Theology beacon dictionary of theology
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- For Further Reading: Lester, "The Abortion Dilem- ma," Review and Expositor (Spring, 1971); Hilgers and Moren, eds., Abortion and Social Justice;
- For Further Reading: Greathouse, BBE, 6:69-86; Clark H. Pinnock, Truth on Fire: The Message of Galatians, 37-49; Thomas, Genesis: A Devotional Commentary
- For Further Reading: Dyer, The American Catholic Catechism; Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3.
- Ethics in a Christian Context;
- Exploring Our Christian Faith, 290-301; GMS, 336ff, 390, 403-7, 421-32.
- Further Reading: Curtis, The Christian Faith, 117-41, 464-69; Purkiser, ed., Exploring Our Christian Faith, 212-22; GMS, 410 -38. RICHARD
- For Further Reading: Taylor, A Right Conception of Sin; Corlett, The Meaning of Holiness; Williams, Sanctifica- tion.
- For Further Reading: Pearce, Who Was Adam Scroggs, The Last Adam; Barth, Christ and Adam; Wiley, CT
ABORTION. This term is usually used to mean the intended termination of a woman's pregnancy. Most at issue in the question of the morality of abortion is when human life begins. If a fetus is not an individual human being when it is aborted, to force it to exit the womb before the time when it can live outside the mother is not as serious a matter as if it is already in fact a human being. The proabortion advocates tend to suggest that it is not a human being. Often they have said that it is simply "tissue" of the mother's body. Numerous factors argue for the fetus' being a human individual from conception onwards. Nothing that is obvious happens between conception and birth that is an originatively new step-up in the fetus' life. It used to be thought by many that the time of the so-called quickening is the time when the soul joins the fetus, making it a human person. Yet it is not now believed by knowledgeable persons that the quickening is anything more than the first time the mother is aware of the fetus' movements. The chromosomes are present at conception, the later changes being only more or less quantitative, not qualitative. Not even at birth is there any special step-up qualitatively. At that time, respiration and nutrition occur by direct contact with the environment, but that is not a material qualitative change in the fetus. It is now known that the baby's circulation is an independent one during almost the whole of the pregnancy—and does not start when the umbilical cord is cut. One reason why the new specialty of fetology is being replaced by the still newer specialty of perinatology, which cares for its patients from conception to about a year after birth, is because the birth does not change the fetus very much—except to make it more accessible. Scripture seems to teach that the unborn fetus is an individual person. Isaiah says, "The Lord called me from the womb" (49:1, rsv). Paul says that God "set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace" (Gal. 1:15, rsv). John the Baptist was "filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb" (Luke 1:15, rsv). And a psalm writer called himself a "me," a self, when referring to the time of his conception, as he wrote that "in sin did my mother conceive me" (Ps. 51:5, rsv). Also, in Ps. 139:13 we read, "Thou didst knit me together in my mother's womb" (rsv). And in Jeremiah, Yahweh says to the prophet, '"Before i formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations'" (1:5, rsv). Another significant factor in the question of abortion is that of whose rights are to take precedence. Since the right in question, to the fetus, is the right to life itself, its right to live should take precedence over the mother's various less-basic rights. Yet most Protestants concede the legitimacy of abortion in those rare instances when the pregnancy clearly jeopardizes the life of the mother. In contrast Roman Catholic law forbids abortion under any circumstances. See family christian ethics, murder.
This OT background becomes the foundation on which certain vital NT doctrines are built. The g ABSOLUTE—ABSOLUTISM reat truth at the heart of the gospel is justification by faith. In Romans 4, when Paul shows how a guilty world can be reconciled through the death of God's Son, Paul cites Abraham's faith, describes it, and concludes that one is justified by faith (5:1). This subject is treated again in Gala-tians 3, where the idea that the deeds of the law could justify is countered by the fact that the promise to Abraham antedated the law and represents God's true way of justifying men in all ages. This doctrine of justification by faith came into collision with the belief that physical lineage from Abraham ensured acceptance with God. John the Baptist refuted this idea in Luke 3:8, and Jesus pointed out in John 8 that mere claim of Abraham as ancestor should be matched by deeds that would correspond to those of Abraham. Paul goes so far as to say in Rom. 9:6 that "they are not all Israel, which are of Israel." Another theological truth founded on the life of Abraham is the obedience of faith. The doctrine of justification by faith has been misapplied to teach the antinomian doctrine that men may be justified while continuing in disobedience. The Bible refutes this error by declaring that true faith produces obedience. The passage in Jas. 2:21-23, which some have taken to contradict Paul in Romans 4, insists that the faith that Abraham had was more than nominal, but was practical in producing obedience to God. This obedience of faith is presented in Hebrews 11, where Abraham is listed among the heroes of faith, and again the stress is on the fact that obedience in Abraham's life demonstrated that he possessed an operative faith. See justification, obedience, antinomianism, imputed righteousness. For Further Reading: Greathouse, BBE, 6:69-86; Clark H. Pinnock, Truth on Fire: The Message of Galatians, 37-49; Thomas, Genesis: A Devotional Commentary, 217-22; Wiley, 77ie Epistle to the Hebrews, 366-69. Leslie D. Wilcox ABSOLUTE. See attributes (divine). ABSOLUTION. This is a term which denotes release from obligations, penalties, or consequences attached to motives and actions. It declares that censures are removed. According to the Roman Catholic view, absolution means that sin and/or punishment due to sin is remitted. The power to do this absolving of sin is peculiarly vested in the Roman Catholic priesthood. It is not only declaratory; it is judicial and effective. It was received from Christ and 25 continues to be valid in the history and life of the church as given to the priesthood. For the valid execution of this sacrament, contrition, confession, and satisfaction are required of the penitent before the act of absolution can be pronounced by the priest. It is understood that the confession of sin is to be humble, sincere, and entire. Charismatic prayer for the healing of the whole person in connection with the act of absolution is a recent development. Six steps are usually followed in the execution of this sacrament. They are: (1) the priest receiving the penitent; (2) the reading of an appropriate passage of Scripture; (3) the penitent's confession of sin; (4) the penitent's prayer of confession of sin in his own words; (5) the prayer of absolution by the priest; (6) the expression of praise to God for sins forgiven. Protestant theology rejects the concept that the minister has the power to absolve a person from the guilt and consequences of sin, either in a declaratory or a judicial way. It does not even teach the absolution concept in any formal sense. Instead, it teaches and even emphasizes something much less formal and priestly: forgiveness, simply. For this forgiveness, the penitent can go directly into the presence of Christ, repent of his sins, accept forgiveness by faith, and receive the assurance of that forgiveness. Authority for the information about forgiveness is in Scripture. See confession of sins, catholicism (roman), repentance, justification. For Further Reading: Dyer, The American Catholic Catechism; Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3. Nobel V. Sack ABSOLUTISM. The term absolute or objective as employed in the phrase ethical absolute or ethical objectivism is much like the term ethical relativism or ethical subjectivism, in that it is frequently employed in contexts in which its meaning is unclear. Most theologians and philosophers, however, would accept that when one speaks of ethical absolutes or objective moral values, one is asserting that certain values such as (but not limited to) goodness, beauty, and right are true and commendable as defined irrespective of personal, cultural, or temporal considerations. This theory is to be contrasted to ethical relativism or ethical subjectivism, which holds that there are no values which are true and commendable apart from personal, cultural, or temporal considerations. One of the most characteristic aspects of Christian ethical teaching has been its commitment to ethical absolutism. According to this theory, God has declared certain actions to be right and certain actions to be wrong, and that it is impossible for 26 ABSTINENCE—ACCOUNTABILITY two people, one of whom claims that certain action is right and the other that the action is wrong, both to be correct. Within this absolutist framework, Christian ethicists have taken at least two distinct positions on why certain values are absolute. One school has argued that the fact that God commands us to do X makes X a moral absolute. Another school has suggested that the intrinsic Tightness of X is what leads God to enjoin it as a value. Both of these views can be objected to, the first on the grounds that God could command a certain action X which might be prima facie wrong, and the second on the grounds that God would appear to be determined by an independent moral order. This suggests that perhaps it should be maintained that X is good and X is commanded by God are one and the same thing. As to the question of which values are absolutes, again one finds in the history of Christian ethical thinking at least two decidedly different theories, each of which has various formulations. On one hand there are the views known variously as antinomianism, nominalism, contextualism, or situationalism, which hold that there is but one ethical absolute, generally described as some form of Jesus' summary of the law of love. On the other hand there are the views of those who might be described as Christian deontologists or Christian formalists, who argue that there are ethical absolutes additional to and independent of the law of love. See ethical relativism, ethics, intellectualism, authority, duty For Further Reading: Lehmann, Ethics in a Christian Context; Ramsey, Basic Christian Ethics; Thomas, Christian Ethics and Moral Philosophy. john C. luik
First, there is the relational sense. Whether one accepts by taking or by receiving something from someone else, the assumption or sense of such a transaction is that two parties are involved. What is exchanged between the two parties can be tangible (i.e., an acceptable prayer or behavior, monies, gifts) or intangible (i.e., an acceptable or accepting attitude); yet, the critical observation in every context is that a relationship is being established or recognized in such acceptance. Second, in most cases, Scripture speaks of God-human relationships; it is acceptance which has a covenantal sense. In the OT, acceptance as covenantal is often scored cultically. An offering is said to be accepted (rasa) by God when it conforms to a certain pattern of worship as established in the covenant between Yahweh and Israel. So not to submit the covenant to an external form only, the OT is very careful to establish certain internal requirements as well (such as faith or obedience, or a repentant attitude). Thus, an acceptable offering was one which met both religious and spiritual conditions. Yet, the OT story of the covenant between Yahweh and Israel (especially in the prophetic books) stresses the grace and faithfulness of God, who accepts Israel or who will accept Israel at some future point in spite of her disobedience. Such acceptance of Israel would presuppose a purpose to cleanse her from her disobedience (e.g., Ezek. 36:25-27). God's loyal commitment for His people which assures an ongoing acceptance of them is fully interpreted by the incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ. Thus, acceptance has, in the third place, a messianic sense. This is true especially in the NT, where the story of God's acceptance of the whole world is told by His Messiah who has come to earth in the "acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:19; 2 Cor. 6:2). Further, anyone who accepts God's salvation as worked out through Jesus finds life (Eph. 1:6). See new covenant justification, reprobation. For Further Reading: Purkiser, ed., Exploring Our
The Bible universally presents man as a being who in his normal state is responsible to God, and who therefore will be held accountable by God for the way he lives, and punished or rewarded accordingly (Matt. 12:36-37; Luke 16:2 ff; 2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Pet. 4:5). A further refinement is that accountability ex-
ACQUIRED DEPRAVITY—ADAM 27
tends only to the measure of light and opportunity one has (Luke 12:47-48). However, one may properly be held accountable for knowledge which could and should have been acquired but was missed through carelessness or deliberate blindness (Matt. 11:16-24; 23:37-38). Obviously persons in Western nations, where Bibles are readily available and churches abound, bear a greater relative accountability for religious ignorance than do those completely without access either to the Bible or to the spoken gospel. The accountability of the latter will necessarily be limited to the light of conscience (Rom. 2:14-16). Theologically, the pervasive assumption of human accountability found in the Scriptures implies a true freedom, or free moral agency. This, in turn, argues for a divine sovereignty which decrees this freedom and adjusts to it, and likewise for a sufficient degree of prevenient grace to counteract the paralyzing effects of the Fall. Otherwise, free moral agency would be a theoretical but not a practical reality. If God's relation to man is completely and monergistically deterministic, accountability is impossible in any truly moral or meaningful sense. See freedom, determinism, prevenient grace, divine sovereignty, monergism. For Further Reading: Curtis, The Christian Faith, 117-41, 464-69; Purkiser, ed., Exploring Our Christian Faith, 212-22; GMS, 410-38. RICHARD S. TAYLOR ACQUIRED DEPRAVITY. Acquired depravity refers to the pollution resulting from one's own choice and acts of sin (cf. Rom. 3:23). Defilement and guilt increase as long as one commits sin. Thus, an unconverted person at age 40 is more depraved than he was at 20, and more sinful at 20 than he was at 10. R. T. Williams lists "spiritual death," "transgression, or sins committed," and "acquired pollution" as necessitating "regeneration (conversion, or the new birth)." "Thus regeneration has cleansing, not from the moral corruption inherited through the fall, but cleansing from the moral pollution acquired by his [one's] own acts of disobedience" (Sanctification, pp. 12, 14). The new birth delivers one not only from sin in act but also this acquired sin in condition. Besides pardon, men need "washing and cleansing from this acquired pollution resulting from their sins" (C. W. Ruth, Entire Sanctification, p. 36). This "washing of regeneration" is a work of the Spirit (cf. Heb. 9:14; 1 John 1:9). Wesleyanism holds therefore that sanctification begins with regeneration, but limits this "initial sanctification" to "cleansing from the pollution of guilt and acquired depravity" attached to sinful acts (cf. Wiley, CT, 2:423, 476). The corruption of actual sins must first be cleansed before the state of inherited depravity is cleansed in entire sanctification (Wiley, CT, 2:480-81). See sanctification, initial sanctification, original sin.
Although created perfectly by God and placed on probation in an ideal situation in the Garden of Eden, Adam had the power of choice, was temptable, and liable to sin. From that lofty estate he fell through the temptation of Satan, thereby bringing a curse upon himself and his posterity (Rom. 5:12). Adam was not only an individual; he was also a racial being. As an individual, he was responsible for his own transgression. As a racial being, his fall implicated the human family. In that sense, we are bound to Adam by birth (Gen. 5:3; Ps. 51:5; Eph. 2:3). Before Adam and Eve were banished from the garden, God graciously gave them a "lamp of promise," thus revealing that a Deliverer would eventually come who would crush the serpent's (i.e., Satan's) head (Gen. 3:15). Expelled from Eden, Adam's life was reduced to toil, sorrow, and pain. The enormity of his fall became more fully apparent when his firstborn son, Cain, murdered his brother, Abel (4:8). Other sons and daughters were undoubtedly born in the first home, though only the name of Seth is given (v. 25). Adam lived to the age of 930 years (5:5). 28 ADAMIC SIN—ADOPTIONISM The full significance of the fall of Adam is unfolded in the NT, particularly in the writings of the apostle Paul. Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15 are especially illuminating, where Paul, by a series of contrasts, sets forth the tragedy which the human race has sustained through the first Adam, and the gracious benefits which have been made possible through Jesus Christ, the God-man, whom he calls the "last Adam" (1 Cor. 15:45). Paul accepts without question the fact that Adam was a historical personality, and that the account in Genesis was a record of facts, though couched in rich symbolism. In Rom. 5:12-21 he recognizes Adam as the head of the race, whose disobedience introduced sin and death into the human family, and, at the same time, points to Christ as the Head of a new race and the Source of righteousness and salvation. The loss that accrues through Adam is more than matched by the gain through Christ (Rom. 5:20). In 1 Cor. 15:22 the contrast between Adam and Christ relates to death and life: "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Our Lord assures us that the hour will come when they who are in their graves shall hear His voice and all will rise, whether to life or condemnation (John 5:28-29). In 1 Cor. 15:45 Paul declares that "the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening [life-giving] spirit." The first part of the verse is obviously a reference to Gen. 2:7, while the latter part of the verse concerning the "last Adam" calls attention to Christ's redemptive ministry in making men spiritually alive (Eph. 2:1), as well as His power to resurrect all men hereafter. The historical approach here presented is in contrast to the interpretation of many contemporary theologians. They have been strongly influenced by Soren Kierkegaard who regarded the account of the Fall as myth (The Concept of Dread, p. 42). Reinhold Niebuhr viewed Adam symbolically (The Nature and Destiny of Man, 2:77-78). "Adam" is "Everyman" (J. S. Whale, Christian Doctrine, p. 52; Alan Richardson, ed., A Theological Word Book of the Bible, pp. 14-15). For Karl Barth the entire account is a saga, and thus Adam is the name of the transgressor "which God gives to world-history as a whole" (Church Dogmatics, 4:1, 508). Generally, these views reject the biblical doctrine of inherited depravity, thus precluding the gracious provision of God's sanctifying work in the heart as a full remedy for racial corruption. See fall, man, human nature. For Further Reading: Pearce, Who Was Adam? Scroggs, The Last Adam; Barth, Christ and Adam; Wiley, CT, 2:7-140. William M. Arnett ADAMIC SIN. See original sin. ADOPTION. This is one of the concomitants of the first work of grace. It refers to God's welcome of the converted person into His family as one of His children. This occurs at the same time as justification, regeneration, and initial sanctification, though logically it follows other aspects of conversion. It is the consequence of getting right with God. The Holy Spirit, as the "Spirit of adoption," bears witness to our acceptance by God as His children. This inner assurance puts within us the cry "Abba, Father," which is the spontaneous recognition by children of their father (Rom. 8:15-17; Gal. 4:6-7). It is on the basis of adoption that we become "joint-heirs with Christ" of all the treasures, resources, and privileges of God's kingdom. See new birth, justification. J. Kenneth Grider
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