The Means Pursued

Introduction and Review of Academy Goals and Identifying Marks

0:01 This adult Sunday school class was held on January 30th, 1983, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:23 To those of you who are visiting with us, and for your sake especially, a word of explanation and review is in order. The focus of our concern in the adult class today is the second part of a parenthesis in our present course of study here in the adult class. For a number of reasons, the elders were convinced that this was an appropriate time to set forth some of the basic perspectives of what we are doing in the work of the Trinity Ministerial Academy, a framework for intensive theological study and preparation for the work of the ministry,

1:07 which is in reality a ministry of Trinity Baptist Church. Now, in our study last week, I first of all set before you my goals for what I announced at that time would be a two-week parenthetical study. Alas, my preparation has convinced me it will be three weeks altogether. My goals were so grandiose that I simply could not accomplish them in two weeks.

1:36 And I trust you would remember at least some of those goals with respect to what we have in mind in conducting this study. Then, having set out our goals, we proceeded to raise and then answer two basic questions. The first question we raised was, what is the goal envisioned in the work of Trinity Ministerial Academy? And our answer directed us to two categories of truth, the first being that only the triune God can make able ministers, able pastor-teachers.

2:13 And the second is, what is the goal of the New Covenant, Ephesians 4.11, 2 Corinthians 3.1-6. And so, from the divine perspective, the purpose of the Academy is to provide a framework within which the triune God will, by His own direct and powerful ministry through the Word and the Spirit, create, mold, fashion, able ministers of the New Covenant, and then, in His own inscrutable wisdom, create, mold, fashion, able ministers of the New Covenant, and then, in His own inscrutable wisdom, create, mold, fashion, able ministers of the New Covenant, and then, in His own inscrutable wisdom, and timing, give them to particular churches as pastor-teachers.

2:49 But then we looked at a second category of biblical truth, namely, that which focuses upon human responsibility in this process, 2 Timothy 2.2 and Titus 1.9, in which we see that to human beings is committed the responsibility of committing the body of divine truth, the things which thou hast heard of me. And we see among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall teach others also.

3:20 And so the concern of the Academy is not only to provide a framework in which God will effect what only He can do, but also to provide a framework within which men can engage in this work entrusted to men, namely, training, teaching faithful men who in turn shall be able to teach others. So our first question, what is the goal envisioned in the work of Trinity Ministerial Academy? The answer is to provide a framework within which the divine activity will operate and human responsibility be exercised with reference to preparing men for the work of the ministry.

4:05 Then the second question we asked was this, what are the identifying marks of Christ's gift? How can we tell when God and men, by the scriptures, have so worked, I should say, how can we tell when God and men have so worked as to produce an able minister of the new covenant? How can we tell when Christ has formed a man to be a gift to his church? And then we looked.

4:35 We looked at six identifying marks by which the true shepherds of Christ are to be recognized. And I'm sure if I asked you for them, we'd eventually get them, but in the interest of time, let me just give them to you since I have them in front of me in my notes, as some of you do. There must be a life of proven, balanced godliness, a life and heart manifesting more than ordinary Christian experience. Third, an adequate working knowledge of the word of God.

5:10 Fourthly, a cultivated, recognizable ability to communicate truth with clarity and unction. Fifth, a manifested ability to rule, govern, and guide the people of God. And sixth, a realistic desire for the work of the ministry. And for you who are visiting with us, let me assure you that each of those identifying marks was done by God.

5:35 And for you who are visiting with us, let me assure you that each of those identifying marks was done by God. It was buttressed with Scripture, and I trust we were all convinced that the wording used was simply an effort to crystallize and distill the teaching of the word of God. Now that's the review, that's what we covered last week. Now we come to take up a third question today.

The Academy's Function: Context and Curriculum

5:54 Having raised the question, what is the goal envisioned in the work of the academy, and I hope answered that question from Scripture. Having addressed ourselves to the question, question, what are the identifying marks of Christ's gift of a faithful man able to teach others? Here is question number three. How does the academy function in pursuit of the goal envisioned and in the light of the identifying marks of an able minister of the new covenant?

6:28 How does the academy function in pursuit of the goal envisioned, that is, to provide a framework in which God and man work for the forming of able ministers of the new covenant? Precisely how does the academy function in pursuit of that goal envisioned and in the light of the identifying marks of an able minister of the new covenant? Well, the answer directs us to two categories of concern. One is the question of how does the academy function in pursuit of the goal envisioned and in the light of the identifying marks of an able minister of the new covenant? The first one

6:59 I'll touch on in a matter of just three or four minutes, and then the rest of the answer will take up the remainder of our time this morning. The answer directs us, first of all, to what we would call the context of the academy, and then secondly, the curriculum of the academy. How do we seek to accomplish our goal, ever keeping before us these six identifying marks of an able minister of the new covenant? Well, first of all, we do so, with respect to the context or the setting in which the academy, in this block, this square

The Context of the Academy: Trinity Baptist Church

7:37 represents the academy, it is set within this larger circle, the context of the functions and ministry of the academy, which is the total life and ministry of Trinity Baptist Church. You forgive my very elementary shorthand. The total, life and ministry of Trinity Baptist Church. Now, why are we so convinced that this work ought to be carried on in this context? Does it not place a tremendous burden upon the church

8:13 financially, in terms of its personnel? To this day, two work days a week out of my seven-day week are given to the work of the academy. About nine days a week are given by Pastor Nichols. And the equivalent of about four days a week by Pastor Waldron, and a full week's work plus by Mr. Huffmeyer, and when Mr. Robert Martin comes, he'll be putting in some nine-day weeks as well.

8:44 And if you think that's overstatement, you'll see after a little bit that it is not. Well, why in the world should we not simply do like most people have done? Trust this work to some institution that functions out here for the purpose of the work of the academy. For the specific and exclusive purpose of training men for the ministry, and get this monkey off our back.

9:05 Why not throw the responsibility on someone else? Well, the reason we cannot with good conscience do that is rooted in the biblical doctrine of the place and function of the church in the purpose of God. And a key text is 1 Timothy chapter 3, verses 14 and 15. Now, in this passage, Paul tells Timothy why he has written as he has written and what he has written in this very epistle, particularly the things beginning with chapter 2 and verse 1 and continuing through to

9:48 verse 13 of chapter 3. 1 Timothy 3, 14 and 15. These things write I unto you, hoping to come to you shortly. But if I tarry long, that you may know how many things I have written unto you. And if I tarry long, that you may know how many things I have written unto you. And if I tarry long, that you may know how many

10:03 men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Now, without giving anything that even borders on the detailed exposition of the passage, I have done that in the academy, this much is clear, that the apostle is concerned for the behavior of the church there in Ephesus because, he says, God has constantly been concerned for the behavior of the church there in Ephesus. And he says,

10:33 He has constituted the church in its organized identity and functions as the pillar and the ground of the truth. In other words, the truth which God has revealed in Christ and has deposited amongst men is the truth of which the church is pillar and ground. Now, the church is not the mother of the truth, Allah, the teaching of Rome. The church receives the truth as a deposit.

11:03 deposit from God but having received it it is the church that is to be both the pillar and the buttress of that truth and God has given to no other institution that responsibility and surely then this great responsibility of the church passing on the deposited truth to men competent to teach others that task should not be pushed out of the circle of the church's direct responsibility and so the context in which the work of the academy is carried on not by convenience

11:43 not by expediency but born of biblical convictions is the context of the total life and ministry of Trinity Baptist Church now we've sought to express the church's responsibility to men competent to teach others that task should not be pushed this very clearly not in the supplement you have but in the prospectus itself and let me simply read these two paragraphs on page two our name expresses our purpose you don't have the prospectus most of you so just listen as I quote it is a well-known fact that in the Bible the names of persons are frequently more than mere distinctives which set them apart from other individuals the name of a person indicates something of his character and his character

12:28 this may be said of Trinity Ministerial Academy the word Trinity indicates an organic Connexion a living Connexion with Trinity Baptist Church the academy is not in fact another institution associated with the church that's what some institutions are it is not that rather it is one of the ministry's of the church and therefore it is a path你就aca one conversation that consists of encrypted words but it is notрыв and spirit, holy mixturnes and nontrienti, depressed women loves her qiyahuaii than those who seek to trapMP3, Pentecost or those who read the Niteroary. pi under the church's direct oversight and control. And furthermore, on page 7, we express this conviction in the language of 1 Timothy 3 and verse 15,

13:13 and then we seek to underscore the implications of that conviction. I'll not take time to read the section. I would simply press it on your remembrance, and if you do not have a prospectus, we'll make those available as well, and you can read it for yourself. Now, what does this say to you as a congregation?

13:32 Why are the elders concerned that you have a growing understanding of what this is all about? Well, I trust you begin to see the tremendous responsibility it places upon you as members of Trinity Baptist Church.

13:47 If all that we are doing in the academy is done in the context of the total life and ministry of Trinity Baptist Church, what a tragedy it would be if the man could not behold the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the life of this church, the fleshing out of the theology that is taught them in the academy. What a tragedy it would be for me to articulate the many dimensions of what pastoral life is all about, and church life is all about, and preaching is all about, and then have the man have no living example of those principles in a real live church situation. Now, notice I did not say in a perfect church situation.

14:31 We have no ambitions to be perfect here and now because we have no promise that we shall be that. But to press on in ever increasing degrees of conformity to the revealed will of God, that is our settled purpose. And this places a tremendous responsibility upon you as a people. For the most part, what these men think about the church and its life and ministry, the conducting of its internal affairs, its witness and testimony, its order and all of those things, in great measure, will be determined by what you are as a people.

15:11 And up until now, that has been a great blessing. And may God grant that as long as the academy exists, it will continue to be a blessing, for in a very real sense, when the church ceases to be a wholesome context, pumping its perspective and light and spiritual energy into the academy, and the men in the academy being able to look out for a living example of what they are being taught, when that interplay ceases to exist, then we ought to shut down the academy, give all of its instructors due notice, and then just get on with the more ordinary work of the church. And that's not rhetoric.

15:54 I mean that with every fiber of my being.

The Context's Contribution to Minister's Marks

15:57 Now that's the context. And it's that context which contributes greatly to the development of these six identifying marks, but particularly the first two marks. Not exclusively, but particularly those first two identifying marks. Let me remind you of what they are.

16:18 A life of proven, balanced godliness. And if that is to be an identifying mark of men who are being fashioned by the Lord into able ministers of the new covenant, that, identifying mark, will be both developed and recognized in the context of the total life and ministry of the church. And then the second mark, a life and heart manifesting more than ordinary Christian experience. We've had men come into the area in the past who thought they ought to come into the academy after living amongst us for a few months and comparing the development of their own Christian life,

17:03 life and experience with ordinary Christians in this place who had no aspirations for the ministry. They've come to one or more of the elders and said, look, forget the ministry for a while. I see that my Christian character as a man is simply too undeveloped even to consider the work of the ministry. Now thank God when people discover it themselves.

17:25 Other times, alas, we've had the awful, awful, awful heart-wrenching experience of telling people that that's how we view. That's how we view them, though they don't view themselves that way. They're not making a sober assessment of the level of their Christian experience. And so we've had to make that judgment for them.

17:45 Now, what is a minister without these two things? Well, he's no minister with two of the essential identifying marks of the minister of the new covenant. And therefore you as a congregation have a tremendous responsibility. I, as a member, and as one who functions in this congregation, along with my fellow elders, we have a tremendous responsibility, particularly as our congregational life impinges on those first two.

The Curriculum of the Academy: Four Categories of Theology

18:15 All right? Now let's move on to the curriculum. For we seek to realize our goals, not only in terms of the context within which the academy functions, but by means of the curriculum which the academy sets forth. Now the word curriculum is simply a word to describe a prescribed course of study.

18:44 And that curriculum is calculated more specifically to cultivate these last four identifying marks

18:55 of a true minister of the gospel. The impartation of an adequate working knowledge of the word of God. We labor at producing a cultivated recognizable ability to communicate the word of God with clarity and unction. We seek to nurture an ability to rule, govern and guide the people of God and to foster a realistic desire for the work of the ministry.

19:23 Now there is constant overlapping and inner penetration. I'm saying, and please listen carefully as I've chosen my words carefully, as the context of the academy, more particularly focuses upon the first two, though not exclusively, so the curriculum of the academy focuses more upon the last four, though not exclusively. All right? Now then, what I propose to do in helping you to get a feel for the curriculum is first of all, to give a brief definition and description of the four major categories of theology that are taught in the academy.

20:05 And after I've given you a little layman's definition and description of those four categories, then we're going to go back over them and show how each one of the courses taught, and that's where your little supplement will come in handy. We'll see how it fits under these four categories. Ultimately, our goal is to give to a man, by the grace of God, an adequate working knowledge of the word of God. Not an adequate working knowledge of the word of God, but an adequate working knowledge of the word of God.

20:33 Not an abstract theoretical knowledge, but an adequate working knowledge of the word of God. Now to do so, we've arranged a curriculum that basically has four categories. Now we're going to get rid of our identifying marks on the board. I hope not increasingly, all right?

20:55 Category number one, two, three, and four. Now the first category is what we call exegetical knowledge. That's a new term. Exegetical. E-X-E-G. Exegetical. Okay. Exegetical theology. Now, you know how to spell theology, so I'll just put a theta. That's the Greek TH. All right? Exegetical theology.

21:24 Now, basically, what is exegetical theology? Well, its goal is to impart the necessary tools and principles in order to arrive at the precise meaning of any given passage of Holy Scripture. The goal of exegetical theology is to impart the necessary tools and principles in order to arrive at the precise meaning.

21:54 We desire that our men be able ministers of the Word of God, that they be able to arrive at the precise meaning of any portion of God's Holy Word in the Old or New Testaments. If so, then the disciplines of exegetical theology are calculated to put in their hands the tools and the perspectives that will assist them in order to arrive at the precise meaning of any given passage of Holy Scripture. If so, then the disciplines of exegetical theology are calculated to put in their hands the tools and the perspectives that will assist them in order to arrive at the precise meaning of Holy Scripture. If so, then the disciplines of exegetical theology are calculated to put in their hands the tools and the perspectives that will assist them in order to arrive at the precise meaning of Holy Scripture.

22:27 If so, then the disciplines of exegetical theology are calculated to put in their hands the tools and the perspectives that will assist them in order to arrive at the precise meaning of Holy Scripture. If so, then the disciplines of exegetical theology are calculated to put in their hands the tools and the perspectives that will assist them in order to arrive at the precise meaning of Holy Scripture. If so, then the disciplines of exegetical theology are calculated to put in their hands the tools and the perspectives that will assist them in order to arrive at the precise meaning of Holy Scripture. the Word of God. All right? Then the second category is historical theology. Historical

22:38 theology. Now, its goal is to impart an awareness of the church's growing understanding of the truth of Holy Scripture. In historical theology, we not only deal with the Scriptures, but as we shall see, we deal with the history of the church and seek to ascertain in that history how the people of God have come to understand the teaching of the Word of God in all the epochs of the church's existence. And so the goal of historical theology is

23:20 to impart an awareness of the church's growing understanding of the truth of Holy Scripture. That's it. Then the third theological category is systematic theology. And what is its goal? I hope this

23:39 is not boring you. I've labored hours to try to make it as simple and as interesting as I can, and I've come down to the bare bones. I make it any simpler than this, and anyone theologically sensitive will have a hairy fit. So I can't make it any simpler than I have, and I just assure you that I've labored to reduce it.

24:00 Someone else may be able to reduce it more simply or to a simpler form, but this is the extent to which my labors have taken me. Now, its goal, systematic theology, is to impart an understanding of the total witness of Holy Scripture concerning its major themes. When we turn to the Bible, we find such themes as God, sin, man, salvation. These major themes are taught in Scripture. The goal of systematic theology is to bring

24:39 together the total witness of Scripture concerning the major themes and to show their proper relationship each to the other. Systematic theology. We are not only concerned to know what the Bible teaches in its total witness about God and sin and salvation, but we are concerned to know the total witness of God, both God and man. It is obvious that God is the dominant, heavenly, and omnipresent.

25:04 But what is the logical connection between these two departments of divine revelation? In what way is the doctrine of salvation bound up with its doctrine of sin? In what way does its doctrine of sin condition its doctrine of salvation? In what way is the doctrine of man related to what we learn about God and vice versa?

25:26 Well, it is the concern of systematic theology to impart not only an understanding of the main themes of Holy Scripture, but also that it can be helped to understand the fundamental truth. In other words, the doctrine of man is theological, and it is subject to the doctrine of theology, and it is subject to the doctrine of truth, and this is the doctrine of salvation. In other words, the doctrine of salvation is the doctrine of salvation. of the total witness of Scripture on any one of these points, but also to show the proper relationship of these themes to each other.

25:43 And then, fourthly, we have pastoral theology.

25:48 I can't fit it in, but you know how to spell pastor and just put an A-L on there, all right? Pastoral theology. Now, what is its goal? Well, its goal is to impart a practical working ability to relate all of the theological disciplines, exegetical, historical, and systematic.

26:13 Its goal is to impart a practical working ability to relate all of the theological disciplines to the manifold demands and responsibilities of the Christian ministry itself. So, in a sense, pastoral theology becomes the watershed of all the other theological disciplines. Because what are we seeking to do with all of this? Not have men that go around needing some kind of a scaffold to hold up their heavy theological heads.

26:47 We want men who will stand with clear heads and burning hearts and preach and govern and lead and weep and counsel and shepherd God's people. That's what it's all about. So, in pastoral theology, our goal is to impart a practical working ability to relate all of the theological disciplines to the manifold demands and responsibilities of the Christian ministry. Well, there's my layman's definition of the four major theological categories.

Exegetical Theology: Tools for Precise Meaning

27:27 Now, hold off your questions, if you will. I hope to give time for questions. Now, let's erase all this hymn scratching and tidy up the blackboard a bit. Now, let's take these each one at a time, okay?

27:42 Category number one, exegetical theology. Now, what is its goal? Its goal is to impart the tools and the principles in order that men may arrive at the precise meaning of any given passage of Holy Scripture. Now, what fits under exegetical theology?

28:07 Now, at long last, take out your little supplement, if you will, please.

28:13 And you will notice, if you open up to page two,

28:19 the first thing that hits you is elementary Greek 1 and 2, biblical languages, intermediate Greek, elementary Hebrew 1 and 2, intermediate Hebrew. Now, why in the world? Let's be reasonable. Why in the world?

28:37 Why confront a poor, young, starry-eyed, would-be preacher with alpha, beta, gamma, delta, epsilon, zeta, eta, theta? Why confront him with aleph, bete, gimel, nalep, hey? I mean, let's be reasonable. There's nothing that will more quickly bring the stars out of their eyes and cause a meteor shower than that eight o'clock class the first day of the first semester and the poor, young fella has to learn the Greek alphabet or the Hebrew alphabet.

29:14 Well, for the simple reason, in the language of Charles Hodge, God has spoken in the code language of Greek in the New Testament. And you'll get all stood on your head when you start Hebrew because you don't open your book here. You've got to open it back here. And that's what he spoke in it.

29:35 The code language of Hebrew in the Old Testament, and you can't see it, you in the back, but you in the front can, Greek in the New.

29:45 Now, that's what God has done. Whether we like it or not, that's what he's done. That's a fact. That's reality.

29:52 Now, if men are to be the official teachers of others to use the language of Charles Hodge, they must be able to decode the message in which God has given it. And God has given it in Hebrew and Greek and therefore as at least a handbook, a handmaiden of exegetical theology, we demand of the men that they have at least a working acquaintance with the original languages. Now, that's not unreasonable. It's to the end that they may, in the language of Titus 1, be able to, in the healthy teaching, and to convict the gainsayers.

30:32 And all you need to do is confront one well-instructed Jehovah's Witness to know if you don't have some basic knowledge of Greek, he'll tie you up in knots. Because he begins, he begins to tell you that in John 1-1 the proper rendering is in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was a God. And then he begins to quote certain Greek authorities to prove to you that that's what it means. And if you don't have at least a grounding in some of the elements of the Greek language, you won't be able to convict that gainsayer.

31:02 You won't be able to do it. Now we can get it second-hand. Some of us have to rely very greatly in certain areas upon secondary sources who are very knowledgeable, I'm fully aware of that. I'm not saying that no one has ever been used of God or will be used of God who doesn't have a working knowledge of Greek and Hebrew.

31:22 That would be a statement totally contrary to fact. But, as a general rule, men will not be accurate expositors of the Word if they are not somewhat at home in the code language in which God spoke. They will not become trusted guides in the Word of God. And so under the Department of Exegetical Theology, we demand that they have this, attain or gain this working acquaintance with the biblical languages.

31:50 Now then, you'll notice biblical introduction. And you say, what in the world does this have to do with feeding God's sheep on a Sunday morning? Look at it. General introduction to the Old Testament.

32:01 Technical matters relating to the background, language, canon. Even getting fighting in there, getting cannons in there. And criticism of the Old Testament. General introduction to the Old Testament.

32:13 General introduction to the Old Testament. Technical matters relating to the background, language, canon, and criticism of the New Testament. Now, what's all that about? Well, you see, biblical introduction has to do with seeking to ascertain the background to the 66 books.

32:31 Each of the sections of our Bibles, Old and New Testament, comes to us as a separate piece of literature. And we have the various kinds of literature. We have history. We have poetry.

32:44 We have prophecy. We have more informal letters. All of this various literature comes out of a distinct historical setting. And that historical setting and background has influenced in the sovereignty of God.

33:02 Now, this is what we must underscore. It was God who sovereignly decreed that Moses should give us the first five books of the Bible. And that Moses should have been schooled. And that Moses should have been disciplined by God 40 years in the wilderness.

33:21 And that Moses should have been given certain perspectives and certain oral traditions as well as certain direct revelations upon the mount and at other times. Well, the concern of biblical introduction is to seek to examine the background to a given book and the kind of literature that it is. So that when a man is expounded, understanding the word, he is giving you the precise intention of God in giving us that portion of his word. The great concern of exegetical theology is to give a man the tools and perspectives that will help him to set before man the precise meaning of any given portion of the word of God.

34:03 So biblical introduction concerns itself with matters of background. Canon means how we know that that is indeed a portion of what we should regard as the word of God. And then criticism is to help us to face the fact that there are certain people who have either not regarded it as the word of God or as only partially the word of God to understand why they have fought that to meet their arguments head on and utterly to sweep from the minds of our men any of those notions that may have filtered into them along the way. And to immunize them against the specious reasoning

34:45 of many who try to undermine confidence in the word of God because of certain peculiarities of the given kind of literature and the form in which it comes to us. So that's why biblical introduction is taught along with the languages. Furthermore, you'll notice in the statement of the curriculum that we have biblical theology. If you will, turn over to page four.

35:16 Now, biblical theology does not refer to a theology that is biblical. In that sense, we hope that every department of theology is biblical theology, but it is a technical term and it refers to the dynamic unfolding of God's self-revelation in the history of redemption. Now, that's a mouthful, but I'll break it down and chew it up and spit it out piece by piece, all right? In biblical theology, we are concerned to see how God, in terms of the time span of the actual history of revealing His saving purposes,

36:00 how and what God revealed to men along that timeline. So it is an examination of this dynamic, this living unfolding of God's self-discipline, this self-disclosure. We only know as much of God as God is pleased to reveal of Himself. And God makes this self-disclosure in given epos.

36:27 And the concern of biblical theology is to study precisely what did God reveal about Himself here in the Garden? What did He reveal about His covenant to Abraham and then later on to Isaac and to Jacob and the patriarchs? What did He reveal about Himself here in the Garden? What did He reveal about Himself here in the Garden?

36:45 What did He reveal about Himself here in the Garden? What did He reveal about Himself here in the Garden? What did He reveal about Himself here in the Garden? How can God reveal His covenant to Moses?

36:48 And rather than trying to do what systematic theology does, taking the total witness and rearranging it in the way that best suits systematizing it, and rearranging it in the way that best suits systematizing it, here we're seeking to see what God revealed at any given period in the unfolding of the revelation of Himself. And as we do, we note that certain themes that begin to emerge, for instance in the prophets, the prophets of God, The theme of the messianic age and the kingdom of God and the remnant theology, these are themes that begin to emerge and greatly condition then our understanding of the New Testament when we're studying Old Testament biblical theology.

37:32 And likewise with New Testament biblical theology, the New Testament begins with this unusual character and his ministry, John the Baptist. Well, how and in what way was he related to the mission and ministry of Christ? Why was his ministry so essential? He was the forerunner of Messiah.

37:52 Well, biblical theology is concerned to take the revelation of himself that God has given in the Old and the New Testaments and to study it in terms... of his dynamic unfolding in the actual history of God's redeeming activity. All right? Then there is... there are specific exegesis courses. If you'll turn back now to page 3. Sorry, I should mention hermeneutics. I didn't underline these in red pencil and so I skipped over one. I'm sorry.

38:29 Hermeneutics. You'll notice that the purpose of hermeneutics is to acquaint...

38:35 the student with the history and principles of biblical interpretation. And that's what hermeneutics is, the science of interpreting human language. How do we interpret the words that come to us in connection with one another in the form of Greek or Hebrew grammar? Well, hermeneutics is concerned with seeking to ascertain from Scripture the principles that ought to regulate our work of interpretation.

39:05 Then we actually attempt to exegete, open up some of the major categories of the biblical literature. And the exegesis department, hopefully, is going to be greatly expanded when Mr. Bob Martin comes amongst us. But for now, these are some of the courses that are offered.

39:27 Old Testament poets. The Psalms. Proverbs. Song of Solomon. Unique literature.

39:36 And it's as the men understand something of the uniqueness of that form of literature that they will be able better to expound it when they preach on the Psalms or preach on the Proverbs or preach on the Song of Solomon to their own people. And then you'll notice the course on the Gospels. The course on the Epistle to the Romans, standing, as it were, at the head of the Pauline corpus of literature. And then the Catholic or general epistles.

40:04 Well, it's our concern that eventually we will have exegesis courses in every major specimen of biblical literature. So that our men will have actually seen a living example of someone opening up, say, the book of Deuteronomy out of the five books of Moses. And they will see how one can expound and apply that type of literature. Then to make sure they've got the principles, it's in the exegesis courses that they have.

40:34 They have the most amount of papers or the largest amount of papers to prepare. It's like you're telling a man who says, I don't know what a screwdriver is. I don't know how you use it. And you say, all right, here's a screwdriver. Here's a board. Give him four different kinds of screws. And you say, this is how you put them in. He says, I think I've got it. We say, all right, show me. You hand him the screwdriver and a handful of screws and say, go to it.

40:56 Well, that's what we do in the exegesis courses. Seek to lay out the truth of the given book or portion of the book. The word of God, then to give the man the opportunity to see if they've at least begun to master the tools of expounding the Gospels. And so in the Gospels course this past semester, they had to prepare a paper on the given passage or theme in the Gospels.

41:22 And likewise, they have to do this in all of the other exegesis courses. All right. I think we've covered the section under. I look back at my notes. Yes.

Historical Theology: Understanding the Church's Growing Grasp of Truth

41:34 We've covered the section under exegetical theology and say, well, Pastor Martin, they do all of that. Isn't that enough for any one guy for a couple of years? Yeah, it is. But that's only the beginning.

41:46 That's three more departments of theology to cover in 12 minutes. The fellow said, I've never done this before. So you've got to excuse me. I didn't know how much time it was going to take.

42:01 All right. Let's take the second area of the theological categories. The second of these categories. Now, it's an amazing thing for some people to discover that we aren't the first people that ever picked up our Bibles with the question, what does it say?

42:22 Some people act as though no one ever picked up his Bible before with the question, what does his book say? And they also act as though Christ never gave a promise that the Holy Spirit would abide in his church, enabling his church to understand the truth about himself. As embodied in the scriptures, but because of the promise of Christ that he would be with his church forever, that he would, through the apostles, guide his church into all the truth and that the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ, the cornerstone, the concern of historical theology, as I gave it to you in many form, is.

43:07 And here I must find my own statement and read it to you because it was too much. It was too much to memorize and still prepare a sermon for the next hour and keep it all in this one old head here. So I'll find it here in a moment. The concern of historical theology is, oh, here I repeated it in my notes and didn't know it.

43:26 Its goal and function is to impart an awareness of the church's growing understanding of the truth of Holy Scripture. Therefore, what we do in the historical theology courses, or what Mr. Waldron does,

43:42 is to give assigned readings to the men that will acquaint them with the major personalities, movements, and issues that have come upon the church in its history from the apostolic age. As Christ has promised to be with his church and the Spirit has been in the midst of his people, at given periods, God has raised up certain men. The devil has raised up certain men.

44:26 The men of God have helped articulate the truth of God. The devil's men have tried to attack that truth. And so the concern of historical theology is to be aware of those personalities who have, as it were, been an extension of that ancient conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. All right?

44:47 But also. How do we equate the men with the various movements? Often, men became the fathers of movements. Sometimes movements seemed to rise up without any leading personality as such.

45:03 And those movements reflected either an insight to an embodiment of some biblical principles or a deviation from those principles. And believing there's no new thing under the sun, even no new heresy, it's important for our men to be aware not only of the personalities but the movements and then the issues that were brought into focus, the biblical issues brought into focus in any given period of the church's history. And this is why we call it historical theology rather than just church history. Church history as such is merely concerned with studying personality movements and issues with no real concern to take aside with respect to,

45:47 was this man a man of God or a tool of the devil? He just appeared, said this, did this, and died. Now, you know it? Fine.

45:55 No, we're concerned with historical theology. So what is done in these courses is, when we come, say, to the Christological controversy, we had Athanasius standing against the world and all of the visible church, most of it standing against Athanasius, the whole issue of the doctrine of the person of Christ, and Arius, this fourth-century heretic, and then later on you had the problem, sorry, yeah, fourth-century heretic, and later on Pelagius and Augustine or Augustine, the great issues, the Christological issue, the anthropological issue, what is man, those issues then are more thoroughly expounded in the light of the word of God.

46:38 So the church history leads us then into the key passages and the key issues that became the focal point of debate, in the midst of those controversies. So you see how it ties history to the word of God and enables us to understand the word of God in the light of the church's struggle in coming to grips with precisely what the word of God teaches. And you'll notice now in your supplement, under the subject of historical theology on pages five and six, our men receive four units of historical theology,

47:16 the early period, the medieval period, the reformation period, and the modern period. And Pastor Waldron is responsible for that entire department, along with some of the courses in systematics and one or two in exegesis as well. So when people have asked us, well, with Mr. Martin coming, will Mr. Waldron continue to come?

47:40 Well, I should hope so, because there are not enough hours in the day for any one man to take on all that Mr. Martin will be taking on in the biblical theology department, in the exegetical department, and then also to take on all that Pastor Waldron is bearing. This semester he's teaching eleven hours of historical theology and systematic theology, and I think one two-hour course in exegetical theology. So there's the concern and how our curriculum relates to that.

Systematic Theology: Total Witness to Major Themes

48:14 All right, now hastening on, the systematics and Pastor Nichols, if he were here and saw I crowded him into three, four minutes, he'd be upset with me. He's way out in Phoenix, so he's harmless. At least till he gets back. All right, now we said that the concern or goal of systematic theology is to impart an understanding of the total witness of Scripture to the major themes to which Scripture addresses itself.

48:54 So the concern then, the goal, is to understand the total witness of Scripture with reference to the various themes, major themes, to which Scripture addresses itself. Now you'll notice in the section under systematic theology, on page four, we start with the doctrine of the Word of God. What does Scripture say about itself? And then skip over the canon of Scripture, which perhaps could more properly be put under exegetical theology, but we'll not debate that this morning.

49:32 We have the doctrine of God, a course that Mr. Huffmeyer has been preparing for for months, and God willing will teach this next semester. And then flowing out of that, the doctrine of man, the doctrine of Christ, and the specific delineations of that doctrine are given in the course description. The doctrine of salvation, introductory matters, matters ordo salutis, that's Latin for the order of salvation.

50:00 Is there a divine order of salvation? Or can you view salvation, or can one view salvation in terms of election here, perseverance here, let's see, let's stick sanctification here, and justification down here, and calling over here, is that the way it's presented to us in the Scriptures? No, it is not. There is in Scripture an indication that there is an order in which salvation comes to sinners.

50:33 And that order begins with election, and election is set within the framework of the covenant of grace, as is indicated in our, in the discourse description. And then certainly an elect sinner is not going to be justified until first of all he's called, whom he called, Romans 8, 30, then he also justified, and whom he justified he glorified, but until then he'll be a sanctified man, and as a sanctified man he will be found perseverance. So you see there is an order, one, two, three, four, five. And it's the concern of systematic theology to see in Scripture

51:16 what the Bible teaches about salvation, not merely to understand the various components of any one of these doctrines, but to see their proper interrelatedness. And that's the great task of systematic theology, and in that sense systematic theology has been called the queen of the theological sciences because it, as it were, stands on the shoulders of exegetical theology. How can you know the total witness if you can't ascertain the meaning of any given part? And we can't ascertain the meaning of any given part unless we have the quality control of historical theology.

52:00 So exegetical theology and historical theology become handmaidens to the systematic theologian as he exegetes the given parts, sees them in their relationship to each other, sees them in relationship to the whole, and then he checks out his insights by the abiding testimony of the Spirit, the Word of God in the Church, and doesn't come up with something kookish and say, blessed are all you people, I've seen something nobody else ain't never seen before. Now that's a tremendous responsibility, and we'll see next week when we come to the question how does one prepare to teach any one of these disciplines what's involved in this. And then we have finally pastoral theology, and I can take only two minutes on that

Pastoral Theology: Practical Application of Disciplines

52:45 and no one will get mad because that's the section that I'm responsible for so I can cheat on my own time. Pastoral theology, what is its concern? I described it as this, the goal is to impart a practical working ability to relate all of the theological disciplines to the manifold demands and responsibilities of the Christian ministry. In short, pastoral theology represents an attempt to systematize the work of shepherding the flock of God.

53:23 That's it. It's an attempt to systematize the work of shepherding the flock of God, starting with the relevant scriptures which bear upon a given responsibility, hopefully the insights of general revelation and a personal experience bringing all those things to bear upon the six units of pastoral theology that are described on pages six and seven and you can read them at your leisure. Now, in addition to all of this, we have what's called an intercession where we throw in things that aren't in the regular curriculum that fit some of them under one or two

Intercession and Integration of Disciplines

54:07 or sometimes more of these four theological categories. We add to that pastoral theology. So this past intercession, we had the doctrine of canon which fits under exegetical theology or some would put it under systematics. But then we had a week in which Pastor Chantry gave us a beautiful illustration of the interplay of all of these various categories.

54:36 He spoke to us on the gifts of the Spirit. Now, there was some good, painstaking, careful exegesis of 1 Corinthians 12 to 14. We were dealing with words and grammar and the meaning of words. There was real exegetical theology present.

54:53 But there was also some under the exegetical theology, some very good examples of biblical theology as we tried to define miracles and revelation and what those things meant as God revealed himself in history. And then there was systematic theology as we sought to collate the testimony of Scripture to the work of the Spirit in general. And then there was a lot of interlacing of pastoral theology as well, the implications for all of this for the work of the ministry. And then this past week I led a seminar on evangelism using Pastor Reisinger's book as a guide, his new book, Today's Evangelism.

Conclusion and Prayer

55:33 And there we had a mixture of all the theological disciplines as we concentrated our minds upon the subject of evangelism. And we've had other sessions in the intercession when we've had a concentration on one or more of these various fields and sometimes a very delightful combination of many of them. Now, God willing, next week, and I know our time is gone, as I say, I've never presented the material before and I had no idea how long it would take us, having looked at the question of what is the goal of the academy, the identifying marks of the gift of Christ, having sought to answer the question this morning, how does the academy function in pursuit of these goals

56:17 and in the light of these marks, we looked at the context and the curriculum, God willing, next week, we take up these two questions, what demands are made upon the one giving such instruction and then what demands are made upon the one receiving such instruction. And then after we've taken up those two questions, then I'll try to field all the questions that you may have. I'm really sorry we didn't have time for questions this morning, but that's the way things fell out and I hope it's not been too tedious to listen to straight lecture. I normally don't try to do that, in this class you come awake more and you're much easier to preach to when you get involved in interaction

57:01 in the course, in the class, but hopefully this will not in any way wear you out for the ministry of the next hour. Well, let's pray together. Our Father, we confess that we are staggered when we stand before this awesome task. And yet we know if your church is to be blessed with true shepherds, these disciplines must be learned, they must be mastered, and we pray that the vision and the commitment to that vision will be expanded and deepened in every one of our hearts

57:44 and that as never before we will have an intelligent commitment to this work and a prayerful commitment to this work. O Lord, bless the things we've considered today, to the advancement of the kingdom of Christ and to the hastening of the day when multitudes of true Christ-molded shepherds will be given to the church at home and abroad, we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.