By the grace of God, my changing heart has increasingly taken interest in theology in recent years. I have been keen to develop a deeper relationship with God. As knowing the other person is foundational in a relationship, I think that it is even more important to learn about God, as much as it is humanly possible, through the study of theology.
I am not a theologian. I regret that I did not invest more time in theological studies in my youth.
To obtain help, I purchased books by Joe Beeke and Paul Smalley. It has been a fascinating read of Reformed theological scholarship. I much enjoy the regular references to the Bible and their sharp commentaries. The text can be challenging with elegant vocabularies and profound theological concepts, but I have been able to keep up by the grace of God.
For my own benefit and potentially yours, I will be summarizing Beeke and Smalley’s four-volume work over a series of articles. I will begin with their first volume, Reformed Systematic Theology: Volume 1: Revelation and God.
How can we understand the Bible unless someone guides us?
The authors begin the two-chapter introduction with an excerpt from Acts 8:26-33:
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And the invited Philip to come up and sit with him.Indeed, as the Ethiopian eunuch, we often have the same experience: how can we understand the Bible unless someone guides us?
The authors write: “though the basic message of the Bible is startlingly clear, parts of the Scriptures present deep and perplexing truths. The search for understanding leads us to the hard work of close reading, careful thinking, fervent praying, and conferring with Christians wiser than we are. Then we are enabled to crystalize our thoughts about God in clear and penetrating insights, and are better equipped to serve him. This is the process of ‘doing theology’, that is, using our minds to engage with the truths of God’s Word.”
Theology is a spiritual discipline
Theology can be approached from two perspectives: as an academic discipline, or as a spiritual discipline.
As an academic discipline, the authors list the many different types of theology: exegetical, biblical, historical, philosophical, systematic, apologetic and polemical, ethical, and practical.
I much prefer to understand theology as a spiritual discipline. I agree with the authors: “academic education has great value, but a love for academics for their own sake can destroy your soul”.
The authors explain that “no [person] can discover these truths by rational deduction or empirical observation. God must reveal them through Christ. Therefore, the work of learning true theology is more than an intellectual enterprise; it requires faith in Christ, submission to God’s will, and pursuit of God’s glory”.
We should therefore be careful in choosing what and by whom we read. I recall Reza Aslan‘s assertion that non-Christian biblical scholars are as credible as Christian biblical scholars. From the perspective of theology as a spiritual discipline, the answer would be no.
Studying theology is about glorifying God
The authors write: “theology aims at the fulfillment of man’s created purpose: to glorify God and enjoy him forever in obeying God’s will by God’s grace”.
The authors point to Petrus van Mastricht, who succinctly defines theology as “the doctrine of living to God by Christ”. Doctrine as the divine revelation of theology, God as the focus, Christ as the mediator and living to God as the purpose.
In other words, Johannes Wolleb also explains: “Christian theology is the doctrine concerning God, as he is known and worshiped for his glory and for our salvation”.
The authors remind us that we study theology “as fallen sinners in need of salvation and restoration. Therefore, theology is the study of God with a view toward the reconciliation of God and sinners through Christ … as those alienated from God by sin, we can do theology only by the light of his gracious revelation”.
Theology could be summarized by an order of eight themes
The authors conclude by proposing an order of eight themes. In simple language, the themes can be expressed in the words: revelation, God, man, Christ, Spirit, salvation, church, and last things.
This order of themes, or loci, is apparently widely used in modern Protestant systematic theologies. The authors explains that this order of themes reminds us that “God has spoken and revealed himself as the only Lord God. God made man, but man rebelled against God to man’s own defilement and destruction. God sent Christ to redeem sinners, save them by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, form them into a unified body, and bring them to glory. Thus, systematic theology expounds the good news of salvation”.
Theology explains the good news of salvation!
This article is part of a series on systematic theology, based upon the first of four volumes of Reformed Systematic Theology by Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley.
