Imagine you are walking into a grocery store. You walk in with your shopping list in your pocket, and as you walk down the aisles, you start looking around for signs to see what is kept where in the shop. But you are puzzled as you look up at the signs to find them all blank. Must be some sort of mishap with the managers. So you head down the first aisle to start looking at how things are arranged to find what you need. But as you walk down and look at the items, you notice with some confusion that nothing is in order. The cans of tuna are sitting next to the cereal boxes, which in turn are next to the chocolate bars. And worse yet, the tuna is not even all in one place. Some of it is mixed up among the apples, right next to the clothes washing liquid.1
What’s missing is a system. As I’m writing these articles for you, I’m not just choosing random topics that take my fancy. There is logical reasoning behind my selection of topics. There’s a system. I wanted to take a quick time-out in this “epistle” to point this out to you. It will also be helpful for you to get more of an idea about what theology is. If you ever go to a book shop and see a “Systematic Theology” on the shelf, you’ll have more of an idea about what that actually is. In fact, most books of theology explore some area of life in a logical way. As I write these articles, many of my conversation partners are theologians who have written their own volumes of systematic theology.
Things need to be logically ordered so people can make sense of them. We systematize all the time, every time we think. To systematize is to logically organize, and that’s what we do every time we think. In the words of Mr Hodge: “Such is the constitution of the human mind that it cannot help endeavouring to systematize and reconcile the facts which it admits to be true” (Hodge, ST Vol I, K.E. Loc 349 of 43380). Systematising is inescapable. The alternate option is chaos. When it comes to scripture, there is no exception. Like everything else we do, we need to think about it – and the result of that thinking is theology. Every creed and confession of the Church through all ages is the fruit of the Church’s own corporate effort at systematizing truth. Our forebears did this as they were confronted by the various situations and circumstances of the world around them.
You’ve probably heard the term “Systematic Theology” before. The smart theology students mention it all the time, you’ve probably noticed that there are books called “Systematic Theology.” But what actually is it? The term ‘Systematic Theology’ may be used in three different but related ways:
To do (verb) systematic theology is to systematically study God and his works by studying scripture (e.g. we are doing systematics).
A (noun) Systematic Theology is one systematised presentation of the entire teachings of scripture about God and his works (e.g. Louis Berkhof wrote a Systematic Theology).
Systematic Theology as a discipline (noun) is the field of study wherein the truths of scripture in their entirety are systematised (e.g. we are studying Systematic Theology).
Systematic Theology in all three of these senses focuses upon the ordered (systematized), complete presentation of what the Bible teaches about God (Van Til, p15). Put differently, it “seeks to offer the truth about God as revealed in scriptures as a whole, as a unified system” (Van Til, p17).
You see, and I’ll say this again, every time we process the truths of scripture in our thinking, we are systematizing – we are ordering them logically and seeking to bring them into harmony (unity) with everything else we know. When something doesn’t fit together, it’s expressed in the forms of questions (which I’m sure you’ve all had when reading scripture at different times).
Systematisation is inescapable. If you read Genesis 1, learn that God has created the world, and then inform the rest of your reading of scripture with that truth, then you have systematized it – you have logically related it to other parts of scripture. And you can’t escape doing that either. When you read other parts of scripture, for example, you don’t just decide to jettison the fact that you know God created the world. You take what you’ve learned from Genesis, and it informs your reading of everything else.
I’ll say it a third time: every time you think about scripture, if you’re engaging your mind in any measure, you are systematizing it (whether you write your thoughts down or just store them in your head). As RC Sproul rightly says: “Everyone’s a theologian!”
And if all of that is not enough to convince you that Systematic Theology is necessary, then maybe arguments from scripture will. The Bible itself recognizes the fact that theology is necessary and inescapable. In 1 Timothy 1:13, Paul instructs Timothy to keep the “pattern of sound teaching” that he had heard. Romans 6:17 likewise describes the pattern of Christian teaching as the “form” of teaching. Scripture is given for us to grapple with it, to know it, to receive it, and to think about it. God didn’t speak so that his word could hang suspended but un-received. He spoke it so that we could grasp it, and that means thinking. Thinking, systematizing and theology. Put differently, we could say that Systematic Theology is simply the opinions we form after we have thought carefully about scripture.
Think of it this way. Scripture is the objective truth. It stands outside of ourselves. It stands there as the Revelation of God whether I am aware of it or not. It’s like a rubber stamp. Theology is the ink mark left by that stamp, and my mind is a piece of paper. Theology is what happens when you process scripture by thinking about it. Theology is the mark left on the paper by the stamp. The illustration breaks down because our theology never reflects scripture as well as a stamped mark does the stamp, but I hope you see what I’m saying.
Let’s put it bluntly. When it all boils down, if you don’t want to do theology, then you don’t want to think about scripture at all. No Christian should be in that camp.
So ultimately it’s not a question of whether or not we should do theology. The only question is whether you are going to do it well, or whether you are going to do it poorly. I know which boat I want to be in. Do you?
A further reason that we should do Systematic Theology, especially as Pastors and Elders particularly, is that it is one of our special tasks in the Church. Not everyone is cut out for doing Systematic Theology. It’s true that every time each of us thinks about and apprehends the truths of Scripture, we are doing theology after a fashion – even systematically in the sense that it strives to be and is logical. But the burden remains upon those whom God has gifted to do their appointed task of thinking carefully, thinking well, and guiding God’s people under solid teaching. Ephesians 4:11 speaks of the fact that God has gifted the church with teachers. It is clear by a mere look in the average church that most people are not cut out for reading and learning from a work of Systematic Theology, much less for writing one. And that’s ok! The body has many members, with different functions. So for those who have been gifted, either to read and learn in the discipline of Systematic Theology, or perhaps to write in this field, it is important that we do it well, because the rest of God’s people depend upon us to do our job well.
One of the reasons I started this project is to help the average elder in church to pursue this calling. Sadly, in the business of life, I think that it is easily and often neglected.
Most importantly, God has charged us to do this task well. Whether as a Pastor watching out for the flock in a local church, or a Professor in the academy, or a student preparing for the ministry, or a Christian seeking to grow in the knowledge of God, we must each use what gifts we have to do our job well. As the Apostle Paul said, the truths and doctrines of the faith have been given to us and we must guard them (1 Tim 6:20), as they have been handed down through the ages from men to other men who are able to teach (2 Tim 2:2). SDG.
1 Credit for inspiring this illustration to Douglas Kelley “The Art of Reasoning” 4th ed, p27/627 digital edition.
Is Systematic Theology biblical?