Dictionary of Latin and Greek Theological Terms

facere quod in se est: to do what is in one’s self; a concept from medieval scholastic theology, associated in particular with Gabriel Biel and late medieval semi-Pelagianism, rejected by Luther, noted in the negative briefly by Calvin, and referenced in the debates over Arminius’s theology. The phrase “to do what is in one’s self” was in use prior to the later Middle Ages, as evidenced by Aquinas’s utterly monergistic usage (Summa Theologiae I-IIae, q. 109, a. 6, ad 2), but the early modern debate presumed the semi-Pelagian implication of late medieval theology. According to this latter view, human beings could respond to the gratia universalis (q.v.), not with a truly meritorious act (meritum de condigno, q.v.) but with an act representative of and flowing from the minimal good that was in them, not a truly good act but a bare turning toward the divine, a meritum de congruo (q.v.). On the basis of this minimal act, God would respond graciously; thus the maxim Facientibus quod in se est, Deus non denegat gratiam, To those who do what is in them, God will not deny grace. This view of human ability rests upon the Scotist and nominalist view of the donum superadditum (q.v.). Arminius was accused of teaching the late medieval doctrine; in response he indicated his assumption that no one could do good without the aid of grace.

facienda: things to be done; i.e., acts or works of Christian life, usually referred to as agenda (q.v.).

facultas: faculty, from the verb facere, to make; specifically, a resident ability, power, or potency (potentia, q.v.) to make or do something. Thus the intellect (intellectus, q.v.) and will (voluntas, q.v.) are understood as faculties of the soul. By extension, the members of an academic department are also corporately identified as a faculty, as, e.g., a faculty of theology or law.

facultas aversandi gratiam: the ability or capacity to turn grace away; a term related to the Lutheran view of gratia resistibilis (q.v.), or resistible grace. Orthodox Lutheranism, as opposed to Reformed orthodoxy, argues for the human capacity to resist the saving grace of the Word. Lutheranism also denies the synergistic teaching of a facultas se applicandi ad gratiam (q.v.), an ability or capacity to apply or attach oneself to grace, i.e., a capacitas volendi, or ability to will. The facultas aversandi gratiam is merely a capacitas nolendi, or ability to refuse or not will. See facultas.

facultas se applicandi ad gratiam: the ability or capacity to apply or attach oneself to grace; viz., the assumption of a fully developed synergism. See facultas; facultas aversandi gratiam; potentia; synergismus.

facultates animae: faculties of the soul; especially intellectus (q.v.) and voluntas (q.v.). These two faculties of the rational soul, intellect and will, are not two separate things but distinct modes of one thing (modus rei); i.e., they are modally or formally distinct but not really distinct. The soul is spiritual and therefore indivisible; it can just as accurately be said to understand and to will as to have understanding and to have will. There are also “lower” faculties of the soul, the sensitive and the vegetative, that receive perceptions and maintain life. See anima.

fatum astrologicum: astrological fate; viz., the doctrine that the lives and fortunes of individuals are influenced by the stars. The Protestant scholastics generally argue that fatum astrologicum, like fatum Stoicum (q.v.), is ruled out by the Christian doctrine of providentia (q.v.).

fatum Stoicum: Stoic fate; viz., the doctrine that all things occur by a rigid, absolute necessity (necessitas absoluta, q.v.), as taught by the ancient Stoic philosophers. The Protestant scholastics take great pains to argue that their doctrine of divine providentia (q.v.), particularly the notion of the concurrence (concursus, q.v.) of the divine operative will with all finite events, is not equated with the fatum Stoicum and, specifically, is not viewed as a denial of the liberty of causae secundae (q.v.).

favor Dei: the favor of God; viz., the gracious disposition of God toward all people.

fedus: covenant; an alternate spelling of foedus (q.v.) found in early modern works.

felicitas: felicity, happiness; both the felicitas Dei, or happiness of God, and the felicitas beatorum, or happiness of the blessed who dwell with God in the coelum beatorum (q.v.), or heaven of the blessed (see beati; beatitudo). Since happiness can be defined as the attainment of the good, God, who is the highest good (summum bonum, q.v.) and whose goodness (bonitas, q.v.) is eternal and immutable in its perfection, must be eternally happy in himself. In addition, the blessed who have attained the fellowship of God, the summum bonum, must also be happy in the fruition of their fellowship. Finally, human happiness in this life must be defined in terms of the good toward which the individual is directed, with the result that true human happiness arises only out of the right ordering of life in the recognition that fellowship with God in Christ is the goal of human existence and that the glory of God (gloria Dei, q.v.) is the ultimate end of the human race. See bonum; fons omnium bonorum.

felix culpa: the fortunate fault, sometimes rendered as fortunate fall, referencing humanity’s fall into sin as fortunate in the sense that, without this fault or fall, Christ would not have needed to be incarnate for the salvation of humanity.

fideiussio: guarantee, surety, bond; a term used by Reformed federal theologians, notably Cocceius, as a synonym for sponsio (q.v.). Fideiussio comes from Roman law and indicates the actual posted bond, or set guarantee, required for the freedom of the accused. Here the Reformed recognize a problem related to the eternal nature of the pactum salutis (q.v.) and the sponsio over against the temporal character of the satisfactio Christi or satisfactio vicaria (q.v.), but they argue that the fideiussio, or bond, is effective eternally in its inception insofar as the merit of Christ’s work, and indeed the work of satisfaction itself, rests upon the decree. Of course, sinners/debtors remain liable for their sin/debt until the fideiussio has been applied to them in time. In the Cocceian theology, the qualification that Christ’s fideiussio had been eternally promised but paid temporally led to a distinction between forgiveness in the Old Testament as a passing over (paresis, q.v.) and forgiveness in the New Testament as full remission (aphesis, q.v.). Others among the Reformed, notably the Voetians, preferred the term expromissio (q.v.), an absolute forgiveness or remission.

fidelitas: fidelity, faithfulness; specifically, the fidelitas Dei, or faithfulness of God, the communicable or relative attribute according to which God is consistent and constant in his promises and in his grace. The fidelitas Dei rests directly on the intrinsic truthfulness of God (veracitas Dei, q.v.) and the absolute immutability of God (immutabilitas Dei, q.v.); in order for God to be faithful, he must be essentially truthful and immutably so. In the theology of the English Reformed and of those continental theologians strongly influenced by the practical thrust of the English theology, the fidelitas Dei frequently appears in the practical section of the locus on immutability as the “use” to which the notion of divine immutability may be put in Christian piety, i.e., a ground of Christian consolation.

fides: faith, belief. With love (caritas, q.v.) and hope (spes, q.v.), faith is one of the three theological virtues; cf. 1 Corinthians 13:13. Faith is the firm persuasion of the truth of God’s revelation or that truth itself considered as the object of belief (see fides qua creditur; fides quae creditur); most frequently the former, as it is manifest in Christians. Accordingly, faith is directed toward credenda, things to be believed, one of the three spiritual categories of biblical teaching in the medieval fourfold interpretation, or quadriga (q.v.).

Fides may be considered further as (1) fides historica, historical faith, which is a mere acceptance of a datum as true apart from any spiritual effect—even devils believe that Christ died to save the world from sin; (2) fides temporaria, temporary faith, which apprehends the truth of God as more than mere historical datum but which subsequently dissipates into unbelief; (3) fides miraculosa, miraculous faith, a faith directed specifically toward divine promises of supernatural or suprahuman capacities, such as the faith that moves mountains; (4) fides salvifica, saving faith, which accepts the promises of God and the truths of God for the salvation of the believer; (5) fides legalis, legal faith, which accepts as true the contents of divine revelation apart from the gospel—i.e., faith that accepts the law and its demand for obedience and that could conceivably save under the unabrogated foedus operum (q.v.) but that cannot save after the fall; and (6) fides evangelica, evangelical faith, which accepts the saving revelation of God in Christ as given specifically in the gospel.

Fides salvifica, further defined as fides propria, true, personal faith, is usually explained as having three components, the first two belonging to the intellect and comprising the category of cognitio certa, certain cognition, the latter one belonging to the will: (1) notitia (q.v.), knowledge, the actual content of the gospel and the promises of God; (2) assensus (q.v.), assent, by which the intellect acknowledges the truth of notitia, apart from any personal trust or saving appropriation of that knowledge; (3) fiducia, trust, or apprehensio fiducialis, faithful apprehension, which appropriates savingly, by an act of the will, the true knowledge of the promises of God in Christ. Notitia and assensus alone, without apprehensio fiducialis, are the elements of a mere historical faith, or fides historica. Saving faith cannot be merely intellectual; it must also have the volitional component. See actus fidei; credenda; fides implicita; habitus; habitus fidei; intellectus; voluntas.

fides actualis: actual faith, actualized faith; i.e., a faith that truly grasps the grace of Christ, as opposed to temporary or historical faith. See fides.

fides apprehensiva: apprehending or appropriating faith; viz., the faith that apprehends or appropriates Christ; synonymous with fiducia (q.v.) or apprehensio fiducialis. See fides.

Fides bonae voluntatis genetrix est: Faith is the mother of a good will.

fides carbonaria: the faith of colliers; i.e., of charcoal burners; viz., fides implicita (q.v.), or implicit faith, on the assumption that a collier knows little or nothing of Christian doctrine.

fides caritate formata: faith informed by love; i.e., faith that is animated and instructed by love (caritas) and is therefore active in producing good works. According to the medieval doctors, fides caritate formata could exist only when the believer was in a state of grace, since such fides must rest upon a habit or disposition of love supernaturally created in the soul by grace. This conception of faith is denied by the Reformers and the Protestant orthodox insofar as it implies the necessity of works for justification and insofar as it rests on a concept of a created grace (gratia creata) implanted or infused into human beings. See gratia infusa.

fides directa: direct faith; i.e., faith as it lays hold of its object, the promise of salvation in Christ given in the gospel. See actus fidei.

fides divina: divine faith; faith engendered in us by the power of God, as distinct from fides humana (q.v.), the natural human capacity to hold convictions concerning things.

Fides filios Dei facit: Faith makes sons/children of God.

fides formata: informed faith. See fides caritate formata.

fides humana: human faith. See fides divina.

fides implicita: implicit faith; sometimes called blind faith; a faith that is mere assent without certain knowledge, e.g., faith that accepts as true “what the church believes,” without knowing the objective contents of the faith. The Reformers and the Protestant scholastics uniformly deny implicit faith; since knowledge is lacking, this is no faith. See fides; fides carbonaria.

fides informis: unformed faith, formless faith; in medieval scholastic theology, a faith that has not been formed or animated by love. Such faith can exist outside of a state of grace. See fides caritate formata.

fides iustificans: justifying faith; viz., that faith through or on the basis of which we are justified by grace. Faith does not actively justify but rather is the means of acceptance (medium lēptikon, q.v.) of the grace that justifies. See actus fidei; fides; iustificatio.

Fides iustificat non propter se, ut est in homine qualitas, sed propter Christum, quem apprehendit: Faith justifies not because of itself, insofar as it is a quality in a human being, but on account of Christ, of whom faith lays hold.

fides qua creditur: the faith by which (it) is believed; i.e., the faith of the believer that receives and holds the revelation of God; fides subjectively considered.

fides qua iustificat: faith insofar as it justifies; i.e., faith considered as fides iustificans (q.v.), justifying faith.

fides quae creditur: the faith that is believed; i.e., the content of faith as revealed by God, fides objectively considered.

fides quaerens intellectum: faith in search of understanding; a dictum concerning the relationship of faith and reason from the proemium to Anselm’s Proslogion, which closely follows the Augustinian model of Crede, ut intelligas (q.v.).

fides reflexa: reflex or reflective faith; i.e., faith as it knows subjectively, for itself, the presence of its object to intellect and will in a saving manner. See actus fidei.

fides specialis: special or personal faith; i.e., saving faith, just as gratia specialis is saving grace. See fides.

fides, spes, caritas: faith, hope, and love; the three theological virtues. See caritas; fides; quadriga; spes.

fiducia: trust; the essence of fides (q.v.); note that in English the etymological relation between fides (faith) and fiducia is lost; in the older theology faith and trust are intimately related. Fiducia, as the crown of faith, is also called apprehensio fiducialis, or faithful apprehension.

fiducia cordis: the trust or faithfulness of the heart; i.e., the faithful apprehension (apprehensio fiducialis) that grasps the knowledge of Christ and completes faith (fides, q.v.). See actus fidei.

figura: figure; specifically, a figure of speech or a sign or symbol. See signum.

filiatio: filiation; sonship or begottenness; sometimes called nativitas; specifically, the act of God the Father in begetting the Son as Second Person of the Trinity and therefore the relation of the Son to the Father. See relatio personalis; Trinitas.

filioque: literally, and the Son; a reference to an addition in the third article of the Western form of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. It did not belong to the original ecumenical creed but derives from the Council of Toledo in 589. The addition marks the codification of anti-Arian theology in the West by announcing the coequality of Father and Son in the fact of the Spirit’s procession from both, rather than from the Father alone, as in the Eastern model. This doctrine of double procession represents the basic thrust of Western trinitarianism from Augustine onward.

filius: son; specifically, the filius Dei, or Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, the eternal Verbum Dei, or Word of God. See Trinitas.

filius patris: Son of the Father; i.e., the Second Person of the Trinity. See Deus; Trinitas.

finis: goal, end; frequently, the goal or end of a series of events or of causes and effects and therefore the terminus ad quem, or end to which the series is directed. Thus comes a maxim of scholastic theology: Finis et bonum convertuntur: The end and the good are convertible; i.e., the ultimate goal and the ultimate good are identical. See bonum; causa finalis; terminus.

finis creationis: the end or goal of creation; viz., according to both Reformed and Lutheran scholastics, the glory of God in the manifestation of his power, wisdom, and goodness.

finis hominum: the end or goal of man; the glory of God, not simply in the sense of the attribute, but also in the sense of celebration. The end of human beings is the glorification and eternal celebration of the goodness of the Creator. To this definition the Reformed usually add the manifestation of God’s mercy in the elect and justice in the reprobate as part of the glorification of God.

finis intermedius: intermediate end or goal; an end or goal of thought or action that is penultimate and contributory to the finis ultimus (q.v.). In logic, the intermediate ends are subordinate to the final goal; intermediate ends occur first in time but not first in the conceptual ordering of thought or action.

finis legis: the end or goal of the law; viz., Christ, in whom the law is fulfilled. See usus legis.

finis theologiae: the goal or end of theology; a term variously applied, depending on whether the intermediate or the ultimate end is in view and whether theology as a whole is viewed as practical or as speculative.

finis ultimus: the ultimate end or goal; since the finis ultimus always represents the basic reason for a thought or action, it may also be considered as the causa finalis (q.v.).

Finiti ad infinitum nulla proportio: There is no proportion of the finite to the infinite. See Finitum non capax infiniti.

Finitum non capax infiniti: The finite is incapable of the infinite; i.e., the finite or finite being is incapable of grasping, comprehending, or receiving the infinite or infinite being; an epistemological and ontological maxim drawn into christological debate between the Reformed and the Lutherans. The background to medieval and early modern use of the phrase is probably the discussion of infinitude in Aristotle’s Metaphysics (2.2.994b.8–30) and Physics (3.4–8.202b.30–208a.36), where the Philosopher concludes that the infinite is not a perceptible or comprehensible magnitude. The maxim also appears in the form Finitum non possit capere infinitum, The finite is not capable of grasping the infinite. A similar thought is found in the wording Finiti ad infinitum nulla proportio (q.v.), There is no proportion of the finite to the infinite. In this form the maxim indicates that difference between finite and infinite remains infinite and irreducible to a proportion, no matter the number of gradations that one might identify between them. Medieval thinkers, in a significant departure from Aristotle, applied the maxim to the discussion of the divine nature, given that God, as infinite, is not self-evidencing or capable of being intellectually comprehended. Ontologically, the assumptions of non capax and nulla proportio correspond with the distinction between necessary and contingent being, indicating the impossibility of contingent, created, or relative being attaining to the absolute or necessary, but also serving to reinforce assumptions concerning the necessity of finite being participating in the being of God and being upheld by a providential concurrence. The infinite, in other words, is fully capable of grasping, conceiving, and receiving the finite, albeit without transforming the finite into another infinite.

Extended use of these phrases is found among the Reformed. Calvin, who does not appear to have used the phrase Finitum non capax infiniti, did have recourse to the language of Finiti ad infinitum nulla proportio, with specific reference to the incomprehensibility of God. The later Reformed thus insist not only that all human theology is theologia ectypa (q.v.) and not theologia archetypa (q.v.) but also that the theologia unionis (q.v.), which is known to Christ according to his humanity, must be finite. Christologically, moreover, the maxim points toward the finitude of all humanity, including Christ’s, and therefore its incapacity for receiving divine attributes, such as omnipresence, omnipotence, and omniscience. Thus, from an epistemological perspective, it signifies the limitation of the human mind, even the mind of Christ, in the knowledge of divine things. From an ontological perspective, it corresponds with the assumptions of a doctrine of the communication of proper qualities in the concrete, namely, with the assumption that divine attributes are not and cannot, as such, be communicated to the human nature, but belong with the human attributes to the whole person of Christ. See attributa divina; communicatio idiomatum; concursus; extra calvinisticum; infinitas.

foederatus: a party in covenant, confederate; pl., foederati: confederates; a term used by the Reformed covenant theologians to designate Christ as partner or confederate of believers in the work of salvation and, in the plural, to indicate the relationship between Christ and believers as confederates, foederati, in covenant. See foedus gratiae.

foedus: covenant; synonymous with pactum (q.v.); in some of the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sources, also spelled fedus (q.v.). The use of the concept of covenant, foedus, in Protestant orthodox theology is primarily a Reformed phenomenon. The Lutherans do not deny the importance of the concept in biblical interpretation, but neither do they develop a doctrine of covenant as such. The Reformed scholastics, by contrast, develop the structure of an eternal covenant of redemption (pactum salutis, q.v.); a temporal, prelapsarian covenant of works (foedus operum, q.v.); and a temporal, postlapsarian covenant of grace (foedus gratiae, q.v.) as one of the central architectonic patterns of their systems. Arminianism retained some of the Reformed covenant structure but developed it in a synergistic and even semi-Pelagian pattern, with emphasis upon the covenant of nature (foedus naturae, q.v.). It would be a misreading of the Reformed thought of the era of orthodoxy, however, to assume either that it evidences a finalized or stable terminology of covenant or that it ought to be understood as having developed either a strict two- or three-covenant model. All the following terms that begin with the word foedus derive from the Reformed orthodox systems.

foedus absolutum: absolute covenant; a unilateral covenant with its stipulations fulfilled from the side of the stipulator, as distinguished from a conditional or hypothetical covenant (foedus hypotheticum, q.v.), namely, a bilateral covenant in which the stipulations are made by one party to be fulfilled by the other. God’s covenant with the elect is an absolute covenant. See foedus gratiae.

foedus amicitiae: covenant of friendship; sometimes pactum amicitiae, pact or covenant of friendship, viz., the covenant of works or nature between God and Adam, understood from the perspective of the amicitia Dei (q.v.), or friendship of God with human beings and the fellowship that existed prior to the fall. The term is typically used in order to contrast the original relationship of friendship between God and human beings with the postlapsarian renewal of the relationship in the covenant of grace (foedus gratiae, q.v.), identified as the covenant of reconciliation, or foedus reconciliationis. See foedus operum.

foedus creationis: covenant of creation; the covenantal relationship, or pactum (q.v.), established by God with the world order by the very act of creating it and establishing its laws, sometimes also identified as the natural covenant (foedus naturale). This is also the covenant that was made or renewed with Noah after the flood. Its sign or sacrament is the rainbow. See foedus; foedus operum.

foedus dipleuron (δίπλευρον): two-sided, or bilateral, covenant; at the point at which a human being enters into God’s covenant, receives the terms established by God, and in effect becomes a partner in covenant with God, the foedus operum (q.v.) and foedus gratiae (q.v.) can be termed bilateral covenants. Foedus dipleuron therefore indicates not the covenant in itself or in its underlying requirements but rather the further relationship of God and man together in covenant, and particularly the individual’s free acceptance of God’s promise and of the obedience required by the covenant. When people are faithful and obedient under covenant, they in effect bind God to the promises, according to God’s own ordination. The contrast between foedus monopleuron (q.v.), one-sided covenant, and foedus dipleuron is particularly clear in the instance of the covenant of grace (foedus gratiae, q.v.). Since the covenant is ordained by God alone and cannot be entered by fallen humanity unless God provides the grace necessary to regenerate the will and draw a person into covenant, the covenant is initially unilateral; but once an individual is drawn into the covenant and the will is regenerated, responsibility under covenant and, specifically, faithful obedience to God’s will are required, and the covenant appears as bilateral. It is thus an error to oppose foedus monopleuron and foedus dipleuron as if there were two Reformed covenant theologies, the one predestinarian and the other voluntaristic; the language of monopleuron and dipleuron describes the same covenant from different points of view. See ex pacto; ex parte Dei; potentia ordinata.

foedus evangelicum: evangelical covenant; a term referring to the gospel, hence the covenant of grace. The foedus evangelicum is typically juxtaposed with the foedus legale, based on the interpretation of Galatians 4:24. Understandings of the two terms, taken together, contributed to the development of the covenantal thought typical of the Reformed in the seventeenth century. See foedus gratiae; foedus legale; foedus operum.

foedus gratiae: covenant of grace; also foedus gratiae gratuitum: gracious or graciously given covenant of grace; foedus gratiae evangelicum: covenant of grace concerning the gospel or evangelical covenant of grace; foedus gratuitum: gracious covenant; and foedus gratuitae promissionis: covenant of gracious promise. With specific reference to the altered relationship between God and humanity before and after the fall, the covenant of grace is sometimes called the covenant of reconciliation, or foedus reconciliationis, in contrast to the original prelapsarian covenant, identified as the covenant of friendship, or foedus amicitiae (q.v.).

The covenant of grace is considered initially as a foedus monopleuron (q.v.), or one-sided covenant; the covenant of grace is the pact (pactum, pactio, q.v.) made by God beginning with the protevangelium (q.v.), confirmed and revealed more fully in Abraham, and finally fulfilled in Christ. It is a foedus monopleuron because it stands as a gracious promise of salvation given to fallen humanity apart from any consideration of their ability to respond to it or fulfill it and apart from any human initiative. Human beings are drawn into covenant by God’s grace alone. Once they enter covenant, however, and become parties to the divine offer of salvation, under the covenant they take on responsibilities before God. The foedus gratiae, therefore, also appears as a mutual pact and agreement between God and man, a foedus dipleuron (q.v.). Following Calvin, the Reformed speak of one foedus gratiae in substance (substantia, q.v.), which can be divided or distinguished into several dispensations (see dispensatio), or temporal administrations. Thus the covenant of grace does not alter in the substance of its promised salvation from the first announcement of grace to Adam and Eve, to the fuller promise of grace to Abraham and his seed, to the gift of the law in the Mosaic form of the covenant, to the modification of its administration under the Israelite monarchy and during the age of prophets, to its final dispensation begun in Christ and continuing to the end of the world. Viewed in this way, the Reformed doctrine of the foedus gratiae has the effect of drawing the Old and New Testaments together and of explaining the moral law (see lex moralis; lex Mosaica) as belonging to the divine promise of salvation rather than to the abrogated foedus operum (q.v.), or covenant of works. The entire biblical history of gracious promise, obedience under covenant, and saving fulfillment in Christ thus becomes a part—a central structure—of theological system and a pattern of salvation directly applicable to the life of God’s people in the present. Now, as in all previous dispensations, God requires faith and repentance of those in covenant with him.

The administratio foederis gratiae, or administration of the covenant of grace, is described both historically and dogmatically by the scholastics. (1) Historically, the scholastics argue for either a dichotomous division into the Old and New Testaments or a trichotomous division into the prelegal dispensatio from the protevangelium onward to Moses, the legal dispensatio from Moses to Christ, and the evangelical dispensatio from Christ to the end of time. The covenant can thus be described as ante legem (before the law, q.v.), sub lege (under the law), and post legem (after the law). Various federal theologians further divided the covenant into Noachic and Abrahamic periods before Moses. (2) Dogmatically, the covenant can be considered in terms of its promulgation (promulgatio foederis, q.v.), its legal foundation, the stipulatio (q.v.), nomothesia (q.v.), or sanctio foederis (q.v.), and its confirmation in and through covenant signs and seals (confirmatio foederis, q.v.). See usus legis.

foedus hypotheticum: hypothetical covenant; specifically, a covenant made conditionally, with the conditions or stipulations made or imposed by one party to be fulfilled by the other, as distinct from an absolute covenant (foedus absolutum, q.v.). The covenant of works (foedus operum, q.v.; or foedus naturae, q.v.), the Mosaic covenant, and the covenant of grace are all hypothetical covenants, given that they all have stipulations to be fulfilled and offer blessing on condition of fulfillment. See foedus.

foedus legale: legal covenant; a term used to indicate the Old Testament or old covenant (foedus vetus), the Sinai covenant, and sometimes the covenant of works (foedus operum, q.v.).

foedus misericordiae: covenant of mercy; i.e., the covenant of grace, or foedus gratiae (q.v.).

foedus monopleuron (μονόπλευρον): one-sided, or unilateral, covenant; the covenant as bestowed by God and exhibiting his will toward humanity. Since the foundation of all divine covenants is the eternal will of God, and the purpose of all divine covenants is ultimately the fulfillment of God’s will to the glory of God alone, God’s covenants—both the foedus operum (q.v.) and the foedus gratiae (q.v.)—are declarations of the divine will toward human beings and thus one-sided, monopleuron, rather than being covenants arranged by the mutual consent of parties for their mutual benefit. Even though the covenants include human beings and are to their benefit, they have no part in the arrangement of the terms of the covenants, both of which are bestowed, as it were, from above. See foedus; foedus dipleuron.

foedus Mosaicum: Mosaic covenant; the covenantal administration focused on Sinai and the Decalogue. Given its focus on the divine law, the Mosaic covenant is also sometimes called the legal covenant, or foedus legale (q.v.). Reformed understandings of the Mosaic covenant varied, understanding it sometimes as a republication of the covenant of works, as an administration of the covenant of grace, as a subordinate or subservient covenant (foedus subserviens, q.v.), or as the covenantal administration of the Israelite nation. See foedus; foedus gratiae; foedus operum.

foedus naturae: covenant of nature; also sometimes foedus naturale: natural covenant; a designation of the antelapsarian, or prelapsarian, covenant between God and man, predicated on the original integrity of human nature and its capacity for obedience under the terms of the innate moral or natural law. Identification of the prelapsarian covenant as a covenant of nature rather than a covenant of works places an emphasis on the connection of this covenant with the order of creation and indicates the relationship between the created order and the fundamental moral order established by God. There is a similar implication in the identification of the prelapsarian covenant as a covenant of creation (foedus creationis, q.v.). In the seventeenth century, particularly in British and Dutch circles, the Reformed tended to replace this term with foedus operum (q.v.), whereas the Arminians, with their emphasis on the inborn capacity for obedience, tended to retain it. The term remained normative in various other Reformed circles, as evidenced in Turretin’s Institutio theologiae elencticae. Yet the covenantal vocabulary of the Reformed did not absolutely stabilize in the era of orthodoxy with reference to either the prelapsarian or the postlapsarian covenant.

foedus naturale: natural covenant; synonymous with foedus naturae (q.v.).

foedus novum: new covenant; a term applied to the New Testament in its distinction from the Old Testament understood as foedus vetus (q.v.), and also used to refer to the covenant of grace (foedus gratiae, q.v.).

foedus operum: covenant of works; viz., the first covenant made by God with humanity, instituted before the fall, when human beings were still in the status integritatis (q.v.) and capable of perfect obedience. The doctrine of the foedus operum assumes that Adam and Eve knew the moral law either as the lex naturalis (q.v.) as yet unimpaired and unbeclouded by sin or as a lex paradisiaca (q.v.) revealed by God. Understanding the original relationship between God and human beings covenantally, as also understanding the relationship between God and the created order as a covenant, or pactum (q.v.), has patristic and medieval roots. Traces of the doctrine, moreover, are found among the Reformers themselves, notably Zwingli, Musculus, and Calvin, and among writers of the latter half of the sixteenth century, notably Ursinus and Olevianus. Another line of thought contributing to the doctrine was the identification of the Decalogue as the legal covenant (foedus legale or foedus legalis) and as a necessary republication after the fall of the basic teachings of the natural law as engraved on the human heart, in distinction from the gospel as foedus evangelicum (q.v.).

The specific language of a covenant of works rose to prominence in Reformed theology following 1590 in the works of Perkins, Rollock, Polanus, and others. Several generations of Reformed writers debated the number and interrelationship of the covenants, including the relationship between the prelapsarian covenant of works and the Mosaic law, understood at least in part as the covenant of works, or legal covenant. The terminology of this prelapsarian covenant remained fluid throughout the era of orthodoxy, with foedus operum and foedus naturae (q.v.) being the two most common terms. Other terms for the prelapsarian covenant include foedus amicitiae (q.v.), foedus primaevum (q.v.), foedus naturae (q.v.), and foedus creationis (q.v.).

Many of the Reformed follow the traditional Augustinian interpretation of Genesis 2–3 as found in Augustine’s De Genesi ad litteram and identify the tree of life (arbor vitae, q.v.) and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (arbor scientiae boni et mali, q.v.) as sacramental signs of the grace available, on condition of obedience, to the first pair under the covenant of works. Some among the Reformed, like Witsius, add paradise itself and the first Sabbath as symbols or sacraments of the first covenant. As sacraments, these four things functioned as visible signs of the meaning of the covenant and therefore served as visible pledges of the blessings conferred under the covenant and as symbols confirming faith, reminding Adam and Eve of the duties owed to God and pointing toward eternal blessings.

Inasmuch as the two trees, and therefore the commands to eat and not eat, have a broad federal significance, the Reformed invariably interpret the violation of the covenant of works as more than a violation of a simple token command not to eat, indeed, as a violation of the entire lex moralis (q.v.). The Lutherans, who do not argue for a foedus operum, tend to claim that violation of the divine command was only mediately a violation of the whole moral law and, immediately, a violation of a test that demanded the same obedience if not the explicit behavior stipulated by the moral law. See foedus legale; homo; iustitia originalis; peccatum; peccatum originale; sacramentum; status integritatis.

foedus primaevum: primeval covenant; literally, the “young” covenant or covenant of the primum aevum, or “first age,” a term sometimes used to identify the prelapsarian covenant, or covenant of works (foedus operum, q.v.).

foedus redemptionis: covenant of redemption; an equivalent term for the pactum salutis (q.v.), reflecting (and perhaps simply translating) the standard English usage of the era of orthodoxy, namely, “covenant of redemption.”

foedus subserviens: subservient covenant; the Mosaic or legal covenant, understood as a dispensation or administration of covenant after the fall and sub lege (q.v.; under the law), with the law now serving in its pedagogical function, leading to the salvation offered under the covenant of grace. See foedus; foedus gratiae; foedus hypotheticus.

foedus vetus: old covenant, a term used to indicate the Old Testament and sometimes the covenant of works. See foedus operum.

fomes peccati: literally, the tinder of sin; i.e., the fomenter of sin or source of sin; the inborn concupiscence (concupiscentia, q.v.) of the newborn child, which ultimately will issue in sin. The idea of the fomes peccati is crucial to the doctrine of original sin when the creationist option concerning the origin of the soul is accepted, since the concept of fomes peccati argues for the transmission of sin in and through the body, in particular, by way of disorder in the lower appetites, as implied in Romans 6:12–13. See peccatum.

fons: fount, fountain, source; God can be identified as the fons omnium bonorum (q.v.) and the fons or principium Trinitatis. See principium.

fons et origo: source and origin. God is the fons et origo omnium bonorum, the source and origin of all good, and in trinitarian definition, God the Father is often identified as the fons et origo of the divine persons, Son and Spirit, as begotten and proceeded. See Trinitas.

fons naturae: source of nature; namely, God understood as the source of all generated existence. See natura.

fons omnium bonorum: the fountain or source of all good or of all good things; viz., God the Creator considered according to his absolute goodness as the highest good, or summum bonum (q.v.), and accordingly as the source of all good in the created order. See amor Dei; bonitas Dei; bonum.

fons primarius: primary source; a term applied to Scripture as the foremost or primary source of theology. The term is not intended to rule out ancillary sources of theology entirely but to accord them distinctly secondary status. See principia theologiae; usus philosophiae.

fons totius divinitatis: source or ground of the whole Godhead; a term applied to the Father as the person of the Trinity who is the ingenerate source of the filiation of the Son and the spiration, or procession, of the Spirit. Similarly, the Father is the fons actionis, the source of the activity of the persons of the Trinity in the opus oeconomicum (q.v.).

fons totius entis, also fons totius esse: source of all being; namely, God. See esse; essentia.

fontes solutionum: sources of the solution; frequently, a concluding section of a dogmatic locus (q.v.) in late scholastic systems in which the basis of a positive solution to doctrinal debate is set forth.

forma: form; i.e., the form as distinguished from the materia and the substantia (q.v.) of a thing: form and matter conjoin as the individual or substance, with the form therefore identified as the substantial form of the thing (forma substantialis, q.v.). In Platonic terms the form is the idea (εἶδος, eidos), the universal that has a real existence prior to and beyond the thing in which it provides the formal aspect. From the Aristotelian perspective, form and matter are the inseparable components of substantia; the realist perspective, derived from Platonism, assumes the independent extramental existence of universalia (q.v.), or forms, and therefore the separability of form and matter. The Protestant scholastics, both Lutheran and Reformed, typically follow the Aristotelian understanding and identify forms as in things.

Forma is not synonymous with essentia, since forma indicates the shape or pattern impressed upon the materiality as the substantial form, whereas essentia indicates the entire whatness (quidditas, q.v.) of a thing, including its materiality or spirituality, but understood in the abstract. In scholastic philosophy and theology, forma, as pattern or shape, is synonymous with causa formalis, the formal cause (see causa), and is somewhat more strictly defined as forma substantialis, substantial form, the aspect of substantia that differentiates it from other substances, from the secondary matter (materia secunda, q.v.) of those substances, and from the purely potential primary matter (materia prima, q.v.). In any particular instance of a substance, the term forma applies in two ways: first, the forma substantialis that differentiates materia prima into this or that materia secunda, e.g., brass or iron or stone; and second, the principle of self-realization of the individual thing (see entelecheia) in its movement from potency to actuality (see actus; in actu), e.g., the form of the statue to be made from brass or iron or stone, or in a natural process, the form of the tree that grows from the organic substance of trees. See causa; causa exemplaris; essentia; forma exemplaris; ideae divinae.

forma conversionis: the form of conversion; carefully defined by the Lutheran scholastics as the translation or transference of unregenerate human beings from the state of sin and wrath and the kingdom of darkness into the state of grace and faith and the kingdom of God’s light. Conversion, formally considered, is therefore an alteration of condition.

forma corporis: form of the body; i.e., the soul. See anima; entelecheia; spiritus incompletus.

forma Dei: form of God, the appearance or conduct of God; a term arising from the text of Philippians 2:5–7, where Christ, existing in the forma Dei, or μορφὴ Θεοῦ (morphē Theou), relinquishes his glory to assume the forma servi (q.v.), or μορφὴ δούλου (morphē doulou), the form of a servant. Lutherans and Reformed agree that forma Dei does not refer to the divine essence or nature, since relinquishing the forma Dei indicates a change in condition or state (see status humiliationis) and hardly a loss of divinity on the part of the Word. Similarly forma servi does not indicate human nature as such but the servant condition of the Word incarnate. The conclusion of the state of humiliation and the beginning of the state of exaltation (status exaltationis, q.v.) indicate the passing of the condition of servitude, the forma servi, not of Christ’s human nature. Beyond this agreement, the Lutheran and Reformed orthodox find a major ground for dispute. The Lutherans predicate the forma Dei and the self-emptying (see exinanitio) of the divine-human Christ while the Reformed predicate the forma Dei and the exinanitio of the preexistent Christ, the Logos asarkos (q.v.). The Lutherans, therefore, do not include incarnation in the status humiliationis or status exinanitionis, whereas the Reformed do view incarnation as part of the humiliatio. See ensarkos; incarnatio.

forma exemplaris: exemplary form or pattern; pl., formae exemplares; specifically referencing the forms or ideas in the mind of God upon which created things are founded. See causa exemplaris; forma; ideae divinae; universalia.

forma informans: informing form. See entelecheia.

forma sacramenti: form of the sacrament; i.e., that which is constitutive of the sacrament as sacrament. The Protestant scholastics argue that sacraments are what they are because of divine institution and not because of faith. Thus, although faith is required to receive the benefits of Christ, apart from faith the sacrament represents an objective offer of grace. Ultimately the forma of the sacrament is the unio sacramentalis (q.v.), or sacramental union itself, since it is the relation of the signum (q.v.) to the res sacramenti that makes the elements an objective offer of grace and a sacrament.

forma servi: the form of a servant; a reference to the result of the exinanitio (q.v.), or kenōsis of the Word, from Philippians 2:7. See forma Dei; status humiliationis.

forma substantialis: substantial form; namely, the form (forma, q.v.) that is in the thing (in re, q.v.) giving shape and identity to the otherwise unformed materiality. See universalia.

formalis (adj.): formal; i.e., with reference to form. See distinctio; forma.

formaliter (adv.): formally.

fortitudo: fortitude, courage; one of the four cardinal virtues (virtutes cardinales). See virtus.

forum ecclesiasticum: an ecclesiastical court; specifically, a court of canon law in the Roman Catholic Church. See corpus iuris canonici.

frui: to enjoy; in the Augustinian vocabulary, frui means specifically to love something for its own sake or as an end in itself, as contrasted to uti (q.v.), to love something for the sake of another or as a means to a higher end. In the Augustinian perspective adopted by medieval and Protestant scholastics, frui applies only to the love of creatures for God (see amor Dei), since God alone deserves to be loved for his own sake and as an ultimate end. The created order is not to be despised but rather to be loved (uti) as a means to the higher end of love for God. Thus God is loved for his sake alone, whereas self and neighbor are loved for God’s sake because they are God’s creatures and reflect the divine love. In this view, sin is easily characterized as an idolatry that loves the finite as an ultimate end in and for itself.

fruitio: enjoyment, fruition. See frui.

fundamentum: foundation; specifically, the ground or terminus a quo of any action or process, metaphysical, physical, or logical, often contrasted with the terminus of the action, understood as the terminus ad quem, or goal. Fundamentum-terminus language is particularly important for an understanding of scholastic discussions of divine activity, notably in identifying the divine foundation of various ad extra acts or in identifying the way in which the entire Triune Godhead is the fundamentum of an activity appropriated to one of the persons as its terminus. See fundamentum electionis; fundamentum fidei; fundamentum salutis electorum; fundamentum Scripturae; opera appropriata; principium; terminus.

fundamentum electionis: foundation of election; in early Reformed orthodoxy, a term applied to Christ, in whom the elect are chosen. The term was also used by the Arminians with the implication that the human decision to believe in Christ was the fundamentum electionis. At the Synod of Dort (1618–19), the term was debated and then omitted from the canons because of the Arminian usage. Identification of Christ as the fundamentum electionis was set aside in favor of a more strict usage according to which God as Trinity could be identified as the foundation or terminus a quo of elective willing, given that, among other things, Christ considered as Mediator according to both natures could not in his humanity be understood as prior to the decree. The Reformed scholastics could therefore distinguish between the fundamentum electionis, which, strictly speaking, can describe Christ only according to his divinity and in his decretive willing, and the fundamentum salutis electorum, the foundation of the salvation of the elect, which can be applied to Christ in his office as Mediator.

fundamentum fidei: foundation of faith; i.e., Christ, on whom the faith and the salvation of humanity rest. In orthodox Lutheran dogmatics, where a major emphasis was placed on the identification of fundamental articles (articuli fundamentales, q.v.) of faith, the ground or foundation of those articles, the fundamentum fides, was also identified. Since fundamental articles are those articles necessary for salvation, they all testify to and are founded upon Christ, the fundamentum fidei or fundamentum fidei et salutis. The Lutheran scholastics further distinguish the fundamentum fidei in terms of its essence, or substance, and its media, or means, of proclamation and dissemination. Thus (1) the fundamentum substantiale, or substantial foundation, is Christ, the substance and object of faith (obiectum fidei, q.v.); (2) the fundamentum organicum, the organic or instrumental foundation, is the Word of God, the principium, or principle, of faith, and the chief means of faith (medium fidei); and (3) the fundamentum dogmaticum, or dogmatic foundation, is that basic teaching of the church that comprises the essential articuli fundamentales fidei and sustains the faith of the individual Christian, such as the doctrines of Christ’s person and work. This threefold division of the fundamentum fidei serves to manifest Christ as the basis of the scriptural Word, as well as the reliance of Christian doctrine both on the written Word and on Christ himself, the incarnate Word, the ultimate foundation of the entire revelation of God. See principium.

fundamentum salutis electorum: foundation of the salvation of the elect; i.e., Christ in his mediatorial office. See fundamentum electionis.

fundamentum Scripturae: the foundation or ground of Scripture; i.e., Christ, who as Mediator and Savior is the foundation, center, and essential content of the whole of Scripture. A term used particularly by the Reformed who followed Zacharias Ursinus.