Why is Christian Theology so Important?
Jay Wegter
Religion is about man‟s response to God—theology is about God and His plan for man. “Theology is the science of God and of the relations between God and the universe” (A. H. Strong).ⁱ God‟s goal in creating the universe was to bring glory to Himself by sharing Himself with others. This is God‟s universe. The emanation of God‟s fullness of good is bound up in the knowledge of God; the holiness of God; and the happiness of the creature. God‟s desire is that we will glorify Him by enjoying His „God-ness‟. The unbeliever will ultimately glorify God by magnifying His justice—God will get glory from your life one way or the other because this is His universe. In Romans 11:33 ff. Paul is on top of a theological mountain. It is impossible to thwart God‟s created purpose for the universe—He will gain the glory from all He has made.ⁱⁱ
“In pointing these things out to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of faith and of sound doctrine which you have been following” (1 Tim 4:6). “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 1:13). [Concerning overseers] “Holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict” (Titus 1:9). “But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1). “In all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity of doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, in order that the opponent may be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us” (Titus 2:7-8).
The great exegete, theologian, and expositor, S. Lewis Johnson once said concerning a dismissive comment about theology, ―As soon as you ask the question, ‗who is Jesus?‘ you are in theology up to your eyebrows.‖ How true that is—for theology is inseparable from knowing what we believe, why we believe it, and how it affects all of life.
From the passages of Scripture above we can see that theology is not only our “standard of sound words” but also wisdom for living righteously unto God. Scripture is absolutely clear that theology is holistic for all of life and not merely a religious category of knowledge. Christian theology tells us who God is; what He has done; what He is doing; what He will do in the future; how God sees us; what He requires of us; and what He has done for us as believers. In that sense, we may accurately say that the gospel (our theology of the cross and redemption) tells us who we were before salvation; what we are now in Christ; who we are becoming; and who we will be in glory. God‟s self-revelation and divine perspective, which is the content of theology, is ultimate reality; thus theology is authoritative and infallible and therefore foundational to all of life.
Theology is intensely practical and should always be treated as inseparable from practice. As John Frame has said “if we do not DO what we know; we do not KNOW what we think we know” (see James 1:22ff. regarding being a „doer of the Word‟). Bible doctrine is not merely biblical „correctness‟ but is the divinely energized force of truth which remakes; rebuilds; renews; refurbishes; and reconstructs us around the Person of Christ. Christ, the theme of theology is the „template‟—the „Architect‟; and the goal of the new man (Col 3:10). Christ is the Author of our faith (Heb 12:2), the Creator of the new man—and the „blueprint‟ for the new man (conformity to Christ being the goal of the new man) (Rom 8:29).
Christian theology is the core of Christian worldview. Theology is our biblical worldview, and our worldview supplies the values, ethics, convictions, and identity from which our choices flow. Theology is therefore never merely abstract, theoretical, or propositional—it always translates into behavior. God‟s great plan for believers is transformation into the image of God in Christ by means of God‟s truth (Jn 17:17).
Theology is at the center of God‘s self-revelation. And, at the center of God‘s self-revelation is redemption. All of God‟s redemptive grace is relational—God brings us into relation with Himself through Christ as the basis for all true identity and community. Many problems in the lives of professing believers are the result of opting for false sources of identity and community. The “pride of life” entails a devotion to idolatrous sources of identity and community.
The power of the gospel in redemption is the cause of the sinner‟s deliverance from idolatry (1 Thess 1:9-10). Regeneration by God‟s Spirit through the power of the gospel cuts and severs our idolatrous bondage to the worship of created things (Gal 6:14-15). Our consumer culture tends to even treat religious things as „consumables.‟ The spirit of the age offers God as the One who may be added to one’s life in order to deliver happiness and personal potential. Theology puts this „consumer notion‟ of spirituality to the lie and affirms that God can never be added to one‟s life. Instead, salvation is God‟s sovereign merciful invitation to enter His „plot‟—His story. All of life is then to be ordered around God and His purposes in Christ. All of our old self-centered, truncated perspectives are to be abandoned (2 Cor 5:17). Theology is the „big picture‟ which opens up God‟s story in captivating detail (see the excellent work on God‟s missionary heart by Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God, IVP Academic, 2006).
Christian theology is radically Christo-centric. All of God‟s purposes are in Christ. Theology keeps opening up to us all that God is toward us in Christ. The Son of God brought everything into harmony with the holiness of God (Col 1:19-20). To be sure; this harmony has two different expressions: justification and judgment. In both, the holiness of God comes into it full and awful expression. In the one case, it does so in Him who bears the consequences of that wrath on behalf of those He represents; in the other case, it is expressed in the final and awesome alienation of those in whom God‟s judgment vindicates for all eternity, His holiness. (God will fill creation with His holiness; His moral majesty; God’s will is going to be done on earth as it is in heaven.) This holiness of God without the cross is incomprehensible.
Christ is the believer‟s „Source Person‟—in other words He is the source of spiritual life, light, and supply. The believer‟s shared life in Christ is the animating principle of the new covenant (Gal 2:20). By meditating on the truths of Scripture, we move theology out of the category of the theoretical and completely into the category of the practical.
What happens when theology is relegated to the perimeter of Christianity? It can be said that theology is suffering at the hands of its „friends.‟ David Wells notes that Evangelicalism exists at present as an informal religious establishment that derives its power from culture, not theology. In the last 30 years, there has been an almost complete decline of interest in systematic theology.ⁱⁱⁱ
Wells makes the incisive observation that protestant orthodoxy has been altered to fit an atmosphere of “pleasantness and light.” Churches are filled with those who wear a happy face, but who have no religious passions. Modernity has twisted Evangelicalism to the point where interest in the truth of God is severely lacking. The therapeutic and managerial have replaced love of the truth.ⁱᵛ When theology is consistently ignored, churches can become a venue for leaders to display their entrepreneurial skills.
Without theology, our grasp upon God‘s essentially holy nature becomes non-existent. In that religious climate, professing believers want to „feel better‟—but without ongoing repentance. Says Wells, victimhood (and its preoccupation with the therapeutic) is not interested in dwelling upon the holiness of God. By contrast, God‟s Word affirms that all God is and does is holiness. God‟s holiness carries with it the demand of exclusive loyalty to Him. Theology imbues us with the truth that the experimental knowledge of God‟s holiness should move us to awe, obedience, fervent prayer, ongoing repentance, and submission.ᵛ
Theology gives us the necessary content of divine grace. With the loss of God‟s holiness, sin and grace become empty terms. Divorced from the holiness of God, worship becomes mere entertainment. In reality, sin is defiance of God‟s holiness. God‟s holiness is the very foundation of reality. The cross is the outworking and victory of God‟s holiness; and faith is the recognition of God‟s holiness. Knowing God is holy is the key to knowing life as it truly is; and knowing why Christ came; and knowing how life will end.
It is this God, majestic and holy in His being, this God whose love knows no bounds because His holiness knows no limits—this is the God who has disappeared from the modern evangelical world. The death of theology has profound ramifications. Theology is dying because the church has lost its capacity for it. This is a sign of creeping death. By imbibing modernism and rejecting theology; we have elected to cross over into a world in which God has no place; in which reality has been re-written; in which Christ has become redundant; His Word irrelevant; and the Church must now find new reasons for its existence (David Wells).ᵛⁱ
Unless the church can recover the knowledge of what it means to live before a holy God; unless its worship can relearn humility, wonder, love, and praise—unless it can find again a moral purpose in the world that resonates with the holiness of God – theology will have no place in its life. The church must find a place for theology by refocusing itself on the centrality of God and then rest on His sufficiency. Those who find the modern world most relevant will find the moral purpose of God most irrelevant. It is only those who are consumed by God‟s moral purpose in the world who have much to say to the world.
God‟s holiness is fundamental to who He is; what He has done; and what He will do. The key to it all is that we have lost God‟s otherness; His holiness and transcendence.ᵛⁱⁱ (Evangelicalism has settled on God‟s immanence; interpreting His immanence as friendliness with our temporal values drawn from the present cultural environment.)
The consequences of marginalizing theology are deadly serious—shoving theology to the perimeter can make us vulnerable to idolatry posing as freedom. Christians live disconnected lives because there is a huge gap between what they say they believe and how they live. Truth taken in (without a determination to love the truth, be changed and transformed by it, and to live unto God by His truth) winds up deadening the hearer.
Our culture has become even more hardened in its rebellious commitment to autonomy. Because of Enlightenment principles and assumptions, morality has been increasingly divorced from theology. People treat ethics today as if morality can exist and be known apart from God. The Western concept of spirituality has encouraged a breach between spirituality and theology. In reality, theology is the foundation for all correct living; for living unto God; for the art of living to God‟s glory.
The study of theology ought to be a spiritual exercise. Ethics and doctrine are like Siamese twins; inseparable. Ethics is theology in action. Without theology to nurture our faith in God‟s character as the source of morality, the professing believer becomes vulnerable to a subjective morality. Countless young people today regard the Bible to be a collection of optional bits and pieces of moral advice. This is the legacy left to us if we dismiss or marginalize theology.
Theology gives us the comprehensive significance of the transcendence of God. Man, without the transcendence of God central to his thinking, has lost his roots in the world. He doesn‟t know who he is or what his place is in the cosmos. A false liberty rushes in to fill the vacuum created by the loss of divine transcendence. Pseudo-freedom comes at an infinite cost— a palpable lost-ness pervades in our generation. After 1960, the veneration and fulfillment of self replaced an assessment of self which revealed personal moral failure in need of rectification. The new ideology has taken command; we can find meaning only to the extent that we can get in touch with the self. Self-expression has eclipsed self control. In the absence of theology, the mystical and the individualistic have created the soil of the therapeutic. Therapy says, “Tell me about self.” Theology says, “Tell me about God.” ᵛⁱⁱⁱ
By banishing theology to the periphery (and not in the center of evangelical life) there is a resulting diminished sense of truth. Truth is only central in religious disposition when theology is close at hand. Nothing short of repentance is needed to recover our theological soul. It is the inextinguishable knowledge of being owned by the transcendent God of the universe that forms character; and His ownership of us challenges every other contender (including the vain values championed by our postmodern world). Theology fills the horizons of the mind with the spiritual reality that God is immutable; therefore by His grace and through His covenant faithfulness, we are the ones who must change—and be changed into the image of Christ.
The influence of contemporary culture is found in ‗psychologizing‘ which cuts the nerve of evangelical identity because the common assumption beneath the self movement is the perfectibility of human nature. This assumption is anathema to the Christian gospel (David Wells).ⁱˣ By „psychologizing‟ we mean moving the emphasis in religion from God to man (from theocentric to anthropocentric). Man then becomes the reference point—his yearnings, problems, potential, and therapy take center stage. Psychologizing undermines the desire and capacity to think, without which theology is obviously impossible.
The process of psychologizing identifies access to reality with subjective experience rather than objective thought. Biblical interest is replaced by a search for happiness; holiness is replaced by a search for wholeness; truth is replaced by feelings; and ethics by feeling good about oneself. The past recedes; the church recedes; all that remains is self. Psychologizing of faith is destroying the Christian mind. Theology was written for the Church—that she might cognitively feed on the knowledge of God. When people are no longer compelled by God‟s truth, the focal point shifts—and they can be compelled by anything.ˣ
What is the solution to marginalized theology? We must recover God‘s design in giving us Christian theology. Only Christian theology can impart the vision of God which alone can sustain His people in the caldron of modernity. Thus, theology is absolutely essential for discernment in our culture. In order to better diagnose the shallowness and poverty of the worldview of modernity; we must read the vastness of God‟s purposes against the canvas of eternity.ˣⁱ Thus, theology applied is about seeing the gaping chasm that lies between truth and the nostrums (pseudo remedies) of modernized society; and seeing how to practice that truth in this world. Without theology there is no faith, no believing, and no Christian hope.ˣⁱⁱ
Only Christianity has a true ethical system based upon theology—we must teach, preach, and model the impact of theology on ethics—that‟s our job as faithful believers. We are made in God‟s image to be the likeness of God. Theology brings unity to our Christian experience—we have been redeemed to live as the image of God.
This knowledge will cause us to view the fall of man as incapacitating man so that he cannot, and will not, meet God‟s ethical standards without divine grace.ˣⁱⁱⁱ Author, Joel Beeke comments on the importance of theology to pastoral labors:
[In Puritan times] systematic theology was to the pastor what anatomy was to a physician. Only in light of the whole body of divinity could a minister provide a diagnosis of; prescribe for; and ultimately cure spiritual disease in those who were plagued by the body of sin and death.ˣⁱᵛ
The Puritan preachers proclaimed the fact the mankind‟s condition was one of moral rebellion against God. Our moral condition reaps eternal guilt. Through the fall of Adam we inherit depravity which makes us unfit for God, holiness, and heaven. Sinners have a bad record in heaven (a legal problem); and a bad heart (a moral problem). Both factors make us unfit for communion with God. No personal reformation can avail; nothing short of regeneration can reverse the problem (Jn 3:3-7). Puritan preachers offered Christ as Prophet, Priest, and King. They did not separate His benefits from His Person while ignoring His claims as Lord.ˣᵛ As ministers of the gospel we ourselves must be conquered by the mighty truths of God if we are to display Christ as we ought.ˣᵛⁱ
Theology is the means of learning to love God with your whole mind. Because we live in a media culture; we are lazy intellectually; we fear to think anything in depth—we stay superficial. Theology stretches the mind and penetrates beyond our shallow thinking. God‟s will and God‟s mind must establish a mastery over your life (so much so that the Word of God dominates exceptionally over all of your life). Only then will you have a passion to know God, to love God, to do His will, to choose patterns of fellowship which manifest the knowledge of God.
J. P. Moreland gives a timely exhortation concerning how fully theology is to shape effectiveness in our ministries:
If our lives and ministries are expressions of what we actually believe, and if what we believe is off center and yet so pervasive that it is seldom even brought into conscious discussion, much less debated, then this explains why our impact on the world is so paltry compared to our numbers. I cannot overemphasize the fact that this modern understanding of Christianity [of the church isolated from culture and cut off from intellectual/theological life] is neither biblical nor consistent with the bulk of church history.
Repentance is the only way out of this dead end of marginalized theology. Unless the church can recover the knowledge of what it means to live before a holy God; unless its worship can relearn humility, wonder, awe, love, and praise—unless it can find again a moral purpose in the world that resonates with the holiness of God—theology will have no place in its life. The church must find a place for theology by refocusing itself on the centrality of God and then rest on His sufficiency. Those who find the modern world most relevant will find the moral purpose of God most irrelevant. It is only those who are consumed by God‟s moral purpose in the world who have much to say to the world (David Wells).ˣᵛⁱⁱ
From what are we to repent? Due to a professionalized clergy, we have allowed theology to be drained from the ministry—and at the same time expect the church to be nurtured in the knowledge of God. We laugh at those who think that theology is of vital importance; but then are shocked to find the superficial and unbelieving in our midst.ˣᵛⁱⁱⁱ Strong winds are blowing in the church—winds of religious consumerism. And countless pastors are yielding to the pressure to tailor their ministries to meet the demands of the religious consumers. A genuinely biblical and God-centered ministry is almost certain to collide head-on with the self-absorption and anthropocentric focus that is now normative in so many evangelical churches.
In terms of mission and focus, ―God has been replaced by the church.‖ˣⁱˣ The life of the church has produced a „surrogate truth‟—so much so that this church life provides the justification for all theological learning. In other words, church life becomes the pragmatic touch stone for determining what is to be taught. In that „climate‟ the skills and techniques for church management determine what theology should be studied. The priority is no longer the importance of the truth itself.ˣˣ Theology has been marginalized as psychology and (doctrineless) pietism has enthroned spiritual experience and the self. In the minds of many, theology fails the test of pragmatism. If practicality cannot be immediately discerned; then doctrine is nothing but „never never land‟ as one Southern California pastor quipped.
Evangelicals have lost their capacity for dissent (humility and lowliness of mind); they stand on too easy terms with modernism (postmodernism). The requisite dissent arises out of the vision of God in His otherness (transcendence), and this vision has now largely faded; a fact most obviously evidenced by the disappearance of theology in the evangelical church. Donald Grey Barnhouse (eminent Bible teacher of the first half of the 20ᵗʰ C.) captures the antithesis between a humbling vision of God and a proud ignorance of God. Says Barnhouse, man has a „steel beam‟ in his mind—when God is up, man is down, and when God is down, man is up (arrogant and self-centered). Theology makes us happy to be small in God‟s presence.
Evangelicalism has been too accommodating to contemporary worldviews. As a consequence it has lost its traditional understanding of the sufficiency and centrality of God. It has turned from dependence on God to management of God. Its inward looking self-confidence has produced an attempt to manage God. Surely this alienates us from Him; for God has never been managed, domesticated, or tamed. His sovereignty over the church is not subject to manipulation. The apparent „smoothness‟ (harmlessness) of God in the evangelical world is a sure sign that His truth in its purity and power is not driving evangelicalism.ˣˣⁱ
CONCLUSION: Orthodox facts must be connected to a life vision. Theology is essential because it constantly corrects our view of God. Man-centered religion is a „creeping force‟ that is never idle. Theology is the only way to cultivate a high view of God. Theology is not merely intellectual training in orthodox propositions. Theology is the vital knowledge of God which is intended to engage the whole person. The study of theology must be joined to vision for one‟s life; and not merely the apprehension and mastering of more orthodox facts.
Theology is to be preached as well as taught—a certain, single-minded Christian life grows under the preaching of good theology. The world has a bitter antipathy to biblical doctrine. And increasingly churches are manifesting indifference toward doctrinal precision. At the root of this indifference is dislike of doctrinal assertions lest they cause controversy. They fear controversy more than error. What is not seen as not worth defending is very soon seen as not worth professing.
Doctrinal apathy has taken Evangelicalism captive. But a pure gospel is worth defending; because a mutilated Gospel produces mutilated lives. We are sadly experiencing subjectivism that betrays its weakened hold on objective truth and reality of Christianity. People are surrendering the whole substance of Christianity but not the name Christianity. Emphasis is placed on life; not dogma—on spiritual experience; not creed. But Christianity consists in doctrines that are facts and facts that are doctrines. Convictions anchored in doctrine are the root on which the tree of Christianity grows.
Theology is the means of learning to love God with your whole mind. Because we live in a media culture; we are lazy intellectually; we fear to think anything in depth—we stay superficial. Theology stretches the mind and penetrates beyond our shallow thinking. God‟s will and God‟s mind must establish a mastery over your life (so much so that the Word of God dominates exceptionally over all of your life). Only then will you have a passion to know God; to love God; to do His will; to choose patterns of fellowship which manifest the knowledge of God. Here is a summation of reasons we study theology:
- To know what we believe about theology; and why we believe it (from Scripture). This is essential preparation for „rightly dividing the word of truth‟ (2 Tim 2:15).
- To learn why we are to apply theology to all areas of life. Without theology, it is nearly impossible to attain a unified biblical life view. Theology tells us about God; about ourselves; about the world; and about our place in it.
- Theology is the study of God and His works; His ways; His wonders; and His will. Theology is the „lens‟ by which we are to accurately interpret all of life to the glory and honor of God. The study of theology provides for us the wisdom to live unto God.
- Theology teaches us to think doctrinally under the moral government of God; thus theology assists in uniting the heart so that we manifest a life direction that has moral force and authority anchored in the grace and character of God (Ps 86:11-12).
- The study of theology consolidates our heart‟s desires around God‟s character and purposes; thus theology develops a passion for truth and a passion to know God.
- Theology equips us to contend for the truth (Jude 3). A „pure gospel‟ is worth defending. A mutilated gospel produces broken lives. Theology equips us to defend the faith and to refute error (1 Tim 4:6; 6:3-4).
- Theology gives us the tools necessary to diagnose the most prevalent lies of our culture. Doctrine is foundational to biblical counseling—it provides a diagnostic „lens‟ to deal with the problems in a believer‟s life which are blocking progress in sanctification.
- The study of theology equips us to love God with the entire mind, and it prepares us to live a life of universal obedience to God. It teaches us to study „doxologically‟ (in a spirit of worship). The study of theology gives us the truths in a systematic fashion. The truths of Christ‟s supremacy are designed to emotionally stagger us and to move us to awe of God.
- Theology is a constant corrective; it keeps us from man-centered religion and philosophy. Theology lets us behold God as He is; not as we imagine Him to be. Thus, the study of theology instills in us high views of God in His holiness, sovereignty, and transcendence.
- Theology unites every discipline and every field of knowledge. Theology helps destroy our tendency to compartmentalize because theology connects truth to life. Theology joins the character of God and the mission of God to morals and ethics.
Endnotes:
i Larry Pettegrew, Ethics; Theology in Action, p. 4
ii Ibid., pp. 5-6
iii David Wells, God in the Wasteland, p. 26
iv Ibid., pp. 28-29
v Ibid., pp. 135-138
vi David Wells, No Place for Truth, pp. 300-301
vii Ibid.
viii Ibid., pp. 159, 198-201
ix Ibid., pp. 136, 178
x Ibid., pp. 181-183
xi Ibid., pp. 299-301
xii Ibid., pp. 216-217
xiii Pettegrew, Theology and Ethics, p. 8
xiv Joel Beeke, “Evangelicalism rooted in Scripture: the Puritan Example,” Whatever Happened to the Reformation?
Gary Johnson, R. Fowler White, Gen. Ed., pp. 234-235
xv Ibid.
xvi Ibid., p. 251
xvii Wells, No Place for Truth, p. 301
xviii Ibid., p. 257
xix Ibid., p. 256
xx Ibid.
xxi Ibid., p. 296