Theological terms

1689 FederalismA view held among orthodox Christians

The covenant theology of the 1689 London Baptist Confession, which sees the covenant of grace promised in the Old Testament and established in the new covenant.

AmillennialismA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that the thousand years of Revelation 20 describe Christ's present reign from heaven between his first and second comings.

AmyraldianismA view held among orthodox Christians

A view from the French Reformed tradition holding that God first decreed Christ's death for all people on condition of faith, and then elected some to be given that faith.

Apostolic leadershipA view held among orthodox Christians

A form of church government in which a pastor, or a network leader recognized as an apostle, holds personal authority over the church that is not shared with or accountable to a body of elders.

ArminianismA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that God, by grace, enables every person to respond to the gospel, and elects to salvation those He foresees will freely believe.

Broad complementarianismA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that the office of elder belongs to qualified men, but that women may preach or teach mixed audiences under the elders' oversight.

CalvinismA view held among orthodox Christians

The teaching that salvation is wholly God's work, from His choosing of sinners before creation to His keeping them to the end.

CessationismA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that the revelatory and sign gifts, such as prophecy, tongues, and gifts of healing, ceased with the apostles once Scripture was complete.

Christian nationalismA view held among orthodox Christians

A range of views holding that a nation should formally recognise Christianity and order its laws and public life by Christian principles, sometimes tied to a particular national identity.

Christian SabbathA view held among orthodox Christians

The confessional teaching that the fourth commandment still binds Christians, so the Lord's Day is to be kept holy as a whole day of rest and worship.

Church as organizationA view held among orthodox Christians

A pattern in which a church understands and runs itself mainly as an organization that provides services to attenders, led by an executive team, rather than as a body of members under elders.

ComplementarianismA view held among orthodox Christians

The teaching that men and women are equal in worth before God but given different callings, so that the office of pastor or elder, and the preaching of the church's gathered worship, belong to qualified men.

ContinuationismA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that all the spiritual gifts in the New Testament, including prophecy and tongues, continue in the church until Christ returns.

Corruption without guiltA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that we inherit a sinful nature from Adam but not his guilt, so that each person is guilty only for his own sins.

Covenant childrenA view held among orthodox Christians

The teaching, held by paedobaptist churches, that the children of believers belong to the visible church as members of the covenant, though they come to the Lord's Table only after a credible profession of faith.

Covenant of graceA view held among orthodox Christians

God's gracious promise, first announced after the fall, to save sinners through Christ by faith.

Covenant of worksA view held among orthodox Christians

The arrangement Reformed theology sees God making with Adam before the fall, promising life on condition of perfect obedience.

Covenant theologyA view held among orthodox Christians

A way of reading the whole Bible as the story of God's covenants, centred on one covenant of grace administered across both testaments.

CredobaptismA view held among orthodox Christians

The teaching that baptism is for those who personally profess repentance and faith in Christ, normally by immersion.

DeaconessA view held among orthodox Christians

The practice of appointing women to assist the deacons in mercy ministry without ordaining them to the office.

Definite atonementA view held among orthodox Christians

Christ died with the intention of actually securing the salvation of those the Father gave Him, and His death will save every one of them.

DispensationalismA view held among orthodox Christians

A way of reading Scripture that keeps a lasting distinction between Israel and the church, and expects God to fulfil his promises to national Israel in a future earthly kingdom.

Effectual callingA view held among orthodox Christians

God's Spirit inwardly calls the elect in a way that certainly brings them to faith, by renewing their hearts so that they come to Christ willingly.

EgalitarianismA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that no office or ministry in the church is closed to women because of their sex, so women may serve as pastors and elders.

Elder-led congregationalismA view held among orthodox Christians

A form of church government in which a plurality of elders leads each self-governing congregation, while the members together decide matters such as membership, discipline, and the choice of officers.

Entire sanctificationA view held among orthodox Christians

The Wesleyan teaching that believers can, by a second work of grace, be freed from the inward bent to sin and filled with perfect love in this life.

Episcopal polityA view held among orthodox Christians

A form of church government in which bishops, set over many congregations and their clergy, hold the chief authority, usually with priests or presbyters and deacons beneath them.

Exclusive psalmodyA view held among orthodox Christians

The conviction that only the inspired Psalms of Scripture should be sung in the public worship of God, usually without instruments.

Four-point CalvinismA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that affirms total depravity, unconditional election, effectual calling, and perseverance, but holds that Christ died for all people rather than for the elect only.

Framework hypothesisA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that the six days of Genesis 1 are a literary framework arranging God's works by topic, not a timeline of how long creation took.

Holiness codesA view held among orthodox Christians

Written or unwritten rules of conduct, such as standards on dress, entertainment, or alcohol, that a church expects of its members beyond what Scripture explicitly commands.

Initial evidenceA view held among orthodox Christians

The classical Pentecostal teaching that speaking in tongues is the first outward sign that a believer has received the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

Keswick theologyA view held among orthodox Christians

A teaching on holiness, named after conventions held at Keswick, England, which calls believers to a crisis of surrender that brings them into a higher, victorious Christian life.

Lord's DayA view held among orthodox Christians

Sunday, the first day of the week, when Christians gather to worship the risen Christ; on this page, the view that it is a day of worship but not a Christian Sabbath.

Loss of salvationA view held among orthodox Christians

The Arminian and Wesleyan teaching that a true believer can, by persistent unbelief or apostasy, fall away and be finally lost.

MemorialismA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that the Lord's Supper is chiefly a memorial meal, in which believers remember Christ's death and proclaim it, without any special presence of Christ in the Supper.

Midtribulation raptureA view held among orthodox Christians

The premillennial view that the church will be raptured halfway through a seven-year tribulation, before its worst judgements.

MolinismA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that God knows not only what will happen but what every free creature would do in any circumstance, and uses this "middle knowledge" to accomplish His purposes.

Neo-CalvinismA view held among orthodox Christians

A Dutch Reformed tradition that stresses Christ's lordship over every area of life and calls Christians to shape culture, work, and public life by a biblical worldview.

New Covenant theologyA view held among orthodox Christians

A view that the Mosaic law as a whole has been fulfilled and replaced by the law of Christ, so the Ten Commandments bind Christians only as restated in the New Testament.

Normative principleA view held among orthodox Christians

The principle that public worship may include whatever Scripture does not forbid, so long as it is consistent with Scripture and edifying.

Old-earth creationismA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that God created the world directly and purposefully, but over a long period rather than in six ordinary days.

Open but cautiousA view held among orthodox Christians

A position on spiritual gifts that does not rule out prophecy, tongues, or healing today but does not seek or practise them, and tests any claim carefully.

Open communionA view held among orthodox Christians

The practice of inviting to the Lord's Supper anyone present who wishes to come, with little or no guarding by the elders.

PaedobaptismA view held among orthodox Christians

The teaching that baptism, the sign of the covenant of grace, is to be given both to those who profess faith and to the infant children of believers.

Partial preterismA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that many New Testament prophecies, especially in the Olivet Discourse, were fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, while Christ's bodily return is still to come.

PostmillennialismA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that Christ will return after a long age in which the gospel spreads and the nations are widely converted.

PosttribulationismA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that the church will go through the tribulation and be gathered to Christ at his one visible return at its end.

PremillennialismA view held among orthodox Christians

The belief that Christ will return before a literal thousand-year reign on earth.

PresbyterianismA view held among orthodox Christians

A form of church government in which each congregation is ruled by a session of elders, and congregations are joined under higher courts of elders (presbyteries and assemblies) for mutual accountability.

Pretribulation raptureA view held among orthodox Christians

The premillennial view that Christ will take the church from the earth before a seven-year tribulation.

Prewrath raptureA view held among orthodox Christians

The premillennial view that the church will endure the Antichrist's persecution and be raptured just before God pours out his wrath near the end of the tribulation.

Progressive covenantalismA view held among orthodox Christians

A reading of Scripture that traces the biblical covenants as successive steps, each fulfilled and brought to completion in Christ and the new covenant.

Progressive dispensationalismA view held among orthodox Christians

A later form of dispensationalism that sees Christ already reigning on David's throne, while still expecting a future fulfilment of God's promises to national Israel.

ProvisionismA view held among orthodox Christians

A view, common among some Baptists, that God has provided salvation for all through Christ and that every person is able to respond to the gospel without a prior regenerating work.

Real presenceA view held among orthodox Christians

The teaching that Christ's true body and blood are bodily present in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper, as Lutherans confess.

Regulative principleA view held among orthodox Christians

The principle that the public worship of God should include only what He has commanded or appointed in Scripture, whether by explicit command, example, or good and necessary inference.

Second blessingA view held among orthodox Christians

The teaching that, after conversion, believers should seek a distinct experience of the Holy Spirit that brings a new level of holiness or spiritual power.

Single-pastor congregationalismA view held among orthodox Christians

A form of congregational government in which one pastor is the church's only elder, usually alongside deacons and a voting congregation.

Social justice emphasisA view held among orthodox Christians

A church's stance that gives strong, public emphasis to addressing poverty, racism, and other social wrongs as part of its ministry.

Spiritual presenceA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that in the Lord's Supper believers truly feed on Christ, not bodily, but spiritually by faith through the work of the Holy Spirit.

Staff-led churchA view held among orthodox Christians

A church whose decisions are made chiefly by its paid staff or a corporate-style board, rather than by qualified elders shepherding the congregation.

Theistic evolutionA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that God created life, including human bodies, through the long process of evolution that biologists describe.

TheonomyA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that the civil laws of the Old Testament, including their penalties, remain the standard for civil government today unless the New Testament changes them.

TitheA view held among orthodox Christians

Giving a tenth of one's income to God; some churches teach it as binding on Christians, others as a helpful guide for generous, proportional giving.

Two kingdomsA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that Christ rules the church and the civil order in different ways, so the church's calling is to preach the gospel and administer the sacraments rather than to pursue political programmes.

Unconditional electionA view held among orthodox Christians

Before creation God chose particular people to save, out of His free grace and not because of any faith or goodness He foresaw in them.

Women deaconsA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that the office of deacon is open to qualified women as well as men.

Young-earth creationismA view held among orthodox Christians

The view that God created the world in six ordinary days, a few thousand years ago.