How then can we `test’ the Toronto Blessing? If we cannot trust personal experience or short term gains, what can we trust? The answer is basically a matter of systematic theology.
Unfortunately, systematic theology has not been a particularly strong feature of the Anglo-American scene for some time. In the English case there is hesitancy about theological systems which seem to claim too much. But as Colin Gunton has observed, there is “an important distinction between a systematic theology that aims at a SYSTEM, and one that more modestly aims at being SYSTEMATIC.” (`An English Systematic Theology?’, The Scottish Journal of Theology, Vol. 46, 1994, pp.479-496).
We need to recognize that systematic theology is a biblical concept. The reason Jesus gave for not investigating claims that he had returned to the desert or the inner room is grounded in a systematic theology about the second coming which links the SIGNIFICANCE of this event with its NATURE: “For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man” (Matt 24:27).
But we also need to recognize WHAT IS the systematic theology contained in the Bible. The best key to this is, I would argue, the biblical theological approach pioneered by Donald Robinson and developed by the likes of Graham Goldsworthy, Bill Dumbrell etc. The particular feature of this approach is that it recognizes and identifies in the Bible both CONTINUITY and DEVELOPMENT. There is the continuity of ONE great theme, from start to finish and there is the DEVELOPMENT of that theme through Scripture.
Only a systematic theology allows us to give coherence to our experience and expectation of God. And more specifically, only a systematic theology allows us to recognize that whilst God CAN do anything he DOESN’T do everything – and this is fundamental to our approach to the Toronto Blessing.
Persecution Live 