Series Explanation

As we move from a nominally Christian culture to an increasingly hostile post-Christian culture, we need a more comprehensive and robust foundation in the Faith entrusted to us by our forebears from the past.  The goal of this series is to provide just such a foundation, integrating biblical and systematic theology.  People live by narratives and biblical theology looks at the progressive unfolding of the biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation, showing how the Old and New Testaments are intertwined around God’s covenants with His people.  Systematic theology takes Scripture as a whole and defines the specific doctrines of our Faith.  This helps us get the truths right across the totality of Scripture and enable us to apply them to our devotion, worship, and practice. Over the history of the Christian church these doctrines have been summarized in the creeds, confessions, and catechisms of the Christian faith.  For those in the Reformed Presbyterian tradition, these summaries are contained in the Westminster Standards, that is, the Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms.

The series consists of four core courses.  The first course, “In the Beginning Was the Word” covers the doctrine of God and God’s self-revelation to man through Scripture.  These doctrines are the cornerstone of the Christian Faith.  The second course, “The Marrow of Scripture,” is the biblical theological basis for how we read Scripture through the prism of God’s covenants with man.  The third course, “Covenant and Salvation” uses the Westminster Confession and Catechisms to examine the full panorama of salvation, understood as extending from God’s decisions in eternity to His work in history on the cross, in the resurrection and at Pentecost, justifying us, sanctifying us, and ultimately bringing us to glory.  The final course, “Tribulation and Kingdom” returns to biblical theology to trace the themes of eschatology throughout the Bible, culminating with a study of the Book of Revelation.  By going through these four courses, one should see the overarching narrative of Scripture and go through most of the Westminster Confession and Catechisms within a two-year period. 

I am teaching through the first course in the Fall of 2022 and will post the handouts and notes as I complete and teach them. The other courses I have taught through already, but need to clean up my notes to get them ready for posting. Lord willing and time permitting, I hope to post those courses over the next year or two. These are free for others to print off and use; I would just ask that you give proper attribution. And, of course, if you do use them, I would be interested in feedback.