The task of theology is to draw together relevant texts of scripture from the various books of the Bible, in order to form a unified understanding on a particular topic. There is both virtue and danger in this process: virtue, because a clear statement of a theological principle makes it much easier for people to understand what various texts mean within the context of the entire Bible; and danger, because those who espouse a given doctrine face the temptation to twist or ignore texts that don’t match the understanding they have come to cherish.
Take, for example, topics like these: the universality and particularity of God’s grace; the requirements, number, and means of the sacraments; the relationship between faith, discipleship, and salvation; the meaning of the cross; the gifts and calling of ministry. All of these have been rigorously debated across the centuries of church history. The various contenders have routinely drawn evidence for their viewpoint from scripture, with all sides of every argument wanting to be faithful to the teaching of passages they read in the Bible.
Suppose, then, we want to take on the even larger task of stating one major theme that encapsulates all the teaching of scripture. As you suggest, people have proposed God’s glory or redemption as the key doctrine, but these are not the only candidates: justice, creation, and the kingdom of God would be other possibilities. In my estimation, we are not well served by insisting that one of these just ‘is’ the central teaching of scripture, to the extent that other doctrines can be assessed as relatively minor issues. In contrast, it remains a worthy exercise to trace such themes across the entire Bible to see how all of scripture illuminates that particular topic.
At times Presbyterians have taken the glory of God as the central teaching of scripture. There are anecdotes about how candidates were sometimes asked, in their extensive examination before presbytery, whether they would be willing to be damned, to the greater glory of God (and about how during one particularly rigorous exam, the candidate replied Yes, he would in fact be willing for this entire gathering of presbytery to be damned, to the greater glory of God). At present, however, most Presbyterians would understand that the message of scripture is too broad to be successfully reduced to one single theme.
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3 responses to “Q. I have discovered that entire theologies are based on how we interpret God’s eternal purpose and the central teaching of Scripture. One theology proposes God’s glory as that eternal purpose; another declares that the central teaching of Scripture is redemption. What is the Presbyterian Church’s stance on this?”
I think you hit it on your last sentence. If I were to pick a direction, it would be that God is simply asking us to love Him and our neighbor. We see this beginning and through Jesus. Love, love, love.
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Thanks, Kirk! I think you can make the argument that love is the key, though I think it may be more complicated than simply singing “All you need is love.” We’d need to consider, for example, that Jesus taught us to love not only our neighbors but even our enemies: are there circumstances where we must kill our enemies, rather than love them? Or does killing them count as loving? And we’d need to consider things like “tough love,” where parents punish their children for some misbehavior. Is this loving, in the overall scheme of things, even though it feels mean to the child experiencing the punishment? And is it loving to accept someone’s bad behavior, or is it loving to seek to correct someone’s bad behavior?
I don’t disagree with your premise, by the way. It’s just that “the loving thing to do” turns out to be complex rather than simple.
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Or do we make it complex from something that is simple. Unfortunately, the human condition of sin keeps us from doing exactly what God wants us to do…love. Would we have enemies if we all loved? Would we need “tough love” from parents if love was the example shown by all that kids experienced and lived? Would bad behavior evaporate if love was present from the beginning? This is the Eden on earth that I hope for someday, because you are correct in your statements, there is Love in todays complicated human sense. But I think God, through His word, is trying to show us His love for us and how we are to love others.
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