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For Biblical Theology

Micah Coate

Updated: Apr 27, 2024

“Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” Acts 20:26–27, ESV

Like most Christians, you probably just open the Bible and simply read it for what it says. While we probably and hopefully interpret the Old Testament differently from the New Testament, knowing there are vast historical and linguistic differences between the two, we probably don’t think too much about how we are approaching our time in God’s word, the lenses through which we read it, or our overall, comprehensive interpretation of what it has taught us over the years and is continuing to today. How a person understands the Bible and draws both theoretical and practical conclusions is called a Theological Method. Whether we know it or not, we all have a personalized theology which informs our life. This is important since it guides our major life decisions as well as our everyday words and actions. Consciously or not, all Christians build a personalized theology through a theological method.


While there are numerous theological methods which are often disciplines studied in doctoral - level theology, we will only look at the four most basic ones now. In alphabetical order, they are biblical theology, historical theology, practical (pastoral) theology, and systematic (dogmatic) theology. While all of the methods should be used to build a comprehensive understanding of God and His word, since they often overlap, not all methods are of equal value. This isn’t to say that they are at odds with one another. Indeed, all methods should be used together to synthesize a wholistic theology.


At the end of the day Christians want to have the most intellectually honest and biblically accurate theology that we possibly can this side of eternity. Although all the theological methods can help achieve this aim, and should be studied in detail, my argument here is that biblical theology should be where we should begin and end. While at times not being the easiest to digest or nicely packaged, biblical theology remains the most accurate and faithful of the all methods. But before I make my case, let’s briefly see what they each offer.


Biblical Theology

Biblical theology is what it sounds like. It examines and studies the whole of the Scriptures from creation to prophesied future dispensations all while using the Bible to interpret the Bible. Exegesis plays a particularity important role in biblical theology as it seeks to determine what each author was trying to communicate in his unique setting and how that plays a part in progressive revelation. Biblical theology is Christocentric as it presupposes the Bible is inerrant and points to Jesus from the beginning to the end. “Biblical theology provides a helpful framework for reading any part of the Bible in light of the whole” with little regard to its overall structure. 1


Historical Theology

Historical theology is the discipline that surveys and evaluates how theology has changed and developed throughout history. It gives particular interest in understanding false teachings and how these have been addressed since the inception of the church to today. Historical theology is also biographical in nature as it seeks to better comprehend certain theologians and exegetes over two millennia. It serves as an umbrella for many other subcategories like scholastic theology, reformed theology, medieval theology, and many more.


Systematic (Dogmatic) Theology

Systematic theology is very similar to biblical theology but is distinguishable. As its name suggests, it systematizes theology into topics and themes seeking to answer the question: “What does the entirety of the Bible teach us about _?” Like biblical theology it too presupposes the whole Bible is coherent and without error. But one difference and strength of systematic theology is that “it involves the organization of biblical teachings on a logical basis.”2 Whereas “biblical theology, on the other hand, uses mainly historical and thematic approaches.” 3 The limitation of systematic theology is that it can become overly organized or logical to the point where it exegetes certain topics or verses that are inherently enigmatic or obscure in biased ways in order to “fit” within the system.


Practical (Pastoral) Theology

Practical theology also known as pastoral theology seeks to administer the truthfulness and goodness of Bible to oneself or congregation for the purpose of penetrating one’s heart over one’s mind. In a very true sense, practical theology is what all the methods should culminate in because no matter how accurate one’s theology might be, it remains worthless if it is not lived out. Practical theology seeks to answer Francis Schaeffer's question: “How should we then live?” Thus, while being of supreme importance, if one’s practical theology does not flow from sound biblical theology, historical theology, and systematic theology, then it will inevitably be lacking. True orthopraxy, (right living) can only flow from true orthodoxy (right believing).


If everything up to this point has all sounded like gobbledygook, I apologize — it is the weakness of the writer, not the content (but honestly, the content is a bit nerdy). Allow me to summarize. My contention is that while all the methods are helpful and should be employed in building your own theology, biblical theology should be the authoritative method that we ultimately draw from. The downside of this is that a true biblical theology can have some open ends. Unlike systematic theology, it doesn’t always fit nicely into a box and therefore might offer answers not to our liking. But the reason to pursue biblical theology above the rest is that it exegetes the whole Bible without temptation to force the meaning of any verse to fit within a particular narrative. Biblical theology therefore is the nearest method to what the apostle declared to the Ephesian elders as containing “the whole counsel of God.” 4


But what do you think?


Micah Coate, President and Host of Salvation and Stuff

  1. Andy Naselli, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/theological-method/

  2. Graeme Goldsworthy, https://www.9marks.org/article/what-discipline-biblical-theology/

  3. Graeme Goldsworthy, https://www.9marks.org/article/what-discipline-biblical-theology/

  4. Acts 20:26–27, ESV.

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