Theological Issues and Trends in Evangelicalism

Lead by Dr. Greg Strand, Director of Biblical Fidelity, Evangelical Free Church of America.

Isaiah 66:1-2 – Biblical Foundation - This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?" declares the LORD. "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.

 

 

Is this our posture? Humble, contrite and trembling at God's Word.

1. Challenges & Obstacles
   
   1. Post-modern Relativism with Epistemological Implications (we live in a day in which truth is denied, so we don't know what to believe or what to do)
      
   2. Pluralism or Multiculturalism – denies any unique exclusive religious claims, and any group that does this in anathema.
      
   3. Personalized Globalization – cultural differences are pressed into closer proximity than ever. The things that used to seem so foreign to us are now very familiar to us.
      
   4. Omnipresent Technology – we have so little time to reflect because of everything that technology brings to us. This puts people into their own world…personalized world.
      

   Local Issues
   

   1. "Twitter" – your own personal newscast to the world about your life (are we twittering our lives away? Do we feel so small about ourselves that we must make more of ourselves by broadcasting our lives?)
      
   2. Biblical Illiteracy
      
   3. A – theology and theology-ology – against theology and the study of the study of theology not necessarily about God.
      
   4. Evangelicalism – definition and fragmentation. What is the definition of evangelicalism we are working from? We are fragmenting in to more and more groups. Sociological vs. biblical. We are defined by our commitment to…(see Rich Trimble, Anglican and Evangelical)
      
      1. Biblicism
         
      2. Christosism
         
      3. Conversionism
         
      4. Activism
         
   5. Most Dangerous trends we do not see…
      
      1. Justification
         
      2. Scriptural inerrancy
         
      3. Racism
         
      4. Family
         
      5. Pornography
         
      6. Etc, etc., etc
         
2. THE GOSPEL
   

The Primacy of the Gospel – 1 Corinthians 15:1-19 (see The Gospel of Jesus Christ by John Stott). & See D.A. Carson for more.

1. 
   It is Christological: the gospel centers on the person and work of Jesus Christ (life, death, resurrection)
   
2. It is Theological: the gospel tells us that sin is first and foremost an offense against God, that salvation is first to last the action of God, not our own.
   
3. It is Biblical: the gospel is essentially the message of the whole Bible.
   
4. It is Apostolic: the gospel is passed on to us by Jesus' disciples as authoritative eyewitnesses.
   
5. It is Historical: the gospel is not a philosophy
   
6. It is Personal: the gospel must be personally believed and appropriated
   
7. It is Universal: the gospel is for every person
   
8. It is Eschatological: the gospel includes the good news of the final transformation, not just the blessings we enjoy in the age
   

 

1. DOING THEOLOGY
   

• Gospel, Church & Culture
  

• Gospel + Culture – Church = parachurch
  
• Church + Culture – gospel = liberalism
  
• Gospel + Church – culture = Fundamentalism
  
• Gospel + Church + cultural = Ecclesia Reformata et Semper Reformanda (the church reformed and always reforming)
  
  • Centrality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ –
    
    • Jesus is Lord and is at the center of everything we do and has entailments in all of life.
      
    • When this doesn't happen & the gospel is assumed, walls go up based on special interests (home schooling, abortion, etc) and the gospel gets displaced
      
    • When the Gospel is Denied – no effect and no interest.
      
  • Black, White, and Gray
    
    • Orthodoxy – there is a body of truth
      
    • Heresy – there is also heresy, that which is untrue but believed by some to be true.
      
    • Gray Matters – something that is hard to really tell if it is orthodox or heretical….where do these things land?
      
  • Theological Triage – A Call for Theological Triage and Christian Maturity – Al Mohler (www.albertmohler.com)
    

  
  

  
   

  Primary essentials are determined by: (Michael Andrus – "Drawing Doctrinal Lines: Where? And How? – How do we determine between the essentials and non-essentials of the faith.
  

1. Exegetical Certainty
   
2. Theological Importance
   
3. Biblical Emphasis
   
4. Historical agreement in the church – historical theology with a small "t".
   

 

Second-Order Doctrines are determined by: the fact that believers disagree and which will create significant boundaries between believers, but don't preclude the occasional coming together.

Third-order issues are issues cause us to totally part ways.

 

9 Marks Ministries – What is the Discipline of Biblical Theology? (See also Grant Osborne's – The Hermeneutical Spiral)

1. Text
   
2. Exegesis
   
3. Biblical Theology
   
4. Systematically Theology
   
5. Historical Theology
   
6. Practical Theology
   
7. Theological Presuppositions
   

J.I. Packer

    1. Exegesis

2. Biblical Theology

3. Historical Theology

4. Systematic Theology or Dogmatics…and these four are the foundation from which everything else arise.

 

1. LOVING PEOPLE
   

   
    

   1. How to Deal With Those Who Differ From Us? – Roger Nicole, "Polemic Theology: How to Deal with those who differ with us" We have obligations…
      
      1. We have obligations to people who differ from us…we other them love. First we want people to know what we are saying or meaning. Second, we seek to understand their aims.
         
      2. What can we Learn? - Make sure inner concern and outward approach are right, then seek to learn.
         
      3. How can I cope with the person who differs with me? Biblical arguments and general arguments.
         
   2. Our Goal – are we seeking to win an argument or win another person to truth?
      

 

NOTE: these notes are only partial and incomplete notes that at least provide some reference to the dialogue or discourse. For more complete notes, please request a copy of Greg's powerpoints from me.