Practicing Christian Doctrine: An Introduction to Thinking and Living Theologically

by Beth Felker Jones

Scripture alone serves as a reliable source for our knowledge of God.

Barth’s view has been a powerful force in theology since his time, reminding us that what we think of as “natural” or an appeal to conscience may in fact be distorted by sin.

revelation, Barth’s view suggests strong safeguards against human hubris and self-righteousness, and it forces Christians to grapple with the particularity of God’s revelation in history.

faith. If we reject all general revelation, then we will dismiss truth and beauty as found in the arts and sciences.

many Christians look for a middle ground that accounts for both general and special revelation without discounting one or the other. Theologians occupying this middle ground can be grouped into one of two positions; the first is typically favored by Roman Catholics, the second by Protestants.

out God’s “enduring witness to Himself in created realities.”[3]

Special revelation does not replace general revelation but builds upon it.

This explains why Catholic theologians often appeal to natural law, the idea that God built a moral framework into creation itself.

These concerns lead many Protestant thinkers to envision the relationship between general and special revelation as one of unveiled continuity. Both sorts of revelation are the truth about God, and both are continuous with one another, but we are unable to see this until God pulls back the veil that has clouded nature.

Because of the damaging effects of sin, God’s revelation in creation becomes clear when viewed through the corrective lens of special revelation.

The relationship between general and special revelation is one of unveiled continuity; both are from God, but the grim realities of sin dictate that they must be seen in the proper order.

For example, Luke says that he wrote his gospel “so that you may know the truth” (Luke 1:4), and John explains that he wrote his first epistle “so that you may know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13).

Thus, inspiration names the Spirit’s work, in the past, in getting Scripture written. The Spirit is in these words, but as theologian Stanley

Grenz reminds us, the “Spirit’s work within Scripture did not end in the distant past.”[7]

7] Illumination names the Spirit’s work, in the present, in helping God’s people, both individually and as the...

The Spirit’s work of inspiration preserves and honors the four voices of the four evangelists, all of whom tell the one story of Jesus.

The Spirit’s inspiring work is strong and true work, and it is work that—like other work we have seen the Spirit do—extends into history, particularity, and materiality. The Spirit’s role in inspiring Scripture is not limited to the tone or theme of the text, but it extends to the words themselves. The phrase “verbal inspiration” gets at this idea. More, the Spirit is the inspirer of all of Scripture; inspiration is not limited to just some bits of the text.

The phrase “plenary inspiration” is used to make this claim. The whole Bible, from Genesis all the way through Revelation, is the Spirit’s work.

Christians agree—across time, space, and culture—that the doctrine of the Trinity is a good interpretation of the biblical texts.

To see that the God of Scripture is the Triune God requires sustained reading of the whole of the Bible. One verse plucked from here or there will not do. We have to read the whole story to see that the doctrine of the Trinity is biblical

Christians often connect the doctrine of inspiration to the words of 2 Timothy, in which Paul urges Timothy to live a godly life and to continue in the faith, reminding him “how from childhood you have known the sacred writings

that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

The word canon means “measure,” and it refers to the whole of Scripture as the measuring stick for Christian faith and life.

Word. God often works in surprising ways and is willing to use broken human beings in his work.

texts written by the apostles, those who had firsthand knowledge of Jesus; (2) texts that were used broadly in the worship of faithful churches; and (3) texts that corresponded with the rule of faith, early shared summaries of Christian doctrine.

The existence of the canon means that we are bound to all the texts included in it. We cannot limit God to only the texts that most easily make sense to us. We have to do the hard work of discerning who God is from the canon as a whole. The canon is expansive, but it also provides boundaries for the Christian life.

Protestants see Scripture as coming, necessarily, before the authority of church and tradition.

The council rejected the Protestant principle of sola scriptura and affirmed that Catholic theology relies on both Scripture and living tradition as interdependent and authoritative sources for theology.

To claim that Scripture is inerrant is to make a strong claim about the truth and reliability of the texts. God does not err, and these texts are the Word of God; therefore, it makes sense to confess the inerrancy of Scripture.

To claim that Scripture is infallible is to state that Scripture will not fail. God intends Scripture to lead us to salvation and guide us in the Christian life, and it is infallible in this purpose.

claims. Proponents of infallibility worry that the doctrine of inerrancy imposes “a modern standard on an ancient writing,”[19]

In other words, the doctrine of inerrancy emphasizes the need

to evaluate Scripture on its own terms rather than according to “standards of truth and error that are alien to its usage or purpose.”[21]

My confession of biblical authority is a confession of faith, a confession about the kind of God I meet when I read Scripture. As we study Scripture, its truth will not always be immediately obvious, but in faith we continue to seek God’s truth, trusting that Scripture is God’s chosen means of revelation and that we will see more and more of that truth as we grow in intimacy with God.

Theologian Alan Padgett says that “the truth of Scripture is about our relationship with Christ, for a personal truth requires a personal relationship.”[22] While we do our best to articulate doctrines that are faithful to the nature of Scripture as God’s Word, we finally know the truth of Scripture in relationship with the One to whom it gives testimony.

We are addressed by Scripture, and the Word of God in Scripture transforms lives.

At this second level, the practice of the doctrine of Scripture is one full of challenges. We are fond of “frivolous” and “self-serving readings,” and we, as sinners, love readings that “aggrandize the interpreter.” Only through the illuminating and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit may we hope to be freed from such readings, but in God’s grace the illuminating Spirit is adept in using the inspired words of Scripture to call us out of our sinful selves and transform us into the image

of Christ our Lord.

“The book is not written to flatter us,” Peterson continues, “but to involve us in a reality, God’s reality, that doesn’t cater to our fantasies of ourselves.”[25]

When Scripture comes to us, when it addresses us from outside of ourselves, the transformative encounter can be frightening.

The Word of God, says the author of Hebrews, “is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account” (Heb. 4:12–13). We may be tempted to hide from God and from ourselves, but God’s Word is revelatory. If...

I did not say to the offspring of Jacob, “Seek me in chaos.”

For sinful human beings, idolatry is a basic feature of our situation.

“worshippers reflect in their character the ungodly image of what they worship.”[2]

The doctrine of the Trinity calls us to return to the one true God as it teaches us to speak carefully about who God is.

Here, the Father speaks, the Son emerges from the water, and the Spirit descends.

All three heresies—adoptionism, modalism, and Arianism—emphasize the oneness of God, and all three wish to reject idolatry.

Adoptionism is a form of subordinationism, which would make Jesus and the Spirit less than the Father.

The adoptionist understanding of Jesus makes him into an ordinary human being who merited adoption by God, and it was his “moral progress that won for him the title Son of God.”[3]

The good news of Jesus as savior is replaced