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INTRODUCTION
TO SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
What is systematic
theology? Why should Christians study it?
How should we study it?
Explanation and Scriptural Basis
A. Definition of
Systematic Theology
What is systematic theology? Many different
definitions have been given, but for the purposes of this book the following
definition will be used: Systematic theology is any
study that answers the question, "What does the whole Bible teach us today?"
about any given topic.
This definition indicates that systematic
theology involves collecting and understanding all the relevant passages in
the Bible on various topics and then summarizing their teachings clearly so
that we know what to believe about each topic.
1. Relationship to Other
Disciplines. The emphasis of this
book will not therefore be on historical theology
(a historical study of how Christians in different periods have understood
various theological topics) or philosophical
theology (studying theological
topics largely without use of the Bible, but using the tools and methods of
philosophical reasoning and what can be known about God from observing the
universe) or apologetics (providing a
defense of the truthfulness of the Christian faith for the purpose of
convincing unbelievers). These three subjects, which are worthwhile subjects
for Christians to pursue, are sometimes also included in a broader
definition of the term systematic theology.
In fact, some consideration of historical, philosophical, and apologetic
matters will be found at points throughout this book. This is because
historical study informs us of the insights gained and the mistakes made by
others previously in understanding Scripture; philosophical study helps us
understand right and wrong thought forms common in our culture and others;
and apologetic study helps us bring the teachings of Scripture to bear on
the objections raised by unbelievers. But these areas of study are not the
focus of this volume, which rather interacts directly with the biblical text
in order to understand what the Bible itself says to us about various
theological subjects.
If someone prefers to use the term
systematic
theology in the broader sense just mentioned instead of the
narrow sense which has been defined above, it will not make much difference.
Those who use the narrower definition will agree that these other areas of
study definitely contribute in a positive way to our understanding of
systematic theology, and those who use the broader definition will certainly
agree that historical theology, philosophical theology, and apologetics can
be distinguished from the process of collecting and synthesizing all the
relevant Scripture passages for various topics. Moreover, even though
historical and philosophical studies do contribute to our understanding of
theological questions, only Scripture has the final authority to define what
we are to believe, and it is therefore appropriate to spend some time
focusing on the process of analyzing the teaching of Scripture itself.
Systematic theology,
as we have defined it, also differs from Old
Testament theology, New Testament theology and biblical theology.
These three disciplines organize their topics historically and in the order
the topics are presented in the Bible. Therefore, in Old Testament theology,
one might ask, "What does Deuteronomy teach about prayer?" or "What do the
Psalms teach about prayer?" or "What does Isaiah teach about prayer?" or
even, "What does the whole Old Testament teach about prayer and how is that
teaching developed over the history of the Old Testament?" In New Testament
theology one might ask, "What does John's gospel teach about prayer?" or
"What does Paul teach about prayer?" or even "What does the New Testament
teach about prayer and what is the historical development of that teaching
as it progresses through the New Testament?"
"Biblical theology" has a technical meaning
in theological studies. It is the larger category that contains both Old
Testament theology and New Testament theology as we have defined them above.
Biblical theology gives special attention to the teachings of
individual authors and sections of
Scripture, and to the place of each teaching in the
historical development of Scripture. So one might ask,
"What is the historical development of the teaching about prayer as it is
seen throughout the history of the Old Testament and then of the New
Testament?" Of course, this question comes very close to the question, "What
does the whole Bible teach us today about prayer?" (which would be systematic theology by our definition).
It then becomes evident that the boundary lines between these various
disciplines often overlap at the edges, and parts of one study blend into
the next. Yet there is still a difference, for biblical theology traces the
historical development of a doctrine and the way in which one's place at
some point in that historical development affects one's understanding and
application of that particular doctrine. Biblical theology also focuses on
the understanding of each doctrine that the biblical authors and their
original hearers or readers possessed.
Systematic theology, on the other hand,
makes use of the material of biblical theology and often builds on the
results of biblical theology. At some points, especially where great detail
and care is needed in the development of a doctrine, systematic theology
will even use a biblical-theological method, analyzing the development of
each doctrine through the historical development of Scripture. But the focus
of systematic theology remains different: its focus is on the collection and
then the summary of the teaching of all the biblical passages on a
particular subject. Thus systematic theology asks, for example, "What does
the whole Bible teach us today about prayer?" It attempts to summarize the
teaching of Scripture in a brief, understandable, and very carefully
formulated statement.
2. Application to Life.
Furthermore, systematic theology focuses on summarizing each doctrine as it
should be understood by present-day Christians. This will sometimes involve
the use of terms and even concepts that were not themselves used by any
individual biblical author, but that are the proper result of combining the
teachings of two or more biblical authors on a particular subject. The terms Trinity, incarnation and
deity of Christ for example, are not found
in the Bible, but they usefully summarize biblical concepts.
Defining systematic theology to include
"what the whole Bible teaches us today"
implies that application to life is a necessary part of the proper pursuit
of systematic theology. Thus a doctrine under consideration is seen in terms
of its practical value for living the Christian life. Nowhere in Scripture
do we find doctrine studied for its own sake or in isolation from life. The
biblical writers consistently apply their teaching to life. Therefore, any
Christian reading this book should find his or her Christian life enriched
and deepened during this study; indeed, if personal spiritual growth does
not occur, then the book has not been written properly by the author or the
material has not been rightly studied by the reader.
3. Systematic Theology and
Disorganized Theology. If we use
this definition of systematic theology, it will be seen that most Christians
actually do systematic theology (or at least make systematic-theological
statements) many times a week. For example: "The Bible says that everyone
who believes in Jesus Christ will be saved." "The Bible says that Jesus
Christ is the only way to God." "The Bible says that Jesus is coming again."
These are all summaries of what Scripture says and, as such, they are
systematic-theological statements. In fact, every time a Christian says
something about what the whole Bible says, he or she is in a sense doing
"systematic theology"--according to our definition--by thinking about
various topics and answering the question, "What does the whole Bible teach
us today?"
How then does this book differ from the
"systematic theology" that most Christians do? First, it treats biblical
topics in a carefully organized way to
guarantee that all important topics will receive thorough consideration.
This organization also provides one sort of check against inaccurate
analysis of individual topics, for it means that all other doctrines that
are treated can be compared with each topic for consistency in methodology
and absence of contradictions in the relationships between the doctrines.
This also helps to ensure balanced consideration of complementary doctrines:
Christ's deity and humanity are studied together, for example, as are God's
sovereignty and man's responsibility, so that wrong conclusions will not be
drawn from an imbalanced emphasis on only one aspect of the full biblical
presentation.
In fact, the adjective
systematic in systematic theology should be understood to mean
something like "carefully organized by topics," with the understanding that
the topics studied will be seen to fit together in a consistent way, and
will include all the major doctrinal topics of the Bible. Thus "systematic"
should be thought of as the opposite of "randomly arranged" or
"disorganized." In systematic theology topics are treated in an orderly or
"systematic" way.
A second difference between this book and
the way most Christians do systematic theology is that it treats topics in much more detail than most Christians
do. For example, an ordinary Christian as a result of regular reading of the
Bible may make the theological statement, "The Bible says that everyone who
believes in Jesus Christ will be saved." That is a perfectly true summary of
a major biblical teaching. However, in this book we devote several pages to
elaborating more precisely what it means to "believe in Jesus Christ," and
twelve chapters (chapters 32-43) will be devoted to explaining what it means
to "be saved" in all of the many implications of that term.
Third, a formal study of systematic theology
will make it possible to formulate summaries of biblical teachings with much more accuracy than Christians would
normally arrive at without such a study. In systematic theology, summaries
of biblical teachings must be worded precisely to guard against
misunderstandings and to exclude false teachings.
Fourth, a good theological analysis must
find and treat fairly all the relevant Bible
passages for each particular topic, not just some or a few of the
relevant passages. This often means that it must depend on the results of
careful exegesis (or interpretation) of Scripture generally agreed upon by
evangelical interpreters or, where there are significant differences of
interpretation, systematic theology will include detailed exegesis at
certain points.
Because of the large number of topics
covered in a study of systematic theology and because of the great detail
with which these topics are analyzed, it is inevitable that someone studying
a systematic theology text or taking a course in systematic theology for the
first time will have many of his or her own personal beliefs challenged or
modified, refined or enriched. It is of utmost importance therefore that
each person beginning such a course firmly resolve in his or her own mind to
abandon as false any idea which is found to be clearly contradicted by the
teaching of Scripture. But it is also very important for each person to
resolve not to believe any individual doctrine simply because this textbook
or some other textbook or teacher says that it is true, unless this book or
the instructor in a course can convince the student from the text of
Scripture itself. It is Scripture alone, not "conservative evangelical
tradition" or any other human authority, that must function as the normative
authority for the definition of what we should believe.
4. What Are Doctrines?
In this book, the word doctrine will be
understood in the following way: A doctrine is what
the whole Bible teaches us today about some particular topic. This definition is directly related to our earlier definition of systematic
theology, since it shows that a "doctrine" is simply the result of the
process of doing systematic theology with regard to one particular topic.
Understood in this way, doctrines can be very broad or very narrow. We can
speak of "the doctrine of God" as a major doctrinal category, including a
summary of all that the Bible teaches us today about God. Such a doctrine
would be exceptionally large. On the other hand, we may also speak more
narrowly of the doctrine of God's eternity, or the doctrine of the Trinity,
or the doctrine of God's justice.
The book is divided into seven major
sections according to seven major "doctrines" or areas of study:
The Doctrine of the Word
of God
The Doctrine of God
The Doctrine of Man
The Doctrines of Christ
and the Holy Spirit
The Doctrine of the
Application of Redemption
The Doctrine of the
Church
The Doctrine of the
Future
Within each of these major doctrinal
categories many more specific teachings have been selected as appropriate
for inclusion. Generally these meet at least one of the following three
criteria: (1) they are doctrines that are most emphasized in Scripture; (2)
they are doctrines that have been most significant throughout the history of
the church and have been important for all Christians at all times; (3) they
are doctrines that have become important for Christians in the present
situation in the history of the church (even though some of these doctrines
may not have been of such great interest earlier in church history). Some
examples of doctrines in the third category would be the doctrine of the
inerrancy of Scripture, the doctrine of baptism in the Holy Spirit, the
doctrine of Satan and demons with particular reference to spiritual warfare,
the doctrine of spiritual gifts in the New Testament age, and the doctrine
of the creation of man as male and female in relation to the understanding
of roles appropriate to men and women today. Because of their relevance to
the contemporary situation, doctrines such as these have received more
emphasis in the present volume than in most traditional textbooks of
systematic theology.
Finally, what is the difference between
systematic theology and Christian ethics?
Although there is inevitably some overlap between the study of theology and
the study of ethics, I have tried to maintain a distinction in emphasis. The
emphasis of systematic theology is on what God wants us to believe and to
know while the emphasis in Christian ethics is on what God wants
us to do and what
attitudes he wants us to have. Such a distinction is reflected
in the following definition: Christian ethics is
any study that answers the question, "What does God require us to do and
what attitudes does he require us to have today?" with regard to any given
situation. Thus theology focuses on ideas while ethics focuses on
situations in life. Theology tells us how we should think while ethics tells
us how we should live. A textbook on ethics, for example, would discuss
topics such as marriage and divorce, lying and telling the truth, stealing
and ownership of property, abortion, birth control, homosexuality, the role
of civil government, discipline of children, capital punishment, war, care
for the poor, racial discrimination, and so forth. Of course there is some
overlap: theology must be applied to life (therefore it is often ethical to
some degree). And ethics must be based on proper ideas of God and his world
(therefore it is theological to some degree).
This book will emphasize systematic
theology, though it will not hesitate to apply theology to life where such
application comes readily. Still, for a thorough treatment of Christian
ethics, another textbook similar to this in scope would be necessary.
B. Initial Assumptions of
This Book
We begin with two assumptions or
presuppositions: (1) that the Bible is true and that it is, in fact, our
only absolute standard of truth; (2) that the God who is spoken of in the
Bible exists, and that he is who the Bible says he is: the Creator of heaven
and earth and all things in them. These two presuppositions, of course, are
always open to later adjustment or modification or deeper confirmation, but
at this point, these two assumptions form the point at which we begin.
C. Why Should Christians
Study Theology?
Why should Christians study systematic
theology? That is, why should we engage in the process of collecting and
summarizing the teachings of many individual Bible passages on particular
topics? Why is it not sufficient simply to continue reading the Bible
regularly every day of our lives?
1. The Basic Reason.
Many answers have been given to this question, but too often they leave the
impression that systematic theology somehow can "improve" on the Bible by
doing a better job of organizing its teachings or explaining them more
clearly than the Bible itself has done. Thus we may begin implicitly to deny
the clarity of Scripture (see chapter 6) or the sufficiency of Scripture
(see chapter 8).
However, Jesus commanded his disciples and
now commands us also to teach believers
to observe all that he commanded:
Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe
all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of
the age. (Matt. 28:19-20)
Now to teach all that Jesus commanded, in a
narrow sense, is simply to teach the content of the oral teaching of Jesus
as it is recorded in the gospel narratives. However, in a broader sense,
"all that Jesus commanded" includes the interpretation and application of
his life and teachings, because in the book of Acts it is implied that it
contains a narrative of what Jesus continued
to do and teach through the apostles after his resurrection (note that 1:1
speaks of "all that Jesus began
to do
and teach"). "All that Jesus commanded" can also include the Epistles, since
they were written under the supervision of the Holy Spirit and were also
considered to be a "command of the Lord" (1 Cor. 14:37; see also John 14:26;
16:13; 1 Thess. 4:15; 2 Peter 3:2; and Rev. 1:1-3). Thus in a larger sense,
"all that Jesus commanded" includes all of the New Testament.
Furthermore, when we consider that the New
Testament writings endorse the absolute confidence Jesus had in the
authority and reliability of the Old Testament Scriptures as God's words
(see chapter 4), and when we realize that the New Testament epistles also
endorse this view of the Old Testament as absolutely authoritative words of
God, then it becomes evident that we cannot teach "all that Jesus commanded"
without including all of the Old Testament (rightly understood in the
various ways in which it applies to the new covenant age in the history of
redemption) as well.
The task of fulfilling the Great Commission
includes therefore not only evangelism but also
teaching. And the task of teaching all that Jesus commanded us
is, in a broad sense, the task of teaching what the whole Bible says to us
today. To effectively teach ourselves and to teach others what the whole
Bible says, it is necessary to collect
and summarize all the Scripture passages
on a particular subject.
For example, if someone asks me, "What does
the Bible teach about Christ's return?" I could say, "Just keep reading your
Bible and you'll find out." But if the questioner begins reading at Genesis
1:1 it will be a long time before he or she finds the answer to his
question. By that time many other questions will have needed answers, and
his list of unanswered questions will begin to grow very long indeed. What
does the Bible teach about the work of the Holy Spirit? What does the Bible
teach about prayer? What does the Bible teach about sin? There simply is not
time in our lifetimes to read through the entire Bible looking for an answer
for ourselves every time a doctrinal question arises. Therefore, for us to
learn what the Bible says, it is very helpful to have the benefit of the
work of others who have searched through Scripture and found answers to
these various topics.
We can teach others most effectively if we
can direct them to the most relevant passages and suggest an appropriate
summary of the teachings of those passages. Then the person who questions us
can inspect those passages quickly for himself or herself and learn much
more rapidly what the teaching of the Bible is on a particular subject. Thus
the necessity of systematic theology for teaching what the Bible says comes
about primarily because we are finite in our memory and in the amount of
time at our disposal.
The basic reason for studying systematic
theology, then, is that it enables us to teach ourselves and others what the
whole Bible says, thus fulfilling the second part of the Great Commission.
2. The Benefits to Our
Lives. Although the basic reason for
studying systematic theology is that it is a means of obedience to our
Lord's command, there are some additional specific benefits that come from
such study.
First, studying theology helps us overcome our wrong ideas. If there were
no sin in our hearts, we could read the Bible from cover to cover and,
although we would not immediately learn everything in the Bible, we would
most likely learn only true things about God and his creation. Every time we
read it we would learn more true things and we would not rebel or refuse to
accept anything we found written there. But with sin in our hearts we retain
some rebelliousness against God. At various points there are--for all of
us--biblical teachings which for one reason or another we do not want to
accept. The study of systematic theology is of help in overcoming those
rebellious ideas.
For example, suppose there is someone who
does not want to believe that Jesus is personally coming back to earth
again. We could show this person one verse or perhaps two that speak of
Jesus' return to earth, but the person might still find a way to evade the
force of those verses or read a different meaning into them. But if we
collect twenty-five or thirty verses that say that Jesus is coming back to
earth personally and write them all out on paper, our friend who hesitated
to believe in Christ's return is much more likely to be persuaded by the
breadth and diversity of biblical evidence for this doctrine. Of course, we
all have areas like that, areas where our understanding of the Bible's
teaching is inadequate. In these areas, it is helpful for us to be
confronted with the total weight of the teaching of
Scripture on that subject, so that we will more readily be
persuaded even against our initial wrongful inclinations.
Second, studying systematic theology helps
us to be able to make better decisions later
on new questions of doctrine that may arise. We cannot know what new
doctrinal controversies will arise in the churches in which we will live and
minister ten, twenty, or thirty years from now, if the Lord does not return
before then. These new doctrinal controversies will sometimes include
questions that no one has faced very carefully before. Christians will be
asking, "What does the whole Bible say about this subject?" (The precise
nature of biblical inerrancy and the appropriate understanding of biblical
teaching on gifts of the Holy Spirit are two examples of questions that have
arisen in our century with much more forcefulness than ever before in the
history of the church.)
Whatever the new doctrinal controversies are
in future years, those who have learned systematic theology well will be
much better able to answer the new questions that arise. The reason for this
is that everything that the Bible says is somehow related to everything else
the Bible says (for it all fits together in a consistent way, at least
within God's own understanding of reality, and in the nature of God and
creation as they really are). Thus the new question will be related to much
that has already been learned from Scripture. The more thoroughly that
earlier material has been learned, the better able we will be to deal with
those new questions.
This benefit extends even more broadly. We
face problems of applying Scripture to life in many more contexts than
formal doctrinal discussions. What does the Bible teach about husband-wife
relationships? About raising children? About witnessing to a friend at work?
What principles does Scripture give us for studying psychology, or
economics, or the natural sciences? How does it guide us in spending money,
or in saving, or in tithing? In every area of inquiry certain theological
principles will come to bear, and those who have learned well the
theological teachings of the Bible will be much better able to make
decisions that are pleasing to God.
A helpful analogy at this point is that of a
jigsaw puzzle. If the puzzle represents "what the whole Bible teaches us
today about everything" then a course in systematic theology would be like
filling in the border and some of the major items pictured in the puzzle.
But we will never know everything that the Bible teaches about everything,
so our jigsaw puzzle will have many gaps, many pieces that remain to be put
in. Solving a new real-life problem is analogous to filling in another
section of the jigsaw puzzle: the more pieces one has in place correctly to
begin with, the easier it is to fit new pieces in, and the less apt one is
to make mistakes. In this book the goal is to enable Christians to put into
their "theological jigsaw puzzle" as many pieces with as much accuracy as
possible, and to encourage Christians to go on putting in more and more
correct pieces for the rest of their lives. The Christian doctrines studied
here will act as guidelines to help in the filling in of all other areas,
areas that pertain to all aspects of truth in all aspects of life.
Third, studying systematic theology will help us grow as Christians. The more we
know about God, about his Word, about his relationships to the world and
mankind, the better we will trust him, the more fully we will praise him,
and the more readily we will obey him. Studying systematic theology rightly
will make us more mature Christians. If it does not do this, we are not
studying it in the way God intends.
In fact, the Bible often connects sound
doctrine with maturity in Christian living: Paul speaks of "the
teaching which accords with godliness" (1 Tim. 6:3) and says that
his work as an apostle is "to further the faith of God's elect and their
knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness"
(Titus 1:1). By contrast, he indicates that all kinds of disobedience and
immorality are "contrary to sound doctrine" (1 Tim. 1:10).
In connection with this idea it is
appropriate to ask what the difference is between a "major doctrine" and a
"minor doctrine." Christians often say they want to seek agreement in the
church on major doctrines but also to allow for differences on minor
doctrines. I have found the following guideline useful:
A major doctrine is one that has a
significant impact on our thinking about other doctrines, or that has a
significant impact on how we live the Christian life. A minor doctrine is
one that has very little impact on how we think about other doctrines, and
very little impact on how we live the Christian life.
By this standard doctrines such as the
authority of the Bible (chapter 4), the Trinity (chapter 14), the deity of
Christ (chapter 26), justification by faith (chapter 36), and many others
would rightly be considered major doctrines. People who disagree with the
historic evangelical understanding of any of these doctrines will have wide
areas of difference with evangelical Christians who affirm these doctrines.
By contrast, it seems to me that differences over forms of church government
(chapter 47) or some details about the Lord's Supper (chapter 50) or the
timing of the great tribulation (chapter 55) concern minor doctrines.
Christians who differ over these things can agree on perhaps every other
area of doctrine, can live Christian lives that differ in no important way,
and can have genuine fellowship with one another.
Of course, we may find doctrines that fall
somewhere between "major" and "minor" according to this standard. For
example, Christians may differ over the degree of significance that should
attach to the doctrine of baptism (chapter 49) or the millennium (chapter
55) or the extent of the atonement (chapter 27). That is only natural,
because many doctrines have some influence on other doctrines or on
life, but we may differ over whether we think it to be a "significant"
influence. We could even recognize that there will be a range of
significance here and just say that the more influence a doctrine has on
other doctrines and on life, the more "major" it becomes. This amount of
influence may even vary according to the historical circumstances and needs
of the church at any given time. In such cases, Christians will need to ask
God to give them mature wisdom and sound judgment as they try to determine
to what extent a doctrine should be considered "major" in their particular
circumstances.
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