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The Ministry of Writing

Profiling God — Seminary in 5: Systematic Theology

Save money. Learn theology. Become a better writer. Minister more effectively. That’s my hope for you. In this second year of my column, The Ministry of Writing, I want to take you to seminary — writing seminary. If you have had the chance to go to seminary, then let this be a refresher. If you haven’t please soak up this tuition free theological education given each month in 5 points. God has called you to write. You want to glorify Him and reach the world, but the problem is that we can easily be false teachers and not know it. Therefore, growing and learning in biblical and theological knowledge is vital to your writing ministry.

To be able to know how surprising this experience was for me, you have to understand the blessed, strong foundation I had in the Bible and church. I was blessed to grow up in church — there every time the doors were open and even when they were closed. My pastor preached the truth, we had all kinds of things to teach us kids. Then I began to preach while in high school, and studied the Bible for myself.

But sitting in that 2:00 pm college course my freshman year; my head was spinning. I felt I had parachuted into another country, and had no idea the language they were speaking. Each day I left with a splitting headache. There was a literal fog around me. It wasn’t until mid-semester that the headaches stopped.

The course was Systematic Theology I. Theology is simple to define — it’s the study of God. Systematic Theology means that all that the Bible says about God explicitly and indirect, all of the views in history, and the multiple doctrines concerning God is taught collectively so that one can form the best understanding of the Infinite that we can.

I had heard Bible stories taught, verses read, and life applicational lessons; but, never had I considered God’s existence or wrestled with His nature. It was foreign and challenging, but in the end beautiful. Like how Mr. Geisel wrote in the philosophical work, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, that the Grinch’s heart grew three times that day, and later it strengthened to “ten Grinchs plus two”; my understanding of God grew exponentially. God became so much bigger than I had even once imagined.

I believe everyone should spend time working through a course or book on Systematic Theology. My favorite is Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology. J.I. Packer’s Knowing God is another must read on the nature of God.

In theology, all that can be understood of God gathered from direct statements and His acts create a growing picture of Him. In these five points, I want to point out five aspects of God.

  1. God has always been and will always be.

I believe one of the most necessary aspects of God we need to solidify in our hearts and mind goes beyond the starting point of theology. Theology has to start with the question of God’s existence. The Bible never argues that He exists, it picks up the story with assumption that He does. For one, until the last few centuries God’s existence had never really been challenged. Theologians and philosophers have sought to provide an argument that proves God exists. There is a list of such arguments like the cosmological, teleological, anthropological, and many others. But if you are reading an article from a column on ministry through writing then I imagine God’s existence is something you have confirmed in your mind.

So, let’s go a step further. We need to solidify in our understanding that God has always existed and always will exist. Such an idea is mind-blowing, but God did not have a beginning. In terms of theories on motion, we must realize an “ummoved” mover must exist. This is God.

Although this concept can be deciphered throughout the Bible, God explicitly states this in Genesis 3 when He told Moses his personal name. God stated He was Yahwah, which meant “I am”. God has always been and will always be. Some might feel by stating He is “eternal” that this concept is explained, but I believe even in our minds “eternal” has a starting point.

  1. God is transcendent.

This statement basically states that God is “out of this world.” Which is probably obvious to us, but I feel its important that we let it sink in. God is beyond everything that exists. He is unimaginable. Anything that we can find greatness in merely pales in the shadow of God.

I like how this nature of God is stated in Isaiah 55:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

We can not put God in a box for nothing could contain Him.

[bctt tweet=”We can not put God in a Box for nothing could contain Him” username=””]

This term also points to how that God is self-existence. Unlike all other living beings, God does not rely on anything. He doesn’t need us, but rather He loves us in spite.

  1. God is Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign.

Yes, I cheated and combined multiple aspects of God in one point, but these all go together. In the opening lines of revelation of Himself that God gave we see that He created all things. Nothing exists that did not have its genesis apart from God. We spend so much time arguing over the time span of Creation we miss out all that God’s work reveals about Him. When I visit a zoo with my daughters I am reminded of the Creativity of God.

Not only did He create all things, but He continually sustains it. The two acts, creation and sustaining, reveal that God is Sovereign. God’s sovereignty means that He controls all things.  I love one of the ways Pastor John Piper has stated this. He preached, “God does all that He pleases, and nothing can derail his ultimate purposes.”

I also love how theologian R.C. Sproul explained the sovereignty of God, “Nothing escapes God’s notice; nothing oversteps the boundaries of His power. God is authoritative in all things.” At another point, Sproul stated that in the universe there is no “maverick molecule.”

Many questions arise about human will and salvation through the topic of God’s sovereignty, but regardless of what battle we want to fight there — we must know that God is clearly sovereign.

  1. God is Triune.

I’m not going to pretend to act as if I have the concept of the Trinity down! I don’t understand how it works or how it can be, but I do recognize the need for such a philosophical concept of God. The Bible is very clear that there is Only One God (Isaiah 43:10, 44:6, 45:22), but the Bible also makes clear that Jesus is God, as well as, the Holy Spirit. In Genesis 1:26 God refers to Himself as “us”. We find God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit present at Creation, the Inspiration of Scripture, the Incarnation, the baptism of Jesus, the resurrection, and at salvation.

The balance is mind-boggling. The early church found themselves in the same situation. In seeking to wrestle with how it all worked much heresy was born. The false teachings caused by the confusion led to the gathering of Christian leader in 325 AD in what is known as the Council of Nicaea. From this conference, a standard understanding was given to the mysterious. The Nicene Creed and especially the later Athanasian Creed spelled out how that was somehow three in one.

Again, the Trinity is difficult to navigate, but the creation of an orthodox stance has been essential for the Christian church. I struggle with how to explain how that God is one, but is three persons. Yet, I believe the best way to handle it is in the footsteps of my 5-year-old. Regularly, she interchanges Jesus and God. It might be that Jesus created the world, or God died on the cross.

  1. God is love.

In these few points I barely scratched the surface of all Scripture reveals about the nature of God. Stephen Charnock produced an absolute beast of a book that lists these attributes of God. He lists a ton. The study is fascinating, but one attribute that must be listed is that God is love. 1 John 4:8 explicitly states that God is love, but the passage I really like to go to is found in Exodus. In Exodus, God tells Moses that He will pass in front of him. During this “pass-by” God revealed one-thing about Himself. He could have listed anything, but when God had the chance to declare something about Himself, He chose to remind Moses that He was a God of love. Listen to what God revealed about Himself in Exodus 34:6-7, “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’”

I also chose to share this point because it was in the fog of that systematic theology class that I finally begun to taste the depth of God’s love. With each attribute learned about God, He rose higher and higher. When His transcendence and sovereignty come into focus, then we see how big He is, but we also see how much He stoops to love little ole us.

Jake McCandless is the executive director and lead speaker for Prophecy Simplified. A long-time pastor, Jake has a B.A. in Bible and Pastoral Studies from Central Baptist College, and an Advanced Masters of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is a contributor to WND News, The Baptist Press, Almost an Author, Inspire a Fire, graytotebox.com, and prophecysimplified.com.

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The Ministry of Writing

Correctly Know the Familiar — Seminary in 5: New Testament Survey

Save money. Learn theology. Become a better writer. Minister more effective. That’s my hope for you. In this second year of my column, The Ministry of Writing, I want to take you to seminary — writing seminary. If you have had the chance to go to seminary, then let this be a refresher. If you haven’t please soak up this tuition free theological education given each month in 5 points. God has called you to write. You want to glorify Him and reach the world, but the problem is that we can easily be false teachers and not know it. Therefore, growing and learning in biblical and theological knowledge is vital to your writing ministry.

In the previous Seminary in 5 post, I urged that as Christian writers we would not forget about the Old Testament. You can find that article here. Just as the Bible instructs pastors to preach the whole counsel of God, so should writers. I spend time each week with multiple pastors around the country. One of the issues I have begun to see consistently from pastors and especially members of their churches is that most contemporary Christian preaching focuses on the New Testament. On several occasions I have been told that Old Testament is obsolete all that matters now is the latest half of Scripture. This is far from the truth — unbiblical. We will deal with how the two parts of the Bible interact in the first point, but I believe my findings prove that the New Testament is familiar.

Familiarity often breeds misuse. We feel we have such a handle on interpreting familiar passages and aspects of Scripture that we often fail to adequately study them thoroughly. I realize due to being accustomed to later testament a basic survey is not necessary, so these five points on the New Testament are to point areas in which we can easily develop incorrect views. Please take a moment a consider these points and let them strengthen your writing ministry.

 

  1. The New Testament Did Not Replace the Old Testament.

One common assumption about the New Testament is that it replaced the Old Testament. This far, far from the truth. I could present lots of arguments to express how that is not the case, but I believe one is sufficient. Jesus said that He and His ministry was not a replacement, but a fulfillment of the Old Testament. Jesus’ words are recorded in Matthew 5:17-19, he said,

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 5:17–19 (NIV84)

“The Law” Jesus refers to is the Old Testament especially the first five books. He says what He was doing and going to do did not replace the first half of the Bible.

Not only did Jesus explicitly give us this insight, but the writers of the New Testament and those who first received those writings understood that the Old Testament under-girded everything in these newer passages. The New Testament is deeply saturated with allusions and direct quotes from the Old Testament. The Book of Revelation can not be understood without having a strong foundation from the major and minor prophets.

Understanding this point helps provide credibility to the Old Testament in present times, but more than that I hope it would provide a framework for interacting with both testaments.

 

  1. The New Testament Does Not Teach the Church Has Replaced Israel.

Following suit with the previous point is this idea that the Christian church in the New Testament has replaced Israel in the Old Testament. The implications to this theological miscue has a huge reach. By taking this view one completely throws away the promises God has given the nation of Israel. Yes, many things that happened with Israel can be applied to our personal walk with the Lord, but God is in no way done with the Jews. He will keep the unconditional covenants that He made with Abraham about the land, and with David about having a descendant on the throne. These will be realized in the coming Millennial Kingdom.

One of the factors that cause people to believe this is that Jesus states that He is making a New Covenant. He does, but this was not a surprise to anyone in His day. The Old Testament prophesized that God would make a New Covenant. This New Covenant would allow them to possess and enjoy the previously made Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants. This New Covenant also miraculously involves the Gentiles who had been outside looking in on the promises of God.

In Romans 11:25-27, the Apostle Paul explicitly explains the present relationship between Israel and the Gentiles. The church has not replaced Israel rather the gentiles within the church have been invited to participate in the promises still to be fulfilled to Israel. Here are Paul’s words,

 

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” – Romans 11:25–27 (NIV84)

 

  1. The New Testament Was Canonized.

To fully appreciate the Bible we hold in our hands we must realize that the inspiration of the actual writing of the New Testament books are not the only level of inspiration of this latest testament. But the early church sought the Lord and followed a set of principles to select what writings actually were placed in the New Testament. This process was called canonization. We find even in the readings of the New Testament that there were other letters at that time. There are other works that have survived that time period. All though these other works exist we can confidentially trust that not only were the words guided by the Holy Spirit, but so was the composition of Scripture as a whole.

 

  1. The New Testament Has at Least 4 Divisions.

In the five points from Old Testament Survey, I stressed the importance of recognizing the different genres in that first half of the Bible. Recognizing the style of writing is vital to its interpretation. The New Testament also contains different genres, although these books may share a closer resemblance in style than those in the Old Testament. Many would list more divisions in the New Testament, but I believe there are four to view as essential.

The first four books are called Gospels. They are accounts of the life and ministry of Jesus. I will say more about their connection to one another in the final point, but these should be recognized as histories or eye-witness accounts of Jesus’ time on earth. The book of Acts is the history division of the New Testament. It follows from where the Gospels end until the end of Paul’s ministry. The rest of the books are considered epistles and most of them were penned by the Apostle Paul. An epistle was a letter that was circulated throughout multiple churches or multiple home churches. These would have been brought to the church by messenger and then read in its entirety before the body.

I am nearly alone among Bible teachers to include Revelation in the epistles. Most classify the final book as an Apocalyptic book. In that time period there was a “genre” of apocalyptic books. There were certain characteristics that described that type of writings. Revelation definitely fits, but it was circulated as a letter at least to seven particular churches. I find it helpful to approach Revelation as an epistle that way one is encouraged to interpret it more straightforwardly.

 

  1. The Gospels in the New Testament Do Not Contradict Each Other.

There are four books that tell about Jesus’ time on earth — Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John. They are the Gospels. Matthew, Mark, & Luke are very similar and are referred to as the synoptic Gospels. John provides a stark difference. Because each Gospel covers the same time period, but do so differently many have felt they are contradictory. This is far from the case. One of the most helpful tools a student of the Gospels can have is a Harmony of the Gospels. I prefer the classic written by A.T. Roberson. A harmony seeks to show how the events in each Gospel fit with one another.

Although the subject is the same in all four books, they are told from four different eye witnesses. So there are variations, but no contradiction. Also each writer has a different purpose. Matthew writes to prove Jesus was the Jewish Messiah. So he involves a lot of the Old Testament prophecies. Mark seems to stick with just the facts and events. He provides the most action packed Gospel. Luke is focused on sharing with Gentiles Jesus’ humanity. John writes to prove that Jesus is the Son of God. With such different purposes, one can easily see how they would be different.

Conclusion

The Bible has two testaments, but it is one book. It is awe striking how that across so many centuries the Holy Spirit could move human writers to write these works that vitally connect. I can not stress enough how amazing God’s Word is for us. We have in print the reality of this world from its Maker. We need to know it, and then teach it correctly.

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The Ministry of Writing

What do you believe about the Bible? — Seminary in 5: Bibliology

Save money. Learn theology. Become a better writer. Minister more effective. That’s my hope for you. In this second year of my column, The Ministry of Writing, I want to take you to seminary — writing seminary. If you have had the chance to go to seminary then let this be a refresher. If you haven’t please soak up this tuition free theological education given each month in 5 points. God has called you to write. You want to glorify Him and reach the world, but the problem is that we can easily be false teachers and not know it. This is why growing and learning in biblical and theological knowledge is vital to your writing ministry.

As Christian writers, we are constantly Scripture is front and center in all we do. Our Bibles stay open — as we teach it by writing Bible studies, devotionals, and Christian living books. We study the text to frame-in our worldviews and take-a-ways in our fiction. It is used to reinforce what we believe, but what do you believe about the Bible.

It’s highly likely that you are like me and you’ve taken for granted the nature of the Bible, but I am so thankful for professors like Dr. Ron Mitchell of Central Baptist College who began his theology and apologetics courses with a study of Bibliology (the doctrine of the Bible). Along with writers like Dr. Norman Geisler, who began his systematic theology with the doctrine of the Bible.

Since Scripture is the launch pad not only for our writing, but also our calling — we need to secure in our minds and hearts the framing of that platform.

 

  1. The Bible has a divine origin.

We refer to the Bible often as the “Holy” Bible. The word “holy” means to be set apart — special. The Bible is special, and it’s not because it is merely a good book, but because it is the Word of God. It has a divine origin even though actually  penned by human hands, those writers were directed by God.

In 2 Timothy 3:16-17, we read that the Bible writers were inspired by God. The actual Greek word for “inspired” means God-breathed. These men were not merely motivated by God as we think of inspiration, but they were moved by him. This inspiration went further than an idea of something good to do. Peter describes this vividly in 2 Peter 1:21, when he writes they were “carried along” by the Spirit.

The origin and the preservation of the Bible belong to God. Jesus instructed that the Bible does not merely contain portions that can be considered God’s Word, but every word is His Word. In Matthew 5:17-18, Jesus states that every jot and tittle of Scripture was important. These represented the smallest of pen strokes in the Hebrew language. Elsewhere in the Gospels we find Jesus recognizing the Bible as God’s Word.

 

  1. The Bible has a human origin.

Most of you reading this are already convinced of the divine origin of Scripture, but those who do not hold the Bible in high esteem focus on the fact that people actually penned it. Many have found it hard to wrap their mind around how something that claimed to be God-breathed, but written by fallible people could be the perfect guide for us. Yet, the Bible is not the only revelation from God to show such a paradox.  The Bible actually parallels the nature of Jesus. While on earth He was 100% God and 100% man all wrapped up in physical flesh.

The Bible, too, shares that tension. Even without trusting the claim from Scripture that it is God’s Word, the book displays a miracle within its own pages. On the human end over 40 authors wrote in a span of 1,500 years. Those 40 authors were drastically different from one another. Some were kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesman, or scholars. They wrote in different places spanning across three different continents.

The fact that the Bible would have any cohesive thread is a miracle in of itself. To illustrate this while teaching I have had a roomful students from the same time period and walk in life try to write a cohesive story independently. The result would be a train wreck.

The nature of Scripture is this tension of being written by God through men. This understanding is essential when we seek to understand and teach the text. Those who focus only on the divine aspect view the book as supernatural and search out hidden meanings unique to their own time period. While those who focus merely on the human authorship treat it as only history or a list of good ideas. The two must be blended.

 

  1. The Bible is inerrant and infallible in its original manuscript (Autographa).

Although since in the creation of the Bible God used human authorship in a way that allowed the writers’ personalities and styles to be expressed rather than mechanically dictating to them in a robotic form, we must still understand it to be perfect. When we talk about the Bible being perfect it is in reference not to the leather-bond translation sitting on our desk, but rather the original manuscripts penned thousands of years ago. Manuscripts that no longer exist, but have been translated with great accuracy. There have been few scribal errors in translations, but the claim of God being the author calls for perfection. In that perfection, Scripture is without error — in factual and spiritual.  Also being God-breathed means that the message and promises from Scripture are incapable of failing.

The Autographa or original manuscripts are long gone, but there is remarkable evidence of today’s translation being accurate. For example in looking only at the New Testament there remains more than 24,000 ancient manuscripts. These manuscripts take us back as close to 250 years from the Greek originals. Syriac and Latin versions place us only 120 years from the autographa In those, only 40 lines are in question. This is remarkable when compared to the ancient work with the second most ancient manuscripts which is the Illiad by Homer. There only over 600 ancient manuscripts. It appears God not only authored the Sacred Text, but He is preserving it.

 

  1. The Bible was canonized.

Reading between the lines in this post, you have probably realized a final form of the Bible did not fall out of the sky. It took a 1,500 years for the book to be written. This ran from possibly Job, then Moses writing the Pentateuch, and closed with John penning Revelation. The Bible is a collection of multiple books. Throughout history, these books were pulled together. Ezra is credited with compiling the Old Testament. The Old Testament was in a canonized form by the time of Jesus, and had been translated into Greek in what we know as the Septuagint.

The New Testament also began as individual books and letters. These works circulated through the early church. Eventually they were collected and compiled into the New Testament. There is evidence that at least by 367 AD canon was complete. It would be made official in later church councils.

The term used for the complete “line-up” of the books in the Bible is canon. Canon means “standard”. Therefore, we have the standard of those books believed to be Scripture.

 

  1. The Bible should be authoritative to our lives.

 It is vital for our use of the Bible to realize it is this miraculous blend of divinity and humanity, but as we seek to apply the interpretation to our life the understanding of God’s inspiration should guide us. Since this is God’s special revelation to us, since it is His very words — they should not be merely suggestions or advice. Scripture is to transform our lives. We bow our lives before the text and respond in obedience. The Bible should be authoritative. It is the last word on how we should live and on matters of truth.