Staying Sharp on the Doctrines of Salvation, the Spirit & the End Times (Session 1)

STAYING SHARP ON THE DOCTRINES OF SALVATION, THE SPIRIT AND THE END TIMES with Greg Strand of www.efca.org The Evanglical Free Church of America

What makes a theologian?

• "Prayer, meditation, and trial." - Martin Luther
• "By theologian, I mean one who, imbued with a substantial knowledge of Divine things derived from the teaching of God Himself, declares and extols, not in words only, but by the whole course of his life, the wonderful excellences of God and thus lives entirely for His glory."..."For no one teaches well unless he has first learned well; no one learns well unless he learns in order to teach. And both learning and teaching are in vain and unprofitable, unless accompanied by practice." Herman Witsius (On the Character of a True Theologian, pg. 27-28)
• THOUGHT - Contrast the Theology of glory with theology of the Cross.... (Martin Luther's Heidelberg Disputation, 1518). What are the implications of these phrases?
• 2 Cor. 4; Jude 4; Titus 1:6; 1 Cor. 10 and the challenge to live the gospel in our lives, to live-out Christ's Lordship in our lives.
• John M. Frame - "Studying Theology as a Servant of Jesus" - The best way to define theology is as the application of the whole Bible to whole of human life.

4 Features of Christian Theology

1. Biblically Grounded = the Biblical Text
2. Historically Informed = contribution of church history to our development
3. Contemporarily Engaged = contextualization (are we answering the questions being asked today or those that were asked 25 years ago?)
4. Lived-out = practical, daily, lived-out, real-world (orthopraxy)

WESLEY said...

1. Scripture
2. Traditon
3. Reason
4. Experience

See: Systematic Theology - Wayne Grudem for "How we should study Theology" p.32ff

• With prayer and persistence
• With humility and obedience

google....Roger Nicole "How to deal with Those Who Differ From Us"

Make our first love, Christ, and our love for the gospel second to it, then all other loves flow from there.

Concluding the Day - It was this thought: "Unity in Doctrine, Diversity in Practice...it was Paul's practice thatwas flexible, not his principle. Unity in truth and appropriate principled diversity among Christians are both part of God's wonderful provision for His people."

1. Where Scripture addresses a specific topic, we have the responsibility to study, understand and be transformed by its teaching. Whether it be matters of doctrine or principles of Christian living, we must remain committed to hearing, believing, and heeding the Word of God to us.
2. Matters of indifference arise where the Bible specifically provides for them, or where it is silent on a particular issue. No one has the right to bind our consciences more than the Word of God.

- Greg Strand