ABROGATE 末 to
abolish or nullify a law by authoritative action
ABSOLUTE 末
unconditioned by qualifications or limitations
AD HOC 末 only
for the particular case at hand, not systematically
taking into account other relevant issues or wider
application
A FORTIORI 末
drawing an inference with even greater force or
conviction than in a lesser case
ALTRUISM 末
the ethical view that one ought to act out of regard for
the interests of others
AMILLENNIALISM 末
the eschatological view that on earth before the
return of Christ there will be no age of military rule
by Christ (contrary to premillennialism) nor an age of
great blessing and success for the gospel (contrary to
postmillennialism); at Christ's return the general
resurrection of the righteous and unrighteous will take
place, followed immediately by the final judgment
ANTINOMIANISM 末
a view which is in some fashion against the law
APOLTICAL 末
without interest in or consequences for civil government
ASCETICISM 末
the ethical view that holiness or purity is achieved by
mandatory abstinence from bodily comforts and material
pleasures (e.g., food, alcohol, sleep, sex, money)
AUTONOMY 末
the state of being a "law unto oneself," independent of
outside authority
AXIOMATIC 末
characterized as a primary conviction from which all
other conclusions are drawn or proven
CEREMONIAL LAW 末
those Old Covenant commandments which regulated
rituals and symbolic actions pertaining to the
redemption of God's people and their separation from the
unbelieving world, rather than prescriptions about
matters which were intrinsically moral
CONSEQUENTIAL PERSPECTIVE
末 a distinctive approach to
ethics which emphasizes and makes decisions in terms of
the consequences, goals, or situational factors of one's
conduct
CONTINUITY 末
the relation between two things of essential identity
similarity, coherence or harmony; the lack of change
from one principle or regime to another
COVENANT 末 a
mutually binding compact between God and His people,
sovereignly transacted by the Lord, wherein a promise is
made by God which calls for trust on the part of His
people and entails obligations of submission which are
sanctioned by blessings and curses
COVENANT THEOLOGY 末
the position that all of the post-fall covenants
made by God are essentially one, centering on God's
gracious promise in Jesus Christ, with each successive
covenant expanding on previous ones, rather than
disgarding them or running parallel to the others; the
covenants prior to Christ were marked by anticipation
and administered by foreshadows, while the fulfillment
or substance was found in Christ's person and redemptive
work, establishing the New Covenant today
CULTIC 末 (as
used here) pertaining to special religious ritual
CULTURAL MANDATE 末
God's authoritative order for man to replenish
and subdue the earth, developing and governing the
created order under God's dominion, and thus working to
make every area of life serve the glory of God
DISCONTINUITY 末
the relation between two things of difference,
dissimilarity, incoherence or disharmony; the change
from one principle or regime to another
DISPENSATION 末
a distinct administration of God's covenantal
relation with man or the age characterized by such
EGOISM 末 the
ethical view that one ought to act out of regard for his
own benefit or welfare
EGOTISM 末 the
sinful, personal trait of behaving as though one's own
interests were of supreme or sole importance
ESCHATOLOGY 末
the doctrine of the "last things" pertaining to the
individual (death, afterlife) or to redemption (the
coming, course, and consummation of Christ's kingdom,
the millennium) or to the world (Christ's return, the
resurrection, final judgment, the eternal state)
EVANGELICAL MANDATE
末 God's authoritative order for His people to
preach the gospel to lost sinners, seek their
conversion, bring them into the sacramental fellowship
of the church, nurture them in the Christian life, and
thus make the nations to be disciples of Christ; the
"Great Commission"
EXEGETICAL 末
pertaining to the detailed analysis and linguistic
meaning of specific texts of Scripture
EX POST FACTO 末
applied "after the fact," .thereby disregarding
the previous circumstances, status, or legal character
of an event
GENERAL EQUITY 末
(expression used by Reformed or Puritan
theologians to denote:) the underlying substance,
principle, or point of a law-over against the specific
case or cultural setting mentioned by it
GENERAL REVELATION 末
God's revelation of His person, glory, and
attributes to all men in all ages through nature,
conscience, and history, so that they are without excuse
for not worshipping Him correctly and leading righteous
lives; unlike special revelation, it is not verbal in
character or redemptive in content
HERMENEUTIC 末
a method of interpreting Scripture or the principles for
doing so
INDUCTIVE 末
characterized by studying particular cases (factors,
evidences) one by one in order to arrive at a
generalization
JUDAIZERS 末 a
Jewish heretical party in the early church which held
that, in addition to faith in Christ, one must conform
to Jewish customs (e.g., the ceremonial law of
circumcision, the Old Covenant festivals) in order,
through such self-effort and law-works, to be justified
and sanctified
JUDICIAL LAW 末
(tradition theological expression for:) those
commandments in the Mosaic law which deliver judgments
on cases pertaining to socio-political relations,
policy, or rule (e.g., Exodus 21-22)
JUSTIFICATION 末
God's gracious act of forgiving sinners and
treating them as if they had never sinned, based on the
imputation of Christ's righteousness, and appropriated
by living faith
LEGALISM 末
the view that one is saved by the merit of his own
efforts to performs works of the law
LEGAL POSITIVISM 末
the imperative theory of law which claims that
all laws are merely commands of a human sovereign, so
that there is no conceptual or necessary connection
between law and justice; in this case those within a
legal system are unconditionally obligated to obey its
laws, however immoral they may be
MOTIVATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
末 a distinctive approach to
ethics which emphasizes and makes decisions in terms of
personal motivation and character traits
NORMATIVE PERSPECTIVE
末 a distinctive approach to ethics which
emphasizes and makes decisions in terms of duty, rules,
or moral standards
OBJECTIVE 末
the quality of having a public nature, independent of
our thoughts or feelings
PEDAGOGIC 末
pertaining to teaching, instruction, or education
PENAL SANCTION 末
a coercive, civil punishment which honors and
enforces a law by being imposed on those who violate it
PENOLOGY 末
the study or theory of punishment, especially the
punishment of criminals by the state
PHARISEES 末 a
separatist and self-righteous sect in Judaism which
prided itself in strict adherence to the Mosaic law, but
which attended only to external and trifling details and
actually nullified the law by adding to it human
traditions
PLURALISM 末
the view that civil policy should balance the rights of
various social spheres (e.g., family, school, church,
business) and protect the rights of all conflicting
viewpoints within the society, thereby not being based
upon or favoring any one distinctive religion,
philosophy, party, or sphere of life
POSTMILLENNIALISM 末
the eschatological view that Christ will return
"after the millennium"; Christ has established His
Messianic kingdom on earth, it is growing in numbers,
area, and influence by means of the preaching of the
gospel and Christian nurture, and it will have visible,
worldwide, and blessed success before Christ returns at
the general resurrection for final judgment
PREMILLENNIALISM 末
the eschatological view that Christ will return
"before the millennium" in order to resurrect the saints
(the "first resurrection"), establish a military rule
from Jerusalem over the rebellious nations (the battle
of Armageddon), and usher in a thousand year period of
material peace and prosperity; at the end of this period
the nations (still in natural bodies) will rebel and
make war against Christ and the resurrected saints (the
battle of Gog and Magog), who will be saved by fire from
heaven, followed by the second resurrection末now
of unbelievers末and the final
judgment
PRIMA FACIA 末
on first appearance
PRO-NOMIAN 末
characterized by favoring, supporting, or defending the
law
PURITY PRINCIPLES 末
those truths taught or symbolized by ceremonial
laws of outward cleanliness, such as the pollution of
sin and its repugnance to a holy God, so that only one
untainted by defilement may approach Him (e.g., laws
dealing with purification for priests, issues of blood,
disfigurement, leprosy)
REDEMPTIVE HISTORY 末
the special, unified course of historical events
by which God prepared, accomplished, and applies
redemption for His people and thereby advances His
saving kingdom
REDEMPTIVE LAW 末
ceremonial laws which taught or symbolized the
way of atonement or God's saving presence among His
people (e.g., laws dealing with sacrifice, the
priesthood, the temple)
REFORMED 末
(as used in theology:) characterized by agreement with
or adherence to the doctrine, worship, ethic or polity
of the Protestant Reformation, more particularly the
Swiss or Calvinist branch there-of (in distinction from
Lutheranism, Anabaptism)
RELATIVISM, CULTURAL
末 the view that what is morally right or wrong
is not absolute, but internally adapted to a specific
culture, being determined by that particular society's
attitudes, folkways or tribal values; thus "justice,"
for instance, actually changes from culture to culture
(not simply beliefs about justice) and cannot be defined
transculturally
RESTORATIVE LAW 末
those Old Covenant commandments which regulated
rituals and symbolic actions pertaining to the
restoration of sinners to God's favor and their
separation as God's redeemed people from those still
under His wrath (see "ceremonial law")
RETRIBUTIVE 末
pertaining to recompense to a guilty party according to
what the offense deserves
SACRIFICIAL PRINCIPLES
末 regulations on sacrifices,
offerings, and priests or the underlying general truths
taught or symbolized by them (e.g., there is no
atonement for sin without shed blood)
SANCTIFICATION 末
God's gracious and powerful work of making
sinners holy in heart and conduct through the internal
ministry of the Holy Spirit, applying the death and
resurrection of Christ to them, so that they
increasingly die to sin and live unto righteousness in
the whole man
SEPARATION PRINCIPLES
末 those truths about the separation of God's
people from sin and the unbelieving world which were
symbolized or taught by certain ceremonial laws of the
Old Covenant (e.g., the distinction between clean and
unclean meats, the prohibition of mixing seeds or types
of cloth)
SITUATIONISM 末
the ethical view that right and wrong cannot be
defined in advance for general types of circumstances
and actions, so that moral decisions should not be based
upon laws; the "loving" . thing to do must be determined
by the situation itself, using a utilitarian approach
(seeking the greatest pleasure or happiness for the
greatest number of people)
SOJOURNERS 末
those who are alien to the people of a land but reside
with them
SOLA SCRIPTURA 末
(Latin expression meaning:) Scripture alone
SPECIAL REVELATION 末
God's verbal and (usual) redemptive revelation of
Himself to specific people at specific times; special
revelation is communicated to us today through its
inscripturation in the Bible
STANDING LAW 末
policy directives applicable over time to classes
of individuals (e.g., do not kill; children, obey your
parents; merchants, have equal measures; magistrates,
execute rapists), in contrast to particular directions
for an individual (e.g., the order for Samuel to anoint
David at a particular time and place) or positive
commands for distinct incidents (e.g., God's order for
Israel to exterminate certain Canaanite tribes at a
certain point in history)
SUBJECTIVISM 末
the view that truth or morality is a matter of
the individual's personal feelings or attitudes and do
not have an objective nature
SYMBOLIC LAW 末
pedagogic laws which communicated certain truths
by symbolic means, rather than (or not primarily) in
explicit fashion (e.g., sacrificial laws, purity laws,
separation laws)
TELEOLOGICAL 末
pertaining to a goal, aim, or purpose;
teleological ethics emphasizes and makes decisions in
terms of the proper goal of man or the kingdom of God as
man's highest good, etc. (cf. "consequential
perspective")
THEOCRACY 末
literally "the rule of God," however this is thought to
be expressed (e.g., by His revealed principles, by His
chosen leaders, by Himself in the person of the Son,
etc.); the word is variously used by writers for
different intended conceptions, some using it as a code
word for uniqueness of Old Testament Israel, others
using it for any social system where the church rules
the state (or is not separated from it), and still
others for a civil government which strives to submit to
the socio-political standing laws revealed by God (in
Old or New Testaments)
THEONOMY 末
literally "God's law," but recently applied to a
particular view of its normativity for today
TRANSCENDENT 末
pertaining to what "goes beyond" man, the
creation, or ordinary experience (thus used in theology
to stress the mysterious, sovereign, or unique character
of God)
TYPOLOGICAL 末
pertaining to a "type," something intended to foreshadow
a later historical reality
UNREGENERATE 末
not born again or spiritually renewed by the
power of the Holy Spirit; pertaining to the "natural
man" who is lost in sin, unable to do God's will or to
understand the things of the Spirit
WESTMINSTER STANDARDS
末 the Westminster Confession of Faith and
Catechisms (Longer and Shorter) which were composed
1643-1647 at the request of the English Parliament and
which, since that time, have served as subordinate
doctrinal standards in Presbyterian churches; deemed a
model of "Reformed" doctrine
|
Dictionary
of Theological Terms
