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Review Questions for SMP Theological Interview

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Review Questions for SMP Theological Interview Review Questions for SMP Theological Interview The following questions are offered as samples of the kinds of questions that may be asked in a Theological Interview. The list is not exhaustive; other questions of this type may be asked by the interviewers. Keep in mind that these are only sample questions.. This list is given to help the candidate demonstrate his capacity to articulate Lutheran doctrine. Students should be thoroughly acquainted with the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions so as to be workmen who correctly handle the word of truth (II Timothy 2:15), are apt to teach (II Timothy 2:24), and with the demonstrated ability to hold fast to the trustworthy message, encouraging others in sound doctrine and able to refute those who oppose it (Titus 1:9). Students should be prepared to answer doctrinal questions using both the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions. That is, they should know where and how the doctrine is drawn from Holy Scripture and where and how this teaching is confessed in the Book of Concord. Students should also be prepared to speak of how this doctrine is put into practice in pastoral ministry and mission. It is assumed that students will have read both the Bible and the Book of Concord in their entirety by the time of the Theological Interview. Students may also wish to review material in Christian Dogmatics by Franz Pieper. 1. Describe confessional subscription. How does the authority of the Lutheran Confessions relate to biblical authority? 2. How do the Lutheran Confessions describe the authority of Holy Scripture? Where would you find this in The Book of Concord? 3. What is the theological significance of the sequence of the first six articles of the Augsburg Confession? 4. What place does faith have in the Sacrament of the Altar according to the Small Catechism? 5. How would you defend the baptism of infants biblically? 6. How do Lutherans understand predestination? Where do you find this teaching in the Scriptures? In the Lutheran Confessions? 7. What is entailed in the distinction of the law from the gospel according to the Lutheran Confessions? 8. How does the Augsburg Confession and its Apology use Scripture in articulating justification by faith alone? 9. How is justification distinguished from sanctification? 10. Why does the New Testament prohibit the ordination of women to the pastoral office? 11. How would you explain the practice of close(d) communion on the basis of the New Testament? 12. What is the “Righteousness of God”? Where and how is this confessed in The Book of Concord? 13. How is the person of Christ confessed in The Book of Concord? 14. In the ordination vow, the candidate confesses the ecumenical creeds and rejects all the errors they condemn. Give an example of such an error? Which creed refutes it and how? What would be a contemporary counterpart to this error? 15. What is entailed in our confession of the doctrine of creation? 16. How would you preach the Trinity? 17. What was Luther’s aim in writing the Smalcald Articles? 18. What is the Gospel? 19. How does millennialism undermine the Gospel? 20. What is the significance of the teaching of the two governments (two kingdoms) for the life of the church in the world and for pastoral ministry? 21. What do we mean when we confess “I believe in…one holy Christian Church” in the Apostles’ Creed? 22. What is original sin? Where is this taught in the Old Testament? In the New Testament? How is original sin described in the Lutheran Confessions? 23. What do the Scriptures and Confessions teach regarding “the freedom of the will”? 24. What is the authority of the pastoral office? 25. What does the Treatise on the Power and the Primacy of the Pope teach about authority in the church? 26. What is the theological significance of Luther’s ordering of the six chief parts of the Small Catechism? 27. How does Luther teach an evangelical use of private confession and absolution in the Large Catechism? 28. What is repentance? 29. What is faith? 30. How to the Lutheran Confessions understand adiaphora? 31. What is the distinction between the “economic Trinity” and the “immanent Trinity”? 32. How does The Book of Concord understand “the third use of the law”? 33. What is the relation between doctrine and practice? 34. What is synergism? How does it destroy the clarity of the Gospel? 35. How do the Lutheran Confessions accent the gift character of the Lord’s Supper in their critique of the Roman doctrine of the sacrifice of the Mass? 36. What are the eschatological errors condemned in Article XVII of the Augsburg Confession? What are the contemporary parallels? 37. What is the theology of the cross and how is it distinguished from a theology of glory? 38. How does the Formula of Concord confess the descent into hell? 39. How do Lutherans understand Christ’s ascension in contrast to Calvinism? What difference does this make? 40. How does Luther confess the atonement in his exposition of the Second Article of the Creed in the Small Catechism? 41. How do the Scriptures and Confessions portray what it means to be created and female? 42. How do the Scriptures and the Confessions understand the roles of husband and wife in marriage? 43. Why are homosexual thoughts, words, and acts sinful? 44. Describe the theology of prayer in the Catechism’s exposition of the Lord’s Prayer? 45. Where is baptismal regeneration taught in the New Testament? 46. What is the sacramental union? 47. Describe the theological significance of the liturgy? 48. What is the significance of the Catechism’s explanation of the Third Article for missiology? 49. What is Enthusiasm? Where and how is it addressed in The Book of Concord? 50. How do the Lutheran Confessions articulate the Office of the Holy Ministry? Which New Testament texts to they see as divine mandates for this office? -JTP+ Revised V.11.2010 .
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