Theological Term of the Week

Molinism
A philosophical system named after Jesuit theologian Luis de Molina, a system which sought to maintain both the autonomy of human beings and the sovereignty of God by claiming that God’s knowledge of the free decisions of any human beings in any given circumstance was logically prior to his decree of what would happen in the world he would create.

• Scripture used to argue for Molinism, although it simply proves that God knows what would have happened under different circumstances, and not that this knowledge is logically prior to his creative decree:
  

  Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. (Matthew 11:20-21, ESV)
  

• Scripture that argues against Molinism by suggesting that God himself is the source of all knowledge:

  Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,
  or what man shows him his counsel?
  Whom did he consult,
  and who made him understand?
  Who taught him the path of justice,
  and taught him knowledge,
  and showed him the way of understanding? (Isaiah 40:13-14 ESV)

• From The Westminster Confession of Faith, 1689:

  Chapter III- Of God’s Eternal Decree

  I. 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.

  II. Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions; yet has He not decreed anything because He foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions.

• Herman Bavinck (Reformed Dogmatics) is critical of Molinism because in it

  God does not derive his knowledge of the free actions of human beings from his own being, his own decrees, but from the will of creatures. God, accordingly, becomes dependent on the world, derives knowledge from the world that he did not have and could not obtain from himself, and hence, in his knowledge, ceases to be one, simple, and independent – that is, God.

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Molinism
2. Paul Helm: Molinism 101
3. Third Millennium Ministries: Does Matthew 11:20-24 teach Molinism (Middle Knowledge)?
4. James White: Explanation and Refutation of Middle Knowledge (YouTube video)
5. Turretinfan: Middle Knowledge (series of YouTube videos)

Related terms:

• decree of God
• sovereignty of God

Do you have a a theological 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

glory
The public display of God’s infinite beauty and worth;1 the created brightness that surrounds God’s revelation of himself;2 the manifested presence of God.

• From scripture:
  

  Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22 and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

  Moses Makes New Tablets

  34:1 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain. 3 No one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain.” 4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone. 5 The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, [1] forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 33:18—34:7 ESV)

• From The London Baptist Confession of Faith, 1689:

  1._____The Lord our God is but one only living and true God; whose subsistence is in and of himself, infinite in being and perfection; whose essence cannot be comprehended by any but himself; a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; who is immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, every way infinite, most holy, most wise, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of his own immutable and most righteous will for his own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek him, and withal most just and terrible in his judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.
   2._____God, having all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself, is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creature which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them….

• From The God Who Is There by D. A. Carson:

  “We have seen his glory,” John writes, “the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth: (1:14) “We have seen his glory”? What was it that Moses asked for?

  “Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
  And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you.”

  Exodus 33:18-19

  John plays with this theme of glory right through his book. In John 2, for example, when Jesus performs his first miracle—he turns water into wine at a wedding in Cana of Galilee—we are told at the end of the account that the disciples saw his glory: “What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory” (2:11). The others saw the miracle; the disciples saw Jesus’s glory. In other words, they saw that this was a sign that signified something about who Jesus was; they saw his glory. This kind of use of “glory” is repeated in John’s Gospel. Then eventually you get to John 12, where Jesus is to manifest God’s glory by going to the cross (see 12:23-33). So where is God’s glory most manifested? In God’s goodness—when Jesus is “glorified,” lifted up and hung on a cross, displaying God’s glory in the shame, degradation, brutality and sacrifice of his crucifixion, and by this means returning to the glory he shared with the Father before time began (see 17:5).

  The most spectacular display of God’s glory is in the bloody instrument of torture because that is where God’s goodness was most displayed.

Learn more:

1. John Piper: What Is God’s Glory?
2. Blue Letter Bible: What Is the Glory of God?
3. W. E. Best: What Is the Glory of Christ?
4. Eric Alexander: A new vision of God’s great glory and holiness (mp3)

Related terms:

• goodness
• holiness

1 From What Is God’s Glory? by John Piper.
2 From Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem.

Do you have a a theological 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

worldview
A network of presuppostions … in terms of which all experience is related and interpreted;1 a set of presuppositions (or assumptions) which we hold (consciously or subconsciously) about the basic makeup of our world,”2 and through which we make sense of reality.

• From scripture:
  

  We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, (2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV)
  

• From Developing a Biblical Worldview by Mark D. Roberts:

  If you are seeking a biblical worldview, begin at the beginning in Genesis, in the first words of the Bible. From Genesis 1-3 we learn the following, all crucial components of a biblical worldview:

  1. There is one transcendent, sovereign, all-powerful God who created all things.

  2. Matter matters, because God created heaven and earth and saw that all things he created are very good.

  3. The image of God as male and female shows us that God is personal (not a thing or an it) and yet transcendent (not exclusively male or exclusively female).

  4. The image of God as male and female shows us that we human beings are: uniquely valuable; essentially male or female; meant to share life together in a complementary relationship as men and women; created for life in community.

  5. What’s really wrong with us is sin, our rejection of God’s rightful rule over our lives, seen in actions that disobey God.

  6. Sin explains what’s wrong in the world. Sin leads to brokenness between humans, between humans and God, and in creation itself.

  7. A biblical worldview does not minimize or deny the reality of pain and evil, but even the bad news of Genesis 3 offers glimmers of hope. God has not abandoned his creation or his people, but seeks us out. Jesus will ultimately crush the head of serpent, eradicating both sin and its consequences.

  Of course everything I’ve just said assumes the truthfulness of the Bible. A biblical worldview, reasonably enough, rests upon the Bible, and is adopted by people who accept the Bible’s authority and spend time learning its truth. Perhaps one of the most distinctive aspects of a biblical worldview in today’s world is the whole idea of absolute truth.

Learn more:

1. Kenneth Samples: What in the World is a Worldview?
2. Ligon Duncan: What in the World is a Worldview?
3. Mark D. Roberts: Developing a Biblical Worldview
4. Matt Slick: What Are Some Elements of a Christian Worldview?
5. Michael Horton: How Your Theology Shapes Your Worldview
6. New Links! Al Mohler: The Christian Worldview As Master Narrative: Creation; Sin and its Consequences; Redemption Accomplished; The End That Is a Beginning.
7. Greg Bahnsen: Introduction to Worldviews (series of 7 YouTube videos): Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7.

Related terms:

• apologetics

1 From Introduction to Worldviews, Part 1 by Greg Bahnsen.
2 From The Universe Next Door by James Sire.

Do you have a a theological 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.