Knowing Faith

Jen Wilkin, JT English, and Kyle Worley discuss Ligonier Ministries The State of Theology survey and why it matters.

Questions Covered in This Episode:

• How did we get here?
• What does this say about where we are at?
• What is a catechesis?
• Where do we go from here?
• What is the role of the/your church?

Helpful Definitions:

• Catechesis: A system of instruction that typically relies on a structure of Q&A for the purposes of helping, historically illiterate people or people who could not yet read, begin to dwell on, contemplate, meditate on or memorize truths about something.
  • For Christian purposes it is God and His story. A teaching device that is used for systematic instruction along a clearly defined scope and sequence of what the Christian story is, Christian belief is, and Christian formation is.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Romans 12:1-2
• The State of Theology by Ligonier
• New City Catechism
• Heidelberg Catechism
• Westminster Shorter Catechism
• Training the Church Cohort

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Sponsors:

Discover how Midwestern Seminary can equip you to more faithfully serve your church through formal theological education or FREE For the Church resources we provide: 

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Jen Wilkin, JT English, and Kyle Worley discuss and define the communicable attributes of God.

Questions Covered in This Episode:

• What are communicable attributes?
• Are the communicable attributes one of the ways we reflect the image of God?
• Are communicable attributes something God is or something God possesses?
• Are communicable attributes true of each person in the Godhead?
• How are they different from incommunicable attributes (what we discussed last episode)?
• How do we maintain a distinction between Creator and creature without minimizing the reality and depth of the shared communicable attributes?

Helpful Definitions:

• Attribute: Something that is true about God, who he is.
• Communicable Attribute: Things that are true about God, that can also become true of us.
  • Holy, loving, just, good, merciful, gracious, faithful, patient, truthful, wise
• Anthropomorphic: A way of expressing, in humanly understandable terms, something that is true.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• John 3:16, 1 John 5:3
• “In His Image” by Jen Wilkin
• Knowing Faith: Episode # 158 – What is God like? Incommunicable Attributes
• “Creation Regained” by Albert Wolters

Amazon affiliate links are used where appropriate. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, thank you for supporting Knowing Faith.

Sponsors:

Discover how Midwestern Seminary can equip you to more faithfully serve your church through formal theological education or FREE For the Church resources we provide: 

mbts.edu/KnowingFaith

Our Sister Podcasts:

The Family Discipleship Podcast | Confronting Christianity

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patreon.com/trainingthechurch

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Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

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You can now receive your first seminary class for FREE from Midwestern Seminary after completing Lifeway’s Deep Discipleship curriculum, featuring JT, Jen and Kyle. Learn more at mbts.edu/deepdiscipleship.

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Kyle Worley is joined by Dr. Thomas Kidd to answer the question, is evangelicalism a Trinitarian religious movement, and has it always been?

Questions Covered in This Episode:

• Is evangelicalism a Trinitarian religious movement, and has it always been?
• Can someone not be a Trinitarian and be an evangelical?
• When we think about evangelical as a word, does the word hold enough significance to try to keep it?

Helpful Definitions:

• Euangelion: Greek for evangelical; the good news.

Guest Bio: 

Thomas S. Kidd serves as research professor of church history at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author or contributing editor to many books including but not limited to; Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh, Who Is an Evangelical? The History of a Movement in Crisis, God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution, and The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America.

Sponsors:

Discover how Midwestern Seminary can equip you to more faithfully serve your church through formal theological education or FREE For the Church resources we provide: 

mbts.edu/KnowingFaith

Our Sister Podcasts:

The Family Discipleship Podcast | Confronting Christianity

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

Follow Us:
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Website

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

You can now receive your first seminary class for FREE from Midwestern Seminary after completing Lifeway’s Deep Discipleship curriculum, featuring JT, Jen and Kyle. Learn more at mbts.edu/deepdiscipleship.

To learn more about our sponsors please visit our sponsor page.

Editing and support by The Good Podcast Co.

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Jen Wilkin, JT English, and Kyle Worley discuss and define the incommunicable attributes of God.

Questions Covered in This Episode:

• What is an incommunicable attribute?
• How are God’s attributes related to God’s nature? Are they something God possesses or words to describe what/who God is?
• What are some examples of incommunicable attributes?
• Does this make God unknowable? If he is so “other,” is it possible for us to truly know him?
• How do the incommunicable attributes shape the way we view God, the world, ourselves?
• Are the incommunicable attributes true of all the persons of the Godhead?

Helpful Definitions:

• Attribute: Something that is true about God, who he is.
• Incommunicable Attribute: Things that are true about God, that are only true of God and are not true of anyone else.
• Omnipresent: Everywhere fully present.
• Omniscient: All things are known effortlessly and instantly.
• Omnipotent: All powerful.
• Infinite: No limit of any kind.
• Sovereign: He has the authority to use His power.
• Incomprehensible: Not able to be fully understood.
• Eternal: Not bound by time.
• Transcendent: He is other (by an infinite extent).
• Imminent: God is near to his creation.
• Divine Hiddenness: In God’s infinitude we cannot fully grasp all that He is. There is part of the divine life of God that is hidden from our view. 
• Self-Existent: The origin of all things.
• Self-Sufficient: He needs nothing.
• Immutable: God is always the same.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Isaiah 6
• “None Like Him” by Jen Wilkin
• “The Wonderful Works of God” by Herman Bavinck

Amazon affiliate links are used where appropriate. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, thank you for supporting Knowing Faith.

Sponsors:

Discover how Midwestern Seminary can equip you to more faithfully serve your church through formal theological education or FREE For the Church resources we provide: mbts.edu/KnowingFaith

Our Sister Podcasts:
The Family Discipleship Podcast | Confronting Christianity

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:
patreon.com/trainingthechurch

Follow Us:
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Website

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

You can now receive your first seminary class for FREE from Midwestern Seminary after completing Lifeway’s Deep Discipleship curriculum, featuring JT, Jen and Kyle. Learn more at mbts.edu/deepdiscipleship.

To learn more about our sponsors please visit our sponsor page.

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Kyle Worley is joined by Dr. Jason DeRouchie to answer the question, what does the revelation of God’s name in the Old Testament tell us about the nature and character of God?

Questions Covered in This Episode:

• What does the revelation of God’s name in the Old Testament tell us about the nature and character of God?
• Yahweh as a name is capturing both God as creator and God as redeemer. Is that accurate?

Helpful Definitions:

• Yahweh: He causes to be everything that follows. He is the only uncaused one.
• Azariah: Yahweh is my help.
• Elijah: My God is Yahweh.
• Zechariah: Yahweh remembers.

Guest Bio: 

Dr. Jason DeRouchie is the Research Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author or contributing editor to many books including but not limited to; 40 Questions about Biblical Theology, A Modern Grammar for Biblical Hebrew, and What the Old Testament Authors Really Cared About: A Survey of Jesus’ Bible. He also serves as content developer and global trainer with Hands to the Plow Ministries.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Exodus 3, Romans 11:36, Genesis 1:1, Isaiah 40:26, Ecclesiastes 7:13, Isaiah 45:7, Psalm 51:10, Psalm 104:30, Ecclesiastes 11:5, Hebrews 1:3, Isaiah 4:5, Isaiah 65:17, Revelation 21:4, Philippians 2:12-13
• “Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis

Amazon affiliate links are used where appropriate. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, thank you for supporting Knowing Faith.

Sponsors:

Discover how Midwestern Seminary can equip you to more faithfully serve your church through formal theological education or FREE For the Church resources we provide: 

mbts.edu/KnowingFaith

Our Sister Podcasts:

The Family Discipleship Podcast | Confronting Christianity

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

Follow Us:
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Website

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

You can now receive your first seminary class for FREE from Midwestern Seminary after completing Lifeway’s Deep Discipleship curriculum, featuring JT, Jen and Kyle. Learn more at mbts.edu/deepdiscipleship.

To learn more about our sponsors please visit our sponsor page.

Editing and support by The Good Podcast Co.

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Jen Wilkin, JT English, and Kyle Worley are joined by Dr. Gregg Allison to continue their discussion on the doctrine of God by discussing God the Spirit.

Questions Covered in This Episode:

• When we refer to God the Spirit, we refer to him as the third person of the Godhead, does this mean he is in third place?
• From where and when has God the Spirit come?
• Who created God the Spirit?
• What does it mean to say that God the Spirit is eternally proceeding?
• Why was it significant in the early church to clarify that the Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son?
• What are common questions when it comes to the Holy Spirit?
• Should we pray to the Holy Spirit?
• What do we do with the language, Holy Spirit come fill this room or come be with us?

Helpful Definitions:

• Trinitarianism: God eternally exists as one essence and three distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each of which is fully God, yet there is One God.
• Monotheism: The belief and worship of only one God, as opposed to multiple gods. The Triune God is one in essence, with one nature, one will, and one power without subordination among the Persons of the Godhead.
• Eternally Begotten: The Son’s unique attribute in relation to the Father and the Spirit: the Son is sourced in the Father, but there was never a time when the Son began. All things are from the Father, through the Son, and by the Spirit.
• Eternal Procession: The Holy Spirit’s unique attribute in relation to the Father and Son: He has always come from the Father and the Son and will continue to do so forever. All things are from the Father, through the Son, and by the Spirit.
• Spiration: Breathe

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• John 15:26-27, John 13-16
• “The Holy Spirit” by Dr. Gregg Allison
• “God, Gift, and Guide” by Dr. Gregg Allison
• Knowing Faith Episode #4 – Are Catholics and Protestants One Big Family?
• Knowing Faith Episode #77 – The Holy Spirit
• “Delighting in the Trinity” by Michael Reeves

Amazon affiliate links are used where appropriate. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, thank you for supporting Knowing Faith.

Sponsors:

Discover how Midwestern Seminary can equip you to more faithfully serve your church through formal theological education or FREE For the Church resources we provide: 

mbts.edu/KnowingFaith

Our Sister Podcasts:

The Family Discipleship Podcast | Confronting Christianity

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

Follow Us:
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Website

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

You can now receive your first seminary class for FREE from Midwestern Seminary after completing Lifeway’s Deep Discipleship curriculum, featuring JT, Jen and Kyle. Learn more at mbts.edu/deepdiscipleship.

To learn more about our sponsors please visit our sponsor page.

Editing and support by The Good Podcast Co.

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Kyle Worley is joined by Dr. Jason Allen to answer the question, how does a big view of God shape the way we preach and teach God’s word?

Questions Covered in This Episode:

• How does a big view of God shape the way we preach and teach God’s word?
• What text would you pick to preach a big view of God?

Helpful Definitions:

• Sovereign: God rules and reigns over all, from Genesis to Revelation, from eternity past to eternity future, from before we are born until after we are gone.

Guest Bio: 

Dr. Jason Allen is the president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. In addition to his role as president, he also serves as a professor for preaching and pastoral ministry. He is the author of a number of books including; Turnaround: The Remarkable Story of an Institutional Transformation and the 10 Essential Principles and Practices That Made It Happen. He posts essays on his website, jasonkallen.com, and hosts a weekly podcast, “Preaching & Preachers.”

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Romans 8

Amazon affiliate links are used where appropriate. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, thank you for supporting Knowing Faith.

Sponsors:

Discover how Midwestern Seminary can equip you to more faithfully serve your church through formal theological education or FREE For the Church resources we provide: 

mbts.edu/KnowingFaith

Our Sister Podcasts:

The Family Discipleship Podcast | Confronting Christianity

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

Follow Us:
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Website

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

You can now receive your first seminary class for FREE from Midwestern Seminary after completing Lifeway’s Deep Discipleship curriculum, featuring JT, Jen and Kyle. Learn more at mbts.edu/deepdiscipleship.

To learn more about our sponsors please visit our sponsor page.

Editing and support by The Good Podcast Co.

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Jen Wilkin, JT English, and Kyle Worley continue their discussion on the doctrine of God by talking about God the Son.

Questions Covered in This Episode:

• When we refer to God the Son, we refer to him as the second person of the Godhead, does this mean he is in second place?
• From where and when has God the Son come? Who created God the Son?
• What does it mean to say that God the Son is eternally begotten?
• How does this shape the way we talk about God the Son?
• Does Jesus have one will or two?
• What relationship does God the Son have to the Father?
• What is the definition of Open Theism?
• What is the error in Open Theism and Eternal Function Subordination?
• What is the distinction between the Son and the Holy Spirit when they are both sent?
• Why is this view of the Son of God better?
• Is it possible to talk too much about God the Son, or emphasize him too much over the Father or the Holy Spirit?

Helpful Definitions:

• Trinitarianism: God eternally exists as one essence and three distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each of which is fully God, yet there is One God.
• Eternally Begotten: The Son’s unique attribute in relation to the Father and the Spirit: the Son is sourced in the Father, but there was never a time when the Son began. All things are from the Father, through the Son, and by the Spirit. 
• Homoousios: Same essence
• Homoiousios: Like essence
• God Ad Extra / Economic Trinity: What God Does.
  • A view of the Trinity focused on God in the history of redemption, or the functional acts (economies) of the Godhead in the creation and salvation of the world; this perspective is distinguished from that of the immanent Trinity.
• God Ad Intra / Immanent Trinity: Who God is.
  • The view that centers on the Trinity in and of Himself, or the internal relations between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as present (immanent) only to Himself (c.f. Jn 1:1-2,18); this perspective is distinguished from that of the economic Trinity.
• Inseparable Operations: That which any person of the Godhead does, is rightly attributed to God. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• Monothelitism: Jesus has one will. This was denied.
• Dyothelitism: Jesus has two wills; the divine will and the human will. One person with two natures.
• Tritheism: Views the three persons of the Trinity as three distinct gods.
• Eternal Functional Subordination of the Son: A position that subordinates the Son’s divine will to the Father’s divine will.
• Social Trinitarianism: The view that God is only his activity in the world.
• Open Theism: The view that God is subject to some of the creaturely limitations or some of the operations of the world in ways that we are subject to.
• Christocentric Trinitarianism: The very persons of Father, Son, and Spirit are to highlight God the Son; He is the image of the invisible God and the one that the Spirit is supposed to show us.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Chick-fil-A
• John 5:26, Colossians 1:15-20, Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:30-32, Hebrews 1:1-4, Philippians 2:1-11
• “On the Incarnation” by Saint Athanasius

Amazon affiliate links are used where appropriate. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, thank you for supporting Knowing Faith.

Sponsors:

Discover how Midwestern Seminary can equip you to more faithfully serve your church through formal theological education or FREE For the Church resources we provide: 

mbts.edu/KnowingFaith

Our Sister Podcasts:

The Family Discipleship Podcast | Confronting Christianity

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

Follow Us:
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Website

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

You can now receive your first seminary class for FREE from Midwestern Seminary after completing Lifeway’s Deep Discipleship curriculum, featuring JT, Jen and Kyle. Learn more at mbts.edu/deepdiscipleship.

To learn more about our sponsors please visit our sponsor page.

Editing and support by The Good Podcast Co.

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Jen Wilkin, JT English, and Kyle Worley continue their discussion on the doctrine of God by talking about God the Father.

Questions Covered in This Episode:

• Continuing the discussion from our last episode, let’s talk about the economic trinity and immanent trinity.
• When we refer to God the Father, we refer to him as the first person of the Godhead: What does that mean?
• Who created God the Father?
• From where and when has God the Father come?
• What does it mean to say that God is eternally unbegotten?
• How is God the Father related to God the Son and God the Spirit?

Helpful Definitions:

• God Ad Extra / Economic Trinity: What God Does.
  • A view of the Trinity focused on God in the history of redemption, or the functional acts (economies) of the Godhead in the creation and salvation of the world; this perspective is distinguished from that of the immanent Trinity.
• God Ad Intra / Immanent Trinity: Who God is.
  • The view that centers on the Trinity in and of Himself, or the internal relations between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as present (immanent) only to Himself (c.f. Jn 1:1-2,18); this perspective is distinguished from that of the economic Trinity. 
• Eternally Unbegotten: The Father’s unique attribute in relation to the Son and the Spirit: The Father is the first origin of all things and without origin himself. All things are from the Father, through the Son, and by the Spirit.
• Perichoresis (περιχώρησις): The mutual relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. 

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• “Delighting in the Trinity” by Michael Reeves
• Romans 8:15, Hebrews 12:6

Amazon affiliate links are used where appropriate. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, thank you for supporting Knowing Faith.

Sponsors:

Discover how Midwestern Seminary can equip you to more faithfully serve your church through formal theological education or FREE For the Church resources we provide: 

mbts.edu/KnowingFaith

Our Sister Podcasts:

The Family Discipleship Podcast  | Confronting Christianity

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

Follow Us:
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Website

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

You can now receive your first seminary class for FREE from Midwestern Seminary after completing Lifeway’s Deep Discipleship curriculum, featuring JT, Jen and Kyle. Learn more at mbts.edu/deepdiscipleship.

To learn more about our sponsors please visit our sponsor page.

Editing and support by The Good Podcast Co.

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Jen Wilkin, JT English, and Kyle Worley discuss what it means that God is one and why it is essential to our faith. 

Questions Covered in This Episode:

• What is doctrine? What is the doctrine of God?
• Why does the doctrine of God matter?
• What does it mean to say that God is one?
• What drives the polytheistic impulse in the human heart? Why is it better that God is one?
• Is the oneness of God crucial? Why?
• What is different from being unitarian and monotheistic?
• How does oneness relate to the doctrine of divine simplicity?
• What pitfalls do we need to steer clear of here?

Helpful Definitions:

• Doctrine: A belief, a creed, or a commonly held belief by a group of people.
• Doctrine of God: The basic belief about who God is, what He is like, what He is doing and acting in the world, so that we can appropriately know Him.
• Trinitarianism: God eternally exists as one essence and three distinct persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each of which is fully God, yet there is One God.
• Divine Simplicity: God doesn’t have attributes, God is attributes. He is not made up of parts, every attribute he has (love, justice, holiness) is God.

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

• Deuteronomy 6:4-9
• Nicene Creed
• “Delighting in the Trinity” by Michael Reeves

Amazon affiliate links are used where appropriate. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases, thank you for supporting Knowing Faith.

Sponsors:

Discover how Midwestern Seminary can equip you to more faithfully serve your church through formal theological education or FREE For the Church resources we provide: mbts.edu/KnowingFaith

Our Sister Podcasts:
The Family Discipleship Podcast | Confronting Christianity

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

Follow Us:
Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Website

Support Training the Church and Become a Patron:

patreon.com/trainingthechurch

You can now receive your first seminary class for FREE from Midwestern Seminary after completing Lifeway’s Deep Discipleship curriculum, featuring JT, Jen and Kyle. Learn more at mbts.edu/deepdiscipleship.

To learn more about our sponsors please visit our sponsor page.

Editing and support by The Good Podcast Co.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.