Salvation Bible Trivia Questions and Answers

Easy Doctrine — Salvation

What view of the atonement holds that Christ bore the penalty of sin in the place of sinners, satisfying God's wrath?

1. AMoral influence theory
2. BChristus Victor
3. CGovernmental theory
4. DPenal substitutionary atonementCorrect

Answer: Penal substitutionary atonement

Isaiah 53:5 · ESV

Penal substitution takes all three words seriously. A penalty was owed, a substitute bore it, and God's justice was satisfied rather than waived. Isaiah's servant is pierced for transgressions that were not his own, and the punishment that buys peace for others falls on him. Reformed Baptist teaching makes this the heart of the atonement.

Isaiah 53:4-6; Romans 3:25-26; 1 Peter 2:24

Why not this one. Christus Victor is not a false theory. Scripture really does say Christ disarmed the powers and broke the one who held the power of death. But it names the outcome of the cross rather than its mechanism, and it is precisely by bearing the penalty that Christ defeats those powers.

Medium Doctrine — Salvation

Paul tells the Philippians to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. What reason does he immediately give in Philippians 2:13?

1. AGod is the one working in them, both to will and to work for his good pleasureCorrect
2. BTheir obedience completes what Christ's death began
3. CTheir perseverance will earn a final verdict of justification
4. DThe day of Christ is near and the time is short

Answer: God is the one working in them, both to will and to work for his good pleasure

Philippians 2:12-13 · ESV

The command to work out is grounded in God's working within, so effort in sanctification is a fruit of grace rather than a rival to it. Paul says work out, not work for; the salvation is already possessed. Fear and trembling suit a work God himself is doing in us, and the effort is evidence of grace rather than a claim upon it.

Philippians 2:12-13, following the description of Christ's obedience unto death.

Why not this one. This makes the believer a co-purchaser of salvation. Christ's work was finished at the cross; obedience displays that salvation rather than completing it.

Hard Doctrine — Salvation

What name is given to the error of treating a human act — an aisle walked, a hand raised, a prayer repeated — as itself securing the new birth?

1. ADecisionismCorrect
2. BPerfectionism
3. CSacerdotalism
4. DAntinomianism

Answer: Decisionism

John 1:13 · ESV

Decisionism mistakes the sign of a response for the substance of regeneration, and it leaves people resting on a remembered moment rather than on Christ and the fruit his Spirit bears. Repentance and faith are real and required; they are evidence of new life, not its cause.

John 1:13, where children of God are born not of the will of man but of God.

Why not this one. Perfectionism is the claim that a believer can reach sinless maturity in this life, an error about sanctification rather than about what produces the new birth.

Easy Doctrine — Salvation

In Reformed Baptist teaching, what does it mean to say that salvation is by grace?

1. AIt is God's undeserved favor toward sinners who have earned the oppositeCorrect
2. BIt is a reward God gives to those who sincerely do their best
3. CIt is a power the believer earns by obedience and may forfeit by failure
4. DIt is God's decision to overlook sin without any atonement being made

Answer: It is God's undeserved favor toward sinners who have earned the opposite

Ephesians 2:8-9 · ESV

Grace means the sinner receives what he has not earned and could never earn, and receives it from a God who owed him only judgment. Because it is grace, no part of salvation can be turned into a wage or a boast. Even the faith by which grace is received is itself God's gift, so the whole of salvation traces back to him.

Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 11:6, where Paul insists grace and works exclude each other.

Why not this one. God does not waive his justice; grace comes to sinners because the penalty was paid at the cross, not because the debt was ignored.

Medium Doctrine — Salvation

What term describes the spiritual reality whereby believers are united to Christ and share in His death, resurrection, righteousness, and life?

1. AAdoption
2. BMystical participation
3. CUnion with ChristCorrect
4. DSpiritual fellowship

Answer: Union with Christ

Romans 6:3–4 · ESV

Union with Christ is the category that holds the others together. Paul's favorite shorthand for a Christian is simply a person in Christ, and in Romans 6 he argues that believers were buried with him and raised with him, so that his death to sin counts as theirs. Every benefit in the order of salvation comes because a believer is joined to the person who holds them all.

Romans 6:3-5; Ephesians 1:3-14; 1 Corinthians 1:30

Why not this one. Adoption involves a genuine family bond and is precious in its own right, so it reads as a fit. But adoption is one benefit flowing out of union, concerning the believer's standing as a son, rather than the underlying reality of sharing in Christ's death and resurrection.

Hard Doctrine — Salvation

What did the Council of Trent teach about a believer's assurance that he stands in a state of grace?

1. ANo one can know with the certainty of faith, apart from a special revelation, that he has obtained God's graceCorrect
2. BEvery baptized person may be certain of final salvation
3. CAssurance is conferred on all who receive the sacrament of confirmation
4. DAssurance rests on the righteousness of Christ imputed to the believer

Answer: No one can know with the certainty of faith, apart from a special revelation, that he has obtained God's grace

Trent condemned what it called the vain confidence of the Reformers. The denial follows from its doctrine of justification: if righteousness is infused and can be lost, assurance must depend on the believer's present condition rather than on a finished verdict.

Council of Trent, Session VI, chapter 9 and its canons; contrast 1 John 5:13 and Romans 8:38-39.

Why not this one. That is the Reformation answer, and it is why Protestants can hold assurance: the ground lies in Christ's record rather than in the believer's progress.

Easy Doctrine — Salvation

What term describes the final stage of the order of salvation, when believers receive their resurrection bodies and are fully conformed to Christ's glory?

1. ASanctification
2. BPerseverance
3. CAdoption
4. DGlorificationCorrect

Answer: Glorification

Romans 8:30 · ESV

Glorification is the only step Paul puts in the past tense in Romans 8:30 even though it is still future, because in God's purpose it is as good as done. It takes in the resurrection body, the end of indwelling sin, and the sight of Christ that finishes what sanctification began.

Romans 8:30; 1 Corinthians 15:42-49; 1 John 3:2

Why not this one. Perseverance really is the last thing believers do in this life, so it feels like the end of the sequence. But it is the continuing of faith through the present age rather than the receiving of a resurrection body; it carries the saint toward glorification instead of being it.

Medium Doctrine — Salvation

What does the BF&M 2000 teach about the perseverance of the saints?

1. ABelievers can lose their salvation if they commit serious sins
2. BPerseverance depends entirely on the believer's faithfulness
3. CSalvation is conditional on continued obedience to the law
4. DTrue believers, kept by God's power, will persevere to the end and not fall away from salvationCorrect

Answer: True believers, kept by God's power, will persevere to the end and not fall away from salvation

BF&M 2000, Article V · ESV

The BF&M 2000 says all true believers endure to the end, and that those God has accepted in Christ and sanctified by his Spirit will never fall away from grace. It adds a sober qualifier: believers may fall into sin, grieve the Spirit and bring temporal judgments on themselves, yet they are kept by God's power. Perseverance is a doctrine about God's grip more than about the believer's.

BF&M 2000, Article V; John 10:28-29; Philippians 1:6

Why not this one. This feels responsible, since Scripture warns real congregations about apostasy in the strongest terms. But John treats those who depart as those who were never truly of the church, and the warnings serve as means God uses to keep his own.

Hard Doctrine — Salvation

In Romans 6:3–4, Paul grounds the believer's death to sin and walk in newness of life in which act?

1. AThe Lord's Supper as a repeated sacrifice
2. BThe ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification
3. CPersonal repentance and confession of sin
4. DBaptism into Christ's death and resurrectionCorrect

Answer: Baptism into Christ's death and resurrection

Romans 6:3–4 · ESV

Paul is answering the charge that grace encourages sin, and he answers by pointing back to what baptism signifies. Believers were baptized into Christ's death, buried with him, and raised to walk in newness of life, so continuing in sin contradicts the very thing they confessed. The water does not itself accomplish the union; immersion pictures it, which is one reason Baptists hold that the mode and the meaning belong together.

Romans 6:3-5; Colossians 2:12

Why not this one. The Spirit is certainly the one who makes that new walk real, and Romans 8 will say so at length. But in these particular verses Paul reasons from the believer's baptism into Christ's death, appealing to that decisive past event.

Easy Doctrine — Salvation

What term describes the act of God whereby He declares a sinner righteous on the basis of Christ's imputed righteousness?

1. ASanctification
2. BRegeneration
3. CJustificationCorrect
4. DGlorification

Answer: Justification

Romans 3:24 · ESV

Justification is courtroom language. God does not at that moment make the sinner righteous; he declares him righteous, reckoning Christ's obedience to his account after his guilt had been reckoned to Christ. Paul says God justifies the ungodly, which only makes sense if the verdict rests on a record belonging to someone else.

Romans 3:24; Romans 4:5

Why not this one. Sanctification also comes from Christ's work and also concerns righteousness, so it is easy to reach for. But sanctification is the Spirit's actual renewing of the believer over time, while justification is a declaration made once and complete, not a quality gradually acquired.

Medium Doctrine — Salvation

What two elements together constitute “conversion” in the ordo salutis?

1. ABaptism and faith
2. BRepentance and works
3. CFaith and repentanceCorrect
4. DConfession and absolution

Answer: Faith and repentance

BF&M 2000, Article IV · ESV

Conversion is the human side of what God works in regeneration, and it has two faces of a single turn: away from sin and toward Christ. The preaching in Acts pairs them constantly, sometimes naming only one because each implies the other. Both are themselves gifts, which is why the Jerusalem church could speak of God granting repentance to the Gentiles.

Mark 1:15; Acts 20:21; BF&M 2000, Article IV

Why not this one. Baptism follows conversion so closely in Acts that the two can look like one package. But baptism is the ordinance by which a believer publicly confesses a conversion that has already occurred; it is obedience following conversion, not a part of it.

Hard Doctrine — Salvation

In covenant, or federal, theology, on what basis is Adam's guilt reckoned to his descendants?

1. AAdam acted as the covenant head representing all whom he would fatherCorrect
2. BEach descendant is charged only when he repeats Adam's sin himself
3. CGod assigns the guilt apart from any relation between Adam and his race
4. DAdam's guilt falls only on those who die without hearing the gospel

Answer: Adam acted as the covenant head representing all whom he would father

Romans 5:18-19 · ESV

Paul argues from one man's trespass to condemnation for all and from one man's obedience to justification for all, which requires representation on both ends. The same headship that makes Adam's sin ours is what makes Christ's righteousness ours.

Romans 5:12-19 and 1 Corinthians 15:22, in Adam all die, in Christ shall all be made alive.

Why not this one. Paul says death reigned even over those whose sinning was not like Adam's transgression, which is why he can speak of many being made sinners by one man's disobedience.