Bercot compares theological framing to how evolution dominates textbooks so people are “programmed” to see everything through that grid; what “theological glasses” do you think you’ve been handed that subtly tell you what you’re supposed to see in the epistles before you even read them?
Another way to ask: Bercot says we can be trained to read the Bible through a certain “grid.” What “theological glasses” do you think you were given that shape how you read the epistles before you even start?
Direct Answer
Based on the transcript, the “theological glasses” are the assumption that the epistles are primarily theological dogma—technical doctrine to systematize—rather than practical instruction for kingdom living.
Support from Transcript:
He says theologians “dominated Christian thinking and writing for so long” that believers read Scripture “through the eyes of these theologians.”
As a result, “Paul becomes the great theologian,” and even John’s writings become “theological treatises.”
He admits personal experience: “I’ve read the New Testament writings through such theological glasses for most of my life.”
He argues “doctrine” has shifted in meaning: today it “primarily [means] theological dogma,” but originally it meant “teaching… instruction.”
He notes the Greek terms (didache/didascalia) “have no connotation of theological dogma.”
Discussion Follow-ups
When you open an epistle, do you feel pressure to extract a system, or do you look first for concrete instruction that “accords with godliness” (his phrase from 1 Timothy 6)?
