“These personal notes are shared from sermons, classes, activities, journals, and reflections on faith. They do not represent the official views of Vox Church, and this site is not formally affiliated with Vox Church. To learn more about Vox Church and its beliefs, please visit voxchurch.org.”

Vox Institute – Christian Theology – Session 2

Written by

Jay Downes

in

Personal Notes – Led by Central Pastor Shawn Haggerty Vox Church

Theme

This session distinguishes doctrine from theology and insists theology must be rooted in Scripture. It surveys general versus special revelation, classical arguments for God’s existence, God’s eternality and omnipresence, and introduces Reformed soteriology themes … TULIP, predestination, faith as gift, regeneration, perseverance. Posture … biblical discernment, humility, Romans 10 urgency, and Great Commission teaching.

Doctrine and Theology … crisp distinction with practice

  • Doctrine is what God has revealed as true… theology is our attempt to organize and explain that truth.
  • Guardrails for theology… Sola Scriptura… Scripture interprets Scripture… clear texts help you weigh difficult texts.
  • Practice in class… when a claim is made, ask… where is it written… how do proximate verses shape it… how does the whole counsel carry it across the canon.

Revelation … general and special with concrete handles

General revelation

  • Nature… Psalm 19.1 to 4… Romans 1.20… creation displays power and divine nature.
  • Time and history… Isaiah 46.9 to 10… God declares the end from the beginning.
  • Conscience… Romans 2.14 to 15… law written on hearts.
  • Limits… creation groans… Romans 8.18 to 23… human minds are veiled… 2 Corinthians 4.4… it points but does not save.

Special revelation

  • God’s acts and words to particular people at particular times.
  • Exodus and Red Sea… saving action identified with the Lord.
  • Prophetic word and Scripture… 2 Peter 1.19 to 21… men carried along by the Spirit.
  • The incarnation… John 1.14… the Word became flesh.
  • New covenant and Spirit… Jeremiah 31.31 to 34… Romans 8.1 to 4… inside out transformation that the law could not produce.

How to teach it

  • Walk your group outside… name three marks of order and beauty… then open Psalm 19 aloud… then pivot to Romans 10 to show why the gospel must still be spoken.

Classical arguments for God … usefulness and limits

  • Cosmological… contingent things do not explain themselves… a necessary first cause best explains existence… Acts 17.24 to 28 fits this frame.
  • Teleological… pervasive order and fine tuning suggest mind behind matter… from Fibonacci like patterns to life’s information content… Genesis 1 presents chaos to order to good.
  • Moral… objective oughtness points beyond preference to a Lawgiver… Romans 2.14 to 15.
  • Limits… arguments point to the God who is there… only the gospel introduces you to the God who saves.

God’s eternality and omnipresence … the eternal now

  • Eternity is not long duration… it is God’s life beyond time… Psalm 90.2.
  • Eternal now picture… we watch one float at a time… God sees the whole parade at once… yet He is personally present within time.
  • Omnipresence moves from concept to conduct… Psalm 139.7 to 12… if God is here in the room… speech… screens… spending… all reorient.
  • Practice… begin prayer with you are here Lord… then make one concrete choice that only His presence would explain.

Transcendence and immanence … keep both

  • Transcendence… Isaiah 55.8 to 9… God is other… holy… not domesticated.
  • Immanence… Acts 17.27… He is not far from each one of us.
  • Errors to avoid… a far away deity who never touches life… a pocket sized god made in our image.
  • Rhythm… adore His holiness… enjoy His nearness.

TULIP overview … today’s focus with anchor texts

Total depravity

  • Pervasive sin affects mind… affections… will… Ephesians 2.1 to 3… Romans 3.9 to 18.
  • Not that all are as evil as possible… rather nothing in us is untouched by the fall.

Unconditional election

  • God sets love on people before their response… Ephesians 1.3 to 6… Romans 9.10 to 16.
  • Ground is grace… not foreseen merit.

Limited atonement

  • Often restated as definite atonement… Christ’s death effectively secures salvation for His people… John 10.11… Matthew 1.21… Romans 8.32 to 34.
  • Class posture… track the texts… acknowledge the tension… keep the cross central.

Irresistible grace

  • Effectual calling… those whom He calls… He brings… John 6.37… John 6.44… Romans 8.30.

Perseverance of the saints

  • God guards His own to the end… John 10.27 to 30… Philippians 1.6… 1 Peter 1.3 to 5.
  • Hold alongside sober warnings… Hebrews 3.12 to 14… warnings are means God uses to keep us.

Predestination … single and double with sobriety

  • Single predestination… Scripture clearly speaks of God predestining to life… Romans 8.29 to 30… Ephesians 1.5… Ephesians 1.11.
  • Double predestination… some infer a mirror act to damnation… Romans 9 is the common ground for debate… note the different verbs… prepared beforehand for glory… prepared for destruction language can be read differently… move slowly… let the text govern… end in doxology… Romans 11.33 to 36.

Romans 1 and Romans 10 … the spine for evangelism

  • Romans 1… all people know God as Creator through what has been made… they suppress that truth… they are without excuse.
  • Romans 10… God’s ordained pathway… sending… preaching… hearing… believing… calling… saved… faith comes from hearing the word of Christ.
  • Therefore… the biblical answer to the unevangelized is to go and speak Christ… urgency with gentleness.

Discernment against deceptive philosophy … a field test

  • Spot the source… does this claim rest on human tradition… elemental principles of the world… or on Christ… Colossians 2.8.
  • Run the gospel filter… does it deny creation… fall… incarnation… cross… resurrection… new creation.
  • Watch the fruit… does it flatten sin into ignorance… turn the cross into example only… convert salvation into self help.
  • Practice… take one current headline… write the claim in one sentence… assess by the three checks above… respond with Scripture.

Canon formation … confidence without naivete

  • Early church recognized… not invented… the writings that already bore apostolic authority.
  • Core tests used widely… apostolic origin or association… orthodoxy consistent with the rule of faith… catholic usage across churches… spiritual efficacy.
  • Landmarks often cited… Muratorian fragment… Athanasius letter listing the twenty seven… regional councils affirming what churches already read.
  • Bottom line… the same God who spoke preserved what He spoke… 2 Timothy 3.16 to 17… 2 Peter 1.19 to 21.

Great Commission teaching responsibility … thousands of shapes

  • Teaching is part of disciple making… Matthew 28.18 to 20… not an optional add on.
  • Find your lane… teach your kids a short catechism at the table… lead a two verse huddle at work… host a neighborhood Bible night.
  • Keep the aim… obey all that Jesus commanded… not merely pass facts… form lives.

Apologetic posture … how to speak

  • Always ready with reasons… 1 Peter 3.15… heart settled in Christ… manner gentle and respectful.
  • Replace win the argument with win the person… ask good questions… define terms… grant what can be granted… be clear where Christ must be confessed.
  • End with hope… the gospel is power… Romans 1.16… not a clever spin.

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