SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
Theology Proper
Corroborative Evidences of God's existence (the
Scriptures do not attempt to prove God's existence)
Cosmological—causation
Ontological—existing in the mind
Teleological--design
Anthropological--moral law
Christological--miracles, conversion,
fulfilled prophecy must be accounted for
Attributes
Absolute or Immanent
Life
Personality
Self-existence
Immutability
Tri-Unity (Trinity)
Truth
Love
Holiness
Relative or Transitive
Eternity
Immensity
Omnipresence
Omniscience
Omnipotence
Veracity and Faithfulness
Mercy and Goodness
Justice and Righteousness
Bibliology
Divine Revelation
A divine rev. is possible
A divine rev. is probable
A divine rev. is credible
A divine rev. is necessary
Miracles
Improbable does not mean impossible
Empiricism cannot say tomorrow is
Methods of Divine Communication
Revelation
Inspiration
Dictation
Verbal Plenary
Illumination
Preservation
A small percentage of books survives more
than 20 years
Less survive 100 years
A fraction survive 1000 years
Bible--2000 years
No other historical book parallels the Bible
in mss. evidence (5000 for NT); Homer, ca. 650
Has been the object of never-ending
persecution
Edicts have been issued to insure every copy
was destroyed
Commands have been given that all found with
a copy should be put to death
The Word of God has passed through the
furnace of persecution, philosophical disputation, scientific reasoning, and
literary criticism, without losing one ounce of its purity
Every possible effort has been made to
undermine faith in its inspiration and authority
Yet it is the Best-Selling book of all
time--six billion copies sold and given away
All the discoveries from the Bible lands
which have any relation to scripture speak with one united voice, testifying to
the accuracy of the statements of the Bible.
Not so with other so-called spiritual writings
In the Quran, the mountains are supposed to
have been created to keep the earth from moving, to hold it fast as with cables
and anchors. Moses' sister Miriam is
confused with the mother of Jesus (Surah
In the sacred books of the Hindus, the moon
is supposed to be fifty thousand leagues higher than the sun; it shines with
its own light; and it animates our body.
Night is the result of the sun's setting behind the mountain Someyra,
situated in the middle of the earth, and several thousand miles high. Our earth is triangular and flat (Rene Pache,
The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture (Chicago: Moody Press, 1974) pp. 283-299).
Buddha said if women had not been admitted to
the order, his teachings would have lasted 1000 years. Now they would only last 500 years (already
proven wrong) (R. Beaver, J. Bergman, and other ed., Eerdman's Handbook to
the World Religions (Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdman's, 1982) p. 255).
The Bible speaks of the love of God suffering
with His creatures; the holiness which necessitates His punishment of sin; the
expiation of transgressions which took place on the cross; the full assurance
of a pardon; and the regeneration which makes man new. The other books lack a real solution to the
problem of sin and misery, of any moving out of the earthly into a pure and
liberated life, of an absolute righteousness, and of a blessed and active
eternal state in the presence of God.
The Bible contains accurate history, science
(geology, biology, anthropology, paleontology, and astronomy; at times
centuries in advance of its time), poetry, drama, medicine, ethics, practical
wisdom--as well as the most wonderful story of all, the great plan of salvation
and the promise of eternal life. There
is no other book which can be compared to the Bible. In addition to all this, the Bible stands
alone among all the writings of the ancient world, three instances given below:
1. The Bible is the only book that describes a
continuous history from the first man to the present era.
2. The Bible is the only religious book
containing detailed prophecies of events which are to come.
3. The Bible is the only book which has the
power to convict men of sin, leading them to the only One who can free them
from sin.
The Bible on Prophecy
1.
Israel is to be forever a separated people (Numbers 23:9)
2.
Judah will be carried away into Babylon for seventy years (Jeremiah
25:11)
3. The
Jewish race will survive in spite of all, until the end of time (Jeremiah
31:35-36) even after the extinction of all the other great peoples of antiquity
4. The
taking of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar after a thirteen-year siege and the fate which
Alexander (332 BCE) finally inflicted on her (Ezekiel 26:4; Jeremiah 27:1-11)
5. The
dramatic fall of Babylon (Is. 13)
6. Of
Egypt as a whole, it was said "It shall be the basest of kingdoms"
(Ezekiel 29:15). Egypt continued as a
powerful and great nation for many centuries after the prophecy was written,
but finally it became a backward, impoverished, weak nation and has remained so
ever since. It was not condemned to annihilation,
however, as were many other ancient nations.
Actually, it is amazing that the most ancient of nations (Egypt) is
still in existence after over 4000 years.
Many Scriptures (for example, Isaiah 19:21, 22) indicate prophetically
that Egypt will still be a nation in the last days.
7. Zephaniah
2:5 tell us the Philistines will be destroyed.
They prospered until 1200 CE, then vanished.
The Bible on Science and History
Furthermore, the Bible is systematically
consistent. God said to Abraham: "Look now toward heaven, and number the stars,
if thou be able to number them. I will
multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon
the seashore (Genesis 15:5; 2:17). For a
long time the Hittites were never mentioned except in the Bible, and all such
allusions were treated with a great deal of skepticism. Then, in 1906, excavations were begun at
Bogazkoy (ninety miles east of Ankara, Turkey), which proved to be the capital
of the Hittite empire.
Isaiah 40:22 claimed the earth was round when
scientists believed it was flat. This
statement of fact is irrefutable and flies in the face of what man could have
known at that time. Furthermore, Job
claims the earth is suspended (Job. 26:7).
And the 2LOT is detailed in Ps. 102:26, Rom. 8:18-23, and Heb. 1:10-12.
Daniel (chapter 5) relates the story of
Belshazzar who could offer to Daniel only the third place in his kingdom and
who was killed after a night of orgy when Babylon was captured. Secular history had lost all indications of
this personage, whose circumstances seemed unexplainable to the critics. The Babylonian archives have now revealed
that Belshazzar was under his father Nabonidus and consequently could offer
only the third place (v. 16).
No archeological discovery has ever
controverted a single biblical reference. Scores of archeological
findings have been made which confirm in clear outline or exact detail
historical statements in the Bible. (Nelson Glueck)
Other Claims to Authority
The Old and New Testaments are only a couple
of writings that claim divine origin.
The Quran claims inspiration as do the Book of Mormon and the writings
of the Bahai prophet, Paha Ullah. There
are also many contemporaries who are said to be prophets, the most famous of
whom are the late Edgar Cayce and Jeane Dixon.
It is a fallacy to believe that the coming to pass of a prediction is an
unmistakable sign of its divine origin.
The opposite, however, is clearly a negative test for a false prophet,
namely, "If the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word
which the Lord has not spoken" (Deuteronomy 18:22). It is questionable whether Edgar Cayce and
Jeane Dixon hit on over 60 percent of their predictions, but even 90 percent or
more would show them wrong 10 percent of the time, therefore making them false
prophets. Joseph Smith had a false
prediction about the city of Zion. In
Doctrines and the Covenants, sec. 97, a prophecy which was given August 2, 1833
said "Zion/Missouri cannot fall or be moved out of her place." But two weeks earlier (July 20, 1833) Zion
was indeed moved, the Mormon presses were destroyed, and the leading Mormon
officials were run out of town. Smith
was in Kirtland, Ohio, and was unaware of the fall of Zion when he penned his "revelation"
(Norman Geisler, Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1976) pp. 371-75).
Textual Criticism
The original reading is among the
variants: the question is, which variant
is the correct one? This is the question
textual criticism is trying to answer.
And to add to the problem, "If one is not going to practice at
least limited textual criticism, then he must choose one manuscript--not one
text-type--and how will he decide upon that?"
Alexandria was the home of allegorism
(Origen); Antioch, the home of literalism
Alexandria's climate was conducive to
preservation of mss.; Byzantine's was not
Used mss. wore out (just one dozen 1535
Coverdale Bibles are extant; none are complete because of heavy reading and
loss of leaves)
Koine Greek was full--Attic Greek was terse
(ergo, the longer reading is preferred)
Asia Minor/Greece held the Autographs of at
least two-thirds of the New Testament books, while Alexandria (Egypt) held none
(Pickering, Identity of the New Testament Text, p. 111).
We have the original words--TC will put them
in one volume
Conflation is found in both text-types
Methods of Interpretation
Literal:
The prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the first coming of
Christ were all fulfilled literally; all objectivity is lost when one does not
use the plain, normal, literal method of interpretation
Allegorical:
Spiritualizing
Methods of Translation
Literal
Dynamic Equivalence
Canon
A book is canonical if the Jewish synagogue
or the Christian church recognized it as the bearer of the revelation
communicated by the Spirit of God. The
Scriptures must contain only inspired texts:
all Scripture is inspired by God.
The early church accepted without difficulty the Jewish canon as
such. As Athanasius so well expressed
it: "The Christian Church of the
New Testament receives from the Hebrew Church of the Old Testament the sacred
books of that Testament, because it is to the Jew, as Paul says (Rom. 3:2) that
are committed 'the oracles of God.'"
The New Testament books were all written
before the end of the first century. The
criterion of acceptance was the apostolic inspiration and origin of each: the book under consideration had to have come
from the apostles or had to be authorized by them. Further, the book must have been universally
received in the church, and it had to include evidence of divine
inspiration. As early as the second
century, seven-eighths of the New Testament were universally and unquestionably
recognized/acknowledged. James, 2 Peter,
2 and 3 John, and Jude were accepted during the fourth century, which closed
out the canon (Athanasius, 367).
Christology
The Law
Cultivated faith in God
Convicted of sin
Pointed toward an atonement
Deity
Jn. 1:1
Jn. 1:18
Jn. 20:28
Titus 2:13
Heb. 1:8-10
Humanity
Jn. 8:40
Acts 2:22
Heb. 4:15
Pneumatology
As a person (intellect, emotion, will), 1 Pet. 1:2, Acts
2:4, Gen. 1:2, Eph. 4:30
As deity, Acts 5:3, 1 Cor. 3:16, Mt. 28:18-20
His work
Creation, Ps. 18:9-12, Gen. 1:2, Ps. 104:30,
Gen. 2:7,
Author of Scriptures, 1 Cor. 12:4, 2 Pet.
1:21, 2 Tim. 3:16
In the OT, Ju. 6:34, 1 Chr. 12:18, Ex. 31:1-7
(for service)
In the NT, could not fully sanctify until
after Christ's death, Acts 2:1-4, Eph. 1:22, 2 Cor. 1:21, Eph. 4:30, Eph. 5:18,
1 Cor. 2:9, Jn. 3:3, Jn. 16:9-11
The Gifts and the Fruit
Anthropology
Gen. 1:26, in His image
Trichotomous,
Heb. 4:12, Gen. 2:7, 1 Thes. 5:23
Creation since the original, Traducian (human race was
created in Adam and propagated from him)
The fall
Probation, to determine the character
Caused judgment, separation, and death
Hamartiology
Entrance into the Angelic Realm, Is. 14:12-17, Ek. 28:17,
2 Pet. 2:4
Entrance into the Human Race, Gen. 3:1-6, Rom. 5:12
The penalty of sin
Death, Rev. 15:24
Condemnation, Jn. 3:19
Punishment, Heb. 12:5
Eternal, Mt. 25:46
Soteriology
Election, Acts 13:48, Rom. 2:4
Calling
Union with Christ, 2 Pet. 1:4
Regeneration, Jn. 3:3-7
Conversion
Repentance
Faith
Justification, Rom. 5:1
Adoption, Rom 8:15, 23
Sanctification
Angelology
Created holy, Jude 6
Incorporeal, Heb. 1:13
Immortal, Lk. 20:35
Probation, 1 Tim. 5:21; 1 Pet. 1:1&2
Some preserved integrity, Ps. 89:7
Some fell from innocence, Mt. 25:41
The good are confirmed in holiness, Mt. 6:10
The evil are confirmed in wickedness, Jn.
8:44
Live in spirit world, Eph. 6
Satan
Personal, Job 1:8
Memory, Mt. 4:6
Executive, Rev. 12:7
Accuses, Job 1:9-11
Original State
Ezek. 28:11-19, cheribum--highest
order (Rev. 4:9)
Original Domain, throne of God
Fall, pride, Is. 14
Original sinner, 1 Jn. 3:8
Work
Opposition, Gen. 6
6x tried to destroy Jews
(Pharaoh, Assyria, Babylon, Persians--Haman, Antiochus IV, Romans--Titus)
Mt. 4
Destiny, Rev. 20
Ecclesiology
ekklaysia, called out assembly
Local and general meaning
Local, Acts
Offices
Pastor, 1 Tim. 3:1
Deacon, 1 Tim. 3:8
Purpose
Edify members (1 Cor. 12-14)
Maintain worship and ordinances
(baptism--Acts
Propagation of gospel
Relationship to other churches--autonomous (Acts
Eschatology
Four Unconditional (eternal) Covenants
1.
Gen. 12:1-3, Abrahamic; land, redemption, seed
2. Dt.
30:1-10, Palestinian; land
3. 2
Sam. 7:10-16, Davidic; throne/seed
4.
Jer. 31:31-40, New; redemption
Daniel 2 and 7 (the dreams)
Medo-Persia
When the Bride of Christ is raptured, the apostate church
(Rev. 17:1-7) will continue with its services.
Antichrist and the 10 kings will eventually destroy it.
The Antichrist is to reign after the old
Armageddon
Five powers:
The
The Northern Confederacy, Ek.
38:2-6
Kings of the East , Rev. 16:12
Kings of the South, Dan. 11:40
The Lord and His armies from
Heaven, Rev. 19:1-16
Seals, trumpets, vials
Seals, Rev. 6
Trumpets, Rev. 8-10
Vials, Rev. 16; last half of trib.
The Kingdom
Offered at Christ's first advent--Lk. 17:21;
Matt. 11:14