Theology That Transforms

Theology generates varied responses from Christians. Some see it as a dull exercise among overly educated academic types who live in ivory towers, while others see it as irrelevant to their day-to-day lives. Still, others hear the word theology and have no idea what it means, so they pay no attention to it. But that theology is neither dull nor irrelevant, and it can and should have a profound impact on our daily lives as Christians. And, while many may not be able to define the word theology, everybody is a theologian.

The word theology simply means the study of God, and everyone does this, whether they know they’re doing it or not. We all have our beliefs about what God is like, how He relates to us, and how we should relate to Him. Here are three ways theology can assist us in our daily lives as we seek to grow closer to God.

Theology Should Lead to Worship

The purpose of theological study is not to have debates about God (although that may happen), but to worship Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). We were created to worship God. As we study the Bible, it should lead us into a deeper love for the One who created us. Yes, there will be times as we strive to understand the Bible that we may find ourselves in disagreement with someone over what it’s saying, but this isn’t the purpose of theology.

If you find that your theological study is leading you to love others less, then you’re doing theology wrong. The more we study God, the more we strive to lay hold of His beauty, the more we seek to love Him with all our body, mind, soul, and strength (Mark 12:30), and the more we should come to love others. These are the two greatest commands according to Jesus: love God and love others (Matthew 22:37-39).

Theology Helps Us Grasp the Story of the Bible

I’m a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings books and enjoy talking about them with other people. We’ll share how we find various parts of the story exciting or disheartening, as our heroes go on their journey to destroy the One Ring. Imagine a fan club for The Lord of the Rings that never read the books or talked about them with each other. That would be quite strange indeed, because people talk about the things they love. Theology is our focused effort to study the Bible so we can talk about, celebrate, and ultimately worship God correctly.

Theology not only helps us worship God correctly, but it also helps us understand the story the Bible is telling. The Lord of the Rings is a complex story that takes effort to understand. Imagine if a person read bits and pieces of the three books that make up the trilogy, but she read them out of order: a chapter from one book on one day and then a section from the middle of the third book. She may never realize that the three books together tell this amazing narrative, yet this is often how people read the Bible. They’ll read a little here and a little there, and they miss the grand story of God’s redemption of His creation.

When we engage in a theological study of Scripture, we’re seeking to understand God in light of the entire story of Scripture, not just from its individual parts. We understand God’s glorious plan of creating humans to steward His creation, Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God that plunged creation into darkness, and God’s plan to send His Son to fulfill the promises He made to Abraham to bless the nations through Abraham’s family. Theology lets us see, as Paul wrote, that all God’s promises are “yes” in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Theology Helps Us Recognize the True God from All the False Ones

As theology guides us to worship God correctly by understanding the Bible’s story more fully, it also aids us in being able to recognize false gods. The world is full of so-called gods, and people are making up more versions every day. It would be an impossible task to catalog every false god and then make sure we avoid each of them. Instead, by recognizing the nature of the one true God through our theological study, we can see where the false gods don’t line up.

It’s like being able to recognize someone you love deeply in a crowded room. Instead of attempting to eliminate the other people one by one, you recognize the person you love amid all the other people because you know that person so well. You can do this because you’ve spent time focusing on the person you love, and this time is cherished and enriching. In a similar way, theology isn’t an irrelevant or dry exercise for a select few, it’s the very heart of recognizing the beauty and love of the Triune God among all the false options that parade before us.

We were created to worship the one true God—revealed to us through the story of the Bible and ordaining the redemption of the world through His Son, Jesus Christ. When we engage in Bible study, we are engaging in theology. The more we come to understand the benefits of theology, the more we come to know God, the more we worship Him, and the more we fall in love with Him.