Contextualizing

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Liberty University *

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Feb 20, 2024

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Friday, August 25-28th Something to Discuss • Think about the recent Facebook viral exercise where people posted photos of themselves now, and one from 10 years ago. How have they changed? What do they look like now? • How have I changed? • Physically • Socially • Spiritually • We could apply this to several things resulting in observations and conclusions. • Individuals • Families • Nations • Institutions • The church (Globally and local) • Think about it: 10 years, 20 years, 30 years more I. The Contemporary Context of Theology “The goal for contemporizing the Christian message is to retain the content and biblical doctrine while making the message more understandable today.” (Erikson, pg. 13). “Although there have been significant nuances in theological approach through the centuries, the evangelical’s concern is simply to investigate what the Bible says on a given issue and coalesce that into some sort of coherent whole” Erickson, Millard J. “Introducing Christian Theology” 3 rd Edition; Grand Rapids MI: Baker academic, 2015, p 13-14 Contextualizing the Christian Message Contextualizing the Christian Message Topic TWO 1

Friday, August 25-28th QUESTION: How has the church changed? - The way people dress has changed - Music has changed A. Beware of identifying too closely with contemporary culture. B. There is a certain amount of eclecticism possible in doing theology. “…no one system has an exclusive corner on the doctrinal market, and therefore it is possible to learn from several different theologies.” (pg. 15) C. Maintaining a certain degree of independence is important when one studies a particular theologian’s ideas. Erickson, Millard J. “Introducing Christian Theology” 3 rd Edition; Grand Rapids MI: Baker academic, 2015, p 15 II. What is Contextualization? Presenting the Gospel in Culturally Relevant Ways – BY ED STETZER “The topic of contextualization arises frequently in contemporary discussions on missiology and ecclesiology . Although it is sometimes controversial, contextualization remains a critical component of effective Gospel communication. The New Testament models the importance of healthy contextualization, and the history of Christian missions displays the need for contextualization.” Ed Stetzer, “What Is Contextualization? Presenting the Gospel in Ways Culturally Relevant Ways,” Christianity Today , October 12, 2014, https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/october/what-is-contextualization.html . • Contextualization involves an attempt to present the gospel in a culturally accepting way. • Discussions about culture are unavoidable , all people live in a culture of some sort. • CONTEXTUALIZATION then, is simply about sharing the Gospel well. - When culture starts impacting scripture, we need to step away. Contextualizing the Christian Message 2

Friday, August 25-28th Principles of Contextualization 1. We affirm that the Bible is the only infallible text that exists. a. It is appropriate to evaluate all other books by the Bible. (Acts 17:11) 2. We affirm that there is a biblical precedent for using "bridges" to reach out to others with the Gospel (Acts 17:22-23). a. Our evangelism must go beyond bridges to present the whole unvarnished truth of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). 3. We affirm an incarnational approach to missions that is bound by biblical parameters. a. Following the example of Him who became flesh (John 1:14), (1 Corinthians 9:22b). 4. We affirm both the sufficiency and unique nature of biblical revelation (2 Timothy 3:14- 17). 5. We affirm the need to be ethically sound in our evangelistic methodology (2 Corinthians 4:2). a. "Wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" (Matthew 10:16). We are to be wise in our bridge building. We are to be harmless in our integrity as we hold forth the truth. Ed Stetzer, “What Is Contextualization? Presenting the Gospel in Ways Culturally Relevant Ways,” Christianity Today , October 12, 2014, https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/october/what-is-contextualization.html . IV. The Nature of Contextualization. “What we must do is to retain the essential meaning of the biblical teaching while we apply it in a contemporary setting. This is a matter of changing the form but not the content of the teaching” (Erikson, pg. 17) “Contextualizing is making timeless truth, timely!” “We are called both to the difficult and painful task of ‘double listening’ - both to the ancient Word and to the modern world, in order to relate the one to the Contextualizing the Christian Message 3

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Friday, August 25-28th other with a combination of fidelity and sensitivity. Only in doing so will we avoid the opposite pitfalls of unfaithfulness and irrelevance” John Stott, The Contemporary Christian , IVP, 1992, p.13 IV. Concluding Thought. “ We depend upon various sources in our reflection on God and the world. Some argue that Scripture (the Bible) should be the only source of theology, but almost all concede that the Bible does not address every theological issue (certainly not every contemporary ethical issue), so we need other sources as well. The four primary sources commonly used are: 1.Scripture 2.Tradition 3.Reason 4. Experience. (These are colloquially known as the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, but they are not limited to Wesleyans/Methodists.)” “Among these we affirm the centrality of Scripture, as the only infallible and inspired source, but Christians also appropriately draw from the other three. Since we are learning about God through these sources of theology, we recognize that we depend on the Spirit as we engage each.” Ben Blackwell & R. L. Hatchett. (2019). Engaging Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic. (p.36) We consider the CONTEXT and the CONTENT of our message. While the METHODS may change, the MESSAGE must not. Contextualizing the Christian Message 4

Contextualizing

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