Today the youths are confident that they can learn all sorts of things; yet they also think theology isn’t for them. Church, we have this wrong. But I also don’t understand it. People will teach themselves everything at home and online, from web development to woodwork, yet they don’t consider theology similarly. Why do we assume that the kids of our age—probably ourselves as well—can learn about AI, trigonometry, financial planning, biology and music by reading and listening to others, but we can’t do the same when it comes to theology?
People will teach themselves everything apart from theology.
Sadly, many churchgoers believe that theology is only meant for those in full-time, ordained ministry. Worse still, many others across Africa deem theology to be unspiritual, unrelated to growing in the Spirit. This can be seen in some believers actually looking down on those who’ve received theological training, as possessing knowledge but not necessarily knowing or experiencing God.
After all, theology can be done in the abstract, left theoretical and disconnected from living or faith. I teach in Uganda, where Christian Religious Education is a compulsory subject in the school curriculum—I also teach the New Testament and Christian Living Today in A and O Levels respectively. While those subjects are priceless opportunities to connect teenagers with the Christian faith, they could also be viewed as nothing more than subjects to excel in academically and apply for universities.
So, is theology bogus? Is it unspiritual? Are those who read it either preparing for ministry or merely indulging themselves? Can theology help us to know God?
Theology and the Bible
To answer those questions, we must ask another: is the Bible a different thing to theology? Yes. However, the best and truest theology is a subset of the Bible. It’s derivative, determined by what the Bible teaches. The Bible is our standard. It’s the authority for all of God’s people. Theology is the attempt to arrange what the Bible teaches in an orderly, sensible way.
The best and truest theology is a subset of the Bible.
Sometimes in church you might hear a pastor or teacher referring to four different sources of authority for believers. Usually, these are summarised as: the Bible, reason, tradition and experience. Critically, the Bible must always determine the validity of the other three. Only this doesn’t mean we dispense with those things. Tradition has a place, especially church tradition. God made us thinking beings, so reason also has a place. Even experience shouldn’t be dismissed, since God made us with feelings and emotions, not to mention that we’re spiritual beings too.
Just as every person—being made in the image of God—is a thinking, feeling being, so too is everyone a theologian. R. C. Sproul was correct. But even though we are all theologians we aren’t all very good theologians.
True Theology Pursues God Not Knowledge
Let’s think about that word: theology. It’s made up of two Greek words, Theos and logos meaning God and word(s). Consider the word biology, which is similarly made up of two Greek words, bios and logos. Just as biology is the study of living things so theology is the study of the living God. We might call theology a discourse or narrative about God.
Our highest good is God and God alone.
Of course, theology is much more than that. One blogger, in his reflection on Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics and John Calvin’s Institutes, reminds us that, “Reading in theology is not an exercise in knowing more about God, but the pursuit of God himself.” Our highest good is God and God alone. This is true of the academic theologian as much as it is the theologian in the pew. Theology isn’t a hindrance to knowing God, but one of the means.
Consider the Ethiopian eunuch, trying to know about God from his reading of Isaiah 53 (Acts 8:26-40). Luke tells us that Philip instructed him, in a kind of biblical theology. Jesus’ 12 apostles were trained for three years. Since then Christians have committed themselves to reading and training in theology. Missionaries have travelled all over the world, with the purpose not only to evangelise but also instruct.
This isn’t just studying about God. It is more of a developing a relationship with him. This would suggest that the study of theology is one of man’s highest goods.
Theology Is for Discipling the Next Generation
But attitudes towards theology have steadily shifted over the last few centuries. Growing hostility and suspicion towards theology—even just indifference—is leading the Church into crisis. For there are a new, younger breed of believers who can’t even tell you: who Christ is; what it means that God is triune; what we mean by God’s attributes or character. Few can define sin or idolatry. We have churchgoers in possession of little to no Christian theology and therefore are worryingly lacking a grasp of what the Bible teaches. With this has come the rise of nominal Christianity, empty ritual and ceremony; the decline of living faith.
Ignorance opens the door to deceit.
So I’m calling on pastors not to belittle their people by holding the assumption that theology isn’t for everyone. I’m calling on all believers to abandon the notion that theology is abstract; when in reality it’s a critical part of continuing the work of the apostles. Most of us give ourselves to various and complex subjects, whether at work or simply for leisure and further learning. The study of theology should be among them. Pastors, teach doctrine. Believers, aspire to learn. Ignorance opens the door to deceit; and the world is readily indoctrinating us in its own truths and beliefs.
Without a commitment to theology, the next generation is at risk (Ephesians 4:14). Many will be lost to the false teachers, cults, and pseudo-Christian churches spreading across our continent like wildfire. Doctrine both saves and guards souls (1 Timothy 4:16). We cannot conceive nor carry out discipleship apart form theological instruction. Today’s youth are tomorrow’s church. They will either carry on in what the Church has believed through the ages or abandon it for some other gospel (Galatians 1:6-9).
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