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Theology, Faithful to the Word of God

Apostles to the Apostles and Biblical Theology

Humanity’s understanding of itself and God has been shaped by apostolic writings and their theological interpretations.

The incredible apologetics of the early centuries defended the faith by formalizing Biblical doctrine and its core beliefs. During the first three centuries following the death and resurrection of Jesus, Christianity experienced significant growth and persevered through periods of persecution while also addressing various heresies, such as Docetism (Jesus said to be only divine) and Ebionism (Jesus said to be only a human prophet).

Although knowing theology doesn’t bring salvation, it is important for pastors to learn to ensure they are knowledgeable in sound doctrine in order their congregation may grow in their faith.

After Jesus departed, the early church began forming a systematic theology. Believers connect with the Father through faith in Jesus, made possible by the Holy Spirit rather than human effort, highlighting how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work together in salvation. Aquinas and Calvin described this as an “economy” rooted in Jesus’ sacrifice, death, and resurrection—a salvation story that starts in the Old Testament, when humanity walked with God, was separated by sin, and is ultimately restored through Jesus.

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Scholars and Theologians Establish Church Doctrine

The Patristic era, shaped by influential thinkers like Justin Martyr and Tertullian, set the stage for theological development that reached new heights in the Middle Ages with Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas brought a systematic approach to doctrine, blending faith and reason to explain the wisdom of God revealed at the cross and the atonement through Christ’s sacrifice. Quoting the Apostle Paul, “Jesus became for us wisdom from God” (1 Cor 1:30), Aquinas taught that Jesus not only possessed wisdom greater than Solomon’s but was the very embodiment of God’s wisdom. He stressed that faith is primary, while reason helps clarify the spiritual, physical, and mental aspects of a believer’s life. Recognizing faith as central to salvation, Aquinas further defined concepts like original sin and original justice—gifts humanity held before the fall and now seeks to regain through Christ.

During the early centuries, scholars and theologians from the Alexandria school of thought that incorporated elements of Greek philosophy of the Eastern Orthodox, and the Antiochene school of thought that was influenced by Judaism, played pivotal roles in shaping church doctrine. The establishment of the first councils was crucial in defending both the human and divine nature of Jesus against heretical views. The Apostles had to hand down to their successors and thereby from generation to generation a fixed deposit of truth. As scripture shows, Jesus clearly says, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30); theologians and scholars had to clarify and defend this meaning because of heretics of the day, including Gnosticism, Arianism and Arminianism. Gnostics believed in a mystical knowledge for salvation; Arianism believed Jesus was created; and Arminianism believed that salvation is conditional and up to man, capable of being lost as opposed to God’s sovereignty. Each of these beliefs can still be found in some religions today.

History shows that Christianity not only survived times of persecution but thrived, eventually becoming the dominant faith across the Roman Empire. After Constantine’s conversion and the split of the Empire into Western and Eastern (Byzantine) regions, cultural and political forces deeply influenced the church, just as the church shaped society. During the Middle Ages, monasticism grew significantly, marked by Saint Benedict’s creation of monastic rules and the rise of scholastic orders like the Dominicans, Franciscans, and Augustinians. Prominent theologians were often members of these orders: Anselm and Augustine were Benedictines (focus on work and prayer), Aquinas was a Dominican (focus on teaching and preaching), and Ockham a Franciscan (focus on poverty and serving the poor). The reformation era theologians like Ulrich Zwingli, Martin Luther, and John Calvin held differing interpretations regarding aspects of scripture, including the Eucharist. For example, Zwingli regarded the Eucharist as symbolic, Luther believed in Christ’s physical presence, and Calvin maintained that Christ was spiritually present in the bread and wine.

Menno Simmons, influenced by Zwingli, supported the Anabaptist critique of infant baptism viewing it as idolatrous. While Reformers held differing views, they shared core doctrines like sola scriptura and justification by faith alone. They advocated for scripture access for all, whereas the Catholic church emphasized faith, rituals, and sacraments for salvation. The division between Protestant and Catholic perspectives persisted, eventually influencing the New World through figures like the Puritans and Jonathan Edwards, who, similar to Aquinas, took a philosophical approach to describing God’s attributes.

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The Councils on the Substance and Essence of Jesus

The early centuries of Christian doctrine were shaped by key events like the Councils of Nicaea (325 AD) and Constantinople (381 AD), which established foundational creeds. Thinkers such as Origen (185–254) influenced Arius of Alexandria, leading to Arianism (as mentioned above)—The belief that Jesus was a created being and that the Trinity does not exist. The Cappadocian Fathers—Gregory of Nazianzus, Basil of Caesarea, and Gregory of Nyssa—helped clarify the difference between Jesus being of “similar substance” (homoiousios) and “same substance” (homoousios) with the Father. The Nicene Creed affirmed the latter, confirming Christ’s divinity and sinlessness, a view also supported by Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian before the council. The core debate was that if Jesus wasn’t divine, redemption couldn’t happen. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, pushed back against such views, insisting on Jesus’ divinity and unity with the Father. This discussion came to a head at the Council of Constantinople in 381, where Athanasius influenced the doctrine of Jesus and the Trinity. Later, Aquinas, like Augustine, taught that humanity seeks to return to its original state of harmony with God, called original justice, and that faith in Christ restores this, moving from the first Adam in Genesis that brought death to the second Adam, Jesus who brings eternal life.

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The Middle Ages

The Renaissance and Humanism of the Middle Ages played a significant role in shaping Romanticism, Secularism, and Liberalism in the modern era. The Enlightenment, often called the Age of Reason, further emphasized “reason,” which led to a decline in belief in the supernatural. Influences like the Thirty-Year War contributed to the development of these new perspectives and growing skepticism about religion. As humanism gained momentum alongside advancements in science and astronomy, people became less concerned with religious matters or belief in God.

The Romantic era of the 1800s embraced mysticism and pushed back against Enlightenment thinking. Rather than promoting traditional religion, Romanticism emphasized human feelings, intuition, and metaphysical ideas, deliberately setting aside belief in God. Deism also emerged during this period; it acknowledged the existence of a god or higher power, but not specifically the God (Yahweh) of the Bible. By the late 20th and early 21st centuries, society began to see renewed expressions of open, unashamed faith in God. Modern Christians publicly affirm theological ideas from Luther, believing that faith offers assurance of salvation. Contemporary believers also hold to the economic understanding of the Godhead described by Calvin and Tertullian, as seen in the Genesis account of creation and in the Gospels depicting Jesus’s baptism to everlasting life in individuals and the Church as a whole. 

How does human will play a role? Cardinal Cajetan, as well as Phillip Melanchthon and John Calvin, with the exception of Martin Luther, believe that humans accept God through a cooperation between their own will and the Holy Spirit. According to Saucy, the image of God that shapes the relational nature of the human heart also reflects the relational nature of its source – God, especially as revealed in the person of the Holy Spirit. In contrast, Luther maintained that human will is not responsible for doing good; instead, it is solely God’s will at work through the Holy Spirit. Calvin and Augustine, differing from Luther, uphold the doctrine of predestination, teaching that those chosen by God will inevitably come to faith and thus receive salvation. Throughout this process, God demonstrates love, mercy, and grace, rescuing humanity from eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46) and granting everlasting life to individuals and to the Church collectively.

Christian theologians see reason as a meaningful path to explore faith through the Bible’s unchanging truth. Followers of Jesus trust Scripture and interpret it through the regula fidei (rule of faith) found in its authoritative books. Theology reveals God’s character through His Word and come to know Him by reflecting on His creation, prayer, study and meditate on His Word, fasting and service. The complexity of the universe, earth, and all living things points to His intelligence. Our experiences and learning about our Creator help us understand ourselves and His purpose for our lives, and deeper study strengthens our personal relationship with Him.

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References
Crisp, O. D. (2009). Jonathan Edwards on the Divine Nature. Journal of Reformed Theology, 3(2), 175–201. Retrieved from https://doi-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/10.1163/156973109X448724
White, T. J. (2014). St. Thomas Aquinas and the Wisdom of the Cross. Nova et Vetera (English Edition), 12(4), 1029–1043. Retrieved from https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=100914445&site=eds-live&scope=site
Mihindukulasuriya, P. (2014). How Jesus Inaugurated the Kingdom on the Cross: a Kingdom Perspective of the Atonement. Evangelical Review Of Theology, 38(3), 196-213. Retrieved by: https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rlh&AN=96993783&site=eds-live&scope=site

Sinful Creatures in Need of a Good God


April 2025

One of the greatest Christians, perhaps the greatest, is the Apostle Paul, who said, “I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing” (Romans 7:19).

Without the Holy Spirit, people cannot truly know God or have a relationship with Him. In John 14, Jesus tells the Apostles that after He returns to the Father, the Holy Spirit will be their constant companion, dwelling in and with them. Through God’s Spirit, believers begin to change, showing qualities like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, in contrast to the sinful traits of sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and similar behaviors (Galatians 5:19-21).

The world often says that following your heart and living your truth will make you happy. You’re told you’re fine just as you are, and if not, you can read self-help books because you control your own life. But a follower of Christ knows this isn’t true, because real joy comes from examining the motives and desires in your heart and aligning them with God’s Word. Time and again, we see that when believers or non-believers live without God, they end up unhappy and wondering why. As Jeremiah puts it, the heart is deceitful above all things—who can understand it? True transformation comes through the lifelong process of sanctification, made possible only when a believer’s spirit works together with the Holy Spirit.

One of the loudest messages in today’s world is the idea that we can be good and powerful without God, a belief that plays right into Satan’s plan to deceive humanity and echoes back to the Garden of Eden. Jesus described the devil as a “deceiver,” “enemy” (Matt 13:39), “liar” (John 8:44), “murderer” (John 8:44), “evil one” (Matt 13:38), and “prince of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30). When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and brought sin into the world, humanity lost the grace that only the Father can restore. Theologian Thomas Aquinas noted that in the Garden, they possessed “original justice,” a perfect state taken from them the moment they ate from the tree of knowledge. Believing they could gain wisdom by eating the fruit, they instead lost the grace that had been theirs (Stillwaggon).

God’s Covenants
In Exodus, God gave the Law to the Israelites and told them to cleanse themselves from sin each year through animal sacrifice. This foreshadowed a future time when the Messiah would be the ultimate sacrifice, breaking the curse for all who believe. Jesus is called the New Covenant, which requires faith, as He is the only way back into harmony with the Father: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The Old Testament speaks of God’s promises to Israel through the Abrahamic, Noahic, Mosaic, and Davidic covenants. The Mosaic Covenant brought the Ten Commandments to the Israelites on Mt. Sinai. The Law was never meant to save but to reveal humanity’s sin and need for a Savior. Animal sacrifices were commanded as part of cleansing from sin, pointing to the coming Messiah whose blood would cleanse the world’s sins once and for all.

Spiritual Disciplines
Jesus often withdrew into nature to pray to the Father, showing how believers can find meditation and solitude more meaningful when away from the noise and distractions of the world. Through quiet contemplation and self-evaluation, a believer can reflect on true motives and desires, allowing the Holy Spirit to shape their character and inspire them to live out spiritual disciplines (Strobel). These disciplines include prayer, meditating on the Word, reading and studying Scripture, memorizing Scripture, fasting, and serving others, all of which draw a person closer to becoming more like Christ. Immersing oneself in Scripture, prayer, meditation, and reflection opens the heart and mind for the Spirit to work, leading to repentance, obedience, and self-awareness—not as acts of good works, but in faith. As Dallas Willard notes, “prayer has a ‘spiritually strengthening effect’ on every aspect of our personality. It builds our faith and confidence in God. To be done well, prayer will almost certainly be linked with other disciplines…” (Vos).

The closer believers draw to Jesus, the more they face attacks and temptations to disobey God. In Matthew 4:1-11, we see Jesus confronted by Satan’s attempts and teaching us to fight back with Scripture when Satan manipulates its meaning to deceive Him. Apostle Paul describes the inner struggle between a believer’s sinful nature and God’s holy nature, emphasizing the need for a transformed mind and heart, free from the “pattern of this world” (Romans 12:2). He also urges believers to put on “the full armor of God” to stand firm against the devil’s schemes (Ephesians 6:10). Prayer, for instance, is a key discipline in resisting the enemy. As Chapell notes, our desire to resist is often weak and we can want to rid ourselves of sin while still craving it. By “praying in the Spirit,” we ask Him to stir a greater zeal for God within us, enabling us to face and overcome the enemy’s attacks (Chapell).

Character Formation in Daily Life
A believer’s journey is filled with both struggles and blessings, moments of sadness and joy, as the human and spiritual natures often clash. Through faith and hope, character is shaped by consistently practicing spiritual disciplines, living out the call to “…go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19). As Christ’s ambassadors, the mission is to share the Gospel and make more disciples. This kind of spiritual growth means moving beyond simple understanding to truly experiencing life as someone whose heart longs for God’s Kingdom over the ways of the world.

Staying grounded in the Word through study and application becomes clear in my life when I approach it with proper context and understanding. Instead of living in isolation or hiding one’s faith, there’s freedom in living it openly, just as Matthew says, “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl; instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house” (Matthew 5:15). Being unafraid and driven by a genuine desire to live out faith in a broken world leads to experiencing real joy.



References:
Chapell, B. (2011). Holiness by grace: Delighting in the joy that is our strength. Wheaton, IL: Crossway. ISBN-13: 978-1433524424
Strobel, K. (2013). Formed for the glory of God: Learning from the spiritual practices of Jonathan Edwards. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books. ISBN-13: 978-0830856534
Vos, B. (2012). The Spiritual Disciplines and Christian Ministry. Evangelical Review of Theology, 36(2), 100–114. Retrieved from https://search-ebscohost-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rlh&AN=75190759&site=eds-live&scope=site