Ryrie's Basic Theology
WHO SHOULD READ THEOLOGY?
Theology is for everyone. Indeed, everyone needs to be a theologian. In reality, everyone is a theologian—of one sort or another.
And therein lies the problem. There is nothing wrong with being an amateur theologian or a professional theologian, but there is everything wrong about being an ignorant or a sloppy theologian. Therefore, every Christian should read theology.
Theology simply means thinking about God and expressing those thoughts in some way. There will be a more precise definition in the first chapter, but in this basic sense everyone is a theologian. Even an atheist has a theology. He thinks about God, rejects His existence, and expresses that sometimes in creed and always in lifestyle. The follower of a non-Christian religion has substituted his counterfeit deity for the true God and shows off that theology in various ways.
But almost all the readers of this book will be theists if not also believers in Jesus Christ. So your thoughts, however scattered or systematized, are about the living God, the only true God who exists. Because this is so, there is all the more reason for you to study theology, for all the time and energy you give to thinking about the true God will not only expand your mind but affect your life.
As an example of how theology can affect your life, think about the subject of accountability. All of us have various levels of accountability. We are accountable to ourselves; conscience sees to that. But conscience can be warped, seared, or ignored, thus reducing accountability on that level. We have accountability to society, but different societies have different standards for legality and morality, and an individual can sometimes violate standards and escape accountability. Other units of accountability include family, local church, employment, etc. But believers in the true God recognize that they also have to be accountable to Him. Sometimes we can seem to escape present accountability to God, but no one will escape future accountability, for we will all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. The theology of judgment forces us to think about a facet of God that should be expressed in a sober outlook on life now.
Good theologians come in many shapes. Some are, by the world’s evaluation, ignorant; but nevertheless they do understand many truths about God. Others are studious but in a nontechnical way. Still others are highly skilled and widely read. Some are professional theologians; most are not.
This book is written for the most who are not. If I had been writing to professionals, I would have done a number of things differently. I would not have made a conscious effort to keep the language simple and the explanations uncomplicated, since the professional can understand complex language and technical explanations. I would not have used illustrations (though some technical books could well use them!). I would not have kept the footnotes to a minimum. Professionals want to be sure that an author has read everything on a subject (but who has?). At least they want to see proof of a wide range of reading by the quantity of a variety of footnotes, some of which must be very contemporary. I think I have demonstrated in other books that I can do this, but in this one I have chosen to keep footnotes to a minimum. I used them when it was necessary to document a statement the reader might think untrue or to make clear that I was not creating a straw man. But mostly I have used them to indicate books and articles I felt made a helpful contribution to the particular subject under discussion. In that way, it is possible for the reader to pursue a subject further if he desires to.
But if theology is thinking about God and expressing those thoughts, then judge this book on the basis of whether or not it reflects correct thoughts about God and expresses them accurately and plainly to you and in a manner that brings changes in your thinking and living.
The phrase “sound doctrine” that Paul used means healthy doctrine (e.g.,
G. Omnipotence
1. Meaning. Omnipotence means that God is all-powerful and able to do anything consistent with His own nature. In actuality He has not chosen to do even all the things that would be consistent with Himself for reasons known ultimately only to Himself.
2. Scripture. The word “Almighty” is used only of God in the Bible, occurring fifty-six times, and is the basis for the concept of omnipotence. God revealed Himself as the Almighty One to Abraham (
