Rebecca Writes

original sin
The sinful state and condition in which all human beings are born, which includes both imputed guilt (the guilt of Adam’s sin counted as their own) and inherited corruption (a disposition toward sin).

• From scripture:

  Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.

  15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

  18 Therefore, as one  trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:12-21 ESV)

  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3 ESV)
  

• From The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 18:

  Q. 18. Wherein consists the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell?
  A. The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness, and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called original sin; together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.

• From Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware:

  Because Adam was the first man, and all the rest of us, throughout all of history, have come from Adam, then God saw all of the rest of us connected to Adam and his sin. So, when Adam sinned, all of us who come from Adam would receive sin in our own inner lives (our natures). We  are born into this world, then, with sinful natures that trace back to the sin of Adam. And when Adam sinned, all of us who come from Adam also received God’s judgment of death, the punishment for sin that God gave to Adam and all who come from Adam. Adam’s sin, then is our sin. Adam’s sinful nature results in our having sinful natures. And Adam’s guilt and condemnation carry over to our being guilty and deserving death.

• From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem: 

  When we first confront the idea that we have been counted guilty because of Adam’s sin, our tendency is to protest because it seems unfair. We did not actually decide to sin, did we? Then how can we be counted guilty? Is it just for God to act this way?

  In response, three things may be said: (1) Everyone who protests that this is unfair has also voluntarily committed many actual sins for which God also holds us guilty. These will constitute the  primary basis of our judgment on the last day…. (2) Moreover, some have argued, “If any one of us were in Adam’s place, we also would have sinned as he did, and our subsequent rebellion against God demonstrates that.” ….

  (3) The most persuasive answer to the objection is to point out that if we think it is unfair for us to be represented by Adam, then we should also think it is unfair for us to be represented by Christ and to have his righteousness imputed to us by God. For the procedure that God used was just the same, and that is exactly Paul’s point in Romans 5: 12-21….

Learn more:

1. R. C. Sproul: Adam’s Fall and Mine
2. Jonathan Edwards: The Great Doctrine of Original Sin Defended
   
3. Curt Daniel: Original Sin (mp3)
4. S. Lewis Johnson: The Imputation of Adam’s Sin to His Posterity (mp3 and more)
   
5. Here at this blog: Quiz on Original Sin
   

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.

fall (of man)
Adam’s and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden to God’s command that they not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—a rebellious act that resulted in God’s curse upon Adam, Eve and all their offspring.

• From scripture:

  Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

  He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

  8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

  14 The Lord God said to the serpent,

  “Because you have done this,
  cursed are you above all livestock
  and above all beasts of the field;
  on your belly you shall go,
  and dust you shall eat
  all the days of your life.
  15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
  and between your offspring and her offspring;
  he shall bruise your head,
  and you shall bruise his heel.”

  16 To the woman he said,

  “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
  in pain you shall bring forth children.
  Your desire shall be for your husband,
  and he shall rule over you.”

  17 And to Adam he said,

  “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
  and have eaten of the tree
  of which I commanded you,
  ‘You shall not eat of it,’
  cursed is the ground because of you;
  in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
  18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
  and you shall eat the plants of the field.
  19 By the sweat of your face
  you shall eat bread,
  till you return to the ground,
  for out of it you were taken;
  for you are dust,
  and to dust you shall return.”

  20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

  22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3 ESV)

• From The Belgic Confession Article 14:

  We believe that God created man from the dust of the earth and made and formed him in his image and likeness—good, just, and holy; able by his own will to conform in all things to the will of God.

  But when he was in honor he did not understand it and did not recognize his excellence. But he subjected himself willingly to sin and consequently to death and the curse, lending his ear to the word of the devil.

  For he transgressed the commandment of life, which he had received, and by his sin he separated himself from God, who was his true life, having corrupted his entire nature.

  So he made himself guilty and subject to physical and spiritual death, having become wicked, perverse, and corrupt in all his ways. He lost all his excellent gifts which he had received from God, and he retained none of them except for small traces which are enough to make him inexcusable.

• From ESV Study Bible, Biblical Doctrine: An Overview:

  Sin entered the human race in the Garden of Eden through an attack of Satan, who led Adam and Eve to doubt God’s word and trust their own ability to discern good and evil (Genesis 3). Sometime prior to this, Satan (a fallen angel) must himself have rebelled against God and become evil, though Scripture does not say much about that event. Satan’s strategy was to bring disorder to the created order by approaching Eve and getting her to lead her husband away from God. Adam, so it appears, allowed his wife to be deceived by failing to take up his God-ordained responsibility to lead and protect her. Satan then questioned God’s goodness, wisdom, and care for Adam and Eve by suggesting that God was a miserly legalist in his prohibition of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan then simply lied, saying, “you will not surely die” (Gen. 3:4). Such deception and rebellion against God stem from a failure to trust him and be satisfied with him and his commands and arrangements. Satan and our first parents demanded autonomy and rejected God’s authority, and this has been the source and shape of human sin ever since. Unbelief, pride, and selfishness lead us to think we know better than God and to try to put ourselves in his place. All people, in their fallen condition, are indeed “lovers of self … rather than lovers of God” (2 Tim. 2:3, 4).

• From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof: 

  The first sin of man was a typical sin, that is, a sin in which the real essence of sin clearly reveals itself. The essence of that sin lay in the fact that Adam placed himself in opposition to God, that he refused to subject his will to the will of God, to have God determine the course of his life; and that he actively attempted to take the matter out of God’s hand, and to determine the future for himself. Man, who had absolutely no claim on God … cut loose from God and acted as if he possesed certain rights as over against God. The idea that the commands of God was really an infringement on the rights of man seems to have been present already in the mind of Eve, when, in answer to the question of Satan, she added the words, “Neither shall ye touch it, ” Gen. 3:3. She evidently wanted to stress the fact that the command had been rather unreasonable. Starting from the pre-supposition that he had certain rights as over against God, man allowed the new center, which he found in himself, to operate against his Maker. This explains his desire to be like God and his doubt of the good intention of God in giving the command. Naturally different elements can be distinguished in his first sin. In the intellect it revealed itself as unbelief and pride, in the will, as the desire to be like God, and in the affections, as an unholy satisfaction in eating the forbidden fruit.

Learn more:

1. J. I. Packer: The Fall
2. GotQuestions.org: How did the Fall affect humanity?
   
3. Bob Deffinbaugh: The Fall of Man in God’s Perfect Plan 
4. S. Lewis Johnson: The Fall of Man (mp3) 

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.

It’s hard to believe, given how much space the doctrine of justification gets on this blog, that I haven’t added this term to my list of theological terms yet, but yes, I really have left it out. I shall remedy this oversight immediately.

justification
A judicial act of God in which he pardons sinners and accepts them as righteous on the basis of Christ’s work on their behalf—his representative obedience to the law and endurance of the penalty for their disobedience.

• From scripture:

  But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

  27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Romans 3: 21-28 ESV)

  Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith…. (Philippians 3:8-9 ESV)

• From The London Baptist Confession, 1689, Chapter 11:

  Of Justification

  1. Those whom God effectually calleth, he also freely justifieth, not by infusing righteousness into them, but by pardoning their sins, and by accounting and accepting their persons as righteous; not for anything wrought in them, or done by them, but for Christ’s sake alone; not by imputing faith itself, the act of believing, or any other evangelical obedience to them, as their righteousness; but by imputing Christ’s active obedience unto the whole law, and passive obedience in his death for their whole and sole righteousness by faith, which faith they have not of themselves; it is the gift of God.

  2. Faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness, is the alone instrument of justification; yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces, and is no dead faith, but worketh by love.

  3. Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are justified; and did, by the sacrifice of himself in the blood of his cross, undergoing in their stead the penalty due unto them, make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice in their behalf; yet, inasmuch as he was given by the Father for them, and his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead, and both freely, not for anything in them, their justification is only of free grace, that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners.

  4. God did from all eternity decree to justify all the elect, and Christ did in the fullness of time die for their sins, and rise again for their justification; nevertheless, they are not justified personally, until the Holy Spirit doth in time due actually apply Christ unto them.

  5. God doth continue to forgive the sins of those that are justified, and although they can never fall from the state of justification, yet they may, by their sins, fall under God’s fatherly displeasure; and in that condition they have not usually the light of his countenance restored unto them, until they humble themselves, confess their sins, beg pardon, and renew their faith and repentance.

  6. The justification of believers under the Old Testament was, in all these respects, one and the same with the justification of believers under the New Testament.

• From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem: 

  The practical implications of the doctrine of justification by faith alone are very significant. First, this doctrine enables us to offer genuine hope to unbelievers who know they could never make themselves righteous before God: if salvation is a free gift to be received through faith alone, then anyone who hears the gospel may hope that eternal life is freely offered and may be obtained.

  Second, this doctrine gives us confidence that God will never make us pay the penalty for sins that have been forgiven on Christ’s merits. Of course, we may continue to suffer the ordinary consequences of sin (an alcoholic who quits drinking may still have physical weakness for the rest of his or her life, and a thief who is justified may still have to go to jail to pay the penalty for his or her crime). Moreover, God may discipline us if we continue to act in ways that are disobedient to him (see Heb. 12:5-11), doing this out of love and for our own good. But God can never nor will ever take vengeance on us for past sins or make us pay for the penalty that is due for them or punish us out of wrath and for the purpose of doing us harm. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). This fact should give us a great sense of joy and confidence before God that we are accepted by him and that we stand before him as “not guilty” and “righteous” forever.

• From J. I. Packer in Sole Fide: The Reformed Doctrine of Justification:

  Of all the Reformers’ many biblical elucidations, the rediscovery of justification as a present reality, and of the nature of the faith which secures it, was undoubtedly the most formative and fundamental. For the doctrine of justification by faith is like Atlas. It bears a whole world on its shoulders, the entire evangelical knowledge of God the Saviour. The doctrines of election, of effectual calling, regeneration, and repentance, of adoption, of prayer, of the Church, the ministry, and the sacraments, are all to be interpreted and understood in the light of justification by faith, for this is how the Bible views them. Thus, we are taught that God elected men from eternity in order that in due time they might be justified through faith in Christ (Rom. 8:29f.). He renews their hearts under the Word, and draws them to Christ by effectual calling, in order that he might justify them upon their believing. Their adoption as God’s sons follows upon their justification; it is, indeed, no more than the positive outworking of God’s justifying sentence. Their practice of prayer, of daily repentance, and of good works springs from their knowledge of justifying grace (cf. Luke 18:9-14; Eph. 2:8-10). The Church is to be thought of as the congregation of the faithful, the fellowship of justified sinners, and the preaching of the Word and ministration of the sacraments are to be understood as means of grace because through them God evokes and sustains the faith that justifies. A right view of these things is possible only where there is a proper grasp of justification; so that, when justification falls, true knowledge of God’s grace in human life falls with it. When Atlas loses his footing, everything that rested on his shoulders collapses too.

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions.org: What is justification?
   
2. Matt Perman: What is justification?
3. Phil Johnson: Justification: Defending the Heart of the Gospel (pdf)
4. Philip Eveson: The Great Exchange
5. S. Lewis Johnson: Riches of Divine Grace: Justification (mp3)
   
6. John Piper: Justification and the Diminishing Work of Christ (mp3)
7. Here at this blog:
   
   1. Making It Legal
   2. Christ’s Active and Passive Obedience in Our Justification
   3. Quiz: Justification (Answers 1, 2, 3, 4)

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.

repentance
A God-worked change within the sinner whereby he hates his sin and becomes genuinely sorry for it, turns from his sin to Christ, committing himself to walk in obedience to Him.

• From scripture:
  

  For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:10 ESV)
  

  The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30-31 ESV)

• From The Second Helvetic Confession:

  Chapter 14 - Of Repentance and the Conversion of Man

  The doctrine of repentance is joined with the Gospel. For so has the Lord said in the Gospel: “Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in my name to all nations” (Luke 24:27).

  What Is Repentance? By repentance we understand (1) the recovery of a right mind in sinful man awakened by the Word of the Gospel and the Holy Spirit, and received by true faith, by which the sinner immediately acknowledges his innate corruption and all his sins accused by the Word of God; and (2) grieves for them from his heart, and not only bewails and frankly confesses them before God with a feeling of shame, but also (3) with indignation abominates them; and (4) now zealously considers the amendment of his ways and constantly strives for innocence and virtue in which conscientiously to exercise himself all the rest of his life.

  True Repentance Is Conversion to God. And this is true repentance, namely, a sincere turning to God and all good, and earnest turning away from the devil and all evil. 1. REPENTANCE IS A GIFT OF GOD. Now we expressly say that this repentance is a sheer gift of God and not a work of our strength. For the apostle commands a faithful minister diligently to instruct those who oppose the truth, if “God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth” (II Tim. 2:25). 2. LAMENTS SINS COMMITTED. Now that sinful woman who washed the feet of the Lord with her tears, and Peter who wept bitterly and bewailed his denial of the Lord (Luke 7:38; 22:62) show clearly how the mind of a penitent man ought to be seriously lamenting the sins he has committed. 3. CONFESSES SINS TO GOD. Moreover, the prodigal son and the publican in the Gospel, when compared with the Pharisee, present us with the most suitable pattern of how our sins are to be confessed to God. The former said: “‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants’” (Luke 15:8 ff.). And the latter, not daring to raise his eyes to heaven, beat his breast, saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (ch. 18:13). And we do not doubt that they were accepted by God into grace. For the apostle John says: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (I John 1:9 f.).

• From Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware: 

  Repentance involves seeing sin for the deceitful and deadly thing that it is, so that we turn from it. Belief in Christ involves seeing Christ for the gracious and powerful Saviour that he is, so that we turn to him. These two acts go together in a person’s salvation. Repentance and belief are like two sides of the same coin. You can’t have one side of the coin without the other side also.
  

• From Arthur Pink in The Nature of Repentance:

  Evangelical repentance is a heart-apprehension of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. It is the recognition of the chief thing wherein I am blame-worthy, namely, in having so miserably failed to render unto God that which is His rightful due. As the Holy Spirit sets before me the loveliness of the divine character, as I am enabled to discern the exalted excellency of God, then I begin to perceive that to which He is justly entitled, namely, the homage of my heart, the unrestricted love of my soul, the complete surrender of my whole being to Him. As I perceive that from the moment I drew my first breath God has sought only my good, that the One who gave me being has constantly ministered to my every creature need, and that the least I can do in return is to acknowledge His abounding mercies by doing that which is pleasing in His sight, I am now over-whelmed with anguish and horror as I realize I have treated Him more vilely than my worst enemy.

  Oftentimes example is better than the most accurate definition. The New Testament furnishes quite a number of concrete instances, even where the term itself is not found. When the “publican” stood afar off and would not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (Luke 18:13), we behold repentance in action. He recognized that awful moral distance which sin had taken him from God; he was deeply conscious of his utter unworthiness to gaze upon the Holy One; he unsparingly judged himself; he realized that his only hope lay in the sovereign mercy of God. So, too, the thief on the cross: in his words to his hardened companion, “Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation, and we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds” (Luke 23:40-41). There was no self-extenuation, but a ready owning of his sinnership and his desert to be punished.

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions.org: What is repentance and is it necessary for salvation?
   
2. Bob Burridge: Repentance Unto Life
3. Arthur Pink: Repentance
4. R. L. Dabney: Repentance
5. Wayne Grudem: Doctrine of Conversion - Faith and Repentance (mp3) 

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.

saving faith
The casting and resting of oneself and one’s confidence on the promises  of mercy which Christ has given to sinners and on the Christ who gave those promises;1 a certain conviction, wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit, as to the truth of the gospel, and a hearty reliance (trust) on the promises of God in Christ.2

• From scripture:
  

  But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God… (John 1:12 ESV)
  

  We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified [1] by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
  
  17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:15-20 ESV)
  

• From The Heidelberg Catechism:

  Question 21. What is true faith? Answer: True faith is not only a certain knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in his word, (a) but also an assured confidence, (b) which the Holy Ghost (c) works by the gospel in my heart; (d) that not only to others, but to me also, remission of sin, everlasting righteousness and salvation, (e) are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ’s merits. (f)

• From Big Truths for Young Hearts by Bruce Ware on the answer to the question of the Philippian jailer, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”:

  How would you answer this question? Do you know the Bible’s answer? Do you know how Paul and Silas responded? Well, let’s start with this last point and see what Paul and Silas said. They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Here, as in many passages of Scripture, we are told that sinners are saved when they “believe” in Christ or “trust” in Christ or put their “faith” in Christ. Belief, trust, and faith in Christ are different ways to talk about the same idea in the Bible. To believe in Christ … means to count or rely completely on what Christ has done in his death and resurrection for my sin, so that my hope of being right in God’s sight is all because of Christ and has nothing to do with any good thing I might ever say or do.
  

• From John Murray:

  The Nature (of faith)—its Constituitive Elements:

  A) Notitia. Faith respects an object and in this case Christ. But there can be no trust without knowledge of the person in whom trust is reposed. We do not trust any person unless we know something about him and, more particularly, things pertaining to that in respect of which we have confidence. So it is with Christ.
  B) Assensus. This has two aspects: a) Intellective…The information conveyed is recognized by us to be true…b) Emotive…It is truth believed as applicable to ourselves, as supremely vital and important for us. Saving faith cannot be in exercise unless there is a recognition of correspondence between our needs and the provision of the gospel. Knowledge passes into conviction.
  C) Fiducia. Saving faith is not simply assent to propositions of truth respecting Christ, and defining the person that he is, nor simply assent to a proposition respecting his sufficiency to meet and satisfy our deepest needs. Faith must rise to trust, and trust that consists in entrustment to him. In faith there is the engagement of person to person in the inner movement of the whole man to receive and rest upon Christ alone for salvation. It means the abandonment of confidence in our own or any human resources in a totality act of self–commitment to Christ.

  This fiducial character, consisting in entrustment to Christ for salvation, serves to correct misapprehensions. Faith is not belief that we have been saved, nor belief that Christ has saved us, nor even belief that Christ died for us. It is necessary to appreciate the point of distinction. Faith is in its essence commitment to Christ that we may be saved. The premise of that commitment is that we are unsaved and we believe on Christ in order that we may be saved…It is to lost sinners that Christ is offered, and the demand of that overture is simply and solely that we commit ourselves to him in order that we may be saved.

  Faith is a whole–souled movement of intelligent, consenting, and confiding self–commitment, and all these elements or ingredients coalesce to make faith what it is. Intellect, feeling and will converge upon Christ in those exercises which belong properly to these distinct though inseparable aspects of psychial activity (Collected Writings of John Murray (Edinburgh: Banner, 1977), Volume 2, pp. 257-260).

Learn more:

1. John MacArthur: What is the nature of true saving faith?
   
2. Ernest Reisenger: The Faith of the Saints
3. London Bapstist Confession: Of Saving Faith
4. A. A. Hodge: Of Saving Faith
5. S. Lewis Johnson: What Is Faith, or What Does It Mean to Believe? (mp3 and more)
6. Tom Nettles: The Nature of Saving Faith (mp3)

1 From Evangelism and the Sovereignty of GodE by J. I. Packer
2 From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.

assurance of salvation
The believer’s conviction that, by God’s grace, he belongs to Christ, has received full pardon for all sins, and will inherit eternal life.1

• From scripture:
  

  ….since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:21-22 ESV)
  

  Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!  (2 Corinthians 13:5 ESV)
  

  For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of iadoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”  16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,  17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…. (Romans 8:15-17 ESV)

• From The Westminster Confession of Faith, 1647, Chapter 18:

  Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation

  I. Although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presumptions of being in the favor of God, and estate of salvation (which hope of theirs shall perish): yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed.

  II. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope; but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation, the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made, the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God, which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption.

  III. This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long, and conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of it: yet, being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given him of God, he may, without extraordinary revelation, in the right use of ordinary means, attain thereunto. And therefore it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence to make his calling and election sure, that thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience, the proper fruits of this assurance; so far is it from inclining men to looseness.

  IV. True believers may have the assurance of their salvation divers ways shaken, diminished, and intermitted; as, by negligence in preserving of it, by falling into some special sin which woundeth the conscience and grieveth the Spirit; by some sudden or vehement temptation, by God’s withdrawing the light of his countenance, and suffering even such as fear him to walk in darkness and to have no light: yet are they never utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart, and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may, in due time, be revived; and by the which, in the meantime, they are supported from utter despair.

• From Systematic Theology by Robert L. Dabney, chapter 27:

  Assurance of hope, scripturally founded, will result in advantage only. It increases spiritual joy. Thus it promotes usefulness, (Neh. 8:10). It unseals the heart to praise God. It stimulates evangelical labors. (1 Cor. 15:58). It nerves us for self–denial. It lifts us above carnal temptations. (Phil. 4:7).

  Some have thought the assurance of hope arrogant, as though it were modest and seemly to be in suspense concerning our salvation. I answer: If we expected to save ourselves, so it would be. To be in suspense whether Christ is able, and willing, and faithful, surely is no mark of our humility; but, on the contrary, it is a dishonor to Him.

  The main objection, however, is, that assurance, coupled with the doctrine of perseverance of saints, will become the sure occasion of spiritual indolence and carnal security. We reply, that if an unrenewed man should persuade himself unscripturaly that he is in Christ, this result would surely follow. But how can it follow to that man who scripturaly founds his hope on the existence in himself of a disposition to flee from sin, strive after holiness, and fight the good fight of faith? He hopes he is a Christian, only because he sees reason to hope that he shall strive to the end. The perception in himself of the depraving consequence charged above, would at once vitiate the evidence that he was, or ever had been, a child of God, just in proportion as it was realized. The watchful garrison are confident that they shall not fall victims to a surprise, because they intend to watch. Such assurance only stimulates effort. The drunken rioters go to sleep flattering themselves they shall not be surprised; but this is presumption, not assurance. In the actual experiences of Christians, he who enjoys the grace of assurance ever walks most carefully and tenderly before his God, lest the precious elixir be lost through negligence. See Ps 139:21, 24; 2 Cor. 5:6–9; Heb. 6:9–12.

• From Living for God’s Glory by Joel Beeke:

  Assurance reveals itself in close fellowship with God, childlike obedience, and an intense longing to glorify Christ in all things. Assured believers view heaven as their home and long for Christ’s returen and their translation to glory. (2 Tim. 4:6-8)

  …Assurance helps the believer persevere, first, by encouraging him to rest on God’s grace in Christ and His promises in the gospel; and second by presenting these as a powerful motive for Christian living. As the Puritan Thomas Goodwin says, assurance “makes a man work for God ten times more than before….[It] causes the heart to be more thankful, and more fruitfully and cheerfully obedient; it perfects love, opens and gives vent to a new stream of godly sorrow, adds new motives, enlarges and encourages the heart in prayer, winds up all graces to a new and higher key and strain, causing a spring tide of all.”

Learn more:

1. Loraine Boettner: Personal Assurance That One Is Among the Elect
2. John MacArthur: A Believer’s Assurance: A Practical Guide to Victory over Doubt
3. John Reisenger: Can I Really Be Sure?
4. Augustus Toplady: Thoughts on the Assurance of Faith
5. S. Lewis Johnson: The Doctrine of Assurance (Read, listen or download)
6. Joel Beeke: Perseverance and Assurance (mp3)
   

1From Living for God’s Glory by Joel Beeke

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.

perseverance of the saints
The teaching that those who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and thus truly believe in Jesus Christ will be kept by God so that the persevere in faith until their death; they cannot finally fall away and be lost.

• From scripture:
  

  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV)
  

  All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:37-40 ESV)
  

• From The Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 79:

  Q79: May not true believers, by reason of their imperfections, and the many temptations and sins they are overtaken with, fall away from the state of grace ?
  A79: True believers, by reason of the unchangeable love of God,[1] and his decree and covenant to give them perseverance,[2] their inseparable union with Christ,[3] his continual intercession for them,[4] and the Spirit and seed of God abiding in them,[5] can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace,[6] but are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.[7]
  
  1. Jer. 31:3
  2. II Tim. 2:19-21; II Sam. 23:5
  3. I Cor. 1:8-9
  4. Heb. 7:25; Luke 22:32
  5. I John 2:27; 3:9
  6. Jer. 32:40; John 10:28
  7. I Peter 1:5

• From Living for God’s Glory by Joel Beeke:

  This doctrine does not mean that believers are immune to sin or that they can never fail to exercise saving faith. Though their faith won’t die, there are times when, sadly, it will not be active. Apart from continuous influx of Christ into their souls, believers cannot continue or flourish. God alone gives the increase for He never forsakes the work of His hands. When we speak of the perseverance of the saints, we do mean that having brought the elect into vital union with Himself, Jesus Christ continually supplies them with His grace. He is the life of their life and the strength of their strength. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit, having selected the hearts of the elect as his dwelling place, never leaves them; He promotes their sanctification until He has made their souls ripe for entrance into heaven. The faithful, covenant-keeping God keeps alive in the hearts of His elect the spark of holy love, which He Himself has kindled, despite their waywardness, slothfulness, and disobedience…. God, and God alone, sees to it that his children never tear themselves loose from His grip and fall prey to Satan (John 10:27-30).

Learn more:

1. Brian Schwertley: Perseverance of the Saints
2. Jim Ellis: Powerfully Kept
3. Loraine Boettner: Perseverance of the Saints
4. Nathan Pitchford: Perseverance Scripture List
5. John Piper: TULIP, Part 8, Perseverance of the Saints
6. Curt Daniel: Perseverance of the Saints: Part 1; Part 2 (mp3s)

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.

external call
The general gospel invitation offered to all people that comes through the proclamation of the gospel.1 Sometimes called general call, universal call, or gospel call.

• From scripture:
  

  [Jesus] said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,  and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  (Luke 24:47 ESV)
  

  I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:20-21 ESV)

• From The Canons of Dordt, Head III-IV, Articles 8 and 9:

  Article 8: The Serious Call of the Gospel

  Nevertheless, all who are called through the gospel are called seriously. For seriously and most genuinely God makes known in his Word what is pleasing to him: that those who are called should come to him. Seriously he also promises rest for their souls and eternal life to all who come to him and believe.

  Article 9: Human Responsibility for Rejecting the Gospel

  The fact that many who are called through the ministry of the gospel do not come and are not brought to conversion must not be blamed on the gospel, nor on Christ, who is offered through the gospel, nor on God, who calls them through the gospel and even bestows various gifts on them, but on the people themselves who are called. Some in self-assurance do not even entertain the Word of life; others do entertain it but do not take it to heart, and for that reason, after the fleeting joy of a temporary faith, they relapse; others choke the seed of the Word with the thorns of life’s cares and with the pleasures of the world and bring forth no fruits. This our Savior teaches in the parable of the sower (Matt. 13).

• From Living for God’s Glory by Joel Beeke:

  …[T]wo calls need to be distinguished: and outward or general call that everyone hears, which can be rejected (John 7:41b-42; 10:20; Heb. 12:25), and an inward call that God extends to the elect, which always results in conversion (Matt 22:9; Acts 2:39; Rom. 9:11; 1 Tim. 6:12).
  
  With the outward call, the gospel is preached and a call to salvation is extended to everyone who hears the message. God is serious about offering Christ to all hearers. …All men without distinction are invited to come and drink freely of the water of life in Christ Jesus (Isa. 55:1-7; John 4:14). Forgiveness and salvation are promised to all who repent and believe (2 Thess. 2:14; Rom. 10:15).  

• From Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray:

  We may properly speak of a call which is not in itself effectual. The is often spoken of as the universal call of the gospel. The overtures of grace in the gospel addressed to all men without distinction are very real and we must maintain that doctrine with all it’s implications for God’s grace, on the one hand, and for man’s responsibility and privilege, on the other. It is not improper to refer to that universal overture as a universal call.

Learn more:

1. Wayne Grudem: The Gospel Call and Effective Calling
2. Dr. John ‘Rabbi’ Duncan: Effectual Calling and the Free Offer of the Gospel
3. Charles Hodge: The Offer of the Gospel
4. Colin Maxwell: A list of quotes on the free offer of the gospel.
5. Wayne Grudem: The Gospel Call and Effective Calling (mp3)
   

1 From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem.

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.

irresistible grace
The teaching that God’s saving grace is effectually applied to those whom he has chosen to save so that their natural enmity toward him disappears and they willingly repent and believe in Jesus. See also effectual call.

• From scripture:
  

  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:44 ESV)
  

  One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.  (Acts 16:14 ESV)

  And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. 4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:3-6 ESV)

• From The Canons of Dordt, Head III-IV, Article 11:

  [W]hen God … works true conversion in [his chosen ones], he not only sees to it that the gospel is proclaimed to them outwardly, and enlightens their minds powerfully by the Holy Spirit so that they may rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God, but, by the effective operation of the same regenerating Spirit, he also penetrates into the inmost being of man, opens the closed heart, softens the hard heart, and circumcises the heart that is uncircumcised. He infuses new qualities into the will, making the dead will alive, the evil one good, the unwilling one willing, and the stubborn one compliant; he activates and strengthens the will so that, like a good tree, it may be enabled to produce the fruits of good deeds.
  

• From Living for God’s Glory by Joel Beeke:

  Unfortunately, the term irresistible can suggest capricious force or violence to a sinner’s will. To some, it conveys the picture of a mother sitting her child at the kitchen table with spinach and liver and saying, “Eat!” But that is not the meaning… Though the irresistible grace of God in calling sinners is forceful and compelling, it works in such a way that the sinner’s will is so renewed that he comes to Christ gladly and willingly. If you are a believer, you know that when grace took hold of you, it brought you willingly and lovingly to what God had predetermined for you. No one in history has ever done anything more willingly and more lovingly than those who receive Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Think of Lydia (Acts 16:14-15) and the Philippians jailor (Acts 16:30-34); they were not saved against their wills.
  
  On the other hand, God must work within the sinner to make him willing to come to Christ. John 6:44 says that unless the Father “draws” him, a sinner will not believe the gospel. The original word for draw implies a certain compelling force. Is is used in John 21:6-11 of fishermen dragging a net. Elsewhere, it is used of Paul and Silas’s being “dragged” by a mob. (Acts 16:19) and of the “dragging” of poor men into court by rich men (James 2:6). The idea is that a superiour force is so exerted upon an object or person the the one doing the dragging is successful.

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions.org: Irresistible Grace - is it Biblical?
2. John Piper: Irresistible Grace
3. John Murray: Irresistible Grace
4. Dr. Steven Lawson: Irresistible Grace (mp3)
   

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.