Why Study Theology?
For 2000 years, Christians have disagreed about theology. Blood has been spilled, friendships destroyed, nations upended, all over what we believe about the Christian faith. No one is untouched by the theological decisions that have taken place over the last 2000 years as we live in a modern world shaped by the Christian past.
In my first article on the identity of a Theological Nomad, I defined theology as the study of God and Christian faith, practice, and experience...a good definition to be sure, but it sounds cold and technical. While theology can and must be precise and detailed, it is far from cold technicalities. It’s vibrant and life giving; the exploration of the realities of the infinite God and His truth. To deploy the often-used A.W. Tozer quote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” If this quote has been overused, it’s only because of its pointed insight into the necessity to think and believe what is true about God. Flowing naturally from this knowledge is the right reckoning of the rest of faith and life. I truly believe theology is that important!
However, a counter to the claim of theological eminence is our need for action. All thought and no action makes the church ineffective! Some tend to value theology over action, but I think this is a false dilemma. Neither can function independently, and an active, thriving church needs good theology as a foundation...otherwise, what ideas will drive our mission? Balancing thought and action will probably need a future article, but for now, setting possible overemphasis aside, we need to answer a different question: Why is theology so important? Four reasons are foremost in my mind. There are more, and maybe you have a reason that resonates more strongly with you (if so please comment!), but these are the four that I have found drive my desire to know God thorough the study of theology, which is the first reason I think theology is so important!
1. To know God as He truly is.
All Theology is the study of God. There is no way to know God as He truly is without it. While there is a deep, abiding, and intimate fellowship with God through the indwelling of the Spirit, there is likewise an unquestionable revelation of who He is given to us through His Word. As hard as mankind has tried, we don’t set the terms for knowing God. He has done that. He has established His Word as a lamp and light for us to discover, piece-by-piece and page-by-page, who the infinite God is, until we come to see Him face to face and have no need of written revelation any longer. The Eternal Word became flesh to reveal God to us, and His life and teachings are now ours through the scriptures. To study them is to know Him more. The Bible, our foundation for theology, is a gift to know God, but you won’t learn Him through this Word without time, effort, and study.
2. To represent God to the world.
In case we mistakenly believe that knowing God through theology is all about us, let’s be reminded that knowing God is also for the sake of representing His kingdom on the earth. The commission of faithful believers is one of ambassadorship and representation for the living God. There is not an ambassador in all the world who would succeed at representing a nation, leader, or in our case, a Kingdom, without knowledge of the ways of that Kingdom and its King. If the church doesn’t know what it believes or stands for, how can it represent truth and hope to a lost and dying world? Theology is the means by which we understand the ways of the Kingdom of God in order to represent them in truth to the rest of the world. It is also how we do this within the walls of the church. The purpose of Theological Nomad is unity in the church, and there is no unity where there isn’t understanding; no understanding when we don’t know what we and others believe. Apathy will never lead to unity. For the witness of the church in the world and our love for one another, we need to study and understand theology well. As Tozer suggests, we might even understand ourselves better too!
3. To be lovers of Truth.
As representatives of truth to the world, we need to love Truth. Truth is rooted in God as the source of all things, and there is no greater truth than to know Him from whom all truth flows. To love truth is to learn to see the world through God’s eyes and experience it as it really is. We need to love truth in order to safeguard it. Without a concern for good theology, we can so quickly become those who exchange the truth of God for a lie or follow after every wind of teaching (Romans 1:25, Ephesians 4:14). At best, this leads us to be deceived and often hurt; at worst, it has eternal consequences. For this reason, believers are to meditate on those things which are true, being firmly rooted in them to remain steadfast amid the shifting ideologies of our time. As we love truth, we are reminded that there are no greater truths than those examined by theology, the truths of God, faith, and a life lived for Him. We will all believe in something. Will what you believe in be the timeless truths of God discovered through theology, or will it be the unexamined assumptions you’ve accumulated over the years? The first option takes time and hard work, but I’ll go with that every time!
4. To love the Lord with all your mind.
Lastly, we come to what I believe is the most important purpose for theology. Perhaps loving God isn’t the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about theology. It never was for me. But recall Jesus’s four-fold expansion of the Shema, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30). Our lives, actions, pursuits, and affections should all be focused towards loving God. But what about our mental lives? Loving God with our minds means loving Him with all that we think and believe, and this includes thoughts that we have about God...our theology! Paying no attention to theology means our thoughts about God will lack clarity, truth, and our best effort to love Him. Our minds and rationality are a gift from God to be used for His glory, and in doing so, we love Him. To engage our minds in the pursuit of theological truth, fixing our thoughts on the greatness of God, His works, His ways, His Word...this is the essence of what it means to love the Lord with our minds...this is the heart of theology!
In conclusion
While this short list is nowhere near comprehensive (There are many other practical benefits to doing theology), I think these four reasons should be enough to make you consider where you stand in your pursuit of theology...your pursuit of the knowledge of God. While I don’t mean to suggest that everyone become a professional theologian, the reality remains that you must believe something about God, your faith, the church, the Word of God, and all other matters pertaining to life. Should those beliefs not be tried, tested, and weighed? I’m not content to live an unexamined life with no pursuit of truth through pursuing the Source of truth, nor am I content to place theology on the sidelines as if knowing the deep things of God is for some elite class of Christians. So, get studying! God’s Word and the study of it for the sake of theology to know and love Him is the heritage and responsibility of every believer, no matter who you are!