Unit Assessment & Reflection

"O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me." — Psalm 119:97-98

Review: What We Have Learned

Over the past five lessons, we have traversed the foundational terrain of theological prolegomena — "the things said beforehand" that must be established before systematic theology proper can commence. Let us review the ground we have covered.

Lesson 1: What Is Theology & Why Study It?

We defined theology as the disciplined, reverent, and rational study of God as He has made Himself known. We learned the crucial distinction between archetypal theology (God's own exhaustive self-knowledge) and ectypal theology (creaturely knowledge of God through revelation) — a distinction that establishes permanent humility in the theologian. We surveyed the eight major loci of systematic theology from prolegomena through eschatology. And we grounded the entire enterprise in Proverbs 9:10: the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. Without this reverent posture, theology becomes mere intellectual exercise — what Paul warns against when he says "knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth" (1 Corinthians 8:1).

Lesson 2: Revelation — How God Makes Himself Known

We examined the doctrine of revelation, distinguishing between general revelation (God's self-disclosure through creation, providence, and conscience — universal in scope) and special revelation (God's self-disclosure through particular redemptive acts and words — supremely in Christ and Scripture). We traced the progressive character of revelation from Adam through the patriarchs, Moses, the prophets, and ultimately to God's final word in His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). We established that revelation is necessary because of the Creator-creature distinction: finite creatures cannot ascend to knowledge of the infinite God unless He condescends to make Himself known.

Lesson 3: General Revelation — Creation & Conscience

We explored the three media of general revelation in depth. Creation ceaselessly declares God's glory (Psalm 19:1-6) — Calvin's theatrum gloriae Dei. Providence — God's ongoing governance of the world through rain, seasons, sustenance, and the rise and fall of nations (Acts 14:17; 17:25-28). Conscience — the moral law written on the heart (Romans 2:14-15), Calvin's sensus divinitatis. We examined the noetic effects of sin — how the fall has darkened the human mind so that people suppress the truth they clearly perceive (Romans 1:18-23). And we concluded with Paul's verdict: humanity is anapologētos — "without excuse" before God.

Lesson 4: Special Revelation — Scripture & Christ

We examined the principal forms of special revelation: theophanies, prophecy, mighty acts, inscripturation, and supremely the incarnation. We expounded 2 Timothy 3:16 and the doctrine of theopneustos (God-breathed) Scripture. We studied the concursive theory of inspiration — God and human authors working concurrently so that Scripture is simultaneously fully divine and fully human in authorship. We articulated the four attributes of Scripture: authority (inherent from divine origin), necessity (general revelation insufficient for salvation), sufficiency (contains all necessary for faith and life), and clarity/perspicuity (central message accessible to ordinary believers). And we explored the relationship between the living Word (Christ) and the written Word (Scripture) — inseparable, not in competition.

Lesson 5: Theological Method & Systematic Approach

We distinguished the four theological disciplines: biblical theology (progressive revelation through redemptive history), systematic theology (total biblical teaching organized topically), historical theology (the church's doctrinal development), and practical theology (application to life and ministry). We examined the two principia of Reformed theology: the principium essendi (God Himself) and the principium cognoscendi (Scripture externally, the Spirit internally). We studied the analogia fidei — Scripture interprets Scripture. And we explored the role of confessions and creeds as subordinate but authoritative standards.

Synthesis: The Shape of Sound Theology

All of these elements fit together into a coherent framework. Consider the logical chain:

1. God exists — the principium essendi; without Him, no theology is possible
2. God reveals Himself — not because He must, but because He graciously chooses to
3. General revelation provides universal knowledge of God's power, deity, and moral law — enough to render all accountable, not enough for salvation
4. Sin distorts the reception of revelation — the noetic effects of the fall
5. Special revelation provides the saving knowledge that general revelation cannot — the Gospel of Jesus Christ
6. Scripture inscripturates special revelation — preserving it across generations with divine authority, necessity, sufficiency, and clarity
7. The Holy Spirit illuminates — the internal principle enabling fallen minds to receive what Scripture declares
8. Theological method — governed by the analogy of faith, informed by historical theology, accountable to confessional standards — organizes Scripture's teaching into systematic loci
9. The fear of the LORD — the foundational posture from which all this proceeds, ensuring theology serves worship, not pride

This is prolegomena: the doorway through which we must pass before entering the great house of systematic theology. Everything that follows — theology proper, Christology, soteriology, eschatology — rests on these foundations.

Assessment Preparation

The following areas will be assessed for this unit. You should be able to:

Define and explain key terms:

• Theology, theologia archetypa, theologia ectypa
• General revelation, special revelation
• Theopneustos, concursive inspiration
• The four attributes of Scripture (authority, necessity, sufficiency, perspicuity)
• The principia of theology (essendi, cognoscendi externum, cognoscendi internum)
• Analogia fidei, sensus divinitatis, noetic effects of sin

Trace arguments from Scripture:

• Proverbs 9:10 — the fear of the LORD as theology's foundation
• Romans 1:18-23 — the clarity and suppression of general revelation
• 2 Timothy 3:16-17 — the nature and purpose of inspired Scripture
• Hebrews 1:1-2 — the progressive and climactic character of revelation
• 2 Peter 1:20-21 — the divine-human concurrence in inspiration

Interact with theologians and confessions:

• Calvin (sensus divinitatis, Scripture as spectacles, theatrum gloriae Dei)
• Bavinck (principia, organic unity of doctrine, revelation and theology)
• Warfield (theopneustos as product, not process)
• Vos (biblical theology as a discipline)
• Van Til (presuppositional approach to general revelation)
• Westminster Confession (analogy of faith, attributes of Scripture)

Synthesize and evaluate:

• How general and special revelation relate
• Why confessions are valuable but subordinate to Scripture
• How the four theological disciplines complement each other
• Why the fear of the LORD is an epistemological, not merely devotional, claim

Reflection: Knowledge and Love

We close this unit where Paul closes his discussion of knowledge: "And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. But if any man love God, the same is known of him" (1 Corinthians 8:2-3).

The purpose of prolegomena — indeed, of all theology — is not to produce scholars who can define theopneustos and debate the principia but to produce servants of Christ who know God and are known by Him. Theological precision is a means, not an end. The end is doxology — the worship of the Triune God who has graciously revealed Himself to undeserving creatures.

Augustine prayed at the opening of his treatise De Trinitate: "Let me remember Thee, let me understand Thee, let me love Thee. Increase these things in me until Thou hast reformed me entirely." May that be the fruit of our study.

As the psalmist declares: "The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple" (Psalm 119:130). God's Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Psalm 119:105). We have spent this unit establishing that God has spoken and how we are to listen. In the units to come, we will hear what He has said — about Himself, about us, about salvation, about the world to come.

Let us proceed in the fear of the LORD, with Scripture in hand and the Spirit as our guide, to the glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.