At Simple Theologian our goal is to make theology accessible to everyone. Most theology books are big, thick, and pretty intimidating. To be honest, I think the phrase, “don’t judge a book by its cover” may have started with theology books. You take one look and have no desire to even make the attempt.
What’s so great about a medium like Medium (do you see what I did there?) is that you can take this information and send it out in bite sized chunks. You have heard the old saying, “How does one eat and elephant? One bite at a time.” You can think of Simple Theologian as your place to enjoy one spoonful at a time of robust Reformed theology.
This will be the longest post in the publication. It will be a helpful reference for you. It will also be sitting here on the featured section for you to come back to any time you need a refresh.
Definition
Systematic Theology (ST) seeks to layout the ideas and concepts presented in the Bible in a systematic way. ST is built upon the foundations of what’s known as Biblical Theology.
Biblical Theology is the study of each author within the Bible to understand what they’ve written. For instance, Pauline Theology is where you study all Paul’s letters in the New Testament and pull together all the theological threads that you find. This is done for all the authors of Scripture (yes there was more than one) and then those ideas all get pulled together in a systematic way and that’s how we get “Systematic Theology.”
You might think of Systematic Theology as a huge mosaic and Biblical Theology as the tiles that make it up. You have to have both to make the picture complete.
Foundation
We are not writing a new ST here at the Simple Theologian. We are building from a foundation that has passed the test of time. Our work is based on that of Louis Berkhof’s magisterial Systematic Theology.
Berkhof is the standard by which modern reformed theologies are tested. Originally published in 1934 this text is still used in seminaries and is in the library of most Reformed pastors. Therefore, we have chosen to build from his work as it is widely accepted and has staying power.
We would encourage you to grab a copy and consider reading the chapter that we are working through in any given post. You don’t need to do that, but you may find it beneficial and it will stretch you.
Structure
Every ST has a structure and its structure helps you understand the mind of the author and what he or she feels is foundational and important. Berkhof breaks his down into six parts. The following will give you a general overview (you will be able to use these headings as search terms):
The Doctrine of God — Also known as “Theology Proper”. Berkhof keenly aware that who God is, is of central importance to theology and begins his study here. This doctrine is organized around the “being of God” and the “works of God”.
The Doctrine of Man in Relation to God — also known as “Anthropology.” This section looks at humanity in their original state, in the state of sin, and in the covenant of grace. With this section coming second in Berkhof’s work we see that he is building from a “covenantal” framework. This means that he has introduced the main players, God and Man. He also introduced to us the basic structure humanity’s problem and God’s solution.
The Doctrine of the Person and Work of Christ — This is also known as “Christology.” While Jesus is talked about under “The Doctrine of God” he has a special purpose as the second person of the Trinity. Jesus’ work is God’s solution to the problem of man. We will dive into theperson of Christ, the states of Christ (fancy term for Jesus in time and out of time), and the offices of Christ (his jobs).
The Doctrine of the Application of the Work of Redemption — This is known as “soteriology” or the study of salvation. In this section Berkhof endeavors to explain how does a person “get saved.” There’s a lot in this one! We will touch on the Holy Spirit, common grace, union in Christ,calling, conversion, faith, justification, sanctification, and perseverance. Wow those are a lot of $10 words for “getting saved.” But they are important and we need to understand them.
The Doctrine of the Church and of the Means of Grace — You could call this one “Church and Sacraments.” Here Berkhof walks us through who and what the Church is, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. In other words, now that you “got saved” what do you do?
The Doctrine of the Last Things — The fancy word for this is “Eschatology.” What we appreciate about Berkhof’s approach here is that looks at this from individual level (what happens when I die?) and from the general level (what happens when Jesus returns?). This section rightly closes the story that Berkhof set out to tell when he began with God. One could say that the story begins with the glory of God and ends that way.
Search
We will not be writing the posts in order of the book. The authors of the Simple Theologian are just like you. Certain days or weeks we are wrestling with different questions about what we believe. We will be using Medium’s tagging as a means for you to search out topics that you want to find after they’ve been written. You should use the topics in bold above as your starting point and you can use the topics in italics to focus your search.
Conclusion
We hope that this provides you with a helpful overview and introduction to the Simple Theologian. The best way for you to keep up to date on what we publishing here is to login, hit “follow”, and then you’ll get an email every time we publish. You may want to click on the little bookmark below to keep this post at your fingertips.
Thanks for reading Simple Theologian, to God be the glory!
If you’re a Christian you’re a sojourner. If you’re a sojourner it begs the question, “What am I doing here?” When people sojourn somewhere they are there for a purpose. They go to that place to do something.
What are we Christians, us sojourners, here to do?
Are we here to fight the culture war? No.
Are we here to fight injustice? Yes and no. That may be part of what we’re called to do as Christians. It is most likely something that we are going to do because God cares about making things just and right. But, it’s not the end all, be all.
Are we here to make converts? Yes and no. That will be part of what happens as we live out our calling as followers of Jesus. But, like fighting injustice, it’s not the end all, be all.
What then are we supposed to be doing?
Peter writes,
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
In this sentence, Peter tells a group of Jewish Christians what their new identity is. He then tells them that this identity drives them into their calling.
That calling? “Proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
If God were writing a position focus for the follower of Jesus it would look something like this,
Reports to: Jesus, Messiah, Son of God.
Responsibilities: Proclaim the excellencies of Jesus.
That would be it. There would be little else. Do you know why? Because as we proclaim the excellencies of Jesus it changes us. When we talk about how awesome Jesus is, we will begin to want to be more like him.
As we become more like Jesus we begin to care about the things that he cares about. We will care about the injustice we see and act on it. We will become more holy because we will more align our lives evermore with his.
I want to be clear, this proclaiming the excellencies of Jesus is not about convincing people. It is about simply telling people that Jesus is excellent.
If you’re a Christian, you are sojourning here to tell the world that Jesus is excellent. When we grasp the excellency of Jesus in our own life and proclaim that to others, everything takes care of itself.
This proclamation of the excellency of Jesus is the opening of the rabbit hole. Open the door and see where it leads you. It has led me to Ypsilanti, MI to build disciples and send them out.
Join me as a fellow alien, sojourner, and exile in proclaiming how excellent Jesus is!
I have spent the last two weeks on vacation. During that time I watched the world spin. I saw the culture war explode. I saw people writing and thinking and whining. I saw a lot of hand wringing and worry from my tribe.
There is great concern that we, Christians, are losing our rights and standing in the world. We are becoming a religious minority in a rising secular culture. The secularists are coming for us and relegating us to the sidelines.
We are deeply afraid of losing this “war.” The fear is palpable. Many feel that we lost on abortion. Now we’ve lost on gay marriage.
If we have lost, it means that we were competing for something. It means that we were trying to win something.
Peter writes,
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:9–12 ESV)”
Peter is helping the Christians he’s writing to, to understand their identity. They are living with purpose and mission. Christians are a people who are called to proclaim the excellencies of Jesus in this world. That’s not all, they are also “sojourners and exiles.”
It is this second bit that we need to try and put our arms around. We have enjoyed our status as a cultural majority for a couple of hundred years in our country. Even longer when you consider Western society.
We have become comfortable. We have enjoyed our position of cultural power and influence.
We have forgotten that we are sojourners and exiles.
Sojourners and exiles are aliens. They are strangers in a strange land. They are not at home. Aliens don’t have the same rights as citizens. They don’t really belong in the place where they live.
I continue to see fellow Christians worrying about our “rights”. Friends, we don’t have rights here. This isn’t home. We have become comfortable. But, comfort for the Christian does not come from political or cultural power and influence. The Christian’s comfort is to come from the Holy Spirit.
In Philippians 2 Paul encourages Christians to follow the example of Jesus’ humility. Jesus being God, sought equality with God nothing to be grasped.
If we are going to authentically follow Jesus then we must identify ourselves with him, to do so, means that we self-identify as strangers and aliens in this world.
I think I’ve always wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself. Haven’t you? When my brothers and I would play in the back yard we imagined being warriors for some great cause. Or, when we were older we would set up back yard Olympics and compete for our country. There’s an allure to being a part of something outside of ourselves, something important, something bigger.
“What we do in life, echoes in eternity.”
Now there’s a great line. Maximus was about to lead his troops to battle. As he did, he was reminding them that they were part of something bigger than themselves. He wanted them to know, to understand, that what they were fighting for had meaning and purpose beyond the here and now.
Some say that the world is nothing more than what we can experience with our five senses. There is nothing else. When we die, there is no more. The Christian however believes that there is more, that there is life after death, that eternity awaits us all. The Christian therefore believes that, “What we do in this life, echoes in eternity.”
For us Christians eternity is wrapped up in the resurrection. It is in the resurrection, and the resurrection alone, that eternity makes any sense. This is why Paul writes,
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. (1 Corinthians 15:12-19 ESV)
That sounds extreme right? Everything is founded and centered in and on the resurrection of Jesus. Without the resurrection, “we are of all people most to be pitied.”
It is this eternal nature of life that wraps around and surrounds all that we do. It is the great kairos that envelopes the chronos within which we live our ordinary lives. The two words, kairos and chronos, are words for time. Chronos is the linear, the chronological. Kairos is when time seems to stop, a baby being born, saying your vows, or even just something that catches your breath for an instant. Christians understand kairos moments to be when the kingdom of heaven breaks into our world and intersects with it, even for the briefest moment.
When I was working with Campus Crusade for Christ we talked a lot about eternal perspective with college students. We wanted them to think about their lives from the big picture. For us, this meant coming on staff or going on summer missions. I’m realizing now that living with eternal perspective is so much more than that.
As I raise my kids I do so with an eye towards eternity. I want them to see and know how big the world is that they are stepping into. As I launch a church movement I want people to see that everything they do, everywhere they go, everything they say, has eternal significance. It’s tied up together.
The Lego Movie’s theme song said, “Everything is awesome!” For those of us following Christ we might change it to say, “Everything matters!” Every day counts. Every moment counts. They all matter.
I don’t have invent ways to be a part of something bigger than myself. I already am.
Why? Because everything has been touched by resurrection.
Paul said it really well,
Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Philippians 3:2-11 ESV)
There’s a lot of talk in my circles about “speaking truth.” This is tightly connected with the need to “call people to repentance.” Along with that we also have the call to “receive forgiveness and grace.”
These are all really good things. I really appreciate that these concepts and ideas are coming to the front of our conversations. Repentance and belief are core components to what it means to follow Jesus. Both require us to set aside ourselves and move towards someone outside ourselves.
So how do we do it?
First, a word. Most of the people yelling for truth and repentance are people who lack grace. Many of the people screaming about grace lack truth and repentance. This creates an “Us Vs Them” mentality as these topics begin to be discussed. The truth people jump to a defense of truth and the grace people jump to a defense of grace. Both claim “love.” The reality is that we need to have all three. We need truth, grace, and love being spoken, taught, and embodied. When we drop or minimize one of the three then we get out of whack with reality.
We need to understand that truth and grace only make sense or work together in tandem, couched in a context of love. If we only speak truth then we become legalists and if we only speak grace then we become “anti-nomian (against the law).” Either way, we are missing the mark of what it is that we are called to do as ambassadors for Jesus.
Love comes before all. This means that we have to make sure that our desire is truly for the other person. What I mean by this is that our communication of truth and grace must not come from a selfish desire to be “right” or to be “liked.” When we step out to speak truth and grace, we do so for the other, this is love.
Again, how do we do it?
First, we ask questions. We must enter in as learners. When we enter into conversation without first asking questions we assume that we know and understand the other. This is hardly ever the case. We must understand where the other is coming from in such a way that they will recognize their own position. When we enter as a learner it makes it very hard for us to cast aspersions and make snap judgments.
Second, we pray. A friend once said, “Talk to God before you talk to people.” That’s as true a thing as I’ve heard. When we pray we are laying the situation before the Father and then listening to hear the Spirit. When we do this it again pushes our self-centeredness aside.
Third, we check what we have heard against the Scriptures. We take this step to make sure that we are hearing from the Father and not ourselves.
Fourth, we ask. We need to ask permission to speak into someone’s life. This is a piece of the truth and grace puzzle that we often miss. When we do, we are setting ourselves up for frustration and possibly a severed relationship.
Finally, we talk. Hopefully, face to face and with gentleness and respect boldly. The message has to have both parts, grace and truth. It is, “I don’t condemn you, go and sin no more.” The both/and is critical. When I discipline my children we start with hugs and end with hugs. In the middle there may be tears, but they know that there is grace and mercy. That grace and mercy can truly only be understood when I’ve also boldly and clearly spoken truth. When this happens repentance and belief are often the result and it’s beautiful.
We can do a better job at this. We need to do a better job at this. We must do a better job at this.
Speaking grace and truth in love. These three things held in tension together each informing the other.
One of the things that continues to surface in conversations about our culture is that of the tax exempt status of churches and Christian institutions. Earlier this spring I was sitting at a dinner where a colleague was bemoaning this coming reality. Others around the table shared the concern. They were worried that this change would significantly decrease giving and put churches out of business.
They were also worried about the property taxes that many churches would have to pay on buildings if they lost their exemption. Most church buildings are on the best property in a town. The taxes on those locations would typically be significant. However, it was decided early on in our history as a nation that churches would be exempt from paying those taxes because of their communal good. To be sure, churches still provide very good things to the community within which they exist. They probably break even with their communities.
But why all this worry? Why all this fear?
As I listened to this discussion, I told the guys at the table that if giving dries up because the government changes our tax status, then we have deeper problem. The fact that many leaders in the church are worried about this says that the deeper problem exists already.
We are worried about this because we aren’t discipling people. We are not helping them grow to maturity in their faith. Giving, we think is dependent on the tax write offs that people give. Leadership within the church doesn’t think that giving is being done as an act of worship but as a business transaction.
If giving is driven by worship and a desire to respond to the Lord then it won’t matter to someone if they get a tax write off. Giving for the follower of Jesus is a responsive act of gratitude. If we believe that God is good and has provided all things for us then we will joyfully give to God’s work through his church.
The fears of my colleagues and the Christian media uncovers an ugly reality, we have not been building disciples. There is a lack of maturity within the church in the US.
If you are a church leader that is afraid of churches lose their preferential tax status then double down, right now, on discipleship. Focus less on nickles and noses and give your attention to building people in their faith and sending them out to build others up. Go beyond giving a weekly monologue or teaching a Sunday school class. Get involved in the lives of people and lead them to maturity.
When we are building disciples we don’t need to worry about what happens when the tax write off goes away or when we lose property tax exemption. We won’t need to worry because people will be giving as worship and not part of a business transaction.
What does it look like to love your neighbor as yourself? No seriously, what does that mean? How do we do it? How can it be lived out? Is it even possible?
Ever since I became serious about following Jesus I have been struggling with this one question. I think it’s the hardest thing that we are asked to do as Jesus followers. This is especially true in our culture where we have been largely isolated by technology and we are largely experiencing the world through a curated media.
We have access to more information about the world than ever before. You would think that this would help us to understand one another better and see the common ground between us. But, because the information is curated and spun, the opposite is true.
When I watch the news of the day, I see caricatures of my beliefs. I see caricatures drawn of my friends who are different from me. So many times I think, “That’s not even close to accurate. They don’t really believe that.” These things create distance between us.
The result of all this is it makes it very, very difficult to love your neighbor.
Here is what I’m learning about loving my neighbor:
I have to know my neighbor. I have to get up close and personal. I can’t know them from afar.
Relationship is fundamental. Not a digital connection, but a real life, face to face relationship.
Time is necessary. It takes time to gain knowledge and relationship.
Humility is required. We cannot possibly begin to love our neighbor apart from setting aside our self interest.
Knowledge, relationship, time, and humility. If we can begin to embrace these four concepts then we can begin to learn to love our neighbor as ourselves. These are not easy things. In all of them, we must deny ourselves. Self-denial is beyond most of us. It’s simply too hard.
Loving my neighbor. I don’t know if I’ll ever really get it. I really want to though.
In the very near future my family will start doing something that I had never thought about doing. It’s an idea that my bride came up with and I think it’s absolutely brilliant. If you don’t know yet, my bride is the most brilliantest person I’ve ever known. Just recently, I wrote this about her:
My wife is one of the most brilliant and God following people I know. Her ability to live by faith in the face of difficult things leaves me speechless.
This idea of hers was sparked while being at our denomination’s General Assembly. It was one of the first things that we talked about when she got home from serving there.
Her idea? Our family will start attending a traditionally black church in our city. As soon as she said that this was something that she had been thinking about I knew it was the right thing to do. Her thoughts had to do with our kids and helping to make sure that they are connected to the whole body of Christ.
As I have been thinking and praying about this, ever moreso over the last couple days due to the church burnings, I am realizing what a fundamentally necessary thing this is.
I’m a pastor. I’m a white pastor. I serve in a predominantly white denomination. My mentors have been white. The leadership of our denomination is white. On Sunday evenings, much to my sadness, everyone who gathers for worship is white.
Black folks in our country have been asked over and over again to take steps toward the “majority culture.” They have been asked to “assimilate.” I am realizing that if I am serious about the kind of biblical reconciliation that I see in the writings of the Bible, then I have to move, I have to take steps away from the majority culture, I need to be the one who is uncomfortable.
I need to sit under the preaching and submit to the leadership of a black pastor. I need to!
My family needs to see this from me. My son and daughter need to see me lead our family this way. It’s not enough to simply hug it out at a pastoral leadership meeting. It’s not enough to say, “I went to Promise Keepers back in the day.” It’s not enough to write or talk. We need to act.
Our family has a unique opportunity to enter in to another church because of when our congregation meets.
God through Jesus reconciled the world to himself. Jesus couldn’t do the work he needed while sitting at the right of the Father. Neither can I hope to make a dent in the issues of race that are bubbling to the surface of our community sitting behind a keyboard or surrouded by white folks.
So many people bemoan the segregation of Sunday mornings. Instead of whining about it, we think it’s time, that we start changing it.