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Basic Theology

What Does Theology Mean? Theos – Greek for God Logos – Greek for word; can mean a word about Theo + Logos = A Word About God - the Study of God Thinking God’s thoughts after him (by Paul Feinberg)

Define God? God is a Spirit, who is infinite, eternal, and unchanging, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, and goodness. - Taken from the Westminster Shorter Catechism God is a Spirit, who is infinite, eternal, and unchanging, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, and goodness.

How can we begin the study of God? How can we get a grasp of who He is? How can we break Him down to make him manageable? We have to have some sort of system – so our minds can make some sort of sense out of who He is. One classic system used we call Systematic Theology (arranging our ideas about God into an orderly system)

There are some dangers in categorizing (or systematizing) God. We easily forget that God cannot be fully grasped – He is incomprehensible We forget about the UNITY of God – the fact that God is not a bunch of parts put into a whole, but is one God (his love and his justice are absolutely perfect and one never overpowers the other) We lose sight of the Holiness of God – he is completely set apart – or completely other; some speak of the otherness of God. We have to use created things to talk about the creator – and we get into trouble quickly.

Common ways to systematize the Study of God. Biblical Theology Starts with Genesis and goes through Revelation – and through each book, we learn more about who God is. Historical Theology We start with the early Church – and see what their thoughts were about the character and nature of God – and how certain theological beliefs came to be over time.

Systematic Theology Studying God by looking at the different aspects of His character separately. (What are some different areas of Theology? – Understand that under each heading are many subheadings ) Different Areas of Systematic Theology BibliologyAngelology AnthropologyHamartiology (sin) ChristologySoteriology (salvation) Pneumatology (Holy Spirit) Ecclesiology (church) Eschatology (end times) Theology Proper

Theology Proper Who is God – what are all his attributes? How can we divide God’s character into different parts to get a handle on Him? Benevolence (kindness)Eternal Forbearance (patience)Freedom GoodnessGrace HolinessImmutability InifinityLove MercyOmnipresence OmnipotenceOmniscience RighteousnessSelf-Existent Self-SufficientSimplicity SpiritSovereignty TruthUnity

COMMUNICABLE INCOMMUNICABLE Benevolence Forbearance Goodness Grace Love Mercy Righteousness Truth Eternal Immutability Inifinity Omnipresence Omnipotence Omniscience Self-Existent Self-Sufficient Sovereignty BOTH? Spirit Simplicity Freedom Holiness

Theology – So What? Hopefully this overview will give you pegs to hang some ideas on as you come across them in life (devotions, Church, Youth Group, conversation, etc) Realize how much we don’t know about God – be amazed Desire to know God better (rightly) – especially as you spend time in God’s Word Realize that the more we know Him – the better we will be able to worship Him and the better we’ll live. (example – Jews & Talmud)

It doesn’t matter so much where you are, but in what direction you are heading.

I hope these slides help you in some way (feel free to delete this slide). Feel free to contact me for any reason. I have some handouts and extra info for some of the slides that I did not include. There are also a few notes at the bottom of some slides, but not as much as I should have. If you have some great ideas or help or criticisms, or just want to talk, give me a call or shoot me an . (515)