In 2009, after suffering through some personal tragedies, I turned to the letter to the Romans for comfort and direction and found there a sovereign God who works all things according to the counsel of His own will, but in doing so works all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Almost immediately I began grasping for any teaching that would help me further understand God’s sovereignty and was led at first to John MacArthur, as so many are, and by way of mentioning in his sermons then J.I. Packer and John Owen. As I began reading and listening I kept hearing an unfamiliar word – doctrine. I’d hear or read mention of this doctrine and that doctrine, and began to wonder just what these doctrines were and how many were there. Why hadn’t I ever been taught them before? After all, I’d been through 7 years of Christian school and had grown up in church all my life, now there were these doctrines, or teachings, that I was hearing about but had no idea what they were? Worse, as I began to search them out, there was no clear place to look.
Shouldn’t there be a list?
Shouldn’t they be widely published so that millions if not a billion other believers could find them?
As is so often the case, the problem was I wasn’t looking in the right place.
In short, doctrine simply means teaching. As it relates to Christianity, doctrine refers to what the Scriptures teach on a particular subject. The discipline that seeks to collate all that Scripture teaches on particular subjects is Systematic Theology. Though it sounds technical, this isn’t an intimidating title, and it isn’t reserved for seminarians or so-called theologians. Theology simply means the study of (-logy) God (Theos), or we might say the person and work of God. When these things are arranged in an orderly fashion by examining all that Scripture says on them, it is presented systematically, that is in an orderly fashion. Despite the best efforts of detractors and skeptics to undermine the study of doctrines as having their origin in men, good systematic theology grounds itself in the word of God.
Depending on who one reads or seeks out for a treatment on systematic theology, the headings and divisions may vary but the primary categories are:
- Theology proper (the doctrine of God)
- Bibliology (the doctrine of the Bible)
- Angelology (the doctrine of angels and demons)
- Anthropology (the doctrine of humanity)
- Hamartiology (the doctrine of sin)
- Christology (the doctrine of Christ)
- Soteriology (the doctrine of salvation)
- Pneumatology (the doctrine of the Holy Spirit)
- Ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church)
- Eschatology (the doctrine of the end times)
Under each of these headings there can be other “doctrines”, but these are the broad categories which all believers need to be somewhat familiar. The claim that is sometimes given by detractors of theology is that they simply believe the Bible and don’t get caught up in the doctrines of men. That in and of itself falls under the doctrine of bibliology. What a person believes about God – Theology proper; the Son – Christology; the Spirit – Pneumatology and so on. No one is immune to doctrinal teaching despite efforts to claim the contrary.
Returning to our list, under the heading of Theology Proper, or the Doctrine of God, we would expect to find topics such as the existence and knowability of God, as well as His attributes, including both those that are said to be incommunicable and communicable, meaning those attributes which He has communicated to man and allow them to have. Within each of these headings there are a variety of doctrines that could be discussed, which might include the weighty subjects of the doctrine of simplicity or doctrine of impassibility, but also more common doctrines such as eternality, immutability, sovereignty and providence, and those communicable attributes most familiar to us such as love, justice, goodness, mercy, etc. There is of course overlap within these categories of systematic theology and such is the case with the Doctrine of Revelation, or how God has chosen to reveal Himself. On the one hand discussing how God has chosen to reveal Himself would fall under the Doctrine of God, but on the other hand, it could be the precursor to the Doctrine of Bibliology. This may include the doctrines of general and special revelation, the latter of which would lead us into a study on the Bible, more properly the Scriptures.
With respect to God’s created beings, the Doctrine of Angels and Demons would pull all that the Scriptures have to say about this subject in order to help us better understand the unseen world and the cosmic battle that takes place around us. Those beings created in the image of God, namely mankind, would fall under the Doctrine of Man, which would naturally include the creation and fall of man ultimately leading us to discuss the Doctrine of Hamartiology or Sin. Flowing downstream out of both of these headings would lead us directly to the teaching on the person and work of Christ. As God’s Son incarnate, the Last Adam, Jesus lived a sinless life and was sent to be the Redeemer of sinners, leading of course to the Doctrine of Salvation. Wrapping this up, next to last is the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (Pneumatology). As Scripture informs us, the Holy Spirit’s ministry is to point towards Christ while also serving as the prime avenue for the illumination of Scripture and regeneration of the heart. While seemingly unrelated to this, Eschatology or the study of last things naturally brings up the rear. However, the promise of the Spirit was to be a sign of the last things, as per the passage from Joel 2:28-32.
Understanding the Doctrines of Christianity is essential to understand the relationship of major Scriptural subjects. Systematic Theology is the method that makes this possible. Far from being manmade doctrines, Scripture informs every single doctrine, or teaching, that forms the basis for Systematic Theology. As a compliment to Systematic Theology is the discipline of Biblical Theology. Rather than pulling various verses together about particular subjects, Biblical Theology traces themes across Scripture within God’s one plan of redemption. It’s a subtle difference but perhaps the former would best be summarized as individual pieces, though with noted overlap and intertwining, while latter operates from a unified whole. Finally, below is a recommendation of a few Systematic Theology resources that I’ve found helpful over the years. Do I wholeheartedly endorse everything they say? No, of course not. But they are good introductions.
- Systematic Theology – Louis Berkhof (This may be my preferred intro)
- Systematic Theology – Charles Hodge (3 Volumes)
- Systematic Theology – Wayne Grudem (Be aware of Grudem’s thoughts on Eternal Subordination of the Son)
- Collected Writings of John Murray – Vol. 2 – John Murray
- Abstract of Systematic Theology – J.P. Boyce
Others that I haven’t read but were highly recommended:
- Systematic Theology: From Canon to Concept – Stephen Wellum (recently purchased, but only minimally read so far)
- A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith – Robert L. Reymond
- Reformed Dogmatics – Herman Bavink (recently purchased and read some of it; very good)
- Everyone’s a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology – R.C. Sproul
- Institutes of Christian Religion – John Calvin
