Evangelical theology
Evangelical theology is the teaching and doctrine that relates to spiritual matters in evangelical Christianity. The main points are the place of the Bible, the Trinity, worship, Salvation, sanctification, charity, evangelism and the end of time.
Features
Evangelical theology brings together the main common theological aspects, which can be found in the confessions of faith adopted by the Evangelical Christian denominations. Indeed, despite the nuances according to the evangelical movements, there is a set of similar beliefs for the denominations adhering to the doctrine of the believers' Church.Evangelical Christianity brings together different theological movements, the main ones being fundamentalist, conservative, moderate, liberal.
Authority of the Bible
The Bible is considered to be inspired by God Himself and is the sovereign authority in the Christian faith.When Paul, therefore, declares that "all writing" is the product of the divine breath, "holds his breath of God", he asserts that Scripture is a product of a very specific divine operation. It is therefore important to note that the Greek does not carry the meaning that the terms of the Bible have been "infused" into human writers, but rather that it breathes God. Divine revelation is a kind of perpetual flow of the creative power of God. In other words, it is considered that God "oversaw" the writing of every line of the Bible so that it contains a message in human language sent by God using the human intellect, writing styles and writing talent - this notion is called Biblical inspiration. The believer is dependent on the Holy Spirit to have a good understanding of the texts. The Bible is considered as a life manual that concerns all aspects of life. Often called "the Word of God" or "scripture", it is considered infallible and, in some evangelical circles, without error - this notion is called biblical inerrancy. This is sometimes worth to him to be interpreted in a very literal way, in certain movements, and in particular the most conservative ones in religious matter. With the development of moderate evangelical theology in the 1940s in the United States, the study of bible has been combined with disciplines such as hermeneutics, exegesis, epistemology and apologetics.
God
Evangelical churches and denominations had a Trinitarian theology. Thus, notwithstanding that in almost every major stream of Christianity, the one, eternal, and spirit God is eternally present and revealed in three divine Persons, namely, the Father, the Son ; and the Holy Spirit.The insistent insistence of evangelicals in biblical writings certainly makes them differ from Catholicism in that they "only wish to justify this creed on the basis of biblical passages or concepts" and not on the Tradition or the Councils.The evangelicals adhere to the Nicene Creed defining the relational differentiation of God, both one and triune, as well as the principle of unity and identity, in the case of the two natures, in the person of Christ,
as well as the positions of the First Council of Nicaea which condemn Arianism. Nevertheless, in order to avoid any unnecessary controversy and especially because by humility they feel that the mystery of the exact relations between the three divine persons can only be beyond any human reason, they will not encourage speculative theology to this subject about what is not immediately deductible from the Bible.
The Virgin Mary is so called because she was a virgin before the birth of Jesus but the evangelicals recognize the other children, brothers and sisters of Jesus and born after him, quoted in the Gospels. She is recognized as "Maria Christotokos" and is considered a model of faith, humility and obedience to God. Some evangelicals refute the name of "Theotokos" of the Council of Ephesus to avoid any confusion with the Marian devotion found in the Roman Catholic Church, but most evangelical theologians accept this formulation from a theoretical point of view by relying on the principle of communicating idioms and considering that rejecting it would amount to denying the uniqueness of the person of Christ; they generally complete it cautiously with a "according to its human nature".
The evangelicals reject the idea that Mary is co-redemptor or mediator, as well as the immaculate conception, the dormition and the assumption, considering them as biblically unjustified, as well as any form of Marian piety.
This Trinitarian conception of God has various consequences in the Christian faith evangelical:
God the Father
For the Evangelicals like others Christians, God, is the creator of heaven and earth. Moreover, God is presented as a loving Father, and the relation of the human to God must necessarily be that of a child vis-à-vis his father.Jesus
is considered perfectly man and perfectly God. This component of the Trinity, has a resonance and particular consequences for the evangelicals- Jesus Christ is considered the "only begotten Son" of God or of the Father, without any biological connotation, but in the biblical sense of the term, which according to the evangelical interpretation has a filial symbolic and spiritual status to God, brought closer to Isaac, the son of Abraham.
- Jesus Christ is considered as "God made man". It is a firm object of faith that Jesus Christ is only a carnal manifestation of God, and that He has existed from all eternity.
- Jesus Christ is, considered in his divinity, as a stakeholder in the judgment of the living and the dead which will take place at the end times.
Holy Spirit
All evangelical movements consider that the Holy Spirit is present and working in the personal stories of each believer, as well as in the future of the universal Church. As a stakeholder in the conversion of the individual, it is also considered to be the origin of various gifts, which vary a great deal from the New Testament writings, but it is common in the Charismatic movement emphasize on one gifts delivered by the Spirit. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are 9; creative gifts, pastoral gifts, apostolic gifts, prophetic gifts, prodigious gifts.
Evangelical Christianity, particularly in the Pentecostalism, Evangelical charismatic movement, Neo-charismatic movement, places an emphasis on the Spirit and its action in human lives and in the church.
Adoration of God only
The evangelicals refute those designated as holy by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches because assimilating the worship of veneration, that gives these churches to the saints thus designated, and also particularly the worship to Mary, necromancy and idolatry. They are based of the Ten Commandments.Satan
For the evangelicals, Satan and his demons are responsible for curse s and temptations to sins.New birth
The name "evangelical" comes from the gospel term: from the Greek ευ-άγγελον. For the evangelicals, the good news is that every sinful man by nature must endure an eternal punishment in hell, but that by faith in Jesus and not by works, he can get the salvation and go to paradise.In Evangelical Christianity, the believer obtains salvation by faith and grace only. Salvation is the condition for access to paradise. Salvation by faith is a personal decision and commitment. The believer is saved by the Imputed righteousness of Christ; all the merits of Christ are imputed to the believer by faith.
The new birth, this personal encounter with Jesus Christ that unfolds at the conversion of the believer, is considered a true passage from spiritual death to spiritual life. This concept is based on John 3: 3 "Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again", "and John 10:10. Then we speak of "born again Christians". It is indeed one of the most accurate ways of designating Christians of evangelical obedience from the angle of personal conversion. The meeting of the believer with Jesus and the decision to give him his life marks an important change of life. It means repentance, which is recognition, confession and renunciation of sin. For the majority of evangelical Christians, the new birth occurs before the Believer's baptism, by immersion in the water. For some churches, as Baptists, it is synonymous with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. For other churches, as Pentecostal, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a separate event that is necessarily accompanied by glossolalia and allows an experimentation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In the Evangelical Charismatic Charismatic and the Neo-Charismatic Movement, the baptism of the Holy Spirit is also a second experience.
However, speaking in tongues is not the only proof of this spiritual event. The believer may have received the other 8 gifts of the Holy Spirit set forth in 1 Corinthians 12-14.
Sanctification
The sanctification of the believer is the process by which a person frees himself from sin and becomes pure and holy after the new birth. There are two evangelical positions on sanctification, progressive sanctification and whole sanctification.Progressive sanctification
Progressive sanctification is the work of sanctification of the believer through grace and the decisions of the believer after the new birth. This is the position of some evangelical denominations, such as the Baptists churches and the Assemblies of God.Entire sanctification
The entire sanctification is the sanctification work of the believer which becomes fully complete at the new birth. This is the position of certain Pentecostal denominations, such as the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, Church of God, Christian and Missionary Alliance, and the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel.Good works
According to evangelical theology, the good works are the consequence of the salvation and not its justification. They are the sign of a sincere and grateful faith. They include actions for the Great Commission, that is, evangelism, service in the Church and to charity. They will be rewarded with the grace of God at the last judgment.Church
The local Evangelical Church is the organization that represents the universal Church and is seen by evangelicals as the body of Jesus Christ. It is responsible for teaching and ordinances, mainly the believer's baptism and the Lord's Supper. Many churches are members of Evangelical Christian denominations and adhere to a common confession of faith and regulations, despite the autonomy of the church. Some denominations are members of a national alliance of churches of the World Evangelical Alliance.Ministries
Common ministries within evangelical congregations are pastor, elder, deacon, evangelist and worship leader. The ministry of bishop with a function of supervision over churches on a regional or national scale is present in all the Evangelical Christian denominations, even if the titles president of the council or general overseer are mainly used for this function. The term bishop is explicitly used in certain denominations. Some evangelical denominations operate according to episcopal polity or presbyterian polity. However, the most common form of church government within Evangelicalism is congregational polity. This is especially common among non-denominational evangelical churches.Worship service
in Evangelical churches is seen as an act of God's worship. There is no liturgy, the conception of worship service is more informal. It usually contains two main parts, the praise and the sermon, with periodically the Lord's Supper. The latin cross is one of the only spiritual symbols that can usually be seen on the building of an evangelical church and that identifies the place's belonging. Because of their understanding of the second of the Ten Commandments, evangelicals do not have religious material representations such as statues, icons, or paintings in their places of worship.The main Christian feasts celebrated by the Evangelicals are Christmas, Pentecost and Easter for all believers.
Mission
For evangelicals, the mission is based on the Great Commission given by Jesus, to share the Good News of Kingdom of God, to form disciples and to baptize the believers. In churches, there are programs of evangelism local and international. Most evangelicals believe that the conversion of hearts is the work of God alone, by his Holy Spirit, but also know that sharing faith with unbelievers is an act of gratitude for what God did for them It takes shape in the distribution of leaflets and bible s, the formation of disciples, the support to the churches and the Christian humanitarian aid. Various evangelical missionaries organizations have specialized in evangelization throughout history.Charity
, this concern for helping the needy, is one of three primary Christian virtues and a concept clearly established from the Old Testament.It is expressed first in terms of financial generosity but also in terms of time spent. It is also considered very important by most evangelical churches. Some churches give large sums of money each year on humanitarian aid.
This value is at the origin of the modern Christian humanitarian aid.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the American Baptist pastor Walter Rauschenbusch, leader of the Social Gospel movement, developed the importance of social justice and humanitarian actions in Evangelical churches. The majority of evangelical Christian humanitarian organizations were founded in the second half of the 20th century. Among the most important are International Justice Mission, Prison Fellowship International, Samaritan's Purse, Mercy Ships, World Vision International. The majority of Christian NGOs help everyone, regardless of religion.
End of time
Last Judgment
It is a belief in Christianity in general and in other monotheistic religions that at the end of time there will be a last judgment by God. Jesus Christ will come back personally, corporally, and visibly. While other religions and branches of Christianity conceive that they will be judged on the basis of their actions, an important point of evangelical Christianity is to believe that humans will be judged on their faith, namely on their acceptance or not of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord when they heard the Christian gospel in their lifetime. Good works are the consequence of the salvation and will be rewarded by the grace of God at the last judgment.The seven Dispensations
Some evangelicals are dispensationalists. They divide history into seven major periods. These 7 periods are:- Innocence: Adam and Eve before their fall
- Consciousness: Man becomes a sinner and has to answer to God
- The human government: From the flood, God gives a political organization to humanity
- The reign of the patriarchs : Abraham, God promises the blessing to him who believes in him
- The Law: God makes an alliance with Israel for His good and the blessing of the nations
- The Church: God completely forgives those who believe in Jesus
- The millennium: Jesus will come back and reign for 1000 years of peace on earth
- The Zionist Evangelicals: They are dispensationalists and Zionists because they believe they are at the end of the sixth dispensation. Indeed, for them, the creation of the modern state of Israel corresponds to the biblical and prophetic restoration of Israel, to the restoration of the chosen people, prologue the seventh dispensation and the return of Christ.
- Non-Zionist Evangelicals: Though thinking to be in the sixth dispensation, they doubt or even perceive at all modern Israel as being the kingdom of Israel to be restored by the divine will. For them, the modern state is a resultant of men and not of God; in this sense, they join the position Haredi or ultra-Orthodox Jews. To support this non-divine, non-prophetic Israel could then go against the divine will; their attitude thus oscillates between neutrality and hostility towards the state of Israel.
- Non-dispensationalist Evangelicals: For them dispensationalism is a doctrine developed especially by Cyrus Scofield, human, not even mentioned in the Bible and therefore without any divine inspiration or foundation. However, this does not prevent them from estimating the second coming of Christ more or less close in time. Their attitude toward the state of Israel is therefore variable but generally neutral.
Controversies