Journal: Southern Baptist Journal of Theology
Volume: SBJT 12:3 (Fall 2008)
Article: Exodus 34, the Middoth and the Doctrine of God: The Importance of Biblical Theology to Evangelical Systematic Theology
Author: Graham A. Cole

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SBJT 12:3 (Fall 2008) p. 24

Exodus 34, the Middoth and the Doctrine of God:
The Importance of Biblical Theology to Evangelical Systematic Theology

Graham A. Cole*

*Graham A. Cole is Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Prior to joining the TEDS faculty, Dr. Cole was for ten years principal of Ridley College, University of Melbourne, Australia, where he lectured in philosophy, systematic theology, ethics, and apologetics. He has contributed numerous articles to books and periodicals. Dr. Cole is the author of He Who Gives Life: The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit (Crossway, 2007) and Engaging with the Holy Spirit: Real Questions, Practical Answers (Crossway, 2008).

Introduction

We were created to worship the living God. According to Jesus, the Father seeks such worship (John 4:23). There is no higher calling. Indeed, it is a firm biblical principle that we become in character like the object of our worship. However, in a fallen world, this calling can be distorted. The key is the nature of the God or gods we adore. If we worship the living God of biblical revelation then we will image him. If we worship idols we will image them: “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them” (Ps 115:8). A. W. Tozer wrote in his work on the attributes of God,

What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.... The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man’s spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God.1

Tozer saw the importance of a right characterization of God and he knew also that the Scriptures are the key, because the Scriptures are nothing less than God’s self-revelation.

To use John Calvin’s classic image, the Scriptures are like glasses that bring God into focus. Calvin argued,

Just as old or bleary eyed men and those with weak vision, if you thrust before them a most beautiful volume, even if they recognize it to be some sort of writing, yet can scarcely construe two words, but with the aid of spectacles will begin to read distinctly; so Scripture, gathering up the otherwise confused knowledge of God in our minds, having dispersed our dullness, clearly shows us the true God. This, therefore, is a special gift, where God, to instruct the church, not merely uses mute teachers but also opens his own most hallowed lips. Not only does he teach the elect to look upon a god, but also shows himself as the God upon whom they are to look.

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