Avoiding Theological Anarchy

It occurs to me that, instead of leading poor church members through Ryrie’s Basic Theology, Bancroft’s Christian Doctrine or even Berkhof’s little book, we could teach fairly comprehensive doctrine classes by using a confession of faith as a launching pad. What are confessions, anyway, if not small and manageable statements of systematic theology?

I just thought it was a good article. I wasn’t appealing to R.C. Sproul’s authority, because he has none.

I read a whole lot of material, written by a whole lot of folks, from a whole host of different perspectives. I deliberately don’t silo myself off into a dispensational, fundamental, Baptist echo-chamber. That isn’t a “convergent” move; it’s just a normal part of learning. You read lots of things, from lots of different people. You junk some of it, learn from some of it, and disagree with some of it. Through it all, you’re challenged, you learn and you grow.

• I was assigned Millard Erickson’s Systematic Theology in a fundamentalist baptist seminary. He’s a conservative evangelical. I’m now re-reading portions of it every few days for fun. I just read Erickson’s chapter on God’s plan (i.e. decree). He advocates Molinism. I disagree. Yet, I learned something.
• I have Bruce Ware’s little book on the Trinity. He advocates Christ’s eternal functional subordinationism in that book. I disagree. Yet, I still have the book and plan to re-read his statements on this again sometime soon.
• I have Thiessen’s Systematic. He advocates a foreknowledge view of individual election. I disagree. Yet, Thiessen did a very good job explaining his case. I still keep the book.
• I have H. Orton Wliey’s Systematic. He advocates sinless perfection for believers. It is bizarre beyond belief. Pure Wesley. But, I think I’m more well-rounded because I have read his arguments.

In short - people have nothing to be afraid of from Sproul. They do have a lot they could learn. And, some to discard, too!

Regarding Sproul’s advocacy of confessions, it is very unlikely you’ll ever find a Baptist writing a piece advocating confessionalism; unless he’s a Reformed Baptist or one of the SBC Founders guys.