systematic theology | Grace Evangelical Society

The Classical Understanding of Christ (Christology, Part 2)

September 26, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Christology, systematic theology

Who is Jesus? What kind of a man is He? Was He a man at all? Why can He give believers eternal life? Christology is the branch of theology that studies questions about the person and work of Christ. As you can imagine, hundreds of books have been written to answer those questions. Where can you start?

What Kind of Man Is This? (Christology, Part 1)

September 24, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Christology, systematic theology

One day, after ministering to huge crowds, Jesus and the disciples went sailing when the Lord, being tired, fell fast asleep. Then the winds picked up a little. And the sea became choppy. It wasn’t enough to worry those seasoned fishermen, though. And Jesus didn’t stir. Then the winds became a storm. Waves splashed hard

God Is Omniscient: God’s Middle Knowledge

September 11, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - omniscience, systematic theology

Imagine that Laura is a doctor. Laura chose to become a doctor because her mother developed Lou Gehrig’s disease, and she had to learn how to care for her mother. That sparked Laura’s passion for medicine. But what if Laura’s mother had never developed the disease? Would Laura still have become a doctor? And is that something God could know? That is, does God know what people would have (not just could

God Is Omniscient: God’s Foreknowledge

September 6, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - foreknowledge, omniscience, systematic theology

God knows everything that is possible to know. But one question that has been hotly debated—is it possible for God to know the future? That is, does God have foreknowledge? What does the Bible say? First, it says that God can make declarations about the future because He knows the goals that He wants to

God Is Omniscient: God Knows All That Is

September 4, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - omniscience, systematic theology

God is all-knowing. But what, exactly, does that knowledge include? For one, God knows everything in the present. For example, God knows all about you and how you act, think, and speak. In fact, He knows what you’ll say before you even say it: You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my

God Is Omniscient: Introduction

September 3, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - omniscience, systematic theology, theology

In the last hundred years, human knowledge has exploded. Currently, it doubles every thirteen months, and it may soon double every twelve hours! We know more about the universe now than we ever have before, and a year from now we’ll know double that much! Long gone are the days of having “Renaissance” men like Leonardo DaVinci

God Is Omnipresent

August 23, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - doctrine of God, omnipresence, systematic theology

The ancients thought their gods were limited to certain places. A god was in this tree or city, or only had power over that mountain or river. Outside of his or her particular domain, the god was powerless. By contrast, in Biblical thought, God is omnipresent. That means that, unlike creatures (or pagan gods and goddesses), God is not limited by physical space. Instead,

God Exists (Believer’s Systematic Theology)

April 10, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - apologetics, existence of God, systematic theology

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). In the beginning—before the beginning of you, me, or anything else—God existed. But where? And how? And what does it mean for God to exist? Is God just another thing in the universe? Some people think so. In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the

The Divisions of Systematic Theology

April 4, 2019 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - divisions, systematic theology

When we voted on a theme for the last national conference, the choices came down to “Ephesians: Verse-by-Verse” and “Systematic Theology.” Ephesians won by a nose. I’ve always been a systematic theology guy. I have well over fifty such theologies in my office and more at home. I like thinking about the big picture and trying to understand how it all fits together. I believe coherence is