rather than a magisterial role.”3 In determining doctrine and practice, the magisterial, or authoritative, role belongs to Scripture, and Scripture alone. The ministerial, or helping, role accorded to historical theology means that it serves the church in many ways. One benefit that historical theology offers the church today is helping it distinguish orthodoxy from heresy. The term orthodoxy here refers to that which the New Testament calls “sound doctrine” (1 Tim. 1:10; 2 Tim. 4:3; Titus 1:9; 2:1),