But Why Theology? (Pt. 2)
September 29, 2021
This is part 2 of a series. Read the first part here!
But Why Theology? Can’t we just read the Bible and that be enough? Of course you can! But our theology affects the way we approach Scripture. It affects the way we relate to other believers. It affects the way we look at and interact in the world. It’s good to have a lens through which we can look at these things!
The way we approach Scripture:
The Bible is written about God and for us. If we aren’t using the lens of Theology (looking first at what it means about God), then we tend to read it through our western 21st century lens - or we read ourself into it and make it all about us. We are quick to jump into thinking about what it means to us rather than what it means about God.
Be honest, have you ever landed in that spot before? Reading a part of the Bible to find out what it means for you, and things just don’t pan out right? Does this mean that scripture is flawed? No, it means that you are reading it from the wrong vantage point. Instead of asking what it means about you, ask what does this teach me about God and his character? Ask yourself why he might have included those details? When we can truly see God’s attributes and understand how he interacts with us, that will change the way we think, feel, and act.
A lot of different things may shape our view of God: our feelings, experiences, worldview... However, those things shift with the culture and even from day to day. Our only true and reliable source for knowing Him is reading what He’s revealed about himself in Scripture. If we are called to know Him, it’s important that we know Him correctly rather than making assumptions about Him (just like we would want others to do with us). He gave us the entire canon of scripture in order to know Him. The more passages of scripture that talk about God, the more facets of Him we are able to see!
The way we relate with other believers:
I recently had a pastor tell me that he prefers the church stay away from theology. This really caught me off guard! As the conversation progressed, I realized he held this view because there are too many controversial topics that cause disagreements in his church. To an extent, I understood his sentiment. People tend to get riled up when their ideas of the rapture, or whether a person can lose their salvation, or predestination, etc. get challenged. I have witnessed many of these arguments and they aren’t pretty! I’ve even been in some of these arguments before realizing some of the things we will discuss today (back when I was young and naive ;-)). But does that mean we should just throw the baby out with the bath water? I think by now, you know my answer is going to be NO!
God’s desire for the church is for us to know Him and be in unity with one another. If someone disagrees with something we might believe, and it makes us feel defensive of our stance, ask yourself if the topic you are disagreeing on is a first order issues? If so, then it’s important to take a gracious stand for truth. And Jude 3 puts it, “Contend for the faith.” However if the topic you disagree upon is a second or third order issue, engage in thoughtful conversation, but realize that it’s ok to hold differing opinions!
I’m going to give two denominational extremes within the church. Chances are, your congregations falls somewhere in the middle. The extremes give us good insight on why it’s important to know how to prioritize different doctrines so we don’t cause rifts within our churches.
Theological Liberalism says that there are no first order issues. They hold that everything in Scripture is relative and should be interpreted within your own lens. Subjectivity is key. There is no absolute truth. The historical first order issues are handled as if they are third order issues.
Then there is the swing to the opposite extreme which is called Fundamentalism. They treat all topics as first order issues and consider someone a heretic if they hold a differing opinion on the end times, the days of creation, or women’s roles within the church. They take issues that do not pertain to salvation and make them life-or-death. Fundamentalism came to be as a way to combat the liberal movement.
When we have these conversations, we should filter them through the knowledge of these 3 tiers of importance: First order, Second order, and Third order issues. There is no way the whole church will agree on every doctrine, but the conversation can and should be more charitable than we typically allow. You see, it’s possible to know all the right answers, to know the textbook version of God, but not allow that to shape who we are which keeps us from responding to others in love. If we know all the right answers, and don’t have love, we are a clanging symbol as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians.
The way we interact in the world:
We live in a day and age where truth is relative. Let me paint a picture of our post-modern world, and you can tell me if this sounds familiar. As we scroll social media or stroll through Target, this is the message you see: “Find your own truth.” “You do you.” “Love is love.” The notion that we should be accepting of everyone’s truths, even if they contradict each other. Sure, we can (and should) respect those who hold different beliefs, but we should be uncomfortable with the notion that everyone’s truths can all be correct at the same time. That’s not logical.
This flawed worldview came out of the enlightenment when man decided that we are now more sophisticated and “enlightened” than our church fathers who wrote our foundational doctrines and creeds. Post-modernism says that culture’s moral standard and beliefs shift through time, therefore Bible interpretations shift through time.
God never changes or never shifts, and neither does his Word.
If we profess that the God of the Bible is the creator of all, then it follows that He is the creator of truth. In fact, Jesus tells us that He is the truth. Therefore, we should get our concept of truth from knowing Him. The best way to know Him is through His Word. It’s exceedingly important for us to know our Bibles because that is our greatest revelation of the truth of who He is. God’s Word is written about Him, and for us. He never would have gone through the extremes of giving us a full canon of Scripture if he didn’t want us to know Him properly. Our knowledge of Him plays into our worship of Him which plays into our obedience to Him.
No matter what doctrine we are studying, the stances that we land on must come from Scripture and not on our feelings.
Here’s an interesting concept you may not have considered: every single person on this planet is a theologian, meaning everyone has their own picture of who God is. If everyone is a theologian, and has their own opinion on who God is, then what is informing our viewpoint of him? If the answer is anything other than a wholistic interpretation of Scripture, then that is “bad theology.”
If we are all theologians, let’s make it our goal to be good ones!
