Theological Term of the Week

heresy
An erroneous teaching, especially on issues of significance to salvation, requiring true Christians to divide from those who hold or teach it.

• From scripture:

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. (2 Peter 2:1 ESV)

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—[7] not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. [8] But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. [9] As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6-9 ESV)

• From A Biblical Guide to Orthodoxy and Heresy by Robert Bowman:

[W]e may classify heresies into six major categories:

1. Heresies about revelation — teachings that distort, deny, or add to Scripture in a way that leads people to destruction; false claims to apostolic or prophetic authority.
2. Heresies about God — teachings that promote false gods or idolatrous distortions of the true God.
3. Heresies about Christ — denials of His unique Lordship, His genuine humanity, His true identity.
4. Heresies about salvation — teaching legalism or licentiousness; denying the gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection; and so forth.
5. Heresies about the church — deliberate attempts to lead people away from the fellowship of true Christians; utter rejection of the church.
6. Heresies about the future — false predictions for which divine authority is claimed; claims that Christ’s return has taken place; and the like.

Note that errors in any one of these six categories tend to introduce errors into the other five. Take, for instance, the heretical view held by many groups that the church became totally apostate in the early centuries and thus had to be “restored” in the last days. This doctrine implies (1) that Scripture is not a sufficient revelation, but needs supplementing or “explaining” by some authoritative teacher or publication. It also almost always serves as a basis for rejecting the early church’s views of (2) God and( 3) Christ. Since the Reformation is rejected as falling short of the needed restoration, (4) the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith is likewise rejected. And the doctrine of a restoration comes to dominate the group’s views of (5) the future, as it requires them to view many or most biblical prophecies about the future as finding fulfillment in their own group.

Learn more:

1. Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry: What Is Heresy?
2. GotQuestions.org: What is the definition of heresy?
3. Robert M. Bowman: A Biblical Guide to Orthodoxy and Heresy
4. Derek Thomas: Heresy Defined and Examined (audio)

Related terms:

• adoptionism
• Apollinarianism
• Arianism
• docetism
• Eutychianism
• modalism
• Nestorianism
• open theism
• orthodoxy
• Pelagianism

Filed under Defective Theology

Do you have a 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, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

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

Theological Term of the Week

historia salutis
The unfolding in history of God’s plan for the salvation of the world; the events in space and time by which God brings salvation.  

• From scripture:

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5 ESV)

…a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:10 ESV)

But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:13 ESV)

• From Pactum Salutis, Historia Salutis, Ordo Salutis and the Ministry:

Creation, the fall, the flood, the call of Abraham, the exodus, the captivity, the life and death of Christ, Pentecost, all of these are events of the historia salutis. On the one hand, they are true events of cosmic history.They actually happened in space and time.  But in another sense, they bear theological significance, because they come in order to fulfill—accomplish—the eternal decrees of God. We do not simply speak of abstract decrees of God, but of genuine historical events bearing a great theological significance. We believe that the Scriptures record the actual historical events of redemption, occurring over several millennia, from creation to consummation. The events recorded in Scripture, while real events in human history, bring into human history the decrees of God. They give substance and historical reality to these decrees. 

Learn more:

1. The Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies: Pactum Salutis, Historia Salutis, Ordo Salutis and the Ministry
2. From me: Historia Salutis
3. Dr. Lane Tipton: The Meaning of Historia Salutis and Ordo Salutis (video)
4. Bruce Waltke: Summaries of the Stages of Redemptive History (pdf) 

Related terms:

• already/not yet
• decree(s) of God
• order of God’s decrees
• ordo salutis
• pactum salutis
• typology

Filed under God’s Nature and His Work

Do you have a 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, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

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

Theological Term of the Week

pactum salutis
An agreement made in eternity past among the persons of the Trinity in which they plan to save a people; also called the covenant of redemption.

• From scripture:

[God] chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love [5] he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, [6] to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. [7] In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, [8] which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight [9] making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ [10] as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

[11] In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, [12] so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. [13] In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, [14] who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:4-14 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 Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof:

Scripture clearly points to the fact that the plan of redemption was included in the eternal decree or counsel of God, Eph. 1:4ff; …. Now we find that in the economy of redemption there is, in a sense, a division of labor: the Father is the originator, the Son the executor, and the Holy Spirit the applier. This can only be the result of a voluntary agreement amont the persons of the Trinity….

• From Salvation, Past, Present, and Future by Sinclair Ferguson:

God has a plan. It has been called the covenant of redemption, or the covenant of peace (pactum salutis). Theologians as great as Thomas Boston and Jonathan Edwards have disagreed as to whether the plan should properly be described as a covenant at all. But the debates over nomenclature are incidental to the thing itself.

The triune God had a plan, involving the mutual commitment of Father, Son and Spirit to save a people. About this the reformed theologians speak with one voice.

Before all time; prior to all worlds; when there was nothing “outside of” God himself; when the Father, Son and Spirit found eternal, absolute and unimaginable blessing, pleasure and joy in their holy triunity — it was their agreed purpose to create a world which would fall, and in unison — but at infinitely great cost — to bring you (if you are a believer) grace and salvation. This deeper grace from before the dawn of time — pictured in the rituals, the leaders and the experiences of the Old Testament saints (cf. Heb. 11:39–12:3) — is now ours. These are the dimensions of what the author of Hebrews calls “such a great salvation” (Heb. 2:3).

Learn more:

1. Sinclair Ferguson: Salvation, Past, Present, and Future
2. John Samson: The Pactum Salutis
3. Against Heresies: The Covenant of Redemption
4. R. B. C. Howell: The Covenant of Redemption
5. Charles Hodge: Covenant of Redemption

Related terms:

• covenant
• decree(s) of God
• order of God’s decrees
• ordo salutis

Filed under God’s Nature and His Work

Do you have a 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, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

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