Petrus Van Mastricht (1630-1706) may not be a familiar name to many evangelical pastors today, but his theological methodology persists in healthy evangelical pulpits. While unfamiliar to most evangelicals today, the New England puritans prized Mastricht as eminently practical. Cotton Mather and Jonathan Edwards sang his praises. What was it that endeared Mastricht to his New England readers?
Faithfully Prioritizing Scripture in Theology
Order is important in a system of theology. Theology is speaking about God, and so therefore must proceed from God. Turning to 1 Timothy 6:3, Mastricht defined theology as that knowledge about God which necessitates that a person live to God through Christ. To arrive at a knowledge of God, a person may appeal to natural theology (nature) or scholastic tools (philosophy), but above them all stands the revealed Word of God. The Scriptural text provides the parameter about God. While revelation is primary, Mastricht recognizes that theological knowing makes use of natural, scholastic, and philosophical means, but the Bible remains the ultimate authority over councils and philosophical schools.
The method of theological inquiry is critical so that a person might “live to God.” First, by the example of 1 Tim 6:3, Paul teaches and then admonishes. Doctrine comes first. Testing of doctrine second. If the doctrine is sound, then the doctrine is useful for self-examination and exhortation.
In a typical week, a faithful pastor opens a biblical text. Word-study, context, grammar, and progressive revelation inform the text. A big idea or doctrine arises from the study which his hearers will use in self-examination and encouragement. Often, a pastor will describe how he found the big idea or doctrine, and walk his hearers through the text, making suggestions for how one might take the text to heart.
The elevation of the biblical text above all other authorities is the defining characteristic of an evangelical pulpit. Consequently, God’s Word is of greater authority than naturalistic, scholastic, or philosophical observations. A faithful pastor will examine the Word of God to lead his people to pursue a love for God.
Practical Piety as the Goal of Theology
Quoting Bernard of Clairvaux, Mastricht argues that true theology is not enough as “one has the words of the saints but not their life.” Thus theology is not an end in itself. Theology is a means to living well and flourish in communion with God in Christ. According to Adriaan Neele, faith and love are the pillars of Mastricht’s systematic theology.
Uniquely, unlike many of his contemporary theologians, Mastricht discusses Scripture, faith, and God in that order. Perhaps Mastricht was prophetic as to the potential harm Rene Descartes’s extreme doubt might do to theological inquiry, and by necessity, practical piety. Faith is the appropriate point of entry into the doctrine of God.
The tendency of modern pulpits is to short-cut theological methodology by asking, “What needs do my audience have?” Instead, modern pastors ought to be asking, “What does Scripture say?” Calling listeners to have faith in God is necessary for piety to occur in the heart. Union with Christ through the Holy Spirit occurs by faith. Faith in God and Scripture forms piety (or love to God).
Methodology and the Great Awakening
Many remember Jonathan Edwards as the catalyst of the Great Awakening, yet the Awakening may have been a direct result of a faithful pastor who took Mastricht’s theological methodology seriously. Following Mastricht’s systematic theology, Edwards preached a series of messages on Justification by Faith to his Northampton congregation in 1734-1735.
Out of those sermons, a surprising work of God occurred. When the reviving fires dwindled, Edwards preached a reflective series in 1737-1738 on True and False Christians. Love is the second pillar of Mastricht’s system and significantly is the basis of Edwards’s next preaching series: Charity and Its Fruits. Edwards lead his congregation with Mastricht’s theological methodology right up to the high point of the Great Awakening in 1740-41.
Church growth models tend to focus on felt needs of culture. The Bible, on the other hand, shows us that people will not live to God without a love for God. Love for God comes from faith in God. And we receive God through his revealed Word.
Good article