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Laity
The members of the church who are not
in the clergy. Clergy
are the body of people ordained to perform religious tasks.
Naturalistic evolution
The theory that the universe is many
billions of years old and that after a long period of time, all
galaxies, stars, planets, and life on earth evolved. This
evolution was without divine intervention. Compare with
creationism.
Law
The Law is God's instructions concerning
the moral, social, and spiritual behavior of His people found in the
first five books of the Bible. The Law is the very reflection of the
nature of God because God speaks out of the abundance of what is in Him.
Therefore, since God is pure, the Law is pure. Since God is holy, the
Law is holy. The Law consists of the 10 commandments (Exodus 20),
rules for social life (Exodus 21
- 23), and rules for the
worship of God (Exodus 25 - 31). It was a covenant of works
between God and man and was (and is) unable to deliver us into eternal
fellowship with the Lord because of Man's inability to keep it. The Law
is a difficult taskmaster because it requires that we maintain a perfect
standard of moral behavior. And then when we fail, the Law condemns us
to death. We deserve death even if we fail to keep just one point of the
law: "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one
point, he has become guilty of all" (James 2:10).
The law made nothing perfect (Heb. 7:19). That is why the Law
has shown us our need for Jesus and the free gift we receive through Him
(Gal. 3:24).
Law of non-contradiction
The Law of non-contradiction is the law that
something cannot be both true and not true at the same time when dealing
with the same context. For example, the chair in my living room, right
now, cannot be made of wood and not made of wood at the same time. In
the law of non-contradiction, where we have a set of statements about a
subject, we cannot have any of the statements in that set negate the
truth of any other statement in that same set. For example, we have a
set of two statements about Judas. 1) Judas hung himself. 2) Judas fell
down and his bowels spilled out. Neither statement about Judas
contradicts the other. That is, neither statement makes the other
impossible because neither excludes the possibility of the other. The
statements can be harmonized by stating: Judas hung himself and then his
body fell down and his bowels spilled out.
In order to make the set of statements
contradictory, we would have something like: 1) Judas hung himself. 2)
Judas did not hang himself. Since either statement excludes the
possibility of the other, we would then have a contradiction.
Laying on of hands
Physical contact by touching of the hands. In
the OT and NT it was sometimes used in reference to doing physical harm
(Gen. 22:12; Luke 20:19). In the NT it is
also used to signify an attempt at healing (Acts 9:12) and commissioning
of Holy Work (1 Tim. 4:14).
Usually, during the ordination of an elder, hands are laid on him as
symbol of a transfer of authority and power.
Liberalism
In Christianity,
the movement away from traditional orthodoxy often in an attempt to
harmonize biblical teachings with science, humanism, or other secular
fields. The result is often a denial of essential biblical
doctrines such as the Trinity, the deity of Christ, His virgin birth,
His resurrection, and salvation by grace.
Limited atonement
The teaching held
in Reformed (Calvinist) circles of Christianity that Jesus bore only the
sins of the elect, and not that of the entire world. It maintains
that the sacrifice was sufficient for all, but intended for the elect.
Logic
From the Greek “logos” meaning “word.”
Logic is study of the principles of reasoning. A set of premises that
are examined and arranged so as to bring a conclusion. If A = B and B =
C, then A = C.
Deductive logic is the method of validating a
claim by means of supportive information where both the claim and the
information are necessarily true. For example, People exist. All people
breathe. Therefore, all people breathe.
Inductive logic is the method of drawing a
conclusion from a set of supportive information, yet the conclusion has
not yet been verified. For example, each night I get tired at 10 PM.
Therefore, I conclude that tonight, I will be tired at 10 PM.
Logos
The Greek word for
"word." Mentioned only in the writings of John. John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word
[logos] and the Word [logos] was with God and the Word [logos] was
God." The Logos is sometimes used to refer to the second person
of the Trinity as the Son in pre-incarnate form. Jesus is the word
[logos] made flesh (John 1:1,14).
LXX
See
Septuagint, The
Man
Man is the creation of God. It is man
alone who reflects God. The first man, Adam, was made in God's image (Gen. 1:2627),
and placed in the Garden of Eden for the purpose of enjoying the
fellowship of the Lord and fulfilling the purpose of God's creation. He
was told to "be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and
subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the
sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth" (Gen. 1:28). When Adam and Eve
sinned, all of humanity fell with them (Rom. 5:12-21). Adam represented
all humanity: "In Adam all die..." (1 Cor. 15:22). As a result
of Adam's disobedience, condemnation resulted to all men (Rom. 5:18). Therefore we are
by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3).
We do not seek God (Rom. 3:11)
nor can we understand the spiritual things of God (1 Cor. 2:14). Since this is the
condition of man in his natural state, salvation is then impossible for
us to achieve (Matt. 19:26).
That is why we need the free gift of salvation (Rom. 6:23) given by God to
Christians through faith in Jesus' sacrifice on the cross.
Manuscript
A document or a copy of an original writing.
There are thousands of existing manuscripts of the biblical documents
ranging from vellum (animal skins) to papyri (plant material) upon which
the original and copies of the original writings were made.
Martyr
Someone who dies for a belief or cause. A
Christian martyr would be a person who dies because of his or her faith
in Christian principles.
Mass
In Catholicism, a reenactment of the sacrifice
of Christ on the cross in a ceremony performed by a priest. This ceremony is
symbolically carried out by the priest and involves Consecration where
the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus.
Materialism
The position that only material things exist
and that all other things can be explained in terms of matter and the
physical properties of matter.
Means of Grace
This is associated with sacramental
theology. A means of grace is a manner in which the Lord imparts
grace to a believer as he partakes in the sacrament. A sacrament
is a visible manifestation of the word. The bread and wine in the Lord's
Supper are considered sacraments in that they are visible manifestations
of the covenant promise of our Lord: "In the same way, after
the supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my
blood, which is poured out for you.'" (Luke 22:20).
Generally, the means of grace are considered to be the Gospel, baptism,
and the Lord’s Supper. The Catholic church has seven
total: baptism, confirmation, communion, penance, extreme unction,
holy orders, and matrimony.
Mediation,
Mediator
A mediator is someone who intervenes,
someone who conveys and conciliates. The word "mediator" is
not found in the O.T., but its principle is. God gave the Law to the
people through a mediator, Moses (Gal. 3:19), who was a
type of the true mediator, Jesus. The word occurs only a few times in
the N.T.: 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:6; 9:15; 12:24. It is in the N.T. that
the true nature of mediation is understood in the person of Jesus
Christ. He is the mediator of a better covenant (Heb. 8:6). He was able to become our
mediator by becoming man (John 1:1,14) and dying as our substitute (1 Pet. 1:18,19; 2:24). He reconciled us to God (Eph. 2:16).
Mercy
Mercy is the act of not administering
justice when that justice is punitive. Because of our sinfulness we
deserve death and eternal separation from God (Rom. 6:23;
Isaiah 59:2), but God
provided an atonement for sin and through it shows us mercy. That is, He
does not deliver to the Christian the natural consequence of his sin
which is damnation. That is why Jesus became sin on our behalf (2 Cor. 5:21) and bore the
punishment due to us (Isaiah
5345). It was to deliver us from damnation. (Compare with justice
and grace.)
God saved us according to His mercy (Titus 3:5) and we can practice
mercy as a gift (Rom. 12:8). "Let us therefore draw near with
confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may
find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16).
Messiah
Messiah is a Hebrew word. It means
"anointed one." It is the equivalent of the N.T. word
"Christ" which also means "anointed." Jesus, as the
messiah, was anointed by God (Matt. 3:16) to carry
out His three-fold ministry of Prophet, Priest, and King. As the messiah
He has delivered the Christian from the bonds of sin and given to him
eternal life. In that sense, messiah means deliverer, for He has
delivered us. The Messiah was promised in the O.T. in the seed of the
woman (Gen. 3:15).
Metaphysics
The branch of philosophy involved with
examining and discussing the ultimate nature of reality. The term comes
from "meta" which means "after" and "phusika"
which means "physics." Around A.D. 70 Andronicus
applied to the section of Aristotelian writings that came after the
physics section; hence, metaphysics.
In the New Age,
metaphysics deals with spiritual concepts such as reincarnation, auras, chakras, Ascended
Masters, etc. and other such ideas of a spiritual nature not
generally associated with Christianity.
Middle Knowledge
That knowledge of God dealing with what
individuals will do in a given set of circumstances. God has an infinite
set of potential circumstances that could exist and knows all actual
choices that would be made by individuals in each set. (See also Free Knowledge
and Natural knowledge.)
Millennium
Literally, this word means 1000 years. In
the study of end time doctrines (eschatology) the millennium is the
period of time of Christ's rulership. The debate has been over when
the millennium will take place and what what form will it actually be. The terms that
have arisen out of this debate are premillennialism, amillennialism, and
postmillennialism. Premillennialism teaches that the millennium is yet
future and that upon Christ's return He will set up His earthly kingdom.
Amillennialism teaches that the millennium is a figurative period and
that Christ's rule began when He first became man. Postmillennialism
teaches that through the preaching of the Word of God, the world will be
converted and will then usher in Christ and the kingdom of God. There
are good arguments for each position.
Minuscule
The Greek characters of lower case: abgde, etc.
Different copies of Greek manuscripts appear in minuscule form. By
contrast, uncials are the Greek characters in upper case.
Miracle
A miracle is an out-of-the-ordinary direct
and divine intervention in the world. Examples would be the parting of
the Red Sea, Jesus walking on water, the resurrection of Lazarus, etc.
Some hold that it is a violation of the natural order of physical laws.
Others maintain that there is no such violation upon God's part but only
a natural manifestation of His work.
They are also known as powers and signs (Mark
9:39; Acts 2:22, 19:11) and mighty works (John 10:25-28). They are a
manifestation of the power of God over nature (Joshua 10:121-14), animals (Num. 22:28), people (Gen. 19:26), and illness (2 Kings 5:1014). They are
produced by God's power (Acts
15:12), Christ's power (Matt.
10:1), and the Holy Spirit's power (Matt. 12:28).
Modalism
The error that there is only one person in the
Godhead who manifests himself in three forms or manners: Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit.
Monarchianism
Monarchianism (mono - "one";
arche - "rule") was an error concerning the nature of God that
developed in the second century A.D. It arose as an attempt to maintain
Monotheism and refute tritheism. Unfortunately, it also contradicts the
orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. Monarchianism teaches that there is
one God as one person: the Father. Please see Heresies for more information.
Monergism
The teaching that God alone is the one who
saves. It is opposed to synergism which teaches that God and man work
together in salvation. Cults are synergistic. Christianity is
monergistic.
Monism
The view that there is only one basic and
fundamental reality, that all existence is this one reality even though
we perceive different aspects of this reality.
Monophysitism
This is an error regarding the two natures
of Jesus (See Hypostatic Union). It
states that Jesus' two natures are combined into one new one; the
problem here is that neither God nor man was represented in Christ but a
new third thing. (Other errors regarding the two natures of Christ are Nestorianism and Eutychianism.)
Monolatry
The belief that there is more than one
God, but only one is served and worshiped. Mormonism is an excellent
example of monolatry. Mormonism teaches the existence of many Gods of
many worlds, yet worships only the one of this planet. Therefore,
monolatry is a division of polytheism, the belief in many gods. It is a
false teaching contrary to Scripture. See Isaiah 43:10; 44:6,8; 45:5-6.
Monotheism
The belief that there is only one God in
all places at all times. There were none before God and there will be
none after Him. Monotheism is the teaching of the Bible (Isaiah
43:10; 44:6,8; 45:5,14,18,21,22; 46:9; 47:8; John 17:3; 1 Cor. 8:5-6; Gal. 4:89).
Moral government theology
A theological error that maintains that God is
not immutable but changes His mind, that He does not exercise sovereign
control over earthly matters, that He does not know all future events -
particularly the free-will choices of individuals, etc.. It denies
that the atonement pays for our sins, denies Jesus’ substitutionary
death, and denies the imputed righteousness of Christ to the
believer. It asserts that people are capable of keeping the whole
Law of God, that there is no depravity of
human nature, and that salvation is up to a person’s free will choice.
Mormonism
A non-Christian cult begun in 1830
by Joseph Smith. The Mormon church, also known as the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, denies the historic Trinity
and efficacious atonement. Some of its unique
doctrines are that God used to be a man on another world who became a
God and came to this world with one of his wives. We all are
literally born in heaven as spirit brothers and sisters and then inhabit
human bodies on earth. For more information on this cult, please
see Mormonism on CARM.
Mortal Sin
In Catholicism, a serious and willful
transgression of God's Law. It involves full knowledge and intent of the
will to commit the sin. If left unrepentant, according to Catholicism,
can damn someone to eternal hell. Mortal sin is more serious than venial Sin.
Natural knowledge
A term used in describing a type of knowledge
possessed by God. Often it is raised in discussions dealing with
individuals’ free will and God’s infinite knowledge. God’s natural
knowledge would be His knowledge of all things of potential existence
influenced by individuals though not necessarily in actual existence.
God knows this set of knowledge from all eternity, before the creation
of the universe. It is called natural because it is a natural attribute
of God’s existence. See also Free Knowledge and Middle
Knowledge.
Naturalism
The belief that all of human experience can be
described through natural law. It asserts that biological
evolution is true and that there are no supernatural realities.
Neo-orthodoxy
A focus on existential and psychological
aspects of religious experience and denounces the literalism of the
Bible. Experience with the divine is what makes scripture real,
not biblical revelation, not reason. Neo orthodoxy is
subjective and selective in its "orthodox" positions.
Nestorianism
States that the two natures of Christ were
so separated from each other that they were "not in contact";
the problem here is that worship of the human Jesus would then not be
allowed. (See also Hypostatic Union, Eutychianism, and Monophycitism.)
Nun
Especially in the Roman
Catholic Church, those women who consecrate their lives to spiritual
service and various religious orders. They do not marry and are
normally virgins.
Objectivism
A branch of
philosophy which asserts that reality exists apart from the human mind
and that the knowledge of this reality is based upon observation.
Occam's Razor
The philosophical rule that the simplest
explanation is preferred over the more complicated one and that
explanations should be first proposed in relation to concepts that are
already known. Another way of seeing it is to say that the fewer
assumptions that need to be made to support an explanation of something,
the better. The principle is attributed to William Occam of the
fourteenth century.
Occult
Occult means "hidden". It covers
practices that are not approved of by God e.g., astrology (Isaiah
47:13), casting spells (Deut.
18:11), consulting with spirits (Deut. 18:11), magic (Gen. 41:8), sorcery (Exodus. 22:8), witchcraft (Deut. 18:10), and spiritism (Deut. 18:11).
Occult practices such as Ouija boards,
tarot cards, astrology charts, contacting the dead, séances, etc. are
to be avoided by the Christian and Jews alike.
Omnipotence
An attribute of God alone. It is the
quality of having all power (Psalm 115:3). He can do
all things that do not conflict with His holy nature. God has the power
to do anything He wants to.
Omnipresence
An attribute of God alone. It is the
quality of being present in all places at all times (Jer.
23:23.4). He is not bound by time and space. This does not mean that
nature is a part of God and is, therefore, to be worshiped. Creation is
separate from God, but not independent of Him.
Omniscience
An attribute of God alone. It is the
quality of having all knowledge (Isaiah 40:14).
Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Omniscience represent the nature of God
concerning His relation to the creation.
Ontological Argument
An attempt to
prove God’s existence first postulated by Anselm. In brief, it states
that God is a being of which no greater thing exists or can be thought
of. Therefore, since we can conceive of God as the greatest of all
things that exist, then God must exist.
Ontology
The study of the nature of being, reality, and
substance.
Oracles
Oracles are the divine revelations given
to God's people. God's method of communicating these oracles varied from
dreams and visions (Num. 12:6-8), to wisdom (Prov. 30:1), and even the
Urim and Thummim (Num. 27:21;
1 Sam. 14:337).1
Ordination
In Christianity it is the ceremony of
consecration to ministry. It is usually administered by a commissioning
and a laying on of hands.
Ordo salutis
Latin for “order of salvation.”
Theologically it is the order of decrees by God in bringing about the
salvation of individuals. In the Reformed camp, the ordo solutis is 1) election, 2) predestination, 3) calling, 4) regeneration, 5) faith,
6) repentance, 7) justification, 8) sanctification, and 9)
glorification. In the Arminian camp, the ordo soluits is 1) calling, 2)
faith, 3) repentance, 4) regeneration, 5) justification, 6)
perseverance, 7) glorification.
Original Sin
This is a term used to describe the effect
of Adam's sin on his descendants (Rom. 5:12-23).
Specifically, it is our inheritance of a sinful nature from Adam. The
sinful nature originated with Adam and is passed down from parent to
child. We are by nature children of wrath (Eph. 2:3).
Orthodoxy
Belief in the standards of accepted and true
doctrines taught in the Bible. see Heterodoxy.
______________
1. The Urim and Thummim were placed in the breastplate of the high priest (Exodus 28:30) and were used as a means of communication with God. They mean "light" and "perfection". Unfortunately, they are not described anywhere in the Bible. Some theories maintain that they were twelve stones that made up part of the High Priest's garments. The process of the communication with God is not given either.
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