This is an expanded version of the notes I use to teach Systematic Theology to my church’s youth group. The goal isn’t to make it “kid-friendly,” but rather to create something valuable for those not exposed to decades of theology. Use this in your own Christian walk or as a guide as you disciple a child or new believer.
You can get the shorter notes used in my class here, or access a printer-friendly version of this article here.
Introduction: Systematic Theology
It’s important to be part of a church that takes the Bible seriously. By God’s grace, you may also be in a family that bases its beliefs on the Bible. That means you’re surrounded by Christians you trust who believe many things based on the Bible. Maybe you believe a lot of those things, too.
It’s easy to be confident about our beliefs when everyone around us believes the same thing. However, this can be dangerous when we start surrounding ourselves with people who don’t believe those same things. Worse, those people may have really good reasons to believe differently than we do, while our reasons are mostly “I was raised that way,” “My pastor said so,” or “The Bible says so… I think.” Many of us know what we believe, but not always why we believe it.
For example, do you know why you believe what you believe about:
- Why you trust the Bible
- God’s existence
- Where everything came from
- What comes after death
- Your purpose in life
This book will help you understand many things you hear at home, during car rides, at church, and anywhere else Christians talk about their beliefs. We’ll examine many important topics and try to understand what God says about them in the Bible. But more than just discussing what we believe, we will clearly see they “why” behind it.
Some of these things can be confusing or difficult, especially when they create questions we didn’t know we had. So if you’re ever struggling with a topic, don’t be afraid to ask! Talk to parents, pastors, teachers, or other mature Christians in your life who want to help you understand your beliefs. Those people God has given you all want you to trust and obey what God says in the Bible, so invite them to help you as you learn more about the “why” behind your beliefs.
But how will we learn why we believe what we believe? By doing Systematic Theology.
What is Systematic Theology and why should we care?
Christians like to use nerdy words to describe big concepts. But most of them aren’t nearly as scary, or even nerdy, as they sound. Systematic Theology will change a Christian’s life, so it’s worth beginning this book by understanding what it means. To do that, let’s break down what each word means.
Systematic:
We live our lives by assuming certain things are true. Most people believe “right and wrong” exist, and that some things are definitely one or the other. Some say that people are only physical creatures, while others believe we also have some kind of soul. All of us believe we have some purpose in our lives, although not everyone agrees on what that purpose actually is. All of these beliefs are called a “worldview,” which really just means “what we believe is true about the world.” Because our personal worldview contains everything we believe, it also determines everything we do or don’t do.
If our worldview is a complete picture of our beliefs, then think of each individual belief like a puzzle piece that all come together to create that picture. What we believe about where the universe came from is one piece, while how we think about the government or the role of the family are others. Though we may believe some things more firmly than others, we all have thousands of individual beliefs that should come together to shape how we think about the world and live our lives.
However, it’s tempting to look at each puzzle piece on its own without considering how it fits with the others. As people evaluate the “why” of their beliefs, they start to realize they have a variety of puzzle piece sizes. Some pieces fit into a 1,000 piece puzzle, while others come from a toddler’s 8-piece wood puzzle. On their own, these pieces don’t seem problematic. But when we start trying to fit those pieces together into something more consistent, we realize some things simply don’t fit.
Examples of how all of our beliefs need to fit together:
- If someone believes there’s no such thing as “right” and “wrong,” how might that puzzle piece not fit with how they live their lives or want others to treat them?
- If we’re confident God is real, how cautious do we need to be when placing our trust in scientists who deny His existence?
- If I believe God is in control, how much sleep should I lose about a presidential election?
It’s one thing to say we believe a single thing is true, but we often see our beliefs conflict when other things we believe cause us to live differently. That means we can’t just think about how right or wrong one belief sounds. Instead, we want to see how that belief fits in with all the rest of our puzzle pieces. If one belief doesn’t fit, that’s either the wrong piece or we’re trying to build the wrong puzzle!
In this way, our beliefs create a system. A “system” is a single thing filled with many parts that all work together. Examples of other systems include:
- The components of a car engine
- The hardware and software of a phone
- The star, planets, asteroids, and comets that make up our solar system
This is where we get the word “systematic.”
It may be obvious that a key word in Systematic Theology is “consistency.” As Christians, we want to be consistent in two ways:
- Consistent about what we believe the Bible says about a particular topic
- Consistent about how a belief fits in with other things we believe the Bible teaches
Consistent when comparing Bible with Bible
For example, we must be consistent when we look at all the Bible says about what happens when we ask God for something:
Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. (John 14:13-14)
We might read this and think Jesus promises not to withhold anything from us as long as we ask for it. After all, He does say “anything.” So if I want healing from cancer, a wife, or a new house, I should hold Jesus to His promise to give those things to me, right?
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. (James 4:1-3)
This says that Jesus will hold things back from us. How can both of these be true and consistent? If we look at what these two passages say, and especially how they’re consistent with the rest of what God has revealed about Himself in the Bible, we’ll see that it’s consistent in God doing things for His own glory, not ours. Jesus says He’ll do what glorifies the Father in the Son, while James writes that people don’t get a new car because they ask out of their own self-interest.
Consistent when comparing Bible with other beliefs
Sometimes, a belief can sound really good or appealing until we compare it with the Bible. For example:
Many in our culture say “Follow your heart” or “Do what makes you happy.” But what does God say about our hearts?
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
According to God, what’s the #1 thing I can’t trust? According to our culture, what’s the #1 thing I should trust? Yet so many of us were raised with these Disney-like beliefs that still control how we think about jobs, marriage, hobbies, and more. Without seeing how the world’s advice fits alongside our other puzzle pieces, many of us live without seeing this inconsistency.
Likewise, many movies and shows portray parents as idiots or closed-minded, and the kids are shown to be heroes when they go against their parents and do what they think is right.
Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. (Colossians 3:20)
What pleases God? By process of elimination, what displeases Him? Think about how so much of the media aimed at people under the age of 18 is inconsistent with what the Bible tells them. Despite even Christian kids claiming to believe the authority of the Bible above all else, too often they allow themselves to be conditioned by the world in how they think about the wisdom and authority of their parents.
When we read the Bible and evaluate our beliefs, it’s important that every individual belief fits with our other beliefs. When our beliefs aren’t consistent, it’s a good sign that something needs to change. This is what it means to be “systematic.”
Theology:
Theology simply means “what we believe about God.” Since everyone believes something about God, everyone (including you!) is a theologian. Some of us may not be very good theologians because we don’t care about knowing about God, but even that shows what we believe about God – either that He can’t be understood, or that He’s not worth understanding. Ultimately, our theology affects where we go for truth and how we live our lives. For example, some live like God…
- is an angry bully. How would that affect why they do (or don’t do) certain things?
- is a vending machine that exists to give them what they want. How would that affect things like prayer or how they think about good or bad things in their lives?
- isn’t real. How would that affect their goals in life or what they think is true?
What someone believes about God impacts how they live, even if they’re an atheist. And for Christians, theology is about more than being smarter about God stuff. A good theologian wants to know more about God so they can live for Him more.
Bringing “systematic” and “theology” back together
If “systematic” is a consistent set of individual beliefs and “theology” is what we believe about God,then I hope “systematic theology” is much less intimidating. This book will ultimately focus on one thing – finding a consistent set of beliefs about God. And because what we believe about God affects everything else in our lives, this book will also equip you to think more consistently about every area of your life. Of course, our first question should be, “Okay, but how do I learn about God?”
There are a lot of places that can influence what we believe about God. We can develop beliefs about God from online videos, friends, parents, books, and even our own thoughts and experiences. But with all the ways we could try to know God, how can we be confident we’ll get it right? We’ll go to the source and let the Bible, which is described as the “word of God,” give us a consistent picture of who God is.
By going to the place God uses to communicate Himself to us, we’ll know that our beliefs are consistent with His word. We’ll have a good Systematic Theology that doesn’t change itself based on our traditions, feelings, or culture. And because we’ll have a consistent belief about who God is, and therefore a consistent belief about the rest of the world, we’ll be able to live for Him even more.
So the Bible will be our primary source of understanding God. However, we cannot do good Systematic Theology if we don’t know how to read and study the Bible correctly. So before jumping into the big topic of who God is, we first need to learn how to use the book He gave us.
