theology and stuff

For a long time, whenever I heard the word "theologian" my mind went to old, dead guys like Martin Luther and Augustine. Theologians were the old guys who spent day and night doing nothing but reading the Bible, right? After a while, I expanded that view to include prominent pastors/authors/teachers/intellectuals like John Piper. Then I started understanding all pastors and teachers to be theologians: Ranging from full-time pastors, like my dad. To my youth pastor. To guys like Allen who preach occasionally. But it finally occurred to me, that I'm a theologian. And so are all (well, most) seminary students. And so is that guy on youtube that posts videos of himself talking about Calvinism.

In fact, I'll go as far as to say that if you are a Christian, you SHOULD be a theologian. Theology isn't just for nerdy kids who like to read a lot (um, that's me). Theology is simply the study of God. And the Bible talks a lot about studying God and His Word and how important it is, and there are a lot of examples of the Biblical church doing so!

"I have stored up Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You." -Psalm 119:11

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the Word of Truth." -2 Tim. 2:15

"You shall therefore lay up these words of Mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise...." -Deut. 11:18-19

"Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so." -Acts 17:11

"Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" -Romans 15:4

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." -2 Timothy 3:16-17

And, well, basically the whole chapter of 1 Timothy 4.

We are to be theologians, eagerly studying and learning about our God. This includes (but is probably not limited to) reading, listening to preaching and teaching, discussing, memorizing, or simply meditating on Scripture. All of this, I believe, centers around reading the Bible. However, I typically hear these two arguments to this idea:

1- "The Bible is just really boring. It's cool if that's what you like doing, but I just don't enjoy reading."

If you asked me a couple of years ago, I would be bored out of my mind at the mere thought of sitting down and reading the Bible, let alone studying it and reading accompanying books. No matter how hard I tried or wanted to, I couldn't get into it. Even now, there are days that are harder than others. So I totally understand that it can be difficult to get into the Bible at times. I think, however, this can stem from two things. One being that God has not made you alive and therefore, why would you have any interest in the things of God? (That was me, for a long, long time.) If God hasn't opened your eyes, the Scriptures will not be captivating to you and will not interest you.* The other thing could be sin. In Isaiah, it says "Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear. (Isaiah 59:1-2 ESV)" Having unconfessed or habitual sin in your life can make a separation. The more we confess and repent of sins, the more the Scriptures will delight and attract us. As our sin grows increasingly bitter, Christ will grow increasingly sweet. Interestingly enough, the best way to do this is to throw yourself into the Scripture and devote yourself to prayer. It is okay to ask God that your desire for Him be stronger. It's okay to confess that you don't love Him like you should, and need help desiring His Word. If you don't desire God right now, don't sit around and dwell on the desire. Pray that God give you the proper desire for Himself-then get to focusing on God. The more you focus on God, the stronger your desire for Him will become. The more you read the Bible, the more you will want to.

As far as not enjoying reading in general goes, that excuse doesn't cut it with this. You don't have to read anything else, but you cannot be a Christian without reading the Bible. If it's the physical act of reading that scares you off, you'll just have to get over it. You could always start by listening to an online audio Bible, or having someone read it to you. But eventually, you're probably going to have to take some action and read it yourself. The written Word is God's choice vehicle for communicating to us. He gets to make that decision, not us.

2- "As long as you love God, you don't have to be an intellectual and know all the facts."

This one isn't a matter of trying to read the Bible and not having any interest. This is a matter of being hard set against it, flowing from a misconstrued view of God and love and salvation.

Some people focus far too much on the practical side of things. They don't care about all the reading and studying and knowledge, as long as they are good, "spiritual" people. One sad outcome of this is an over-emphasis on morality. Most of the popular preachers you see on tv or hear on the radio or watch as they climb the best-seller list, are often people teaching morality. How to practically be a better person. Steps to improve your marriage. Your best life now. The focus is "self-help" under the guise of God. The focus isn't the gospel, it's morality. But morality without Jesus is still a one-way ticket to Hell.

Even some people who are genuine about their attempts to love God, are wrong in this aspect. They argue that we are to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength, and that this is the number one commandment. So, they go along their way being good and witnessing and going to church. And they might genuinely love God and thank Him for their salvation, but growth doesn't occur that way. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word. So, the Word leads to faith. In order for your faith to grow and be strengthened, you should be studying and memorizing and being grounded in the Word. In order to stay strong when times get rough, we must be founded in Scriptural truth.

In fact, it's actually impossible to love God without reading His Word. God reveals Himself through His Word and you cannot love Him if you don't know who He is. We read the Bible to better know God's character and attributes. This was summed up brilliantly and simply by St. Jerome, who said "Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ."

So, the point here is Christ. You don't study and read in order to gain knowledge so you can be proud of yourself and impress other people and be an "intellectual." You study as a result of your salvation. You study because you want more and more of your God. You study to know Him better, and the better you know Him, the more you love Him. You study to show yourself approved, because it's part of your sanctification. You study because it declares in your own mind and heart and soul the glory of God and magnifies Him and leaves you in awe of Who He is and What He's done.

The Word of God is supernatural. [Hebrews 4:12] It isn’t the same as cramming for a history exam. When you pick up the Word of God, God works through it for your growth and your sanctification. He works through it to make you love Him better than you would if you didn’t read and study it. He works through it to make you see Him as more and more glorious, which is the ultimate goal of both God and man.

You can't have love without theology, or theology without love. It isn’t love OR theology. Loving God is a natural outflow of a Christian’s theology. Better theology=better love.

All in all, studying is beyond important. Reading and growing in your knowledge of God and working through the Scriptures are so beneficial to your Christian life. It’s not a duty, it’s a privilege that we should take full advantage of. The blessings of studying Scripture include:

-Studying Scripture lets us come to know God better
-Studying Scripture prepares us for temptation Studying Scripture prepares us for suffering
-Studying Scripture dissolves the hardness of our hearts and draws our affections to Christ
-Studying Scripture gives us guidance and direction
-Studying Scripture gives us a greater appetite for scripture. This is a good cycle.
-Studying Scripture edifies us, and helps us edify our fellow members of the body
-Studying Scripture teaches us how and encourages us to pray
-Studying Scripture teaches us to be righteous
-Studying Scripture forms our worldview and reveals truth.
-Studying Scripture prepares us and spurs our desire to go make disciples
-Studying Scripture gives us an everlasting hope and unspeakable joy
-Studying Scripture enhances our view of God and His glory

And that's probably not all, this is just off the top of my head. So, go! Be a theologian. Study that Bible and read theology books and dwell on it and memorize it and meet with friends to discuss the Scriptures over a cup of coffee. Don’t be afraid to be a little dorky, cause one day you’ll look back and won’t be ashamed of how you spent your time. God will bless you. It will be edifying to you, and you can use what you learn to edify others.

the end.

*As a side note: I think there can be lost people who study or take an interest in the Bible. Typically, though, they are using the Bible as: 1) simply historical or 2) simply literary or 3) an argument against christianity. They won't have interest in the Bible as God's inerrant Word, which is the true and only purpose of the Bible. Taking an interest in the historical or literary aspects of the Bible is different than being captivated by having a direct Word from God.