I know a lot of people who would consider themselves theologians. I also know people who see theology as a pointless, complicated discipline that people engage in for no reason other than to argue and puff themselves up. I also know people somewhere in between that spectrum. This post is for all those people (so, everyone who reads this). What I want to do is talk about what theology actually is. I've done this before, but I want to say more.
I think the view that theology is pointlessly academic and just a topic that people argue about is, unfortunately, unwillingly promoted by a lot of people, myself probably included. Equally unfortunate is that it's probably true for a lot of people. Humans in general want to pump themselves up and be better than everyone else. It doesn't help that a lot of contemporary pastors and churches invent weird terminology that no one has heard of before. If you've ever heard Mark Driscoll talk about "sins of omission and sins of comission..." I've looked this up. Comission is not a word. A lot of so-called theological terms aren't even actual words. This mucks up the waters for people who just want to understand the Bible and God. And "theology" is not keeping up with the latest Gospel Coalition and Resurgence blog posts. That's not even close.
A lot of us (I consider myself at least an amateur, if mediocre, theologian) have a much different purpose in mind when we "do" theology (whatever the heck that means). Theology is simply the study of God. When we (or at least I) talk about theology, what I'm talking about is God and the Bible. I'm talking about putting in the effort to understand God, His purposes, the way He does things, His attributes, etc. That sounds academic, and it is to a certain degree.
But when you really grasp a theological concept or idea, it's actually very practical. Think about this: Jesus is the Lord. He is our Lord, God, King, and Ruler in general. And this is in an absolute sense; God's Kingdom is just that: a Kingdom, not a constitutional republic. So we have to obey Him, right? He has the final say in everything we say and do, in every aspect of our lives. We are literally His slaves. Slaves have no rights and no purpose other than to do the will of their master.
Think about that for a moment.
Everything you do needs to be what God would want you to do. Of course, we are also part of His family, and that's why the slavery metaphor isn't similar to Civil War-era slavery. God is loving and caring of His people. He doesn't abuse us. He loves us. But He also is our Lord and Master.
Do you realize how much that would change the way you think and act when you truly grasp that concept? It's a process obviously, since we aren't perfect, and I think anyone who grasps that will have to work for the rest of their life to become more and more subservient to God, but still.
It's reasons like that that theology and Bible study are actually useful. The Bible says that Scripture is the Word of God, the will of God and teaches, trains, builds up, and corrects. That's why I "do" theology. I want to be taught, trained, built up, and corrected to do the will of my Master. How else can I know His will without actually reading the Bible to see what it is? That's the reason any legitimate theologian engages in theology at all; they want to grow spiritually and do God's will. And those arguments? Some are the results of pride, certainly, but some of them are because the arguers want to defend the integrity and truth of Scripture, the most precious truth there is.
Last night I prayed with my wife. The prayer was, for the most part, purely thanks and worship. I even talked about a passage of Scripture I really love, Isaiah 6, because it's such a beautiful picture of salvation. I credit even being able to pray about those things to delving into the Bible and learning about them. I felt truly grateful to God for who He is and what He's done. That's practical. That's spiritual. And that's the purpose of theology.
