Part One This completes the thoughts offered previously. 4. Systematic Theology Coming now to Systematic Theology the first thing that must be said is that the pretended stand for a partial system must be summarily dropped. Dispensational Theology cannot be switched out for the term Dispensational Premillennialism. In point of fact, I make bold to say that the notion of Dispensational Premillennialism is a bit of an odd bird without a full-orbed system to back it up. Most Dispensationalists have …
Category: Systematic Theology
Part One Carl Henry proposes the following view of God’s relationship to time: The biblical view it seems to me, implies that God is not in time, that there is no succession of ideas in the divine mind, that time is a divine creation concomitant with the origin of the universe, that God internally knows all things including all space-time contingencies, and that this knowledge includes knowledge of the temporal succession prevalent in the created universe. Although God’s nature, including …
Part One As we contemplate God’s perfections, we need to pay attention to what God has disclosed about Himself, linking these qualities together as they are linked together in His person. The perspectival aspect that is so important to grasp when we are dealing with the attributes should be remembered. Millard Erickson actually criticizes the great Puritan Stephen Charnock for seeming to compartmentalize the attributes of God. When we are dealing with the perfections; whether it be the power of …
Calvin on God’s Powers John Calvin’s treatment of Psalm 145 offers some great ruminations about the attributes of God. The psalm can be broken down into three parts: Verses 1-3 are David on his own speaking of the greatness of God celebrating God’s praise. Verses 4-9 speak of David bringing in the people of whom he is king and bringing them to praise and prompting them to consider God’s greatness and goodness. Verses 10-21 he brings in the whole of creation; …
Part One Objection 1: A common objection to viewing Scripture as propositional revelation is that it ends up treating the Bible as a sort of theological concordance, irrespective of the original context of the passage. Now I agree with that, but that’s not what we’re talking about. Propositional revelation does not necessarily involve treating the Bible as a theological concordance. Objection 2: The propriety of associating the ineffable God with human linguistic forms. Some scholars balk at the idea that …
The Bible depicts man as specially equipped by God for the express purposes of knowing God’s rational verbal revelation, of communicating with God in praise and prayer, and of discoursing with fellow men about God and his will. – Carl F. H. Henry, God, Revelation, and Authority, Volume 3, 389 Because of the theistic view of language described above we ought not to be surprised when we turn to Scripture and look upon it as information that has been given to …
This piece is based on transcripts of a lecture I gave on the subject. This lecture on the so-called phenomena of Scripture is necessary because in the modern and postmodern eras it has become more and more common not only to refer to the inspiration of Scripture, which is clearly a biblical doctrine, but to bolster this claim with the assertion of biblical inerrancy; it is perfectly justifiable to think and speak in these terms. Inspiration includes inerrancy and authority requires …
The Inspiration of Scripture – Part Three N.B. This is a companion piece to the articles on Inspiration “Scripture” usually translates the Greek term graphe. Sometimes, as in 2 Timothy 3:15 one finds hieros grammata, but it is clear that in the context grammata is referring to the Scriptures of verse 16. In other words it is just a synonym. Also, Paul is referring to the Old Testament as a unit – as a whole, and not to the different books of the …
Part Two Let us reproduce the Pache definition: Inspiration is the determining influence exercised by the Holy Spirit on the writers of the Old and New Testament in order that they might proclaim and set down in an exact and authentic way the message as received from God. – Rene Pache, The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture, 45 When one is dealing with Pache’s definition, it is vital to notice that he was speaking very much about the writers, so let’s get …
Part One The Divine over the Human What all this does is that it causes us to conclude that as evangelical Christians we should emphasize the divine aspect of the Bible more than the human element, though not neglecting the human aspect. This is the biblical pattern: Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to …
