Sermons & Devotionals by Dictionary of Theology

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 nat... Read More

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... Read More

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, me... Read More

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.... Read More

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 p... Read More

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.... Read More

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 viola... Read More

The error that there is only one person in the Godhead who manifests himself in three forms or manners: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.... Read More

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 the... Read More

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.... Read More

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.... Read More

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 man... Read More

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 Nestorianis... Read More

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).... Read More

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, deni... Read More

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 w... Read More

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.... Read More

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 ... Read More

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.... Read More

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.... Read More