Feature
The Pastoral Obligation To
The Task Of Theology
by Todd L. Miles
(Continued from Page 4)
7. Neglect Of Theology Leads To Apathy In Mission
North America, particularly the Pacific Norwest, is post-Christian and religiously pluralistic. This points to the simple reality that many religions exist among us. No longer do Americans have to go overseas to find religious others. Today, we live next door to those who worship different deities in different ways. Religious pluralism also embodies an attitude that the reality of many religions is not only how things are; it is how things ought to be. Religious pluralism is cherished.
Religious pluralism has placed enormous pressure on Christians who have historically carried an exclusive message of salvation: You must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. The perception that such an attitude is intolerant, coupled with questions about the fate of those who have never heard the gospel, has given rise to a call for an investigation into the biblical understanding of world religions and how the major religions of the world fit into the redemptive purposes of God.
Some Evangelicals are also reconsidering the exclusive claims of Christ, suggesting that it is not necessary for one to know of or believe in Christ to be saved. This more inclusive position tends to focus upon the Holy Spirit as the agent of redemption in the world. Specifically, these evangelicals confess, the Holy Spirit is at work in the world, even in the context of world religions, applying the work of Christ apart from any conscious faith in Christ. The result of the proposal is to assert a relative independence of the Spirit from the Son.
Can such a proposal be sustained? And what happens to the motivation for missions if belief in the gospel is not necessary for salvation? Contrary to those who assert either an independent work of the Holy Spirit apart from the Son, or a work of the Son that is subordinate to the Spirit in world religions, the roles of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are inextricably linked. How are they linked? The Holy Spirit always seeks to glorify the Son. When Jesus said of the Holy Spirit, “He will glorify me, for He will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14), Christ was not merely defining one aspect of the work of the Holy Spirit. Rather, He was declaring the nature of the relationship between Himself and the Holy Spirit within the broad scope of trinitarian life and redemptive history. Spirit-enabled conscious faith in Christ as necessary for salvation is perfectly consistent with the Christ-glorifying nature of the Spirit’s work.
The biblical response to the question, “What about those who have never heard the gospel?” is “Go tell them!” The Christian mandate is gospel proclamation (e.g., Matt 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Rom 10:14-15). When pastors fail to teach the whole counsel of God, thereby not training the church to think biblically, the tendency will be to follow impulses which are decidedly pluralistic and belligerent to the exclusive truth claims of Jesus. But when pastors preach the Bible, imploring the church to do that which the Bible mandates, then the church will be motivated to tell the nations. This is a theological task.
Conclusion
The task given to pastors is to care for the flock, the precious blood-bought church of God, and to protect it from those who would assail it from without and from within. This is accomplished primarily through the careful ministry of the Word: a teaching, correcting, rebuking, and training ministry for which the Word of God is completely sufficient. If theology is the task of applying the powerful word of God to the questions of life then, by definition, the task of the pastor is fundamentally a theological task. This task is not about discussions regarding angels dancing on pinheads or debates over infralapsarianism versus supralapsarianism. It is the glorious and essential task of bringing the word of God to bear with confidence on every aspect of the lives of those who name the name of Christ. Training people to think God’s thoughts after Him, to bring every thought in obedience to Christ, to think rightly and intentionally about all things, is absolutely a theological task.
Todd Miles, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Theology and Hermeneutics at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. A frequent guest speaker in several churches, Dr. Miles serves as an elder at Hinson Church. He regularly contributes to theological journals and is the author of the forthcoming Son and Spirit: A Christian Theology of Religions. Dr. Miles and his wife Camille, are the parents of three children and reside in Portland, Oregon. Dr. Miles will address The Spurgeon Fellowship on October 14, 2008.
