There is a prevailing statement often heard by Christians that so long as one loves Christ and has put their faith in Him, one’s theology is not so important. While it’s true that an uncompromising love for Christ is crucial, it’s also true that a proper theological and doctrinal understanding of Christ and God is equally important. Theology is not simply an academic issue, but is the very essence of our Christianity. We should explore why this is so.
Let’s take a man who claims to love the Lord Jesus Christ yet really doesn’t know very much about the Bible. Let’s say he is wrong about Christ’s role in salvation, he is wrong about his role as a Christian, he is wrong about God’s sovereignty and omnipotence and he is wrong about a number of different Biblical matters. Yet he claims to be a Christian. He claims to love Christ and God. Is his love valid? Perhaps in his mind, he would say yes. But more importantly, how would God view his love?
Let’s put this in a human perspective. If someone claims to love you, and when pressed about the issue, turns out to know next to nothing about you, what would be your reaction? If they don’t know what you consider important, don’t know what you like and dislike, don’t even know the color of your eyes, would you not wonder if they really loved you? Wouldn’t someone who claims to love you want to get to intimately know you? Similarly, we can ask, if we love God, yet we are not willing to search out who He is, how much do we really love Him? Do we say we love Him for our own satisfaction, that is, we say we love Him so that He can love us?
This is the heart of the matter. It’s not that being theologically incorrect in of itself will necessarily send us to hell, it’s that if we are stubbornly theologically incorrect, we show that we put ourselves before God. If we refuse to acknowledge or understand certain aspects of God despite Biblical evidence, it may show that we really don’t love God as much as we claim. And this is the importance of doctrine. “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (I John 2:4) “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments…” (I John 5:2) If we say we love God and we don’t know anything about Him, anything about His will and His Law, could it be that we are deceiving ourselves?
It’s clear in the Bible that there will be people who claim the name of the Lord whom God will cast out of heaven. (Matt 7:21-23). These people will likely be utterly shocked because while they thought that they were in the comfort of God’s hand, they instead discovered that they were under His wrath and will be destined to hell. We can cite numerous other examples in the Bible of people perceiving God’s character incorrectly and suffering enormous consequences, from Cain’s unacceptable offering, to Saul, in his desperation, supplanting the role of the High Priest in I Sam 13, to God rebuking the churches in Revelations for their false doctrine.
So in reality, theology and doctrine are not just academic issues. They relate to our true love of God. If we have a high view of God and the utmost respect for Him, we will take the time, take all the time to really try to know Him. If we have a low view of God, we will be satisfied by just saying we love the Lord and be content with our assumptions about Him based on our desired perceptions of Him. That isn’t to say that we will get all of our theology correct just because we intently study the Bible. Ultimately, the Holy Spirit must apply knowledge to us, but if we don’t study the Bible and don’t give much thought to who God really is, we can guarantee the Holy Spirit won’t apply knowledge to us. “But his delight [is] in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” (Psalms 1:2)
March 31st, 2008 at 8:52 am
Wonderful presentation:”If we have a high view of God and the utmost respect for Him, we will take the time, take all the time to really try to know Him.” Indeed, we shall know Him throughout all life circumstances and events. “Either you turn right or turn left, your eye shall see the Lord.” “You know when I sit and when I rise, you perceive my thoughts from afar.” Knowing Him so that we might fearfully and wonderfully enjoy Him. Knowing is to be in intimate relationship, otherwise it is difficult to know. The wife of George W. Bush certainly knows Bush more than we do.
April 5th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Scripture tells us all that we need to know for faith and godliness. But at no point dare we imagine that the thoughts about God that Scripture teaches us take the full measure of his reality. The fact that God condescends and accomodates himself to us in his revelation certainly makes possible clarity and sureness of understanding. Equally certain, however, it involves limitation on the revelation itself. If we fail to acknowledge God’s imcomprehensibility beyond the limits of what he has revealed, we shrink him in thought down to our size. The process is sometimes described as putting God in a box. It is certainly proper to stree that scriptural revelation is rational. But the most thoroughgoing Bible beleivers are sometimes required, like Job, to go on adoring God when we do not specifically understand what he is doing and why he is doing it. - By J.I. Packer
“Then Job replied to the LORD: “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. You asked, “who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?”
Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
There are knowledge acquired through reading and meditate on the scripture, there are knowledge obtained by walking with the Lord, abiding in Him, and having fellowship with Him.