Theology

I like theology. I like to talk about theology, to study theology and read theology. Maybe I'm weird, because lately I have heard some condemnation of the study of theology. Makes me a little nervous. I agree that arguing over the 5 points of Calvinism or Arminianism can be pretty fruitless. Never the less, I think there is a real danger when we don’t learn and study and know our theology. Your view of God, which really is what your theology is, shapes how you do everything else. Your theology will shape how you evangelize, how you minister, even how you pray. How you view God, how you perceive His Holiness, what you believe about His activity and His functions, even His abilities. It shapes how you view people, how you view eternity, and how you view the earth and times we are living in.

Like Charles Haden Spurgeon, I do not hesitate to take the name Calvinist, and I hold to the name Baptist, but if you ask me my creed, it is Jesus Christ. We lose much when we neglect theology, in my case, Calvinism. For me, it is a system which presents the weight of the glory of God. We have been so caught up on man, we have become so self-focused that we have forgotten it’s not about us. It’s about God and His glory. It’s about Holiness, and it’s always been about His Holiness, not about us or our salvation. We are saved because it brings Him Glory and because He is Holy, no other reason. There is nothing in us. “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:36 (ESV)

There was a time when theology was tossed aside, and we did not study it, we did not teach it, we did not love it. It was lost and when that happened, a period came where men were burned alive for reading the scripture, and the Holy Church became so corrupted that Holiness became grounds for execution. We cannot let go of theology or seeking the truth.

Study the word, seek Holiness in prayer, in Bible reading. Learn. Study and learn more. Read books and learn theology. Don’t stop ministry and teaching or preaching or praying, or whatever you do, but learn more. Read history, sit at the feet of great men. If you don’t like a theological system, find out why. Don’t logic chop, find out why in the Bible. Examine, don’t just believe what is easy to believe. Look, seek, study, talk, commune, wrestle, fight and struggle. Get down on your knees, open your Bible and pour yourself out to God and do what you can to grasp His Holiness, His Glory and your own inadequacy. Don’t be a infantile Christian, sitting in the pew and drinking the milk of whatever is preached that Sunday. Meat is tough sometimes, it’s hard to chew, you need a knife to get at it. We have been given one better, take the sword of God’s word and learn theology. The alternative is spiritual slavery.