The Purpose of Theology

Wednesday Gathering
Written By Jonathan Parnell

This audio is from a teaching recorded at our Wednesday Gathering on September 20, 2023.

Key Terms

Systematic Theology:

The orderly study of everything we can know about God because the Bible tells us.

Divine incomprehensibility:

We can never know everything about God, because God is infinite and we are finite. 

Divine accommodation:

God, who is infinite, accommodates his revelation to be understandable to finite creatures. “Divine baby talk.”

Sufficiency of Scripture:

The Bible is sufficient to accomplish its goal, which is to give us everything we need to know and trust God.

Unity of Scripture:

The Bible, even in all its diversity, is unified in its main message of God’s glory displayed preeminently in Jesus Christ.

Key Texts & Quotes

Luke 24:25–27,

“And [Jesus] said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

Psalm 25:8–9,

“Good and upright is Yahweh; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.”

John 17:1–3,

“When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

John Webster:

”Theology is nothing other than an attempt to repeat the name which God gives to himself as he manifests himself with sovereign mercy [in Holy Scripture].” (Holiness, (Grand Rapid: Eerdmans, 2003), 17.)

John Calvin:

“The gospel is a doctrine not of the tongue but of life. It is not apprehended by the understanding and memory alone, as other disciplines are, but it is received only when it possesses the whole soul, and finds a seat and resting place in the inmost affection of the heart.” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III.VI.4.)

J. I. Packer:

”The Puritans made me aware that all theology is also spirituality, in the sense that it has an influence, good or bad, positive or negative, on its recipients’ relationship or lack of relationship to God. If our theology does not quicken the conscience and soften the heart, it actually hardens both; if it does not encourage the commitment of faith, it reinforces the detachment of unbelief; if it fails to promote humility, in inevitably feeds pride. So one who theologizes in public, whether formally in the pulpit, on the podium or in print, or informally from the armchair, must think hard about the effect his thoughts will have on people — God’s people, and other people.” (A Quest for Godliness (Wheaton: Crossway, 1990), 15.)

Herman Bavinck:

“… And when the Son prays in this way [in his high priestly prayer], He knows of nothing to desire except that which is the Father’s own will and good pleasure. The Father has given Him power over all flesh in order that the Son should give eternal life to as many as the Father has given Him. Such eternal life consists of nothing other than the knowledge of the one, true God and of Jesus Christ who was sent to reveal Him (John 17:1–3).” (The Wonderful Works of God, (Westminster Seminary Press, 2020), 10.)

Resources for Further Study

30 minutes of reading:

2 hours of reading:

5 hours of reading:

Jonathan Parnell

JONATHAN PARNELL is the lead pastor of Cities Church in Saint Paul, MN.

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