I am now in my spring semester of my second year of seminary. If I had always been on a 3 year plan, I’d be half done now. However, by unit count, I’m currently more like 40% done. This is unimportant; I’d rather talk about some things I’ve learned and the surprising unity of my seminary experience thus far. Having recently finished my survey courses, I have now had the privilege to read through the entire Bible for class, including reading the entire New Testament twice and large sections of the Old Testament two or more times. This alone has been incredibly beneficial.
My first semester of seminary I only took two classes: Fundamentals of Preaching and Old Testament Studies I. The latter of these was more work intensive, covering Genesis through Esther and having multiple large books of required reading. The bulk of the time was definitely spent in the Pentateuch (Genesis–Deuteronomy), as this is the bulk of this section of the Old Testament. These are probably generally known as the “boring parts” of the Bible and “Where your Bible reading plan goes to die.” I’d always known that shouldn’t be the case and that these books, as the Word of God, had profound meaning, but this class was the first time I started seeing the matrix of organization to God’s message in the Mosaic Law.
In God’s providence, during my senior year of college I had read Biblical Theology by Geerhardus Vos on a whim. It certainly took more than a whim to finish, but this book helped me think through the Bible as it was written historically. It helped me realize that the content of the gospel promise of a seed in Genesis 3:15 was a theme that grew and developed as books were added to the Bible; it taught me to think about how each part of the Bible added new pieces of information to the growing story of God’s works in history.
This was actually really helpful as I learned about Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy for OT Studies I. As I thought through the Law as it was taught in class and as I wrote my research paper, I learned that the Law was given as a gracious provision to God’s people so that they could dwell in the midst of their Holy Lord. In doing so, the Law revealed God’s holy character to His people and their sinfulness before Him. The fundamental problem they faced was drawing near to their holy God despite their uncleanness. This theology became a central part of my seminary work in the future. My professor said something to the effect of, “If you don’t understand the Torah, you won’t understand the rest of the Bible.” He was right.
I made 2017 my “year of languages.” I started learning Hebrew in the spring, continued it in summer, and started Greek in the summer. This past fall I took exegesis classes in both Hebrew and Greek, NT Studies, and (technically billed as winter, but it started in early November) OT Studies II. Perhaps surprisingly, the two survey courses and Hebrew Exegesis returned me to working with this theology of holiness and the difficulty of humans drawing near to God. In papers I wrote about the Sermon on the Mount and church discipline in 1 Corinthians for NT Studies, summary papers of the prophets I wrote for OT Studies II, and my Hebrew Exegesis project on Isaiah 1:18–20 I was confronted again with the basic problem of the gospel: How can the sinner be drawn near to holy God?
Last week I took a winterim intensive course with a visiting profess called “Introduction to Biblical Theology.” In it, the professor (this guy) walked through the entire Bible in a week highlighting central themes. Among others, this theme of drawing the sinner near to a holy God came up yet again, alongside other key recurrent themes from seminary such as the authorial intent of passages of Scripture, the Kingdom of God, and the promise/prophecy/foreshadowing-fulfillment pattern culminating in Jesus Christ. And now, I am in a new semester, able to reflect back a little on what I’ve learned so far.
I have a couple devotional encouragements that summarize some of the key things I’ve learned in seminary so far:
- The whole Bible points to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This does not always mean that every passage is explicitly about Jesus’ provision of atonement and righteousness for sinners, but it all points to God at work in history or a person’s life in order to accomplish His plans, which center on His glory, Kingdom, and plan of salvation.
- Studying the languages (Greek and Hebrew) is well worth it for seeing gospel, devotional lessons in the Bible more clearly. They do not provide a magic formula to automatically solve theological problems. Rather, they help us worship God better.
- There is no substitute for reading and rereading the Bible a lot. Theological books, commentaries, etc. don’t replace God’s Everlasting Word.
None of these should be profound, game-changing revelations to people. But I’d encourage you, reader, to go experience them for yourself. Experiencing putting God’s Word together in a coherent way has been a central learning process for me over the past few years; any Christian can benefit from that. If you have the opportunity to do so, take it! God’s providence in putting certain resources in my hands at certain times has been key in my growth over the past few years, and for that I magnify His Name.
Citizens & Sons 