Bible Trivia on Humanity and Sin

Medium Doctrine — Baptist Faith & Message

Which article of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 calls Christians to speak on behalf of the unborn and to contend for the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death?

1. AThe Christian and the Social OrderCorrect
2. BMan
3. CThe Family
4. DThe Kingdom

Answer: The Christian and the Social Order

BF&M 2000, Article XV · ESV

That charge belongs to Article XV, which in 2000 was expanded to name abortion, racism, and every form of sexual immorality. Article III on Man states that human beings bear God's image but does not address abortion. The sentence was among the additions the 2000 committee made to that article.

Article XV cites Micah 6:8 and Matthew 25:35 among its texts for the Christian's duty in society.

Why not this one. Article XVIII does call children a blessing and heritage from the Lord from the moment of conception, but the call to speak for the unborn is in Article XV.

Medium Doctrine — Christ

In 1 Corinthians 15:45 Paul contrasts the first Adam, who became a living being, with the last Adam. What does he say the last Adam became?

1. AA life-giving spiritCorrect
2. BA second living being
3. CA perfected soul
4. DA heavenly likeness

Answer: A life-giving spirit

1 Corinthians 15:45 · ESV

Adam received life; the last Adam gives it. Paul's contrast is not between matter and spirit but between a head who could only pass on the life he was given and a head whose risen humanity is the source of resurrection life for everyone joined to him. The title 'last' also means no third head is coming.

1 Corinthians 15:45-49, citing Genesis 2:7 for the first man.

Why not this one. That would make Christ a repetition of Adam rather than his opposite number. Paul's whole argument turns on the risen Christ doing what Adam never could, namely giving life to others.

Hard Doctrine — Christian Living

The Reformation recovery of ordinary work as a divine calling set itself against which medieval teaching?

1. AThat monastic and clerical life is a higher calling than ordinary workCorrect
2. BThat the merits of the saints form a treasury the church may apply
3. CThat the bread and wine change in substance at the priest's word
4. DThat a general council holds authority above the pope

Answer: That monastic and clerical life is a higher calling than ordinary work

1 Corinthians 7:17 · ESV

Medieval usage reserved the word vocation for those in religious orders, and treated the counsels of perfection as a higher path than the common Christian life. The Reformers applied calling to the station each believer already occupies, the farm and the household included.

1 Corinthians 7:17, where Paul makes each one's assigned life a matter of God's call and says this is his rule in all the churches.

Why not this one. The treasury of merit was a real medieval doctrine, attacked in the indulgence controversy, but it concerns satisfaction for sin rather than the standing of ordinary work.

Medium Doctrine — Church & Ordinances

In 1 Corinthians 5:6-7, what image does Paul use for the corrupting effect of tolerated sin in a congregation?

1. AA little leaven leavens the whole lumpCorrect
2. BA root of bitterness springing up
3. CA small fire setting a forest ablaze
4. DA wolf entering among the sheep

Answer: A little leaven leavens the whole lump

1 Corinthians 5:6-7 · ESV

Paul tells the Corinthians to clear the old leaven out so that they may be a fresh lump, on the ground that Christ, their Passover lamb, has already been sacrificed. Unaddressed sin does not stay contained in the one who commits it. The Corinthians were boasting while a scandalous case went unaddressed, and Paul tells them their boasting is not good.

1 Corinthians 5:6-8, drawing on the removal of leaven at Passover in Exodus 12.

Why not this one. That image is real but belongs to Hebrews 12:15, where it describes bitterness defiling many. It is not the figure Paul uses in this chapter.

Hard Doctrine — Grace & Election

What did Semi-Pelagianism, ruled against at the Second Council of Orange in 529, actually teach?

1. AThat the sinner takes the first step toward God, and grace then assists what he has begunCorrect
2. BThat human beings need no divine grace whatever in order to be saved
3. CThat original sin spreads by imitation rather than by inheritance
4. DThat God's grace in the elect can never finally be resisted

Answer: That the sinner takes the first step toward God, and grace then assists what he has begun

Semi-Pelagianism conceded that grace is necessary to complete salvation but located the beginning of faith in the human will. Orange answered that even the desire to be cleansed of sin is itself worked in us by the Holy Spirit.

The Second Council of Orange (529) and the canons associated with it, which drew heavily on Augustine and Prosper of Aquitaine.

Why not this one. That is full Pelagianism, condemned a century earlier at Carthage. The semi-Pelagians granted the necessity of grace and disputed only where its work begins.

Hard Doctrine — Last Things

When Paul contrasts a natural body with a spiritual body in 1 Corinthians 15:44, what does the term spiritual body indicate?

1. AA real body animated and governed by the Holy SpiritCorrect
2. BA body composed of spirit rather than matter
3. CA disembodied soul freed from physical limits
4. DA temporary form worn until the soul is perfected

Answer: A real body animated and governed by the Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 15:42-49 · ESV

The adjectives describe what animates the body, not what it is made of. The present body is governed by the soul and its weakness; the raised body is governed by the Spirit, imperishable and glorious. Christ's own risen body, which could be touched and could eat, is the pattern.

1 Corinthians 15:42-49, with Luke 24:39 and Philippians 3:21.

Why not this one. This misreads the adjective as a statement of substance and ends in a ghost rather than a resurrection. Paul's whole argument in the chapter is that the body itself is raised, not exchanged for something immaterial.

Medium Doctrine — Man & Sin

In the sentence God pronounces on the woman in Genesis 3:16 (ESV), what does he say about her relation to her husband?

1. AHer desire shall be contrary to her husband, but he shall rule over herCorrect
2. BHer husband shall no longer have any headship over her
3. CShe shall be given authority over her husband in his weakness
4. DShe and her husband shall labor apart from one another

Answer: Her desire shall be contrary to her husband, but he shall rule over her

Genesis 3:16 · ESV

The sentence describes what sin does to the relation of husband and wife: her desire set against him, and his rule over her. This is the corruption of the created order, not its establishment, which is why Paul grounds headship in Genesis 2 rather than Genesis 3.

Genesis 3:16, with the created order stated in Genesis 2:18–24 and taken up in Ephesians 5:22–33.

Why not this one. Nothing in the verse cancels headship; the sentence describes conflict within it. Paul still treats the husband as head of the wife long after Genesis 3.

Medium Doctrine — Salvation

What does the doctrine of total depravity assert about fallen humanity?

1. ASin has corrupted every faculty, so that no one seeks God or can save himselfCorrect
2. BEvery person is as wicked in practice as he could possibly be
3. CThe will remains untouched by sin though the affections are disordered
4. DOnly the body is fallen, while the reason stands undamaged

Answer: Sin has corrupted every faculty, so that no one seeks God or can save himself

Romans 3:10-12 · ESV

Total refers to extent, not intensity. Mind, will, and affections are all affected, which is why the sinner cannot originate faith and why regeneration must precede it; it does not mean every sinner commits every sin or is as bad as he could be. The doctrine describes an inability, not a maximum of wickedness.

Romans 3:10-12 and Ephesians 2:1-3, where none seeks God and all are dead in trespasses.

Why not this one. This confuses total with absolute; God restrains sin, and unbelievers do many things useful to their neighbors while still unable to please him.

Medium Doctrine — The Holy Spirit

According to 1 Corinthians 2:14, why can the natural person not accept the things of the Spirit of God?

1. AThey are spiritually discernedCorrect
2. BThey are kept in a secret oral tradition
3. CThey are written in a language he cannot read
4. DThey were entrusted to the apostles alone

Answer: They are spiritually discerned

1 Corinthians 2:14 · ESV

The unbeliever's problem is not a lack of information but a lack of capacity; the things of the Spirit strike him as folly. This is why illumination is necessary, and why Reformed theology holds that regeneration must precede rather than follow the reception of the gospel.

1 Corinthians 2:12–14, in Paul's contrast between the wisdom of this age and the Spirit's teaching.

Why not this one. Paul says the opposite in verse 12: believers generally have received the Spirit so that they may understand what God has freely given them.

Medium Miracles of the Bible

What happened to Miriam after she and Aaron spoke against Moses?

1. AShe became leprousCorrect
2. BShe was struck mute
3. CShe was swallowed by the earth
4. DShe was struck blind

Answer: She became leprous

Numbers 12:9-10 · ESV

When the cloud lifted from the tent, Miriam was leprous, white as snow, and was shut outside the camp seven days until Moses' prayer and the Lord's mercy restored her. The judgment fell on a challenge to the mediator God had appointed. Aaron, who had spoken with her, was not struck, and he pleaded with Moses on her behalf.

Numbers 12:9-15 records the leprosy, Moses' prayer, and the seven days.

Why not this one. The earth opened for Korah, Dathan, and Abiram in a later rebellion in Numbers 16; Miriam's judgment was leprosy and exclusion from the camp.

Medium New Testament — Acts of the Apostles

What event took place on the day of Pentecost?

1. AThe Holy Spirit came upon the disciples with tongues of fire and a sound like a rushing wind; they began to speak in other tongues.Correct
2. BThe disciples were gathered in prayer when Peter stood and preached to the crowd gathered in Jerusalem.
3. CAn angel appeared to the disciples and commanded them to go into all the world and preach the gospel.
4. DThe disciples cast lots and appointed Matthias to replace Judas, then received power from on high.

Answer: The Holy Spirit came upon the disciples with tongues of fire and a sound like a rushing wind; they began to speak in other tongues.

Acts 2:1–4 · ESV

Pentecost is the hinge Jesus pointed to in Acts 1:8, when the promised power would come and the witness would begin moving outward from Jerusalem. Luke reports three signs together: a sound like a violent wind filling the house, divided tongues as of fire resting on each person, and speech in real languages that the pilgrims from every nation under heaven recognized as their own. The gift was not unintelligible noise but the gospel made audible to the nations gathered in the city.

Acts 2:1-4; cf. Acts 1:8

Why not this one. Peter's sermon really does follow in Acts 2:14, but it is the response to the event rather than the event itself. He stands up to explain a phenomenon the crowd had already seen and heard.

Easy New Testament — General Epistles & Revelation

What is the number of the beast in Revelation?

1. A666.Correct
2. B616.
3. C777.
4. D144.

Answer: 666.

Revelation 13:18 · ESV

The text calls it a number of a man and invites calculation, which in a world that wrote numbers with letters meant totaling up the letters of a name. Many readers have landed on Nero Caesar spelled in Hebrew; others take it as a threefold falling short of seven, a parody of a completeness that never arrives. Revelation does not name him, and the futurist, historicist, idealist and preterist schemes differ over whether he is past, present or still to come.

Revelation 13:16-18.

Why not this one. This is not simply a wrong guess. A few ancient manuscripts read 616, and Irenaeus knew the variant and rejected it in the second century, but the weight of the manuscript evidence stands with 666.