Double PredestinationThe belief that the LORD God determines some people towards salvation and some towards damnation. (See Prelapsarianism) |
GraceThe unmerited, unearned favor of the LORD God, given to the elect for His purposes, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is the glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
Irresistible Grace is the grace of God that cannot be rejected. Efficacious Grace is grace that effects the purpose for which it is given by God; what he purposes, He will. Prevenient Grace precedes all human decision and begins with God who gives to those He chooses. Special Grace is favor God gives to redeem, sanctify, glorify His people in only His elect who have faith in Christ. |
HeilsgeschichteThe history of salvation |
Aquinas, ThomasThe foremost Christian theologian of the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas assimilated Aristotelian methods and tools into the discussion of Christian theology. This philosophical methodology remained the distinctive feature of scholastic theology until the arrival of humanism and the Reformation. A Dominican friar that was taught at the University of Paris, Aquinas authored Summa contra Gentiles and Summa theologiae. |
BaptismThe Baptism of Jesus Christ is a baptism of redemption through immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Baptism of Jesus Christ frees the believer from the control of sin, by bringing death to sin. When the believer arises from the baptismal waters, he is born again, and resurrected into the new life in Christ Jesus. It is an act of obedience of the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to faith in the final resurrection of the dead. |
Beatific The giving of happiness, bliss or blessings |
Beatific VisionThe immediate, eternal and direct perception of the LORD God that is received by those who ascend to Heaven upon their physical death. |
Beatification(Rom. Cath. Ch.) The official act of the Pope declaring a deceased person has entered Heaven and is enjoying the experience in happiness. His declaration bestows the title of Saint to the person, and makes them subject to religious honor and sometimes public cult. Beatification is considered the reflection of sanctification in someone who has died through the authority of the Church. |
BlessTo make or pronounce holy, consecrated, sanctified, protected or glorified. A blessing is an offering of God’s favor coming from Him or a wish for God’s favor coming from humans. |
Blessed Made or pronounced holy, consecrated, sanctified, protected or glorified. 2. Worthy of adoration, worship or reverence: "the Blessed Trinity. 3. (Rom. Cath. Ch.) The body of a deceased person who has received beatification, and thus "blessed in Heaven". |