How might we understand
theology--its subject, its presuppositions, its characteristics, its
hermeneutic, its purpose--from a Biblical perspective? A step in
answering this question, I would suggest, can be found by considering
Deuteronomy 10.12-21.
The following study brings out
six points from this passage about the nature of theology.
1. Theology begins with God, not us. It is God’s revelation of Himself.
Deut. 10:12
“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you ….’
What comes before the ‘And now’
that begins our passage? Prior to this
passage, the narrative of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, wilderness wanderings,
and impending entry into Canaan is told.
Atop Mt. Sinai, God reveals
Himself to Moses and reveals His Law
to Israel with the Ten Commandments. At
the base of the mountain, however, the Israelites fashion their own religion, a golden calf. This was their attempt to produce a
contextual theology and worship using the culture and religion of the Ancient
Near East.
Earlier, in Deuteronomy 7, God
had warned the Israelites not to make any covenants or marriages with the
Canaanites (vv. 2-4). Upon entering
Canaan, they were to break down Canaanite religious altars, pillars, and images
(v. 5). God reminded them, however, that
there was nothing special about them that they could bring to the relationship
with God. They were not some numerous
nation but freed slaves, simply a people God loved because of the patriarchs
(vv. 6-9). Neither was Israel to come up
with their own ethics. Nor would they succeed
in removing the Canaanites because of their righteousness but because of God’s
judgement on the Canaanites’ wickedness (9.4-6). In fact, the Israelites were themselves a
rebellious people (9.7). Without the
word mentioned here, the point is God’s grace.
Theology begins with God’s love and grace, not our righteousness or
merit. Theology is the revelation of God,
of His glory and grace in dealing with an unworthy, sinful people.
2. Theology is a matter of our relationship with God.
Deut. 10:12
“And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear
the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your
God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments
and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?
This relationship with God is
described as fear, walking in God’s ways, loving God, serving Him with all our
heart and soul, and keeping His commandments and statutes (vv. 12-13, 20). Theological dogma builds upon this relationship
with God.
3. Theology makes universal claims while also being particular.
In his little book, Bible and Mission, Richard Bauckham
begins by noting the clash between two universalist cultures: that of globalism
and that of Islam.[1]
Britain’s chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, spoke out critically against any
universalist culture, with its presumptions, imperialism, and institutional
powers that threaten anything local, traditional and particular. Bauckham asks
if there is not an alternative to universalist cultures on the one hand and the
opposite of the particular, relativistic, and constructed truth of postmodern culture.
Bauckham suggests that Christianity based on the Bible offers a hermeneutic for moving from the particular to the universal. He says, 'Christian communities or individuals are always setting off from the particular as both the Bible and our own situation defines it and following the biblical direction towards the universal that is to be found not apart from but within other particulars. This is mission' (p. 11). He says that the narrative hermeneutic of the Bible is temporal, spatial, and social (pp. 13-15). It is particular, and yet the Bible’s hermeneutic relates the particular to the universal: temporally Christians anticipate the Lord's return, geographically Christians proclaim the Gospel throughout the world, and socially Christians see the Gospel proclaimed to every creature.
We see the universal and particular in our passage. God is, universally speaking, the Creator of all (v. 14). Yet He is not some generic concept of a creator deity that fits other religions. He is the only God, and He is the particular God revealed to us in Holy Scripture to His people. This is the main point of the Pentateuch. Thus, we read, universally:
14 Behold, to
the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all
that is in it.
And immediately after this we
read:
15 Yet the LORD
set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you
above all peoples, as you are this day.
The God of Israel is not equal to
other gods. Verse 17 says, ‘For the LORD
your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty.’ We may use the name ‘God’ as other religions,
but we mean this particular and unique God of the Bible. The God of Israel is not Baal, the God of the
Church is the Lord and Father of Jesus Christ and not Zeus or Jupiter. And the God of Israel in the Old Testament is
the same God of the Church in the New Testament. This particular God works through a
particular people: the people of Israel in the OT and the Church in the NT—and
He works a universal salvation for all who acknowledge Jesus as Lord.
4. God has one universal standard by which He judges all impartially,
yet He acts particularly to bring justice.
Universally, God holds one
standard of ethics for all people. One
people’s right is right for all people.
Yet God’s justice is particular.
He cares for those denied justice and judges those benefitting from
injustice. Verses 17-18 say that God
is not partial
and takes no bribe. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow,
and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.
God is not partial (v. 17). He is no ‘respecter of persons.’ He does not ‘lift the face’ to see who is
being brought into His court for judgement but renders equal justice to
all. He is no local deity with special
justice for one group. In the
post-Christian West that has turned to the values of diversity, equity, and
inclusion to remake society by embracing Marxist Critical Theory, ‘equity’ no
longer means giving each person equal justice but giving special privileges to
certain groups believed to have been victimized and denying equality to others.[2] Thus, this new kind of equity is a matter of
lifting the face to see who has appeared before the new masters. It is called ‘intersectionality,’ searching
for who needs extra weight on the scales of justice. Consequently, Christian beliefs and values
are undermined, while newly invented sexual identities are promoted—even in
those once orthodox denominations that are now bound to the culture. When v. 18 says that God executes justice for
the fatherless, widow, and sojourner, it is equal justice, not this new notion
of ‘equity' in which disempowered groups believed to have been exploited by unjust persons are grated privileges over others. Biblical equity is clearly expressed in
Leviticus 19.15:
You shall do no
injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great,
but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.
God gives everyone the same
justice.[3]
5. So, theology is inseparable from ethics.
The relationship God has with His
people establishes them in a covenantal relationship in which they are required
to live righteously before Him. Verse 16
says, ‘Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer
stubborn.’ God’s people are not only
told what God’s statutes are; they also learn ethics from observing God and
from their lived narrative and relationship with God. Verses 19-20 say,
Love the sojourner,
therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the
LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you
shall swear.
6. Theology becomes doxology.
There is no passive consideration
of the great truths of our faith.
Through it, we are brought to worship.
Verse 21 says, ‘He is your praise.’
How different from other religions.
God is known by us because He is at work in us and for us. The verse continues,
He is your God,
who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have
seen.
These great things God does come to their head in the salvation He works for us through the cross of Jesus Christ. And seeing God active in space and time and in our lives, we respond in praise. Such is the relationship we have with God, who stands behind and above and before our theology. Theology becomes doxology: God is our praise.
[1] Richard
Bauckham, Bible and Mission: Christian Witness in a Postmodern
World (Carlisle: Paternoster Press and Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book
House, 2003).
[2] Cf. Rollin G. Grams, ‘About
Those New Western Values—Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion,’ Bible and Mission Blog (17 December,
2021); https://bibleandmission.blogspot.com/2021/12/about-those-new-western-valuesdiversity.html
(accessed 8 June, 2023).
[3] Cf. Rollin G. Grams, ‘Biblical vs. Contemporary Notions of “Equity” in Social Justice,’ Bible and Mission Blog (15 March, 2022); https://bibleandmission.blogspot.com/2022/03/biblical-vs-contemporary-notions-of.html (accessed 8 June, 2023).
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