Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
An archive of Jacob Nannie's Sermons & Teachings
This is a lecture on theology as a part of our Believe Core Class.
At Christ Community there are core classes, and one of them is how to believe, and it
is a look at the EFCA Statement of Faith using the book "Evangelical Convictions, 2nd Edition."
And so I taught this class, this is the first time this class was taught at the Shawnee
campus, and this first lesson is really on what is theology and why should we study it.
And so there'll be some gaps here and there because I didn't teach all of these lectures
at the Shawnee campus, I taught about five of them, or four of them.
And so this first one is on why study theology, what is theology, what is systematic theology,
and what are we doing in this class.
And so now is the lesson portion of tonight, I'm going to go a little off my nose here
because of some of the things that were said.
So why should we learn theology, why should we study theology?
My chief reason for why we should study theology is that God is knowable.
One of my favorite theologians, and I will probably draw on him the most throughout my
lessons, is a man by the name of John Frame.
And John Frame in his opening book on his four volume book on theology says that God
is imminent and God is transcendent.
God is transcendent, God is far above us, right?
We are not equal with God.
God is in a really real sense out of this world.
And what that means for us is that He is in control and He has authority over all things.
God is transcendent, but God is also imminent.
So that while He has control and authority, He's not one that has control and authority
without being present with His people.
And so God's imminence is that He is present with His people.
This means that we have an all powerful controlling in the good sense and authoritative in the
good sense God who also is present with us.
And there's implications of us not mixing those two, right?
So if we don't say God is transcendent, and if we don't say God is imminent, then we have
one or the other.
And there's a problem in having a God who is only and just purely transcendent.
If God is just transcendent, if He's just so far out there above us, maybe He's good
and righteous and holy, but we would never know because He's never present with us.
In fact, if He's only transcendent, He's so far removed from us, we can never know Him.
And if we can never know Him, we can never know what it is that we ought to do and how
we ought to live as human beings.
This might be along the lines of what Laurie was sharing where, "Well, you can't really
define God."
People might say, "You can't really define God."
Well, if that's true, then I never have to act in accordance with His will because, well,
what is His will, right?
So God, our God is not transcendent in that sense.
Also, He's not purely imminent.
Imminence would mean that He's so mixed in with His creation that the same problem arises.
How do I distinguish myself from Him or her or it?
And therefore, how do I know what this God requires of me?
And so we run into trouble.
For the unbeliever, they want to make God either super imminent, this is kind of pantheism
or panentheism.
God is creation.
Or they want to make God super transcendent, like, "Well, yeah, He exists, but He's so far
out there."
And really what people are doing when they do that is they're escaping obligation to
the God of the Bible.
But our God is transcendent and He's imminent.
He's in control of the universe, over our lives, He has authority over these things.
But He's not one that does these things coldly.
He actually, physically in the person of Jesus, comes down to be present with us.
So not only do we know Him and what He requires of us, but He actually came in human flesh
to be among us, to live with us, to die for us, and to show us an example of what that
life looks like.
And so we should study theology because we have a God who is transcendent, who is imminent,
who is knowable and can be known, who is incomprehensible, but He's not inapprehensible.
You can never fully comprehend God, but that's not to say you can never understand God.
We can understand God, who He is, what He does, His creation.
We can understand ourselves better, but we can never fully understand these things.
And I personally think that after we die and go to heaven, that's a journey we get to go
on for eternity is understanding God more and more and more, but we can understand God.
We can know Him.
And one of the ways we know Him, I'll bring back my notes now.
One of the ways we know Him is by studying theology.
What is theology?
Well, theology is come from two words, two Greek words, theos and logos.
The Greek word theos means God and logos means a word, I forgot to put also means study.
So think of biology, bios, logos, the study of life, sociology, the study of society, anthropology,
we can go on and on and on.
Theology is a study of God, but when we talk about it in this broad sense, what we mean
is that's the study of God, His word and His creation.
So not just God Himself, but all things God.
Systematic theology is a study of what the whole Bible teaches about a topic or a doctrine.
And systematic theology is what we're doing here in the Believe class.
The Bible class we're going to probably do in the fall is a biblical theology class.
Systematic theology wants to see what the whole Bible says about one doctrine.
In contrast, biblical theology wants to pull threads that we see in the Bible, rather than
saying, okay, here's a doctrine of sin, I'm going to go throughout the whole Bible and
see what the Bible says about the doctrine of sin.
That's systematic theology.
Biblical theology in contrast would say, okay, well, Eden seems pretty important in Genesis,
so I'm going to kind of trace Eden throughout the Bible and see what arises throughout that.
So we're doing systematic theology, we're going to say study God, and we're going to
see what the Bible says about God.
We don't have time to study what the whole Bible says about God.
In fact, I did a class like this years ago at a different church, and we spent two years
in a class like this with 10 lectures on God, 10 lectures on the Bible, 10 lectures on the
human condition, and that was not enough, right?
So I hesitate to say the whole Bible, because we're not going to, unless you read the whole
Bible in this class, that'd be awesome, but that's what systematic theology is.
So we use words to define theological doctrines, right?
We're going to say, okay, what is sin?
We're going to use words to define that, but systematic theology or theology is more than
just using words to define something.
It's more than just making statements about doctrines or beliefs.
Theology is bigger than making definitive statements.
It's studying God's word and God's revelation.
I could pull someone from the street and ask them about sin or the doctrine of the Trinity,
and they're going to say something, right?
And they're doing the theology kind of, but systematic theology is we're going to need
to dig into what God says about himself, what God says about the church, so on and so forth.
It is a consistent condensation from scripture.
That's what systematic theology is.
In contrast, again, to other things, systematic theology is different than disorganized theology.
You might ask how, well, systematic theology goes from the doctrine of God, the doctrine
of the Bible, to the doctrine of the human condition, and so we're kind of building on
these things.
Who is God?
What is his word?
Who is Jesus?
What does he do for us?
Disorganized theology is just really tradition, which we'll get to in a second, but I just
believe these random things.
They're not really tied to one another, and they're not in relation to one another.
It's also different than other studies of theology that are good and we should all do.
Historical theology, what does a church believe throughout the generations on certain doctrines?
That's a really fun area of theology.
There's some really wacky church history stories around these things, like Saint Nicholas slapping
a heretic in the ancient church around the doctrine of the Trinity, right?
So Santa Claus slapped someone in the year 300.
There is exegetical theology, which is really a study of specific passages, is what a pastor
might do or should do when he's preparing for a sermon.
And then there's biblical theology, what I talked about, and practical theology, more
a theology of how we live, how we enact these things in our lives.
So we're not studying those, we're studying systematic theology.
Theology is also different than tradition, right?
A lot of us are coming in here with tradition, and when I started this class years ago, I
started with the line that we are here to break paradigms and break tradition.
Not because they're bad, not because I don't like your paradigm and tradition, but because
these things need legs to them.
A tradition that has no legs just won't stand.
I think a really good example of this, a really sensitive and hard issue is our beliefs throughout
the ages on homosexual relationships, right?
And so, because my generation doesn't know why God commands against that, or another
one might be sex before marriage, my generation doesn't understand why that is.
We might believe that, we might be taught that, but we never did the study and the hard
work of putting legs to that belief.
And so when it gets pushed on just a little bit, it falls over.
So traditions are not bad, they're good, but they need legs to them, and that is theology.
Theology is believing in doctrine because it's a conclusion you've come to through the
study of the scriptures.
Tradition is a belief of this is what you're raised in, this is what you're taught.
Young Jacob believed that Jesus was God, but Jacob didn't have a theology of Christ until
he was in his 20s, right?
So that's not a bad tradition, right?
It's not a bad thing to by tradition believe Jesus is God, but if you're in your 30s and
you don't know why and someone pushes on it, you're probably not going to be able to defend
it, and you probably might not believe it by then.
So we need legs to that tradition, we need theology.
Why should we study theology?
Well, first and foremost, the Bible commands us to, right?
This is a little hidden, Matthew 28, 19 and 20, "Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations doing what?"
Teaching them, yes, teaching them.
How can you teach what you have not learned, right?
So our command is to make disciples, that's a command for everyone, not just pastoral
ministers or church workers, everyone should make disciples, and you do that by teaching
them what Jesus commanded, what Jesus taught, and to teach what Jesus taught and commanded,
you must first know those things.
And so while this verse isn't directly saying, "Hey, study theology," it's kind of an implication
of we can't do this without studying some sort of theology.
You don't need a degree in this, like Dr. Curtis over here, sorry to pull back the curtain
on Curtis.
You don't need a degree in theology to teach others what Jesus commanded.
You do need to study theology though.
We also study theology because it benefits us.
It helps us avoid wrong ideas, right?
I might have a certain idea, for example, I was basically a heretic until my 20s because
I had weird ways of describing the Trinity.
And so because I didn't study theology, I didn't understand why those weird ways of
describing the Triune God were wrong.
And so as I studied theology, it led me out of my wrong ideas and kept me from other wrong
ideas.
Again, on the primary issues, right, it helps us make better decisions.
I can know better how to live as a husband if I know what the Bible says about being
a husband.
I can be a better friend.
I can be a better pastor.
I can be a better son to my parents.
I can be better, hopefully, one day a father.
So those are real relational examples, but it just helps us make better decisions in
life.
Financial decisions, right?
Dave Ramsey's always quoting some proverb when you listen to him, even if you don't
agree with him, right?
So it helps make better decisions and also it grows us and forms us as Christians.
And one way it does that is by getting us in these groups where we're going to talk
about these things, hear from one another, and we're going to be formed by different
stories that we hear.
But it cannot stay there, cannot stay in our heads.
I actually have an atheist friend who's very good at theology.
He probably knows more than I do about theology and it makes it very hard to talk to him,
but he doesn't apply any of it.
He doesn't believe in God.
And so it's not really worth anything.
And it's really, it comes to a head when you talk with them, it's like, what are we talking
about?
He doesn't answer to that because he doesn't believe in God, but he knows so much.
So just knowing theology is not going to help you and it will actually detract from your
life.
Theology has to move from the head and to the heart.
John Frame, again, one of my favorite theologians, says that theology is the application of scripture
by persons to every area of life.
This is difficult sometimes.
You're going to find it difficult to understand how the fact that in the one being of God,
there exists three co-eternal and co-equal persons, namely the Father, Son, and the Holy
Spirit.
The true good statement on the Trinity.
Now, how do I make that work in my life?
It takes work, right?
You can do it though.
You can apply every area of theology to every area of your life.
Theology is objective, not subjective.
There are subjective theologies out there.
A subjective theology would be an analysis of human religion, consciousness, and feelings.
It might be what you find in the secular settings or university settings, but objective theology
for our purposes is the analysis, not of human religion, not of what the Christian belief
is, but what the Bible says, not what people feel about the Bible or feel about Christianity,
but what the Bible says.
Objective theology, which we are participating in, is an analysis of scripture.
Now, I've said scripture quite a bit, right?
We're getting from scripture.
We're looking at the Bible.
The Bible shouldn't form a whole life.
So then you might ask the question, why theology when we have scripture?
If we just have the scripture, why do the work of theology?
The Bible ought to be our main method of studying the scriptures.
We should soak ourselves in scripture more than anything else.
This is the task of the theologian.
Did I skip something here?
Oops, sorry.
I did.
Yeah.
So, what's the point of making a point about theology?
How is theology different than scripture?
Theology – I skipped way ahead of my notes – is the edification of believers.
Theology is the edification of believers.
And so, there might be a truth in scripture, but if I never do the hard work of knowing
it and living it, it will never edify me.
I'm so sorry, Walt.
I'm like right near way.
Okay.
There are truths in scripture, right?
But if scripture is never touched or interacted with or shared with other people or applied,
theology is really of no use.
So we're meant to apply theology, apply scripture.
That's the work of theology.
Discover what scripture says and apply it and also share that with others.
And so, scripture is the primary way in which we do this.
This is where we get to theological method.
How do we do theology?
By reading the Bible.
It's our main method of studying scripture, obviously.
We should be soaked – I will have you know, I wrote that sentence years ago.
I've changed since then.
It's kind of rude to just put "obviously" up there.
That's 19-year-old Jacob for you.
We should be soaked in scripture more than anything else.
Charles Spurgeon said, "Visit many good books, but live in the Bible."
That's your primary source.
And sometimes it's really boring and really hard.
I will admit that.
I'm reading the Old Testament in 90 days and oh my gosh, sometimes it's so boring.
But if you take the time to sit with those things, even the genealogies can become really
exciting.
Not all the time, but they can be exciting.
And so, I encourage you, when soaking yourself in scripture gets boring and dry, press into
it more.
It will be life-giving for you.
Now, there is a place of other writings, right?
We're not just reading the Bible, right?
Your textbook is also Evangelical Convictions.
It's a non-biblical writing.
So, other writings are beneficial, but should not replace scripture.
You should not show up to Sunday morning service with this book rather than the Bible, right?
Should not replace scripture.
And our study of theology ought not to be subjective, but rather objective.
So, again, we're not looking at human tradition.
We're not looking solely at what Evangelical Convictions is saying and studying what the
Evangelical-Free Church of America believes.
We're studying what the Bible says, using this as a tool and as a method of doing that.
We study scripture, not human thought.
And this book, by the way, is not positing that you should study human thought.
It is just summarizing what the scriptures say for us as a helpful guide.
So, what about, yeah, the book in this class?
It's a helpful guide, right?
The books that I read to prepare for the lessons are helpful guides.
They might give us guardrails, right?
Some of them might be terrible books, which is why we need to live in the Bible.
And so, you could say about these textbooks that they're subjective, and it's subjective
theology.
But in part, this is true.
But in many ways, it's just a unique way of distilling the majors and not the minors into
one book.
Does that make sense?
Any questions about any of that so far?
So, extra biblical writings put parameters on what we're doing to help focus us and give
us kind of a roadmap for what is ahead.
So, that is why we study theology and how we are doing it in this class.