30 Jan 2024
Whenever we consider theology and study the Bible, we must never forget that the objective and application is for Christian living and outworking.
“Theology” comes from the Latin “theologia” which derives from a combination of the Greek nouns, translated as “a reasoning or study of God”. Because Scripture is God’s Word for all time and because every biblical passage has a broader context (historical, literary and biblical), exegesis (about discovering what is there, which includes both the specific meaning that the authors convey and its implications) naturally moves us into various theological disciplines.
Quite a mouthful – but understanding the above clearly would contribute to wholesome outworking of Christian living and the church.
The Theological Disciplines
Biblical theology – it considers how God’s Word connects together and climaxes in Christ.
Systematic theology – it examines what the Bible teaches about certain theological topics.
Practical theology – it details the proper Christian response to the Bible’s truths.
Biblical interpretation is not complete until it gives rise to application through a life of worship! Exegesis moves to theology, and the whole process is to result in a personal encounter with the living God disclosed in Scripture. Doxology – the practice of glorifying and praising God – should colour all biblical study.
We can thus see how theology and Scripture lead to godly living and doxology.
Hence, the church grows through proper exegesis and interpretation of Scripture by the enabling of the Holy Spirit (the Author and illuminator of the BIble) in the sermons, bible studies and theological studies.
The Bible is central and crucial to divine communication, but that is because, first, it records, interprets, and shows the right response to God’s revelation of Himself in history, and second, it is the means whereby God brings all subsequent believers to recognise, receive, and respond to that revelation for themselves. For clear thought about revelation from the beginning to the present day, we need to distinguish within the revelatory process three interconnected stages:
First, God’s redemption revealed in world history
Second, God’s redemption recounted in public records – the Scripture as a testimony and memorial for all time of God’s redemptive work in Christ, and all that led up to it and now flows from it (as we study Luke for instance, we need to put ‘Luke’ in the context of what happens before in the OT and what follows in “Acts” and up to “Revelation”).
Third, God’s redemption revealed to, and received by individuals in the church, involving inward enlightenment from God whereby the meaning and truth of divinely inspired witness to redemptive realities are grasped and those realities embraced in responsive faith.
Revelation in this subjective sense is the work of the Holy Spirit. In this sense, revelation continues to the present time. If any of this process goes wrong because of wrong and distorted theology or inaccurate interpretation of Scripture and exegesis, the growth of the church and the outworking of Christian living would be stunted.