Why Theology Matters
Recently, in speaking with some people on this topic, I have gotten a response something to the tune of "We just need to all love Jesus and get along." Well, maybe I added the "get along" part, but this is the attitude of many in the modern church.
So why does theology matter? Isn't knowing Christ as Savior all you need for the Christian life? OF COURSE, we are saved by grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone--but this is justification. Many Christians ignore (or severely undervalue) the next step between this and our ultimate glorification, that being sanctification.
I would define this process as an ongoing work of the Spirit in our lives that makes us more like Christ, continually changing us from our old self (though it never actually makes us more righteous in God's sight--Jesus' sacrifice credited righteousness to us). What role does theology have in this?
One means of sanctification is the hearing God's Word preached and the study of the Word. Theology, or the study of God, naturally flows from this. I am currently reading (and when I say currently, I mean for the past several months) Knowing God by J.I. Packer--this book warns against simply having head knowledge for its own sake, but stresses that knowing about God can help you to know God.
Why is this important? I mean, if I have accepted Christ as my Savior and I go to church, pray, and read my Bible, why is this even necessary?
The New Testament warns about false teachers (one such example is in 2 Peter 2), and without wrestling with topics such as the sovereignty of God, the Trinity, and salvation, it would be quite easy to be swayed by outright heresies without knowing that they are false. The easiest way to deceive another is to take truth and slightly twist it, though these days heretics are much more bold and unbiblical in their statements (Kenneth Copeland and Paul Crouch come to mind--both of whom, surprisingly, were put in the top ten of the Church Report's 50 Most Influential Christians, h-t to djp at Biblical Christianity).
Theology is important not for the knowledge that it provides, but for the firming of the Christian faith and for its protection. I had a Muslim ask me (when I was at a summer job in college), why did Christians believe in a Triune God, as Muslims only believed in Allah. Do you think the appropriate response should have been, "well, we just all love Jesus--don't worry about that"? True, the Trinity is a difficult doctrine and still somewhat of a mystery in my own mind to even comprehend, but these are answers that we need to formulate, if not for the sake of others when they ask, for ourselves.
Knowing the "whole counsel of God" as my pastor likes to call it--the entire of God's plan--means wrestling with how God ordained creation, destruction and redemption. It's not easy, for sure, but in the end quite edifying.
So why does theology matter? Isn't knowing Christ as Savior all you need for the Christian life? OF COURSE, we are saved by grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone--but this is justification. Many Christians ignore (or severely undervalue) the next step between this and our ultimate glorification, that being sanctification.
I would define this process as an ongoing work of the Spirit in our lives that makes us more like Christ, continually changing us from our old self (though it never actually makes us more righteous in God's sight--Jesus' sacrifice credited righteousness to us). What role does theology have in this?
One means of sanctification is the hearing God's Word preached and the study of the Word. Theology, or the study of God, naturally flows from this. I am currently reading (and when I say currently, I mean for the past several months) Knowing God by J.I. Packer--this book warns against simply having head knowledge for its own sake, but stresses that knowing about God can help you to know God.
Why is this important? I mean, if I have accepted Christ as my Savior and I go to church, pray, and read my Bible, why is this even necessary?
The New Testament warns about false teachers (one such example is in 2 Peter 2), and without wrestling with topics such as the sovereignty of God, the Trinity, and salvation, it would be quite easy to be swayed by outright heresies without knowing that they are false. The easiest way to deceive another is to take truth and slightly twist it, though these days heretics are much more bold and unbiblical in their statements (Kenneth Copeland and Paul Crouch come to mind--both of whom, surprisingly, were put in the top ten of the Church Report's 50 Most Influential Christians, h-t to djp at Biblical Christianity).
Theology is important not for the knowledge that it provides, but for the firming of the Christian faith and for its protection. I had a Muslim ask me (when I was at a summer job in college), why did Christians believe in a Triune God, as Muslims only believed in Allah. Do you think the appropriate response should have been, "well, we just all love Jesus--don't worry about that"? True, the Trinity is a difficult doctrine and still somewhat of a mystery in my own mind to even comprehend, but these are answers that we need to formulate, if not for the sake of others when they ask, for ourselves.
Knowing the "whole counsel of God" as my pastor likes to call it--the entire of God's plan--means wrestling with how God ordained creation, destruction and redemption. It's not easy, for sure, but in the end quite edifying.
posted by Dan B. @ 4:00 AM
2 Comments:
At 9:53 AM ,
HappySam said...
I think we should, just get rid of christianity all together, think about it more people have died in the name of christ or killed by someone in the name of christ than he has supposedly saved, if he's the soon of god, I think we should get a better one coz, the long and short of it is that hes not a good one
At 1:31 PM ,
Dan B. said...
happysam,
I'm not sure I know where to begin, but from a merely objective standpoint, "getting rid of Christianity" would be no easy task for those interested in doing so, though judging from where you are from, they are often persecuted quite a bit.
think about it more people have died in the name of christ or killed by someone in the name of christ than he has supposedly saved
Well, let's talk about that. On one level, you are right in the sense that many people have died in the name of Christ, especially in the early church but even now in different locations in Asia. Now being killed in the name of Christ, as was done in the crusades or even nowadays when someone makes a claim, say a mother in the United States who said that God told her to kill her children. Christ is not in that at all.
Now speaking of having more died/killed than Christ saved, there is a physical sense and a spiritual sense--the Apostle Paul indicates "to live is Christ, to die is gain." The notion that any man or woman deserves to live another day--that it's not fair that someone gets cancer or dies early, is nonsense--each day given is grace. So, Christ saves the soul, because the body being flesh must die after Adam's sin (of course, the bodies will be redeemed in the end).
About Christ not being a "good one" and we should get a better one, there's too many issues in that statement and one that I wouldn't know where to begin. I'll simply say that if you think He needs to be better in some way, that you miss the point for why He came. See my post on the grace of God.
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