On November 13 I titled one of the blog articles - "Bible test"
I listed several words that I encouraged us to know and be able to explain. Here is a quick review of those words and their definitions.
1. Saving faith - this is the faith that is satisfied with all that God is in Jesus Christ as we have received Him and continue to believe in Him. It is the condition or state of the heart that depends, relies and trusts in Jesus Christ above anything else.
It is important to understand that this is not just a mental accent to the facts about Christ. A person can believe that Jesus Christ came to earth, lived a human life, died on a cross and rose from the dead. All these facts are historically accurate but they do not save anybody. In James 2:19 - You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. Even the demons believe these facts about Jesus mentioned above but they are not saved.
2. Grace - the free and undeserved work of God to bring His people to glory, or God's work of goodness toward His people who only deserve His punishment.
3. Justification - an instantaneous legal act of God in which he: (a) thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ's righteousness as belonging to us, and (b) declares us to be righteous in His sight.
4. Redemption - Christ's saving work viewed as an act of "buying back" sinners out of their bondage to sin and to Satan through the payment of ransom.
5. Propitiation - A sacrifice, namely Jesus Christ, that bears and absorbs the wrath of God till the end and in so doing changes God's wrath toward us into favor.
6. Righteousness - the doctrine that God always acts in accordance with what is right and that he is Himself the final standard of what is right.
If we ask what is the most right thing that God can do according to the Scriptures it is to glorify Himself!
7. Law - a rule of action.
(1.) The Law of Nature is the will of God as to human conduct, founded on the moral difference of things, and discoverable by natural light (Rom. 1:20; 2:14, 15). This law binds all men at all times. It is generally designated by the term conscience, or the capacity of being influenced by the moral relations of things.
(2.) The Ceremonial Law prescribes under the Old Testament the rites and ceremonies of worship. This law was obligatory only till Christ, of whom these rites were typical, had finished his work (Heb. 7:9, 11; 10:1; Eph. 2:16). It was fulfilled rather than abrogated by the gospel.
(3.) The Judicial Law, the law which directed the civil policy of the Hebrew nation.
(4.) The Moral Law is the revealed will of God as to human conduct, binding on all men to the end of time. It was promulgated at Sinai. It is perfect (Ps. 19:7), perpetual (Matt. 5:17, 18 ), holy (Rom. 7:12), good, spiritual ( 14), and exceeding broad (Ps. 119:96).
