What is Theology?

Years ago, one of my pastors said that we are all theologians and that some of us are just better theologians than others. I agree with that. I believe that in order to be a good apologist, one must first be a good theologian.

While I’m passionate about teaching believers to defend the faith, I am equally passionate about teaching theology. If Christians want to defend the faith, then Christians ought to know what the truth is.

We must know what we are defending and what we are guarding against. In order to be a good apologist one must know good theology; one must know what is true.

In addition, we must know bad theology or false theology. We must know what is not true.

There are Christians that say something like the following. “I don’t need theology. I just need the Bible.” I understand where that statement is coming from, and I think most Christians have probably said or thought that at some point in their journey with Jesus.

However, I would venture to say that the early Church would disagree with that statement or thought deeply. Why? It’s because studying theology can be a form of worship, and Christians throughout history knew it.

There a Christians who avoid theology or see it as a mostly academic pursuit. How do I know? I once was one of those believers.

I once thought that theology was for those who wanted a lot of head knowledge but possessed weak faith. I can admit to that, and that’s when I was very young. I’ve grown in my faith. Since then, I’ve grown in my knowledge and understanding of why we study theology.

The Lord has been so kind to me. The Lord has been so good to me. The Lord has allowed me to come into contact with people who are brilliant and have helped me understand why we study theology.

In my growth, even before starting seminary, I started to gain a real deep interest in philosophy, and I came to see that I was already primed and ready to go into theology. I was ready to go into that because my skills and my analytical thinking and my hobbies all lined up with this path to go into theology, philosophy and apologetics. I just didn’t know it at the time.

I was using my skills for something that was good, but it wasn’t best, it wasn’t what it needed to be. So why do we study theology?

We study theology because it’s a form of worship unto the Lord. Now in saying that, please understand this, when we study theology, we do not know everything about God that there is to know. We don’t.

God has revealed Himself to us, yes, by way of creation and His written Word. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. So, please understand that when I talk about studying theology, I’m not saying that we’re going to know everything about God that there is to know.

We’re not going to know everything about God that there is to know. We’re not, but we can know what God has revealed about himself, even if we don’t understand it fully. We’ll get into that in a moment, but it’s important to understand that we do need theology.

In fact, you would not look at a loved one that you have in your life, be it a spouse or otherwise, and say, “Oh, you know, I love you. I don’t need to know anything else about you.”

I would challenge you with this, if you believe that that’s the approach we need to take, that we don’t need to study God, I would challenge you with this: intimacy brings knowledge. It brings greater understanding. So, yes, I agree that we don’t simply want to know things about God, we want to know God deeply. Absolutely, I agree with that.

While I agree with that, I also would challenge us to know that a deep love of somebody, brings knowledge. If you love your spouse, you don’t stop learning about them. There’s always something new to learn about everyone. Always. There are new ideas, new experiences that come up.

I’ve heard said that you could be married to somebody for years and years and years and still learn new things about that person. How much more so with God.

I invite you to think on that. Yes, we cannot know everything about God that there is to know, but we can know what God has revealed about Himself, even if it’s not a perfect understanding of what He has revealed. We’ll get into specifics of that in just a little bit, but I want to get into some assumptions we have when discussing Christian theology.

I’m borrowing these assumptions from my Systematic Theology one course. I think these are evidently true to anyone. I don’t think you need to be in a textbook or a course to see it. I think they’re evident to Christians.

This is assumption number one. When talking about Christian theology, we are talking about the God of the Bible, the one true and living God. So when I talk about God, when I talk about who the Lord is, I’m talking about the one true and living God of the Bible.

When I refer to other theologies, it will be for the purpose of becoming familiar with what those beliefs are. It will not be for the purpose of defending those beliefs. I’m defending the one true and living God, the theology that He has revealed about Himself and the truth of the Bible.

That’s what’s being defended here, the faith that’s been handed down to us. I’m giving a reason, a defense for the hope that is within me. That’s what we’re called to do.

So for those of us out there who on the flip side, we like theology, but we don’t get into apologetics, we’re called to give a defense. We’re called to give a reason. That’s why I’m here.

I feel very deeply called to be a guardian and defender of the Christian faith. It is my personal belief that there’s no better defender of the faith than God himself. I’ve heard said that God doesn’t need anyone to defend Him.

He can take care of Himself, but God has also called us to give a reason for the hope that is within us. So yes, God can take care of Himself, but He uses people to accomplish his goals.

So, why did we study Christian theology? Again, it’s because it’s important. We need to know what we’re defending, and we need to know what we’re guarding against.

So again, I am talking about the one true and living God of the Bible. In addition to that, I am talking about the God who has revealed Himself in the fact that He is triune.

Christians believe in one God, and that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He’s three in one. God is three in one: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We also believe that God exists eternally as three distinct persons. God has existed from the beginning as three distinct persons. I want to be very, very clear. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. They are not three separate gods. Nor do we want to confuse the persons. We want to leave distinction because that is true doctrine.

I’ll get into the language of confusion and that kind of thing down the road when I discuss Christological heresies, and I’ll make a brief statement about that.

When it comes to Christological heresies, it’s very important that we understand the history behind them. That is another reason why we must study Christian theology. We must know what the truth is.

There were those during the early church period who were called Arians. I did a paper for my Christian apologetics course on Arianism and refuted Arianism. In short, Arianism says that Jesus, the Son of God, is a created being. This is not something Christians believe.

Christians believe that the Son is fully God. Which brings me to my final assumption that I’ll discuss. The Son is fully God, but became man, He is the only Savior.

So in order for the Son, for Jesus, to be fully God, He couldn’t have been created. An Arian would say there was a time when He was not, or there was when He was not.

That’s not true. Christians don’t believe that. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. We know that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He is Emmanuel God with us.

So, God has revealed Himself in the flesh. Imagine being in that moment in history. We have the privilege of looking back on the other side of the cross and awaiting His second coming. Until then, I firmly believe we’re called not only to spread the Gospel, yes, but attached to evangelism is this call, this beautiful privilege, this beautiful mission, to give a reason for the hope that is within us.

There are several different types of theology. One of my favorite theology types is systematic theology. We’ll get into that deeper down the road.

I want to provide a brief overview. One of these theologies is biblical theology. Many people know biblical theology as the big picture of the Bible.

While it is the big picture of the Bible, I want to say this. It’s not limited to the big picture of the Bible. So it doesn’t have to be Genesis through Revelation. Here’s the story. It doesn’t have to be that, but it is that as well. So, we have that.

We also have historical theology. Historical theology is interesting, especially if you like history, because you’re looking back at how theology was understood in the early church.

So again, biblical theology, we’re looking at genres, we’re looking at topical themes. We’re looking at a whole biblical meta narrative. When it comes to the Bible, again, it does not have to be big picture. It could be doctrine, you name it.

Philosophical theology is another kind of theology. It comes from the perspective that theology is not without reason, the Christian faith is not unreasonable. There are many different sources for that to have those discussions about the reasons or the reasonableness of the Christian faith.

Another type of theology is applied theology or practical theology. It includes things like evangelism, preaching, and counseling.

I’ve got one more theology I want to discuss here right now. This is one of my favorites. I’m referring to systematic theology.

I cannot recommend enough to take a systematic theology course. When you take a systematic theology course, you’ll be met with a few different things that might surprise you.

I think people have in their minds this notion that, “Well, I don’t want to study theology because it gets me into Eschatology.” Eschatology is the study of the last things. It’s about the last days, and while that’s a type of theology it is not all of theology.

Theology is, simply put, the study of God. That’s what it is. That’s why I’m saying we can study God. God is not a topic to be grasped fully, like two plus two is four. That’s not who God is.

God is knowable. He is near, but He is also transcendent. I don’t want the tone of this article to convey anything different. I’m not saying that we can know everything about God that there is to know. I want to be very, very clear.

God is the Creator of all things, who has revealed Himself very clearly in the Bible, in the written word of God. He revealed Himself in creation. Really the crux of our faith, what it’s all centered around is the life, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

God revealed Himself in the flesh. Emmanuel, God with us. That should tell you something about our God.

He is powerful. He is mighty. He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the God that speaks things into existence. He’s the one true and living God. At the same time, He’s near. He loves you. He’s near to the brokenhearted. He is Emmanuel, God with us.

He is the great I AM. At the same time, He loves you.

So again, why do we study theology? We study theology because it’s a great privilege to study theology. We study theology because God has revealed Himself to us, and He wants us and invites us to know Him.

So even if at the end of this article, you still have the mindset that we don’t need theology, I invite you to consider this, and I’ll wrap up with this: Every statement that you and I make about God is a theological statement.

God is good. That’s a theological statement.

God is near to the brokenhearted. That is a theological statement, in my humble opinion.

God is powerful. That is a theological statement.

God is all-knowing. God is ever-present. Those are theological statements.

For the atheist out there who says there is no God, in my humble opinion, that is a theological statement. It is a statement about God.

For the agnostic who says, I don’t know if there’s a God, that is a theological statement. So, try as one might, you can’t get away from theology. We can’t.

In fact, in history, there was a point where theology was known as the queen of the sciences. There was a time when theology was seen as a subject of great beauty.

Theology: the study of God.

You know, the Bible is where we get our theology. I’m speaking to Christians when I say this, and specifically, Christians who don’t believe we should study theology.

Brothers and sisters, maybe you’re scared that it will kill your faith, maybe you believe it’ll kill your faith. Maybe you believe that it’ll just lead to division. Maybe that’s what you’re afraid of.

If that’s you, I want to say that I see you, and I understand where you’re coming from. I really do. At the same time, I want to invite you to broaden your understanding of theology.

God’s omnipotence (His power), God’s omniscience (His knowledge), those things should make you want to dig deeper into who the God of this great universe truly is. It’s not to say that if you study those things that it somehow unlocks a faith that you’ve never had before.

For some, it does, and for others, maybe not. I want to still offer you the opportunity to study the Lord. Be still and know that He is God,

Theology is not a dead pursuit. It is empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Yes, an atheist could look at a Christian theology book, study it, and come to know things about God. But here’s what they can’t do.

They can’t be changed by the truth apart from the power of God. It is the power of God that brings change, not doctrinal statements.

God uses those, yes, but it is not in the arguments or statements. It is not in the theological frameworks that we develop, or any of those things that people are changed.

It’s in and through God, in and through the written and revealed word that can be read, preached, and taught. It is only by the blood of Jesus that guilty sinners are made clean.

When it comes to studying theology, the danger is to think it’s all book work. The danger is to think it’s all academic. I’m speaking specifically to Christians. When I say this, don’t make that mistake. It is easy when talking about theology and God’s foreknowledge and all the different topics we could discuss. We could talk about the communicable attributes of God. Those are the attributes that He shares with us.

God is loving, God is gracious, God is kind, God is merciful. There are many attributes that God shares with us.

There are also many attributes that God does not share with us, and those are His incommunicable attributes, the attributes that He does not share with us. God is all-powerful. He is all-knowing. We could go down a list.

I want to be very clear, theology is not a dead pursuit. It is the pursuit of the one true and living God.

God invites us to know Him. What a shame it would be to miss out on knowing God. It’s terrible to only know things about God and to not know God. I would say at the same time, it’s terrible to know God, to have a relationship with the Lord and not want to know more about Him.

It would be like having a relationship with a boyfriend or girlfriend or with your spouse and saying, “Well, you know I love you. I don’t need to know any more about you. I’m just going to stop learning about you. I’m going to stop wanting to know you, because I know enough.”

We would never do that. We would never dream of doing that. I don’t know of any human that would be okay with that.

If it’s a healthy, God-honoring relationship, there won’t be that breakdown in communication, where one only talks to people for 15 to 20 minutes a week.

Unfortunately, that’s what many of us give God every week, 15 to 20 minutes. Please understand me. I don’t say that to condemn you and I. I say it to bring change, to inspire us, to challenge us for greater things.

God deserves our all, truly. He deserves our everything.

So, what I want to invite us to do is to know God deeply. If you already know the Lord, if you’re a Christian, if you’ve been saved, and if He is the Lord and Savior of your life, if He is your King, I invite you to not stop learning.

I invite you to know the one, true and living God and to learn more about him each and every day, because he’s inviting you to it’s a journey. Walking with Jesus is a journey.

Knowledge is not evil. It’s not evil. I never believed it was evil, but here’s what I believed at one point in my life. I believed that if I studied theology, my faith would be dead, that I wouldn’t have a great faith. I thought I wouldn’t have a faith that could believe for God to change lives, because I was so stuck in a textbook.

That’s what I was afraid of. I really believe deep down, looking back on my life, I was afraid that if I studied theology maybe somehow my faith would die out.

I was afraid it would just die, and that I would talk about the Lord as if He were an old book or as if He were an old book on a shelf that needed to be dusted off. However, theology, properly understood and appreciated leads to greater love and intimacy with God himself.