Devotion
BY Herschel Smith
3 years, 9 months ago
“Systematics is necessary if men are to think intelligently and logically. Without the concept of systematics and the God it sets forth, we cannot hold to a rational and understandable universe nor to any meaningful order therein. Unregenerate man’s reason and logic operate against the background of chaos and a meaningless void, so that reason and logic are in essence more than irrational: they are absurd. Systematics not only makes reason reasonable, but it declares that there is a necessary and meaningful connection between all facts, because all facts are the creation of the sovereign and omnipotent God and are thus revelations of His purpose and order. The idea of preaching the whole counsel of God is only a possibility if systematics is a reality. Otherwise, there is no necessary and real connection and unity in the Word of God, and we have instead a developing, changing word and plan under different dispensations. We have then a fragmented word, not a whole counsel which is necessary and authoritative unity.
Thus, without systematics there is no word of God, and, indeed, no such God as His revelation in Scripture sets forth.”
Rousas J. Rushdoony, “The Necessity for Systematic Theology.”
Systematic theology isn’t dry or boring. Theology is “talk about God.” If you dismiss or don’t like theology, it is the God of that theology who may be your real enemy.
For systematic theology is simply the arrangement of Scripture, and the translation and exegesis of that Scripture, that bears on various subjects, such as the nature of God, who He is, what names by which He calls Himself (e.g.,Elohim, El-Shaddai, Yahweh, Jehova, Adonai, etc.) and what that tells us about God, the trinity, the person of Jesus, soteriology, who man is, the federal headship of Adam and what that means for man, from what man must be saved, God’s plan to do just that and how He accomplishes it.
We cannot simply make up out of our imaginations doctrine about God when He has revealed Himself in the Scriptures, nor can we fabricate out of whole cloth what we want to believe about God, how He communicated with us, and what we must do to have joy in obedience.
On January 27, 2021 at 8:18 am, Cameron said:
Twenty -five years ago I heard about a man whose policy was not to read any Christian books that were less than one hundred years old. I was intrigued and tried to employ that philosophy and discovered that I didn’t know how to read. When I took the SAT in 1975 I scored in the top 1% in the verbal section of the test. In order to read theology I had to teach myself to read at 40. It took six months of reading a paragraph from a volume such as Hodges’ Systematic Theology, and rereading it until I understood the argument. We used to teach logic in the schools because it was believed that the purpose of education was the apprehension of truth. With the advent of the industrial revolution the purpose became to train factory workers. John Taylor Gattos’ book The Underground History of American Education documents this. He claims our educational model was brought from India about 1840 to establish a caste system in the U.S. I was a public school teacher for 7 years. By the time my first child was born I had decided that my children would never go to public school. I knew that by historic standards our schools were failing. All 5 of my children were home-schooled.
On January 27, 2021 at 10:39 am, Riding With the King of Kings said:
God didn’t give us a brain with the intent to outsource it to people who mean us harm.
When I went to a Billy Graham revival as a child he knew my name even though I never told him.
And I knew God was real long before multiple miraculous life saving events.
Don’t ever give in to fear, emptiness, despair, for that is what the devil wants.
The greatest trick of the deceiver is still the smoke and mirrors of convincing the world that he doesn’t exist.
On January 27, 2021 at 9:10 pm, Fred said:
I’ve never done a systematic theology study. I do know that context matters: when the book was written, who was written to/about at the time, the context of the passage in real history and not just cherry picking verses and making them mean whatever you want. You should always read the surrounding verses even the whole chapter and prior and after chapter until you get the real context as written, BEFORE you start making application.
On January 27, 2021 at 9:18 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@Fred,
Systematic theology ALWAYS considered context, good exegesis, and good hermeneutics.
There are many textbooks I could recommend. I’ll try to fill in a few posts with recommended reading.
On January 28, 2021 at 5:58 pm, luke2236 said:
Amen Fred – this is key. PLUS, the Bible IS consistent if you will allow it to explain itself.
On January 29, 2021 at 7:17 am, DBM said:
One of the most intense times of spiritual growth that I’ve ever had revolved around the study of Grudem’s ST text. I spent 2 18 month periods reading through the text, a chapter a week, with a group of 10-12 other men. It challenged what I thought I knew about God and made me look at scripture to see what God had revealed about himself. That will change your life.
On January 29, 2021 at 11:33 am, Herschel Smith said:
@DBM,
I have heard that Wayne Grudem’s text is good (with the exception of a tilt of the hat he makes to continued revelation).
Mostly, my studies have been in Hodge, Shedd, Calvin, Dabney, Bavinck, Charnock and Turretin.
On January 29, 2021 at 5:23 pm, Cameron said:
While I have all of the above except Bavinck, I believe the best place to start is the Westminster Confession. Over 100 of the best theologians in history labored for nearly five years to produce what many have called the best summary of the teachings of Scripture. I spent two decades in churches that only had a one or two page doctrinal statement to guide them. The Westminster Standards tower over modern evangelicalism. In closing I must mention the late Greg Bahnsen. The YouTube videos of his debates with atheists and his refutation of evolution are very inspiring in this dark time.
On January 29, 2021 at 5:27 pm, Herschel Smith said:
THIS ^^^^^
Including the larger and shorter catechisms. With Scripture proofs. If you don’t have the money for the hard back, it’s all available online.
On January 29, 2021 at 7:08 pm, Cameron said:
https://bahnsenproject.com/calvins-institutes/
I just found this website. I think it will be valuable. Most of Bahnsens’ audio files are copyrighted and must be purchased. Calvins’ history has been obscured by lies. I’m sure Bahnsens’ research is exemplary.