Reformed Perspective Vocabulary
Used with permission Dr. Cornelius Plantinga Jr. Calvin theological Seminary
Terms
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- Creation
- The sovereign act of God by which He Brought into being the whole universe from nothing. Creations shows God's Sovereignty, Goodness, Greatness, and his image in us.
- 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.
- Bible
- The book that contains the writings or scriptures that Christians recognize as the written word of God.
- 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.
- Attributes of God
- God's characteristics or qualities such as goodness and greatness. Describing God's attributes helps us understand, praise, and imitate God.
- Shame
- A sense of humiliation after sin. People who are ashamed feel as if they'd like to crawl under something or have some covering hide them from view. The fall brings shame into the human race.
- 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.
- God's Word
- What God says in his speaking. Some of what Gods says is written down in the Bible. That is why the bible is sometimes called Gods word.Everything important about God is lived out by His Son Jesus Christ. That is why he is sometimes called the word of God.
- Misery
- The pain and suffering that comes from sin; the fallout that comes from the fall. Among the fallen world's miseries are disorders, estrangement, and death.
- Providence
- The care God shows for all his creation. God preserves our world, rescues his people, works for good, and controls history. Providence lets us trust and thank God.
- Estrangment
- 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 not only as a loving father but as an embarrassment or even as an enemy.
- God's Speaking
- Gods communication to us. God speaks in His word( including the Bible), and by His Son. God's speaking tells us that God is a personal, caring, and saving God. So when God speaks, we ought to respond.
- 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.
- Confessions
- Carefully organized, written statements of doctrine approved by the church.
- 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 extremely hard to get rid of.
- Infallibility of Scripture
- The quality of the Bible that means it will not fail. By the Bib;es unfailingness 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 lead thankful lives.
- Greatness of God
- An attribute of God meaning that God is awesome. God's greatness is the power behind his goodness.
- Guilt
- What we have when we brake God's law and deserve the law's penalty. Guilt includes not only what 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.
- Covenant
- 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.
- The Fall
- The event in which our first parents disobeyed God and thus brought evil into the world.
- 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.
- Disorder
- The loss of harmony and right relation in the universe. Disorder shows up in relations between God and humanity, between some humans and others, between humanity and nature, and even within individual human beings.
- 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 other and by any right actions we do. The image of God means being like Christ.
- Corruption
- The seeping or flooding power of sin. Sin seeps into every part of human life, staining and spoiling thoughts, words, deeds, feelings, and inclinations.
- Doctrine
- The church's teachings about God and our salvation; based on the Bible.
- 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 believe in the Bible.
- Sovereignty of God
- The attribute of God which means that he is supreme and in control.
- 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.
- Goodness of God
- An attribute of God meaning the he satisfies the needs of all his creatures.
- Triune
- Being a triple and a unit at the same time. To say that God is triune is to say that Hod is three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) but only one God. That us, God is a trinity.