Theological Term of the Week: Augustinianism

Augustinianism

The theological position that since the fall, all people have been corrupted by original sin, and are unable to love God or follow his commands. It is only by God’s gracious work that anyone can truly obey God or excercise faith in him, so human salvation is a work of God from start to finish.

• From the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 6:

Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment Thereof.



1. Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety and temptation of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit. This their sin God was pleased, according to his wise and holy counsel, to permit, having purposed to order it to his own glory.

2. By this sin they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of soul and body.

3. They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed to all their posterity descending from them by ordinary generation.

4. From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.

• From Outlines of Theology by A. A. Hodge, on the Augustinian view of grace:

If nevertheless man in his present state, wills and does good, it is merely the work of grace. It is an inward, secret, and wonderful operation of God upon man. It s a preceding as well as an accompanying work. By preceding grace, man attains faith, by which he comes to an insight of good, and by which power is given him to will the good. He needs cooperating grace for the performance of every individual good act. As man can do nothing without grace, so he can do nothing against it. It is irresistible. And as man by nature has no merit at all, no respect at all can be had to man’s moral disposition, in imparting grace, but God acts according to his own free will.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions: What is Augustinianism?
2. Matthew Barrett: The Battle of the Will, Part 1: Pelagius and Augustine
3. Monergism:  Comparing Pelagianism, Semi-Pelagianism, Arminianism, and Augustinianism
4. A. A. Hodge: A Comparison of Systems: Pelagianism, Semipelagianism, and Augustinianism

Related terms:

• Pelagianism
• Semi-Pelagianism

Filed under Reformed Theology

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Theological Term of the Week: Author of Sin

author of sin

A term sometimes used when describing the relationship between God’s agency and evil human acts, usually used negatively [as in “God is not (or cannot be) the author of sin”], but rarely defined. Possible definitions include: one who is the efficient cause of an evil act, one who forces someone to commit and evil act, one who tempts someone to commit an evil act, or one who does an evil act.

• From scripture:

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one (James 1:13 ESV). 

• From the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 3:

1. God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.

• From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof, pages 107-108, on the objection that the teaching that God decrees whatever happens makes God the author of sin:

 IT MAKES GOD THE AUTHOR OF SIN. This, if true, would naturally be an insuperable objection, for God cannot be the author of sin. This follows equally from Scripture, Ps. 92:15; Eccl. 7:29; Jas. 1:13; I John 1:5, from the law of God which prohibits all sin, and from the holiness of God. But the charge is not true; the decree merely makes God the author of free moral beings, who are themselves the authors of sin. God decrees to sustain their free agency, to regulate the circumstances of their life, and to permit that free agency to exert itself in a multitude of acts, of which some are sinful. For good and holy reasons He renders these sinful acts certain, but He does not decree to work evil desires or choices efficiently in man. The decree respecting sin is not an efficient but a permissive decree, or a decree to permit, in distinction from a decree to produce, sin by divine efficiency. No difficulty attaches to such a decree which does not also attach to a mere passive permission of what He could very well prevent, such as the Arminians, who generally raise this objection, assume. The problem of God’s relation to sin remains a mystery for us, which we are not able to solve. It may be said, however, that His decree to permit sin, while it renders the entrance of sin into the world certain, does not mean that He takes delight in it; but only that He deemed it wise, for the purpose of His self-revelation, to permit moral evil, however abhorrent it may be to His nature. 

Learn more:

1. Michael Horton: FAQ: Does Predestination Mean God Is the Author of Sin?
2. Steve Hays: Is God the author of sin? Part 1, Part 2
3. James N. Anderson: Does Divine Determinism Make God the Author of Sin?
4. Richard Phillips: The Origin of Sin

Related terms:

• compatibilism (coming soon)
• order of God’s decrees
• unconditional election

Filed under Reformed Theology

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.

Theological Term of the Week: Incarnation

incarnation

The act of God in which God the son, the second person of the Trinity, took upon himself a human nature so that his divine nature and human nature were joined together in one person who is both truly God and truly man.

• From scripture:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8 ESV).

• From The Belgic Confession, Article 18, The Incarnation:

The Son took the “form of a servant” and was made in the “likeness of man,” truly assuming a real human nature, with all its weaknesses, except for sin; being conceived in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, without male participation.

And he not only assumed human nature as far as the body is concerned but also a real human soul, in order that he might be a real human being. For since the soul had been lost as well as the body he had to assume them both to save them both together.

Therefore we confess … that he “shared the very flesh and blood of children”; that he is “fruit of the loins of David” according to the flesh; “born of the seed of David” according to the flesh; “fruit of the womb of the virgin Mary”;”born of a woman”; “the seed of David”; “a shoot from the root of Jesse”; “the offspring of Judah,” having descended from the Jews according to the flesh; “from the seed of Abraham”— for he “assumed Abraham’s seed” and was “made like his brothers except for sin.”

In this way he is truly our Immanuel— that is: “God with us.”

• From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof, page 334:

It was not the triune God but the second person of the Trinity that assumed human nature. For that reason it is better to say that the Word became flesh than that God became man. At the same time we should remember that each of the divine persons was active in the incarnation, Matt. 1:20; Luke 1:35; John 1:14; Acts 2:30; Rom. 8:3; Gal. 4:4; Phil 2:7. This also means that the incarnation was not something that merely happened to the Logos, but was an active accomplishment on His part. In speaking of the incarnation in distinction from the birth of the Logos, His active participation in this historical fact is stressed, and His pre-existence is assumed. It is not possible to speak of the incarnation of one who had no previous existence. This pre-existence is clearly taught in Scripture: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” John 1:1. “I am come down from heaven,” John 6:38. “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor,” II Cor. 8:9. “Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men,” Phil. 2:6,7. “But when the fulness of the time came God sent forth His Son,” Gal. 4:4. The pre-existent Son of God assumes human nature and takes to Himself human flesh and blood, a miracle that passes our limited understanding. It clearly shows that the infinite can and does enter into finite relations, and that the supernatural can in some way enter the historical life of the world.

Learn more:

1. Simply Put: Incarnation
2. Got Questions: What is the meaning of the Incarnation of Christ?
3. Biblical Training: Incarnation
4. J. I. Packer: Incarnation: God Sent His Son to Save Us 
5. R. C. Sproul: What We Celebrate at Christmas
6. Stephen Wellum: The Incarnation and Two Natures of Christ
7. Bob Deffinbaugh: The Importance of the Incarnation
8. Mark Jones: The Mystery and Glory of the Incarnation

Related terms:

• advent
• crucifixion of Christ
• deity of Christ
• humanity of Christ
• hypostatic union
• virgin birth

Filed under Person, Nature, and Work of Christ

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured as a Theological Term of the Week? Email your suggestion using the contact button in the navigation bar above. 

Clicking on the Theological Terms button above the header will take you to an alphabetical list of all the theological terms.