Q375 : Is Systematic Theology Harmful?

A friend and I are having a disagreement on systematic theology.

He states it is bad and he is very much against Calvinism and believes they use systematic theology. He thinks that it has to do with specifically church systems, that a person doesn’t need it to understand the Bible. He equates, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses etc. having a system of needing extra biblical source to interpret the Bible.

I explained to him that it is a method of interpreting the scripture. Could you please respond with a clear understanding of systematic theology. I would appreciate your input so much so I can share it with him.

A375 : by Andy Woods

Systematic theology just involves coming up with categories concerning what the Bible teaches. For example, Trinitarianism explains what the Scripture teaches about the trinity in a succinct manner since no single verse of the bible capsulizes everything that the Bible says on that subject.

Systematic theology therefore becomes the believer’s friend if it is first derived from the scripture. The danger is teaching a theology that the Bible doesn’t describe and imposing it instead on the scripture.

Examples of such an imposition would include amillennialism, postmillennialism, covenant theology, etc. This may be what your friend is reacting to.