Study Guide

Chapter One-1

Study Guide for Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, Chapter One

Fill in the blanks and use this as a study guide for your mid-term exam.

1. _____________________________- is the introduction to theology. It

deals with the necessary preconditions for doing systematic theology.

2. Theology is a rational discourse about ______________.

3. _________________ theology is a discourse about God that maintains that

here are certain essential beliefs. These include, but are not limited to:

_________________ and ________________ of the Bible

4. The _________________ of God

5. The ______________ _____________ of Christ

6. The ________________ of Christ

7. The all-sufficiency of Christ’s atoning __________________for

_________

8. The __________________ and ________________ resurrection of Christ

9. The necessity of salvation by _____________ alone

10. The _________________ and _____________ return of Christ to the earth

11. The eternal ______________ bliss of the saved and eternal ____________

of the unsaved.

12. Three categories of theology are:

Chapter One-2

1. ____________ Theology—a study of the biblical basis for theology

2. ____________ Theology—a discussion of the theology of the great

theologians of the Christian church.

3. ____________ Theology—an attempt to construct a comprehensive and

consistent whole our of all revelation from God, whether, special (biblical)

or general (natural) revelation.

The Basic Divisions of Systematic Theology

13. List and define the basic divisions found on page 16 of Geisler.

_____________________ is the study of __________________

_____________________ is the study of __________________

_____________________ is the study of __________________

_____________________ is the study of __________________

_____________________ is the study of __________________

_____________________ is the study of __________________

_____________________ is the study of __________________

_____________________ is the study of __________________

May also include:

Christology which is the study of ________________________

Pneumatology which is the study of _____________________

The Preconditions of Evangelical Theology

Chapter One-3

14. Evangelical theologians believe that the Bible is an __________________,

absolutely ______________ communication in human language that came

from an _____________________, _________________ and morally

__________________ God.

15. This belief presupposes that many things are true—most of which are

challenged by our current _________________.

Chapter One-4

1. Study Guide for Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, Chapter

Two


1. The existence of a ______________ God is the foundation of Christian

theology.

2. Theism is the __________________ precondition for evangelical theology.

___________________ is the study of being or reality. It is the study of being

as being, as opposed to studying being as physical being.

3. The name given for the view that God created everything else that exists is

______________ (God created all), as opposed to ______________ (there is

no God at all) and __________________ (God is all).

Theism and the Opposing Worldviews

4. List and define the seven major world views listed by Geisler

________________: ____________________________________________

________________: ____________________________________________

________________: ____________________________________________

________________: ____________________________________________

________________: ____________________________________________

________________: ____________________________________________

________________: ____________________________________________

Chapter One-5

5. ___________________ holds that more than one being exists.

6. ___________________ asserts that all reality is one—that there is only

being.

7. __________________ believes that there are many beings in existence.

The Alternatives to Monism

8. List the alternatives to Monism as listed by Geisler and the definitions:

___________________ : ___________________________________________

___________________ : ___________________________________________

___________________ : ___________________________________________

___________________ : ___________________________________________

9. Of these alternatives, which one is consistent with the Christian view?

The Four Arguments for God’s Existence

First: The Cosmological Argument for God’s Existence

10. The cosmological argument come in two basic forms:

____________________ and ___________________.

The Horizontal Form of the Cosmological Argument

11. Everything that had a beginning had a _____________

12. The universe had a ______________________

13. Therefore , the universe had a ______________

Chapter One-6

The Vertical Form of the Cosmological Argument

The argument from contingency

1). Whatever exists but can/could not exist needs a ______________ for its

existence, since the mere possibility of existence does not explain why

something exists. There mere possibility of something is _______________.

2.) But ______________ cannot produce __________________.

3.) Therefore, something necessarily exists as the ground for everything that

does exist but can not exist. It is a violation of the principle of causality to say

that a _________________ being can account for its own _______________.

The argument from change

1.) Whatever changes passes from a state of ________________ (potency) for

that change to state of being __________________ (act). That is, all

changing beings have act(uality) and potency in their very being. If not,

then all change would involve annihilation and re-creation, which is

impossible without a _____________, since nothing cannot produce

something.

2.) But no ________________ can _______________ itself, any more than the

potential for steel to become a skyscraper can actualize itself into a

skyscraper.

3.) If no potency can actualize itself, and yet at least one being is actualized

(e.g., me), then ultimately there must be something that is __________

________________ (with no potentiality), otherwise there would be no

ground for why something now exists that has the potential not to exist.

Chapter One-7

4.) If we deny the possibility of infinite regress of causes, then we must accept

the fact of the _________________ ________________, which scientists

desire to avoid.

The Argument form Present Depenance of Every Part of the Universe

1.) Every part of the universe is right now _________________ for its

existence.

2.) If every part is right now dependent for its existence, then the who universe

must also be right now ________________ for its ________________.

3.) Therefore, the whole universe is dependent for its existence on some

____________________ ____________ beyond itself.

Second, The Teleological Argument for God’s Existence

1.) All designs imply a _________________.

2.) There is ___________ design in the ______________.

3.) Therefore, there must have been a __________________ _______________

of the universe.

4.) A support of the teleological argument, the ________________ principle

states that from its very inception the universe was fine-tuned for the

emergence of human life.

Third, The Ontological Argument for God’s Existence

The first form of the ontological argument

1.) God is by definition and absolutely ______________ ____________.

________________ is a perfection.

Chapter One-8

2.) Therefore, God must ______________. If God did not exist, then He would

be lacking one perfection, namely existence. If God lacked any perfection

He would not be God, because God by definition absolutely perfect Being.

The second form of the ontological argument

1.) If God exists, we must conceive of Him as ___________________ Being.

2.) But by definition, a ___________________ Being cannot NOT exist.

3.) Therefore, if a ____________________ Being can exist, it must exit.

4.) While the ontological argument cannot prove God’s

____________________, it can prove certain things about His

_________________, if God does exist.

Fourth, The Moral Argument for God’s Existence

1.) The heart of the argument follows this basic structure:

________ law implies a __________ Lawgiver

2.) There is an objective _________ law.

3.) Therefore, there is an objective _____________ Lawgiver.

Chapter One-9

Study Guide for Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, Chap3


1. Evangelical theology is built on the __________________________.

Two Definitions of Miracles

1.) The weak view is that miracles might not be

______________________ at all; it could simply be a natural event

for which the observer, as yet, has not natural explanation.

2.) The strong view is that a miracle is beyond nature’s power to

produce and that only a supernatural power (God) can do.

2. __________________ law is understood as the usual, orderly, and general

way that the world operates.

3. Miracles are ____________________ but not anti-_________________.

Three Old Testament Words for Miracles

4. ____________ (Heb. oth) usually carries a supernatural significance,

namely, as something appointed by God with special assigned meaning.

5. _____________ (Heb. mopheth) sometimes used synonymously with signs,

the word has a special, supernatural (divine) significance.

6. _____________ (Heb. koak) is sometimes used of human power, very often

of divine power, often in direct connection with events called “signs” or

“wonders” or both.

Three New Testament Words for Miracles

Chapter One-10

7. ____________ (Grk. semeion) is used seventy-seven times in the New

Testament. Most often it is reserved for what we would call a miracle.

8. ____________ (Grk. teras) used sixteen times in the New Testament, almost

always refers to a miracle.

9. ____________ (Grk. dunamis) is used to refer to human power or abilities,

of satanic power, and of often of God’s power, and is often translated

“miracles.”

The Purposes of Miracles

The Bible states at least three purposes of a miracle:

10. To _____________ the ______________ of God (Jn. 2:11; 11:40)

11. To ______________ certain persons as ___________________ for God

(Ac. 2:22; Heb. 2:3-4).

12. To provide _______________ for belief in God (Jn. 6:2; 14, 20:30-31).

The Various Dimensions of Miracles

13. Miracles have an ____________________ ___________________

14. Miracles have a _____________________ ____________________

15. Miracles have a ____________________ _____________________

16. Miracles have a ____________________ _____________________

17. Miracles have a ______________________ ___________________

18. Miracles, in the strictest sense of the word, are possible only in a

____________ world.

Chapter One-11

Study Guide for Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, Chap. 4


The Prerequisites for Divine Revelation

1. A Being capable of _______________ a revelation.

2. A being capable of _______________ a revelation.

3. A _____________ through which a revelation can be given.

God’s General Revelation –Nature, Humans, History, Arts, & Music

4. _______________ revelation refers to God’s revelation in nature, as

opposed to His revelation in ________________________ .

5. True or False: General revelation is NOT integral to Christian apologetics.

6. God is revealed in nature in two basic ways: as _________________ and as

_________________. He is the cause of the ______________ as well as the

_________________ of the universe.

7. God is revealed in human being is His ________________ and

______________ (Gen. 1:27); consequently, something about God can be

learned from studying human beings.

8. God is revealed in history, which is call _____-_______. It is the

_____________ of God in the sands of time.

Chapter One-12

9. The Bible declares that God is _________________ and so is His creation.

Geisler extrapolates from this that God is revealed in art. Human can both

____________ beauty and they can also ____________ beautiful things.

10. Likewise, Geisler argues that God’s general revelation can be seen in music.

He writes, “We learn something more about God’s nature through human

___________, a God-ordained instrument of music.

11. Fill in the comparison blanks comparing General and Special Revelation

General Revelation Special Revelation

God as _________________

Norm for _________________

Means of ________________________ in

____________________

God as ___________________

Norm for ___________________

Means of _________________________ in

____________________

12. Special revelation contributes uniquely to Christian _________________,

for the Bible alone is both infallible and inerrant.

The Role of Special Revelation

13. The Bible Alone is _____________________ and ____________________

14. The Bible Alone _________________ God as _______________________

15. The Bible Alone has the _____________________ of _________________

16. The Bible Alone is the _______________ Norm for ___________________

Chapter One-13

The Role of General Revelation

17. General Revelation is ______________ than Special Revelation

18. General Revelation is Essential to Human __________________

19. General Revelation is Essential to Human __________________

20. General Revelation is Essential to Christian _________________

Human reason is necessary for two things:

21. It puts _____________ on the general ______________ law.

22. It aids us in _______________ what it means to utilize in order to attain the

_____________ end.

23. Geisler states that the Bible is always ____________, but our

________________ of it is not.

24. God’s revelations in His Word and His world never _______________ each

other.

25. Whenever there is a real conflict, it is between human __________________

of God’s Word and human ___________________ of His world. Either one

or both are wrong, but God has not erred.

Chapter One-14

Study Guide for Norman Geisler, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, Chap 5


1. Logic deals with the methods of valid thinking; it reveals how to draw

proper __________________ from ___________________.

FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF THOUGHT

2. There are three elemental laws of all rational thinking:

a) The Law of _____________________ (A is not non-A)

b) The Law of ___________________ (A is A)

c) The Law of _____________ ______________ (either A or non-A)

3. Without the law of noncontradiction we could not say that God is not

_______________.

4. If the law of identity were not binding, we could not say that God is

_______________.

5. If the law of excluded middle didn’t exist we could not affirm that it is

either God or ________ _________ that we are speaking about.

THE LAWS OF RATIONAL INFERENCE

Deductive Logic

6. The device by which one proposition can be correctly drawn from others is

called a __________________. Deductive logic comes in three forms:

a) _______________ syllogisms

b) _______________ syllogisms

c) _______________ syllogisms

Chapter One-15

Categorical Syllogisms

7. A categorical (__________________) syllogism is one where a categorical

(________________) proposition is deduced from two other categorical

propositions. For example:

All human being are sinful.

John is a human being.

Therefore __________ is _____________.

Propositions

8. A proposition is a _____________________ sentence that _____________

or _____________ something. A proposition is composed of a subject, a

predicate, and a copula.

In the example above (question 7), identify the

a) Subject _____________________

b) Predicate ____________________

c) Copula ______________________

9. The subject can be ________________________ or

_______________________.

10. Propositions can be either _____________________ or

____________________.

Seven Rules of Categorical Syllogisms

1) There must be only ______________ terms

2) The middle term must be distributed at least ________________

3) Terms distributed in the _______________ must be distributed in the

premises.

Chapter One-16

4) The _________________ always follows the weaker premises.

5) No conclusion follows from two negative ___________________.

6) No conclusion follows from two ______________ premises.

7) No _________________ conclusion follows from two affirmative premises.

Fallacies of Categorical Syllogisms

11. _________________________ is the fallacy where the major term is

distribution in the conclusion but not in the premise.

12. ________________________ is the fallacy where the minor term is

distributed in the conclusion but not in the premise.

13. _______________________ is the fallacy where the middle term is not

distributed at least once.

14. ______________________ is the fallacy where there are not three and only

three terms in the syllogism (includes the fallacies of “ambiguous middle”

and “equivocal middle.”

Hypothetical Syllogisms

15. Hypothetical syllogisms are an “____ . . . _______. . .” type of reasoning. If

A, then B follows. For example:

If God is all-just, then He must punish all sin

God is all-just

Therefore, He must ______________ _____ _________.

16. There are only two ways to draw valid conclusions from a hypothetical

syllogism:

Chapter One-17

a) Modus pollens: Affirming the ____________________ (the part of the

sentence that coming before “then”).

b) Modus tollens: Denying the __________________ (the part of the sentence

coming after “then”).

17. In the example above (question 15), is the syllogism a modus pollens, or a

modus tollens?

Disjunctive Syllogisms

18. A disjunctive syllogism is an ________________/_________ type of

reasoning. For example:

It is either A or not A (but not both)

It is not non-A

Therefore, it is ______.

A theological example:

Either God is existent or He is nonexistent.

God is not nonexistent.

Therefore, God is _____________.

19. There are two ways to draw a valid conclusion from a disjunctive syllogism:

Either by denying one ________________ or by denying the other

_______________. An alternate is the statement on one side or the other of

the “or.”

Exercises:

20. In the examples below, identify the type of syllogism, and if it is a

categorical syllogism identify whether it is modus pollens, or modus tollens.

Chapter One-18

After identifying the type of syllogism, insert the conclusion that must

follow the premises.

Type of Syllogism

Major Premise

If I lie, then I’ll be sorry

Either I should exercise or I should diet

If you study, then you learn

If I pay now, then I’ll save

Minor

Premise

I’ll lieI should not exercise You didn’t

learn

If I save, then I’ll have money later

Logical Conclusion

INDUCTIVE LOGIC

21. Broadly speaking, deductive reasoning is from the ________________ to

the ____________________, while inductive reasoning is from the

_______________ to the ______________________. Inductive logic

begins with any number of particulars and makes a generalization about

them.

Rules of Inductive Logic

22. The validity of the generalization from inductive reasoning is evaluated by

asking the following questions:

a) How many ________________ were ______________________?

b) How _____________________ was the ____________________?

c) How _________________ was the evidence

______________________?

d) How does the ____________________ gained ____________________

with other knowledge?

Chapter One-19

Kinds of Probability

23. A priori probability is _____________________ in nature, dealing with the

advanced likelihood or odds of an even occurring. In other words, the

probability or likelihood of an event occurring is hypothesized/theorized

based on previous examples.

24. A posteriori probability is probability __________ the fact. In science, it is

_____________________ probability, also called scientific probability. A

posteriori probability offers varying degrees of certainty that something is

true based on an examination of the available evidence.

Sample Test Question:

25. True or False: The belief that the sun will come up tomorrow is based on a

priori probability.

Degrees of Probability

26. According to the inductive method, there are various degrees of probability,

depending on the kind and extent of evidence available. These range from

virtually _________________ on the one end to virtually

_________________ on the other end.

LOGIC AND GOD

27. God does not merely choose to be rational and consistent. He is

______________ by his very nature.

28. While God is prior to logic in order of being (__________________),

nevertheless, logic is prior to God in the order of knowing

(______________________).

Chapter One-20

29. Good reason does not subject God to ______________ minds, but rather

subjects our ______________ minds to His infinite Mind (2 Cor. 10:5; 1

Cor. 1:21).

Sample Exam Questions:

30. True or False: According to Geisler the Scriptures declare that there are

many things that are impossible for God to do.

31. True or False: God created the laws of thought.

32. True or False: God can transcend the laws of logic.

33. True or False: The laws of physics are created and can be transcended by

God like everything else that was created.

34. Given the laws of logic, be prepared to defend the Orthodox view on the

topics of: The Trinity, the Incarnation, and the doctrine of

predestination/free will.

Chapter One-21



1. Christianity makes ________ claims

2. However, all true statement must be __________________ they must make

sense.

3. The objectivity of truth is dependent on the objectivity of

____________________.

4. The dominant view in the contemporary world is opposed to an

_______________ embrace of meaning.

5. The dominate view is called ___________________________, which

maintains that all meaning is relative to changing situations; meaning is

arbitrary and varies according to context.

6. Conventionalism is an overreaction to Platonic ______________________.

7. Essentialism, as proposed by Plato, insists that there is a

___________________ or _______________ relation between our

statements and what they mean. According to this view, language is not

arbitrarily related to meaning; rather, there is a one-to-one

___________________ between them.

8. Wittgenstein, a proponent of conventionalism, offers an alternative view of

meaning that employs:

a) ______________ resemblance

b) Language _________________

c) Forms of _________________

Chapter One-22

9. According to the Wittgensteinian view of conventionalism, God-talk is

_________________.

10. ___________________ language can have only one meaning (look in

footnotes)

11. ___________________ language is based on similarity or analogy

12. ___________________ language is ambiguous, having two or more

meanings.

13. Religious beliefs have ____________________ force; that is, they orient

our lives.

Critique of Conventionalism’s Theory of Meaning

14. First, conventionalism is ____________-_______________

15. Second, if conventionalism were correct, then _____________________

statement would not necessarily translate into all languages as

_______________ statements, but they do.

16. Third, if conventionalism were true there would not be any _____________

truths in any language, but there are.

17. Fourth, if conventionalism were true, we would not know any truth

_____________ of and/or prior to knowing the conventions of that truth in

that language.

18. Fifth, the laws of logic are not based on human conventions; they are true

apart from all __________________ conventions.

19. Sixth, conventionalism confuses the _________________ source of

meaning with its ultimate _________________.

20. Seventh, if conventionalism were ________________, then no meaning

would be possible.

Chapter One-23

21. Eight, conventionalism has only an ________________ criterion for

meaning, such as coherence.

22. Ninth, conventionalism involves a _______________ argument.

23. Tenth, conventionalists of the distinguish between _________________ and

__________ grammar to avoid certain problems, such as those just given.

24. Eleven, no truly ___________________ knowledge of God is possible in a

conventionalist view of language, since in conventionalism, language is

simply based on our experience.

REALISM:

AN ALTERNATIVE TO ESSENTIALISM AND CONVENTIONALISM

25. This alternative avoids the rigidity of ____________________ and the

relativism of ______________________.

26. Realism contends that meaning is ____________________, even though

our symbols are culturally relative, for meaning transcends our symbols and

linguistic means of expressing it.

27. Understanding the Meaning of Meaning

The six causes:

a) Efficient Cause—that ___ ______ something comes to be

b) Final Cause—that ___ ______ something comes to be

c) Formal Cause—that ___ ______ something comes to be

d) Material Cause—that ____ ___ _______ something comes to be

e) Exemplar Cause—that _____ ________ something comes to be

f) Instrumental Cause—that __________ ________ something comes to

be

Chapter One-24

28. Words in themselves have not actual meaning; they have only

________________ meaning.

29. Words are only parts of a whole (the whole __________________), which

does have meaning.

The Locus of Meaning

30. A text’s meaning is not found _______________ the text (in the author’s

mind)

31. A text’s meaning is not found _______________ the text (in the mystic’s

mind)

32. A text’s meaning is not found ________________ the text (in the author’s

unexpressed intention).

33. A text’s meaning is found ________ the text (in the author’s expressed

meaning).

The Unity of Meaning

34. Since the meaning of Scripture comes ultimately from an objective Mind

(God) and is found in an objective text that uses terms with the same

meaning for both God and human beings, it follow that there is only

___________ meaning in a biblical text—the one given to it by the

________________. Of course, there can be many ________________ and

___________________. Indeed, it can be expressed in different ways in the

same language.

Chapter One-25

35. Thus, while the ____________ ___________ (one sense) view is correct

when it affirms only one meaning to a text, there is, however, a __________

___________ (full sense) in terms of implications and applications.

The Objectivity of Meaning

36. Human languages vary, but _______________ does not.

37. ___________________ insists on a one-to-one correlation between the

meaning and the expression.

38. __________________ contends there is a many-to-one correlation between

meaning and the expression.

39. _________________ affirms that there is a one-to-many correlation.

40. The objectivity of truth that Christianity embraces is based on the premise

that meaning is _____________________.

41. The usages of ___________________ and ________________ do change,

but the meaning properly expressed by them does not.

Chapter One-26



1. Another important precondition of evangelical theology is the nature of

________.

2. Up to modernity, orthodox theology held the _________________ view of

truth, which maintains that truth is what corresponds to the objects of its

affirmations.

3. The Bible claims to be ____________. The psalmist declared, “Your law is

___________” (Ps. 119:142), and Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by Your

___________, Your ____________ is truth” (John 17:17).

4. ____________________ truth, is true for everyone, everywhere, always.

5. Christianity claims that there is _____________ truth and also insists that

truth is that which ____________________ to the way things are.

THE DEFINITION OF TRUTH

What Truth is Not

Truth is not “That which works” This is known as the pragmatic view of truth

Truth is not “That which coheres”

Truth is not “That which was intended”

Truth is not “That which is comprehensive”

Truth is not “That which is existentially relevant”

Truth is not “That which feels good”

What Truth Is: Truth Is That Which Corresponds to the Object

Chapter One-27

6. Truth is found in __________________. Truth is what corresponds to its

____________ (referent), which this object is abstract or concrete. As

applied to the world, truth is the way things really are.

Philosophical Arguments for a Correspondence View of Truth

7. First, noncorrespondence view of truth are ________-___________.

8. Second, even ________ are impossible without a correspondence view of

truth.

9. Third, without correspondence there could be no such thing as

_____________ or _____________.

10. Fourth, ______________ communication would break down without a

correspondence view of truth.

11. Fifth, even the ___________________ theory depends on the

correspondence view of truth.

Biblical Arugments for a Correspondence View of Truth

12. First, the ___________ commandment is predicated on a correspondence

view of truth.

13. Second, the Bible gives numerous examples of the correspondence view of

truth. Examples: Joseph, Moses, Solomon, Micaih, etc.

14. Third, the biblical use of the word _______ does not support the

intentionalist view of truth, since it is used of unintentional “errors” (cf. Lev.

4:2; 27, etc.).

15. The Bible consistently employs a ________________________ view of

truth. A statement is true if it corresponds to the _____________ and false

if it does not.

Chapter One-28

SUMMARY OF TRUTH’S DEFINITION

16. There is a difference between what truth ______ and what truth

__________. Truth is _______________, but truth has certain

________________.

THE NATURE OF TRUTH AS ABSOLUTE

17. Not only is truth correspondence, truth is also _______________________.

Evangelical theology is predicated on the premise that the Bible is ________

truth (John 17:17), not just _____ truth.

The Relative View of Truth

18. The relative view of truth maintains that some things are only truth for

_______ people but not for ______ people. Another relative view of truth is

that some things are true only for some ___________ but not for all times.

A third view is that some things are true in come _________ but not in all

places. On the other hand, the absolute view of truth is that truth is true for

all __________, at all ____________, and in all ___________.

19. The problems with the relative view of truth:

a) Relativism is _________-_______________

b) Relativism entail a world filled with __________________________

c) Relativism means no has ever been _______________ about anything

Exam Question Example:

Please answer the objection to absolute truth that it is too narrow.

Chapter One-29



1. _________________ is the belief that every religion is true, that each

provides a genuine encounter with the Ultimate. One may be better than the

others, but all are adequate.

2. ________________ is similar to pluralism, claiming each religion is true to

the individual who holds it. Relativists believe that since there is no

objective truth in religion, there are no criteria by which one can tell which

religion is true or which religions are false.

3. _______________ claims that one religion is explicitly true, and all others

are implicitly true.

4. ______________ is the belief that only one religion is true, and all others

opposed to it are false.

5. Christianity is exclusivistic, claiming to the _________ true religion.

6. John Hicks argues for _____________________. He claims that all

religions hold the same core moral values, i.e., love and concern for others.

He claims that statements similar to Christianity’s ______________

_____________ can be found in other religions.

7. Geisler counters with the following points:

a) First, it is debatable that anything the “______ of the Spirit” can be found in

other non-Christian religions.

Chapter One-30

b) Second, moral equality of practice does not prove that there is no moral

______________ in the teaching of Christianity over other religsions.

c) Third, Hicks assumes a moral common denominator to argue that all

religions are ________________. He thus has to negate the superior aspects

of Christian morality or teaching in order to show that Christianity is not

superior.

d) Fourth, the moral manifestations of a _____________ does not settle the

truth question. Being a good moral Mormon does not prove the truth of the

historical assertions of the Mormon Bible.

e) Fifth, in the final analysis, the moral superiority of Christianity does not rest

on our _______________ as Christians, but on Christ’s unique

__________________.

REDEMPTIVE EQUALITY OF ALL RELIGIONS

8. Hicks argues that humanity’s redemption is achieved in “a gradual

___________________ from the natural self-centeredness to a radically new

orientation centered on God and manifest in the “fruit of the Spirit.” As

such, Hicks argues that “salvation is taking place within all of the world

religions.”

9. A Response to Redemption Equality

a) First, it’s based on the __________________ that all religions have a

proper relation to what is truly Ultimate.

b) Second, Hicks assumes that all religions are merely a ______________

response to the Ultimate.

Chapter One-31

c) Third, this denial of the truth of any particular religion is itself a form of

_______________, for it favors the worldview known as pantheism in order

to deny the particularity of the worldview known as Christian theism.

d) Fourth, the pluralist view often __________________ to the position that

whatever is sincerely believed is true.

e) Fifth, the argument for redemptive equality implies that all truth claims are

a matter of _________/_________and not __________/__________.

THE ALLEGATION THAT CHRIST IS NOT UNIQUE

Hicks argues that Jesus never claimed to be unique, but that this was the view

of the writers who portray Jesus.

10. Geisler argues that the New Testament documents are ________________

reliable, and their historicity has been abundantly attested.

11. Hick also argues that it is impossible for Jesus to be God incarnate. He

asks, rhetorically, “Is it really possible for infinite ___________________ to

be housed in a finite human ____________?”

12. Geisler answers that the Incarnation is not a logical _________________,

and as such there is no demonstrated incoherence in the view. Second,

Hicks view of the Incarnation assumes the unorthodox

__________________ view, which confuses Christ’s two natures.

THE ALLEGATION OF INTOLERANCE

13. The argument of the pluralists, is that the exclusivist view of Christianity is

bigoted and ____________________.

Chapter One-32

14. Geisler responds that pluralists are themselves ______________________

to any argument that does not embrace their worldview.

Other allegations against the Christian exclusivist view is that it is narrow-

minded, and that it promotes intellectual imperialism. The problem with these

allegations is that they can be equally true of pluralists, but that they are not true

of Christianity.

CHALLENGEABLE PRESUPPOSITIONS OF PLURALISM

15. Pluralists generally deny any ________________________ binding moral

law. If there is no such universal moral law, then it is impossible to judge

the religions from any standard beyond them. This it is impossible to judge

Christianity as inadequate or to claim that Christianity cannot be exclusivist.

By what moral law does one make such a claim if no such moral law exists.

16. Beneath the pluralist’s attack on exclusivism is a ____________________

presupposition that all religious phenomena can be explained

naturalistically, that is, without any appeal the supernatural.

Chapter One-33



1. Evangelicals believe that the Bible is God’s Word in _______________

words.

2. True or False : A precondition for doing evangelical theology is the belief

that finite human language is capable of meaningfully expressing the nature

of the infinite God of Christian theism.

3. True or False : Evangelicals accept the fact that it is impossible to speak

meaningfully about God.

4. Three possible views with regard to “God-talk”

a) It is ______________ (totally different from the way God actually is).

b) It is _____________ (totally the same as God actually is).

c) It is _____________ (similar to the way God actually is).

5. Evangelicals have defended versions of both ________________ and

_______________. However, Geisler argues that only through some form

of ______________ is God able to communicate with us.

Analogous Language and Special Revelation (Scripture

6. The Bible is emphatic about two things in this connection. First, God is

beyond our __________________ and ________________ in that our finite

can never fully comprehend the infinite.

Chapter One-34

7. Second, human language is adequate for expressing the

___________________ of God.

8. But if God is both _________________ expressed in human language and

yet ____________________ more than human language can express, then at

best the language of Scripture is only ____________________________-.

9. Analogous Language and General Revelation (Nature)

a) First, arguments for God’s existence are arguments from

__________________ to the efficient ____________________ of their

being. Since effects get their actuality from God, they must be

___________________ to Him.

b) Second, Pure _________ (God) cannot create another Pure ________. It is

impossible to create an _____________________ Being. Thus every

created being must be composed of _____________________ and

_______________________. All created beings have _________________

because they actually exist, and they have ______________________

because they have the potential not to exist. Anything that comes into

existence can pass out of ______________________.

10. The linguistic precondition of evangelical theology is that we do have some

positive ________________ of God.

Chapter One-35



1. Hermeneutics: 1) the science and methodology of interpreting texts,

especially the books of the Bible; 2) the branch of theology that is concerned

with explaining or interpreting religious concepts, theories, and principles.

2. Subjectivity: 1) interpretation based on personal opinions or feelings rather

than on external facts or evidence; 2) the philosophical argument that

nothing can be proven factually, therefore all of reality is the nothing more

than the individual interpretation. As a hermeneutic, it argues that trying to

discover the intended meaning of the author is pointless, if not impossible.

Instead every hermeneutic is nothing more than the individual response to

the text.

3. There are many forms of subjectivism in hermeneutics, but that all involve

self-defeating statements, and any attempt to deny an objective interpretation

implies that one is possible, namely, the one by which the subjectivist’s view

is expected to be understood.

4. Objectivity: 1) the ability to perceive or describe something without being

influenced by personal emotions or prejudices; 2) the fact or quality of being

accurate, unbiased, and independent of individual perceptions; 3) philosophy

Chapter One-36

the actual existence of something, without reference to people's impressions

or ideas.

OBJECTIVITY IN HERMENEUTICS

5. The Basis of Objective Hermeneutic

a) The existence of an absolute _________________ (God)

b) The absolute nature of _________________________.

c) The analogy between _____________________ understanding and

___________________ understanding

d) The ability of ______________ minds to understand the

________________ revealed by God.

PRINCIPLES OF OBJECTIVE HERMENEUTICS

6. Look for the ___________________ meaning, not the

_________________.

7. Look for the Author’s meaning (____________________) not his purpose

(______________).

8. Look for meaning in the _______________, not beyond it.

9. Look for meaning in ____________________, not

____________________.

10. THE FOUR MAIN HERMENEUTIC PRINCIPLES FOR

INTERPRETING NATURAL (GENERAL) REVELATION

a) The principle of _______________________

Chapter One-37

b) The principle of _______________________

c) The principle of _______________________

d) The principle of _______________________

Chapter One-38



1. Historical Christianity is inseparably tied to historical events. Thus, the

existence and _____________________ of certain historical events are

essential to maintaining biblical Christianity.

2. The Overall argument in defense of Christianity is based on the

_______________ of the New Testament documents.

Epistemological Objections to an Objective History

The Unobservability of History

3. Response: It must be possible to be “________________” because they

claim to have it. How could they know everyone’s knowledge of history is

not objective unless they had and objective knowledge of it by which they

judge others? “Objective” means “__________________ and adequate”

The Fragmentary Nature of Historical Accounts

4. Response: The fact that accounts of history are _____________________

does not destroy historical objectivity any more than the existence of only a

limited number of fossils destroys the objectivity of geology. History need

be no less objective than ________________________ for depending on

fragmentary accounts.

Chapter One-39

The Axiological (Value) Objection

The historian cannot avoid making value judgments.

5. Response: One may grant the point that ordinary _____________________

is value-laden and that value judgments are _______________________.

This by no means makes historical objectivity impossible. Objectivity

means to be fair in dealing with the facts; it means to present what happened

as accurately as possible. Fairness, implies a value and thus objectivity is

seen to be demanding value judgments rather than avoiding them.

The Methodological Objections

The Selective Nature of Historical Methodology

6. Response to the problem of Historical Conditioning: It does not follow

that since the historian is a ________________________- of his time, his

history is also purely a _______________________ of the time.

The Need to Select and Arrange Historical Materials

7. Response: That historians must select his materials does not automatically

make history purely ______________________________. Jurors make

judgments “beyond reasonable doubt” without having all the

_____________________.

The Metaphysical (Worldview) Objections

Chapter One-40

The Need to Structure the Facts of History

8. Response: There is no reason to assume that the historian cannot arrange

the historical materials without _________________________- the past.

The Unavoidability of Worldviews

9. Response: Without a worldview it makes no sense to talk about

_______________ meaning. Meaning is system-dependent within a given

meaning, but within another system it may have a very different meaning.

This points to the necessity of establishing a worldview in order to attain

_________________________.

Miracles Are by Nature Supernatural

10. Response: Even if the objectivity of _________________________ is

accepted, many historians object to any history that contains

____________________. The secular rejection of miracle-history is often

based on __________________ principle of analogy. The argument is that

if something from history cannot find an analogy in the present (regular

pattern of existence) then it must be rejected as _______________.

However, the testimony for regularity in general is in no way a testimony

against an unusual event in particular. Repeatability and

________________________ are needed to establish scientific laws or

general patterns (of which miracles would be particular exceptions), but

what is needed to establish historical events is credible testimony that these

particular events did indeed occur.

Chapter One-41

Miracles Are in Principle Historically Unknowable

11. Response: The supernatural occurs _________ the historical but it is not a

product _________ the natural process. There is not good reason why the

Christian should yield to the radical existential theologians on the question

of the objective and historical dimensions of a miracle. A miracle can be

identified within an empirical or historical context both ______________

and _________________, both objectively and subjectively. Miracles are

historically grounded—they are more than historical, but they are not less.

The Psychological Objection

12. History recorded by persons with religious motives cannot be trusted—their

religious _______________________ obscures their historical objectivity

and they tend to reinterpret history in the light of their religious beliefs.

13. Response:

1) There is not logical _______________________ between one’s purpose and

the accuracy of the history he writes.

2) Other important writers from the ancient world wrote with

_______________ similar to the Gospel authors.

3) Complete religious ___________________ literature, such as some critics

see in the New Testament, was actually unknown in the ancient world.

4) Unlike other early accounts, the Gospels were written, at a maximum, only

____________________ after the events.

Chapter One-42

5) The historical confirmation of the New Testament writings is

________________________.

6) The New Testament writers take great care to distinguish their words from

the ________________ of Jesus.

7) Luke, for example, states a clear interest for historical _______________.

8) The existence of religious __________ is no guarantee of historical

inaccuracy.

9) The New Testament is ______________________ to be historical by the

same criteria applied to other ancient histories.

10) If the historicity of an event must be denied because of the strong

motivation of the person giving it, then virtually all eyewitness testimony

from the survivors of the ______________ must be discounted.

The Hermeneutical Objections

14. No history can be written without bringing the material into a

“coordinated whole” under some “unifying _____________________,”

and Hayden White believes these concepts are chosen from poetry.

15. Response: The relativity argument presupposes some objective knowledge,

otherwise they would not be able to identify the subjective. They speak of

needing to select and arrange the facts. “Facts” represent some objective

________________________. If the relativists believe that one’s

worldview can distort how one views history, then it implies that there is a

correct way to view it.

Chapter One-43

16. Response: As matter of fact, total relativity is _______________________.

How can one know that history was completely unknowable unless he knew

something about it? It is an admission that history is objectively knowable

and as such cannot eliminate the possibility that Christian claims of history

are knowable. Historical evidence for the central _________________ of

Christianity is more amply supported by historical evidence than for almost

any other event from the ancient world.

17. Response: The heralds of the historical relativist view sometimes attempt to

write _________________________- history themselves.

18. Response: The ability to recognize ________________ history implies

objective knowledge.

19. Response: Like science, history employs normal _____________________

measures that render the facts knowable.

GENERAL REMARKS CONCERNING

THE OBJECTIVITY OF HISTORY

20. First, absolute objectivity is possible only for the ____________ Mind.

Finite minds must be content with systematic __________________, that is,

fair but revisable attempts to reconstruct the past based upon an established

framework of reference that comprehensively and consistently incorporates

all the facts into the overall sketch provided by the worldview.

21. Second, even with this absolute perspective, an adequately objective, finite

interpretation of history is ________________, for the historian can be as

objective as the scientist.

Chapter One-44

22. Third, in reality neither the scientist nor the historian can attain objective

meaning without the use of some ________________ by which he

understands the facts.

Chapter One-45



1. _________ theology is done will determine ______________ the

theological conclusion will be.

VARIOUS KINDS OF THEOLOGICAL METHODS

The Reductio Absurdum Method

2. Zeno (c. 495 – c. 430 B.C.) Argued that nothing existed except one solitary

________________-. Nothing, he argued could move from point A to point

B, since there are an infinite number of points between them, and it is

impossible to traverse the __________. Therefore, by reducing pluralism to

the _______________, he believed he had proven monism (that all is one.).

The method itself does not necessitate any view contrary to Christian belief.

The Socratic Method

3. Socrates (c. 470 – 399 B.C.) This could better be called the _____________

method or the method of interrogation, for it is based on the simple

technique of discovering truth by asking the right _____________. The true

Socratic Method is based on the belief in _______________; however,

others have abstracted this methodology from the belief in

_______________ and use it to lead a mind down the path of truth by asking

the right questions.

The Deductive Method

4. Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.) Credited with being the first to record the canons

of deductive logic (Prior Analysis). These deductions are done by way of

Chapter One-46

logical ___________________-, which take on either a categorical,

hypothetical, or disjunctive form. In the categorical form the conclusion

follows from the truth of the _________________________. In the

disjunctive form, the conclusion is true if one of the two disjuncts

(statements on either side of the “or “in the premise) is negated.

The Inductive Method

16. Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626) He developed the inductive logic and

____________________ logic, known popularly as the _______________

method. These were put in their current form by John Stuart Mill (1806 –

1773). There are two categories of induction: imperfect and perfect. Perfect

induction are possible with regard to biblical teaching, since the Bible

contains a ______________________ and manageable amount of material, a

high degree of certainty is obtainable in a perfect induction.

The Cartesian Method

17. Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650) He developed a method for discovering truth

that began in systematic and methodological ____________________. It

began with “I doubt, therefore I think,” and it concluded with “I exist, God

exists, and the world exists.” Descartes outlined a method by which one

could obtain certainty.

18. The rule of ________________: Only indubitably clear and distinct ideas

should be accepted as true.

19. The rule of ________________: All problems should be reduced to their

simplest parts.

Chapter One-47

20. The rule __________________: All reasoning should proceed from simple

to complex,

21. The rule of ________________: One should review and recheck each step

of the argument.

The Euclidian Method

22. Euclid (fl. 300 B.C.) Developed a system of ______________________ that

began with certain basic definitions and axioms held to be self-evident.

From these all other postulates and theorems were deduced logically and

systematically. Using this method, Spinoza developed an entire

philosophical system, including proofs for __________________ as well as

descriptions of the creation and nature of human beings, free will, and ethics.

From deductive rationalism Spinoza also deduced that miracles were

_______________ and began the first systematic effort at negative higher

criticism of the Bible.

The Transcendental Method

23. Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804) Credited with the development of

transcendental method. It is neither deductive nor inductive; it is more

_______________________, arguing back to the necessary preconditions of

something being the case. The transcendental method seeks for necessary

_________________ of a given state of affairs, not an actual ___________

of them.

The Abductive Method

Chapter One-48

24. Charles Sanders Pierce (1839 – 1914) is credited with developing the

abductive method. An abduction is more like an _______________ or

_____________________ flash that provides one with a model for doing

science or theology. Sometimes this abduction comes as in intelligent

__________________ and other times in a dream or a vision. It is an

intelligent insight into the situation.

The Retroductive Method

25. A retroductive theology is where additional insight is gained from further

_____________________. In this way, the more one knows, the more one

know what he knows better. Sometimes this movement is described as a

____________________. But it is considered a benign circle, not a vicious

circle; in the discipline of interpretation it is called “the ________________

circle.” This is the process by which one understands the whole in the light

of the parts and the parts in light of the whole.

The Analogical Method

26. Joseph Butler (1692 – 1752) is best known for his famous Analogy of

Religion. It is a presentation of the plausibility of Christianity in terms of

the analogy between _________________ and ________________ religion.

27. The Use of Probability: Argued that our knowledge of nature is only

_______________. From this he concluded two things in the defense of

Christianity. First, since this is the case, “one is always in the position of a

potential ______________________, and so one never can posit what one

knows of nature as the standard to judge what is natural.” Second,

probability, which is the guide to life, supports the belief in a

Chapter One-49

______________________ revelation from God in the Bible and the

miracles of Christ.

28. The Objection to Deism: He who believes the _____________________ to

have proceeded from Him who is the Author of nature, may well expect to

find the same sort of difficulties in it as are found in the constitution of

_________________. [Therefore,] he who denies Scripture to have been

from God, upon account of these difficulties, may for the very same reason

deny the world to have been formed by him. Thus if the Deists concluded

that God created the world, which they do, then they would be forced by

their own logic to accept the possibility that the Scriptures were from God as

well.

29. A Religion Should be Judged as a Whole: Another result of Butler’s

analogous argument is that a system of religion must be judged as a whole,

and not simply from attacks leveled against specific _____________.

30. The Relation of Natural and Supernatural Revelation: Butler agrees that

God is the Author of ________________ and that Christianity contains a

republication of this original revelation. He writes: “The essence of

____________________ religion may be said to consist in the religious

regards to “God the Father Almighty”: and the essence of revealed religion

as distinguished from the natural to consist in religious regard to “the Son”

and to “the Holy Ghost.”

31. The Defense of Miracles: In Butler’s words: “No presumption, from

analogy, against the general Christian Scheme; for (1) although

undiscoverable by reason or experience, we only know a

________________ _______________ of a vast whole; (2) even if it be

Chapter One-50

unlike the known course of _________________-, (a) the unknown may not

everywhere resemble the ___________________; (b)we observe unlikeness

sometimes in _________________; (c) the alleged unlikeness is not

complete. Thus no presumption lies against the general Christian scheme,

whether we call it __________________________ or not.

The Dialectical Method

32. Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) Consists in opposing a _____________ with an

_________________ and making a synthesis of them.

33. F. C. Baur (1792 – 1860) claimed that that first century’s supposed tension

between Peter’s Judaistic form of Christianity (thesis) and Paul’s anti-

Judaistic form of Christianity (antithesis) found its reconciliation

(synthesis) in John’s second-century gospel. The tragedy has been that this

dialectic tended to determine the facts rather than discover them, and it has

led to an overlooking if not rejecting of the evidence that points to a much

earlier date for John.

34. Karl Barth (1886 – 1968) employed a dialectical method, stating that the

thesis of ____________________ was opposed by the antithesis of

_______________________ that he synthesized into neo-orthodoxy.

The Pragmatic Method

35. William James (1842 – 1910) According to James, “Truth happens to an

idea. It becomes ___________________, is made true by events . . . ‘the

true,’ to put it very briefly, is only the expedient in the way of our

______________________, just as ‘the right’ is only the expedient in the

way of our ___________________.”

Chapter One-51

36. According to pragmatism, we know what is true by whether or not it

_________________.

The Experimental Method

37. John Dewey (1859 – 1952) More popularly known as experimentalism, this

is an _______________________- contribution to the discipline of

methodology. One discovers the truth by doing, and the final vote is cast by

whether or not our experimentation produces _______________________.

TOWARD DEVELOPING AN APPROPRIATE THEOLOGICAL METHODOLOGY

Step 1: An Inductive Basis in Scripture

Evangelical theology is based on a belief that the Bible and the Bible alone is

the only _______________________, infallible and inerrant revelation from

God; as a result, any adequate methodology must be based on sound exposition

of ______________________. Using the Socratic method of interrogation of a

piece of literature we might ask:

______________ wrote it?

______________ did he write it?

______________ were they located?

To _____________ was he speaking?

______________ was said (or done) according to the text?

Step 2: A Deduction of Truths From Scripture

Systematic Theology draws certain logical conclusions from the premises

provided by a biblical _________________.

Step 3: The Use of Analogies

Chapter One-52

The method of analogy can be used to derive and refine an understanding of

God’s revealed truth. Since God has revealed Himself in both

______________ and _____________________revelation, systematic theology

can make use of analogies from either to help explain and expound truth.

Step 4: The Use of General Revelation

God has revealed Himself in all of nature, including ________________-

nature. Indeed, every _____________________ in creation, wherever it is

found, is similar (analogous) to God, since He cannot produce what He does not

possess; He cannot give to creation what He does not have to give.

Step 5: The Retroductive Method

This step involves use of all the ________________________ gained in step 4

in order to help refine, nuance, and fill out our ______________________ of

what is meant in the teachings of steps 1 through 3.

Step 6: Systematic Correlation ( of all information into a fully orbed doctrine through the use of the laws of logic that insist that all truth must be noncontradictory)

The Bible is the ______________ and _______________Word of God in the

_________________ text (not in all copies). In accord with a good analogy, it

is like Christ (the Word of God) in that both have a divine and human

dimension, yet without error. However, the Bible should be understood in

terms of the literary forms in which it is expressed, its own phenomena (data),

and in accord with other revelation from God in nature.

Step 7: Each Doctrine is Correlated with all Other Doctrines

Chapter One-53

The word systematic in systematic theology implies that all the teachings of

both general and special revelation are _________________ and

________________. The entails the use of another methodology—logic. The

law of _____________________________ affirms that A is not non-A. To two

truths can be contradictory, which is why all biblical truth and extrabiblical

truth must be brought into a consistent whole.

Step 8: Each Doctrine is Expressed in View of the Orthodox Teachings of the Church Fathers

Systematic theology is a ___________________ discipline; only the Bible is an

infallible guide for faith and practice. However, theology should not be done in

a vacuum—just as we can see farther spatially if we stand on the shoulders of

giants, we likewise can see further theologically if we stand on the shoulders of

the church __________________. Considering seriously the enduring

teachings of the orthodox Fathers of the past is essential in constructing a viable

evangelical systematic theology for the present.

Step 9: Livability is the Final Test for Systematic Theology

True Christianity is not merely ___________________; it is also ethics. It is

not simply theoretical; it is practical. Its goal is not only to satisfy the

_____________ but also to shape the _____________. Therefore, it must be

livable; its truths must be effective in a pragmatic way. Of course, not all that

works is true, but what is true will work.

Chapter One-54

BIBLIOLOGYStudy Guide for Chapter 13

1. The Bible claims to be a book from God, a message with divine

___________________.

2. Two basic texts on Revelation and Inspiration:

_________________________ and ___________________________.

3. The biblical authors were ___________________ and

________________of God.

Short Essay Question:

4. Support the position that the Bible is the “the inspired, authoritative Word

of God.”

Chapter One-55

5. The extent of divine authority in Scripture includes:

a) All that is ________________—2 Timothy 3:16

b) Even the very ________________—Matthew 22:43; 1 Corinthians 2:13

c) And the _____________and ___________—Matthew 22:32; Galatians 3:16

d) Even the _____________________ parts of words—Matthew 5:17-18

6. The locus of revelation and inspiration is the written

____________________, not simply the idea or even the writer.

7. Biblical inspiration is not only verbal (located in the words), but it is also

_________________________, meaning that it extends to every part of the

words and all they teach or imply.

8. The inspiration of God includes not only what the Bible teaches explicitly,

but also what it teaches _____________________,, covering not only

spiritual matters but factual ones as well.

9. While everything is the Bible is equally _______________, not everything

is equally __________________________.

10. Short Essay Question:

Define “inspiration” as it applies to the Bible.

Chapter One-56

11. While the Bible was not dictated by God to secretaries, the final product is

as ____________________ and _____________________ as though it were

dictated.

Chapter One-57

Study Guide for Geisler, Chapter 14

1. The Hebrew godesh and Greek hagios both mean _____________ or

_______________, which means “to be set apart.” As an attribute of God,

holiness means to be totally and utterly set apart from all creation and from

evil.

2. Holiness is used of God’s Word similarly to the way it is used of God,

namely, to be set apart from other things, to be _______________, to be

________________.

3. God’s Word is not only holy itself, but it is able to make us

__________________.

4. As the Word of God, the Bible has divine authority.

5. The word _______________________ is not used in Scripture of itself;

however, other statements are used of the Bible that imply its infallibility.

6. Jesus declared that the Bible is _________________________.

7. The Bible has __________________________ power—it cannot be worn

out; it is tireless and inexhaustible.

8. The Bible has the quality of being __________________________; that is,

it cannot be overcome, made void or ineffective—it always accomplishes its

purpose.

9. Give one argument (Geisler offers three) that shows that the Bible is without

error.

Chapter One-58

2.

Study Guide for Chapter Fifteen

1. The Bible is not only of _________________ origin, it also has

________________ authors, and therefore it is a human book. Indeed, it is a

_____________________________ book.

2. SHORT ESSAY

Defend the proposition that in addition to being a book of divine origin, it is

also a human book.

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

Chapter One-59

3. There is one human characteristic that the Bible does not have;

_______________.

4. The logic of inerrancy is as follows:

God cannot err

The Bible is God’s Word

Therefore, the ____________ cannot ______________

5. Christians claim that God breathed out everything in the

___________________ text, not everything in the _______________.

6. The degree of accuracy between copies is greater than that of any other

book from the ancient world, exceeding _____________ percent.

7. Both ___________________ and Scripture are

_________________________.

8. It should be noted, that the Bible is not ______________, and should not be

______________________.

9. Worshipping a book is known as bibliolatry, or “idolizing the book.”

Chapter One-60

Study Guide for Chapter Sixteen

1. Whatever Jesus taught about the __________________ is the last word on

the topic.

2. Jesus’ words apply __________________ only to the Old Testament;

however, since He also made certain promises the apostles about New

Testament truth, and since the apostolic writings were considered on par

with the Old Testament, then what Jesus taught about the divine authority of

the Old Testament applies __________________ to the New Testament.

3. Over and over Jesus declared, “It is _____________” (Matt. 4:4, 7, 10).

4. With respect to what Jesus taught about the Old Testament:

a) Jesus Affirmed Its Divine __________________

b) Jesus Affirmed Its __________________

c) Jesus Affirmed Its __________________

d) Jesus Affirmed Its Ultimate __________________

e) Jesus Affirmed Its Factual __________________

f) Jesus Affirmed Its Historical __________________

g) Jesus Affirmed Its Scientific __________________

Chapter One-61

5. Jesus employed several terms that refer to the Old Testament as a whole:

a) First, “law and __________________” its equivalent

b) Second, the term “the __________________”

c) Third, Jesus used a phrase equivalent to our “from Genesis to

__________________”

6. Not only did Jesus confirm the Old Testament to be the Word of God, He

also promised the same for the New Testament, affirming that the Holy

Spirit would __________________ the apostles “all things” and

__________________ them into “all truth.”

7. Paul cited the words of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke, calling them

“__________________” right alongside the Old Testament.

8. Peter acknowledges the letters of __________________ as Scripture.

Christ and the Critics

9. Jesus affirmed that Daniel was a __________________, not a mere

__________________.

10. Jesus confirmed that God __________________ Adam and Eve

11. Jesus confirmed that __________________ was swallowed by a great

__________________

12. Jesus verified that the world was __________________ by a

__________________

13. Jesus maintained that there was __________________ Isaiah not

__________________

Chapter One-62

14. Jesus confirmed that __________________ wrote Psalms ascribed to him

15. According to the accommodation theory, Jesus was merely

__________________ Himself to the accepted Jewish belief of the day with

respect to the divine authority of the Old Testament. Geisler proves this

false on my counts:

16. Accommodation to error is contrary to the __________________ of Jesus’

life.

17. Accommodation to error is contrary to Jesus’ __________________

18. Another critical hypothesis is the __________________ theory, which

argues that because Jesus was fully human, His knowledge was limited and

thus His words could not have been considered divine authority.

19. While Jesus was fully human, He was also fully __________________.

20. Jesus had a __________________ knowledge even in His human state

21. Christ possessed complete and final __________________ for whatever He

taught

Chapter One-63


1. The history of the Christian church is in overwhelming support of what the

Bible claims for itself, namely, to be the divinely __________________,

__________________, and __________________ word of God.

2. Epistle of Pseudo-Barnabas This work cites the gospel of Matthew after

stating that it is what “God __________________”

3. Epistle to the Corinthians He quotes the Synoptic Gospels after calling

them “__________________.”

4. Epistle to the Philippians He referred to the New Testament several times

in his epistle, introducing Galatians 4:26 as “the word of

__________________”.

5. Papias Wrote five books titled Esposition of the Oracles of the Lord, which

is the same title given to the Old Testament by the apostle Paul in Romans

3:2, revealing Papias’s high regard for the New Testament as the very

__________________ of God.

6. Justin Martyr He spoke of the Gospels as the “__________________ of God”

7. Tatian He called John 1:5 “__________________”

8. Irenaeus He referred to the divine _________________ of the New Testament.

Chapter One-64

9. Clement of Alexandria He called the gospel “__________________” in the same senses as the Law and the Prophets.

10. Tertullian Never wavered in his support of the doctrine of __________________ of both the Old and New Testaments.

11. Hippolytus Exhibited the same deep sense of __________________ toward

Scripture as his teacher Irenaeus

12. Origen Held that God “gave the law, and the prophets, and the

__________________, being also the God of the apostles and the of the Old

and New Testaments.

13. Cyprian Appeals to the Gospels as __________________, referring to

them as the “commandments of Christ.”

14. Eusebius Held to the __________________ of the Old and New Testaments.

15. Athanasius Was the first to use the term “__________________” in

reference to the New Testament books, which he called “the foundations of

salvation.”

16. Cyril Offered what he called a summary of the “whole

__________________ of the Faith” that has been built up strongly out of all

the Scriptures.

17. Ambrose In his Letters Ambrose cites Matthew by using the familiar

introductory statement for a __________________ inspired writing.

18. Jerome His writings include many references to the “Holy

__________________” and to their authority.

Chapter One-65

19. The Syrian School at Antioch They viewed the Holy Spirit as providing the

content of __________________ and the prophet as giving it appropriate

expression and form.

20. Augustine of Hippo He completely endorsed the claims of the New

Testament for its __________________.

21. Gregory I Refers to Hebrews as “__________________”

22. Anselm of Canterbury He continued to state the __________________

view of inspiration.

23. The Victorines Their respect for Scripture was based on the belief of their

predecessors—that the Bible is the __________________ inspired Word of

God.

24. Thomas Aquinas In his Summa Theologica states, “The

__________________ of the Holy Scripture is God.”

Chapter One-66


1. On the nature of Scripture, there are no substantial __________________

between the views of the Reformers and the great early and medieval

__________________ of the church.

2. Martin Luther did not depart from the doctrine of Scripture held by his great

mentor, Augustine. He firmly adhered to the divine __________________,

__________________, and __________________ of Scripture.

3. John Calvin was just as repeatedly emphatic about the divine

__________________ and __________________ of Scripture as were

Augustine, Aquinas, and Luther.

4. Ulrich Zwingli held on to __________________ and __________________

of Scripture.

5. The Westminister Tradition Inspiration and authority of Scripture is

affirmed in “The Article of the __________________ of the Holy Scriptures

for Salvation”

6. The Weslyan Tradition In The Twenty-Five Articles of Religion, Article II,

“The Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation” affirms the absolute

__________________ and total __________________ of the Bible.

Chapter One-67

The Anabaptist and Baptist Tradition In the introduction to his Treatise

Against the Anabaptists, even Calvin acknowledged that “this sect

__________________ the Holy Scripture, as we do.”

The Roman Catholic View on Scripture The Council of Vatican I proclaimed

the __________________ of Scripture.

The Eastern Orthodox View of Scripture The Eastern Church has maintained a

high view of the __________________ of Scripture, in line with both the

Roman Catholic and Protestant view.

Chapter One-68


1. The word _________________ simply means “to execute judgment.”

2. There are two basic kinds of _________________ criticism: lower and

higher.

3. _________________ criticism has to do with the _________________ of

Scripture.

4. _________________ criticism has to do with the _________________ of

the text.

5. Higher criticism can be divided into two categories: positive and negative,

also called _________________ and _________________.

6. Destructive criticism is based on the presuppositions that are opposed to the

Bible and to _________________ theology.

7. One of the most persistent and unjustified presuppositions of negative

biblical criticism is _________________.

8. Associate the name of the philosopher with the philosophical view:

Chapter One-69

a) Inductivism: _________________

b) _________________ : Thomas Hobbes

c) Antisupernaturalism: _________________

d) _________________ : David Hume

e) Agnosticism: _________________

f) _________________ : Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

g) Scientism: _________________

h) _________________ : Spencer and Darwin

Roots of Destructive Biblical Criticism

9. Pietism: Stressed the primary importance of _________________ over

“cold orthodoxy.”

Liberalism: Friedrich Schleiermacher

10. The basis of religion is found in _________________. Religion is found in

_________________, and doctrine is only a form of feeling. The aim or

goal of religion is love of the ______, the World-Spirit. Religion is neither

true or false.

Existentialism: Soren Kierkegaard

Chapter One-70

It should be noted at the outset, that Kierkegaard’s personal faith can be

described as _________________, and he sought a form of piety that sought to

experience God rather than just to know about God. Other’s took his writings

and went beyond Kierkegaard in their application of his philosophy. For him

Christianity is a faith, first and foremost, and when this faith is founded on

Christ neither the rational affirmations of the truth of Scripture nor the criticism

of Scripture could diminish the experience one has with God through Christ.

The subjective and experiential form of religion eventually gave way to

rationalism. Some of the more notable proponents of destructive biblical

criticism include:

Ferdinand C. Baur: Postulated that the Gospel of John must be a second-

century _________________ between the thesis of Peter and the antithesis of

Paul.

Rudolph Bultman: Developed an antisupernatural form of _________________

of the New Testament.

Chapter One-71

Study Guide for Chapter Twenty

1. The rise of modern _________________ undermined the historical

orthodox view of Scripture.

2. The Classical Liberal View of Scripture

L. Harold DeWolf’s View

Antisupernatural

a) Cultural _________________

b) Favor of the _________________ view

c) The Bible is not the _________________ of God

d) The Bible is _________________ and errant

e) The origin of Scripture is not _________________

2. Harry Emerson Fosdick’s View

Antisupernatural bias

a) Naturalistic _________________

b) The Bible is fallible and _________________

c) The Bible contains _________________

Chapter One-72

The Bible has scientific _________________

Some the acts ascribed to God in the Old Testament are immoral

The Neoclassical Liberal View of Scripture

Schubert Ogden

God is not _________________, all-knowing, all-powerful

Revelation is not _________________

Rejects that what the Bible says, is what __________ says

None of the New Testament, in present form, was written by an

_________________ or one of his disciples

The Bible has authority only to the extent that it brings _____________ to us

An Evaluation of Liberal Views of Scripture

Some Positive Aspects of the Liberal Views

The emphasis on the _________________ element of Scripture

The focus on matters of _________________ criticism

An understanding of the need for _________________

The emphasis on the need for biblical _________________

Chapter One-73

3. Some Negative Aspects of the Liberal Views

a) Liberalism’s belief is contrary to the claim of the ______________

b) It is contrary to the claim of _________________

c) It is contrary to the historical claim of the _________________

d) It is based on the wrong view of _________________

e) It is based on an unjustified _________________

f) It is _________________ with its own assumption

Chapter One-74


1. The neo-orthodox view of Scripture arises out of a reaction to dead

____________, as well as out of reaction to dead _________________.

KARL BARTH: THE FATHER NEO-ORTHODOXY

The Origin of Scripture

2. ___________ is the source of the Bible

The Threefold Word of God

3. Barth said there are three levels to the Word of God

4. Primary level of the Word of God is ____________, the Living Word of

God

5. Secondary level of the Word of God is the _______________, which is a

witness to God’s primary revelation in Christ.

6. Tertiary level of the Word of God is the _____________ of the Word.

The Purpose of the Bible

7. The Bible is an _____________ through which God reveals His Word.

The Bible is a Record of Revelation

8. It is merely a ______________ of God’s revelation in Christ.

Chapter One-75

A Witness to the Word of God

The Bible is a _________________ witness to God’s revelation in Christ.

The Bible is Fallible and Errant

There are obvious overlappings and _________________, for example,

between the Law and the prophets, between John and the Synoptics, etc.

AN EVALUATION OF THE NEO-ORTHODOX VIEW OF SCRIPTURE

The Positive Aspects of the Neo-Orthodox View

Rejection of mechanical _________________ theory of inspiration

Emphasis on the _________________ of Christ

Rejection of _________________ (worship of the Bible)

Stress on the need for personal _________________ with God

The _________________ of God in His acts/works

Focus on the need for _________________

The Negative Aspects of the Neo-Orthodox View

This view of Scripture is biblically _________________

This view of the Bible is _________________ unsupported

This view of the Bible is _________________ inconsistent

Chapter One-76

9. This view of Christ is _________________

10. This view of Scripture is _________________ misplaced

11. This view is filled with logical _________________

12. This view of Scripture is practically _________________

Chapter One-77


1. The Neo-Evangelical view is named this because it is a deviation from the

longstanding Evangelical teaching on Scripture.

REPRESENTATIVES OF NEO-EVANGELICALISM

G. C. Berkouwer

2. Berkouwer believed that in the Bible we can distinguish between the Word

of God and the words of man. The ________________ of God could be

heard within Scripture—a confession that falls short of the clear orthodox

proclamation that the Bible is the Word of God and not merely contains the

Word of God.

3. Berkouwer thought of Scripture more as a result of the ________________

of God than as a ________________ work of God.

4. Berkouwer believed that inspiration is ________________ (that is, that the

Bible is inspired as a ________________, but not necessarily in all its parts),

but verbal and plenary.

5. Berkouwer believed that the Bible is inspired in its ________________, i.e.,

the divine message of salvation, but again, not in verbal or plenary

inspiration.

6. Berkouwer was willing to accede that the Bible had human

________________, such as error, like any other human writing.

Chapter One-78

7. Berkouwer believe that the Bible has ________________ accommodations

that must be viewed as relevant only for the cultural in which it was written.

As such, he would not grant that the Bible is culturally transcendent.

8. Likewise, Berkouwer believed that the Bible contains ________________

accommodation, meaning that it reflected the human understanding of

science during the time in which it was written, and as such contains error.

9. Additionally, Berkouwer held that the Bible contains historical

accommodation, reflected in the fact that the writers “use certain _______-

_________ conceptions in their writing.” In this, he says, there are errors in

Scripture, and he uses error in the sense of being incorrect, not corrupt or

willfully deceptive.

10.In addition to the above accommodations claimed by Berkouwer, he also

believes that the Bible is ________________ even in the worldview it

expresses. He writes, “Scripture bears the marks of the period and of the

milieu in which it was written and shares in part these marks with culture

which in many ways was interrelated to that of Israel.” As such, he would

claim that this Judean/Jewish worldview is limiting and is not applicable

throughout all times, cultures, and worldviews. For example, the current

Postmodern worldview of the Twenty-First Century.

11.Finally, Berkouwer went so far as to claim there are ________________ in

the Bible.

Jack Rogers

13. Rogers was one of the faculty members of Fuller Theological Seminary

who successfully push through a neo-evangelical view of Scripture, which

Chapter One-79

led to the departure of several of the notable evangelical faculty members of

the seminary.

14. Rogers holds that “evangelicals believe the Bible is the authoritative word

of God.” However, he also maintained that it included accommodation to

human finitude and even error is involved in the this process. Follower

Berkouwer, he argued that the nature of inspiration is not verbal and plenary,

it is ________________.

15. Rogers was willing to speak of the inerrancy of the Bible, but regarded it in

terms of truth being determined by ________________ and not

correspondence. That is to say, the Bible is without error in what it intends

to do, not in all that it actually states. As such, Rogers believes that the

Bible does in fact have historical and scientific errors.

16. Once inerrancy was defined by ________________, rather than content, the

neo-evangelicals could speak of the saving ________________ of Scripture

with respect to what is meant by inspiration.

17. Having embraced the hermeneutical perspective of saving purpose rather

than verbal or plenary inerrancy, Rogers is able to accommodate modern

________________ criticism of the Bible.

18. Rogers proceeded in his ________________ philosophy of church history

to reinterpret the past in favor of his new evangelical view.

Short Essay Question:

19. How does the neo-evangelical view differ from the evangelical view of Scripture? (See summary on page 197)

Chapter One-80

C. S. Lewis

20. Lewis viewed Scripture as the ________________ of God through

________________ distortion. Lewis maintains that there was a constant

divine/human ________________ in the formation of Scripture.

21. For Lewis, Scripture resulted more from God’s ________________ than

from His supernatural intervention.

22. With respect to the inerrancy of the Bible, Lewis believed that there is a

________________ between the Word of God and the word of man

contained in Scripture.

23. Lewis’s view of the New Testament was more ________________ than his

view of the Old Testament. He had no difficulty with the liberal view that

there are myths in the Old Testament.

24. Likewise, he had no difficulty accepting that there were historical

________________ in the Bible. Unlike many neo-evangelicals, Lewis did

not limit the errancy of Scripture to ________________ matters. He found

error, for example in some of the psalms, which he believed were

contemptible and even devilish.

25. Lewis clearly rejected the orthodox view of ________________ Scripture.

26. Lewis rejected the traditional ________________ of certain sections of the

Old Testament, including Psalms. In addition, he rejected many of the Old

Testament ________________.

27. Lewis, was willing to embrace theistic ________________ in direct

contradiction with a literal interpretation of the creation account.

Chapter One-81

EVALUATION THE NEO-EVANGELICAL VIEWS OF SCRIPTURE

28. Positive aspects

a) It emphasizes the ________________ whole of Scripture

b) It warns against ________________ philosophical view

c) It takes seriously the ________________ nature of Scripture

d) It highlights the need for divine ________________

e) It interacts with contemporary ________________

29. Negative aspects

a) It is contrary to the claims of ________________

b) It is contrary to the ________________ of the Church Fathers and

Reformers

c) It is based on a ________________ view of truth

d) It undermines the divine ________________ of the Bible

Chapter One-82


THE EVANGELICALS ON THE BIBLE

1. The evangelical view of Scripture is a continuation of the historical

________________ view as expressed in the Bible. Evangelicals affirm the

full ________________ and factual ________________ of the Bible.

NOTEABLE

Francis Turrentin

2. The authority of Scripture depends on their ________________. They are

from God, therefore, they must be authentic and divine.

3. Turrentin held that the Bible is both ________________ and

________________. The Bible cannot err because: 1) The Scriptures are

inspired of God; 2) If the integrity of Scripture cannot be maintained then

they cannot be regarded as the sole rule of faith and practice.

4. Turrentin believed that the ________________ Hebrew and Greek texts are

without error. He also believes that the Hebrew and Greek texts are the

standard and rule to which all ________________ should be applied.

5. Turrentin believed in __________ ________________, which means he

believes that the Bible is the only written authority for believers.

6. Turrentin believed in the ________________ of Scriptures, that is, that God

has insured that copies of Scripture have been providentially preserved by

God.

Chapter One-83

Jonathan Edwards

7. Edwards believed that the Bible was the very ________________ of God.

8. Edwards believed that the Bible was also a ________________ book. When

Edwards refers to the divinely authoritative product of inspiration and not to

the human means by which it was produced.

The Old Princetonians

Charles Hodge

9. C. Hodge argued that “all Protestants agree and teach that ‘the word of God,

as contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only

________________ rule of faith and practice.’”

10.Hodge affirmed that “the Scriptures are infallible, i.e., given by

________________ of God.

11. Hodge opposed ________________. He calls the theory of evolution

“atheistic . . . the exclusion of design from nature is . . . tantamount to

atheism.”

A. Hodge and B. B. Warfield

12. These men believed that the Bible is the Word of God; it is not merely the

thoughts but the very ________________ of Scripture that are infallible.

13. They do not deny the ________________ element in the Scriptures and this

“obvious humanness” eliminates any notion of a “mechanical” or “verbal

dictation” view of inspiration.

Chapter One-84

14. They believed in the ________________ inspiration, and absolute

errorlessness in all it affirms. The Bible is therefore, verbal, plenary,

infallible and inerrant. What the sacred writers affirm is infallibly true.

15. In response to negative biblical criticism their position remained consistent

with the basic ________________ teaching about Scripture.

Evangelical Theological Society (ETS)

16. Their view is consistent with that of Hodge-Warfield.

THE EVANGELICAL VIEW OF SCRIPTURE

17. Acceptance of the long-standing ________________ view of the full

inspiration and factual inerrancy of Scripture. This orthodox view has been

rejected in modern times because of an unnecessary and unjustified

acceptance of antisupernaturalism and the uncritical and unsubstantiated

acceptance of alien philosophical presuppositions.

18. Evangelicals reject ________________. God Himself is supernatural, to

believe in God presupposes the possibility of the supernatural intervention

of God by way of miracles and spiritual manifestations.

19. Evangelicals reject the insertion of ________________ philosophical view

into the theological discussion. They reject the attempt to insert baseless

philosophical premises, antisupernaturalism, evolution, progressivism, and

secular existentialism.

Chapter One-85


1. Many contemporary theologians who would call themselves

fundamentalists accept the same view as expressed in the

“________________” position. Both groups trace their roots back to C.

Hodge, A. A. Hodge, B. B. Warfield, and J. G. Machen.

Historical Fundamentalism

2. Historic fundamentalism held the standard ________________ view of

Scripture, the view of the Fathers and Reformers of the church.

Contemporary Fundamentalism

3. Current fundamentalists do not hold a ________________ view of

Scripture. They range from the standard evangelical view to a verbal

dictation and even beyond to a KJV only view.

VERBAL DICTATION VIEW

The Verbal Dictation View of John R. Rice

4. Rice embraced what he called “________________ dictation,” meaning that

there is a human side to the Bible in its style, language, composition, history

and culture.

THE INSPIRED KING JAMES VERSION VIEW

5. Most fundamentalists were reared on the KJV Bible. They appreciate the

beauty rhythm, cadence and descriptive power is indicative of

________________ style language.

Chapter One-86

6. However, some have taken things too far by ________________ this

aesthetically pleasing translation. They have frozen the truth of the original

Hebrew and Greek text of the Bible in this seventeen-century book as time

has passed them by.

CRITIQUE OF THE INSPIRED-KJV CLAIM

7. The choice of version is ________________. Why a Bible in English rather

than in German, or French, or some other language?

8. Why choose only this ________________ Bible as inspired? Why not

some other English translation, such as the more popular NIV?

9. Why are recent edition of the KJV? Why not the ________________ one?

Even the two editions issued in 1611 differ from each other.

10. The original KJV had the ________________ books in it. They were not

taken out until the 1629 edition.

11. To hold to the KJV as an inspired translation is to confess that many things

in it are ________________ and/or false. Some of the Old English words

have lost their meaning, or actually now mean the opposite of their original

—for example, “let” in 2 Thess. 2:7 now means “hinder” and not the modern

meaning of “let,” i.e., “allow.”

BIBLICAL DOCETISM—DIMINISHING SCRIPTURE’S HUMANITY

12. Biblical docetism is an unorthodox view of Scripture, since it too

diminishes the Bible’s ______________ side. Denying biblical humanity is

a failure to recognize one or more of the following human characteristics of

Scripture:

Chapter One-87

13. Scripture has human ________________, some forty in all.

14. The Bible was written in human ________________ —Hebrew, Aramaic,

and Greek.

15. The Bible utilizes different literary ________________ —from down to

earth to sophisticated.

16. The Bible uses different human ________________ —poetry, narrative,

parable, etc.

17. The Bible reflects different human ________________ —from shepherd to

prophet, to pastor.

18. The Bible reveals human thought ________________ and processes,

including human reasoning.

19. The Bible reveals human ________________ —including sorrow, anger,

joy, etc.

20. The Bible manifests specific human ________________.

21. The Bible expresses human ________________, basically Semitic.

22. The Bible utilizes other written human ________________, some of which

are not in the Bible.

Chapter One-88

Study Guide Chapter for Geisler, Chapter 25

1. Christianity is a historical religion, and the main events on which it is based,

such as Creation and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, claim

to be space-time events in the _______________ world.

2. The historicity of the Old Testament is based on two major factors: The

reliability of the Old Testament text, and the reliability of those who put the

text together.

THE RELIABILITY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT MANUSCRIPTS

3. The _______________ of Old Testament Manuscripts

Thousands of ancient manuscripts exist for the Old Testament

4. The _______________ of the Old Testament Manuscripts

Conservatives place the last book of the Old Testament around 400 B.C.

5. The _______________ of the Old Testament Manuscripts

6. The accuracy of the Old Testament manuscripts was attested in the

discovery of the _______________ Scrolls provide a cross-check on how

accurately manuscripts were copied during a thousand year period and the

results confirmed the accuracy of later manuscripts.

Chapter One-89

The Historicity of Particular Sections of the Old Testament

7. W. F. Albright wrote: “There can be no doubt that the archaeology has

_______________ the substantial historicity of the Old Testament

tradition.”

Historicity of Adam and Eve

8. First, they are presented in Genesis 1-2 as _______________ persons.

9. Second, they gave birth to _______________ children.

10. Third, the phrase, “this is the _______________ of,” is used to record later

history.

11. Fourth, later Old Testament chronology of historical persons place

___________ at the top of the list.

12. Fifth, the New Testament places Adam at the beginning of

_______________ literal ancestors.

13. Sixth, _______________ referred to Adam and Eve as the first actual “male

and female.”

14. Seventh, the book of _______________ declares that literal death was

brought into the world by a literal man.

15. Eighth, in comparison of Adam with _______________, 1 Corinthians

15:45 manifests that Adam was understood as being historical.

16. Ninth, Paul’s declaration that “_______________ was first formed, then

Eve”

Chapter One-90

17. Tenth, logically there had to be a first real set of human being, male and

female to account for present _______________.

The Historicity of Noah and the Flood

18. First, the account presents itself as _______________, not mythological.

19. Second, it is part of a broader _______________ account, being linked by

such literary connectives as, “this is the account of Noah” (Gen. 6:9).

20. Third, it is immediately followed by a listing of _______________ and

cities know to come from that area of the world.

21. Fourth, Noah and his sons are listed in a later ___________ record in 1

Chronicles.

22. Fifth, Isaiah the prophet referred to ________ and the Flood as historical

events (54:9).

23. Sixth, during the time of Ezekiel the prophet, Noah was still considered one

of the great figures of _______________ history.

24. Seventh, _______________ affirmed that Noah, the Flood, and details

surrounding the Flood are historical (Matt. 24:37-38).

25. Eight, the writer of _______________ places Noah in the great Hall of

Faith along with other historical figures like Abraham, Moses, and David

(Heb. 11:7).

26. Ninth, the apostle _______________ twice refers to Noah and the Flood as

a literal person and event (1 Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5).

Chapter One-91

27. Tenth, there is abundant _______________ evidence that the water once

covered the entire earth, including mountains and the poles.

28. Eleventh, the worldwide existence of Flood stories in diverse

_____________ and _______________ is testimony to the historicity of

Noah and the Flood.

Historicity of the Tower of Babel

29. The _______________ archeological finds of this area support the

historicity of this text.

Historicity of the Patriarchs

30. Law codes have been found from the time of Abraham that show why the

Patriarch would have been hesitant to throw Hagar out of his camp, for he

was _______________ bound to support her.

31. The discovery of the _______ letters reveals such names a Abam-ram,

Jacob-el, and Benjamites. These to not refer to the biblical character, but

demonstrate that these names are consistent with names of that time and

place.

Historicity of Sodom and Gomorrah

32. Evidence has revealed that all five cities mentioned in the Bible (Sodom and

Gomorrah and three other cities in the area) were in fact centers of

_______________ and were geographically situated as the Scriptures say.

Chapter One-92


1. Few scholars have denied the complete _______________ of the New

Testament. Even Bultmann, who denied the miracles and attempted to

“demythologize” Scripture, said, “By no means are we at the mercy of those

who _______________ that Jesus ever lived.”

2. The historicity of the New Testament is basically the historicity of the

_________, the book of _______, and the early epistles of ______.

THE RELIABILITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

3. The _______________ of New Testament Manuscripts

4. The early ________ of the New Testament Manuscripts

5. The _______________ of the New Testament Manuscripts

6. The _______________ of the New Testament Manuscripts by Early Church

Fathers

THE RELIABILITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT ACCOUNTS

The Historicity of Acts

7. The date and authenticity of the book of Acts is crucial to the historicity of

early Christianity and, thus, to apologetics in general. If Acts was written

before _______________ while the eyewitnesses were still alive, then it has

great historical value in informing us of the earliest Christian beliefs.

8. If Acts was written by A.D. 62 (the traditional date), then it was written by a

_______________ of Jesus (who died A.D. 33).

Chapter One-93

9. Five strong reasons, given by Colin Hemer for accepting the traditional

early date of Acts:

10. There is no mention in Acts of the crucial historical event of the fall of

_______________ in A.D. 70, which places Acts before that event.

11. There is no hint of the outbreak of the _______________ in 66 or of any

serious or specific deterioration of relations between Romans and Jews,

implying Acts was written before that time.

12. There is no hint of the more immediate deterioration of Christian relations

with Rome involved in the _______________ persecution of the late 60’s.

13. There is no hint of the death of _______________ at the hands of the

Sanhedrin in c. 62, recorded by Josephus.

14. Since the apostle _______________ was still alive (Acts 28), it must have

been written before his death (c. A.D. 65).

Historicity of the Gospel Accounts

15. Arguing for the historicity of one of the _______________ Gospels is to

argue for the historicity of all the three (Matthew, Mark and Luke), Geilser

shows strong support for the historicity of Luke because there are numerous

arguments to support his historicity.

16. The author of Luke is known to be an accurate _______________, as

evidenced by his writing the book of Acts.

17. The Gospel of Luke was written by about _______________, which was

within 30 years of Jesus’ ministry.

Chapter One-94

Luke states that he researched for writing this account:

18. He is aware of other earlier _______________ accounts of Christ’s life

19. The gospel of Luke is based on “_______________” testimony

20. He had “carefully _______________ everything from the beginning”

The archeological confirmation of the Gospels

21. The Gospels breathe the same air of first-century ____________ culture.

22. The mention of __________, Sadducees, Jewish traditions, customs, and

use of Aramaic words affirm that they were written during the first century.

23. References to ___________, topography, lakes, land, etc. all point to the

authenticity of the Gospels.

24. The accurate portrayals of historical ______________ such as Caesar

Augustus, Quirinius, King Herod, etc. strongly support the historical

accuracy of the test.

25. Archeological discovery of specific places, such as the Siloam pool, pool of

Bethesda, the foundation of ____________ temple, etc. are consistent with

the accounts of Scripture.

26. Like the rest of _______________, the life of Christ portrayed in the

Gospels fits perfectly into the known facts unearthed by the archeology of

this period.

Chapter One-95

Evidence for the Historicity of Paul’s Early Epistles

27. There is general agreement, even among _______________ critics, that

Paul wrote 1 Corinthians adjourned A.D. 55.

28. First Corinthians presents the same basic information about Christ found in

the _______________, but some five years earlier than Luke.

29. There is strong internal evidence for Pauline authorship, as well as strong

external evidence, namely _______________ of Rome, the Epistle of

_______________, the _______________, and the Shepherd of

_______________.

30. Paul rests the very truth of Christianity on the historicity of the

_______________, and as such provides lists of living witnesses to Jesus’

resurrection, including Paul himself.

Confirmation of the New Testament from the Basic Facts Position

31. Professor Habermas lists “at least twelve separate facts that are agreed to be

knowable history” by “practically all critical scholars”:

1) Jesus died by _______________

2) Jesus was _______________

3) His disciples _______________

4) The tomb was later found _______________

5) The disciples believed they later saw literal appearances of ___________

Chapter One-96

6) They were transformed from doubters to bold proclaimers of His

_______________

7) This message was the center of their early _______________

8) They preached this in _______________ shortly after it happened

9) The church was born and grew _______________

10) _______________ was their primary day of worship

11) James was converted from _______________ to belief in the resurrection

of Jesus

12) A few years later Paul was _______________, proclaiming that he had

seen the resurrected Christ.

32. Given this “knowable history” it can be argued that no purely naturalistic

theory explains all these facts and that the actual _______________

resurrection of Jesus is the best explanation of all the facts.

Strong Internal Evidence for the Historicity of the Gospels

33. There is no attempt by the Gospel writers to _______________ (make them

agree with one another on every point) their accounts. If this was a fraud,

one would expect them to try very hard to get their accounts to agree 100

percent.

34. The Gospel writers have passages that appear to put Jesus in a

_______________, such as not going immediately to heal Lazarus, instead,

allowing Lazarus to die, and then going to raise him. Further, they record

the negative gossip concerning Jesus, i.e., that He was a drunkard, a

Chapter One-97

madman, that He was demon possessed, and that His own brothers did not

believe in Him. If these writers were trying to perpetrate a fraud, they would

have omitted these negative reports, and only cast Jesus in a positive light.

35. The Gospel writers leave _______________ passages in their text. If they

were trying to fabricate historical facts about the life of Jesus, they would

have smoothed out difficult passages rather than leaving them in.

36. The Gospel writers include reports that cast ______________ (the disciples)

in a negative light. Again, one would not expect this in a false account.

37. By all accounts, the Gospel writers did not deny their testimony, even under

threat of _______________.

38. The Gospel writers claim to have based their account on _______________,

a claim that could easily have been proven wrong if it were not true.

Chapter One-98

Study Guide Geisler, Chapter 27

1. The doctrine of inerrancy is not directly taught in Scripture, although it is

logically implied. Two things are directly taught:

a) Premise 1). The Bible is the ______________of God

b) Premise 2) God cannot ______________

c) Conclusion: The ______________cannot ______________

2. ______________means “breathed out by God, what comes from God

himself.”

3. ______________means “what has divine authority, what cannot be

broken.”

4. ______________means “what is without error, wholly true.”

5. What is inspired is ______________, since inspired means to be breathed

out by God, and what is God-breathed cannot be in ______________.

However, not everything inerrant is divinely ______________.

The Bible is God-Breathed

6. ____________declared that “all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for

teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16)

The Nature of a Prophet

Chapter One-99

7. The Bible claims to be a ______________writing (Heb. 1:1; 2 Peter 1:20-

21), prophets, as mouthpieces of God, spoke only what God put in their

mouths.

The Divine Authority of the Bible

8. Jesus said God’s Word was exalted above all ______________authority

(Matt. 15:3-6).

The Bible is “What God Says”

9. What the Bible ______________, God ______________.

The Bible is Called “The ______________of God”

10. This very phrase or its equivalent is used many times of the Bible in part or

as a whole.”

God Cannot Err

11. Every moral law has a Moral ______________There is an ______________moral lawHence, there is an absolute ______________Lawgiver

The argument from Scripture

12. “. . . it is impossible for God to ______________” (Heb. 6:18)

13. Paul speaks of the “God who does not lie” (Titus 1:2), a God who, even “if

we are faithless, he will remain ______________, for he cannot disown

himself” (2 Tim. 2:13).

Chapter One-100

14. God is truth (John 14:6), and so is His Word; Jesus said to the Father, “Your

Word is ________” (John 17:17).

15. The Psalmist said, “All your ________are true” (Ps. 119:160; cf. Rom. 3:4).

Therefore the Bible Cannot Err

16. Truth is ______________with the facts. Therefore when we speak abou the

inerrancy of the Bible we mean that it is actually and factually correct in

whatever it affirms.

17. The Bible has no ______________of any kind. Whatever God affirms is

true, is true no matter what the subjects; He cannot err on any topic.

THEOLOGICAL DEFINITION OF INSPIRATION AND INERRANCY

18. Inspiration is the supernatural ______________exerted on the sacred

writers by the Holy Spirit of God, by virtue of which their writings are given

divine trustworthiness.

Six Crucial Elements in a Complete Definition of Inspiration and

Inerrancy

19. Its divine ______________ (from God);

20. Its human ______________ (through men);

21. Its written ______________ (in words);

22. Its original ______________ (in autographs or original text);

23. Its final ______________, normative (for believers);

24. Its inerrant ______________ (without errors).

Chapter One-101

Objection that Inerrancy is Contrary to Fact. It Makes the Following

Mistakes

Mistake 1: Assuming that the unexplained is not ______________

Mistake 2: Presuming the Bible ______________until proven innocent

Mistake 3: Confusing _____ fallible interpretations with God’s infallible

revelation

Mistake 4: Failing to understand the ______________of the passage

Mistake 5: Neglecting to interpret difficult passages in the light of

_________ones

Mistake 6: Basing a teaching on an ______________ passage

Mistake 7: Forgetting that the Bible is a ______________ book with

______________ characteristics

Mistake 8: Assuming that a partial report is a ______________ report

Mistake 9: Demanding that New Testament ______________of the Old

Testament always be exact quotes

Mistake 10: Assuming that ______________accounts are false ones

Chapter One-102

Mistake 11: Presuming that the Bible approves of all it ______________

Mistake 12: Forgetting that the Bible uses non-____________, everyday

language

Mistake 13: Assuming that the ______________numbers are false

Mistake 14: Neglecting to note that the Bible uses different ____________

devices

Mistake 15: Forgetting that only the original text, _______every copy of

Scripture is without error

Mistake 16: Confusing general statements with ____________ ones

Mistake 17: Forgetting that later revelation ______________ previous

revelation

Mistake 18: The allegation that ______________ irregularities are errors

First, there is no ______________ standard for grammar.

Second, grammar as such does not deal with ______________ but is only

the form through which verbal truth is expressed.

Chapter One-103

Third, irregular grammar is often a more ______________ expression of an

idea as slang reveals

Chapter One-104


1. ______________ means rule or norm, and as used of the Bible it means

which books are the normative books for Christian faith and practice.

2. Judaism, Catholicism and Protestantism agree over the common

______________ (Jewish) cannon, which consists of thirty-nine books

(numbered twenty-four in Jewish Bible). This can be called the

______________ canon.

3. Although the Roman Catholic canon has ______________ more books than

the Protestant Bible, only ______________ extra books appear in the table

of contents of Roman Catholic Bibles.

A Response to Catholic Arguments in Favor of the Apocrypha

4. There may be New Testament allusions to the Apocrypha, but there are no

clear New Testament ______________ from them—not one.

5. The fact that the New Testament often quotes from the Greek Old Testament

in no way proves that the apocryphal books contained in Greek manuscripts

of the Old Testament are ______________ .

6. Citations by the church fathers in support of the canonicity of the Apocrypha

are ______________ and misleading. What one church father accepted,

another church father rejected. There is no unanimity on the fact that the

apocryphal books should be viewed as canonic.

Chapter One-105

7. Although some individuals in the early church had a high esteem for the

Apocrypha, there were many individuals who vehemently ______________

it.

8. As even many Catholic scholars will admit, scenes from the

______________do not prove the canonicity of the books whose events they

depict.

9. None of the great Greek manuscripts contains all of the ______________

books.

10.There are some important reasons why citing these church councils does not

prove the Apocrypha belonged in the canon of the church.

First, these were only ________ councils, not binding on the whole church.

Second, these books were not part of the Christian (New Testament period)

writings, and hence, they were not under the providence of the Christian

______________ to decide.

Third, the books accepted by these Christian councils may not have been the

______________ ones in each case,

Fourth, the local councils of Hippo and Carthage in North Africa were

influenced by ______________, who is the most significant antiquated

voice that accepted the same apocryphal books later canonized by the

Council of Trent. However, his position is ill-founded.

11. The Greek Orthodox Church has not always accepted the Apocrypha, nor is

its present position ______________.

Chapter One-106

12.At the Council of Trent the ______________ proclamation was made

accepting the Apocrypha as the part of the inspired Word of God. However,

the “infallible” decision at Trent came a millennium and a half after the

books were written and in an obvious polemic against ______________ and

the Reformation.

13.Apocryphal books appeared in Protestant Bibles prior to the Council of

Trent, and they were generally placed in a separate ______________

because they were not considered of equal authority.

14.The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran included not only the

community’s bible (the Old Testament) but also their library, with fragments

of hundreds of different books. There were some Old Testament apocryphal

books, but there were no ______________ on any of the apocryphal books,

only on canonical books.

Argument in Favor of the Jewish/Protestant Old Testament Cannon

15.The true test of canonicity is ______________, which determines

canonicity for Old Testament books. God determined which books would

be written in the Bible by giving their message to a prophet. So only books

written by a prophet or an accredited spokesperson for God are inspired and

belong in the canon of Scripture. Of course, while God ______________

canonicity by propheticity, the people of God had to ______________

which of these books were prophetic.

16.No apocryphal book claims to be written by a ______________.

17.There is no ______________ confirmation of any of the writers or the

apocryphal books.

Chapter One-107

18.There is no predictive ______________ in the Apocrypha.

19.There is no new ______________ truth in the Apocrypha

20.Even the Jewish community acknowledged that the prophetic

______________ had ceased in Israel before the Apocrypha was written.

21.The apocryphal books were never listed in the ______________ Bible.

22.Never once is any apocryphal book cited authoritatively by a

______________ book written after it.

23.No canonical list or ______________ of the Christian church accepted the

Apocrypha as inspired for nearly the first four centuries.

24.The ______________ rejected the canonicity of the Apocrypha.

25.Incorrect and Correct View of Cannon

Incorrect View of Canon Correct View of Cannon

Church ____________ Canon

Church is ____________ of Canon

Church is Magistrate of Canon

Church Regulates Canon


Church Discovers Canon

Church is Child of Canon


Church ____________ Canon

Church is Servant of Canon

Chapter One-108

THE NEW TESTAMENT CANON

The Evidence for the Completeness of the New Testament

26.The reasons for believing that the ____________ books of the current New

Testament and those alone, belong in the Christian canon are very strong.

27. The Promise of Jesus

First, Jesus was the full and complete ____________ of the Old Testament

(Matt. 5:17)

Second, Jesus chose, commissioned, and credentialed twelve ____________

(cf. Heb. 2:3-4) to ____________ this full and final revelation that He gave

them (Matt. 10:1f.), and before He left this world He promised these apostles

to guide them into all ____________, saying, “the Holy Spirit . . . will teach

you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you” (John

14:26).

Third, the apostles of Christ lived and died in the first century, consequently

the record of this full and final revelation of Christ to the apostles was

completed in the ____________ century.

Fourth, so that there would be no doubt as to who was authorized to teach

this full and final revelation of God in Christ, God gave special supernatural

____________ to the apostles (who in turn gave them to their associates—

Acts 6:6; 8:15-18; 2 Tim. 1:6).

[Note: Geisler’s view here is a cessationist view, which holds that the miraculous gifts of the Spirit ended with the completion of the New Testament. Further, the argument is that only the apostles (and associates) exercised these gifts. This is not a view which the Pentecostal community shares.]

Chapter One-109

Fifth, there is only one ____________ record of apostolic teaching in

existence, and that is the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. All

other books claiming inspiration were written in the second century or later.

28. The Providence of God

God, who is omniscient and omnipotent, would not inspire books for the faith

and practice of believers down through the centuries that He did not

____________. Lost inspired books would be a lapse in God’s providence.

29.The Preservation by the Church

First, a ____________ of these books was made from the earliest times;

even within the New Testament itself this preservation process was put into

action.

Second, the ____________ of the apostles show a concerned awareness of

their mentor’s writings, quoting from prolifically.

Third, when ____________ by heretical teaching, such as that of Marcion

the Gnostic, who rejected all but part of Luke and ten of Paul’s epistles, the

church responded by officially defining the extent of the Canon.

30. Proclamation of the Church

Eventually the Christian church came to pronounce ____________ on the

twenty-seven books of the present New Testament canon. There has been

no significant debate on this since around AD 400.

31.The New Testament Apocrypha

Chapter One-110

The New Testament Apocrypha includes: the Epistle of Pseudo-Barnabas;

the Epistle to the Corinthians; the Gospel According to the Hebrews; the

Epistle of ____________ to the Philippians; the Didache, or Teaching of the

Twelve; the seven Epistles of ____________; the Ancient Homily, or the

Second Epistle of Clement; the Shepherd of Hermas; the Apocalypse of

Peter; and the Epistle to the Laodiceans.

32. Reasons for Rejecting the NT Apocrypha

First, none of them experienced any more than a local or temporary

____________.

Second, most of them had at best a quasi-canonical status, being merely

____________ to various manuscripts or listed in tables of contents.

Third, no major canon or church council ____________ them as part of the

inspired Word of God.

Fourth, their limited and temporal ____________ is explainable on the

ground that they were believed wrongly (1) to have been written by an

apostle, or (2) to have been referred to in an inspired book.

THE COMPLETENESS OF THE BIBLICAL CANON

33. There is no evidence that any inspired book has been _________. This is

confirmed by:

a) The ____________ of God

b) The immediate and careful ____________ of the church

c) The absence of any evidence of any other ____________ or apostolic book.

Chapter One-111

34.Alleged contrary examples are easily explained as either ____________

works to which the biblical author made reference, or inspired works

contained in the sixty-six inspired books but with another ____________.

CONCLUSION

35.The Bible is the only ____________ written revelation of God to man. It is

complete and as such is sufficient for ____________ and ____________;

nothing more is needed; the spiritual guide to life needs no new chapters.

The Author inspired a complete manual from the beginning and has

____________ all of it, intact.

Chapter One-112


1. The Bible cannot be the Word of God, unless there is a God, nor can the

Bible be supernaturally confirmed to be the Word of God unless there are

special acts of God, such as ____________.

Scientific Evidence for a Supernatural Cause of the Universe

2. Everything that comes into existence has a ____________; modern science

has shown that the universe must have had a Cause, since the material

universe came into existence.

Scientific Evidence for a Super-Intelligent Cause of the Universe

3. The ____________ principle states that the universe was fitted from the

very moment of its existence for the emergence of life in general and for

human life in particular.

Theistic Implications of the Anthropic Principle

4. The conditions that gave rise to the anthropic principle are such that would

lead one to believe that the universe was “____________ crafted” for our

benefit.

Intelligent Design Explains the Origins of Complex Life—Microbiology

5. Life does not arise from purely non-intelligent ____________ laws.

6. Microbiology has demonstrated,

a) The ____________ code of life is mathematically identical to that of a

human language

Chapter One-113

b) The specified complexity of a one-celled animal is equal to ____________

volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE IN THE BIBLE

7. The order of ____________ of creation are known by modern science and

they correspond to the biblical account.

8. Just at the Bible affirmed long before science demonstrated it to be true,

everything reproduces after its own ____________.

9. Science has shown that human bodies are indeed made of the

____________; the minerals and compounds are found in the composition of

the earth.

10.Rain water returns to its ____________ through a cycle of evaporation and

precipitation. The Bible declared this before science understood it.

11.The earth is ____________ and hangs in space, just as we now know.

12.The life is in the ____________, a fact well attested to by a loss of blood

bringing death.

13.The sea has ____________ and boundaries. The continental shelf that

makes this possible is a fairly recent discovery.

14.The laws of ____________ were instituted in the Moasic Law long before

humanity knew anything of microbes.

THE TESTIMONY OF THE SCROLLS

15.The New Testament ____________ are more numerous than the ancient

classics which have survived.

Chapter One-114

16.The New Testament manuscripts were written much ____________ to the

actual events, and as such less likely to have been corrupted.

17.The New Testament Manuscripts are more ____________ copied than any

other ancient texts. One hundred percent of the message of the New

Testament has been preserved in its manuscripts.

18.The New Testament manuscripts were written by ____________ and

eyewitnesses of the events.

THE TESTIMONY OF THE SCRIBES

19.The nature of the prophet as a ____________ of God

20.Prophets claimed to be ____________ by the Spirit of God

21.“Thus ____________ the Lord”

22.The Scriptures claim to be ____________ out by God

23.What the ____________ says, God says

24.The Bible claims to be the “____________ of God”

THE TESTIMONY OF THE SUPERNATURAL

25.Supernatural ____________ in the Bible

26.Supernatural ____________ in the Bible

Chapter One-115

THE TESTIMONY OF THE STRUCTURE OF THE BIBLE

First, it was written over a period of some ____________ ____________ years

or more.

Second, it is composed of ____________ - ____________ different books.

Third, these books were written by some ____________ different authors.

Fourth, it was composed in ____________ languages—Hebrew, Greek, and

Aramaic.

Fifth, it contains hundreds of different ____________.

Sixth, it was written in a variety of different literary __________, including

history, poetry, didactic, parable, allegory, apocalyptic and epic.

Seventh, it was composed by authors of many different ____________.

Yet, in spite of all this vast diversity, the Bible reveals an astounding unity

First, it is a ____________, unfolding drama of redemption.

Second, the Bible as one ____________ theme: the person of Jesus Christ

Third, the Bible has one unified ____________: humanity’s sin and salvation

through Christ.

THE TESTIMONY OF THE STONES

27.The rocks cry out in support of the historicity and authority of the Bible. No

archeological find has ever ____________ a biblical claim.

Chapter One-116

28.Wm. Albright said, “There can be no doubt that archaeology has

____________ the substantial historicity of the Old Testament tradition.”

29.For Acts, the confirmation of historicity is ____________.

THE TESTIMONY OF THE SAVIOR

30.Jesus ____________ to be the Son of God (John 8:58; Matt. 16:16-18;

26:63-64) and was confirmed by acts of God (John 3:2; Acts 2:22). Jesus

said the ____________ is the Word of God, therefore either the Bible is the

Word of God, or Jesus is not the Son of God.

31.Jesus confirmed the Old Testament to be the ____________ of God.

32.Jesus ____________ that the New Testament would be the Word of God.

THE TESTIMONY OF THE SPIRIT

33.No amount of evidence apart from the work of the ____________ will

convince anyone of the significance of the fact that the Bible is God’s Word.

THE TESTIMONY OF THE SAVED

34.The _____ - ____________ power of the Bible is widely know. On chief

example is Saul of Tarsus who was transformed from being a hater of

persecutor of Christ and Christians, to becoming a preacher of the gospel,

even to the Gentiles.

Study Guide

Documents

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theologya study

categories of theology

cosmological argument

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