Welcome to this series. with shorter posts and fewer in number than the ones in Theology 101: The Basics. I have learned and grown a lot in writing and editing the series.

Friendly greetings! Together, let’s explore the very basics. In this post we introduce the entire series by answering questions, like these: what is theology? Why study it? What is its purpose? What attitude should we have? How does it serve the church?

I write to learn. Let’s learn together.

Let’s begin.

I.. Introduction

A. Format

Throughout the entire series, I use the outline format for organization and clarity. It helps me, and I trust it will help you too. It is also a tradition among some systematic theologies, when systematizing or organizing theology.

I also use many tables, to keep concepts brief and clear.

B. Standard evangelical renewal theology

This section may be the most important one: Don’t expect to find quirky and odd doctrines in this long series. I am traditional in my theology. For years now I have read (and am still reading) major systematic theologies in print. I learn a lot from them, though I don’t follow them slavishly in all points, especially when they come at theology from different angles that I believe strays from Scripture as I interpret it.

I can be classified as a Renewalist Evangelical of the Protestant tradition, broadly speaking. I hesitate to say charismatic because the Charismatic Movement is being ruined by the hyper-charismatics and the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). I’m not even confident about the various Renewal Movements. But I am a continuationist, for all the gifts in Scripture are for today.

I like how the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology described Evangelicalism, as follows:

• “a braided river, with its multiple strands, many crisscrossing rivers streams.”
• It has a complex genealogy from the Reformation onwards. It even borrows from the mysticism of the Catholic church.
• “Its energies have been centrifugal, and its theology has been chiefly kerygmatic [proclamation], preached in sermons, proclaimed in songs, announced in testimonies, jotted down in letters and conveyed through Alpha courses.” (In my case on my website and soon on video platforms, God willing).
• “Its theology has been expressed primarily in via, [on the path] amid mission and proclamation.”
• “Plain truth for plain people” (John Wesley);
• Doctrinal convictions, such as these: Scripture’s authority, Christ’s supremacy as Savior and Lord, humans’ ruined and lost state in sin, and the necessity of faith and holiness (J. I. Packer)
• Four convictions: emphasis on personal conversions, the Bible, the cross of Christ, and active Christian service. (David Bebbington)
• Centripetal dynamic of inward devotion to Christ and the experience of the Christian community in small groups; (now house churches are popping up)
• “School of Christian living” more than a “school of theology.”

Now all I have to do is add the fullness of the gifts of the Spirit or charismata (gifts), where we get our word charismatic, offered in Scripture, even in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, and you have just read my brand of Evangelicalism: Charismatic or Renewal Evangelicalism.

C. Main theologian and a Study Bible

I have borrowed from J. Rodman Williams’ Renewal Theology: Systematic Theology from a Charismatic Perspective, 3 vols (Zondervan). in many (not all) of my posts. He died in 2008, but lived for a long time, serving in WWII. He was a leader in the Charismatic Renewal. HIs three volumes have been very helpful to me. It’s time to make him better known to a new generation. But as a Presbyterian minister, he let his mild Calvinism slip through sometimes, so I had to be careful. And I read many other systematic theologians, so Williams does not completely dominate my series in Theology 101.

Let me say that I also depended on the topical outline at the back of the 2011 NIV Study Bible (Zondervan) with the arrangement of Bible themes, with Scripture references. Excellent!

When I follow a chapter in the systematic theologians’ volumes, my posts look more like systematic theology. When I get Scripture from a topical outline in the 2011 NIV Study Bible, my posts look more like biblical theology.

So Theology 101: The Basics can be called systematic or biblical theology, depending on the post. The entire series is a hybrid.

Let me call it a systematic biblical theology.

D. Translation

I use the New International Version (NIV) throughout the entire series, unless otherwise noted. It meets my needs for Theology 101.

This website has many others:

biblegateway.com

II. Definitions

A. Doctrine

Don’t be afraid of the word doctrine. It come from Latin doctrina, which means teaching or instruction.

Please be aware up front that every book in the NT, except the tiny epistle to Philemon, says to watch out for false teachers and prophets and their false doctrines or prophecies. I will repeat this warning several times throughout the series.

B.. Word roots (etymology) of theology

The word theology is a combination of two words: theos and logos. To be a little more precise, the term works out like this: the– (God) -o- (mediating vowel) –log– (study of or science of) -y- (noun ending).

We will look at theos just below. Let’s now analyze logos.

C. Logos

It is used 330 times in the NT. Since it is so important, let’s explore the noun more deeply.

It is rich and full of meaning. It always has built into it rationality and reason. It has spawned all sorts of English words that end in –log-, like theology or biology, or have the log– stem in them, like logic.

1. Logos for Renewalists

This entire website is geared towards Renewalists. This next section may be a harsh warning, but times are desperate now with the worldwide web.

There is a rational side to the word (logos) of God, and a moment’s thought proves it. The words you’re reading right now are placed in meaningful and logical and rational order.

2. The Bible is written rationally (logos)

If the Bible were not written rationally, then it would be nonsense and confusing, and we couldn’t understand the gibberish. Your Bible studies and Sunday morning sermons have to make sense, too. Jesus’s words also have Bible-based logic and rational argumentation built into them. People need to be ministered to in this way. God gave us minds and brains and expects us to use them. Your preaching cannot always be flashy and shrieky and so outlandishly entertaining that people are not fed in the long term. Movements like that don’t last over the years without the word. They certainly don’t last in purity and sound doctrine that pleases God.  I have observed this from firsthand experience in certain sectors of the Renewal Movement.

Thus there is a rational, logical side to our faith. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7), Jesus concluded it with the man who understood and obeyed his words as a “wise” person, who stands on the rock. “Wise” comes from the adjective phronimos (pronounced fraw-nee-moss), and it means: “sensible, thoughtful, prudent, wise.” Those are wonderful words to describe the man or woman who studies theology.

3. People’s deep needs for sound doctrine

People have the deepest need to receive solid teaching. Never become so outlandishly supernatural and entertaining that you neglect the reasonable and rational and logical side of preaching the gospel and teaching the Bible.

4. Balance

On the other side of the word logos, people get so intellectual that they build up an exclusive Christian caste of intelligentsia who believe they alone can teach and understand the word. Not true. Just study Scripture with Bible helps and walk in the Spirit, as they did in Acts. Combining word and Spirit is the balanced life.

D. An important noun

In the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew concludes the sermon with the Greek noun didachē (pronounced DEE-dah-khay). It is a doctrine or a set of beliefs which he taught. It was mostly practical, but he did teach the original disciples that his words were on an equal plane–no, a higher plane–than the Torah, which hints at his authoritative and divine status. He will judge people, on that day. He will be the divine judge. This is Matthew’s high Christology.

In Matthew 7:28, in the conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus refer to his entire teaching as logos (plural) Thus there is a long, rational side to logos. We should not be afraid to use our reason to know who God is.

F. What does the noun didachē mean more fully?

BDAG is considered by many to be the authoritative lexicon of the Greek NT, and it defines didachē as follows: (1) “The activity of teaching, teaching, instruction”; (2) “the content of teaching, teaching.” Yes, the word is also used of Jesus’s teaching: Matt. 7:28; 22:33; Mark 1:22, 27; 4:2; 11:18; 12:38; Luke 4:32; John 7:16, 17; 18:19. And it is used of the apostolic teaching: Acts 2:42; 5:28; 13:12; 17:19; Rom. 6:17; 16:17; 1 Cor. 14:6, 26; 2 Tim. 4:2; Ti. 1:9; Heb. 6:2; 2 John 9 (twice), 10; Rev. 2:14, 15, 24.

It can be translated as “doctrine.”

D. Summary

Faith and reason work together–or should work together–in our Christian life.

III. Two Sources of Theology

A. Brief intro.

We need these two sources. One is general or natural; the other is special or specific, that is, written or the Bible.

B. General revelation

This is also called natural revelation. God has built nature in such a way that we can discover who he is, when we have open hearts to see. We all have experienced a sense of awe when we look at the stars or a famous rock formation. This sense of awe should point us back to their origins, the Creator.

Romans 1:20 shows this purpose and goal of creation and the Creator:

 ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Rom. 1:20)

We can know God as Creator–his eternal power and divine nature–by looking at the universe he made. We will analyze his divine nature more fully in the section on the doctrine of God.

I really like these verses in Psalm 19:

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
    no sound is heard from them. (Ps. 19:1-3)

Creation is speaking to us but without words or the sound of speech. It tells us about God’s glory. Will we worship him as he is, or turn him into weird statues, like the Greeks and Romans did (Rom. 1)?

Note that creation does not speak words. For this we need the written word.

In later posts we will discuss conscience and reason to figure out moral law.

2 General and Special Revelations and Moral Law

C. Scripture

This is called specific or special revelation, that is, Scripture. It is much clearer than the natural world. We learn more specifically who God is by this verbal revelation to us.

Here is the one of the main purposes of Scripture:

¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

“God-breathed” is a compound word that means, well, God-breathed, theopneustos: (pronounced theh-oh pnew-stoss, and be sure to pronounce the “p”). It can be broken down like so: the- means God, -o- is the mediating vowel, and pneu = breath- and -st -mediating part of the building stem, and -os is the ending.

But forget this verbal precision, if it doesn’t help. Just realize that it means God-breathed

Incidentally, in v. 16, the word teaching is didaskalia (pronounced dee-dah-skah-LEE-ah) and can be translated as doctrine. It is related to the noun didachē.

Scripture is God-breathed to produce sound doctrine, and then we will not be tossed around, but equipped for every good work that helps people know God better, through his Son.

This series in Theology 101 is all about Scripture. We don’t cover the natural world, except for the posts on general revelation, creation, and providence.

IV. Purpose of Theology

A. Brief intro.

I borrow heavily from professional theologians. In this section, it is J. Rodman Williams, in his Renewal Theology, vol. 1, (Zondervan), pp. 19-21.

B. Clarification

We need theology to clarify what the church believes. We can participate in church life, but our fellowship deepens when we know what we believe.

C. Integration

Theology integrates the whole of Christian thought and organizes it into patterns, Using this format we can understand the whole.

D. Correction

As noted, every book in the NT, except the small epistle to Philemon, tells us to watch out for false teachers and prophets and teachings. Knowing theology as handed down over the centuries, particularly from the Reformation, can enable us to detect truth from falsehood.

E. Declaration

We can declare publicly what we stand for. “The Church of Jesus Christ stands for these teachings and not those.” The previous purposes of theology is for the church. But now we can speak with clarity to the world.

I end Williams’ ideas here.

V. The Method of Study

A. Brief intro.

This goes to the how of learning theology. In this section I borrow from Wayne Grudem,  Systematic Theology, 2nd ed. (Zondervan Academic, 2020), pp. 16-33, also a charismatic himself. I reformatted the original to fit this post.

B. Prayer

Absolutely true. We should pray before we begin any study and during our study. In your prayer, depend on the Holy Spirit.

C. Humility

One thing we should not do is be arrogant about our knowledge. “Knowledge puffs us” (1 Cor. 8:1). Don’t bludgeon people with your knowledge. Don’t lord it over the laity. Be humble with it.

²⁵ Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. ²⁶ Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— (Matt. 20:25-27)

Use theology to serve the body of Christ, not lord it over the people.

D. Reason

As noted above, we need the logos or reason to study theology. We need it to study Scripture, too.

³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12:30, emphasis added)

E. Study all of the Bible and collect the Scriptures on any topic

Theology, particularly the systematic variety, organizes countless verses into a coherent whole.

F. Rejoice and praise

It is true that when you learn something new, it makes you happy. In Christ we rejoice and praise him, for the knowledge we get.

VI. Reflections

A. Brief intro

This entire series in Theology 101 is geared towards churches who are part of the Renewal Movements. We need more theology. But of course anyone can read these posts in Theology 101: the Basics, just to get started.

B. What faith can accomplish

Placing our entire faith and trust in Christ and being born again gives us experiential knowledge of God. We can know God personally through Christ. We need this experiential knowledge. Knowledge of God cannot just remain intellectual. Even demons believe God exists and tremble (Jas. 2:19).

C. What reason can accomplish

Renewalists need much more instruction and doctrine than they are getting. Inspirational preaching about God fulfilling their hopes and dreams and super-charging their finances is insufficient. We live in the time or season of the worldwide web. Christians are getting bombarded with strange doctrines, on youtube and other such platforms. These youtube “teachers” know how to edit things and put in clever colors and special effects, but they have not been appointed by God. They do not know how to do even basic research. They run roughshod over basic hermeneutical (interpretational) principles.

These “teachers” do not seem to realize that they will be judged more severely (Jas. 3:1) and will have to render an account of their (self-appointed) “leadership” (Heb. 13:17). If they destroy God’s temple (the church), God will (eventually) destroy them (1 Cor. 3:17).

However, I am not entirely comfortable with philosophical theology, though I admire it and those who do it. The Bible is a library of books that reveals a God who deals with humankind who can experience him.

¹⁵ The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.^[f] And by him we cry, “Abba,^[g] Father.” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Rom. 8:15-16)

D. Warning from Scripture

These two verses from Ephesians 4 teach us that sound doctrine keeps us stable and mature:

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.  ¹⁵ Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. (Eph. 4:13-14)

Truth (doctrine) and love (love working through relationship with God and people) brings balance.

E. Change in the church

We need to change our ways and follow Scripture, or else much of the church will spiritually diminish and be swept away by strange teachings. Yes, theology and even a little apologetics about difficult passages is what the global Church needs, particularly in the Renewal Movements. They need the basics—even on Sunday morning, delivered by teaching pastors, not corporate, seeker-friendly pastors. You can teach theology, as you teach Scripture. Where else does theology come from, if not from Scripture?

F. Experiential knowledge of God

Let’s come to a near-end of this post with the experiential knowledge God, personally and intimately. For me, this is the deeper purpose of theology in the life of the church. Recall that John 1:1-4 says that in the living Logos brings life eternal.

We can only know God intimately and personally by surrendering to his Son and putting our full faith in him. Then God sends his Spirit into our hearts and causes us to be born again. This is experiential knowledge of God. It is wonderful. We can use our reason, hopefully in conjunction with our personal faith in God, to understand who God is, mainly by studying Scripture. This series in Theology 101 will quote lots of Scripture.

For me, theology leads me to experience God more fully. The more I know about him, the more my experience and relationship with him deepens. I understand more deeply whom I worship and serve and preach.

G. One final word of encouragement

Welcome again to Concise Theology. I hope you enjoy this series and learn from it as much as I have learned and still am learning. Be encouraged and keep going, no matter how challenging it may be, at times.

LONGER POST

Sec. 1, 1 Introduction to Theology 101: The Basics

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Works Cited