Of course I already have the overall Plan of God in understanding; as-well-as a general reading understanding of the Bible; as-well-as apostolic biblical doctrine from systematic and biblical theological sources and so on. (Which is a lot! Probably most of everything...)
Yet, what I'm getting at is this: can I bring Deuteronomy to mind and really know what is going on in that book? No. Not until I read it *while* taking notes (notes really make a difference, which is why the reference works fail [i.e. if you are only reading them], you really have to take your own notes to get things in memory and understanding).
Good reference works are rare too. Kline wrote a commentary on the Book of Deuteronomy (available in PDF form on the web). Anything Kline writes is worth reading. There are probably other good general commentaries. It's like reading the phone book, though. Which gets back to tactics and strategy for doing this. You can't be stuck in the mode of reading a phone book.
At my level of all this really Meredith Kline is coming to the forefront. His Kingdom Prologue and all the other books of his. Deep and striking insights made on the foundation of Federal Theology.
Here's what I'm really getting at: Kline's striking observation that the real end times climax begins when Satan and his followers make a claim on ALL the world. That observation is typical of Kline. He got it from the Bible, but it's the type of observation that comes from a 'different level' of engaging the Bible. Those understandings are in there. You have to know the system of the Bible (Federal Theology) and God's overall Plan of Redemption, but then you have to have a deeper parts-in-relation-to-the-whole understanding of the Bible. One where connections and inner meanings and striking insights can be made, or come to light.
Pilgrim politics, for instance, is another insight. It's in the Bible, but not in the eXoteric commentaries. We have to 'see' that for ourselves. And everything else that is currently not in our understanding.
I don't want to confuse any of this with *basic understanding of systematic theology and the overall plan of God.* I have that. That doesn't change or get bi-passed. I'm talking about insights made *on and within the foundation* of apostolic biblical doctrine, or Federal Theology.
These types of insights, too, come when you go to the Bible with a question or with something that is troubling you. The actions and words of Muslims, for instance. One can just abandon oneself to allowing them to yank our chain all the time. Or scare us. Or annoy us to no end. "We will plant a Muslim flag on the White House," said one of them on a major political morning show the other day. If you go to the Bible for understanding you see that God controls the devil's armies (Assyrians, whatever), and they are God's monkeys. They do what God allows them to do. Yes, we react (mainly we don't allow the devil and his armies to make us give up our faith or become their cowering slaves or whatever). In the Bible I looked up even the word 'terror' and what came up surprised me: inferences of God being the terror, using nations to bring terror to His backsliding peoples or to other rebellious nations.
We're also told to *confront the devil* and he will run. But the understanding we get from the Bible itself turns the volume of our out-of-control emotions down, and gives us a perspective on the battlefield, in space and time, and people, places, things, events, and contending ideologies and forces: darkness and light.
Re-reading that last email it sounds like I should just read Kline's Kingdom Prologue. I don't need to reinvent the wheel! (It *is* the one book in my possession that I can actually learn new things from. That and his other books. I mean, I do a lot of screwing around with stuff I already know. That's a feature of common human nature though. Truly learning something new takes more effort and a different mind set. You have to catch your breath too. Absorbtion and initiation is part of the piece meal approach over time too, it should be said. - C.
If I were a person who knew nothing about the Bible, Gods Plan or Christianity, what books would you recommend I read in what order?
S
I've had trouble with this question before. It's a difficult subject because it involves so many things. You have to have the Bible in you from complete readings. You have to have the Holy Spirit in you giving you discernment for the truth and motivation to know it...and ability to accept it.
The above requirements are going to separate out most people right off the bat.
It also is not encouraging that most graduates of seminaries and schools of divinity who becomes pastors and bishops and what not don't have the parts in relation to the whole understanding of apostolic biblical doctrine and God's overall plan of redemption.
Also false teachers are legion (and also inept teaching), which makes the process of getting the wheat difficult.
So we are talking about something quite rare and unusual to have.
Then again if it's too complicated it's probably not on-the-mark. It's simple once you get it. Like playing an instrument, I suppose.
For systematic theology:
Beginner: Concise Theology - J. I. Packer
Intermediate: Manual of Christian Doctrine - Louis Berkhof
Advanced: Institutes of the Christian Religion - John Calvin
For the history of redemption (God's overall plan of redemption):
Beginner: Articles like this: http://gospelpedlar.com/articles/Bible/cov_theo.html or this by Vos: http://www.biblicaltheology.org/dcrt.pdf (though Vos is hardly beginning level)
Intermediate: Human Nature in its Fourfold State
Advanced: Kingdom Prologue, and God, Heaven and Har Magedon - Meredith Kline
I'm talking about ultimate understanding. Most Christians don't get near it, and don't have to. But if you are inclined to get parts in relation to the whole understanding of lesser things and then turn to the ultimate thing, the Word of God, then there you are. It's not as easy with the Bible and the history of redemption because you are getting your arms around - or trying to - a cosmos that is not wholly in existence in our space and time. The history of redemption begins from eternity, for instance. And ends when time ends. Yet that isn't the end for glorified man. Also, God is not wholly understandable by us. We can know what He gives us to know, which is a complete understanding for His and our purposes, but the understanding of it has a ceiling beyond which is mystery.
The simple backbone of systematic theology is the Two Adams (federal theology) - Adam from the Garden who fell, and the second Adam Jesus Christ. We are either under the federal head of one or the other. Old Adam from birth, Jesus Christ by faith. What that is, how that happens, why it happens, etc., is the subject matter of systematic theology.
The simple backbone of the Overall Plan of Redemption can be described by covenants (three in particular) or by the four states of man vis-a-vis sin.
For the latter: 1. Man in a state of innocence (Adam in the Garden, were God makes a covenant with him - the Covenant of Works - where is Adam fulfills the covenant he will be given the Tree of Life, but he fails and falls and all mankind falls in him. 2. Man in a state of fallen corruption. This is historical time as we experience it. Nature has fallen too. This world of good and evil and mixtures of joys and sufferings, and sometimes horrible sufferings, is the after-the-fall state of man and nature. 3. Man in a state of regeneration. When an individual is regenerated by the Word and the Spirit - born again - they transfer into a wholly different state than the fallen state. Yet's it's still a struggle with one's fallen nature, but the victory has been achieved (by Christ). Once regenerated always regenerated. 4. Man in a state of glorification (and unregenerated man in a state of eternal hellfire). At physical death, or ultimately at the Second Coming and end of time, the regenerated man is glorified and is in the Kingdom of Heaven. Those are the four states of man in the history of redemption. Created on high, a fall, then a rise back up - drawn back up and also climbing once you have the Spirit in you and are able to climb - to a level that is higher than where you were created at.
The three covenants of Redemption, Works, and Grace describe the mechanics of all the above. They are difficult to get understanding of because sources use different terminology and get petulant about what they demand to include or exclude. It's a subject one just has to get initiated into after absorbing a lot of material and seeking the on-the-mark line of truth. - C.
ps- Search the categories at Monergism.com for other books. It really is a search. You have to find it on your own. Though someone who knows can help with questions and answer type exchanges.
pps- Spiritual warfare is woven all through it all too. Something that gets overlooked in most books. The forces of darkness that battles the Plan of God and the individual who is awakening into the Light. Then another subject is getting to understand why each part of the Bible exists. The histories, the prophets, etc.
Its a lot... A whole journey. I'll save this email for future reference!
S
>>If I were a person who knew nothing about the Bible, Gods Plan or Christianity, what books >>would you recommend I read in what order?
>>S
I really rate Packer's Concise Theology. It delivers very well on each relative subject and intentional or not, it does work at different levels. It's very clean and tidy. I'd package and organise it differently, I'd make much more out of the Biblical references too, but the content is great. Berkhof I'm less enthusiastic about. There's nothing really wrong but I do go to Packer first.
Oddly the two authors I've soaked up more than others are Kline and Vos. Neither of whom I would have discovered off my own bat. We're all dependent on others in some way to direct our attention. And then it's valuation. I have enthusiasm for both authors, although there are times when Vos is too dry and intellectual. He's difficult to recommend really. Kline however is almost mystical, with his word inventions and allusions. In that sense you can miss his point but then he stands (like Vos) to some serious study and like Vos is full of brilliance and Spirit. I love them both and yet I'm not sure in answer to Simon's question that either would be ideal recommendations.
That question demands a plan.
1. Read the Bible. Don't think about it or try and 'get it', just read it.
2. Read Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress.
3. Read The Embattled Christian by Zacharias.
4. Read Packer's Concise Theology
For me that hits the key note: the battle, warfare and struggle of the Christian way.
Understanding of the rest is something you can pick up through articles on monergism (like C suggests), and other sites - lots of useful mp3's to listen to and really, loads of books but you just can't recommend them at the outset but only as a person comes into either understanding or degrees of interest or inquiry.
You could just say read the Bible and also study Genesis and Romans.
- Paul of England
And this old post is the practical reason to get this complete understanding:
http://electofgod.blogspot.com/2008/07/doctrine-is-armor-of-god.html
- C.
ps- It's worth noting that Vos, Berkhof, and Kline are considered to be representative in the 20th century of the true line of Reformed doctrine. They all three explain things on the foundation of Classical Covenant - Federal - Theology. (Berkhof is of course more of a straight professor who produced a very well-put-together text book; Vos and Kline are biblical theologians who truly filled out Reformed Theology, mainly in the area of eschatology.) All this means is these three guys have few quirks (Berkhof zero, unless you consider infant baptism a quirk, I don't, because it doesn't effect Federal Theology despite what the more shallow defenders of infant baptism claim). Vos zero as well (though like Paul stated he wrote for academics and can be hard to understand overall - biblical theology as opposed to systematic theology is strange to begin with...requires initiation); Kline's biggest quirk is his Framework Hypothesis, which is a unique reading of the 6 days of creation. It is too clever by half, and really not worthy of adopting or defending. But it doesn't effect his theology overall which is orthodox (small 'o'). If you go back a few generations, Thomas Boston is a major source for on-the-mark Federal Theology. But, again, it's difficult to recommend these guys because, well, for the reason I stated in the first response. Self-motivation is necessary. But the practical end point is the post linked above. It's good to have a practical reason for the study, even if spiritual warfare doesn't cover every reason to know it.
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