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[The Christian Apologetics]: The System of Christian Truth (03)
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PAUL JANG
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2012-02-29 18:52:48, hit : 3,444 |
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SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY
(조직신학)
(1) It is apparent from our discussion so far that Systematic Theology is more closely related to apologetics that are any of the other disciplines,
(2) In it we have the system of truth that we are to defend. We must therefore look briefly at this system which we are offered.
(3) Systematic divides what it has to give us into six divisions as follow: theology, anthropology, Christology, soteriology, ecclesiology, and eschatology. We shall look at each of in turn.
A. THEOLOGY (신론)
(1) Naturally, in the system of theology and in apologetics the doctrine of God is of fundamental importance.
(2) In apologetics it must always be the final if not the first point of attack. In theology the main questions deal with the existence and the nature of God.
(3) We ask the questions \"Does God exist?\" and \"What kind of God is he?\" From these questions we must get the following themes:
1) The knowability of God
2) The existence of God
3) The nature of God
(4) What do we mean when we use th e word God? Systematics answers this question in its discussion of the attributes or properties of God. We mention only those that pertain to God's being, his knowledge, and his will.
(1) The Being of God (하나님의 존재)
(1) The independence or aseity of God. (하나님의 독립성과 자존성)
1) By this is meant that God is in no sense correlative to or dependent upon anything beside his own being.
2) God is not even the source of his own being. The term source cannot be applied to God. God is absolute (John 5:26; Acts 17:25).
3) He is sufficient unto Himself.
(2) The immutability of God. (하나님의 불변성)
Naturally God does not and cannot change since there is nothing besides his own eternal being on which he depends (Malachi 3:6; James 1:17).
(3) The unity of God. (하나님의 유일성)
As independent and changeable God has unity within himself.
1) The unity of singularity (singularitatis) means that numerical oneness.
2) The unity of simplicity (simplicitatis) means that God is in on sense composed of parts or aspects that exited prior to himself (Jer. 10:10; I John 1:5).
3) The attributes of God are not to be thought of otherwise than as aspects of the one simple original being; the whole is identical with the parts.
4) On the other hand, the attributes of God are not characteristics that God has developed gradually; they are fundamental to his being; parts together form the whole.
5) The unity and the diversity in God are equally basic and mutually dependent upon one another.
6) Man cannot partake of these attributes of God. Man cannot in any sense be the source of his own being; man cannot in any sense be immutable or simple. God's being with its attributes is self-contained. God cannot communicate his being.
(2) The Will of God (하나님의 뜻)
(1) The will of God is what it is because the being and the knowledge of God are what they are.
1) God is self-sufficient or self-contained in his being.
2) He therefore knows himself and all created existence by a single internal act of intuition.
3) His existence of being is, to its utmost depths, a self-conscious existence.
4) In his being and knowledge God may be said to be purely active.
5) God's own being is therefore the only ultimate object of his own knowledge. Similarly God's being, with all the fullness of its holy attributes, is the only ultimate object of his will.
6) God wills himself in all that he wills. God wants to maintain all he attributes in all their glory. He is the final highest goal all that he does. God seeks and establishes his own glory in all that he does.
(2) Two aspects of God's will may here be distinguished. These aspects correspond to two aspects of God's knowledge.
1) God knows himself and he knows the created universe.
2) God wills himself and also wills the created universe.
3) God wills, that is, creates the universe.
4) God wills, that is, by his providence controls the courses of development of the created universe and brings it to its climax.
5) Throughout all this he wills, that is, he seeks, his glory. He seeks it, and seeking it sees to it that his purpose in seeking it is accomplished.
6) No creature can detract from his glory; all creatures, willingly or unwillingly, add to his glory.
(3) Thus God wills himself in and through his will with respect to created reality. Whatever God wills with respect to the created universe is a means to what he wills with respect to himself.
(4) Summing up what has been said about God's being, knowledge and will:
1) God's being is self-sufficient,
2) God's knowledge is analytical,
3) God's will is self-referential (self-objective).
4) In his being, knowledge abd will God is self contained.
5) There is nothing correlative to him.
6) He does not depend in his being, knowledge, or will upon the being, knowledge, or will of his own creatures.
7) God is absolute. He is autonomous.
(3) The Triune Personal God (삼위일체 인격신)
(1) The triune personal God means that God exists in Trinity. God exists in himself as a triune self-consciously active being.
(2) The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit(Ghost) are each a personality and together constitute the exhaustively personal God.
(3) There is an eternal, internal self-conscious interaction between the three persons of the Godhead. There are co-substantial.
(4) Each is as much God as are the other two. The Son and the Spirit do not derive their being from the Father.
(5) The diversity and the unity in the Godhead are therefore equally ultimate; they are exhaustively correlative to one another and not correlative to anything else.
(6) Customarily speaking, there has two descriptions of the Trinity.
① Ontological Trinity : the unity of God
② Economical Trinity : the diversity of God
(4) Christian Metaphysics (기독교 형이상학)
(1) God has one kind of being, being that is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable and full of holy attributes, while the universe has another sort of being, being that has been produced and is sustained by God.
(2) In contrast with this, all non-Christian forms of metaphysics speak of being in general, being as such.
(3) The Christian position of the being of God and that of non-Christian position are very different each other.
1) The most basic distinction of Christianity is that of God's being as self-contained, and created being as dependent upon him.
2) All non-Christian theories of being would call this position of Christian theism dualistic.
3) From the Christian point of view all other forms of metaphysical theory hold to a monistic assumption.
4) The position of the Roman Catholic church on this point may at once be noted. While claiming to hold to the Christian theory of reality Thomas Aquinas and his modern followers in effect follow Aristotle in speaking first of being in general and in introducing the distinction between divine being and created being afterward.
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Introduction
Theology 