Register once, for every course
Your progress is saved in this browser as you study, and kept with the seminary under your student code, so you can continue on any device. Keep the code private, like a password. Email is optional. Add one so we can return your student code, send reminders, and deliver a certificate. You can enroll and keep studying without it. What we keep.
The Certificate track answers the multiple choice. The Associate adds the fill-in-the-blank questions; M.Div. and Th.M. add those and the short-answer questions. 90% of each part is required to pass.
Introduction: From Knowing to Living
Much of what we study in seminary, and much of the Christian faith, has to do with knowing — knowing the Bible, knowing doctrine, knowing what is true about God. This knowing is good, and it is necessary. But knowing was never meant to be the end of the matter; it is only the beginning. The truth we learn is meant to be lived. Practical theology asks the next question: now that we know the truth, how shall we live it? This course is about the disciplines of the Christian life — the God-given habits and practices by which the truth we believe becomes the life we live, and by which we grow in grace.
I. Knowledge Is Not the Goal
Knowledge is a gift from God, and we should never despise it. Yet knowledge by itself is not the goal, and it is not even safe by itself. Paul warned that "knowledge puffs up, but love edifies" (1 Corinthians 8:1, NKJV). A man may have a head full of true doctrine and a heart far from God. James reminds us that even the demons have correct theology: they believe that God is one, and they tremble (James 2:19) — yet they are lost. It is possible, Paul says, to "profess to know God, but in works deny Him" (Titus 1:16, NKJV). The goal of all our knowing is not more knowing; it is a changed life.
II. The Word Must Be Done, Not Only Heard
This is why the Scripture presses us so plainly: "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22, NKJV). James says the hearer who never does is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, walks away, and at once forgets what he looks like. The Word shows us ourselves and shows us our God — but if we only hear it and never obey it, we have deceived ourselves into thinking we are right with God when we are not. The Lord Jesus said the same thing to His disciples: "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" (John 13:17, NKJV). Notice carefully: the blessing is not promised to those who merely know these things, but to those who do them.
III. The Two Builders
Jesus ended the Sermon on the Mount with a picture every believer should remember. Two men each built a house; the storm came against both; one house stood and one fell. The difference was not that one man heard the words of Christ and the other did not — both of them heard. The difference was that one did them and the other did not. "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Matthew 7:24, NKJV). The foolish man heard the very same words and built on sand. It is the doing of the Word, not merely the hearing of it, that gives us a foundation that will stand when the storms of life come.
IV. Either We Grow or We Slip Back
The Christian life is never still. We are either growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, or we are slipping away from Him; there is no neutral ground. That is why the apostle Peter closes his second letter with a command: "but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18, NKJV) — grace and knowledge together, the life and the truth growing side by side. And Peter tells us this growth comes through practice. He gives us a ladder to climb: "add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love" (2 Peter 1:5–7, NKJV). "For if these things are yours and abound," he says, "you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:8, NKJV).
V. The Disciplines of the Christian Life
How then do we grow? God has not left us to grow by accident. He has given us means of grace — habits and disciplines through which He shapes us: walking with God, daily devotion and time with Him, prayer, feeding on His Word, fellowship and accountability with other believers, self-control over besetting sin, and perseverance to the end. It is important to understand what these disciplines are and what they are not. They are not ways to earn God's favor or to make ourselves acceptable to Him; we are saved by grace, through faith, as the gift of God. Rather, they are the appointed ways in which those who have already received His grace go on to grow in it. In the units that follow, we will take up these disciplines one by one, and ask not only what the Bible teaches about each, but how we may actually live it.
Conclusion
Knowing the truth is the beginning of the Christian life; living the truth is its goal. As we begin this course, let each of us ask not only, "Do I know this?" but "Am I living this? Am I growing?" For the Lord is not honored by hearers only, but by doers of His Word. May this study help us, by His grace, to become such doers.
Unit 1 Final Exam
Certificate track: the 20 multiple-choice questions. Associate: multiple choice and the 10 fill-in-the-blank questions. M.Div. and Th.M.: multiple choice, fill-ins and the 10 short-answer questions. 90% of each part is required to pass. If you do not pass, the exam waits a short time before you can try again.
Multiple Choice — 20 Questions
Short Answer — 10 Questions
M.Div. and Th.M.: all five assigned readings are part of the course. Their separate exam is required after activation; see its page for the current rule. Honors remains optional and does not replace the exam.
Open Course Readings →