Theological Term of the Week

grace
God’s unmerited favor toward the undeserving and ill-deserving; God giving sinners better than they deserve.

• From scripture:

  But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. (Romans 11:6 ESV)

  For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV)

  …all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…. (Romans 3:23-24 ESV)

• From Loraine Boettner, Salvation By Grace:

  Time and again the Scriptures repeat the assertion that salvation is of grace, as if anticipating the difficulty which men would have in coming to the conclusion that they could not earn salvation by their own works. Thus also they destroy the widespread notion that God owes salvation to any. “By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man should glory,” Eph. 2:8, 9. “But if it is of grace, it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace,” Rom. 11:6. “By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified,” Rom. 3:20. “Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt,” Born. 4:4. “Who maketh thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive?” I Cor. 4:7. “By the grace of God I am what I am,” I Cor. 15:10. “Who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?” Born. 11:35. “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord,” Rom. 6:23.

  Grace and works are mutually exclusive; and as well might we try to bring the two poles together as to effect a coalition of grace and works in salvation. As well might we talk of a “purchased gift,” as to talk of “conditional grace,” for when grace ceases to be absolute it ceases to be grace. Therefore when the Scriptures say that salvation is of grace we are to understand that it is through its whole process the work of God and that any truly meritorious works done by man are the result of the change which has already been wrought.

• C. Samuel Storms in The Grandeur of God:

  The first and possibly most fundamental characteristic of divine grace is that it presupposes sin and guilt. Grace has meaning only when men are seen as fallen, unworthy of salvation, and liable to eternal wrath… Grace does not contemplate sinners merely as undeserving but as ill-deserving… It is not simply that we do not deserve grace; we do deserve hell.

Learn more:

1. Bob Deffinbaugh: The Grace of God
   
2. Bernie L. Gilespie: Questions About Grace
3. Ian Hamilton: What Is Grace? (mp3)
4. My own post: God’s Grace

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.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. Credit will be given for any of these suggestions I use, too.

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

Theological Term of the Week

compatibilism
In theology, this is the view that God’s exhaustive sovereignty (or his predetermination and meticulous providence*) is compatible with morally responsible human choice.

• From scripture:

  Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. (Acts 2:22-23 ESV)

• From The London Baptist Confession, Chapter 3: Of God’s Decree:

  God hath decreed in himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things, whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin nor hath fellowship with any therein; nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established; in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing his decree.

• Dr. Greg Bahnsen in Cross-Examination: Foreordination & Free Will:

  Question: But if God predetermines the choices that men make, then they are not truly free choices since men cannot help but do what God has ordained — in which case men are merely puppets without moral responsibility for what they do. How can you reconcile God’s sovereign foreordination with man’s free will?

  Answer: The first thing we have to admit about this pattern of reasoning (viz., God ordained it, so man is not free and responsible) is that it directly contradicts the teaching of God’s infallible word. The Biblical logic says that God’s foreordination does not deprive man of freedom or responsibility. Who can credibly claim to correct God for such an alleged error? Obviously we need to go back and find out what is wrong in our own way of thinking.

  It seems that many people make the mental mistake of thinking that God’s sovereign plan and control over the things in this world somehow changes the very character and operation of those things. Thus if God sovereignly predetermines how a man will use his volition (his free will), then man’s volition is no longer really his volition (his free will is not actually free). But such reasoning is fallacious.

  When we hold that God predetermined that the wind would turn a particular windmill, we do not thereby deny the reality of the wind. When we hold that God predetermined that a glass of water would quench your thirst, you cannot infer from that fact that the water is not truly water. Take for an example the bones of Jesus. We know from Biblical teaching that Jesus had a genuine human body; thus his bones were real human bones — made of the same material as anybody else’s bones and capable of breaking. He did not have steel or super-divine bones. Yet the Bible declared in advance that his bones would not be broken (John 19:36). God predetermined that the bones of Jesus would not be broken, but in so doing God did not alter the nature or those bones as bones. They did not mysteriously become unbreakable material. They still were regular bones.

  Similarly, when the Bible teaches us that God foreordained the free decisions made by men, we should not infer that those free decisions were not really free after all. Man’s volition remains just that — his volition. God is able, according to Biblical teaching and reasoning, to determine in advance that a man will exercise his free will in a particular way — and the man freely does so. Without force or compulsion, the man genuinely chooses to do what God had already foreordained.

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions.org: What is compatibilism?
2. Theopedia: Compatibilism
3. John Hendryx: Compatibilistic Determinism
4. John Frame: Free Will and Moral Responsibility 
5. Matt Perman: The Consistency of Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility
6. Scott Christensen: Comparing Libertarian and Compatibilistic Beliefs on the Human Will (pdf) 
7. John Piper: If God Is Sovereign Over What We Do, How Can He Get Angry at Us?

Related terms:

• decree(s) of God
• free agency
• free will theism
• libertarian free will
• sovereignty (of God)

*Wording taken from Monergism.com’s page on compatibilism.

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.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. Credit will be given for any of these suggestions I use, too.

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

Theological Term of the Week

intercession of Christ
Jesus’s ongoing work in which he brings petitions to the Father on behalf of his people as their great high priest, a work that the risen and ascended Christ continues in heaven in this present age.

• From scripture:

  If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (Romans 8:31-35 ESV)

  The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:23-25 ESV)

• From The Belgic Confession, Article 26: The Intercession of Christ:

  We believe that we have no access to God except through the one and only Mediator and Intercessor: Jesus Christ the Righteous.

  …Suppose we had to find another intercessor. Who would love us more than he who gave his life for us, even though “we were his enemies”? And suppose we had to find one who has prestige and power. Who has as much of these as he who is seated “at the right hand of the Father,” and who has all power “in heaven and on earth”? And who will be heard more readily than God’s own dearly beloved Son?

  …We should not plead here that we are unworthy— for it is not a question of offering our prayers on the basis of our own dignity but only on the basis of the excellence and dignity of Jesus Christ, whose righteousness is ours by faith.

  Since the apostle for good reason wants us to get rid of this foolish fear— or rather, this unbelief— he says to us that Jesus Christ was “made like his brothers in all things,” that he might be a high priest who is merciful and faithful to purify the sins of the people. For since he suffered, being tempted, he is also able to help those who are tempted.

  And further, to encourage us more to approach him he says, “Since we have a high priest, Jesus the Son of God, who has entered into heaven, we maintain our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to have compassion for our weaknesses, but one who was tempted in all things, just as we are, except for sin. Let us go then with confidence to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace, in order to be helped.”

  The same apostle says that we “have liberty to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus. Let us go, then, in the assurance of faith….”

  Likewise, “Christ’s priesthood is forever. By this he is able to save completely those who draw near to God through him who always lives to intercede for them.”

  What more do we need? For Christ himself declares: “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to my Father but by me.”Why should we seek another intercessor?

  Since it has pleased God to give us his Son as our Intercessor, let us not leave him for another— or rather seek, without ever finding. For when God gave him to us he knew well that we were sinners.

• John Bunyan in Christ: A Complete Saviour:
  

  Intercession is prayer; but all prayer is not intercession. Intercession, then, is that prayer that is made by a third person about the concerns that are between two. And it may be made either to set them at further difference, or to make them friends; for intercession may be made against, as well as for, a person or people. ‘Wot ye not what the Scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel.’ (Rom 11:2) But the intercession that we are now to speak of is not an intercession of this kind, not an intercession against, but an intercession for a people. ‘He ever liveth to make intercession for them.’ The high priest is ordained for, but not to be against the people. ‘Every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God,’ to make reconciliation for the sins of the people; or ‘that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.’ (Heb 5:1) This, then, is intercession; and the intercession of Christ is to be between two, between God and man, for man’s good. And it extendeth itself unto these: 1. To pray that the elect may be brought all home to him; that is, to God. 2. To pray that their sins committed after conversion may be forgiven them. 3. To pray that their graces which they receive at conversion may be maintained and supplied. 4. To pray that their persons may be preserved unto his heavenly kingdom.
  

Learn more:

1. NeXtBible: Intercession of Christ
2. John McDuff: Christ the Intercessor
   
3. Francis Turretin: The Intercession of Christ
4. Wayne Grudem: Christ as Prophet Priest and King: Part 1, Part 2 (mp3s)
   

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.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. Credit will be given for any of these suggestions I use, too.

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