Good day everyone,
e e e e e e e e e In 1 Tim. 3:1-7, there are many qualifications which are laid out for those
who wish to be elders in a local congregation. Among them are two of specific
interest: a prospective elder must be able to teach and must not be a new
convert. In order for one to teach in the way that an elder would be expected to,
there must be an intimate understanding of biblical theology as well as theology
proper. So often, it seems, there are many churches who are so eager to
encourage a prospective minister in the calling of ministry one might claim to feel
that they are sensing that the ordination or the sending out to plant a church
should not wait another second. This is a sentiment that seems to be shared
throughout much of modern Christendom. This author grew up in a context where
theology was almost viewed as a dirty word because it would scare people off or
bore them into leaving the church or Christianity in general. Kevin J. Vanhoozer
warns of the dangerous scenario that the modern church has found itself in by
explaining, “Theology is in exile and, as a result, the knowledge of God is in
ecclesial eclipse. The promised land, the gathered people of God, has
consequently come to resemble a parched land: a land of wasted opportunities
that no longer cultivates disciples as it did in the past.”[1]
e e e e e e e e e e If one does not know about who God has revealed Himself to be and how
He interacts with the universe in general and humanity in particular, one will live
inside of an insipid soup of convoluted catch phrases and platitudes that offers
no help and no hope to anyone. In short, a lack of theology leads to an inevitable
lack of saving faith. This is not a comment on the ability of God to save a person,
rather, it is a condemnation of the modern pragmatism that has gripped much of
the Church in the West specifically. Along the lines of this point Josh Chatraw
underscored the importance of importance of being a competent apologist to
fulfill the Great Commission by writing, “It seems that the early church saw
apologetics as an imperative in pastoral ministry. It was, to emphasize the point,
part of the pastor theologian’s identity. It could be that this ancient vision could
save the modern church from the perils of both the pragmatic “get ‘er done”
approach and the “all talk, no action” approach to Christian witness.”[2]
[1] Kevin J. Vanhoozer and Owen Strachan, The Pastor as Public Theologian:
Reclaiming a Lost Vision (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015). Introduction.
Kindle.
[2] Todd Wilson and Gerald Hiestand, eds., Becoming A Pastor Theologian: New
Possibilities for Church Leadership (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press Academic,
2016). Kindle. 182.
