Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem Critique - Book Report/Review Example

? Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine is written by Wayne Grudem. The book’s name itself is a common term used in Christian theology. Theology is the study of religion, it allows one to understand and learn more about a religion. The book is divided into seven sections. They are about the doctrines of the Word of God, of God Himself, of Christ and the Holy Spirit, of the Application of Redemption, of the Church and of the Future. Every chapter in the book starts off with a particular doctrine being well defined. Then the topic is further divided into chapters to give a detailed explanation. Also, the various popular arguments related to the topic are discussed and the author comes to a conclusion to them. The related passages of the Scripture are quoted to give weight to the author’s opinion. This is followed by suggestions of how the doctrine can be used in one’s daily life, how it can be implemented by one and what doing so may result in. In the introduction of the book Grudem defines systematic theology. It is a mixture of biblical, historical and at times philosophical theology. Its main aim is to draw a proper account of the teachings of the Bible and of the doctrines it talks about. System theology also explains how following the doctrines may cause changes in the implementation of the other doctrines as they are all related to each other. This theology is a part of practical theology in which passages from the Scripture are used to draw conclusions which are then pertinent to the Church. It addresses topics such as God, Humanity, etc. and endeavors to summarize the biblical teachings about that topic. The first part of the book is “The Doctrine of the Word of God”. Grudem focuses on the words of God which were penned down in the form of the Bible. The Holy Book consists of the Old and the New Testament. These are deemed to be reliable as everything which God told the Christians has been added in these, nothing more and nothing less. Reading God’s words in the Bible convinces the reader of its legitimacy. God never lies, so the Bible is the ultimate truth, there are no inaccuracies whatsoever despite what people may say. It is not the Bible but the people who do not believe in the inerrancy of the Bible that are wrong. Jesus insisted that the Scripture is quite clear and it is the people who do not understand it. It is the responsibility of the scholars to explain the contents of the Book to those who are ignorant. They should answer all their questions so that they understand it properly. The Bible plays an important role in believing in God. It helps in the followers leading a spiritual life, but the Bible is not necessary to believe that God exists. Looking around, seeing all His creations we can see the proof of His existence. Similarly, it is the conscience of the people which allows or disallows them from practicing sins or the good deeds. It is believed that the passages which the Scripture consists of are more than enough for the followers. We should be satisfied and content with what God has shared with us. We should trust and obey Him perfectly as He has provided us with a means of salvation and redemption. He has given us all knowledge that we require. The answers may not be quite clear, but if we delve further into it, it is all available. We cannot say that there is insufficient information provided to us. The second part is titled “The Doctrine of God”. God exists and the proof is all around us. There is the Scripture we read, the belief in the inner sense of God, that He is our Creator. We know about His existence because it was His will. We cannot fully understand Him but we can know Him truly. God has several attributes which can be classified as the “communicable” or the “incommunicable attributes”. The former are those which we share with Him but in various amounts like wisdom, etc. The latter are qualities which are solely His such as His immortality. He is described as having a Spirit and has certain moral, mental and summary attributes. God exists as three persons: Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. They are separately, as well as together one God and have various attributes. Following this is an explanation about the errors that have risen over the period of many years regarding this. Our Creator has created a universe out of nothing. The creations are fully dependent on Him but He is not a part of it since He has been there since the beginning of time. In fact, His creations are proof of His Glory. There are certain facts mentioned in the Bible that are just being discovered now. There had been conflicts about certain assumption till the scholars reassessed the Scriptures to realize that it was the perspective of understanding the Bible which was incorrect and not the wording. God still stands correct. God knows everything and is in control of the happenings in the world - including our lives - so in the end, everything falls in His hand. It is our duty to perform actions which He approves of. He gives His creations distinctive properties to act in a particular manner, including being good and bad. He rewards and blames them accordingly. God is one who can result in a miracle, which occur rarely and sometimes in quite unbelievable circumstances. These show how powerful God is and leaves the human being in great awe of Him and firms his belief. Prayer is how we communicate with God. We supplicate to Him for our wants, thank Him and ask Him for forgiveness. This forms a deeper relationship between the believer and his God. Another great creation of God are the angels. These are celestial beings and are very spiritual with a great moral judgment and quite high intelligence. They reside in the Heavens and may be sent to earth for our protection. Not all angels are good, some may rebel and sin. These turn into demons and are the helpers of Satan. They spread evil, nudge people into going against God. It is up to the people to have a firm faith so they are not misguided. The third section is “The Doctrine of Man”. One of God’s greatest creations is the human being. He has made males and females and has given us certain attributes which we share with Him as mentioned earlier. So we could be thought of as partial images of God. He had no need to create us except that we glorify Him. Our purpose in life is to enjoy the world He made for us and follow the lessons He teaches us. God created both the sexes for companionship. He encourages the union which is the result of marriage and the emotional and physical relationship which comes of it. He created them both as equals though the males and females have different characteristics. Here, the story of Adam and Eve is discussed. The men and women play different roles in life but both are equally important at their own ends. It is up to them to carry out their parts suitably and have a balanced life. Next, the fact that a human is divided into three parts: body, soul and spirit, is discussed. This is known as trichotomy. Grudem brings in phrases from the Scripture to clarify the matter and further explains the points that are argued by the people about this and gives his reasons. Sin is discussed then. We commit sin when we disregard any moral or any command of God and do something which is wrong. It upsets Him and we may be punished or forgiven depending on how large it is. It is the demons which lead us astray but it is our job to ignore them. No one is sinless, but it is up to us to keep it to a minimum and then repent to redeem ourselves and hope for forgiveness from Him. “The Doctrines of Christ and the Holy Spirit” is the fourth part. It teaches that Jesus Christ was a man and a God as well. He was born to the Virgin Mary which is another miracle of God’s. It was to make sure that he remained holy and no sign of sin tainted him. He did have a human body which led to certain limitations of what he could do even though he could perform miracles. Similarly, he also learned as he grew and went through the basic human emotions. He is a role model to all human beings. Christ did work during his life and died for us so we would get salvation, this is atonement. He had to die to save the human beings from facing the same fate. He suffered through terrible pain on their behalf. He is thought to have descended to Hell but Grudem thinks otherwise. Christ was then resurrected and lived at earth for forty days. He looked different from before and did not bear any signs of the persecution which he had received so his companions could not recognize him at first. He was then led to Heaven where he was placed at God’s right hand. Christ played a role as the prophet, the priest and the king. He informed the people about God’s revelations, offered certain services and prayers and even sacrifices to God for his people and even ruled them as God’s representative. The Holy Spirit sees to it that the continuous presence of God is made clear to the world and the church especially. He is responsible for giving life to the living creatures, helps us in cleansing off our sins and reveals God’s words to the prophet and his apostles. He guides the people and even teaches us. Depending on how firm our belief is in God, the Holy Spirit provides us with a stronger or weaker presence of Him. The fifth part is “The Doctrine of the Application of Redemption”. Even if we are good Christians, still we are only human and can stray from the right path at times. Even the people who are not the followers of Christ continue sinning; still God continues to bless everyone equally even if they do not believe in Him. This is known as common grace. It is to show God’s mercy and to glorify Him. If we do not make amends, ask for His forgiveness and change our ways, then we will be punished for our sins later on. It is the Christians who will be offered salvation first. It will depend on what their relationship with their Lord is and how well they followed the religion, whether they were good persons or not, etc. Grudem concludes though that God bestows the Christians with this first due to His love for them. Before we were even born, God had chosen us to be His children and sent us the calling to follow Christianity and believe in Him. It is He who will give new spiritual life to His followers, He will resurrect the dead. When the gospel call comes to us, our willing response in which we seek redemption for our sins and trust Christ for salvation is known as conversion. We turn from a life of sinning to one in which we follow Christ and have faith in God. Now it is up to God to actually forgive us and make a legal declaration about that. Once that occurs, He adopts us i.e. He makes His followers members of His family. We become the “children of God”. This results in all the Christians being family, being related to each other and they look after their family. As time passes by and we continue to repent and follow God’s commands, we get free from sin and turn more like Jesus. This process is called sanctification. When we are reborn, we will continue to act as Christians. We just have to persevere to be even better. We should not look at the prospect of death with fear but with joy since we would be joining Christ. It is then that God will resurrect us – our bodies and souls will be redeemed. It is then when we will be “united with Christ”. The sixth part is “The Doctrine of the Church”. This is the place where all the true believers of God worship Him. It is preferred to be a part of the church which is the purest i.e. it is the closest in following the doctrines told to the Christians by God. Grudem has listed reasons to whether we should be a member of a particular church or not. Further on he discusses questions which are frequently raised such as how a church should be run, whether women can be pastors or not, etc. It is encouraged to get involved in one’s church as it will lead to following the religion better and will bring us closer to God and even His followers. It will make the belief in God stronger. It is here that people who follow the religion are baptized by the priests. It is a way to show that the Lord offers His blessings to us. It is believed that those who are baptized will be saved by God. Next Grudem talks of the Lord’s Supper, which is an ordinance we carry out plenty of times in our lives to continue our fellowship with Christ. The Christians worship their Lord by praising Him with their voices as well as their hearts. It helps in firming the relationship between God and His followers. This leads to the talk of the spiritual gifts. This is the ability that is allowed by the Holy Spirit and used in any of the ministry of the church. Grudem has gone into detail here about the discussion of the more important of these gifts such as the prophecy, teaching, miracles, healing, etc. The last part is “The Doctrine of the Future”. We do not know what lies in the future but God surely does and there are several hints about it throughout in the Bible. For one, we know that Christ will be reborn. It is our duty as Christians to patiently await the return of the Christ. We do not know when and how he will return; all we know is that he will. Even though Christians have different beliefs regarding the how and when, but they all unanimously agree about Christ’s reappearance. A revelation also talks of the Millennium. It tells us that the chosen people will reign with Christ for a thousand years before the rest of the dead people are brought to life again. Another one talks of how the devil will be thrown back in the cage and imprisoned for a thousand years so he cannot misguide the people into carrying out bad deeds. The Bible talks of the Judgment Day. This will be the final day which will occur when all of mankind will be resurrected. Jesus Christ will judge his followers and even the unbelievers and the angels. They will be rewarded for their good deeds and sent to Heaven or punished for their sins and sent to Hell. The New Testament even states that the true Christian believers will help with the process of judging – the saints will judge the world and we will judge the angels. The Judgment will be fair and approved of by God. Knowing what lies in the Hereafter encourages mankind to be true believers so they are blessed later on. The wrongdoers will be thrown in Hell. It is a place where the wicked will be greatly punished for committing bad deeds. They will be tortured here for eternity with the fires blazing about. On the other hand, those who have pleased God will be able to reside in the new Heavens and new Earth. Heaven can be defined as a place where God presides over and blesses us. God will create new things. This motivates the believers to work to earn those treasures in heaven rather than those on earth which will only be available to them for a limited period and will not even be there in the After Life. Lastly, Grudem has added a few appendices consisting of confessions of the people who follow this faith, etc. just giving out some more information for the readers. Grudem has written the book in a manner which makes it easy to understand the Bible and implement it to his life as well. It increases one’s knowledge and understanding of the religion. It is written in a simple, uncomplicated manner. The author has not used many difficult technical terms which may hinder the reader from relating himself and his life to the passages. Even if he has used terms which may be unfamiliar to the reader, he has defined them well. Systematic Theology has bits of the scripture quoted in it for a greater understanding. Every ending of a chapter has a hymn quoted which is a delightful way of finishing a particular section. There are also references at the end so if the reader remains insatiable despite the immense knowledge shared by Grudem, he can refer to those links or books and get to know more about them. Wayne Grudem has touched the doctrines and some very conflicting topics but he has handled them quite firmly yet courteously. The way he has penned the text makes the reader use his mind, heart and soul. It appeals to all the three and thus, makes the read more affective. As Grudem says “Theology is meant to be lived and prayed and sung!” and he tries his best to make the reader do so, too. Read More