Theology trivia, with the doctrine sourced.

Which ecumenical council formally affirmed that Christ is "fully God and fully man" in two natures?

1. Nicaea (325)
2. Constantinople I (381)
3. Ephesus (431)
4. Chalcedon (451)

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth."John 1:14

Chalcedon (AD 451) is the council that produced the formula: Christ is "in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation." Nicaea earlier affirmed his full divinity against Arius; Chalcedon clarified his full humanity and how the two natures relate. Most Christian traditions today still hold this definition as the orthodox boundary on Christology.

What word describes the Christian doctrine that God is one in being and three in persons?

1. Monotheism
2. Modalism
3. The Trinity
4. Tritheism

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."Matthew 28:19

The word "Trinity" is not in Scripture, but the doctrine is — one divine name, three persons. Modalism (one God wearing three masks) and tritheism (three gods) are the two ditches the orthodox formulation avoids. The Council of Nicaea (325) and the Constantinopolitan creed (381) gave the church the language: one ousia (being), three hypostases (persons).

Which doctrine teaches that humanity inherits a fallen nature from Adam?

1. Total depravity
2. Original sin
3. Imputation
4. Sanctification

"Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned."Romans 5:12

Original sin is the doctrine that all human beings are born into Adam's fallen condition — guilty and corrupt before any personal act of sin. Augustine articulated it most influentially in the fifth century against Pelagius, who taught that humans are born neutral. "Total depravity" is a related Reformed term meaning sin affects every faculty (mind, will, affections), not that every person is as wicked as possible.

What is the technical name for the doctrine that Jesus Christ took on human flesh?

1. Atonement
2. Resurrection
3. Incarnation
4. Ascension

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."John 1:14

"Incarnation" — from Latin caro, flesh — names the eternal Son of God assuming a true human nature. John 1 is the most explicit statement; Philippians 2 ("emptied himself, taking the form of a servant") is the most poetic. Christmas is the festival of the Incarnation, and Chalcedon (451) is the council that gave the church its enduring grammar for it: one person, two natures.

Which of the "five solas" of the Reformation insists that Scripture alone is the supreme authority for faith and practice?

1. Sola Fide
2. Sola Gratia
3. Sola Scriptura
4. Solus Christus

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness."2 Timothy 3:16

The five Reformation solas — Scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone, to God's glory alone — were the Protestant answer to late-medieval Catholic accretions. Sola Scriptura does not mean Scripture is the only authority (tradition, reason, creeds still matter), but that Scripture is the supreme, norming norm to which all others answer. The Westminster Confession (1646) gives the classic Protestant expression.

In Reformed theology, what is the difference between justification and sanctification?

1. They are two names for the same thing
2. Justification is a once-for-all legal declaration; sanctification is a lifelong process of growing in holiness
3. Justification is for Jews; sanctification is for Gentiles
4. Sanctification happens before justification

"And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."Romans 8:30

Justification is forensic: God declares the sinner righteous on the basis of Christ's imputed righteousness, received by faith. Sanctification is transformative: the Holy Spirit progressively conforms the believer to the image of Christ. The Reformation insisted on this distinction (against Rome's tendency to fuse them) precisely so that justification could rest on Christ's finished work, not on the believer's growth in holiness — which is always real but always partial in this life.

Which doctrine teaches that God knows and ordains all that comes to pass, including the free actions of his creatures?

1. Open theism
2. Divine providence
3. Deism
4. Pantheism

"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."Romans 8:28

Providence is the doctrine that God upholds and governs all things — not just creating once and stepping back (deism), and not by being identical with the universe (pantheism). The Westminster Confession defines it as God's "most wise and holy" governance of "all his creatures and all their actions." How divine sovereignty and human freedom relate is the long argument between Reformed and Arminian theologians, but both affirm providence itself.

In Trinitarian theology, what is "the eternal generation of the Son"?

1. The Son was created before all other creatures
2. The Son is eternally begotten of the Father, sharing the same divine essence
3. The Son became divine at the incarnation
4. The Son is generated by the Father and the Spirit together

"We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father."Nicene Creed (325/381)

Arius taught that "there was when the Son was not" — making him the highest creature. Nicaea responded that the Son is "begotten, not made" — eternally generated from the Father's being, not summoned into existence from nothing. The technical term is homoousios: of the same substance. Without eternal generation, the Son is a creature; with it, the Son is fully and timelessly God.

What is the communicatio idiomatum in classical Christology?

1. The communication of Christ's body and blood in the Eucharist
2. The transfer of the believer's sin to Christ on the cross
3. The attribution of the properties of either of Christ's natures to the one person of the Son
4. The mutual indwelling of the three persons of the Trinity

"The Lord of glory" was crucified.cf. 1 Corinthians 2:8

The communicatio idiomatum ("communication of properties") explains how Scripture can speak of "the Lord of glory" being crucified (1 Cor 2:8) or of Mary as Theotokos, "God-bearer." The properties belong to one nature or the other, but they can be predicated of the one person of Christ — because the person is one even though the natures remain distinct. Lutheran and Reformed Christologies differ on how far this communication goes, especially in the Eucharist; mutual indwelling of the Trinity is perichoresis, a separate doctrine.

In Reformed soteriology, the acronym TULIP summarises five doctrines often associated with the Synod of Dort (1618–19). What does the "I" stand for?

1. Imputed righteousness
2. Irresistible grace (also called effectual calling)
3. Indwelling of the Spirit
4. Inerrancy of Scripture

"All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out."John 6:37

The Synod of Dort answered the five articles of the Arminian Remonstrants with what later became TULIP: Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, Perseverance of the saints. "Irresistible grace" — better called "effectual calling" — means that when the Spirit draws an elect sinner, the inward summons is finally effective. It does not mean coerced; it means that grace overcomes the heart's resistance and makes the sinner willing. The Westminster Confession (Ch. 10) gives the careful formulation.