Centerpoint School of Theology - 1 -

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1 Centerpoint School of Theology Theology Matters We are called theologians just [as we] are [called] Christians MARTIN LUTHER, SERMON ON PSALM 5:17 Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But, while joined by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern. JOHN CALVIN, INSTITUTES OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, I.i.1 Ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, 2 vols., Library of Christian Classics (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 1:35 One of the most neglected aspects of the quest for holiness is in the mind It is by the renewal of our mind that our character and behavior become transformed. JOHN STOTT, YOUR MIND MATTERS (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, [1972], 2006), 56, THE DISCIPLINES OF THEOLOGY Theology is a multifaceted discipline: i. Exegesis Elucidating individual texts of Scripture: what this text/passage was written to convey. This leads to the question: What then does it mean for us? What is God saying in and through it to us? These questions can only be fully answered as we think through ii-x. Ultimately, exegesis can 1

2 only be done (Greek, Hebrew, properly if the original languages Aramaic) are examined. ii. Biblical Theology Examining individual books or authors of Scripture and particular periods of redemptive history. This often ends up asking the question: How do the two testaments (Old and New) relate to each other? iii. Historical Theology How the faith was stated in the past: What questions have they asked and what answers have they given? CHURCH HISTORY provides the framework for this discipline. Central to this is an understanding of how CREEDS and CONFESSIONS operate in the church. Together, i iii feed into iv iv. Systematic Theology What the entire Bible has to say about something. How should the total Christian Faith be stated today, topic by topic and as a whole in the light of current interests, assumptions, questions, challenges, and cultural and philosophical baggage. v. Apologetics Commending and defending what the Bible teaches as truth and wisdom against contemporary unbelief and countering worldviews (epistemologies). This is strongly related to PHILOSOPHY and PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGY. vi. Ethics Implications for behavior. What are the ideals and standards of Christian behavior? How do we justify them against criticism, and bring them to bear in particular cases? CASUISTRY (the resolving of particular cases) is applied ethics. Communicates with i iii. vii. Missiology make the How should we understand and fulfill the task God has laid upon us to go into the world and gospel known? SOCIOLOGY and 2

3 ANTHROPOLOGY knowledge here. viii. Spiritual Theology Son, iv. provide the necessary factual Communicates with i iv. DEVOTIONAL or ASCETIC Theology. How to apply theology in communion with God as Father, and Holy Spirit. Needs to be fed by ix and i ix. Liturgical Theology How is God best and most truly worshiped by his people, and how may we achieve true worship in our churches? Needs to be fed by viii, as well as by i iv and vii. x. Practical Theology How should we understand and further God s work in our particular roles: ministerial, professional, counseling, executive, ecclesiastical, secular, civic, etc.? Needs resources from i vii. 2. USES OF THEOLOGY Theology is the science of living blessedly forever. WILLIAM PERKINS, A GOLDEN CHAINE (1592, in I. Brevard (ed.), The Courtenay Library of Christian Classics, The Work of William Perkins [Appleford, UK: The Sutton Courtenay Press, 1970], 177) What is the chief end of man? Man s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. SHORTER CATECHISM (1645) Q&A 1 Theology is for achieving God s glory (honor and praise) and man s good (the blessedness, godliness that is true humanness) through all of life. DISTORTED MODELS 3

4 i. Separation of Doctrine and Practice: I just want to be practical Doctrine is for ministers, seminary students, but not for me. I want Ten Ways to Make Me Happy, not Louis Berkhof s Systematic Theology! If the truth of God s sovereignty is intended for our comfort, then we should wholeheartedly search out an understanding of this truth. If we are designed to worship Christ for the enhancement of his praise and for our own joyful satisfaction, then we must increasingly grasp all that we possibly can of his glorious person and work. If faith consists of utter dependence upon Christ, then we should seek to know all we can of his person, and redemptive work. If in grace God has provided for our success and eventual victory over sin, then it is in our interest for our own encouragement to understand these gospel promises and to become fully acquainted with the abundant provision of the Holy Spirit and the prospect of our coming glory. In order for us to render due worship to God, our knowledge of him must be rightly informed, and so it behooves us to explore ever further the depths of his self-revelation in Scripture. The entirety of the Christian life and experience is our response to revealed truth. [Fred G. Zaspel, Warfield on the Christian Life: Living in Light of the Gospel (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 38.] ii. All Heart and No Head or Body: I love Jesus; isn t that enough? 4

5 The goal is devotion only. The gospel is about community, fellowship, or relationship and study is regarded with suspicion. WARNING: Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding (Psa. 32:9). iii. All Head and Not Much Else: I just want to be smarter than anyone else. Bookish, egghead. WARNING: Knowledge puffs up (1 Cor. 8:1) CORRECT MODEL Integration of theology and life (i.e. living that is illuminated by theology, and theology that is earthed in living) must be our constant goal. 5

6 Theology is for doxology and devotion that is, the praise of God and the practice of godliness J. I. PACKER, CONCISE THEOLOGY [Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1953), xii.] 3. BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF THEOLOGY AT WORK The Bible employs and encourages the use of theology: Brothers, do not be children in your THINKING. Be infants in evil, but in your THINKING be mature (1 Cor. 14:20). And they devoted themselves to the apostles TEACHING and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers (Acts 2:42). But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to THE STANDARD OF TEACHING to which you were committed (Rom 6:17). Follow the PATTERN OF THE SOUND WORDS that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 1:13). 6

7 Consider the following: i. Jesus instruction on the doctrine of the TRINITY in the Upper Room: I am in the Father and the Father is in me the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me (John 14:10-11). I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17). All that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you (John 15:15). Whoever hates me hates my Father also (John 15:23). I am going to him who sent me if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you (John 16:5, 7). Jesus evidently thought that what the disciples needed most, on the eve of his crucifixion, was a course on the doctrine of the Trinity! NOTE: this doctrine has to be systematized. It isn t given in this form: In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son (WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH [1645], 2:3) ii. Paul addressing one-upmanship in the church at Philippi: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 7

8 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:5-11). Massive theology addressing a fairly trivial ethical issue iii. Author of Hebrews encouraging assurance in the midst of apostasy: Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and shave shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned. Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do. And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 8

9 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, Surely I will bless you and multiply you. And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise (Heb. 6:1-15). Covenant Theology employed to foster true (rather than false) assurance Again this is not systematized as in: The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of Him as their blessedness and reward, but by some voluntary condescension on God s part, which He has been pleased to express by way of covenant (WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH [1645], 7:1). iv. Countering Antinomianism (An Antinomian is one who holds that under the gospel dispensation of grace the moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation): What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized pinto Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For zone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 9

10 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions (Rom. 6:1-12). Doctrine of union with Christ employed to counter a faulty view of sanctification. v. Encouraging generosity in giving: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). The atonement as incentive for stewardship 4. FIRST AND LAST THOUGHTS i. Theology and Worship: Theologies which cannot be sung (or prayed for that matter) are certainly wrong at a deep level, and such theologies leave me, in both senses, cold: cold-hearted and uninterested J. I. PACKER, FOREWARD TO GOD HAS SPOKEN (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1979), 7. ii. Theology and the Limitations of Reason: Faith is the resting of the heart on God WILLIAM AMES, THE MARROW OF THEOLOGY Ed. John Dykstra Eusden [Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1997], 80. The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law (Deut. 29:29) Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? 10

11 Tell me, if you have understanding Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind?... Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south? Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?... Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? (Job 38:4, 36; 39:26-27; 40:8). iii. Theology and Prayer: Sometimes we hear it said that ten minutes on your knees will give you a truer, deeper, more operative knowledge of God than ten hours over your books. What! is the appropriate response, than ten hours of your books, on your knees? Why should we turn from God when you turn to your books, or feel that you must turn from your books in order to turn to God? If learning and devotion are as antagonistic as that, then the intellectual life is itself accursed, and there can be no question of a religious life, for a student, even of theology. [B. B. Warfield, The Religious Life of Theological Students, in Selected Shorter Writings of Benjamin B. Warfield, Vol. 1, ed. John E. Meeter (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1970), 412. iv. Theology and Scripture: How amazing is the profundity of your words!... To look into that depth makes me shudder, but it is the shudder of awe, the trembling of love. AUGUSTINE, CONFESSIONS Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you (2 Tim. 1:13-14). Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day (Psa. 119:97). 11

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13 APPENDIX: Preface to the Wittenberg Edition of Luther s German Writings (These words are taken from volume 34 of Luther s Works) I would have been quite content to see my books, one and all, remain in obscurity and go by the board. Among other reasons, I shudder to think of the example I am giving, for I am well aware how little the church has been profited since they have begun to collect many books and large libraries, in addition to and besides the Holy Scriptures, and especially since they have stored up, without discrimination, all sorts of writings by the church fathers, the councils, and teachers. Through this practice not only is precious time lost, which could be used for studying the Scriptures, but in the end the pure knowledge of the divine Word is also lost, so that the Bible lies forgotten in the dust under the bench (as happened to the book of Deuteronomy, in the time of the kings of Judah 1 ). Although it has been profitable and necessary that the writings of some church fathers and councils have remained, as witnesses and histories, nevertheless I think, Est modus in rebus, 2 and we need not regret that the books of many fathers and councils have, by God s grace, disappeared. If they had all remained in existence, no room would be left for anything but books; and yet all of them together would not have improved on what one finds in the Holy Scriptures. It was also our intention and hope, when we ourselves began to translate the Bible into German, 3 that there should be less writing, and instead more studying and reading of the Scriptures. For all other writing is to lead the way into and point toward the Scriptures, as John the Baptist did toward Christ, saying, He must increase, but I must decrease [John 3:30], in order that each person may drink of the fresh spring himself, as all those fathers who wanted to accomplish something good had to do. Neither councils, fathers, nor we, in spite of the greatest and best success possible, will do as well as the Holy Scriptures, that is, as well as God himself has done. (We must, of course, also have the Holy Spirit, faith, godly speech, and works, if we are to be saved.) Therefore it behooves us to let the prophets and apostles stand at the professor s lectern, while we, down below at their feet, listen to what they say. It is not they who must hear what we say. I cannot, however, prevent them from wanting to collect and publish my works through the press (small honor to me), although it is not my will. I have no choice but to let them risk the labor and the expense of this project. My consolation is that, in time, my books will lie forgotten in the dust anyhow, especially if I (by God s grace) have written anything good. Non ero melior Patribus meis. 4 He who comes second should indeed be the first one forgotten. Inasmuch as they have been capable of leaving the Bible itself lying under the bench, and have also forgotten the fathers and the councils-the better ones all the faster-accordingly there is a good hope, once the overzealousness of this time has abated, that my books also will not last long. There is especially good hope of this, since it has begun to rain and snow books and teachers, many of which already lie there forgotten and moldering. Even their names are not remembered any more, despite their confident hope that they would eternally be on sale in the market and rule churches. Very well, so let the undertaking proceed in the name of God, except that I make the friendly request of anyone who wishes to have my books at this time, not to let them on any account hinder him from studying the Scriptures themselves. Let him put them to use as I put the excretes and excretals 5 of the pope to use, and the books of the sophists. That is, if I occasionally wish to see what they have done, or if I wish to ponder the historical facts of the time, I use them. But I do not study them or act in perfect accord with what they deemed good. I do not treat the books of the fathers and the councils much differently. Herein I follow the example of St. Augustine, 6 who was, among other things, the first and almost the only one who determined to be subject to the Holy Scriptures alone, and independent of the books of all the fathers and saints. On account of that he got into a fierce fight with Jerome, who reproached him by pointing to the books of his forefathers; but he did not turn to them. And if the example of St. Augustine had been followed, the pope would not have become Antichrist, and that countless mass of books, which is like a crawling swarm of vermin, would not have found its way into the church, and the Bible would have remained on the pulpit. Moreover, I want to point out to you a correct way of studying theology, for I have had practice in that. If you keep to it, you will become so learned that you yourself could (if it were necessary) write books just as good as those of the fathers and councils, even as I (in God) dare to presume and boast, without arrogance 13

14 and lying, that in the matter of writing books I do not stand much behind some of the fathers. Of my life I can by no means make the same boast. This is the way taught by holy King David (and doubtlessly used also by all the patriarchs and prophets) in the one hundred nineteenth Psalm. There you will find three rules, amply presented throughout the whole Psalm. They are Oratio, Meditatio, Tentatio. 7 Firstly, you should know that the Holy Scriptures constitute a book which turns the wisdom of all other books into foolishness, because not one teaches about eternal life except this one alone. Therefore you should straightway despair of your reason and understanding. With them you will not attain eternal life, but, on the contrary, your presumptuousness will plunge you and others with you out of heaven (as happened to Lucifer) into the abyss of hell. But kneel down in your little room [Matt. 6:6] and pray to God with real humility and earnestness, that he through his dear Son may give you his Holy Spirit, who will enlighten you, lead you, and give you understanding. Thus you see how David keeps praying in the above-mentioned Psalm, Teach me, Lord, instruct me, lead me, show me, 8 and many more words like these. Although he well knew and daily heard and read the text of Moses and other books besides, still he wants to lay hold of the real teacher of the Scriptures himself, so that he may not seize upon them pell-mell with his reason and become his own teacher. For such practice gives rise to factious spirits who allow themselves to nurture the delusion that the Scriptures are subject to them and can be easily grasped with their reason, as if they were Markolf 9 or Aesop s Fables, for which no Holy Spirit and no prayers are needed. Secondly, you should meditate, that is, not only in your heart, but also externally, by actually 10 repeating and comparing oral speech and literal words of the book, reading and rereading them with diligent attention and reflection, so that you may see what the Holy Spirit means by them. And take care that you do not grow weary or think that you have done enough when you have read, heard, and spoken them once or twice, and that you then have complete understanding. You will never be a particularly good theologian if you do that, for you will be like untimely fruit which falls to the ground before it is half ripe. Thus you see in this same Psalm how David constantly boasts that he will talk, meditate, speak, sing, hear, read, by day and night always, about nothing except God s Word and commandments. For God will not give you his Spirit with the external 11 Word; so take your cue from that. His command to write, preach, read, hear, sing, speak, etc., outwardly 12 was not given in vain. Thirdly, there is tentatio, Anfechtung. This is the touchstone which teaches you not only to know and understand, but also to experience how right, how true, how sweet, how lovely, how mighty, how comforting God s Word is, wisdom beyond all wisdom. Thus you see how David, in the Psalm mentioned, complains so often about all kinds of enemies, arrogant princes or tyrants, false spirits and factions, whom he must tolerate because he meditates, that is, because he is occupied with God s Word (as has been said) in all manner of ways. For as soon as God s Word takes root and grows in you, the devil will harry you, and will make a real doctor of you, and by his assaults 13 will teach you to see and love God s Word. I myself (if you will permit me, mere mouse-dirt, to be mingled with pepper) am deeply indebted to my papists that through the devil s raging they have beaten, oppressed, and distressed me so much. That is to say, they have made a fairly good theologian of me, which I would not have become otherwise. And I heartily grant them what they have won in return for making this of me, honor, victory, and triumph, for that s the way they wanted it. There now, with that you have David s rules. If you study hard in accord with his example, then you will also sing and boast with him in the Psalm, The law of thy mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces [Ps. 119:72]. Also, Thy commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep thy precepts, etc. [Ps. 119:98-100]. And it will be your experience that the books of the fathers will taste stale and putrid to you in comparison. You will not only despise the books written by adversaries, but the longer you write and teach the less you will be pleased with yourself. When you have reached this point, then do not be afraid to hope that you have begun to become a real theologian, who can teach not only the young and imperfect Christians, but also the maturing and perfect ones. For indeed, Christ s church has all kinds of Christians in it who are young, old, weak, sick, healthy, strong, energetic, lazy, simple, wise, etc. 14

15 If, however, you feel and are inclined to think you have made it, flattering yourself with your own little books, teaching, or writing, because you have done it beautifully and preached excellently; if you are highly pleased when someone praises you in the presence of others; if you perhaps look for praise, and would sulk or quit what you are doing if you did not get it-if you are of that stripe, dear friend, then take yourself by the ears, and if you do this in the right way you will find a beautiful pair of big, long, shaggy donkey ears. Then do not spare any expense! Decorate them with golden bells, so that people will be able to hear you wherever you go, point their fingers at you, and say, See, See! There goes that clever beast, who can write such exquisite books and preach so remarkably well. That very moment you will be blessed and blessed beyond measure in the kingdom of heaven. Yes, in that heaven where hellfire is ready for the devil and his angels. To sum up: Let us be proud and seek honor in the places where we can. But in this book the honor is God s alone, as it is said, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble [I Pet. 5:5]; to whom be glory, world without end, Amen Cf. II Kings 22:8. In Luther s German Bible, Deuteronomy is referred to as the fifth book of Moses. 2 There is a reason for the way things happen. Horace Satires I, 1, Luther began to translate the Bible into German during his confinement to the Wartburg. In a letter to Johann Lang, December 18, 1521, he announced his intention to translate the New Testament into German. WA, Br 2, 413. This letter contains the first reference to Luther s intention to translate the Bible. 4 I Kings 19:4. I am no better than my fathers. 5 That is, decrees and decretals. The translator has attempted to render Luther s pun Drecket und Drecketal in English. 6 Epistola 82. Migne 33, Prayer, meditation, Anfechtung [affliction, conflict]. 8 Ps. 119:26 et al 9 The very popular medieval legend of Solomon and Markolf was treated in a verse epic, chapbooks, dialogues, and farces. The figure of Markolf, a sly and unprincipled rogue, was known in Germany as early as the tenth century. 10 Eusserlich. 11 Eusserlich. 12 Eusserlich. The correspondence Luther intends to show between actual (eusserlich) study of the Bible in its outward (eusserlich) form and the external (eusserlich) Word as a medium of God s address cannot be rendered in idiomatic English by translating eusserlich with one word. 13 Anfechtungen. 14 The last two sentences are in Latin in the original text. From Luther s Works Volume 34: Career of the Reformer IV copyright 1960 Fortress Press,