So how do we begin? How do we figure out, in an organized way, what we as Jesus followers ought to believe and do? How do we know if we are on the right track or have totally missed the direction in which Jesus would have us go (such as when the church endorsed slavery and the oppression of women)? While some people may not think the questions are important, in the end they are because how we answer them will dictate the shape and form of both our church and our lives…two things that matter a great deal to God.
The first way in which people often begin to answer these questions is to simply read the Bible and assume the answers will become clear. In other words we read the scriptures while attempting to draw certain beliefs and moral imperatives out of the words before us (similar to what we do on Sunday mornings in worship). Though all good Christian theology begins with the Bible the trouble is that the Bible is not organized as a systematic theological treatise about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and their relationship with humanity and creation. As I have said before, the Bible is a composition of history, theological reflection, poetry and prophecy; all of which are rooted in ancient cultures whose world views (scientific, philosophical, and relational) are very different from our own.
That Biblical reality thus requires any individual Christian or theologian wishing to have a coherent faith and life to choose at least one foundational idea or concept upon which to organize how they read the Bible and upon which they build their set of beliefs (theology) about who God is, how God acts and how we are to live in response. For example we could base our beliefs about God and ourselves upon the foundation that "God is love." Everything we believe and do would then be shaped by that core belief (we would feel loved and want to share that love with others). Or we could base our beliefs about God and ourselves upon the foundation that "God is a God of wrath"; how we lived out our lives of faith would be very different if this were our foundational Biblical principle (we would live fearful lives and want others to be afraid as well).
Our historic foundational principle as Presbyterians has been that God has all power and does not share it. In theological speak we call this the Sovereignty of God. This was the guiding principle for John Calvin (1509-1564) as he tried to work out a theology for the Protestant churches that were breaking away from the church in Rome. Calvin (and those who have followed him over the centuries) believed that God controlled everything, including our own actions and our eternal destinies. Nothing happened (in any sphere of creation) that was not ordained "from all eternity" by God. While this may seem a bit controlling to us 21st Century believers, it was of great comfort to people living it the 1500s. Rather than worrying if they were good enough to be saved (an issue in Catholicism of the time) they had assurance that they were indeed members of Gods saved elect and heaven was their destination.
Over the years this fairly rigid view of God and God's sovereignty has continued to evolve. As science, philosophy and psychology helped us better understand the human condition, and as we were better able to read scripture in its original contexts, believers have offered a wide variety of organizing principles upon which to base their understandings of God and self. Next week I will offer the organizing principle upon which I will be building the theological perspective that will guide our discussions about who we are and how we ought to live as Jesus followers. Next week: The Life of Blessing
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