Know Some Basic Differences Between the Various Schools of Theology

BIBLE DOCTRINE I STUDY GUIDE for Exam # 1 Lectures 1 to 6

LECTURE 1 Here are the 10 major ‘systematic doctrines’ of the Bible: (Be able to match the definitions with the terms) Bibliology (the study on the subject of the Bible) Theology (the study on the subject of God) Christology (the study on the subject of Jesus Christ) Pneumatology (the study on the subject of the Holy Spirit) Anthropology (the study on the subject of man) Hamartology (the study on the subject of sin) Soteriology (the study on the subject of salvation) Ecclesiology (the study on the subject of the church) Angelology (the study on the subject of angels) Eschatology (the study on the subject of last things).

Doctrine: this word simply means ‘teaching’. Thus, any teaching of the Bible represents a ‘doctrine’. There are probably hundreds and hundreds of ‘doctrines’ in the Bible. Theology: this word means the study or science of God. There are branches of ‘theology’: Ethnic (the study of comparative religion); Biblical (the study of Biblical languages and Biblical criticism); Systematic (the doctrinal study of the Bible…done by systems); Practical (church polity, pastoral theology, evangelism, etc..); Historical (archaeology, Church history, history of doctrines, etc.). Dogma: this word is defined as an ‘established law’; it is translated in the KJV as ‘ordinances’. Creed: this word represents a statement of personal or denominational belief. There are some well-known ‘Creeds’: Apostle’s Creed, Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.

Here are some of the theological systems present today in America: (Be able to match the correct definitions with the ‘system’)

Roman Catholic: this theological system is based on the traditions of the ancient Catholic church. They believe that they are the sole repository and interpreter of the truth. Their Popes speak ‘ex-cathedra’ and decree truth to the ‘church’. Conservative Protestant: this system of theology is based upon the historic beliefs and doctrines associated with the Protestant Reformation. It involves famous Creeds (Augustinian, Westminster, etc.) Reformed Protestant: this theological system followed the philosophy of John Calvin Armenian Protestant: this theological system arose as a reaction to the strict tenets of Calvinism. It is heavily tilted (in error) towards man’s free will. Liberal Protestant: It is based upon the reasoning of man (rationalism), and runs from that which is ‘supernatural’.It is more a philosophy or science rather than a theology. New-Orthodox: this new theology acknowledges the supernatural, but seeks a relationship with God apart from the Bible. It adopts an experiential approach to understanding the truth of God’s Word. Fundamentalism: this is more of a ‘movement’ than a theology. It arose as a reaction to modernism within Conservative Protestantism. It proposed a set of 5 ‘fundamentals’ that had to be held to in order to be considered biblically orthodox (right). It is interdenominational. It’s main error is that it holds to a universal church view. New Evangelicalism: this system is somewhat conservative in doctrine, but much more liberal in practice. It represents a break with fundamentalism primarily over the issue of ecclesiastical separation. Today’s New Evangelicalism has, for the most part, crossed over into accepting most of the different perversions of the Bible available and into accepting the sign gifts as legitimate for Christians today.

Doctrine is important: The believer is commanded to ‘rightly divide the word of God’. That is referring to interpreting it properly and knowing its doctrine correctly. We can know sound doctrine through the aid of the blessed Holy Spirit, for ‘He will guide you into all truth’.

1 True Christian love is grounded in truth. We are to continue in the Apostles’ doctrine. The last days is characterized by a turning from sound doctrine. We are to separate from those who teach false doctrine.

− Believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts. − Always take a passage in the Bible literally; the only time not to is when you are basically ‘forced’ to.

Lecture 2 Here are titles used for the Bible in the Bible: The book; Old and New Testaments; The Scriptures; The Word of God. Here are some symbols used for the Bible: mirror, seed, lamp, sword, hammer, tree, water, milk, meat, bread, and honey. The Bible’s ‘theme’ is Jesus Christ. In general, the O.T. was written in Hebrew and the N.T. was written in ‘koine’ (common) Greek. The Bible’s Contents and Composition: 66 Books (39 OT and 27 NT); 40 human writers and written over 1600 years (from Moses ~1500 BC to John ~100 AD).

A way of dividing the Old Testament is as follows: Law – Genesis to Deuteronomy History – Joshua to Esther Wisdom – Job to Song of Solomon Prophecy – Major: Isaiah to Daniel Minor: Hosea to Malachi

The Bible was first divided into chapters about 1250 by Cardinal Hugo for the purpose of reference in a Latin concordance. In approximately 1551 A.D., the New Testament was divided into verses by Robert Stephanus. There are about 775,000 words in the King James Bible. This means that the average verse is approximately 25 words long. There are approximately 8,000 different words in the English Bible.

Lecture 3 The word ‘revelation’ simply means a ‘revealing’. In Theology, revelation is applied to God’s revealing of Himself to mankind.

General Revelation: the knowledge of God that is derived from observing ‘natural things’. These ‘natural things’ include: Creation, History, and Conscience. Special Revelation: the direct intervention of God in the affairs of this world; it is God revealing Himself through special acts done by His Person. It can/has come through a variety of means: dreams, visions, audible voice, angels, etc. The ultimate in God’s special revelation of Himself to mankind was/is in the coming to earth of the Lord Jesus Christ. The summation of God’s special revelation of Himself to mankind is the ‘Bible’, the written word, the Holy Scriptures. General and Special Revelation is revealed to us by the Spirit of God:

There are some things though that are not revealed to us by God; we only have a small portion of what will some day be revealed to us when we are with Him in Heaven.

General Revelation (i.e. Creation, etc.) is presented by God so that every human (of age and ability) is without excuse regarding the existance of God; and that this God is benevolent, judges sin, and wants to have a relationship with them. Mankind should be drawn to this God and seek to have a relationship with Him. He will then seek out more truth about this benevolent God. And, then, God will send the truth to Him….i.e. special revelation (The Word of God).

“Modernism” claims that the Bible is not God’s revelation to man but is merely the record of man’s search for God.

Some say that God continues to have revelations given to man, that should be on the same priority as the Bible: visions from Mary, from ‘spirit guides’, pronouncements from ‘prophets’ or ‘apostles’, the Pope speaking ‘ex-cathedra’. The Mormons and the Muslims have ‘continuing revelation’ also.

2 Lecture 4 The Greek word translated “inspiration” in 2 Timothy 3:16 means to “divinely breath in.” This describes to us the picture of God breathing into the Scriptures so that they are His very writings. 2 Peter 1:21 says that the Bible authors wrote as they were “moved by the Holy Ghost.”

Three views regarding inspiration: 1. The pagan view of inspiration: The Bible is inspired only in the sense that great human writings, such as those of Shakespeare, are inspired. 2. The partial view of inspiration. Some believe the Bible is inspired in those matters not affecting science, but that there are historical and scientific errors in the Bible. 3. The perfect view of inspiration: The Bible is perfectly inspired by God and contains no error; it is infallible; inerrant.

The Bible is ‘holy’ (set apart for God’s use); God-breathed; is plenary inspired (completely); is verbally inspired (every word).

The prophets and apostles were not given general thoughts and then left to record those thoughts and impressions as best they could by their own power. They were given a perfect revelation from God and were controlled in every detail of its recording. The inspiration was verbal.

Phrases like ‘thus saith the Lord’ help to affirm that the Bible’s words are God’s words.

The Bible’s inspiration has been under attack for milennia: Even way back in the Garden of Eden, the Bible’s inspiration was attacked: The Devil said “yea, hath God said?” The Roman Catholic Church has added the Apocrypha to it’s Bible. Modernism has attacked the miracles of the Bible and refer to them as ‘myths’. In New Evangelicalism there is a tendency to downgrade the issue of the Bible’s inspiration, for that would offend their ‘modernist’, more liberal, factions.

Lecture 5 ‘Canonization’ is the process of determining which writings ‘measured up’ as genuine scripture. It is important to understand that canonization was only man’s recognition of a Book’s pre-existing God-given authority. It was not man giving that Book its divine authority. ‘Canonicity’ is determined by God and discovered by man.

There were four basic tests of ‘canonicity’ for a ‘Book’: Writer: was he a prophet, or an apostle? Contents: do they have a spiritual character? Are they edifying? Inspiration: is there a ‘thus saith the Lord’? Is there the obvious authority from God stamped in it? Does it contain obvious errors? Acceptance: was there a widespread acceptance of the Book by God’s people? Did the Jews accept the O.T. Book? Did the churches accept the N.T. Book?

None of these tests by themselves is trustworthy, but the combination of these 4 help us to come to the faith that the 66 Books of the Bible that we have are indeed all the Word of God. It all comes ultimately down to faith. The historical record is silent on the assimilation of the Books of the Bible. There has been little to no questioning of the validity of the 66 Books of our Bible by conservative Christianity for the past 1800+ years. The only ones questioning it are the liberal bible-deniers.

The Old Testament canon was formed progressively as the Books were written down and received by the nation of Israel. Scripture itself defines the limit of the Old Testament canon: “from Abel (Genesis) to Zechariah (Chronicles; the last O.T. book penned).

The NT Books were recorded under divine inspiration between 50 AD (Matthew or James) and 95 AD (Revelation). The great mark to their canonicity was their apostolicity.

By the 2nd century we have evidence that the New Testament was commonly recognized as Scripture by the believers.

3 Canonicity terminology (Be able to match these definitions with the terms): Homologoumena: canonical books accepted by all. Antilegomena: canonical books disputed by some. Apocrypha: non-canonical books accepted by some. Pseudepigrapha: non-canonical books rejected by almost all.

Here are some of the O.T. antilegomenas: Song of Solomon (sensuality); Ecclesiastes (skepticism); Esther (absence of any title referring to God in it).

Here are some of the N.T. Antilegomenas: Hebrews (against the priestcraft); James (supposed conflict with Paul’s writings); Jude (cites from the book of Enoch); Revelation (premillenial teaching).

The Apocrypha were officially canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 1546 at the Council of Trent. They refer to them as ‘deutero-canonical’ books (second canon).

The Apocryphal books are not to be a part of our Bibles: They have never been a part of the Jewish canon. They were never quoted or alluded to by Jesus Christ or any apostle. Most Church fathers totally rejected them. Many of the books contain historical, geographical and chronological errors. They lack the power and distinctive elements of the Word of God (they fail the 4 main tests).

The writers of the Bible knew that what they were writing was to be included as holy Scripture.

Lecture 6 In the final analysis, a man must accept that the Bible is the Word of God by faith, for “without faith it is impossible to please him:

Bible faith is not a blind leap into the dark. It is confidence in a believable Record that God has given, for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”

The following are solid reasons that help prove that the Bible, with its 66 books, is indeed God’s Holy Word for mankind: 1. The Bible’s unique construction helps prove that it is the Word of God. The Bible was written by 40 different authors representing some 19 different occupations who lived during a period of some 1,600 years. 2. The spirituality of the Bible’s authors helps prove that it is the Word of God. The Bible testifies that “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” 3. Fulfilled prophecy help proves the Bible to be the Word of God. 4. The Bible’s scientific accuracy helps prove that it is the Word of God. There are many scientific truths that Job understand 3500 years ago, that weren’t ‘discovered’ by modern science until recently. 5. The greatest external proofs for the trustworthiness of the Biblical narrative are derived from the archaelologists spade. No archaelological discovery has ever controverted a Biblical reference. 6. The Bible’s indestructibility helps prove that it is the Word of God.