Theological Term of the Week: Apostle

apostle
Used technically to refer to one of the body of disciples chosen by Jesus Christ to be witnesses to his resurrection, first proclaimers of the gospel, and founders his church; also used more generally to refer to others in the early church who served as messengers of the churches.

• From scripture: 

  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19–22, ESV) 

• From The MacArthur New Testament Commentary on 1 Corinthians 12: 

The first of the gifted men in the New Testament church were the apostles, of whom Jesus Christ Himself is foremost (Heb. 3:1). The basic meaning of apostle (apostolos) is simply that of one sent on a mission. In its primary and most technical sense apostle is used in the New Testament only of the twelve, including Matthias, who replaced Judas (Acts 1:26), and of Paul, who was uniquely set apart as apostle to the Gentiles (Gal. 1:15–17; cf. 1 Cor. 15:7–9; 2 Cor. 11:5). The qualifications for that apostleship were having been chosen directly by Christ and having witnessed the resurrected Christ (Mark 3:13; Acts 1:22–24). Paul was the last to meet those qualifications (Rom. 1:1; etc.). It is not possible therefore, as some claim, for there to be apostles in the church today. Some have observed that the apostles were like delegates to a constitutional convention. When the convention is over, the position ceases. When the New Testament was completed, the office of apostle ceased.

Learn more:

1. Bible Study Tools: Apostle
2. Got Questions.org: What is an apostle? and What are the biblical qualifications for apostleship?
3. Ligonier Ministries: What Was an Apostle?
4. Grace to You: What Is an Apostle? 

Related terms: 

• deacons
• elders
• gospel
• saints 

Filed under Ecclesiology

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Theological Term of the Week: Union With Christ

union with Christ
“That intimate, vital, and spiritual union between Christ and His people, in virtue of which He is the source of their life and strength, of their their blessedness and salvation.”1 

• From scripture: 

  I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 ESV)

  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he 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 1:3-14)

• From The Westminster Larger Catechism: 

  Question 66: What is that union which the elect have with Christ?

  Answer: The union which the elect have with Christ is the work of God’s grace, whereby they are spiritually and mystically, yet really and inseparably, joined to Christ as their head and husband; which is done in their effectual calling.

• From Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray: 

  Union with Christ is the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation. All to which the people of God have been predestined in the eternal election of God, all that has been secured and procured for them in the once-for-all accomplishment of redemption, all of which they become the actual partakers in the application of redemption, and all that by God’s grace they will become in the state of consummated bliss is embraced within the compass of union and communion with Christ. …[I]t is adoption into the family of God as sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty that accords to the people of God the apex of blessing an privilege. But we cannot think of adoption apart from union with Christ. It is significant that the election in Christ before the foundation of the world is election unto the adoption of sons. When Paul says that the Father chose a people in Christ before the foundation of the world that they should be holy he also adds that in love he predestined them unto adoption through Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:4, 5). Apparently election to holiness is parallel to predestination to adoption—these are two ways of expressing the same great truth. They disclose to us the different facets which belong to the Father’s election. Hence union with Christ and adoption are complementary aspects of this amazing grace Union with Christ reaches its zenith in adoption and adoption has its orbit in union with Christ. The people of God are “heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17). All things are theirs whether life or death or things present or things to come all are theirs, because they are united to him in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and they are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power.

• From Systematic Theology by Robert Letham, a summary of the biblical doctrine of union with Christ: 

  Union with Christ is central to soteriology. It is rooted in the great Trinitarian events of creation, incarnation, and Pentecost. The creation account demonstrates, besides the Creator-creature distinction, the inherent compatibility of God and humanity. In the incarnation the Son takes a human nature of his own into permanent union. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit comes to indwell or saturate Christ’s church and so to bring us into living union with Christ the Son. This union is expressed both in representational terms, in atonement and justification, and transformatively, as the Spirit conforms us to Christ gradually in this era and fully at the eschaton. Currently, he uses the Word and sarcaments as means to effect this transformation, which is hidden from the world and not yet fully known to us.

Learn more:

1. Marcus Peter Johnson: 10 Things You Should Know About Union With Christ
2. Joshua Steely: Union With Christ Is Everything
3. David Strain: Union With Christ: A Neglected Truth
4. Louis Berkhof: The Mystical Union
5. Timothy W. Massaro: 3 Things to Know About Union With Christ
6. Michael Reeves: Christian Life as Union With Christ
7. Philip Ryken: Union With Christ: A Matter of Spiritual Life and Death

Related terms: 

• adoption
• effectual call
• election
• federal head
  
• glorification
• imputation
• justification
• penal substitution
• sanctification

Filed under Salvation

2From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof

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Theological Term of the Week: Universalism

universalism
The view that all persons will be saved in the end, even those who die in unbelief.

• Scripture that teaches against universalism: 

  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. (Matthew 25:46 ESV)

  And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” (Revelation 14:9-11 ESV) 

• From The London Baptist Confession of Faith, 1689: 

  Chapter 32: The Last Judgment
  
  1. God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given by the Father. In that day, the apostate angels will be judged. So also, all people who have lived on the earth will appear before the judgment seat of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds and to receive a reckoning according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil. 
  
  2. God’s purpose for appointing this day is to manifest the glory of his mercy in the eternal salvation of the elect, and of his justice in the eternal damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient.For at that time the righteous will go into everlasting life and receive fullness of joy and glory with everlasting rewards in the presence of the Lord. But the wicked, who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, will be thrown into everlasting torments and punished with everlasting destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.

• From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof: 

  The question of the eternity of the future punishment deserves more special consideration, however, because it is frequently denied. It is said that the words used in Scripture for “everlasting” and “eternal” may simply denote an “age” or a “dispensation,” or any other long period of time. Now it cannot be doubted that they are so used in some passages, but this does not prove that they always have that limited meaning. It is not the literal meaning of these terms. Whenever they are so used, they are used figuratively, and in such cases their figurative use is generally quite evident from the connection. Moreover, there are positive reasons for thinking that these words do not have that limited meaning in the passages to which we referred. (a) In Matt. 25:46 the same word describes the duration of both, the bliss of the saints and the penalty of the wicked. If the latter is not, properly speaking, unending, neither is the former; and yet many of those who doubt eternal punishment, do not doubt everlasting bliss. (b) Other expressions are used which cannot be set aside by the consideration mentioned in the preceding. The fire of hell is called an “unquenchable fire,” Mark 9:43; and it is said of the wicked that “their worm dieth not,” Mark 9:48. Moreover, the gulf that will separate saints and sinners in the future is said to be fixed and impassable, Luke 16:26.

Learn more:

1. Got Questions.org: Is Universalism Biblical?
2. Andrew Moody: False Comfort: The Treacherous Gospel of Wrathless Universalism
3. Richard Baucham: Univeralism: A Historical Survey
4. Archibald Alexander: Universalism: False and Unscriptural
5. Todd Pruitt: If God Is Love, Then Why Won’t Everyone Be Saved?
6. Michael J. McClymond: The Many Fish That Swim in the Universalist Pond

Related terms: 

• annihilationism
• exclusivism
• inclusivism
• pluralism

Filed under Defective Theology

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