State of Theology Answer Guide

1. God is a perfect being and cannot make a mistake.

  • The Bible tells us that God and His ways are perfect (Ps. 18:30; Matt. 5:48). His law is perfect (Ps. 19:7), as is His will (Rom. 12:2), and only a perfect being can have a perfect will and can reveal a perfect law.

2. There is one true God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, & God the Holy Spirit.

  • Although people worship many different gods, there is in fact only one true and living God—the God of Israel, who is revealed in the Bible (Jer. 10:10; John 17:3; 1 Tim. 2:5). In this one God are three coeternal and coequal persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit—each of whom possesses all of the attributes of God (Matt. 28:19; Rom. 1:1–4; 8:1–11; 2 Cor. 13:14). These three persons can be distinguished by personal properties—the Father is unbegotten, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father, and the Spirit proceeds eternally from the Father and the Son—but none of them is more divine or less divine than the others (Gen. 1:1–2; Ps. 110:1; John 1:1, 18; 5:18; 16:7, 13–15; Acts 2:33; 5:3–4). Historically, another way of saying this is to confess that God is one in essence and three in person.

3. God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

  • God tells us that we “shall have no other gods” before Him, and He commands us to keep ourselves from idols, which include deities that are not the one true God revealed in the Bible (Ex. 20:3; 1 John 5:21). He is against false prophets and the worship of false gods, and He commands all people to repent and to trust in Christ in order to escape His judgment (Jer. 18:15; Ezek. 13:9; Acts 17:29–31). God does not accept any worship unless it is offered in spirit and truth, which is worship that approaches the one true God through Christ the Mediator (John 4:24; 14:6; 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 7:25); thus, God does not accept the worship of all religions but accepts only the worship offered in Christianity.

4. God learns and adapts to different circumstances.

  • Scripture makes clear that God does not change (Mal. 3:6; James 1:17). His omniscience means that He knows all things and has no need of learning. Neither must He adapt to changing circumstances, for as the eternal and sovereign King of the universe, His will was established before the creation of the world (Eph. 1:4) and His plans are eternal and unchanging (Isa. 46:10; Ps. 33:11).

5. Biblical accounts of the physical (bodily) resurrection of Jesus are completely accurate.  This event actually occurred.

  • The four Gospels teach the history of the earthly life and ministry of Jesus, and they are based on accounts from eyewitnesses who heard what Jesus said and saw what He did (Matt. 9:9; Luke 1:1–4; John 21:20–24). These Gospels all agree that Jesus was raised from the dead bodily (Matt. 28:1–10; Mark 16:1–8; Luke 24:1–49; John 20:1–28). The historical fact of the bodily resurrection of Jesus is so important that the Apostle Paul tells us that the Christian faith is false if Jesus did not rise from the dead (1 Cor. 15:12–28).

6. Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God.

  • The Son of God—whom we now know as the God-man Jesus Christ—is God and was in the beginning with God (John 1:1). He is from all eternity and has always existed according to His divine nature (John 8:58; Col. 1:19). Thus, the Son of God, according to His divine nature, is uncreated, and there has never been a time when He did not exist.

7. Jesus was a great teacher, but He was not God.

  • Jesus was certainly a great teacher (Matt. 7:28–29; Luke 2:47; 4:32. He was, however, also truly God (Luke 22:70; John 1:1; 10:30; Col. 2:9).

8. God created male and female.

  • Genesis 1:27 teaches that when God created mankind in His image, He created both male and female in His image. Jesus later appeals to this essential teaching of the Bible to ground His teaching on marriage and divorce (Matt. 19:3–9).

9. The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.

  • The Holy Spirit can be grieved and lied to (Isa. 63:10; Acts 5:3; Eph. 4:30). He can also speak (Heb. 3:7–11; 10:15–17). An impersonal force can do none of these things, so these personal characteristics indicate that the Holy Spirit must be a person & as such, a personal being.

10. The Holy Spirit can tell me to do something which is forbidden in the Bible.

  • “God is not a God of confusion but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33); thus, God cannot contradict Himself, for that would cause confusion. Since the Holy Spirit is God and since God ultimately authored the Bible (Acts 5:3–5; 2 Tim. 3:16–17), the Holy Spirit will never contradict Himself by telling us to do something that is forbidden in the Bible.

11. Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.

  • Since the fall of Adam and Eve, human beings (except Jesus Christ) have been born into sin. According to God’s perfect standard, “none is righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:9–18), and apart from God’s grace, the intentions of our hearts are evil from our youth and our thoughts are evil continually because we do not seek the glory of God (Gen. 6:5; 8:21).

12. Even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation.

  • God does not grade on a curve but demands that we “be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). If we fail to keep even one of God’s commandments, we are guilty of breaking the entire law and are under the divine curse, from which only Jesus can save us (Gal. 3:10–14; James 2:10).

13. God counts a person as righteous not because of one’s works but only because of one’s faith in Jesus Christ.

  • God does not save us “because of works done by us in righteousness” (Titus 3:4–7). We are justified—counted as righteous—by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone (Luke 18:9–14; Rom. 4; Gal. 3:1–9; Eph. 2:8–9).

14. Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God.

  • Adam and Eve were originally created innocent (Gen. 1:31), but because of Adam’s sin in the garden (Gen. 3:6), humanity has been plummeted into a state of corruption. All of Adam’s descendants, except Jesus Christ, have inherited this condition of sinfulness and are born with a sin nature (Rom. 5:18–19; Eph. 2:3).

15. The Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true.

  • The Bible presents itself not as a record of ancient myths but as literal truth. It records actual historical events such as the destruction of Jerusalem and the policies of Cyrus that are also described by ancient historians (2 Kings 25:1–21; 2 Chron. 36:22–23). The Apostle Paul assumes that Adam was not a mythological figure but a real person (Rom. 5:12–21). Paul says the Christian faith is in vain if the historical events recorded in the Bible did not actually happen (1 Cor. 15:14).

16. The Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches.

  • All Scripture—the Bible—is breathed out by God, and His words are truth (John 17:17; 2 Tim. 3:16–17). Every word of God proves true and the sum of His Word is truth (Ps. 119:160; Prov. 30:5), so the Bible cannot be anything less than fully accurate in all that it teaches.

17. Modern science disproves the Bible.

  • God reveals Himself both in the Bible and in creation (Ps. 19; Rom. 1:18–20; 2 Tim. 3:16–17). Since God cannot contradict Himself (1 Cor. 14:33), what we learn from the Bible and what we learn from science—which studies the creation—will always be in perfect harmony when both the Bible and science are rightly studied and understood.

18. Hell is a real place where certain people will be punished forever.

  • The Bible consistently testifies to the existence of a place of eternal conscious punishment for those who do not turn from their sins and trust in Christ (Isa. 66:24; Dan. 12:2; Luke 16:19–31; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 12–13; Rev. 20:7–15). Jesus Himself talked about this place of punishment—hell—more than any other biblical figure did, and He clearly referred to it as a real place (Matt. 5:22–29; 10:28; Luke 12:5).

19. There will be a time when Jesus Christ returns to judge all the people who have lived.

  • According to the Bible, a day is coming on which God will judge the world by the One He has appointed—Christ Jesus, whom God raised from the dead (Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:16). Jesus Christ is coming again to judge the living and the dead (Dan. 7:13–14; Luke 21:27; 2 Thess. 2:8; 2 Tim. 4:1).

20. Worshiping alone or with one’s family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church.

  • From the earliest days of the church, Christians have gathered together for worship, teaching, fellowship, and prayer (Acts 2:42; 13:1–2; 20:7; 1 Cor. 14:26). While private worship and family worship are appropriate, Hebrews 10:24–25 explains that they are no substitute for gathering regularly with other Christians for worship and encouragement.

21. Christians should be silent on issues of politics.

  • The mission of the church in baptizing and making disciples of Christ (Matt. 28:18–20) is primarily spiritual, but that does not mean Christians must be silent on political issues. The Bible addresses many political issues—including capital punishment, abortion, honest measurements (Gen. 9:6; Ex. 21:22–25; Prov. 20:10), and many others—so believers who seek to be faithful to the Bible cannot be silent on political matters where biblical teaching applies. Moreover, Paul appealed to his political rights as a Roman citizen (Acts 16:35–39; 25:1–12), showing us that Christians may make appropriate use of whatever political rights they possess, including the right to speak to political issues.

22. Every Christian has an obligation to join a local church.

  • While the New Testament does not explicitly command church membership, that Christian responsibility is clearly assumed throughout its pages (1 Cor. 12:12–27; Heb. 10:24). Further, the administration of church discipline (Matt. 18:15–17), the provision of financial assistance to widows (1 Tim. 5:9), and the command to submit to church leadership (Heb. 13:17) assume that there are clearly identifiable members of local assemblies.

23. Sex outside of traditional marriage is a sin.

  • In the beginning, God established marriage between one man and one woman as the only legitimate context for coming together as one flesh in both a sexual and emotional union (Gen. 2:18–25). Traditional marriage and celibacy are the only divinely approved alternatives to sexual immorality, so all sexual activity outside of traditional marriage is a sin (1 Cor. 7).

24. Abortion is a sin.

  • All people are made in the image of God and are worthy of protection from conception to the point of their natural death unless they are guilty of a capital crime (Gen. 1:27; 9:5–6; Ps. 139:13–16). Unborn children are divine image bearers who are living and responsive to the work of the Lord (Luke 1:39–40); therefore, abortion is the sin of murder except when an unborn child poses a true threat to the life of the mother (Ex. 21:22–25).

25. Gender identity is a matter of choice.

  • God created human beings in His image as male and female (Gen. 1:27). Gender is not a social construct, but a reality of the created order. We do not choose our gender; it is a gift of God given to us in our creation (Matt. 19:4).

26. The Bible’s condemnation of homosexual behavior doesn’t apply today.

  • Marriage between one man and one woman was established in creation as the only legitimate expression for sexual activity (Gen. 2:18–25; 1 Cor. 7). Homosexual behavior is contrary to God’s original design for human beings and is a consequence of the intrusion of sin into creation; therefore, the Bible’s condemnation of homosexuality is for all time (Rom. 1:18–32). Impenitent practitioners of homosexual behavior and all other sexual sins will not inherit the kingdom of God, but God will save all sexual sinners who turn from their sin and trust in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 6:9–11).

27. God is unconcerned with my day-to-day decisions.

  • God is sovereign over all things and actively governs everything (Ps. 33:13–15; Heb. 4:13). We are called to do everything to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). Everything includes our decisions, so God is concerned that our day-to-day decisions glorify Him.

28. The Bible has the authority to tell us what we must do.

  • All Scripture is God-breathed and sufficient to correct us and to equip us for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16–17). “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35), and since the Bible is God-breathed and is God’s very Word, to disobey the Bible is to disobey God (Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:4; Mark 7:1–13).

29. Religious belief is a matter of personal opinion; it is not about objective truth.

  • The religions of mankind do not claim to be mere subjective, personal opinions but claim to reflect objective truths about reality. This is particularly true of the Christian faith, which is based on historical events such as the resurrection of Jesus that must be objectively true in order for Christian belief to be valid (1 Cor. 15:1–10, 17). The same God who raised Jesus from the dead proclaims that He is the only God who can save us (Isa. 45:20–25). If this is not objectively and universally true, then there is no Christian faith. As individuals, we exercise personal faith, but to believe in something that is mere opinion and not objective truth is to believe in something that cannot provide salvation.

30. The Bible is the highest authority for what I believe.

  • The Bible is the only God-breathed special revelation that we possess (2 Tim. 3:16–17), so it has unique and final authority. Jesus, the Son of God, appealed to the Bible as the highest authority, so we dare not appeal to anything else other than the Bible as the highest authority for our faith and practice (Matt. 5:17–18; 15:1–9; Mark 14:43–49; John 10:35).

31. It is very important for me personally to encourage non-Christians to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.

  • Faith in Jesus Christ alone is the only way to be reconciled to God (John 14:6; Rom. 5:1). Christians are to proclaim the gospel to all people, making disciples of Jesus Christ and teaching them to obey all that He has commanded (Matt. 28:18–20; Mark 1:14–15).

32. Jesus Christ’s death on the cross is the only sacrifice that could remove the penalty of my sin.

  • Since the fall of Adam, all people (except Jesus Christ) have been born in sin and are under the wrath of God. Only Jesus can save us from this wrath, and He does so by His death on the cross, which is a propitiation that turns away God’s wrath (Isa. 53; Rom. 1:18–3:26; Heb. 2:17). Nothing but the atoning death of Jesus can take away our sin (Heb. 10:1–18).

33. Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their Savior receive God’s free gift of eternal salvation.

  • Jesus is the only way to the Father, and no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). Salvation is found in no one else besides Jesus Christ, as there is no other name under heaven whereby we can be saved (Acts 4:12). In order to be saved, we must believe in Jesus Christ (Matt. 16:24–25; Acts 16:25–34).