Theology of the Church, Mentor's Guide, MG03

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T H E O L O G Y O F T H E C H U R C H

Commission. As much as possible, enable the students to understand the correlation between the themes.

While concentrating on general themes, take special note in this section of the questions and concerns of the students. Undoubtedly, many questions could have emerged from the discussion on the nuances of the doctrine of election, and now allow for ample time to wrestle with the various implications of the different positions. Especially in the doctrine of election, there are a number of issues which beg for critical reflection and discussion, and some of them can even cause varying degrees of distress. It is important to emphasize the role of mystery and finiteness in all theological education. God has supplied us with insight that is both comprehensive and beyond our understanding, but he has not provided us with exhaustive understanding. We need to be humble enough to admit that there are genuine limits to our understanding of God’s intentions and motives, and we ought to be careful in our assertions about what God knows absolutely and unconditionally. Through your answers and your demeanor model for your students what it means to be secure in accepting God’s mysteries. The things revealed belong to us and the things hidden belong to the Lord (Deut. 29.29). Most of our error in theological speculation often arises from our pride in assuming that we can know everything possible about God and his works in the world. We cannot. We therefore should engage in our questions with humility and openness. The Holy Spirit is our teacher and we can rely on him as we continue our studies together (1 John 2.27). These case studies are designed to enable the students to apply the difficult and yet refreshing truth about election and the Commission to real life situations. It is important to know that in many situations, as we apply the Word of God, there are often times when our best reflection and most biblical sentiments will not yield easy answers to our dilemmas. What we seek here is an openness and fairness to read the facts of the situation carefully, and relate the Word of the God to the situations as intuitively and wisely as possible. There may be more than a single right answer in a

13 Page 106 Student Application and Implications

14 Page 107 Case Studies