The Reign of God: An Introduction to Christian Theology PDF

Richard Rice ' >-.* v*'1 d xfrScxv // x,, c/v'A/roT THE REIGN OF GOD “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him. who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’ ’’ (Isa 52:7).  THE REIGN OF GOD AN INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY...

Richard Rice ' >-.* v*'1 d xfrScxv // x,, c/v'A/roT THE REIGN OF GOD “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him. who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’ ’’ (Isa 52:7).  THE REIGN OF GOD AN INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY FROM A SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST PERSPECTIVE BY RICHARD RICE ANDREWS UNIVERSITY PRESS, BERRIEN SPRINGS, MICHIGAN Andrews University Press Berrien Springs, Ml 49104 © 1985 by Andrews University Press All rights reserved. Published August 1985 Printed in the United States of America 92 91 90 89 88 87 9876543 ISBN 0-943872-90-1 Library of Congress catalog card number 85-70344  For my children, Alison and Jonathan ABOUT THE AUTHOR Richard Rice is Professor of Theology at Loma Linda University, Loma Linda and Riverside, California. He holds a Master of Divinity from the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Christian Theology from the University of Chi¬ cago Divinity School. He has served in pastoral work and has taught religion on the college level for the past eleven years. Among Dr. Rice’s published writings are two other books, The Openness of God: The Relationship of Divine Foreknowledge and Hu¬ man Free Will (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Asso¬ ciation, 1980), and When Bad Things Happen to God’s People (Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1985). He has also con¬ tributed articles and book reviews to both scholarly and Seventh-day Adventist journals, including the Journal of Religion, Religious Studies Review, Andrews University Seminary Studies, Ministry, Insight, and Spectrum.  CONTENTS PREFACE/xiii ABBREVIATIONS / xvix 1 / THE TASK OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY /1 The Importance of Theology / 1 Faith and Reason / 4 The Nature and Purpose of Theology / 7 “The Reign of God’’ / 13 Study Helps / 16 Suggestions for Further Reading / 17 2 / THE DOCTRINE OF REVELATION / 20 The Need for Revelation / 21 The Means of Revelation / 23 The Nature of Biblical Revelation / 25 The Nature of Prophetic inspiration / 28 The Question of Biblical Inerrancy / 31 The Contents of the Bible / 34 The Biblical Canon / 36 Biblical Interpretation / 39 Revelation and the Reign of God / 42 Study Helps / 43 Suggestions for Further Reading / 44 VII VIII CONTENTS 3 / THE DOCTRINE OF GOD: BASIC CONSIDERATIONS / 47 Our Knowledge of God / 48 The Reality of God / 50 Philosophical Evidence / 53 The Biblical View of God / 57 Study Helps / 63 Suggestions for Further Reading / 65 4 / THE DOCTRINE OF GOD: A CONSTRUCTIVE PROPOSAL / 67 God and the World / 68 God’s Identity / 72 God’s Attitude Toward the World / 75 God’s Activity in the World / 78 God’s Experience of the World / 83 The Trinity / 88 Study Helps / 92 Suggestions for Further Reading / 94 5 / THE DOCTRINE OF MAN: ESSENTIAL HUMANITY / 96 The Problem of Being Human / 96 Man as Creature / 98 Human Corporeality / 101 Human Sociality / 102 Human Sexuality / 105 Human Development / 109 Man as the Image of God / 110 Human Uniqueness / 113 Human Freedom / 115 Study Helps / 118 Suggestions for Further Reading / 120 6 / THE DOCTRINE OF MAN: THE HUMAN CONDITION / 123 The Meaning of Sin / 124 The Results of Sin / 126 The Great Controversy / 128 The Nature of Death / 130 The Meaning of Death / 133 The Future Beyond Death / 135 A Summary of the Christian View of Man / 137 Study Helps / 138 Suggestions for Further Reading / 140 CONTENTS IX 7 / THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST: WHO JESUS WAS / 142 Christianity and Jesus / 142 Jesus and God / 145 Jesus’ Resurrection / 147 The Development of Christology / 150 The Biblical Doctrine of Christ / 153 Jesus’ Divinity / 155 Jesus’ Humanity / 157 Study Helps / 160 Suggestions for Further Reading / 162 8 / THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST: WHAT JESUS DID /165 Jesus’ Life and Work / 166 Jesus’ Death / 167 What Jesus Accomplished / 170 Why Jesus Died / 172 Study Helps / 177 Suggestions for Further Reading / 179 9 / THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 181 Salvation and the Church / 181 Facets of the Doctrine of the Church / 183 The Gospel and the Church / 184 The Church as the People of God / 185 The Church as the Body of Christ / 189 Spiritual Gifts / 191 Ellen G. White and the Gift of Prophecy /194 Ellen G. White and Biblical Authority / 199 Ellen G. White and Prophetic Inspiration / 201 Study Helps / 205 Suggestions for Further Reading / 207 10 / THE MISSION OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH / 209 The Scope and Content of Christian Mission / 210 The Salvation of Non-Christians / 212 The Shape of Christian Mission / 216 The Rationale for Church Organization / 218 The Forms of Church Organization / 220 The Gospel Ministry / 221 The Question of the True Church / 226 Study Helps/232 Suggestions for Further Reading / 234 X CONTENTS 11 / MEMBERS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: THEIR SPIRITUAL STATUS / 237 The New Birth / 238 Justification: Salvation by Faith/239 Legalism: Salvation by Works / 242 Salvation and the Law of God / 244 Sanctification / 247 Salvation and Human Freedom / 250 Christian Perfection / 252 Study Helps / 254 Suggestions for Further Reading / 256 12 / MEMBERS OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH: THEIR WAY OF LIFE / 259 Christian Identity and Christian Behavior / 260 Life in the Spirit / 261 The Meaning of Love / 266 Love and Law / 268 Love for God / 271 Love for Others / 273 Family Responsibilities / 273 Church Responsibilities / 275 Social Responsibilities / 276 Political Responsibilities / 279 Study Helps / 283 Suggestions for Further Reading / 285 13 / THE MEANING OF CHRISTIAN WORSHIP / 288 The Meaning of Worship / 289 Dimensions of the Worship Experience / 290 Prayer/293 Baptism / 298 The Lord’s Supper / 300 The Function of Religious Symbols / 303 Study Helps / 306 Suggestions for Further Reading / 308 14 / THE DOCTRINE OF LAST THINGS: THE ROOTS OF ADVENTIST ESCHATOLOGY / 310 The Timeliness of Christian Eschatology / 310 The Biblical View of Time / 313 Jesus and the End of History / 315 Prophecy and History / 317 CONTENTS XI Adventism and the Advent Movement / 318 Christ in the Heavenly Sanctuary / 321 Study Helps / 324 Suggestions for Further Reading / 326 15 / THE DOCTRINE OF LAST THINGS: THE CONTENT AND MEANING OF HUMAN DESTINY / 329 An Adventist Outline of Final Events / 330 The Ultimate Fate of the Wicked / 333 The Meaning of Eternal Life / 335 Eternal Life as Restoration / 340 The Relation of the Future to the Present / 342 The Meaning of the Future for the Present / 345 Study Helps / 350 Suggestions for Further Reading / 351 16 / THE DOCTRINE OF THE SABBATH / 354 Introduction / 354 The Sabbath in the Bible / 356 From Sabbath to Sunday / 362 The Meaning of the Sabbath / 367 The Sabbath Experience / 375 Study Helps / 377 Suggestions for Further Reading / 379 INDEX OF BIBLICAL REFERENCES / 382 INDEX OF PERSONS/ 397 INDEX OF SUBJECTS / 401 * \  PREFACE This book, like many others, arises from the needs of the classroom. For the past ten years I have taught courses at Loma Linda Univer¬ sity in the areas of Christian theology and Seventh-day Adventist be¬ liefs. One thing this task calls for is a college-level discussion of the major doctrines of the church along with the distinctive concerns of Seventh-day Adventists. I have found nothing that quite meets this need. There are various surveys of Adventist doctrine, but most of them are written on a rather elementary level and rely heavily on a proof- text approach. In addition, of course, there are many introductions to Christian theology, but their usefulness is limited by the omission of many topics of vital interest to Seventh-day Adventists. In recent years, Adventist theologians have produced a number of stimulating works, but most of them deal with one or two aspects of Christian faith, and in general they are less interested in reviewing traditional positions than in urging our thought to take new directions. The present work is an attempt to provide, in one volume, an in¬ troduction to the major Christian doctrines that includes the distinctive concerns of Seventh-day Adventists. It has four major objectives. The first is a degree of comprehensiveness. “In constructing a ship or a philosophy,” Bernard Lonergan remarks, “one has to go the whole way.”1 The same is true of theology. Any significant doctrinal position reaches far beyond itself. We can understand the Christian faith only by taking into account all its facets. This work is not a full- fledged theological system, but it seeks to explore enough of what 1. Bernard Lonergan, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding (3d ed.; New York: Philosophical Library, 1970), p. xiii. XIV PREFACE Christians believe to communicate a reliable sense of what the faith is all about. This is particularly important at the present time. For various reasons, Seventh-day Adventists have lately become acutely aware of the doctrinal concerns that distinguish them from other religious groups.2 Among some, there is a tendency to think of these Adventist distinctives as the most important of our beliefs, if not the only reason for our existence. The distinctive beliefs of Adventism deserve the most serious consideration, of course, but we need to view them within the larger framework of Christian thought. This is not just to pre¬ vent us from exaggerating their importance. The fact is that their full significance emerges only when they are related to other aspects of Christian faith. This brings us to the second objective of this work. It intends to be an exercise in theology. As the first chapter explains more fully, this in¬ volves more than just describing various beliefs. It involves reflecting carefully on the meaning of these beliefs. It means looking for their con¬ nections with each other. And most basically, it means providing rea¬ sons for our conclusions. This often leads to a discussion of different positions and sometimes requires us to take one side or the other of a disputed question. This book seeks to encourage students to begin a careful consideration of their own religious beliefs, so they will be thinkers in their own right and not mere reflectors of others’ thoughts. Because this work is directed to general students, not necessar¬ ily those majoring in religious studies, I have tried to make it readable and understandable. Its sentences are short. It eliminates technical terminology as much as possible and attempts to explain unfamiliar terms when their use is unavoidable. Finally, this work is also traditional in its approach. It proceeds on the conservative assumption that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and provides us with reliable knowledge in matters of ultimate impor¬ tance. It seeks to present the various elements of a biblical faith in an organized and integrated way. And it follows the standard outline of traditional works in systematic theology. The present approach is further defined by several limitations, and it will be helpful to describe them here. For one thing, this work 2. One reason may be the insistence by a prominent critic of Adventism that Seventh-day Adventists must give up their distinctive beliefs in order to become fully Christian. See Robert D. Brinsmead, Judged by the Gospel: A Review of Adventism (Fallbrook, Calif.: Verdict Publiations, 1980), for a brief reaction to this proposal, see my review of Brinsmead’s book, "Evangelical Essentials and Adventist Distinctives" (Spec¬ trum, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 55-57). PREFACE XV does not, strictly speaking, qualify as contemporary theology, for it does not address some of the most important issues confronting Christian faith today. A truly contemporary theology, for example, must take into account the results of critical biblical scholarship. In the thinking of many people, it is no longer possible to regard the Bible as a uniform sourcebook for religious belief. The differences, contrasts, and tensions among its various parts must be reckoned with, along with questions about its historical backgrounds. Theology must also address the secular world view of Western culture. One can no longer simply assume the reality of God, or the religious inter¬ pretation of human existence. Such convictions must be argued for today. Third, Christian theology cannot ignore the religious pluralism in which we live. Our society is no longer overwhelmingly Christian. Other faiths are gaining adherents, and their claims deserve careful consideration. Even though it sets aside these important issues, the present work may be valuable in the contemporary context, nonetheless. Surely the first step toward meeting the challenges of the day is to have a clear understanding of one’s own beliefs. My hope is that this book may contribute to that end. The subtitle of this volume requires some explanation. “An Intro¬ duction to Christian Theology from a Seventh-day Adventist Perspec¬ tive” may suggest a thoroughgoing interpretation of Christian faith in light of a distinctive Seventh-day Adventist theme. Such a project would be of immense value, I believe, not only to Seventh-day Adven¬ tists as they attempt to understand and appropriate their religious heritage, but also to other people as an introduction to the essence of Seventh-day Adventist life and thought. The present work may provide the basis for a constructive effort of this nature at some future time, but its specific objective is less am¬ bitious. It is primarily an introduction to theology for Seventh-day Adventists. It incorporates a discussion of distinctive Seventh-day Adventist concerns within a review of major Christian doctrines, and its primary emphasis is on the great truths that Seventh-day Adven¬ tists share with other members of the Christian community. This discussion is introductory in another sense as well. It takes as its guiding theme “the reign of God,” for reasons described in the first chapter. In a more rigorously systematic work, such a theme would dominate the discussion of each topic. Conceivably, it could alter the traditional sequence of doctrinal discussion, or even modify its contents. As a major biblical theme, “the reign of God” certainly has that potential. In the following chapters, however, it serves more as a leitmotiv, or a familiar reference point. As our discussion moves XVI PREFACE through the major doctrines of the Christian faith, this theme provides us with a means of focusing and integrating our reflections, but it re¬ mains clearly subordinate to the various doctrines we examine, rather than the other way around. An important question that arises in connection with works of this type is the relation between theological reflection and the study of the Bible. Seventh-day Adventists are clearly committed to the Bible as the authoritative source of religious truth. They have always insisted that their beliefs are based directly on the Scriptures, rather than on human reason or ecclesiastical tradition. Among Christians in general, Adventists are widely regarded as careful students of the Bible, and the denomination’s scholars have contributed more to the field of biblical studies than to any other area of religious scholarship. So it is understandable that Adventists should regard this question with par¬ ticular concern. Chapter 1 deals at some length with the nature and purpose of Christian theology, but it may be helpful to emphasize here that Chris¬ tian theologians have never intended their work to eclipse the author¬ ity of the Bible for the church. Nor do they regard the study of theologi¬ cal writings as a substitute for the direct study of the Scriptures. On the positive side, theology relates to the Bible in several different ways. Theology may be described as subsequent to the study of the Bible. One may wonder just how the various themes of Scripture are best related to each other. Or, after a careful analysis of the biblical passages bearing on a certain topic, the question may remain as to what the specific meaning of the Bible is for us, or how it applies to our situation. Such questions arising from the study of Scripture are theo¬ logical in nature. It is also possible to view theology as introductory to the study of the Bible. This is how many theologians regard their work. John Calvin, for example, described his greatest writing, Institutes of the Christian Religion, as a summary of the basic teachings of Christian faith. He in¬ tended it to prepare students for the more advanced task of investi¬ gating the Scriptures directly.3 3. ‘‘It has been my purpose in this labor to prepare and instruct candidates in sacred theology for the reading of the divine Word, in order that they may be able both to have easy access to it and to advance in it without stumbling” (‘‘John Calvin to the Reader,” 1559, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles [Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960], p. 4). ‘‘Although Holy Scrip¬ ture contains a perfect doctrine, to which one can add nothing, since in it our Lord has meant to display the infinite treasures of his wisdom, yet a person who has not much practice in it has good reason for some guidance and direction, to know what he ought PREFACE XVII Perhaps theological reflection is best understood as an aspect of Bible study itself. In its quest for logical arrangement and present significance of biblical themes, theology is an integral part of the Christian community’s attempt to understand and respond appropri¬ ately to the Word of God. At any rate, it should be clear that-reading a book like this is by no means a substitute for the direct study of the Bible itself, nor should any other source replace the authority of God’s Word. Ideally, works like this will motivate their readers to examine the Bible for themselves with increased interest and intensity. Another point that deserves mention here is the personal nature of theological work. Although, as I argue in chapter 1, theology seeks to express the faith of a religious community, rather than someone’s private opinions, it inevitably reflects the viewpoint of its author. To some, this appears to be the universal weakness of theology: it never seems to break out of the author’s intellectual cocoon. From another perspective, however, this personal quality is something positive. Just as one person’s statement of faith may encourage others to formulate theirs, one theological proposal may promote the develop¬ ment of others. Perhaps this volume will stimulate other attempts to in¬ terpret the beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. At its best, theology is a conversation, not a soliloquy. The personal nature of theology also prevents any one work from acquiring “authoritative” status. One individual’s reflections are never entirely adequate. The church needs a variety of interpretations to display the rich texture of its faith. Because this book is intended for classroom use, each chapter concludes with several items designed to help the reader master its content and give further study to the topics covered. Students will find the “questions for review” helpful in preparing for quizzes and tests. The “questions for discussion” may provide the basis for personal reflection, classroom discussion, or even written assignments. The various “suggestions for Bible study” present ways of involving the reader directly in examining passages of Scripture related to the topics of the chapter. They too may generate classroom discussions or written assignments. In all likelihood, the “suggestions for further reading” will interest primarily the teacher and the advanced or highly motivated student. to look for in it, in order not to wander hither and thither, but to hold to a sure path, that he may always be pressing toward the end to which the Holy Spirit calls him” (‘‘Subject Matter of the Present Work,” from the French Edition of 1560, Institutes of the Christian Religion [Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960], p. 6). XVIII PREFACE The selections from Adventist writers seek to give a representative ac¬ count of how members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church have dealt with the topics of the chapter. The various selections by writers outside the Seventh-day Adventist community should give the begin¬ ning student a general idea of the concerns of other Christian thinkers and the more advanced student a place to begin further theological investigation. Unless otherwise indicated, ali biblical quotations are from the Revised Standard Version (Old Testament section, © 1952, New Testament section, © 1946, 1971). There are few direct references to the writings of Ellen G. White, but the influence of her thought will be evident throughout the discussion. Even modest efforts like this place one in debt to others. I want to express my appreciation to my colleagues at Loma Linda University, especially in the Division of Religion, for freeing me from classroom responsibilities during the latter part of 1982. Their cooperation en¬ abled me to put this material in writing. A faculty research grant in 1983 from the College of Arts and Sciences, Loma Linda University, made it possible to have the manuscript reviewed by a number of dif¬ ferent readers. For their careful analysis of the manuscript and many helpfui sug¬ gestions, I am indebted to Dalton Baldwin, Roy Branson, Barry Casey, Richard Coffen, Steve Daily, Norman Gulley, Fritz Guy, Jack Provon- sha, and Charles Scriven. None of them, of course, bears responsibil¬ ity for any of its shortcomings. I owe special thanks to Helen F. Little, Emeritus Professor of English, Loma Linda University. She read the manuscript with great care and suggested numerous stylistic improve¬ ments. I want to thank George Knight, of Andrews University, for his ideas about the study aids that accompany the chapters. And I must thank the staff of Andrews University Press—Robert E. Firth, Director, for his encouragement and for his extensive efforts in seeing this proj¬ ect to completion, and Sue Schwab, his assistant, for her long hours of work editing the manuscript and reducing it to printed form, her many suggestions for its improvement, and her unfailing graciousness in ac¬ cepting changes and additions to the text. I am also grateful to Karen Knutsen for typing much of the material that concludes each chapter and for faithfully checking the biblical references throughout, and I ap¬ preciate the last-minute help of Alexander Li&n and Stephan Mitchell in preparing the indexes. Finally, I am grateful for the contributions that family, friends, former teachers, and students have made to my thinking in ways far too numerous and diffuse to detail here. I dedicate this book to my children, who have taught me a great deal of theology.  ABBREVIATIONS OLD TESTAMENT Genesis Gen Ecclesiastes Ecc Exodus Ex Song of Solomon Sg Leviticus Lev Isaiah Isa Numbers Num Jeremiah Jer Deuteronomy Dt Lamentations Lam Joshua Josh Ezekiel Ezek Judges Jdg Daniel Dan Ruth Ru Hosea Hos 1 Samuel 1 Sam Joel Jl 2 Samuel 2 Sam Amos Am 1 Kings 1 Kgs Obadiah Ob 2 Kings 2 Kgs Jonah Jon 1 Chronicles 1 Chr Micah Mic 2 Chronicles 2 Chr Nahum Na Ezra Ezr Habakkuk Hab Nehemiah Neh Zephaniah Zep Esther Est Haggai Hag Job Jb Zechariah Zee Psalms Ps Malachi Mai Proverbs Prov XX ABBREVIATIONS NEW TESTAMENT Matthew Mt 1 Timothy 1 Tim Mark Mk 2 Timothy 2 Tim Luke Lk Titus Ti John Jn Philemon Phim Acts Ac Hebrews Heb Romans Rom James Jas 1 Corinthians 1 Cor 1 Peter 1 Pet 2 Corinthians 2 Cor 2 Peter 2 Pet Galatians Gal 1 John 1 Jn Ephesians Eph 2 John 2 Jn Philippians Phil 3 John 3 Jn Colossians Col Jude Jude 1 Thessalonians 1 Thess Revelation Rev 2 Thessalonians 2 Thess  1 THE TASK OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY “You shall love the Lord your God... with all your mind” (Matthew Biblical 22:37). basis “1 want them... to come to the full wealth of conviction which understanding brings” (Colossians 2:2, NEB). “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you” (1 Peter 3:15). Deuteronomy 32:2 Ephesians 3:14-19 Psalm 1:1-2 Ephesians 4:13-14 Psalm 19:7-10 1 Timothy 4:6 Matthew 28:19-20 Titus 2:1 John 7:16-17 Hebrews 5:11-6:2 John 8:31-32 Hebrews 13:9 Acts 2:42 2 Peter 1:5-7 Romans 10:14-15 2 John 9 Romans 16:17 THE IMPORTANCE OF THEOLOGY The most important thing about a religious community is what it be¬ lieves. This is not the only thing that matters, of course. The way it wor¬ ships and the kind of life it leads are important, too. But what it believes is basic to everything else. This is particularly true of Christianity. 1 2 THE TASK This book is an introduction to Christian beliefs from a Seventh- day Adventist perspective. It seeks to express the faith of the Seventh- day Adventist church. Since this is an exercise in theology, it will be helpful to begin by explaining what theology is and why it is important. The meaning The Greek roots for “theology” are theos, meaning “God,” of “theology” and logos, meaning “speech” or “word,” among other things. Liter¬ ally, then, theology is “God-talk,” or “language about God.” Any use of the word “God,” or any reference to divine beings, would then qualify as theology. But “theology” usually has a more specific meaning. In one sense, “theology” refers to the beliefs of a religious com¬ munity. We use the word in this way when we speak of “Roman Catholic theology,” or “Protestant theology,” or perhaps of “Jewish theology” or “Buddhist theology.” We may use the expression “Seventh-day Adventist theology,” therefore, to designate the beliefs of this particular religious group. In another sense, “theology” refers to the activity of reflecting on our religious beliefs. Broadly speaking, we all do theology when we think or talk about what we believe. More specifically, theology is the activity in which we examine our religious beliefs and seek to express them in a clear and logical way. As used in the subtitle of this book the word “theology” incor¬ porates both senses of the term, because the purpose of the book is twofold. It summarizes what Seventh-day Adventists believe, and it also attempts to examine these beliefs in a careful and methodical way. Objections to Many people have a negative attitude toward religious beliefs, or theology “doctrines,” as they are often called, so they approach the study of theology with misgivings. One reason for this suspicion is the widespread conviction that religion is largely a matter of practice rather than belief. In the view of some, what’s really important is how you live. What you think is strictly secondary. Other people object to theology on the grounds that religion is primarily emotional in nature. They find that intellectual activity often fails to produce the kind of feelings they are looking for. In fact, sometimes it interferes with those feelings. Theology and It is true that behavior and emotions are part of religious experi¬ religious ence. Religion includes ethical and affective dimensions, we might experience say. But it also includes a cognitive dimension; it involves believing OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 3 something. This is why theology is important: it gives these beliefs a careful examination. It is clear from the history of Christianity that beliefs are central to the life of the church. Its earliest advocates, the apostles, presented Christianity by making certain claims about Jesus and arguing for their truth. In his sermon on the day of Pentecost, for example—the first Christian sermon ever preached—Peter asserted that Jesus was the Messiah. He appealed to his resurrection from the dead to prove it (Ac 2:14-36). So from the beginning, being a Christian involved believing that certain things were true. Beliefs are not only essential to Christianity; they are also closely related to the other dimensions of religious experience just referred to. Seventh-day Adventists are probably best known by the general public for some of their distinctive practices. Many people identify Adventists by the things they don’t do, such as their abstinence from tobacco and alcoholic drinks. Sometimes Adventists are remembered for sabbath observance, or for their medical or educational work. But whatever the distinctive practice is, behind it lies some specific religious belief, or doctrine. The commitment to healthful living, for example, arises from the belief that our physical condition affects our spiritual condition. This belief follows from the Adventist doctrine of human being, with its view of man as a physical, mental, and spiritual unity. What we believe, therefore, determines to a large extent how we live. Our doctrines affect our practice. Turning to the other aspect of religious experience mentioned above, we find a similar relationship to belief. We identified this aspect as “emotional” or “affective.” A better word might be “relational.” It involves a person’s attitude toward God and his perception of God’s attitude toward him. This dimension of experience will have an important influence on belief. On an individual level your experience of God will affect your beliefs about him. If God seems especially close to you during difficult circumstances, then you will find it natural to believe that he is loving and compassionate. On the other hand, if you feel utterly alone when you need help, then you may find it difficult to attribute these qualities to God. On the corporate, or community, level, this relation between belief and experience is even more significant. The doctrines of the church express the experience of its members on the grand scale. This was certainly true of the earliest Christians. The claims they made for Jesus expressed the impact his life had made on them. Their doctrines ex¬ pressed their experience. Similarly, the great doctrines of Christianity are those which express the experience of believers in every age. 4 THE TASK This interchange between doctrines and experience flows in the other direction, too. Doctrines not only express experience, they also influence and shape it. To a great extent, what you believe about God will determine the quality of your relationship to him. An inade¬ quate doctrine of God will have a negative effect on your experience of him. If you have always thought of God as a stern judge, pre¬ occupied with your mistakes, then you will find it difficult to love and trust him. Happily, the converse is true as well. Good doctrine can have a positive effect on religious experience. A friend of mine once said that she had the happiest sabbath of her life shortly after she studied the meaning of the sabbath in one of her religion classes. A more adequate doctrine of the sabath made possible a richer sabbath ex¬ perience. So religious beliefs and religious experience are closely related. FAITH AND REASON Theology involves the application of reason to the contents of faith. Therefore, we need to examine the relationship between faith and reason, too. Faith and Many people feel that faith, in the sense of personal trust in reason God, and reason, or serious intellectual activity, stand in conflict with in tension each other. They fear that the close application of reason to our re¬ ligious beliefs will weaken our convictions, so they are suspicious of theology. We can illustrate this view of faith and reason with the graph below. Here faith and reason stand at opposite ends of a line, in ten¬ sion with each other. And, as mathematicians would say, they are “in¬ versely proportional.” That is, the more you have of one quality, the less you have of the other. As the diagram shows, the closer you come to one end of the line, the farther you move from the other. According to this view, the best religious experience is one in which there is a good deal of faith, and consequently very little intellectual activity. FAITH--REASON This view of faith and reason forces us to make a choice between the two. We have to decide between trusting in God and thinking OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 5 carefully about our beliefs, because we cannot do both effectively. But we have just seen that understanding plays a very important role in religious experience. We observed that inadequate doctrine has a negative effect on religious experience, while good doctrine has a positive effect. So we cannot accept the idea that faith and reason are opposed to each other. We must find another way of expressing their relationship. Let’s exchange the line graph for one that’s a bit more compli¬ Faith and cated. Instead of placing faith and reason at opposite ends of a single reason line, make them the coordinates of a graph like the ones we study in in balance algebra. Let’s put “faith” at the side of the graph and “reason” along the bottom, like this: A D FAITH ' C B REASON With this graph, we can describe a number of ways in which faith and reason may be related in a person’s life. It is possible to have a great deal of faith and relatively little understanding (Position A). This is typically the case in the early stages of religious experience. Just as a young child has great affection for its parents, although it under¬ stands very little about them, a person may have enormous confi¬ dence in God even though he knows relatively little about God. On the other hand, a person can know a great deal about God and not have much of a relationship with him (Position B). Someone with a Ph.D. in nutrition may have poor eating habits. An avid sports fan may be in terrible physical condition. Similarly, someone could know a great deal about the Bible, theology, and church history, and still have very little trust in God. Knowledge alone certainly doesn’t guarantee faith. 6 THE TASK As this graph illustrates, the options are not limited to faith without reason, or reason without faith, or to some unattractive com¬ promise between them, like Position C, where a person has very little of either faith or understanding. Ideally, a person’s experience should be somewhere in the vicinity of Position D, where both faith and reason abound. In a healthy religious experience, faith and reason complement, rather than compete with, each other, just as knowledge and affection reinforce each other in important human relationships. People in love naturally want to find out more about each other—where they grew up, what they like to eat, and so on. If the relationship has real possibilities, the more they learn, the stronger their feelings for each other grow. In a similar way, someone who trusts God wiil want to keep learn¬ ing about him. And the more he learns, the more his trust and love for God will grow. In one of his letters, Paul expresses the desire for his readers to “come to the full wealth of conviction which understanding brings” (Col 2:2, NEB). Serious intellectual activity has an important role to play in religious experience. Good theology will strengthen our confidence in God. Solving But haven’t people lost their faith as a result of asking questions theological about it? Isn’t there a danger in thinking too much about religion? problems Won’t you kill a religious experience by over-analyzing it? It is true that there is a risk in thinking carefully about what you believe. Doing so, people occasionally discover that what they always believed lacks adequate evidence or no longer makes sense. There is no guarantee that our ideas will never change if we think about them carefully. The solution, however, is not to avoid thinking, nor to give up as soon as we run into difficulties. The solution is to keep on thinking, to work our way through the problems that arise. Typically, people who become disillusioned when they examine their faith have not thought enough about it. The proper response to theological difficulties is more theology. We cannot eliminate problems by ignoring them, by pretend¬ ing they do not exist. Careful reflection will help us to answer many of our questions. Furthermore, if it is risky to think about'what you believe, not to do so can be fatal. It is not only that an unexamined faith is not worth having, to paraphrase Socrates’ famous maxim. An unexamined faith can be downright dangerous. It can give us a false sense of security, and it can lead us to be intolerant of people whose views differ from ours. OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 7 Although careful thinking can help to solve many of our ques¬ tions, it is unlikely to answer all of them. In the event that certain ques¬ tions persist, it is helpful to remember this. In the final analysis, our faith is not in a doctrine, but in a Person. It is Christ who saves, not our understanding of him. In the last letter he wrote, Paul declared to Timothy, “I know whom I have believed” (2 Tim 1:12). The great apos¬ tle never claimed that his behavior was perfect (cf. Phil 3:12), nor that his knowledge was perfect (cf. 1 Cor 13:9). He wasn’t looking to these things for salvation. He was looking to Christ. With our confidence firmly rooted in Jesus, we can face the questions that arise in our at¬ tempt to understand what he has done for us, without being afraid that they will unsettle our faith. We have examined the general importance of intellectual activity for religious experience. Now we need to take a closer look at the theological task itself. THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THEOLOGY During the centuries of Christian history, people have described theology in many different ways. One of the happiest definitions is that of Anselm, the eleventh-century bishop of Canterbury. He identified theology as ‘‘faith seeking understanding.”1 In his view, theology is a Christian’s attempt to make sense out of what he believes. This fits nicely with what we have said about the relation of theology and religious experience. We could list other definitions of theology, or formulate one our¬ selves and then comment on its parts. Instead, let us work toward a definition by considering some of the essential characteristics of the enterprise. Without question, the most important feature of theology is its Theology is biblical character. Christians universally associate the Bible with biblical divine revelation. Some regard it primarily as a source of super- naturally imparted information, others as an expression of authentic human existence. But however the Bible is viewed, Christians accept it as authoritative. The basic purpose of theology is to express the 1. “For I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe,—that unless I believed, I should not understand’’ (Anselm, St. Anselm: Basic Writings, trans. S. N. Deane [2d ed.; LaSalle, III.: Open Court Publishing Company, 1966], p. 7). 8 THE TASK contents, or the message, of the Bible reliably. Faithfulness to the Scriptures is the most important criterion for evaluating any theologi¬ cal work. The mere intention to be faithful to the Bible, of course, does not guarantee that a theologian’s work will be. But the intention is in¬ dispensable nonetheless. Theology is A second feature of theology is its attempt to be rational, or intel¬ rational ligible. Theology seeks to make sense of what the Bible says. This is not a departure from its biblical character, although people sometimes think so. It is really an extension, or a corollary, of it. As expressed in Scripture, the message of salvation is addressed to the whole person, the mind as well as the heart. From the beginning, Christians have maintained that there are good reasons for believing the gospel. So in accepting the authority of the Bible, theology presupposes that the Bible makes sense. As it seeks to express the message of the Bible, theology searches for the most adequate concepts available. It strives for clar¬ ity and coherence; it seeks to avoid confusion and contradiction. Theology is Good theology must also be historically sensitive. We are fortu¬ historical nate-in fact, we are blessed—to have ready access to the Bible. It must always be the principal source of our religious knowledge. But our understanding of the Bible is shaped by long centuries of biblical interpretation, whether we realize it or not. Just think, for example, of the way the Protestant Reformation has influenced the interpretation of Paul’s writings. This isn’t something negative. To the contrary, we can learn a lot from previous attempts to understand the Bible. It would be foolish to ignore the help they can give. At the same time, we must be critical of views that depart from the Bible. We can never be content to accept something simply because it has a long tradition behind it. Theology is As an outgrowth of its historical character, good theology is also contemporary contemporary. This means, first of all, that it arises out of the present experience of the Christian community. Every generation faces the task of theology anew, because its experience is unique in certain ways. The notion of “present truth’’ played 'an important role in the thinking of early Adventists. They accepted much of what earlier Christians believed. But they emphasized other doctrines, such as the sabbath, because they were convinced that God was uniquely active in their experience and that they had something new and important to share. OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 9 Accordingly, good theology is creative and constructive. It brings to the task of interpreting the biblical message the conviction that our present experience may enable us to see things that have never been as fully appreciated before. Because the faith of a religious community is dynamic, the work of theology is never completed. The 1980 statement of Seventh-day Adventist beliefs includes this important sentence: “Revision of these statements may be expected at a General Conference session when the church is led by the Holy Spirit to a fuller understanding of Bible truths or finds better language in which to express the teachings of God’s Holy Word.”2 Truth doesn’t change, but our perception of it does. So does the situation in which we are called on to express it, as we noticed above. For these reasons, the work of theology is never done once and for all. This is one reason why Seventh-day Adventists have always Problems avoided the formulation of a creed to express their beliefs. On a purely with creeds linguistic level, a “creed” is simply a statement of beliefs. Historically, creeds were intended simply to summarize the teachings of the Bible. But the word “creed” has certain connotations which have made Ad¬ ventists wary. One is finality. Once a creed is formulated, people tend to regard it as definitive. They become reluctant to consider revising it. Another is comprehensiveness. For people in certain religious groups, the offi¬ cial creed states all that is worth discussing. If a topic isn’t mentioned in the creed, they are unwilling to give it any consideration. A third connotation of the word “creed” is authority. People often hold cer¬ tain things to be true simply because they are formally stated in a creed, not because they have examined the issues for themselves. This brings us to some other reasons why Seventh-day Adventists have avoided developing a creed. They insist that nothing replace the Bible as the supreme authority in the church. “The Bible is our creed,” early Adventists were fond of saying. They believed that every person should examine for himself what the Bible teaches. Theology must be contemporary because the challenges it faces are new in every age. The problems confronting the church today are not the same as the ones it met before. Theology must speak to these problems, if the Christian message is to be heard. This means that Christians must be willing to revise their termin¬ ology in order for their message to be understood. The task of theology 2."Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists,” Seventh-day Adventist Year¬ book 1984 (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1984), p. 5. 10 THE TASK is to communicate the gospel, and communication requires transla¬ tion, not mere repetition. As Francis Schaeffer says, “You have to preach the simple gospel so that it is simple to the person to whom you are talking, or it is no longer simple.”3 This is why we have ser¬ mons as well as Scripture reading in our worship services. We need to hear the Word, to be sure, but we also need to hear the Word inter¬ preted for us by someone who is familiar with our spiritual needs. Theology is From what we have just said, it is apparent that theology is the for the church task of the whole church, not merely of the individual Christian, theo¬ logically trained or otherwise. Theology attempts to express the faith of a religious community. It speaks out of the experience of the com¬ munity and it intends to enrich the life of the community. As an exercise in Seventh-day Adventist theology, this book seeks to express the faith of the Seventh-day Adventist church. I hope that any Adventist reader would recognize it as a statement of his or her own faith. At the same time, it is not just a summary of traditional Adventist doctrines. It contains occasional suggestions for rethinking our beliefs in ways that imay enrich our corporate experience, recover overlooked biblical themes, and increase the effectiveness of our witness to the world. Theology is Finally, good theology is systematic. In fact, the discipline as a systematic whole is often called “systematic theology.” It seeks to organize the various Christian doctrines in a logical way, so the discussion of one topic leads naturally to the consideration of the next. There is a traditional sequence of doctrines that appears in theo¬ logical works. Most systematic theologies either follow it or explain why they don’t. Flere is a brief outline of this scheme: 1. Doctrine of Revelation 2. Doctrine of God (Theology) 3. Doctrine of Man (Anthropology) 4. Doctrine of Salvation (Soteriology) 5. Doctrine of the Church (Ecclesiology) 6. Doctrine of Last Things (Eschatology) Along with a traditional arrangement of the central Christian doc¬ trines, theology also has its own terminology. The words in paren¬ theses above are some of the most common theological terms. Most of them come from Greek roots, such as eschatos, meaning “last,” 3. Francis A. Schaeffer, He Is There and He Is Not Silent (Wheaton, III.: Tyndale House Publishers, 1972), p. 11. OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 11 and ekklesia, meaning “church.” Since the doctrinal discussions in this book follow this general outline, it will be helpful for you to be familiar with it as we proceed. The systematic character of theology involves more than arrang¬ The interrelation ing the different Christian doctrines. Theology also seeks to show how of Christian the different aspects of Christian faith are related to each other. doctrine Everything we believe has an influence on everything else we believe. What a person thinks about God, for example, will affect his view of the end of history, and vice versa. The different Christian doctrines are not like building blocks, hav¬ ing exactly the same size and shape, capable of any sort of arrange¬ ment. They are more like the pieces of a puzzle. They fit together one way better than another, and it is only in relation to the others that the value of each piece emerges. This analogy breaks down, however, be¬ cause the pieces of a puzzle have only one way of going together, and there is no one pattern to which Christian theology conforms. At least, no theologian claims to have found the perfect pattern yet. As it interrelates the different Christian doctrines, theology also shows the relative importance of each aspect of faith. All the doctrines are important, and each of them has an effect on the others, but they are not of equal importance. Certain beliefs are absolutely central to faith. There would be no Christian experience if they were absent. Other beliefs are peripheral; they are not quite so important. This does not mean that they are inconsequential, or that our experience would be just the same without them. But their importance is derivative, rather than fundamental. Take the doctrine of God, for example. Belief in God is clearly basic to Christian experience. Remove it, as certain people suggested several years ago, and Christianity drastically changes. In contrast, consider something like infant dedication. For many Christians the practice is very important. It has theological and psychological sig¬ nificance. But it is not central to Christianity. People can, and do, disagree as to what it means and whether it should be observed, while still regarding each other as Christians. So here we have a practice that is “Christian,” but not a fundamental aspect of our faith. There are two pitfalls we need to avoid. Either does violence to the nature of Christian faith and leads to theological distortion. One is to insist that each item of belief is just as important as every other. The second is to maintain that anything not absolutely central to faith is in¬ consequential, and we might as well throw it out. Strange as it may seem, these errors tend to go together. 12 THE TASK I once heard a mother argue against a minor change in the dress code of the church school her daughter attended. She feared that it would undermine the girl’s confidence in all that Christians believe. The daughter attached equal importance to everything she had been taught, her mother indicated, so if one item changed, she might easily conclude that all the others could slide away, too. String-of-beads We might call this a “string-of-beads” concept of doctrine for model for three reasons. First, just as beads in a string have the same size and theology shape, this view gives all the doctrines equal value. None of them is any more or less important than another. Second, each bead is essen¬ tially independent of the rest. It would be what it is regardless of the other beads around it. Similarly, in this view of theology each doctrine is an independent unit with no integral relation to other doctrines. Third, all the beads on a string could slip away just as easily as one of them could. In the same way, any doctrinal change renders all the doctrines vulnerable. Organic model To do justice to the nature of Christian faith we need to exchange for theology this model for one that recognizes that the doctrines are interrelated, yet some of them are more basic than others. We might call this an “organic” model of Christian doctrine. All the parts of a living organism are connected together, and each has an important role in its activities. But not every one is equally vital to its existence. A theology conceived along such lines can do justice to the true nature of the Christian faith, without either exaggerating or slighting the im¬ portance of each element. Doctrinal summaries sometimes convey a string-of-beads con¬ cept of theology. This is true of the “Statement of Fundamental Beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists,” officially voted by the General Confer¬ ence in 1980. It contains a list of twenty-seven items, beginning with “The Holy Scriptures” and ending with “The New Earth.” There is a certain logic to the progression of themes presented. But there is no attempt in the document itself to call attention to this progression or to show how the different ideas are related to each other. In contrast, theology takes the various beliefs of the religious community and ex¬ plores their interconnection. It seeks to determine the underlying unity, as well as the complexity, of Christian faith. In the attempt to be systematic, theology not only relates differ¬ ent Christian beliefs to each other. It also seeks to draw the individual beliefs together by means of a comprehensive theme, or a central idea. There may be more than a single unifying concept, and many themes and ideas may emerge along the way. But good theology— OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 13 certainly great theology—exhibits a dominant theme, or motif, that permeates its various parts. The best indication of a theologian’s im¬ portance is the grandeur of the themes which characterize his or her work. The highest test of theological skill is the task of drawing the dif¬ ferent aspects of Christian faith together to form a unity. In view of such a formidable challenge, it is not surprising that few people have attempted theological systems in recent years. The present work reflects this reluctance. This is not a full-fledged theological system, but an “introduction” to theology. Nonetheless, because it has theological aspirations, it seeks to meet the criteria of theological work conceived on a grander scale. Before turning to the different Christian doctrines, therefore, we need to select a theme that will guide us in our work. “THE REIGN OF GOD” Our theme must be sufficiently comprehensive, or fundamental, to help us pull together all the major Christian doctrines. Because this is a Seventh-day Adventist theology, it should also reflect some of the distinctive concerns of the Seventh-day Adventist church. Among sev¬ eral ideas that could serve these purposes, I have selected the “reign of God” as the guiding theme for this introduction to Adventist thought. Several factors make this an appropriate choice. One is the significance of this theme in the Bible. The idea of the In the Bible “kingdom of God” dominated the ministry of Jesus. It was the central topic of his preaching, and his various miracles were object lessons intended to demonstrate its reality and its character. Scholars tell us that the biblical expression “kingdom of God” is more accurately translated “kingship of God,” or “reign of God.” It refers not so much to the territory over which God rules, as to his ruling activity itself.4 4. C. H. Dodd makes this point in his famous book, The Parables of the Kingdom (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1961), p. 21. The precise meaning of “the kingdom of God’’ is a matter of ongoing scholarly debate. In contrast to Dodd’s “realized escha¬ tology,’’ which interprets the kingdom as a present reality, others maintain that the kingdom is not only present, but future as well. According to Norman Perrin, for exam¬ ple, the kingdom of God as proclaimed by Jesus involves the anticipation of dramatic di¬ vine activity intervening in the course of history in the future (The Kingdom of God in the Teaching of Jesus [Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1963], p. 167). George Eldon Ladd argues for a twofold interpretation of the expression. In his article “The Kingdom of God—Reign or Realm?’’ Ladd analyzes several interpretations and proposes this 14 THE TASK The theme of divine rule or lordship is equally prominent in other portions of the Bible. Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and miraculous conquest of Canaan demonstrated Yahweh’s supremacy over the gods worshiped by other peoples. In church In the history of the church, the theme of God’s reign figures history prominently, too. The sovereignty of God, especially in the work of salvation, was central to the concerns of the Protestant Reformers. It is the dominant idea in John Calvin’s great work, Institutes of the Christian Religion. The reign of God has been of great interest to Seventh-day Adventists throughout their history. The Advent Movement originated with the expectation of Christ’s soon return to establish his kingdom in the mid-nineteenth century. From their beginning, Seventh-day Adven¬ tists have found their principal reason for existing in the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation. These books describe the coming of God’s reign as a cataclysmic event. The sovereignty of God establishing itself against the opposition of evil powers permeates the thought of Ellen G. White, by far the most influential of Adventist writers. Her most important book is The Great Controversy. It is the fifth and final volume in the “Conflict of the Ages Series,” which has probably con¬ tributed more to the thinking of Seventh-day Adventists than any other source outside the Bible. So the reign of God is a reasonable choice to guide our review of Christian doctrine from a Seventh-day Adventist perspective. To set the stage for what follows, let us summarize a few of the elements in this important concept. How God As the Bible describes the reign of God, its most impressive reigns feature is the quality, or content, of God’s rule. The Bible affirms the unrivaled superiority of God’s power. But it is more interested in the answer to his question: “Malkuth [the Aramaic word behind “kingdom”] can be either a monarch’s kingship, his reign, or it can be the realm over which he reigns. It is our thesis that both meanings are to be recognized in the teachings of Jesus, and that the primary meaning is the abstract or dynamic one, for it is God’s kingly act establishing his rule in the world which brings into being the realm in which his rule is enjoyed” (Journal of Biblical Literature 81 :236). Ladd interprets the"meaning of the phrase as Jesus used it this way: “Jesus taught that the rule of God, which would manifest itself to all men at the end of the age, was also manifesting itself in his person, mission, and message, to those who would hear and respond. Before the eschatological manifesta¬ tion was a manifestation of a different sort. God, who would act at the end of history to transform history, had invaded history in the person and mission of Jesus to bring his reign and rule to men” (ibid., p. 237). OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 15 kind of person God is. It is his love and concern for his creatures, his commitment to their best interests, and his willingness to sacrifice for their well-being that dominate the biblical portrayal of the divine reality. Because God’s relations to his creatures are motivated by love, he does not establish his reign by the imposition of sheer power. His reign depends upon the willing acceptance of his subjects. The situa¬ tion which God seeks—in fact, the only situation which will satisfy him—is the glad acceptance of his lordship that arises from an appre¬ ciation of his loving character. Consequently, God gives his creatures the choice of serving him or not. He allows them time to examine the alternatives and make an intelligent decision. From the present situation of our world, it is apparent that the When God reign of God is not fully realized; its arrival still lies in the future. God is reigns now working in the world to overcome the forces that oppose his reign and to restore human beings to his kingdom. The idea of God’s reign emphasizes God’s initiative in the work of human salvation. But even though the full realization of his reign is yet to come, God is still sovereign of the world right now. This has two implications for the various structures of human authority. On the one hand, the reality of God’s reign legitimizes the structures of human power. Governments ultimately derive their authority from him, and he exer¬ cises his sovereignty through them. On the other hand, however, the reign of God relativizes the significance of these same structures. They have no right to claim our ultimate allegiance. That belongs to God alone. They must be resisted when they overreach their bounds and fail to serve the interests of their people. On another level, the reign of God reminds us that God’s lord- ship is universal. Every aspect of life is subject to his sovereignty. This justifies the attention that Seventh-day Adventists have given over the years to such matters as physical health and religious educa¬ tion, and it calls us to extend the sovereignty of God into other areas as well. The concept of God’s reign effectively draws together some of the characteristic interests of Seventh-day Adventists. It encourages us to give our attention to some issues we have neglected in the past. And perhaps most important, it relates Adventist theology to some of the historic concerns of the Christian faith. We have described the task of theology, and we have found a ref¬ erence point to guide us in our study. We will begin our work by con¬ sidering the doctrine of revelation. 16 THE TASK STUDY HELPS Questions for 1. What meanings does the word “theology” have? review 2. What is the relation between religious beliefs and religious prac¬ tices and feelings? 3. How are faith and reason related in a mature religious experience? 4. What are the characteristics of good Christian theology? 5. What are the major Christian doctrines and how are they related to each other? Questions for 1. How should a Christian congregation respond to someone who en¬ further study joys the social life of the church but has no interest in its doctrines? 2. What doctrinal beliefs lie behind things Seventh-day Adventists are often known for, such as a vegetarian diet, not wearing jewelry, sabbath keeping, operating a private school system, and not bear¬ ing arms in military service? 3. Under what circumstances should a denomination change its “statement of fundamental beliefs”? Who should make such a change and what steps should they follow? 4. The text suggests “the reign of God” as a theme that unifies the various beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists. What other theme(s) would serve this purpose? 5. Which are more important to Seventh-day Adventists—their distinctive beliefs, or the beliefs they hold in common with other Christian groups? Suggestions for 1. John 3 and 4 record Jesus’ conversations with Nicodemus and Bible study the Samaritan woman. Among other things, these important chap¬ ters illuminate the relation between religious ideas and personal religious experience. Read these two passages and answer the fol¬ lowing questions: What erroneous religious ideas did these two in¬ dividuals have? What effect did their inadequate theology have on their experience with God? What new ideas did Jesus suggest and how did he apply them to their experience? 2. According to the Bible, sound doctrine is important for a number of OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 17 reasons. What are some of the reasons suggested by the following passages? 1 Peter 3:15 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 Colossians 2:2 2 Timothy 2:15 Hebrews 5:12 Ephesians 4:11-14 3. According to the Bible, sound doctrine will exhibit certain charac¬ teristics. What characteristics of sound doctrine do the following passages indicate? 1 Timothy 4:1-2 Galatians 1:6-9 John 8:32 4. The preaching of the apostles gives us insight into what is central to Christian faith. What theological concepts figure prominently in the following apostolic sermons, or summaries of apostolic preaching? Acts 2:17-36 Acts 13:16-41 Acts 3:12-26 Acts 17:22-31 Acts 4:8-12 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Acts 10:34-43 5. Traditionally, Seventh-day Adventists have regarded Revelation 14: 6-12 as the prophetic mandate for their existence and the descrip¬ tion of their specific mission. What themes or concerns character¬ istic of Seventh-day Adventism does this passage summarize? SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING Two standard doctrinal summaries are Bible Readings for the Home (rev. ed.; From Adventist Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1963), which writers employs a question-answer format, and T. Housel Jemison, Christian Beliefs (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1959), for years a textbook in college religion classes. Recent statements of Christian faith from a Seventh-day Adventist perspective are Jack Provonsha, God Is With Us (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1974), and Charles Scriven, The Demons Have Had It: A Theological ABC (Nashville, Tenn.: Southern Publishing Association, 1976). Each year, major Adventist publishing houses present a book designed to communicate the church’s beliefs to a contemporary audience. Two 18 THE TASK noteworthy books to appear on this basis are William Henry Branson, Drama of the Ages (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1950), and Arthur E. Lickey, God Speaks to Modern Man (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1952). The book Seventh-day Adventists Answer Questions on Doctrine (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1957), gener¬ ally referred to simply as Questions on Doctrine, contains answers formulated by certain Adventist thinkers in the 1950s to questions concerning specific Adventist beliefs posed by a group of non-Adventist scholars. Some Adventists consider the positions expressed there to be controversial. Discussions of various aspects of Seventh-day Adventist beliefs regularly appear in the following periodicals: Adventist Review, the general and more-or- less official paper of the Seventh-day Adventist Church; Ministry, the church’s publication for clergy; Signs of the Times, the church’s primary missionary or evangelistic journal; Insight, directed to the senior youth of the church; and Spectrum, published quarterly by the Association of Adventist Forums. For further reading on the topic of faith and reason, see Richard Rice, “The Knowledge of Faith’’ (Spectrum, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 19-32), James Londis’ reply (ibid., pp. 32-37), and further discussions of the article by Larry M. Lewis, Dalton Baldwin, and Eric D. Syme (Spectrum, vol. 6, nos. 1, 2, 3, pp. 77-86). Herbert Douglass provides an analysis of faith in his book Faith: Saying Yes to God (Nashville, Tenn.: Southern Publishing Association, 1978). Edward W. H. Vick discusses the theological method and related topics in Theological Essays (Berrien Springs, Mich.: The Theological Seminary, Andrews Univer¬ sity, 1965). For Ellen G. White’s views on the relation of faith and reason in general, and theological reflection in particular, see the following passages: Steps to Christ, pp. 105-113; Counsels to Writers and Editors, pp. 33-51; Ministry of Healing, pp. 409-466; Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, pp. 580-586; Christ’s Object Lessons, pp. 333-335. From other There are literally thousands of theological texts and treatises available, writers ranging from the very elementary to the highly advanced. Space permits us to list only a few relatively recent offerings. On the elementary end of the scale are books like James W. Sire’s Begin¬ ning With God: A Basic Introduction to the Christian Faith (Downers Grove, III.: Inter-Varsity Press, 1981), which developed from the author’s experience teaching confirmation classes. Another readable introduction to fundamental Christian beliefs is John R. W. Stott’s Basic Christianity (rev. ed.; Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978). More challenging books directed to the general reader include The Com¬ mon Catechism: A Book of Christian Faith (New York: The Seabury Press, 1975), prepared as an ecumenical endeavor by Protestant and Roman OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY 19 Catholic scholars, and Wolfhart Pannenberg’s The Apostles’ Creed in the Light of Today’s Questions, trans. Margaret Kohl (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1972). Serious students will learn a great deal from one-volume works such as Dale Moody, The Word of Truth (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, Publishing Co., 1981), which takes a conservative theological position, and John Macquarrie, Principles of Christian Theology (2d ed.; New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1977), written from a liberal perspective. Though old, Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology: A Compendium Designed for the Use of Theological Students (Valley Forge, Pa.: The Judson Press, 1907), contains a wealth of material. On a larger scale, the three volumes of Emil Brunner’s “Dogmatics,” The Christian Doctrine of God, trans. Olive Wyon; The Christian Doctrine of Crea¬ tion and Redemption, trans. David Cairns; and The Christian Doctrine of the Church, Faith and the Consummation, trans. David Cairns (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1974-1982), are richly rewarding. A recent evangelical ef¬ fort is also noteworthy, namely, Donald G. Bloesch, Essentials of Evangelical Theology (2 vols.; New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1978-1979). Specialists will appreciate works such as Karl Barth’s massive Church Dogmatics, ed. G. W. Bromiley and T. F. Torrance (4 vols.; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1936-1977); Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology (3 vols.; Chicago: Univer¬ sity of Chicago Press, 1951-1963); and Roman Catholic theologian Karl Rahner, Foundations of Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Chris¬ tianity, trans. William V. Dych (New York: The Seabury Press, 1978).  2 THE DOCTRINE OF REVELATION Biblical “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds basis from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8:3, NIV). “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16). “No prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21). Exodus 20:18-19 Luke 24:27 Numbers 12:6 John 5:39 Deuteronomy 6:6-9 John 6:68 Psalm 19 Acts 1:22 Psalm 119:97-105 Romans 3:2 Isaiah 40:8 Hebrews 1:1-2 Amos 3:7 2 Peter 3:15-16 Matthew 5:17-18 1 John 1:1, 3 It makes sense to begin a study of Christian beliefs by discussing the doctrine of revelation, for in talking of God at all we assume that we know something about him and his will for us. Is this assumption valid? Are there good reasons for believing that we know anything about 20 THE DOCTRINE OF REVELATION 21 God? Where do we get such knowledge? What does it include? How can we tell when we find it? What purpose does it serve? The doctrine of revelation attempts to answer such questions. It discusses the source(s), the means, the contents, and the purpose of revelation. THE NEED FOR REVELATION At first glance, it seems presumptuous to speak of “knowing God.” One thing we learn from the enormous proliferation of information to¬ day is that we know hardly anything about anything. The more we study something, the more complicated and mysterious it becomes. We even find our own behavior baffling. How, then, can we know any¬ thing about God—the greatest thing imaginable? What makes us think we could possibly understand him? The answer is simple. We can’t know anything about God— unless he reveals it to us. Our knowledge of God is entirely dependent upon divine revelation. Without it, we would be in total ignorance. There are several reasons for this. We just mentioned one of them: the fact that God is infinitely greater than we are. For us to know anything about him he has to come down to our level of understand¬ ing. There is no way we can raise ourselves to his. Divine revelation is also necessary because God is a person. You can’t say that you know a person unless he communicates with you. If someone asks, “Do you know the President of the United States?,” you might say, “I know who he is,” or “I know of him,” or “I’ve heard about him.” But you cannot say, “I know him,” unless he has com¬ municated with you in a personal way—unless he has revealed him¬ self to you. As we shall see, Christian faith affirms that God is a person. Consequently, we can say that we know God only if he communicates with us. There is a third reason that revelation is so important. The great distance between us and God is due not only to our creaturely limita¬ tions. It is also due to the fact that we are sinners. Whatever our original capacity to know and comprehend God, it has been seriously damaged by sin. This makes it utterly impossible for us to learn any¬ thing about God on our own. The fact that God is a person has other consequences for revela¬ The content tion. For one thing, it has a bearing on its content. The most important of revelation 22 THE DOCTRINE things we know about other people are the things they reveal to us about themselves—not just abstract information like height, weight, hair color, birth date, and so on, but important things like attitudes, feelings, values, hopes, and fears. These are the sort of things that you can never know unless someone reveals them to you by significant words and gestures. Strong personal relationships depend on com¬ munication of this kind. There is much discussion among theologians today about the real content of revelation. Conservative Christians typically insist that revelation consists of information. They maintain that this information is completely reliable, whether it deals with history, astronomy, and geology, or with religious and spiritual matters. In contrast, many theo¬ logians emphasize the personal nature of revelation. In their view, God himself is the content of revelation, not mere information about him. There is a difference in terminology, too. For conservatives, “revelation” is the means to a relationship with God; for many others, “revelation” typically refers to the relationship itself. Both viewpoints contain elements of truth. Revelation does con¬ tain information—information about God and information about other things, too. But its most important part, its essence, is God’s self¬ communication, and the basis it provides us for responding to him. Revelation Because divine revelation originates in a Person, it has the char¬ as address acter of address. When he reveals himself, God speaks to us, and when we are spoken to, we have to reply. If you are reading a book, or watching television, or listening to a lecture, you don’t have to re¬ spond. You can put the book down, unplug the TV, or doze off. But when someone greets you by name or asks you a question, you must respond. It is insulting not to answer. When God reveals himself to human beings, he speaks to them; he addresses them personally. It is the height of disrespect not to respond. Revelation confronts us with God’s claim on our lives, and we must give an answer. Revelation Revelation is also a manifestation of divine love and grace. It in¬ and grace volves an enormous condescension on God’s part to stoop to the level where finite, rebellious human beings can hear his message. We might say that God lisps when he talks to us, just as an affectionate parent uses baby-talk to communicate with a very young child. To reveal himself, God must accommodate himself to our level of understanding.1 1. John Calvin describes the condescension God manifests in revelation in his comments on Matthew 23:37: ‘‘Whenever the word of God is exhibited to us, he opens OF REVELATION 23 We have identified God as the source of revelation and have touched briefly on its content and purpose. All of these have an impor¬ tant bearing on the means of revelation, or the different ways God reveals himself. THE MEANS OF REVELATION It is customary to say that God reveals himself in nature and in history. The word “history” can refer either to past events, or to the record of such events. The idea of “historical revelation” encompasses both senses of the term. Christians believe that God has been uniquely ac¬ tive in certain portions of history. These include the experiences of an¬ cient Israel, the life of Jesus, and the early Christian church. They regard these events as revelatory. They also believe that God reveals himself in the record of these events—that is, in the Bible. But has God revealed himself in other ways, too? Is there “natural” as well as “historical” revelation? Or, is there “general” as well as “special” revelation, as the question is sometimes phrased? If so, what is the relation between the two? This is one of the most extensively discussed issues in Christian theology. The Bible apparently supports the idea that God is revealed in nature. A famous psalm begins with the words, “The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork” (Ps 19:1). The apostle Paul declares, “Ever since the creation of the world his [God’s] invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made” (Rom 1:20). So it is clear that there is a revelation of God in nature. But just The question what this revelation accomplishes is not so clear, and there is con¬ of natural siderable disagreement over the issue. On the one hand, there are theology those who admit that God nas revealed himself in nature, but deny his bosom to us with maternal kindness, and, not satisfied with this, condescends to the humble affection of a hen watching over her chickens.... And, indeed, if we consider, on the one hand, the dreadful majesty of God, and, on the other, our mean and low con¬ dition, we cannot but be ashamed and astonished at such amazing goodness. For what object can God have in view in abasing himself so low on our account? When he com¬ pares himself to a mother, he descends very far below his glory; how much more when he takes the form of a hen, and deigns to treat us as his chickens?" (Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, trans. William Pringle [Edin¬ burgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1846], 3:107). 24 THE DOCTRINE that this revelation can give us reliable knowledge of God. Because of sin’s effect on the environment, they argue, nature speaks of God with a muted voice. The picture it provides of God is blurred and ambig¬ uous. We not only see beauty and tenderness, we also see suffering and cruelty. Moreover, sin has a negative effect on the human mind. We do not have the ability to perceive the evidence in nature clearly. So, even though there may be “natural revelation,’’ there is no such thing as “natural knowledge of God,’’ or “natural theology.” Opponents of natural theology also call attention to the actual ef¬ fects of natural revelation. As described in Romans, natural revelation renders human beings inexcusable in their sin (Rom 1:20b). It doesn’t lead them to a saving knowledge of God. Finally, opponents argue that a natural knowledge of God would compete with special revelation and compromise the significance of Christ. It would provide human beings with the basis for a relationship with God outside his revelation in Jesus Christ. On the other side, there is evidence to support the idea that na¬ ture provides us with reliable knowledge of God. One evidence is God’s desire for the salvation of all men (1 Tim 2:4; cf. 2 Pet 3:9). If God desires the salvation of all men, then his purpose in revealing him¬ self in nature must be to save human beings, not to condemn them. We also find evidence for natural theology in Paul’s sermon in Athens. On that occasion, Paul introduced his proclamation of the gospel by referring to the religious practices of his listeners and analyzing what they already knew about God: that God made the world and everything in it, that he gives to all men life and breath and all things, that human beings have an inclination to seek God (Ac 17:24- 26). From such passages it appears that people can know something of God outside his special revelation in Jesus Christ. Something else that supports the idea of natural theology is God’s universal influence in human life. The fourth Gospel describes Jesus as “the true light that enlightens every man” (Jn 1:9). In one way or another, it seems, God is active in the life of every human being. But what about the suspicion that natural theology competes with special revelation? Is the idea incompatible with the conviction that we are saved only through Jesus Christ? General To believe that human beings can know something about God revelation through his revelation in nature does not require the conclusion that and special anyone can be saved apart from God’s work in Jesus Christ. It isn’t revelation knowledge that saves us anyway, as we shall see when we talk about salvation. OF REVELATION 25 In the second place, whatever people learn about God from nature will always be less vivid and complete than God’s special revelation in Christ. General revelation is like a faint sketch in com¬ parison with the full-color portrait of God in the person of Jesus. Without special revelation, then, our knowledge of God would be vague and indistinct. We could never have the assurance of his love that the message of the Bible provides. The Bible and the events it records are irreplaceable as a source of our knowledge of God. Special revelation, then, doesn’t invalidate general revelation. It clarifies and completes it. It corrects the inadequate understanding of God that people may have whose only knowledge of him is through nature. John Calvin compared Scripture to the glasses of a weak- sighted person.2 With the aid of corrective lenses, what before was blurred and indistinct becomes clear and vivid. With the aid of special revelation, the additional light of God’s Word, we can see his revela¬ tion in nature in its full splendor. The Bible, then, is the primary source of our knowledge of God. Christians believe that it records the saving acts of God in human history, and that God was directly involved in its production. As everyone knows who is familiar with it, the Bible is a complicated book. In order to understand it, we need to examine the nature of its contents. And we need to consider its appropriate interpretation. THE NATURE OF BIBLICAL REVELATION We find the Christian view of the Bible in two important verses in the New Testament. The writers were speaking specifically of the writings of the Old Testament, but their description applies to the New Testa¬ ment as well. “All Scripture is inspired by God’’ (2 Tim 3:16). “No prophecy came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God’’ (2 Pet 1:21). As expressed in these verses, the biblical doctrine of “inspira¬ tion” contains two important ideas. One is the divine authority of Scripture. The prophets, the writers of the Bible, did not speak or write on their own initiative; their messages originated with God. Moreover, God guides in the transmission of these messages to ensure that what is heard and read is the reliable expression of his will. 2. Institutes of the Christian Religion, Bk. I, ch. iv, par. 1, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960), p. 70. Vols. 20 and 21 of The Library of Christian Classics, ed. John T. McNeill. 26 THE DOCTRINE Scripture as A second implication of inspiration is the divine-human character divine and of Scripture. The message comes from God, but it is expressed in human human terms and concepts, and the different writings clearly reflect the personalities of the authors. It is important to emphasize both aspects of biblical revelation—divine and human. Properly under¬ stood, they rule out three inaccurate concepts of the Bible. One is the idea that God is the real “author” of the Bible and the writers were merely his secre