ne of the first attacks which was made on Spurgeon's ministry after his settlement in London came from a section of the Baptist
community which could at that time be described as "Hyper-Calvinist." The label is not one that Spurgeon liked to use, for he regarded the
introduction of the great Reformer's name as a misnomer: "Calvinists, such men may call themselves, but, unlike the Reformer, whose name they
adopt, they bring a system of divinity to the Bible to interpret it, instead of making every system, be its merits what they may, yield, and
give place to the pure and unadulterated Word of God."
Iain Murray
I will begin with this matter of the inevitability of dogma, if Christianity is to be anything more than a little mild wishful thinking
about ethical behavior.
Dorothy Sayers
. . . error never has true method. Confusion is its characteristic.
R. L. Dabney
As the name imports, Systematic Theology has for its object the gathering all that the Scriptures teach as to what we are to believe
and do, and the presenting all the elements of this teaching in a symmetrical system. The human mind must seek unity in all its
knowledge . . . The method of construction is inductive. It rests upon the results of Exegesis for its foundation. Passages of Scripture ascertained
and interpreted are its data. These when rightly interpreted reveal their own relations and place in the system of which the Person and
work of Christ is the centre.
A.A. Hodge
[Here is a mild objection to the biblical and systematic approach of the Puritan John
Owen] Thou fiery fighter and green-headed
trumpeter; thou hedge-hog and grinning dog; thou bastard that tumbled out of the mouth of the Babilonish bawd; thou mole; thou tinker; thou
lizzard; thou bell of no metal, but the tone of a kettle; thou wheelbarrow; thou whirlpool; thou whirlegig. O thou firebrand; thou adder and
scorpion; thou louse; thou cowdung; thou moon-calf; thou ragged tatterdemallion; thou Judas; thou livest in philosophy and logick which are
of the devil.
An early Quaker named Fisher
Creeds and confessions, then, so far from having a tendency to "alienate" and "embitter" those Christian denominations which think
nearly alike, and ought to maintain fraternal intercourse, really tend to make them acquainted with each other; to lay a foundation for
regular and cordial intercourse.
Samuel Miller
If faith in the Scriptures is to be positive, if consistent with itself, if operative, if abiding, it must have a fixed and well-defined creed.
No one can say that the Bible is his creed, unless he can express it in words of his own.
Charles Spurgeon
A minister must be learned, on pain of being utterly incompetent for his work. But before and above being learned, a minister must be
godly. Nothing could be more fatal, however, than to set these two things over against one another. Recruiting officers do not dispute
whether it is better for soldiers to have a right leg or a left leg: soldiers should have both legs.
B.B. Warfield
It is plain that we are required to know the revelation that God has given us. Yet we would not adequately know that revelation if we
knew it only in its several parts without bringing these parts into relation to each other. It is only as a part of the whole of the revelation of
God to us that each part of that revelation appears as it is really meant to appear. Our minds must think systematically.
Cornelius Van Til
It may naturally be asked, why not take the truths as God has seen fit to reveal them, and thus save ourselves the trouble of showing
their relation and harmony? The answer to this question is, in the first place, that it cannot be done. Such is the constitution of the human
mind that it cannot help endeavoring to systematize and reconcile the facts which it admits to be true.
Charles Hodge
We believe that the truth is more than a system; but we also believe that the truth is one, even as God is one. And we believe,
therefore, that the truth is systematic, and that the different truths are related. Chaos is never truth, because God is not chaos. In other words, the
logical system is not merely in the mind of the dogmatician, but in the truth . . .
C. S. Lewis
There are some, no doubt, to whom it may seem presumptuous to attempt to systematize our knowledge of God. If we possess any
knowledge of God at all, however, the attempt to systematize it is a necessity of the human spirit. If we know as much as two facts concerning
God, the human mind is incapable of holding these facts apart . . . Systematization is . . . an effort which the intelligence can escape only
by ceasing to be intelligence.
B. B. Warfield
