Doctrines
Doctrines by tier
The research is organised as a hierarchy (see theological triage and site structure): tier, then doctrine, then the questions researched under it. Every listed doctrine has a research page; status in front matter marks draft versus stub.
First-order doctrines weight 3
The Trinity
One God in three co-equal, co-eternal persons.
F02Deity of Christ
The Son is true God, of one substance with the Father (Nicaea).
F03True humanity of Christ
The Son truly took full human nature (against Docetism and Apollinarianism).
F04One person, God and man
Christ is one person, true God and true man, without confusion or division.
F05Virgin birth and incarnation
Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.
F06Deity and personhood of the Holy Spirit
'The Lord, the giver of life' (381).
F07Creation out of nothing
God alone is eternal; all else is created and good.
F08Sin and the need for grace
All are sinners, cannot save themselves, and need grace (against Pelagius).
F09Christ's saving death
Christ died for our sins (1 Cor 15:3) and his death saves; how it saves is S20 and T6.
F10Bodily resurrection of Christ
Christ was truly raised in the body.
F11Ascension and session
Christ ascended and reigns.
F12Salvation by grace through faith in Christ
Salvation is God's gift in Christ, not earned.
F13Return of Christ and final judgement
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
F14General resurrection and eternal life
The resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.
F15Authority and truthfulness of Scripture
Scripture is God's inspired word.
F16One holy catholic and apostolic Church
The Church confessed in the creeds.
Second-order doctrines weight 2
Nature of justification
Forensic imputation or infused/transformative righteousness; faith alone?
S02Baptism: subjects
Infants, or believers only.
S03Baptism: effect
Regeneration, or sign and seal; necessity.
S04Eucharist: presence
Transubstantiation, mystery, sacramental union, spiritual presence, memorial.
S05Eucharist: sacrifice
Is the Mass or Liturgy a sacrifice?
S06Number and nature of sacraments
Seven, two, or ordinances; the other rites.
S07Scripture and tradition
Sola scriptura, or Scripture with tradition and magisterium; canon.
S08Papal primacy and infallibility
The Petrine office and Vatican I.
S09Church government
Episcopal, presbyterian, congregational; apostolic succession.
S10Ordination to the presbyterate
Classic positions on who may be ordained.
S11Predestination and election
Unconditional or conditional; free choice.
S12Extent of the atonement
Particular or general.
S13Perseverance of the saints
Can a true believer finally fall away?
S14Original sin: guilt or corruption
Inherited guilt, or inherited mortality and corruption.
S15Filioque
The procession of the Holy Spirit.
S16Chalcedonian and miaphysite wording
'In two natures' or 'one incarnate nature'; two wills.
S17Purgatory and prayers for the dead
Purification after death; praying for the departed.
S18Invocation of saints and Marian dogmas
Asking saints to pray; Immaculate Conception, Assumption.
S19Veneration of icons and relics
Honouring or rejecting images and relics.
S20Penal substitution and satisfaction
Christ bore the penalty or satisfied divine justice in our place.
S21Divine simplicity and impassibility
God without parts or passions; essence and energies.
S22Marriage, divorce and remarriage
May a marriage be dissolved for adultery, with remarriage?
S23Nature of saving faith
Assent, trust, and the place of love in justifying faith.
S24Merit and good works
Whether the works of the justified merit eternal life; whether works are necessary for salvation.
Third-order doctrines weight 1
Millennium
Amillennial, premillennial, postmillennial.
T02Timing of end-times events
Tribulation and rapture questions, preterism.
T03Age of the earth and days of creation
Literal days or other readings.
T04Mode of baptism
Immersion, pouring, sprinkling.
T05Frequency of communion
Weekly, monthly, quarterly.
T06Atonement models beyond the core
Ransom, Christus Victor, recapitulation: emphasis and models.
T07Order of decrees
Supra- or infralapsarianism.
T08Origin of the soul
Traducianism or creationism.
T09Intermediate state
The soul's state between death and resurrection.
T10Final punishment
Eternal conscious punishment or annihilation.
T11Universal restoration as a hope
Gregory of Nyssa's hope, held as hope not dogma.
T12Spiritual gifts
Cessation or continuation.
T13Sabbath and Lord's Day
Strict sabbatarian or not.
T14Regulative or normative worship
Exclusive psalmody, instruments.
T15Liturgical calendar
Observing feasts and seasons.
T16Clerical celibacy
Discipline, not dogma.
T17Fasting rules
Practice and discipline.
T18Theosis vocabulary
Deification language or union with Christ.
T19Image of God
Is the image lost or marred; original righteousness.
T20Sword, magistracy and oaths
May Christians bear the sword, hold office and swear oaths?
T21Women's ministries beyond the presbyterate
Deaconesses; women baptizing and teaching.
T22Israel and the Church
Future conversion of Israel; the end of the ceremonial law.
T23Admission to the Lord's Table
Who may receive: the baptized, the examined, infants?
T24Liberty of conscience
Church precepts and the conscience; coercion in religion.
T25Communion in both kinds; reservation and adoration
The cup for the laity; reserving and adoring the consecrated elements.
T26Church discipline and shunning
Who excommunicates; avoiding the excommunicated.
T27The law in the Christian life
Whether the moral law binds Christians; whether the justified keep it perfectly.