Is That Andy?

theological systems

• calvinism vs. arminianism
• calvinism
• protestant form of the teachings of John Calvin. The fundamental idea is the sovereignty of God. Human responsibility is associated the comprehensive plan of God.
• God rules all
• arminianism
• a reaction to Calvinism on two key issues: God is made the author of sin and genuine human freedom is abolished. The fundamental idea is human responsibility.
• God is not the author of sin.
• Humans are not puppets - we can choose
• calvinism vs. arminianism
• Calvinism
• Total Depravity: man is incapable of gaining salvation on his own
• Unconditional Election: Gods choice of whom he would save was not determined by anything in man
• GOD CONTROLS EVERYTHING
• Arminianism
• Man does not have saving grace of himself or of the energy of his free will.
• Election and condemnation are conditioned upon foreseen
• WE HAVE CHOICES, HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY
• calvinism vs. arminianism
• Calvinism
• Limited Atonement: Christ died to effect salvation only for the elect
• Irresistible Grace: The elect cannot successfully resist being drawn to God in salvation
• Perseverance of the Saints: because they persist in their faith, the elect cannot lose salvation
• Arminianism
• Christ died for all men, but only believers enjoy the benefits of atonement
• Divine grace and God’s call can be resisted to the point that one cannot be saved.
• There exists the possibility of a total and final fall of believers from grace. Thus they lose their salvation.
• dispensationalism vs. covenant theology
• Dispensationalism
• a focus on the changing relationship of man to God based on the progress of revelation. This creates a series of dispensation each with a distinctive way that God manages or arranges the relationship of human beings to Himself Thus, the emphasis is on distinctions or differences.
• important events take place which change the law of the church
• Covenant Theology
• A focus on the people of God as He unfolds the single Covenant of Grace since the Garden of Eden. Thus the emphasis is on unity.
• dispensationalism vs. covenant theology
• dispensationalism
• dispensations - periods of time differentiated by the distinctive way in which God defines the relationship of human beings to himself.
• Uniqueness of the church - the church, the body of Christ, is distinct from the action of Israel.
• Future of Israel - the promises made by god are intact and will be fulfilled literally in a future kingdom
• covenant theology
• God is working out a single covenant of grace with his people throughout all of history a single plan of salvation
• the church as part of the one people of God is a continuation of the nation of israel
• the promises of the old testament to Israel are now spiritually applied and fulfilled in the church - the new israel
• levels of authority
• not an order, 1 > 2 > 3, but a continuum, sliding up and down
• Direct Statements of Scripture
• “Direct statements of Scripture are to be accorded to the greatest weight. To the degree that they accurately represent what the Bible teaches, they have the status of a direct ford form God. Great care must of course be exercised to make certain that we are dealing here with the teaching of scripture, and not tan interpretation imposed upon it.” - Erickson
• A direct quote from the bible has greatest significance
• Direct Implications of Scripture
• “Direct implications of Scripture must also be given high priority. They are to be regarded as slightly less authoritative than direct statements, however, because the introduction of an additional step - logical inference - carries with it the possibility of interpretation error.” - Erickson
• the vast majority of the data comes direct from the bible.
• Probably implications of scripture
• “Probable implications of Scripture, that is, inferences that are drawn in cases where one fo the assumptions or premises is only probable, are somewhat less authoritative than direct implications. While deserving respect, such statements should be held with a certain amount of tentativeness.”
• Inductive conclusions from scripture
• “The certainty of its (inductive investigation) conclusions increases as the proportion between the number of references actually considered and the total number of pertinent references which could conceivably be considered increases” - Erickson
• Conclusions inferred from General Revelation
• Whatever is inferred fro general revelation must always be subject to the special revelation of the Scripture
• Medical proof that can be used in ADDITION to the bible.
• Outright Speculation
• A hypothesis based on a single statement or hint in the Scripture
• Issues related to levels of authority
• How we handle disagreement
• Higher up the authority of the subject, less likely to back down
• Relationship to conviction
• Recognize where theories come from
• Sometimes our constructs move up or down the line
• More bible - greater authority
• Less bible - less authority
• Avoid a “flat theology”
• Not black and white, understand there is a gradation and that not every statement is of equal authority
• Distinguish between parts of statements