Christian Theology
Dr. Noble King
All Rights Reserved
(2/9/99 – Note to John Ross from Dr. Donald D. Owens —
"John – Here are the class notes of Dr. King’s Christian
Theology class. These notes were circulated and I obtained a copy.
During his subsequent lectures I made notes on them and entered references.
I hope these notes prove helpful. Hang in there John!! – Don Owens"
In an email from Dr Owens I asked him when these notes were taken and to
the best of his recollection it was 1950. The text was Wiley’s Christian
Theology in three volumes, and also the Introduction by Wiley and Culbertson.
)
REQUIREMENTS
I. Reading – Outside
750 pages
II. Term Paper
3,000 words or over
III. Examination every six
weeks.
Introduction
1. Formal or systematic Encyclopedia
or presentation of the information necessary to a study of theology.
2. Directions as to methods
of study.
3. A History of Theology.
II. Nature and Scope of Theology
Intro. p. 13, 14
1. Definition – Pope – "The
science of God and divine things, based upon the revelation made to mankind
in Jesus Christ, and variously systematized within the Christian Church.
2. Scope of Theology.
a. God as the source, subject,
and end of all theology.
b. Religion as furnishing
the basic consciousness in man.
c. Revelation as the source
of the facts out of which systematic theology is constructed.
d. The relation of these
facts to Jesus Christ, the Personal and Eternal Word in the revelation
of God.
e. Christian Theology must
be considered in its relation to contemporaneous thought.
III. . The Relations
of Theology Intro p.21
1. The relation of all things
to God and the relation of God to all things.
2. Theology and Religion.
– It may be said that religion furnishes the basic consciousness in man
without which there could be no capacity in human nature to receive the
revelation of God.
3. Theology and Revelation.
– Christian faith is not something which is self-created. It has
its source in objective revelation.
4. Theology and the Church.
– The Church was under obligation from the beginning, both as a teacher
and a defender of the faith, to create a theology, by means of which to
present its teachings.
IV. Divisions of Theology
Intro. P.22-23
1. Christian Theology and
Ethnic Theology. Ethnic – non-Christian.
2. Natural Theology – draws
its sources from the facts of nature.
3. Revealed Theology – finds
its sources in the Holy Scriptures as the authoritative revelation of God
to man.
(1) Four main divisions
a. Exegetical Theology –
Biblical Theology, study of Scripture.
b. Historical Theology
* Biblical History has to
do with facts related in the Bible.
* Ecclesiastical History
is regarded as the History of doctrine in shaping Christian faith into
doctrinal statements.
c. Systematic Theology arranges
in logical order, the material furnished by Exegetical and Historical Theology.
* Dogmatics – treats of
the doctrines of the Christian faith held by a community of believers,
the Church.
.* Ethics – Moral
Philosophy, refers to the outward manifestation.
* Apologetics.
Justify the truth of the Christian religion at the bar of human reason.
d. Practical Theology –
concerned with the application of the truths discovered in the preceding
branches of theological study, and their values in the renewing and sanctifying
of men.
SUMMARY – Exegetical Theology
furnished the authoritative sources;
Historical
Theology gives perspective and balance;
Systematic
Theology provides the doctrinal standards of Church
Practical Theology seeks
to make effective the knowledge gained in the previous departments.
SOURCES OF THEOLOGY
Intro. P.24 ff
I. Authoritative
Sources – Bible and Christ
1. The science of the one
true and perfect religion is based upon the documentary records of God’s
revelation of Himself in Christ.
2. The Roman Catholic Church
held the Bible and tradition, and July 1870 adopted papal infallibility.
V. Subsidiary Sources
1. Experience. In
the sense of an impartation of spiritual life through the truth as vitalized
by the Holy Spirit.
2. Confessions and Creeds.
a. To give living testimony
to the truth.
b. To testify against error
c. To furnish a bond of
union among those of the same belief.
d. To provide means of continuing
the succession of those uniting in the belief, and instructing them and
their children.
e. Three Ecumenical Creeds
–
(a) The Apostles’ Creed;
(150)
(b) The Nicene Creed (325);
(c) The Athanasian Creed.
3. Philosophy. – The formal
or shaping source of theology. Seeks first principles without finding
them.
4. Nature – A Bible stated
source, and recognizes the fact that nature reveals God. God reveals
Himself through His works.
SYSTEMS AND METHODS
Intro. P.26 ff.
I. Methods of Systematization
1. The Trinitarian Method
– earliest method adopted by the Church. Doctrines of the Father, of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
2. The Analytic Method.
Lutheran Church in Germany, Calixtus, who began with the assumed end of
all things as blessedness, and work out means by which blessedness, is
secured.
3. The Federal Method.
Grew out of political science of the 16th century, in which federal headship
was popular theory.
4. The Anthropological Method.
– The idea of man — his sinful condition and his need of redemption.
(a) Consciousness of sin, and (b) Consciousness of redemption.
5. The Christological Method.
Idea is incarnation. Christ centered. Christ-centered theology
is attributed to Fredrich Schleiermacher.
6. The Confessional Method.
The exposition of certain creeds and confessions in regular order.
7. The Allegorical Method.
– Followers of Origen – Describes "man as a wanderer, life as a road, the
Holy Sprit as a light, the Church as a candle-stick, God as the end, and
heaven as the throne.
8. The Synthetic Method.
Dr. A. H. Strong. Started from the highest principle, God, and proceeds
to man, Christ, redemption, and finally to the end of all things. Cause
and effect. Method of Pope.
9. Miscellaneous Methods.
(a) The Decretal Method, begins with the idea of the divine decrees; (b)
The Patricentric Method arranges its material around the central idea of
the Divine Fatherhood, and (c) The Historical Method, "begin and end with
eternity, all great events and epochs in time being viewed."
a. They
give us a knowledge of the center of their author’s faith.
b. Materials which the writers
had at their disposal, their mental characteristics, and the methods employed
in teaching.
c. Furnish a foundation
for the study of historical theology.
II. Theology, a Science.
It is said that theology is not a science because its subject matter is
now drawn from knowledge, but from faith. Science itself must be
based upon faith, and Christian Dogmatics is not only a science of faith
but also a knowledge grounded in and drawn from faith. The methods
of theology are as follows: 1. Observes; 2. Tests; 3.
Arranges facts, and 4. Makes generalizations, using both deductive
and inductive processes of argument, and depends upon the same primary
laws as the other sciences. No science is possible without faith
in certain unfailable and unexpressable axioms.
THEOLOGY IN THE CHURCH Intro.p.30
& Vol.1 p.42ff.
I. The Earlier Period. –
7-730 A. D.
1. The Apologetic Period,
from the Apostolic Age to the death of Origen (A. D. 7-254), and is peculiarly
that of the Church Fathers who depended Christianity against paganism without
any controversies against heresy from within.
2. The Age of Polemics,
from the death of Origen to John of Damascus (A. D. 254-730).
3. The Great Councils of
the earlier period.
a. The Council of Nicaea,
(A. D. 325) called by Emperor Constantine to consider the Arian heresy.
Athanasius opposed Arius. Athanasius was known as the "father of
orthodoxy" because of his championship of the deity of Christ.
b. The First Council of
Constantinople (A. D. 381), against the heresy that Christ had only a human
body.
c. The Council of Ephesus,
A. D. 431, over Nestorian controversy which taught a Christological dualism.
d. The Council of Chalcedon,
A. D. 451, which condemned the Eutychian heresy that, confused the two
natures of Christ.
e. The Second Council of
Constantinople, A. D. 553 which condemned followers of Nestorianism.
f. The Third Council of
Constantinople, A. D. 680.
g. The Second Council of
Nicaea, A. D. 787 which extends into the mediaeval period – Iconoclasts.
4. The Development of Systemic
Theology.
a. "First Principles, "
A. D. 218. Arranged in four books.
(1) Treating of God
(2) Of Creation
(3) Of Man’s moral and spiritual
endowments
(4) Of Holy Scriptures
II. The Mediaeval Period
- 754-1517. Intro.p.32
1. From the death of John
of Damascus to the beginning of the Reformation, A. D. 754-1517.
Early part of this period is marked by constant strife in church and state.
Iconduli were image worshippers and the Iconoclasts were the image breakers.
– In the East. The later part, 11th to 16th century is the
Scholastic Period in philosophy and theology. Transfer of theology
to the schools in the West. Following John of Damascus, who represented
the theology of the East, were Anselm, Abelard, and Peter Lombard, who
mark the beginning of systematic treatises in the West. Duns Scotus
began a movement in philosophy and theology, which finally resulted in
the downfall of scholasticism, and the ushering in of the period of the
Reformation.
2. The Development of Theology
in the Scholastic Period.
a. The first great systematic
work of the Scholastic Period was Peter Lombard’s "Four Books of Sentences."
III. The Reformation Period
– 1517-1600. Intro p.33
1. Separation of the Church
into two main divisions, Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
a. Roman Catholic positions
expressed in the Tridentine Decrees, formulated by the Council of Trent,
1545-1563.
b. Protestant Reformation
expressed in the Formula of the Concord, 1580, and the Canons of the Synod
of Dort, 1618-1619.
2. The Theology of the Reformation
Period.
a. The Lutheran division
– deeply Sacramentarian, Luther and Melanchthon.
b. The Reformed division
– intellectualistic and doctrinal. Zwingli and Calvin.
3. The controversies of
the Reformation Period.
a. The First Eucharistic
Controversy, 1524-1529, between Luther and Carlstadt, and also between
Zwingli and those who upheld Mass.
b. The Anabaptist Controversy,
1525, concerned with the subjects and modes of baptism.
c. The Antinomian Controversy,
1527-1566, Justification by faith, and not under law, against law.
d. The Adiaphoristic Controversy,
1548, concerned with questions of faith and morals, right and wrong.
e. The Synergistic Controversy
concerned with the relation of human and divine elements in salvation.
Man and God.
f. The Osiandric Controversy
had to do with the nature of Justification.
g. The Second Eucharistic
Controversy was between Luther and Zwingli – to develop and clarify the
differences between Lutheran and Reformed Churches.
h. The Majoristic Controversy
concerned the nature of good works. Major declared that good works
were essential to salvation. Protestant doctrine that good works
are a consequence of faith, but necessary as a condition of justification.
i. The Armenian Controversy
dealt with the doctrine of grace. It remonstrated against five points
of Calvinism, called Remonstrants.
j. The Deistic Controversy
in England was a form of rationalistic controversy in a later period.
k. The Pietistic Controversy.
Reaction against the dogmatic formalism of the times. – Phillip Jacob Spener.
l. The Placean Controversy
concerned with "mediate imputation."
IV. The Confessional Period.
1600-1800 Intro. P.33-35;Vol. 1 p.80-91
1. Paul was a logician and
systematized and gives the Systematic Theology of the New Testament; while
John was a seer, or prophet.
2. The Eastern and the Western
Churches. The Confessional standards were the Nicaea, Ephesus, and
Chalcedon findings and the three Ecumenical Creeds.
a. Doctrinal differences
were:
The East (1) rejects the
doctrine of the papacy; (2) modifies the seven sacraments; (3) denies the
Immaculate Conception of the virgin; (4) circulates the Bible in own language,
and (5) asserts its own supremacy.
3. The Roman Catholic and
the Protestant Churches. Roman Catholic is Sacramentarian – Protestant
is evangelical. Catholic include belief of Immaculate Conception
and Papal Infallibility, 1870. The three creeds.
4. Protestant Theology and
its Divergent Types.
a. The Lutheran Dogmatic.
The Augsburg confession with its Apology, 1530; the Smalcald Articles,
1537; Luther’s Smaller and Larger Catechisms and the Formulas of Concord,
1577.
b. The Reformed Dogmatic.
Starting with the theology of Calvin there was a movement in the direction
of overstraining his position.
c. The Armenian Dogmatic.
The Armenian or Remonstrant school arose in Holland at the opening of the
17th century, and came as a protest against the Calvinism of the day.
James Arminius, 1560. Simon Episcopius, 1583-1643, became the leader
of the movement in 1609, after the death of Arminius, and carried on the
controversy before the Synod of Dort.
Among the Puritans in England,
most noted evangelical Armenian was John Goodwin, 1593-1665.
John William Fletcher, 1729-1785,
has been called the "Armenian of the Armenians."
John Wesley, 1703-1791,
was the Father of Methodism, both in doctrine and polity of the Church.
The development of later Armenians, commonly known as Wesleyanism, occurs
in the following century.
d. The Socianisn Dogmatic
– Human Christ. Laelius Socinus, 1525-1562, and Faustus Socinus,
1539-1604, are the founders of what is known in modern times as Unitarianism.
Father of English Unitarianism was John Biddle, 1615-1662.
5. Forms theology assumed
due to varying influences of external circumstances.
a. The Pietistic Movement
– against the barrenness of scholasticism. Andreae, 1586-1654, and
Spener, 1635-1705, waged war against a dead orthodoxy and proclaimed the
need of a regeneration of theology. Prayerful study of the Holy Scriptures.
b. The Rationalistic Movement
– Influence of the systems of philosophy are felt upon Dogmatics. Separation
between Natural theology and Revealed Theology became widened, and Natural
Theology was exalted at the expense of revelation. This issued in
the Deism of England and the period of the "Enlightenment" in philosophy.
c. The Biblical Movement.
Against growing tendency toward rationalism. There arose a Biblical
Theistic tendency, which served to preserve the truth against the attacks
of the rationalists. Bengel, 1687-1751, with a firm faith in the
inspiration and absolute authority of the Bible was perplexed at the great
number of variations in text. Bengel influenced John Wesley.
From Bengel’s study came the starting point for modern textual criticism
of the New Testament.
V. The Modern Period.
Schleirmacher, 1768-1834, the "Father of Modern Theology". Intro. P.35,36;vol.1P.91-99
Introduced into modern thought
the vitality of the evangelical teaching, much as did his contemporary,
John Wesley, in the field of religion.
1. The School of Schleiermacher
– belonging to the transitional school, which marks the distinction between
the thought of the mediaeval and that of the modern period. Following Schleiermacher
was Alexander Schweitzer, 1808-1888, who attempted to work out a system
of theology based upon Christian consciousness.
2. The Rationalistic School,
known as the Philosophical School, due to the fact that the theology of
the period was largely influenced by philosophy. Kant, Fichte, Schelling,
and Hegel.
3. The Mediating School
represented by theologians who sought to maintain evangelical principles
and yet combine them with best thought of modern times.
a. The incomplete Dogmatic
of Twesten, 1789-1876, who was inclined toward ecclesiastical orthodoxy,
and Nitzch, 1787-1868, and Isaac A. Dorner, 1809-1884.
4. Ritschhle and His School.
Ritschhle of Bonn, 1822-1889, founded a distinct school of theology rejecting
the scholastic position, and in fact all philosophy, maintaining that philosophy
and theology have no valid connection with each other. Insisted upon
the Historical Christ, and the acceptance of the Scriptures as a record
of revelation. The term "value judgments" belongs to Ritschl and
the school he founded.
5. British and American
Theology. Earliest Methodist writing of doctrine was John Wesley’s
"Sermons," "Notes and Twenty-five Articles" John Fletcher, apologist
of Methodism, member of the Established Church. Richard Watson published
Theological Institutes William Burton Pope, 1822-1903, "Compendium of Christian
Theology." Ralston, "Element of Divinity," 1847. A. M. Hills, "Fundamental
Christian Theology", 1931.
a. Foreign works had influence
upon Lutheran and Reformed Church in the United States. Two different
schools. The Older Calvinism represented by Charles Hodge, 1797-1878.
The New School modified the older Calvinistic positions through successive
writers from Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758, to Horace Bushnell, 1802-1876.
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION Intro.
P.37; Vol.1 P.100ff
Dr. Pope – "The eternal bond
which binds man to God."
Definition of Religion.
Religion is a life in God. Stewart– "fellowship with God."
VI. Origin and Development
of Religion
1. The History of Religion.
a. Primitive culture – objects
of worship were:
(1) Nature worship
(2) Ancestor worship
(3) Fetish worship
(4) The worship of a Supreme
Being. Most primitive was the belief in man as a non-personal, but
supernatural force. Works to effect everything beyond the power of
men and processes of nature.
b. The origin of religion
must be traced to man’s original constitution. Man was made for personal
fellowship with God, and as originally endowed; he had personal integrity
and a sufficient knowledge of God to preserve him in the state in which
he was created. With the fall, fellowship with God was broken and
man’s mind became darkened through the loss of that spiritual light which
forms the true principle of illumination in the things of God. St.
Paul outlines the decline as follows:
(1) A rejection of the true
God.
(2) Judicial abandonment
of a perverse will, desired to serve creatures more than the Creator, who
is blessed forever.
(3) Judicial abandonment
to a reprobate mind.
c. The Psychology of Religion.
Variety and validity of religious experience is established.
(1) Theory of Illusionism
attributes the origin of religion to a (Lucretius of Rome) fear—especially
the fear of death. Feuerbach attributed it to the quest after life
and happiness, from which issued Humanism. From which came the foundation
for the modern development of Freudianism and Marxianism — antagonistic
to the Christian Faith. Began with totemism to belated love and reverence
bestowed upon animals, representative of the father, said to arouse the
idea of God.
d. The Philosophy of Religion.
Has a different function from the science of religion. The former
deals with the mental processes of inward development, while the latter
is concerned with material processes of outward development.
(1) Schleiermacher, 1768-1834,
paved the way for modern developments in philosophy of religion.
First, to analyze and evaluate religion for its own sake, and his work
was dominated by the desire to give expression to the work of divine grace
in his soul. Revival of religious philosophy.
(2) Hegel, 1770-1831, regarded
religion as absolute knowledge. It is the relation of spirit to Absolute
Spirit and it is the Spirit only, which knows and is known. God is
Absolute Truth, and is in all experience. God comes to knowledge
of Himself through finite experience.
(3) Ritschl, 1822-1889,
discounted philosophy as being detrimental to religion and regards it more
from the volitional standpoint as power.
(4) Edward Caird, 1835-1908,
and John Caird, 1820-1898, Neo-Negelians. Religion as a rational
consciousness. Primary element of knowledge. The idea of God
is then described as "the ultimate presupposition of our consciousness."
(5) Martineau, 1805-1900,
develops an ethical philosophy of religion. Causality idea is that
of Will, and that Will regarded as free. "A conscious relation on
our part, to a higher than we; and on the part of a rational universe at
large, to a higher than all."
II. False Conceptions of
Religion. Philosophy has a tendency to usurp the place of religion
and as such its influence is always baneful.
1. Religion is not mere
feeling. Feeling is the unity of consciousness in which knowledge
and volition meet. Religion is neither doctrine nor ceremony, but
experience. "Love out of a pure heart, and a good conscience and
a faith unfeigned." I. Tim. 1:5.
2. Religion is not mere
knowledge. Hegelianism has also emptied religion of its emotional
content and left it barren and unfruitful. Hegel says feeling is
full of contradictions. The value of religion lies in its rational
content. Hegel places sin merely as a relative matter. It is
only partial good. It is regarded as evil, solely because we fail
to see it in its higher meanings. Holding to the exceeding sinfulness
of sin as the Scriptures teach us, weakens the redemptive idea. The
emphasis upon development has weakened the belief in a crisis religion.
3. Religion is not simply
action. Attempts to identify religion with morality usually date
back to the philosophy of Kant. It is a fact that there can be no
true religion without morality, nor no true morality without religion.
Religion is a power bestowed from above. Morality knows no sin, as
such, only a failure or deficiency. The Moral life calls for action,
but not worship. Morality is obedience to law; religion is submission
to a Person.
III. The Nature of Religion
– Four fundamental characteristics.
1. There is a thought of
a supernatural power – God.
2. There is a sense of need,
which seeks this supernatural power.
3. There is the idea of
reverence, and the feeling that it is incumbent to do homage in worship
and to render willing obedience to the supernatural.
4. There is some sort of
assurance of the manifestation of God.
a. Christianity is a Historic
Religion. Christianity is a redemptive power worked out on the plane
of human history in the person of Jesus Christ. The difference between
Christianity and ethnic religions lies in the character of the founders
— the infinite stretch between the human and the divine.
b. The founder of Christianity
is Jesus Christ, the Divine Son of God. It takes both its distinctive
character and its exclusiveness from the personality of its founder.
Heb. 1:1,2. (1) Mediated through human Judaism – means – revelation.
(2) Now revelation can be perfect mediated through divine means.
c. Christianity is a Redemptive
Religion. Throughout the entire New Testament, Christ is regarded
in his redemptive aspects. John 3:16. Romans, "I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, for…"
THE CHRISTIAN REVELATION
Into. P.37-55
I. The Nature of Christian
revelation, or Revelation. Christian Theology is based upon the revelation
of God in Christ.
1. General Revelation.
Disclosure of Himself which God makes to all men—in nature, in the constitution
of the mind, and in the progress of human history.
a. Revelation through Nature.
Disclosure of God through the physical universe considered apart from man.
Miley, "Nature includes human faculties and Christian consciousness."
b. The Revelation of God
in the Nature and Constitution of man. He finds three aspects in
the unity of this personality, or aspects of his being; that of intellect,
feeling, and will.
(1) Conscience is the self-apprehending
God and thereby distinguishes itself from God. It knows that as a
person it is made for fellowship with the Supreme Person. Man is
at once a creature in nature, and a personal being transcending nature.
Man, as a personal and spiritual being is supernatural. God-called
is a supernatural revelation.
c. The Revelation of God
in History. There is an inner directing Presence in history and an
Authoritative will above it, which directs all to an expressed goal, a
fullness of time. This is the coming of the Word made flesh, the
Incarnate Son of God standing out on the plane of human history as God
manifest in the flesh. Through this light we are able to look back
at history and recognize purpose in its event; and we are able to look
at the words of the prophets and see their predictions fulfilled.
This One must continue until, according to the Scriptures, all things are
gathered together in one, both in heaven and in earth.
(1) Scriptures are the Revelation
of Jesus Christ. Faith extends to all of the acts, and facts of the
Bible. Faith’s supreme object is Christ and the truth is revealed
in Jesus.
II. Special Revelation.
Refers to the redemptive purpose of God manifested in Christ Jesus, as
over against the more general revelation of His power manifested in His
creative works. By the union of these two forms of revelation, man
comes to know God not as mere law, but as a Supreme Personality, who has
created men for communion with Himself.
1. Christ’s Redemptive
Mission. "Revelation proper" says Pope, "is consecrated to the mystery
hid with Christ in God, the one secret which it unfolds."
Christ is the sum of all revelation.
2. The Scriptures contain
and are the Word of God. Because Christ’s testimony is perfected
in the Scriptures, they become the Word of God objectified.
a. The Scriptures and the
Christian faith.
(1) Man has spiritual faculties.
This consciousness is universal. A vacated spirit becomes darkness.
(2) The spirit who awakens
faith generates the reason so that it humbles itself to receive mysteries,
which he cannot understand. Abraham received Isaac under unnatural
conditions and when he was asked to sacrifice him he could reason that
God would raise him up after he was dead. A reasoned faith.
Faith and Reason go together. No more difficult than to give him
to him in the first place. Not unreasonable in the light of the first.
III. The Christian Book.
Intro. P.41 ff.
1. Thus the Christian faith
rests on the Christian book. The Jewish law and nature were like
schoolmasters to bring the people to Christ. Paul traces all forms
of religious faith and practices among the nations to a yearning for a
revelation from heaven. Acts 17:23; I Tim. 2:7. (Pope Vol. I, pp.
53fe – Dr. Owens)
2. The Relation of the Bible
to Nature. The revelation of God in the Holy Scriptures is not to supersede
His revelation in nature but to supplement it.
3. The Relation of the written
Word to the personal Word. The Bible is considered in relation to
Christ
the Living Word.
4. False Conceptions of
the Bible
a. The Church by a certain
group has been thrust into a false place. The Church is a fellowship,
not saving institution. It cannot take the place of the Bible.
b. The Bible has been forced
into a false position. The place held by the church. The written
Word can’t take the place of the Living Word. The letter killeth.
Rested in the letter, and not in Him whose words are spirit and life. (Bibliolatry
– Dr. Owens)
c. Reason was clothed by
false authority. The real message was destroyed. The Bible
points to, tells us of, and sets forth the letter of the law. The Bible
was debased to the position of a mere book among books.
IV. The Credentials of Revelation.
1. The Evidence of Miracles.
There are many distinct terms used in Scripture to signify what we call
miracles. They are generally the works of God. Sometimes these
works are referred to as acts of the divine power that affects them.
Sometimes the purpose for which they are wrought is made emphatic, and
they are signs.
a. Powers – look to the
agency, which produces them.
b. Wonders – regards primarily
the effect produces on the spectator.
(1) The wonders of Pentecost
are called the wonderful works of God. Acts. 2:11. Faith recognizes
the finger of God. Ex. 8:19. Reason admitting the supreme cause.
c. Signs – Intimates that
God is present in certain miracles, and challenges attention to His own
Words, or the words of his messengers. Signs confirm to sinners and
believers.
d. Miracles of the same
kind seem to be necessary to accompany or sustain a new revelation from
God. They always satisfied the generation in which they were performed.
John 3:2. They were always performed in the field worthy of God.
They were always properly authenticated so there could be no deception,
as far as anything could be for the benefit of future generations.
2. Prophesy as a Credential
of Revelation, "forthtelling," declaration of the will of God without reference
to time order. "Foretelling," – prediction.
a. Prophesy, as prediction
is the divine impartation of future knowledge.
(1) Christ is its Supreme
Subject.
(2) The Law of Progression.
(3) Law of Reserve – It
is shut up to faith in spite of declared facts. The office of the
Holy Spirit is to take the things of Christ and reveal them to us.
(4) Prophetic announcement.
3. The Inspiration of the
Divine Hand in the Scripture. The Scriptures are divinely breathed.
Pope gives the Person of Christ as the highest credential.
THE INSPIRATION OF THE SCRIPTURES
Intro p.48ff.
I. Definition of Inspiration.
1. "Inspiration is that
influence of the Spirit of God upon the writers of the books of the Bible
in such a manner that their productions become the expression of God’s
will." Pope defines it as "The inbreathing of God and the result
of it."
II. Inspiration and Revelation.
1. By Revelation we
understand a direct communication from God to man of such knowledge as
is beyond the power of his reason to attain. By Inspiration we mean
the actuating energy of the Holy Spirit, through which holy men were qualified
to receive religious truth, and to communicate it to others without error.
III. Various Factors in Revelation.
1. "Superintendence," belief
that God guides the writer so that the writings are kept free from error.
2. "Elevation," the minds
of the chosen organs are granted an enlargement of understanding.
3. "Suggestion," a direct
and immediate suggestion from God to man by the Spirit.
THEORIES OF INSPIRATION Intro.p.50
ff.
I. Four Theories.
1. The mechanical
or Dictation Theory. The personality of the writer is set aside, and is
just a mere penman under the direction of the Holy Spirit.
2. The Intuition Theory.
The natural insight of men is lifted to a higher plane of development.
This theory denies the supernatural element in the Scriptures.
3. The Illumination Theory.
Differs from the proceeding in that it holds to an elevation of the religious
perceptions instead of natural faculties.
4. The Dynamical Theory.
This is a mediating theory and is advanced in an effort to explain and
preserve in proper harmony, the divine and human factors in the inspiration
of the scriptures.
II. Scriptural proofs of
divine inspiration.
1. The patriarchs received
revelations from God. "The Witness of the Old Testament;" Moses,
David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others.
2. The Declaration of our
Lord. Christ declared the Old Testament to be of divine authority,
and His testimony must be final.
3. The testimony of the
Apostles.
III. Value of the Subject
for Theology.
1. The Holy Spirit as the
Source of Inspiration.
2. The Organs of Inspiration.
3. The Holy Scriptures as
a Divinely Inspired Body of Truth.
Christian Theology
Dr. Noble King
Bethany Nazarene College
THE CANON Chapter IV. Intro. P.57 ff Vol. P.188ff.
The word canon means literally,
a straight rod, or a measuring reed. It is used in both an active
and a passive sense — active as a test or standard of measurement, passive
as applied to that which has been measured.
The word canon is first
found in the writing of Amphilochius, 380.
I. The Old Testament Canon.
The Christians accepted the
canon in its integrity from the Jews, and the New Testament from the apostles,
the Savior’s authority being on both.
1. The New Testament writers
certify the Old Testament as we have it with apocryphal books excluded.
2. Our Lord assumed what
Paul expressed, that to the Jews were committed the oracles of God.
By accepting these Scriptures, He confirmed this history. (Pope 195)
The universal tradition was assigned to Ezra and the "great synagogue"
the arrangement of the Scripture. The collection was finished just
after the time of Ezra.
3. The Old Testament Scriptures
were arranged in three main divisions (1) The Law, (2) The Prophets, and
(3) The Writings.
II. The New Testament Canon.
1. What the apostles wrote
to the churches was regarded as veneration as much as circulation to churches.
2. What the apostles sanctioned
as sacred was regarded with veneration.
a. Mark wrote under Peter.
b. Luke wrote under request
of Paul. These writing were not questioned. (See Pope 199)
III. The Plenary inspiration
of the Scriptures; implies their supreme authority in every court and justifies
them. Pope comp. Vol. 1 p. 4o, 41.
1. There is a dignity and
sanctity about the Scriptures that set them apart from all other manuscripts.
This is evident to a careless reader. As Jesus, to those who knew
Him personally, and to us who know Him, not having seen Him, He carries
something different, so is the Scripture. (See I. Tim. 6:16; Exodus
3:14).
a. The existence of God
is innate and demonstrable.
(1) God and God alone can
reveal Himself.
THE DOCTRINE OF God Intro.
P.73 ff, Vol. 1 P 217 ff
Manual, Art. 1, Page 25.
1. There can be no religion
without some form of supernatural Being.
2. No fetish worshipper
can vest a divinity in a book or an image of any kind without the idea
first of that thing. Idolatry is thus born of religious degenerations
in its lowest forms of degeneration. Those facts seem to point to
a previous original monotheism.
I. Definition of God.
1. "The first ground of
all beings, the divine spirit which unmoved itself, moves all. Absolute
efficient principle, absolute notion, absolute end." (Aristotle)
Skepticism.
2. "God is the eternal mind,
the cause of good in nature." (Plato)
3. "The moral order, of
the universe actually operated in life." (Fichte) Order without the
Orderer.
4. "The absolute Spirit,
the pure essential being that makes Himself object to Himself; absolute
holiness, wisdom, goodness, and justice." (Hegel)
5. "A being who by His understanding
and will is the cause of nature and by consciousness the author; a Being
who has all rights." (Kant)
6. "God is a Spirit, infinite,
eternal, and unchanging in His Being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice,
goodness, and truth." (Henry B. Smith)
7. Spinoza said, "God is
the absolute universal Substance; the real Cause of all and every existence."
This is Pantheism.
8. Miley — personality is
added; "God is an eternal personal Being of absolute knowledge, power and
goodness.
9. Best Bible definition:
"I am that I am." Exodus
3:14. This implies personality self-existent, and eternity in the
past, present and future, infinite and perfect in every attribute.
II. Various proofs of existence
of God.
1. Ontological Argument.
(a priori) Reason. In our mind the idea of a Perfect Being
would be of necessity have placed there by a Perfect Being as imperfect
beings are incapable of producing such an idea. Imperfection cannot
create perfection. There must be objective reality corresponding
to this clear idea of a Perfect Being. "A priori" — The proof of
fact or effect from the knowledge of existing causes. Vol. 1 p. 235.
2. Cosmological Argument.
Requires the truth of three things.
a. The principle of causation.
The doctrine that all things must have a cause. Eternity of being
is an inevitable implication of causation. Time cannot be the first
cause, nor anything inherent within cause.
b. The dependence of the
cosmos. It is always dependent in something beside itself, whether
that something is inherent within or without the cosmos; it still must
be other than the cosmos.
c. The inadequacy of the
force of nature to its formation. All force of nature belongs to
nature. They are impersonal and back of them must be an intelligent
person.
(1) The universe is of temporal
origin and its existence must have an adequate cause. There is no
such cause in matter or physical forces. The principle of causation
required for existence of the universe is a personal God.
3. Teleological Argument.
Means the doctrine of ends or of rational purpose. In the theistic
argument it means the rational purpose or design in the construction of
the cosmos as exemplified in the choice of ends and the use of appropriate
means for those ends. All things seem to be related in precision
for purpose.
4. The Moral Argument.
The fact that man has a conscience that will warn him when he breaks the
law of the Supreme Being is proof enough.
a. The Ontological Argument
— Doctrine of Being. (From necessary thought to being) It is
a revelation of God as Reality.
b. The Cosmological Argument.
(From Change to cause) It is a revelation of God as Power.
c. The Teleological Argument.
(From adaptation to purpose) The revelation of God as Design.
d. The Moral Argument.
(From ideal to power adequate to realize it) It is a revelation of
God as Right.
ANTI-THEISTIC THEORY
Theism means the existence
of a personal God who is creator and ruler of all things. A theory
which excludes those ideas is anti-theistic. (Miley)
1. Atheism — The positive
denial of the existence of God or positive belief in the non-existence
of God.
a. Atheism is thus a system
of positive negations. Belief in God comes first and with God goes
the Son of God, the incarnation, the atonement, and salvation. There
can be no spiritual existence, no mind or freedom of mind. Matter
must be all.
b. Miley seems to think
such a state of mind may exist, but Pope says it is not possible.
(Miley 113)
2. Pantheism — Flourished
in Hindu philosophy, and in the earlier Greek philosophies. It appeared
in Christian thought in the Middle Ages. Wiley Intro. P. 132
a. In principle it is Monistic.
There is the one substance of being. That one substance is without
personality and sensibility, will, consciousness. Pantheism is thoroughly
anti-theistic. The various things are merely modes. The laws
of the human mind contradict this. It cannot stand satisfactorily.
b. In such a system of thought
man becomes just a mode of the infinite, appearing for a moment and eternally
disappearing. There can be no personal God and no spirit world.
It tends to atheism.
3. Positivism — It is newer
in name than in principles. It came into vogue with Comte in the
earlier part of the 19th century. It is supposed to have been built
on positive facts alone.
a. It is a narrow system.
The only facts to be known and used are facts of nature phenomena.
Even here there is a narrow restriction. All facts of consciousness
are excluded. Only external phenomena to the senses are admitted
into the circle of positivist varieties, nor are these facts to be known
in ground or cause. There are merely physical facts. Facts
of change to be observed and known in the order of their succession and
likeness or unlikeness. With no perceiving mind, how could anything
be perceived?
b. Positivism believes that
the race passes through three stages:
(1) Ages through which the
Supernatural haunts the thought.
(2) The metaphysical in
which change is attributed to the intrinsic force of nature. Substance
and cause.
(3) The positivistic — the
ruling ideas of first and second are dismissed and science deals only with
the phenomenon of nature.
c. The sciences are given
the following order:
(1) Mathematics
(2) Astronomy
(3) Physics
(4) Chemistry
(5) Sociology
(6) Biology
For positivism there should
be no mathematics for that is wholly mental.
d. Comte had a religion
connected with positivism; ceremonies, priesthood; sacraments and supreme
Collective humanity was symbolized in a woman, in an enthroned idol.
Huxley - "A religion without a God."
e. The philosophy was anti-theistic.
4. Naturalistic evolution.
Intro. P. 133 ff. The theory of evolution involved two questions.
(1) Respecting the law of
a process or the forces which determine the evolution. Respecting
those forces there are among evolutionists a marked difference of opinion.
(a) Respecting the question
of fact. The theory is that the higher form rises from the lower.
Process from beginning to man. Man is possibly tops. It is
difficult to tell how an upward start was made and it continued.
Theistic evolution refers to divine agency in the process. There
are marked differences of opinion in regard to measuring this agency.
Some posit special interposition. When new things appear, God steps
in, (as in the origin of life) and in the origin of mind. Others
hold it the method of creation.
(2) A question of fact respecting
the origin of species in the mode of evolution. Thus the law of the
supposed process is not fully settled on. Just how it proceeded in
naturalist evolution cannot be determined or how the divine process worked
in the theistic aspect.
5. Anti-theistic
agnosticism — "don’t know ism." Pope, p. 389. Society
throws up its hands at the "no God" attitude.
a. The Pantheistic "all
is God." Personal God is a limited God.
b. Spencer takes similar
view. Wiley, p. 265 (Miley p. 137 Dr. Owens)
c. Mansel, Wiley, p. 263.
(Miley, p. 141 Dr. Owens)
d. Doctrine of the Infinite
and Absolute. God is revealed to us as a person. When He reveals
Himself to us, He does not limit His Being, but expresses His Omnipotence.
If He could not do that, He would not be Omnipotent. Infinite and
Absolute Person – Personality. Personality embraces self-conscience,
self-reflection, self-direction. With these three you have personality.
e. Christianity posits the
Infinite efficiency of absolute Personality. Christianity sees creation
as the result of a creative fiat, and finds its unity in the eternal Logos.
The world was thus created by the infinite eternal Logos, Divine Love being
the originating cause, the Divine will the efficient cause, and the divine
Word the instrumental cause. (Wiley, 1 pp. 288-289, Pope pp. 384, 385
Dr. Owens)
(1) Elohim – Power or effect
of power. Name is plural with plural
Adjectives. The Christian
fathers held this to indicate the plurality of the Godhead. This
belief is well founded.
(2) Jehovah – YHVH – Refers
to self-existent or the Being. This is only used in reference to
the divine God. Has reference to His being Personality. "I
AM THAT I AM," Exodus 3:14.
(3) El Shaddai — The strong
or the mighty One, the Almighty, all sufficient. ("The God that is enough."
Dr. Owens)
(4) Adonai-Adoni — "Lord";
"Supporter"; "Judge"; "Master."
(5) El-Elyon — "The Most
High"; "The Supreme".
(6) Elyeh — "I Am"; "I Will
Be."
(Wiley pp. 217, 289, Miley
pp. 57-141, Pope pp. 234-254; Field "Handbook to Christian Theology", p.
10. - Dr. Owens)
GOD AS
A PERFECT PERSONALITY Vol.1.P. 290 ff.
Chapters 13-15
We have considered God as
the Absolute in the sense of the ground of all reality, and as the Infinite
in the sense of efficiency; Cause of all.
Hebrews regarded Him as a
Person from the first. A Person possessed with self-reflection, self-consciousness,
self-direction. Self is the center and is a unit. (6th Century –
Dr. Owens) Boethius defined personality: "A person is the individual
subsistence of a rational nature."
I. Necessary facts in Personality.
The so-called forces of nature have no entrinsic personal qualities.
In the lower animal order there are urges toward ends, but no evidences
of the essential requisite of personality. The intellect alone could
not constitute personality.
1. Moral motives are necessary
to personal agency and therefore to personality. Moral motives call
for a conscious interest in ends
2. Will is a central power
of personal agency and thence necessary to personality. Without will
there could be no voluntary use or direction of the mental faculties.
3. Thus rational intelligence—(reason
reasoning), sensibility and will are essential requisites of personality.
There must also be the freedom of personal agency. With this there
is true personality.
THE DOCTRINE OF God Chapter
V. Intro. P. 73 FF. Vol. 1. P. 217 ff.
I. Definition of God.
"God is a Personal Spirit, absolute, infinite, perfect in every respect
and in every attribute and characteristic. He created all things
that are and is Himself separate from His creation. That which we
call nature (law and power) is divine activity under fixed habit.
That fixed habit is not necessarily eternal or invariable.
II. The Divine Personality
considered further.
1. There must be in God
the three forms of Power, which constitute personality in us. In
the lack of any one, He could not be a person. Self-consciousness,
self-reflection, self-direction.
2. Personality is manifested
in the various proofs of theism. The argument of theism will prove
God also in the original cause of the four arguments.
3. The theistic conceptions
of the prophets, patriarchs, and apostles, must also be considered.
The Personal Son is a revelation of the Personal Divine Father. "In
the beginning was the Word, and The Word was with God, and the Word was
God; All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made
that was made."
4. Thus, if God is not a
personal Being the results are either Pantheism or Atheism. There
would be an end to worship.
III. The Divine Names.
It appears that the Personal names of the members of the Trinity are not
given. We cannot be overly dogmatic about this, but it appears so.
"And Jacob asked Him and said, ‘Tell me I pray thee, they name, and He
said, ‘Wherefore is it that Ye ask me after my name." Gen. 32:29.
And the angel of the Lord said unto Him, ‘Why ask ye after my name, seeing
it is secret,’ ("wonderful") Jude 13:18. Rev. 19:12b. The names
by which we know the members are characteristics, attributes, manward.
1. The Almighty
2. The Eternal
3. Strength of Israel
4. Father
5. Savior
6. Jesus
"For He shall save His people
from their sin."
7. Christ – anointed
IV. The Trinity. There
is little profit in dogmatizing in nature of a unit which we have no parallel,
which cannot be defined by comparison or illustration. "The unity
of God is the basic truth in the doctrine of the Trinity." All act
with all the power of the Godhead.
1. The Christian Church
receives and adores the mystery of divine essence existing in a Trinity
of equal substance related as Father, the Eternal Son of the Father, the
Holy Spirit, eternally proceeded. We have this in the priestly benediction
and the Baptism formula. (Pope, Vol. I, p. 259 – Dr. Owens)
a. The First Revelation
of Plurality and Unity was revealed in Creation. Gen. 1:26.
It is suggested in various appearances to the patriarchs.
b. The three persons have
recognized each other in public manner, evidently for the benefit of man.
On the Mount of Transfiguration the Father spoke. Jesus prayed to
the Father on the cross and He promised another Comforter.
He was to reveal the things of the Father and Son, and reveal them to man
and to convict. Jesus linked Himself with the Father in a peculiar
way.
c. The Trinity is a Tri-unity.
The orthodox believe that the unity is ever numerical, plural, and that
in a sense unsearchable. The entire Godhead is in each person.
(Text: Pope, 271, 272 paracletos – interaction, intercommunion –
Dr. Owens)
V. Errors concerning the
Trinity. Vol. 1 p. 410
1. 160-180. Praxeas
taught that God was revealed in three (Jesus only) phases, according to
dispensation of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Those who held
to this belief were called patri-passianas. (Father suffered).
Sabellius of Ptolemias, 250 A. D., perfected it into Jesus onlyism.
Called Sabellianism. Sometimes called Modalism. (from manifestation
of deity in 3 modes- Dr. Owens)
2. The idea of Subordination
of the Son. Some held Him as first created. It included gradation
of the Three. God only, not created.
3. Arianism – Founder, Arius.
Held that the Son was purely a creature, and Son only by adoption.
The perfection and order of creation, made out of nothing, medium between
God and universe. This heresy was condemned by the First Ecumenical,
Nicea, 325.
4. In refutation – Homousios
– Of one substance – It was opposed even by orthodox as tending toward
Sabellianism. Changed word to "of like substance." It opened
door for Semi-Arianism. Arius taught that the Spirit was first creation
to the first born creator. He held that Son and Spirit were intimately
nearer to God than the created universe. (Pope Vol. 1, p 101)
5. The council at Constantinople
in 381 defended the personality of the Holy Spirit, but didn’t determine
relation to God and Son. In 594 at the Synod at Toledo the term "filioque"
was added to Nicean creed defining that the Spirit proceeded eternally
from the Father and Son by an eternal spiriation of the Spirit. This
double procession of the Spirit was the one cause of the rupture between
the East and West. The West held the double spiritation and the East rejected
it.
6. The Council of Nicea
in 325 and the Council of Constantinople in 381 were the first Ecumenical
Councils. The Nicea vindicated the Son and the Constantinople the
Holy Spirit. These councils were universally accepted except by a
slight clause by the East.
7. The Apostles Creed was
not complete in present form until after Nicean Council. Merely an
expansion of Baptism formula. Named this because it was what the
Apostles believed. They did not write it.
8. The Athasian Creed was
not Ecumenically accepted being a private document produced in the 6th
century by a school of Augustus – Elaborate in statement but contains dammatory
clauses that are foreign to the profession of Faith. The doctrine
of the Trinity like that of the other creeds does not give due prominence
to the Redemptional Aspect.
ATTRIBUTES OF GOD
(Chapter 14) Vol.1. P.320ff.
I. The Absolute Attributes,
or those qualities which belong to God apart from his creative work.
They have their basis in the fact that God is, in Himself, Absolute Being.
They are the attributes of a Personal being, and may be summed up as spirituality,
infinity, eternity, immensity, immutability and perfection.
1. Spirituality. "God is
Spirit." John 4:24. He only hath immortality. The essential,
incorruptibility and relatent(?)Eternity. We have created immortality.
2. Infinity. We mean
that there are no bounds or limits to the Divine Nature. Does not
refer to pantheism which says that everything is God, but says that God,
as perfect Spirit is unlimited.
3. Immensity. As eternity
expresses the contrast with the temporal world in God’s mode of existence,
so immensity expresses the same contrast with reference to the space world.
"As time is born out of eternity, so space is born out of immensity."
4. Immutability. Is
meant His changelessness in essence of attribute, purpose or consciousness.
Time is the creation of the eternal God. Eternity is placed in our
heart.
5. Self-sufficiency.
A being who is an eternal necessity must be self-sufficient.
6. Eternity. This
is the sense of those scriptures which speak of the eternity of God.
"He is the same yesterday, today, and forever."
7. Perfection. By
the term perfection is meant the attribute which consummates and harmonizes
all the other perfections.
II. Relative Attributes.
1. Freedom – God was free
to do all He has done. God’s will is a free will. This is necessary
as the head of a moral order.
2. Omnipotence. The omnipotence
of God is the ground of all that we call efficiency or causality.
The perfection of God by virtue of which He is able to do all that He pleases
to do.
3. Omnipresence. "When
therefore, in harmony with Scripture, we speak of God as commensurable
and everywhere present." Always present everywhere.
4. Wisdom. Absolute
knowledge makes possible absolute wisdom. (Prov.15: 3,11; Hebrews 4:13;
Ezek. 11:5; Acts 15:18.
5. Goodness. (God
wills good for all His creatures as such. Psa 33:5, Gen. 1:31; Psa.
149:9 – Dr. Owens)
III. Moral Attributes of
God. Holiness – Love side by side, in the economy of Redemption.
Fundamental attributes, His holiness separates Him from man and His Love
nevertheless communicates itself to the sinner. The nevertheless
is important.
1. Holiness – This is the
ground of the adoration due to God.
2. Righteousness or Justice
- This says Pope is "The Divine holiness applied in moral government and
in the dominion of law." God is the just dispenser of rewards and
punishment.
3. Truth or Faithfulness
of God – Support and guarantee the divine justice of God because of the
Holiness of God.
4. Love of God - The holiness
and love of God have direct relation. Both holiness and love belong
to the divine essence as well s to the attributes and cannot be separated
except in thought.
5. Grace and its related
attributes of God. As justice and righteousness may be regarded as transitive
holiness, so grace and its related attributes, such as mercy, compassion,
long suffering and forbearance, may with equal propriety be regarded as
transitive love. Grace is unmerited favor of God. Wiley Vol. 1 p.
365-392.
COSMOLOGY
Cosmology refers to the
world.
Matter and God are eternal.
Greek – God entered into
matter and formed the world. The cosmos was then eternal. (Plato
taught both God and matter were regarded as eternal.
Zeno, the Stoic taught
that the union of God with matter was Necessary, and therefore regarded
as eternal. Vol. 1 P 441.
Hebrew – God was creator
of matter and builder of the world. Cosmos was later used by Greeks
to describe beauty and order of universe.
I. Theories of Creation.
A. The Mechanical Theory.
This theory holds that the world was formed in a purely external and formal
manner. It stresses the thought of transcendence and wholly disregards
the divine immanence. (Thomas Hobbes – Deism)
B. The Materialistic Theory.
This theory is closely related to dualism in that it presupposes the eternity
of matter. It rejects the idea of a fashioner of this material into
the created forms, as we know them; and substitutes instead the theory
of spontaneous generation. It reads into matter everything necessary
to what we have in the way of a cosmos.
C. The Emanation or Pantheistic
Theory. This theory holds that the world is to be regarded as an
extension of the divine substance.
D. The Theory of Eternal
Creation. God was eternal and God was creative, hence worlds always
were and always will be.
E. The Theory of Natural
Evolution. This theory was received with great applause when presented
by Darwin and his school. This is similar if not identical with that
of spontaneous generation, but has assumed a more philosophical form.
However, it could hardly be expected to hold its ground against the Christian
belief in creation.
1. It has not been
able to bridge the chasm between the inanimate and the animate.
2. It cannot pass from the
diffused life of the vegetable realm, to the conscious somatic life of
the animal kingdom.
3. It cannot pass from the
irrational life of animals to the rational self-conscious life of man.
Only creative activity of God could have originated vegetable, animal and
personal life, and set eternal bounds between them.
F. The Theory of Continuous
Creation. It took the form of theistic evolution. It regards
the divine immanence as the basic reality in contradistinction to the eternity
of matter. It regards and insists that organic development is due
to divine power working within the organism.
THE SCRIPTURAL DOCTRINE OF
CREATION Vol. 1 P. 446-449.
The scriptural doctrine of
creation maintains that the universe had a beginning, that it is not eternal
in either matter or form, that it is not self-originated, and that it owes
its origin to the omnipotent power and the unconditioned will of God.
I. Creation and the Trinity.
All three members of the
Trinity entered into creation.
Cor. 8:6; Gen. 1:2; Psalm
104:30; Romans 11:36.
II. Creation and the Attributes
of God.
Creation as we have shown,
has its origin in the love of God; all other attributes display themselves
also.
Psalm 104:24.
III. Creation and the Logos.
Logos, meaning Christ.
By what means did God create
all things? To this the Scriptures give answer, "By the word of His
power."..
Psalm 33:6. (John
1:1,3- Dr. Owens)
"THE DIVINE RECORD OF CREATION"
Vol. 1 P. 449-454
Starts with the Trinity in
Creative council. Logos in creative acts. Starts with the lower
forms and swells to man, with burst of praise.
I. God created light from
chaos first.
II. The dividing of the
waters below from the waters above the earth. (Expanse between heaven
and earth – Dr. Owens.)
III. The dividing of the
land and water on the earth.
IV. The vegetable kingdom
was then formed.
V. Then, the sun, moon and
stars.
VI. The lower animals, those
that swarm in the waters and the creeping and flying species of the land.
VII. The beasts of prey.
VIII. Man. Man was blessed
and given dominion and command to populate the earth. God rested
the seventh day.
"THE MOSAIC COSMOGONY"
The Mosaic cosmogony has
been interpreted in various ways, as to the account of creation.
1. The Mythological Interpretation.
2. The Allegorical Interpretation.
3. The Vision Hypotheses.
4. The Historical Interpretation.Authoritative
according to Jesus. Matthew 19:4.
I. The Days of Creation.
The Hebrew word Yom which
is translated "day" cannot possibly be a day, as we know a day.
II. Creation and Cosmogony.
(Is. 1:1,21,27 – Dr. Owens)
The Genesis account of creation
establishes a distinction between the first production of matter in the
sense of origination, and secondary creation, or the formation of that
matter by subsequent elaboration into a cosmos. The Hebrew word Bara
which appears to signify original creation, "causing to be"; it is possibly
used three times in speaking of three creations. (Original matter, animal
life, and human spirit - Dr. Owens)
Secondary creation
- yetsar. This in itself is as wonderful as the original creation.
There is a past, present,
and an age to come in which God’s purposes shall be consummated and fulfilled.
The kingdom ages and Paul refers to the ages to come.
PROVIDENCE
The God of creation is also
the God of providence.
1. General Providence, by
which is meant God’s care for the world as a whole and everything in it.
2. Special Providence, which
refers more particularly to His care for the human race.
ANTHROPOLOGY
It is used in both a scientific
and theological sense.
1. As a science, it deals
with man’s specific characteristics, such as man development and progress.
2. As a theology, the term
is limited to the study of man in his moral and religious aspects.
I. The Origin of Man.
We shall observe certain
evolutionary theories.
A. Materialistic and Atheistic
in principles. Matter is regarded as the only beginning and is eternal.
Originally it existed in the form of fire mist. In this fire mist
mind and everything existed.
B. Natural - Holds the same
but admits creation of life by a creator.
Originally Darwin held to this. From the few simple forms of created
Life other things evolve.
C. Creative - Holds
that God was not only creative in the originating conception of life, but
has continued His agency in the whole process of evolution. So called
creative evolution is probably its clearest expression.
The Scriptures teach that
man was created out-right and created as man.
Heathen and Barbarianism
are degenerations, without knowledge of God. If the chief end of
man is to walk and talk and commune with God in manly and upright perfection,
he fulfilled it in the beginning. Man was created in God’s image
(a perfect finite person). God is a perfect infinite God. Man
was given dominion over all. No higher blueprint could be used; hence,
man was God’s best possible (creation).
(Genesis 1:26; 28; 2:7).
II. The Time of Man’s Origin.
A. There appears to be considerable
agreement among scientists that man came last and seems also to be agreed
that in comparison with the forms of other animal life that man is recent.
The time measurement varies greatly in scientific fields and this within
itself denies that they are infallible. The scientific theories vary.
B. Biblical chronology is
an open question. Ussher’s chronology makes the origin of man to
precede the advent of our Lord by 4,004 years. But his statements
in this matter are no part of revelation. In many cases grandson
and great-grandsons were called sons. There is no reason for supposing
that the race is older than is commonly acknowledged by the received chronologies
of the Bible. (Dr Owens notes, Hales on grounds of the Septuagint reckons
on 5411 B .C.)
Nothing is plainer than
the use of begat and to bear as used widely. In fact, the elastic
term, son may mean a successor that has no blood relation.
C. The evidence for this
antiquity of man may be stated by:
1. History – There is little
of a date order before Abraham. There are genealogies given and that
is about all.
2. Archeology – This measuring
line is futile, as there is little rainfall.
Miley limits the existence
of races to eight or ten thousand years. Pope – probably less.
3. Geology – Drift deposits.
4. Language – Does not require
a long time. Language of 1,000 years would be intelligible today.
5. The distinction of races
in color and features.
6. It has not taken
long to produce the Mexican in both different color and feature.
III. The unity of mankind.
A question of the species. Wiley Vol. 2 p.20
A. The unity of man could
not be a possible fact with a plurality of beginnings. Each by special
creation to match the others.
B. Naturalistic evolution
holds that if there were but one distinct beginning, why not many such
beginnings.
C. All the races and the
racial variations are in keeping with one original pair (or person, Adam.
Dr Owens note) There is no necessity in the history of relative facts for
the agency of God in repeating original species of mankind. An original
single creation is the only rational explanation.
D. The Scriptures declare
that the races have descended from one common pair, only one of which was
made outright from the dust. One from dust; the other from the first.
The physical was made from one. (Gen. 1:27-28; 5:12; 10:l).
1. Paul’s statement to the
learned Athenians must mean the same. (Acts. 17:26). The Athenians
claimed for themselves a distinct and separate origin from others.
Paul stresses the truth of a common parentage to all mankind.
2. The prevalence of sin
and the result and fact of death are also traced back to an act of one
original pair. Sin and death are universal. (Romans 5:12; 17-19;
I. Cor. 15:21-22).
E. The Constituent Elements
of Human Nature.
1. Dichotomy – Holds that
man is composed of two kinds of essence – body and spirit or soul.
2. Trichotomy – Holds that
man is three-fold in nature, body, soul, and spirit. Western church
held to dichotomy, and the Eastern Church held to trichotomy. No
great doctrinal principle is involved in either one.
3. There are theories prevalent
in regard to the soul or spirit.
a. Pre-existence theory.
b. Creationism – God creates
each spirit at generation.
c. Traducianism – Holds
that the souls of men as well as their bodies are derived from their parents.
d. (Socialism – a human
soul only after social contact and development -Dr. Owens)
IV. Pre-Adamism – Someone
before Adam and Eve.
Polyorganism – plurality
of organism.
A. Pre-Adamism started by
a Romish Priest, Peyreries, about 1655.
B. Theory is that Adam is
not to be regarded as the first man but the head of a distinct race that
appears.
C. From incidents in the
life of Cain the theory can be easily constructed if examination does not
become too minute as to Adam’s descendents. Brothers and sisters married
until Moses.
D. The theory of pre-Adamism
would destroy the unity of the race. It would then have several distinct
beginnings.
V. Polyganism – More than
one beginning.
In whatever form accepted,
it is against Christian Doctrine. Such doctrine regarding Anthropology
would be unseated. Neither Polyganism nor Pre-Adamism can adjust
themselves to the fact of redemption as in Christ. Wiley Vol. 2 P. 20-21,
Miley Vol. 1 P. 328-329.
HAMARTIOLOGY Wiley Chapter
XVIII P.51-95.
Hamartia – which signifies
a deviation from the way or end appointed by God. The term is applicable
to sin, both as an act and as a state or condition.
I. The temptation and fall
of man.
A. The Genesis account is
an historical account. Furthermore, the account is assumed as historical
throughout both the Old Testament and New Testament.
B. Paradisiacal History
– cannot be studied as we study history now, from our own experiences.
Paradisiacal experience must have differed from anything we know about.
The various steps are set forth by symbols, which leave room for varied
interpretations.
1. The probation was necessary
to glorify God by free creatively service. Man was free, but not
omnipotent, therefore sin was a possibility. Adam’s will had sufficient
power to remain in holiness but not sufficient power to make the fall impossible.
Had he withstood the test that probably would have done just that.
As character is determined by moral action, character has to be formed,
and is formed by rejecting and accepting. The tree was there to be
rejected and the prohibition was to be accepted. Adam was not all-powerful
nor all wise. He sought to increase in both, which in itself was
all right. But he took the wrong way and knew it.
2. The fall of the Race
– Fell by his own determination. Man fell by his own will in a place
where it was easier not to sin than to sin with full transcript of law
and full measure of grace. Thus, the origin of sin in the race was
not due to a sinful state by a sinful act instigated by the Devil himself.
This in turn man inherited as an evil and sinful state.
3. Thus, the Bible connects
sin with the abuse of freedom in free and intelligent creatures.
Racial deprivation follows to all in certain fields. But sin is still
an individual thing.
II. The Doctrine of Satan.
Man was tempted by a superhuman being, called in the Scriptures, the devil
or Satan. The conflict between good and evil is in the Scriptures
represented as essentially a conflict between superhuman powers, into which
man is drawn by way of temptation. Satan is usually regarded as one
of the fallen angels and consequently treated under this head. Satan
is not merely one among the many representatives of evil. He is evil
in person. He is not merely evil in this or that relation, but evil
in relation to creation. (Zech 3:1,2; "Wesley’s famous phrase." JR)
A. Satan in relation to
creation. The Christian view of sin terminated with Satan.
Evil is personal in its origin.
B. Satan is opposed to Christ.
He does not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. (I John
4:1-3).
C. Satan is opposed to the
work of redemption, by perversion and lying.
D. Satan and his angels
are reserved for judgment.
E. Also a kingdom of evil
or Satan. He is the Prince of this world. (John 12:31).
III. The nature and penalty
of sin.
A. Variety of names for
sin.
1. Few but distinct and
clear.
2. Describe sin in two ways:
a. Reference to God.
Voluntary separation of the human will from God.
b. Relation to man.
Guilt. Consciousness of personal wrong and liability of guilt.
c. Sin may be reduced to
the following simple elements:
3. Sin may be reduced to
the following simple elements:
a. Self-separation from
God.
b. Transgression of law.
B. Consciousness of guilt.
Sin is guilt.
1. Consciousness of personal
guilt and responsibility for sin by self.
2. Also consciousness of
the judgment for it.
3. Spiritual death is due
to the withdrawal of the Holy Spirit as the bond of union between the soul
and the God.
ORIGINAL SIN Vol. II P 96-140
Doctrine of sin itself.
I. Original sin in relation
to the first Adam. The Scriptures teach that the presence of death
in the world is due to man’s sinning. (Romans 5:12-14, 17, and 18).
Natural evil seems to be the result of moral evil. Original sin and
inherited depravity are identical though separated in thought. All
become or were constituted sinners. Adam was the generic head of
the race. The race was in him potentially, certainly not consciously.
II. The second was provided
for before children were born, and were therefore under the covenant. It
is possible that the Second Adam made up what was lost in the first Adam.
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