Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief

by John M. Frame

Systematic Theology is the culmination and creative synthesis of John Frame's writing on, teaching about, and studying of the Word of God. This magisterial opus at once biblical, clear, cogent, readable, accessible, and practical summarizes the mature thought of one of the most important and original Reformed theologians of the last hundred years. It will enable you to see clearly how the Bible explains God's great, sweeping plan for mankind.

Genres: Theology, Christianity, Reference, Christian, Religion, Nonfiction, Audiobook

1 pages, Audio CD

First published November 4, 2013

About the author

For his education, Frame received degrees from Princeton University (A.B.), Westminster Theological Seminary (B.D.), Yale University (A.M. and M.Phil., though he was working on a doctorate and admits his own failure to complete his dissertation), and Belhaven College (D.D.). He has served on the faculty of Westminster Theological Seminary and was a founding faculty member of their California campus. He currently (as of 2022) teaches Apologetics and The History of Philosophy and Christian thought at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, FL.

Reviews

[Mark Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

When a systematic theology begins with a series of endorsements that are longer than certain other systematics, you know you’ve got either a goldmine or a naked emperor. I didn’t have to even touch the book before I knew I had the former, because Frame is a favorite of mine. He is biblical, above all else (I took it as a compliment when R. Scott Clark complained in his review that Frame is "more ‘biblicist' than confessionalist"). Frame is self-consciously Reformed while feeling free to prod his tradition when it becomes doctrinaire or semantically pedantic (like his discussion of the use the words author, cause, permit, etc. on pp. 294ff.). It is precisely Frame’s care with words that often endears me to him; in a field in which definition of terms is extremely important and much-discussed, Frame is a rarity: a theologian who maintains a keen sensitivity to the principles of descriptive linguistics. He’s also a great writer, so clear and simple.

Now, I didn’t have to read all 1,000 pages to write a review—did I? Does anyone really expect that? I wish I could deliver, of course. Some day I may. But systematics are meant to be dipped into, not, generally speaking, devoured like a 52-course meal.

So that’s what I did. I read the problem of evil section, and it was classic Frame. Utterly clear and simple, really. Carefully and frequently biblical. And, by the end, triperspectival.

If you, like one reviewer, count yourself among those who just don’t find Frame’s three perspectives helpful—if you find them arbitrary or even confusing—then I still don’t think you’ll mind. You might scratch your head, like I do when I read books full of alliteration or acronyms. But the idiosyncratic (well, Frame’s buddy Poythress uses it, too) terminology of the “normative," “situational," and “existential" will not obscure the real substance of the discussions.

I found that substance in other places I dipped, too. His discussion of the means of grace employed his three perspectives (fellowship, word, prayer) helpfully (1047ff.). Those perspectives also illuminated his discussion of the image of God (786ff.). And I could hardly see a page in which he didn’t cite and quote Scripture extensively.

As in the Ten Commandments section in his  Doctrine of the Christian Life , Frame appeals regularly to the Westminster Standards. This alone may cause readers in my own segment of Christianity to suspect his biblicism. But everywhere you will see him use those standards as a help (he’s persuaded me fully that they are) and not an authority over Scripture. He’s willing to point to areas of weakness in the confession (866-867).

The things I’ve always disliked about Frame are present: his totally uncharacteristic uncharitableness whenever Westminster West comes up, his unwarranted charitableness toward Norman Shepherd’s "Auburn Avenue” theology (974–975), and I can’t decide how critical to be of his evenhandedness with C. John Collins’ position on the historicity of Adam and Eve (806—Frame himself does not take Collins’ view). Also, his coverage does seem a little odd, making you wonder if this ST was a little rushed or borrowed too heavily from past work—Christology gets 46 pages, for example, compared to 178 for bibliology and 75 for epistemology. As I flipped through the book, on every page I turned to I recognized Framean themes I’ve read in him before; I can’t say how much here is helpfully new. Other reviewers have complained about these things here and there.

But other reviewers have also concluded what I did: these are minor points in a massive, and massively helpful—at least everywhere I looked—systematic. It has a good glossary of Framean terms as well as a good bibliography, and helpful topical and Scripture indices. He also presents all his triads in a helpful chart form.

Frame genuflects toward more structured and lay-friendly systematics like that of Wayne Grudem by including study questions, key terms, memory verses, and a brief bibliography at the end of each chapter. These sections felt a little half-hearted to me, tacked on. Nonetheless, I think Frame’s ST could be as good a read as Grudem for a lay Bible study.

It was not the purpose of this review to engage in detailed discussion of points of disagreement, or even to mention them all (if I were even qualified to do so), but merely to alert you to a valuable resource which I do think belongs on your shelf. Or maybe your desk.

[Christian Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I spent the last 2 months in this book. Also, the last two hours, because it was it was not only intellectually stimulating, but also spiritually uplift. A Christian must read.

[Chase Coleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

No I didn’t read all 1,000 pages but reading around 700 is more than enough to write a review. This is definitely more in depth than Grudem but still approachable to mostly anyone. Also a great systematic for those within the reformed tradition #unashamed. He’s got a weird thing with triads that appears in every chapter that I found largely unhelpful but that was a small part. I don’t agree with him entirely and there were some things left underdeveloped and not explained very thoroughly (section on theophanies).

The last chapter I read was oddly the best which was a sweet note to end on (ch.32). This is a systematic worth having in my opinion just on the sheer quantity of information available in one book.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The reading of Frame's Systematic Theology was quite the undertaking, but it was beyond worth it. There was not a single part of the book I did not benefit from, in that, every part of the book was either a) enlightening b) encouraging or c) challenging. Even when I disagreed with Frame I had to think deeply about why. When I was enlightened it felt like an entire room of lightbulbs was turned on all at once. When I was encouraged it was due to Frame's deep care about theology being both truthful and applicable. Overall I would highly recommend setting aside the time it takes to read this tome cover to cover. 10/10

[Peter Kiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like the book a lot, but it is missing the rigour that Beale had in his biblical theology, which I suppose is the consequence of taking on more topics. I appreciate the humble and gracious tone Frame has throughout the book, and his lack of hesitancy to say "I don't know" (yet I'm not sure why he disagrees with Van Til on his conception of mystery and apparent contradiction in theology, since it seems to be very similar to Frame's approach). I also very much appreciate the accurate representation of various positions, especially post millennialism which is notoriously misrepresented. On the downside, I find Frame's tri-perspectivalism to be a cool idea, but the outworking of it seems to be very artificial at times, contributing little to an understanding of a topic. There are certain topics that I think it may be helpful, such as ethics, but for other topics it seems too arbitrary. The book was edifying, but it also made me like John Frame a lot.

[Barb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before I started reading this book I had never heard of John Frame nor had I delved very deeply into Reform Theology. Frankly when I noticed that the book had 1275 pages I thought “Good grief, 1275 pages of dull, boring, reading.” I wondered if I should put it farther back in my “to-be-reviewed” list and take some of the shorter ones first. However, after reading a few pages, I knew I had to read this book now, not later.

The author has an easy style of writing and a way of making complicated theological concepts simple enough for anyone to understand. You might expect a really good novel or adventure story to draw you in after just a few pages – but a systematic theology? Well, it did and the pages just flew by.

I want to quote some of the author’s introductory remarks so you can see where he is coming from and what his basic purpose is for writing this systematic theology.

“In Christianity the study of God is a study of God’s revelation of himself. Theology must be essentially a study of Scripture. It should not be defined as an analysis of human religions. consciousness, or feelings. The theologian states the facts and truths of Scripture for the purpose of edification. Those truths are stated NOT for their own sake, but to build up people in Christian faith. In this way, we align the concept of theology with the concepts of teaching and preaching in the New Testament. To apply Scripture is to use Scripture to meet a human need, to answer a human question, or to make a human decision. Questions about the test of Scripture, translations, interpretation, ethics, Christian growth – all these are fair game for theology. To show (by word or deed) how Scripture resolves all these kinds of questions is to apply it. So I offer my definition of theology: theology is the application of Scripture, by persons, to every area of life. Why, then, do we need theology in addition to Scripture? The only answer, I believe, is because we need to apply Scripture to life.”

“I think that theology today has become preoccupied with auxiliary secular disciplines (psychology, sociology, politics, economics, philosophy, literary criticism, and the natural sciences) to the extent of neglecting its primary responsibility: to apply Scripture itself. Theological literature today is focused, especially, on history of doctrine and contemporary thought. Often this literature deals with theological questions by comparing various thinkers from the past and from the present, with a very minimal interaction with Scripture itself. I cannot help but mention my conviction that this problem is partly the result of our present system for training theologians. To quality for college or seminary positions, a theologian must earn a Ph.D., ideally from a prestigious liberal university. But at such schools, there is no training in the kind of systematic theology that I describe here. Liberal university theologians do not view Scripture as God’s Word, and so they cannot encourage theology as I have defined it, the application of God’s infallible Word. For them, one cannot be a respectable scholar unless he thinks autonomously, that is, rejecting the supreme authority of Scripture.”

I agree with every thing quoted above. If fact, I agree with most of the book. However, there are two areas where I totally disagree with the author. The first area is predestination. Predestination is a belief that of all the humans who have ever existed, only the “elect” will be saved. The elect is group of people who were chosen before the creation of the world to be saved. All others will be lost and suffer eternal punishment. The author gives what he considers Scriptural support for the belief, but I am not convinced. I think the Bible, in its entirety supports the fact that salvation is offered to all with each having the free will to choose.

The other disagreement I have is with his view of the end times. He believes the amillennial position and I believe the premillennial position. The author states “the amillennial position believes that the millennium is right now, the whole period from Jesus’ ascension to his return. It emphasizes that the resurrection and ascension of Jesus ushered in a new era of world history. Jesus has now achieved a great victory over Satan, sin, and death and although we don’t see all the effects of that victory now, it is certainly real. It is, perhaps, hard for us to imagine that right now Satan is “bound” (Rev. 20:2), sealed in a bottomless pit, but it certainly is the case that his power is weakened.” In my personal view, Satan is not weakened, if anything he is stronger and more active than ever. The premillennial position, which I believe, says that Christ comes back before the millennium.

Except for these two positions, I do recommend this book. John Frame believes in a literal interpretation of Scripture and he believes that Scripture should be applied to our lives, as Jesus intended. If you are looking for a systematic theology that is presented from the Reform viewpoint, this is one you will want to add to your library.


I was provided a free copy of this book for review from P & R Publishing. I was under no obligation to provide a favorable review.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first Systematic Theology I've read. It is a bit daunting to undertake reading a Systematic Theology as they're are essentially text books, and are consequently very long and generally not very enticing unless you're assigned the book in seminary.

But seeing this release last year, I was very excited, as I hold John Frame in high esteem, and knew this would be worth the undertaking. Now, a year later, I am glad to have read this work.

Frame is one of the contemporary champions of presuppositional apologetics and the intellectual heir of Cornelius Van Til. Considering how Van Til is ignored by most within evangelicalism, I immediately recognized the importance of Frame's Systematics.

Frame's primary thesis is the Lordship of Christ in all of life--particularly epistemology. If Christ is not Lord of our understanding, if we synthesize human philosophy with Christian theology, not only will our theology suffer, but our lives will suffer because we remain beholden to the idols of human autonomy.

So from the beginning, Frame seeks to control our theology according to the Word of God. He holds Scripture up highly and submits to its teaching, despite his nature desiring to reject it. He expresses these doubts several times throughout the volume--perhaps most notably in the Bible's teaching on Hell. But he is clear on this--the Bible teaches on the eternal suffering of the damned, and God is just, therefore he--and we, must hold firmly to this doctrine, despite our fleshly rejection of it.

Under this rubric, Frame rejects the law/gospel distinction that is so prevalent in our day. He views it as a sub-biblical teaching that confuses what the gospel is. The gospel is not only good news, but the supremacy of God's law over all others. If Christ is King, his law is supreme. Yet Frame is also equally clear here, that we are not saved by works, but faith. We are saved for works. We must obey.

This is where Frame's perspectivalism is so helpful and so critical to understanding the Scriptures. Theologians are so quick to put doctrines in opposition, or competition with one another. This is not a biblical view. Instead, Frame offers the view that each teaching has three perspectives--the normative, the existential, and the situational. They are not in competition, but just a perspective.

These three perspectives offer greater understanding to men, because our perspectives and knowledge is limited. We are finite creatures and unable to comprehend the fullness of God. So we must seek to understand God, and his teachings from his Word, our own perspective, and that which is most satisfying to a believing heart. The tri-unity of these perspectives will bring us closer to the truth of any matter.

Contrary to his critics, this is not postmodern subjectivity, but a holistic understanding of the world. It puts balance to any teaching--not stressing one thing over another. These "triads", as Frame calls them, are throughout the book and show how all of life is Trinitarian in nature.

I wasn't surprised by much of anything in this book, perhaps only Frame's humility. He isn't dogmatic on some of the more controversial doctrines that divide, instead, choosing to acknowledge the Bible isn't as clear on many teachings as we would like it to be. For example, eschatologically, he leans toward postmillenialism, but isn't dogmatic on it.

The book is long, yes, but most of the chapters aren't more than ten or fifteen pages long. You can, as I did, chip away at this slowly. Read a chapter or two at a time and you will be edified and grow in your understanding of the Bible and have a firmer grasp on how to apply its teachings to your life. This is a rich resource for the church and I commend it to all.

[Margaret Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I didn't technically finish this - my theological book club and I got to chapter 14 (The Problem of Evil) - but we've decided to move on to a different book that moves a little faster. It would probably take us another two or three years to finish this :D
One of Frame's strongest qualities, in my opinion, is the way he presents alternate viewpoints on any one issue (he does this very well in chapter 14, for example), then proves his view based solely on Scripture. It makes the reader feel well informed and able to decide what they believe.
I liked, too, the general tone of this Systematic Theology. It's not as basic and straightforward as some, and I appreciated the opportunity to dive deeper into topics. But there were also things I didn't love; Frame sometimes makes logical jumps that are confusing, given the fact that he kind of overexplains other things. I didn't find all of his diagrams helpful. And at times he can come across a little pompous.
But I do think that the book is theologically sound, and it led to many thoughtful, wonder-inducing conversations about the character of God. Maybe one day I'll finish it. Maybe.

[Joseph · Rating 4 out of 5]

Over a year and a half later, I finish this behemoth. The purpose of this book is to be a reference and not a cover-to-cover read, but I was interested in the whole scope of Frame’s “Tri-Perspectivalism” approach to a Christian Systematic Theology. I appreciated his clarity, honesty, and humble tone. I will continue to use this along side other resources when certain question about the Christian cross my mind.

[Steve Hemmeke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tri-Perspectivalism

There’s a bulky, unwieldy word to start a book review with. It sums up Frame’s approach to Systematic Theology. Pick any topic, and Frame can in some way relate it to the triad with three perspectives. At the top point is the perspective of authority. God decrees, commands, defines right and wrong as the Creator God. At the left point is the perspective of control. God providentially sets the situation, puts us in the Garden or on this earth, tells us the story of redemption. And at the right point of the triangle is the perspective of presence. God indwells us by His Spirit, has us experience and feel events (situational perspective) and truths (normative perspective).

Frame spends about 2/3 of these 1100 pages on the doctrine of God, teasing out philosophical nuances, so if you’re looking for an even treatment of each topic of theology, this is not it. What it is, is a systematizing of Cornelius Van Til’s pre-suppositional thought into most heads of theology, which was well worth the time. There were a few chapters toward the end where Frame didn’t seem to have much to contribute, and was simply passing on Reformed teaching, mainly from the Westminster confession. But for anyone with an interest in Van Til, this is worth the read. One key theme from him is the Lordship of the Tri-une God. He determines everything about our existence – that we have the senses we do (existential perspective), the world we are in (situational p.), and the logical and moral immutable truths at work in His universe (normative).

Frame begins and ends the book with an emphasis that theology must be applied to life for it to fulfill its purpose. He often accomplishes this (though not always!) applying even esoteric subjects to life.

[Roni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was my first official systematic theology book and loved it! The audio version from Blackstone Publishing is excellent, and I highly recommend it. The recording is a total of 50 hrs and (unlike other works of this size) the tracks are conveniently labeled with chapter titles & subtitles! Audible also includes an accompanying pdf with diagrams and for anyone interested, the book is available on archive.org to follow along. I also plan to read through the 52-chapter book slowly (at the rate of one chapter per week!) and finish it this year. Great resource!

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that you argue with is a good book on theology anyways
Suppositions abound and he is clear. It reminds me that reformed theology is broader than many. Read, learn, and grow. I ate all 52 courses chocked on a few, some went down well and others substantiated my diet

[Levi Dykstra · Rating 5 out of 5]

The magnitude of this work is incredible. The amount of topics, the length, the framework. (pardon the pun)
Much wisdom in here, Bible is truly deep enough for giga brains to drown in, yet accessible for the youngest to wade into. The overall constitution of this book is quite agreeable, with a few obvious missteps;
Creations timetable and deaconesses. But I would highly recommend this for study or casual reading.

[Caroline Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read the whole thing; however, I read about the same amount as the average book length so I will be counting this towards my reading goal. (I will be taking no further questions at this time)

Overall, I enjoyed what I read. It is more in-depth in comparison to Grudem's Systematic Theology. I read this along with Grudem's for another class and I enjoyed comparing/contrasting the two.

[Ryan Jankowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Frame's humility and depth. This is a fairly massive text and took quite some time to finish. Although Reformed in nature, anyone outside the camp would appreciate given how fair handed he is on various disputed positions. After finishing the hard copy, I bought an audible version and listed to it for a second time round. The audible version is really well done.

On modern systematics, Frame has overtaken Letham in my mind for the number one position.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE WELL-RESPECTED REFORMED THEOLOGIAN SUMMARIZES THEOLOGY

John M. Frame (born 1939) is an American philosopher and Calvinist theologian, noted for his presuppositional apologetics. He wrote in the Preface to this 2013 book, “For me, ‘biblical’ is always the operative word… It must have the final word in all historical and contemporary controversies… My … systematic theology … is somewhat less historical in focus than other volumes. I have also written less … about contemporary academic theologians….”

He acknowledges, “God could have remedied the fall in an instant, sending his Son in an accelerated time frame… in a matter of decades… But instead he determined a process spread out over millennia… Why he chose to stretch out the drama of salvation over so long a time is a mystery… But God’s decision is clear: that the history of redemption will take millennia, leaving space for dramatic movements…” (Pg. 87-88)

He explains, “It should be agreed that though God is the Creator and therefore the exemplar of both ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ virtues… the biblical images of God… are predominantly masculine… In Isaiah 42:14-15, God declares impending judgment: ‘…I will cry out like a woman in labor…’ Feminist writers often present this passage as a feminine image of God. The image here is certainly feminine… The feminine imagery used for God in Isaiah 42:14-15 is common in Scripture, often used for male persons… In Matthew 23:37, Jesus compares himself to a hen who gathers chicks under her wings. Beyond these specific passages, there are some broader biblical ideas thought by some to presuppose a feminine element of some kind in God… I would conclude that there are a couple of feminine images of the Spirit in Scripture, but that is not sufficient to suggest as some do that the Spirit is the feminine person of the Trinity… My conclusion from these biblical references is that there are indeed feminine images of God in Scripture, but they are rather few and suggest no sexual ambivalence in the divine nature…” (Pg. 109-111)

He states, “I don’t think it can be demonstrated from Scripture that miracles do not occur today. Rather… they may well occur in our time, but only at God’s own initiative….I believe, somewhat less firmly, that God has removed from the church the word-gifts of tongues and prophecy… Granting that … tongues and prophecy… have ceased, it does not follow that ALL miracles have ceased. At the same time, I do not believe that the more spectacular miracles… are a normal part of Christian experience today…” (Pg. 131-132)

He argues, “The miracles of Scripture play a significant role in persuading us that Scripture is true. Some may find a circle here: we believe the miracles because of Scripture, and Scripture because of the miracles. It is true that Scripture is our ultimate standard … And an ultimate standard cannot be proved by any standard other than itself. But the circularity does not render the argument unpersuasive… we recognize the specific ways in which Scripture attests itself, by presenting content that is wonderfully persuasive and cogent. And miracle is a large part of that.” (Pg. 138)

He states, “When God intends to bring someone to faith in Christ, he cannot fail, although for his own reasons he may choose to wrestle long with a person before achieving that purpose… But Scripture regularly teaches that when God elects, calls, and regenerates someone in Christ, through the Spirit, that work accomplishes his saving purpose.” (Pg. 145)

He explains, “We now approach a more controversial area, that of human decisions. Does God bring about our decisions?... we must face the fact that our decision are not independent of God, and therefore that our definition of freedom must be, somehow, consistent with God’s sovereignty over the human will… we have seen that God ordains the events of nature and the events of our daily lives. How can such pervasive divine involvement in our lives not profoundly influence our own choices?... it is God who has placed us in our environment, in the situations that require us to make decisions… Negatively, God’s purposes EXCLUDE many free decisions that would otherwise be possible… Scripture teaches directly that God brings about our free decisions. God does not merely foreordain what happens to us… but also foreordains what we choose to do… God’s purpose stands behind the free decisions of human being. Often God tells us… what a human being will freely decide to do. But the point is… that he is fulfilling his own purpose through the event.” (Pg. 155-157)

Later, he continues, “Which choice comes first? Does God choose us for salvation and then move us to respond? Or do we first choose him and thereby motivate him to choose us for salvation? The second alternative is quite impossible, since it violates the very idea of grace. If our choosing God moves him to save us, then salvation is based on a work of ours, and we have something to boast about. Further, God’s choosing takes place in eternity past, before we are even conceived. Before we began to exist, God’s plan for us was fully formulated. We can no more change God’s decision than we can change our grandparents.” (Pg. 163-164)

He explains, “the Reformed doctrine of the ‘perseverance of the saints’ … does not teach that everybody who makes a PROFESSION of faith is eternally saved. Scripture is fully aware that some professing Christians apostatize, turn away from the truth… There are solemn warnings about apostasy and apostates in Hebrews… The apostates … turned from the Lord and suffered God’s condemnation.” (Pg. 179)

Of the ‘days’ of Genesis 1, he admits, “I have no new insight on these issues, nor even any view on the matter that I could argue with confidence… I am not denying that secular science has influenced this debate. The claims of scientists that the universe has existed for billions of years have certainly motivated theologians to go back into the text… and that has meant rethinking traditional positions… But there are wrong ways of being influenced by science… So I am not persuaded by arguments that the days of Genesis 1 MUST be nonchronological or that they must be ages long… There are reasons for taking the days as normal days… On the other hand, I am not persuaded that figurative views should be considered heresy… My exegetical position at the moment is that the earth is young, rather than old… A young-earth view implies the proposition that God created the world with an appearance of age… Some have argued that God would be ‘lying’ to us if he made starts that appear to be billions of years old, but whose origin was actually only ten thousand years ago… My point is simply that any view of origins implies apparent age… we should simply accept as a general principle that … the starlight that God originally created would contain the same twinkles … that would later be caused by supernovas and other astral events. I find the type of explanation given above satisfactory as an answer to most problems of apparent age. One problem I find more difficult … is the existence of fossils that seem to antedate by millions of years any young-earth date for creation… This discussion may… send us back to consider again the possibility of a nonliteral creation week. As I indicated, the text SUGGESTS a literal week and … the nonliteral view is not EXCLUDED.” (Pg. 196-202)

He notes, “If God has chosen some for salvation, and he has not chosen everyone, then it follows that some are not elect. Since only elect are saved, the nonelect are ultimately lost. So God’s election of some implies his rejection of others. This rejection is called ‘reprobation.’ … This is a hard doctrine, because it seems to conflict with god’s loving and merciful nature and with his desire that all be saved… I will only observe that the doctrine of reprobation is scriptural… God has foreordained that some will not have eternal life…” (Pg. 221) Later, he adds, “God’s love does certainly coerce some people… Does God violate our free will in converting us? Yes and no… ‘coercion’ is not the best word to describe what happens in conversion… What of ‘persuasion’? Well, God does persuade us to believe in the sense that he makes us want to believe…” (Pg. 241-242) He concludes, “God does discriminate between people before those people are born…” (Pg. 271)

He explains, “God does harden hearts… indicating that he is in control of human free decisions… Do we want to say that God is the ‘cause’ of evil?... For us, the question arises whether God can be the efficient cause of sin, without being to blame for it… [If] the connection between cause and blame in modern language is no stronger than the connection between ordination and blame, then it seems to me that it is not wrong to say that God causes evil and sin. Certainly we should employ such language cautiously, however…” (Pg. 293-296) Later, he adds, “This answer to the problem of evil turns entirely on God’s sovereignty. It is as far as could be imagined from a free-will defense…” (Pg. 300) He rejects the ‘middle knowledge’ advocated by Luis Molina and William Lane Craig: “Craig … fails to notice that God’s creation of a possible world is in fact a preventer to the libertarian free choices of the creatures… Craig is inconsistent to affirm both libertarianism and the divine act of actualizing a complete possible world, including all creaturely choices.” (Pg. 326)

Of the objection, ‘Can God make a stone so heavy that he cannot lift it?’ he comments, “The reason for this problem is that there is no one or no thing higher than God by which to define his attributes… So our definition boils down… to ‘God can do what he can do.’ The definition is circular, as, ultimately, all definitions of divine attributes…” (Pg. 341, 343)

He acknowledges, “Someone might ask why references to Christ as God in the NT are so few and so often controversial… we might well wish that these references were more frequent in the NT… We should remember, however, that ‘theos,’ ‘God,’ is not the only term that indicates the deity of Christ…” (Pg. 467)

Of dealing with Bible difficulties, he suggests, “the proper method in theology is not to withhold judgment until the problems are solved. It is rather to believe God’s personal word, despite the problems… Problems test our faith, but they do not carry anywhere near the wright of God’s self-witness… When we deal with Bible problems, then, it is important for us to …read humbly. When faced with a problem, it is not dishonor so say, ‘I don’t know how this can be resolved.’ Scientists do that all the time…” (Pg. 604-605) He advises, however, “it is not wise for evangelical apologists to bring up the possibility of textual corruption in the abstract… most evangelical apologists … don’t recklessly appeal to copyists’ errors whenever a problem appears… When we reach the end of our ability to explain, it is far better… to say honestly, ‘I don’t know.’” (Pg. 637)

He states, “Extrabiblical tradition is not necessarily bad… whether or not it comes from the apostles. Indeed, such tradition is unavoidable. In the … years since Jesus’ ascension Christians could hardly avoid accumulating many standard ways of doing things and of formulating doctrine… Theology is filled with technical terms that come from tradition, not Scripture. Scripture never says, for example, that we should refer to God as one ‘substance’ or as three ‘persons.’” (Pg. 650-651)

He suggests, “we should consider the possibility that Adam and Eve, though historical figures, were not literally the first parents of all present-day human beings… the rapid development of culture, agriculture, and technology thereafter… are not impossible to explain… But the supposition of a tribe or community contemporary with Adam and Eve made the history somewhat easier to understand. On such an interpretation we would also have to take figuratively the statement in Genesis 3:20 that Eve ‘was the mother of all living.’ … But the development of such interpretative hypotheses is in its infancy, and certain no such interpretation should be made normative in the church.” (Pg. 805-806)

He notes, “we regularly think of freedom as doing what we want to do… This kind of freedom is sometimes called ‘compatibilism,’ because it is compatible with determinism… Compatibilist freedom means that even if every act we perform is caused by something outside ourselves (such as natural causes or God), we can still be free, for we can still act according to our character and desires… On the compatibilist view, we can say… that in one sense we always act according to our strongest desire and in another sense we do not…” (Pg. 824)

He argues, “As with open theists [Clark] Pinnock and [Richard] Rice, libertarians tend to make their view of free will a nonnegotiable, central truth, with which all other theological statements must be made consistent.” (Pg. 829) He continues, “Arminians say that God’s foreordination is based on his foreknowledge. The Calvinists need not deny that this is the case. But he should go on, and point out to the Arminian that that foreknowledge itself is in turn based on foreordination!... God’s knowledge of our nature is itself dependent on his plan to make us in a particular way… Ultimately all the attributes, including knowledge and will, are identical in the divine simplicity.” (Pg. 835)

Of spiritual gifts, he says, “It’s … hard to imagine why God would withdraw from the church the gifts of prophecy and interpretation, leaving intact the gift of the private use of tongues… I think it is best to leave that question open for now… Does the gift of miraculous healing exist today?... this ability was not given to all Christians… it was given for a special purpose in a special time. So we should not expect to find people with this gift of healing in the church today. But this is not to say that God will never, ever, give that gift to anybody. We just don’t know … enough to make such a generalization.” (Pg. 931)

Can infants be regenerated? “Regeneration … does not presuppose any intellectual deliberation on the part of the person… So there is no reason to suppose that this blessing is given only to adults or to people of a certain level of intellectual maturity… Nothing can stop God from brining an infant to newness of life…” (Pg. 950)

Of the controversy over his former Westminster colleague Norman Shepherd, he comments, “He believes … that… justifying faith, is a faith that works… he sometimes said that works are ‘necessary’ to justification. This choice of words, I think, was not wise… Shepherd’s choice of words may not have been the best, but … his idea is quite commonplace in Reformed theology: it’s faith along that saves, but the faith that saves is never alone…He denies that merit … plays any role in salvation… But if we define ‘merit’ simply as ‘just deserts,’ it may play a role… Shepherd also came to deny that Jesus’ ‘active’ obedience is imputed to the believer in justification… Shepherd’s critics, in my view, responded more to the SOUND of what he said than to the actual content of his assertions… In point 3 I think he was simply wrong, but not wrong to such an extent as to question any fundamentals of the Reformed system of doctrine.” (Pg. 974-975)

On infant baptism, he laments, “I don’t believe that Christians should break fellowship over this issue. Indeed, I wish there were a way that believers holding different positions on this matter could belong to the same church. But that doesn’t seem to be a widely held position in the evangelical church today.” (Pg. 1066)

He rejects annihilationism (“that the wicked are not punished forever, but at some point are simply put out of existence”), asserting, “Scripture suggests the opposite, that… the torment of the wicked continues forever…” (Pg. 1082)

This is a detailed theology from the Reformed perspective, that will be “must studying” for those seriously studying theology.

[Anne Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book! I refer back to it often.

[Sara Fukuda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m marking this book as “finished” because I’ve read nearly all of it, though not straight thru. I’ve referenced and read this book heavily in the last year as I’ve studied biblical counseling and taken some much-needed deep dives into theology and why I believe what I believe.

I’m rating this 1200 page wonderful book 5 stars even though I don’t always agree with Frame. We have different views on a number of things but I felt he represented the varying views fairly.

Strongly recommend this “light” reading to anyone who has questions, or wants a good a good book on their shelf to reference when they need to look up specific Christian doctrine.

[Luis Dizon · Rating 5 out of 5]

There have been many Systematic Theologies that have been published in the past two centuries dealing with the great themes of Christian theology from various angles and viewpoints, from classics such as Hodge's three-volume Systematic Theology and Herman Bavinck's four-volume Reformed Dogmatics to more recent single-volume works such as Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology and Millard Erickson's Christian Theology. So why recommend this particular systematic theology?

Well, for those who are familiar with John Frame's work, he has published tremendously on various aspects of theology, philosophy and apologetics over the years. He has been instrumental in simplifying and popularizing Van Til's presuppositional method of apologetics through Apologetics to the Glory of God. He has also provided one of the most comprehensive treatment of Christian ethics in Doctrine of the Christian Life, which is part of his multi-volume Theology of Lordship series (with the combined length of the whole series being over 3,000 pages long). Anyone who has read these other writings of Frame knows that he is a very meticulous scholar who manages to combine both combine both solid biblical exegesis and an astute knowledge of philosophy, which is a rare combination in this day and age.

At around 1,200 pages, much of what is found in Frame's Systematic Theology is a more concise treatment of what can be found in the Theology of Lordship series. While it covers the kind of topics covered in more traditional systematic theologies, Frame also covers topics that normally fall under the purview of philosophical theology, such as epistemology (in his chapters of the knowledge of God and its relation to man) and ethics (in his chapter on the Christian life). Of particular note is his discussion of the Doctrine of God, which is 16 chapters long, making it perhaps one of the most comprehensive treatments of God's nature and attributes of any single-volume Systematic Theology.

Despite the daunting length and nature of the book, it is actually not that hard to read. Frame writes in a manner that is quite approachable, and is careful to define terms so that the reader is not lost in a jungle of theological jargon. After all, as the subtitle notes, this is an introduction to Christian belief. Thus, I would recommend this work not only to pastors and theologians, but to ordinary laypersons as well, as the work is designed in such a way as to be edifying to Christians as a whole.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Subtitling a tome this huge An Introduction to Christian Belief would be ridiculous, if not for the fact that it was written by John Frame. In the beginning, he defines theology as "the application of Scripture, by persons, to every area of life." (pg. 8), and insists that the primary difference between theology and Scripture itself is that "theologians state the facts and truths of Scripture for the purpose of edification." (emphasis his, pg. 6). He later comments that too many theologians write like grad students (descriptively), and not normatively as Christians. (pg. 10)* As such, he spends most of his time focused on Scripture and spend less time on the academic or historical debates on which some systematic theologies major.

The result is that the reader is invited to a rich, fifty-two session Bible study with John Frame. Where he really shines is in reformulating and thereby forcing you to re-encounter all of those "duh, let's move on to the complex stuff" biblical doctrines which are the true foundation of the Christian faith. And as always, Frame is wonderfully clear, full of humility, and uncommonly wise. In one sense, it's really a pity that the book is academically sized, because it really is written in such a way that the average, rank and file Christian (such as myself) can benefit just as much from it as the seminary student.

Notably grand were his sections on the problem of evil, epistemology, the task of the church, and ethics. Seriously, this book is worth the time investment. Just take it chapter by chapter and you'll be fine.

*To quote Screwtape on learning/studying according to the Historical Point of View: "The one question he never asks is whether it is true." (Letter 27)

[Josiah Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good hearty dose of classical systematics here. Frame takes a lot of the weighty and heady issues and brings them down the ladder for us little ones. There were some theological disagreements, to be sure, but I don't know who would expect anything different when you read a tome like this one that covers so much material. Very approachable and very thorough.

[Steven Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful treatment and understanding of Reformed Theology. Less technical than Grudem’s Systematic Theology but more accessible to the layman.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

John M. Frame holds the J. D. Trimble Chair of Systematic Theology and Philosophy at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. Frame received degrees from Princeton University, Yale University, and Westminster Theological Seminary. He is widely recognized by his peers as one of the greatest theological minds of our age, and arguably the most important Reformed thinker of the last century. Frame is the author of many books, including A History of Western Philosophy and Theology, Theology in Three Dimensions: A Guide to Triperspectivalism and Its Significance, and the 4-volume A Theology of Lordship series.

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief is the culmination and synthesis of many years of writing on, teaching about, and studying of the Bible. Frame is known for being biblical, clear, cogent, readable, accessible, and practical, and Systematic Theology summarizes the mature thought of one the most important Reformed theologians of the last hundred years. Frame's contribution to the Reformed tradition is already massive, but his Systematic Theology uniquely represents a lifetime of dedicated and distilled theological thinking and service to the next generation.

Systematic Theology is over 1100 pages and separated into twelve parts, most of which should be self-evident and expected for students of systematic theology: (1) Introduction to Systematic Theology, (2) the Biblical Story, (3) the Doctrine of God, (4) the Doctrine of the Word of God, (5) the Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, (6) the Doctrine of Angels and Demons, (7) the Doctrine of Man, (8) the Doctrine of Christ, (9) the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, (10) the Doctrine of the Church, (11) the Doctrine of the Last Things, and (12) the Doctrine of the Christian Life.

Many readers are likely familiar with Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine by Wayne Grudem and Christian Theology by Millard J. Erickson. Frame's Systematic Theology runs in a similar vein as Grudem and Erickson in terms of scope. However, Frame is set apart from these two popular works in his innovative and eccentric approach to the task of theology, balanced with the unparalleled clarity of his arguments, extensive use of Scripture, and his unique capacity to critically engage with unbelief. Not that Grudem and Erickson lack clarity. But, Frame has a distinct way of making an argument observable for the reader before connecting it to the Christian life. Frame is also known for his multiperspectivalism approach, and his Systematic Theology is saturated with examples outworking of such application.

Where Frame's Systematic Theology is prone to shortcoming is the manifest unevenness of the works content. Nearly half of the book is devoted to parts three, four, and five-doctrine of God, the Word of God, and the knowledge of God. This is somewhat understandable given the scope of Frame's literary corpus and the amount of material that he's written on those three subjects already, but it leaves little room for the reader to explore Frame's thoughts on other theological matters. Additionally, while Frame is both clear and accessible for all readers, those less familiar with the arena of systematic theology or Frame's multiperspectival approach may get lost in the details. If this is a concern, I would recommend readers start with Frame's recently published Theology in Three Dimensions: A Guide to Triperspectivalism and Its Significance as a primer. It will provide a framework for better grasping the riches found here.

Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief by John M. Frame is a monumental achievement that deserves every bit of praise seen since its publication. It's hard to call this Frame's magnum opus given the size and impact of the 4-volume A Lordship Theology, but Systematic Theology certainly does contend for such position due to its distilled content and scope. If you're looking for a systematic theology that contends for shelf space and frequent use, then Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief comes highly recommended. It's the concentrated work of one of the greatest Reformed thinkers of the past hundred years. What more needs to be said? It should be on the shelf of every serious student of theology.

[Yuri Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

What do I think about this book? Well! Everybody ought read it! There are two top reasons of why it should be read by everyone when there are many good systematic theology out there.

To begin with, his insightful of triperspectival is remarkable and easy to follow. It clears alot of things. I like how he uses it to analyze many things that theologians often make it difficult to follow. I love the fact how he uses those perspectives has end in one view; namely, it goes back to the triune LORD! Simply as that. His idea of triperspectival also helps me understand many things in the Scripture as well. It certianly has open my eyes to some passages where I have wrestles with for years. Exodus 4:11 is one of the examples. With trisperspectival spectacles on, it helps to see how God uses the main three senses that mentions in Exodus 4:11 to show who He is as the LORD. So, as John Frame mentioned the three main attributes of Lordship, namely: authority as normative, control as situational, and presence as existential. This part helps me understand better of Exodus 3:14. Now then Exodus 4:11 is pertained to Ex 3:14. The LORD himself mentioned the 3 senses; namely, ear, eyes, mouth are sovereign by the Lord! So I have analyzed further and conclude that mouth is normative, eyes is situational, and ears is existence perspective. Hence the senses trispectectival that is sovereign by the Lord! It would be nice if Frame could see this and share his feedback on this one.

The second reason to read the book is John Frame clearly used the Scripture frequently to make his point and to prove this and there doctrines which I greatly appreciated. He made me to study and read Scripture to compared sundry doctrines and see what he means by this and there. His knowledge of Scripture is remarkable. His formulate of the Word of God is not trivialize at all. He walks the talking. He is the person that we can intimate his godly living.

So these two top reasons are given of why you ought to read his book. He certainly influences me turn me into triperspectival buffs. I have read two another systematic theology books which I could see how systematic theology triperspectival turns out. Another two systematic theology books that I have read are Robert Letham and Wayne Grudem. None of them that is better than other but all of them do have their perspective. So I shall name systematic theology triperspectival. John Frame would be normative perspective since he uses the Scripture more frequently than the other two and had formulate triperspectival view. Robert Letham would be situational perspective because he evaluated how the church in the past has viewed sundry doctrines. Fantastic and necessary read. His knowledge of church history is pertained to situational perspective. Wayne Grudem of course corresponds to existential perspective. No need to explain further.

Tolle Lege! Tolle Lege!

[Philip Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this. The book read like Frame was intentionally trying to be simple and accessible. He pulls this off masterfully. If it weren't for the tri-perspectivalism that pervades the text (which adds some jargon), I'd probably recommend this to a beginner over even Grudem. Frame discusses theology in a way that brings people along and gets them involved in the discussion, even if they're pretty green.

I also really appreciated how Frame plays nicely with others that hold to different perspectives. As someone who comes from the opposing side of a number of his views, I felt included, welcomed, and represented fairly. Frame has a fascinating take on the legitimacy/desirability of denominations, and has a corresponding generosity of spirit to solid Christians who differ with him on various things. Related to this is the humility with which Frame approaches the various topics. He's not afraid to admit when he doesn't understand how to wrestle with an idea or how to interpret a passage. If expertise in another field is required (or would at least be helpful), Frame admits that such is the case and warns the reader to take what he's saying with a grain of salt. He's happy to stop exploring issues other theologians are happy to dabble with because he's not sure Scripture deals with them or was ever intended to answer them.

Obviously, this a systematic theology, so there will often be a number of details that the average reader will disagree with. Among theologians today, Frame in particular is not afraid to take some unpopular positions (sometimes even ones that I have questions about or disagreement with). In saying that, I really appreciate that he has the integrity to come right out and argue for his take. On some issues I find myself more conservative than him, but on others, more liberal. Frame makes a great conversation partner and I hope to return. Highly recommended!

[Jon Cheek · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a few pages from this book almost every day for the past 9 months. It's classic John Frame, and it's immensely helpful.

Some positives:

1. Frame provides excellent treatments of the problem of evil and arguments against open theism.
2. Frame's epistemology sections provide a significant contribution where other ST works are lacking.
3. Frame's section on the doctrine of the Word of God, I would argue, should be essential reading for theological students.
4. Frame uses spends over 1/3 of the book (about 400 pages) discussing the doctrine of God (pp. 119-515). About half of this section discusses the attributes of God (pp. 231-420). This is the most helpful treatment I have read on the attributes of God (though I admit I haven't necessarily read that many others). I appreciate his division of attributes into three groups of love, knowledge, and power. I will never again speak of the attributes of God in terms of communicable vs. incommunicable.
5. I appreciate Frame's emphasis on Lordship as a prominent theme in Scripture.

Negatives (from my perspective):
1. Frame is too dependent on the Westminster Confession. As a self-proclaimed biblicist, it is surprising that Frame begins many of his discussions and structures the outline for some of them entirely on the WCF statement. Sometimes I got the feel that Frame was explaining the WCF rather than Scripture.
2. It did seem that large portions of the book were copied over directly from his "Theology of Lordship" series.
3. As "biblicist" as Frame tries to be in most places, I found his chapter on baptism to be woefully inadequate in terms of biblical argumentation. But this is a tough one for paedobaptists to handle well. :)

In the end, I really enjoyed reading the book, and Frame's ST is a helpful resource that I will return to over and over again in the future.

[Kiel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve wanted build the habit of reading one work of systematic theology every year or so for awhile now. I use them as resources all the time, but few things force you to encounter a comprehensive set of topics like a good systematic treatise. Frame is a more philosophical thinker, but even so he is more concerned with the church than the academy. As such his treatment on the various loci of theology carry philosophical nuance yet are curated with churchmen and women in mind. And all this from his triperspectival and reformed approach. I enjoy his style, and was often surprised by how open he was on the audiaphora, going as far as saying he wished multiple modes of baptism were available in every church, for example. (My Anglican church in HK actually does this). At every turn I found him helpful, deep, and winsome. One weakness was his treatment on issues of creation, defaulting to the conservative safety of young earth without a thorough treatment of old earth positions, but he acknowledges this weakness openly. 1,280 pages or 50 hours of reformed, triperspectival, yet accessible systematic theology.

[Ben K · Rating 5 out of 5]

In short, this book is a masterpiece. This book contains a depth of insight that can only be achieved through a lifetime of study, and yet this wealth of knowledge is presented in a clear and accessible way. The overarching theme of the book is God’s Lordship, as defined through a triadic perspective of authority, control, and presence. He uses the same three perspectives to bring insight into nearly every other doctrine, which is not only brilliant from a pedagogical point of view, but also ties the whole work together under the theme of Lordship. This tri-perspectival approach has left a permanent imprint on my thinking. I also appreciated how this man’s humility came through in his writing. He presented dogma without a spirit of dogmatism, which is a real achievement. He did not hesitate to admit where he was uncertain on particular topics, either due to lack of evidence in Scripture, or his own lack of knowledge. I appreciated his emphasis on the doctrine of God, even though this meant that he had less room at the end to discuss matters like ecclesiology and eschatology.

[Kristopher Schaal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wish I had time to write a worthy review. This book is a summary of all of Frame's thought, especially as expressed in the Lordship series. As such, it is a gem that should be on every pastor's shelf.

I enjoy John Frame, and this book was great. Some chapters were better than others. I appreciate that Frame is willing to think outside the box and push back on the status quo in certain areas. I wish he would give dispensationalism more of a hearing, but that is another matter. Some of my favorite chapters (that I remember) were 1) "What is Theology?", 2) "The Lord," 14) "The Problem of Evil" (excellent here), and 17) "Lord of Time." I remember thinking that Frame's handling of the Trinity was excellent, and he made one of the best cases I had ever heard for sola Scriptura.

Certainly from a Presbyterian perspective, but still so helpful. Thankful for this man and his contributions!

[Barbara Pruitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't read John M. Frame's Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief, a book of 1220 pages, in a week or even a year. It took me three years to get completely through it, listening off and on to the audiobook. It is intended more as a reference book than a straight read-through. It covers theological questions like the Doctrine of God, Man, the Church, and much more. Frame's work is balanced and understandable. It has an excellent index (I also own a hardcover copy for looking up topics). Frame is a reformed theologian (if you know, you know), but he fairly examines all sides. I did not understand everything he discussed, but it has expanded my understanding of the basics of Christianity.