Leitourgia

Most Calvinists are very content with their beliefs until it comes to the “L” in TULIP – limited atonement. In fact, many Christians will call themselves four-point Calvinists , agreeing with everything but limited atonement. Limited atonement leads to the doctrine of predestination , the idea that God has chosen certain people from birth who will be saved and go to Heaven and those who will be damned to Hell. The reason this belief is unpopular is because it makes grace seem offensive, God exclusive, and the faith not about relationship but about who God loves most. Arminians and other opponents will be quick to point out that predestination appears to be against God’s loving nature. But predestination is not some random speculation or a cult theory, but rather, it is biblically-rooted. Throughout the Bible, God chooses certain people to fulfil His work – Abraham, Noah, Paul, Jeremiah, just to name a few. In the Reformed ordo salutis (order of salvation), election comes fir...

The Nicene Creed (well, technically, it’s the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed ...but that’s not nearly as sexy) is one of three ecumenical creeds that nutshells basic Christian beliefs and particularly hones in on the doctrine of the Trinity. This creed is more than a cobwebbed document that sits in a library; it is a living manifesto of the Gospel! First established at the Council of Nicea in 325, the final stanza regarding the Holy Spirit was not appended until the Council of Constantinople in 381. Pneumatological theology had not been fully developed at the time of Nicea, especially because the council was focused on Christological heresy, in particular Arianism , who egregiously taught that the Son was created. But Arius was a charismatic and clever marketer, singing catchy musical jingles to declare that “there was a time when the Son was not.” As St. Athanasius and many of his opponents argued, if the Son was created, then he is less than the Father. Hence, the Nicene Creed...

Theology may sound like a dusty, esoteric subject reserved for academia – but the opposite is true! Theology leads us into a deeper understanding of God, humanity, and the world in which we live. Understanding correct theology ( orthodoxy ) allows us to live God-centered, theologically-sound lives as we practice Christian doctrine ( orthopraxy ). The initial question which arises is quite simple – what is theology? In short, theology is the study of God! If we break apart the word, we see theo , meaning “God,” and logos, meaning “word” or “speech.” You may be familiar with St. John’s prologue to his gospel, in which he declares, “In the beginning was the Word [Logos] ” (Jn. 1:1). In other words, we could translate theology as “God talk”! And that truly is what theology is – talking about God in a coherent way. Theology is more than just taking scattered opinions and different references and smattering them together; rather, theology is talking about God in a way that makes sen...

Theology is not a made-up field of study; we have sources that inform our theological understanding. Perhaps the most well-known approach to discerning a doctrine is the Wesleyan Quadrilateral – named after the famous reformer John Wesley. (It is important to note that, although the concept is named after Wesley, he himself did not create it.) As we seek to understand a Christian belief, we go to four points on this geometric hermeneutic: Scripture. God’s word is the first and foremost source for informing our theology. It has complete authority and trumps all other sources. Tradition. How has the Christian church historically handled this doctrine? Often, the church has been faced with opposition, which forced it into crafting a specific doctrine, as we will discover in our studies on Christology and pneumatology. Reason. God gave us minds for a reason. Does it make sense? Experience. This is the weakest of the sides, but how we experience God does matter. The key is t...