2 Ways to Study Theology- Biblical and Systematic
Imagine yourself walking into a wedding and directly in front of you is a beautiful cake. This is the most extravagant wedding cake you have seen. There are three tiers with beautiful pale frosting covered with edible flowers. You are probably thinking about how delicious the cake looks, not thinking about how it was made. The wedding cake has many different ingredients that work together to make a delicious tasting cake. Just like Biblical and Systematic theology work together to give us a beautiful picture of God.
Biblical theology is like looking at the whole wedding cake. You are looking at the overall image of the cake or the overall story of scripture. Systematic theology is looking at the individual pieces of scripture, just as there are many ingredients used to make a beautiful tasting cake.
Biblical Theology
We learned in our last post that theology is simply the study of God. If you have been around Christianity for a while you may have heard terms such as biblical, historical, practical, or systematic theology. These are the 4 type of theology in the Christian Church. It is good to know about all forms of theology, but today we are going to focus on two forms of theological study. The study of Biblical and Systematic theology relate to how we see God, and how we study His Word.
Biblical theology involves looking at the scriptures as a whole cake. When looking at scripture through this lens, we look at the bigger themes and arches. An example of Biblical theology is the entire story of Christ. The story of creation, fall, rebellion, redemption and restoration. When looking at these bigger themes of scripture, we are not focusing on the many stories that bound these together. Instead, we are focusing on the broader story of Christ.
Themes of Scripture
When we are looking at the themes of creation, fall, rebellion, redemption and restoration we are taking the entirety of scripture and boiling it down to these 5 major themes. God made the earth good (Genesis 1-3). Man broke it bad, through our sinful disobedience (Genesis 3). Man continued to rebel against God (Old Testament). God sent his son Jesus who died for our sins, rose again from the dead and ascended into Heaven (Gospel). Jesus will come again to rule and reign putting an end to all evil. (Revelation).
Biblical theology is a great place to start when you are first starting to study scripture. Looking at the big themes of scripture, will allow you to have a visual map of God's story. When you are reading scripture you can place that into the timeline of God's story of salvation. Does the book your reading take place during creation, fall, rebellion, redemption or restoration? Once you are able to see how the scriptures work together as a whole story, you can start looking deeper as individual books, writers, and passages.
Systematic Theology
If Biblical theology is the overall look of the cake, then systematics is the individual parts of the cake. Systematic theology looks at the different stories, books, writers and topics found in scripture. Using the cake analogy, a systematic look at the cake would look at what ingredients make up the frosting, cake, filling and decorations. Systematics is sometimes a deeper, detailed look at what is found in scripture.
Systematics is typically what we think of when we think of doing a Bible study. Many Bible study books used in ministries focus on one book of the Bible and systematically go through that book. This approach allows you to see God's story of redemption on a personal level through those who lived in Biblical times. The personal stories are intertwined within scripture to show us how God loves his people.
Looking systematically at the Bible is where we find different doctrines and beliefs come up. This is where you will find people have different views on Baptism, Lords Supper, discipling, the end times and more. These different systematic ways of looking at scripture have sometimes led to different denominations and interpretations.
Systematic theology not only looks at individual stories, and doctrine but also looks at topics. An example of this would be the topic of marriage. In systematics, you would look at the many different scripture that address marriage and purity. Taking those various scriptures you can determine a systematic approach to what to the Bible says about marriage.
Reading the Bible systematically is necessary for a Christian's faith and personal relationship with our Lord. Studying the book of Titus, helps give us a deeper understanding of God's expectations for his people. When we read the book of Titus, we learn about the church in Crete and how God wants his church to be structured and how those within the church should treat others.
Using Biblical and Systematics Together
Now that we know the difference between Biblical and Systematic theology, lets talk about how they work together. Going back to the cake analogy, I think we can agree that although frosting is good by itself, it is much better when accompanied by the entire cake. Systematics is fine by itself but it is much better when taken into the context of Biblical theology and God's entire story.
Systematic theology allows us to deeply dive into particular topics, or aspects of who God is, while Biblical theology allows us to keep the big picture in mind in light of the whole story. Sugar is a key ingredient of a cake, but without all the other ingredients it's just a single ingredient. Systematic and Biblical theology allow us to ask questions and learn about who God has revealed himself to be in his creation and in his word
