16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
Romans 1:16-17 (NKJV)
Do you have a favorite book of the Bible? Is there one that just "jumps out" at you?
Do you have a favorite doctrine? Probably not. But do you consider one doctrine to be more important or more controlling than another? Again, probably not for most people do not think in these terms.
However, in today's theological world, the "big" debate revolves around systematic frameworks -- are you a Dispensationalist, a Calvinist, an Arminian, a Weslyian, a Lutheran, or something else? By attaching one of these labels to your belief structure, you tell the world you believe in a certain outlook, approach and interpretative plan for God's Word.
Once these labels are attached, almost every argument revolves around the concepts of "savlation," whether that involves the questions of predestination, limited atonement, or most other doctrines.
So, what is salvation? How is one saved? How does the Bible define salvation? Are there real differences between the various systematic frameworks? Should there be?
The goal of this course will be to attempt to answer these and other related questions you that you may better understand how the Scriptures define salvation and how you should define you theological doctrine of soteriology.
To answer these, and other questions, we will use the Book of Romans, Paul's longest letter, and the one covering most of his theological doctrines. Romans is unique amongst Paul's letters for it is the closet thing to a full statement of all of the doctrines that we possess at the hand of any apostle. Although Paul did not start out to write a textbook, because of the issues within the Roman Church, the Apostle covers the majority of all Christian doctrines.
Join us as we spend a year walking through this letter, attempting to unearth its treasures and define and better understand salvation ("soteriology"). Take your doctrinal understanding to a deeper level.
The Details
Classes start Thursday September 13, 2018 at 7:00 P.M. in Room 152. Classes will last until around 8:30 P.M. Tuition cost is $100.00 per semester. In addition the student will be expected to purchase and read at least one commentary on Romans. There will be a list of suggested commentaries provided.