“I Will Build My Church”Key #2 – Biblical Theology

Theology: “the science of God and his relationship to man and

the world.”- B.B. Warfield

θεός (God) + λόγος (word, teaching, study) = “the study of God”

Biblical Theology

Theology is Discovering God

Proverbs 9:9–10 (NIV) 9 Instruct a wise man and he will be

wiser still;

teach a righteous man and he will add to his learning.

10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,

and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Psalm 95:8–11 (NIV)8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, 9 where your fathers tested

and tried me, though they had seen what I did. 10 For forty years I was angry with that

generation; I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.” 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, “They shall never enter

my rest.”

Isaiah 5:13 (ESV)13 Therefore my people go into exile

for lack of knowledge; “their honored men go hungry,

and their multitude is parched with thirst.

Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV)31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares

the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day

when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband,

declares the LORD. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD:

Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV)I will put my law within them, and I will write

it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no

longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the

LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I

will remember their sin no more.”

Habakkuk 2:14 (ESV)14 For the earth will be filled

with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

1. Theology is Discovering God

“LORD” – Jehovah/YahwehGod’s covenant name (relational)

“Holy One” God is set-apart and absolutely

holy

The Balance of God’s character

A. God is intimate but worthy of fear.

“the fear of the LORD”•We are studying not just facts about God but we are un-covering how deep the Father’s love is for us

•We must always study with a healthy fear and reverence

The Balance of God’s character

B. God is transcendent but knowable.

“knowledge of the Holy One”•We are seeking to know a God who is set-apart from us

•This Holy God is in fact knowable – even for the average Joe

Systematic Theology: “an attempt to reduce religious truth

to an organized system.” - Evangelical Dictionary of Theology

“Theology Proper” (doctrine of God)

“Bibliology” (doctrine of Scripture)

“Christology” (doctrine of Christ)

Biblical Theology is Discovering God through

His story

Biblical Theology: “ the study of how God presents

himself and his actions in the text of Scripture.”

- Jim Jordan

“Biblical theology pays attention to the soil of history in which God’s

revelation came.” - Charles Ryrie

Exodus 34:6 (NIV)6 And he passed in front of Moses,

proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

1 Timothy 4:16 (NIV)16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your

hearers.

Titus 1:9 (NIV)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.

Romans 7:18 (ESV)18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not

the ability to carry it out.

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take

captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Luke 24:27 (NIV)27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures

concerning himself.

Luke 24:44–47 (NIV)44 He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the

Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” 45 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.

“I Will Build My Church”Key #2 – Biblical Theology