What is Theology?

Theology is the study of God. For the Christian, almost all (if not all) doctrine/beliefs we hold come from our understanding of who God is. Everything comes under the heading of theology and whether we know a little or a lot.

God gave us the bible in order for us to learn about Him through His various interactions with His creation.

We are encouraged to learn about God. We are told to seek Him with all of our heart.

Jeremiah 29:13

And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

 

Although we can learn about a person's theology through their words, we can also learn it through their actions.

Our actions often give a better picture as to what we believe, especially when it comes to God.

We should be giving ourselves to studying about God. Who He is, what He's like, etc.

When we do this, we draw closer and closer to Him.

We sing the song 'Because of who You are I give You glory... Lord I worship You because of who You are' - yet we don't actually know who God is. We know very little about Him.

And although it's sad to say, there is a great number of people who name the name of Christ who are quite happy for it to be that way.

Getting to know someone takes time, effort, work. Getting to understand someone takes even more time, effort, and work.

Yet we think that when it comes to God, that we don't need to know much about Him.

Matthew 11:27-30

All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

 

Jesus encourages us to get to know Him. God doesn't just want an casual acquaintance, but a deep relationship with us.

God already knows everything about us, and we should have that desire to know Him. After all, how can we say we love Him, when we don't want to know anything about Him.

SO HOW DO WE GET TO KNOW GOD

We read the scriptures.

We study the scriptures.

We meditate on His word.

And as we do those things, we ask God to reveal Himself to us and to give us understanding.

Hearing the word preached every Sunday is not enough. We can't have a relationship vicariously through the pastor. We must cultivate our own relationship with God.

Romans 14:5

One man esteems one day above another: another esteems every day the same. Let every man be fully convinced in his own mind

We are told that whatever we say we believe, we must take the time to understand and be fully convinced that its true/correct. We aren't to just take anybody's word just because they say God told them, or the bible says.

WHY DOESN'T GOD JUST TELL US ABOUT HIMSELF DIRECTLY

God actually does do this, but not for all things. For example, we know that lying is wrong. We know this from we're young without anybody having to tell it to us. And we use the lying to cover up something that we've done that we also know is wrong.

Where did this come from? God.

But here's the issue, even though God has given us this information, we don't understand why lying is wrong. It's not just the fact that God says its wrong so therefore its wrong.

When we cultivate our relationship with God by getting to know Him, we start to see the why behind what He says.

It's similar to when we tell a child don't touch something because it's hot. They may understand "don't touch", but if they have no experience with anything being hot, it holds very little to no meaning for them. It's only when they actually have an experience with something that is "hot" then they can start to have an understanding.

Now, that is in relation to directly telling us things. What about the things He doesn't tell us directly?

Think about it. If you have a relationship with someone, how much more meaningful is it to find out things about them without them having to tell you?

To that person, they appreciate it much more when you pay attention to who they are and the various things about them in order to find out what they like and dislike, rather than just coming out and telling you.

It's the same with God. God wants us to learn about Him. To take the time to find out about Him. That's how a relationship gets stronger.

When you look throughout the bible, the many names that God has is not because He declared Himself to be those things, but because in His dealings with His creation, people paid attention and recognised His attributes/characteristics and declared them.

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I encourage you to read, study, and meditate on the bible. Take the time to learn about God. Find out who He is and who He isn't. Find out what He likes, and what He doesn't like. Gain understanding behind the things He has said and has done. Because the more we learn about Him, the more we draw closer to Him.

With all that said, there is a flip side to this.

When we come to know things about God, we inevitably start to walk in His ways - this is good theology.

But, the less we know about Him, the more prone we are to bad theology.

Bad theology is, in a nutshell, attributing characteristics/actions/sayings to God that are not true.

Bad theology persists because people do not search for God. Maybe a better term would be non-theology, because its really beliefs that couldn't come about if we were actually studying God.

It would be similar to someone saying they are practicing biology, which is the study of life, and in regards to humans getting energy, they decide to stick their fingers into an electric socket.

We would say that's crazy, how could you come up with such an answer if your studying biology? That's exactly the point. If they were actually practicing biology, they wouldn't come to that conclusion, so it shows that they are not actually studying it.

Similarly, if someone says they are doing theology, the study of God, and they say God wants all His people to be healthy and wealthy - no matter how good it sounds, if they were actually doing theology, they wouldn't come to that conclusion.

What they are doing is non-theology. This shows that their view of God is incorrect. The characteristic/action/saying that they have attributed to God is wrong.

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Now, God knows that this will happen. When we practice theology we will start to see that God is aware that we will make these mistakes time and time again. That's one of the reasons why He has provided us with written documentation for us to learn of Him, the bible.

He knows that we will come to the wrong conclusions about Him based on our lack of knowledge, which is why He tells us to study the bible.

But He also knows that there are people who do not have a relationship with Him, and intentionally seek to lead people astray and offer them a different God, but say that this God is the same God of the bible - when its not.

From the old to the new testament, we are warned that people will come with the intention of leading us away from God in order to follow other gods. We are told that some will be outright brazen about it, but we're also told that some will be secretive and deceptive.

Some will seek to entice us with words and promises, while others will seek to turn us away by visions, prophecies, and miracles... that will seem to actually be happening.

Although its easy to reject those who make no bones about what they are doing (preachers of other religions), its the ones who are secretive and deceptive that causes the most problem. These are those who even call themselves Christians. Lead big congregations. Are will known and highly esteemed. But the god they god they preach and teach about is not the same God described in the bible.

How will we know the difference? Theology. Study God. Learn about who He is. The more we know and know about the true God, the more we'll be able to spot a counterfeit.

Learn of God. Learn about the Good Shepherd. Learn about His rod and His staff, and be comforted by that knowledge. Be diligent in Theology - the study of God. Amen.