Questions and answers
Easy Doctrine — Last Things
According to Revelation 21:4 (ESV), what four things will be no more in the new heaven and new earth?
- ASin, temptation, Satan, and darkness
- BTime, space, and physical matter
- CDeath, mourning, crying, and painCorrect
- DMemory of the former world and all its sorrows
Answer: Death, mourning, crying, and pain
Revelation 21:4 · ESV
The four losses John names are not sin itself but sin's wreckage, the things that make a human life hurt. God is pictured wiping tears from faces one at a time, which is a gesture of nearness rather than a decree. The reason given is that the former things have gone, so the grief has nothing left to feed on.
Revelation 21:1-4; Isaiah 25:8
Why not this one. All four are genuinely gone in the new creation, which is what makes this so plausible. But John lists them elsewhere, in Revelation 20:10 and 21:25 and 21:27; verse 4 names death and the sorrows that follow from it.
Medium Doctrine — Last Things
In Luke 23:43, what word does Jesus use for where the repentant criminal will be with him that same day?
- AParadiseCorrect
- BAbraham's side
- CMy Father's house
- DThe kingdom
Answer: Paradise
Luke 23:43 · ESV
The criminal asks to be remembered when Jesus comes into his kingdom, and Jesus answers with something nearer: that very day, together with him, in paradise. It is a direct statement that the believer is with Christ at once after death.
Luke 23:42-43, with the same term used in 2 Corinthians 12:4 and Revelation 2:7.
Why not this one. The kingdom is the criminal's word in his request, not the word in Jesus' reply. Jesus answers with paradise, and adds the timing, so that the promise is immediate rather than deferred to the last day.
Hard Doctrine — Last Things
What does BF&M 2000 Article X say about the state of the dead between death and the resurrection?
- AIt gives no direct treatment of that intervalCorrect
- BIt teaches that the soul sleeps until the resurrection
- CIt teaches a purifying stage for believers who die imperfect
- DIt teaches that the soul is judged and assigned its final state at death
Answer: It gives no direct treatment of that interval
BF&M 2000, Article X · ESV
Article X moves from God's bringing the world to its end, to the return, the resurrection, the judgment, hell and heaven. It never describes the interval between a person's death and the resurrection, though other Scriptures and the older Baptist confessions do address it.
BF&M 2000, Article X; for the interval itself see Philippians 1:23, Luke 23:43 and 2 Corinthians 5:8.
Why not this one. Believers are with Christ at death, and that is a settled comfort, but Article X does not frame it as a judgment at death. It places the judgment of all men at Christ's return, after the dead are raised.
Easy Doctrine — Last Things
In Revelation 20:15, those not found written in which book are thrown into the lake of fire?
- AThe book of lifeCorrect
- BThe book of the covenant
- CThe scroll of remembrance
- DThe book of the law
Answer: The book of life
Revelation 20:15 · ESV
At the last judgment books are opened and the dead are judged by what they have done, but the decisive register is the book of life. Belonging to Christ, not the record of deeds, is what separates the two destinies.
Revelation 20:11-15, with the same book named in Revelation 3:5, 13:8 and 21:27, where only those written in it enter the city.
Why not this one. Malachi 3:16 describes a book of remembrance written for those who feared the Lord, but it is not the register named at the great white throne, where John specifies the book of life.
Medium Doctrine — Last Things
BF&M 2000 Article X affirms that the dead will be raised. Whom does that affirmation include?
- AAll the dead, both the righteous and the unrighteousCorrect
- BOnly those who died in Christ
- COnly those who never saw bodily corruption
- DOnly those alive at the time of the return
Answer: All the dead, both the righteous and the unrighteous
BF&M 2000, Article X · ESV
Article X couples the raising of the dead with Christ's judgment of all men and with the two destinies that follow, so the resurrection it confesses reaches the unrighteous as well. This is settled ground, not a matter left open.
BF&M 2000, Article X, resting on John 5:28-29 and Acts 24:15, and on Daniel 12:2 behind them.
Why not this one. Paul does single out the dead in Christ in 1 Thessalonians 4 because he is comforting mourners, but the confession follows the wider teaching: the unrighteous are raised too, and then judged.
Hard Doctrine — Last Things
Which Greek word for the place of final punishment takes its name from a valley outside Jerusalem associated with child sacrifice and burning?
- AGehennaCorrect
- BHades
- CTartarus
- DAbaddon
Answer: Gehenna
Mark 9:47-48 · ESV
Gehenna comes from the Valley of Hinnom, where Judah's kings burned children to Molech and which the prophets made a byword for judgment. Jesus takes the name for the place of unquenchable fire into which the whole person may be thrown after judgment.
Mark 9:43-48 and Matthew 10:28; the valley itself in 2 Kings 23:10 and Jeremiah 7:31.
Why not this one. Hades is the realm of the dead before the resurrection, and English versions often render it hell, which is why it tempts. It is emptied at the judgment and then thrown into the lake of fire, so it is not the final state.
Easy Doctrine — Last Things
In Job 19:25, whom does Job confess to be living and that he will at last stand upon the earth?
- AHis RedeemerCorrect
- BHis judge
- CHis accuser
- DHis deliverer
Answer: His Redeemer
Job 19:25-27 · ESV
In the middle of his suffering Job confesses that his Redeemer lives and that he himself, in his own flesh and with his own eyes, will see God. It is one of the clearest Old Testament expressions of hope beyond death and in a body.
Job 19:25-27, a hope taken up in the New Testament teaching on bodily resurrection and in Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 15.
Why not this one. Job has plenty to say about accusation, and Satan is the accuser in the prologue, but the figure Job confesses here is a kinsman-redeemer who vindicates him, not one who charges him.
Medium Doctrine — Last Things
In 2 Peter 3:13, Peter looks forward to new heavens and a new earth. What does Reformed Baptist theology hold about the nature of this new creation?
- AA purely spiritual realm with no physical dimension
- BThe present earth slightly improved after the millennium
- CA renewed, physical creation in which righteousness dwellsCorrect
- DA metaphor for the church triumphant in the present age
Answer: A renewed, physical creation in which righteousness dwells
2 Peter 3:13 · ESV
Peter is repeating a promise already made in Isaiah 65 and 66, where new heavens and a new earth come with houses, vineyards, and long life. His chapter speaks of the elements dissolving, but his own pattern is the flood, which drowned a world without abolishing it. Romans 8:21 says creation itself is set free, and Revelation 21 has the city coming down to earth.
2 Peter 3:10-13; Isaiah 65:17; Romans 8:19-23
Why not this one. The fire language in 2 Peter 3:10 makes this sound right, and popular piety often pictures heaven as bodiless. But a physical resurrection body needs somewhere to stand, and Peter says righteousness will dwell in the new earth.
Hard Doctrine — Last Things
Which Greek noun, used of Christ's return in 2 Thessalonians 1:7 and 1 Peter 1:7, carries the sense of an unveiling or disclosure?
- AApokalypsisCorrect
- BParousia
- CEpiphaneia
- DAnastasis
Answer: Apokalypsis
1 Peter 1:7 · ESV
Three nouns describe the same event from different angles: parousia is arrival and presence, epiphaneia is a shining forth, and apokalypsis is the drawing back of a veil so that the Christ now hidden is seen. Each assumes a return that is personal and visible.
2 Thessalonians 1:7 and 1 Peter 1:7 for apokalypsis; 1 Thessalonians 4:15 for parousia; Titus 2:13 for epiphaneia.
Why not this one. Epiphaneia is a genuine term for the return and is the closest rival here, but it means a manifestation in brightness. The specific idea of removing a covering belongs to apokalypsis, from which Revelation takes its name.
Easy Doctrine — Last Things
According to BF&M 2000, what are the two eternal destinations for human beings after the final judgment?
- AHeaven and annihilation
- BParadise and Sheol
- CHeaven (eternal life) and hell (eternal punishment)Correct
- DThe new earth and the lake of fire for demons only
Answer: Heaven (eternal life) and hell (eternal punishment)
BF&M 2000, Article X · ESV
Article X allows exactly two outcomes and no third. The unrighteous are consigned to hell, which the article calls the place of everlasting punishment, and the righteous receive their reward and dwell forever with the Lord. Southern Baptists have kept these two destinies symmetrical on purpose, because Jesus used one and the same word for the duration of both in Matthew 25:46.
BF&M 2000, Article X; Matthew 25:46
Why not this one. Tempting because Scripture speaks of destruction and perishing, and the idea of a merciful extinction appeals. But the article says everlasting punishment, and Revelation 14:11 and 20:10 describe conscious torment that does not end; annihilationism is outside the confession.
Medium Doctrine — Last Things
Which eschatological view holds that Christ will return before a literal thousand-year reign on earth?
- AAmillennialism
- BPostmillennialism
- CPreterism
- DPremillennialismCorrect
Answer: Premillennialism
Revelation 20:1–6 · ESV
Premillennialists read Revelation 20 in sequence: Christ returns, then the thousand years, then the final judgment, with the first resurrection of verse 4 taken as a bodily raising of the martyrs. Orthodox Christians genuinely differ here. Amillennialists take the thousand years as the present church age, postmillennialists expect a gospel golden age before the return, and the BF&M declines to settle it.
Revelation 20:1-6; BF&M 2000, Article X
Why not this one. The names invite the mix-up, and the prefix is doing all the work: it marks where the return falls relative to the thousand years. Postmillennialism puts the return after that era, once the gospel has spread widely, rather than before it.
Hard Doctrine — Last Things
In 1 Corinthians 15:20, Paul calls the risen Christ the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. What does that harvest image establish?
- AHis resurrection is the beginning and the pledge of the resurrection of his peopleCorrect
- BHis resurrection was unique and will not be repeated in his people
- CHis resurrection was spiritual and theirs will be bodily
- DHis resurrection completed the harvest, leaving nothing to come
Answer: His resurrection is the beginning and the pledge of the resurrection of his people
1 Corinthians 15:20-23 · ESV
The firstfruits were the opening portion of a harvest, offered because the rest was certain to follow. Christ raised is therefore not an isolated marvel but the first sheaf, and the resurrection of his people is the same harvest continuing in its order at his coming.
1 Corinthians 15:20-23, drawing on the firstfruits offering of Leviticus 23.
Why not this one. This inverts the metaphor. Firstfruits by definition anticipate a larger harvest, and Paul immediately names the order: Christ first, then those who belong to him at his coming.