Theology 101
What is theology?
Theology is the discussion of God and all things related to God. Both believers and nonbelievers all do theology. Systematic theology is not just a list of things we learn, it informs how we live our lives. We break apart theology into categories of doctrine, and some doctrines are more vital to Christian belief than others because there are some things we are meant to understand and live out, while other ideas are meant to stay a mystery to us. One way I heard it put by some fantastic authors is “Theology sorts ideas into categories, it provides helpful labels, it orders relationships and events from a high-level view.” (You Are a Theologian by Jen Wilkin and JT English)
“‘This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.’” (Joshua 1:8 CSB)
Side note before we get into theology: I am a nerd. I enjoy learning about things that interest me. Now, if it is something I don’t find interesting, for example cars or engines, then my brain will literally hear words but without meaning, just like the teacher in Charlie Brown. I have a kind friend that was helping get my lawn mower in working condition so I can keep up with my large yard. He was explaining to me what was possibly wrong and how it could be fixed. There were words like spark plug, carburetor, run time, throttle, belt, blades, hour meter, blade carrier, housing, grease fitting, deck height, hoses, filters. I had to tell him “I know you are saying words. I know what most of these words mean individually. But I have no idea what they mean when you put them together in sentences.” For some people talking about God and the Bible can feel the same way. It was important that I understood my friend explaining how my lawn mower works, but it is even more important for us to work towards an understanding of God and His ways.
Theology is the study of God.
(I’m going to nerd out for a moment.) The word theology is originally a mixture of two Greek words ‘Theos’ and ‘logos’. “Theos” meaning God and “logos” meaning word, thought, or reason. THEN in Latin the word was turned to theologia with “logia” meaning the study of. So the most literal translation (combining the Latin and Greek meanings) of the word theology is ‘words and thoughts about, and the study of God.’ Theology can also include studying and discussing all things about God, the Bible, and His ways.
When we meditate and think critically about what Scripture says and who God is, we are doing theology. I love what Joshua 1:8 says: “you are to meditate on it day and night.” The ‘it’ being referred to here is the Bible and God’s ways.
Who does theology?
We all do theology. But is it good theology?
In Joshua 1:8, God is talking directly to Joshua, telling him to meditate on God’s Words and follow them. This still applies to us because we are told elsewhere (like in Acts 5:29, “Peter and the apostles replied, ‘We must obey God rather than people.’”) in the Bible to obey all of God’s commands. How can we know and obey them if we don’t understand them? How can we develop our relationship with God without having some clarity on what we believe about God and His ways.
We all have thoughts about God. Atheists don’t think He exists. Muslims think their god is more almighty than our God. Jews think God is real and yet Jesus is not His son. All of these thoughts form people’s understanding of who God is and why it matters. We would probably list all of these as ‘bad theology.’ Often when we refer to one theological belief, we call it doctrine.
As Bible believing Christians, we have our own doctrine of who God is based on what we know from the Bible. We would call this ‘good theology’ if it is supported by Scripture. But you cannot do good theology alone, it’s meant to be done in community. Community can be your bible believing church, historical church fathers, and other scholars who have devoted much time to studying and understanding theological doctrine. (In addition to many books that contain early church fathers’ writings, here is a cool website that can give you a quick summary of what some church fathers believed on certain topics.)
Some examples of theology and levels of importance.
We have theological doctrine about the Trinity- God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. We also have theological doctrine about the church and the roles and responsibilities of the church. Theology also includes discussions on why Jesus died, the end times of the world, the what and why of sin, heaven and hell, baptism, and so many more. (more in-depth on these ideas to come!)
Something the church (and us as believers) needs to recognize is the need for understanding the varying levels of importance with theological ideas. I think of them in tiers.
Example image of tiers of varying levels of importance of theological ideas
There are first tier issues and ideas that are necessary to believe in order to be an evangelical christian, like doctrines of the trinity, humanity, sin, atonement, and salvation.
Then there are second tier issues that evangelical denominations and churches may disagree with each other on, but they can still be in ministry together. Examples of this tier are ecclesiology (theology of the church), doctrines of the sacraments (baptism and communion), ecumenism (unity of believers), the origin of things, and the doctrine of grace.
Finally there are third tier issues and ideas. These things may be more interesting to discuss for some people but they are not vital to our understanding of God or worth splitting friendships about. Examples here are doctrines of the end times and discussions on the ‘proper’ way to have worship.
What do we gain from thinking about theology?
Remember Joshua 1:8? Notice the last part as you read it this time.
“‘This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to meditate on it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do.’” (Joshua 1:8 CSB)
Because of understanding necessary tier one theological doctrine, we are able to prosper and succeed. Not in a worldly way by becoming a millionaire but with blessings from God. We can have answers prepared to share with our loved ones struggling with certain questions that relate to areas of doctrine, like ‘what is God like?’ or ‘why does God allow us to sin?’ We can’t share what we know about God with others (like the Great Commission tells us to) unless we ourselves know God deeply. This is a way we can love God with our minds!
Because of understanding theology, we are able to know God and love Him with our minds. Our minds will think about things; it is up to us what kind of things we spend our time thinking on. By ‘dwelling on’ theology and the things of God, we are fulfilling the command from Paul in
Philippians 4:8: “Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things.”
We are commanded by God to love Him with our minds. What better way than to seek to understand about Him using ideas and doctrine we can find in theology!
Challenge! Pick a tier one theology doctrine to research. After learning more about it, can you summarize it? Consider how your local church responds to this doctrine and how you personally respond.
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