SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY IV -- Dr. John Franke

1/6/98

Course description...see syllabus

Course objectives....take these very seriously...Theological method very important....learning to use it....Firm conviction that the Spirit has been working in the Church from the beginning....but we don't just use Calvin and Luther and ignore Jerome and Augustine, etc....Finally, we follow the Bible....Calvin and Luther weren't right on everything....We must deal with contemporary issues....Calvin's Institutes dealth a lot with the contemporary issues of his time....We're both classic and contemporary....

Basic orientation to doctrines of church, sacraments and eschatology...both biblical and historical....

Interrelatedness of Christian doctrines...e.g., your view of God will affect how you view other things....interrelatedness of doctrines...

Conviction of importance and necessity of discipline of theology for faith, life and ministry....You can't live life to the full without theology...God has called us to this task in Scripture...to love God with our mind...to challenge the strongholds in the world that stand against the knowledge of God....Not just an arid exercise...Theology is about life...

Develop awareness and appreciation of diversity in Christian tradition....

Method and means...lectures and discussions, reading and discussions, term paper, exams....Midterm on all lectures and reading up to midterm...Final comprehensive on lectures and reading from midterm on...Doesn't look for minutiae when testing for reading...Write a coherent essay on the topic of a chapter...Take 3x5 card and summarize contents of each chapter....Essays broad, general questions....Might ask to describe the differences in views among the authors...Compare two of the 4 views on hell...strengths and weaknesses....

Grading...30% midterm, 30% term paper, 40% final...Goes by total points...

Required texts...

Grenz, "Theology for the Community of God"...the best evangelical systematics on market with respect to method....Prof doesn't agree with all content but does agree on the way to approach theology...good text....Doing theology the right way...Likes emphasis on community....Has been criticized by some....A Baptist...

Ed Clowney, "The Church"...a Calvinist....believes in infant baptism...more classical approach to ecclesiology....used to teach at Westminster...best overview of Church available, at least from Reformed side of things...

Rodney Clapp, "A Peculiar People"...the church as culture in a post-Christian society...what it means to be a counterculture in post-Christian society....Creative...has some clever ideas...doesn't agree with everything....

Anthony Hoekema, "The Bible and the Future"....was one of leading reformed theologians...gets into covenental-dispensational debate...

William Crockett, "Four Views of Hell"....One chapter written by a Roman Catholic...shows difference between Protestant and RC theological method....One chapter has the literal view....One chapter has the metaphorical view...hell a bad place, but not literal fire....One chapter deals with annhiliationalist view...Clark Pinnock...conditional immortality....In 1989 a bunch of evangelicals got together at Trinity Evangelical Seminary and tried to say what an evangelical is....The number one issue debated was that of the nature of hell....Such division that they didn't address the issue in the statement....A view that's gaining ground....

Term Paper....Look at these directions, know them, and follow them to the letter....Topic of relevance....anything dealing with ecclesiology or eschatology...choice is yours...No textnotes...use footnotes or endnotes....Be consistent in presentation....Must include bibliography in addition....includes only works you have cited, not works consulted....citation or allusion....Can use Internet...somethings on Internet are in journal form....would count as a periodical....Can use personal interviews...8 things from periodicals....a research paper...Graded on content and presentation....spelling, grammar, consistency, in addition to what you say....Due MARCH 24, 1998...

MIDTERM: February 24...Reading assignments correlate generally with lectures...some overlap....Read as laid out...No quizzes week to week....

Final date to be announced....

Course outline...twelve more classes after tonight....

I. Introduction

A. The Nature and Task of Theology....

Theology is an ongoing, 2nd order, contextual discipline...

Ongoing...theology is never finished...it's never done...each generation must explain it in their context...No confession is ever on a par with the word of God...That ongoing nature is not simply because of our finitude...the very process of theology has an application element...truth must be applied in every age...

2nd Order....Theology is not the same as faith...it's about faith...The experience of God working in our lives comes first...It's reflection on our faith and our experience with God....We're not saved by our theology, nor are we damned by it....We're saved by our faith in Jesus Christ, based on our election (from the Calvinistic point of view here)...

We don't access a person's theology to determine whether they're saved...

A contextual discipline....all theology is human...it's our reflection on what's given in the Word...it emerges from various contexts...All truly Christian theology will bear a family resemblance....Theology done differently in various cultures...Example, black theology, feminist theology...Throw out bad answers, but not good, legitimate questions...

Whose task is to constuct models of reality....we realize though that we can't exactly flesh out something that 100% corresponds with things the way they really are...

Which are biblically based, historically informed, culturally relevant...

Ruthlessly and fearlessly biblical...we don't want to do or say anything contrary to Scripture....

Historically informed...aware of the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of God's people historically....informed by the tradition and heritage of the church....Lutherans and Reformed didn't want to over throw tradition, they just thought the Catholics overdid it...

Culturally relevant...

For the purpose of promoting truth, unity and holiness in the Church...

Truth...theology shares and participates in the ministry of the Holy Spirit...Spirit promotes truth in the Church...In the history of the Church we see two extremes: emphasizing truth to the exclusion of unity; emphasizing unity to the exclusion of truth...Titus is clear that there is no room in the church for divisive, factious people...Must distinguish between dogma, doctrine, and opinion...Denominations are not only legitimate, but the work of the Spirit....

Unity...Holy Spirit promotes unity...Holy Spirit never responsible for dividing those in Christ...

Holiness...ethical living...

Enabling Christians to live as the people of God in the historical context in which they are called.

B. The Sources for Theology....Bible...Tradition...Culture...

Bible...over tradition and culture....Tradition becomes a sources for doing theology...knowledge of the heritage of the Church....We should learn from the mistakes in Christian history....Must also deal with the culture of our times now...We need to study culture...see what questions people ask...Don't scratch them where they don't itch..We can't continue doing things the way we've always done them if we want to impact our culture....Bible at the top of pyramid, but lines of influence run in both directions....Moving from what it meant to what it means today...we're influenced by our culture...we're influenced by our tradition....Descriptively this is the way at works....Rejects individual experience as a source....Corporate experience being talked about here...Neither culture or tradition infallible....Not elevating tradition in the Catholic way of thinking...Catholics have overly elevated tradition...Protestant liberals have overly elevated culture...A TRIALOG the norming norm.

C. Theological Method....

What sort of controls? 1) Structure 2) Integrative Motif...

1) Structure...in context of the Trinity...One God who exists in three Persons...We must talk in both of those ways...

We can look at theology as the work of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)...In each of these, particular aspects of the plan of God are associated....Scripture talks of the Father primarily doing the work of creation and providence...The Son primarily doing the work of the accomplishment of salvation...The Holy Spirit primarily doing the work of application of salvation (individual), the Church (corporate life)....we're created for commmunity, redeemed as individuals for community....The Spirit completes God's plan...

2) Integrative Motif...Ex: the coming of Christ, the crossword of Christ, the providence and glory of God.....Many of them can be profitable...A good one which is Biblical and fits tradition and is relevant culturally is the motif of COMMUNITY....Scripture points to community....God is an eternal triune community, and he's created us to be a community with Him, with each other, and with all of creation...God's calling us to be like him....
 
 

1/13/98

Writer's Checksheet paper...handout....

If at all possible, it's good if you can do the week's reading for that particular class...

D. Ecclesiology and Eschatology in Context...
 
 

Shape of Christian theology that forms the narrative plot line of the Christian story.....

Prolegomena...revelation...how do we know anything about God at all...Theology I...

Theology II...doctrine of God, creation...anthopology....God's character, being, the Trinity....Creation is that sphere of the work of the Triune God especially associated with the Father...Sets stage for the drama of the redemption...Community an integrative motif for theology...

Theology III...Christ, person and work, 2nd Person of the Trinity...accomplishment of redemption...Objective soteriology...Who was Jesus, what did he do? Sometimes theologians see this as the final focal point of theology, yet it's a means to an end, not an end in itself...the purpose is community....; Salvation...subjective soteriology...application of salvation...the application of the work of Christ conceived individually; the Holy Spirit, third person of the Trinity...Holy Spirit then comes into play..."Better for you if I go...."

Theology IV....Church; Eschatology....The work of the Spirit applied corporately....Then the work of the Spirit in the consummation of God's eternal purpose....Hard to find a book on heaven...there are some popular things, but nothing to exciting...Yet this is the create end for which we are created...Calvin talks about the importance of meditating on the afterlife....

Student question: Grenz's view of community....Doesn't mean we're not talking about glorifying God...Community an important concept, but you can't just leave it at that....where there is community, you see reflection of who God is, whether the community is Christian or not....EX: Mozart manifested gifts given by God; community manifests something fundamental about who God is....

Student question: Grenz's dealing with the Trinity....Grenz's book is very intermeshed...Prof doesn't affirm all of Grenz's views....Grenz trying to analogize the Trinity...very Augustinian...trying to explain how the Trinity fits together...Potentially open to misunderstanding....Doesn't deny the personhood of the Holy Spirit...

Question to think about: What is the relationship of the Trinity to the Church? To Hell? to Heaven? What is the church? What's the Church supposed to be doing? The way you conceive of the nature of the people of God effects what you'll be doing....

Prof not big on set, pat answers on everything...Theologian is always a pilgrim....more light needs to break forth...We grope for answers....Good, sincere people are different on these various questions....

One of the major issues that provides backdrop to this course: the Dispensationalist/Covenant Debate...Not a great analysis of this discussion...basically a hermeneutical question.....Covenantal theology the more Reformed approach...what is the relationship between the OT and NT...Covenantal approach taken by professor...tends to talk more about continuity between the testaments....They track God's plan working though the various covenants...continuity...Nothing radically new or different emerges...Hence, historically, in subject of baptism, for Calvin, Luther, Zwingli, not a stretch to say infants should be baptized....Theonomists (very strong on continuity) argue that laws applicable today in society....they say OT law should be the law of the world....

Dispensationalist approach to hermeneutics...want to talk about most literal common sense reading of text...emphasize discontinuity...various dispensations in God's dealings with human beings....Church age radically different....Classical dispensationalists will tend to say OT doesn't apply anymore....Some would say sermon on mount doesn't apply today...(strong discontinuity)...Progressive dispensationalism...moves away from extreme forms of discontinuity...

You can read up on this in Hoekema's critique of dispensationalism....Bock and Blasing, "Progressive Dispensationalism"....they're suggesting modifications to the classical dispensationalist view....

Not a lot of great books on covenental theology per se.....

Best book from Reformed view on dispensationalism is called "Understanding Dispensationalism", Vern Poythrueis...Westminster....

Get a Dictionary of Theology: Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Elwell, Baker Books; New Dictionary of Theology, David Wright, J.I. Packer, Sinclair Ferguson, IV Press....Likes New Dictionary a little better....

II. Ecclesiology: The Doctrine of the Church....
 
 

A. The Nature of the Church....What is the church? How can we talk about it?Establishing concept of community as key subject...but what kind of community??? What adjectives do you use?

A covenant community...

An eschatological covenant community...a sign of the coming Kingdom of God..

1. The Church as the image of the Triune God...key principle of the whole structure here....part of what it means to image God...corporate imaging of God...

Two texts:

1CO 3:1 NIV Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly--mere infants in Christ. {2} I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. {3} You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? {4} For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men? {5} What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. {6} I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. {7} So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. {8} The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor.

1CO 3:9 NIV For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

The "you" normally has been interpreted as individual Christians....He's suggesting the "you" is the Church...corporately....God's building...not just individuals...The church is a people owned by God....

1CO 3:16 NIV Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? {17} If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

A striking passage for first century Palestinian Jews...

Here we see believers imaging God...

1CO 12:12 NIV The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. {13} For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Church spoken of corporately...individuals spoken of as bearing the image of God....Spirit gifting individuals specifically to be joined together in one body to edify the whole...not a great leap to say the Church, as a group of individuals who have gifts of the Spirit, for the express purpose of manifesting the gifts for the edification of all, images God...We don't get gifts to just edify ourselves....

So is the fact we are relational part of what it means to be in God's image? Yes....
 
 

We see major focus in OT on the family...an important bearer of God's image....But families are to reach out...Israel was to reach out to the stranger....
 
 

We've been theologizing together tonight...that's what we should do in class...."You cannot educate a person...they must do that for themselves..." Woodrow Wilson...

1/20/98
 
 

2. The Church as Community....

What is a community???

Commonality....

Functionality...

Group of people/beings...

Diversity...

Boundaries/parameters...

Unity...

Structure...organization

Communication...language

Identity...

In the continental Reformation, all kinds of struggles...producing confessions and catechisms...desire to distinguish themselves from others in the same space...

English Reformation not driven by theology and doctrine...didn't need to be....it's an island....They didn't need the doctrinal identity formation....

Voluntary association.....

Ethos...will...rights...

Commonality, functionality, group of people...can be talked about easily in dealing with the Trinity....

Church functions as a community and we ought to see it that way...

What KIND of community? Muslims are a community as well...What makes the church different....

What kind of community makes a CHRISTIAN community???? Two adjectives: covenant community and eschatological community...

OT background...how does God speak of community????

EXO 19:5 NIV Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,

My special treasure...

EXO 19:6 NIV you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."

DEU 32:9 NIV For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.

ISA 45:4 NIV For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of honor, though you do not acknowledge me.

Congregation....124 times in OT....company, assembly, multitude, people....

JOS 18:1 NIV The whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The country was brought under their control,

PSA 1:5 NIV Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

Assembly...123 times in OT....

The suggestion is that the people of God are chosen, called of Egypt, redeemed by the blood of the Passover Lamb....This community was to be God's special treasure, a holy nation, the Lord's portion, his inheritance, his people, his servant....

NT...

The Body...one Body...THE Body....His Body

1 cor 12:13, Ephesians 5:30.

{EPH 2:12 NIV} remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

{EPH 2:21 NIV} In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.

{PHI 3:3 NIV} For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh--

{1PE 2:9 NIV} But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. {10 NIV} Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Ecclesia - Church - 152 times in NT...two classes:

The whole body of believers....made up of true believers....Matthew 16:18 - I will build my church...

Ephesians 1:22-23 - head over all things to the Church, His body...

Ephesians 5:25-30 - Christ loved the church...

Colossians 1:18 - head of the body, the Church...

Heb. 12:22-23

A local congregation of believers....Gal 1:2, etc.

Very similar to OT designations...called out, redeemed by blood of Christ....

In the Reformed tradition, we think of the OT things pictured more literally, and in NT things pictured more spiritually....OT Lamb, NT Lamb of God, etc....

Pictured both as one large organism and local groups of Christians....Many want to pick up only one of those two uses of ecclesia....

Something new happening at Pentecost but it's the progression of a plan that started with Israel....Prof stresses the continuity...the one plan of God...

Reformed tradition has talked about a covenant of works...Prof distances himself from this....How can we theologically account for those before Abraham? Can see the inference but doesn't see it spelled out....

3. The Church as a Covenant Community....Line of continuity as we compare titles and descriptions in OT and NT...We have a Noach covenant with all the people....a covenant of common grace with all people that he will never again destroy the world by water....Rainbow the sign of the covenant...

With the Abrahamic covenant, we see God's actions in calling and choosing and people for himself....We see the fulfillment through the history of Israel, which focuses and is fulfilled in Christ, who is the fulfilment of God's people....The focus of the OT is fulfilled in Christ...New Covenant an extension of the Old Covenant in the sense that the New is the spiritual covenant...

You became and Israelite through birth....by race....circumcision...boundaries defined literally by circumcision....You had to become part of Israel...

Now Christ comes, Holy Spirit comes...now something different...New Covenant in my blood...Primary person to develop the new understanding is Paul....Best way to understand Paul is to see him in context of first C. Palestinian Judaism...Paul doesn't throw out all his Jewishness, but reinterprets it in light of the coming of Chrsit....

N.T. Wright and E.P. Sanders have suggested that Israel understood themselves to still be in exile at time of Christ....Romans were ruling them...Expected the Messiah to overthow Rome....They were looking for a moment when God would act decisively on their behalf...Didn't have any conception of a divine messiah...inaugurating a new age in continuity with previous age, but where Israel would become exalted above her oppressors...."Jesus and the Victory of God", N.T. Wright...The Biblical scholars have a lot to say to the theologians....A lot of new information has come since 17th C. but it seems the Westminster Confession can't be touched by that....That's a Roman Catholic methodology...fundamentally at odds with the spirit of Protestantism...We've got to follow the world....

Used to have to sign affirmation to Westminster Confession to work at Biblical...allowed to append a statement about what you disagreed with....Now, which is very healthy, is to say we are a school in the Reformed milieu, but not beholden to one particular manifestation....

We have the Current Age, the decisive action in the cross, and we look for another action of God...the already and not yet....God has inaugurate the kingdom....headed toward the consummation....

Luther didn't fully understand Paul...Paul said God acted decisively...now the folding in of the Gentiles into the people of God....Now with the coming of Christ, salvation open to Gentiles....Now the people of God not based on race but grace....

In Galatians, not primarily that the Jews had to fulfil the law to have salvation....No evidence that anyone ever believed you could earn it...They were saying to be a part of the people of God, you've got to be part of this race...Paul says no, that's antithetical to the New Covenant...N.T. Wright has developed this...the "new perspective on Paul" Frank Thielman, "Paul and the Law," Jimmy Dunn, "Theology of Paul the Apostle..."

Luther makes a direct equation....Catholic Church...Pelagianism....Judaizers...He doesn't understand Galatians as well as he could...If you want to really understand NT, you have to be familiar with the history and culture....Some nuances Luther is not picking up....

Not enough time to cover all the sources from which this new opinion comes, but at least we can begin to think of these things and then go to the sources ourselves....N.T. Wright...most significant NT evangelical scholar in the world....of signal importance for further development in understanding of NT....

Get these books ASAP for your own information to understand NT better:

Series coming out: "The New Testament and the People of God," NT Wright...First volume of series...1st century Judaism within Greco-Roman World....1st Christian Century, chapters.

"Jesus and the Victory of God," conservative Biblical scholar....N.T. Wright...most significant book re: NT scholarship....Used to teach at Oxford...Now a canon at Litchfield Cathedral...Anglican...very popular lecturer at Oxford...scintillating....Fortress Press...

More technical book, "The Climax of the Covenant"...you need Greek to get this....subtitle, "Christ and the Law in Pauline Theology"...Jesus the climax of the covenant....good exegetical details....N.T Wright...

Best one to get started on: "What Saint Paul Really Said." N.T. Wright....a basic book that tracks through his Regent lectures.....Eerdmann's

E.P. Sanders, "Paul and Palestinian Judaism"...not a conservative scholar...comes up with some conclusions prof disagrees with...Great spade work....got the thing rolling...Wright most effective conservative tracking out the exegetical side of it....

New Perspective is that we go through the literature of Palestinian Judaism to determine what the Pharisees and Sadduccess were all about....The Perspective is the background....

4. The Church as the Sign of the Kingdom of God....New Covenant still grounded in and an outflow of the Old Covenant....It is an ESCHATOLGICAL covenant community....Picking up on the sign of the kingdom, the crosswork of Christ and coming of Holy Spirit at Pentecost...Church part of the fulfillment of the Kingdom....In that sense we are in the last time....But also looking forward to the eschatological hope....

The Jews expected a dramatic work of God in human history and the kingdom would be established....Paul says, "It's begun but not completely fulfilled yet..." Church is a sign of the inaugurated Kingdom of God and a sign of the fulfilment to come...

Kingdom is now, yet to come....We have a future hope...Sign of the inauguration is the coming of the Spirit, the downpayment...

Question of the Millennium comes into play here....depends on your view...

The church is the people empowered, filled with and driven by the Holy Spirit....

5. The Marks of the Church....How do we know the eschatological covenant community when we see it??? What are visible marks of a truly Christian community....Two major sets of marks...

Early in its history, a major problem: heresy. In 1 John the heresy appears to be Docetism....Paul speaks of elders being able to refute those teaching false doctrine...

Post-Biblical times, a very important issue: How do we know where the true Church is?

Irenaeus (died 185) says go to a church founded by an apostle...Good advice then...Not foolproof....Gets less and less foolproof down through the ages....By 1500s Catholics speak of "apostolic succession"....

Protestant position is that it's better to teach what the apostles taught rather than whether you can trace your lineage back to the apostles....

1/27/98

Seven Marks of the True Church:

1) The Ecumenical Set of Marks...the church is one, holy, catholic, apostolic....first set of full defining marks...Luther, Calvin and Reformers would all embrace these, but they no longer suffice...They added another set of marks that would distinguish further....

One...the unity of the Church...The idea of the church as one body....shouldn't be fighting and discord amongst the people of God....will discuss further later....A particular manifestation of the church is in fellowship with the whole church....

Donatist controversy....Donatists ceded from Catholic Church over issue of those who lapsed....They said, "we're not in fellowship with that large church body..."

Augustine of Hippo strongly challenged them, saying there was only one church....argued for apostolicity of the Catholic Church....Largely through his writings, the Donatists fizzled out...

The other major figure he dealt with was Pelagius, who said you could earn salvation....that Adam and Eve just gave us a bad example....Augustine argued that salvation is by grace from beginning to end....Due to Augustine's influence the Pelagians were dealt with as heretics...

Catholics bludgeoned the Reformers with Augustine's writings...Reformations can be seen as the triumph of his doctrine of salvation of his doctrine of the Church....

What does unity of the church mean today?

Holy....

1TH 4:3 NIV It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; {4} that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, {5} not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; {6} and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. {7} For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.

EPH 5:25 NIV Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her {26} to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, {27} and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

What is holiness??? Moral purity....not a place of rampant immorality....A separateness....church in the world but not of it...should be a distinctiveness....Clapp gets at this idea...the church shouldn't look like the world...

ROM 12:1 NIV Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. {2} Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

We shouldn't just see what the world does and not do it...that misses not being conformed to the world...The world then sets the agenda....

The church is pursuing holiness and it will be made holy....Jesus is the one who will make us holy....We're on the way to these marks...not perfect....The mark becomes, "Is that what you are committed to?"

Catholic....this term disturbs people....what does this mean? It's universal...it extends everywhere...

EPH 4:4 NIV There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- {5} one Lord, one faith, one baptism; {6} one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Here uses the term body more in reference to the church universal...equating oneness of the church to the oneness of the Spirit....

In the early church, this became a principal employed to buttress RC doctrine to say that a doctrine was taught everywhere always and by all....They said Luther's doctrine of justification wasn't taught everywhere by all...

But universality of church is rooted in the universality of the Spirit....Those called part of the universal church....

There is a cultural contextuality shot through all attempts to do theology, but there are family resemblances--things that bind the church together...things true no matter where you go....

Universal with the invisible church in mind....

Catholicity difficult to pin down from Protestant point of view...Protestants say the true church is found everywhere in the world....the Spirit is at work in Christ's people....

Abelard said it was pretty hard to pin down what was taught everywhere always and by all...

On question of transubstantiation, even as late as 9th C, one Catholic scholar argued for the memorial view...

Prof. not real satisfied on Grenz's treatment of the marks....

Church is transcultural is certain aspects....

Apostolic....rooted for the Catholics in the pastoral epistles...elders...deacons...passing it on to next generation....Iranaeus....apostolic succession....

Protestants say the key is to find the church that teaches what the apostles taught...essential in guarding against heresy....

Becomes a key struggle between the Catholics and Protestants....Protestants in favor about talking about tradition, but that around 450, tradition becomes a problem....Fall of Roman Empire...problem of massive illiteracy....the Dark Ages...Protestants say all kinds of problems develop....Agree with the tradition of the early Fathers....They talked about Reformation because of the Deformation of the Church...
 
 

2) The right preaching of the Word, the right administration of the sacraments, and then in some Reformed contexts, church discipline....These three marks pick up on the intent of the first marks....If the church doesn't discipline, in what sense is it holy? If it doesn't teach the truth, in what sense can it be apostolic? In light of corruption of the first marks, these had to be added....Spin off concern for holiness and apostolicity....
 
 

The right preaching of the Word...dealing with Apostolicity...only the Spirit speaking through Scripture and Scripture alone...You can only bind the conscience of the individual based on the Word of God, not by Tradition.....

The right administration of the Sacraments....dealing with Apostolicity....

For the Magesterial Reformers, the sacraments are very important, a central part of the worship of the Church....Christ died once for all, not sacrificed over and over again....

Diffences among the Reformers on Sacraments....Luther, Zwingli, Calvin....significant differences....They could agree on:

Two sacraments...

Significant for the church...

Not magical...ex opere operato....by work worked....Luther talks like this and that causes him a problem with the other reformers....

Protestants said you must have faith....
 
 

Key theological question: Is there salvation outside the Church...

Cyprian: "No man can have God as his father without the Church as his mother..."

West then anathemetizes the East...

16th C...Protestant said if you're a Catholic, you're damned, visa versa...

Vatican II: "there is salvation outside the Church"....Now the option to say, "we don't believe your church is THE church, but that doesn't mean I think you're damned...Many upset with Colson, Packer, etc. for signing Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT)....

George Lindbeck, wrote an book on Post-Liberalism...teaches at Yale...The Nature of Doctrine, formulating a theory of doctrine that can account for the fact that both sides can still affirm what they taught in the 16th Century, and yet embrace the other guy.....

Discipline....complements the mark of holiness....a church must have a program and practice of church discipline if it's really pursuing holiness....

The problem in the Catholic church wasn't just doctrinal, but immorality was rampant in the church and the church just winked at it....

1 Corinthians 5 - Paul specifically rebukes immorality....

Goal of church discipline is always restorative....

Holiness requires a program of discipline....but doing that well, you can get into extremes...

6. The Unity of the Church....

JOH 17:20 NIV "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, {21} that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. {22} I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: {23} I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

One in an invisible sense with God...but he doesn't stop here...

That the world may believe....v. 21....visible....Something we need to be working for....We're called to oneness...

Ephesians 4, I Corinthians 12, Titus 3....destruction of unity of Body is sinful....You never see the Holy Spirit promoting disunity in the Body of Christ....

The unity of the Church is something we need to be conscious of promoting....That's what the Spirit wants....

How??? Making distinctions: Dogma, doctrine, opinion....

Calvin's Institutes, Book 4, Chapter 1, sec. 12-13, p. 1025, McNeil edition..."Some fault may even creep in, but this ought not prevent us from communing with the Church...other articles of doctrine disputed which do not break the unity of the faith..." Even Calvin says that there may even be errors in those marks....not a good reason for breaking the unity of the Church....Distinguishes between essential and non-essential....

What about truth??? This is where denominations come in....a gift of God in preserving the truth....C.S. Lewis' house analogy...Mere Christianity, pp. 11-12.

2/3/98

Discussion on readings...

Clapp's book....What's he getting at? An interesting guy....associate editor for IVP....eclectic theological background....Anglican with an Anabaptist spirit....has thought carefully about Postmodernism....Tries to talk about what it means to be the people of God and a witness as a communal body....a counter-culture....What does it mean to be a community of Christians in a post-Christian society??? Gets us thinking that it's important to think about how we ought to conceive ourselves as a community in a culture that is not Christian....

Constantinian discussion....a book that gets us thinking together about how we can be more effective...Leaves a lot to be desired as a systematic theology...Tries to get at issues of relationship...ways that the Church has been co-opted by nationalism, etc. Is it legitimate to have such a close relationship between the idea of Church and the idea of America....

A tricky book in some ways....Not looking to draw hard and fast lines....

Grenz's integrative motif is community....danger is that we swing over from individualism into a pure communalism....For Clapp has the pendulum swung too far???

We are called to be individuals in community....

Raises some legitimate issue not raised elsewhere....But it is a book of overstatement....incensed about individualism so much that he overstates in the other direction....Good to see the legitimate issues raised....

Exam three weeks from tonight....There will be some objective content....Responsible for lecture....objective....Also responsible for reading....Reading questions generally encompassed in essays....2 essay questions: general broad questions...comparative themes...Compare Clowney Grenz and Clapp on ecclesiology....Take 3x5 cards and summarize each chapter read....Objective question from reading: What does Grenz see as the 3 focal points for the church: worship, edification, outreach....10 - 15 straight objective...fill in the blank....
 
 

Todd Mangum....Graduate of Biblical...PhD at Dallas Seminary...finishing dissertation...

Exercise in theological hermeneutics...imagine you are in a 6th grade biology class...come in for mid-term....Merry Christmas....Happy Channukah! Suzie Secularist: Happy Holidays!! Danny Dimwit: Jolly holidays!! 1. A frog is most like:

H. A fish M. A Reptile S. An insect J. A Mammal...

What is at stake is a model rivaling another model....No real dispassionate look at the data....Ambiguous data gets argued for the defense of a model....Illustrates the phenomenon of theological discussion pretty accurately...

Models not necessarily distracting...If you have the right model, it could help....

Keeping this in mind, a comparison of dispensationalism and covenantalism...

Dispensationalism....

Scofield Study Bible....suggested 7 dispensations in history....Man tested in some specific test of God's will...

Innocence...the tree....Adam and Eve....don't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil...Genesis 1 - 3....Man fails the test....judgement brought on....expelled from Garden...

Conscience....test is that man is to live in accord with vague awareness of God's will that's been impressed upon his conscience...Goes to Genesis 6....Fails the test....constant state of wickedness....Judgement...God destroys....flood....

Government..."If a man kills another, his life shall be taken..." Execution of God's justice given to humans....Man organizes society...builds tower of Babel....God scatters the nations...Never again works with all the races of mankind for all of OT...Chooses one man then...Abram...

Promise...includes promise of promised land....Here his theology gets quite interesting...Says all Israel had to do was live under the terms of these unconditional promises...ended when Israel rashly accepted the Law...at Sinai they exchanged grace for law...p. 20 of 1917 Scofield Bible...

The Law....conditional....Ten Commandments....ends not only when they fail to keep the law and suffer its curses and are taken into captivity, but when Messiah comes to fulfil the law...they crucify him....

Grace....Scofield suggests a great parenthesis....Entrance of Gentiles...forms new body, the Church...Two peoples of God, never to be confused, conflated, conjoined...forever separate and distinct....The unconditional promises have yet to be fulfilled....At end of this dispensation, Great Tribulation....Just before that, Church is raptured, and once that's been done, God resumes his program with Israel....Millennium inaugurated....

Kingdom (Millennium)...Lion and Lamb...at end of Millennium, nations again deceived....God wipes out enemies...

Scofield's and Louis Sperry Chafer....Scofield founded PCB...

At heart of dispensational theology, 2 fundamental tenets:

Trying to preserve the holy gracious nature of NT salvation by grace through faith....Contrasted NT w/ OT....that's where there are some problems...

Trying to take straightforward application of God's instructions seriously...trying to take the Word literally....

This system allowed layperson to quickly and easily resolve the differences in the commands of God....

Came under severe critique by Covenant theologians in the 40s....

In 50s - 70s, a significant revision of classical Schofieldien theology...Ryrie, Pentecost, Twosaint, Alan McCrae....McCrae worked on revision of Schofield Bible....

In revised dispensationalism, less of a distinction in first four dispensations....

Strong wall of separation remained between Law, Grace and Kingdom....Of the two, for the hardliners, the line between Law and Grace greater....

Progressive dispensationalists suggest that the walls between Grace and Kingdom should be diminished....They say they have no intention of looking at the line between Law and Grace.....
 
 

Covenantalism...

Arose as best we can tell in the 16th Century around Calvin's Geneva, in Zurich...Bullinger an avid proponent....Looks like it was a way of communicating Calvinist unconditional election in a way not simply Stoic or that treated God as a force....very relational....Heart of Covenant Theology....Metaphysics is reality from God's view, Epistemology is reality from human view....Covenant of redemption a metaphysical thing that occurred in eternity past...agreement between Father, Son, Spirit, before creation....Father sets terms....Son fulfills terms....Spirit applies benefits to the Elect....

As the debate unfolded in 40s, dispensationalists responded that it was a mere superimposition upon Scripture....

What are the wages of sin? Death, defined as separation from God for eternity....Jesus spent 6 hours on the cross...that's not eternity....God accepts that in lieu of this wage, this arrangement...This metaphysical covenant manifested in two covenants among humans:

Covenant of works...if you obey, you'll live....man broke that covenant...God by rights could have sent all to hell to pay the terms of that covenant....Instead, because of the pre-arranged covenant of redemption, God provided the fulfillment of terms through his Son...

Covenant of grace offered to man....Man's relationship the same before and after the cross....God collecting for himself one elect people....Israel and the Church essentially the same....

Dispensational theology always pre-Millenial....Covenant theology historically amillenialist....NT people of God a replacement for OT people of God...Revelation doesn't come with a set of instructions, just gives you the vision....A different hermeneutic than pre-Millenialists....Suggests God doesn't owe Israel anything anymore....

If the NT church is the people of God the way OT Israel was, OT Israel was a socio-political entity...You could argue that the socio-political laws should be applied to the Church.....

2 Cor. 3:3 - written with Spirit of God...

Progresive dispensationalism acknowledges a spectrum....some are Wesleyans, some are Calvinists....

Schofield predicted a restoration of Israel in 1909....He was laughed to scorn....

Biblical has a covenant dispensational approach...

2/10/98

No class next week...

Mid-term postponed until March 3, 1998....Responsible for reading up to Feb. 17....Won't be tested on Todd's stuff until after the midterm....

Biblical's position: historical Biblical Christianity in its Reformed view....Lists several creeds...Reformed tradition but understanding that Baptists are a part of that....Calvinist in soteriology...regeneration comes before faith....Flexible on baptism and church government....Our new statement reflects nicely what we are as a school...not rigidly defined by any particular confessional position....Best place you can be for a Reformed institution....Key element of Reformed tradition is that it's always reforming...not strictly confessional....Saying, "The Bible is where we're going to go..."

Recent article in CA...Olson..."Future of Evangelical Theology"...Responses by Oden, Pinnock, Jordan...What Olson says of the Reformists...danger is that the documents get elevated on a par with Scripture....

New Perspective on Paul....Wright, Sanders....D.A. Carson, in recent issue of JETS, discusses this issue...mentions misunderstandings amongst Calvinists preaching on Galatians being how one comes to faith....
 
 

B. The Mission of the Church....what are we supposed to be doing? What are we called to do...As a church, we are a people called to mission....To be but also to do...

1. The Purpose of the Church....Grenz is right on target when he say the basic mission of the church is to GLORIFY GOD....

Grenz: "Proper starting point...ultimate purpose....why did Christ initially start the church....for God's glory....Christ came with this view in purpose....impending sacrifice in context of glorification....John 17...."

"ultimate motivation for all planning...actions...the glory of God..."

Intent in everything we do is to glorify God...whether in seeker-sensitive or traditional churches....Be careful of how we critique our brothers and sisters down the road when they're trying to glorify God...Can any one church do it all? No....If we see the community motif of a Body, the imagery extends to the church universal....Could God be using different manifestations of his one Body to reach various people...

How do we glorify God??? Worship, edification, outreach....In a persecuted context, the outreach might be subservient to mutual edification, but we're called to do all three....

God is not some egotistical God saying "Glorify me..." He is glorified because he's created us for a specific purpose....As we fulfill that purpose glory is brought to him....

Why the Church if creation already glorifies God? Sin has messed things up....even creation is groaning...waiting for deliverance....Jesus becomes the mediator to restore the relationship...called into community to glorify God....

Danger in Triumphalism when various portions of the Church impose their culture on others....colonial period of the church's history....

2. The Great Commission....

MAT 28:16 NIV Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. {17} When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. {18} Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. {19} Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, {20} and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Basic challenge and calling to God's people....

Not just get people saved, but make disciples of all nations....

Baptism important....

Name of triune God...

Teaching....

All authority given to Jesus...

Making disciples not just about getting people saved....doesn't end there....Making disciples suggests a process, not just a moment in time....

Basic context of three components of Church's mission....worship, nurture, outreach...

MAR 16:15 NIV He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. {16} Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Very striking passage...very straightforward....Believe = salvation, No believe = condemnation....

Catholics use this to prove baptismal regeneration...How do you answer that....

This passage never part of NT....check margin...9-20 not in original....

What's probably happened here, in the development of Greek NT, majority text....scholars take all manuscripts...if majority include it, its included....Other tradition more critical...say that's too simplistic...This is United Bible Society text...looking for number of manuscripts, widest geographical distribution....There are people that believe that if you deviate from the Majority Text, you're a tool in the hand of Satan trying to rob the people of God of the true Bible....

That doesn't totally get you off the hook...

There are groups that drink poison and handle snakes....use this text area....

LUK 24:45 NIV Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. {46} He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, {47} and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. {48} You are witnesses of these things. {49} I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

Preaching and witnessing....OUTREACH....We are to witness to the work of God...ultimately only God can save someone....We can only be witnesses...

JOH 20:21 NIV Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." {22} And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

We are sent, called by our Lord, to engage in task of outreach...

The disciples are sent here....does that mean we are sent??? Jesus commanded them to teach others to teach others....Jesus here establishing the ministry of the church...

ACT 1:8 NIV But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

A form of the Great Commission appears in all four gospels and the book of Acts...a clear indication of its importance and centrality as to who we are to be as a church....

ROM 12:6 NIV We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. {7} If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; {8} if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Edification...gifts....

Sharing mutual needs and burdens and concerns...

GAL 6:10 NIV Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Both outreach and edification....

Priorities...first the needs of the church and also the needs of the world....Outreach is also doing good to all people....

Social ministry has been controverial in North America...19th Century, evangelical church leader in outreach...feeding poor, clothing the naked...housing shelterless....In Europe in the 19th C., a new theology develops...Trolsch....Social Gospel...classic liberal theology...

Couple that with Post-Millennialism and the doctrine of Progress (man getting better)...then, in a secular way, people would bring in the kingdom of God by doing good....Walter Rauschenbusch and others....

Response was, "We won't do that...we will get people saved" Church pulled back from social ministry and looked suspiciously towards those who did...

After WWII, Carl Henry chastised the conservative church for not engaging in social ministry...

We then had some evangelical scholars who didn't have a problem with abortion..."We're here to get people saved..."

Things have changed now....Jerry Falwell took a lot of flack....

Today we look at it and wonder how any who could look at Social Ministry as being wrong....

Jesus mentioned the sheep and the goats...goats didn't do some things...

"Ministries of Mercy" by Tim Keller...PCA pastor in NY....develops these social concerns....his experience has been that most conservatives will say "We'll help someone once, but if they don't get their act together...." Is that the best model? There is a place where you have to stop helping someone, but probably most of us stop way too soon....

{EPH 4:11 NIV} It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, {12} to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up {13} until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

{1TI 4:13 NIV} Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.

Reading and exposition of Scriptures very importatn

{1TI 5:3 NIV} Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. {4} But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God.

{2TI 4:2 NIV} Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction.

Preach the word....WITH GREAT PATIENCE, CAREFUL INSTRUCTION....

{TIT 3:14 NIV} Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.

{HEB 13:1 NIV} Keep on loving each other as brothers. {2} Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. {3} Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.

{HEB 13:16 NIV} And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

{JAM 1:27 NIV} Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

{1PE 4:9 NIV} Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. {10} Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. {11} If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

{1JO 3:16 NIV} This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. {17} If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? {18} Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

3. Worship....Hard to find a more hotly debated topic....High Church, liturgical....they like the artistry and carefully laid-out worship....they say this captures the creativity of God.....New books coming out constantly on High Church worship....more staid, orderly....responses....

On the other end, low church, contemporary, free-willing, charismatic....going with the flow...basking in God's love....

Traditional vs. Contemporary...the two sides have real problems with each other....Both groups tend to argue that one way or the other is Biblical, right...

What does the Bible have to say about it? We don't have a lot of information that would give us a biblically-prescribed pattern....Bible gives a basic PRINCIPLE.....

a. The contemporary, low church side...What's their case?

At the end of the Psalms, cymbals, etc.....

Dance as worship...Course on liturgical dance at Regent College....People go to the Psalms again....David dancing....

Just because David did, does that mean we must??? Is it prescribing a pattern?

Luther said anything we're doing, we'll keep doing unless the Bible tells us differently....Zwingli...regulative principle....We're throwing everything out and doing only what the Bible tells us to do....

Very great focus on experiential....

b. High church viewpoint...they believe they're doing what the Bible says....affirm the regulative principle...you can only do what Scripture says...In Presbyterian church....pulpit...table for Lord's supper...tends to be bare...

c. Nobody is doing everything the Bible says....It says so many different things and gives so many different examples....

There is a cultural element involved in this discussion....Some argue that God wants excellence....They decry choruses as being musically inferior....Who says what the best music is? Whose justice? Whose rationality?

d. What does the Bible tell us about worship???

(1) Worship involves an understanding of God's Character...when we worship, we worship someone...It involves theological integrity in worship....

PSA 96:1 NIV Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth. {2} Sing to the Lord, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day. {3} Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

Worship needs to have integrity...

JOH 4:20 NIV Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem." {21} Jesus declared, "Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. {22} You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. {23} Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. {24} God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

Spirit and truth....this is the CENTRAL BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE about the integrity of worship....

Truth...understanding who God is...conformity to the will of God...

Spirit...with the spiritual part of our selves...Holy Spirit involved....worship is not just done mechanically, where only the mind is engaged....Good case for the usefulness of a VARIETY of forms of worship....

One of biggest problems with the regulative principle is that it is so flexible....

What about drama???? What about prayers being read???

Methodologically, culture is important...

Preaching of Word part of edification and worship...Does the Bible demand that the preaching of the Word be the central focus every Sunday? How would you feel about a sharp drama team doing the service??? The question is, "Is what I'm doing helping people and touching them spiritually?" Sometimes we get stuck in patterns...

For the Lutheran Church, the Eucharist is the central focus....

If we think about it in context of the doctrine of the church, we need to foster the process of responding to God out of a proper understanding of who God is and who we are before him...being aware that in every church not everybody is the same....What helps one may not help another and that's OK....This is the early history of the Church....Tremendous variety in the church from early on....

We need to be very cautious before we condemn others for what they do....The question is, is it in Spirit and Truth...are the motives right and is it theologically accurate...

4. Edification....Three audiences in Church, God, ourselves and the world....not just coming together and saying hi and feeling good on Sunday morning.....Part of edification is preaching of the Word....teaching....part of worship but also edifying....Christian counseling is edification.....
 
 

5. Outreach....preaching the gospel, evangelism....witnessing...sharing the gospel...But outreach also has a social concern...Both witness and Good Samaritan work....

Dispensational pre-Millennialism appeared in 19th Century, when liberalism had won the day....Pessimistic outlook developed that said the world was going to hell...nothing we can do about it....We're on a lifeboat on a sea of no hope....our job a salvage operation...We're not going to have anything to do with the world....

Is that view still out there? Yes...

Hippolytus was essentially a pre-millennialist...Eusebius was a pre-Millenialist...in his time it made sense...

Paul writing at a difficult time and says: witness; do good...

2/24/98

Exam next week...more of an essay exercise with some objective stuff....75% essay, 25% objective....Expect at least one essay primarily based on the reading....broad question...compare and contrast on a particular issue....Could bring in some of the lecture material....Probably two hours plus....

Feb. 9, Christianity Today...excellent set of articles...The future of evangelical Theology....Roger Olson....Two broad groups: Reformists and the Traditionalists....Reformists more centrist-oriented...Traditionalists tend more "who's in, who's out"....Reformists look at theology as a 2nd order discipline....

Three responses by Pinnock, Oden, George....

Important that everybody keeps talking...

Dealing with mindset issues rather than specific doctrines....

Questions from reading....

Clapp...all over the place....not outlined easily...trying to suggest models for thinking about how the church can react to Post-Christian society...

How many are denominationalists now? Clapp is trying to set up new models...need to completely alter how we've been thinking of these issues....Not enough to simply say, preach the Word, administer sacraments, discipline....It used to be "which version of Christianity" are you? There's some wisdom in what Clapp says....But prof not so easy to throw out some of the classical teachings....

We often feel like our church life is not an all-encompassing life as a whole...it's not something that shapes and impacts Christian's worldview all the time....That's not necessarily nominal Christianity according to Clapp....Trying to tell Christians that their Christian life is totally and inextricably tied to your social life...We have grown up in a time when church seems to be an additional appendage to our Christian life, wehen it actually should be our life....

It's a critique of Richard Niebuhr's "Christ and Culture", where Christ transforms culture....He says there's a transformative element but he wouldn't have the strict goal being the Constantinian church....Maybe separate but transforming...Attacks D.J. Kennedy model of transformation....He would say that tends to be individualistic and not church-based....

He's saying the church should look considerably different than the culture around us....

He's post-modern, eclectic....a hodge-podge of ideas....

He's asking, "are we really that different???" A challenging message.....

Resist the urge to treat Clapp as a systematic theology text....He's not like Clowney or Grenz....Saying some things they don't say....
 
 

C. The Structure of the Church....
 
 
 
 

1. Membership in the Church...It is a way that the modern church in most of its forms has talked about COMMITMENT to the church....If people are Christians they should go to church to be committed to the body of Christ...to participate in worship in a full-blown, committed way....

The Bible calls us to committed membership into the community...every member ministry...

How do you become a member? In the early church, it was an elaborate process....which culminated in the baptism of a convert, at which point a person became a member...a one-year process, where a new class of converts would come together for extensive catechicism....church leaders would scrutinize their lives....One Easter, they would be baptized...Pre-baptismal training...Has some value in some minds, but it's not really the NT pattern....

Baptism and church membership ought to be somewhat linked in prof's opinion....

How do we sort through all this? Baptism is something the Lord commands....We should baptize converts and then make disciples of them...We need to make sure they understand what Christian faith is all about....

In prof's church, for the children who are baptized, there's a two year confirmation course....

We've got to disciple people in context of commitment to the Body....

2. The Government of the Church...One of the big questions is the form of government the church should take....Numerous forms...Presbyterian, Congregational, Episcopalian...Generally since Reformation, it has been believed that the Bible presents a number of different models...

All Christians believe some form of church gov't is important....

ACT 6:1 NIV In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. {2} So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. {3} Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them {4} and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." {5} This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. {6} They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.

{1TH 5:12 NIV} Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. {13} Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.

{1TI 3:1 NIV} Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. {2} Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, {3} not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. {4} He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. {5} (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) {6} He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. {7} He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap. {8} Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. {9} They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. {10} They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons. {11} In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything. {12} A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well. {13} Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.

{TIT 1:3 NIV} and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior, {4} To Titus, my true son in our common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. {5} The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you. {6} An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. {7} Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless--not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. {8} Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. {9} He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.

{1PE 5:1 NIV} To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: {2} Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers--not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; {3} not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. {4} And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

Congregationalism...local congregation not subject in any binding way to church councils or denominational agencies....they govern the affairs of their own church...they ordain ministers, elect officers, discipline....Congregation makes decisions about discipline....Some elect leaders to make decisions, but they are still accountable to the congregation....Different than Presbyterian, where elected elders are still responsible to the larger congregational body....

A.H. Strong: "While Christ is sole king, the government of the church...is an absolute democracy...whole body entrusted...." Systematic Theology, p. 903.

Some feel it is THE way, others feel it is A way...

MAT 18:17 NIV If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. {18} "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

ACT 6:3 NIV Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them {4} and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word." {5} This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism.

{2CO 2:6 NIV} The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him. {7} Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

{2TH 1:14 NIV}

{JUD 1:3 NIV} Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. {4} For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

In these passages we have some sense of the role of the congregations making decisions for themselves....At another level, though, you are tempted to ask what structures existed at the time...By close of early into the 2nd C, the church has a pretty well-ordered hierarchy...Did the apostles institute that? That debate goes on....

Presbyterian government....Book of Church Order, Paragraph 13, Section 1...expedient and agreeable to Scripture and to the practice of the early Christians that the church be governed by representative assemblies...church sessions, presbyteries, synods, etc....PCUSA...A gradation of authority in the church...

Local congregation subject to powers within the denomination outside itself....Once a decision is made, it's binding on the congregations....Appeal available....

Acts 15:1-29 - Jerusalem council....makes binding decision for the entire church....

ACT 20:28 NIV Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. {29} I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.

Sends for leaders...not everybody....

{EPH 4:4 NIV} There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- {EPH 4:16 NIV} From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. {17} So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. {18} They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.

Local church part of a unified whole extended over wide area...

1TI 4:13 NIV Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. {14} Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

JAM 5:14 NIV Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Episcopal government....Roman Catholic, Anglican, E. Orthodox...Power of ordination and spiritual oversight of churches in a given area are vested in the bishop....In modified form, it's found in Methodist churches...Greek word episkopos...bishop or overseer...Does that mean overseer like elder or overseer like a bishop???

This structure very much in force early in the church...

MAT 16:18 NIV And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Catholics point to these verses as foundation of Papacy...

Non-catholics press it out to show importance of a particular individual being in charge of a particular church or churches....

ACT 14:21 NIV They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, {22} strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said. {23} Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

{1TI 3:1 NIV} Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task.

Episcopos...they say it means bishop in the sense we mean it today...

{2TI 1:6 NIV} For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. {7} For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.

{TIT 1:5 NIV} The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

Each claims authority in the Bible....a case can be made for each of these structures...not necessarily mutually exclusive...All three of these traditions have long pedigrees in the church....The dominant structure in the early church was the episcopal structure....We oughtn't be too torked up over these different structures....

The problem with the episcopal structure is not a great deal of oversight in many cases....Not much discipline going on in the Anglican church....

Seems wise to have some on the scene oversight....to mete out discipline...

3/10/98

Final on April 7, 1998....all notes and reading for the 2nd half...
 
 

3. The Leadership of the Church....1 Timothy and Titus....very important...
 
 

4. Ordination....a real controversial topic...no real ordination ceremony mentioned in the Bible....There needs to be some basis to set some aside who are entrusted with teaching, leading and governing the church...There has to be some means to assessing a person's fitness for that....1 Timothy and Titus....

Is ordination lifetime? Presbyterians say once ordained, always unless misconduct or inactivity....Context may change, but you're still ordained...

Other groups give ordination for period of time....

All church structures subject to forms of abuse....

Principle: people need the requisite scriptural gifts and those gifts need to be affirmed by the body in some way....

Principle of ordination is solid, even if the term isn't used per se...

5. Spiritual Gifts....

Discussion of Wayne Grudem's idea of fallible prophecy....Prof doesn't buy that....Grudem is a Reformed, Baptist, Vineyard theologian....

General approach of prof to spiritual gifts: no evidence in Scripture for the cessation of the gifts...Many have argued that historically they haven't been evidenced in the church except occasionally...that doesn't hold water either....See Gary Shogren's article in JETS...says regular use of spiritual gifts was regular part of the church...has unearthed some blatant mistranslations by cessationists of early church fathers....

A historical evidence for the miraculous beyond the times of the Apostles...

What about today? Several views: 1) They're in use today and should or must be a part of the experience of contemporary Christians in local churches today (Charismatic view); 2) Anti-charismatics say they have ceased and must not be part of our experience today...; 3) Non-charismatics...don't believe there's evidence for cessation and believe they may be part of local experience, but they don't have to be....

In professor's experience, most charismatics have been like children getting sick because of eating too much desert rather than meat and potatoes....Gifts should be supplementary...

"Showing the Spirit", by Don Carson...exposition of 1 Corinthians 12 - 14....His conclusion: like professor's....Prof was a charismatic at one time....

J. Robbin Williams, Systematic Theology from charismatic perspective....

D. The Sacraments of the Church....
 
 

1. The Nature and Significance of the Sacraments....

One of the great questions that always comes up: what is a sacrament? The Bible doesn't give us a definition....

There is a debate between the use of terms sacraments or ordinance....

Sacrament....Grenz points out that in the early church, one of the key definitions of sacraments was an "oath of allegiance"....picking up on the secular terminology...Predominant in Zwingi's view...Some indication in the 2-4th C. that this was one of the dominant motifs....

Catholics use the term sacraments as "signs which dispense grace..."

We can use the term sacraments to cover both a means of grace and an oath of allegiance....

Classic definition of Augustine: visible signs of an invisible grace...or, as some Reformers would say, visible signs of an invisible reality.....By 5th C. in the Church, baptism and Lord's Supper taken as means of grace wherein Christ is bodily present...grace communicated they can't receive in any other way....Sacramentus...mystery....

Term sacrament open to these two meanings...a challenge...a big discussion in the history of the church...

Ordinance...A.H. Strong..."those outward rites which Christ has appointed to be administered in his church as visible signs of the saving truth of the Gospel..."

Sacrament....Martin Luther....key discussions between Protestant and Catholics...Luther includes only two....Baptism and Bread...."for only in these two do we find both the divinely instituted sign and the promise of the forgiveness of sins...."

Another discussion: what's going on in the OT? Is circumcision a type of sacrament...Reformed tradition has tended to talk about the visible sign of an invisible reality, etc., but also that it is a SIGN OF THE COVENANT....Picks up the oath of allegiance idea...

What is a sacrament? It depends on whom you ask. RCC considers marriage a sacrament....

RCC say a sacrament is a rite that has power in itself to confer grace on the recipients....

Some in Radical Reformation don't believe in any continuing rites...

We don't get a whole lot of help looking at these definitions...

Prof's view: Two sacraments...divinely instituted...forgiveness involved...Visible sign of invisible reality...and an oath of allegiance....Understand baptism and Eucharist similarly...

Some look at baptism only as a sign of covenant, but then look at the Eucharist of greater spiritual involvement...

2. Baptism.....Christians differ on the mode, on the subjects, but they all agree that we should baptize and be baptized....

{MAT 28:19 NIV} Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

{ACT 2:38 NIV} Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. {39} The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off--for all whom the Lord our God will call."

{GAL 3:27 NIV} for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. {28} There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

{EPH 4:1 NIV} As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. {2} Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. {3} Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. {4} There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to one hope when you were called-- ...to verse 6....

These texts show that we're to be baptized...

Believer's baptism...only those who show personal faith in Christ...association of faith, repentance, and baptism...

Acts 2:38...repentance and baptism bound together here...

{ACT 16:14 NIV} One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message. {15} When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. "If you consider me a believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house." And she persuaded us.

Personal faith and baptism connected here....

This text is also used by those believing in infant baptism....an argument from silence....

{ACT 16:31 NIV} They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household." {32} Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. {33} At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.

Baptists will argue that there is the connection of faith and baptism...

Those who do infant baptism say that here's another example of family baptism....

Reformed position says that God deals with family...promise that they will come to faith....

Baptists would say that perhaps Paul saw that their reward would be that the family would come to faith....

Acts 8 - Ethiopian eunuch...believe with all your heart....

[Inductive Bible Study is a fine thing to do, but it's naive to think you'll solve all the problems hermeneutically...there are texts that are difficult...what's the relationship between the testaments? etc....]

Acts 18 - Crispus...whole household...believe...baptized...

{1PE 3:21 NIV} and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also--not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Catholics use this one in light of baptismal regeneration....

Appeal of good conscience presupposes repentance and faith...

Infant baptism...not only adult converts, but the infant children of one or both believing parents...baptism of the infants is conceived as a sign of the covenant, placing the person in the visible body...promise of salvation and forgiveness of sins to be personally appropriated by the person at such time as the person believes...In Lutheran view, it's the faith of the parents that supplies the faith associated with the baptism....Luther said, we don't know that the infant himself doesn't have faith...

Gen. 17:11-13...sing of circumcision....key point....continuity between the testaments...visible sign of the covenant...

Luke 18 - children brought to Jesus...argued by infant baptizers...that Jesus' willingness to touch them showed his interest and concern...

Matthew 19:13 - invokes the name of the God of Israel on children...suggestion is that Jesus is willing to deal with children as covenant children, part of the family....

Believer's baptists will dedicate their children based on this scripture....But...we wouldn't expect Jesus to be baptizing at this point...

Acts 2:39 - for you and your children...expresses common outlook of OT, where God desires to deal with households and not just an atomistic collection of individuals....Passover...lamb per house...

Acts 16 - household baptisms...

1 Cor. 1:15 - household of Stephanus...

{1CO 7:14 NIV} For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

Part of God's visible family....

How do you deal with your unbelieving children who haven't come to faith? Infant baptizers say they are holy, in some sense part of the visible community....not necessarily salvation....

3/17/98

Questions about baptism....

Key issue is how you look at the Testaments...
 
 

How did this develop in the history of the Church?

There may be insight we can gain from the early (2nd C.) church from people who studied with the Apostles....Early in the history of the Church, infants are being baptized...That soon becomes the standard in the Church....

If you were baptized, at one point, you became very susceptible to persecution from the Roman Empire....

Infant baptism connected with the troublesome notion of baptismal regeneration, the washing away of original sin....Lutheran tradition still affirms that baptism can be regenerative....Anabaptists would look at that as another example of human tradition creeping in...

Infants baptized who have one or more believing parents...almost completely connected with some type of understanding of baptismal regeneration....

The challenge is that you have texts that seem to look in that direction....

Some groups, like the Campbellites say believer baptism causes regeneration....

We don't have strong statements one way or the other on adult vs. child baptism....

Catholic view is that baptism washes away original sin...a child baptized that dies in infancy will go to heaven...

In the Reformation, four major views....

Lutheran...continues to affirm that which is practiced in the Catholic Church unless the Bible tells him not to....Still willing to talk about the mass and make it central part of worship...For Luther, he believed the sacraments had the power to create faith...Even willing to believe baptism produces faith in an infant...Willing to maintain baptismal generation...In the celebration of the Lord's Supper, producing faith is maintained....that sacraments are a means of grace....

Justification by faith...but where does the faith come from? The Arminians believe in the individual...Calvinists say the faith comes from God....Luther says it comes from God's word and also by the sacraments....Through faith alone...Luther said the infant could have the faith that justifies, communicated to the infant through baptism....

Lutherans still maintain this position today....For Luther the baptismal generation is a possibility....

If most Lutherans read Luther, they'd be Calvinists, not Lutherans...comment from one of prof's professors...

Zwingli...disagreed with Luther on Lord's Supper...Challenged Luther on the idea that the Sacraments create faith....Zwingli trained in Renaissance humanist tradition in Vienna....For Zwingli, the word of God produces faith and displaces the Mass....Continues to baptize infants because baptism is a sign of the covenant.....Early Reformed tradition....

Calvin....sees himself on baptism as a mediator between Luther and Zwingli...agrees that it should be applied to infants...Agrees with Luther that there is an objective transfer of grace...but doesn't agree with Luther on baptismal regeneration....Tie in to covenant promise of God...for you and your children....Real grace communicated: the promise of God that undergirds the baptism....that the child, if the parents don't mess up, will eventually come to faith....Can lead to saving grace....

Anabaptist....Zurich...challenged Zwingli...say that baptism is merely symbolic....Say only believers...Sacrament has no power of itself...Baptism a sign of new-found faith...

Lutherans and Calvinists emphasize and objective transaction...

Zwingli and Anabaptists reject idea of transferance or communication of grace...Merely a symbol...

Is there an objective grace? Who is it applied to?

Lutherans or Calvinists believe in an objective benefit in baptism...Why would you then deny a child you love that sign?

Westminster Confession says its a great sin to not have your infants baptized...

The question is...What's happening in baptism?

Prof sees no evidence for objective transferance of grace in Scripture...sides with Grenz here....Tends to see baptism as a visible symbol....public sign that one is part of the Christian community....

Zwingli...baptism is a sign that the infant is part of the community...child in some sense sanctified...

Believer baptist view (for most part): if we understand, as believers baptists, that an infant is part of the community, dedication leading to eventual baptism....

Dedication-------------------->Baptism....

Baptism------------>Confirmation....

In Covenantal approach, either of these would be scripturally acceptable...Prof's view...

In context of very individual society, he likes the idea of community that baptism pictures....

His church does both believer and infant baptism....

This is where methodology becomes a powerful thing...Truth, unity, holiness to be promoted....

Comfortable saying there are two ways to baptize...that promotes unity....

Mode of baptism....A lot of unprofitable arguments about it....

Immersion captures symbolism of Romans....

Is there a way we can work forward toward unity?

3. The Lord's Supper....

Luther...his belief about baptism extends to Eucharist...

Catholics....believe in objective presence of Christ that provides them with communication of grace....Transubstantiation....belief that bread and wine are transformed so that only the real flesh and blood of Christ are left....eventhough outwardly it appears to be bread and wine, etc. Know by faith it is flesh and blood....

9th C. Eucharistic debate between Radburtus and Radtranmus...Radburtus expounded transsubstantiation, and Radtranmus took memorial view....Significant because the Protestants point to it and say Transub. hasn't always been agreed upon...

Luther develops CONSUBSTANTIATION....flesh and blood really present, in, over and around the elements...when you eat the bread and wine you really do consume the flesh and blood, in and along with the bread and wine....Difference is the extent of Christ's presence...Bread and wine remain....

Luther's argument was with the Aristotelian underpinnings of Constantinian...The text: This is my body...this is my blood...

Zwingli says nothing going on but a memorial meal...this is my body, this signifies my body....Luther and Zwingli really went at it...For Luther, you did it every week if you are to be a healthy Christian....For Zwingli, the benefit is subjective...it's what you bring to the table....hold, touch, taste and representation....

Luther had to affirm the ubiquitous body of Christ....Creed says he's seated at right hand...Luther says, no that's figurative....

Calvin....tries to mediate...disagrees that it's merely a memorial...says Christ is present, but present spiritually....But not like Luther says...Spiritually feeding on Christ....SPIRITUAL PRESENCE...celebrate it every week, was his opinion....They ended up doing it once a month....Communicates grace objectively...but not really well defined, as in Lutheran and Catholic....

Anabaptists with Zwingli...nothing mystical...a symbol....

Practically, from Zwingli's point of view, you shouldn't celebrate that often...If you do it too often it becomes a rote ceremony....

Justin Martyr...in early church communion served in relation to love feast....

In early church, evidence that they celebrated the Lord's Supper every time they met....

By beginning of 3rd C., we see it served more like today....

Eschatology starts next week....on Syllabus,

III. Eschatology: The Doctrine of Last Things....

A. Personal Eschatology...cover that in your reading...Generally these things, with exception of intermediate state, have not been debated....Debate between Murray Harris, "From Grave to Glory" and Norman Geisler....Prof's opinion: general concessus of evangelical community is that this is a struggle over which too much energy has been expended...Geisler says Christ's res. body and our res. body will be just like the bodies that died...Harris says there will be both continuity and discontinuity....

5. Intermediate State...has been much debated topic....soul sleep vs. immediately going to be with the Lord....On balance, prof thinks there is a period of separation of soul and body and with Christ, not just next conscious moment...

B. Corporate Eschatology...see Grenz.

Next week....discussion of Millennium...end of next week, letter D. Hell....The most controversial topics in evangelical theology...

3/24/98

Final format the same...Up to 50% objective, but not much less than 40%....

Covering corporate and personal eschatology in the readings....relatively non-controversial...a bit of a squabble about the intermediate state or the precise nature of the resurrection body, but in general agreement....Christ is coming, God in control of history, moving history to a conclusion...Augustine set in place the classical view of Christian history....There was a cyclical view of history...

Corporate eschatology says history moving towards a goal and God is directing that history....Augustine wrote during a time when the Roman Empire was collapsing...Christians were struggling to make sense of that....Christianity had been spreading out through the Empire...Postmillennial view...People thought that was great....100 years later the empire starts to crumble...Barbarians at the gates....Christians ask, "What is God doing?" Non-Christians said the empire was collapsing because people were forsaking the gods...a powerful argument...Augustine answers this argument and says the scheme of history is directed by God toward his ends...not always easy for us to see how it's working out....Two steps forward, one step back, from our view...

Progress approach...the secular view...modernity, Enlightenment...says history moving forward towards a goal but humans are driving it....Humans getting better...progress....better...better...better....Evangelicals caught up in this to when they say you don't look at church history...Latest always the best....Moderns caught up in it by dismissing the Christian faith....Says there's a metanarrative, but that it's human...the white European male story about the nature of history....Totalizing narrative....

Postmodern approach...a lot of histories...not just one history moving towards a goal...moving in all directions...moving towards goals and ends of their various cultures....They say there is not metanarrative, or understanding that is true for all people....

Christian position....says there's a history moving to an end...but God is in control not humans...shares something of postmodern view in that there are all these different histories that God is bringing into his one story....No one group stands in a privileged position of sorting it all out....Challenge to assert God's story without falling into the totalizing approach....

Group that's challenging the Augustine position on history....Clark Pinnock...God has an idea of where he'd like things to go, but is not in control to the point that he will get it there......Even that group would say that God has in his mind where he wants things to go and by and by will get his way....

Magisterial reformers saw the gospel being fulfilled in what they were doing...Then American Christians looked America as the center of God's plan....That's looking pretty lame now....Asia and Africa looking like the leaders of Christianity in the next millennium....

Good book on this, Walsh and Middleton..."Truth is Stranger than It Used to Be..."

The scheme amongst orthodox view...the Christian view...

C. The Millennium...the most signficantly debated point concerning eschatology, slowly being eclipsed by discussions of hell....

1. The Millennium in Christian Theology...In the history of theology, all of these positions with exception of disp. premill. have been bandied about from the very beginning...Some dispensationalists that will try to claim that their position goes back to Augustine...That's nonsense...It's a 19th C. phenomenon....Premillenialism has had a very solid history in the church....

When church under persecution in earliest manifestations...strongest and most numerous statements about premillenial eschatology....It's a mess and God will return and straighten things out dramatically...Grenz associates premillennialism with a pessimistic outlook....

Some amillenniusts, dismissive of Revelation....

When Constantine becomes a Christian, Postmillennialism very popular....says Kingdom of Heaven, through slow process will be brought to earth through agency of the Church, and then the return of Christ....

In the early church, a mix...As Roman Empire starts to crumble, postmillennialism runs into trouble....Then amillennialism through Reformation more the norm...

Calvin was an amillennialist...How can you be a Reformed seminary where John Calvin couldn't get a job? Calvin's critique of the Chiliasts is that they limit the reign of Christ to a thousand years....No sense that this was a live discussion in the reformation...

In the modern period...19th C....emergence of dispensational premillennialism...starts in Europe, where Christianity was in pretty bad shape...Postmillennialism become view of choice of Liberal Theologians....Social Gospel.....Kingdom of heaven would be brought to earth by the Church....

In response, many swung to premillennialism....Committed to literal reading of Bible and got away from amillennialism...

Key issue is the interpretation of Revelation 20.

REV 20:1 NIV And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. {2} He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. {3} He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. {4} I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. {5} (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. {6} Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years. {7} When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison {8} and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth--Gog and Magog--to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. {9} They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. {10} And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. {11} Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. {12} And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. {13} The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. {14} Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. {15} If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Premillennialists accept this as literal...

Amillennialists don't accept this as literal...no intermediate phase...understands it figuratively and spriritually....Grenz and Hoekema hold this position...

Postmillenialists....They accept a 1000 year reign, but it will be before the coming of Christ....through the agency of the church....then Jesus will come back....

2. Postmillenialism....most don't insist on a literal thousand year rule....

Concerned that in the Bible has called his people to certain tasks to further the kingdom and that God will enable them to bring it to pass...They point to certain passages...

MAT 13:31 NIV He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.

Their concern is that the other views just wait around...pessimistic view of things...nothing we can do until the Lord comes back...

MAT 13:33 NIV He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."

Influence spreads throughout....a gradual process in which the Kingdom of heaven emerges....

Transformationalist approach in relation to culture...Job of Church to be transforming the world to the obedience of Christ....not waiting for the Lord to miraculously intervene and make it happpen...

Worldview is one of optimism for postmillennialists....they want to see cultures transformed into manifestations of the Kingdom of heaven....

Theonomy is postmillenial and one of the goals is to see the laws of OT as being the laws of the whole earth....When that happens the Lord will return....That doesn't mean that all will be regenerate but that the church will be successful in promoting the OT moral law....but some would advocate stoning....ETS meeting...

There are a number of postmillenialists who would not call themselves theonomists....would view it the influence of the teachings of Christ....
 
 

3. Amillennialism...there is no literal thousand-year rule on earth....Some amillennialists say Jesus returned already

Their concern and burden....Grenz wants to characterize the amillennialists as those who are not optimistic in their outlook and not pessimistic, but realists....

Cross Return

Period of Israel...present age | New Age.....|........
 
 

Present age continues..........|.............|

There will be many battles....win some...lose some...great impact in world...but finally, it will take the return of the Lord for all to go well...

Overlap....

Professor is premillenialists....

Hoekema's position, from prof's point of view, misses this issue...Revelation is one of the most significant books for discussion of nature of hell...If we spiritualize aspects of Revelation, we get into trouble...Prof not persuaded by his discussion of the two resurrections...
 
 

4. Dispensational Premillennialism....Christ will return premillennially but they add two significant twists...disjunction between the testaments....and a theory as to why there is this thousand years...fulfillment of prophecy from OT...Romans 9-11...Israel comes into the fold...promise concerning Israel's land....literal fulfillment....This is what they've added to the discussion...

Historically, they've said not to get involved in social gospel or politics...they say culture of this world's system is antithesis to the gospel...you can't change it....Culture of world always enemy of the Christian...don't try to legislate morality...."We're here to get people saved..."

Salvage operation...lifeboat in the hostile sea of this world...ride storm out until Lord returns...try to get others into the lifeboat....When Jerry Falwell started Moral Majority, he took a lot of heat from dispensationalists...he was stepping out of the historical dispensational view...

Separatist view...purity of the church...

Other concern...literal, grammatical historical interpretation of scripture...In prophecy, they want to take that literally....Millennium provides context for prophecies concerning Israel can be fulfilled....

Take Romans 9 - 11 very literally...All Israel to be saved in end times....

Historic premil has not agreed with that...Understands it that Israel is the Church....

In the early church, you don't find people arguing that Israel in the plan of God is ethnic, national Israel...

There are those today arguing for a two-covenant approach to salvation...taking dispensationalism to the next extreme...Israel can be saved by doing what Israel is to do...Growing in Britain...Dealing with Jews who were persecuted by "Christians" in the Holocaust....

Reformed Tradition has never taken a position on the Millennium...always in the opinion category....

Only the dispensational position has elevated it to the level of doctrine...
 
 

5. Historic Premillennialism....there is a millennium but they don't have a reason why....Dr. Vannoy is a historic premillennialist yet holds to a future for national Israel....talks about continuity between the testaments....All sorts of variations....

Dr. McRae was strongly premillennial...debate whether historic or dispensational...worked on Schofield....Todd has said that McCrae said in print that he was dispensational...But later in his life, so disburbed by the acrimony that he would not take on a label other than to say he was premillennial....

McRae left Westminster because he didn't believe they gave pre-millennialism a fair hearing....

Best book on the Millennium...."The Millennial Maze", Stanley Grenz...

Debate today...if you're amillennial people think you're liberal...Doc Neuman teaches class on Revelation....a number of different hermeneutic ways to interpret it...

All the views have a place in orthodox Christianity....none need be liberal....just a different hermeneutic....

Some believe everything Revelation discusses until the very last scenes, all has happened during the first century....

Others look at it from the futurist view...blueprint of the future....

Prof's view: 1) imminent return of Christ; 2) Must do justice to the gradual flourishing of the KOG; 3) Believes in continuity of Testaments...one people of God...Israel it Old, Church in New; Israel's purpose fulfilled in Christ; 4) Until he gets to Rev. 20, he interprets Bible like an amillenialis or postmillenialists....Thinks best way to interpret is that you have an interim period between 2nd Coming and Final consumation.....Satan comes out again and wins followers....

His problem: he has a Millennium but no reason for it....The flowering of the kingdom is a process...key points where it's intensified...

Sees a covenant with Abraham....Through Israel the Savior comes...completes reconcilation work...it is finished...Pentecost....inaugurated eschatology....Sees 2nd coming as further intensification of KOG....Transformational task at that time.....Not complete yet....Thinks of Millennial period as a process of discipleship and growth, with possibility of defiance...At consummation of age...final intensification...final judgment...By that time the Church has largely fulfilled the task seen for it by the postmillennialists....

Preserves the Millennium....Preserves emphasis on gradual unfolding of KOG, individually and corporately...Preserves imminent return of Christ..

Comfortable with all three views, but likes the premillennial view...Has most problem with dispensational view....There are places where there is figurative language....

Post-trib....

3/31/98

Exam next week...60/40, 50/50 objective/essay...Maybe more essay....7:30 - 10:00....
 
 

6. The Significance of Millennialism
 
 

D. The Consummation of God's Eternal Purpose....
 
 

1. Final Judgment....very little debated amongst orthodox Christians historically that there is a final judgement, a day of reckoning...Debates plenty over the aftermath of that judgment...Some universalists like Karl Barth didn't deny the final judgment but had a different viw of what would happen in its aftermath...

We will be held accountable for all we've done in this life....No free rides...

Two things going on:

No one finally judged fit for the kingdom will believe they belong their on any of their own strength...

No one finally judged unfit who will be sent away from God's presence who will say, "It's not fair...I didn't deserve this...." All will know they have gotten what they've deserved...

We often get caught up in the fairness of it all....

Judgment passages: Timing...Consequences...Participants...Basis.

Rom. 2:5-11

John 5:28-29

Mat. 25:31-46

Gal. 6:7-10

Rev. 20:11-15

Mat. 7:21-23

2 Cor. 5:10

Mat. 16:27

Eph. 6:8

1 Cor 3:11-15
 
 

Timing...day of judgment...future...Great White Throne...that day...before Judgment seat of Christ....

Consequences: eternal life vs. wrath, life and judgment...eternal life, eternal fire...lake of fire or not the lake of fire...

Participants: everyone...all...righteous...accursed...all the dead...every man...

Basis of judgment: deeds...doing will of father...works...

It ought to make us take pause and say that our Catholic friends aren't stupid...plenty of passages on works and deeds....

With respect to believers, somehow we must talk about linking faith and an amended life...Many of the Reformers talked about importance of an amended life...Without amended life, no evidence of being a believer...Amended life is not what gets you saved, but is important to the Christian life...

For unbelievers, it's not that they didn't believe and therefore are condemned...The reason is because of how they live...

Fairness question...at end of day, God's judgment is on how they lived their lives...

God had every right to damn us all vs. How could God damn anybody...Scripture clear about the basis of judgment and what people deserve....Scripture wrestling with an evil humanity that is deserving of punishment....Crucial to bring to the discussion...

Annihilationists at least believe there is a hell....Pinnock raises the "fairness" question....

James tells us that there are views of justification by faith alone that are wrong...easy believeism...Danger for Protestants...

Passages on judgment:

Mat. 13:39-50

Mat. 25:32-46

John 12:47-48

Acts 17:31

Heb. 9:27

2 Pet. 2:9; 3:7

Jude 6

Rev. 6:15-17, 11:18, Rev. 20.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

2. The Basis for Judgment

3. Eternal Rewards....Is there a reward system...

Pass out article: "Degrees of Reward in the Kingdom of Heaven?", Craig Blomberg, Denver Seminary...evangelical scholar...June 92 JETS...Vol. 35, No. 2...pp. 159-172...

He says there are no rewards in heaven...everybody on same footing in the Lord...Looks at every passage in NT where rewards questioned...Concludes none teach eternal reward...."...Lordship/Salvation Debate rages on...." In dispensationalist view they emphasize rewards in Kingdom....degree to which they will enjoy heaven....Left with justification by faith and sanctification by works...Blomberg troubled with this view...Parable of Laborers and Vineyards...equal pay, unequal work...1) None will be treated unfairly; 2) Many less deserving will be treated generously due to sover. of God; 3) All believers equal in God's view....

Prof persuaded by this article....

4. The Reality of Hell....This is the most controversial topic in evangelicalism right now....Annihilationism gaining ground recently....sweeping through UK amongst evangelicals....Gordon Wenham...winning numerous converts in US....Trinity Evangelical Conference....could not agree on it...

Grenz view is another one...metaphorical...but looks at hell as an example of the love of God....

Most evangelicals say the real debate is between metaphorical view and the annihilationist view....

Purgatorial view...Catholic....couldn't be a better statement of the Roman Catholic theological method...."If I were restricted only to the Bible...tradition on equal footing..."

New book by IVP by Robert Peterson and Edward Fudge...

Traditional doctrine has weight of tradition on its side...

Annihilationist view....conditional immortality....The basis in early church for belief in eternal suffering in hell is the immortality of the soul...Fudge would say, "Where's that in the Bible?" They say immortality of soul is a gift granted on condition of faith...

Perfectly legitimate way to do theology...Does it really give us more coherence...They say let's try it on....If we assume the conditional immortality of the soul...Prof believes evangelicalism shouldn't be ripped asunder over the views of hell...
 
 
 
 

Metaphorical view...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

5. The New Creation....striking lack of discussion in articles and books on heaven....almost surprising....Calvin has section in Institutes where he says how important it is to meditate on the future life...

Time ran a cover story on heaven recently....

Christians don't talk about heaven....David Wells made an interesting and disburbing point that if we're dead honest, it's hard to imagine anything better than what we have in this country..."It doesn't get any better than this..."

Not a lot of info in Scripture on the nature of heaven....

John 14:2-3...Father's house...many rooms...dwelling w/God...

Romans 8:19-21...eager expectation....creation to be liberated...glorious freedom....

Rev. 21-22...When you think of heaven, what do you think about? Ethereal non-physical existence? In fact, it seems that heaven will be on earth...changed, but still the earth....physical resurrected bodily existence....Continuity and discontinuity...

Rev. 21:1, 4...first heaven and first earth passed away...no more death...old order passed away....
 
 

E. The Significance of Eschatology