THEO 502 — Systematic Theology II: Christology, Soteriology, and Pneumatology
THEO 502 is the second of three graduate courses in systematic theology, and it assumes the student has already weighed the doctrine of God in THEO 501. Where the first course asked who God is, this one asks what God has done: it turns to the economy of salvation, the work of God in Christ and in the Holy Spirit. The student carries forward the one habit the sequence teaches and practices it on every doctrine: to weigh a doctrine by naming the question it answers, what Scripture and the tradition establish, the live positions at their best, and where the matter remains contested. The course walks the second division of the systematic field in turn: the person of Christ, from the New Testament witness through the settlement at Chalcedon to the modern Christologies; the work of Christ, the models of the atonement in depth, their biblical basis and their contemporary critiques; soteriology, the order of salvation and the Calvinist–Arminian debate in full; justification, the Lutheran, Reformed, Catholic, and New Perspective accounts; the person and work of the Holy Spirit, his divinity and procession and his work in salvation, sanctification, and the church; and the baptism in the Spirit, with the Pentecostal, charismatic, and cessationist positions. Where the great public-domain systematicians stated a doctrine in their own words, the student reads them across the traditions — Reformed, Wesleyan, Catholic, Lutheran; the living theologians, whose works remain under copyright, are described in the course’s own voice. The course is written from within the Christian faith and is candid about it, but it is ecumenical and does not adjudicate. It presents every contested doctrine with the serious positions at their best — the models of the atonement, the Calvinist and the Arminian accounts of grace, the rival accounts of justification, the cessationist and continuationist readings of the Spirit’s gifts — naming what each is trying to protect before weighing it, and it leaves the genuinely open questions open. Its closing exercise hands the student an unseen doctrine — the extent of the atonement, for whom Christ died — to weigh by the method alone.
Learning outcomes
- Weigh any doctrine by the signature method: name the question it answers, what Scripture and the tradition establish, the live positions at their best, and where it remains contested — the signature method of the sequence, recalled and reused.
- Explain the turn from theology proper to the economy of salvation, and the frame of the doctrine of Christ — the distinction of his person and his work.
- Weigh the doctrine of the person of Christ: the New Testament witness, the settlement at Chalcedon (the two natures in one person), and the modern Christologies (Pannenberg, Moltmann, Barth).
- Weigh the doctrine of the work of Christ: the models of the atonement (ransom, satisfaction, penal substitution, governmental, moral influence, Christus Victor), their biblical basis, and the contemporary critiques.
- Weigh the doctrine of salvation: the order of salvation (the ordo salutis) and the Calvinist–Arminian debate — election, grace, calling, and perseverance — each side at its best.
- Weigh the doctrine of justification: the Lutheran, Reformed, and Catholic accounts and the New Perspective — imputation, faith and works, the believer simul justus et peccator.
- Weigh the doctrine of the Holy Spirit: his person, divinity, and procession (the filioque), his work in salvation, sanctification, and the church, and the baptism in the Spirit (Pentecostal, charismatic, cessationist).
- Weigh an unseen doctrine (the extent of the atonement — for whom Christ died) by the method, ecumenically and without adjudicating, engaging the live positions at their best.
From Theology Proper to the Economy of Salvation
The sequence turns here from the doctrine of God to the economy of salvation, from who God is to what God has done in Christ and in the Holy Spirit. The opening module recalls the four-move method the student learned in THEO 501 and shows how it now bears on the works of God rather than on the divine being. It then frames the doctrine of Christ by the ancient distinction of his person and his work, who he is and what he accomplished, and explains why the order of the two matters. Assuming the 501 foundation, it sets the frame the rest of the course fills in.
The Person of Christ
Christology proper begins here, with the New Testament witness that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man and the doctrine of the hypostatic union that holds the two together. The module reads Aquinas on the Incarnation and Charles Hodge on the person of Christ, and it works through the settlement reached at Chalcedon, the two natures in one person, with the communicatio idiomatum and the enhypostasia that the definition secures. It then turns to the modern Christologies, engaged in paraphrase rather than quotation, from Christology “from below” to Pannenberg on the resurrection, Moltmann’s crucified God, and Barth’s reversal, treated fairly. Throughout it names what the conciliar language guards before weighing the alternatives.
The Work of Christ
From the person of Christ the course moves to his work, the saving achievement of the cross. The great models of the atonement are surveyed each at its best — ransom and Christus Victor, Anselm’s satisfaction, penal substitution, the governmental theory, and moral influence — with what each captures of the biblical witness named before any is weighed. The module reads Hodge on penal substitution and Hugo Grotius on the governmental account, and it gives the contemporary critiques of penal substitution their real force rather than dismissing them. It closes by naming the extent of the atonement, for whom Christ died, as the question the course will return to at its end.
Soteriology: The Ordo Salutis and the Calvinist–Arminian Debate
With the work of Christ established, the course asks how its benefits come to the believer, the application of salvation. It lays out the order of salvation, the ordo salutis, calling, regeneration, conversion, justification, sanctification, and glorification, and notes how the traditions order these differently. The Calvinist–Arminian debate is set out in full: the Calvinist account of unconditional election and effectual grace in Charles Hodge and the Canons of Dort, and the Arminian account of conditional election and prevenient, resistible grace in John Miley, each presented at its best with what it protects named. The debate is weighed without a verdict, the church bound to neither side.
Justification
Justification stood at the center of the Reformation’s quarrel, and the module takes up how a sinner is counted righteous before God. It sets the Reformation account of forensic imputation, faith alone, and the believer simul justus et peccator alongside the Catholic account of justification as the making righteous of the sinner, each at its best, reading the Formula of Concord and the Council of Trent in their own words. It then engages the New Perspective on Paul, Sanders, Dunn, and Wright set out here in paraphrase, and the response of the older perspective, on what “the works of the law” meant for Paul. The Reformation divide and the contemporary debate are presented even-handedly, with the genuinely open questions left open.
The Holy Spirit
Pneumatology occupies the sixth module, the person and work of the third person of the Trinity. It establishes the full divinity and personhood of the Holy Spirit and his eternal procession, presenting the filioque as a live systematic question on which the Eastern and Western churches each hold a genuine case, weighed without a verdict. It then traces the Spirit’s work in salvation — regeneration, indwelling, sealing, and assurance — and the differing Reformed, Wesleyan, and Keswick accounts of how he sanctifies, described fairly. The module ends with the Spirit poured out on the church and a first look at the gifts, pointing ahead to the debate the final module joins.
The Baptism in the Spirit
The final module weighs the gifts of the Spirit and closes the course with its capstone. It presents the Pentecostal and charismatic accounts of the baptism in the Spirit and the continuation of the gifts at their best, then the cessationist case in B. B. Warfield that the miraculous gifts attested the apostolic foundation and ceased with it, with the continuationist reply, naming what each side protects and reaching no verdict on whether the gifts continue. The capstone then hands the student an unseen doctrine, the extent of the atonement, for whom Christ died, to weigh by the four-move method alone, ecumenically and without adjudicating. A closing bridge points forward to THEO 503 and back across the sequence.