autograph.

ii). No biblical autographs have survived.

aa. There are only manuscripts which were copied from earlier manuscripts, which were copied from still earlier manuscripts, and so on.

ba. To speak of an autograph as inerrant, we are

essentially claiming that Scripture used to be inerrant.

ca. In theory, if all relevant manuscript evidence

were available, we could trace a manuscript’s lineage back to an original autograph.

da. But since we do not possess a single biblical

autograph, we are not in a position to comment on an autograph’s character in a meaningful way.

ea. Moreover, even if we had access to a biblical

autograph, would a spelling error render it errant?

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e. The Infallible and Inerrant Theory of Inspiration branched

out into nine groups of thinking:

i). Mechanical Dictation - God dictated every word of the Bible.

aa. This view ignores style differences between

various authors as well as differing historical and cultural contexts.

ba. Proponent: John R. Rice.

ii). Absolute Inerrancy - The Bible is true and accurate in

all matters.

aa. This view uses the plenary-verbal concept of inspiration, attempting to separate itself from the dictation view while assuring that the Bible is the written word of God.

ba. It does not take seriously the human aspect, or

the historical contexts, in trying to harmonize the apparent differences and difficulties in Scripture.

ca. Proponent: Harold Lindsell, Battle for the Bible.

iii). Critical Inerrancy - The Bible is completely true in

all that the Scripture affirms, to the degree of precision intended by the original author.

aa. This view does not seek to harmonize every

detail.

ba. Scientific matters are considered to be treated with phenomenological language rather than technical and scientific thinking.

ca. This view allows the cautious use of critical

methodologies in interpretation.

da. It takes seriously both the human and divine elements

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ea. Proponents: Roger Nicole, J. Ramsey Michaels, D. A. Carson, John Woodbridge.

iv). Limited Inerrancy - The Bible is inerrant in all

matters of salvation and ethics, faith and practice, and matters which can be empirically validated.

aa. It is inerrant only in matters for which the Bible

was given.

ba. This view seeks to be empirical, i.e., guided by observation alone without using science or theory.

ca. Some call this view simple biblicism.

da. Proponent: Howard Marshall.

v). Qualified Inerrancy - The Bible is taken - upon faith

- to be inerrant in all matters of salvation and ethics, faith and practice, and matters which can be empirically validated.

aa. This is the same as the previous limited inerracy

statement above, except for the faith element.

ba. It attempts to take seriously the human and divine elements.

ca. This view is difficult to define.

da. Proponent: Donald G. Bloesch.

vi). Nuanced Inerrancy - The Bible’s inerrancy varies

with its types of literature: narrative, poetry, stories, or proverbs.

aa. Some passages require dictation in inspiration,

while others, as in poetry, stories, or proverbs, may require only dynamic inspiration.

ba. This view takes seriously the human and divine

elements.

ca. Proponent: Clark Pinnock.

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vii). Functional Inerrancy - The Bible is inerrant in its purpose or function.

aa. It is inerrant in its power to bring people to

salvation and growth in Christian life.

ba. Proponents: G. C. Berkouwer, Jack Rogers, Donald McKim.

viii). Inerrancy is Irrelevant - Inerrancy is neither

affirmed nor denied.

aa. The doctrine of inerrancy is pointless, irrelevant, and concerned only with theological minutiæ.

ba. Proponent: David A. Hubbard.

ix). Biblical Authority - The Bible is authoritative only to

point one to an encounter with God.

aa. This view does not take seriously the divine element in the words of the Bible. It freely admits human errors and finds them of no consequence.

ba. Proponent: William Countryman.

J). The fact that inerrancy can be viewed in so many ways is an argument

against its plausibility; and it seems pointless to argue over belief in something that is too nebulous to define.

i. It is not necessary to rationally show how the Bible is inspired.

ii. What does the Bible say about itself?

a. Listen and obey the Bible and it will tell you with what it

says about itself.

b. Belief in the Bible as true and inspired is based upon a priori (knowledge that is independent of experience) assumptions.

iii. Theological reconstruction of Biblical inspiration.

a. The Biblical materials implicitly and explicitly assert an

awareness that the manifestations of God lie behind its

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words and expressions, is from above, and is directed to a historical context.

b. The term inspiration is from the Greek word theopneuousa,

meaning God-breathes or in/spire (breathed in).

c. All revealed faiths make the claim that their sacred writings are inspired which is a faith-presupposition.

d. The best way to judge inspiration is to observe its results –

the internal coherence and the external accomplishments - rather than to predetermine how it may or must have been inspired.

e. By its own definition and of logical necessity, any study of

inspiration must concern itself with the Bible’s preservation (the problem of the canon) and interpretation (the problem of hermeneutics).

f. The Biblical materials are for purposes of a redemptive

relationship with God and the people of God.

i). The central motif of the Bible is God’s holy history with men.

ii). The context is incidental to the message.

g. During the protestant reformation, inspiration became a

Latin question which was applied to a Hebrew book.

H. Definition, Biblical materials and historical viewpoints about illumination. 1). The post-biblical definition of illumination is the ability with which God

gives to all men of every age to understand the record of His inspired manifestation in things which are sufficient to salvation.

A). Illumination is that ability with which God gives to persons in the

post-biblical era to understand the inspired record of His manifestation in matters that are sufficient for salvation.

B). A formal definition of illumination is the ability with which God

gives to all men in every age to understand the record of His inspired manifestation with things that are sufficient for salvation.

C). To overstress the doctrine of illumination over and against

manifestation and inspiration is to have a cut-loose mysticism.

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D). Illumination is akin to John Calvin’s internal witness of the Holy

Spirit that makes possible for men to find Christ through the Scripture.

i. God is the ultimate authority of illumination.

ii. The Bible represents God who has allowed men to be illumined with what the Scripture says about Him through some measurements of hermeneutical traditions, sciences, tools and devices.

iii. Illumination is a diffusing authority.

2). Biblical materials.

A). Illumination is post-biblical and therefore does not appear in the Bible.

B). There are numerous Biblical materials which emphatically state God

enlightened certain men for redemptive purposes.

3). Historical viewpoints about illumination involved the canon (rule or guide to determine which books belonged in the Bible) and hermeneutics (how to interpret the Scripture).

A). The Old Testament canon.

i. Seventh Century B.C.

a. The reformation of Josiah, son of Amon, king of Judah

(640–609 B.C.E.) (II Kings 22 – 23 and II Chronicles 34 – 35).

i). In the eighth year of his reign (632 B.C.E.) he started

"to seek the God of David" (II Chron. 34:3);

ii). In the 12th year (628 B.C.E.) he began to extirpate objectionable cults in Judah and Jerusalem (34:3b–5), as well as in other parts of the land of Israel (34:6–7);

iii). Finally, in the 18th year (622 B.C.E.), when the

"Book of the Torah" was discovered, he concluded the Covenant before the Lord (34:29–33) and celebrated the Passover (35:1–18).

b. The reformation of Josiah is the first historical mention of a

compilation of sacred books.

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c. This reform by Josiah demonstrates the Torah was already

in existence and revered though it was out of circulation.

ii. Second century B.C.

a. Joshua ben Sirach, called in the Talmud Ben Sira, was a priest of Jerusalem around 200 B.C. and made a compilation of five books that were sacred to the Jews.

b. Sirach divided these five sacred books into three divisions.

i). The Torah.

ii). The Prophets.

iii). Writings.

c. Later, the five books are received as canonical.

iii. The Council of Jamnia (Jonathon ben Zacchai) in 90 A.D.

a. During the siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Romans,

Jerusalem looked like it was going to be completely destroyed including the Temple where the Torah was housed.

b. When the Temple was invaded by the Romans, ben Zacchai

hid the Torah in his clothing and played dead when the Roman soldiers appeared and he was carried outside the walls of Jerusalem, saving Israel’s sacred texts.

c. Ben Zacchai went to Jamnia, the religious center for the

Jews, and formed a council to figure out with what the scribes and rabbis should do with these sacred texts which were saved by him.

d. The Council decreed the books were sacred and divided the

books into the following:

i). The 39 books of the Old Testament were condensed into 24.

ii). The Minor Prophets were condensed into 1 book.

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iii). I and II Maccabees were not included into the canon of the sacred texts.

B). The Apocrypha Writings.

i. The term Apocrypha means hidden things or hidden away in

Greek (ἀπόκρυφος, apókruphos).

a. The Apocrypha writings contained esoteric knowledge, knowledge that needed to be deciphered or unveiled.

b. There are Apocryphal books in both the Old and New

Testament.

ii. The Apocrypha refers to 14 books that were received in the Roman Catholic churches until the time of the Reformation when they were rejected but are still received in the Roman Catholic Community as fully canonical (cf. Von Campenhausen, The Formation of the Christian Bible and Floyd Filson, Which Books belong in the Bible).

iii. The Apocryphal books of the Bible fall into two categories: texts

which were included in some canonical version of the Bible at some point (Deuterocanonical books), and other texts of a Biblical nature which have never been canonical (Pseudepigrapha books).

a. The Deuterocanonical books.

i). Deuterocanonical means secondary canon and

include the following 14 books. .

aa. 1 Esdras (Vulgate 3 Esdras);

ba. 2 Esdras (Vulgate 4 Esdras);

ca. Tobit;

da. Judith ("Judeth" in Geneva);

ea. Rest of Esther (Vulgate Esther 10:4-16:24);

fa. Wisdom;

ga. Ecclesiasticus (also known as Sirach);

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ha. Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy ("Jeremiah" in Geneva) (all part of Vulgate Baruch);

ia. Song of the Three Children (Vulgate Daniel

3:24-90);

ja. Story of Susanna (Vulgate Daniel 13);

ka. The Idol Bel and the Dragon (Vulgate Daniel 14);

la. Prayer of Manasses (follows 2 Chronicles in

Geneva);

ma. 1 Maccabees, and;

na. 2 Maccabees.

ii). Jerome rejected the Deuterocanonical books when he was translating the Bible into Latin circa 450 CE.

aa. This was because no Hebrew version of these

texts could be found, even though they were present in the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint).

ba. However, they eventually were accepted by the

Church, and most of them remained part of the Bible.

ca. Protestants rejected these books during the

Reformation as lacking divine authority.

da. They either excised them completely or placed them in a third section of the Bible.

ea. The Roman Catholic Council of Trent, on the

other hand, declared in 1546 that the Deuterocanonical books were indeed divine.

b. The Pseudepigrapha books or The Forgotten Books of Eden.

i). Pseudepigrapha is from the Greek: ψευδής, pseudēs,

false and ἐπιγραφή, epigraphē, inscription.

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aa. Pseudepigrapha are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed authorship is unfounded; a work, simply whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past.

ba. These are other apocryphal texts which never

made it into any official canon, which nevertheless shed light on the Bible and its history.

ii). The Pseudepigrapha books or The Lost Books of

Eden are as follows:

aa. The First Book of Adam and Eve;

ba. The Second Book of Adam and Eve;

ca. The Book of the Secrets of Enoch;

da. The Psalms of Solomon;

ea. The Odes of Solomon;

fa. The Letter of Aristeas;

ga. Fourth Book of Maccabees;

ha. The Story of Ahikar;

ia. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs;

ja. Testament of Reuben;

ka. Testament of Simeon;

la. Testament of Levi;

ma. The Testament of Judah;

na. The Testament of Issachar;

oa. The Testament of Zebulun;

pa. The Testament of Dan;

qa. The Testament of Naphtali;

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ra. The Testament Of Gad;

sa. The Testament of Asher;

ta. The Testament of Joseph, and;

ua. The Testament of Benjamin.

iv. Theological reconstruction of the Apocrypha Writings.

a. Though the oldest manuscripts that are in the Bible contain

Apocryphal writings, these writings were input quite late in the various books.

b. The Deuterocanonical or Quasi-canonical books were

received as fully canonical by the Roman Catholic Church but not the Protestant churches.

i). To the Protestant Church Community, the

Deuterocanonical books are historically valuable but not in matters of theology and redemption.

ii). I and 2 Maccabees are much more reliable

historically than is the ancient Jewish historian, Josephus.

c. Why were the Apocryphal Writings rejected by the

Protestant churches?

i). The Apocryphal Writings were excluded canonically but not historically.

ii). The Jews who wrote the Apocryphal Writings had

never considered them to be sacred texts of part of the Torah.

iii). These 14 books represent a period that was between

the Old and New Testament in which God had ceased his manifestations among Israel.

iv). These 14 books are doctrinally incompatible with Old

and New Testament theology and insights.

d. The Pseudepigrapha books or The Lost Books of Eden were never considered part of the Biblical canon by both

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Protestant and Catholic and therefore played little importance within the Christian Community.

C). The New Testament canon.

i. Onessimus was the first person who attempted to gather a

collection of Paul’s letters in Ephesus around 80 A.D.

ii. By 165 A.D., Marcion had made up a list of books to be received as canonical.

a. 10 letters of Paul and a truncated version of Luke.

b. Why were there no Pastoral Epistles in Marcion’s canon? –

Because historically, the Pastoral Epistles were unknown to Marcion.

iii. Irenaeus (c.a. 165 A.D.) canon of New Testament Writings.

a. The Four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

b. The Church during Irenaeus day begin to affirm the Old

Testament, some New Testament Writers and Paul’s Writings as Sacred and Holy Texts.

iv. By 387 A.D. at Carthage, Athanasius’ Easter Letter

acknowledges all 27 books of the New Testament as being canonical.

v. In 391 A.D. at the Council of Carthage, all 27 books of the New

Testament were officially canonized.

a. Criterion for reception of the 27 books of the New Testament to be canonized.

i). Wide usage among the Christian Community –

Matthew was the most widely used writing.

ii). The writings must have Apostolic origin.

iii). There must be doctrinal agreement among these writings.

b. II Peter and II and III John had the most trouble with being

accepted by the Council as canonical.

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c. The book of Revelation was disliked by the Eastern Church while the book of Hebrews was disliked by the Western Church but both did become canonical.

D). It is very significant for the Christian Community to be aware of the

historical processes with which the Bible of today was canonized.

i. It is significant to affirm the guidance of God was within and behind the process of the books of the Old and New Testament as being inspired by God and canonized.

ii. The Christian Community has always affirmed both historical

and pneumatic levels within the process of the canonization of the Old and New Testament Writings.

4). The Biblical Doctrine of Illumination must affirm and have guidance from

hermeneutics as the science and art of interpreting Biblical documents.

A). Etymology.

i. Hermeneutics comes from the Greek word hermes, meaning messenger of the gods.

ii. Secular definition is the art and science of interpreting written

documents.

iii. Christian definition is the art and science of interpreting the written texts of Scripture, including oral traditions.

B). Historical and Biblical principles with which hermeneutics have

rightly justified.

i. I John 5:7 is not part of any written canonical texts until Erasmus in 1517.

ii. Biblical materials.

a. The Old Testament uses previous materials and updates

them during later periods.

b. I and II Chronicles is a remake of II Kings.

c. In the New Testament there are a variety of uses from the Old Testament.

iii. The use of translations.

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a. There are so many translations that it often leads to

confusion as to which one is more accurate than the others.

b. The King James Version is the most used and trusted text of modern times and is considered the favorite from among children and the elderly.

iv. Context.

a. Hermeneutics has been valuable with helping one to see the

context with which he uses to interpret the Scripture.

b. The Biblical character’s worldviews, culturally coated key words, historical context with which the Biblical characters lived are major facets that must be used hermeneutically when interpreting Scripture.

v. Relationships between Scripture with the Past and the Present.

a. Extension of words and phrases.

b. Style of genre, linguistics, etc.

vi. Theological insights.

a. The Scripture is inspired by God.

b. The Bible has an internal witness of the Holy Spirit.

i). He who has inspired the Scriptures is He who

breathes life into Scripture in matters which are sufficient to salvation.

ii). The Holy Spirit guides the Body of Christ in matters

of edification.

iii). Christus est Rex Et Dominus Scrptuae is Latin for Christ is King and Lord of Scripture.

aa. This implies there are levels and varieties of

relevance within Scripture.

ba. This also implies there are no varieties and levels of inspiration in the Bible.

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ca. All the Bible is inspired by God but not all the Bible is relevant because there are varying degrees of relevancy in the Scripture.

C). Historical manifestation that affect the view of illumination by the

Spirit.

i. The institutional view says illumination or interpreting the Scripture is to be handled by the institutional church or the magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church.

ii. The rational method – an outgrowth of rationalism of the 1800’s

and a product of logic - says interpretations which are more logical and reasonable than others must be the ones which are affirmed by God

iii. The spiritual way is to say if it seems good to the Holy Spirit then

it is good enough for me.

a. This is in line with John Calvin’s internum testimonium Sancti Spiritu, which is the internal witness of the Spirit.

b. The problems with this view are too many use it as a cop-

out for understanding and justifying things for which they have preference.

5). The Biblical Doctrine of Illumination includes special emphasis upon

general revelation versus special revelation because God uses even the little things of creation to point toward Him.

A). General revelation.

i. General revelation has traditionally been defined as the common

revelation of God.

a. One can come to an awareness of God by looking at the wonders of nature and feel the natural conscience of the Creator from within.

b. The question arises whether this is a positive revelation or is

negative, given the results.

c. General revelation is more negative than positive and is not vital because it is not redemptive.

ii. General revelation has given rise to natural theology.

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a. Natural theology came from the Stoic philosophers who

stated the gods had seeded truths about themselves into the universe and man is capable of discovering these truths about the gods through unaided reason.

b. Thomas Aquinas said man may use his natural reasoning

abilities to explore God and discover a great deal about Him.

iii. Biblical materials about general revelation.

a. Though it is not spelled out in the Bible but was later supplied by the Rabbis of ancient Israel, there is the concept with which God gave awareness and a warning of Himself to the people of Noah’s day.

b. Nature Psalms, particularly those nature Psalms that were

written by David.

c. Romans 1 and 2 speak of the glory of nature wherewith man is to recognize the glory and grandeur of God.

iv. Historical concepts which have emerged from general revelation.

a. The philosophical perspective is everyone thinks deeply

about religious questions.

b. The Stoic viewpoint was the spermatic logos seeped into nature, giving it personality with which men discover truths about the gods.

i). The Stoics taught that things do not exist solely or

originally by reason of some definite end to which they are tending;

ii). But because of something living and acting within

and through them, the essential law of evolutionary growth.

iii). This inner power they called the logos spermatikos

(Greek for spermatic or seed-logos), the monad of individuality in living and evolving beings.

iv). It is the unfolding by such a logos spermatikos of its

inherent or characteristic qualities, powers, and functions which bring about the evolutionary growth

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of the vehicles of consciousness in and through which the logos lives and works.

v). It corresponds to the particular monad of each entity

which contains its svabhava, and hence determines all its subsequent destiny, particularized individualizations, and forms.

vi). It must be stated that Romans 1 and 2 were not

speaking of the Stoic viewpoint of the spermatic logos.

c. Peter Berger postulated the idea of responsible discovery

that states there are some insights that surround us and with which men may discover truths about God; and this viewpoint of natural theology is culturally conditioned.

i). Peter Berger’s Signals of Transcendence: A Rumor of

Angels, Modern Society and the Rediscovery of the Supernatural, 1969, asks the question, what criterion is to be used to find these truths about God in nature and presents five inductive arguments for God’s existence from the natural world.

ii). An argument from humanity's propensity to establish

order (cf. Gen 1:26-28).

aa. The human desire to have order reflects an intimate connection to an Order(er) in the Universe.

ba. If there is no transcendent Order(er) outside this

world, Berger writes, “the nightmare of chaos, not the transitory safety of order, would be the final reality of the human situation” (p. 70).

iii). An argument from humanity's desire for and

manifestation of play (pp. 72-75).

aa. Even Nietzsche recognized that All joy wills eternity—wills deep, deep eternity. (p. 73, cf. Ecc. 3:11).

ba. Play in the face of an ugly world is our attempt

to mock the transient state of depravity via our deep longing for eternal joy.

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iv). An argument based on an innate move toward hope

despite living in a world of despair (pp. 75-81).

aa. Berger writes, “The profoundest manifestations of hope are to be found in gestures of courage undertaken in defiance of death” (p. 77).

ba. Then adds, “In a world where man is

surrounded by death on all sides, he continues to be a being who says ‘no!’ to death—and through this ‘no’ is brought to faith in another world, the reality of which would validate his hope as something other than an illusion.”

v). An argument from damnation (pp. 81-86).

aa. Berger explains, "This refers to experiences in which our sense of what is humanly permissible is so fundamentally outraged that the only adequate response to the offense as well as to the offender seems to be a curse of supernatural dimensions" (p. 81).

ba. Sometimes human justice is insufficient for

certain crimes.

ca. Our embedded sense of morality requires an arbiter whose ability to pronounce judgment allows for sentences beyond the grave. For instance, could there have been an earthly punishment sufficient for the heinous activity of the WWII Nazis?

da. “There are certain deeds that cry out to

heaven . . . “these deeds are not only evil, but monstrously evil” (p. 82).

ea. “Just as certain gestures can be interpreted as

anticipations of redemption, so other gestures can be viewed as anticipations of hell” (p. 84).

vi). An argument from humor (pp. 86ff) – “By laughing

at the imprisonment of the human spirit, humor implies that this imprisonment is not final but will be overcome, and by this implication provides yet

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another signal of transcendence—in this instance in the form of an intimation of redemption” (p. 88).

d. The apologetic that best shows that God can be found in

nature the most is the desire for justice in every human heart; children start so young complaining about fairness, and you can continue the argument from here.

B). Special revelation.

i. The definition of special revelation is a particular act of God that

reveals Himself for a special redemptive relationship.

a. God deals with individual men in each one’s culture and setting and He leads man to the fullness of His revelation that is in Christ.

b. Progressive revelation, which arose from liberal

evolutionary optimism of the nineteenth century, states God started revealing Himself within nature on a small scale and as men progressed in knowledge so does God’s revelation of Himself in nature and natural causes – this view equates later revelations of God with being better than are early revelations of God.

ii. Special revelation deals with how God has chosen to reveal

Himself other than through nature.

a. God has chosen to reveal Himself through miraculous means.

b. Special revelation includes physical appearances of God,

dreams, and visions, the written Word of God, and most importantly—Jesus Christ.

32. Second or ultimate coming of Christ, The.

A. The view which says Jesus Christ will physically appear from the corridors of

eternity into the time-space continuum of history for a second time in order to turn time and space into the eternal realm and complete the cycle of fulfilling His intended purposes and meanings for His creation.

1). The second coming of Jesus Christ is the physical guarantee of the

completion of creation’s redemptive purposes in Him except for rebellious men and spirits.

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2). The second coming of Christ is the guarantee of the end for the physical- historical world’s by turning it into the realm of the eternal which completes the cycle of creation’s purposes.

3). The time of the second coming of Christ is not as important as is the belief

of His return in the flesh.

B. Biblical materials. 1). Old Testament.

A). The Old Testament establishes a pattern of promise and fulfillment as

the fabric of God’s way with the world.

B). And the apogee (zenith) of the pattern is the promise of the coming of the Messiah.

2). New Testament.

A). The New Testament has a group of Old Testament passages which are

used to validate the fact of which Jesus is the coming one (cf. Barnabas Lindar’s “The New Testament Apologetics”).

B). At the conclusion of Jesus’ ministry and as part of the Church’s faith,

there is the affirmation in which the pattern of promise and fulfillment continues so that we expect a final coming of Christ.

C). Terms that are used for the second coming of Christ are “parousia”

and “epiphaneia” which means “presence.” or “coming.”

C. Historical viewpoints about the second coming of Christ. 1). The classical view that Christ shall return visibly to the earth.

2). The more recent view that He has returned in the presence of the Spirit.

3). The view of competing religions and cults that His return will be in another

manifestation (cf. “Bahia” and the Unification Church).

D. Theological reconstruction. 1). One needs to observe the pattern of promise and fulfillment in Scripture and

ask what that means about the second coming in terms of our knowledge and prediction of it.

2). The Biblical concept of signs of the times give only one un-ambiguous clue:

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A). His coming will be in a time of despair rather than in a time of

felicity-prosperity.

B). His coming will be at a time when the Anti-Christ principle of evil is at its highest point of recognition.

3). If one does establish a program from the Bible pre-requisite to the second

coming of Christ, then one must ask how this relates to the biblical concepts of the coming as happening suddenly, immediately, and at any time.

4). One must incorporate the moral character of God within eschatology in

order to give full meaning of what the second coming of Christ entails and with what is involved of the Christian Community’s partnership with God toward cosmic redemption – Also refer to “Cosmic Redemption” which is in Section III, page 12-13, of this outline.

5). One needs to ask, “What is the purpose of the second coming of Christ?”

A). Some affirm the purpose of the second coming of Christ is to

establish the millennial kingdom on earth.

i. If this true, what is the purpose of millennial kingdom on earth?

ii. Is it a second chance for those who are around during the millennial kingdom to be saved?

B). Others affirm the purpose of the second coming of Christ is to

vindicate God’s name.

C). Still others affirm the purpose of the second coming of Christ is to turn history into the eternal dimension, bring all things which have been fractured by sin unto Himself, and complete the cycle of fulfilling the purposes of all that with which God had created except rebellious men and spirits – This is the best argument that is supported by Biblical exegesis.

6). The use of the doctrine of the second coming of Christ has been a

“checkered bag.”

A). By some, it has been used as a test of fellowship.

B). By others, it has been denied for the sake of the “modern mind.”

C). In Scripture, the use is to teach us to be ready and to assure us of judgment.

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33. Theology.

A. Etymology.

1). Theology = theos + logos (God + Word).

A). For the Greeks, logos referred to a meaningful statement about

something.

B). For the Hebrews, logos referred to the instrument through which the purposes and plans of God were accomplished.

C). Theology, then, is a meaningful statement about God.

2). System is a humanly devised scheme for putting together the beliefs of any

community.

B. Bi-level definition of theology. 1). Precise definition = theology is the study of God, the Father.

2). General definition = theology is the study of God and all things which

pertain to him.

34. Tribulation.

A. A set period of time that is in future history and marked by the rapture of the saints, the removal of the Holy Spirit, and the unleashing of intense evil on the world until Christ comes to imprison wickedness by force (Dispensationalists).

B. The best model and view which is affirmed by the Biblical materials is it is a

reference made to evil’s reaction to the goodness of God in every age and God’s final demonstration of Himself as a historical truth in the Church by vanquishing and bringing evil and wickedness under the Lordship of Christ.

II Additional, less known, and obscured theological and Biblical terms and definitions.

1. Ages.

A. In the NT, this term often refers to one or both of the eons understood by late

Jewish thought, namely “this age” and the “age to come.”

B. The two-age eschatology of the rabbis failed to recognize the intervening Age of the Spirit predicted by Joel 2.28-32 which would precede what they thought of as

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“the age to come” and what the prophets referred to as the Day of the Lord (Yom YHWH).

C. Paul mentions multiple ages yet to come (Eph. 2.7), which will include the

Millennial Reign during the Yom Yahweh.

2. Antichrist.

A. Two views:

1). The false Messiah, energized by Satan, who will arise in opposition to God, Christianity and Israel just prior to Christ’s Coming.

2). The Anti-Christ principle of evil which will arise prior to the second

coming of Christ – this position is more biblically affirmed

B. Biblical reference- 2 Thess. 2:3-10.

3. Antinomianism.

A. Literally, anti-law-ism.

B. In history this was the heretical and cultish doctrine that the moral law was not binding Christians as a rule of life.

C. In recent eschatology the term has been adopted by some Dispensationalists to

describe their belief that Christians are not under law since law pertains to an earlier dispensation.

4. Apostasy or apostate.

A. Literally - A spiritual falling away, i.e., a rebellion, as described in 2

Thessalonians 2.3.

B. Adjective: for “having fallen away” by promoting beliefs or doctrines that are contrary to the norms of the Christian faith.

5. Armageddon.

A. Literally “the mountain of Megiddo.”

1). The name given to the valley below the ancient city (now a ruin) of

Megiddo in northern Israel.

2). Also the name given to the final eschatological battle for Jerusalem, since the military staging for the battle will occur at the valley of Megiddo.

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B. Metaphorically, Armageddon is commonly used with reference to a catastrophic or

devastating event, military or otherwise.

C. Armageddon is not the end of everything, but it is the end of the militant enemies of Messiah who are consumed by His coming.

6. Day of the Lord, The.

A. The period that begins suddenly with the destruction of the ungodly (including

Antichrist and his followers.

B. Biblical reference - 1 Thess. 5:2-3.

7. End time or last days.

A. The Old Testament sees it as 3 epochs that were in Israel’s history. 1). An epoch time in which Israel was refined by tribulation (Dan. 11.33-35), 2). An epoch time in which a rebel king would affront the Messiah (Dan. 8.17-

25), and invade Israel (Dan. 11.40-45).

3). An apocalyptic period of time which will lead up to the resurrection and judgment (Dan. 12.1-2).

A). Resurrection of the dead in the Old Testament was a development

which did not come to full term understanding until the intertestament period.

B). Since revelation is an enlargement of truth about God and truths about

God throughout history, the Old Testament concept of “resurrection” was beginning to be enlarged at the time of Daniel but came to full fruition during the intertestament period.

C). And the intertestament view of “resurrection” was enlarged further by

the early Christian Community understanding of the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

B. The New Testament usage:

1). Is based on the Old Testament concept but believes it will be “a time of

great apostasy and evil” prior to the second physical coming of Jesus Christ.

2). This term was interchangeable with the term “last days.”

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8. Futurist.

A. Secular meaning. 1). This term was used in the artistic movement of the early 20th century.

A). Italian writer Filippo Tommaso Marinetti launched the futurist movement in his “Futurist Manifesto” which was published for the first time on February 5, 1909.

B). This movement was related to the artistic movement in which any

artistic work of antiquity was meaningless or worthless and required a reinterpretation that is based on the future.

i. Since the Bible is of the age that is called “antiquities,” does this

mean it too is worthless and meaningless?

ii. Being old does not negate its value and worth for modern times.

iii. Most art that is “old” has more value that those pieces of art which are considered modern.

a. This implies man has an innate need to seek worth that is

built on those masterpieces of things of the past.

b. From the view of one’s self-validation that is based on the past is an authentication of the need for the Bible.

c. It is meaningful to life to have a standard which has been

around for quite a long time.

2). This view arose from Hegelian philosophy and Henry Spencer’s progressive liberal movement and is an affront to the Christian view of God, man, life, and death.

A). The futurist movement was later applied to painting, sculpture,

ceramics, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, theatre, film, fashion, textiles, literature, music, and architecture.

B). This view has now infiltrated into the medical fields of gastronomy

and modern medicine’s talk of “quality of life” medicine.

i. From the modern view of “futurism,” such terms as “patricide,” “matricide,” and “infanticide” have emerged from the “futurist’s” argument that in being old or in being incapacitated, one has no worth and life should be terminated.

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ii. The modern debate of health care that is taking place in the USA

Congress (2010 – 2011) and the use of “death panels” that are in those debates are from the “futurists” view of being old equals in having no worth and life should be denied health care due to its huge cost.

B. Religious meaning.

1). This term is not used in the Bible and is rarely used in the normative

language of the Christian Community.

2). This term began to be used by religious leaders during the late 19th and early 20th century but has died off in modern times.

A). The view that the prophecies of Revelation (and related passages)

focus upon the end of the age (world), and that therefore the greater part of the book has yet to be fulfilled.

B). Expressing a vision of the future which is not necessarily related to

the latter days in which Christ shall come again in the flesh.

9. Gematria.

A. Numerology; the mystical interpretation of the numerical value of letters and words.

B. Leo Rosten, in his Joys of Yiddish, explains that “mystics converted the numerical

values [of words] into supposed keys to the meanings of passages in the holy texts and ‘equated’ different words and phrases according to the total values of their letters.

C. Here is a example of Gematria - the Hebrew word for ‘pregnancy,’ herayon, turns

out to have the numerical value of 270, which is also 30 times 9 — ‘the number of days a woman carries a child.’”

10. Hermeneutics.

A. Definitions.

1). Etymology – comes from the Greek word hermes, meaning messenger from

the gods.

2). Two definitions of the word hermeneutics.

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A). The secular view - the art and science of interpreting of any known texts.

B). The Christian Community’s view – the art and science of interpreting

the Bible.

B. One must deal with the text and to do that it requires the guidance from the Holy Spirit and the tools of rational thought.

11. Historicist or Christian historicism.

A. From Pastor William Graham Scroggie, (1877-1958 ) of England, this view

claims: 1). The view that the prophecies of the Revelation (and related passages)

provide a preview of history from the time of the writer to the end of the world, and therefore have been already fulfilled in part.

A). In this view the Seals of the book of Revelation apply to the history

of the Roman Empire during the second and third centuries;

B). The sealing of the 144,000 tells of the revival of the saints subsequent to the revolution under Constantine, and under the leadership of Augustine;

C). The trumpets tell of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire;

D). The Little Books announce the Protestant Reformation under Luther;

E). The beasts of chapter. 13 represent the Papacy;

F). The outpourings of the vials predict the French Revolution, and

subsequent events;

G). And in chapter 17 and 18, we learn of the yet future destruction of the Papacy, and the city of Rome.”

2). This view is a carryover of the anti-Catholic rhetoric which was being

espoused in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Europe is a favorable and popular in many chiliastic movements.

B. Christian Historicism.

1). This is a school of interpretation which understands some prophecies of the

Bible, especially Daniel and Revelation, as being fulfilled in a continuous line from ancient Jewish history through the End of the Age or the End of

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the World (depending on one's eschatology) in a single line of interpretation, especially in relation to a claimant's vision of "the true church".

2). Seventh Day Adventists and other cults have a tendency to over use this

view to persecute others who are not of their belief system.

12. Terminus Ante Quem” and “Terminus Post Quem.

A. “Terminus Ante Quem” is Latin for “the date before which an event must have occurred.”

B. “Terminus Post Quem.” Is Latin for “the date after which an event must have

occurred.”