Reformed Vocab
Used with permission from Dr. Cornelius Plantinga Calvin Seminary Grand Rapids, MI
Terms
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- Forgiveness of Sins
- The subtracting, or putting away, of sins so that they are no longer held against us. When God forgives our sins, we can be at peace with him.
- The Fall
- The event in which our first parents disobeyed God and thus brought evil into the world.
- Shame
- A sence of humiliation after sin. People who are ashamed feel as if they'd like to crawl under something or have some covering them from view. The fall brings shame into human race.
- Infallibility of scripture
- The quality of the Bible that means it will not fail. By the Bible's unfailngness or infallibility we mean it does not deceive us, make mistakes in presenting God's word, or fail to reach its goal of helping people get saved and then leave thankful lives.
- The Kingdom of God
- God's rign over his universal realm. Covenant, prophets, priests, human kings, and the church are all tools, or intruments, of the Kingdom of God. Like a mustard seed, the Kingdom starts out small but grows and grows. The things that Kingdom people cherish and value--like humility, forgiveness, kindness--seem "Upside-down" to people who are not members of the kingdom.
- Circumcision
- The Old Testament sign and seal of the covenant of Grace.
- Covenant Promises
- God's promises in the covenant of Grace it that he will love his people, protect them, and help them. God also promises to bless the whole world through hsi people.
- Common Grace
- God's way of partly stopping corruption so that human life can continue. Common grace explains why unbelievers often show good behavior better than that of some Christians.
- Providence
- The care God shows for all creation. God preserves our world, rescues his people, works for good, and controls history. Providence lets us trust and thank God.
- Repentance
- The complete turning around our lives. Repentance is like dying and then being born again.
- Confessions
- Carefully organized, written statements of doctine approved by the church.
- Doctrine
- The chruch's teachings about God and our salvation, based on the Bible.
- Convenant
- A solemn agreement or pact. In a covenant there are always promises on one side and often obligations on the other. Covenants are usually signed and sealed, sometimes by strange Acts.
- Evil
- The combination of sin and misery that we see in the world around us. Evil originated in the angel world but comes to us through the fall of Adam and Eve.
- Sanctification
- The lifelong conversion by which Christians become gradually holier that is, more like Jesus Christ. Sanctification is the solution to the problem of pollution. We want to live the life of holiness because of our desire for God, or gratitude to him, and our faith in him.
- Sovereignty of God
- The attribute of God which means that he is supreme and in control.
- Inspiration of Scripture
- The process by which God "breathed" into the biblical writers what he wanted them to write. God moved, influenced, and inspired them by the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit now inspires us to receive and beleive in the Bible.
- Faith
- The bond to Christ from our side. Faith includes belief in the promises fo God and trust in Jesus. Justification is recieved by faith.
- Triune
- Being a triple and a unit at the same time. To say that God is triune is to say that God is the three persons (Father, and Holy Spirit) but only one God. That is, God is trinity.
- Bible
- The book that contains the writtings or scriptures that Christians recognize as the written word of God.
- Freedom
- The removal of the things that drag us down and opening up to joyful life in God. (Because if we are not slaves to him, we will be slaves to something else.)
- Image of God
- The likeness of God in human beings. We see the image of God in us by our ruling over creation, by our fellowship with each otherand by any right of actions we do. The image of God means being like Christ.
- Covenant Obligations
- The duties God's people owe to God. The are especially obedience (because god is parent and King), trust (because God is Savior), and thanks (because od shows Grace).
- Incarnation
- The event in which the enternal Son of God took on human flesh, which we celebrate at Christmas.
- Law of God
- The statement of what God wants for us. The law of God is a training guide for the new life of liberty.
- Disorder
- The loss of harmony and right relation on the universe. Disorder shows up in relationships between God and humanity, between some humans and others, between humanity and nature, and even within individual human beings.
- Misery
- The pain and suffering that come from sin; the fallout that comes from the fall. Among the fallen world's miseries arfe disorders, estrangement, and death.
- Grace
- Loving Kindness to a person in misery, especially when a person is miserable because of his or her own sin. Grace is then undeserved favor or kindness.
- Attributes of God
- God's characteristics or qualities such as goodness and greatness. Discribing God's attributes helps us understand, praise and imitate God.
- Original Sin
- The corruption and guilt that the human race has inherited from Adam and Eve. The doctrine of original sin tells us that sin is universal, that it keeps reproducing, and that it is extreamly hard to get rid of.
- Justification
- God's acceptance of unaccepable people. Justification includes the forgiving of our sins and the adding to us of Jesus' righteousness.
- Satisfaction
- Giving someone what he has coming, so as to "fill up an empty place" in him. Through his death Christ satisfies God's justice by obeying God perfectly, as we cannot, and by suffering the penality for our disobedience.
- Reformed
- To be Reformed is to confess the common Christian faith with a special accent. In particular, it means to accent such things as the authority of scripture, the sovereignty of God, personal integrity in the life of holiness, and the need for a veiw of world integrity (sometimes called a "world-and-life view" or "kingdom vision".)
- Greatness of God
- An attribute of God meaning that God is awsome. God's greatness is the power behind the goodness.
- Guilt
- What we have when we break God's law and deserve the laws penalty. Guilt includes not only when we have when we do wrong, it also includes what we have when we fail to do right. When we fail to do right, guilt is called debt.
- Tragedy of the Fall
- The fact that the fall happens not to unimportant creatures (whose fall wouldn't matter so much) but to people made in God's image. The fall is also tragic because it includes trickery, foolishness, pride, and disastrous results
- Atonement
- The process by which Jesus Christ put right what sin put wrong. Christ's suffering and death are an atonement, a making amends, for sin.
- God's Word
- What God says in his speaking. Some of what God says is written down in the Bible. That is why the Bible sometimes called God's Word. Everyting important about God is "lived out" by His son, Jesus Christ. That is why he is sometimes called Word of God.
- Estrangement
- A disorder in which persons or things that ought to be friends become strangers instead, for example, when people are estranged from God, they see God in not only as a loving father but as ambarrassment or even as an enemy.
- Goodness of God
- An attribute of God meaning that he satisfies the needs of all his creatures.
- Creation
- The sovereign act of God by which He brought into being the whole universe from nothing. Creation shows God's sovereignty, goodness, greatness, and His image in us.
- Reconciliation
- Restoring peace and harmony to estrange parties. Jesus Christ brings peace and reconiliation by acting as arbitrator, or mediator between God and humanity.
- Corruption
- The seeping or flooding power of sin. Sin seeps into every part fo the human life, staining and spoiling thoughts, words, deeds, feelings, and inclinations.
- God's Speaking
- God's communication to us. God speaks in His world, in His (including the Bible), and by His son. God's speaking tells us that God is a personal, carring, and saving God. So when God speaks, we ought to respond.
- Redemption
- To rescue someone by paying ransom. Just as God redeemed Isreal from the land of Egypt, so Jesus Christ redeems us from the slavery of sin and death by paying the ransom price of his lifeblood.
- Authority of Scripture
- The power of the Bible to influence our believing and acting. Because the Bible is our authority, it can even give commands that we must obey. The Bible is authoritative because God is its author and because only in the Bible do we find Jesus Christ, our rescuer.