Theology 1 - Introduction

Happy New Year. I’m so excited to begin with you a new class that covers a whole range of biblical doctrines. In fact, I’m going to combine two classes into one and I think they will work together really well. The first class was originally titled “Basic Bible Doctrine” and it covered approximately fifteen different major beliefs. The goal was to explain these aspects of theology and give supporting scripture and reasons for them. I’m combining this with a more advanced class called “Solutions to Bible Texts,” which deals with commonly misunderstood verses on a bunch of doctrines. I’m going to attempt to interweave these two, so that you get a comprehensive understanding of theology.

Now I realize that you very well may disagree with my understanding on some of these beliefs, so we may have some exciting dialog in the comments on these episodes. I will freely admit at the outset that I don’t know everything and that I have been wrong in the past. I just ask that you give this class a charitable listen and check it against the scriptures to see if it is true. Hopefully, this will be a good way to lay it all out there and see what you think. To begin with, this episode is an introduction that covers some important basics about approaching truth and building biblical doctrines.

—— Notes ——

In one sense there’s nothing basic about bible doctrine. Constructing a coherent biblical theology on any topic takes immense effort from collecting the many texts on the topic to interpreting each of them based on their own literary, historical, and theological contexts to conceiving of an understanding that simply yet elegantly embraces the most texts possible while minimizing the number of difficult texts to comparing other doctrinal systems both ancient and modern—the process is anything but “basic.” Even so, the end result is often simple enough to comprehend and communicate, though it rests upon the work of teams of specialists drawn from a variety of fields.

the bereans

Acts 17.11
what was Paul trying to convince them to believe?
neither accepted nor rejected<–really impressed Paul
tested Paul’s message against the scriptures

why is it so important to be willing to change our beliefs?

b/c it’s easy to misunderstand the bible

geographic separation (what’s the Arabah?)
cultural separation (did they have divorce? could they read? did they have running water?)
different religious groups (what’s the difference between a Saducee and a Pharisee?)
language (what language did Jesus speak? how do we know that? ephphatha)
metaphysics: function over essence (why did God call the light day?)
anachronism: since everything is so different, it takes serious work to not read our own ideas into the bible

reasons why it can be hard to change our beliefs

easier to keep them the same
might need to leave our church
might lose friends, relationship with kids (Ray Faircloth), marriage (1 Cor 7)
might lose job opportunities
identity might be wrapped up in being 3^rd generation church of God or whatever
- remember when I went to BU and got asked what I was
- anabaptist, adventist, biblical unitarian, restorationist
- my core identity (what defines me at more core, but doesn’t change no matter where I am on my quest for understanding)

love God
follow Christ
seek truth

typical to think doctrine doesn’t matter or worse that it’s divisive

not taught to argue constructively
head knowledge vs. heart knowledge
- mind vs. emotions vs. actions
- false way of splitting things up
- you should have emotional attachment to your doctrine
- your doctrine does affect what you do, how you live and vice versa
the bible simply doesn’t talk this way
don’t split yourself up, but recognize you are a whole person

how much deviation from the truth puts someone in trouble?

Jesus had 10 apostles and was in the grave 4 days instead of 3?
think Jesus is messiah but didn’t die for our sins (Muslims)?
think Jesus came to America to preach to the natives (Mormons)?

a good double standard

I want to know, so I’ll look into everything for myself
I won’t judge others for disagreeing unless it is something that could compromise their salvation (i.e. not knowing the gospel, not following Jesus, practicing idolatry, etc.)

why doctrine matters

how you think affects what you do
a bad doctrine can lead to damnation
a good doctrine can bring countless people to salvation

an example of a bad doctrine:

burning heretics
- heretics are going to hell
- if we don’t do anything they will convince others of their ideas and cause others to go to hell
- hell is a burning fire of eternal torment
- burn them now as a public example to show everyone what hell will be like if you believe their ideas

an example of good doctrine:

martyrs
- Christ has already broken the power of death when God raised him from the dead
- he will raise me up on the last day
- If I confess him, he will confess me; if I deny him, he will deny me
- I should follow his example of how he died
- dying for Christ is a high honor
- I can’t do this on my own, but God will strengthen me so I can testify

three levels of theology