Dale Partridge - July 07, 2021


Real Christianity #153： Why Study Systematic Theology

Topics
why study systematic theology systematic theology
Hosted by
Dale Partridge
Mentioned
John MacArthur Charles Spurgeon Wayne Grudem Paul Washer Tom Askell ReLearn Banner Torah
Real Christianity #152： Are you Stealing God’s Glory Real Christianity #155： 3 Biblical Principles To Consider Before You Move

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24 minutes

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185

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In this episode of Real Christianity, Dale Partridge discusses why every Christian should study systematic theology. Systematic theology is a concept that has been around for a long time, but there are still many Christians who don't understand how the parts work together. In this episode, Dale explains what systematic theology is and why we should all study it.

Transcript

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00:00:00.000 Welcome to this episode of Real Christianity.
00:00:11.240 My name is Dale Partridge, where each week I offer 15 to 20-minute answers to tough theological
00:00:16.600 and pastoral questions.
00:00:18.420 This is a 100% listener-supported audio ministry of relearn.org.
00:00:24.180 And for those who don't know, our mission at relearn.org is to educate and equip ordinary
00:00:29.640 Christians to plant biblical, confessional, and missional house churches. For more information,
00:00:35.680 just visit relearn.org forward slash house. Welcome to Real Christianity. My name is Dale 0.97
00:00:43.460 Partridge. Today, we are talking about why study systematic theology. As you guys know,
00:00:49.940 for those who are regular listeners to this podcast, the show notes are available for you
00:00:54.940 at relearn.org. Systematic theology is an important discussion. I think in the church today,
00:01:00.820 we have too many Christians who have an isolated or fragmented theology and don't understand how
00:01:07.520 the parts work within the whole. So today we're going to be talking about not only what is 0.99
00:01:14.000 systematic theology, but why every Christian should be studying systematically. But before
00:01:20.480 we begin, I just wanted to make a few quick announcements. One is that I am still working
00:01:24.900 hard on the new podcast format with the new YouTube video format that'll offer really a
00:01:34.300 training on biblical interpretation because our mission at ReLearn is to improve biblical
00:01:41.280 literacy. This is really what we are aiming to do is help Christians know how to read,
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00:03:37.680 Okay, let's dive into this discussion of why study systematic theology.
00:03:45.760 I recently posted a tweet where I wrote,
00:03:49.640 most modern Christians have formed their theology by people they've heard instead of by scripture they've studied. 0.59
00:03:58.120 And obviously, this is a problem for a variety of reasons.
00:04:04.100 We can't know our Bibles by simply allowing other people to tell us what's in it.
00:04:10.440 We listen to podcasts and sermons and YouTube videos, and we read books and commentaries
00:04:15.900 and everything in between.
00:04:17.260 But the one thing that we're not doing enough of is opening up our own Bibles and reading
00:04:23.180 them carefully.
00:04:24.680 And not just reading it, really, it's studying it to such an extent that we can begin to
00:04:29.040 see the systematic theological structure of God's redemptive plan revealed in Scripture. 0.95
00:04:37.160 In other words, I really believe that we have too many Christians, and not new Christians, 0.54
00:04:41.640 but people who have known the Lord for decades, who have a piecemeal comprehension of Scripture. 0.91
00:04:48.780 And I chose that word very intently.
00:04:52.360 The word piecemeal means, and I quote, a process characterized by unsystematic discovery and
00:05:00.480 partial measures taken over a period of time. 1.00
00:05:03.920 And this is probably the best description I can think of, of a modern Christian's approach
00:05:08.340 towards theology.
00:05:09.580 I'm going to read that again.
00:05:10.640 It says, a process characterized by unsystematic discovery and partial measures taken over
00:05:17.560 a period of time.
00:05:18.520 So because I'm going to be briefly defining systematic theology in this episode, I thought
00:05:25.940 it was a good idea to start by first defining systematic thinking.
00:05:34.200 The simplest definition that I could find was, quote, systems thinking or systematic
00:05:40.780 thinking is understanding how different parts of a system can influence one another in producing
00:05:48.200 the whole. Now, over the last hundred years, humanity has increased information, right? We're
00:05:56.660 in the information age, but that doesn't mean that we've increased intellect. In fact, most
00:06:02.940 sociologists believe that because our minds aren't being forced to work as hard to find solutions as
00:06:09.600 they did in the previous generations, that we really as a society are gaining more data, but
00:06:15.580 in reality, our individual intelligence levels are decreasing. And because we have so much
00:06:22.700 information available, we often approach topics and issues in isolation, and we fail to see how
00:06:30.600 they're connected to and have influence in other parts of their system. It's kind of like an
00:06:37.840 information overload. Let's not make something more complex than it really is. Let's
00:06:45.560 make it simple. So we isolate things instead of being willing to embrace the complexity
00:06:50.580 and that this is a web. And when you talk about one thing, you're really talking about a bunch
00:06:56.660 of other things, how they're connected to this constellation. And our minds really want to just
00:07:03.140 pull back and go, let's just look at this thing in isolation instead of diving into the complexity
00:07:09.140 of the connectedness of whatever we're doing. Now, when we apply this understanding to
00:07:15.960 theology in the modern church, we begin to see why so many Christians have an unsystematic
00:07:21.700 theology. What I mean by that is that they take passages of Scripture out of not only their 0.91
00:07:28.180 immediate context, but their canonical context. That means their context within the entire Bible,
00:07:35.100 The canon of Scripture, the word is canonical, right?
00:07:38.900 It's a canonical view or a canonical theology, means the theology throughout the entire Bible,
00:07:44.880 Genesis to Revelation.
00:07:46.320 So they take it out of the immediate context, and they also take it out of the canonical
00:07:50.500 context, and they arrive at these interpretations that neglect the greater doctrines and theological
00:07:56.300 conclusions by which they're divinely linked together.
00:07:59.260 And let me just kind of offer you an analogy that I think might be helpful for you to see and understand what I'm saying.
00:08:08.760 Okay, most modern musicians today are not formally trained.
00:08:13.600 They're not classically trained musicians.
00:08:16.960 They learn how to play the piano or the guitar through, you know, self-teaching or peer teaching, you know, resources like YouTube videos or learning basic chords online or from a book.
00:08:27.300 In other words, most modern musicians don't know music theory or instrumental or vocal technique or ear training. They can't read or write real music, like the music notes.
00:08:42.600 And this doesn't mean that they can't play beautiful music. It simply means that they have a partial and fragmented comprehension of music as a whole.
00:08:53.180 And this is much like modern Christians who know some of the basics of Christian theology but don't understand systematic theology or biblical theology or Christology or soteriology and how they're all connected together. 0.66
00:09:09.420 The problem arises that when people who have not been formally trained in theology act like they have or think that they are more of an expert than they are or begin to teach others as if they are qualified to do so.
00:09:28.660 And I'm not saying that nobody's qualified unless you're a systematic theologian.
00:09:32.740 I'm saying that we are very loose-handed with this.
00:09:40.100 If you look up on YouTube how to lead a Bible study, you're likely going to see lots of
00:09:48.100 young people in their teens and early 20s offering instructions on how to lead Bible
00:09:55.200 studies instead of church elders who have been tried and true, tested, have been trained,
00:10:04.260 have shown the fruit in their life, have decades of study experience offering their wisdom
00:10:11.740 on how to host a Bible study.
00:10:13.860 And so that's kind of a small example of what I'm talking about here.
00:10:19.360 And, you know, when it comes to training, you know, we have to remember there's a lot of the people out there that are like, you know, hey, the disciples never went to seminary.
00:10:30.960 You know, they didn't get trained.
00:10:32.440 I always tell people we have to remember that Jesus chose 12 devout Jews who knew the Torah since childhood.
00:10:41.500 And then they spent three years under Jesus's daily teaching and gospel doctrine,
00:10:49.080 all before Jesus sent them out to teach others or minister to others.
00:10:54.380 So I do think there is a strong biblical argument for training before teaching others.
00:11:00.340 And there is, again, that analogy between we have a similar situation going with musicians.
00:11:06.720 It doesn't mean that you can't play great music if you're not classically trained or formally trained.
00:11:12.380 The same thing is it doesn't mean that you can't have a really great understanding of the gospel and even preach a good sermon.
00:11:18.400 But we have to recognize that there is a formal, systematic, theological architecture that we should be aware of so that we can be humble enough to go,
00:11:31.240 I'm operating into territory that I don't really know and I need some help here. Instead of
00:11:41.100 believing that, oh, I've read it, therefore I know it and I know all about it and I'm confident
00:11:46.260 enough to get on stage or to preach something or to make a YouTube video about it. We just need to
00:11:51.240 be a little bit more careful with that. Ultimately, we live in a culture who thinks that we are
00:11:56.700 experts in a field because we read a book on the topic or took a certification class for a few
00:12:03.280 weeks. Again, we just need to be willing to know where we're weak in theology. And theology takes
00:12:11.720 years, decades to really grasp. The Bible is not an easy book to understand. I would argue that
00:12:21.880 it's the most complex book on earth. And the theological and doctrinal structure of scripture
00:12:28.680 is probably some of the highest, if not the highest thinking on earth as well. And so,
00:12:36.640 unfortunately, most modern Christians are weak in systematic theology because we, again, are
00:12:42.940 unwilling to see how the parts are really connected to the whole and how the whole is
00:12:47.740 connected to the parts. Now, why is this so important that we look at theology systematically?
00:12:57.460 I think in the simplest terms, without sound theology, we can't rightly worship Christ.
00:13:05.740 Okay, I want to say that one more time. Without sound theology, we can't rightly worship Christ.
00:13:11.920 In John chapter 4, Jesus is speaking to the woman at the well, and he explains to her, you know, that her people, the Samaritans, were worshiping God incorrectly.
00:13:25.140 He closes his argument, his section there, by saying, God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
00:13:37.080 Charles Spurgeon once spoke to this concept, and he said,
00:13:42.060 If we choose a false way of worship, we shall, before long, choose to worship a false god.
00:13:49.120 End quote.
00:13:50.600 Ultimately, what I want you guys to grasp here is that the river of worship must flow down the banks of truth.
00:13:59.140 If we remove the banks or the theological boundaries, the river begins to flow into invalid territory.
00:14:04.960 And this is what systematic theology does. It creates banks for the river. It gives our worship really a channel or a system by which it can properly flow.
00:14:19.980 It creates the boundaries or the bounds by which we view God and prevents us from taking isolated passages and ideas and creating new canals and trenches that really lead us down to falsehood.
00:14:34.960 And this is vital because what we're realizing as we get older is that everything is theological.
00:14:46.300 Suffering is very theological.
00:14:48.800 Marriage is very theological.
00:14:50.480 Depression is very theological.
00:14:53.100 Parenting is very theological.
00:14:56.420 Finances are very theological.
00:14:58.900 The point I'm trying to make here is that sound theology cultivates a clear outlook on life.
00:15:04.940 And the vast majority of people's trials, I should say self-inflicted trials, are really
00:15:11.180 a result of bad theology.
00:15:14.140 A pastor once told me, if you believe wrong, you'll never live strong.
00:15:19.220 And I think that's 100% correct.
00:15:22.780 You know, we must have a right view of God and a right view of ourselves and a right
00:15:29.940 view of the bridge, that's Jesus, who spans the gap between us and God. And we have to have these
00:15:37.820 right views if we're to live and think and feel and experience life the way that God intends us to.
00:15:49.660 So practically speaking, where do we go from here?
00:15:54.220 um i guess basically it means that christians need to see both the individual parts of scripture
00:16:04.720 and the whole we need to not only know that christ came but also we need to know that his
00:16:14.800 coming was promised in the old testament and why his coming is vital for humanity you know we we
00:16:21.400 don't only need to know that our sin is covered by the blood of Christ, but we also need to know
00:16:27.520 why God demands blood and not water or sweat or tears. We need to know that God is sovereign,
00:16:35.860 but we also need to know all of the passages that define the extent of his sovereignty.
00:16:41.200 And I can go on and on and on about the interconnectedness of theology and how vital it is to have a system that is not compromising itself, that's not contradicting itself.
00:16:59.200 itself. And this doesn't mean that we remove all mystery. There are still mysteries, but there is
00:17:09.480 a wonderful systematic map already developed. And I want to talk about that for a second,
00:17:16.580 because I understand that this can be incredibly overwhelming. And I admit, it is. Systematic
00:17:25.480 theology is a lifelong study. But let's just take a moment and thank God for church history.
00:17:34.740 Thank God that the Lord has raised up faithful men and women over the past 2,000 years
00:17:39.340 who have stood on the shoulders of theologians, who have stood on the shoulders of theologians
00:17:44.380 and have codified and systematized evangelical theology for us. It doesn't mean that it's
00:17:51.240 It's inspired by the Holy Spirit, but it has been critiqued and evaluated for centuries by individuals with the Holy Spirit.
00:18:07.020 And those creeds and confessions that have stood the test of time have, I should say,
00:18:17.440 they demand our respect and they demand our attention at the very minimum.
00:18:22.460 And we have these wonderful confessions and creeds.
00:18:25.980 I actually did an episode on this, it's 125, talking about confessions and creeds.
00:18:30.440 But we have confessions like the Westminster Statement of Faith or Westminster Confession of Faith
00:18:34.840 and the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith that present, again, a time-tested systematic
00:18:41.740 theological overview. But if you want to dive deeper, we also have modern books like John
00:18:51.220 MacArthur's Biblical Doctrine or Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology that are incredible resources
00:18:57.520 for us to start having a systematic view of the gospel, of scripture.
00:19:07.400 And so I'll get ready to close out here in a second,
00:19:10.740 but you might be asking the question, where do I begin?
00:19:14.640 I would start by reading a version of those statements of faith
00:19:19.200 that I mentioned just a second ago.
00:19:22.380 They're available in updated language as well.
00:19:25.800 So, you know, most of them were written in Old English originally.
00:19:29.100 The Westminster Confession of Faith, you can get the original Banner of Truth sells it.
00:19:35.220 You can also get the 1689 Confession, which I personally find more alignment with,
00:19:44.000 even though I love the Westminster Confession.
00:19:46.160 I just like the way that the 1689 is put together.
00:19:49.740 I think it's a little simpler to understand.
00:19:52.160 And it's a Baptist, and I'm not a Presbyterian.
00:19:55.800 but it's a Baptist confession. And you can find that at founders.org. And it's only about 80 pages.
00:20:03.240 And I know that sounds like a lot, but when you read through this, you go, wow,
00:20:09.800 this is amazing. Paul Washer actually did a video on Instagram TV not long ago, maybe six months
00:20:18.920 ago, he was getting an interview and a tour of his personal library at his office. And he got
00:20:25.780 over to the section that had the confessions and creeds. And he said, when I read these confessions
00:20:30.700 and creeds, I was so angry. He said, I had been studying for so long and I found these books that 1.00
00:20:39.960 had come and organized the conclusions that took me years to get to, all in a nice book.
00:20:48.920 that i had never read and i've done the same thing and it's amazing to go wow
00:20:57.480 this is a great resource for my family for our home for our church to be a confessional church
00:21:06.600 to stand behind these interpretations of biblical doctrine and you can do the catechisms that go
00:21:14.120 with it. Again, some of those are available at founders.org. Tom Askell, who is the president
00:21:22.540 over there, I had him on an interview not too far back in the Theologian series. You
00:21:27.380 might remember him. Personally, for a book, if you want to dive deeper, I recommend Dr.
00:21:35.340 MacArthur's biblical doctrine. It's next to my bed, and I try to read a few pages a week,
00:21:43.180 and it's just a wonderful overview of the Bible's doctrine and theology and helps
00:21:49.020 develop that systematic view. But overall, guys, just be willing to open up your Bible,
00:21:55.760 be willing to study it, be willing to look at the parts in light of the whole and the whole
00:22:01.380 in light of the parts. And then check your interpretations, not with your emotions or your
00:22:07.600 experience or what somebody has told you, but by looking to a variety of time-tested resources and
00:22:19.000 past theologians who have labored over these doctrines for decades. One thing that I do is
00:22:26.920 if I want to find an interpretation, I'll find a commentary. I'll try to come to my own conclusion
00:22:32.200 through prayer and evaluation of the text and the historical cultural context and the grammar,
00:22:37.020 and I'll look at this. And then I'll look at a commentary from the 1500s or 1600s, and then
00:22:42.840 one from the 1700s and one from the 1800s and one from the 1900s and then a modern one. And when I
00:22:49.140 see that over 500 years, five different guys who've never met each other and likely never
00:22:57.020 read each other's commentaries all came to the same conclusion, it's pretty rare that
00:23:05.060 that conclusion and interpretation is wrong.
00:23:08.360 And so that's just a system that I've done.
00:23:11.120 So hopefully this is a helpful episode for you guys on understanding the reason why we
00:23:17.240 should study systematic theology. So thank you guys for listening to this episode. It's just
00:23:23.960 such a pleasure to study and to share these lessons to you guys. Again, working on that new
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00:23:49.980 left those reviews. They mean a lot. On that note, my name is Dale Partridge. This is Real
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