Why Study Theology?
Why Study Theology?
“But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. ” (2 Timothy 3:14–17, KJV)
Why should the average Joe in the pew study theology? Isn’t that something for ivory tower professors who have nothing better to do? Don’t we pay professionals to do that, so that we can profit from their thinking? Isn’t theology dry, dull, and boring? Theology; what is that?
All of these responses are theological responses, because theology is both the study of God, and one’s view of God and His truth. In other words, anyone who thinks has a theology. That theology may be an atheistic theology, an agnostic theology, a theistic theology, a Christian theology, or many other kinds of theology. In short, we live our lives thinking about God, or ignoring Him. In either way, we have formed an idea of whether it is profitable to think of God or not.
As one who is reading this article, it is especially significant to you that you understand why it is necessary to study theology. You see, you have expressed an interest of some sort in the subject simply by taking the time to read this article. There is something about the subject that has drawn you here. Considering the fact that this is a Christian’s blog, we’ll assume that you are a Christian and approach the matter from that standpoint.
Your reading this also presupposes the fact that you have a theology of Scripture. You are probably reading this because you have at least a slight understanding of the authority of Scripture, which is what our text is teaching us. In fact, this text will be our focus for the next several articles.
What does our text say about theology? Well, it actually does not use the word, but it does give us a basis for theology. It lets us know that Scripture should be the foundation of our theology. That is, we should always subject our thoughts about God to His revelation of Himself in His Word. Scripture, our text tells us, if profitable for the purpose of bringing us to salvation by faith in Christ as well as making us into the well-rounded, well-formed, mature Christians that God would have us to be.
Thus it is that Christians should study theology to know God in Christ as well as for the purpose of growing to be the person that God would have us to be.
Far from being dead, dull, dry, boring, and tedious; theology is vital to our spiritual health and growth. Sadly, many (if not most) professing Christians are very unhealthy due to a neglect of this vital discipline. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee.. ” (Hosea 4:6, KJV) What is even sadder to me is the fact that so many “fundamentalists” refuse to give much thought to a coherent theology. There may be Bible schools and seminaries, yet IFBX simply tends toward an anti-intellectual incoherence it seems. The average Joe and Jane simply swallow what they’re given and regurgitate it at will. The problem truly comes when those who have drunk the kool-aid find that there is no nourishment in it. Too often the void is filled with the wrong things, truth is forsaken, and they not only leave their church, they abandon the faith altogether. We can cry and scream about the worldly, ungodly state of the church today, but the only remedy is for all of us to grow in the knowledge of God. We MUST study theology.
This article is to encourage us to not be among those who willfully lack knowledge. Let us rather be among those who heed Paul’s words to Timothy: “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. ” (1 Timothy 4:13–16, KJV)