by Mother Kathy Kenoly
A Biblical Worldview
The themes that are presented in the Bible combine to reveal the Story of God’s redemptive plan for all humanity. These themes are discoverable in both the Old Testament and the New Testament and present a unified story that discloses a divine strategy that culminates in the person of Jesus Christ. In describing the role of the church in God’s story James Hamilton states, “Biblical theology is not just an interesting topic. It informs who we are and how we live. It is a way of getting out of a false world into the real one, a transporter enabling us to inhabit the story of the Scriptures. The Bible is the real Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and biblical theology is the Heart of Gold that improbably moves us into the real world. We engage in biblical theology so as not to misinterpret what happens to us, seek our identity in the false world, and waste our lives.” [1] H
It seems to surprise many Christians that their belief in God and Jesus must be based on doctrine that is determined by what they believe about the Bible. Informal surveys of Bible study students indicate that many have a negative view of learning doctrine through studying Biblical Theology. This negative viewpoint seems to stem from a misinformed idea of what the term Biblical Theology represents. In referencing theological understanding J. P. Moreland and William Lane Craig state, “Our churches are unfortunately overly-populated with people whose minds, as Christians, are going to waste.”[2]
In 1787 Johann Philipp Gabler presented a lecture at the University of Altdorf on “On the Proper Distinction between Biblical and Dogmatic Theology and the Right Definition of their Goals.”[3] The basic idea that Gabler presented was that biblical theology should consider the historicity of the Bible from the worldview of the writers as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the books that they wrote. The arguments that proceeded from this pronouncement were the foundation for American and European biblical theology development. However, there has been much harm done in search of a definitive method for studying the Bible. During the eighteenth through the nineteenth centuries, German theologians pursued historical methods of study that impacted schools of theological studies by separating the Old Testament and the New Testament into independently researchable categories. This separation led to in-depth studies of the Old Testament’s Jewish history, culture, and context that did not apply to the New Testament. However, the Old Testament points to the Messiah of the New Testament, and one without the other is an incomplete story.
Christians, those redeemed by the blood of Christ, are the church. They are the called-out people of God and biblical theology is crucial in expressing who they are as they speak to non-believers. As Christians, biblical theology is demonstrated in everything that they say and do not say. Christ leaves Christians with no other way to live their lives when He states in John Chapter 6 verse 56 (KJV), “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.” This hard teaching is meant to express how the Christian must submit to the will of Jesus, wholly and freely learn of Him having a relationship with Him. Christ’s followers cannot waste their lives in futility, vainly following activities of a fallen world that are destined for God’s wrath and termination. Jesus calls each person to participate in the plan that He has set out in His story, and obedience with love is the necessary response as God’s plan is fulfilled.
God’s Plan vs. Man’s Plan
When God set out to reveal His plan for humanity, He used men, with their limitations, and His Holy Spirit inspired them. The way we have received the revelation of God’s divine plan is incredible. “No doubt the human authors were sinners just like us. But the text they produced, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has the entirely trustworthy and perfect character of the divine author.”[4] If one is not convinced of the way the Bible was written and of its infallibility, it may matter little if one presents the story of God and his redemptive love accurately. If God is not the author and the inspiration for the words of Genesis through The Revelation, we are without an authority to declare the truths that are written therein. “The prophets of the OT found their certainty in God’s revelation. In uttering their message, they knew themselves to be declaring God’s authoritative will.”[5] There have been and will continue to be those who do not agree that the Bible is the inspired word of God. The rationalist and enlightened theologians of the 18th through the 20th century demoted the Bible to a position that has caused much confusion for those who claim that they are followers of Jesus Christ. At the end of the eighteenth century, neologism, the unrestrained grammatical and philological exegesis of the Bible text, was replaced by rationalism and supranaturalism. Morality became the highest goal of the biblical landscape, and the miraculous was explained scientifically; this included the resurrection of Jesus Christ.[6] The positioning of Biblical Theology merging neo-orthodoxy, the naturalistic evolutional worldview, and the biblical view of God is not plausible. The difficulties faced by the dualism created when trying to merge a godless worldview with the biblical worldview is untenable.[7] So, it is crucial for Bible students to seek to form a worldview that is more closely aligned with biblical understanding presented in the story that God delivers in the Old Testament and the New Testament that point to His Messiah.
In referring to Gabler, Wayne Ward indicates, “the biblical theologians have oscillated between collections of the theological themes of the Bible, on the one hand, and the history of the religion or religious traditions of Israel and the Early Church on the other.”[8] The arguments that have annulled and stupefied the issue of using Biblical Theology to identify and communicate biblical truth rise from the age of enlightenment that presupposes that human beings can recognize truth without God’s guidance. For those who attempt to bring the teachings of the Bible in line with the prevailing worldview of their era, failure will be the outcome. God is the author of the Scripture, and without His Spirit leading those that read the words of the Bible the message will not be effective. According to Jesus, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63, ESV).
“The Bible encourages us, lifts our spirits, comforts us, guides us, chides us, builds us up, gives us hope, and brings us close to the living God.”[9] When one can articulate the themes that are woven through the Bible and connect them to the message and the person of Jesus Christ one can begin to communicate the depth and breadth of the of the gospel. The gospel message begins in Genesis and is the thread that runs through the entire Bible. God was in the beginning, and He will be when all that we know ends.
The Authority of Scripture
If there is no authority accorded the word of God, then there is no logic in arguing for God’s existence. “An approach to the subject of biblical authority must begin with God himself.”[10] If there were no authority inherent in Scripture, there would be minimal discussion one could use to persuade the skeptical beyond feelings and senses that implied God created and presided over everything experienced. The oracles of God, as given to the Jews and recorded with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God are His own witnesses to what He did. No one other than God could reveal God except God. Because of the attributes that He possesses there is no one or no one thing that could show us God without His speaking to us through Scripture written down by upwards of thirty-five men. The Old Testament and the New Testament are comprised of sixty-six books that were recorded in three languages on three continents over nearly 1600 years. The story contained in these volumes is consistently prescient and as 2 Timothy 3:16 (KJV) states, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”
These sixty-six books were not compiled by any committee but have endured as God’s covenant with people who have not been faithful to Him. God has, however, been faithful to the people who are called by His name. The words written in the sixty-six books of the Bible bear this out. God begins at the beginning of time for His people. We have nothing of what was before verse one of Genesis except we know that God existed. The transcendence of God is revealed to humans who are the end all and the be all of their own stories. Scripture places God squarely in control and in the center of His own story. So, denial of the authority of God’s Word is a pre-occupation with many.
So, how then do we know that The Bible is a reliable authority? According to J. R. McRay, “Because the Bible points beyond itself to God, it has a conferred authority. Yet the Bible has a real authority in itself as the authentic embodiment of God’s self-disclosure.”[11] The final authority that is bestowed on Scripture by Jesus Christ’s proclamation ensures its inerrancy and its authority.[12] Jesus states in John 10:35 (KJV), “… If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken;” What Scripture could not be broken? Jesus is referencing the whole of the Old Testament; although the Jewish leaders would like to trap Him, they could not because He upbraided them with the very doctrine, they knew to be the truth. The apostles also extend the traditional claim of divine inspiration to the New Testament as they point to Jesus’ directive that the coming of the Holy Spirit would instruct them. In 1 Corinthians 2:13 (KJV) “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” denotes that Paul’s guide is the Spirit who confirms that what Jesus had spoken of Him was accurate. In other passages the New Testament writers affirm the teachings of Jesus and the Holy Spirit by identifying one another’s writings as inspired Scripture; 1 Timothy 5:18 and 2 Peter 3:16. Whatever position one may assume on the validity and authority of Scripture, the test of its veracity and its doctrinal integrity have been established throughout the ages. Indeed, there is a great cloud of witnesses who can attest to the truth of the authority of God’s Word; these include, Moses, David, The Prophets, The Apostles, The Church Fathers, and martyrs. No argument can present itself as new to the discussion on biblical authority that has not already fallen on the dust heap of time.
Marriage and Family
“In the beginning God….” Genesis 1:1 (KJV) establishes the relationship that represents marriage and family in the doctrine of the Bible. Elohim or God is the plural word for God, and in the case of the Godhead, The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit are revealed in this first verse. God is strong and in a relationship that unites in strength. “This union between man and woman is most intimately realized in marriage. So, in this way, the mystery of marriage reflects the very image of God.”[13] Of course, for human beings, the sense of relationship that we find in communion with one another is not anywhere near that of God. However, the reflection that is found in the Godhead of unity and strength is woven into the first two chapters of Genesis. The doctrine that surrounds family, that is the relationship that God created when he performed the first marriage is more than a vehicle for the reproduction of offspring. If this was a matter of fact, “oh, by the way, you two should be married” sort of off-handed idea, why would God give us so much information?
Genesis 2:21-25 (KJV) describes the first marriage ceremony;
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took -one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
As God performed the first wedding He set out model marriage vows in verses twenty-three and twenty-four. When God does something so blatant is there a distinct message in that something? When God told Noah to build an ark because it was going to rain and the waters from the deep would be released to destroy all flesh, was there any question as to God’s intent?
So, one should ask the question of our churches and counselors today, why if God laid out a plan for men and women, called “cleaving as one flesh” would it be presumed that God intended something else? The term one flesh implies kinship or fellowship with the body as a medium. In Genesis 2:18, God saw that man was not complete without the woman; the marriage is the means for the two to “achieve completeness.” [14] Also, “marriage is an exclusive relationship, the total unity of persons – physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually – comprehended by the concept “one flesh” eliminates polygamy as an option.” [15]
Genesis verse twenty-four is of utmost importance to our society as it stumbles through a landscape strewn with devasted marriages and families. When should men leave their fathers and mothers? There was a simple answer in simpler times. In the past when male offspring, could care for themselves and when they could make a home for a woman and the children she would bare from their marriage, they were both ready to “leave” and “cleave.” That seems like a basic strategy preparing one for adulthood; however, we now live in times when defining what it means to be an adult is not simple. In God’s economy, there are those who can bear the burdens of others, and there are those who cannot. Parents in previous generations were aware of their children’s abilities because they watched over them and trained them as Proverbs suggests, “in the way he should go” (Prov. 22:6, KJV). Sometimes wise parents would leave children to fend for themselves, as they left home, fell, and learned the hard way. The prodigal son of Luke chapter 15 is an example of a child gone wrong. Like the prodigal, children would sometimes run back to parents for cover and ventured out after further teaching. At all times wisdom and godliness prevailed as praying parents asked for God’s help in raising their children.
Today, we often assume all children are learning “something,” and we tend to allow them to gather whatever teachings that make them feel good about themselves. Selflessness and mindfulness for others are not taught as a general rule nor is it encouraged even among Christian families. It seems that there is one universal parental mantra, “get a good education.” Most post-modern parents do not even know what “getting a good education” means for their children. According to lecturer and noted author, Nancy L. DeMoss, “God never intended that you and I should know evil by experiencing it for ourselves. His desire is that we should be ‘wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil’ (Romans 16:19). But Satan says, ‘You need to taste for yourself.’ He says to parents, ‘Your children need to taste for themselves. If you shelter them from the ‘real world,’ they will never be able to fit in and survive in it.”[16] There is a singular lust for power, possessions, and position that has eaten the core from many communities. These same communities that have an overabundance of drug abuse, mental health issues and child neglect also have dropping marriage rates and skyrocketing abortion rates. Romans 5:19-20 (KJV) explains this in terms of what our first father Adam did for us, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered, that the offense might abound. However, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” Truly, marriage and the family have gone off course because of sin.
However, the doctrine of marriage is God’s promise to keep with those who cannot keep their promises. Assuredly, the church will be adorned for Christ on that last day, and He will present a bride to Himself without spot or wrinkle. Ephesians 5:27 (KJV) “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
Gender and Sexuality
Gender and sexuality are also areas of importance in the Scripture, and the doctrine that surrounds the two has been established as a guide for the Christian. These are important but rarely discussed topics. The Bible states clearly in Genesis, and at 16 additional times in the King James version of the Bible, it is indicated that God created gender; male and female. God created male and female intending the formation of the relationship that would bind human being into kinship called marriage, as described in Genesis 2:24. Christians should not have struggled with this area of God’s instruction. He has explicitly told His followers to go forth, marry, procreate and be prosperous. Why is the Church struggling with what the post-modern world wants to impose as their messy values? God defines sex; God defines gender and how we are to use both. The issue of the Church is with sin. It is incredible that we are listening to the deceiver, Satan, explanation of the good gifts that God has given. Satan’s deception is the ongoing tension that we find causing us to doubt the truth that we find in Scripture. How we live and defend against the wiles of the evil one will determine whether or not we can triumph and overcome the world. The world system continually changes what it values. The secular world attempts to move God’s people away from the truth. Sex is used as a weapon because we do not have an understanding that God has given sex as a gift for His people who are married and in a relationship with Him. The relationship we are to have with God calls us to be willing to sacrifice ourselves, Romans 12: 1-2 (KJV) states, “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
In our fallen state men and women will turn to all manner or perversity in sexuality to dishonor God. Throughout Church history there has been a reluctance to embrace sexuality as part of the divine and sex along with procreation has been equated with sinful activities that include adultery, promiscuity, fornication, harlotry, and homosexuality. [17] The Song of Songs presents the compelling appeal of the bridegroom and his bride in poetic biblical brilliance. The poetry of King Solomon to his Shulamite bride is the story of Jesus and the Church. The book’s showcase of beauty in the nuptials and the anticipation of the couple’s first night together are breathtaking (Song of Song 1 and 2). The Song of Songs Chapter three presents the ups and downs of matrimony followed by the couple growing to know one another and building trust and intimacy in the marriage relationship. The Song of Songs is the love story that God gives to the ones He loves. The intimate scenes depict sexuality that focuses on the one who is loved. Intimacy in married sex is for those who love God and are willing to give themselves to one another wholly as God gives Himself wholly to each of us. “Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee” (Song of Songs 4:7). There is no spot in the one who is in Christ, the one who has given themselves wholly to serving the God who is love.
The Bible is God’s story, our story and the answer to why sometimes there is pain in our lives. The answers are in in Jesus Christ. As Christians, we must know the gospel well enough to share how the healing power of the truth of God rectifies the hurts that relate to relationships that cause pain. It is the Bridegroom, the Redeemer who can overcome all of the damage that the deceiver has perpetrated in the lives of men and women.[18]
Summary
The message of salvation through Jesus’ redemptive and sacrificial act on the cross is the reason that Biblical Theology must be studied. All of life’s major topics are addressed in the Word of God. So, the study of God’s word is imperative for those who believe that it is the daily nourishment needed for those who trust Him. “The believer expresses fellowship with God by reaching out for true knowledge of God’s world, and by returning praise and thanks to the Lord.”[19]The correct exposition of God’s Word is necessary for those who do not know the God of the Bible because they have no guide without the light that shines through those who do have some understanding of the Word of God. God’s story gives meaning to life and its vagaries; men and women need to hope for some understanding of why they live and for why they die.
The hope of men and women is found in the finale of God’s story, and that is the return of His Redeemer, Jesus
Christ. Our Lord has given us tools that we can use to magnify Him; we all
belong to Him, and we live for His honor
and glory. Our trust in God and our belief in His word can carry us to another
place in our rhetoric, and our walk, and our worship. Our trust and belief can
carry us into eternity.
Bibliography
DeMoss, N. L. Lies Women Believe: And the Truth that Sets Them Free. Chicago: Moody Press, 2001.
Duvall, J. S., and J. Daniel Hays. Grasping God’s Word: A Hands-on Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible. 3rd ed.Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012.
Evans, A. C. “Why Did the New Testament Writers Appeal to the Old Testament?” Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Vol. 38 no. 1, 2015. 36–48. Accessed February 4, 2019. doi: 10.1177/0142064X15595931.
Goldsworthy, G. According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible. Downers Grover: InterVarsity Press, 2009. Retrieved from https://app.wordsearchbible.com.
Granberg, L. I., and J. R. Root. “Marriage, Theology of.” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Edited byWalter A. Elwell, 743-744. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001.
Hamilton, J. M. What is Biblical Theology. Wheaton: Crossway, 2014.
Hasel, G. F. “Biblical Theology Movement.” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, edited byWalter A. Elwell, 163-166. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001.
Henry, C. H. F. “Bible, Inspiration of.” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Edited byWalter A. Elwell, 159-163. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001.
Hoggard-Creegan, N. “Sexual Ethics.” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Edited byWalter A. Elwell, 1096- 1098. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001.
Lawrence, M. Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church. Wheaton: Crossway, 2010.
McDonald, H. D., “Bible, Authority of.” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Edited byWalter A. Elwell, 153-155. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001.
Moreland, J. P., and William Lane Craig. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2003.
Slattery, J. God’s Design and Why it Matters Rethinking Sexuality. New York: Multnomah, 2018.
Towns, Elmer L. Theology for Today. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2008.
Ward, Wayne E. “Towards a Biblical Theology.” Review & Expositor 74, no. 3 (Summer 1977): 371–87. Accessed February 4, 2019. http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLA0000762202&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Rogerson,
J. Old Testament Criticism in the
Nineteenth Century: England and Germany. London: Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge. 1984.
[1] James Hamilton, What is Biblical Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2014), Chap. 10, para. 13
[2] J. P Moreland, and William Lane Craig, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 5.
[3] Ward, Wayne E. “Towards a Biblical Theology,” Review & Expositor 74, no. 3 (Summer 1977): 375, accessed February 4, 2019, http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLA0000762202&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
[4] Michael Lawrence, Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), Introduction, para. 25.
[5] H. D. McDonald, “Bible, Authority of,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed.Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001). 154
[6] John Rogerson, Old Testament Criticism in the Nineteenth Century: England and Germany (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 1984).
[7] G. F Hasel, “Biblical Theology Movement.” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 163-166.
[8] Wayne E. Ward, “Towards a Biblical Theology.” Review & Expositor 74, no. 3 (Summer 1977): 371–87, accessed February 4, 2019. http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lsdar&AN=ATLA0000762202&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
[9] Duvall, J. S. and J. Daniel Hays. Grasping God’s Word: A Hands-on Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible. 3rd ed.(Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), pg. 39.
[10] H. D. McDonald, “Bible, Authority of.” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed.Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 154.
[11] H. D. McDonald, “Bible, Authority of.” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed.Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 153.
[12] C. H. F. Henry, “Bible, Inspiration of.” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed.Walter A. Elwell (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 161.
[13] L. I. Granberg, and J. R. Root, “Marriage, Theology of.” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walter A. Elwell. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 743.
[14] L. I. Granberg, and J. R. Root, “Marriage, Theology of.” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walter A. Elwell. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 743.
[15] Ibid., p. 743.
[16] Nancy L. DeMoss, Lies Women Believe: And the Truth that Sets Them Free. (Chicago: Moody Press, 2001), 173.
[17] N. Hoggard-Creegan, “Sexual Ethics.” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed.Walter A. Elwell, (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 1096.
[18] Juli Slattery, God’s Design and Why it Matters Rethinking Sexuality, (New York: Multnomah, 2018), p. 124-126.
[19] Graeme Goldsworthy, According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible (Downers Grover: InterVarsity Press, 2009), 178. Retrieved from https://app.wordsearchbible.com.
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