Systematic Theology Chapter 1

The things I learnt in Systematic Theology Chapter 1 – Introduction to Systematic Theology:

Systematic theology = Any study that answers the question, “What does the whole Bible teach us today?” about any given topic.

Historical theology = A historical study of how Christians in different periods have understood various theological topics.

Philosophical theology = A study of theological topics largely without use of the Bible, but using the tools and methods of philosophical reasoning and what can be known about God from observing the universe.

Apologetics = A defense of the truthfulness of the Christian faith for the purpose of convincing unbelievers.

Old Testament theology = Any study that answers the question, “What does the Old Testament teach us” about any given topic. A study that shows the historical development of the teaching on that topic as it progresses through the Old Testament.

New Testament theology = Any study that answers the question, “What does the New Testament teach us” about any given topic. A study that shows the historical development of the teaching on that topic as it progresses through the New Testament.

Biblical theology = Any study that gives special attention to the teachings of individual authors and sections of Scripture, and the place of each teaching in the historical development of Scripture.

My responses to the questions for personal application:

1) This chapter has not really changed my understanding of what systematic theology is, but it has helped me to better comprehend the definition of systematic theology, in comparison with the different types of theology that are present today. My attitude toward the study of systematic theology before reading this chapter is one of eagerness and self-motivated interest. My attitude now is one of fuelled desire to study it not only for myself, but for the benefit of others.

2) A church or denomination that gives up learning systematic theology for a generation or longer is likely to be weakened greatly in its universal distinctive, regardless of denomination, as the “children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation” (Philippians 2:15). If a proper study of theology ultimately affects the way a person lives his life, then the neglect of the study of systematic theology will produce spiritually challenged children. And spiritually challenged children from one generation will produce more offspring of a greater spiritual retardation in the next generation. Over a few continuous generations, our identity and purpose as “the children of God” will be of no significant impact to the world, especially when the world’s intellectual, spiritual, and moral climate is bending fast towards pluralism and the non-existence of absolute truth.

As far as my church is concerned, I think it will augur well for us to pay more attention to the study of systematic theology as a church, and deliberately plan to do it at a right place and at a right time. In my humble opinion, the approach that my church adopts in the ingesting the Word is mainly via biblical theology. If systematic theology is done on a regular basis, either over the pulpit on Sundays or over special weekly classes, then we can collectively learn and correctly form our beliefs in all topics pertaining to God.

This will benefit us in 4 ways:

a) It will prevent us from going through church life without having any mature stands on things related to God.

b) It will prevent any individual from arrogantly assuming that a stand that one holds for a certain topic is correct, while everyone else within the same church is wrong. As a side product, it will also prevent any individual from ignorantly making a claim that a certain school of thought on a certain topic belongs to our denomination, when there is no real, collective, and exclusive claim of ownership in the first place.

c) The church can move from asking “what does our church/denomination teach us about this topic?” to “what does the Bible teach us about this topic?”

d) The church can function effectively when the right things are done at the right place and at the right time (e.g. Wednesday Prayer Meetings are used for prayer, and Thursday Theology Classes are used for the study and discussion of theology). This will unsure that the church’s activities are rightly used for its purposes. (e.g. Wednesday Prayer Meetings are used for prayer for one another and prayer for God’s work, instead of used as a sounding board or war zone for theological disagreements).