Chapter 1 - Overview
Every theology has a framework or set of tenets that provide guidance on how to interpret God’s Word. Most theologies are rightfully based on strict doctrine. After all, there is a lot at stake here, if a person is misguided by an incorrect theology, their eternal destination will be different than what they expect (the chilling words of Jesus in Matthew 7:21-23 come to mind).
Theology, being the study of God, sounds like an impossible task, especially since we are finite and He is infinite. Some theologians have taken what I call, “the Elephant Approach,” by breaking the study of God and His Word down into ‘bit-sized’ pieces. They divide theology into categories such as Christology (the study of Christ), Soteriology (the study of salvation), Ecclesiology (the study of the church), Pneumatology (the study of the Holy Spirit), Eschatology (the study of the end times), etc. I call it the elephant approach in honor of that old query, “how do you eat an elephant?” The answer of course is, “one bite at a time!” These systematic breakdowns of theology are very helpful, but since they are typically exhaustive works, they are not regularly employed by most Christians. If used, at all, they become more like a handbook to answer difficult questions, than being used as a guideline to interpret Scripture.
I think it is safe to say that most Christian scholars would agree that mankind cannot fully comprehend God and that the only available information about God is what He provided for us, through His creation and His Word. If we try to understand God without the Bible, it would be like an ant trying to fully comprehend humanity. Since the study of God is so complex and, as pointed out earlier, a lot is at risk, how can we proceed to know God and understand His plan for us? Makes us wonder which understanding of God or theology is correct? What should we believe? Regardless of our upbringing, religious affiliation (if any), preconceived ideas about God, Jesus or salvation; God gave us His Word so that we can learn from Him. It is our responsibility to learn the Bible, no one can read or digest it for us. When we die we can’t then point to some church leader or some other person and say that we were taught by them, we need to know the Word of God for ourselves. Before you shake your head or close this book, remember there is only one book that matters at that point, the Bible.
What we believe matters. Whether or not you proclaim a specific theology, we all have embraced a set of rules that helps us understand: 1) who God is; 2) what He has done for us; and 3) how we are to respond to Him. You may not have a firm grasp of the details, but your worldview[1] in some way includes an answer to all three of these. Let me stop for a moment, everyone has heard the unwritten rule of casual conversation, “don’t talk about religion or politics!” Why not? Most people would answer that is because both subjects are often driven by emotion, and that is true. Why emotion? Well, this is where it gets sticky! When we listen to someone or read something that we might agree with, sometimes only doing so based on the logic or rationale from the speaker’s or author’s perspective. If we accept the basis as being true without investigating the facts, we could end up supporting a belief that is not accurate. Both politics and religion (I will define religion here as being about God, not just the appeasement of a deity), are complex subjects and as a result, we often “choose sides” based on hearsay (third-party intel).
What does this have to do with theology? The study of God is vastly more important than politics, world events, social events, and I will include here, one’s own career advancement (more on that subject later). So why is theology mostly studied by those that embrace philosophy and other scholarly subjects? Mainly because it can be very complex and intimidating, although much of theology’s intellectual intimidation is self-inflicted. But, do we really need another theology? Perhaps not, but I wanted to share a theology that I believe provides a straightforward approach to reading the Bible and understanding of God. Here is the basic framework of what I call “Pegboard Theology:”
Pegboard Theology Basic Premises
1. The Word of God was given to mankind to learn about God and His plan of salvation. He chose to reveal Himself through the use of that written Word.
2. The Word of God is to be understood in a normal and plain manner, it was written to be comprehended, not to be a mystery. We can therefore expect the Word of God to mean exactly what is stated. There is no need for eisegesis (the practice of one imposing their own interpretation into the text) or any undue allegorizing of the text that is otherwise straightforward.
3. The Word of God is complete and does not require any additional extra-Biblical materials for interpretation or explanation. Nothing else is needed, especially since the Bible is the best commentary and guide of the Bible.
4. The Word of God is from God, even though it was written by several humans over a period of several hundred years, it was divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. Since it is from God, one can expect to read about God doing or promising things that are not considered possible by human capability or understanding. God is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient with no limitations. Plus, since God is outside of the realm of time (where time has no affect), God can describe, then-future and “future to us now” events with great detail and accuracy, creating a form of authentication of His message. God also has the ability to prevent corruption of His Word.
5. Since the Word of God was given to learn about God, to be understood without any special interpretation, that it is complete, and along with the fact that it is from God, we should therefore expect that if fulfillment of a prophecy or promise that has not yet been fulfilled, that it will be fulfilled in the future since God cannot lie and will not change His mind.
I am fairly certain that most of you have never heard the phrase, “Pegboard Theology” before, unless you have attended one of my classes. We are all familiar with at least one variation of the expression, “square peg, round hole.” The idea can convey a variety of insights including something (or someone) not conforming, the proper tool not being available, or some work effort that was done in vain. Some may remember those brightly colored ‘toys’ from their preschool days. Those actually weren’t toys but a special apparatus that was designed to help teachers evaluate early visual perception skills. How does it work? You are handed a stack of pegs and the object of the exercise is to insert the various colored and shaped pegs into the proper hole on the board. Sounds simple enough to someone mature enough to differentiate, but not to someone who lacks discernment.
Regardless what we are reading in the Bible, be it a story narrative, instructions from God, poetry or any other part of God’s Word, we often discover God talking about His plans and the future. Some of these future-related statements (or prophecies) are plain and easy to see, while others are not-so obvious. I like to consider these statements as holes in a board, a pegboard to be precise. The board represents a timeline, one that begins with creation in the book of Genesis and extends all the way to the future when all believers enter eternity (the period when time no longer can affect us). Then as we progress in reading through Scriptures, we learn about the fulfillment or timing of those future prophecies. I like to think of them as pegs, each shaped differently to prevent confusion. These pegs should then easily fit into the proper hole in the pegboard. However, if we misinterpret His Word and put the wrong fulfillment peg in the wrong prophetic hole, we can end up with the wrong message. Just because the peg can go in a hole, doesn’t mean it is the correct peg for that hole. I remember years back challenging my preschool teacher when I demonstrated that I could insert a square peg into a round hole, the instructions were then quickly clarified to include making sure the shapes matched.
Sadly, this is exactly what many theologians, church leaders, teachers and some casual readers of the Bible have done. When we read the Bible, the object of this “theological exercise” (please note there aren’t really any pegs or pegboards in the Bible) is to make sure that each peg (proclamation or prophecy) is placed in the proper hole (fulfillment) without having any leftover pegs or forcing them to fit (sorry, no hammers allowed!) Of course, having open holes in your theological understanding would be a major problem too.
Therefore, we need to add two more to our list of basic premises:
6. A peg must fit properly. This is where Bible interpretation and influences of interpretation come into play. We must take caution to place the right peg in the right hole. Since prematurely placing a peg into a hole would result in an error, the entire Bible will need to be examined first before peg insertion to assure the proper peg is inserted.
7. When we reach the end of the text of the Bible, no pegs or holes should remain, everything should have a place. Many popular theologies have a tendency to either negate portions of the Bible (often requiring unjustifiable allegorization or extra-biblical explanation of the text) or simply ignore those sections that conflict with their interpretation.
As mentioned earlier, theology is a complex subject. Because it can be difficult and involved, many people interpret and read the Bible through the lens of their previous teaching, be it a formal theology, casual instruction or perhaps with an influential presupposition. I will not try to challenge any of these approaches as the most important part of any Bible study is to open the Bible! The Holy Spirit will do the rest, as long as our hearts are open and willing to learn.
Instead of reading the Bible through some form of an external lens, my hope with Pegboard Theology is to reverse that process and let the Word of God explain itself. While I know that is the intention of nearly every other theology and given the fact that Pegboard Theology embraces many of the same points that other theologies do, this approach may challenge some previous ideas and hermeneutics (various approaches and interpretations of the text).
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[1] See End Notes and Miscellany for a definition of a ‘worldview’.